The Quiet Kind Of Beauty -Marauder Era

Chapter 21

The Quiet Kind Of Beauty -Marauder Era-

We never learn, we've been here before

Why are we always stuck and running from

The bullets? The bullets?

We never learn, we've been here before

Why are we always stuck and running from

The bullets? The bullets?

- Harry Styles, Sign of the Times 

~*~

It was well into the night, but Sirius found himself struggling to rest his mind, for obvious reasons. It pained him to know that the very man who was the cause of Clara's anxieties was sitting next to her, and... and doing what exactly? Joseph Campbell didn't strike Sirius as a warm, comforting presence. His chest clenched.

He turned onto his other side.

Remus' soft breaths filtered through the air, interrupted by Peter's occasional hiccup-esque ones. James had decided to give Lily company, as there was now a free bed in her dorm.

It had only been a couple of hours since the incident, but everyone was feeling it.

The small, yet ever present Clara shaped hole in everyone's every day life.

~*~

It was the second last day of school. People should have been bustling with the end-of-year jitters, instead, everyone noticed the change in the Marauders' tone. There were whispers, and curious glances, and Sirius found himself wishing for the umpteenth time that he was somewhere, anywhere, else than the gossip-hive that was the Great Hall of Hogwarts.

From the front of the hall, he saw McGonagall rise from the teachers table. She strolled towards them with a message. "Headmaster Dumbledore has requested your attendance before your first classes." She informed.

Lily paled from the corner of Sirius' eye. "Is it about Clara? Is she okay?"

The professor missed a beat. "The Headmaster will explain." With a final sweeping look at the group, she walked back to her place at the teachers table.

Sirius wondered if he looked as worried as he felt.

~*~

"As you are aware, the severe decline in Ms. Campbell's health became apparent last night, when Ms. Evans and Mr. Black stumbled upon her faint figure," Dumbledore began. "Healers at Saint Mungo's have informed us that her well-being was attacked by prolonged, extreme stress, most likely induced by her final examinations."

"So Clara had a mental breakdown?" Lily asked, eyes narrowing slightly.

Sirius could not blame her for her skepticism. In the circumstance, it made sense. However, in the light of the way she had been acting when it happened... it was debatable.

"That is what it appears to be, yes," Dumbledore responded.

"Forgive me, Headmaster," Remus interrupted. "But why are you telling us this?"

There was a silence. Then, "Ms. Campbell's father requested that you be put at ease."

After that, Sirius found that he had stopped listening to the rest of the conversation.

~*~

"Do you believe that's what really happened?" Lily had asked after the day's classes.

The entire group was sitting outside, under the shade of a large tree, facing the Black Lake. "I think it's the half-truth," Sirius admitted. "We all knew Clara was stressed, but what happened last night? That was something else," he turned to face her, his mouth in a hard line. "I keep feeling like she's scared of something, Lily. She said the word 'auxilium'; it means 'help' in Latin, Lily. "