maple syrup | remus lupin [1]

30. knight in shining armour

"YOU'RE HERE," Sirius grinned as Claudia sat down next to him on the stone steps of the back terrace of Maple Manor in the cold winter air.

"I am indeed," she answered. "And now you need to tell me why."

"Oh," he chuckled nervously as he took another blow of his cigarette. "I needed to talk to you."

"Why?" She asked concernedly. "Is something going on with Betty?"

"No, no, nothing's going on with Betty. Something is going on with... uh... with you."

Claudia stared at him in disbelief as those words left his mouth.

"And what exactly is that?" She asked him curiously.

"Well I- uh, you remember when we were ten? And Regulus accidentally freed your house-elf?"

"How could I forget," Claudia sighed. She knew were this was going.

"Regulus told me something that night. I completely forgot about it until I saw your father the other day on the platform. I couldn't believe it at the time. I didn't... believe it."

"And what did Regulus tell you?" She asked as if she already knew what he was about to say.

"He said that your father casted the cru-"

"That's enough," she announced as she stood up. "I don't know where this is going but I'm leaving now."

"Claudia," he said sadly as he looked up at her. "He's  hurting you, isn't he?"

Claudia didn't say a single word as she took a deep breath and sat back down next to him.

"Is he?"

"I guess," she eventually said in a whisper.

"Oh, Merlin," Sirius said as he stared sadly at the girl. "We need to get you out of here."

"No," she replied. "You'll get yourself into trouble, Sirius. It's not that bad!"

"Claudia, it must be bad if you react this way," he said. "Is this why you keep telling us to leave you alone?"

"No," she lied.

"It is, isn't it?" He said as if he had made a great discovery.

She sighed as she shook her head. "Can we please not have this conversation right now? I have to go back inside."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said. "Dungbombs are about to go off, the same with the red smoke."

"Wha-"

"I needed some mischief," he shrugged as he continued to smoke. "I don't exactly have it that easy back home either, this is just my way of messing a bit with them."

"I'm sorry," she said sympathetically.

"Don't be," he smiled. "Been hoping to find a good way out for a while now. Just got to go through the fight first. Hopefully it won't be too brutal. And then I just need to figure out where to go, and then how to get you out of this place."