The Quiet Kind Of Beauty -Marauder Era

Chapter 23

She rolled her eyes, and traced her thumb over the crack between the top and bottom. "I mean inside it. There should be a way to open... Aha!" She pressed on a smooth piece of metal and the mirror clicked open. Lily opened the compact, which held a mirror on one side and a sliding panel on the other. She slid it to the side with her fingernail, revealing a small slip of paper wedged between the tiny hatch and the bottom of the compact.

Lily dug the paper out carefully, unfolding the parchment and smoothing out the wrinkles. Inside, Sirius recognized Clara's handwriting.

"It says 'two way'..." Lily mumbled, her eyebrows furrowing.

A shock went through Sirius. "It's a two way mirror,"

Lily whipped her head to meet his eyes, a grin slowly making its way onto her face. Looking proud, she stared down at the mirror, before extending it back to Sirius. "Here,"

He shook his head, pushing her hand back, but Lily persisted. "She gave it to you," She said firmly, looking him in the eye. "Not me. She wanted you to have this,"

~*~

On the way to the Potters' house, Sirius allowed himself to take a break from the visuals outside the car (and James' loud snoring inside the car) to crack the mirror open and peer into the reflective surface.

It may have been his wishful thinking, but he could've sworn he saw a pair of ocean blue eyes flash in his palm.

~*~

Clara's body was humming when she arrived home. She couldn't tell if it was from seeing Sirius again, or from disbelief that she had slipped him a compact mirror that she had charmed to be two way. A mirror, whose sister sat on her dresser, that might help her run away.

Feeling as if she was floating, she started towards the staircase, only to be jerked back by a hand on her shoulder that shoved her roughly against a wall. Her upper back sparked with pain, strong enough for a gasp to escape her lips. Joseph held her against the wall, his fingers tight into her shoulder. Another sharp pang went through Clara's body and she visibly flinched. Joseph's eyes flashed.

He dug his fingers into her skin.

The message was very apparent. Clara let out a small sound of pain, hating the way she immediately teared up and, hated even more, the way she couldn't tell her father to let go of her. She hated that she couldn't look away from the floor. She hated that she knew that somewhere above her, her father bore holes into her skull with eyes that looked like hers.

Somewhere behind Joseph, there was a shuffle and a weak, "Mr. Campbell-".

His grip on her released abruptly, as if brought back to sanity by Bailiwick's concern.

Clara spared no time looking at either of their faces. She ran past Bailiwick, almost tripping over her trunk, and up the stairs. It was only when she turned into the east wing that she allow a tear to slide down her cheek. As she slipped into her room, she took gulping breaths, and shut her eyes tightly. The pain in her shoulder was beginning to ebb, but the stinging in her heart was beginning to resurface.

She took another deep breath.

When she opened her eyes, she was still.

~*~

After a quarter hour of laying in bed with her head under the covers, she remembered the mirror. Numbly, she crawled out of bed and towards the dresser on the other side of the room. A mirror identical to the one she gave to Sirius sat on the sleek wood, surface unscathed. Clara grabbed it and returned to bed, tucking her head under the covers and clicking it open, hoping that by some miracle Sirius was looking back at the same time.

Luck seemed to enjoy toying with its preference, because a pair of grey eyes stared back at her before she even opened the mirror the entire way.

She was so surprised that her hand jerked, and the mirror thumped onto her mattress. Yanking the sheets off her head, she sat up hurriedly and fumbled with the mirror. Once it was facing her again, relief spread through her mind because Sirius was still in the reflection.

There was movement on the other end, and his eyes disappeared and half of his mouth appeared, a smile pulling at his mouth to reveal his teeth. Then they were gone, because the angle had panned out and Clara could see his entire face.

Having nothing else to do, Clara set the mirror down on her mattress, angling the surface so it was showing her face (at least, she hoped it was her face. Two way mirrors don't show your own reflection), and waved slightly.

Instead of waving back, he touched the bridge of his nose, a twinkle in his eye and a shy smirk pulling at his lips. Confused, Clara furrowed her eyebrows. She touched her own nose, and then scowled when she remembered her sunburn.

~*~

Clara scowled on the other end of the mirror and Sirius couldn't help but let out a chuckle. His movement caused the image to flicker, and cut for a few seconds. Just as he began to wonder what happened, there was a flash and Clara was back in his palm, her curly hair flowing down her bare shoulders. There was a strange look on her face, and he noticed, for the first time, the puffiness around her eyes and redness on the tip of her nose that was not caused by her sunburn. Her lips were pulled down, as if she had realized something unpleasant.

Sirius frowned. Are you okay? He mouthed.

Her brows furrowed as she focused on the movements of his lips. She looked back up when she understood, her eyes unreadable. She lifted her shoulders to shrug, then winced at the action. From the other side of the mirror, Sirius saw her take a deep breath, and his insides twisted in an odd way.

Both were still after that. Sirius didn't know what to do, so he rested his head against the window of the Potters' silent car. James sat across the backseat, snoring slightly, his sweater between the two. Seeing that the sweater was no longer in use, Sirius grabbed it and draped it over his head, hiding himself as well as the compact from view.

Clara matched his actions, moving the mirror with her as she lay on her side. A moment later, a purple sheet covered her head, casting a soft lavender glow over her profile as sunlight filtered through the cloth.

Sirius felt his pace quicken. It was an odd, yet pleasant, intimate moment that Sirius hadn't expected to unravel him in the manner that it did.

It seemed to have the same on Clara as well, because her eyes welled with tears that tried to escape. She raised a wiry hand up to cover her face, eyes squinted shut behind it.

As Sirius watched helplessly, he remembered thinking that he'd steal all the stars in the sky if it meant she'd never cry again.