The Quiet Kind Of Beauty -Marauder Era

Chapter 14

As Daniel shrunk smaller and smaller, Clara let out a frustrated groan. Daniel was polite and respectful enough, but she didn't want to meet again. She couldn't just pretend to like him, and then tear him down. The sooner she told him that she was against marriage, the better. For the both of them.

Night fell unusually fast that day, and Clara did her best to keep her eyes inside the carriage and not on the eerie, pitch black forest. Her breathing was forced to inhale and exhale slowly, but her imagination just refused to stay on the rational road in her mind, wandering off to remind her of every childhood monster she could remember.

After a few minutes, the sunny glow of the castle lights slowly stretched onto the cobbled street under the carriage's wheel, getting increasingly bright as the carriage neared the giant iron gates. Clara braced herself for the carriage's to stop by stretching her left leg in front of her, pushing against the seat in front of her and gripping the handle above her head just as the carriage jerked violently to a stop. With an irritated sigh, she stepped into the warm night air and made her way towards the entrance, shrugging off her blazer off her shoulders and moving her long hair behind her.

"Ms. Campbell, a little late aren't we?" The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor tutted, checking her name off of a floating scroll of parchment.

"My apologies, professor. I lost track of time," Clara said, offering a timid smile as she slipped past her teacher. She made a right in front of the great doors of the main Hall, making her way to the Gryffindor common room. Her heels made soft clicking noises against the stone floor and echoing off the walls, making the noise a hundred times louder. For some reason, she felt awkward, walking alone with the noise of her shoes. It would be much better if I was walking in complete silence... Clara sighed, moving over to the wall for support as she bent down to unbuckle her high heels. When her feet were finally flat against the floor, and her shoes in her hands, there was a sigh of relief escaping her lips. No matter how many times she's walking in them, they'll always be a means of torture to her.

It took her a little longer than usual to get up to the common room, mainly because Peeves decided to swoop in and harass her for the majority of that time.

"Ooh, who do we have here?" Peeves cackled, circling around Clara's short body. "Little miss curly head is out here all alone!"

"Don't make me get the Baron, Peeves."

"Oh that bloody Bloody Baron, as if he scares me!" He snorted, rocketing up into the air and bouncing off the walls.

"Oh, then I guess you won't mind if I went and got him, now would you?" Clara crossed her arms, and turned on her heel, slowly walking down the hall.

"Okay, okay, I'm down. Sheesh, have a little fun," Peeves pouted. Clara just rolled her eyes and moved around him.

"Git," She muttered. "One day the Baron is going to kick your sorry ass real bad,"

"Oh ho, don't let good ol' daddy hear you," Peeves snickered. Clara flipped him off by showing him her favourite finger.

~*~

When she finally reached the Gryffindor common room, it was almost empty except for a few stragglers who were studying for the upcoming exams.

Clara tip-toed past them and climbed up the staircases leading up to the girls' dormitories. When she approached the door bearing her and Lily's dorm, she tried to be extra quiet. Lily wasn't a very cheerful person if awoken abruptly. She slid the door open quietly, expecting to walk into a dark room, but to her surprise Lily wasn't in the room. She's probably with James in a dark corner or something, she thought to herself with an eye roll.