"Ah, it's like old times!" Sirius said resting back against the castle wall, enjoying the sun. "Except we're not getting yelled at."
Remus and Nixie looked over at each other before looking at Sirius.
"McGonagall yelled at you this morning." Nixie reminded him.
"Oh Minnie wasn't yelling, she was just speaking loudly is all." Sirius said dismissing the accusations.
"Minnie, huh? I dare you to call her that to her fac-" Remus clapped his hand over Nixie's mouth.
"Don't dare him, you know he'll do it!"
Nixie removed his hand. "I know, I wanted to see McGonagall turn him into a pincushion. It certainly would have made my day."
Remus thought about it for a moment. "Actually Sirius, you should go speak with-"
The three professors stopped their conversation as they heard crying approach the area they were standing at.
"What the hell?" Sirius sat up straight, as the three of them caught sight of Clara Easton passing by sobbing hard into her hands.
"Oh dear," Nixie frowned. "She's terribly upset."
"What gave you the hint?" Sirius asked her, but Nixie whacked him on the arm.
"That's not helping."
Sirius rubbed his arm as they watched the girl sit away from them in the corner of the castle. She tucked herself into a tight ball trying to hide in the darkness of the corner.
"Oh...someone should go talk to her..." Nixie said. "Remus-"
"Me?!" Remus pointed to himself. "Why me?!"
"Because Sirius is horrible when it comes to being around people crying. He often makes it worse."
"And you? Don't you think she would do better talking to a woman?" Remus asked her.
"Just because we both have vaginas doesn't mean we relate any better on a conversational level. I would do better consoling a dolphin more so than a teenage girl half the time if that was the case." Nixie pointed out. Remus cringed at her blunt and forward response.
"I think what Nixie meant to say is, you have a better approach when it comes to comforting people. Besides, you actually experienced the trials of having a teenage girl once..talk to her like you would talk to Ellie."
Remus made a face at the two of them before leaving them to walk over to Clara's spot.
Sirius looked to Nixie after Remus walked away.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked him.
"I'm just so caught up with the idea of you offering therapy sessions to a dolphin, Professor Flipper."
"You know what Black, I don't think I'll have to wait to see McGonagall turn you into a pincushion, because I'm fully capable of doing it myself!"
Clara's face and the sleeves of her jumper were soaked from crying as she sat slumped in the chosen corner. Suddenly, she felt someone sit next to her, causing her to look up. She saw Professor Lupin sitting beside her, the look on his face making it obvious that he had o idea how to start off the conversation.
"Not to state the obvious," Professor Lupin began," but you seem highly upset and as one of your professors, I have to admit, I'm highly concern, Miss Easton. So may I be so bold to ask you what's wrong?"
Clara sniffed before wiping her face with her damp sleeve.
"I'm so stupid." she said.
"I don't agree with that, but why do you believe such a thing?"
"Because it's true. I thought...I thought he was different...not just from the person I had somewhat known back before the war...but I thought he was different from the majority of this school."
"Different in the sense of-"
"Different in the sense that my scars weren't a burden to him just like they are to everyone else. My face is just a reminder to people it seems. I want to try and help people get over things that happened in the past, but how can I do it, when the past is written clear across my face?!"
"Listen to me very carefully," Professor Lupin said to her after a moment of silence passed between them. "Your scars only say one thing about you, Miss Easton and do you know what that is?"
"No? What?"
"That you were incredibly brave. That you still are incredibly brave and you will always be brave. No one can take that from you. To face a werewolf and to live is remarkable, but to wake up everyday and bring yourself to class and live out your life as you once did, that makes you extraordinary."
"I don't feel so extraordinary."
"Not yet. But you will, because you have to believe that you are extraordinary first to feel it. Anyone who would consider you a burden or a reminder should have no place in your life. You should only surround yourself with the positives."
"Thank you, Professor."
"Anytime. I know are situations are different but if you ever need to talk about it...feel free to."
"I will."
Clara laid in her bed that evening, not bothering to go dinner as Abby sat on the bed with her, stroking the girl's hair.
"Are you ever going to talk to him again, Clara?" Abby asked.
"No," Clara sighed, " probably not. I've tried helping him, but maybe some people can't be helped."
"Do you really believe that?"
Clara didn't answer as she pressed her lips together and closed her eyes before burying her face into her pillow.
Draco wasn't sure what brought him back to the spot where he had started feeling his low point as a Death Eater .But he found himself sitting on the floor of the first floor girl's lavatory after heinously ripping apart at his left forearm. He felt himself begin to slip away into a peaceful quietness when he was greeted by a face he had once confided in.
Her voice called out to him in a slightly panic tone, but he didn't respond. He didn't want to respond. He didn't want to do anything but just lie there until it was all over.