maple syrup | remus lupin [1]

9. if looks could kill

THE DAY BEFORE Betty's date with Sirius in Hogsmeade, the blonde girl was a mess. To say that she was a skilled over-thinker would be an understatement.

So, the girl resorted to eating. She knew just how to distract herself, and that was through a wonderful warm dinner in the Great Hall, something that made Claudia rather disappointed because she was too busy getting a new book in the library to come along.

"We can come with you," Inez suggested but Claudia merely shook her head.

"I'll be fine, don't worry about it," she said as she left the dormitory and headed towards the hall, that was rather empty due to it being so late during the school's dinnertime.

Claudia sat down by the long Ravenclaw table and helped herself, surprisingly enough, to a plate of mashed potatoes and chicken instead of her normal pancakes and golden syrup. The girl had long ago realised that she couldn't just eat pancakes, though she would like to, so she ate different foods as much as she could.

She then turned to the first page of her latest book of the list, "The Picture of Dorian Gray", and began reading and eating.

The Marauders were also in the hall, all of them eating their dinner and chatting loudly, Remus seeing that Claudia had a new book - which brought a familiar tinge of excitement to him.

Claudia's peaceful reading was then interrupted when somebody sat down next to her. Claudia knew just who it was just by his scent - because he had sat down closely to her more times than she wanted.

Evan was back for another attempt at Claudia, this time more prepared and confident, his normal smirk etched on his face.

"Hello, Sunshine," he said, to which she rolled her eyes and cocked an eyebrow at him, already waiting for their conversation to be over.

"Yes?" She asked since he didn't speak.

"Now, I've got a proposition for you, alright?"

"Enlighten me," she sighed.

"You, me, Hogsmeade tomorrow."

"No chance."

"I'm not done," he hissed. "I'll tell your brothers everything, from your prank to you hanging out with that mudblood-"

"-Don't call her that!" She snapped at him, but he continued as if she didn't say anything:

"If you don't come with me I'll tell them everything, and we both know just how much harm they can make. And it won't be to you. It'll be that little redhead, those boys in Gryffindor, even your blonde little friend that punched Nolan yesterday. And then, they'll tell your father, and we both know what he'll do to you." He said lowly, way too proud of himself.

Claudia gulped nervously as she thought of what to do next. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if her brothers harmed Lily and Pandora, even the Marauders! There was only one thing to do.

"Have we got ourselves a deal?" Evan asked as his hand found it's way to her thigh, which caused Claudia to stiffen even more than she already was.

She nodded nervously as he smiled victoriously, kissing her cheek and squeezing her thigh before he left with his friends.

Claudia didn't move her eyes from their spot on the mashed potatoes in front of her. She wanted to vomit, yet again, and she knew she wasn't going to be able to finish her meal. But, despite that, she didn't leave as she sat staring; and then snapped out of it as she picked up her fork and tried her hardest to eat some mashed potatoes despite her nausea, doing so with shaky hands.

She could only think of how badly she wanted to kick his arse - at the same time as she wondered how she would get through that date without something horrible happening.

•••

If looks could kill, Remus Lupin would have murdered Evan Rosier as soon as he sat down next to Claudia Maple; who stiffened and dropped her faintly content smile as soon as he arrived.

The Marauders all sat and watched their short but cold interaction as they grew concerned. Last time they managed to help her, this time he had plenty of friends behind him that wouldn't hesitate to hurt her if they tried to help. So, they watched.

And oh, how looks could kill.

As the boy left and kissed her cheek Remus swore he was ready to commit murder - just be seeing the look on her face.

That girl had just been persuaded into something she didn't like, because her eyes were glued to her mashed potatoes, not noticing the four looks of concern she was receiving.

"That's it, I'm talking to her," Remus said as he saw her shaky hands holding tightly to the cutlery. He stood up, only for Sirius to pull him back down.

"I'll do it," he said as he got up and walked over to the Ravenclaw, Remus looking confused but not doing anything about it.

The reason Sirius wanted to be the one to talk to her was because he knew what it was like to be trapped in a world of pureblooded Slytherins. He knew of her as Maple, the girl who was passed around at the pureblooded balls to find her future husband. The girl who had two stepbrothers that Sirius knew from experience weren't good people.

"Hey," he said as he sat down in front of her, smiling as brightly as he could. Claudia looked up confused, but gave him a fake smile, that Sirius could identify as fake as soon as her lips twitched up.

"You don't need to fake that smile for me, Maple," he said. "I wanted to check if you were alright?"

"Why do you ask?" She said, slightly embarrassed over the fact that he might have seen just how much Evan effected her.

"Because Evan Rosier is a prick, and I saw him talking you just now, and everyone needs that question asked to them as soon as they speak two words with that arse," Sirius explained.

"Oh. I'm alright thank you," she smiled, a bit more genuinely this time.

"You sure? Because we wou-"

"I'm sure." She said, her eyes retreating back to her book.

"So, watcha reading?" He asked after a moment of silence, trailing on the conversation for a different reason at this point.

"The Picture of Dorian Gray."

"What's it about?"

"No idea, I've only read like ten pages."

"Why are you reading it if you don't know what it's about?" He asked curiously.

"It's a classic," she shrugged. "I like classics."

"Okay, well do you thi-"

"She likes tea more than butterbeer, so maybe take her to Madam Puddifoot's," she started as she kept her gaze on her book.

"But don't be fooled by Puddifoot's, she also wants to go to Zonko's and get pranking equipment. You should probably offer to pay for everything she buys there, but don't do it if she says no more than two times, then she'll think that you think that she's poor. And go to Zonko's too. She likes it when people dare to try a handful of Bertie Bott's so do that if you wish to impress her. Oh! And please split the bill at Madam Puddifoot's, otherwise she will get into a big discussion about the importance of equality."

"Thank you so much," Sirius smiled and she merely nodded with a faint smile, her gaze still on the book as he started to walk back to his friends.

"Black!" She called after him as she looked up, and he turned around with a questioning look.

"One last thing," she said sternly. "If you hurt her I'll have no other choice but to curse you. Understood?"

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