Trouble at Hogwarts

At lunchtime on Sunday, Claudia went down to the garage and climbed into her car. She bought it off a neighbour a few years ago, for no other reason than to have a bit of fun and to be able to take Neville to places that were not accessible by Floo. Besides, she still had a garage that needed filling. Sirius' motorbike had never made it home.

She set off north. The engine struggled up Highgate Hill but, eventually, Claudia made it to the top and parked right outside of the pub, where Moody was already waiting in a shadow of a tree. It had been unseasonably warm these last two days.

"You shouldn't be driving that," he growled. "It makes such a racket, draws too much attention."

Claudia had to laugh. "Draws less attention than you, boss." She adjusted her glasses to look at him properly. Moody was never exactly well put together. But ever since he got fired from the Auror Office, his coat was even more worn down and shoes more ragged. Not to mention the huge eye patch he wore to cover up his magical eye when out and about in the muggle worlds and the rather clumsy artificial leg.

"Get inside then," Moody growled.

Once they got their drinks from the bar, they sat down at a small table deep inside the ancient-looking pub and Moody muttered some charms to make sure they were not overheard.

"How's the snakes' pit?" Moody's face twisted in a disgusted grimace, and he took a few sips of his ale.

"Snakes' pit is fine," Claudia replied, knowing instantly that Moody was referring to the Ministry. "Good even, got a chance to make the Head Auror's life difficult the other day."

"How?"

"They're forever begging us for more veritaserum, or other stuff to make their lives easier. I said no."

"No one wants to do proper auror work anymore."

"That's what I told them…" Claudia smirked. "Oscar wasn't too happy with me."

Moody put down his pint. "Have you two still not made up?"

Claudia shook her head and hidden her face behind the glass of coke. "Honestly? I think we're past that."

"You should make up. Neither of you should be this lonely."

"I'm not lonely…" Claudia protested. "I've got work. And besides, I'm dating someone."

"Who is it this time? Do I know him?"

"So you can do a background check?" she replied with a laugh. "I'm not telling you. And it's not a him…"

Moody raised his eyebrows. "Since when?"

Claudia shrugged. "Don't really know. Since always probably. Never given it much thought till now."

"And Black? Prewett? Oscar?"

"It's possible to like both, you know," Claudia said with an uneasy chuckle and took another sip of her coke. She loved Moody dearly, but personal conversation did not come naturally to either of them, so they rarely ventured there.

"We would never get away with that in my day…" Moody mumbled and picked up a food menu of the table. "But I'm glad you're happy-"

Claudia sighed and stared at her own menu. "There is still a big chasm between not feeling lonely and actually being happy…"

Moody reached across the table and gave Claudia's hand a couple awkward pats. "I know…" he whispered before adding in much louder voice. "What do you fancy?"

"I'll have the beef roast. You?" she said, her throat closing a little.

Moody hummed. "Prawn cocktail sandwich."

"Really?" Claudia scrunched her forehead. "Is that going to be fresh? In this place?"

Moody shook his head. "You can be such a rich brat sometimes. Of course, it's going to be fresh!"

"Alright then," Claudia said sceptically and stood up. "I'll order at the bar."

Once the food arrived, the conversation has shifted to what Moody has been up to lately.

"I'm still following up on some of my old cold cases," he began wearily. "It's harder now that I don't have access to all the perks, but still possible- Besides, no one else is going to do anything for the poor sods who died decades ago-" He trailed off and suddenly, looked much greyer and much older than his years.

"Bet the Auror Office loves that," she replied with a false smile. She hated seeing him like this.

Moody shrugged. "Oscar has been keeping them off my back."

Claudia could not bring herself to say anything out loud, but at least internally, she had to acknowledge that it was good of Oscar. Moody needed all the friends he could get.

"Oh, I haven't told you yet," Moody said more cheerfully. "I'm setting up a trade in defensive artefact. I've got my own collection, of course, so thought it might be a good business venture."

"Can I come and look at them at some point?"

"Only if you don't ask where I got them," he said with a grin. That brough smile to Claudia's face, seeing him a little bit happy.

"I'm with the Department of Mysteries now, boss," she smirked. "We don't ask questions."

Once they left the pub and Moody refused an offer of a lift with another ungenerous remarks towards Claudia's vehicle, she looked at her watch. It was time to go meet Édith in Diagon Alley.

"Coffee in the Leaky Cauldron?" Claudia asked hopefully when they met up.

"Madam Malkin's…" Édith said, a little more factually than usual.

"Still mad at me?" Claudia mumbled. "About the other night?"

Édith smiled and shook her head a little. "I'm not mad at you… I was really just tired-"

"Alright," Claudia said uncertainly. She was not sure whether to believe Édith or not. "But you're still making me go clothes shopping…"

"Maybe you can get something that doesn't make you look like a muggle teenager," Édith replied cheerfully.

Claudia shrugged. "I like looking like one."

Édith put her arm around Claudia's shoulder and whispered. "Not going to lie, it suits you."

Chuckling, all awkwardness seemingly forgotten, they entered Madam Malkin's and Édith dived straight between the racks that carried all the semi-formal robes.

After a while, Claudia got bored just standing around and found her own rack to browse through. Running the delicate materials between her fingers, she could not stop thinking about Moody, however. Seeing him these days always made her feel just a little bit sad. He fought in the same war and lost just as much, if not more, and he did not have his work to distract him anymore. Hopefully, this defence artefacts of his would bring him some kind of fulfilment.

Just then, the little bell above the door rang, signalling that someone opened the door. Mindlessly, Claudia looked over and instantly froze.

It was Cassandra.

Claudia could not even remember the last time she saw, let alone spoke to, her mother. Still, she had no interest in interacting with her and swiftly turned away to continue to play with the fabric again.

"What do you think?" Édith had emerged from the changing rooms, not giving Claudia much time to process it all. She was wearing shimmering pale blue robes, with undertones of purple that contrasted rather beautifully with Édith dark skin.

"You look pretty."

Édith spun around. "I feel a bit ridiculous. This is not something I can wear to work, is it?"

"I'm sure you can," Claudia said with a laugh. "The Love Room's full of eccentrics." She narrowed her eyes– "Wait, I think the lapel here isn't quite right." She took a couple of steps towards Édith to fix the imperfection. "Done," she whispered and looked up. Édith's lips were barely in inch away. Still holding onto the dress, Claudia pulled Édith a little closer and gave her a brief kiss.

"What's got into you?" Édith chuckled as their lips parted. Rarely were they intimate in public. And for a good reason. Moody was right, the wizarding society was much more accepting these days, but there were still parts of this that would want to throw Édith and Claudia in Azkaban for simply holding hands, let alone for all the other stuff they got up to.

"Nothing," Claudia smirked and discreetly moved her eyes to where she last saw her mother. To Claudia's slight delight, Cassandra was still there, staring at her daughter with her mouth slightly ajar and her face the colour of a ripe tomato.

Édith was quick to notice this interaction. "Do you know her?" she whispered.

"Sadly, yes…"

"Who was it, then?"

"My mother," Claudia said with a satisfied smile and turned back to Édith. "We should get out of here."

"Are we going to go talk to her?"

"Absolutely not."

"Why not? Talking to parents is always so interesting… I cannot tell you how much of our personalities our upbringing explains. I'm dying to know what created all this," Édith said with a gesture towards Claudia.

"I'm not talking to her just to satisfy your obsession with muggle psychology."

"Have it your way," Édith said. "It's all rather telling as it is-"

"Stop analysing me-" Claudia hissed but could not help but chuckle.

Édith laughed with her. "I'm going to change out of this. Final chance, yes or no?"

Claudia shook her head. "I'm not the right person to ask about robes."

"Very true… I think it's a no."

When Édith got out of the changing rooms, Claudia was sitting, slumped into an armchair.

"I'm done," Édith said. "Shall we go get that coffee?"

But Claudia did not respond, merely sighed. There was still nearly two hours before St Mungo's closed its doors to visitors. She's been avoiding it for weeks.

"What is it?" Édith asked. "Did your mother get to you that much?"

Claudia shook her head. "I should go and see Alice, I haven't been for ages."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

Claudia looked up at Édith with pleading eyes. "Yes, please."

The whole way to St Mungo's and to Alice's room, Claudia felt as if a huge boulder was sitting on her chest. For eleven years, she had been visiting her best friend in St Mungo's and it had not gotten any easier. If anything, it got harder. At first, Claudia had hoped that something would change, that they would improve with time or that someone would find treatment. But now, eleven years on, she had no hope left.

When Claudia's eyes finally landed on Alice, the boulder got even heavier. Alice had changed very little over the years. Her dark brown hair was still thick and shiny, and her skin still rosy. The only thing that was different were her eyes. The eyes that used to be so full of life, care, and occasionally mischief were vacant.

"Hi Alice," Claudia said after taking a deep breath, and sat down at the end of Alice's bed.

Alice did not say anything. She stared in Claudia's direction, but it was as if she was looking right through her.

"Nev is doing alright," Claudia continued. "We went to South Downs for a holiday."

Alice looked down and straightened the blanket that was covering her knees. Then, she turned her head and looked out of the window.

"We did some hiking, but it was a little too cold to go swimming in the sea. Well, Nev was too cold to go swimming in the sea…" she said with a forced chuckle, but Alice had no reaction.

"Work is alright." Claudia was choking on her words now. Her throat was closing. It was too much. Alice did not know who Claudia was and there was no way she was drawing any comfort from this visit. And for Claudia, this was pure torture, seeing her best friend like that.

For two more minutes, words were coming out of Claudia's mouth, without her being altogether sure what she was saying, or if she made any sense. Then, she could take it no longer and stopped.

"The weather has been lovely too," Édith filled the silence. "Maybe I can ask the healers to open the window, let in some fresh air-"

Claudia jumped to her feet. "I'm sorry. I have to go." She forced herself to pat Alice on the shoulder, and hurried out of the room and towards the exit.

It was as if the walls were drawing in on her, suffocating her. The faster she walked, the closer the walls got…

Once on the street, Claudia could finally take a deep breath. She leaned against a building and the smell of a pub hit her. On days like today, she wished she still drank. Anything to forget what she just saw. Anything to forget she ever had a best friend.

But before she could think about slipping up more seriously, Édith caught up with her. "Are you alright?" she whispered and gently placed her hand on Claudia's back.

"Not really."

"Come to mine."

Claudia nodded, unable to summon enough strength to even know what she wanted.

The next thing she knew, she was sitting in Édith's living room, sipping from a mug of herbal tea.

"I know it's hard on you," Édith began in a whisper. "But if it brings you any comfort, I don't feel fear or anguish when I'm with them. It's this sort of vacant contentment."

"That's something."

"Before this happened to them-"

"I can't talk about before," Claudia interrupted. "I'm sorry. She was so-" she trailed off. "It's just too hard…"

For a long time, they sat in silence.

Claudia took a deep breath and dropped her head back against the sofa. "It's too painful. That part of my life is just too painful to think about. Alice is all but gone. Sirius is where he is. And everyone else is dead…" Claudia paused. That was not quite true- "Except one of my friends," she added. "He's still alive, I think."

"Who?"

"His name is Remus, but-" Claudia lifted the tea mug to her lips to buy some time, but it was empty. "We had this fight at the end of the war, and-"

"What happened?"

Claudia simply shook her head.

"Don't want to talk about it?" Édith asked, with the slightest hint of bitterness in her voice.

"Even less so than I want to talk about Alice."

Édith drew Claudia in for a hug and planted a kiss on her head. "Go to bed, Claudia, you need the rest."

"Okay."

That night, Claudia barely slept. For hours, she sat on the wide windowsill in Édith's bedroom with a cigarette in her hand, and stared at the bright moon that was illuminating the nearby rooftops. She could never forgive Remus for what he said the last time she saw him. Not only was he wrong, but telling Claudia his theory about Sirius' betrayal, in the state she was in, that amounted to manslaughter. He must have known what it would do to her. How she would react. He must have.

She glanced towards the bed, where the duvet was rising and falling with each of Édith's breath. And for a second, she wondered whether Édith deserved to have all these secrets kept from her.

Whether it might just not be easier to tell.

Tears began to form in Claudia's eyes.

All of this, it was just too much for one person to keep to themselves.

Maybe, it was the right call to open up. Édith was her friend long before they started sleeping together and if there was anyone who would understand, it was her.

But then, Claudia remembered her attic and realised that there will never not be secrets between them. She knew Édith well enough to know that revenge was something she would not understand. And she knew herself well enough to know she could never let them get away with it. It was an impossible choice.

Claudia managed about two hours of sleep that night, before she found herself in her office once more.

"Did you hear?" Marcin barged in, looking a little pale. As if he had a rather bad night himself.

"Hear what?"

"Something strange happened in Hogwarts over the weekend. A cat was petrified, and a message appeared on a wall nearby. Apparently, the Chamber of Secrets has been opened again."

"The Chamber of Secrets?" It rang a bell, but Claudia's brain was not exactly firing on all cylinders this morning.

It happened before," Marcin hurled out. "When I was in Hogwarts. No one knew what was going on. There were legends, rumours of monsters targeting muggleborns… In hindsight, of course, it had nothing to do with monsters and everything to do with You-Know-Who. I long suspected he killed this muggleborn girl, Myrtle Warren, and the whole chamber thing was for dramatic effect. He always liked his symbolism, even at school."

"You think this could be a copycat?"

"More likely a prank," Marcin shrugged. "Some pureblood kid got bored and fed the cat some illegal potion."

"Probably."

"Just hope no one is going to die this time. Myrtle was a friend of mine. And now she's stuck haunting bathrooms."

"You mean Moaning Myrtle?" Claudia gasped.

Marcin frowned. "Is that what the kids call her these days?"

"Sorry…"

"I know she was a bit of a weirdo, but so was I. Fresh off the train from Poland, barely spoke any English. Myrtle was good to me…" He cleared his throat. "But enough of this- This is not why I came," Marcin added quickly. "Did you hear any more from the Head Auror?"

"No. He complained to Agrippa but got nowhere. How are you getting on with the veritaserum?"

"The last ingredient I need is on its way from Korea. Should be here in a month or so."

"Keep me posted…"

"Will do."

With Marcin gone, Claudia had forgotten all about the Chamber of Secrets until late afternoon, when something occurred to her. Something that should have occurred to her immediately, and probably would have if she was not sleep-deprived. If Marcin was at Hogwarts during the death of Myrtle Warren, so was her father… And she knew exactly how to get to what he knew.

Hurriedly, she wrapped up her work for the day and soon found herself on the familiar shed roof.

Once her wand was pointed at the back of her father's head, she tried focusing on Voldemort, but so many memories flooded her mind that it would take her weeks to sort through them in any meaningful way. The Chamber of Secrets was near impossible to visualise, so nothing specific came up when Claudia tried to trawl through her father's mind for that. Finally, she recalled the best she could the face of the whiny Hogwarts ghost, and soon enough, she had found a memory.

The memory propelled her to a deserted Slytherin common room. The clock was just striking midnight. Frederick was standing by the wall, looking into a mirror, his hands intertwined behind his back.

Claudia walked up to him and looked into the mirror at his reflection. He must have been around sixteen. She shuddered at just how much of herself she saw in Frederick's face – the shape of their eyes and eyebrows was the same, as was the tone of their skin. She knew instantly that Frederick was not happy. Claudia recognised the frown all too well from the image she saw in the mirror every morning.

As the clock struck for the last time, another boy entered the common room to an eery silence.

"What are you still doing up?" the boy said in a voice that sounded almost sweet, caring.

"Did you kill that Warren girl, Tom?" Frederick turned and folded his arms against his chest. "I know that oversized oaf had nothing to do with it."

Tom, who Claudia was pretty sure at this point was young Voldemort, walked up right up to Frederick. "Now, what makes you think that?"

"I saw you coming out of the corridor where she died-"

In a flash, Voldemort was in Frederick's face. "Why would you care about a mudblood?" His voice was no longer sweet. It was ice cold.

"You said this whole thing was just for laughs, a message to send to the mudbloods. You said nothing about murder."

"Are you losing your nerve?" Voldemort laughed.

Frederick swallowed dry and stayed silent.

"Sometimes, Frederick, if you want power, others need to make sacrifices. And I want power. I don't want people to ever forget me. I want immortality."

Pompous prick, Claudia though. Killing one girl was not a path to immortality.

Frederick seemed to have made the same judgement as his daughter. "But why did Warren had to die? This is too risky-"

"Question my actions again and you will find out for yourself," Voldemort hissed.

Claudia broke the connection with her father's mind. She was not expecting anything this raw. She could feel something. It felt like fear, frustration and distain all at the same time. She could not make sense of it.

But as interesting as the memory was, there was nothing there to disapproves Marcin's theory that there was no such thing as the Chamber of Secrets. What was clear, however, was that Voldemort killed Myrtle Warren.

No one mentioned Filch's cat or the Chamber of Secrets for the rest of the week, and everyone was beginning to think that whoever was responsible for the prank got cold feet.

It was now the first Tuesday in November, and Claudia woke up hours before dawn. She could hear the rain outside her window, but it did not put her back to sleep. Instead, a sense of despair engulfed her, while she stared at the ceiling.

She hated this day. With every fibre of her body, she hated it.

This was now the twelfth birthday that Sirius was spending in Azkaban.

Claudia dragged herself out of bed, made coffee and found couple of slices of stale toast. Chewing on it, she sat down on the kitchen table to open a letter that came yesterday.

'Claudia, I have been sick for days. All symptoms point towards a poisoning. I'm telling you, someone tried to get me in that pub. Watch out! It's possible they were after you. AM.'

"Oh, boss…" Claudia sighed. She did not quite know whether to laugh or cry. The far likelier explanation for Moody's illness was the quality of the prawn cocktail sandwich that she warned him about. But there was no point arguing with him when she had no evidence to prove him wrong.

With a freshly brewed cup of coffee, she made her way to the bathroom. A hot shower was bound to make her feel a little better. But just as the water hit the top of Claudia's head, her forearm began to tingle. She shivered and turned up the hot water tap.

But to no avail. Her teeth began to clatter, so Claudia took the shower head into her hand and sat on the bottom of the bathtub. She pulled her knees close to her chest and hugged the shower head, so no heat was lost. The water was now as hot as it got, and Claudia's skin was burning and red. But none of that helped. She was still freezing from the inside.

Eventually, the water ran cold, and Claudia had to get out. When she got up, a wave of nausea hit her and then another. She tried getting dressed but could not. All she could do was to curl up in a ball on the bed and cover herself with every single blanket and throw she had in the apartment.

This was not fair!

Not on his Birthday!

After an hour or so, the cold began to ease off, and Claudia was able to sit up and light a cigarette with her shaking hands. Eventually, she made it out of bed and leaned over to pick up a t-shirt from the floor. "Big mistake-" she uttered and clutched her stomach, before its contents splattered all over the floor.

Claudia located her wand to clean it up and then collapsed into bed again. The nausea was crippling. But she tried to get dressed for work again, and again but it just would not happen. Every time she tried, she had to lie down within seconds before more of yesterday's dinner ended up on the carpet.

She was very close to giving up when she heard something tapping on the window. It was an owl. Claudia crawled across the bed and let the owl in. On its foot was a letter from Gringotts. Claudia set the letter aside.

"Would you mind stopping off at the Ministry of Magic before heading back to the bank?" Claudia asked the owl.

Seeing that the owl did not protest, Claudia reached for parchment stored in her bedside table and scribbled a note to Auberon.

"Cancel everything today, I'm sick."

Eventually, the nausea wore off. But Claudia was not altogether sure that was a good thing – instead of focusing on not throwing up again, her brain began to fixate on Sirius. She tried doing what usually helped – going into the attic, but even revenge did not cheer her up today.

Back in bed, the temptation to pop into the nearby off-licence, buy a bottle of whiskey and forget this day ever happened was becoming harder and harder to resist. Getting that drink would make it all better, at least for a day.

Claudia made it as far as the front door, before thinking about the consequences. It nearly killed her last time. With all her resolve, she took off her jacket again and went into the kitchen. She had all the ingredients for a sleeping draught. That would have to do until the temptation to get blind drunk passed.

She gritted her teeth and made a sleeping draught so strong, it would either win her a potions prize or land her in Azkaban. Without any hesitation, she downed it and crawled under the duvet.

When she peeled her eyes open, sun was flooding the bedroom. Her insides were contracting with hunger and her mouth was parched. She shuffled into the kitchen, downed three glasses of water, and began surveying her kitchen cupboards. Eggs, beans but no bread. Well, that would have to do.

As she ate her breakfast, another letter came. This one from Neville.

'Dear Claudia,

I did as you asked and spoke to Professor Sprout. I could not believe it! She said you were the laziest student she ever had. That she did not just have to squint, but practically close both of her eyes to give you the NEWT. That really cheered me up!

At least for a while. Things have gone a bit bad here. I am sure you have heard the Chamber of Secrets have been opened. They have not told us much. Professor Binns just mentioned that there could be a monster…

I know I shouldn't be scared because I'm not a muggleborn, and I feel so sad for all my friends who are. But what if whatever has been released from the Chamber does not realise I'm a pureblood? What if I'm actually a squib and it knows? Would it be after me too?

Gran said I should stop being ridiculous, but I wondered if you knew what it was, with your work and everything.

Neville'

"Poor kid," Claudia sighed. She looked at her watch. It was nearly eight o'clock – a reply would have to wait until she was in the office.

Feeling a little stronger after her breakfast, she showered, got dressed and went back to work. The time for wallowing was over.

"Where the hell have you been?" Édith's voice carried through the atrium of the Department of Mysteries the moment Claudia entered.

"I was sick. I sent Auberon a note, thought he would've told you."

"That was three days ago! Not a word since?"

"What?" Claudia gasped. "Three days ago?"

Édith grabbed Claudia's arm and pushed her through the door to the Love Room. She looked around to make sure they were alone. "Have you been drinking?"

"What? No!" Claudia protested. "I've just made myself a sleeping draught."

"Sleeping draught?" Édith asked sceptically.

"My hand must have slipped, and it knocked me out for a little longer than expected."

Édith sighed. "If you at least gave me your damn key. Or told me where to find that place, I could've looked after you."

"You know the flat is small. And a bit of a mess…"

"It's a bloody fortress, that's what it is! What if you took too much? No one would've ever found you."

"I'll be more careful next time."

Édith exhaled and pulled Claudia into a tight hug. "Are you better now?" she whispered.

"Yeah…" Claudia mumbled and squeezed Édith back. "I'm fine, promise- It was just…" But she could not say.

Édith released her from the hug. "It was just what? Alice? Your mother?"

Claudia shook her head. She had to tell. She had to get this weight off her chest. "It was Sirius' birthday."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Édith sighed.

"I wanted to be alone…" Claudia shrugged. "I didn't want anyone's pity."

"I get that he was important to you." Édith placed her hand on Claudia's shoulder. "I get that you loved him, but you cannot torture yourself like this."

"Don't talk about him in the past tense," Claudia hissed, a wave of anger rising suddenly through her body. She shook Édith hand off her shoulder. "Don't you dare talk about him like he's dead!"

"Are you waiting for him? Is that what it is?" Édith's tone had changed too. She sounded frustrated if anything. "Because from what I've heard around the Ministry, he isn't coming back."

Claudia shook her head vigorously. "I'm not giving up on him just yet."

"You're thirty-two…" Édith said, trying to summon all her patience. "You have so much more of your life ahead of you."

"I'm doing the best I can, alright? This isn't easy for me."

"It's not easy for anyone…" Édith sighed and looked at her watch. "I've got to go." And without another look at Claudia, she left.

For five minutes, Claudia stood rooted on the spot, wondering whether this meant her relationship with Édith was over. She had no idea. Hell, she did not even know whether she wanted it to be over or not.