A/N: Hi sorry it has been so long, but here's the new chapter. I am going to try and keep my chapters shorter, but there are only two more chapter in this part of the story. There will be another three or so chapters on their fourth year, i will explain it in the a/n of the next chapter.
After the New Year's party, in which a rather fantastic game of Quidditch was played, Clara only had a few more days until she had to go back to school; Katie went back the day after the party. Their mum went back on the second January, so for the last two days Clara was home alone and spent it searching the house for some clues about her father. She wouldn't ask her mum as she had seen that it was a touchy subject and wasn't all that keen on asking really many questions about it.
She started with the pile of photos that was by the sofa. Her mum had about six photo albums which were kept on the bookcase, they were just generic family sort of things, one for Louisa as a child with a few of their dad in as well, then the rest were holidays and when Katie and Clara were younger etc. The thing was that the photo albums hadn't been updated in years, but Louisa still printed some photos and there were rather a lot of discarded ones and some older ones, hence the pile.
Louisa always wrote on the back of the photos the dates and what was going on. Right at bottom of the pile there were the older photos which were taken in the earlier 2000s. She looked to find any of her father and her mother; soon after they had gotten together maybe it would give her some more information? Sadly however there weren't any photos that gave her anything , the only one remotely like what she was looking for was a polaroid picture taken in 2005 of Louisa laughing at a coffee shop with Matthew, her dad, who was sat next to her but all it said was 'Blue Coffee shop, 2005'.
She put all the photos back, apart from that one, and walked around the room thinking of what to do next. The only other place she could think of to find anything was in her mum's room, and she would feel weird rummaging through her room. She had no clue what to do, she didn't want to ask her mum, but she did want to know more. She tapped the photo slowly as she decided what to do. She looked around the room, the modern kitchen with a breakfast table on the right side next to the dining table and the large French window that showed the field that was their garden and the forest that lay behind that on the hill side.
She quickly wrote a note on the table in case anyone came home before she got back. She ran up the stairs put the photo in the secret box in her book shelf and got changed into her running stuff. She used to run all the time with Will and Georgie, but hadn't since she had been at Hogwarts, no one really did as Quidditch was the more popular sport by far. Her light blue trainers were downstairs. She ran back down the stairs, tying her hair into a pony tail. She grabbed her shoes that were by the door and sat down on the sofa and put them on. Seconds later there was rather a lot of loud noise and Scorpius tumbled out of the fireplace.
"Hey! What are you doing here? We got back to school the day after next," Clara said startled.
"I was really bored, what are you doing?" He said as he dusted the soot off his shirt.
"Going running, what you want to come with?" Clara joked as she put her foot on the coffee table, her mum would've been very annoyed if she'd' ve been there, and finished tying her shoelace, "Why don't you go bother Al?"
"Busy in London. His Dad's got a conference thingy, and he has to go. Lilly and James got out of it, they have a rota on who goes to the conferences and stuff," Scorpius said glumly as he sat down next to her and rested his head in his hands.
"What are your family doing?" Clara asked.
"Work and Bella is at school. So I am like super bored," Scorpius said.
"Well I have to go; you can come if you want to?" Clara asked as she stood up and tightened her pony tail for the third time; her hair was very frizzy and curly so it didn't like staying up.
"Ugh, no one else is free," Scorpius exclaimed as he jumped back up and put his hands in his pocket.
"Scor come on two days then we will all be back at school with heaps of homework and Quidditch to keep you busy. Say Hi to Bella from me; go on home I'll see you on the train," Clara said as she ushered him back into the fireplace. Scorpius stuck out his tongue before he shouted his address and was gone, in roaring green flames that rose from the grate beneath and worked the way up his body until the flames engulfed all of him and he would appear back in his home. Clara tutted before she opened the French window onto the patio, closed the door and run through the garden path and into the woods on the hill side.
The woods were very overgrown and the path unmarked in many places, that was why quite a few people got lost each year on walks through the forest. Clara had never got lost through them and unlike her family she had a good sense of direction which meant that she knew her way, unlike many others. The eeriness of the place was maybe why she liked it so much, the bows of the tree met over the path, so not too much sunlight reached the ground. She sometimes used to try and climb the trees with Will, Georgie was too scared to go up, she wasn't too warm to heights.
Clara kept running, the time climbing, her heart beating faster and faster, but she ran on. She loved running as she always imagined that she was running away from all the stuff that was making her stressed or angary, true she didn't have much to worry about as she was still a first-year, but still it was a great idea for her who did worry about things that she probably shouldn't. She was running away from her family, her dad, the guilt she felt for some reason, her friends at school, she was running away from everyone who cared. She was picking up rather a lot of speed way more than she would have done when she was forced to run at school. She kept on sprinting, a smile now curling the edge of her lips as the path became less visible and she jumped over fallen trees and logs. She knew that she would soon be at the edge of the forest and the path would then gradually go up. She could then see the break in the tree the light pushing through, and the green fields that lay beyond the woods. Yet when she got through she didn't stop, though she was out of breath. Eventually she slowed down stopping at a stile, she sat down to catch her breath chuckling as she saw how far she'd run. She could see her house from the hill side, and she pondered over what she'd been running from before she reluctantly walked back home.
Clara arrived with her mum and sister rather late to the train station on the 3rd January. She quickly said goodbye before rushing onto the train about a minute before it pulled away from the station. She quickly shoved her suitcase onto the rack outside the train door, along with her new broomstick. She quickly swung her rucksack back onto her back and walked down the carriages until she found her friend, who were already eating some sweets and laughing.
"There you are we were wondering where you'd got to," Rose said as she stood up and helped Clara put her bag onto the rack above their heads. The journey was a long one and they soon got bored so they all spread out, and went to a few different carriages. The train wasn't as busy as it had been at the start of the summer term due to the fact that some of the students stayed over the holidays. They had Christmas balls every other year now so quite a lot would stay over in those years, this year however wasn't one of those years.
They arrived back at school late in the afternoon, where they had a welcome back feast; morale was a lot lower than it had been the last term. Professor Kirk was sat in-between the headmistress and Professor Longbottom, he however was talking to neither of them, he looked really displeased with everything. Everyone else was chatting cheerfully at the teachers table; he looked like the odd bod as he looked like he was murdering his carrots as he speared them with great vigour. The students were talking rather loudly on the various adventures they had got up to during the holidays, well repeating them as most of them had sent letters to each other the afternoon after they had got back or earlier.
"Clara would you mind stopping?" Louis said a little sarcastically, Clara stopped humming but began tapping the table really loudly; a few people from slightly further up the table turned around and gave her menacing glares.
"I meant all forms of noise bar talking," Louis said, Clara quickly mumbled a sorry and stopped, and then the headmistress rose from her chair and the whole hall was silent. The talk was mainly about welcoming the students back to school, reminding them of the rules and stating on which days during the term would the Quidditch matches take place, along with the ones which weren't for the Quidditch trophy but just so all the teams could play everyone and lastly what the running totals were for the house cup. The students then rose and left the hall to go back to their dorms and prepare for the first day of lessons.
The next morning was a slow one,
"Come on get up now," Eliza shouted at Poppy as she tugged on her feet, as Poppy clung to the bed stand.
"Noooo! It's Saturday," Poppy shouted as she tightened her grip.
"Poppy its Monday and the first day of school. This is the last time I am telling you before we all just leave you here," Eliza said as she let go and then proceeded to yank the duvet of Poppy's bed.
"How many minutes do we have?" Clara asked with a grip in her mouth as she attempted to tie her hair up into a pony tail. Anna looked down at her watch,
"Uhh, about five minutes," She answered before she walked into the bathroom as Rose left it.
"Poppy you still aren't up?" Rose asked as she sat down on her bed, Poppy groaned as she hugged her pillow as she was very cold. She sighed heavily again before she begrudgingly got up and waited outside the bathroom door.
"I really want to get down quickly, Poppy and Anna do you mind is we go?" Clara asked as she sighed and put on her watch and glasses. Poppy shook her head and Anna shouted a garbled no. Clara, Rose and Eliza headed to the door, and walked through the common room, bumping into Molly who walked with them to the great hall. They walked down the aisle in the hall and Clara plopped herself down next to James and opposite Francesca Longbottom.
"Good Morning," Clara rang cheerfully as she poured herself some tea.
"Why are you so cheery it's before eight thirty on a Monday morning?" James answered.
"We have Dark Arts first with Kirk," Clara answered as she started buttering a piece of toast.
"Oh right, he's in awful mood just to warn you," James said as he turned towards the teachers table, but his eyes drifted off into the distance, he was preoccupied in his thoughts. Clara reluctantly looked to the professors table, where a very stern and displeased Professor Kirk sat, she groaned before turning back to her breakfast, which she began eating a lot more slowly. Rose noticed her new glumness after a while,
"What happened?" She asked as she finished her granola.
"Kirk is in an awful mood; oh he's going to end up giving us so much homework. It is only the first day back," Clara answered as she drank the dregs of her tea and sat absently for a while until she was one of the few left in the hall and Scorpius came over and said that she did need to go to lessons at some point. She sighed heavily before she reluctantly went to Defence against the dark arts.
Clara sat down next to Al at the front of the class a few minutes later, he swivelled round confused to where she had been and also if she had any clue where their teacher was.
"Where were you?" Al asked.
"Hall, I was hoping if I waited there long enough I wouldn't have to go to lessons. Scor eventually said that I actually had to come," Clara answered as she got her parchment and pencil case, "Where is Kirk anyway?"
"Beats me," Al said just as the door to the class room was swung open and Professor Kirk strided through the room, looking as though he was about to kill any one that said anything he didn't like, or anything for that matter.
"Page sixty- seven now. Gargoyles. Read now; write notes. Go!" Kirk said, well shouted, everyone was rather taken a back that he was being this stern. Although he looked stern normally he was a very nice, funny and good teacher. The whole class groaned as they got out their textbooks.
"No complaining or I am giving you a test next lesson," Kirk barked as he sat down on his desk. The children groaned again anyway to prove a point, as they flicked through the pages and the murmurs then died down.
"Professor, why are you in such a bad mood?" asked a particularly irritating girl in Slytherin called Elise, everyone immediately turned to her with a look that said what the heck do you think you're doing.
"Elise, if you say anything for the rest of the lesson I will deduct one hundred house points from Slytherin for every single word you say," Kirk answered very annoyed, everyone was rather taken aback by his sudden harshness, unlike anything he would usually do. Despite what he had just done Poppy put her hand up.
"But professor, wait before I say anything please don't kill me for asking you a question, why are you being so stern, what happened to the trailing conversations about Potatoes and crisps and the hypotheticals?" She asked rather boldly, the professors face kept its stern look as he crept his eyes away from the textbook page, Poppy looked very nervous for what he was about to do but then his face relaxed.
"You want to know why I am being slightly more stern than usual," He said as if he was trying sarcasm.
"Well yes," Poppy said as if what he had said was incredibly stupid.
"Ugh. It is too early for a long winded debate and story," He answered as he stretched his back.
"Come on like what else were you going to make us do this lesson, work?" Poppy said sarcastically.
"Poppy! Fine but only to stop you bugging me," The professor retorted.
"Thank you," Poppy answered as she relaxed and started leafing through her pencil case to grab a pen to doodle with.
"Right so its January now. Like not even a month ago it was acceptable to eat a large piece of chocolate every morning. You don't understand the hate I get at the teachers table for wanting to eat chocolate brooms for breakfast; you get frowned upon for not wanting porridge and coffee," He joked, " Well I just am always in such a generally awful mood during January now because there are like no fun holidays here. Christmas has been and gone, and that is the best holiday out of the year. I sing Christmas songs in like July, I have a lot of Christmas spirit-"
"July, are you serious Professor? Come on no songs till mid-November at least," Louis protested, he was matched with a lot of shouts when he said this.
"November, you serious Lou!" Al shouted to the boy sitting behind him.
"I think December at the least," Rose said who was met with an even bigger debate.
"December!" the majority of the class shouted.
"Well it is when we get advent calendars," Clara said.
"Right guys calm down I didn't really want too much of a debate," Kirk said over the shouts of his students, "Okay so back to me, well after Christmas we had new year, and like then the very next day it's the second of January, which is the most dull day of the year. And like the rest of the month is too annoying and dull. All of the fun celebrations are now like over and there is nothing to look forward to till I can stuff myself with chocolate in Easter. At least in China they have their New-Year and they have dragons. Why can't we have a holiday when we get dragons to come from the rest of Europe to here? Hey wait, Rose your uncle works with dragons doesn't he?"
"Yeah Uncle Charlie, and no I tried asking for one for my birthday and yes he said a firm no," Rose quickly answered.
"Well you could see if he wouldn't mind doing a presentation for us at some point later this year, and I could slip in that a dragon visiting would be much appreciated," the professor said as he tapped his pen onto his desk, " Right okay so yeah that's why I am so incredibly bored and annoyed this month. And no just because I explained what happened does not mean that you don't get homework before you ask Poppy."
Luckily though he didn't give them too much to do, as they already had been given so much by all their other teachers and it was only the first week. To the professors they had all the time in the world to do the homework, and it was not too early to start revising for the summer tests despite the fact that they were four months away.
Clara in all honesty felt swamped by the third week back, with the large amount of homework toppled with most evenings being spent on the Quidditch pitch, left her very little spare time to go to the library and look to see if she could find more about her father. As she didn't know much already about him but didn't want to ask her mum, but she didn't want to worry her friends or say anything to them about what she wanted to do, so she wanted to surreptitiously leave and go to the library the next Sunday evening.
Almost everyone in Gryffindor was sat in the common room on the third Sunday of the term; the first-years were mostly doing their homework incredibly slowly and groaning about how much they had. They got a large number of sharp looks from the elder years, especially seventh-years.
"I am so tired and done with this work," Eliza said as she rolled over on the floor bumping into Clara who was sat cross-legged leaning over a textbook and parchment. Clara didn't even notice as she was preoccupied in her work.
"Clara, earth the Clara!" Eliza said as she hauled herself up and clapped in front of Clara's face.
"What?" Clara said irritated.
"Geez, Clara," Eliza as she went back over to where she had been working.
"Right stop. I 'm going to the library alone, I just can't deal with all of you it is way too loud, and I am getting a headache," Clara exclaimed as she clumsily threw her things into her bag and left in a huff. She power walked all the way to the library, not even noticing when Scorpius said hi to her in the corridor. She knew exactly where she was going and didn't stop until she got there; the table next to the section she was looking for was luckily empty. She swung her bag down onto the table and walked along the bookshelf and hauled out three large books.
She had grabbed Notable Wizards of the twentieth century, Famous wizards, and which wizard 1950-1999. She looked through the first one hopeful that she'd find that he was some great Auror or curse breaker, sadly though she didn't find anything. She checked the second one knowing though that he probably wouldn't be in there. She knew though he would have to be in the last one as it had the names of all the wizards alive during that time. She was so confused when she looked up the last name Lake and couldn't find any Michael. She checked six times before she realised that it just wasn't in there.