TO SAY THAT Madam Rosmerta, the landlady of the Three Broomsticks, liked the Marauders would be an understatement. She found them hilarious, especially James and Sirius.
However, when green smoke filled her pub, she was close to a mental breakdown during the first Hogsmeade trip of the students of Hogwarts. After having way too many students to deal with, she did not enjoy the prank that so obviously occurred.
And she knew just who performed the stunt.
But, finding the three boys would be rather impossible in a room filled with green smoke, that caused the customers at the pub to leave it immediately. Some of the older men even started coughing heavily due to it.
And, well, Evan Rosier was probably the biggest victim of them all.
You see, James was rather skilled at hexes - especially the Bat-Bogey Hex, that caused the victim's bogeys to turn into bats, who then flew out of the victims nose.
So, the boy with jet-black hair aimed his wand at Evan Rosier - who was having a hard time seeing through all the smoke. And then, smoke was the least of his worries as bats took the first place.
The Slytherin boy let out one of his infamous yelps as his hand left Claudia's, which he had grabbed the moment the smoke appeared, much to her distaste. But, that did still involve that his hand wasn't on her face, or more precisely her bottom-lip, so she had never been that relieved over Evan holding her hand. An even greater wave of relief came over her when he let go of his tight grip on her hand as well.
"What the fuck!" He yelled as his hand flew to his nose in order to keep the bats out, but that didn't work. "Did you do this?" He yelled at Claudia, who rolled her eyes yet again, barely able to see what was happening, but since a bat had flown right into her face she understood.
"You were so close to my face you would've heard me hex you, you git!" She yelled after him as he ran out of the pub, bats flowing out of his nose like a waterfall.
It would simply have been a sight for sore eyes to see the distressed boy run out of the pub as bats flew out of his nose, but Claudia and the Marauders had to simply satisfy for hearing his yelps and swears.
She couldn't help but to laugh at Evan's misfortune, which made it plenty easier for Peter to locate the girl as he tapped her on the shoulder from where she sat on one of the wooden chairs by her and Evan's table.
She had stayed put there just like Remus had indicated her to do with his hands as the smoke came into the room.
Claudia turned around by the touch only to be met by Peter's voice as he whispered: "It's Peter, come on."
So, she grabbed the boy's hand, much to his liking, as he led her out though a backdoor in order to avoid Madam Rosmerta finding the boys that she was bound to look for after clearing out the mess.
With no Evan Rosier in sight, Claudia followed the boy to where Remus and James stood, both laughing like crazy over another one of their successful pranks.
"Mission accomplished," Peter chanted as he nodded to the girl, whose hand left his, something that didn't go unnoticed by Remus.
"Thank you," she said genuinely, as she began to walk off, but James stopped her as he grabbed her arm.
"Yeah?" She asked with her eyebrows raised.
"You think he'll know it was us?" James asked with a grin, genuinely wondering since she had expressed her concern over that.
"No," she replied honestly. "Maybe. But he couldn't see and the smoke wasn't red so I would say you're good. He isn't the brightest, that one."
"That we know," James chuckled, causing her to smile. "Wanna go back with us?"
Claudia thought for a while as her mind wondered to her brothers. Rumour had it that they were both on separate dates with two Slytherin girls at Madam Puddifoot's, so they would most likely not be there to catch her walking with them.
"Sure," she nodded with a shy smile as James grinned and started walking, not forgetting to link his arms with the Ravenclaw who laughed at his noble facial expression.
But, the group couldn't walk far as the voice of a certain girl with red hair called after them:
"Potter! What the hell did you do?" Lily scolded the boy as she ran up to them. "Madam Rosmerta is furious!"
"Meh, let her be. She'll come to her senses once she knows why we did it," James said confidently, not forgetting to let go of Claudia's arm at the sudden appearance of his crush.
"Why did you do it?" Lily asked sternly with a sigh.
"To help out Claudia here," James shrugged, calling her Claudia for the first time which brought a small smile to her face. "Didn't you see who she was with? That pig Rosier!"
"Oh," Lily said as her face softened. One could almost assume that she would smile at the boy, but instead she turned her attention to Claudia. "I'm so glad you're okay!"
Claudia smiled at her friend as she gave her a quick hug, and then she met eyes with Marlene McKinnon, who was awkwardly standing there shifting her feet.
"You know Marlene?" Lily said as she nodded to her friend who smiled shyly.
"Yes! You're the girl who punched my stepbrother in second year, aren't you?" Claudia said with a bright smile, recalling the fact that a twelve year old had managed to punch Nicolas, who at the time was a year older.
Two girls her year had punched both of her brothers. She herself hadn't done it, but the clock was surely ticking for that to happen.
"Yes, that's me," Marlene said awkwardly as if she was expecting Claudia to be mad at her.
"You're my idol!" Claudia exclaimed as she hugged the girl, who immediately went back to her old extrovert-ways.
"And now you're mine!" Marlene said excitedly as the small hug broke.
"Claudia!" Inez yelled from a distance. She was running up to the girl without Pandora on her heels, and without warning, Inez tackled her friend in a hug as she came up to her.
"You survived," she sighed in a relieved tone. "I swear the way he looked at you when you entered the pub, it was as if he was ready to kidnap you! Me and Pandora watched the entire time, until Xenophilius Lovegood showed up and then I was all alone! And then the smoke came and I couldn't see you, I'm so sorry!"
"It's alright Inez," Claudia chuckled as the hug broke. "The boys helped me," she said as she nodded towards the three remaining members of the Marauders, who were awkwardly watching all the girls interact with one another.
"Thank you!" Inez squealed as she hugged Peter, who turned red immediately, Remus, who looked surprised, and then James, who immediately locked eyes with Lily as her face turned a little red. Claudia chuckled at the sight.
"Are you all waiting for us?" Sirius asked with a smirk as he appeared alongside Betty out of nowhere. "Miss us that much?"
"Oh Claudia, you're alright," Betty sighed as she also hugged her friend.
"What is it with all the hugging today?" James asked Remus, who shrugged.
"It's what life is like when people care about you," Lily said absentmindedly, not realising her accidental burn. "Oh, I'm sorry!" She squeaked as Sirius, Remus and Peter all began to snicker. Even the rest of the girls were trying not to laugh at this point.
"Oh, dear Lily, I happen to have several people who care about me. Dad, mum, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Minnie, Dumbledore, that strange German wizard I met at the pub just now, Marlene, probably Claudia and her friends too. I reckon I can even add you to that list!"
"You can count me out of it, Potter," Lily said confidently.
"Oh," he said as he grabbed snow from the ground. "Are you sure about that?"
"Don't you dare!" Lily warned as he began to form a snowball with his hands.
"Sorry!" He grinned as he threw the snowball on her.
"Oh, it's on!" She yelled as she too picked up snow from the ground.
Suddenly chaos had started, which seemed to be a reaccuring theme when you were around the four Gryffindor boys.
Lily and James were in a snowball fight of their own, so was Betty and Sirius. Peter, Inez and Marlene had their own, and Claudia and Remus watched.
Laughter was filling the air as everyone grew colder but more amused by the second. Peter even slipped and fell to the ground, which caused Sirius and James to fall to the ground because of how heavily they were laughing. And that caused all the girls to take their opportunity by the hands - cold snow being dumped all over the three laughing boys.
Claudia didn't know why she didn't join. Maybe it was the fact that she was risking it all by being in public with so many people that she wasn't supposed to be around, or maybe she was just simply scared.
But that didn't last long as she herself picked up snow from the ground and formed a snowball.
Which she then threw on the back of Remus' head.
Remus jerked around abruptly by the sudden ice cold ball of snow being thrown at the back of his head.
And to his surprise he saw Claudia standing there with a big smile on her face. This was a new smile, he wasn't sure if he had seen it before in her presence.
It was contagious in a way that made his lips feel obligated to smile back, which he did.
"Aha," he grinned as he picked up his own snow. "So that's how you want it, Maple?"
"No," she giggled as she started running off, him following suit with the snowball in his hand.
"Come on slowpoke!" She yelled to him as she ran around their group of friends, who at this point were back on standing-basis.
"I'm not slow!" He yelled back as he fastened his speed and threw the snowball at her, which landed on her head so her long hair got a bit damp.
"Ditto," she smiled as she picked up more snow and changed her way in order to run after him.
And that's how it was, two people that barely knew each other running around in a war of snow, laughing and slipping.
It was as if nothing tragic was ever bound to happen to the two of them.
Remus and Claudia eventually joined the war as of whole, and threw snow at practically anyone they had in their reach.
Even so, Remus and Claudia always seemed to find their way back to one another.
The whole thing came to a stop as Marlene slipped, Inez doing the same and landing next to her. After that Lily sat herself down by Marlene in order to dodge James, Betty doing the same next to Inez. And Claudia, well Claudia couldn't exactly chose her fate as Inez and Betty pulled her down by her legs as she walked past them, causing her to burst into laughter.
The Marauders were still having a war of their own.
"I think I need some pancakes and syrup right about now," Claudia said to her friends dreamily.
"What is it with you and pancakes?" Marlene asked in a curious tone. "I always wondered about that."
Betty, Inez and Lily all grew stiff at the question. This was a strange topic, that they all had to learn to not get too much into. Because if they did, Claudia would put up that stone wall that she had deep inside her.
But, she didn't have time to talk her way out of it as a hand appeared in front of her face.
Remus reached out his hand for her to take so that he could bring her to her feet, which she agreed to.
What Claudia felt as her hand took his was indescribable. It was a force of light, as if a cigarette lighter had burned their hands together.
She figured that whatever it was must have been caused by one too many butterbeers, the excitement of a snowball fight or just the longing for her favourite pancakes and syrup.
Even so, that feeling didn't leave her body and mind until his hand left hers.
One thing was certain, that was not the result of butterbeers, snowball fights and syrup.
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