Vindicated

Claudia was furious with Sirius. She stormed into the muggle studies classroom, determined to give Sirius a piece of her mind. She sat at their desk, waiting.

But he only showed out twenty minutes late and sat down next to Claudia like nothing had happened. She looked at him with fury in her eyes. Sirius bit his lip. She could not believe it. He thought it was funny!

She turned away and began to scribble so furiously that she broke her quill.

She could hear Sirius snort. She looked at him again. But he avoided her eye contact.

Not because he was ashamed of himself, but because was about to burst out laughing.

This did not make Claudia any less mad at him. There was no way she was telling him about her conversation with the Bloody Baron now. He was such an annoying berk and she was so much better off without him.

The lesson had finished, but Claudia did not move. Sirius put his feet on the table, still rather pleased with himself. Claudia sat at their desk, arms folded, waiting for everyone to leave the classroom. When they did, she turned to Sirius.

"Did you really ask me to brew Polyjuice Potion so that you can explode couple of dungbombs in my common room?" She asked. She was shouting at him but did not care. Sirius grinned.

"It was more than just a couple…" He began to say. Claudia interrupted him.

"Really? You've got to be joking! I almost froze to death trying to get that fluxweed!" She stood up, grabbed her things, and began to walk out.

"Come on, Claude!" Said Sirius, reaching for her elbow. "We've just had a phial leftover. It wasn't the prank we needed it for, I promise you." He added.

"What was it then?" She asked, still very angry.

"I can't tell you that, sorry." Said Sirius. She scoffed and began to walk away again. "I would. I really would. But it's not my secret to tell." He added. She stopped in her tracks and looked back at him. There was something in his voice that made her believe him.

"You could have warned me." She sighed. Sirius did not respond; he was rifling through his bag.

"I hope this will be a good enough apology." He said, as he pulled out a small bag and handed it to Claudia.

"Are you trying to buy me off?" She quipped as she opened it. She looked into the bag and her jaw dropped. It was an Ashwinder egg and fragments of something silver. They must have been Occamy eggshells. She looked at Sirius in disbelief.

"Where did you get these?" She whispered.

"I have a friend. He can get stuff." Sirius replied.

"But these must have cost a fortune! I can't take them…" Claudia said, trying to give the bag back to Sirius.

"Don't worry about it." Replied Sirius. Claudia did not know what to say. She finally looked up at him and whispered.

"I sometimes forget that you are a Black." She said. Sirius looked embarrassed.

"Got to put the gold to good use." He replied, scratching his head.

Claudia took a deep breath. She did not really understand why, but she just could not be mad at him anymore. Normally, she could hold a grudge for weeks.

"I wasn't going to tell you this after last night. I know where to go to look for the artefact… The Bloody Baron told me. There is a secret passage by the potions classroom." Sirius' eyes widened.

"Wicked! Have you checked it out yet?" He asked.

"I was going to check it out yesterday, but instead I had to spend the whole evening washing dungbombs out from my hair." Replied Claudia, her voice rising again.

"Your hair can't be that bad." Sirius said and pulled her into a tight hug. He smelled her hair and almost instantly started retching. "That's really bad… James will be pleased. He modified these to be extra strong." Said Sirius, as he released her slowly.

"You will pay for this." Hissed Claudia, but she could not help laughing. For the first time in weeks.

"Should we go check it out tomorrow? I've got more detention tonight." Said Sirius.

"Still? How much detention did you get?" Asked Claudia.

"Different detention." He mumbled and scratched his head. Claudia rolled her eyes.

"You better hope I'm not going to tell anyone about the Polyjuice. Or you'd never get out of detention again." She said.

"Thanks." Sirius mouthed silently. "I was so tempted last night…" Claudia said, rolling her eyes. Also, did you call me Claude earlier?" She asked.

"Is that weird?" Asked Sirius, with a tentative smile. Claudia shook her head.

"It's not weird. Just different." She replied. She was feeling bit better. She finally had something to go on in her search for the artefact. She had the ingredients to brew the Felix Felicis. There was just one thing left to do. Apologise to Alice.

Claudia found her best friend at dinner.

"Can I join you?" She asked. Alice still looked very annoyed but nodded. "I'm sorry." Whispered Claudia. Alice sighed.

"I know. I wish you didn't hold everything in all the time. And then just blow up like that." She said. Alice was too kind to be annoyed with her friend for long.

"I'll try..." Said Claudia. They were sitting alone. And there was no one within earshot. Claudia took a deep breath. "I don't know what to do about Anthony. I could swear we had a moment after the last Quidditch game. But what do I know?!" She said.

"Tell me exactly what happened." Alice said, with a cautious smile. That was not difficult, Claudia had replayed the events of that evening in her head dozens of times. When she finished, Alice put her head in her hands.

"You're useless at this. For future reference. That was a moment!" She said, hardly able to contain her laughter. Claudia grimaced.

"Noted." She replied, also now laughing. She hoped Alice was right.

"That was easy… What's next?" Asked Alice. Claudia stopped smiling.

"Marcus..." She whispered. She could see Alice's mood change too.

"You have been looking into whatever he is up to, haven't you?" She asked, pointedly. Claudia looked straight at Alice and nodded slightly.

"He's doing something for You-Know-Who. I'm sure of it. Someone has to stop him." Claudia whispered, urgently.

"Just write a letter to the Ministry. You know they're looking for information." Alice said. Claudia was going to tell her about her father position. About how no one would believe her. But Alice spoke again.

"Just promise me you will not put yourself in danger." She added. Claudia really saw no point continuing the conversation. Alice was never going to change her mind. She changed the subject instead.

"Going back… What am I supposed to do about Anthony?" Claudia asked. Alice definitely noticed that Claudia did not make any promises about leaving Marcus be, but ignored it. She was probably as sick as Claudia was about them fighting.

"What do you actually want? Do you want a relationship?" Alice asked. Claudia was lost for words. She had not really thought about it.

"What does that even mean?" She asked, trying to make a joke out of it.

"Are you serious?" Asked Alice. She did not wait for an answer and continued. "It means that you care for someone more than you care for yourself, that you trust them with your life, that you're honest..." Alice frowned a little. "Are you sure you're ready for that?" She added significantly.

"I said I was sorry..." Claudia whispered, before continuing. "I barely know the guy. How am I supposed to know whether I can trust him?"

"Maybe you ought to talk to him and figure that out?" Alice said, shaking her head. That sounded almost too simple. Claudia thought some more about what Alice had said.

"How do you even know all of this stuff?" She asked, finally.

"I talk to my mum a lot." Replied Alice.

"You talk to your mother about this?" Claudia asked, aghast. She could not imagine anything more excruciating.

"Don't you?" Replied Alice, surprised.

Claudia thought about it. Growing up, she could never be honest with anyone around her. Let alone trust them with how she fell.

"Not really how our family works. Never has." Claudia said after a long pause. Alice looked at her earnestly.

"You never talk about your childhood..." Alice said.

"What's there to talk about." Claudia smirked. "I wasn't what they hoped for, so they tried to beat it out of me. I'm sure it's same for everyone." She said.

Alice gasped.

"Your parents used to hit you? Why didn't you say anything?" She asked, looking astonished.

"Isn't that what all parents do?" Claudia asked. She did not really understand the reaction.

"No! No, they don't." Alice shook her head vigorously. She looked like she was almost on a verge of tears. That had hit Claudia hard. She had only spoke about this to Sirius and he was clearly in the same boat. She felt embarrassed. She definitely was not going to tell Alice that her use of the past tense was somewhat premature. Alice would insist that Claudia tells Slughorn, or the Minister of Magic. Claudia could not think of anything more humiliating.

"That explains a lot… Is that why everyone else actually enjoys Mothers' Day?" Claudia asked, desperately wanting to make is sound like a joke, but her voice was breaking.

Alice did not say anything and gave Claudia a long hug instead.

"Enough about me." Said Claudia, wiping a tear or two. Alice paid no attention to that. She was still looking at her friend intently.

"I've never seen you like this." She said, finally.

"Surprised I have feelings?" Claudia asked, with the weakest of smiles.

"And she's back…" Alice replied.

Claudia laughed and hugged her friend back. It felt good to talk to Alice like this. Although she was not quite prepared to share the whole truth with her, not today anyway.

The following day, she met Sirius by the Potions classroom. They found the painting of the Great Lake with ease. Claudia peeled the frame away from the wall and pointed her wand at the stonework.

"Revelio". She whispered. Nothing happened. Sirius stepped up, tapped his wand on the wall and mumbled.

"Dissendium".

An outline of a door began to emerge. Claudia looked at him suspiciously, but Sirius shrugged as if opening secret passages was part of this daily routine.

Claudia grabbed the silver handle and pushed the door open. It was unlocked. They entered a spacious room.

"That's it." Said Claudia, practically jumping up and down. It was identical to the room in the painting from the book. They searched the room. They clearly were not the first to the do that. The room was completely cleaned out. Drawers in the desk were left open and empty. Same went for the large chest of drawers under the stained-glass windows.

Claudia was beginning to get frustrated, when she spotted heavy curtains in the corner of the room. She dragged them open to reveal another door. This one was locked.

"Alohomora." She whispered more in hope than expectation. But the lock clicked, and the door flew open. She stepped into the second room, Sirius following closely behind her.

They were standing in Slytherin's bedroom. There was an enormous four-poster bed in the far corner. But that was not what caught their eyes.

The floor of the bedroom was caved in. Almost as if someone partially collapsed the structure that was supporting it...

"So, this is what was above that cellar. Explains the identical stonework." Said Sirius with a smirk. "What are you up to?" He added abruptly when he saw what Claudia was doing. She was lying down on the floor, edging closer and closer to the caved in area.

"Can't you see? There is something that looks like a metal box sticking out of the rubble." She replied. Sirius took few steps towards the hole.

"Careful!" Shouted Claudia. "You'll put too much pressure on it. Get on the floor." She added. Sirius rolled his eyes but did as he was told.
They were lying next to each other, as close as they dare got to the metal box. It was unmistakably a safe.

"It must have been hidden under the floor..." Said Claudia.

"That's why it doesn't look like it's been emptied, like the rest of this place." Sirius finished her sentence.

"Exactly." Claudia replied, nodding vigorously. She continued. "If we didn't try looking for it downstairs, we wouldn't have found it. That makes me feel so much better." She sighed with relief. Sirius smiled.

"I told you not to worry about the detention."

"That's not what... Oh, never mind." Claudia said, blushing. She could barely contain her chuckles.

"What's not what?" Asked Sirius. "What did you mean?!" He added. Claudia bit her lip.

"I just hate being wrong... This kind of makes me right." She replied, with a chuckle.

"It does not!" Sirius said, rolling his eyes. Claudia opened her mouth, but Sirius cut her short. "Merlin, give me strength. Can we just focus on the safe?! I'm not sure how long the floor will be able to support your ego."
That was bit rich coming from Sirius, Claudia thought to herself. But he was not going to spoil her mood. She still felt vindicated.

They examined the safe. There were ten concentric circles on one side, all covered in ancient runes.

"Blast it?" Sirius asked. Claudia hoped he was joking but was not quite sure.

"Brute force is not going to help you here. It's a code." Whispered Claudia, as she began to investigate the circles. They could all turn. "We won't solve this today. Can you get me some parchment?" She asked.

"Still think we should try brute force..." Sirius mumbled, as he crawled away.

When he got back with a piece of parchment, Claudia carefully copied the runes on the piece of paper. She moved some loose stones over the safe just in case anyone else came snooping. She looked at her watch.

"It's almost curfew. We better get back. Meet on the fourth floor Saturday morning?" She asked.

"You didn't used to be this bossy…" Sirius muttered, as they walked back out. Claudia barely heard him. She could not stop staring at the runes.
The abandoned corridor on the fourth floor was slowly becoming one of Claudia's favourite places in the castle. There was a large alcove with a huge window and a great view over Hogwarts grounds. She smuggled some pillows there, so it was comfortable too. She was sitting on the floor, copying letters from her sketch on several circles of parchment in different sizes. She pinned them all together in the centre to create a replica of the mechanism. She used English alphabet to make it easier to decode. She just started playing the wheel, when Sirius turned up.

"What's that?" He asked, looking at hew creation. Claudia did not pay much attention.

"What words do you think Slytherin would use to open his safe?" She asked him instead.

"I see." Said Sirius, as he said down next to her. "That's genius." He added. Claudia gave him a brief smile.

They tried everything they could think of. Pure-blood, snake, venom, Slytherin, adder... Nothing worked. The words were either too short, too long, or the wheel did not contain the right letters.

Over the next two weeks, Claudia kept playing with the wheel. She became completely obsessed by it. It was the first thing she looked at when she woke up and the last thing she did before she went to sleep. She kept dreaming about it. Once, she even scrunched it in anger and threw it out of the window of the library. She regretted it instantly and raced down the hundreds of steps to get it back. Still, she got nowhere.

She could not stand the thought of looking at it for one more second, yet she just could not stop.

She decided to brew the Felix Felicis in the Slytherin's apartments too. She told herself that it was safer than the storage cupboard. After all, she would need to leave it there to stew over the summer holidays.

The real reason, however, was that she wanted an excuse to go there every day to check, double-check and triple-check that she copied the runes correctly.