maple syrup | remus lupin [1]

18. threats & discoveries

"A look?" Sirius repeated.

"Yeah", Claudia said in a confused tone.

"I don't understand how that works, how is 'a look' an update?"

"Looks are crucial", Claudia said like it was obvious. "You know, humans communicating without words?"

"I don't do that", Sirius shrugged.

"Well, you do seem to have the emotional range of a teaspoon so I mean", Inez chimed in.

"Hey! I'm the one with a girlfriend here!"

And the group went quiet, because Betty and Sirius weren't official yet.

"Girlfriend, aye?" James smirked as he wiggled his eyebrows.

"Uh..." Sirius said insecurely as his cheeks flushed a bit. "I-I don't k-know."

Who would've thought that a girl could make Sirius Black stutter?

Betty was still frozen in time as her eyes were the size of Jupiter. Inez took to waving her hand in front of the girl's face from the other side of the table, but there was still no expression evident.

"Great, looks like this whole weird conversation has turned Betty permanently paralysed", Claudia sighed as she looked at her friend with a concerned look.

"I-I'm", Betty stammered as she tried to find the words, not looking Sirius in the eyes.

"It's alright, sweetie", Claudia said as she rubbed circles comfortingly on her back. "You want him, right?"

Betty's eyes grew even bigger at that, but she nodded her head nonetheless.

"Great, so he's now your boyfriend and you are now his girlfriend. Is that alright with you people?" Claudia said to Betty and Sirius, but instead the entire group nodded. Though, Sirius did nod more enthusiastically than the rest.

"Great, now I think you need to go kiss her up or something so she starts functioning again", Claudia said to the boy who stood up with a bright smile, grabbed his new girlfriend and walked away.

"Best birthday gift ever!" He cheered as they left the hall.

"That was weird", Claudia sighed as she continued with her pancakes.

"You just got Sirius Black his first serious girlfriend!" James exclaimed as he stood up from his seat, thinking about the fact that Sirius only really had flings before and no commitments. "How would you like to be my new partner in crime? You can turn Evans into my girlfriend!"

"Nope", she said, popping the 'p'. I think you'll do just fine on your own."

"Really?"

"Well, Mary thinks so. I have no idea", she shrugged.

"Okay, I'll guess I'll be forced to convince you to help me, new friend. Come on, let's go to DADA", he said as he grabbed her and she tried her hardest to finish the remains of her pancakes.

And so, Claudia left the Great Hall with Inez and three boys who were excited to make new friends.

She left the Great Hall at the same time as Nolan left to grab a piece of parchment.

•••

After a day of classes, conversations with four boys who all were in a very good mood, accidental looks at Remus and excessive studying with Lily, Claudia had prefects patrol with some random lad from Hufflepuff named Jamie.

Except, she didn't have prefects patrol with some random lad from Hufflepuff named Jamie.

As she reluctantly left Inez alone, since Betty was with Sirius and Pandora most likely with Xenophilius, she didn't see Jamie at the entrance; she saw Nolan.