PRANKSTER [1] ↝ C. DIGGORY

twenty

Clary glanced at the clock on the wall, seeing that it was shortly after six in the evening, signaling that she'd been poring over her schoolbooks for nearly four hours. She groaned softly, moving over to her checklist of classes to study for and scratching a line through the word Astronomy, closing the book in front of her and adding it to her completed pile before moving onto Potions.

Clary busied herself with Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger, pulling out a new piece of parchment and beginning to scribble down definitions to study off of in preparation for the upcoming O.W.L. exams. She hardly noticed the books being set down across the table from her or the slight squeaking of the wooden chair being pulled back until a small flash of yellow reached her vision, and she looked up to see Cedric sitting across from her.

"There you are," he mused with a grin, "you weren't at dinner, but Vas said you might be here."

"Here I am," she said, gesturing to the mountain of schoolbooks placed around her. "didn't have much of an appetite. The hunger for knowledge was just enough to keep me going."

"Mind if I join you?" he asked.

"I wish I could, but I actually have to get going." she said, moving to put her schoolbooks back into her messenger bag and eyeing the clock on the wall once more. "Seems someone thought it was a good idea to give me detention tonight." she said with a shrug.

"Seems someone thought it was a good idea to spike my pumpkin juice with Belch Powder." he said nonchalantly, returning the shrug.

"You really should've taken pity on the wounded woman, Diggory," she said, gesturing to her recently unbandaged wrist, "then you could've had yourself a study buddy. It's a shame, really."

"Well, I guess I'll have to miss out." he said as she rose from the table. "Have fun with Lupin,"

Clary gave the boy a small salute before hurrying out of the library and up the stairs towards Lupin's office, to help the man develop his lesson plans for that next week. Over the course of the year, she'd come to find the man quite interesting, both with his occasional unexplained absences and the recently discovered connection he had to Sirius Black, not to mention the eventful, hands-on lessons he gave his students. Hermione had been right, he really was the best Defense Against the Dark Arts professor the school had ever had.

She stopped outside of his office door and knocked twice, instantly being met with the door slowly creaking open on its own, revealing the room beyond. Professor Lupin sat at his desk on the opposite side of the office, folding up a piece of parchment and shoving it into his desk drawer, giving the girl a welcoming grin.

"Ah, Clarissa," he said, gesturing for her to join him, "come in, come in."

"Hello, Professor," she said, setting her bag down next to the chair and taking a seat.

"Professor Hagrid tells me you've been doing quite well in Care of Magical Creatures," the man said, turning back to a slew of parchment pages sprawled across his desk, and he lifted one up, detailing an image of something that appeared to be a scaly monkey-ish creature with webbed hands and feet, and a depression on its head filled with water. "which doesn't surprise me, given that you're such good friends with my niece and nephew. Are you familiar with this creature?"

"That would be a Kappa," Clary said, studying it. "it's a Japanese water demon, if I'm not mistaken."

"Correct," he said, setting it back down. "it's next on my lesson plans. Unfortunately, I'm unable to obtain one for class, but we'll be discussing how to appease a Kappa and prevent yourself from being strangled by one. So," he said, rising from his chair and crossing to a bookshelf propped against the wall behind him. He rifled through the shelves for a moment before pulling out a book and setting it down in front of her. "what I'm going to have you do this evening is look through here and write down everything you can find on the subject."

Clary picked up a quill and parchment before opening the book, turning the pages until she found the chapter detailing Kappas. As she read through the book, Lupin turned back to his other lesson plans, and the two worked in silence before Clary lifted her head up, scribbling down the last note about protecting oneself from a Kappa and closing the book.

"Professor?" Clary asked, causing Lupin's gaze to lift from the plans and land back in her direction. "I was wondering if I could ask you something."

Lupin nodded. "Ask away."

"Well, Newt mentioned that you had been a friend of Sirius Black's when you were in school." she said. "I just wondered if you could tell me a bit about him. What he was like, and all."

The man nodded slowly, his eyes drifting back toward the desk drawer for a moment before turning back to Clary.

"Newton was right." he affirmed. "We were very close, along with James Potter and Peter Pettigrew. They were there for me in a time when it seemed as if no one else was. Sure, Sirius had his faults, we all do."

"Did you see it coming?" she asked, and he shook his head.

"James and Sirius were as close as brothers." he explained. No one would've ever thought he'd betray him. You have to remember, Clarissa, these were very dark times when You Know Who was at power. Families were turning on each other, and no one knew who to trust. But James was always certain that Sirius never would've betrayed them. There was a rumor that a traitor was in our midst. For a while they even thought that it was me. So, when James and Lily Potter knew they had to go into hiding, they needed a Secret Keeper. James chose Sirius for that very reason, that he would never betray them. I never saw them again after that. They went into hiding, and You Know Who attacked a few months later."

"Who did you think did it?" she asked.

The man shrugged. "I thought I knew. But I'm not so sure anymore." Lupin eyed the clock on the wall. "Well, Clarissa, it's nearly curfew. I should really send you back before you're caught in the halls after hours." she handed him the piece of parchment, and he glanced over it. "Thank you for all your help."

"Of course," she said, standing from her chair and picking up her bag, slinging it over her shoulder. "have a good night, Professor."

"You too, Miss Weasley," he said, waving his wand and the office door opened once more. "you too."