Couple days passed after the twins had learned the Patronus charm, during which the quartet hadn't really made progress on their issues about the Firebolt. Harry and Ron were still avoiding Hermione after she had told about it to McGonagall, and their behavior really was starting to annoy Joni to the point that he spend more time with Hermione, wheter it was to do research for Buckbeak's trial, studying or just having fun.
Joni meanwhile was still trying to figure out how Hermione was managing to do all of the extra classes she had selected on top of everything else, given it was impossible for one to do. At one point Joni was even walking behind the girl begging him to tell her since it was driving him insane, only to receive a teasing finger wave from Hermione who also said "Now where's the fun in that?"
Right now, Harry was on his way back to the common room when he bumped into Professor McGonagall.
"Do watch where you're going, Potter!" She exclaimed.
"I'm sorry, professor--" Harry said before McGonagall spoke again.
"And what a perfect timing." She then handed Harry the Firebolt. "We've done everything we could think of, and there doesn't seem to be a thing wrong with it at all. You've got a good friend somewhere, Potter."
"I can have it back? Seriously?"
"Seriously." She smiled. "I daresay you'll need to get the feel of it before Saturday's match, won't you? And Potter -- Do try to win, won't you? Or we'll be out of the running for the eight year in the row, as Professor Snape was kind enough to remind me only last night..."
"Absolutely, Professor!"
Harry then began to run back to the Gryffindor Tower. As he turned around the corner, he saw Ron with a massive grin.
"She gave it back to you?" Ron asked. "Excellent! Listen, can i still have a go on it? Tomorrow?"
"Yeah... whatever you want, Ron." Harry said happily. "Let's take it back to the dorms."
The two then finally made it to the common room, when everyone in started to gaze at the Firebolt and started to ask questions about it. Though Harry payed them no mind and noticed his brother and Hermione on the couch, with Joni reading a book and Hermione laying her legs on his lap while also reading a book.
"I got it back!" Harry said happily to the two.
"We told you lot, there was nothing wrong with it in the first place." Ron said.
"Oh look, Hermione..." Joni then said to the girl. "... they're talking to us again."
"That's good." She said. "But there could have been something! I mean, as long as you know it's safe."
"I suppose you're right." Harry said. "I'd better put this upstairs."
"I'll take it!" Ron said eagerly. "I've got to give Scabbers his rat tonic, anyway."
He and Harry then together ran up the stairs to their dormitory while Joni and Hermione stayed behind.
"I seriously wonder how you manage to get through all of these classes." Joni said, looking at Hermione's Arithmancy book.
Hermione only smirked and raised her eyebrow at the boy.
"I'm not just gonna tell you, you know." She said with a singing tone voice.
Joni then took a quick look at Hermione's legs which were still on his lap, and getting a michievous idea, quickly wrapped them between his left arm while wiggling his fingers.
"J-Joni!" Hermione stuttered. "What are you doing?!"
"I'm going to find out, Hermione." He smirked. "One way or another."
He then started to tickle her feet, and Hermione started laughing and squirming while trying to free her legs.
"No-Hahahaha!-Joni! Plea-Hahaha!-Please, stop!"
"Are you ready to spill your secret, Miss Granger?"
Joni then stopped tickling to let Hermione get her breath back.
"I-" She tried to speak while breathing heavily while letting out few laughs. "I can't. I promised not to tell."
"So there is something. Come on, Hermione. I'm your best friend, and best friends don't keep secrets from each other."
While Hermione felt bad that she couldn't tell him about this, there was a thrill to letting Joni try and figure out how she was doing this, so she looked at him with a challenging smirk.
"What happened to you trying to figure out on your own what i'm doing?"
"I might start to give up on it and try the old fashioned way--"
But before Joni could finish his statement, there was a loud scream coming from the boys' dormitory, which scared the two. When they quickly rose to stand and turned to look, they saw Ron coming down quickly with a bed sheet in his hands, followed by Harry.
"Look! Look!" He exclaimed as he shook the sheet in front of Hermione's face.
"Ron, what the spark--?" Joni tried to say.
"SCABBERS!" He shouted. "LOOK! SCABBERS!"
Joni saw that the bedsheet was covered in red substance, and Hermione leaned away from it.
"N-no." She said with a scared voice.
Ron then threw something on to their books, revealing them to be several long, ginger cat hairs, all belonging to Crookshanks.
---
After the Scabbers incident, the arguments between Hermione and Ron went to a whole new level. Ron was enraged that Hermione never took Crookshanks attempts at trying to eat Scabbers seriously, while Hermione maintained fiercly that Ron had no proof Crookshanks had eaten Scabbers. While the twins ended up being in the middle of everything, Joni still kept his presence close to Hermione, and she still talked with Harry, but she stopped talking to Harry as well, as he believed Crookshanks did kill Scabbers.
"Okay, side with Ron, i knew you would!" She shouted at him, as they were in the common room, while Joni was mostly in the background. "First the Firebolt, now Scabbers, everything's my fault, isn't it! Just leave me alone, Harry, i've got a lot of work to do!"
Harry took this as his cue to leave the common room, which left Joni and Hermione alone. While she stood still glaring at the portrait hole, Joni slowly was approaching her from behind.
"Hermione?" He whispered.
"What?!" She snapped and faced the boy, which caused Joni to back away a little in fright and lift his arms up to cover himself, but she quickly calmed down when she realised it was Joni. "Oh, Joni, i'm so sorry. I just..."
"No, no, no." Joni said quickly as he saw tears starting to fall from her eyes and quickly hugged her, placing her head on his shoulder as Hermione started to sniff. "It's okay. It's not your fault. Ron doesn't have proof it was Crookshanks."
"But it is my fault." She said sadly.
"No, it isn't." He said firmly. "Besides, even if it was Crookshanks who ate Scabbers, he was only doing what cats do. Anyway, like we've said, he doesn't have proof Crookshanks ate him. Ron will come around, i know it."
"... Thank you." She replied when she stopped sniffing and hugged her best friend tightly while smiling a little.
A day later, the Gryffindors Quidditch match against the Ravenclaw was going on. Joni and Hermione were in the stadium following the game, and while they weren't talking to Harry, they still cheered for the team, though they avoided Ron as much as possible, who was with Seamus, Neville and Dean further away from the two.
The game was qurrently 80 points to 0, with Gryffindor on the lead. Harry was high in the air riding his Firebolt trying to look for the Snitch. Then he was approached by Ravenclaws Seeker, a fourth-year student Cho Chang, who smiled at Harry, while Harry blushed.
Cho then took off, and Harry noticed the Snitch while going after her.
"Show her your acceleration, Harry!" Fred shouted.
As Harry chased after Cho, he ended up going off the course and lost the sight of the Snitch.
"He really had no time to get a proper feel on the broom." Joni grinched when he saw his brother go off course.
"I know." Hermione commented. "That broom is incredibly fast."
Harry got back in the pitch and resumed his cat-and-mouse chase with Cho, though it was clear that her Comet broomstick was no match for the Firebolt as they continued to chase the Snitch.
"Harry!" Wood bellowed. "This is no time to be a gentleman! Knock her off her broom if you have to!"
The two still kept chasing the Snitch until Cho let out a "Oh!" as she looked down. Harry then looked where she was looking, finding an unexpected surprise underneath them.
Two dementors, both staring at him.
Joni noticed this as well, and while he was still uncomfortable about the dementors, he suddenly pulled out his wand, which shocked Hermione, as did Harry at the same time, and the brothers shouted together.
"Expecto Patronum!"
Instead of a shield like when Lupin taught them about the charm, a silver-white forms shot from their wands. A stag from Harry's, and a doe from Joni's, which surprised the twins greatly. When the Patronus' hit the dementors and they went away, Harry suddenly flew over to the Snitch and caught it. He then flew down to many Gryffindors cheering happily.
"That's my boy!" Wood yelled happily while Katie, Alicia and Angelina kissed Harry's cheeks, and Fred and George hugged him. Joni and Hermione, who were joined by Caitlin, came running down to congratulate Harry.
"Well done, Harry!" Percy said happily. "Ten galleons to me!"
"Rubby brilliant!" Hagrid bellowed.
"That was quite a Patronus, Harry." Lupin said, and then turned to Joni. "Even you pulled one from the stadium, Joni."
"I just acted on the moment, professor." Joni said scratching his cheek while Hermione hugged him.
"The dementors didn't affect me at all!" Harry said. "I didn't feel a thing."
"That would be because they -- er -- weren't dementors." Lupin said, which confused the twins. "Come and see."
He led the boys to the "dementors", who turned out to be Draco Malfoy, Eremita Snyde, Crabbe and Goyle in dark robes.
"You both gave Mr. Malfoy and Miss Snyde quite a fright." Lupin said while McGonagall was furious with the four Slytherin.
"An unworthy trick!" She shouted. "A low and cowardly attempt to sabotage the Gryffindor Seeker! Detention to all of you, and 50 points from Slytherin. I shall be speaking to Professor Dumbledore about this, make no mistake! Ah, here he comes!"
The four Slytherin still tried to get out of the robes, while George came to the twins.
"Come on, you two!" He said. "Party! Gryffindor Common Room, now!"
The party was grand. Fred and George managed to disappear for hours, and once they came back, they returned with bottles of Butterbeer, pumpking fizz and several Honeyduke sweets. Harry noticed that Joni and Hermione, who were joined by Caitlin again, were sitting in the corner, with Joni having brought Hermione some Butterbeer.
"Come on, you three." He said as he approached the three, wanting to talk to Joni and Hermione again. "Come and join us."
"I can't, Harry." Hermione said. "I've still got four-hundred and twenty-two pages to read! And... he doesn't want me to join them."
Joni looked to the other end of the common room and saw Ron hanging out with few other Gryffindors. After giving him a slight glare, he turned back to Hermione.
"Rubbish." He said and took her hand. "Let's go and have fun. You deserve it."
Joni then started to lead Hermione more to the centre of the room, when Ron spoke loudly.
"If Scabbers hadn't been eaten, he could have had some of those Fudge Flies. He used to really like them--"
At that moment, Hermione burst into tears and ran into the spiral staircases. Caitlin could be heard gasping and she ran after her.
"Hermione!" Joni called out, trying to stop her, but then heard the door to girls' dormitory slam closed. He then started to glench his fist.
"Can't you give her a break?" Harry asked quietly and frustrated.
"No." Ron said flatly. "If she just acted like she was sorry, but she'll never admit she's wrong."
Suddenly, Ron was lifted up from his chair and pushed against a wall while a fist was clutching on to his robes. Everyone winced and widened their eyes when they noticed it was Joni, and he was glaring at Ron.
"I've had enough, Ron!" He said angrily. "Stop acting like everything's her fault!"
"It is her fault! Her cat killed Scabbers! Of course you would defend her, she's practically your girlfriend!"
Joni was too angry to blush this time, however.
"I defend her because i care about her! And Scabbers was old and beyond his years!"
"You're both acting like Scabbers went on a vacation or something!"
Joni then gave Ron one final push on the wall before letting him go, but never lowering his glare. It was then that Harry attempted to pull Joni away.
"You know what, Weasley?" He said coldly. "Don't talk to me or Hermione."
Joni then pulled himself free from Harry's hold and walked into the boys' dormitory, while everyone looked at him, especially Harry who had a worried look.
---
Later that same night, the party was over and everyone was in their dormitories sleeping. Things had managed to calm down after the fight between Joni and Ron, and when Harry and Ron got back into their dormitory, they found Joni fast asleep. Harry was starting to feel quilty over what was happening in their small group, but had no idea how to fix things.
That night, everyone else is asleep, except for Harry, who is lying on his bed studying the photo of his parents, when suddenly Harry's Sneakoscope started whirling madly and skittered across the bedside cabinet and tapped against a water glass.
"Aaaahhhh!"
Harry suddenly bolts up, as does Joni, and they see a silhouette etched on the window, a man holding a knife. All the boys are awake now and start screaming. Joni then grabs his wand.
"Everybody out!" He shouts.
The other students flee while Joni and Harry stay in the dormitory. Harry had also grabbed his wand, and the twins face the shadow, wands poised at it.
"Show yourself." Harry says.
The man suddenly grasps the curtains and swings through the open window, disappearing into the night. Harry rushes to the window and looks down, but the silhouette has vanished. Harry then sweeps Ron's curtains aside and sees the bed empty.
"Ron! Ron!"
The twins' eyes flash towards the window, when Ron pokes his head from under his bed.
"Is he gone?" Ron asks with a scared voice.
Right now everyone was gathered in the common room, still in their pajamas, where they were joined by professor McGonagall, and right now Ron had finished explaining to the professor what had happened.
"That is preposterous, Weasley." McGonagall said, not believing Ron.
Joni and Hermione were standing next to each other. He was carrying Millie in his arms while she was cradling Crookshanks in hers. Joni noticed she looked scared and pulled her in for a side-hug, with Hermione leaning in closer.
"I mean, how could Sirius Black possibly get through the portrait hole?"
"I don't know how he got in." Ron said. "I was a bit busy dodging his knife."
"Percy..." McGonagall then asked Percy who was standing next to Ron. "... have you seen Sir Cadogan?"
"I-- I, uh--" Percy started to look behind him at the portraits before noticing the knight and pointing at him. "Oh, he's there, professor."
"Oh." McGonagall then walked through the students to the portrait where Cadogan was. "Sir Cadogan. Sir Cadogan."
"Ah!" Cadogan said as he was in the middle of hugging a woman. "How may i serve you, ma'am?" He then reached to another portrait for flowers, which he handed for the woman.
"Excuse me..." McGonagall said as Cadogan started to walk through other portraits. "... is it possible that you let a mysterious man into Gryffindor Tower tonight?"
Cadogan made it to a portrait where people were in the middle of playing chess.
"Certainly, good lady. He had the password. Checkmate!" He then moved every piece in random places, breaking the game. "He had the whole week's, in fact, on a little piece of paper." As he spread his arms around, he ended up knocking one of the people out of the window.
"Which abysmally foolish person wrote down the passwords and then proceeded to lose them?"
McGonagall looked behind her frustrated, and found Neville looking guiltily on the ground.
"Is it always going to be you, Longbottom?"
"I'm afraid so, ma'am." Neville said.
"Well..." Joni then spoke and everyone looked at him. "... Cadogan's been changing passwords so frequently and coming up with so elaborate ones that i don't really blame Neville for making a list, professor."
McGonagall could only sigh. "You're right, Potter." She then tapped Joni and Neville on their shoulders. "Well, Sirius Black is gone tonight."
She then started to adress every student in the room. "But i think you can all safely assume that he will, at some future time, attempt to return. Now, i speak for the entire staff when i say while we take every precaution to ensure your safety, it is incumbent upon yourselves to act responsibly. Understood?"
"Yes, professor." Everyone said.
"Very well, then. Off you go."
Everyone was about to go back to their dormitories before McGonagall stopped final time. "And remember, act responsibly."
McGonagall herself then exited the room while most students started to chatter amongst each other and make their way back to the dormitories. Joni and Hermione stayed in one spot when Ron faced them angrily.
"And this bloody cat ate my rat!"
"That's a lie." Hermione said fiercly.
"It is not, and you bloody well know it."
Joni then got between the two and glared at Ron. "What did i say yesterday, Ron? Leave her alone."
"Of course you'd defend her. And maybe it was your bloody cat that ate Scabbers too."
"You remove even one hair off from Millie's fur, and i'll snuffing show you what happens." Joni said angrily.
The two kept glaring at each other for few seconds before Ron walked back to the staircase, followed by his brothers. Joni kept looking at Ron until Hermione started to pull him slowly towards the armchairs and the couch.
Harry had been sitting quietly on one of the armchairs the entire time, looking at the fire that had been light up in the fireplace while everyone had been gathered around McGonagall, when Joni and Hermione joined him, sitting on the couch.
"I can't believe it." Hermione said, almost crying.
"I could have killed him."
Joni and Hermione looked shocked at what Harry suddenly said.
"He was right there." Harry continued, holding his hands together while looking at the fire. "He was close enough to touch. I could have killed him."
The two didn't know what to say, but before either even could, Harry rose up and walked back into the dormitory. Hermione then turned to Joni who had also started looking at the fire.
"Are you okay?" She asked scared. "Black didn't hurt you, did he?"
"No." Joni shook his head while smiling a little. "He didn't do anything to me when he ran out."
"I'm so glad." She then hugged Joni tightly while letting their cats go on the floor. "I heard about what you said to Ron."
"About how i almost had a row with him?"
"Yes. Caitlin told me. She overheard you before she came to comfort me. It was so sweet of you to defend me."
Joni smiled before hugging Hermione tightly back.
"You know i'll always have your back, Hermione."
The two decided to stay in the common room for a little bit before they would go back to their dormitories. Millie and Crookshanks also jumped back into their laps, only Crookshanks was on Joni's and Millie was on Hermione's, while they were meowing at each other which got the two to start laughing.