(TW! MENTIONS OF AN ANXIETY ATTACK/POSSIBLE PTSD!)

CLAUDIA HAD ARRIVED back at her dorm the night of her prefect patrol with Nolan to find three girls groaning and complaining as they coughed and yelled for tissues.

Betty, Inez and Pandora had gotten the flu.

Claudia had not.

The next morning she woke up to the three still complaining - mostly Betty and Inez as Pandora was dreamily gazing on the ceiling. She seemed a bit affected by her cough syrup, in all honesty.

"That's it, all of you are going to the Hospital Wing this morning and then you're all going back here to rest!" Claudia decided since their complaining was driving her mad as she brought them breakfast.

"Yes, mum" Betty and Inez chorused as Pandora gave a small thumbs-up.

"Good."

"How come you aren't sick?" Inez asked Claudia in a raspy voice as she fluffed up her pillow.

"Well, maybe it's my impeccable immune system that one can only get from consuming copious amounts of pancakes, syrup and chocolate!" She joked as her friends all stared at her like she was stupid. "It's probably on its way", she sighed.

"Ugh, then we'll be forced to take care of you!" Betty complained, which earned her a pillow on the head by Claudia. "Thanks, I really wanted another one", she said tiredly as she placed the pillow under her head. Claudia scoffed.

It wasn't complete an invalid complaint made by Betty. Claudia was rather terrible to be around when she was sick, in all honesty. Her frequent mood-swings in her normal state had nothing on how bad it was when she was ill.

"Well then, I'm off to DADA", she said as she left the girls, and then peaked her head back into the room through the door. "Remember, Hospital Wing and then rest!"

•••

"Today we will be starting our revision on Boggarts", their Professor announced. "And apparently you have yet to have learned how to fight them off", he continued in an annoyed tone. "Probably the work of that moron Tattlehorn! So, today you will be learning how to get the hell rid of them, two years later than when you're supposed to!"

"What is a Boggart?" He asked the class, and Claudia's hand flew into the air. If there was one thing she was, it was a motivated student. "Ms. Maple."

"A Boggart is an amortal shape-shifting non-being that takes the form of it's observer's worst fear."

"Well done Ms. Maple, ten points to Ravenclaw!" Claudia smiled in triumph.

"Now, the incantation to fight of a boggart is 'Ridikkulus'. Repeat after me!"

"Riddikulus!"

And so, the class began facing their Boggarts one by one, Claudia standing in the middle of the line with all four of the Marauders right behind her, Lily in front of her.

She didn't speak with the boys, but it was still nice to hear them joke around. They even sometimes made jokes they wanted her to pay attention to, but she didn't think they even noticed her standing there.

Despite the fun that was going on behind her, a pit was growing inside of Claudia.

What if the Boggart takes the shape of my father? Or my stepmother? Or even my brothers? She asked herself as she grew more and more nervous by the second.

Having people know her secrets was the last thing she wanted in the whole wide world.

Why couldn't she just be scared of spiders and snakes like everyone else?

Still, Claudia couldn't help but notice how many people's Boggarts took the shape of something that had recently grabbed the attention of the Wizarding World; The Dark Lord and his Deatheaters.

There was no denying that there was a war going on, and suddenly Claudia felt like her problems were to small to stress about.

That did however not mean that she didn't practically panic as it was her turn.

As the redhead in front of her walked off after successfully fighting her Boggart, it started to change.

And what Claudia saw in front of her was the last thing she expected to see.

She saw herself.

There in front of her sat a younger version of Claudia, cross-legged. To everyone else in that room there was only that version of her sitting there, counting.

"Fifty-four, fifty-five, fifty-six."

But to Claudia, it was a reenactment of the worst day of her life.

"Fifty-eight, fifty-nine, sixty! I'm coming!"

Her voice boomed through the air as the younger version of her stood up, only for something else to appear.

There next to her was the dead corpse of her mother.

Claudia was completely frozen at the sight. It was as if time had stopped but was running away like sand at the same time - and it was not in a good way. The only way to describe it was that it was a pure and utter moment of panic, fear and pain.

She couldn't breathe.

The world was closing up on her as her vision blurred and her hearing muffled. It was as if a billion snakes hissed in her ears the way she couldn't hear. She could feel the blood pound in her ears at the same time as everything became so much worse. Her hands began to shake and her breathing began to shorten out.

And it escalated more as the Boggart of her mother change into her aunt, and then Betty, and Inez, and then back to her mother.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

It's alright.

Everything is fine.

Instead of muttering the incantation, Claudia began trying to count down from one-hundred.

"Ninety-seven," she whispered as her breathing hitched.

The hyperventilation started.

Mum, Gemma, Betty, Inez. Mum, Gemma, Betty, Inez. Pandora.

The only people Claudia had.

Claudia was terrified. What felt like forever was only a couple of seconds - but Remus couldn't stand it.

Their Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor of the year wasn't exactly the most understanding nor compassionate individual. He prized success and strength. Which means that he was waiting for one of his brightest students to fight the Boggart off.

Remus was not going to wait like him.

Nor was Sirius, James or Peter as they stepped into action.

Remus took a soft hold on the hyperventilating girl's shoulders as he directed her away from the Boggart, Peter following them behind. James fought his Boggart off, which pictured his loved ones dying. Sirius distracted the class with the help of Marlene by telling them something stupid. Lily walked up to talk sense into her Professor, as she met eyes with Remus - who nodded in a way of saying "I've got her."

Remus, Peter and Claudia all left the classroom, Remus' hands still on Claudia's shoulders as he stopped her and moved to face her.

"You're going to be alright", he said gently as he kept his hands on her shoulders. Claudia didn't believe him as she kept hyperventilating, tears rushing down from her eyes as her heart pounded heavily in her chest.

"It hurts", she managed to get out between her breathing, referring to the heavy weight that lay on her chest. Like bricks.

"I know, everything's going to be fine", he said as he started to lead her towards the wall and helped her sit down.

Peter stood beside the two as he was trying to figure out how to act - and at the same time as he admired his friend for being so calm.

"Do you want Betty and Inez?" Remus asked her gently, and she nodded with her eyes pressed together.

"Okay, Pete can you go?" He asked his friend, who nodded hastily and ran off to the Ravenclaw Tower, leaving Remus and Claudia alone.

"Okay, is it alright if I hold your hands?" Remus asked the girl gently, who nodded. He knew that some people needed someone to hold onto them in moments like these; and he wanted to be able to be that person for her.

And so, Remus intertwined his fingers with Claudia's sweaty and shaky ones. It was the first step for Claudia to calm down, feeling his warm and steady hands hold hers gently.

"You're going to get through this, okay? I'm going to help you", he assured her as she nodded and kept struggling with her breathing. "Just... just do what I do."

Remus began helping her breathe. Her breathing matched his as he used a method he had used on himself before, and it slowly worked. Claudia's hands stopped shaking in his, her breathing was more steady and the tears stopped running down from her cheeks.

"You're doing so good, I'm so proud of you", he whispered to her as she kept clutching her eyes together as she focused on her breathing.

She held his hands tightly, but he didn't mind. He knew he would do just what he could to calm her down.

And he succeeded.

"Think you can talk a little?" He asked her as her breathing had almost gone back to normal, it still hitching every now and then. She nodded, and Remus sat down next to her, one of his hands still clutched tightly to one of hers.

"I know you like to read", he said with a soft smile. "Who's your favorite author?"

"Hmm..." she thought for a while as her lips curled. "Austen", she smiled. "I guess it's kind of... predictable. But I just love romance, don't you?" She said softly. Her breathing was almost much back to normal now.

"Yeah", he smiled as he saw her smile.

"Who's yours?" She asked him curiously.

"There's too many to pick from to be honest. Although I do love Austen", he smiled at her, and she smiled back.

"Thank you. For helping me, I mean. I'm very glad you were there." She said in a serious but grateful tone.

"Of course."

"Anyways, since we're now talking. What kind of music do you like?" She asked him, almost completely back to her smiley-self. The way she changed that quickly shocked Remus, but he was glad to see it nonetheless.

"Would it be lame if I said mostly everything?"

"No", she replied as if it was obvious. "Although I do hope you like muggle music."

"Of course I do!" He laughed. "My mum's a muggle, it's practically all I listen to."

"Really?" She smiled as her head turned to face him completely. "What's it like having a muggle mum?"

"It's the best", he smiled. "She's the best."

Claudia smiled brightly at him, but it dropped slowly as her mind drifted back to what she saw on the floor in the classroom they sat right outside of. Remus noticed her smile falter, so he continued talking.

"What kind of muggle music do you listen to?"

"Oh", she said as a smile reappeared and her eyes left it's focused spot. "Bowie. And The Beatles, of course. I really like The Rolling Stones, Bread and Fleetwood Mac. Have you heard ABBA? Merlin I love basically everything! Oh! And of course, Frankie Valli."

"Frankie Valli?" He asked as he smiled brightly.

"Ever heard him? Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons."

"Maybe", he shrugged. "Is he any good?"

"I love his music, but I'm pretty sure he's an arse. He kind of gives of that energy. But who knows? Most of them are arses", she sighed. "You know who isn't an arse?"

"Who?"

"Absolutely nobody", she chuckled.

"What do you mean?" He asked as his eyebrows knitted closely together.

"Each and every person is an arse at some point. Life is all about finding the ones who aren't arses often", she said, looking straight ahead.

"I think you're one of those people", he whispered without thinking.

Claudia smiled brightly as she turned her eyes back to his.

"You are too, Remus."

Remus. He liked that coming from her mouth.

And there it was, a strange eye contact that felt like home. An unfamiliar place, but a home nonetheless.

It was as if Claudia went back to a place she now only saw in her dreams; the place that once was her home.

Emerald and brown eyes were gazing into one another in the most curious way, as if they could figure each other out just by seeing the small golden glimpses or brown highlights bathing in there.

And two hands knitted together like one was pancakes and one was syrup. Like they belonged.

"Claudia!" A raspy voice called out as two pairs of eyes left each other, the same with two hands.

__________________________________
a/n
okay so i have no idea if that was an accurate representation of an anxiety attack, but i tried sorry!!! hopefully it kind of serves it justice, but i would like it if people with better experience and writing skills gave me constructive criticism<3

also, the death of her mum is definitely a story to be told. maybe someone else's is too...