maple syrup | remus lupin [1]

27. the calm before the storm

THE DREADED DAY had arrived. Claudia was returning to Maple Manor - and she was terrified for what was to come.

Inez was worried. She was worried that she had only scratched the surface on what was going on at home with Claudia, because frankly it had taken Claudia two years to tell anyone anything, and it was all because Inez had seen it live in action on accident.

Claudia was somewhat of a mystery, Inez knew that, and she also knew that there was a possibility that things were far worse than they seemed; because Claudia's dad and stepmother weren't exactly the nicest people ever.

"Claudia?" Inez said to her friend as they stood in their dorm, packing away what they needed for the holidays with magic.

"Yeah," the girl answered in a tired tone. Claudia had barely slept all night due to the fact that she was going back to the manor. It wasn't uncommon of her to experience a large lack of sleep, it actually happened quite often for many different reasons. One day it was that image that lived so uninvitedly in her mind, the next it was the manor or something else.

"You can come to my house if it gets too much, you know that right?" Inez said worriedly.

"Of course, I know," Claudia said with a fake smile as she walked towards her and pulled her into a hug. "Don't worry too much about about me, okay? I'll be alright."

"But what if you won't be alright?" Inez said unsurely.

"I will be," Claudia said with a reassuring smile as the hug broke. "I'm going to a big ass mansion, not Azkaban," she chuckled.

"Just promise me you'll come to us if it gets bad," Inez sighed as she held out her pinky.

Claudia linked her pinky around Inez's with a dramatic roll of her eyes as she grinned. "Of course I will," she said as Inez pulled her in for another hug.

Suddenly, another person lunged themselves at the two, almost causing them to fall.

"What are we hugging for?" Betty, who just appeared from the common room, asked her friends amusedly.

•••

In another part of the castle, two friends had also had a somewhat serious conversation.

After James had so sneakily followed Claudia and Remus during their patrol, due to what Lily had planted in his head back at the party in November, he was surprised to say the least. They seemed way more friendly than James thought they were, because Remus had never mentioned anything about them having any particular encounters.