black coffee | remus lupin [2]

51. somebody's watching me

｡･:*:･★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

A FEW DAYS AFTER the emotionally draining Death Eater meeting, Claudia headed to the Muggle village nearby Potter manor to see Jo at her coffeeshop.

She made her way inside the shop, got herself a cup of coffee from Jo who was working in the middle of all the chaos, only to sit down by one of the tables further in the back as she waited for Jo to take her break and come talk to her.

"This day is nothing but hectic," the older woman sighed as she eventually sat down in front of Claudia with a cup of coffee for herself in her hand. "I'm sorry, dear, but I only have twenty minutes to talk. Since it's getting so cold people are coming here more and more."

"That's quite alright, Claudia smiled. "I have other things to tend to later anyways, so don't worry about it."

"Oh, what kind of things?" Jo asked curiously.

"Just...things," Claudia shrugged, unaware of how to explain that she was going to come with Regulus and the others to that cabin in the middle of nowhere that Regulus had found. That, they believed, could be the place where they could experiment with destroying the Horcruxes in a safer way.

Jo chuckled a little, and then she took a sip from her coffee before narrowing her eyes just a bit as she watched Claudia, who immediately became confused.

"What?"

"Nothing," Jo smiled. "So, how are things?"

"Good," Claudia said. "You?"

"Good. Why are you ignoring Remus?"

Claudia sighed, and with a small little smile she then shook her head.

"Oh, how I knew we were going to end up here," she said. "Do you know how many people have gotten all up in our business ever since we first got to know one another?"

"No."

"Well, there's too many to count. But it includes my bloody grandmother, the librarian at our old school and plenty of our old professors as well."

"And your point is...?"

Claudia sighed, and let out a small groan of complaint. "I don't know."

"I just want to know why you're ignoring him," Jo smiled innocently. "But if you don't wish to talk about it, you don't have to. I'm just trying to live out my dreams of becoming a couples therapist-"

"He's ignoring me too, you know," Claudia said. "Don't put it all on me."

"I'm not," Jo assured her.

"Then, uh," Claudia said, leaning in and lowering her voice with an intrigued look on her face. "What has he said?"

"What makes you think I've spoken to him?" Jo asked innocently.