"YOU'RE TELLING US that you want to try and become an Animagus?" James questioned as the three boys and Claudia stood outside of the Hospital Wing.
"Yes, and I ask of you to not tell Remus this," said Claudia sternly, grabbing James by the arm and walking further away with all of them in case Remus, who was inside the infirmary, could hear.
"So you want to do it without him knowing?"
"Yes," she nodded. "Isn't that how you three did it?"
"Yeah," said Sirius. "But that was different. You can't become one."
"Why not?" Claudia questioned. "Why was it any different for you three?"
"Well, first of all, we had each other. We didn't do it alone."
"But if I do it I won't be alone," Claudia insisted. "I'll have you three."
"Yes, but, no," James sighed.
"No?"
"No."
"You can't decide that for me!"
"We sure can!"
"No, because if you try to tell me that I'm not doing it it'll only lead to me doing it by myself," the girl decided. "I'll become an Animagi with or without your help."
"I thought you were only thinking about it just five seconds ago?" Peter questioned. "And I agree with them, you shouldn't."
"Why not?!"
"Because Remus wouldn't want you to."
"Like you cared what he thought when you did it!"
"Well, no, we didn't. But this is different," said Sirius.
"How is it different?!"
"Because he wants to protect you, Claudia," said James with a sigh. "He'd have our heads if we helped you. Not forgetting that he'd be worried out of his damn mind every single full moon if you'd be there. It would only make it all worse."
"I don't think that's true," said Claudia. "You saw what he was like just now. I think I can make him feel better. At least that's what I want. And I can't just sit in my dorm every full moon doing nothing whilst he's out there being torn apart! Especially not when he still thinks that I'm scared of him or something!"
"No," James persisted. "We won't let you. And that is final."
"Oh, don't go all mum on me now, James," Claudia sighed. "Think about it, okay? My Patronus is a Raven."
"A Raven?"
"Yes, a Raven," she nodded. "A bird. Which means that my Animagus form is most likely it. Which means that I would be a perfect resource for all of you."
"How come?" Asked Peter.
"Ravens are known for forming social attachments with wolves," she explained. "They're sometimes known as the 'wolf-birds'. They play with wolves and they help each other out. Which means that I can help Remus out."
The three boys went quiet, sharing a look of indecisiveness, until James shook his head.
"Still a no."
"Alright, then I guess I'll do it myself," said Claudia, turning on her heel to leave them alone to tend to the spider that was currently running around in their dorm.
"Claudia, we all just want to protect you!" Sirius called after her. "Remus wants to protect you. We can't have you ending up in the Hospital Wing all bloodied up. Especially not after everything that's been happening. You cannot get hurt over and over again!"
That caused Claudia to stop. And then, with a tiny smirk of success, the girl turned back around and opened her mouth to speak.
"And there it is," she smiled.
"What?"
"You just reminded me of another reason to why you should help me."
"What reason?"
"When it gets too bad at the manor I can escape in my Animagus form. And I can also hide, probably. And you know one stupid thing I remember about my father from when I was younger?"
"What?"
"He fucking hates birds," she chuckled. "Giving him a good scare sounds fun, doesn't it?"
•••
Just as Claudia had grown to form a soft spot for each and every single one of the Marauders, they had all formed soft spots for her.
So, it came to no surprise that after days of tormenting and begging the four boys to help her become an Animagi, they actually surrendered and decided to help.
All of this was done without Remus' knowledge.
So, as the brown eyed boy quickly walked down the halls of Hogwarts with a copy of the Daily Prophet in his hands and a frown on his face, he was asking himself why Claudia and his friends had escaped breakfast that morning with the simple excuse that they "wanted to look at the lake".
In the middle of January without their coats, that was. Which had Remus thinking that they were lying.
Even though he was wondering what the hell was going on with the four, he had nothing but the front page of the Prophet on his mind as he - without the map - searched for his friends and his girlfriend, who were all sat in the library hunched over books.
"I don't understand why we have to do the research all over again," Sirius groaned, hating the mere existence of the library he was in. "I think I'm allergic to this place."
"And I'm allergic to your voice, so shut up please," Claudia said bluntly, her eyes still skimming over the pages of a book.
"Merlin, Clauds, are you on your period or something?"
Sirius got no answer to that question. Instead he got a book thrown on his head, causing him to let out a yell that nearly had Madam Pince coming for him.
"No need to be violent," Sirius whispered, causing Claudia to scowl.
"For your information, Sirius, I'm not on my period," she said in an annoyed tone. "I'm just sick of you complaining. And the reason we're reading is so that I can feel comfortable with doing this because, honestly, just doing what you say out of memory makes me feel uneasy."
"Sorry, Claudia," Sirius apologised. "But why do I have to be here?"
"Because you need to work on your patience, darling," said Claudia. "So, shut up and work."
"Alrighty then, mum," Sirius grinned, nearly toppling over in his seat as he turned his eyes to the map that he had been staring at instead of reading and noticing that Remus was literally three shelves away from where they sat. "Orange!"
"Orange?!"
"Orange!"
"Shit!"
And so, Claudia took a quick glance at the map as the boys started hovering the books back in their rightful spots with magic, and then Claudia got up, turned around the shelf and bumped straight into Remus.
"Are you alright?" Remus asked immediately, catching her by putting his hands on her waist, still holding onto the Prophet as he did so.
"Me? Mhm, I'm fine!" Claudia said. "Just happy to see you!"
"Are you sure?" Remus asked suspiciously.
"Of course I am," she smiled softly, hating the fact that what she was doing was distracting him.
But, she really was happy to see him. She always was.
However, she also hated lying to him. But she had to, just for a little while. If she could get the process started and come up with a good explanation to why he should allow her to continue, she would tell him immediately. And, besides, if he refused to let her help during his transformations she still had a reason.
That reason being her father. The very person who was the reason behind why Remus was in the library.
"What brings you all here?" He asked confusedly as the boys appeared behind Claudia. "And why are you yelling about oranges?"
"Actually, we're yelling about orange. Orange is my favourite colour," said Claudia.
"I know, but that still doesn't make any sense," Remus stated, confusion written all over his face. "And why are you here, again?"
"Well, we had some homework," Claudia shrugged. "And we couldn't find you."
"You've got the map," he said.
"No, no, we don't," said Peter as Sirius discreetly checked in his bag to make sure Remus wouldn't be able to see it. "We thought you did?"
"No..."
"Oh my Merlin, did you lose the map?!" James asked Remus in a panicked voice.
"No, it must've been one of you..."
"Oh, shit! What do we do now?!"
"Well, we must look for it!" Sirius exclaimed. "Come on, Claudia!"
But, before Sirius could drag Claudia away and leave Remus behind the group yet again, the boy grabbed his girlfriend's hand - almost a little too protectingly - before giving them all a stern look.
"I have no idea what you all are up to. But I came here for a reason. Read this," he said, handing the Prophet to Claudia, whose face immediately turned into one of disbelief.
"Holy shit," she whispered. "You've got to be joking-"
"What is it?" James asked curiously, taking the newspaper out of her hands.
And then, it was perfectly clear to James why Claudia and Remus both looked shocked.
Because there had been a Death Eater-attack in Diagon Alley a few weeks back, and despite the claims that Charles Maple had previously made - the ones where he meant that he thought that muggles who are parents to wizards and witches shouldn't be allowed to enter the shopping area - he believed that maybe, at the time of the attack, that law didn't need to be enforced.
And why was that?
Because he had seen just how easily the Death Eaters had wiped out some innocent muggles and their children.
But, the Prophet didn't tie these two happenings together. Instead Charles had supposedly made that statement of it being a stupid idea because he had "come to his senses" and he felt that "children deserved having their parents with them as they ran their errands and did their school shopping".
But, it was all too clear that his intention was just that them visiting the Wizarding World made for easy kills.
That was something that had been discussed plenty, considering his reputation of believing in blood supremacy, hence why the article that was published that day was nothing but about the people that had tried to corner Claudia's father after work one day.
"Oh no," Claudia said, surprising everyone but Remus who knew just what she was thinking.
"What do you mean oh no?" Peter asked. "He's receiving criticism. Isn't that a good thing?"
"It is," Claudia nodded. "He deserves it. But now...it's selfish, but now it'll get worse."
"What will get worse?"
"Walking in the halls," she shrugged. "Eating in the Great Hall. Haven't you noticed all the comments and dirty looks I've been receiving ever since we came back just because of my father? It'll only get worse now."
The boys shared weary glances, ones that indicated that they most definitely would "knock some sense" into every person who bothered her.
"Don't worry about that," said Sirius, draping an arm over Claudia's shoulders. "You've got us on your side. We're the bloody Marauders. We can make them shut up in the blink of an eye."
"We've got plenty of power," said James, causing Claudia to chuckle as he too draped an arm over her shoulders, standing on the other side of her and beginning to walk. "So, now I propose we go eat dinner and show them all that you can hang out with blood-traitors and halfbloods. That'll give them some serious food for thought."
And so, the group left the library to eat their dinner together as usual. But, this didn't seem possible.
Because, when they arrived, Claudia saw none other than her father standing at the front of the hall, having deep conversation with his mother and Dumbledore himself.
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