Written in the Stars | Sirius Black

VI. Stuck in the Middle With You

S E P T E M B E R  1 9 7 6

.・。.・゜✭・.・✧・゜・。.

THE END OF SUMMER APPROACHED much faster than Clara wished. Of course it was exciting to be heading towards her final year at Hogwarts, but she'd be lying if she said she didn't want another week or two of relaxation before worrying about assignments and exams once more. Not to mention all the preparation separate from her coursework that she needed to do if she wanted any hope of becoming a healer at St. Mungo's after finishing school.

The Potters along with Sirius made their way through King's Cross Station on that early September morning. It seemed that Clara was alone in worrying about the prospect of seeing Sirius' family on the platform. To her shock, he seemed rather indifferent to the idea. No one else in her family seemed concerned about the possibility, either. At least not outwardly.

She had no idea what would even happen if they came across the Black family, but her overactive imagination created quite the dramatic scenario in her head. It involved Orion Black bellowing angrily across the platform at his eldest son the second he laid his dark, hollow eyes upon him.
Regardless of he fears, she wasn't about to ask Sirius how he was feeling. Despite the fact that the two seemed to be able to spend more than five minutes around each other without incident recently – but not much more – they certainly weren't best friends by any means. Discussions about feelings and fears were off the table.

Clara trailed behind her family, pushing the luggage cart through the crowded platform. All the while, she was trying to catch any glimpse of Lily or Marlene through the herd of students and their families. As luck would have it, instead of the kind honey brown eyes of her best friend, Marlene, Clara's gaze met with Walburga Black's. The woman's already thin lips were pressed into a stern line as she witnessed her eldest son walking with the Potter family. Clara quickly diverted her gaze away and focused on Sirius who seemed much too enthralled with whatever James had said to make him laugh to notice his family looming not too far from them.

Before Clara could push the thoughts of Sirius' family out of her mind, she felt a hand rest on her shoulder causing her to gasp and spin around. For some reason, she was half expecting to be confronted by Regulus when she turned around, but instead she was met with the sight of a frizzy haired blonde girl who couldn't contain her laughter at the reaction she had gotten from her friend.

"Marlene! Bloody hell. You scared me half to death!"

"Better than all the way to death, isn't it? I have to keep you on your toes." she winked.

Clara rolled her eyes and turned around to keep pushing the luggage cart forward with Marlene closely tailing behind.

"How's Sirius?" The blonde asked as the two weaved through the crowd towards the porter who was helping students load their bags onto the train.

"Why?"

"Well I saw Regulus a bit ago, aren't things going to be a bit awkward?"

Clara shrugged, "I don't know, I think he's just been ignoring them."

At that exact moment, Sirius's eyes fell on the blonde and he came sauntering over with a charming smile on his face as if she had somehow telepathically summoned his presence.

"Ah, Marlene. Got any more records for me?" he asked before glancing over at Clara who had begun unloading all of their bags to hand to the porter.

"I just sent you a copy of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road a week ago. Is Elton John not good enough for you?" Marlene rolled her eyes with a smile, also ignoring Clara's struggle to handle all the luggage.