SEREIN || Sirius Black

Chapter 15

The next few weeks flew by as Clara was engulfed by school and quidditch. Her relationship with Sirius was back to normal after the minor hiccup. James wasn't thrilled hearing about the bubbling friendship Clara had developed with Amos telling Clara she was fraternizing with the enemy far too much.

Quidditch practices were starting to get brutal as the team started ramping up to play Slytherin in a few weeks. The weather was starting to get much colder reminding Clara of the Massachusetts winters she certainly wasn't going to miss. James had scheduled two practices on Friday's and Sunday's much to the team's chagrin.

After a particularly brutal practice in the cold rain one Friday evening Clara, Sirius and James made their way back to the common room. James was going on and on about how half the team wasn't as committed as he needed them to be. James was upset that most of the team decided it was too cold and dangerous to be flying around in the dark.

"Blimey James! It's 7 degrees out and pouring rain." Sirius interrupted his ranting. Clara decided to keep her mouth shut.

James looked at him peculiarly. "So?"

"Mate, you don't want your entire team sick, do you?"

James shook his head. "I suppose not."

Clara shot Sirius a thankful gaze as she shivered in her uniform. She knew she should have brought her wand to cast the warming spell, but it slipped her mind as she was already late to practice.

"Love?" Sirius looked at her. "Are you cold?"

She rolled her eyes as her teeth chattered. "What gave it away?" She said grumpily as they started to climb the stairs to get back to the common room.

He pulled out his wand giving it a little wave. Hot air hit Clara, her clothing began to dry rapidly. "You've had that the whole time and you're just using it now?" She pointed at his wand.

He smiled. "Sorry love, I forgot."

"Make yourself useful then." James turned to his friend waiting to be dried off.

Sirius obliged drying James off then himself. "Thank you." Clara said softly once all three were warm again.

"Anything for you." He shot her a wink. James rolled his eyes continuing up the staircase.

Once they made it to the common room, they were all surprised to see that the room was nearly empty. Clara decided to sit by the fire for a bit while James and Sirius made their way back to their dormitory. She wasn't sitting there long before someone sat down next to her. She turned to see a very nervous looking Remus twiddling his thumbs staring intently at the fire.

"Hi Remus." Clara smiled.

He nodded. "Clara."

"Can't sleep?" She asked.

He shook his head. "I was actually waiting for you to get back from practice."

"What for?" Clara asked curious as to what he needed.

"I don't know how to go about this." He sighed running his hands through his hair.

"Just ask." She smiled warmly to him trying to coax it out of him.

"Well, I found some aconite. A lot of it actually in the forest." He spoke.

Clara raised her eyebrows. Bringing up aconite again? "You went into the forest?"

He nodded. "I did."

She hummed. "Must be important to you then?" She knew she was digging hoping for an answer he so desperately tried to avoid.