maple syrup | remus lupin [1]

38. happy birthday!

AS SOON AS CLASS was dismissed on a surprisingly sunny Wednesday in March - also known as Remus Lupin's 16th birthday - Claudia practically sprinted towards her dormitory.

Why? To get Remus' presents of course.

Claudia loved giving presents. Every year on Inez's and Betty's birthdays she would always send them something, even if that involved plenty of struggle on her part.

Her father did like her friends' families, but he assumed that Claudia's friendship with the two was the way most friendships were like in his world; cold, awkward and only there for benefiting both parties.

That's why she didn't really get to see them that much during the summer, if only about once, but at least that was something. But, mostly she had to cancel anyways because it was obvious that she was not doing well, and that wasn't something neither she or her father wanted them to see.

Claudia grabbed the presents in a fast pace, and then she immediately left the dorm again, with the cloak in the bag with the gifts. She was heading to the birthday boy and his friends.

James, Sirius and Peter had told her to go to their dorm as soon as the classes of the day were over, so she did that specifically without questioning it.

But, James, Sirius and Peter weren't going to be there at all.

To summarise why, let's just say that they had talked.

James had noticed jealousy coming from Remus during the whole Hogsmeade-thing, and Peter had seen it coming from Claudia.

Sirius was completely clueless on the matter, but he jumped on the idea as soon as possible.

They wanted to get Remus and Claudia closer together.

Because, even though they had only been actual friends for about three weeks, something was just different between the two of them in comparison to what it was like between Claudia and the other boys.

It was the way she felt so safe with him and the way he thought about her all the time. The way she sat next to him on his bed if all the boys were in the dorm, and the way they both looked at each other when the other one didn't. The way they joked and the way they searched for each other in crowds.

Something was truly different between the two of them.

Something was just right.

So, the three boys had decided to give them some alone time as an unannounced birthday present to the oblivious Remus.

And as Claudia headed to their dormitory, she found herself bumping into Nicolas.

And, being the clumsy individual that she was, she ended up dropping her bag of gifts and the invisibility cloak, causing a gift to fall out.