mirrorball

chapter one

"What was that about?" Draco whispered.

"I'm getting out of here. Tonight. Come with me."

"Clara you know that's not-"

"No, I know what you're going to say. We can do it, I promise, just pack your things and meet me in my room at midnight."

"And where are we going after that?"

There was a pause as Clara sat on Draco's bed. His green bedding was perfectly smooth and his room didn't have one thing out of place.

"Well, the Weasley's are always willing-"

"Are you kidding me?" Draco said, raising his voice. He quickly lowered it once more and glared at Clara, "I don't expect you thought this through, did you? The Weasley's would never host me."

"Yes they would! But if you're too stubborn to accept their help, that's your own fault. So are you coming or not?"

"No, it's too risky. It's harder for me, Clara, you don't understand if I-"

"Save it. I'll see you at Hogwarts." Clara headed for the door, but paused at the frame. She turned to face Draco once more. "If you change your mind, you know where to find me."

Apparently he had not changed his mind. It was now five past midnight and Clara was packed and ready to go. She opened the window and threw out her string of bed sheets. She was only on the second floor, so luckily she had only needed two sheets to reach the bottom. She grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder. The wind whipped through her hair as she scurried down the makeshift rope. Her feet hit the floor and she began to run. Clara didn't know how long it had taken her to run the seven miles to her house, but it was still dark when she arrived. 

She unlocked the door quickly and ran up the stairs to her room. The door creaked as she opened it, causing her cat to let out a low meow.

"Smoke, thank Godric. You didn't think I'd leave you behind, did you?" The cat rubbed against her affectionately. Clara grabbed her trunk from underneath her bed and threw everything from her room inside of it. Thankfully Clara didn't have many possessions in the first place, so packing up her life was fairly easy.

She set her bag to the ground, allowing Smoke to climb in. Clara walked down to the kitchen and grabbed some food. A loaf of bread, some apples, leftover beans, and a brown banana were all stuffed into Clara's bag. She walked to the front door, but paused for a moment as she saw the door to her father's study. 

Curiosity overtook the girl and she turned the knob. The door slid open, revealing the most expensive room in the house. There was a dark wood desk in the center of the room and Clara walked over to it. She drug her fingers across the fine wood and sat in her father's chair. The desk contained three drawers, and Clara decided it was time for some good old-fashioned snooping.

The first drawer contained old photographs, mainly of Clara. However, there was one photo of Clara and her mother that Clara stuffed into the back pocket of her jeans. 

The second drawer was empty except for an old pen.

Clara reached for the third drawer. It opened just as easily as the others and to Clara's surprise, it was filled to the top. Clara grabbed the papers out from the drawer until it was empty. She grabbed the top paper and saw her name written in messy handwriting. Confusion took over her mind until she looked in the top corner of the paper. Written in the same handwriting were two words that overwhelmed Clara with happiness: Ron Weasley. Clara dug through the other papers to reveal that Ron, Luna, and Hermione had all written to her. And at the bottom of the stack, were letters written by Harry Potter, Clara's enemy. No, that word felt wrong after everything that happened last year. Perhaps he was her acquaintance, maybe even her friend? Her lover? Ok, no that was an exaggeration. Sure, Harry had asked her out at the end of last year, but they hadn't talked since. His feelings could've changed since then, and Clara didn't even know if she still had feelings for him. Clara's attention turned to the large clock in her father's office.