Claudia pushed the heavy door open and stepped into the room catching her breath, her uniform was all over the place, smudged with dirt she and had one smudge of mud across her right cheek. Who would have though a Thestrals could make so much mess when upset, it didn't help that she couldn't see the poor thing. She brushed her skirt down and tried to tidy herself up glaring at a grass stain that ran up her white sock. "You look a mess" she sharply looked up at Professor Snape. "Why are you so instant on spending your time with creatures of less intelligence?"
"Thank you sir" She stated sarcasticly "They're interesting, the different ways they behave in different situations, also most of them can't answer me back when I talk to them" suddenly her attention was drawn to a cupboard in the room as a loud bang came from it "What..."
"A Bogart, Professor Lupin wants to use it for a DADA lesson" Snape stated flatly "Have you not got a lesson to get to girl?" he glared at her.
Claudia smirked as she pulled a twig from her hair "No sir I have a free lesson" she moved over to him standing to his side "I suppose I should use the time to take a shower, I'm awfully dirty" Snape shook his head and sighed and Claudia laughed lightly sitting on the arm of the chair still pulling bit of forest out of her hair "I need to start plating my hair back for that lesson"
"Indeed" Snape pulled a leaf from her hair and examined it closely "this is your last year is it not?"
"Indeed" she mirror his previous comment "I'd rather not talk about it Professor, the thought of leaving the place is an uneasy thought" she stood and glanced around the.
"Don't be silly, most students can't wait to be out of here" he watched her as she played with the hem of her sleeves.
"Yes Well most student don't spend their spare time with a professor" She walked back over to him and looked him straight in the eyes "If i'm entirely honest Sir it's you I don't like the idea of leaving" Both were suddenly brought crashing into reality when the door flew open and Remus stood looking at the two.
"Sorry to interrupt!" he beamed as walked into the room followed by his entire class.
In trotted Remus' class, all eager to find out why they were having a lesson in the staff room, Harry and Ron looked about to see if Hermione had followed and noticed Seren stomping on Draco's foot and hissing at him under her breath haughtily.
Seren gritted her teeth as she heard Draco once again complain about how much his arm hurt because he tried to show off in front of her with a hippogriff and got his arm torn up a bit. All Seren had said was that the filthy animals were stupid and he had huffed over and started calling it names or something and it had gone wild and attacked him, Seren shuddered, she thought that most animals where foul disgusting things that should stay away from humans, though oddly enough she liked wizards and witches that became animals like Animagus and were-creatures (specifically wolves) she slammed her foot down onto his after he made a sly remark about how his "loving wife" should take care of him in his time of need and mentioned that if he wanted a caring wife he should marry Pansy Parkinson, he pulled a face and shrugged it off, she turned to the front of the staff room taking notice of the fact that Claudia was in the room and so was Snape, not to mention how close they were to each other and the obvious tension between them, but she just shrugged that information off and turned to stare at her new favourite teacher as he explained that they would be learning about Bogarts and to think of the thing they feared the most.
Claudia stepped away from Severus and glanced over the class once she spotter her cousin she knew who else would be in this class and sighed in relief that their would be no Hufflepuff'. "Professor Lupin, would you mind awfully if I joined this class for now, it's just with it being my last year encountering a Bogart would be very interesting and may not ever happen again" Lupin Smiled softly and gave a nod. Claudia could feel Severus' eyes burn into her back wondering what she was up too.
Once the entire class had learnt in incantation they all began to line up in front of the closet, Claudia opted to stay aside, not wanting a bunch of third years to see her greatest fear. First up was Neville Longbottom and if Claudia remembered correctly both Seren and Severus had made passing comment about how stupid the boy was.
"Now Neville what terrifies you most?" Lupin asked leaning in close to make out what the boy was mumbling.
"P-Professor S-Snape sir" Neville was trying so hard not to look at the Potions Professor and Claudia could feel the pride seeping from Severus. However that subsided when he heard what Lupin told Neville to do and suddenly wished he'd left the room. As the Bogart version of Snape stepped out from the closet the real Severus hoped that Neville would loose his bottle and be unable to preform the incantation but luck was not on his side and soon Snape was looking at himself in a horrid hat and holding a red hand bag, he chose to ignore the fact that he was also in a dress. The class irrupted into laughter as they each took it in turns to face the Bogart, Claudia had to hand it to the Weasley boy, even she couldn't keep her nerve in front of a giant spider. Then Seren stood at the front, as the Bogart began to change Claudia felt herself move slightly closer her 'big sister' instinct kicking in and feeling the need to protect her little cousin she stopped however when the Bogart haltered, changed and stood in front of the whole class was Sirius Black, wounded, weak but a look of determination on his face. The whole room filled with whispers.
Why she scared of him?
Well he is a mad man out to kill everyone.
But she's a pure blood.
Like I said MAD man.
"Riddikulus!" Seren' voice broke through every ones whispers. The Bogart stumbled back and the entire class broke into hysterical laughter as they watched the Bunny 'Girl' Sirius Black look around confused, Claudia swore she heard Snape Snicker. The class ended and the student made their way to dinner, the cousins gave eat other a small nod before parting ways.
"What in the name of Merlin was that about?" Severus whispered harshly following Claudia down the empty corridor.
"I'm just keeping an eye on Seren" she spat back avoiding looking at the older wizard "She got it in her head that Professor Lupin is a werewolf and seeing as i'm feeling honest today so do I, In fact i'm convinced he is" She turned to face a stair case and waiting till the flight of stairs moved into place.
"What could possibly make you think that?" he watched her carefully to insure she wasn't lying.
"The colour of his eyes... it's a tell tale sign even though most people don't recognize it. Professor I get higher grades then Outstanding in Mystical Creatures, I know a werewolf when I see one even more so when my little cousin points it out to me" She jumped up onto the first step before the stair case had time to move fully in place, Severus carried on to follow her.
"And what do you plan to do?"
"Nothing" she looked at him surprised by his shocked look "It's not his fault every full moon he turns into a ravaging beast, that's probably why Seren is so attracted to him"
"That's ridiculous" Claudia laughed lightly at his choice of words. "He's a teacher and she's a student"
Claudia stopped at the top of the satires blocking Severus and making herself seem taller than him. "Excuse me?" when he had no reply she ran up the next flight of stairs "Absolutely ridiculous, of course!" she shouting back down to him "how could anything possibly happen between a student and a teacher?"
Suddenly Snape was standing close behind her "We've had this conversation before Miss Selwyn, it's can not happen"
The Ebony haired girl sighed looking at the floor "I know, but that doesn't mean you can ignore my feelings for you, jerk" she ran off down a corridor leaving Snape standing.
On the Edge of the Grounds in the Herbology lab Sofia was tending to her favourite herb, as Neville appeared with an annoying smirk on his unfortunate face. He gasped loudly and grasped the counter upon seeing Sofia "Merlin's beard! Sofia you gave me a fright!"
She glared blankly at the third year and carried on her pruning "it's " her tone was dry and flat.
Neville's face dropped and he stuttered as he approached her "s-s-s-sorry ..." he paused and jolted to her side eyes wide at what she was pruning.
"Is that?" Sofia simply nodded "You realize that's ILLEGAL…that's..wizard weed"
"I'm quite aware…and I'd like to make you aware that if anyone else knows of it…then you may see the same fate of a certain Ravenclaw from last year"
Neville recoiled in fear, he had indeed heard of that Ravenclaw, and how they were unable to return this year due to intense food poisoning, her parents had tried to sue the school for every Galleon Sickle and Knut it had! But the girl had insisted they didn't out of fear, so nothing could be proved, nor done about the indecent.
"So Longbottom…do we have a deal? You keep quiet about my Dragon Snaps and I keep your meals poison free" she smirked as he nodded furiously. "Good lad".
After her "gardening" Sofia felt a smug glow take her over as she strolled the grounds to the Slytherin halls. She felt this would be an opportune moment to use some of her more prepared herbs. As she entered her dorm she swiftly cast a charm to cloak the scent that would soon be emerging from her bunk. She pulled a small wooden box from under it, and began rolling a joint.
As it lit she felt herself calm immediately, like she was preparing herself for what was to come, eager for the sensation. She inhaled deeply and held it, imagining the smoke curling in her chest for a moment and then letting it emit from her slightly parted lips, after about the third drag she felt her body sink into the sheets, she imagined sinking through the bunk and floor boards floating in the bliss of it all, quidditch bared no comparison although she was fond of it, it simply wasn't in the same league...she decided at that moment that this sensation was definitely better than any magic she would learn here.