"WHERE DID YOU LEARN to dance this well?" Lyall questioned as Claudia and him waltzed around the dancefloor, the girl leading since Lyall was incredibly confused.

"I've had lessons," she smiled. "When I was little. I've been going to loads of balls since so it kind of just stuck."

"Interesting."

"Not really," Claudia laughed.

"Well, I must tell you, I'm impressed by children who have the patience for it. Hope and I tried to put Remus in babyballet once."

"Babyballet?" Claudia questioned, an amused smile growing on her lips.

"Yes, babyballet," Lyall smiled. "But it obviously didn't work. He kept screaming and throwing his dance shoes at us when we would try to leave. And then with the whole werewolf-thing he couldn't continue anyways."

"Did he wear a tutu?"

"Nah," Lyall shrugged, knowing just how amused Claudia was. "But Hope did buy him one for fun. A blue one, I recall. I think I've got some pictures of it, actually-"

"Oh, Merlin, no," they heard Remus say from beside them, causing their waltz to stop. "Not the babyballet, dad!"

"I'm sorry, I had to," Lyall said, bursting into laughter at the same time as Claudia.

"You're never going to let this go, are you?" Remus asked Claudia, his cheeks turning an adorable shade of pink.

"Never," she laughed, causing his face to turn into one of both embrassement and annoyance. "Hey, don't be embarrassed, ballerina! There's nothing wrong with ballet!"

"Ballerina," Remus sighed. "Really?"

"Yes," Claudia grinned. "I quite like it. Might call you that now."

"Merlin, no."

"Sorry, ballerina," Claudia laughed, causing Lyall to giggle like a little girl and inevitable Remus to laugh as well.

"I think it's time for your time out now," Remus said, placing his hand on Claudia's back and slowly leading her away.

"Thanks for the dance!" Claudia called back to Lyall, who was practically doubling over on the dancefloor at this point. "You should've shared your dancing skills with Remus and maybe he could've become a proper star!"

Lyall laughed even more, only for it to calm down as his eyes flickered to his son, and suddenly he wore an unreadable look on his face. "Sorry, Remus!"

"It's alright, dad," Remus chuckled, leading Claudia to the kitchen so that he could have her alone for just a little while.

"What was that about?" Claudia asked.

"What?"

"That look on your father's face."

"Oh. He's feeling guilty."

"Guilty over what?"

"You know, for telling you that and for what happened when I was a kid," Remus explained. "When he said those derogatory things and annoyed Greyback so that he...you know."

"Oh," Claudia said. "He's still guilty about that?"

"He always will be," Remus spoke softly. "But he's a great dad. He's been trying to make up for it ever since."

"That's good."

"Yeah, it is," Remus said with a faint smile. "Things have been a little weird sometimes between the two of us. I've said some mean things before, and you know."

"But you never meant any of it," Claudia spoke.

"Exactly," Remus sighed. "But it's hard for him to understand that. It's almost like with you."

"Like with me?"

"Yeah, the whole werewolf thing," Remus said quietly, sitting down on a stool by the kitchen island and wrapping his arms around Claudia's waist as he brought her closer. "You both blame yourselves for the past. But I don't blame you. Not at all."

"Maybe you should," Claudia sighed, brushing her fingers through his hair as he leaned his head against her stomach. "Blame me, I mean. I was cruel-"

"I thought we weren't going to talk about that ever again," Remus chuckled. "I don't blame you. Okay?"

"Okay," Claudia mumbled. "So..."

"Don't," Remus warned as he knew of the grin that was on Claudia's face through her voice.

"Do you know how to do a pirouette?" Claudia asked, causing Remus to groan and let go of her waist.

"Really?"

"Yes, it's a very serious question," Claudia spoke sternly. "Can you?"

"No," Remus sighed. "And I'd like it if you let my two week long experience of babyballet when I was barely even able to talk go."

"But it's so much fun," Claudia grinned.

"There's absolutely nothing funny about it," Remus said, though the smile on his face told her otherwise. "Let it go."

"No," Claudia giggled. "You know, I don't actually think there's anything weird about it. I mean, ballet is a beautiful dance and I am impressed. Maybe you could give me some lessons?"

"Maybe I could give you some other lessons," Remus dared, standing up and towering over her dangerously close.

He knew just how to change the topic.

"W-what?" Claudia stammered.

"You heard me love," he said quietly, tracing his index finger along her arm, causing her to blush furiously. "Maybe I could teach you other things than ballet?"

"That was a topic changer I didn't expect," Claudia managed to get out. "But I don't mind it."

"Is that so?" Remus grinned with a raise of his eyebrows. "You know, it's quite hard to stay away from you when you're in this dress."

"Is that so?" Claudia teased.

"Mhm," he nodded, biting his lip slightly. "But it's actually hard to stay away from you all the time."

"Then don't," Claudia whispered against his lips, and then she kissed him passionately and desperately, almost forgetting that they were in the kitchen and that a party was right outside.

"Oh, am I interrupting something?" The smug voice of one Marlene McKinnon said amusedly, bringing the two apart immediately.

"N-no," Remus said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck as Claudia stared intently at the floor with her arms crossed and her cheeks red.

"Don't worry you two, I've been there many times," Marlene snorted. "I just came to tell you that there's some fun going on in James' room."

"Some fun?"

"Well, yeah," Marlene shrugged, lowering her voice. "If you know what my definition of fun is."

They sure did.

"So, are you coming up or do you two need more time?"

"We'll be right there," Claudia smiled awkwardly, watching as Marlene slowly backed away and sent her a wink as Remus tried to reset from the taste of Claudia's lips, the dress and the embarrassment of Marlene walking in.

"Calm down, love, it wasn't that bad," Claudia laughed. "We were only kissing."

"Mhm, but a little too...steamily for Marlene to let it go."

"Steamily?" Claudia snorted. "Merlin, you've got such a way with words."

"Oh, please, Claudia. You know what I meant."

"I know," Claudia grinned. "Which is why I said we would be there soon and not straight away."

Remus blinked.

"I honestly don't know what you mean by that," he confessed, causing Claudia to laugh slightly.

"I just thought maybe you needed some time to, uh, calm down," she shrugged.

"Oh," Remus breathed. "And will you help me with that?"

"Not here," Claudia warned, an amused smile on her face.

"Well, how about we go somewhere else then?"

The girl rolled her eyes.

"Well, at least I tried."

"You sure did, ballerina," Claudia smiled, patting him on the cheek. "Raise you to the top?"

"Sure thing," he chuckled, ignoring her use of nickname this time around.

"Just let me take my heels off, oka-"

It wasn't that Remus hadn't heard what Claudia had said as he ran off before her, he simply chose to ignore it so that he could win the race to James' room.

"Hey! Cheater!" Claudia called after him, running and attempting to take off her heels at the same time, which proved to be a rather bad idea as she bumped into Fleamont, causing the man to yell dramatically.

"What's all the running for?!" The man asked amusedly as Claudia glared at Remus, who was already on top of the stairs heading for the third floor. "Is there another party somewhere?"

"Nope, I just...needed to work on my cardio," the girl said awkwardly.

"In heels?"

"Yes, in heels," the girl smiled. "I find it makes the exercice even more efficient."

"Well, how about we don't run inside in heels so that we don't give Fleamont Potter a heart attack in the hallway?"

"Sounds good, Mr. Potter," Claudia smiled.

Fleamont let out a small laugh, "Off you go, then! Go kill Remus for stranding you here with me or whatever you were in the middle off doing."

"Thanks," Claudia smiled, saluting the man and revering a salut back as she (quickly) walked up to James' room.

"Ah, there she is," Remus grinned as she stepped inside the room to find the situation of nine teenagers sitting in a circle, some of them clearly slightly intoxicated. "What's my reward for winning the race?"

"You get no reward," Claudia said, glaring at him as she sat down next to Pandora instead of him. "Actually, what you'll get instead is the lovely experience of sleeping alone tonight."

Remus laughed slightly, seeing through the fake glare on her face, "Sounds good to me."

"Hey!"

"I'm sorry, love," he smiled. "If you come right here I'll make it up to you."

"Not in here!" Peter yelled.

"Merlin, Pete, I meant I'd give her a shot," Remus laughed, sending a wink Claudia's way.

A wink she most certainly couldn't ignore as she rolled her eyes out of surrender and moved to sit next to him instead.

"Here you go," said Remus, handing her a shot and taking one for himself as well, which led to the two taking their shots together.

"Aw, they even drink together," smiled Marlene as Remus patted a grimacing Claudia on the back since it burned more than she recalled it doing. "Which reminds me, did you two finish what you were up to down there?"

"I'm not sure what you're referring to there, Marlene," Remus said. "But we did not, no."

Remus continued to pat Claudia on the back, this time because she chocked on air.

"Oh, Merlin," Peter sighed.

"Let's play truth or dare!" Inez exclaimed, laughing at Claudia's state.

"You're just saying that so you can ask us inappropriate questions," Claudia pointed out.

"Exactly," Inez grinned. "So, Claudia, truth or dare?"

"Truth," she sighed, receiving a bunch of confused glances.

"You just contradicted yourself there," said Sirius. "If you pick dare you don't have to answer her inappropriate questions."

"The number one rule in truth or dare with Inez Harper is to never pick dare when she asks you," Claudia said. "If you do you might end up in the lake naked by midnight. I am speaking from experience."

"Really?" Remus grinned as everyone laughed.

"Yes, really."

"What's the story?"

"One that you don't get the pleasure to hear, Lupin," Inez smiled. "So, Claudia, what exactly was Marlene referring to?"

"You know you could just ask her instead," Claudia snorted. "But, alright. Marlene came to get us and we were just snogging, is all."

"Heavily," Marlene grinned. "That's why my question had a double meaning."

"Alright," said Inez. "So you haven't done it yet?"

"Sometimes I think you're all a little too obsessed with our private life," Claudia laughed. "It's honestly creepy, inappropriate and-"

"We haven't, no," Remus said simply, interrupting her.

"But we've done other things," Claudia shrugged.

"We are aware!" Peter said loudly. "So aware that I think Claudia can ask someone next!"

"Alright," the girl smiled, sighing out of relief as Remus starting drawing circles with his index finger on her back. "Bets? Truth or dare?"

"Whatever you want," Betty smiled.

"I like that," Claudia nodded. "How was France?"

"That was the most terrible question ever!" James scoffed.

"Sorry, just trying to warm us up a little," Claudia sighed. "Scratch that, how about-"

"No, you already asked it," Betty smiled successfully. "France was good. Saw my five idiot brothers. One is getting married."

"Which one?"

"Jaques," she smiled. "His fiancée is gorgeous. And, well, the rest of the journey was boring. Met some french witches and wizards who I hung out with a bit."

"Oh, did you shag any hot french boys?" Marlene asked, receiving a confused glance from Inez. "What?"

"Aren't you gay?"

"Yes, but french people are hot."

"Should I be concerned that you'll go after Betty now?"

"No, I'm all yours, idiot," Marlene sighed. "So, Betty, did you snog any fit french boys?"

"Well, somewhere along the lines of that," Betty said with a sheepish smile on her face. "Moving on! James. Truth or dare?"

"Dare."

Let's just say that James came back ten minutes later cold as hell after running laps around his manor in just his boxers, which also earned him a solid scolding from his mum.

"Truth or dare, Evans?" He asked as he got dressed again, the girl looking away as if she would explode by looking at him.

"Truth," she sighed, knowing exactly where it was going but wanting to avoid having to kiss him or something.

"Did you mean it when you said that I was handsome?"

"Yes," Lily confessed, blushing furiously and grimacing as if she had just let a bird out of its cage.

Let's just say that James took a few more laps around the manor, this time around out of pure happiness.

"Peter," Lily decided as it was her turn to ask. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth," the boy said nervously.

"Tell us a secret," Lily smiled.

"Oh, I don't really have one," he shrugged.

"Oh, but you do!" Sirius exclaimed. "How about you tell them about when you used to have a crush on Claudia!"

"What?!" The girl exclaimed as Peter slapped Sirius over the head. "You did?"

"Well, for like two weeks last year, yes," Peter said, blushing furiously. "Sorry."

"Why are you apologising?" Claudia asked, smiling warmly. "I just didn't know. It surprised me is all."

"Good," Peter smiled back as Remus coughed awkwardly.

"Did you know?" Claudia asked, turning to her boyfriend.

"Well, sort of," Remus said nervously.

"Sort of! He knew," James laughed.

"Actually, I never confirmed it to any of you," Peter pointed out, saving Remus. "And I dropped that crush the moment you said Claudia was hot, Sirius."

"He said what?" Betty questioned. "When?"

"Sometime last year," James shrugged. "When Claudia ruined the candles in the Great Hall."

"We weren't together then," Sirius whispered to the blonde girl.

"I know," Betty laughed. "Only messing with you."

"Well, anyway, Sirius said that what Claudia did was hot and I heard Remus whisper that he thought so too, and then I had the brilliant idea that they would be good together. So, basically, you owe it all to me."

Sirius laughed, "I'm not sure what you mean there, Wormtail, but what do you think, Claudia? Would you have dated Peter instead?"

"No, sorry, but it was always going to be ballerina bitch over here," she sighed defeatedly as she leaned her head on Remus' shoulder.

"Ballerina bitch?"

"Yes, I evolved your nickname the moment you ran before I could take my heels off," Claudia said to him as Peter moved on and dared Sirius to take a shot.

"I hate it," Remus chuckled.

"I hate you."

"No, you love me really."

"Unfortunately," Claudia sighed.

•••

A while later, after some tipsiness and parental scares, it was finally time for the countdown for the new year.

Though, as Claudia and everyone else stood outside to hopefully catch a glimpse of the fireworks from the village that was slowly building itself back up again, Remus decided that this year he was going to have his first new year's kiss.

So, as they reached two seconds before 1977 arrived, Remus took Claudia's face in his hands and whispered, "I love you, lame."

And then, Remus spent his first few seconds of 1977 kissing the girl of his dreams.

"I love you too ballerina bitch," Claudia whispered softly as the kiss broke and everyone around them hugged and cheered, Lily kissing James on the cheek after many moments of declining him doing so to her, Inez and Marlene having a similar experience to Claudia and Remus and Peter and Sirius hugging each other dramatically as if it would be their last year on earth.

"Let's make this the best year, yeah?" Remus spoke as he wrapped his arms around Claudia in a hug.

"Sounds good," Claudia whispered against his chest, feeling rather confused as the hug broke since Remus had gotten tapped on the shoulder by someone.

"Happy new year, you two," said Hope. "Is it my turn to hug now?"

"Sure mum," Remus said, letting go of Claudia and expecting Hope to hug him, only for her to hug Claudia.

"Happy new year, dear," Hope said happily.

A while later, after some more hugging and saying goodbye to all the guests (excluding the girls who were staying the night), Claudia surrendered to Remus and came with him to sleep in his bed, despite having said that she wouldn't.

Because he was her bloody weakness.

"Today was better. I'm excited for this year," Claudia confessed quietly as they entered the room that was free of the little kitten who had been stolen away by an ecstatic Lily.

"I'm glad that you are," Remus smiled.

Because a year ago Claudia would've never said that.

"I'm excited to be with you more," Remus smiled, kissing the tops of her fingers. "To learn everything about you."

"That sounds like a plan," Claudia said.

"You know what else I'm excited for?"

"No."

"To take this gorgeous dress off of you."

__________________________________

a/n: the last sentence does not mean that they've done it yet! you will know when. this time around leave it for the imagination ;)

this chapter is so long what