N O V E M B E R 1 9 7 6

.・。.・゜✭・.・✧・゜・。.

IT WAS NEARING time for dinner when Clara had finally come back into the castle from the greenhouses. Admittedly, she didn't have much of an appetite though. So, rather than joining the other students in the Great Hall, she's decided to return to the Gryffindor common room and hopefully enjoy some peace and quiet. She was much too stressed to even think about bangers and mash. There was quite literally too much on her plate already.

She still had a Defense Against the Dark Arts assignment to complete as well as putting the final touches on her essay on Summoning Charms for Professor McGonagall. Not to mention the sudden revelation that she'd formed a crush. No. A... fondness for a boy whom she had been avoiding for nearly four years at this point. That alone was occupying much more space in her mind than she found ideal.

The sun had nearly set as she gazed out the windows on her way up to Gryffindor tower and Clara frowned at the thought of it being so dark so early in the day. The silver light of that night's full moon swirled with the orange light of the torches adorning every hall in the castle as she climbed the winding stairs. Evenings like this were what made her miss summer so dearly. Despite the depressing thoughts in her mind about the imminent sadness that winter would bring – curse the cruel gods who gave her a December birthday, honestly – all she wanted to do in that moment was change out of her robes and into something more comfortable.

Clara assumed everyone would be down in the Great Hall for dinner, so hopefully she would be able to lay claim on her favourite plush armchair next to the fireplace to do her coursework before any other student could take it for themself. But as she trudged up the staircase, she wondered if she even had enough brain power left to remember the password to the common room to begin with. Luckily, it seemed like that wouldn't be an issue as the Fat Lady's portrait swung open the second she approached it. A group of three rowdy boys all but ran Clara over as they exited the common room in a rush.

"Oi! Look where you're going, you bunch of gits."

"Sorry, sis, got places to be!" James said hurriedly, brushing past his sister.

"Why aren't you down at dinner?" she called after him.

"Why aren't you?" the final boy to exit the portrait hole replied pointedly.

Clara rolled her eyes at Sirius, "I'm going to study. You three are clearly up to something." she paused as she looked over Sirius' shoulder, expecting to see Remus towering over him. Narrowing her eyes when he was nowhere to be seen, she returned her attention to the dark haired boy, "With one of you missing that only makes it all the more suspicious."

"Doesn't it get exhausting being in everyone's business all the time?" Sirius muttered impatiently.

Clara's lips parted, ready to object, but nothing came out. She was sure if she hadn't been in the greenhouse all afternoon trying to understand anything about how to keep a Sneezewort satisfied enough to live to see the next day, she would have enough brain power to say something smart in return. But her mind was completely blank.

A satisfied smirk grew on Sirius's face at her sudden silence, "Anything else you'd like to ask, Potter? Or are you finished interrogating us?"

"Yes, actually. Where is the tall one?"

"He's fine, Padfoot let's go." James called after him.

Clara flicked her head towards her brother, "I didn't ask how he was, I asked where he was. Are you three up to something?"

"Mind your business Clara." Sirius ordered sternly before deliberately bumping into her shoulder as he made his way down the stairs to catch up with James and Peter.

"James!" she called out after the group.

"We've got to go, Clara. I'm sorry!" he replied before the three of them practically ran down the steps and out of sight.

The urge to follow them was strong, but Clara's desire to stay out of trouble was even stronger. However, she couldn't help but notice that they were all heading straight in the direction of the hospital wing. It was a path she had taken countless times before to see Madam Pomfrey. Maybe Remus was poorly, that would explain his absence and his friends' route in the castle to potentially visit him.

Perhaps something he ate didn't sit right with him. If that were the case, then she was glad she'd chosen to skip dinner. But surely they wouldn't feel the need to hide something as trivial as him being sick from her though, especially when she had enough basic knowledge on healing to help make him feel better. Then again, if they didn't trust her with information about a Halloween party, they certainly wouldn't seek her out for advice on this.

As her thoughts got carried away, Fabian's voice suddenly was in her head, reminding her that she loved to worry. Too much, some might say. As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. Besides, there were plenty of other things in that corridor, like statues the boys could prank or empty classrooms they could practise jinxes in. She decided to push thoughts of the Marauders out of her mind. For now.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✧・゜・。.

Progress on her assignments that evening had been minimal at best. She probably would have made more headway if there weren't so many distractions all around her. The Gryffindor common room certainly wasn't the most quiet place in Hogwarts and after all the students returned from the Great Hall, it became a revolving door of chaos.

First, the Prewett twins came by to chat with her for a while as they played a few games of Wizard's chess in front of the fireplace. Then Lily Evans, sympathetic as ever, stopped by to ask how her assignments were coming along. The redhead had even managed to sneak away a turkey sandwich for the girl when she noticed she wasn't at the Ravenclaw table with Marlene. Lily told Clara that she didn't want her to go hungry just for the sake of good marks. As the evening grew later, each and every Gryffindor slowly trickled off to bed. But Clara remained surrounded by textbooks and parchment well into the night.

It was quarter 'til midnight when Peter and James finally returned to the common room. Both of them quickly made their way up to the boys' dorms without so much as uttering a single word. The boys had disappeared up the stairs before Clara could even hope to confront them about Remus again. They moved past her so quickly, she wondered if they had even noticed she was there at all.

If the tall boy with mysterious scars had been at dinner or in the library, she knew he would have come back by now. As mischievous as his friend group is, he was still a Prefect. Curfew meant something to him, on most days. Though that isn't say the boy never pushed boundaries on occasion. Yet he still hadn't returned.

Maybe he was still out with Sirius. The excuse seemed good enough to her as she quickly returned her attention to her essay that she was so close to finishing. It was the only motivator that had kept her awake this long.

After finally finishing her assignments, Clara found herself determined to stay up and wait for the two remaining Marauders to return. Although it felt like the minutes were moving at a snail's pace and she was beginning to doze off in the armchair she had been sitting in. Finally, nearly an hour later, the portrait finally swung open and Clara lept from her seat. There was no way she was letting the boys sneak past her like her brother and Peter had.

Whoever it was quietly snuck back into the common room, hoping to not be seen, but when his eyes fell on Clara he nearly stumbled backwards in shock, "Merlin, Clara. Do you ever sleep?" Sirius gasped.

Instead of beginning her interrogation, every thought about Remus and what the boys were up to disappeared as Clara focused on a shallow cut Sirius had on the side of his face spanning from his cheek down to his jaw. Why was this boy always coming back injured?

"Sirius, what happened to your face?"

"I got nicked, and what's your excuse?" he smirked.

"Don't be an arse."

"Well, it's no way to greet a bloke on his birthday, is it? It's a bit rude."

Clara glanced towards the grandfather clock in the corner of the room to see that it was well past midnight. It was finally November 3rd and Sirius was seventeen years old.

"Happy birthday," she muttered impatiently, "Now will you tell me what's going on? You keep coming back in the middle of the night with scratches. And where is Remus? James and Peter have been back for nearly an hour, you know."

"Am I on trial or something?"

"Have you done something illegal?"

"Not yet." he grinned.

Clara rolled her eyes and reached forward to touch the new wound on his face, but pulled her hand back quickly when she realised a familiar touch like that may not have been welcomed. Instead, she merely surveyed the gash with her eyes, drawing a line with her gaze along his jaw which clenched slightly as she took a step closer to him.

"It doesn't look as deep as the cut on your hand did, it'll heal on its own." she said with confidence after a moment, "I don't think it'll leave a scar either."

"Thank you Healer Potter, what would I do without you?" he grumbled sarcastically.

"Probably end up dead or in prison, honestly. Maybe both."

"That'll never happen." he grinned as he brushed past her, making his way to the boys dorm.

"Are you and James still upset with me?" she blurted out suddenly before he could even take his first step up the stairs.

Sirius let out a laugh and turned back to her, "About what?"

"Forget it." she murmured, packing up all her books that lay strewn over the coffee table.

"Is this about the Halloween thing?"

The amusement in his voice threatened to boil her blood, "Well, you all seemed to agree it was my fault. I'm just wondering if I'm allowed back into this part of the castle full time or if I should watch my step."

"I don't care what part of the castle you hang around in, honestly. And no James isn't mad," he said before raising a brow, "I haven't forgiven you though, that was meant to be my birthday party."

"So why didn't you just reschedule then?" she asked pointedly, "Or were you afraid I'd ruin that too?"

Sirius hesitated for a moment, "I wouldn't have a party without Moony and he's a bit... under the weather this week." It was like he could read her thoughts because he quickly added, "He's been in the boy's dorm all evening, if you must know."

If Remus was truly ill, why didn't they just tell her that hours ago? It would have been much easier than avoiding her questions and acting so suspicious. Maybe she could have even helped him if they would just let her. Although she did feel silly about not even thinking of knocking on the boys' door to check to see if he was in there. But maybe that would have been a bit too nosy, even for her. Before she could get her thoughts in order, Sirius had already turned back around and was making his way up the steps to his room.

Suddenly coming to her senses, Clara raced to the bottom of the steps leading up to the boy's dorms and called after him, "Sirius, I didn't tell McGonagall!"

The last thing she wanted was for the boy to hold this over her head for the rest of the term and use it as ammunition against her. That was the main reason she'd been avoiding her own common room for this long anyway.

Even though the boy was already out of sight, he still called back, his voice laced with sarcasm, "Right, of course you didn't. Good night, Clara!"