S E P T E M B E R  1 9 7 6

.・。.・゜✭・.・✧・゜・。.

LATER THAT NIGHT, long after every other Gryffindor student had gone to bed, Clara was still wide awake. The girl found herself wrapped in a blanket, studying by candlelight on one of the plush velvet couches in the common room.

During her free period that day, she had swung by the Hospital Wing to pick up some extra reading materials from Madam Pomfrey. The second the books left the Healer's grasp, the witch was quick as always to shoo Clara away. It wasn't that she disliked the student's company, it was simply so she could focus all of her attention on the only patient that had managed to be unlucky enough to land themselves in the Hospital Wing on the first day of term.

Despite the quick dismissal, Clara knew Madam Pompey really did take quite a liking to her and had somewhat taken her under her wing over the years. If she was lucky enough to be able to start training at St. Mungo's next June, Clara would definitely have Poppy Pomfrey to thank for that. But even so, patients always came first to the healer. All of Clara's curious questions and seeking of advice would have to come later.

The girl always had to work around Madam Pomfrey's schedule, so she had quickly learned to avoid seeking her out after Quidditch games or on weekends when students tended to be much more rowdy. Tuesdays and Thursdays were also out of the question since at least one student in Care of Magical Creatures class came to her with some sort of burn or bite. That's why Clara thought maybe seeing her on the first day of term would have been the best bet, but clearly not. At least she was able to get the books she wanted from her.

At around quarter to midnight, just as Clara was reading up on the mortality rate of Dragon Pox, the portrait leading into the common room swung open. The creaking sound of the hinges caused Clara to jump slightly. Out of instinct, she immediately grabbed her wand and cast lumos towards the mystery person.

"Easy there, tiger." a familiar voice spoke from the portrait hole.

Sirius emerged a moment later, his features lit up only by the dim light coming from the end of Clara's wand. After rolling her eyes she muttered nox and lowered it once more. Cast aside on the couch, Clara took her attention away from her wand and focused once more on the book in her lap. But instead of making his way up to the boy's dorms, Sirius decided to take a seat beside Clara, earning him an annoyed grumble from the girl.

"Don't tell me you're studying on the first day of term. And here I was thinking you couldn't possibly get any more uptight."

"It's not coursework, it's just extra reading. At least I didn't get detention on the first day." she dismissed, hoping Sirius would be bored enough by the conversation to leave her alone.

"Maybe I wouldn't have gotten detention if you had just said you loved me back. You can be so stubborn, you know." he taunted as he leaned over her shoulder, peering at the page.

Clara quickly snapped the book shut and turned to face him with a scowl. Even though the only light in the room was from a few nearby candles, the orange glow on her face seemed to be just enough for Sirius to notice her reaction. A smirk formed on his lips as he leaned back slightly.

"What are you hiding? Not reading a muggle romance novel are you?" he asked, wiggling his brows.

"If you must know, Madam Pomfrey lent me a few books she thinks will help me after this year."

Sirius parted his lips, probably preparing to say something else snarky to her, but when he brought a heavily bandaged hand up to brush his hair away from his forehead, Clara interrupted him.

"What happened?" she asked, grabbing his wrist before thinking.

His face fell as he quickly pulled away from her grasp, "It's nothing."

"Sirius." she said sternly, pulling his hand back towards her once more.

Realising he wouldn't be able to object, he watched as she carefully unwrapped the bandage around his hand to reveal a long cut over his palm – stretching from his thumb to his ring finger. The wound looked relatively new, so she knew it must have happened some time that evening. Her fingers delicately ran over the skin surrounding the cut, surveying it for any serious damage. Sirius winced slightly and let out a gasp when her touch reached a tender spot near his thumb.

"Sorry." she whispered quickly, glancing up to read his expression.

"It's okay."

Holding Sirius' injured hand in her left hand, she reached for her wand with the other. But he pulled away before she could even hope to try and heal him.

"Sirius, this cut is pretty deep. I know I can heal it and I'm assuming you didn't go to the hospital wing for a reason, so let me help you."

Clara had no idea how Sirius had injured himself, but she knew him well enough to realise there was no way it could have happened during his detention with Mr. Filch. Polishing tables didn't take four hours, even without magic. The fact that he had shown up well after curfew let her know that he had been up to something. Something he didn't want her, or anyone else, to know about.

It was probably better for her sanity to not know what sort of trouble he was involving himself in. But her nurturing instincts simply didn't want him walking around practically begging for an infection to happen, especially if he was refusing to go to the hospital wing.

Sirius reluctantly laid the back of his hand onto her open palm, allowing her to point her wand at the wound. But before she could utter the spell, he stopped her again.

"Have you done this before?"

She pulled her wand back and smirked at him, "You're not scared, are you?"

"Well, I'd like some peace of mind at the very least."

"You're going to have to trust me. There's no way you'll be able to take notes or do any assignments with your hand like this."

"Bold of you to assume I was going to do any of that to begin with."

Clara rolled her eyes, "You think James has never needed a healing spell before? Of course I've done it."

Sirius surveyed her expression, lingering on her hazel eyes as if he was looking for any single hint of a lie before letting out a sigh of defeat, "Fine."

Clara brought her eyes back down to his hand, pointing her wand at the deepest area of the cut before whispering episkey.

Warmth quickly grew over his palm, prickling at the damaged skin surrounding the wound. Doubt flickered in his eyes at the thought that Clara may have been messing with him. Merlin forbid she chose now to exact revenge on him for years or torment. As he raised his gaze up to her, she didn't give any indication that that was the case. Rather, her eyes were filled with concentration, lips pressing together into a thin line as she focused on his injury.

Eventually, the warmth faded and when Sirius glanced back down, his wound immediately started to close. The pink irritated skin surrounding it returned to its regular pale complexion. The only remaining evidence that he had hurt himself at all was a thin white scar over the centre of his palm.

Clara set her wand aside and ran her fingers lightly over Sirius' skin, inspecting her work. A shiver ran down his spine at her gentle nurturing touch and all he could think about was that she was a lot like Euphemia in that way. Stern and stoic as a statue carved from obsidian and just as difficult to break through. But beneath the surface hid a warm, kind heart.

Growing up without affection from his family was one thing, but having someone truly care about something as minor as a cut on his hand was uncharted waters. But he did his absolute best to not let Clara notice how much this moment meant to him.

Clara released his hand and allowed him to check it for himself, "Usually when I heal James, there isn't a scar left." she muttered, defeated.

Running the thumb of his opposite hand over his skin, he seemed satisfied with her work but found her chewing on her bottom lip when he glanced up at her.

"I think you did great."

But she shook her head, "I'll have to do some more reading on scarring. I must've gotten lazy with my wand placement or something."

Even with magical intervention, the true reason any remnants of his injury had lingered was well known to Sirius. But refused to unleash that knowledge to Clara. Instead, he laid his hand over hers – the one that had found itself picking at her cuticles in her sudden stress over the matter. Silently, her eyes locked on to where their hands met, yet the moment had gone as quickly as it came.

"How can I ever repay you, Madam Potter?" Sirius asked sarcastically as he pulled away without so much as acknowledging the fleeting moment.

Clara relaxed into her seat, forgetting all about her damaged cuticles, "Well, if you're offering, maybe don't declare your love for me in front of the entire school."

A smirk immediately formed on his lips as he raised an eyebrow, "I had to make my true feelings known before Fabian got any funny ideas."

Clara rolled her eyes, "With or without your nonsense, Fabian and I are not going to happen. I don't need everyone thinking I'm some kind of–"

The girl cut her sentence short, but Sirius wasn't letting it go that easily.

"Some kind of what?"

For a moment, she chewed the inside of her cheek, "A girl who two-times the Quidditch King and her brother's best friend."

Though that was the long way of saying she was afraid of everyone calling her a slut, Sirius seemed to catch on.

"Well, what if we make a deal?" he suggested, leaning back on the couch as he crossed his arms.

"The deal was I healed your hand, now you leave me alone. You don't get to ask for extra." she shook her head.

"Well I think you'll find my offer very tempting."

"What are you on about?"

"I'll make sure everyone knows how much you hate me, but only if you leave Fabian alone."

Clara's brows knit into a frown. Being so adamant about her staying away from Fabian was an odd request. Perhaps there was unknown animosity between them. Or a horrible rumour about the redhead that Clara had no clue about. Though she'd never even witnessed them crossing paths, nor had she heard anything from James that would lead her to believe that Fabian and Sirius were anything other than housemates – let alone enemies.

Surely if Fabian was really bad news, her brother would have been the one to try to warn her, rather than the boy sitting before her.

"Sirius, I'm not even interested in him." she insisted.

"Not according to what I told the entire school this morning." he smirked.

"Why would you even care if I wanted to date him?" she asked before quickly clarifying, "Which I don't."

"It's not that I care," he shrugged as stood from the couch and made his way to the stairs. Once he reached the archway leading up to the dorms, he paused and spun back around to face her, "I just think Gideon's the better looking twin is all. Good night, Clara."