maple syrup | remus lupin [1]

6. had enough

THE NEXT DAY Claudia was sat with Betty and Inez out in the courtyard, passing time over a free period since Professor Flitwick had fallen ill. The girls were all hunched over their different sets of homework; Claudia working on her Arithmancy essay.

The two electives she was allowed to take by her father was Arithmancy and Study of Ancient Runes. She would have preferred to take Muggle Studies or Care of Magical Creatures, but her father thought that Magical Creatures weren't for her, and he hated Muggle Studies for obvious reasons.

So, Claudia was left with the boring essays and runes. She didn't even understand why he even preferred those, since he thought mostly everything was ridiculous, but it was probably just the best options according to him at the end of the day.

"Claudia, it's happening again," Inez informed the girl who looked up confusedly. "The Marauders."

Claudia rolled her eyes as laid her quill down. They had been continuously staring at them, all the more because of Sirius' thing for Betty. Claudia wasn't even sure that the attention was for her at this point. Which, she was grateful for.

It wasn't that Claudia hadn't noticed their staring. Of course she had. She just didn't want to embarrass Betty since she was so against confronting them, but this time it did seem as if Betty kind of also wanted her to talk to them - at least by the look on her face.

But, it was time for lunch so the girls just shrugged it off and headed into the Great Hall, Claudia finding her normal pancakes on the Ravenclaw table, which caused her to smile brightly.

"It's adorable how much you love pancakes and syrup." Betty said as she sat down next to Claudia, Inez doing the same across from them.

"Very sweet indeed," Inez commented causing her friends to laugh.

But, Claudia's laughter was stopped as she caught sight of Evan Rosier, who was smirking right at her. Next to him were his friends that consisted of Claudia's stepbrothers, Severus Snape, Regulus Black, Mulciber and Wilkes.

Claudia moved her attention from Evan nervously as she caught sight of Nolan, who was also smirking at her, or that's at least what it seemed like.

She also met eyes with both Nicolas and Regulus - no sign of a smirk on either of their faces.

Claudia shook her head as she shifted her eyes to Inez, who was apparently trying to get her attention.

"What?" She asked bewildered, her mind still tracing back to the two evil smirks.

"They're doing it. Again. How can you not notice?" Inez said annoyed at the four Gryffindor boys.

Claudia hadn't noticed it since people were staring at her from every direction at this point. She felt watched by everyone as the most popular Slytherin and Gryffindor boys watched her.