maple syrup | remus lupin [1]

8. quidditch practice

"Sit down," she told the girl softly as Mary sat down on one of the steps by the entrance. "I want you to listen to me very carefully now, can you do that?" Mary nodded, indicating for Claudia to continue.

"In no way, shape, or form does your blood status affect your worth. You are far better than those who say things like that," she started as she sat down in front of the girl, still holding one of her hands.

"Can I tell you a secret?" She asked, and Mary nodded yet again.

"I think they're a bit jealous of everyone who gets to share both worlds. I mean, how great isn't it that you can be with your family in the muggle world and listen to muggle music and experience the whole thing? And then at the same time, you can live in the magical world! That's something they're never going to experience."

"I guess your right," the girl said in a sad voice. "But I don't like it when they call me things like that," she said as she began crying again. Claudia wiped her tears with her hands.

"I know, I don't like it either. But you just have to remember that you are perfect just the way you are, it doesn't matter what type of blood you have. And," she said lowering her voice. "I believe that that stupid brother of mine is rather mentally deficient," she said with a smile, as the crying girl laughed, which widened her smile.

"He's your brother?" She then said, although she was still laughing.

"Stepbrother, so do not get ahead of yourself!" She exclaimed, which caused Mary to laugh even more over her panicked answer. "I share no blood with that idiot, thank god." She said as she noticed Mary's attention shifting.

"I think I just saw a deer," the girl whispered.

"A deer?" Claudia asked in confusion as she looked around.

"Yes. I think something was sitting on it too, like a smaller animal." Mary said confused.

"Weird," Claudia stated as she continued to look around for the deer, that was actually a stag.

Then, a black dog appeared out of nowhere, starling both of the girls. He carried a book in his mouth, which Claudia immediately recognised to be Dracula by it's red cover.

At first the dog ran away from them, but it turned around as it caught a glimpse of Mary, whose face was red and puffy from crying, tears still wetting her cheeks.

The dog, or more like Sirius Black, walked up to the girls and looked at Claudia as he nodded his head. She looked at him in pure confusion until she grabbed the book out of his mouth. Sirius, in his dog form, then turned to the crying girl and leaned his head towards her shoulder; only to nudge her affectionately, causing the girl to laugh, Claudia doing the same.

"I like you!" Mary laughed as the dog placed it's head on her shoulder. "I shall call you Snuffles."

The dog nodded his head approvingly as he licked her on the cheek, causing her to laugh even more.

Then, the dog stopped abruptly by a movement nearby.

Remus appeared out of the entrance, desperately looking for something, or more like someone. Scratch that, more like several people.

The Marauders had all been annoyed with him for reading his book so religiously, so they decided to steal it from him - whilst in their Animagus forms. They weren't aware that he had already finished it, but Remus was nervous that they would open it and see Claudia's handwriting. Not that they could identify it, but it would still cause a lot of questions he wasn't keen to answer.

Remus chased them all over the castle, leading him there to find Sirius, in his dog-form, as well as Claudia, and Mary.

Sirius panicked as soon as he laid eyes on Remus. He then tried to get the book out of Claudia's grip, but she was determined to make sure that the book wouldn't face any harm. Claudia did annotate books, but she would never allow a dog to break the beautiful binding.

"Sorry, Snuffles," she said as she stood up and held the book over her head in order for the dog to be unable to get it, only for Remus to grab it from her hands from behind her. He was panicking about the fact that Claudia would be able to see her own handwriting if she had it any longer.

Claudia was rather tall, but Remus was plenty taller, so when she turned around she looked up to find him there with an awkward smile on his face.

"It's my book, sorry," he said as he locked eyes with the dog, who in a moment of fear ran off after the stag and the rat.

"That's alright, how did a dog steal it?" She asked in confusion.

"No idea," he laughed as he looked down to see Mary sat there looking rather glum. "Are you alright?" He asked her as he sat down in front of her, Claudia doing the same next to him.

"I'm fine," the girl said with an awkward smile. "Claudia helped me out."

"Yeah, my brother was being an absolute git," Claudia explained. "But we're all good now, aren't we Mary?" Mary nodded and smiled at the girl that she would, from now on, call her friend.

"That's good," Remus said as he picked something out of his pocket. "Still, have some chocolate. You'll feel better." He said to the girl who accepted it with a smile and a "thank you".

Claudia glanced at the boy with an admirable smile over his action, and felt very eager to be around him more, even though that was practically impossible for her to achieve.

Remus felt her gaze on him, so in a moment of bravery he looked back, feeling exactly the way that she felt.

But, the small "moment" was interrupted by a loud voice that belonged to a girl with black hair:

"Claudia, Pandora just fucking punched your brother right in the face!"

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