"DO YOU PEOPLE WANT anything from the trolley?" Claudia asked all the people in the crammed compartment that consisted of three out of four Marauders, Inez, Betty and Marlene as the journey back to Hogwarts for their seventh year went on.
So far, since stepping on the train by herself only to reunite with the others, Claudia had somehow managed to go to the yearly prefects' meeting, sleep on Remus' shoulder and cuddle with her cat.
And now, after she had made the realisation that she could really use some chocolate frogs, the girl decided to go on a little mission.
"Yes!" They all said at the same time. Well, that was with the exception of Remus who merely looked at her in a way that, quite frankly, had Claudia in the mood to mildly punch him in the gut.
"Are you sure you-"
"Don't even, Remus," Claudia sighed. "I'll survive a two minute long walk, I can assure you. And, if I by some very unlikely and unlucky horrible chance collapse in the middle of the train, you'll be the first to know."
"But-"
"I'm fine," Claudia said with a smile, for she was understanding to why he was always checking up on her health and trying to keep an eye on her and make sure she was fine, which he had been doing nonstop for weeks now.
At first, Claudia wouldn't deny that she adored the attention. But now, after a while, she wished that he wouldn't always worry for her if she even so took a walk by herself, went a full day without taking a nap or accidentally forgot to apply the healing serum that would heal her gashes after that faithful night when Louisa had cursed her to near death.
She loved him, and she loved the attention, but she hated that he and everyone in that compartment watched her as if she was glass that was slowly falling towards the ground to shatter into a million pieces.
Though, she did understand why they all looked out for her as much as they did, because she had in fact almost died, and her health had been poor for over a month. Yet, she had healed miraculously faster and better than anyone thought that she would, and she honestly wouldn't say that she was in much pain anymore.
Sure, sometimes it hurt, especially when she was about to fall asleep. And, sometimes she needed to go and take a nap. But walking, swimming and living like normal wasn't impossible, and she knew what her own limits were.
She knew that she wasn't completely healed yet. She could tell, because her body ached sometimes, her breathing was sometimes rather abnormal and she did have coughing fits every now and then.
And, when she did have those coughing fits, it wouldn't be strange for her to cough up that strange old black liquid.
But Daktari said that it was normal. He said that she was fine, that she was going to get better and that she would be able to get back to normal for the most part.
And Claudia believed him.
Now it was just time for the rest of them to do so.
"I'm fine," Claudia repeated, tapping him on the nose a few times which only caused him to laugh.
"Okay," the boy smiled. "Then I'll have some more chocolate."
"You already have like ten bars, Rem, don't you think-"
"Chocolate," Remus repeated, causing Claudia to jokingly roll her eyes and simply turn to the others.
"And the rest of you?"
"I'll have six cauldron cakes," said Sirius.
"That's...okay," Claudia said. "Noted."
"Two pumpkin pasties," said Marlene.
"Noted."
"I'll have a pumpkin pastie, two chocolate frogs and a pack of Drooble's gum," said Peter.
Claudia sighed, "Oh, don't tell me you and Sirius are having another bubble-blowing competition."
Peter and Sirius shared a look, and then they smiled innocently at her as Inez snorted at the memory of bypassing a completely pink Peter whose gum bubble hadn't popped for two days.
Let's just say that that wasn't the first time it had happened.
Claudia smiled jokingly as well, "Noted. What about you, Inez?"
"Pumpkin juice and two liquorice wands."
Claudia scrunched up her nose, "I can't believe that sentence just left your mouth."
Inez shrugged.
"Noted. And you, Bets?"
"I'll just have two chocolate frogs," said Betty.
"Noted. And thank you for being normal," Claudia said. "Do you guys think I should get something for James and Lily? Did they even tell us when they'd be back?"
"Nope," Sirius grinned. "If you ask me, they'll be discussing Head Boy and Girl duties all the way to Hogwarts, if you know what I mean."
"I'll take that as a no," Claudia grinned, and then she stood still for a moment of silence with a confused look on her face as they all stared at her.
"What's wrong with her?" Sirius whispered to Peter.
"I don't know," the boy whispered back. "Maybe she's practising being dead."
"Why would she do that?"
"Not sure."
"You know, sometimes you say the weirdest things-"
"I think I need to write all of that down," Claudia then said, referring to the "long" list of sweets she were to buy from the trolley.
The girl moved towards her bag to pick out some parchment, but it seemed that Remus had read her mind beforehand and was already one step ahead of her as he handed her the list that he had finished writing just as she mentioned it.
"Thank you," the girl smiled as Betty chuckled.
"Can you two read each other's mind or something?"
"Yes," Claudia and Remus said accidentally at the same time, and after that (and a confused look from Betty) the girl headed out of the compartment to find the trolley lady.
However, she barely got anywhere before a smaller figure practically tackled her in a hug.
And Claudia wouldn't lie to herself; it hurt a bit.
But, she never would've ever told the girl in front of her that, because she was met by the most concerned eyes as the hug parted before Claudia could even hug back.
"Do you hate me?" Mary, who was the girl in front of her, asked in an incredibly concerned voice.
"What?"
"Do you hate me?"
"Wha- no! Merlin, Mary, why would you think that?!"
Mary sighed out of relief, "My bracelet was flickering. I thought that I had done something wrong, or maybe that you just didn't like me anymore."
Oh, Claudia thought to herself, realising that the bracelet had probably flickered because she had almost died.
But, she decided that Mary had no use in knowing that.
"You haven't done a thing," Claudia smiled, ruffling Mary's hair. "I don't know why it flickered. But I'm not mad at you, and we're still the bestest of friends, alright?"
Mary smiled, and Claudia suddenly felt emotional thinking about how they had become friends almost two years ago, and how much Mary had grown since - from a little girl to a blooming teenager.
"Why are you crying?" Mary asked in a judgemental tone.
"I'm not crying."
"Yes, you are."
"I'm not!"
"Yes! Your eyes are all watery!"
"Oh, my eyes being watery isn't the same as me crying!" Claudia exclaimed. "And, besides, let me be emotional, okay? I just realised that I'm getting old!"
"You're seventeen?"
"Not in my soul," Claudia said dramatically, confusing Mary plenty as Claudia hugged her again.
"Seventeen is literally young, Claudia," Mary said. "You're not old until you're like...forty."
"Oh, you're so wise," said Claudia. "When did you become so wise?"
"Always have been, now let me go," Mary said, but Claudia could see that small hint of a smile when she let her go that only a little sister would wear as they tried to fight off their big sister no matter how much they knew that they actually didn't want to.
•••
The carriage ride back to Hogwarts felt almost nostalgic. It was a strange thing, and they would all admit it.
It was the very last time they would be taking those carriages back from the summer. Now, it wasn't exactly the biggest of deals, but it still felt strange that they would never be in that specific situation in that they had experienced every September 1st since second year.
And it felt even more strange that it was soon time for their final welcoming feast back after the summer, and their final time witnessing the sorting of first years.
"You know," Claudia whispered in Remus' ear as they sat with the boys in a carriage considering that they all couldn't fit with the others as well.
"What?"
"We met today six years ago," she said, immediately causing him to turn to face her and smile.
"That's right, isn't it?" He chuckled. "That surely calls for celebration."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah," he nodded, still whispering as he spoke. "Meet me tonight by the lake?"
Claudia nodded, and then the two spent the rest of the carriage ride smiling like fools as the other three boys - including James, who eventually had returned from whatever him and Lily were doing with the slightest of blush on his cheeks - groaned and made fake gagging noises simply due to them existing and being in love at the same time.
But they didn't care. Not at all. Instead, they laughed and gave them their middle fingers for being so annoying despite the fact that they didn't even kiss or hold hands for a second as they sat in that carriage.
Eventually, they arrived at Hogwarts, and they were all ever so delighted to be back home one final time. And, that delightfulness wasn't even ruined when they walked inside the castle and Peeves immediately attacked students with water balloons.
Well, at least it wasn't ruined for the most part.
Claudia was lucky, however. The girl saw it coming as she walked inside, so she managed to move over to the side just in time.
The Marauders were not so lucky.
And let's just say that Sirius wouldn't shut up about his now wet hair for even a second as soon as the water balloon dropped on his head.
In all honesty, Claudia couldn't even hear the boy take a single breath during his complaining rant.
"Is this our calling for a prank war with you, Mr. Peeves?" Asked James with a mischievous smile after he had dried his glasses up from the water.
"Oh, is ickle little Head Boy up for a war?" Peeves asked teasingly. "I'll agree to that if you let me have her on my side!"
The boys all turned to who Peeves was pointing out, which, of course, was a very dry Claudia who was in that moment drying up some poor little second year who had, just as the Marauders, been the worst victim of them all to Peeves' shenanigans.
"How did you manage to get so...dry?" James asked her.
"There's a thing called magic, Jamie," the girl chuckled. "However, I actually didn't need magic to get dry because I backed off before I could even get wet in the first place."
Sirius gasped dramatically, which wasn't strange at all since his hair had been ruined. "Oh, Claudia, you..."
"What?"
"You-"
"You want a hug?" Remus asked with a mischievous glimt in his eyes.
"No," Claudia responded with a chuckle. "Absolutely not."
"Oh, come on," Remus persisted, waking closer to her and stretching his arms out. "You always want a hug from me! Why not now?"
"Remus-"
"Hug me, Claudia!"
"No," the girl laughed, and, well, let's just get to the point.
Remus got to chasing Claudia around as she ran and laughed like an idiot and several students were either entertained, confused or scared of the strangely wild and free seventh years who seemed to be in their own little world.
Eventually, Remus caught the girl and hugged her, and she didn't get particularly wet at all, but the point was made by Remus.
But, what he didn't know was that Claudia had slowed down her pace just a little bit, because hugging him had never even sounded like bad idea in the first place.
The pair eventually got ahold of themselves, but then things suddenly seemed a little less good.
Because, sitting by the teacher's table as they walked inside the Great Hall was not just anyone.
It was Margaret Maple.
Claudia immediately left Remus' side, and at first she intended to run off to Regulus and have him as her support, but she met eyes with the boy as she walked inside the hall, and all he did was turn his head down again without even so acknowledging her.
So, she opted for her friends at the blue and bronze table.
"What the fuck is my grandmother doing here?!" She whisper-shouted to Inez, who shrugged as Betty looked concerned and Pandora finally lost her attention from her book.
"No idea," Inez said, but soon enough their questions were answered.
Margaret Maple was their new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.
And Claudia didn't know what to say, think or do.
Because her year was ruined.
Because she had to hide again.
Because her home was suddenly not homely anymore.
Because the mother of the murderer of Fayola Ingannamorte was their new professor; and Claudia was furious.
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