maple syrup | remus lupin [1]

73. quidditch tryouts

"WHY EXACTLY ARE we here?" Peter asked in a complaining tone as the four Marauders sat on the stands of the quidditch pitch. "It's bloody freezing!"

"Shut up, Wormtail," said Sirius. "It's not that cold."

"Oh, really?" Peter said sarcastically as he wrapped his coat tighter around himself. "Then why can't I feel my bloody fingers anymore?!"

"Maybe because you didn't bring your gloves unlike the rest of us!"

"Oh, so I'm the one to blame here?! I'm not the one who dragged us all this way just to stare at Claudia for another few hours!"

"I didn't bring you here so that I could stare at her," Remus mumbled.

"It sure looks like it, though," Sirius grinned. "It's all you do, mate. You eat breakfast whilst you stare at Claudia, you go to class whilst you stare at Claudia, you are in class whilst you stare at Claudia. And when you're not around her, you think about her-"

"That's an exaggeration," Remus scoffed in a pure lie - because the boy's eyes always trailed back to her face.

He always knew where she sat in the Great Hall, where she sat in class and which route she would take to her next one.

Which may have been a bit stalker-ish, but Remus honestly didn't care.

And, besides, Claudia was doing the same exact thing - she knew where he sat, knew where he was and knew what his next class was - but that was for a whole different reason.

That was so she could sit as far away from him as possible, leave before he could talk to her, take the path to class that he didn't take, and enter the classroom last minute so that he couldn't sit next to her.

She did this all the time. Every day ever since the Amortentia situation.

Claudia was confused. She had managed to tell herself that maybe she was not in love with Remus and then the next second she smelt him in the Amortentia and suddenly he was all she thought about all the damn time - which terrified her.

So, she decided to pretend as if he didn't exist.

But that didn't stop her from daydreaming about him, wondering if maybe things could turn out alright and hitting herself discreetly as soon as she accidentally swooned over how good he looked.

And, Claudia had come to terms with the fact that she did love the boy. But she thought that maybe time would wash those feelings out - which it definitely wouldn't.

"I just wanted to see how she does," he shrugged, feeling a bit embarrassed about it. "After the Amortentia situation I've just...I've been thinking about her-"

"As always."

"-and me. Like, together," he sighed. "I just want her to be happy. And...maybe I could make her happy."