SNEAKING OUT OF THE Ravenclaw tower felt a little extra stupid and risky that night. But Claudia did it anyway, as one would presume.

Why? Well, she was to meet Remus by the Black lake, and not even her scary grandmother could make her cancel on him.

She managed to, by a miracle, slip out of the castle unnoticed, and then she found Remus there by the lake, wearing a jumper far too big for him and looking as perfect as ever.

"You cold?" Was the first thing he asked her as she approached him with a smile.

"Depends," she shrugged. "If I say yes, will you lend me the jumper you're wearing?"

"No," said Remus, suddenly bending down and picking something up. "I'll lend you another one of my jumpers instead."

He handed her a jumper with a smile that only could make her swoon, and she accepted it and put it on, only for him to laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"You just look...adorable," he replied, smiling sheepishly and nearing her, only to fold up the sleeves that truly were far too long for her.

"That's better," he said as she caught a glimpse of what was behind of him, which he noticed. "Are you up for a picnic?"

"Right now?" The girl asked, because she couldn't help but to feel a little uncertain about the idea of having a picnic outside in the dark after curfew.

"Yes, right now," Remus nodded, knowing just what was on her mind. "Don't worry, love, I've done this before."

Claudia chuckled, "Do you being all your girls here?"

"Yes," said Remus with a straight face, that immediately became one of laughing as Claudia playfully shoved him and said something under her breath.

"I'm sorry," Remus smirked. "I've only ever brought four ladies here."

Claudia's eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to say something, but Remus beat her to it.

"You, James, Sirius and Peter," he said quickly with a knowing grin. "But they were a little too loud, so it proves to be that you're my favourite lady."

"Ha ha," said Claudia, rolling her eyes at him playfully.

Remus laughed, "Sit with me?"

Claudia rolled her eyes again, and then she moved past him and sat down on the picnic blanket the boy had spread out on the ground, causing him to laugh a little to himself again as he seated down next to her and brought out all kinds of her favourite foods like grapes, orange slices, chocolate and pumpkin pasties.

"I'm sorry for the lack of pancakes," said Remus. "But I don't think bringing a plate of that and a bunch of sticky syrup would be the smartest idea."

"It's alright," said Claudia, who was already in the middle of practically shoving grapes down her throat. "I'm taking a pancake break."

"Yeah? How long has it been?" Remus asked amusedly.

Claudia shrugged, "Like..."

"A week?"

"Yeah," she chuckled, realising that just a week before she and Remus had been standing in the kitchen as they made pancakes, which - in all honesty - only really resulted in chaos.

But the pancakes were at least good. However, they weren't good enough to make up for the mess they had made after Remus had gotten the wonderful idea of pouring flour in Claudia's hair, which led to her pouring syrup on his face.

Let's just say that Hope laughed so hard that Lyall had to take her out of the room after they had walked in and found the two teenagers glaring at one another with syrup and flour all over themselves.

"So," said Remus after a few moments of them just eating and chatting silently. "I guess we should-"

"I don't wanna talk about it," said Claudia, who was already aware that Remus was about to bring up the fact that her grandmother was their new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. "If I'm being honest I don't even wanna think about it."

Remus nodded slowly, "I get it. But we've got to figure out what we're going to do about us."

"About us?"

"Yeah. I mean, now that she's here we...we can't exactly be as public as before or whatever," Remus said, and Claudia could tell that he was just as sad as she was over the fact that they maybe would be forced to hide again just as they used to.

"I know," Claudia smiled sadly. "We'll talk about it tomorrow, okay? For now I just want to ignore that and be with you. Doesn't that sound good?"

"It does," he replied, and then they pretended as if the conversation had never been brought up as they continued to enjoy their time together with the celebration of them having met six years prior in mind.

If only they would've know just who was watching them.

"You've got something on your nose," said Remus after a while.

"Yeah?" Claudia sighed, moving her hand to her nose and wiping it off over and over again. "Is it gone?"

"No," Remus chuckled, and then he moved closer to her. "Let me help."

Claudia nodded, but she was caught of guard as the boy didn't even touch her nose or even so glance at it. No, instead he leaned forward and kissed her softly on the lips.

"I'm going to be honest," he whispered against her lips. "You haven't got anything on your nose. I just needed an excuse to come closer to you."

"You don't need an excuse for that, you know?"

"I don't?"

"No," she chuckled, running her fingers through his hair without even so realising that she was doing it. "You're my boyfriend, idiot. Don't you remember what happened last night?"

"How could I forget?"

"Thought so," Claudia said with a small laugh, meeting his lips again and falling into a complete trance along with him as they, well, pretty much found themselves snogging by the Great Lake.

And Claudia would be forever grateful that the person who had been watching them had left by now.

The girl broke another one of their heated kisses and laughed again, "Snogging by the lakes, aye? Real classy-"

"Shut up," said Remus, and then he connected their lips again, only to catch her off guard as he suddenly stopped.

"What?" Claudia questioned as the boy got to his feet and left her there on the ground. "Is something wrong?"

"No," he smiled, and he truly proved that it wasn't as he offered his hand and helped her to her feet. "We need to head back. You need sleep."

"I'm fine-"

"You need sleep, my love," he repeated. "Classes start tomorrow, and you've been up pretty much all day. Besides, you must be fairly tired after-"

"You sound like a mum," Claudia sighed. "I don't wanna sleep. I want to stay here with you."

"And you sound like a child," the boy smirked, offering her his hand again after having picked the blanket and the food up from the ground. "Let's go. I'll follow you back, okay?"

Claudia surrendered, and then she took his hand and walked with him all the way inside the castle.

However, with the map in hand, Remus then, as they silently sneaked around the hallways, made the slightly scary discovery that Margaret was just around the corner.

And, well, Claudia was already one step ahead of him in knowing that due to the sound of the clicking of her grandmother's cane came from nearby; a sound that she recognised even better than her own voice at this point.

Remus opened his mouth to whisper the faithful news to her, but before he even could make a sound the girl had grabbed his hand and dragged him into that very broom closet the two had been in together more than what probably made sense at this point.

Claudia put her index finger against her lips in a way of telling him to be quiet as the clicking of the cane came closer and closer, only to stop right where they were.

The two stared at the door with their hearts beating faster and faster by the second, but then the clicking began again and suddenly they realised that she was gone.

"Well, seems we've managed to hide so far?" Remus whispered.

"Seems so," Claudia whispered back.

And they were both completely unaware that Margaret Maple already knew one or two things about them and their relationship.

•••

The next day, Claudia was displeased to note that her first class of the day was nothing less than Defence Against the Dark Arts.

The girl groaned to herself, and her friends all seemed fairly worried, but she shut their voices out and made her way to the lesson nonetheless with the intention of ignoring her grandmother and acting as if she was just another one of the long lineup of teachers they had had for that subject.

Finding the situation far less tolerable than normally, also considering how the Ravenclaws were sharing this class with the Slytherins this year instead of the Gryffindor, Claudia pretty much just spent her time doodling ridiculous flowers in her notebook as Margaret slowly and boringly went on and on about the importance of education.

And, well, Claudia's lack of interest did lead to the entire classroom of students staring at her as Margaret gave her a question she most certainly didn't hear.

"Claudia?" Margaret asked again, for the millionth time, and that was suddenly when Claudia's attention was caught again. "Would you care to listen?"

Claudia looked up from her notebook, and surprised both herself, Margaret and the other students as she frowned.

"Yes?" The girl questioned.

"Would you care to listen?"

Claudia nodded, "Sure. If what you're saying is worth listening to."

Margaret's lips formed a straight line, and then she simply directed her attention elsewhere.

"I am aware that you all are frightened due to what is said to be happening out in the world," said Margaret to the class. "But you have to remember that most of what you hear are stories, and not actual occurrences."

Claudia's frown only grew deeper at that, and for some reason unbeknownst to herself she raised her hand and cleared her throat, causing Severus Snape, who she was unluckily enough sitting next to, to roll his eyes.

"Yes, Claudia?"

"How do you know that what they say and what the Prophet reports about isn't true?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"I mean," Claudia shrugged. "If people out there are saying that people are dying because of Death Eaters, then that's the case, isn't it?"

Margaret shook her head, "You don't know how reliable your sources are, dear."

"And you're a reliable source?" Claudia pressed, causing Margaret to be unable to find the right words to say. "With all due respect, Professor, don't you think that we should be prepared for the worst? Because it is that bad out there, and I think you know it. And you've got to prepare us for it."

"Claudia, if you would-"

"Fa...Ingannamorte started to prepare us for it. Isn't teaching us more about how to defend ourselves the only right thing for you to do? I mean, Ingannamorte was right about everything she taught us. And she wasn't afraid to tell us the truth."

"Professor Ingannamorte was fairly irresponsible," said Margaret. "She wasn't in her right mind when she told you those things. Things that aren't even true. She merely scared you for nothing-"

"She was murdered by Death Eaters!" Claudia said harshly, speaking plenty louder by now. "She herself was killed, and you know it-"

"Silence!"

Claudia chuckled bitterly, "I'm just telling the truth. It's not like I'm a reliable source anyway, now am I?"

Margaret sighed, "You may stay after class Claudia-"

"Don't you think you should call me Ms. Maple now that I'm your student?"

"I'm also your grandmother-"

"Then act like one," Claudia said, and everyone in that room could in the future only recall that Claudia's look could've killed Margaret right there and then.

But, of course, looks can't really kill. So instead, Margaret sighed again, and then she smiled faintly.

"Stay after class, Ms. Maple."

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a/n: if everything goes according to plan there's about 23 chapters left y'all...put y'all seatbelts on

also sorry for the minor lack of updates but expect some more this weekend because i have no life ;) no but i've actually been so busy recently but i have no plans for the weekend whatsoever and im so excited to write more again!