EASTER BREAK had eventually arrived, and with that came some home-travels for plenty of students at the school.
Claudia, however, stayed put. Normally she would go home and attend some boring dinners, but this year her father and brothers had a "meeting of extreme value", which ended up being the cause of why she was laying down on Remus' bed, with her head on the foot of it, Remus laying on the other side with his head on the head of the bed.
All the boys had stayed behind as well, mostly because they wanted to keep Claudia company since all her other friends returned home.
So, there she lay with a knitting in her hands, occasionally taking a small glance at Remus, who was reading one of Claudia's books, with the annotations hidden of course due to her being in the room.
Remus had no idea how he was supposed to tell her about it. It wasn't exactly that big of a deal, considering it wasn't personal most of the time. It was just annotations.
But, every now and then, Claudia would talk about something private. Some things Remus understood and some things he didn't, and that's when he felt the huge wave of guilt wash over him.
He needed to figure out how to tell her.
And as the lay in his bed, their legs brushing against each other, neither could help but to look at each other and feel golden inside.
Whenever Remus hid his face behind his book, Claudia would take a small glance at him. Whenever Claudia hid her face behind her knitting, Remus would do the same.
And, eventually, they met eyes, causing both of them to let out small laughters.
"So-"
"Easter eggs!" James exclaimed as he, Sirius and Peter bursted through the door. Remus immediately darted up from the bed at that, almost as if he was a little kid again.
But, Claudia stayed put with a faint smile, thinking about the Easter egg hunts she would do with her cousin Ella as a child.
"Alright, Claudia come here!" James said as they placed all the eggs down on James' dresser.
"Why are there so many?" The girl asked as she walked towards the four boys.
"Well, I wrote mum and told her that none of them get any eggs, and then they did the same thing to their mums. That way we all get three eggs each!" James explained as he started sorting out the eggs.
Claudia couldn't help but to feel bad as she saw how Sirius' face fell, because she felt the same thing. Neither of them had any parents to give them Easter eggs. All they had was their friends.
James, Peter and Remus ended up with three eggs the size of dragons' eggs, filled with chocolate and homemade toffee.
Sirius ended up with three smaller eggs, due to the fact that the rumours had somehow spread of what Sirius had done to Betty.
And, yet again, Claudia couldn't help but to feel a bit bad, even though this time around it was more deserving.
Claudia and Sirius weren't on speaking terms despite the fact that she was around him quite a lot, and Sirius hated that. He also hated how no one listened to him, how people gave him dirty looks and how his business suddenly had become the entire school's.
But, he knew he messed up deep inside. Even though there was more to it than he thought.
"And," James said as he, Peter and Remus all took an egg each. "These are for you, Claude."
Claudia stared at the boy out of confusion as they reached out the three Easter eggs. "For...me?" She asked out of disbelief. "Why?"
"What do you mean?" Peter asked. "It's tradition. You get one too."
"It's your tradition."
"Well, now it's our tradition," said Remus. "Take them or my mum will never leave you alone."
"Mine neither," James said.
"Yeah, mine neither," Peter said.
"Besides," Sirius spoke up from his place a little further away from the rest. "You're apart of us now."
"I don't think that-"
"Well, you're what we call an honorary Marauder," James explained. "You're not quite there yet, but you do get the pleasure of joining in on some of our traditions. Not a Marauder, but a best friend."
"Thank you?"
"Awe, is ickle Maple upset she doesn't get to be an official member?" James teased as he ruffled her hair.
"Not really, I'm actually quite pleased I'm not forced to join your little cult," she retorted as she slapped James' hand away.
"You take that back!" James exclaimed in an offended tone. "We are not a cult! We are simply just a very exclusive group of people with the determination to cause mischief!"
"Sounds like a cult to me-"
"Do you even know what a cult is?!"
"Calm down, Jamie," she chuckled. "You're being dramatic again."
"It's what he does best," Peter mumbled as he inspected one of Euphemia's homemade toffees.
"Yes, indeed," James grinned as he and Remus shoved the Easter eggs into Claudia's hands, James immediately jumping into telling a story of how he once at Easter stole the Communion wine at church.
As that story was being told and Remus was contemplating his choice of friends, Claudia sat down on his bed and opened the small note that came with the eggs.
Dear Claudia,
My name is Hope Lupin. I'm Remus' mother, as you may have figured out already. Me, James' mum and Peter's mum wish you a very happy Easter, and we hope that our boys aren't driving you all too insane!
We also hope you find the eggs to be just as delicious as we hope they are! It might be much, but we all believe you deserve it for being able to put up with our mischievous boys. We already know that they think that we don't know that they're tricking us into giving them more sweets, but we know of course. Silly boys, thinking they can outsmart their own mothers. But we love them to death so we let them trick us, but you don't have to tell them that!
Thank you for making my boy smile, Claudia. I know he adores you, and I'm pretty sure there's something there, but I won't scare you off.
Just remember that you can write to me or my husband if you would need anything, anything at all.
All the love,
Hope Lupin
Claudia couldn't help but to feel positively overwhelmed. The warmth of not one, but three mothers' love was something she never thought she would feel again.
It was a little gesture on their part, giving her some sweets and sending her a letter, but despite that it was the best Easter she had had in years.
"Is something wrong, love?" Remus asked when he appeared next to her, pulling the hair back from her face with his index finger.
"No, nothing's wrong," she said with a smile as she looked up at him. "Your mothers are just all so nice."
"Of course they are, how else would they have created such perfect individuals?" James said as he too appeared by her side. "No offense, Sirius."
"None taken, I'm the most perfect despite having an awful mother," he grinned, causing a small chuckle to come from Claudia, positively surprising him.
"What's in the letter?" James asked.
"That's for you to ask and me to know," she replied with a smirk.
"Give it to me," he said as he tried to take it out of her hands.
"No."
"Yes!" He laughed.
"No!" She said as she lunged her way over the bed and stood up on the other side. "It's mine."
"A little help here, Moony?"
"You're on your own there, Prongs," the boy replied the moment before James started chasing Claudia around the room like a maniac.
After about five laps around the room, and a switch in which James had the letter instead of Claudia, Peter had had enough. So, he inevitably tripped James over, causing Claudia to fall over him.
The girl wasted no time on grabbing the letter out of James' hand, and then standing up with a triumphant grin on her face.
"Now, let me eat my chocolate in peace!"
•••
"Hello, Sunshine," Evan Rosier said as he caught up to Claudia, who was heading towards the Great Hall alone for the Easter Sunday meal that was about to be served.
"Hello, Evan," she said in an annoyed tone.
"You called me Evan!"
"Oh, sorry, did you prefer dickhead?"
"No need to be cold, Sunshine," the boy retorted as they came into the hall, his hand on her lower back as they did so.
For some reason Dumbledore had decided that this Easter they would do things like they did on Christmas, meaning that they could sit wherever they wanted and that the teachers would sit with them. There were more kids there than during Christmas however, due to the heavy amounts of homework that several students had to finish.
"Hello, Professor Dumbledore," Evan greeted the headmaster as he pulled out a chair for Claudia, since they also had nice chairs for the occasion.
"Hello, Mr. Rosier, Ms. Maple," the headmaster greeted with the ever so familiar glimt in his eyes. "Tell me-"
"Ms. Maple!" McGonagall suddenly interrupted. "I'm sorry to ask you this, but would it be alright if we switched seats? I have some things I have to discuss with Albus."
"That's fine, Professor, where should I sit?"
"Over there by Mr. Lupin would be just fine," the old woman replied with a small smile twitching on her lips, pointing at Remus, who was sat with the other Marauders at the other end of the long table.
"Sure, no worries," Claudia said, feeling better immediately as she hastily moved out of her seat and walked over to Remus, bumping into her own chair in the process.
"Oh, sorry," she apologised.
"Did you just apologise to the chair?" Remus asked quietly with an amused smile on his face.
"Yes, I did," Claudia replied as she sat down. "No need to judge me there Mr. I-fold-my-socks."
"How did you know that?"
"I just...noticed it," she shrugged. "I notice everything you do."
"You do?"
"Well, not in a creepy way of course," she said as a faint blush came over her face. "Just in an...observant kind of way."
"Oh," Remus replied with a smug smile on his lips. "Is that so?"
"Shut up," Claudia mumbled as she blushed even more, causing Remus to laugh as he leaned in towards her ear.
"You're blushing," Remus whispered.
"I am not," she whispered back in a stern tone.
"You are," he cooed as he leaned back in his seat. Claudia rolled her eyes, and finally tore them off of Remus, only to see Evan looking right at them.
Shit.
"Remus?" Claudia said as she stared straight ahead and picked up her goblet in order to hide her face and make Evan stop staring at them.
"Yeah?"
"We can't talk."
"Oh," he replied as he caught Evan staring at them. "I know, I'm sorry."
"Nothing to apologise for," she said after she had taken a sip of her pumpkin juice.
Remus noticed how Claudia immediately started anxiously tapping her fingers against the chair. He noticed how her feet did the same against the floor, and he noticed how she definitely felt uncomfortable under the eyes of Evan.
So, instead of completely ignoring her and pretending like he didn't know her, he took her hand underneath the table and intertwined their fingers.
A simple little gesture that calmed her down profoundly.
Claudia took a deep breath as Remus discreetly glanced at their intertwined fingers, a small smile coming over his face.
They sat like that for a while, his hand in hers as they waited for the food to appear on the table. As they ate, their hands left each other despite neither of them wanting that, but immediately when the food was consumed, they found their way back to each other.
"I'll come find you later," Claudia then said quietly as she stood up and let go of his hand.
Remus watched as Claudia walked out of the hall, Evan immediately following her.
"What do you want, Rosier?" The girl asked as she headed towards the bathroom.
"Why did you talk to Lupin?"
"Homework," she shrugged. "Nothing to worry about."
"Alright, Sunshine," Evan grinned, not believing her for a second. "Wanna hang out?"
"I'd rather lose a leg, an arm, my brain or maybe even my precious ability to tell you fuck off," she said with a charming smile. "Maybe in your dreams."
"God, you're hot when you're feisty," the boy said with a raise of his eyebrows.
Claudia rolled her eyes. "Can you please just leave so I can pee in peace, or do you want to join in on that too?"
"Maybe," he shrugged as Claudia slammed the door in his face.
"Dickhead," she said under her breath as she slammed her head against the door.
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