CLAUDIA AND BETTY found themselves regretting the decision of wearing healed shoes as they walked all the way from the Ravenclaw tower to where the Slug Club Christmas party was kept.

"Weren't they supposed to meet us here?" Betty asked Claudia as the two arrived outside the party, referring to Remus, James and Sirius, who were in fact supposed to meet them there.

"You're optimistic if you think they have the patience to wait," Claudia snorted, already walking inside so that she could find the boy that was always on her mind.

"Dragon tartare?" Claudia heard Peter's voice say from her left as soon as she and Betty had walked inside. The boy was apparently serving at the party, considering the white shirt he was wearing and the silver tray that he was carrying.

"Oh! I've always wanted to try one of these!" Said Betty, taking a tartare and shoving it into her mouth, and then regretting doing so immediately. "Yuck! That's disgusting!"

"Sorry," Peter mumbled. "Didn't get the chance to warn you."

"You owe me, Pettigrew," Betty said with a grimace, and then she caught eye of Sirius and James, who were both waving her over to them. "That's my cue."

"Where are you going?"

"They've got some festive drinks," Betty whispered with a smirk, running off and making Claudia smile at the thought of her being comfortable enough to be alone with the two Gryffindor boys.

"How did you end up here?" Claudia then asked Peter.

"Well, I wasn't invited and honestly I wanted to be here because there's bound to be some drama," he said with a grin.

"That's why?"

"No," he chuckled. "Slughorn cornered me. At least I'm lucky I don't have to clean up after. Well, I guess I should get back to my servant duties."

"Have fun!" Claudia said with a teasing grin.

"I definitely won't," Peter mumbled as he walked away and continued to offer the tartares on his silver plate to other students.

Claudia chuckled slightly, before she took in the room. The walls were covered in emerald, crimson and gold hangings, bringing all the festive feelings to every guest. It was quite crowded in there, and quite warm as well, but Claudia couldn't help but to smile and let her eyes lit up at the sight of such a festive party.

She had always loved Christmas.

"Hi," she suddenly heard a familiar voice whisper in her ear. "Fancy seeing you here."

Claudia's smile grew immediately at Remus' voice as she turned around to face him.

What she was met by as she turned around wasn't exactly a surprise, considering the fact that Remus always looked like a complete daydream, but she immediately felt her cheeks heat up and the butterflies flutter in her stomach nonetheless.

Remus was completely gorgeous. He wore a simple white button up shirt, a black jacket and a pair of black pants - but he was completely and utterly perfect and Claudia couldn't deny that she wanted to snog him right there and then.

"Hi," she said, still moving her eyes up and down his body. "Merlin, you're handsome."

The boy said nothing to that. He didn't even react, because he was far too busy taking her in instead. And, what he saw was the most perfect thing there was.

Remus was certain that there was no one on the entire earth that was as beautiful as her.

"Remus?" Claudia asked with a small nervous chuckle, feeling rather confused to why he wasn't answering her and instead staring at her. "Are you alright?"

"Hm?" The boy murmured in a raspy voice, looking up into her eyes. "What did you say?"

"I asked you if you're alright," she said. "And before that I said that you're handsome."

"I'm fine," he said with a faint smile, trying to grasp the words to say. "Merlin, Claudia, I-"

"Ah, Ms. Maple and Mr. Lupin!" Slughorn greeted with a smile as the girl appeared by Remus' side. "How are you two this fine evening?"

"We're great, how are you Professor?" Claudia said sweetly, intertwining her fingers with Remus' as she did so.

"I'm just perfect, thank you," said the man. "Tell me, Ms. Maple, I've heard that your father is in the talks of becoming the new Head of Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Is that so?"

Claudia had no idea of that. She hadn't heard a word of it, nor was she excited to hear it.

What her father did during the days had always been a mystery to her. Her grandmother worked at the ministry, and she was sure her father did in some ways as well, but what he did there was always a mystery to her.

All she knew was that he was a death eater who did a lot of public stuff and went to a lot of balls and fairs.

"I'm not sure," said Claudia with a polite smile. "Maybe, maybe not. My father sure does enjoy things like that, so it doesn't sound so unlikely."

"Oh, well I sure hope whoever gets the position does the job well," said Slughorn.

Claudia could tell that he did not like the idea of her father having any sort of influence on magical laws. He had been Charles' professor after all, and despite Slughorn's acting skills Claudia could tell that he absolutely despised her father.

"Well, we can only hope," said Claudia with a tight smile, feeling Remus squeeze her hand comfortingly at the mention of her father.

"Well, I hope you two have a very good night! Try the dragon tartares, they're absolutely exquisite!" The professor said, and then he left to go converse with other students.

"Are you alright?" Remus asked as she turned to face him again.

"I'm fine. I just hope the rumours aren't true, you know. Who knows what anti-muggleborn laws he'll somehow manage to come up with."

"It'll be okay," said Remus, brushing some hair away from her face.

"I hope so," Claudia sighed. "By the way, what were you trying to say earlier?"

"Oh, right," he chuckled, pausing again to try and find the words.

"Was it important, or-"

"I just...I don't know how to say this without it sounding far too cheesy but," he said with a shy laugh. "You're perfection, Claudia. You're perfect."

Claudia felt completely dazed at his words, but a smile grew on her face nonetheless, "I thought I told you I like cheesy things."

"Can I kiss you?"

Claudia rolled her eyes, and then she moved closer and kissed him.

"I thought we already agreed that we don't have to ask one another," she whispered against his lips as the kiss broke.

"I just wanted to be sure," he whispered back. "Since we're around people."

"No one's looking," said Claudia, looking around from their place in the corner, and spotting a very angry Evan staring right at them. "Well, maybe that arse is but I honestly couldn't care less."

Remus turned around to look at the person Claudia was referring to, and felt a little uncomfortable under the eyes of Evan. Though, he was most certainly not intimidated.

"Come here," Claudia whispered, taking his chin between her thumb and index finger and kissing him softly again, before breaking it again. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For what you said earlier," she spoke. "Thank you."

"Of course."

"You're perfect, you know," she said.

"I know," Remus said cockily, earning himself a light push from Claudia who rolled her eyes.

"You're ridiculous."

"But you love it."

"I do."

•••

The party had been...alright. It wasn't exactly the most fun ordeal ever, but Claudia could never ever find anything boring in the presence of Remus.

So, after eating way too much and talking way too much with people they barely knew, the two decided together that they wanted to leave the party early, especially because the full moon would be right before they would head home for Christmas in a few days time.

But, Evan Rosier sure had different plans for the pair.

He had been watching them all night, finding it completely disgusting that Claudia - a halfblood - could date another halfblood with a less acclaimed surname.

And, he was also furious because he was supposed to marry her in a few years time, and there she was with another boy looking like she had zero respect for her father and for him.

Evan had never been in love with Claudia. It wasn't even a crush - it was just attraction and the need to dominate over someone. And Claudia Maple, the stepsister of his best friend Nolan and the daughter of Charles Maple, seemed to be the perfect option for just that.

If only she hadn't been so bloody stubborn and given herself to him, Evan thought.

So, when Remus kissed Claudia on the hand like a true gentleman, and Claudia laughed at him, Evan saw nothing but red.

He thought himself to be the owner of Claudia, and he hated it when his property got stolen.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Evan asked Claudia, doing so very loudly, as he arrived by the two after storming their way.

"What?" Claudia questioned.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" He repeated, taking her wrist in a harsh grip.

"What are you doing?!" Claudia asked, tearing her wrist from him.

"Why the fuck are you disrespecting your father like this?!" Evan yelled. "You're embarrassing your family name!"

"Like I give a shit," Claudia scoffed.

"You should give a shit! You're about to be engaged to me! Me! Not that filthy halfblood!"

"Hey!" Claudia yelled, attracting the eyes of some students. "Watch your tongue!"

"I think you're the one whose supposed to watch your tongue," said Evan coldly, glaring right at the girl. "You slut!"

"Hey!" Remus stepped in, yelling as well as he gave the boy a firm push.

"Awe, is Prince Charming defending you now, Maple?" Evan teased before Remus could get the first punch in. "Good thing since you clearly cannot handle it yourself."

Claudia wasted no time on slapping the boy across the face.

"You're a pig," she spat. "Grow the hell up!"

"Hey, you just fucking slapped me!"

"Yes, and I'll do it again if you don't shut the hell up!"

"What the hell is going on?!" Sirius asked as he and James arrived, since a pretty big commotion had been started but the teachers had yet to react from where they stood far away laughing about something.

"He called her a..." Remus mumbled. "A-"

"He called me a slut," said Claudia, and suddenly James and Sirius didn't feel so keen on stopping whatever fight was going on.

But, before anyone could do anything, Evan suddenly felt a smack across his face again, but this time around it wasn't a hand.

It was a silver plate.

"You're fucking dead, Pettigrew," said Evan coldly, and that's when Peter felt his heart leap out of his chest as Evan punched him and all the boys started fighting, Evan's friends stepping in as well.

And, for once, Claudia was tired of only watching and allowing shit to happen - so she took her healed shoe and smacked it against the back of a Slytherin boy's head.

"Oh my goodness!" McGonagall's voice appeared as tartares stared flying across the room and Evan grabbed a glass and tried to throw it at Remus - who thankfully dodged it just in time. "Stop! Detention! All of you!"

McGonagall's words didn't help. Not at all. Nor did Slughorn's or Flitwick's, or Claudia's or Betty's. Not even Lily's words made James stop.

But, the fighting wouldn't go on for much longer, because suddenly somebody had taken ahold of the collar of Evan's shirt, and hovered him above the ground.

Everyone stopped and stared at the two Slytherin boys who were glaring deadly at one another.

"Get a grip, Rosier," Nicolas seethed. "You're embarrassing yourself."

"Not as much as she is embarrassing your family," Evan striked back, struggling to breathe slightly under Nicolas' hold. "Don't you see what she's fucking doing?! She's a fucking traitor! And so are you!"

"Shut up."

"Nolan is clearly the better brother," Evan laughed. "Your mother must be so fucking disappointed. Your father too! And don't even get me started on Mr. Maple! If he finds out you'll both be-"

"Shut up!"

"You really are a disappointment," Evan laughed. "A fucking traitor! I'll tell him, you know? I'll tell her father everything!"

"There is nothing to fucking tell!" Nicolas yelled, and then lowered his voice into a whisper. "Claudia and her father has an agreement. She has done nothing wrong."

"Really?"

"Really. So, I suggest you stay the hell out of our family's business and start sorting out your own problems! Because Merlin knows you've got them."

"Detention!" Slughorn's voice yelled for the millionth time during their short conversation, and suddenly Nicolas sent one last deadly glare before he let Evan go and stormed out of the party.

It was completely silent for a few moments, and then Claudia found herself giving her heels to Remus and running after her brother.

"Nicolas!" She yelled as he walked briskly down the corridor. "Wait!"

Claudia was surprised to find the boy stopping. He didn't turn around though, instead he just stopped with his back turned to her.

But, Claudia didn't allow that to stop her from doing something that she never thought that she would ever do.

She walked around the boy so that she was facing him again and looked at his face without him looking back.

And then she hugged him.

He didn't hug her back. In fact, Claudia could feel him even stiffen as she hugged him. But somewhere deep inside Claudia knew that Nicolas didn't mind.

And he really didn't.

"I'm proud of you," Claudia whispered.

And it meant the whole wide world to Nicolas.

__________________________________

a/n: currently sobbing thinking about how claudia and her mum could've been rory and lorelai and gemma could've been sookie !