Written in the Stars | Sirius Black

XVII. Brown Eyed Girl

Fabian and Clara shared an inquisitive look with one another. There were a million reasons why Clara didn't want to spend Valentine's Day around Sirius, but none of which she wished to voice. Objecting would require some self reflection that she had no desire to explore at the moment.

Clara momentarily wondered if Sirius had put Marlene up to this as a way to torture her. The boy had made it no secret to Clara that he despised being near her when Fabian was around. Though why he felt that way was still not quite clear to her.

There was no excuse that Clara could come up with that Marlene wouldn't have a counter argument for, she knew better than to try. Besides, no matter how much she wanted to find a way out of this, Fabian was offering no help. If only she could catch a moment alone with the redheaded boy to discuss it without an audience, maybe they could come up with an acceptable reason to decline. But the expectant look in the blonde's caramel coloured eyes expedited Clara's response.

"Oh, alright." Clara muttered in defeat.

Marlene beamed, "You're the best, Clara. Have I ever told you that?"

"Usually only when you want something." she replied, rolling her eyes with the faintest hint of a smile.

"Now that's not entirely true." Marlene grinned as she stood from the Gryffindor table before Clara could voice her disagreement.

When Marlene took her first step away from the couple, Clara called out to her. Sounding a bit more urgent than the like, Clara cleared her throat as Marlene turned around with a raised brow.

"Do you think we could have a chat before Saturday?"

"Yeah, of course." was all Marlene said and Clara gave her a nod.

As the blonde turned around once more to head to her first lesson of the day, Clara kept her eyes on the back of her head. It felt like the entire concept of this outing was a disaster in the making.

"Alright there, love? Or are you doing that adorable overthinking thing again?" Fabian teased.

"I wouldn't call it adorable." Clara muttered as she pushed her plate away, quickly losing her appetite.

"Oi, if I say it's adorable, it's adorable." he replied and Clara could practically hear the grin in his voice as he nudged his shoulder against hers, "What's on your mind?"

Clara paused for a moment before turning to him, "I just feel like this is a bad idea."

"And why is that?"

Another pause. Clara couldn't exactly piece together exactly why an impending sense of doom hovered over her. With a shrug, she replied, "Just a gut feeling, I guess."

Fabian hummed in thought as he took a sip of his orange juice. Once he set down his goblet, he laid his arm over Clara's shoulder and pulled her in to press a kiss to her forehead. When their eyes met, he gave her a reassuring smile, "Even the worst case scenario can turn into a good story later on."

Clara pursed her lips, "I don't know about that."

"Trust me."

It was beginning to feel like that was Fabian's catchphrase. Any time Clara seemed to be letting her doubts wreak havoc on her mood, he would reassure her with those two little words that somehow seemed to clear away every dark cloud above her instantly. So, Clara finally decided to go with the flow for once and hope that Saturday would turn out alright – so long as she could have that chat with Marlene beforehand, that is.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✧・゜・。.

On Saturday morning, Clara found herself sitting on Marlene's bed in Ravenclaw tower as the blonde readied herself for their day in Hogsmeade.