✌︎︎𝙲𝚕𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝙿𝚘𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙵𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝙼𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚞𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜✌︎︎

Another Attack

James had finally left the pub, without apologizing to neither Clara, nor Sirius.

"I hate him." Clara muttered.

"No, you don't," Lily shook her head. "He's your brother, you're going to fight sometimes; it's expected!"

"Lily, give it a rest, yeah? She's clearly bothered, and you don't have to defend James right now." Remus spoke in an irritated tone.

"He can't help it-"

"He can't help the fact that he's a childish adult?" Remus cut off, giving Lily a look.

Lily frowned and left the table, running to catch up with James as he walked back to the castle under the invisibility cloak.

"Moony-"

"No. He has to own up to his mistakes sometimes," Remus looked at Peter angrily. "He doesn't understand that not everyone has a life as simple as his."

A heavy silence settled upon them all, no one knowing what to say.

Finally, Clara stood up and looked at the group surrounding her. "We should be heading back now." She stated.

Sirius nodded, and took hold of Clara's hand, leading the group with her.

They all made it back to their dorms safely. Other students who had been up after curfew like them, gave them curious looks as they walked, all hand-in-hand, everyone barely able to walk properly.

"Morning," Clara yawned, stretching her arms in bed.

"Morning, Potter!" Marlene exclaimed, and pulled Clara's comfortable blanket off of her, making Clara scream in surprise.

"McKinnon!" Clara whined. "I've just woken up!"

Marlene broke into a fit of giggles and gave Clara her blanket back.

Alice who had just woken up to Clara's scream, was looking around the room, her eyes squinting as if looking for something. She then finally spoke, "so ladies, what's on the agenda for today?"

"Class, Fortescue," Clara smiled tiredly. "I can hardly move a muscle though!" She whined, slowly getting out of bed.

Alice held up something from her bedside table, it was a note. "Lily left us some muggle painkillers," she announced.

"Cheers!" Marlene exclaimed and gestured for Alice to pass her the pack. She grabbed her mug of water, and with its aid, swallowed one of the pills. Marlene then gave one to Clara, instructing her on how to swallow them.

"...Lily left them for us," Alice was explaining to the three boys as they all walked to the Great Hall together.

"It was a bit harsh how you spoke to her yesterday, Remus. Don't you think?" Alice spoke in a low, timid voice; Remus still looked furious from the events of the previous night.

Remus looked at Clara who was still fixing her tie, "no." He stated blankly.

Sirius turned to Remus and whispered something to him. Then, he turned back to Clara, and helped her with her tie; laughing at her helplessness all the while.

The conversation in the Great Hall was kept short and they eventually decided to start making their way over to their classes. Alice, Clara and Sirius had Potions; Remus, Peter, and Marlene had Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Sirius and Clara sat together in Potions - thankfully Slughorn didn't notice - which obviously did not help the spreading of the new rumor.

"Why's Remus still mad, do you know?" Clara suddenly asked Sirius.

He thought for a moment, then it looked as though an idea had popped into his head, but he just shook his head.

"Sirius." Clara raised an eyebrow.

"James apologized last night, in our dorm." He finally responded in a low voice. When he realized that Clara was still confused, he continued, "he was supposed to apologize to you too, V. It didn't exactly help that Lily sided with him again this morning either."

Clara rolled her eyes, "I don't care if he apologizes to me or not, I don't want anyone else to be mad at him on my behalf. Especially not his best friends."

"You have to admit what he did was unfair, V." Sirius reasoned.

"It was, but only I should be mad at him for that; not all of you."

Sirius nodded and turned back to his potion. He spotted Mulciber from the corner of his eye aiming his wand in their direction. It was too late though, a purple jet of light hit Sirius's cauldron, and made it spill all over Clara.

"HOT! HOT! HOT!" She began screaming, fanning herself and jumping around frantically.

Slughorn's attention was immediately caught, and he ordered Sirius to take Clara to Madam Pomfrey immediately.

"It was Mulciber, I'll get the sodding wanker!" Sirius fumed as he helped Clara to the Hospital Wing. "How dare he! Boiling hot potion all over you, he's a madman and a dead one!"

"Yes- dead- are we almost there?" Clara panted. She ran her hand throw her hair furiously, tears escaping her eyes as she felt her skin burning as though a million hot needles were piercing her skin.

"Yeah, yeah, we're here, V." Sirius sighed, pushing open the Hospital Wing doors and helping Clara to the nearest bed.

Madam Pomfrey rushed over from her office, "oh dear! What happened to you this time, Potter?" She questioned with a worried look.

"Burns," Sirius answered, "Mulciber made my cauldron tip over and my potion flew all over her."

"My, my, that boy Mulciber...I will definitely be doing something about this!" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed. She then proceeded to begin healing Clara, and shooed Sirius back to class.

Clara stomped her way back to the Gryffindor Common Room, her hands furiously tying her hair up with a bright red ribbon.

"Alright, Potter?" Mulciber jeered when she passed him, and it took all of Clara's might to just ignore him and not blast him into a wall.

James was sitting in the far corner of the Common Room with Lily and Peter, Sirius and Remus sat in front of the fire, their discussion exchanged in furious whispers.

"Hello," Clara smiled, sitting down beside Sirius, and tapping him on the head.

"All good, V?" Sirius asked, and kissed her on the forehead.

Remus looked away, covering his face as he laughed. "Sirius tells me it was Mulciber," he said, his voice muffled.

"Moony!" Clara broke into a fit of giggles. "Oh come on, we've all seen you and Esme!" She teased.

Sirius howled with laughter, and they both spotted Remus's now scarlet face as he removed his hands.

"The point is, Mulciber wants war? He'll get war-"

"Guys! Guys!" A second year boy broke into the Common Room shrieking.

Everyone gathered around the boy with the Daily Prophet in his hands.

"Tonks? I could swear I know that name!" Frank cried.

"That's because you do. Ted Tonks, he was a part of the All-Wizard tournament in fifth year." Clara pointed out. "What happened to him?"

"Nothing serious, a band of Death Eaters attacked him in the middle of the night," Frank read aloud. "His wife was also attacked, being more advanced in magic, she made it out without a scratch."

"Dromeda!"