claret, sirius black

07

chapter 7

IT HAD BEEN THREE WEEKS SINCE he first assumed that there was something suspicious about Lenora Claret, and Sirius Black had absolutely nothing to bring to the table in his and James' investigation. They avoided talking about it in front of Lily and Remus, primarily to avoid the shower of 'I told you so's'.

Sirius Black even made a list, and he's never put so much effort into something, not even his schoolwork.

Reasons why Lenora Claret is up to something:

- She wanders the hallways in the middle of the night, daily (nightly?).

- She doesn't eat at meal times.

- She's from Birmingham.

- She falls asleep in lessons.

- She roots around in the restricted section of the library and then possibly lies about why she was in there.

- She walks around the castle barefoot.

- She doesn't have the same father as her siblings. (Somewhat irrelevant, may be important later though).

There is also a list of reasons why she isn't up to something, but Sirius and James decided to keep it hidden from Remus and Lily - not wanting to give them the satisfaction of possibly being right.

Reasons why Lenora Claret isn't up to something:

- She is very nice.

- She may eat at other times of the day, it could be the reason she's always wandering the halls at night.

- She doesn't get good grades. If she was up to something she would have to be smart to pull it off.

- She may have genuinely told the truth about why she was in the library. She didn't take or pick up any books.

- No substantial evidence to prove she is a fiend.

Sirius had the lists tucked into the pocket of his robe.

He and James had been working on them in the library earlier in the day. He kept them in his pocket instead of leaving them in the dorm so Remus didn't get his hands on them. So, as he walked through the hallways that night he decided to get the lists out, looking over them to see if he had missed anything incriminating about Lenora Claret.

Remus called him a hypocrite when Sirius left the dorm at five to twelve. Sirius had been going on about how Lenora walks around the castle at night when he had left their dorm to do the exact same thing.

Sirius hadn't brought the map with him, it was in Remus' bag and Sirius would rather gorge his eyeballs out than go through Remus' bag - not because of what he would find, but because of what Remus would do if he caught him. For a boy so gentle, Remus Lupin isn't half scary.

So, as Sirius walked down the fifth floor hallway he wasn't looking at where he was going. It was dark, and he had the two lists in his hands as he read and walked - a mistake on his behalf as he's never been very good at multitasking, his wand still tucked in his robes. As he turned a corner he walked into what he thought was a wall, but it turned out to be a person who he had accidentally knocked to the floor.

Sirius gasped, dropping the lists beside the girl who he had knocked over.

"Shit," he said, pulling his bottom lip down.