maple syrup | remus lupin [1]

15. bludgers & invitations

THE FIRST SATURDAY of November meant that it was time for the first Quidditch game of the season. Claudia was rather excited, since she loved Quidditch, even though the game didn't involve Ravenclaw, since it was between Gryffindor and Slytherin.

Claudia headed towards the stands with Betty and Inez, who both weren't ill anymore thanks to Madam Pomfrey's potion. Pandora was nowhere to be found. Claudia assumed that she was off with Xenophilius. She hadn't had the opportunity to discreetly ask Pandora about it after finding out about it the night before, and she also didn't tell Betty and Inez because that wasn't her announcement to make.

"I told Sirius we would sit with him and his friends", Betty said as the started to walk up. Claudia froze in her spot as her friends continued to walk.

If there was one thing she couldn't do it was to sit in public with those boys.

"I'll sit alone", Claudia said in an attempt to not sound all too desperate. Betty turned around with a confused look on her face as she stopped, Inez doing the same.

"Why would you do that?" She asked.

"Uhm, well I don't think Nolan and Nicolas would like me being with them is all", she said. Though it was not a complete lie, there were big chunks of truth missed in that statement. Things like "oh, they'll tell my father and I'll be dead meat" or "all of you will also probably be in trouble."

Earnestly, Claudia wouldn't want anything more than to have them understand why she couldn't be with certain people and why she didn't talk about certain things. Why she ate syrup and why she read an excessive amounts of books. But she couldn't. She couldn't physically tell them, and she also didn't dare to concern them or put them in danger if something went wrong.

They, of course, knew about her having a family full of blood-supremacist and not very nice people, but they didn't know more than that. Betty and Inez both came from nice and understanding families, that weren't exactly known as blood-traitors, but were exactly that nonetheless.

"But what do you want?" Betty asked suspiciously. "Does it really matter what they think?"

She didn't realise that she was pressing on something that was deeper than it was, because Betty simply wanted to sit with Sirius and his friends after being gone sick for more than a day without seeing him.

"I want to sit alone... or at least not with them", Claudia said with a small grimace, hating how she sounded and how disappointed Betty looked, even though she tried her hardest to hide it.

"I'll sit with you if you want", Inez offered with a small smile, feeling that normal sense of concern wash over her, since Claudia was clearly, like often, not telling them something. Betty felt the same way.

"You don't have to."

"I want to! If it's alright with you, Betty?" Inez asked her.

"Yeah, no worries! We'll just meet up after the game, yeah?" She said as she smiled towards her two friends. Then they all started to walk up to their different seats, Betty sitting with a grinning Sirius and his friends, Claudia a few rows up with Inez.