black coffee | remus lupin [2]

8. familiar faces & important discoveries

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CLAUDIA WAS LAYING DOWN on a familiar bench as she smoked a cigarette and stared at the clouds with absolutely nothing on her mind.

She had just visited her mum and Gemma's graves. She had brought flowers - specifically daffodils - and then she had pretty much just sat there in front of the tombstones, talking a little bit about whatever came to mind.

As always, it felt weird. To pretend as if their stones were them had never really been as hard as it had been recently, and Claudia didn't really understand why.

Maybe it was the fact that she didn't really have much hope that anyone could ever actual hear her at all. She didn't know why, but it didn't really matter.

Anyway, the emptiness she felt after speaking to them pretty much took over her brain, so next thing she knew she was laying down on that bench with a cigarette resting between her lips.

And the bench she was on?

Well, as you may remember, it was the exact bench where Remus had asked her to marry him over a year ago. The bench she had cried her eyes out one final time before allowing the nothingness to take over her after she had left him.

She seemed to be accustomed to that bench by now. The cracking paint and the squeaky wooden planks were as familiar as they could be.

"Is that horrid bench comfortable?"

Claudia nearly fell over as a voice that she strangely enough recognised suddenly spoke to her. However, she managed to get ahold of herself, and next thing she knew she was looking at a familiar old lady who was watching her with a smile.

"I knew it was you," she said.

Claudia smiled back, but the confusion quickly shone through, considering how the lady then laughed.

"Don't worry, I wasn't sure if you would remember me," she said. "I'm Jo. Or, well, Josephine, but you get the idea. You met me ages ago when our village was attacked. And you're Claudia. The very nice girl who reads."

"Oh," Claudia said, and Jo could tell that she knew who she was just by her face. "It's nice to meet you again. And, yes, this horrid bench is actually more comfortable than you may think."

Jo nodded with a smile that quickly sunk, and then she asked, "How are you?"

"Great," Claudia replied, unaware of the questions Jo wanted to ask her but didn't quite dare to. "You?"

"I'm great," she smiled. "But I'm also quite bored. Would you care to join me for some coffee?"

"Uh..."

"Don't worry, I don't bite! I'm just extremely lonely, and I remember you being good company. So, would you care to join me? It's on the house anyways since it's my coffeeshop after all. I'm not working right now but I can go and get free coffee whenever the hell I want!"