TRIGGER WARNING: VIOLENCE, SWEARING.
Clara and Sirius walked back to the Gryffindor common room, filling the halls with their contagious laughter.
"Sirius Black, right?"
In front of the two seniors stood two younger girls. The one who had spoken had her hand stuck out for a handshake.
Sirius cocked an eyebrow, and Clara restrained herself from laughing. "Of course, but why the doubt? Everyone knows the famous Sirius Black, the Casanova of Gryffindor!" He placed his hands on his hips confidently.
The other girl snorted. "Oh please! We all know the Casanova of Gryffindor is the one and only Remus Lupin!"
At that Clara could no longer contain her laughter and burst into a fit of giggles. Sirius narrowed his eyes at her, "whaaat? She's not wrong!" Clara held her hands up in defense.
The first girl shook her head furiously, "don't listen to them, Sirius, you're the fittest in the entire school!"
Sirius pulled Clara by the hand, leaving the two girls to argue. "I'm telling Remus about that, by the way."
James sat with Lily, Remus and Peter in the common room, the four of them revising for their upcoming test in Charms.
"Hey guys," Clara yawned, and sat herself down beside Peter. "Revising for Charms, are you, Pete?"
Peter nodded, "you should probably get at it too, Flitwick's being as harsh as ever with the amount of material."
"You're right, I probably should. However, I don't really feel like it," Clara smiled.
James looked over at the two and raised his eyebrows, "you do know if you flunk this, mum and dad are going to kill you," he told Clara.
"Except I'm not failing," Clara said, and got up to sit beside Sirius on the couch. "I might get at him any moment now; your job is to stop me, so be prepared, yeah?"
"Cut him some slack, Potter, he hasn't done anything, all right?" Sirius sighed and wrapped his arm around Clara's shoulder.
Clara shrugged, and leaned into Sirius's embrace, her eyes slowly closing, feeling heavier as each second passed. "Don't wake me up." She mumbled, her arms wrapping around Sirius's mid-section.
"All right, V." Sirius yawned, he too was feeling sleepy.
Clara's rest didn't last long when she heard a snarky comment made by some boy passing by. "Look at that little bitch, throwing herself all over that asshole, Black."
Clara didn't even stop to think. She found herself jumping right on to the boy, knocking him off his feet.
The boy reacted quickly, standing up and backing away. "You're right mental, you are!" He shouted, holding his wand up to his defense.
Clara attempted to pull out her wand, but felt a strong hand pull her arm back. She yanked off what she assumed to be Sirius's hand, and pulled out her wand, pointing it at the boy.
Everyone in the Common Room stopped to stare at the fight, some moving out of the way.
"Hey, whore!" Another boy who seemed to be friends with the first one called out to Clara, "back off, you cunt!" Clara recognized the boy immediately, Daniel O'Shaughnessy, a Gryffindor sixth year, she never minded him much.
James caught Clara off guard, pulling her aside, and away from the fight.
Clara didn't spare a second, she threw James off and cast a spell in Daniel's direction, clearing her path for the other boy, Ben Maxwell.
"Clara, no!" Sirius reached for Clara as she aimed her wand for Ben.
"AVADA KADAVRA!" She screamed, and wails filled the Common Room. Sirius knocked Clara's wand out of her hand, and Remus threw her on the couch.
Everyone looked directly at Ben, thankfully, Clara missed when Sirius knocked her wand.
"Run, Ben!" Lily shouted, and Ben didn't hesitate.
Remus, Lily, Peter, James, and Sirius all held Clara in place.
"GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. "I'M GOING TO KILL- AH!"
James slapped Clara across the face. "You listen here, and you listen well! How dare you?!"
Remus and Peter cleared everyone out of the Common Room, and Lily stood pale-faced.
"HE-"
"NO, YOU! YOU, CLARA! YOU, ALL YOU!" James shook his head furiously. He stopped at took a deep breath, "a bloke calls you a bitch and you try to kill him?! You're absolutely sodding mental!"
"He called Sirius an asshole too, you know!" Clara retorted.
James rubbed his temples. "THAT IS NO BLOODY EXCUSE TO KILL A MAN!"
"Okay, James, that's enough, I'll take care of it." Sirius interrupted.
"No, no, back off, mate." James shook his head, moving Sirius out of the way.
"He's right, James, things need to cool down as it is, all right?" Remus told James, and left no room for him to object, silently moving him out of the way.
Sirius attempted to take Clara's hand, but she smacked it away. "Sod off."
"No. Let's go." Sirius pulled Clara up and took her up to her dorm. "Don't test me, Potter, don't."
Clara did, in fact, test him. She tried pulling away, "how could you let someone talk about me like that? How, huh? Let me go after him, please! I'll blow his bloody head off!"
Sirius didn't answer her. They walked into Clara's dorm and Sirius opened her wardrobe furiously, getting out her pajamas and throwing them on her bed. "Go on, change, I'll wait outside."
Clara watched as Sirius left her dorm, then sat on her bed with her head between her hands, muttering to herself.
After about five minutes, Sirius opened the door, and found Clara still in her day clothes. "Oh Merlin," he murmured. "All right, without changing then." Sirius laid Clara down on her bed and tucked her in. "Sleep. We'll talk about it tomorrow."
On his way out, Sirius turned the lights off and shut the door.
Clara did sleep, but not for long. At around half past midnight, she got out of bed, put on her shoes, and set for the Common Room. Her dorm was empty, her roommates probably didn't want to spend the night in a dorm with a crazed maniac.
The sound of her shoes caught the attention of a figure sitting on one of the couches.
"Remus Lupin?" Clara croaked.
He nodded. Remus held in his hands Clara's wand, putting it away when Clara sat beside him on the couch.
"You should be in bed." Remus whispered, his voice cold and distant.
Clara sighed and laid her head on his shoulder, a tear travelling down her cheek. "Am I a bad person, Remus?"
Remus looked at Clara, "yes."
Clara felt sick in the stomach at Remus's response. A sudden waterfall of tears left her eyes, and she threw herself onto the side of the couch opposite Remus.
"You're right. You're so right, Remus!" She wept. "Why am I like this!" Her voice cracked in despair. "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry..."
"Quit it, Clara. I'm done with you. You always fail to see what you're doing wrong. Sorry isn't going to cut it when you try to murder someone." Remus finished, standing up and leaving Clara to cry alone.
As mad as Remus was, he still couldn't find it in his heart to let Clara cry herself to sleep in the dark, so when he reached his dorm, he told Sirius where she was.
"All right, V," Sirius sighed as he walked down the stairs that led to the boy's dormitories. "There, there," he patted her on the back, carrying her into his lap.
"I'm sorry, Pads, I'm so sorry!" She cried, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"You'll tell Ben that tomorrow," Sirius decided. "Everyone makes mistakes, I know, you're just lucky I stopped your biggest one."
Clara nodded rapidly, "I love you, Sirius, I really do-"
"Don't say that."
"But I do-"
"Okay, okay. Enough, V." Sirius whispered softly. "I don't want to hear it, all right?"
"I'm sorry." Clara said, looking up at Sirius with tears in her eyes. "Do you love me?"
Sirius placed her head against his chest, "sleep."