"WHY EXACTLY ARE we here?" Peter asked in a complaining tone as the four Marauders sat on the stands of the quidditch pitch. "It's bloody freezing!"
"Shut up, Wormtail," said Sirius. "It's not that cold."
"Oh, really?" Peter said sarcastically as he wrapped his coat tighter around himself. "Then why can't I feel my bloody fingers anymore?!"
"Maybe because you didn't bring your gloves unlike the rest of us!"
"Oh, so I'm the one to blame here?! I'm not the one who dragged us all this way just to stare at Claudia for another few hours!"
"I didn't bring you here so that I could stare at her," Remus mumbled.
"It sure looks like it, though," Sirius grinned. "It's all you do, mate. You eat breakfast whilst you stare at Claudia, you go to class whilst you stare at Claudia, you are in class whilst you stare at Claudia. And when you're not around her, you think about her-"
"That's an exaggeration," Remus scoffed in a pure lie - because the boy's eyes always trailed back to her face.
He always knew where she sat in the Great Hall, where she sat in class and which route she would take to her next one.
Which may have been a bit stalker-ish, but Remus honestly didn't care.
And, besides, Claudia was doing the same exact thing - she knew where he sat, knew where he was and knew what his next class was - but that was for a whole different reason.
That was so she could sit as far away from him as possible, leave before he could talk to her, take the path to class that he didn't take, and enter the classroom last minute so that he couldn't sit next to her.
She did this all the time. Every day ever since the Amortentia situation.
Claudia was confused. She had managed to tell herself that maybe she was not in love with Remus and then the next second she smelt him in the Amortentia and suddenly he was all she thought about all the damn time - which terrified her.
So, she decided to pretend as if he didn't exist.
But that didn't stop her from daydreaming about him, wondering if maybe things could turn out alright and hitting herself discreetly as soon as she accidentally swooned over how good he looked.
And, Claudia had come to terms with the fact that she did love the boy. But she thought that maybe time would wash those feelings out - which it definitely wouldn't.
"I just wanted to see how she does," he shrugged, feeling a bit embarrassed about it. "After the Amortentia situation I've just...I've been thinking about her-"
"As always."
"-and me. Like, together," he sighed. "I just want her to be happy. And...maybe I could make her happy."
"Ew, you're doing it again," Sirius sighed.
"Doing what?"
"Turning into a lovesick fool," Peter grinned.
"Oh, please, he's been a lovesick fool ever since he found her stealing books," Sirius scoffed. "Not even James is this bad, and that's saying something. Which reminds me, why the hell are you so quiet, Prongs?!"
James gave his three friends a grimace before he nodded towards the stands - where a smiling Claudia stood talking to the new Ravenclaw quidditch captain, also known as Henry Chang.
Claudia was just talking to the boy that she had learned to call her friend - but despite that three boys started quibbling over the possibility of them flirting, and another one sat completely quiet as he watched Henry place some hair behind Claudia's ear.
And then he watched him walk away as Claudia's eyes flickered to the four boys.
Claudia was there for the Ravenclaw team quidditch tryouts, because finally she was allowed to do something just for her - and it was all thanks to her grandmother.
The girl had been a nervous wreck beforehand, due to her wondering if she would embarrass herself completely.
She used to play quidditch all the time when she lived with her mum and with her aunt - and after that she had a few times attained to the grand mistake of running off and stealing Nolan and Nicolas' equipment.
Which caused her to earn herself some rough nights, but Claudia always believed that it was worth it.
All of this, and a few secret quidditch sessions with Inez, had led to the fact that Claudia was a rather good player at that - but she was still a nervous wreck as she headed down towards the pitch as she hoped to be the new Ravenclaw seeker.
"Are you nervous?" Henry Chang, the new captain of the team as well as one of the chasers, had asked her.
Claudia had responded earnestly, and after a few minutes of just plain conversation and laughter, Henry had said the strangest thing as his eyes shifted towards the stands.
"Good luck," he had said, and then he had reached his hand up towards her face and had pulled a strand of wet hair behind her ear, which had caused the girl to feel completely bewildered.
"Wha-"
"It's quite fun to make people jealous, don't you think?" Henry had said with a smirk, and then he had walked off to speak to Inez before the tryouts would begin.
After that, Claudia's eyes narrowed as she searched for the possibility of Remus being there; which he, of course, was.
She cursed herself internally as she almost gave in and gave him an apologetic look, but thankfully Mary stopped her from doing so as she crept up behind her.
"When will you tell me what's up with you and Lupin?!" Mary asked with a tone of disappointment. "You two are driving me insane!"
"Oh, hi," Claudia said with a small nervous chuckle as she searched for Nicolas on the stands - but thankfully he wasn't there.
"Yeah, yeah, hi, hi," Mary sighed. "Tell me, woman, or I will be forced to talk to Potter or something!"
"I, well, it's complicated-"
"Alright everyone!" Henry then announced cheeringly, causing the group of shivering students to turn towards the captain. "Let's get started!"
Henry then proceeded to inform them about which positions were open - one beater, one chaser and one seeker - and then he separated them into groups depending on which position each person wanted to play.
Claudia ended up amongst six other people, two of which were scared second years, one of which was a cocky fifth year boy named Lucas, and then there were three others who honestly didn't look that excited to even be there.
Claudia figured that she had a good shot.
And, apparently she did considering the little second years and two other people disappeared after Henry had made the group of chasers compete with Inez one by one on getting the snitch.
Playing the seeker position wasn't exactly Inez's cup of tea, but it still resulted with just Claudia, Lucas and another girl named Jennifer catching it before her.
The other three were, truth be told, hopeless cases.
"Alright!" Said Henry as the remaining people stood waiting for their next task after having warmed up, done some practice drills and finished their separate tasks depending on which positions they played.
"I will now pair you up into some practice teams in order to see how well you can work with others! It'll be three teams so that means a total of three short games!"
After Henry and Inez had sorted all of them, including themselves and Mary, into three teams, the first two teams began and Claudia stood by the side watching - trying her hardest to not search for Remus on the stands as she did so.
But, it was inevitable. And, surprisingly enough, the boy still sat there despite the bubbling jealousy and confusion that lived inside of him.
But he stayed, just like he said he would.
"That's bloody foul!" Inez suddenly yelled, snapping Claudia out of her trance. "Stop being such a prick, Lucas!"
"I'm on your team, woman! Shut up!" Lucas, the third possible seeker, yelled after he had gripped onto the other seekers robes and dragged her to the side so that she nearly fell over.
"Hey!" Henry yelled. "That's no way to speak to your teammates!"
"It is when she's a bitch!"
"Oh you fucking-"
"Shut up, Lucas, or I'll ban you from the pitch!" Henry yelled, receiving a dramatic response from the boy, one that pretty much every single person shut out.
Henry rolled his eyes before he announced that the first game was over and that it was Claudia's team's turn to play against Lucas and Inez's team.
"Kick his arse for me, will you?" The other chaser, Jennifer, asked as she passed Claudia.
"Sure will," Claudia grinned, giving Jennifer a wink before she darted up into the air.
The practice game started, and Claudia immediately discovered that Lucas was in fact an insufferable prick.
Let's just say that she really wanted to kick him off his broom.
"Awe, can't find the snitch, Maple?" Lucas said in a teasing tone as they watched Mary score a goal for Lucas' team. "How does it feel to be a loser?"
"How does it feel to be stupid?" Asked Claudia as she spotted the snitch and headed towards it.
"Where are you going?!" He asked her hurriedly.
"Awe, can't find the snitch?" Claudia teased as she sped up, the boy immediately following on her heels as he searched for the snitch like a maniac.
Claudia decided to mess a little with him, so she dipped and flew in a circle; her eyes on the snitch as she did so.
Claudia's team had scored 10 goals whilst Lucas' had scored 12, but then, after shaking Lucas off of her, Claudia ended up nearing the snitch.
"Come on, Claudia," she whispered to herself as Remus watched proudly. "Come on."
And then, Claudia found herself falling to the ground, landing with a thud as she felt old wounds reopen.
But, she didn't even scream.
She simply lay there on the ground as she squeezed her hand - only for a small smile to come over her face despite the fact that her back hurt like a bitch, especially alongside the barely month old bruises and gashes that lived on her body.
But then, she finally noticed how badly it hurt as small tears formed in her eyes.
Because Claudia's body couldn't handle a fall like that the way anyone else could.
Because Claudia's body was not strong enough after the past few months.
Her body was weak.
Everyone ran towards the girl who had barely moved at all since Lucas had pushed her to the ground. But, undoubtedly, Remus ran the fastest.
And somehow he had ended up there first; because he probably began running the moment he saw how she started to fall.
"Hey," he said calmly as he brushed some hair from her forehead. "You're alright."
"Mhm," she hummed as she relaxed at his touch. "It hurts, Remus."
"I know," he said calmly as he continued to caress her forehead, grabbing her hand and squeezing it as he did so. "I'm here, I've got you."
"I know," she breathed, forgetting all about their problems. "I did it, Remus."
"You did what?" He asked confusedly as he saw blood seeping through her shirt - it nearly scaring him to death.
Funny how dark magic never truly left Claudia's body alone.
"I caught it," she said with a faint smile as she moved her hand and placed the snitch by Remus' knee.
"I knew you would," Remus said proudly. "You were incredible up there."
"That bloody dick didn't even catch it despite me falling," Claudia chuckled as Henry sat down on the other side of her.
"Blimey!" He exclaimed as he spotted her bloody shirt. "We need to get you to Madam Pomfrey!"
"No!" Claudia yelled as she tried to sit up, only for Remus to place her back down, his hand still in hers. "Remus, I can't-"
"Yes, you can," he said calmly. "Please, Claudia. You're hurt."
Remus knew that Claudia was referring to the fact that if she did go to Pomfrey, the woman would know what her family had done to her. And if her family knew that someone knew - an adult at Hogwarts, especially - Claudia would possibly never see the light of day again.
"No, Remus, please," she pleaded as Henry frowned out of pure confusion. "Please."
"Claudia-"
"We can take care of her," said Betty out of nowhere as she appeared alongside Inez and Pandora.
"No!" Remus exclaimed.
"Yes," the girl said with a warning look. "You can trust us on this one, Lupin. We can take care of her."
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