Because We Are Made Of Dreams

Some Animagi In Hogsmeade

The threat was serious. As the four boys sat in their dormitory, silent, they were all aware of how dangerous the situation was. The Slytherins wanted to make the girls pay, and they knew it would be violent.

"When do you reckon they will strike?" Remus finally asked.

"Hogsmeade trip, this weekend, no doubt," answered James.

Sirius nodded.

"They won"t try anything inside the Castle. They know we"re here, and that if they want to attack the girls inside Hogwarts they will have us to deal with too," Sirius said. "But in the village, it"s another story. All the girls have dates, we can"t stay with them."

"And yet we have to," James stated. "There"s no way I"ll let them out of my sight with the Slytherins unleashed. No bloody way!"

"How then?" asked Peter, full of scepticism. "It"s not like we can just go see them and say "Hey girls, sorry about your dates, but because of the Slytherins, we"ll have to stick together all day"! They will only get mad at us."

"Peter"s right, we have to find another way," agreed Remus.

"Frank will be with Alice, we just have to tell him what we learned, and he"ll look after her," proposed Peter.

But both Sirius and James shook their heads.

"No one must know, Wormtail," replied Sirius. "If any of the Slytherins learn that we know they"re preparing something, they"ll be more careful, and you can be sure they won"t make any mistakes. But for now all they know is that we had a fight with the girls, and that we"re not on speaking terms anymore. Which means..."

"That they will try to attack them while they think we don"t give a damn about them," finished Remus. "Because we won"t be there to look after them."

James nodded.

"But we"ll be there. And if we talk to Frank, he"ll go all paranoid and they will either back away, or act rashly, and he and Alice might get badly hurt. No, we have to find a way to keep an eye on them all, without anyone noticing."

"We"ll have to split up," stated Sirius. "Each one of us takes a girl and follows her closely. And each one of us must be undercover."

"I"ll have the cloak," said James. "But what are the rest of you going to do?"

A mischievous smile formed on Sirius"s face.

"Guess they"ll have to deal with a big black dog then."

The boys laughed.

"Alright Padfoot," James said, patting his friend on the back, "that is brilliant. Wormtail, I reckon your rat form will be perfect."

Peter nodded proudly, grinning.

"And so for me, a Disillusionment Charm it is," finished Remus.

"Perfect, I"ll take Lily. Moony, you"ll take Alice, Wormtail, you"ll follow Clara and Sirius will take care of Marlene."

"I"ll take care of Clara," replied Sirius.

His voice was low and so stern, none of his friends argued. Peter was assigned to the protection of Marlene, whilst Sirius would follow Clara.

"No mistakes boys," added James, ""cause we won"t have another chance for sure."

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Liam grinned as he saw Lily coming down the staircase. She was wearing a blue skirt, a white top and a white jacket. She was beautiful. He kissed her on the lips to welcome her and took her hand.

"Ready to go?"

"Sure! Do you mind if we walk with the girls till Hogsmeade?"

"Of course not."

Alice and Frank followed closely, and soon Marlene too. Simon approached them.

"Hi! Do you know where Clara is?"

Lily smiled.

"Right behind you."

The blond boy turned and looked at his date as the sixth-year girl was coming down the stairs. She was wearing a green dress with a deep brown jacket. Her lips were red with lipstick. She was gorgeous, and Simon let his eyes wander across her body. This was going to be a really good day... They all departed for Hogsmeade together as planned, without noticing that right behind them, four boys under an invisibility cloak were following closely, their wands tightly held in their hands.

All the couples split up when they got to Hogsmeade, and as planned so did the four friends. Peter and Sirius transformed quickly, heading towards the girls they had been assigned to, whilst Remus cast a Disillusionment Charm upon himself. He patted James"s shoulder and followed Frank and Alice to the Three Broomsticks. Lily and Liam were walking slowly in the High Street, chatting merrily.

"So, what do you want to do?" Liam asked Lily.

"I"d like very much to buy a new book."

"Let"s go then."

After several steps in silence, Liam spoke again.

"Lils, what was it all about the other day? Your row with the Marauders?"

"Sirius was kind of a prat with Clara," Lily answered, her face more tense. "And James didn"t say anything. So Clara is mad at Sirius, and I"m mad at James."

"What did Black do?"

"He got all mad because she is having a date with Simon today. Which is ridiculous."

"Why?"

"Because he has no right to get mad at her for that. He"s not a member of her family, nor her boyfriend or ex-boyfriend or anything."

"Maybe he likes her."

"God help me! I hope you"re wrong. It"s Sirius we"re talking about, he"s never cared about any girl he"s been with before. If you can even say that he has been in a relationship before... Do you think something like what Sirius does is considered as a relationship?"

"Not a serious one, for sure."

"Yeah, well... anyway I"m kind of scared of Sirius trying anything with her. After all they"ve become quite close. I don"t think he would hurt her on purpose, but I think he could get scared of having a real relationship, and Clara will never accept less. So, it would be quite complicated I think, not very reasonable."

"And what about Potter?"

Lily heaved a sigh.

"He took Sirius"s side. And I took Clara"s side. We argued, and he pissed me off, a lot."

"It"s weird that you and he are finally getting along. After all, he did ask you out an incredible number of times these past five years."

She took his hand.

"He"s not like that anymore. He finally grew up I guess. He hasn"t done anything too stupid this year yet, nor asked me out every single time he saw me, nor put me in an uncomfortable position or anything. And he has a girlfriend too, final proof that he has at last given up on me."

"It"s still weird that all of a sudden you don"t hate him anymore."

She seemed to think for a while, before giving her boyfriend an answer.

"I can"t say that I hated him. I mean, I didn"t like him, and he made me angry so often... But I don"t think you can say it was actual hate."

James smiled behind them. He was beginning to like this conversation very much.

"It looked like hate to me," replied Liam.

"No, it wasn"t. I just didn"t like how he was with Sev, and I didn"t like the way he was always pushing himself to the front. He was trying to impress me, and he made me feel like an i***t most of the time, and that I hated. But I can"t say I knew him enough to hate him as a person. And I appreciate the person he is today, really I do."

James looked at her intensely. So that"s why she didn"t like him before, and why she had become friendly with him this year. He had taken the problem completely in the wrong way. He had tried to impress her, when he should have tried to be himself and nothing more. Regrets rushed upon him. If he had not been that stupid, and had stopped all the nonsense before, she might not have been with Liam today, but with him.

"So, do you hate him again?"

She laughed.

"No, I don"t hate him. I"m just mad at him. It will be over in a couple of days, and things will be back to normal."

Safely hidden under the cloak, James couldn"t help but grin. This row with him didn"t mean anything to her either, and it was definitely good news.

They arrived at the bookshop. Lily turned a pensive look towards the street, talking more to herself than to her boyfriend.

"I wonder how Clara is doing with Simon right now?"

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Clara and Simon were walking on a road next to Hogsmeade. Simon wanted to show her a place he liked very much, and the further they went away from the village, the more alone they were. Clara started to chew her lower lip nervously. She had no idea where they were going and she didn"t know him enough to trust him completely, and it was making her feel quite uncomfortable.

"I think we"re being followed," he said suddenly, quite anxious.

She turned back and laughed at him. They were being followed indeed, but it was only a big black dog. As soon as they turned towards him, the animal hid himself in bushes on the side of the road.

"It"s just a dog!" she laughed.

"I don"t like dogs very much to be honest," he replied carefully. "And this one looks weird, and big, and vicious..."

"Oh come on! I"m sure he"s alright."

She headed towards the hidden dog, got down on her knees in front of the bush and gently called the animal.

"Come on boy, come out. I"m not going to hurt you."

Shit, she had seen him. He hadn"t been quick enough to hide. The bushes were full of hawthorns and so he couldn"t walk through them to follow her discreetly. Anyway, she had seen him, it was too late to hide now. Sirius came slowly out of the bush, like a suspicious dog. As soon as he was on the road with her, she started to scratch him behind the ears, and he happily wagged his tail. He barked loudly when she stopped, making her laugh, and she scratched him again.

"Does he have a dog-collar or anything?" asked Simon from afar. The boy wisely kept a certain distance between himself and the animal.

"No, he hasn"t."

"You shouldn"t touch him like that Clara. He must have been abandoned, maybe he"s got a disease or something."

"Of course he"s not sick! Look at him, he looks great, and clean... But it"s weird he"s alone on this road, you"re right."

She turned to the dog.

"Have you been abandoned?"

The dog stared back at her. His eyes were grey and a surprisingly intelligent glint seemed to pierce her. His eyes reminded her so much of Sirius"s...

"Can we go now?" asked Simon, quite tired of the dog.

"Sure."

She got up, but as she walked away, the dog followed her. She laughed.

"Well, I guess we"ll have to deal with him today."

"Great..."

"Oh come on Simon, he seems nice. I like him."

The dog barked happily and started to jump furiously around the couple. Though Clara was laughing harder than ever at the sight of the crazy dog, Simon wasn"t happy at all.

"We"re almost there," he indicated, trying not to show his annoyance.

They turned left and crossed through a barrier of trees, before entering a nice glade. The tall trees were still wet from the heavy rain of the previous night, and a strong smell of wet earth was in the air. They sat on a big rock in the middle of the glade.

"Do you like thise place?" Simon asked her.

"Sure, it"s nice."

The dog laid his head down on her lap and she stroked it gently. He closed his eyes, waving his tail more than ever.

"So, what happened with the four Gryffindors since last week? Are you still mad at them?"

Clara sighed.

"I"m mad at Sirius, not at all of them."

"It"s not better?"

"We haven"t talked at all since it happened, so..."

"Guess you"ll have to make the first move. It"s Sirius Black after all..."

She frowned hard.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he"s got a big ego. And he"s kind of a jerk sometimes, so..."

"Don" say things like that! He"s not a jerk!"

"Don"t get mad at me! You said it yourself!"

"I was angry, I didn"t mean it."

The dog licked her cheek. She laughed and stroked his head again. Simon rolled his eyes.

"Alright then, he"s not a jerk. Happy?"

"Very."

"But I still think he"s not going to apologise."

"Guess you"re right."

She sighed heavily, glancing away at the trees surrounding them.

"Clara, can I ask you something quite personal?"

"Of course."

"Is there anything going on between you and him?"

"What?!"

"Or has been?"

"No, of course not! We"re friends, that"s all."

"I"m just asking. I mean, the way he reacted with me, it looked more to me like jealousy than anything else."

The dog got down off her lap and cuddled on her feet, listening closely.

"Nothing is or has been going on between us. We"re friends, end of story."

"It still amazes me that Black hasn"t tried anything with you yet. I would never have believed he could control himself for so long."

The dog rose his head and glowered at the blond boy, growling. But Clara answered before he could bark.

"He"s not who you think he is. He"s not who I thought he was before this year either. He"s more complex than many think. And he can control himself, he"s not just a heart-breaker. And I"m not one of his groupies who would do anything to spend five minutes in a broom cupboard with him. I don"t want that kind of relationship, and he knows it. Just like I know he doesn"t want anything serious."

"Soon you"re going to say he"s got a very good excuse to act like that with girls."

"I think he"s just trying to protect himself somehow..."

Simon sighed, clearly annoyed.

"Let"s change the subject, right?"

She looked at him in a strange way, but agreed anyway. He took her hand. His hand was smooth and hardly bigger than hers. So far from Sirius"s strong hands, made calloused by too much Quidditch practice... She shook herself. What the hell was wrong with her, she was in a very romantic glade, with Simon, and she was thinking about Sirius, really?! She wasn"t a groupie for Merlin"s sake!

"You"re beautiful Clara."

She looked at Simon, blushing.

"Thanks."

He got closer to her. At her feet, the dog rose and started to bark fiercely, growling menacingly at the boy.

"Oh shut up you!" Fuming, Simon aimed a kick at the dog, which only growled more violently.

"Simon, stop it!" She stopped him from kicking the furious animal, and glowered at him. "Are you mad? Don"t hurt him!"

"I"m sick of him! It was supposed to be a date, not babysitting for bloody abandoned animals. He"s so annoying, no wonder they threw him away!"

"You"re really mean right now, you know?"

"He"s a dog! He doesn"t even understanding what I"m saying."

"I"m not understanding anything either."

"Okay, that"s it, I had enough of this!"

He rose from the stone and strode out of the glade, leaving Clara and the dog alone. Fuming herself, Clara sighed angrily. The dog approached her shyly, gently licking her hand, and she turned her attention towards him. He looked sad and fragile, his ears falling upon his head, his eyes huge and begging. She stroked his snout, then his head and ears.

"Looks like it"s just the two of us."

He jumped on the stone and lay down, resting his head on her lap again.

"Really, who could have abandoned you? You"re so cute!"

He started to wag his tail again. He got up and licked her face, his front paws on her lap. She laughed.

"Okay calm down now! I"ve got it, you"re cute!"

She was still laughing when the dog obeyed and sat next to her. She looked at the dog"s eyes.

"Your eyes remind me of a friend of mine, it"s weird. He"s a bit of an i***t sometimes though, so I"m not sure you should take it as a compliment."

She sighed.

"I miss him."

She stayed silent for a while, and Sirius didn"t dare to move.

"But he"s too much of an i***t to see that he is the one who was wrong, and that he is the one who is supposed to make the first move, not the contrary."

He rubbed his head against hers and snorted in her ear. She scratched his ears again for a while, sitting still, before rising at last.

"I"m sick of this place, let"s go! Do you want to come with me?"

The dog promptly jumped down and followed her back to the road. They were almost back to Hogsmeade when Lily joined them, running.

"I saw Simon, he said he was going back to the Castle. Are you alright Clara?"

"Yeah, of course I am. He wasn"t as interesting as I thought."

"What happened?"

The redhead suddenly noticed the big black dog which was following her friend like a shadow. Clara laughed.

"He was following us on the road. He"s cute, isn"t he?"

Lily bent and stroked his head. He waved his tail and barked enthusiastically.

"He"s quite cute indeed. But what went wrong with Simon?"

"Well, first of all I wasn"t expecting him to drag me down this bloody road alone, and it made me feel uncomfortable," Clara answered, counting on her fingers what had went wrong. "Then we started to talk and he said not very nice things about Sirius. And he tried to kick this lovely puppy and got angry when I stopped him. So, I think we can say it didn"t go very well. Where is Liam?"

"I abandoned him in the Three Broomsticks. Don"t worry about him, I was scared you"d be upset."

"I"m not upset. Just a bit disappointed I guess."

"Do you want to go back to the Castle?"

"Yeah, I guess I will. But don"t worry, I"ll go back on my own."

"I don"t think you will."

The girls turned around, to discover the entire Slytherin gang. Bellatrix Black gave them her cat-like smile, her wand already in her hand. Cruel expressions were painted on all of their faces. The dog, tensed, moved in front of the girls, ready to act.

"What do you want Black?" asked Lily, scowling.

"Just my revenge."

"Aren"t you a bit too old for this childish game?" asked Clara, disdainful.

"And aren"t you old enough to know when you should stop talking?"

The Slytherin girl"s face was pale with fury, and her wand was shaking in her hand.

"You two have insulted us for the last time," Lestrange threw at them, his voice shaky with anger as well.

"Surprisingly," replied Clara, taking her wand in her hand, just like Lily," I"m not very surprised to find you all here. Six against two, are you sure that"s enough? Or do you want us to wait for you to bring more of your filthy friends? Severus is not here yet after all, do you want to call for him? For sure you"ll all be way too lost without him, he"s the brain after all."

Avery threw a curse at her but Clara deflected it easily. At the same moment, James appeared from nowhere on the road behind the Slytherins. The dog jumped on Avery, making him fall to the ground. A second later, everyone was fighting. James was now taking care of Mulciber and Regulus Black, whilst Lily was fighting Bellatrix and Clara was duelling against Lestrange. Soon Regulus fell to the ground in a thud, stunned. Clara managed to disarm Rodolphus Lestrange, who didn"t ask for more, and ran away. Bellatrix was sent flying into the air, and the dog fiercely bit Avery"s arm, who cried in pain. Though she was several meters away, Clara could hear the crack of Avery"s broken bone, as the dog sank his fangs even deeper in his flesh and twisted his arm. Mulciber hit James with a Stunning Spell on the shoulder, which didn"t knock him out, for James partly deflected it, but it gave the Slytherin enough time to cast a strong curse at the dog. The animal released his prey, wailing, and was sent flying behind the bushes on the side of the road. He hit a tree with a thud, howling again, and fell to the ground, out of sight. James, Clara and Lily cursed Mulciber at the same time, and the boy fell to the ground next to Regulus, unconscious. The Gryffindor turned towards the girls.

"Are you alright?"

They were all covered with scratches, but nothing serious. James"s face went suddenly pale as they heard a low moan coming from behind the bushes, and he rushed towards the sound, followed closely by the two girls. They scratched themselves even more on the hawthorns, but none of them cared. The black dog was lying on the ground, not moving, blood covering a part of his abdomen and the corner of his mouth. Clara felt tears covering her eyes and blurring her vision as she fell on the ground next to the wounded animal, alongside Lily and James.

"Poor thing," whispered Lily, on the verge of tears too.

But it was James who seemed the most upset of them. He didn"t look sad, he looked terrified.

"Padfoot..." he called weakly.

"Do you know him James?" asked Lily, surprised.

"Do you know where his family is? Maybe we could bring him to them," suggested Clara.

But James didn"t seem to hear the girls and started to examine the dog"s wounds. The animal yelped as the boy tried to touch his ribs.

"Padfoot, I can"t heal you like this. I don"t know enough about dogs" anatomy. You"ve got to change back."

The girls looked at each other. Something wasn"t right at all...

"James, are you alright? Have you been hit on the head?" asked Lily, suddenly worried about the Gryffindor.

James didn"t answer, and calls coming from the road prevented her asking again.

"Over here Moony!"

Moony? The girls looked at each other again, frowning. Who the hell was Moony? As an answer, Remus appeared, followed closely by Peter. The boys" eyes grew wide as they both caught sight of the animal on the ground and kneeled beside him too.

"The Slytherins?" asked Clara.

"We took care of them, don"t worry about that," answered Peter. "They"re all tied up and magically heading safely towards Hogsmeade."

"He"s got broken ribs, maybe something more serious," indicated James to his friends, bringing the conversation back to the wounded animal. "He has a broken leg too."

"We can"t do anything as long as he"s in this form," said Remus. "Padfoot, you have to change back."

The dog turned a questioning look towards the two girls, and the three boys looked at them too.

"We don"t have a choice," said Remus, looking at his friends again.

James nodded slowly.

"Don"t freak out," he instructed the girls, before focusing on the dog again. "Go on Pads."

"What is going on?" asked Lily, lost.

"Go on Padfoot," Remus encouraged the dog too.

The animal closed his eyes and the girls gasped as he slowly took the shape of a boy. A few seconds later, Sirius was lying on the ground instead of the big black dog. Clara"s hand flew up on her mouth, her eyes wide.

"Merlin!"

"Where are you hurt Padfoot?" asked Remus.

"Like Prongs said," the boy answered. His voice was low and cut by his constant gasping. It was so hard and painful for him to breath...

"Your leg needs Skelegrow. And your ribs too, probably. It"s quite bad Sirius."

"No really, Moony? I had barely noticed anything!"

"Well, at least he"s still himself!" James pointed out, smiling encouragingly at his friend.

Sirius smiled weakly, but winced as Remus touched his chest. The werewolf magically cut his friend"s shirt, and revealed his wounded torso: it was covered with scratches, probably due to his flight across the hawthorns, and bruises were painting his sides in a yellowish shade. It didn"t look good at all... Clara took his hand in hers, staring at his injured chest, and tears began to flow down her cheeks. James and Remus both pointed their wands towards his ribs, exchanging a glance.

"It"s gonna hurt Padfoot," warned James.

"Go on Prongs, let"s get rid of it!"

James and Remus started to whisper incantations, moving their wands above Sirius"s torso. He started to wince, his grasp on Clara"s hands tightened, and after half a minute of this, he started to groan, before moaning loudly, and he finally let out a wail. Clara"s tears flowed more and more on her cheeks, and she let out a terrified sob as Sirius howled a second time. He was holding her hands so tightly, her fingers were white and felt numb, but she didn"t even notice. All she could see was the terrible expression of pain on Sirius"s face, and it was the scariest scene she had ever witnessed. She felt lost and vulnerable, and all she wanted was his suffering to stop. Eventually, the boys stopped whispering and the pain faded quickly. Sirius relaxed, opened his eyes again and propped up his head to look at his two friends.

"Let"s do my leg too."

"You should rest a bit before," advised Lily.

But he shook his head, his hair stuck on his forehead covered with sweat.

"I"ll be fine, let"s just finish it."

"Sure?" asked James.

"Sure Prongs. Do it."

Remus and James pointed their wands towards Sirius"s leg, and the pain came back as his friends healed his broken bone. When they finally stopped, Sirius was out of breath and covered with sweat, his eyes closed. He was pale as a sheet and seemed very weak, his breathing loud and irregular.

"Sirius? Do you hear me?" Clara asked softly, her voice wet with tears.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked at her, smiling weakly.

"I"m alright."

"We can"t stay here," said Peter.

"I don"t think I can walk all the way to the Castle yet," replied Sirius, his voice barely more than a whisper.

"We should go to the Shrieking Shack," said James.

The boys all nodded and stood up.

"Why the Shrieking Shack?" asked Lily. "Why don"t you go back to Hogsmeade and call for a teacher?"

"NO!" the four boys all exclaimed at once.

"Lily, you and Clara have to come with us, we"ll explain everything," answered James more calmly. "Just trust us, okay?"

She looked right into his hazel eyes and nodded slowly. Something in his voice was so pressing and urgent, she couldn"t argue. James and Remus helped Sirius to sit, and then to stand, supporting him carefully. He almost fell as he tried to take his first step, but his friends caught him just in time, and with the support of James on his right, and Remus on his left, he managed to walk slowly. He seemed even paler than before though, and Clara chewed her lips frantically, still terrified. They managed to walk down the road again, and finally arrived at the abandoned house. They got inside, heading straight to the bedrooms upstairs. Sirius was so weak by now though, the two boys had to completely carry him up the stairs. They seemed to know exactly where they were going, and passed two doors at the top of the stairs before entering a bedroom where a proper and clean bed was ready to welcome Sirius. After the three Marauders helped their wounded friend get in the bed, James turned quickly towards Peter.

"We need Skelegrow. Take the cloak Wormtail, and hurry up."

Peter nodded, took James"s bag, and left the room.

"Alright... Now, can you explain what the hell is going on?" asked Clara, her voice shaky.

The three boys exchanged a look, and Sirius tried to sit up, but he groaned and fell down back on the pillow. Clara hurried towards the bed and pushed him gently down.

"Stay still," she ordered him.

"You"d better sit down, both of you," advised James.

Lily and Clara took a place on each side of the bed, waiting eagerly for explanations.

The three boys exchanged another look, and Remus took a deep breath before speaking.

"Well, you both know about... me and my little..."

"Fury problem," completed James.

"That"s it."

The two girls nodded.

"Well, every month at full moon, Mrs. Pomfrey brings me here, so that I can transform safely."

"That"s why everyone think it"s haunted, they"re hearing you," understood Lily.

Remus nodded.

"And that"s why there"s a bed too," added Clara.

He nodded again. James cleared his throat.

"We found out about Remus at the beginning of second year. And we decided to do something about it. When they"re left alone in closed spaces like the Shack, werewolves bite themselves quite violently, and we couldn"t just let him hurt himself every month."

"Of course, we couldn"t just go with him like this, or he would probably have killed us," continued Sirius, his voice steady again. "We did quite a lot of research, and we found out that werewolves, though terribly dangerous to humans, are harmless to animals. That"s how we had the idea..."

"We decided to become Animagi," James finished," so that every month we could come with Remus to the Shack and keep him company, preventing him from injuring himself."

"We finally managed it at the beginning of fifth year."

"And it is very efficient indeed," added Remus. "I barely hurt myself anymore, and I"m calmer than when I was alone. I"m a bit more in control, if you can put it that way."

No one spoke for a moment, the boys waiting for the girls" reaction, while Clara and Lily let the information sink in.

"So, all three of you are Animagi? Peter too?" asked Clara finally.

"Yes, he"s a rat," answered Remus.

"And you, a dog," added Clara slowly to Sirius.

He nodded.

"What about you?" Lily asked James.

"I"m a stag."

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs..." whispered Clara.

"We thought they sounded quite appropriate," laughed Sirius softly.

"Can you show us?" Lily asked James.

He looked at her in the eyes.

"Don"t freak out."

"I won"t."

He shrugged, closed his eyes and an instant later, a proud stag was standing in James"s place. The girls gasped and Lily stood up, approaching him slowly. She advanced her hand towards him, and he closed the space between his powerful jaw and her fragile hand. She gasped again, stroking his fur.

"It"s beautiful James..." she whispered.

He got closer to her, rubbing his head against her cheek. She laughed, taking his neck in her arms.

"This is amazing!" she added.

James took a couple of steps back and transformed again, grinning.

"But it is such advanced magic!" Lily cried, amazed.

"Well, didn"t you know already we"re the best?" replied James, grinning harder.

The girls laughed, Lily sitting again on the bed.

"But it is so hard to have a permission from the Ministry these days apparently. How did you do it?" asked Clara.

"Well that"s the weak point of the plan actually..." answered Sirius carefully.

Clara stared at him, wide-eyed.

"You"re unregistered?"

Sirius swallowed and nodded slowly.

"Are you mad?! You could be sent to Azkaban for it!"

"Clara calm down..."

"That"s why you didn"t call for a teacher, because you could go to prison?" asked Lily calmly.

James nodded, his grin replaced by a nervous expression.

"You"re mad!" repeated Clara, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Girls, no one must know about them," said Remus warily.

Lily and Clara looked at each other, before exploding in laughter. The three boys exchanged a glance, raising their eyebrows.

"Are you alright?" asked James finally.

Holding her sides, Lily nodded, as Clara wiped her cheeks.

"Merlin! We knew you were insane, but this is beyond everything we could have imagined," said Clara, calming down. "It"s brilliant!"

"So... You"re not mad at us?" asked Sirius cautiously.

"Of course not!" answered Clara. "This is probably the kindest and craziest thing you could have done for a friend! Of course I"m not mad at you. I"m jealous actually, do you think you could teach me?"

Sirius laughed despite his painful ribs.

"We"ll see."

"It doesn"t explain what you were doing as a dog with Clara though..." said Lily, frowning.

Clara grew very serious all of a sudden and threw a suspicious look at Sirius.

"Lily"s right. Why were you following me?"

Sirius looked at James for help.

"We might have known the Slytherins were planning something..." James answered slowly.

"You knew?" asked Lily.

James nodded.

"We heard them talk about it earlier this week. We knew they would try something against you, and we supposed Hogsmeade was perfect for them to attack you. They had more chance to get out of it without being caught."

"And as you two were mad at these two idiots," added Remus, pointing at his friends, "it was perfect timing for the Slytherins, because they thought we would keep our distance from you."

"As we didn"t know who they would target exactly, we each took one of you to follow all day," explained Sirius. "That"s why I was following you."

"Who was following me?" asked Lily.

"I was," answered James.

"Of course," she mumbled under her breath.

"I was in charge of Alice," added Remus. "And Peter took care of Marlene."

"Why didn"t you tell us? Why didn"t you tell a teacher?" asked Lily.

"Because you were mad at us," Sirius answered. "And because we had no proof whatsoever. We heard them but no teacher could have prevented them from doing anything without solid proof, and we had none. You didn"t want to talk to us, and we didn"t want the Slytherins to know we had learned about their plans. With us in their way, they would have prepared something much bigger, something we might not have been able to prevent. Or they would have tried to act quickly, and it would have been even more dangerous, "cause things could have gone wrong quickly without preparation."

"For sure things didn"t go wrong! Obviously you"re perfectly well!" Clara replied angrily.

Sirius sighed heavily. Peter chose this very moment to come back with a bottle of Skelegrow. He made Sirius drink up, though the boy winced hard as the liquid went down his throat. The taste was awful. He let his head fall back on his pillow, exhausted, and closed his eyes.

"We should leave to him rest a bit," said Remus.

They all headed to the door, except for Clara, who remained at her place on the bed.

"I"ll come in a minute."

Lily nodded and dragged the boys towards the corridor.

"They need to talk," she insisted when James threw a last glance towards the closed door.

"He needs to rest."

"She"ll leave in a minute, don"t worry."

They went down the stairs and sat on the steps. Remus and Peter headed for a chair down the hallway.

"I guess we need to talk too," said James after a while.

"How did you follow me? I reckon I would have noticed a stag."

"My father gave me his invisibility cloak when I started at Hogwarts."

"You have an invisibility cloak?!"

He nodded, and she shook her head, smiling, barely believing any of this.

"You really are full of surprises!"

He chuckled. She suddenly remembered what had happened during the afternoon, and a part of it was quite private...

"Were you always following me?"

She pushed her hair behind her ears and blushed hard. James merely smiled.

"I didn"t look when you snogged your boyfriend if that"s the meaning of your question. I"m not a pervert. I was there to protect you, not spy on you."

She looked intensely at him. "Thank you for helping us."

"You"re welcome."

"But next time, just tell us what"s going on, okay?"

"You have my word."

They stayed silent for a while, before James asked the question he was dreading.

"Are you still mad at me?"

She smiled and shook her head.

"No, I"m not. You?"

"I"m never mad at you Lils. Annoyed sometimes, but never mad."

She giggled, and her lovely laugh was enough to make him grin.

"Do you think Sirius will be okay?" she asked him.

"Oh, I"m more worried about what Clara could do to him than his wounds really."

They laughed for a while, and she rested her head on his shoulder. Things were not ending that badly after all...

--------------------------------------------------------

...Or at least that"s what James and Lily were thinking, because Sirius didn"t share this point of view at all at the moment. Clara was sitting on the side of his bed still, glowering at him. She slowly crossed her arms over her chest.

"Why did you follow me?"

"Didn"t you listen to what I"ve just said? The Slytherins..."

"Did you choose to follow me to keep an eye on me and Simon?"

Sirius struggled to swallow. She took his silence for a yes.

"That"s why you barked in the glade. You didn"t want him to kiss me."

She sighed, rubbing her forehead with the palm of her hand.

"Sirius, I"m so tired of you right now."

"I"m often tired of me myself, I can"t really blame you."

"I"m not joking, and I"m definitely not in the mood."

"Sorry."

She didn"t say anything more, so he took a deep breath, not at ease, and tried to defend himself.

"You were not supposed to see me Clara. I just couldn"t walk in the bushes with all these bloody hawthorns..."

"You still barked to prevent him kissing me. It"s not your decision to make."

"I know. I"m sorry."

"No you"re not! You"re not sorry at all! For proof, we had a row about it, and you did it again!"

"Clara, please. Just hear me out, okay?"

She sighed again, but nodded anyway, looking at him intensely.

"I know I"ve acted like an i***t," Sirius said slowly, trying to pick the right words. "I just don"t like this guy, and I didn"t think he was taking this relationship with you seriously. And he"s a bloody i***t, I don"t understand how he got into Ravenclaw..."

"Sirius, your point," she interrupted him.

"Yes, my point. My point is simply that... I thought he was a joke. I thought he didn"t really want you, and I thought he was going to hurt you. I just tried to protect you somehow."

"Well next time, don"t!"

He looked down and nodded.

"As you wish."

He seemed sad, and guilt rushed upon her.

"I know you didn"t mean any harm," she said more calmly, her voice soft again. "I know you thought you were helping me. I know we"re friends, and you"re right of course, friends must take care of each other. But on the boyfriend point of view, you can"t get mad like you did with Simon, nor bark to prevent me kissing someone. You can tell me you don"t like him, but that"s all. Do we agree?"

Sirius nodded again, still avoiding her eyes.

"I understand."

She sighed once more. He looked up at her, and she seemed as exhausted as he was. He took her chin between his fingertips and made her look at him.

"I understand, Clara. I won"t do it again."

She smiled, and he smiled back at her.

"You really are the most annoying person on this planet, Sirius Black, did you know that?"

He let out a laugh. "Oh, but I know that"s why you like me so much!"

She looked at him in a strange way, half smiling, half raising an eyebrow.

"Your laugh..." she started.

He looked at her questioningly, encouraging her to continue.

"My laugh... is amazingly sexy. I know, I can"t help it."

She started to laugh herself.

"It sounds like a bark!" she managed to articulate, still laughing hard.

Sirius joined her and they relaxed, laughing like mad. After a while though, Sirius, out of breath, tried to take a huge gulp of air, and winced hard, letting out a moan. He let his head fall back on his pillow, holding his ribs.

"Merlin, Sirius! Are you alright?" asked Clara, not laughing anymore either.

"Sure. Don"t worry about me."

"You"re hurt, you i***t, of course I"m worried about you!"

She stood up.

"You need to rest, I should go."

"You don"t have to really."

He looked intensely at her. He didn"t want her to go, she could see it in his grey eyes.

"You need to rest now Sirius."

"I can rest with you here, it doesn"t change anything. I"ve got crosswords in my robes. Just in case you and Romeo were a bit too boring for me." He sounded quite bitter as he talked about Simon, and Clara didn"t really know how to react.

"Can I ask you something Sirius?"

"Anything."

"Why are you taking care of me?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you defending me like this? Protecting me all the time? You protect me from the Slytherins, and guys, and teachers... But on the other hand you don"t give a damn about the girl you"re snogging. It"s not logical. You should take care of your girlfriend like this, not me."

He shook his head. "It"s not the same with you Clara."

"I don"t understand."

He looked her in the eyes, suddenly very serious.

"You"re my friend. And I would do anything for a friend."

"You care about me more than Stefani?"

"Yes."

"You"re not logical at all. She"s your girlfriend."

"You can hardly put it that way. I"ll have probably dumped her in a week or so."

"I can"t believe you"ve just said that so calmly!"

He merely shrugged.

"What do you want me to tell you? I don"t care about her."

"Why are you snogging her then? Why don"t you try to be with someone you actually like?"

"I like her. She"s gorgeous!"

"I didn"t mean it that way."

"I know you didn"t."

He stayed silent for a while, and when he spoke again, his voice was low, and he took great care at avoiding her gaze.

"Maybe I"m just a big coward, and it"s easier to be with someone you don"t care about. No pressure, no attachment, no crying, no pain, no broken heart... You"ve seen what real love is. James has been in love with Lily since first year, and she"s broken his heart. I know you all think he hasn"t meant a word he said to her, but he did, and it made him suffer more than he will ever admit. I"m the one who"s picked him up in pieces every time Lily pushed him away. And I don"t want to live like that. My life is complicated enough without all that melodrama."

She was looking down at her knees, silent. When she spoke, her voice was soft and full of wisdom. It sounded almost out of place coming from the mouth of a teenager.

"But Sirius, if you don"t take the risk, you will never know what love is. And it"s true it"s hard, and cruel, and it makes you suffer more than anything else in this world. It"s true you"re vulnerable when you love, but without love, you"re not really living, you"re surviving, that"s all. I don"t know about you, but personally, I would rather crash to the ground than stop flying, suffer than stop feeling... I would rather die than stop living."

She looked up at him, her expression tender, and he wasn"t able to speak for a while. So he kept staring at her. At last he managed to swallow back the lump in his throat.

"Maybe you"re right. But we"re not the same, and I don"t think I can miss something I"ve never had. You"ve been surrounded by love all your life, but I"m not that lucky. The only people who took care of me, and loved me somehow, like brothers, are the boys. James especially, he"s my brother. And I feel like I have enough love already, I have more than I deserve with just them."

"You deserve to be loved Sirius, and not just like a brother."

"The Potters love me like a son. It"s quite new to me, to have adults take care of me, and ask me if I"m alright, if I need anything, if I"m happy... It"s difficult for me to love, Clara. It"s not that I don"t want to, it"s just that I can"t somehow."

"You can love, Sirius. You proved it many times with the boys."

"It"s not the same, and I already feel too vulnerable with them. I"m not ready for all this."

She looked sad, and he took her hand in his. It was so big compared to hers, he covered her hand completely with his.

"I have more love already than I thought I could get in my entire life, Clara. I"m happy here, you know?"

She nodded slowly.

"I really can"t understand how parents could do that to their own son."

"They"re evil, it runs in the family. They are very proud to be so, by the way."

She smiled and looked up at him.

"There are exceptions though."

"Really?"

"You"re the final proof."

He smiled back at her.

"You have a way too high opinion of me, Clara."

"I don"t think so. I think it"s the contrary actually, you"re underestimating yourself."

He smiled again weakly, his eyelids heavy with sleep.

"You should rest now," she told him as she noticed his weariness. "Thank you by the way, for protecting me."

He smiled earnestly at her.

"My pleasure."

She looked at their entwined fingers for a while, before looking up at him again.

"By the way, I don"t think anyone can control the way he feels. You won"t be able to stop yourself from falling in love forever, and sooner or later, you will love."

"Maybe you"re right," he answered, stroking her fingers with his thumb.

He closed his eyes, and in the blink of an eye, he was fast asleep.

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Sirius remained in the abandoned house all night, his three friends staying by his side in turns. He slept most of the night, and felt much better the next morning. The Skelegrow had done miracles at healing his broken bones, and though his ribs were still painful, he was able to get back to the Castle and act quite normally. As he walked into the Great Hall for breakfast, the girls sighed in relief. Clara and Lily had told Marlene and Alice the whole story of course, and now they were all waiting for news of the wounded boy.

"Are you alright?" asked Clara as Sirius took the seat opposite her.

He smiled reassuringly.

"I"m fine. Still a bit sore, but I"ll be alright."

"I can"t believe the Slytherins did that!" said Alice, shaking her head.

"They"re evil. And they"re insane. Not a good combination at all, trust me," answered Remus.

"It still amazes me," said Marlene. "Thank you guys, it could have gone quite badly for Lily and Clara without your help."

"Don"t mention it," answered James with a smile.

"You"re back sitting with the girls!" Frank pointed out as he took his usual place next to Alice, kissing her softly on the lips. "Finally! I was growing tired of being the only guy round here."

"We arrived at an agreement," said Sirius carefully.

"Which means that he recognised he was wrong, and apologized," translated Clara.

Frank laughed merrily. "Well, Sirius apologizing! That"s a first! He never apologizes to me."

"That"s because you"re not worthy enough for my apologies," answered Sirius jokingly.

"Or it"s because you"re less scary than Clara when you"re angry," replied Remus.

They all laughed. After the events of the previous day, it felt good to relax. The rest of their breakfast was merry, and they all seemed willing to forget what had happened only one day ago. The Slytherins had been lucky, and no teachers had found them, but they were conscious that they could have been discovered. They had taken a big risk, and none of them seemed ready to take another that morning, and so the gang literally ran away as the Gryffindors came out of the Great Hall. It was too early for a new battle, and they knew it. Another person didn"t run away from the Gryffindors though, and on the contrary, called for Clara.

"I have to talk to you, just a minute. Please," Simon begged her.

She followed him reluctantly as her friends headed back to the Tower. He guided her behind a column.

"Yesterday... didn"t go very well," he started.

"I guess you can put it that way."

"Look, Clara I..."

He stopped, taking a deep breath and staring right into her eyes.

"I really want to try it again, if you want to give me a second chance. I acted like an i***t, I know it"s one hundred percent my fault, and I"m sorry. I really like you. A lot. And I"d really like to be with you. So, could you give me another chance?"

She started to nervously bite her lower lip.

"I don"t know Simon. You"re very kind, and you"re a good guy but... I"m not sure you"re really taking this seriously."

"I am, Clara. I swear I am."

"Really?"

He looked at her and, summoning his courage, he did what he had wanted to do for a while now. He passed an arm around her waist, dragging her against him, and before she could react, he crushed their lips together, and kissed her.

------------------------------------------

Sirius hit his forehead with the palm of his hand.

"Mates, I forgot my bag in the Great Hall."

James rolled his eyes.

"Go get it then, you i***t," he laughed.

Sirius ran back towards the Hall, jumping some steps, enjoying his healed leg. Skelegrow really could perform miracles. As he finally landed on the stone floor, in the Entrance Hall, he looked up and froze. Simon was with Clara, he was pressing her against him and they were... kissing. Sirius"s mind stopped and he couldn"t move. He stood still, at the bottom of the stairs, his mouth open, unable to think for a while. The information finally made its way up to his brain. Simon and Clara were kissing. They were officially together. She had a boyfriend, she was going out with Simon. Simon was kissing Clara. Clara was kissing Simon. Sirius turned slowly towards the staircase, and all of a sudden, he ran up the stairs and hurried towards the boys" bathrooms. He walked back and forth several times in front of the sinks, pacing, out of breath. He was suddenly aware that all the mirrors above the sinks were shaking menacingly. He was upset, so upset that he couldn"t control his powers anymore, and he was about to make all the mirrors explode if he didn"t calm down. He took several deep breaths, choking, and rested his palms on the closest sink. The first mirror blew up, sending shards of glass though the bathroom. Sirius"s fingers clenched the edge of the sink so tightly that his knuckles went white. The mirrors finally stopped trembling, but he was still struggling to catch his breath, and he knew it wasn"t because of his run up the stairs. The image of Simon and Clara kissing was stuck upon his eyelids, and it was all he could see. His head low, he choked again. He was feeling a pain in his chest, a pain he had never felt before. He had been beaten, had broken must of his bones, he couldn"t count the number of times he had been injured in a Quidditch match, but this pain... This pain was much worse. It was constricting his torso, making it almost impossible to breathe, it felt like a million daggers were piercing the left side of his chest. He felt sick, and couldn"t understand how he was managing not to throw up. And against his tightly closed eyelids, the same image was going on again and again... He felt tears escaping his eyes and flowing down his cheeks. He let out a sob he couldn"t control. He felt weak, his legs numb, and he thought for a moment that he was going to simply crumble down to the ground. His head was spinning, and a new sob shook his entire body. What the hell was happening to him? Why was he reacting this way? Sure, he liked her, but Clara was a crush, a crush he would soon forget. She was just a passing phase, nothing more. The pain in his chest doubled as the image upon his eyelids appeared even more vividly than before. He winced and let out a low moan. What was happening? Why was he feeling this way? She was just a crush, for Merlin"s sake! Or was she...? He suddenly opened his eyes. No, it was impossible, not him! James, yes, him, never. But the realisation struck him with all its might, and all became clear. All the feelings he had ignored, hidden from his own consciousness, were rushing upon him. It was clear, it was obvious, it was truth in its purest form. He looked up and stared back at his own terrified grey eyes. s**t! No, not him... But it was true though... He was suddenly plainly aware of it. He loved her. Sirius was in love with Clara.