A Whole New Adventure

Part 10

The light rumble of the train made Clarissa glad that she had taken her potion that morning and hoped it would last through the entire journey. She and James walked hand in hand down the narrow corridor looking for a familiar head of black curls. When they checked the Marauder's usual compartment and found it occupied by others, James reached into his pockets to pull out a small mirror, similar to the one Clarissa owned.

"Pads! Where are you guys seated?" James called into the mirror.

Intrigued to see how the mirror actually works, she leaned in closer to James who turned the mirror so it faced her slightly as well. She could see Sirius' face pop up in the device and his voice emitted from it.

"We found a compartment just four down from our usual. Evans and Marls are here too!"

The thought of seeing the actual Lily Potter—well right now it's Evans— was nerve-racking. The supposed love of James Potter would be sharing a compartment with them. James must've noticed Clarissa tighten her hold on him because he squeezed her hand back and kissed her forehead, which admittedly calmed her down a touch. As they walked further down the corridor, Clarissa could hear the boisterous voice of Sirius, retelling one of the adventures they had that summer to their friends.

From where the couple stood, Clarissa could see three people whom she never thought she'd ever get to meet. Of the three there was only one male; he had sandy brown hair with faint, almost white, scars on his face. He was thin and lanky, shoulders hunched inwards as if to keep himself as small as possible. That was Remus Lupin, she was sure of it. The remaining of the trio were two beautiful girls. One was a redhead with the brightest green eyes she's ever seen, and the other was a blonde with eyes as blue as the clear sky. They were Lily Evans and Marlene McKinnon respectively.

As if their magic sensed that they were being watched, Lily and Marlene looked away from where Sirius sat and made eye contact with the brunette. Clarissa felt loved when she saw how her supposed friends light up at the sight of her. The two girls waved excitedly and beckoned for her and James to come into the compartment. A slight tug from James caused her to follow his footsteps towards the compartment. He slid the door open and let Clarissa in first, giving her an encouraging smile.

The Ravenclaw girl entered the compartment and received multiple greetings at once. The two ladies that were seated immediately stood up to give her a warm hug. Clarissa hesitantly returned the action. Once she was free from the hold of the two girls, she looked over their shoulders and blue-green eyes darted back and forth from warm brown ones and watery blue ones. A dizzy spell overtook her from the memories that infiltrated her head and she had to take a step back into James to not collapse.

Worriedly, James guided her to sit and let her rest her head on his shoulder. Clarissa buried her face into his neck, eyes shut as she tried to bear through the pain in her head. James could feel her heavy pants against his neck, upset that he can't do much to help besides comfort her.

"What's wrong with Clara?" Peter Pettigrew asked, a bit too loudly for Clarissa's liking, causing her to whimper.

James shot a glare at his friend, shushing him. She heard a whisper of an apology from the plump boy. It took a few more minutes for the pain to go away and for her breathing to normalize. Clarissa slowly lifted her head from James' shoulder, and he cast her a concerned look and he wasn't the only one worried for her. Everyone in the compartment was shooting her looks of concern.

She gave a weak smile, "I'm fine, just dizzy is all. I've been experiencing lots of dizzy spells lately and I didn't get much sleep last night."

All but James and Sirius seemed to believe her answer. To make up for causing her more pain by talking loudly, Peter offered to get her some tea from the trolley lady. Clarissa thanked him, not even aware that the trolley sold tea.