maple syrup | remus lupin [1]

122. returns & fake books

REMUS COULD TELL that something was wrong. As they sat on the train on the way back to their respective homes for a week of Easter holidays, Claudia did nothing but stare out of the window, watching the landscapes drift on by.

Remus could tell that something was wrong with her. He didn't think that her being nervous about going to the manor for a week was strange. In fact, he didn't understand how she was even sitting there in a calm matter.

Remus himself had been a slight mess leading up to the journey home. His mind had been racing in the evenings; showing him glances of a bloodied up Claudia who was all alone, crying and shaking.

He hated his mind for doing that to him. And he hated that what he imagined could be true in just a few hours time.

Ever since the start of February, when Regulus had had that conversation with Claudia that no one knew about, Claudia had been acting strange.

No, she wasn't exactly acting any different most of the time - she was still very much in love and happy - but every now and then her mind would drift off and not even Remus would know what was going on inside her head.

And she wouldn't tell him. Simply because she didn't wish to worry him, and because she was sure that somehow she would get out of it.

Why did she think that? Well, Claudia, despite so much pain and unluckiness, still had some hope left in her.

Meeting her friends and Remus had given her that.

So, pushing those thoughts away, Claudia had had some great months. The period between early February and now the middle of April had been great.

Remus' birthday had come and gone, and that was great and filled with her surprising him with gifts and more just as he had surprised her on her birthday.

Slytherin had won over Ravenclaw during the first quidditch match of 1977, despite Claudia catching the snitch in a fierce battle between her and Regulus. Gryffindor had won over Hufflepuff later on.

Claudia, Remus, James, Sirius, Pandora, Marlene and Lily had all taken part of the scheduled apparition exam for the people who had turned 17 at the time, and all of them had succeeded - this whilst Inez, Betty and Peter sulked considering that their birthdays were in the summer.

This also meant that Claudia could both apparate away and use magic when she returned to the manor. Something that comforted her plenty.

And, during all of this, Claudia had gotten closer and closer to starting the actual process of becoming an Animagus - the process that involved her having a Mandrake leaf in her mouth for a month.

She had no idea how she was going to pull through with that, nor was she sure on how she would explain what was going on to a very suspicious Remus.

But, even if he refused her carrying on with the process, Claudia would do it nonetheless. The past three full moons had all proved that to her.

She couldn't take not helping him, and she couldn't take him wondering if he was enough despite the way she was always there holding his hand once he arrived in the Hospital Wing the day after.