maple syrup | remus lupin [1]

157. where'd all the time go?

THEIR N.E.W.T.S WERE OVER. Classes were over. It all had gone well for Claudia, and all that was left was, well, graduation.

The next day, Claudia and all her friends would be leaving Hogwarts behind. They would be leaving their childhood behind.

And, Claudia, well, would be leaving her home behind.

Sort of.

"What're you doing here?" The girl, who was sitting in the Gryffindor common room thanks to being let in by a younger student, heard Sirius ask her. "Everyone's by the lake. Why aren't you?"

Claudia looked up at the boy who had a huge smile on his face as he stood next to the armchair she was sitting on.

"I was waiting for you," she said, smiling faintly up at him in the same weak way she had been doing towards everyone the closer to the end they got.

She didn't want to leave. Hogwarts was the closest thing she had to a home, and leaving the castle would also mean that she was soon to leave everyone.

And it ached in her every waking minute.

"Then come on, my darling," Sirius smiled, offering the girl who always looked pale in the face nowadays his hand, and then helping her to her feet. "Are you feeling better?"

"What?" She asked confusedly.

"Yeah," he shrugged. "Remus said you were feeling tired."

"Oh," she breathed, knowing that it was because she had made that excuse just so he would stay with her in bed a little longer after they had come back from their accidental sleepover in the Astronomy tower. "I'm fine."

"You sure? You do seem a bit tired."

"I'm fine," she repeated with a sweet smile as they left the Gryffindor tower so that they could go see the others, who were hanging out by the lake.

The two walked whilst they chatted loudly and happily about basically everything that came to mind. However, their loud noises immediately came to a stop as they walked through an empty corridor and was met by a single person.

Regulus.

At first, the two merely walked past him and shared awkward looks with each other, him, the floor and the ceiling, but then Claudia - after they were a bit past him - tugged on Sirius' sleeve in a way of making him stop.

"What?" He asked quietly, but she didn't answer. Instead, she gave him a look that meant something along the lines of "I have to".

"Regulus!" She called after the boy, who surprisingly stopped and turned around, which was more than Claudia ever would've thought that he would do.

And then, she ran towards him and hugged him; despite the Dark Mark on his forearm and the confusing thing that was their friendship.

He didn't hug back however, but it didn't matter, because he also didn't push her off.