black coffee | remus lupin [2]

prologue

SIRIUS BLACK HAD BECOME quite accustomed to his daily strolls. For all of his life, he had enjoyed to walk around in silence all by himself for short yet meaningful moments of peace. It was possibly rather uncharacteristic of the normally bold and social boy to enjoy such tranquility and desolation, but Sirius Black really did like strolling around with a fun tune in the back of his mind, a cigarette in between his lips and a never-dying grin resting handsomely on his face.

Wether it was on the streets of London during a temporary escape from his mother, the hallways of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, or possibly where he was on that cloudy afternoon on August 1st 1979, didn't matter. Sirius just enjoyed to stroll around, due to it being a time during which he could think and reflect about his life as much as he needed and desired.

On this particular day, however, Sirius was not really thinking or reflecting about his own life. Well, in some ways he was, but not really. You see, Sirius was thinking about his friends.

First of all, a familiar blonde girl you may remember - whose name was Betty - had left for France just a few days prior. She had family there, and a job had been offered to her at the French Ministry of Magic, so it didn't exactly come to a surprise for any of them that she left.

Still, Sirius found himself missing her already. They were former boyfriend and girlfriend, but that wasn't what caused him to miss her.

If Sirius would be honest, he just wished that things would go back to the way they used to be. He wasn't someone who particularly disliked change if it arrived in good time with gentle intentions, but the changes that had happened in his life as of recently weren't exactly ones he had taken a liking for.

And that leads us to the others. You see, it wasn't only Betty who had faced change as of recently. James and Lily, for example, had gotten married a year prior, and Sirius was certain that a baby would be on the way anytime soon. Which he, for the record, loved the idea of.

He figured that being an uncle could be a great distraction to how distraught everyone was. Maybe it could cheer them all up.

They sure seemed to need some excitement and distractions. You see, the ongoing war and working for the Order of the Phoenix was truly taking a toll on all of them, not to mention the missing piece within the group.

Which led Sirius to his final thought;

Claudia goddamn Maple.

The girl who had left them a year ago on that day.

The girl who had completely turned their worlds upside down and then walked out without another word.

The girl who had taken a piece of Remus with her.

Sirius missed her. He wouldn't deny that he did, because Claudia was to him a close friend and he loved her like a sister.

He also missed the way things were when she was around. How happy everyone was. How happy Remus was.

There was no point in dismissing the obvious fact; Remus Lupin wasn't himself. He was quiet, withdrawn and rather sorrowful.

He had spent a year without her. 365 full days. And during all that time, he hadn't seen a trace of her.

Hadn't seen her. Hadn't heard from her. He hadn't even heard anything about what she was up to according to Witch Weekly or the Daily Prophet.

Maybe that was because every time something about her or her family was written about somewhere, his friends tried their hardest to make sure he didn't see it so that he wouldn't be unnecessarily pained, but still.

Remus felt as if he was going insane. He had loved her so much, and he still did so badly that everyone around him were honestly concerned that things wouldn't go back to normal.

But, it wasn't just Remus who was struggling with his missing piece. Sirius himself, and all the others, wondered if they were ever going to stop worrying about her and questioning where she was and wether she would come back home or not.

You see, Remus had broken down completely for the millionth time as he told them that she was gone. He blamed himself, of course, and he kept telling them that he hadn't done enough to make her stay.

But, not only his sadness or grief was expressed in that moment. No, so was anger.

Because Claudia was set to marry Evan Rosier.

The boy who had plagued her for years. The boy who had tried to rape her, and the boy who had succeeded touching her against her will.

And that got everyone into a state of fury. They even planned on how to bring her back. A not so foolproof plan, but still.

Yet, time went on and Claudia still hadn't married Evan. A month passed, then three, then six.

At this point, when Sirius was waking down the street, a whole year had gone by, and Claudia was still not married.

According to their knowledge, that was.

But, that didn't change the fact that she hadn't come back to them, nor had she answered any of their letters begging her to do so.

Sirius, Peter and James all hated knowing that maybe Remus wouldn't ever go back to normal again. They hated how much Claudia had torn him apart - and somehow that sometimes made them think that they hated her.

But they could never do that. None of them could; including Sirius.

He couldn't even hate her as a witch handed him a free copy of Witch Weekly during his stroll down the old familiar street that was Diagon Alley and he read the headline of the front page.

"MAPLE MISTAKE" HAS GOTTEN MARRIED!

Sirius felt his hands tremble just a little bit as he read the title of an article that would change everything. He was prepared for it - he had been for an entire year - but since Claudia had taken so long to finally marry Evan Rosier he had started to find some hope.

And he knew that Remus had done the same.

Maybe Claudia would come back to them. Maybe she wasn't gone for good.

Yet, that hope was killed and those hands that had been trembling just a little bit were suddenly shaking as Sirius finished reading the first few sentences of the article inside.

"Maple Mistake", also known as the daughter of Charles Maple, has finally gotten married at the age of 19!

The ceremony took place last week at the family's summer house, where the young girl - who was crying tears of joy - finally married her true love Regulus Black.