The Resistance
Claudia walked up to the door of her father's study. Four times that day, she had done the same but changed her mind at the last minute. She just did not know whether he shared Marcus' confidence that the inferi spell was good enough to replace the lost artefact and to please You-Know-Who. She was out of time and done overthinking this. There was only one way to find out. She knocked.
"Enter!" She heard Frederick say, and so she did. He frowned.
"It's you." He mumbled as he looked up from his papers.
"Sorry to disappoint you." Claudia smirked. Her father was not amused.
"What do you want? Make it quick." He barked, before returning to his paperwork.
"I'm going to France with my friend Eleanor and her parents tomorrow. I'll be back in two weeks." Claudia said, resolutely.
Frederick stopped writing and looked at his daughter again.
"The muggles?" He asked, slowly.
"Yes. The muggles. Is that a problem?" Claudia replied and folded her arms across her chest. There was a long pause. Very long pause. Claudia could hear her heartbeat. She had no idea whether her insolence was going to pay off or not.
"Do whatever you want. Just get out of my sight…" Frederic whispered. He was clearly seething. But the loss of the artefact was still hanging over his head. He hated it, but he had no choice. Claudia had to try very hard not to jump with joy.
She curtsied and backed out of her father's study. The moment she shut the door behind her, she grinned and sprinted to her room. It was time to pack!
All Claudia needed to do now was to get through one more dinner with her family. How hard could that be? As it turned out, very. Her mother's eyes were puffy.
"Why didn't you come to me? Why do you want to go? Who are these people?" The questions just kept coming. "How are you going to get there? Where will you stay?" There was no need to actually answer any of these questions. That was not the point. The point was to ruin her day and make her feel guilty about going. That was clear. What was also clear was that Cassandra spent the whole afternoon pleading with her husband to change his mind. But Frederic did not look like he was going to oblige. He was eating his dinner, completely stone-faced, doing his best to ignore them all. Claudia shrugged.
"You weren't anywhere near this upset when you shipped me off to Bavaria…" She quipped in her mother's direction.
The faked concern for her daughter's well-being had drained from Cassandra's face in an instant. She opened her mouth, presumably to shout at Claudia. But it did not come to it, this time...
"Enough!" Frederic said resolutely. "Both of you." He added when he saw that Cassandra tried to speak again. Claudia bit her lip. Must not laugh. If she wanted to go, she must not laugh.
"Are you are going to let her get away with this?!" Marcus pitched in. "She's going away with actual muggles! What will people think?" He added. Frederic was no longer his emotionless self.
"I said enough. All of you!" He was screaming now. Claudia was used to a lot from her parents, but this took her by surprise. She had never seen her father like this. He was always so controlled, like an old statue.
Frederick threw his cutlery on the table, smashing the antique serving plate in the process. His chair toppled when he abruptly stood up and marched out of the dining room without saying another word. You could hear a pin drop.
"Do you see what you have done to your father?" Cassandra said in Claudia's direction. "Your insolence will be the end of us all." She added and began to get up from the table also. Oh, I do hope so! Claudia thought to herself. But she did not say another word. There was only as far as she could push them. If she took it any further, who knows what would have happened.
It was just her and Marcus left in the dining room.
"You will regret this." He hissed.
"I know. You said." Claudia smirked. But before Marcus could say anything else, she continued. "But we both know that father won't let you. So, stop pretending otherwise and fuck off." Marcus looked at her with pure loathing. But he clearly knew Claudia was right. It was pathetic really, watching him trying to come up with a comeback. But he did not. He too got up from the table and left the room. As he slammed the door behind him, Claudia sighed.
"Whatever idiot said that family was everything, clearly did not have one." She muttered to herself. She reached across the table and grabbed couple of chocolate cakes. For the journey. That brought her smile back.
Nobody came to say goodbye to her the following morning. Claudia did not mind. They were clearly keen to be rid of her. And she felt exactly the same way about them. She did not dare ask her parents for pocket money. That would certainly send her father over the edge. Instead, she grabbed couple of the horrific pieces of jewellery she got gifted over the years and set off for Diagon Alley to sell them and get some muggle money from Gringotts. By lunchtime, she was all ready to go, waiting for a train to Winchester at Waterloo. Eleanor was going to meet her at the station. And tomorrow, they were going to drive with her family to France. At last!
Even before Claudia's feet touched the platform at Winchester, she saw Eleanor waving at her. Eleanor run up to Claudia and hugged her. It took Claudia by surprise every time. Maybe, one day, she will get used to it. As Eleanor let go, she looked down at what Claudia was wearing. Her usual shirt and trousers. It was not the Hogwarts uniform, but it was not far off.
"You'll need some new clothes if you are to pass as a proper muggle… Let's stop by the department store before we go home." Eleanor quipped. Claudia hated clothes shopping, but her curiosity won. She had never been to a muggle department store, so she agreed to go.
And oh boy, was she glad she did! The clothes were so much more comfortable than wizarding robes or her school uniform. She picked out some jeans, shorts and lots of t-shirts. Why they were not selling these in Diagon Alley, she did not know.
"Want to look at some dresses?" Asked Eleanor, as they neared the tills.
"No chance. I hate dresses." Claudia smirked. Eleanor clearly did not understand, so Claudia continued. "If your mother forced you into horrible puffy dresses ever since you could remember, you would hate them too." Eleanor chuckled.
"Well, if you're done, let's go. I need to get a haircut too." She said.
"Must we?" Claudia asked, she hated this kind of stuff.
"Yes, we must." Eleanor said, rolling her eyes. They left the department store and made their way down the high street into the hairdresser.
Claudia was not sure why she stayed in the salon, waiting for Eleanor to get her haircut. Bored stiff, she picked out one of the magazines lying on the coffee table and skimmed it. It was dreadful, full of gossip and meaningless drivel. It was even worse than 'Witch Weekly', Claudia thought and threw the magazine back on the table. She picked up another one. This one was full of the latest hairstyles. Big, curly hairstyles. Claudia laughed, one of the poor models actually looked like one of those over-pampered dogs that run around on the Heath. She turned the page. This was better. Best short hairstyles of the decade. Read the headline. Claudia looked at the different pictures and then she spotted something she was not expecting – a haircut that she actually liked! It was a short bob with a fringe, and the hair on the back of the head was just very slightly shaved off to make the back super short. It looked beyond cute.
Claudia picked up her ponytail between her fingers and sighed. She never liked her long hair. It was so tedious to wash and look after. It never occurred to her that she could actually do something about it. She loved this! But it was too far. Her mother would kill her.
"Ready to go?" Claudia looked up from the page. Eleanor was done with her haircut.
"Sure." Claudia whispered. She closed the magazine, put it back down and followed Eleanor out of the salon. They just about made it around the corner when Claudia suddenly stopped.
"Do we still have time?" She asked.
"I think so. What for?" Eleanor replied, looking at her watch. Claudia did not respond. She turned around on her heel and run back to the salon. It was now or never.
She barged in, found the haircut she liked in the magazine and shoved it under the hairdresser's nose. Her hands were trembling.
"Can I have this one, please?" She asked. With one cut of the scissors, her long ponytail was gone. Claudia could not stop giggling the whole way through the haircut. There were going to be consequences, but who cared anymore.
"All your life… You were only waiting for this moment to be free…" Blasted from the radio. It felt so right.
She practically skipped all the way back to Eleanor's house, looking into every window or reflective surface that they passed. She loved her new hair. It felt so light. Between this and the new clothes, even her family would struggle to recognise her. That brought her joy.
They set off to France the following day. From the start, there was something strange about the whole set up. By the time they were getting off the ferry in Normandy, it struck her. No-one was arguing. There were no snide remarks, no hostility.
"This is not going to last." Claudia laughed to herself. But she was wrong. It did last. Ten days of absolute bliss followed. They ate good food, spend time on the beach, went for hikes. Claudia was devastated when they turned the caravan around to go back up north and to England.
But there was still Paris to go and that excited Claudia more than anything else. Unfortunately, the drive to Paris was long and Claudia was getting restless.
"Will you sit still already?" Eleanor laughed, as Claudia kept fidgeting in her seat. Reading a map one minute, looking for something in her bag and fidgeting with the pillow the next.
"I can't." Claudia shook her head.
"Why on Earth not?" Eleanor laughed.
"Only three days until we get our OWL results…" Claudia whispered.
"Does this mean you are going to be like this for the rest of the holiday?" Eleanor asked, rolling her eyes. Claudia nodded.
"Please, distract me!" She laughed.
"How much do you know about muggle history?" Eleanor asked.
"Practically nothing." Shrugged Claudia. Eleanor threw her the book she was reading.
"This should keep you busy then." Claudia looked at the cover.
"What's the French Resistance?" She asked.
"Read it." Eleanor said solemnly. Her usual cheerful demeanour had gone.
That peaked Claudia's interest and so, she opened the book and got stuck in. She read about the rise of fascism in Germany, about the concentration camps, about the invasion of France, and the fight that the Resistance put up. It was one horror after another. She spent the rest of the day curled up in her seat, taking everything in. She could not believe that neither her governess, nor any of the Hogwarts professors ever mentioned this. By the time they reached the outskirts of Paris, she had finished.
"Dinner, girls?" Asked Eleanor's mum cheerfully as they parked the car by a busy bistro. Claudia did not care. She was not in the mood to eat. How could she be?!
"Are you ok, dear?" Asked Eleanor's mum. She must have watched her poking the dinner around. Claudia nodded.
"It's just this book. I had no idea about any of it. No-one ever told me…" She whispered and looked up at them. The whole family had no idea what she was talking about.
"The war... The camps..." Claudia managed to get out. She was nearly in tears. Not because she felt particularly sorry about what happened. But it was just like You-Know-Who and his pureblood nonsense. She looked towards Eleanor. If You-Know-Who had his way, she would be dead. Just because she was a muggle-born.
"If you find that interesting, you might like where we are going tomorrow." Eleanor's dad said, smiling. All three of them looked completely oblivious to the danger they were in. And she could not bring herself to tell them.
Early in the morning, they drove up to an old fortress in the suburbs of Paris. Claudia was exhausted. She barely slept at night.
"It's called Fort Mont-Valérien. It was used as a prison during the war. Now, it's a memorial to the French Resistance." Eleanor's dad explained, as they got out of the car and made their way to the entrance. The family chatted as they walked around the place. Claudia followed them. To distract herself from how sick the thought of You-Know-Who made her feel, she read every single inscription she saw. The French lessons that she was subjected to as a child were finally paying off.
The fortress was used as a prison and place of executions by the Nazi occupiers of Paris... The prisoners were taken to be shot in a clearing nearby... More than a thousand hostages and members of the Resistance were executed by the Nazis in this place...
Claudia spend the rest of the day barely aware of what was going on around her.
That evening, Claudia and Eleanor were lying in a tent. Claudia was clutching the French Resistance insignia she bought in the souvenir shop earlier. Her head was still spinning. This is where You-Know-Who was heading. This was the future. Except it would not be the Jews who would die, it would be Eleanor, Lucy and all the other muggleborns. And it would not be the French Resistance who would get killed for treason, it would be Alice and her dad, Claudia herself, and Sirius...
Claudia felt so embarrassed for wasting the last six months being angry at him. She should have been focusing on trying to stop Marcus, not on some stupid kiss. It had to stop now. There was work to be done. The moment she was back in London, she was going to start investigating properly. She needed to find something. Something that would implicate Marcus.
Claudia wiped her eyes. She did not even know when she started crying. Marcus… Were her family really capable of committing such horrors? Of course, they were! Marcus did kill someone just to prove he was worthy of joining You-Know-Who's dumb cause. The thought that she shared blood with the lot of them made her sick. Actually sick to her stomach. All of this made her even more nervous about her OWL results. She needed to keep alive her dream of becoming an auror. She had no other choice. Someone had to stop them. She had to stop them.
"Do you think you and Julius are going to get married?" Eleanor whispered out of nowhere. Claudia did not quite understand how Eleanor managed to come up with these bombshell questions. She laughed nervously. It did not feel quite right to talk about nonsense like this right now...
"Is that a yes?" Eleanor giggled.
"You were serious?" Claudia asked. Just the thought of that was ridiculous. "I doubt I'll ever get married. It's just not for me." She added. Eleanor sighed.
"I'm not sure about marrying Ian either. I've never even kissed anyone else... It doesn't feel quite right to marry the first boy you kiss." Claudia smirked, remembering who the first boy she kissed was.
"That would be an even dumber decision than marrying Julius." She replied.
Eleanor propped herself up on her elbow.
"Julius was not your first kiss?" She asked, her tone a mixture of excitement and surprise. Claudia continued to stare at the tent roof.
"No. It was a friend of mine." She whispered.
"Who?" Asked Eleanor.
"It doesn't matter." Claudia sighed.
"Come on, tell me!" Eleanor was not letting this go.
"I really can't." Claudia said and shook her head. Eleanor rolled her eyes.
"Was it at least a good kiss?" She asked. Claudia smiled. Alice never asked her that. She took a deep breath. The paralysing anger was gone. Claudia was not entirely sure where to. It must have been the shock of what she saw today.
"It was amazing. We were walking through London. It was snowing. We had some champagne. He was very good at it. It was just perfect. Well, perfect until he said we should go back to being friends..." She whispered.
"And did you? Go back to being friends?" Eleanor asked.
"We've barely spoken since." Claudia sighed. It felt weird thinking about Sirius like this again.
"At least you know what a perfect kiss feels like..." Eleanor added. Claudia smiled. That was true.
"Hard for anything else to live up to it though..." Claudia quipped. Her eyes were filling up and she was close to confessing everything. But she could not crumble and become a weeping mess again. Not on a day like this. She needed to change the conversation.
"What was yours like?" She asked. Eleanor picked up her pillow and buried her face in it.
"It wasn't even a real kiss. He wanted to kiss me. I turned my cheek... So, we just sort of bumped into each other. It was so awkward. It still is." Claudia could barely pick out what Eleanor was saying. The pillow muffled every word.
"I think it's ok for it to be bit awkward. I still feel bit awkward around Julius." Claudia try to sound reassuring. Eleanor stopped hiding in the pillow.
"And your other kiss? Was that also awkward?" She asked.
"No, it wasn't. Not one bit." Claudia sighed. She thought back to last Christmas. Kissing Sirius just felt so natural. Must have been the champagne.
"Who was it?" Eleanor tried asking again. Claudia really did not want to talk about it.
"Good night." She said.
"Come on! Tell me!" Eleanor insisted.
"Good night, Eleanor." Claudia said and turned over to face the other way. Eleanor mumbled something disparaging. Claudia pretended to fall asleep. But in reality, she just could not. Her mind was racing. Sirius… The Resistance… Marcus… The war… Her OWLs… Tomorrow, she was going to get her results. Her life depended on what was in that envelope. And who knew how many other lives could depend on it too.
Eleanor was still eyeing Claudia suspiciously the following morning. But before she could start asking any more questions about Claudia's love life, a brown owl landed on their camping table. Claudia took off the envelope and ripped it open. Her hands were shaking. She scanned the page...
Charms – Outstanding. So far so good.
Potions – Outstanding. Anything else would have been embarrassing.
Defence Against the Dark Arts – Outstanding. Her father would be so proud.
Transfiguration – Exceeds Expectations. Predictable.
Herbology – Exceeds Expectations... Exceeds Expectations?!
Claudia had to re-read that line three times. She sank into her chair with a huge smile. She did it. She barely noticed what other marks she got. It did not matter. The OWL results made the packing and journey back much more bearable. She may have been going back to spend the rest of the summer with her awful family, but at least her plan was still intact. She was going to become an auror and make them regret it all.
The following morning, Claudia was standing on the doorstep of her parent's house in Frognal Gardens. The holiday was truly over. She did not even open the door properly, before she heard her mother.
"Claudia, my dear. You're home. How was…" Cassandra stopped so suddenly, it was as if someone stupefied her. "What is that?" She asked, sharply.
"What is what?" Replied Claudia.
"That! On your head!" Cassandra was jabbing her finger at her.
"That's hair…" Claudia smirked.
"Who did this to you? You look awful! Like a boy!" Cassandra could barely speak, she was shaking.
"I did it. And I like it." Claudia replied, with a shrug. "I'm going to unpack. Lunch at one?" She added, as casually as she could. Cassandra was standing in the hallway, completely frozen. Claudia did not wait for her mother to recover and run up the stairs to her room.
"I'm taking you to the Diagon Alley to get your hair fixed in the afternoon!" Cassandra gathered enough composure to shout after her daughter.
"Fat chance." Claudia muttered, as she shut the door behind her. How her mother could worry about Claudia's hair in the midst of what her husband and son were up to was incomprehensible... Claudia looked around her room. It was unusually tidy. There was also a bunch of letters from Julius on her bed. Claudia skimmed them. He wrote about his holidays, his parent's party, Claudia's parent's party, whether he was going to be invited... He clearly had a very boring summer. She needed to go and see him. But first, she needed to follow the Daily Prophet lead.
Claudia had no idea where to start. She had never even been to the Daily Prophet Offices in Diagon Alley. How was she meant to formulate a plan based on nothing? So, she decided to go there and have a look around. Worst case scenario, it will be a wasted trip. And who knows, maybe she might stumble upon something useful.
The next day, Claudia put on her most respectable clothes and set of for Diagon Alley. The offices were not difficult to find and before she knew it, she found herself in the reception. She must have looked really out of place. Barely a second after she stepped in, Claudia noticed a receptionist walking towards her. She was going to get thrown out a lot quicker than she thought.
"Are you here for the junior reporter interview? You're late!" The receptionist barked. Claudia could not believe her luck. She nodded. "Sorry." She muttered.
The receptionist ordered her to wait and disappeared down a corridor. Claudia was left standing in the hallway. She was no longer happy about what just happened. She was nervous. A job interview! How is that going to work? She had not prepared anything. What did it even mean to be a junior reporter?
"Stop it. You don't actually want the job." She muttered to herself. But that did not help. It did not matter. Despite the hatred she held for her family and their obsession with blood-purity, she was still a Slytherin. She needed to pass that interview! Failing would just be embarrassing. Her train of thought was interrupted by a young man who emerged from round the corner.
"Francesca Abbott?" He asked in Claudia's direction. Claudia smiled through her nerves and extended her hand.
"Nice to meet you." She said, smiling as broadly as she could.
They sat down in a small meeting room. Claudia took few sips of the water than had been prepared for her.
"So, tell me. Why do you want to work for the Daily Prophet?" Asked the reporter. He probably said his name, but she forgot… Claudia did not remember anything she said in the next half an hour. She was so nervous. At the end of the interview, the reporter smiled.
"Let me just get my boss. She's been busy but would like to meet you." He said. Did that mean she did well?! The lifetime of improvising and making stuff up to survive her family had clearly prepared her for situation such as this. Her interviewer came back few minutes later, but he was alone.
"She'll be here shortly." He said and sat back down.
This was Claudia's chance to speak up and find out if he knew anything.
"What have you been working on?" She asked, as casually as possible.
"Here and there. The summers are usually fairly quiet." The reporter shrugged.
"Even with that murder in Hogsmeade?" Claudia asked, with an innocent smile.
"Yeah. Shocking..." The reporter said. He clearly was not very talkative.
"It was a shock to all of us at Hogwarts. So close to the school. I would be surprised if they allow us into the village next year…" Claudia said. Shit! She realised what she did and chuckled. "Old habits die hard… Rather, if they allow the students into the village next year." She added. The reporter smiled at her.
"I doubt it. It was pretty gruesome. And they haven't found him yet…" He replied. Him?! That certainly made it sound like he knew something, so Claudia continued.
"It must be so exciting being so close to all this action." She whispered, looking straight at him.
"It is pretty good." He laughed, clearly beginning to relax.
"Does the ministry have any leads?" Claudia asked. The reporter looked towards the door.
"They're after someone, but he's disappeared." He whispered, knowingly.
"How do you know all of this?" She asked, in the most admiring voice she could fake.
"I really shouldn't say." He sounded almost embarrassed.
"Who am I going to say? And besides, I might be working here soon." Claudia giggled in response.
He grinned back at her, then leaned closer.
"We had an anonymous source.. And now, the Ministry are after him." He whispered. Claudia had to try very hard to hide her disappointment.
"Ah. So the ministry are after this guy as a witness? Not a suspect?" She replied. The reporter shrugged.
"The aurors investigating it wouldn't tell..." He began to say. But before he could finish, a blond woman in bright turquoise robes toddled into the room in the highest heels Claudia had ever seen.
"What are you two whispering about?" She asked sharply.
Please do not say anything, please do not say anything. Claudia repeated in her head. This woman did not look like she was going to be as easily fooled. But the reporter did say.
"Fran, this is Miss Skeeter…" He said, before turning to his boss. "Fran was telling me how the Hogsmeade murder shocked everyone at Hogwarts..." Miss Skeeter's eyes had narrowed.
"Were you still at Hogwarts last year?" She said from behind her spectacles.
"Yes." Claudia replied tentatively. It felt like something was up.
"Because your CV said you graduated three years ago…" Miss Skeeter said slowly, carefully studying Claudia's face.
"Of course, I did. I was just in Hogsmeade that weekend, visiting my younger sister who is still there..." Claudia try to say with a confident smile, but inside, she was panicking.
Miss Skeeter smiled broadly.
"My dear. Do us all a favour and get out of here." She quipped.
"I don't know what you're talk..." Claudia began to protest but did not even get a chance to finish.
"I said get out if here. Whoever you are. Before I call security…" Miss Skeeter barked. Claudia did not say another word. She knew that the game was up. She backed out of the meeting room and shut the door behind her. The moment she did that, she heard Miss Skeeter again.
"You idiot! You call yourself a journalist?! What did you tell her?" She yelled. Claudia did not dare listen any longer...
She run out of there as fast as she could and dived into a nearby shop to hide. There was no guarantee that Miss Skeeter did not change her mind and called security on her. Claudia smiled. It was not much, but it was something to go on. And she nearly got a job in the process… A real job!
AN: Are any of my dear regular (or indeed irregular) readers talented artists? I would be interested in commissioning some fanart for this story. Message me if you would be interested, and I will let you know what I had in mind.