Chapter 26

The air hung with oppressive humidity as Claire lay helplessly on her bed. It was hot outside, so hot that any of the slightest movements that she made seemed to cause her to break out in a sweat. Letters written on yellowing parchment were strewn around her the handwriting varying from precise and loopy to scratchy and nearly illegible, a few small parcels were sitting beneath these letters filled with sweets, books, and a new set of intricate quills. The cage tucked in the corner of her room was empty, a few stray owl treats laying unceremoniously at the bottom next to droppings. Artemis had been sent out earlier in the day with a handful of thank you notes for her friends and a lengthy reply that she had owed Bertram for weeks now.

Claire was officially sixteen years old and in a little under two months she would be starting her second-to-last year in school. Although the state of her room- owl cage and spell books spread around the tiny space with no attempt to hide them- may have led someone to believe that things had evolved over the last five years, very little had actually changed in her home life. While it should have been a momentous occasion, as it was not every day that your only child turned sixteen, her father had still snuck away in the very early morning and had plans to spend his entire day at the church. His congregation needed him, or at least that's what he had told her.

Her mother had run to the store to pick up some last minute groceries; while Claire had been given the option to go with her mother, she felt quite comfortable laying in front of the oscillating fan staring at the cracks in the ceiling. If she listened hard enough she could hear cars a couple blocks over honking at each other and children playing in the tidy backyard a few houses down. There was something comforting about the silence, enveloping her like a hug from an old friend.

As she let out a contented sigh, relishing in the quiet, there was a sudden thud at her open window. For a moment, she thought that she was imagining it, but then it happened again. Rising slowly from the bed she pulled her hair up into a ponytail away from her sweaty neck and then took quick steps over to the window. A rock flew up and thudded against the siding, Claire pushed her face up against the screen, attempting to look down into the yard. Her blue eyes scanned the freshly mowed lawn and landed upon a well-built boy with dark hair that was pushed back from his face.

A grin appeared on his face and before Claire could open her mouth to scold him for potentially damaging her home he lifted a finger to his lips to indicate she should stay quiet. Then he enthusiastically motioned for her to join him in the yard. Claire rolled her eyes, what was Sirius doing here? He was quite lucky that neither of her parents were home, they likely wouldn't respond well to him showing up uninvited and requesting that she sneak out of the house to join him. Making her way down the stairs and out the back door she shook her head as she approached him.

"What are you doing here?"

"You have the oddest way of saying hello," He smirked at her, running his fingers through his hair, a few rogue strands falling in his eyes as he did so.

"And you have a way of dodging my questions," Claire stopped a few feet away from him, "You know I'm not allowed to have visitors, Sirius."

"I was in the neighborhood," He closed the gap between them and held a parcel out for her with his left hand, "Just taking my daily walk and I passed by this house and I thought to myself… I think that it's Claire's birthday today, maybe I should just stop in and say hello."

"You're lucky my parents aren't here-"

"Well," Sirius shoved the gift toward her and raised his brow, urging her to take it. Claire delicately accepted it and tilted her head at him, it wasn't like him to buy her things, "Funny story, I may have borrowed James' cloak and camped out in those shrubs over there until they left. For a moment I thought your dad saw me when I rolled over-"

"Sirius!"

"Oh come on, everything was fine," He smirked, tucking the invisibility cloak under his arm, "You worry too much-"

"Because I'm the one who has to live with the consequences when you leave-"

"What's life without some consequences?" Claire narrowed her eyes at him as he spoke, of course he felt that way. He was Sirius Black, his ability to roll the consequences off of his back like water over a duck's feathers was clearly some genetic skill that he had been given at birth.

"How did you manage to nick James' cloak?" She asked curiously, her fingers fiddling with the package he had handed her, "He doesn't exactly lend it out to people."

"Oh, I will give it back to him tonight,"

"Are you staying with the Potter's tonight?"

"I'm staying with the Potter's indefinitely," He said flatly, rubbing the back of his neck as he did so.

"What happened?"

"I just couldn't- living with them and their ridiculous beliefs. It was time to get out," Claire reached forward to him instinctively but he shrugged away from her, "That's not why I'm here though, I came here for your birthday-"

"Why didn't you write and tell me?"

"It's not a big deal," Claire disagreed entirely, it was a very big deal. She had known that Sirius and his parents had a strained relationship, but so did she and she wasn't moving out of their house to live with a friend, "The Potter's seem happy to have me- at least I know that James is enthusiastic about my presence. If I have to play Quidditch one more time so he can show off though-"

"It's a big deal-"

"Do you want to open your gift?" Claire knew that he was intentionally changing the subject, but it was useless to continue to press the topic, "Not to brag, but I did a really great job picking it out if I do say so myself." The light behind his eyes was returning and Claire could tell he was more comfortable avoiding the topic of his parents.

"If this is some kind of dungbomb I'm going to be livid-"

"Just open it!" He extended his hand forward and it brushed up against hers, Claire couldn't help but smile at him. Feigning disinterest, she shrugged and then slowly unwrapped the parcel to see a delicate gold necklace with a locket on it. Her eyes looked at Sirius for a moment who was positively beaming and then she took in the necklace again, noticing the image inside of the locket of the Marauders and herself, all waving and smiling up at her, "It will stop moving if you need it to so, you know- your father won't forbid you to wear it or anything. Do you like it?"

"It's lovely!" Stepping forward she embraced him quickly before pulling away, "Thank you!"

"Here, let me help you," Sirius placed James' cloak on the ground and grabbed the necklace, and indicated for Claire to turn around. He fumbled with the clasp, his warm breath against the back of her neck. Claire bit her lip to keep from laughing as he muttered some curse words quietly, the small clasp difficult to manage with his large fingers. He was being so gentle, so thoughtful. She almost began to wonder if he was playing some elaborate prank on her.

"We don't usually exchange gifts,"

"I know," Sirius shrugged, his eyes still glued to the clasp that continued to give him a difficult time, "I just figured that- well, you turned sixteen and that's kind of a big deal- there we go."

Sirius stepped around to face her and Claire looked down at the necklace, her friends in the image still smiling away. Sirius reached forward and tapped the top of the locket, the image went still. He looked up and met her eyes, Claire felt herself blush slightly in response. She was still thoroughly confused about his unexpected gift but decided it wasn't worth an argument.

"Thank you," She murmured, "It's perfect."

"So I was thinking-"

"Claire!" Her mother's distant voice could be heard through the open windows of her home, "Come help me with the groceries!" Claire's eyes opened wide and then she glanced over her shoulder in a panic.

"You have to-"

"I know," Sirius picked the cloak up off of the ground and ran it between his fingers, "Before I do though-"

"Claire!" Nervously, she handed the parcel to Sirius so to leave no evidence of his presence in her backyard, "Where are you?"

"I have to go-" Sirius reached forward and grabbed her hand as she went to walk away. Claire felt her pulse quicken, fairly certain that it was the anxiety of the situation that was causing her heart to thump away in her chest and not his rough fingers against her skin.

"Next Wednesday," There was an eagerness behind his eyes as he spoke, "You think you could sneak away? There's a park a couple blocks away from here-"

"I'm not sure-"

"What day would work best?"

"Sirius-"

"Claire!" Her mother's voice was getting closer now. Claire pulled her hand from Sirius' grasp.

"My mum and dad go to church on Sunday," Claire whispered, playing nervously with the locket, opening and closing it quickly, "I can sneak away then- what is this about?"

"Every Sunday, then," Sirius nodded, "Meet me at the park."

"Why?"

"I just want to see you," Sirius reached forward and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear gently. Claire gave him a puzzled look and he smiled in response, "Just promise you'll meet me."

"I promise, now go!"

Sirius threw the cloak over his shoulders and with a smirk he disappeared. Claire let out a sigh of relief and then turned on her heels to head back to the house. At that moment she locked eyes with her mother who was standing at the kitchen window in clear view of where Sirius had just been standing. Judging by the serious look on her face, Claire concluded that she had seen everything. With slumped shoulders, Claire walked into the house the screen door echoing as it slammed behind her.

"Who was that?"

"A friend from school," Claire avoided eye contact as she spoke, finding it best to look at the floor.

"Is he why you chose not to come to the store with me?"

"No!" Claire blurted out, hoping that she sounded honest in her response, "I promise, mum, I didn't know that he was coming by. I didn't ask for him to come here."

"Are you dating him?" Mrs. Ludgrove began to unpack the groceries, placing the cans in the pantry and the vegetables in the sink to be rinsed. Claire shook her head adamantly. Is that what her mother actually thought? That Sirius was her boyfriend, dropping by when the house was empty to see her? Claire's cheeks went pink.

"What- No!"

"He's surprising you on your birthday, that sure seems like he might-"

"We are just friends," Claire said emphatically, embarrassed that her mother had even implied that something romantic was going on between them. Sirius made her absolutely crazy; his and James' incessant need to constantly be developing a new prank or bullying some unsuspecting Slytherin caused her a pretty consistent headache. Sure, Sirius was fiercely protective of her and she couldn't imagine not being friends with him, but she was fairly certain that if she ever even considered dating him they would bicker all of the time.

"Alright," Mrs. Ludgrove nodded her head in the direction of the vegetables and Claire walked over obediently and began to rinse them and place them on a towel on the counter. They worked quietly in silence for a few moments before Mrs. Ludgrove spoke again, "Will you tell me if you do?"

"What?" Claire's brow furrowed in confusion.

"If you do date him- or anyone for that matter… will you tell me?"

"You…" Her voice caught in her throat for a moment before she could choke out the rest of the question, "You would want to know?"

"Yes," Mrs. Ludgrove's back was to Claire, arms stretched above her reaching the highest shelf in the pantry, "You're my daughter, why wouldn't I want to know that?"

The water continued to run in the sink as Claire stood and examined her mother for a moment, wondering what to say in response. Instead, she decided to say nothing and continue to work silently in the kitchen as they prepared for dinner side-by-side.

"You'd think they have it out for us with the length of these essays," James groaned, rubbing his quill hand furiously. Remus was beside him hunched over his parchment his quill flying across the page as he worked tirelessly to complete his essay for History of Magic.

"Maybe it's all of the pranks you play," The corner of Remus' mouth turning up into a smirk as he spoke, his eyes still glued to his parchment, "The professors decided that you have too much time on your hands."

"If anything we use pranks as a form of procrastination from the loads of homework we're given," Sirius' barking laughter filled up the library, which earned him a stern look from Madam Pince, "If they gave us less then maybe we'd find more productive ways to use our time."

"We'd be the best students if we weren't under all of this pressure-"

"N.E.W.T.s in every subject," Sirius chuckled, twirling his quill between his fingers playfully.

"You're a Prefect," James whined at Remus, "Couldn't you do something about that?"

"Yes, I'll owl all of the professors right now," He said dryly. Sirius stared at him as he continued to write his essay, clearly disinterested in engaging in their shenanigans. Sometimes he wondered what on earth had possessed them to become friends with Moony, he was a little too serious for his taste. Sure, he had a few months where he had surprisingly gone full speed ahead with all of his adventurous ideas but that was quite the anomaly. An anomaly that was short-lived as he was back to his usual self the beginning of their sixth year at Hogwarts. Now that Remus was his typical studious self, Sirius was fairly certain he would have strong opposition to any fun activity that he and James planned.

"I don't like it when you tease us like that, Moony," James said with a glare.

"Noted," Remus said with a slight chuckle.

"Where's Peter?" James began to look around the library, clearly growing bored with the topic of conversation since Remus wasn't willing to play along. Sirius shrugged in response.

"Last I saw him was at the end of History of Magic," Remus appraised his essay as he spoke, making notes as he went along.

"Probably went back for a nap-"

"As we should have all done," Sirius thought longingly of his bed, it seemed like it had been ages since he had last lay in it.

"I thought he said he went to send a letter," James said curiously.

"That was hours ago-" Remus looked up briefly at his friends.

"Well, we can ask him, here he comes," James tilted his head in the direction of a row of books where a short round boy was scurrying toward them, a few books tucked under his right arm. "Where've you been?" Peter sat down at the table as James spoke, plopping his books loudly in front of him.

"Oh- uh… Owlery-" Peter spoke with a squeaky voice.

"How long does it take you to send a letter Wormtail?" James laughed casually as he crumpled up a piece of parchment and tossed it in the air before catching it deftly.

"I got sidetracked for a bit, I saw-"

"Could you three keep your voices down?" Remus finally looked up to make eye contact with each of them, "I'm actually trying to work as opposed to the rest of you-"

"Gossip, Peter? Really?" James scoffed, with a roll of his eyes, "What do you think you could have seen that we don't already know about?"

"Oh- I mean…" Peter went a bit pink and he busied himself with his books, "I just thought Sirius would want to know that I saw Claire with Bertram Aubrey."

Sirius felt his stomach clench slightly, Aubrey had continued to linger even after the accident in Herbology all of those years ago. The boy didn't seem capable of getting the hint. Part of that was obviously Claire's fault, she insisted on going out of her way to be kind to him. It was a quality that Sirius admired but simultaneously irked him. Wasn't it just plain mean to continue to lead Bertram on like that? At some point, politeness had just provided him with false hope.

James looked at Sirius and raised his brow, curious to see what his response would be. Sirius hated that knowing look. James was his best mate and he told him everything, but ever since Sirius had moved in with the Potters over the summer that meant James was privy to exactly how much Sirius wrote to Claire. If the daily letters hadn't been suspicion enough, Sirius' weekly disappearance didn't do much to quell his best friend's curiosity. Every Sunday, the pair would sit and talk, sometimes Claire would bring cookies or a pie for the two of them to snack on.

After a couple weeks of Sirius' dodging his questions, James finally decided there was no option but to tail his best friend. James sat in confusion a few feet away beneath his invisibility cloak in a park wondering what on earth Sirius was doing there. It wasn't until he saw Sirius stand up and brush some stray pieces of grass off of his trousers that he noticed Claire approaching. When arriving home later that afternoon, James cornered Sirius and asked exactly what was going on between himself and Claire. Sirius insisted that it was nothing, just a meeting between two friends with complex family situations, but James wasn't buying it.

The rest of the summer he dropped small snide comments about Sirius' whereabouts on Sundays and teased him mercilessly about fancying Claire. In response, Sirius had begun pelting Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans at him across the room that they were sharing. Unfortunately, due to James' Quidditch skills most of the time Sirius missed but once he caught him off guard and managed to get him squarely in the nose. It had served him right, giving Sirius a hard time about his meetings with Claire especially given how many times Sirius had seen James standing in front of the mirror practicing asking Evans on a date.

Maybe- just maybe- Sirius had developed slight feelings for Claire. He wasn't about to admit it to anyone, but those days the park had become some of his best memories. Once Claire was out of the academic setting and there was no pressure of upcoming exams or essays she became a person he not only tolerated but someone he looked forward to spending time with. Her melodic laughter seemed to dance on the warm breeze that surrounded them and her eyes sparkled when she listened to him tell a story.

Sirius wouldn't trade his friendship with James, Remus, or Peter for anything but there was something to be said about having Claire around. She wasn't the first one he would go to for planning a prank or playing a round of Exploding Snap, but it was far easier to open up to her about his family than it was his other friends. There was something about the emotional support that she so selflessly provided that made him feel at ease. Sirius knew that James would always be willing to listen to him, but he knew that it would be rather likely that James would try to solve the problem instead of just listen. With Claire, there was no judgment, no offering of solutions, just quiet support.

"And I thought Gryffindors were the stubborn ones," Sirius scoffed, thinking of Aubrey and his relentless efforts to ask Claire out over the years, "I hope Claire let him down gently this time."

"I don't," James laughed, "Maybe if she was a bit more direct he'd get the hint."

"I somehow doubt it," Sirius rolled his eyes, "If he was going to get any hints he would have stopped trying years ago, the thick git." Remus started to mutter under his breath.

"Something to add Moony?" James asked coyly, tapping his quill on the desk in front of him, "Or are you still insisting on doing your homework?"

"You make it out like Aubrey is some dim-witted troll but," Remus said, his lips forming a tight line between words, "I'm fairly certain if Claire didn't want him around, he wouldn't be."

"What are you implying?" Sirius added with a disgusted tone.

"I'm not implying anything," Remus said dryly, giving Sirius a stern look, "I'm just saying that Claire is almost as strong-willed as you are. If she didn't want to spend time with him, she would make that clear."

"Oh come off it," James chuckled, pushing the idea away almost as though it were a fly buzzing around his ear, "Claire is polite to everyone. I've even seen her be polite to some of the Slytherins who say horrible things about her-"

"There's a difference between politeness and actively socializing," Remus looked back at his parchment, his quill poised to write more, "Regardless, if Sirius really wants to know what is going on with her and Aubrey he could just ask. No need to send Peter on a mission to spy on her."

"He didn't!" Peter added too quickly, his voice nervous and his fingers trembling slightly.

"It was pretty easy to deduce, no point in lying about it now-"

"I just thought it would be worth it to keep an eye on her," Sirius said casually, trying to not let on that it bothered him how quickly Remus had figured it out. Moony had been the only one at the table who hadn't known about his agreement with Peter. Hell, even James had promised to keep an eye out for Bertram Aubrey when he was in and out of the castle for Quidditch practices. "I'm doing what any good friend would do."

"Sure," Remus didn't look up from his parchment, but his face appeared unamused. Sirius rolled his eyes in response.

"At least we don't have to speculate anymore if he's still lingering around-" James tossed the small ball of parchment from his left to his right hand and back again as he spoke.

"That's not all," Peter said leaning forward so that he could lower his voice, "He actually asked her to go to Hogsmeade with him tomorrow."

"Finally got some courage in his sixth year I see," James chuckled, "Were a lot of people around to see his rejection?"

Peter fidgeted nervously for a moment, swallowing hard. Remus looked up with mild interest at their silence. Sirius could hear the blood rushing in his ears, why hadn't Peter immediately answered the question? He felt his stomach drop slightly in anticipation.

"She rejected him… right?" Sirius' voice was barely a whisper, his fingers gripping the edge of the wooden table so hard that his knuckles were white.

"Claire said yes."

Remus stood in awkward silence outside of Professor McGonagall's office beside James and Peter. The trio had been waiting what felt like the better part of an hour for Sirius to emerge from the doorway. However, the longer they waited the less hopeful that Remus felt about Sirius' odds of not being expelled. Although Remus would have rather waited for their friend back in the Gryffindor Common Room, James had been insistent that they wait just outside of McGonagall's office. This meant that Remus would be subjected to the immense guilt that would descend upon him when their head of house made eye contact with him.

As a Prefect, he should have done something. The more time that passed since the incident the more ideas that came to him. Remus could have looked for a professor to intervene. He could have attempted to talk Sirius out of it. He could have given Bertram Aubrey a heads up so that he was on guard instead of just standing there defenseless. Instead, what he did was stand there and do nothing while Sirius spiraled out of control at an impressive speed.

Truth be told, this wasn't the first time that the rest of the Marauders had stood outside of an office waiting for their friend to emerge with what would feel like years worth of detentions. However, this was the worst incident in their years together. Remus had always known that Sirius had a short fuse and very little impulse control, but this honestly was the worst he had ever seen.

After Peter announced to the group that Claire would be Bertram Aubrey's date to Hogsmeade the following day, Sirius had a scowl on his face. No amount of jokes, offer of pranks, or rounds of Exploding Snap seemed to be able to pull him out of his eternally grumpy mood. Peter was particularly quiet, feeling bad for being the reason that Sirius was seemingly walking around with a rain cloud surrounding his head and James was on board with blaming him for the entire ordeal.

Remus had an ominous feeling, about all of it. Sirius' reaction wasn't what he had been expecting. It would have been less concerning if Sirius had argued with Claire or spent the rest of the afternoon making fun of Bertram Aubrey, but the silence that ensued was entirely alarming. It felt as though Sirius were bottling up the entire situation and attempting to repress it. That should have been Remus' first clue that something was about to go horribly wrong.

While heading down to dinner in the Great Hall, Remus spotted a group of Hufflepuffs up ahead. Bertram Aubrey was in the center of them, a bright smile on his face. For a moment, Remus almost felt happy for him. After years of embarrassing encounters and a sluggish attempt at becoming friends with Claire, he had finally gotten her to agree to go on a date with him. Remus tried to squash down the feeling of jealousy that rose in his chest, reminding himself that Bertram was a much better- and safer- option for her than he was. Claire deserved to be happy, if Bertram could make her happy then he would do everything he could to support it.

Sirius didn't seem to be sharing the same feelings of supportive loyalty. The moment that Peter pointed out the group, his jaw clenched. In a split second, everything seemed to happen in simultaneous slow motion and double time. Sirius broke from the group and edged his way over to Bertram Aubrey. Before the boy could even recognize who was behind him, Sirius raised his wand and muttered a few words. A flash of white light hit Bertram and all of the students heading to dinner watched as his head quickly began to increase in size.

In the blink of an eye, his head had increased in size so much so that his friends had to help hold it up. A few first year students had rushed into the Great Hall to get a professor and some older students ran forward to pull Sirius away from Aubrey as he lobbed insults in his direction and threw his fists around attempting to get a good punch at his abnormally sized head. Bertram was escorted to the Hospital Wing by multiple professors and soon after the chaos died down Sirius stomped away behind a very fierce looking Professor McGonagall.

"Do you think he's going to be expelled?" Peter said quietly, looking at the ground in front of him.

"There's a good chance-" Remus rubbed at his temples exasperatedly. He couldn't possibly see a way out of this one for Sirius.

"You shouldn't have pointed him out," James said sliding down the wall and sitting on the cold stone floor beneath him, "You should have kept it to yourself-"

"Stop it, James," Remus glared at him, "You and I both know that this was bound to happen regardless. Peter pointing out that Aubrey was up ahead just sped up the inevitable."

"Can you blame Sirius?"

"Yes," Remus looked at the door instead of James, "I can and I do."

The door opened at that moment and Sirius emerged looking quite subdued. Behind him was a fuming Professor McGonagall, Remus avoided eye contact with her and instead studied Sirius who was slumped over in defeat. James stood quickly and brushed off his robes, Peter immediately shoved his hands into his pockets and went very red in the face.

"All of you head back to your dormitories immediately," Her voice pierced the silence of the corridor, "If I hear that you took even the slightest detour, all of you will be in detention for the rest of your time here at Hogwarts. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

"Yes, Professor." James' voice was incredibly serious. The door closed with a snap behind Professor McGonagall and the four stood silently in the hall for a moment before making their way back up to the Gryffindor Common Room. Their footsteps echoed as they trudged the many stairs and clambered through the portrait hole and into the warm and welcoming room. Sirius threw himself onto an empty couch and stared at the fire blankly.

"Did you- did you get expelled?" Peter squeaked.

"You think I would be sitting here if I had been Wormtail?" Sirius' voice was icy, the usual light behind his eyes completely absent, "I'm going to be spending the next three months cleaning owl droppings out of the Owlery without magic. Oh, and I lost Gryffindor two hundred forty points."

"Two hundred forty?" James' mouth hung open as he stared at his friend.

"It was an even two hundred," Sirius muttered, "But then I said that Aubrey deserved what he got and lost an additional ten."

"And the last thirty?" Remus almost regretted asking it when Sirius glared at him.

"When she took the ten, I told her that she was a fascist."

"Where in the hell is he?" Remus turned on his heel when he heard the portrait hole slam closed. Long wavy hair was trailing behind Claire as she made her way, very red in the face, into the common room. Immediately James stepped forward between the pair, anticipating the fight that would be in their immediate future, "What is wrong with you?" She spat at Sirius, he sat up and glared at her.

"What's wrong with me?" He shook his head in disbelief, "What's wrong with you? Really lowered your standards this year, have you?"

"You are unbelievable!"

"What's unbelievable is that you said yes! After everything- you said yes… to him!"

"Of course I did," Claire said with an exasperated tone, "He's kind and smart and he doesn't go around hexing people with their backs turned-"

"If I had known you were that desperate for a date-"

"I am not desperate!"

"There are plenty of Gryffindors who are a much better match for you than he is-"

"Like who?" Claire stepped forward and angrily shoved her finger into his chest, James attempted to wedge his way between them, "Like you?"

"I didn't say-"

"Well, congratulations," Claire rolled her eyes at him, "You were successful today at hexing Bertram's head so large that it almost- almost- rivals the size of your ego."

"What were you expecting?" Sirius spat at her, eyes narrowed, "Me to congratulate you on your upcoming date? After you led me on all summer?"

"Led you on?"

"What did you think?" Sirius stepped forward, the space between them very small now. James had given up trying to break them apart and instead stood at a safe distance away as if they were both a bomb about to explode at any moment, "That I just dropped by every week this summer because I like spending time in the park?"

Remus felt his jaw clench slightly as he watched. It was becoming perfectly clear that he was not the only one who had been harboring feelings for Claire. How had he been so blind that he hadn't seen it before now? The feeling of jealousy that popped up when he saw Bertram swelled in his chest again, but now even more intense than it had been before. At least with Claire dating Bertram, Remus wouldn't need to be subjected to the two staring longingly at each other during classes or in the Common Room. With Sirius, there would be a constant reminder that Claire was moving on.

"We are friends," Claire gave him a hurt look, "It isn't unreasonable for me to expect that we spend time together without you pushing some kind of ulterior motive-"

"Is that all we are? Friends?"

"I-" Claire backed up, looking slightly taken aback before she steadied her expression and glared once more, "So you did this out of jealousy?"

"Me jealous of Aubrey? What is there to be jealous of?"

"You are jealous-"

"Go out with him if that's what you want, see if I care-"

"I will!" Claire stomped away toward the stairs, James at her heel attempting to drag her back to work things out, "Here's a friendly tip- for both of you-" Claire stopped at the bottom of the stairs and narrowed her eyes at Sirius and then at James, "If you two would grow up and stop pranking everyone and copying off your friends homework, maybe you'd both have dates to Hogsmeade other than each other."

"Maybe if you weren't so entirely stubborn," Sirius chortled, "You'd have a date with a normal sized head."

With that, Claire rushed up the stairs and slammed the door to her room. Remus watched as Sirius threw himself back onto the couch, staring longingly up at the girl's dormitory for a moment before rolling to his side and closing his eyes.

A/N: Sorry for my delayed absence everyone! Things have been incredibly hectic at work and it has really restricted the amount of time I have had to write. However, I'm back and I hope to be back to posting on Fridays until I finish this story. Thanks so much for your patience while I've been gone. I promise you, I am not abandoning this story and you will get an ending. As always, I appreciate your favorites, follows, and reviews. Happy reading!