Wild Rosemary
"I don't understand why you all need to study this much." Sirius groaned and stretched out, tipping his chair on its back legs. It was now the end of January, and the NETWs revision was punishing. They were spending most of their time outside classes in the library, and no one quite knew where January went. "Surely, there are more important things we could be doing." He added in an urgent whisper.
"Why don't you try to study too?" Remus said through gritted teeth. "You might like it."
"He's scared." Claudia smirked, not allowing Sirius to answer. "If he doesn't study, he can still pretend he's the smartest person in this school, even if he doesn't have the grades to prove it."
"What are you saying?" Sirius frowned and lowered his chair back on all four.
"I think your girlfriend just called you a coward." Remus chuckled.
"Give me that." Sirius grabbed Remus' textbook.
"She's manipulating you." James whispered, barely suppressing a laugh.
"Don't you think I know that?!" Sirius barked and buried his face in the book.
About a minute passed during which they all watched Sirius to see whether he was going to crack and laugh with them. He did not, and his concentration did not waiver for a second.
"I had a thought." Remus whispered, looking around to make sure no one was close enough to overhear. "I've been helping Madame Pomfrey in the hospital wing a lot lately, I can try to find out what exactly she's using to cure people. It might help us with our own antidote."
"Can I come with you?" Claudia whispered. She was not thinking about the antidote though. She needed to know how Madame Pomfrey was treating the victims to make sure that the treatment worked against any poison she chose to use.
"Take it elsewhere!" Sirius interrupted them. "Some of us here are trying to study."
"Absolutely." Remus ignored him. "Pomfrey can always use an extra set of hands."
"I could use the practice to get better at healing." Claudia gave Remus a brief smile. "It could prove useful for the auror application."
"Truer words have never been spoken." Sirius mumbled and instinctively dived to his right. And just in time. Claudia narrowly missed his head with the piece of parchment she was holding onto.
They spend the rest of the afternoon in the library buried under mountains of NEWTs revision. Claudia was doing well in Potions and DADA, as usual. Transfiguration and Charms were going about as well as she could have hoped. Sirius was better than her in both, and it was helpful having him around (not that she would ever admit it). Then, there was always the eternal struggle of trying to get on top of Herbology.
But that day, there was something else on Claudia's mind. She had to finish her Auror Office application. To help manage her anxiety, she had also decided to put in a more general application to the Department of Magical Law enforcement. Soon, she would know. The Ministry assessors were coming to Hogwarts in six weeks' time to interview all the applicants.
The following Saturday, Remus and Claudia made their way to the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey was pleased to see them both and, despite Sirius' teasing about Claudia's healing abilities, her talent for potions came in useful.
"I need you to help me brew some more Calming Draught." Madame Pomfrey said before they even shut the door behind them. "I've been using it on all the students that are falling ill."
"Is it working?" Claudia asked.
"Hard to say." Madame Pomfrey sighed. "I've been using a lot of things. All the antidotes, the Calming Draught, the Revive Potion. You name it. But I think it's the Draught of Peace that is making the difference."
"Do you have any idea why?" Remus asked.
"No." Madame Pomfrey shook her head. "Usually, I would use it on people who have crippling anxiety. It helps the mind relax and instantly makes you forget about your woes."
"I can see why that would work against something that twists your mind." Remus whispered once Madame Pomfrey left them alone.
"The ingredients will be hard to get though." Claudia replied. "The powdered unicorn horn in particular."
But that did not deter Remus in the slightest. He was extremely excited about the prospect of using the Draught of Peace as some kind of modified antidote and instantly roped James and Sirius into collecting the ingredients.
Between mail orders and stealing things from the greenhouses, they managed to collect everything bar the unicorn horn. There seemed to have been a global shortage, and no one had it in stock. They thought and thought about it, and the only way they could think of getting it was to pinch it from Slughorn's storeroom. It took little convincing for James and Sirius to volunteer for the task.
"They've been gone a long time." Peter whispered, as he waited alongside Claudia and Remus in Slytherin's apartments.
"I'm sure they're ok." Remus mumbled. But he did not look sure, and Claudia did not blame him. She was beginning to worry too.
They waited in silence for a while yet before the passage to Slytherin's apartments opened and Sirius and James walked in. Their faces did not tell a tale of success.
"What happened?" Remus asked.
"We got caught before we found the unicorn horn." Sirius explained. "Some overeager Ravenclaw prefect saw us and went to get Filch."
"Did you get detention?" Peter shrieked.
"Are they onto us?" Claudia asked, reminding them what really mattered.
"Lily appeared out of nowhere and covered for us." Sirius whispered. "The plan is intact."
"So why do you look so despondent?" Remus asked.
"We lost the map." Sirius uttered. "Filchy's got it."
Peter gasped and covered his mouth with his hands.
"It's alright." Remus tried to sound reassuring. "I'm sure we can get it back."
"The map's gone." Sirius mumbled.
"I need to go talk to Lily." James sighed, seemingly oblivious to the conversation that had been happening right in front of him.
As he disappeared, everyone looked towards Sirius for an explanation.
"Lily was furious." He said. "She yelled at him for like ten minutes. He was the Head Boy now. He needed to lead by example. Not being up to his old tricks. It's a miracle she didn't break up with him there and then."
"He isn't going to tell her why he was there, is he?" Claudia asked hopefully, but was not entirely sure whether she wanted to know the answer or not.
"Probably." Remus shrugged. "It's been tough on him, hiding something like this from her."
"Go and stop him, then." Claudia implored him. "Please! She's going to run straight to Dumbledore."
Remus took Peter with him and set off after James, leaving Claudia and Sirius alone in Slytherin's apartments.
"Do you really think that will work?" He smirked. "He won't be able to hide it from her forever."
"All the more reason why we need to hurry up." Claudia sighed. "I got some books in the other room that I've been going through. Want to help?"
They laid out the books on the bed and got stuck in.
"This sounds almost perfect." Sirius said. "Wild Rosemary. First symptoms of overdose are dizziness and disturbances in movement, followed by spasms, nausea, and unconsciousness."
"I don't remember nausea." Claudia frowned. She spent hours with these books and could not believe that Sirius got further than she did in five minutes.
"Should be easily able to find something in the apothecary to counter that." Sirius shrugged. "Mix it with wild rosemary and ta-da." He gestured theatrically.
"Where are we going to get that though?" Claudia asked, still finding it hard to come to terms with the fact it was so easy. "I don't think I've seen this in the greenhouses."
"I'll see if I can get hold of Dung." Sirius said.
"Or we could always go to Knockturn Alley in a disguise." Claudia said. "That's what I did to get the books."
"Before we do any of that. We need to find out how Snape distributes it. Unless we deploy the poison at the same time, it could backfire. He might realise what we're up to."
"Agreed." Claudia said with a tiny smile. She did not expect Sirius to be quite so keen on this plan. She would have thought he would hate using the poison, let alone hiding it all from his friends. "You would make a good Slytherin." She added with a smirk.
"That's what the Sorting Hat said too." Sirius replied.
"And what did you say to the hat?" Claudia chuckled.
"I said that I'd rather die." He laughed. "Seemed to have convinced it."
"I wonder what you would be like, as a Slytherin." She smiled. "Whether you would become the heir of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black that your parents wanted."
"If I did, do you think we would still be together?" He asked, looking suddenly quite sombre. "If both of us turned out as our parents hoped for?"
"Probably." She smirked. "It's always been my mother's dream to marry me off either to you or Regulus, so that her grandchildren will carry the Black name."
"She didn't sound too happy when she found out about us." He mumbled.
"She wasn't." Claudia smirked. "She never cared about me. It was always about the expensive engagement rings, the big society wedding, and family lunches with your mother. She would have married me off to You-Know-Who if it meant she got that."
"Is that why you don't want to get married?" Sirius asked and shuffled closr to Claudia to give her a hug.
"How do you know that?" Claudia muttered instead of replying.
"Give me some credit." Sirius chuckled. "It was the first thing you said when I asked you to move in with me in Edinburgh. And you should see your face every time someone mentions marriage or kids."
"Noticed that, eh?" Claudia smirked, remembering the uncomfortable conversations at the Potters and Andromeda's. "I feel about marriage in exactly the same way you felt about dating a pureblood when you broke up with me."
"Like you would be betraying yourself." Sirius sighed. "I get that."
"The good news is." Claudia smiled and lifted herself up on her knees to kiss him. "That despite my issues, we can still be together."
They made love among the books on deadly poisons. It was getting harder and harder each time to get up, go to their respective dormitories and climb into their cold beds. Claudia cursed her roommates every time. If only she could count on them to cover for her, she would never have to sleep alone again.
Over the next few weeks, Sirius and Claudia trailed Snape as well as they could without the map, but to no avail. Sirius also did not manage to get in touch with Mundungus to ask about the wild rosemary. And before they could think of a backup plan, it was Valentine's Day.
James kicked all the boys out of the dormitory for the evening, so they were camping out in the Slytherin's apartments. Claudia snuck out of her dormitory after curfew to keep them company, leaving the curtains closed so that her roommates would be none wiser about her whereabouts. It was risky but she just could not face that night in there alone. They would all be talking about their stupid boyfriends and what they were going to wear on the next date in Hogsmeade.
She much rather just hang out with the guys, even if it meant spending most evening watching Sirius and Remus were play wizards chess and listening to Peter admiring their chess skills.
Claudia was trying her best to ignore them all and focus on reading the Daily Prophet. It was getting worse and worse every day. The latest news was that an auror had been blown up on a mission. Claudia was feeling sick to her stomach and rushed through the article to get to their name. It wasn't Mr Adler, or Alice, or Frank. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. They were safe for another day.
The next article was about a muggleborn wizard who was lynched out of his home by some blood purists. Claudia's mind immediately jumped to their conversation with Ted over Christmas. They were not going to stop at kicking people out of their homes. She was sure of that.
"Hey." Claudia looked up, somewhat startled. Sirius' face was peaking at her over the top of the papers. "Still with us?"
"It's just the news." She sighed and passed the papers to Sirius.
"It's been the same for years." He shrugged as he skimmed it. "Death, prejudice, misery. Nothing new."
"But it's been different since Christmas." Claudia whispered. "It's real now. I can't stop thinking about them all - Alice, Frank, Ted. This could be any of them." She said, pointing at the picture of the dead auror. "And all I can do is revise fucking Transfiguration. And who knows if it's going to be any use."
Sirius opened his mouth to whisper something back.
"Please don't say I'll be fine." She cut him off. "You don't know that, and hearing it does not make me feel any better."
Sirius grabbed her hands in his.
"We've still got four months till our NEWTs." He said with an unusually earnest expression on his face. "You're going to be no use to anyone if you self-destruct."
"Has Alice been talking to you?" Claudia frowned and extricated her hands from Sirius' grasp. This was not the first time someone used those exact words about her study habits. "Has she asked you to keep an eye on me?"
"Oh, good." Sirius smirked. "She forgot to mention the paranoia."
"It's not paranoia if it's true." Claudia said and picked up the papers from the floor.
"Come and play chess with me." Sirius said.
"I don't want to." Claudia theatrically unwrapped the newspapers and started to read again.
"Why? Are you afraid you lose?" Sirius laughed and took the papers out of her hands again.
"No." Claudia protested. That was a lie though. She had no patience for wizard chess, and she was absolutely going to lose to him.
Within ten minutes, she was proven right. She lost. Spectacularly and repeatedly.
"I'm going to bed." Claudia mumbled when she could take neither the humiliation nor the mocking. Even the company of her stuck up Slytherin roommates was preferable.
"Please don't." Sirius whispered, the tone of his voice changing from mocking to caring in an instant. "Stay here. It's Valentine's Day after all."
"Should have thought of that before you made a fool of me in wizard chess." Claudia smirked.
"You'd rather I let you win?" Sirius laughed. "I don't believe that for a second."
Claudia had to chuckle. He was right. She would have hated that even more.
"I should still go to bed." Claudia said. "Slughorn is giving us a mock exam tomorrow morning."
"There is a sleeping bag over there." Sirius pointed towards a pile of things in the corner of the room. "Please stay here. I'll beat Remus one more time real quick, and then I'll come too."
"In your dreams." Remus laughed.
Once Claudia found the sleeping bag and use a spell to make it a little bigger to fit both her and Sirius. She took off her shoes and climbed inside of it. Despite feeling tired, she could not quite resist opening that Transfiguration textbook one more time. There was this thing about human transfiguration that has been bugging her…
"Good night, boys." She heard Sirius say and watched him walk over. "I thought you were going to sleep." He whispered, as he took the textbook out of her hand and climbed into the sleeping bag to join her.
"I thought you were going to play another game of wizard chess." She smirked.
"Not if it means you continuing on the path of self-destruction." He said kissed her forehead.
"You really are going to make me be responsible?" Claudia laughed. "Who are you?"
"I don't have a choice." Sirius chuckled. "Alice will kill me otherwise. She terrifies me."
"I knew it!" Claudia exclaimed. Sirius grinned and kissed her.
"Why are we sleeping on the floor anyway?" Sirius whispered when their lips parted. "There's a perfectly nice bed next door."
"Secret bed." Claudia whispered back. "And I'm not ready for anyone else to know about it. It's the only place in this castle that's just ours."
She paused and shuffled closer to him. Their arms were now wrapped around each other, their legs intertwined, and Claudia was resting her forehead in the middle of Sirius' chest. She could feel his heart beating.
"How is it that it normally takes me at least an hour to fall asleep?" Claudia whispered, barely able to keep her eyes open. "But when you are with me, I can't stay awake longer than two minutes."
"Good night." Sirius whispered and hugged her even tighter.
Claudia was woken up by a creaking noise. She immediately turned to the door and saw James and Lily walking in together and holding hands. It must have been the morning.
"James!" Claudia cried and tried to sit up, but the sleeping bag was not allowing it. The books about antidotes and potions ingredients were everywhere. If Lily took one more step inside that room, she would know everything.
"Relax. James told me everything." Lily paused and straightened her posture. "I want to help. And I promise not to tell anyone."
Claudia could not quite believe her ears, but had to take Lily's word for it. It was not as if James left her any choice.
"It was not your secret to tell." She barked at James when she finally caught him alone on their way to breakfast.
"She's the love of my life." He replied. "She deserved to know."
"You should have asked me first." She frowned.
"Maybe." James shrugged. "But I thought you of all people would understand."
"What do you mean?" Claudia stopped and folded her arms across her chest. She hated when people told her how she should be feeling.
"I was there when you found out about Remus, remember? You knew Sirius was keeping something from you and you hated it." James replied. "This was the same."
"Alright." Claudia exhaled. "But if she tells anyone, it's on your head."
"It'll be fine." James sounded rather resolute now. "I trust her with my life."
Lily was as good as her word and came back to the Slytherin's apartments the next day with not only the unicorn horn but also a suggestion on how to make the antidote work.
"I was thinking." Lily began. "Rather than just using the standard spell to finish the potion, we should use protego too. That way, the antidote might work in advance, and not just once the potion is consumed."
"That's clever." James grinned. Claudia could swear that he glanced at her as he said. 'I told you so' could have practically been written across his forehead.
"I like it." Remus added, also looking rather excited.
Everyone looked at Claudia to see how she would react.
"Worth a try, I suppose." She shrugged. She was not convinced this antidote was going to work anyway, but could not quite face fighting them all.
Lily took out the potions kit out of the cupboard and got started, throwing powdered moonstone into the cauldron until it turned green and stirring it until it was blue. And so the cycle continued. The potion turned purple, then pink, then turquoise, then purple again.
Lily glanced towards to book, frowning slightly as if she was expecting something to happen and it did not.
"Porcupine quills." Claudia whispered. "You need to give them a proper shake and only then add them."
Lily did not move for a few seconds, clearly double-checking in the book that what Claudia told her was right. It was.
The potion turned red when the quills were added and after some stirring went bright orange as expected. It was so hard to keep up with all the colour changes. More porcupine quills, it went turquoise again.
"Now for the powdered unicorn hair." Lily said and picked up the vial from the ground to add the ingredient to the cauldron.
"Not yet." Claudia shrieked, scrambling towards the textbook. "We need to let it simmer until it turns purple."
"Gosh." Lily exhaled. "That's true."
They were both now kneeling over the cauldron, watching the potion together. But it was not turning purple. If anything, it was getting paler and paler shade of turquoise.
"What's going on?" James asked. "Can't you do something?"
"Shush." Lily and Claudia hissed in unison.
"We can't turn the heat up." Lily said, and a frown appeared across her forehead.
"No. That would be too much." Claudia replied. "Weirdly, I think we need to turn it down. Let it take time."
"I think you're right." Lily said.
"That makes no sense." They heard James' agitated voice.
"Shush." They said again and could not help but exchange a tiny smile.
Claudia turned the potion down and they both waited anxiously. In a couple of minutes, the potion finally turned purple. Lily added the powdered unicorn horn. Then more moonstone went in. And some more of the porcupine quills. At the end, Claudia added seven drops of hellebore. The potion-making part of it was done.
"Who's best in charms?" Lily asked.
Everyone immediately pointed at Sirius. He stepped up towards the cauldron and cast the spell that was supposed to finish the potion as well as protego.
"Do you want to do the honours Lily?" James asked. "I've got the cloak. We can go right now and pour it into tomorrow's orange juice."
"Do you mind?" Lily asked in Claudia's direction.
"Nope." Claudia shrugged, trying to look as disinterested as she could. "I've done enough sneaking around the castle already. It's your turn now."
James and Lily soon disappeared in the direction of the kitchens. Now, all they had to do was wait.
The following Friday, Claudia was yet again in the library, this time submerged into a Defence Against Dark Arts essay on the Crutiatus curse. Sirius was watching her.
"Still want the wild rosemary?" He asked.
"Why not?" Claudia replied, barely looking up from the parchment.
"Well, no one got sick since last week and you seemed pretty happy when you and Lily finished that antidote." Sirius smirked. "You even looked like you were starting to like her."
"We still need the wild rosemary." Claudia insisted. "We will never know whether the antidote is working or not. It's impossible to tell who's taken it, we won't know who is being poisoned. We can never conclusively prove anything if we just rely on the antidote."
"Could have mentioned that to the rest of us." He frowned.
"You were all so happy." She whispered. "I didn't want to burst you bubble."
"Really?" Sirius scoffed. "Normally, you're all for that kind of thing."
"Oh, shut up." Claudia rolled her eyes. "How are we going to get to Knockturn Alley? It's too far to apparate during a Hogsmeade weekend."
"I thought of something. I'll pretend my flat got flooded and go to Knockturn Alley while I'm in London. If I leave today, I can be back by tomorrow night."
"Do you want me to come with you?" Claudia asked.
"Too suspicious." Sirius shook his head. "Would be nice though. To be back home again."
Claudia had to smile, remembering the time they spent in the flat over Christmas. Her first experience of what it meant to have a home.
She next saw Sirius on Friday at lunchtime in the courtyard, just as he was walking from her Herbology class, fuming. She got an A on her latest essay, even though she spent absolutely ages working on it.
"There you go." Sirius said proudly and handed her a package. "Got both the wild rosemary and something from the apothecary that would counteract the nausea."
"Thank you." Claudia exhaled as she examined the vials in her hand. "All we need is to mix those together, figure out how Snape was distributing the substance and we're good to go."
"Not quite." Sirius paused. "We need to tell the others too."
"Why?" Claudia frowned. "I thought you agree with me. This is the only way."
"I do agree with you. But I'm still not doing it behind their backs." He reached for the vial of wild rosemary and took it back. "And neither are you."
"They will never agree to it!" Claudia protested.
"That's not a good enough reason." Sirius barked.
"I should never have told you." Claudia hissed. "You complicate everything." She added and stormed off, leaving Sirius rooted there.
Sirius and Claudia barely spoken to each other for the next week. She retreated into her dormitory or the library. It was not hard with all the NEWTs coursework, as they barely had any time to spend together even when they were not bickering. Before she knew it, a week has passed and a Hogsmeade weekend arrived.
"Are you coming with us?" James asked Claudia as she bumped into him and the rest of the gang in front of the Great Hall. They were all wrapped up in coats and scarves and clearly ready to go to the village.
"I don't think so." Claudia mumbled, glancing towards Sirius, who was still wearing a slight frown. "I need to go to the library. Got bunch of essays to do."
"You know what." Remus said. "I'm going to skip it too. Bring us chocolate."
You and Sirius are alright?" Remus whispered once they were unpacking in the library. "I haven't seen you argue since the night I told you about you-know-what."
"It's just herbology." She said, keeping the truth to herself. "I'm never going to pass it."
"The thing with herbology is." Remus began. "There is no talent to it. It's just patience and hard work."
"What do you mean?" Claudia asked.
"All you need to do is memorise, memorise, and memorise." Remus smiled. "Look, I've made these flashcards. Each has a name of a plant and its properties are written on the back."
"Can I have a look at them?" Claudia said and reached out for the stack of cards that Remus got out of his bag.
"I got a better idea." He smirked. "You can borrow them. Or we can revise together."
"Really?" Claudia asked. "You'd help me?"
"That's what friends do." Remus smiled.
Friends. Claudia suddenly felt very guilty. They were her friends now, not just Sirius'. It was not the right thing to be hiding this from them. She would have told Alice too, if it was not for Alice's new job and the split loyalties that it brought. They deserved to know.
The following day was Slytherin's game against Ravenclaw. Claudia found Sirius in the stands, sitting with Remus and Peter. James was nearby, watching the game intently with the rest of the Gryffindor team.
"I'm sorry." Claudia whispered when she sat down next to her boyfriend. "I'm just stressed out. You're right."
Sirius smiled and wrapped his arm around Claudia's shoulders.
"It's just…" She continued. "I haven't told Alice about any of this either. I guess the less people know, the better I'm able to cope with that guilt. She's going to hate me."
"She's not going to hate you." Sirius whispered. "You would be putting her in an impossible position if you told her. She would lose her job."
"I hope you're right." Claudia whispered.
"I'm always right." He chuckled.
She rolled her eyes at him, but really hoped that it would be the case.
Sirius reached into his pocket to take up a brown paper bag.
"There you go." He whispered as he handed it to her. Claudia could feel that it contained the vials of wild rosemary.
"Thank you." She whispered and lowered her head on his shoulder.
The game was another disaster. Claudia could barely watch. She spent half the time with her face buried in Sirius ever-lengthening hair.
"I can't watch this anymore. It's too humiliating." She whispered to Sirius. "I'm going back to the castle."
"We alright though?" He asked.
"Yeah." Claudia smiled and kissed him. "I'll meet you after."
When she got down to the dungeons, she saw Snape walking towards the kitchens. He was looking around nervously and moving unusually fast. He must have been up to something, using the fact that everyone was at the Quidditch game as a distraction.
Claudia followed him carefully and peaked around a corner to see him dart towards a small door.
She hid in some old cupboard nearby and did her best to keep an eye out through the keyhole. She could have really used James' cloak right now. Or the bloody map.
Snape emerged barely a minute later with a huge bulge under his robes. Claudia waited for him to disappear and then went to check out the room to see what Snape was likely to have been carrying.
It was a storage room where the house-elves kept little barrels of pumpkin juice.
That was how he was distributing the substance. Everyone's pumpkin juice was being spiked.
Claudia did not wait for Snape to return with the barrel. She ran back towards the pitch as fast as she could to tell the others.