Later that night, Clara sat on her bed looking through her Charms homework when the dormitory door opened.

"Oh." Clara looked up at the sound of Lily's voice. "I didn't realise anyone was up here."

"Okay." Clara turned back to her essay. Lily wandered about the dorm, getting ready for bed. She hesitated before getting in bed, looking at Clara. "What , Lily?"

"I just… I just don't understand how you're friends with them."

"What?"

"No, I just mean, well, you're so different from them." Lily sat on the end of Clara's bed, carefully. "They're so obnoxious, especially Black and Potter and you're much quieter and… I don't know, not shyer… just…"

"Yeah, I get what you mean," Clara said. She sighed and put her Charms work away. "Look, Lily, the boys and I are different, but that's a good thing. If I was too much like them, I wouldn't be friends with you or the other girls and I'd hate that! I love you, you guys are my best friends. But I'm also friends with James and the others and I need you to accept that. It doesn't change anything between us, except that maybe we won't fight about it anymore, I hope. Please Lily, just try?"

Lily had tears in her green eyes. "I can't promise that I can like them, but I will try, for you."

Clara grinned. "Thank you!" She practically lunged across the bed, throwing her arms around her friend. Lily returned the hug with as much enthusiasm.

"Awww!"

Both girls looked towards the door, where the squeal had come from, only to see Alice, Mary and Marlene crowded there. Alice had been the one to squeal, she had a huge grin on her face. "You guys made up!"

"Yeah, we did." said Clara. Alice squealed again, this time joined by Mary and Marlene, and all three girls leaped for the bed.

"Group hug!"

"Well, well… you lot made up then?"

Clara laughed as Sirius plonked himself down beside her, yanking the coffee pot out of Remus' hands. "Yes, we did."

"Good," he said. "I don't think I could take any more of that drama. And over Prongs?" He seemed scandalised. "I'm the sexy one." He grinned roguishly at Marlene and she rolled her eyes.

"Shut up, you vain idiot." she huffed. Sirius gasped like the Drama Queen he was and Clara giggled.

"Where is James, anyway?" she wondered.

"BOO!" Clara jumped, nearly falling of backwards off the bench. Instead, she bumped her head against a toned chest and turned to James grinning down at her. "You called, milady?"

Clara giggled again, and shuffled closer to Marlene to make space between her and Sirius, who had practically drowned his pancakes in maple syrup. James squeezed into the space, his knee resting against Clara's. "I was just wondering what mischief you were up to."

James smirked. "Nothing much, just don't eat the eggs this morning."

Mary instantly shoved her breakfast plate away. "What did you do?"

James didn't get a chance to answer though, as a shrill scream came from the Slytherin table. The group turned to see Severus Snape… covered in feathers that matched his greasy black hair, a rooster's comb poking out of his head and a beak in place of his mouth and nose. There were gasps and laughter throughout the Great Hall as more people started turning into human/poultry hybrids: Lucius Malfoy has sprouted a peacock tail, the elegant feathers matching his white blond hair and Charlie Daunton from Ravenclaw had gained an appearance eerily similar to a Swan, long neck and all. Clearly they had all eaten eggs for breakfast.

Drew Stone, Clara's older brother, sauntered up to them, laughing hysterically. "You blokes do this?"

The Marauders grinned. "We can neither confirm nor deny that," replied Remus.

"Though we can say, only the guys who eat eggs for breakfast will be affected," continued Sirius.

"Said effects will wear off by lunch," finished James.

Drew laughed, "And none of this is affecting any girls?"

"No," said Remus. "We didn't want to risk this lot killing us in our sleep." He grinned, gesturing to Clara and the other girls.

"Yeah, fair enough. I know how Clara can get when she's crossed." Drew grinned when his sister whacked his arm. "See you blokes for try-outs later."

"Wait, try-outs are today?" James looked panicked. "Why didn't anyone announce this?!"

Drew frowned, "Didn't you check the notice board in the common room?"

"Oh," James said. "No, we were too busy with the prank planning." He relaxed back into his seat. Drew laughed again and headed towards his fellow seventh years.

"I can't believe Drew's having try-outs so early," said Mary.

"Well," said Clara. "We do need a new beater since Dukes graduated last year."

"Not to mention a new chaser," added James.

"Yeah but the first game isn't until the end of October!" Mary frowned. "I'll never understand quidditch."

"We need the time to practice," said Clara. "Especially if we want to beat Slytherin this year."

"I will not let those slimy gits win the Cup again!" Sirius hissed.

"Chill, Padfoot! They won't." Clara laughed a bit at her friend's vehemence.

"They'd better not," he huffed.

"Don't worry, Padfoot, we'll have an amazing team this year! We'll kick their slimy, snakey arses!" James cheered, drawing a few glares from the Slytherin table.

"I don't understand those stupid nicknames," Lily muttered. Clara nudged her leg under the table and Lily shrugged. "Well I don't, and they are stupid when you don't know what they mean."

"It's not your business, Lil, drop it please." Clara told her.

"Well, why can you know but we can't?" Lily snapped.

"Lily," said Alice.

"No, Alice! I want to know!"

"Lily, you are not entitled to know everything! If we wanted you to know, we would tell you!" James snapped.

"Now, now," Marlene intervened. "We've only just made up, let's not fight again."

"Marlene's right," said Remus. "We should be going to class now anyway."

Lily huffed. "Fine, fine, I'll leave it alone."

"Thank you." said Clara. As the group headed for classes, Clara caught Remus' arm. "You okay, Moony?"

"Yeah," he sighed. "She's going to figure it out sooner or later, I reckon. Maybe I should just tell her."

"If that's what you want."

"I don't know, Clara. I'll think about it." Remus smiled and held out his arm like a gentlemen. "Come along Sparkle, we've got classes to attend."

Clara rolled her eyes as she took his arm. "I don't know why you guys insist on calling me that."

"Because you bring sparkle to our lives," Remus winked and she giggled.

"Cheesy gits."

By the end of the day, the effects of the Marauder's prank eggs had completely worn off, having lasted a few hours longer than the boys had predicted. The Marauders themselves had fallen victim to a few Levicorpus jinxes in the halls as revenge, but Sirius had kept a list of those who dared prank the "Kings of Pranking" as he'd declared them. Clara was walking down the Charms corridor on her way to dinner. She'd stayed after class to talk to Professor Flitwick about her essay, she really did love Charms. As she rounded the corner just before the stairs, someone practically leapt on top of her.

"Oomph!" Clara gasped as she hit the floor, a snap sounding as her wrist cracked. "Ow!"

"Sorry." Clara's head shot up at the voice, her green eyes connecting with the silvery-grey ones of Regulus Black. "Oh, it's you."

"Excuse me?" Clara's eyes narrowed dangerously as she stood up. "You're the one who just practically assaulted me!"

"Right," she'd never seen him look so awkward. "Sorry, about that. The stairs started moving and I didn't want to end up in the wrong corridor." Clara peeked around him – damn, he was tall! – and saw that the stairs leading up had indeed decided to move.

"So you just decided to jump down the stairs?"

"I didn't really think about it."

"Right."

"Well, I'm going to dinner now…" Regulus trailed off as he noticed she was cradling her right arm to chest. "What's wrong?"

"I think its broken." she murmured.

"Did I do that?" Regulus looked so much like his brother in that moment, but Clara would never tell him that.

"It wasn't your fault." Clara told him.

"No, it was the damn stairs." he said. "Come on, I'll take you the Hospital Wing." Regulus grabbed Clara's bag and started down the second set of stairs. She followed him without a word. When they reached to doors of Madam Pomfrey's domain, Regulus gave her ag back and Clara gave him a small smile.

"Thanks."

"No problem." The Slytherin turned on his heel and strode away, presumably to catch the end of dinner.

Clara explained to Madam Pomfrey how she'd been injured and the woman tutted as she healed the broken bone. "Now, off to bed with you!" she scolded and Clara hurried off, lest she be forced into spending the night in the Hospital Wing. When she reached the Common Room, dinner had long since finished. She'd already been late when she'd bumped into Regulus. Her friends were sitting around the fire, all occupied with their own various tasks: homework, reading and, in the case of Sirius and James, scheming pranks. Clara sighed, as she relaxed onto the sofa.

"Where have you been?" asked Alice. "We couldn't find you at dinner."

"Yeah, Flitwick turned up halfway through," said Marlene as she dipped her quill into her ink pot.

"I got knocked over by Regulus Black and he had to take me to Madam Pomfrey."

Sirius' head snapped up. "What?"

"Yeah, he jumped down the stairs into the Charms corridor because they were starting to move. He didn't see me and he knocked me over. I broke my wrist so he took me to the Hospital Wing."

"Regulus took you to the Hospital Wing?" Sirius frowned. "Regulus Black? My brother?"

"Yeah, Sirius," said Mary. "That's what she said.

"Huh." Sirius sat back, a frown on his handsome features. The group grew quiet for a few moments, everyone watching Sirius. He was known to get angry about his family. "I'm going to bed." He grabbed is stuff and hurried upstairs. Remus packed up his own belongings. "I'll go check on him."

"I'm going up to, I reckon." Alice headed up to the girl's dorm, Mary following after her tiredly.

Clara pulled out her Transfiguration homework. She struggled through a chapter on Transubstantial Transfiguration. She was halfway through a paragraph on whether it was possible to transfigure edible food out of things like leaves, raw grain and even inanimate objects like plates, when she felt eyes on her. Looking up, Clara saw that Peter, Lily and Marlene had all disappeared up to bed at some point, as had the majority of the Gryffindors. She and James were the only ones in the room now, apart from a couple of seventh year students studying for their NEWTS. It was James who had been watching her.

"You okay?" he asked. "You're frowning pretty hard there."

"I hate Transfiguration," she huffed.

"What are you struggling with?" James moved to sit next to her on the sofa. She was now stuck between him and the arm of the seat.

"Um, Gamp's Law," she told him.

"Yeah, that's a tough one to get into," James said. "But when you get passed the long, boring way they explain it in the book, it's actually quite interesting."

"Yeah, well it doesn't help that my brain doesn't seem to want to focus," she sighed. "Missing dinner sucks."

"Yeah, I've missed it a few times due to detention," James grinned. "Harper was particularly cruel." Riley Harper was the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor for their fourth year; he had a nasty habit of setting detentions to clash with meal times. "We found a way around that though."

Clara frowned, "Did Frank save you guys food or something? Damn, I wish one of the girls had done that."

"No," James laughed. "This is way cooler." He took her homework and piled in onto the table with his own. "Come on." James took her hand and, despite protests that they would get into trouble if they were caught out after curfew, pulled Clara out of the Common Room.

"James, where are we going?"

"You'll see." Finally, they stopped at a portrait of a fruit bowl.

"Are we near the Hufflepuff Common Room?" Clara wondered.

"Yeah, but that's not shy we're here." James grinned. "Tickle the pear."

"What?"

"Tickle the pear," he insisted.

Clara sighed and gently tickled the pear. She jumped when it gave a high-pitched giggle and morphed into a doorknob. James swung the portrait open and Clara gasped. House Elves were everywhere. She'd seen House Elves before of course, James' family owned three of them, but never had she seen so many in one place.

"Whoa!" Clara's jaw practically hit the ground.

James laughed, "It's awesome, right?" Clara just nodded.

"Mister James! Mister James!" A little House Elf with huge blue eyes, floppy ears and wearing a grey tea-towel/pillowcase combination with a Hogwarts crest on the front. "Mipsy has saved yous some food, Mister James, just in cases yous was hungry!"

James grinned. "Thanks, Mipsy. This is my friend, Clara. She missed dinner so could we possibly trouble you for some leftovers?"

"Of course, of course!" Mipsy practically bounced at the thought of feeding someone. "Mipsy well get Misses Clara some food!" As Mipsy danced off in a hurry, James took Clara's hand and pulled her over to a table. It was then that she realised there were replicas of the House Tables and the Staff Table. They sat opposite each other at the end of the replica Gryffindor table.

"So, you come down here a lot?" Clara asked.

"Yeah, well, Pete never stops eating and Remus can always go for chocolate, you know how he is," James said.

"You and Sirius?"

"Ah, well… we're growing boys, you know?" His eyes twinkled and Clara giggled. "Yes, I know." They were interrupted by Mipsy and another Elf, almost identical to Mipsy, appearing with two trays laden with food. "Thank you, Mipsy," Clara murmured.

"Yous is most welcome, Misses Clara!" Mipsy declared. "Is there anything else Mipsy and Mopsy can get yous?"

"No thank you, Mipsy, "James said. "This looks delicious." Both Elves seemed to glow with pride at James' praise and they disappeared with a sharp crack. Clara looked at the food set out on the trays and grinned. Beef stew with tiger bread; roast chicken and vegetables; cheese and crackers; a platter of sandwiches; chocolate fudge cake, strawberry cheesecake and treacle tart along with an assortment of drinks: tea, coffee, hot chocolate, pumpkin juice, apple juice and a jug of water.

James dug in, piling his plate with sandwiches and the roast chicken and vegetables. Clara filled a huge bowl of beef stew and tucked in, dipping tiger bread into the stew. She groaned, "Oh Merlin, this is Heaven!"

James chuckled and swallowed his beef sandwich. "The Elves' cooking is pretty amazing."

"This beef stew is gorgeous!" Clara gushed. "I wonder if they'd give me the recipe."

"I doubt it, they're pretty secretive about those things," he said.

"Damn." Clara finished her bowl of stew and reached for the ladle, serving herself some more.

"Mum makes a pretty mean stew," James told her. "I'll ask her to make it next time you're over at my place." Clara had visited the Potter Manor a few times, since she had befriended the boys in second year.

"Oh, that would be awesome!" Clara smiled at James and he grinned back, his glasses sitting a little crookedly on his nose.

"You're cute when you smile," he said. "Your nose scrunches up."

Clara cheeks turned a rosy pink. "Uh, thanks."

They finished the rest of their meal quietly, Clara glancing up at James occasionally. Every time, she would catch him staring right back and the pink in her cheeks would only get darker. Eventually, after they'd demolished half of the desserts and James swiping a few leftover sandwiches for the other boys ("Peter has a habit of getting hungry in the middle of the night.") they headed back up to the Gryffindor Common Room. As they reached the stairs that led to their separate dormitories, Clara turned to James. "Thanks for tonight, it was great."

"Hey, no problem," he said. "And if you need any help with that Transfiguration stuff, just ask, okay?"

She smiled. "Thanks, James. Goodnight."

"Night, Sparkle."

Clara giggled and started up the stairs. She made it two steps before she turned back to James. Quickly, she leaned forward and pecked his cheek before hurrying up the stairs.

That night, before she went to sleep, Clara smiled and thought of James.