The Love Of A Wizard

CHAPTER 9
Dark Tidings


As Claudia expected, she did not hear from Severus again for awhile. She did however receive multiple letters from Sirius. His tone grew more dark and pessimistic as time went on. All she could offer were kind words to her friend so far away. The summer months were closing in on them again and the whole group was buzzing about Harry’s last task at the TriWizard Tournament set to happen June twenty-fourth. Claudia wished she would be able to go, but knew a muggle like herself would never be allowed. So she contented herself by listening to everyone speculate about the last task, that Claudia learned would be a maze.
It was almost two weeks prior to the last task that Claudia received a letter by owl post. The owl swooped into the house and landed on her lap. She had gotten used to this method of post over the past months, so she quickly untied the letter from the lovely brown owl’s leg. The owl decided to have some water before flying right out of the window and back to wherever it belonged. Claudia saw her name printed in small letters. Who could this be from? She opened the letter and read:

Ms. Moore,

I will be at your home July the 12th . Be ready promptly at 8:00pm so that we may leave on time.

S. Snape


Claudia smiled to herself. Oh, this is going to be fun. She could hardly contain her excitement for what was sure to be a very interesting evening.
The night of the tournament at Hogwarts, Molly and Bill traveled to watch Harry. Leaving Remus and Claudia at the house. Tonks rarely showed her face anymore, but when she did, she was short and curt with everyone. Mostly with Claudia. She could not figure it out, but she thought she had a pretty good idea why.
The evening started out like any other would. They ate dinner and talked and generally had a good time. Claudia had to force Emma to bed with the promise of two stories. One read by her and the other read by Remus. After the third story (Remus was a **** for Emma’s pleading) they sat together and waited for word from anyone with news on the nights events. Remus was a wreck after some hours of waiting.
“I wish someone would send word.” He paced the living room while Claudia just watched. After what seemed an eternity someone burst through the front door. It was Sirius.
“Oh my God, Sirius!” Claudia jumped up and Remus ran to his friend. Sirius was out of breath and he was as pale as a ghost.
“Remus…he’s…back.” He was holding Remus’s shoulders staring him in the face. Remus looked horrified.
“No…not…”
“Voldemort is back Remus, he came back tonight. Harry…”
“What! What happened to Harry?” Remus made Sirius sit down. Claudia ran to get him something to drink. When she retuned she heard Sirius telling Remus about the nights events.
“-and the cup was turned into a portkey. Took him to Voldemort. Wormtail, he…”
‘I can’t believe it. So he has a body now? How?”
“Harry said Wormtail did a spell. Brought him back. They dueled and Harry got away. But Moony my friend, Voldemort killed one of the other students. Dumbledore is in a rage because Fudge won’t alert everyone. He refuses to believe it.” Sirius turned to Claudia and held out his hand. She took it and he pulled her to him. She sat with her arm around his shoulders while Sirius told them what happened afterwards.
“So, Dumbledore wants me to alert everyone from the original Order. I have to go. I suspect Dumbledore will be contacting you shortly.” He stood to go and shook Remus’s hand. He kissed Claudia on the cheek and turned to go.
“Be careful!” Was all Claudia could think to say.. He turned around and smiled to her a very sad smile.
“I’ll be back soon.” With that, he left.
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It was not even a day later that Claudia received a letter from Dumbledore requesting that he and others from the Order of the Phoenix come to her home to hold a meeting. She promptly wrote back saying, “Of course.” and sent it back. Almost an hour later, people began to show up on her doorstep. She remembered the tea kettle Molly gave her, so she placed it, and numerous mugs, on the table. The usual people came first. The Weasley’s, Tonks, Sirius and Dumbledore all arrived the next afternoon, closely followed by a man with one wooden leg and a funny roaming eye. Remus said his name was Mad-Eye Moody. Next came a man Dumbledore introduced as Mundangus Fletcher. He walked around Claudia’s house inspecting everything. A very large man squeezed his way into the house and had such a time trying to find a place to sit, that he was forced to stand. More people poured in and they were all friendly and Claudia would have enjoyed getting to know them under different circumstances. The last to come was Severus Snape. Claudia watched him walk in and stand in the corner. As she passed him, she caught his eye and smiled. He looked away and she chuckled to herself.
When everyone had gathered together in the living room, everyone looked at Claudia. She didn’t know why, but she felt as if they didn’t really want her there. She was in fact, correct.
“Claudia,” It was Sirius. “Could you give us a few minutes?” He looked embarrassed to ask her to excuse them in her own house. So Claudia smiled and waved goodbye, pulling Emma away from the large man named Hagrid.
“Come darling, we need to leave them to their work now.” She took Emma outside to play while inside her home a group of wizards sat around and discussed plans for war.
About a half hour later, after Emma had helped Claudia feed all of the dogs, Sirius came out to get them.
“Hey there stranger.” Claudia hugged him and Emma ran into his open arms.
“We’re finished in there. Sorry about asking you to go.” He was genuinely sorry about it Claudia cold see.
“Nah. I understand. How is everything?” She looked over Emma’s head into Sirius’s eyes. He was worried and he looked as if he hadn’t slept in days. He shook his head and looked away. She knew this was not a good sign, if even he was at a loss for words.
“I missed you Sirius. Where have you been?” Emma asked him standing on tip toe. He looked down and smiled at her.
“I have been working. Did you really miss me?” He scooped her into her arms and kissed her on the cheek.
“Yes. Mommy and Remus missed you too. We all worry about you. That’s what mommy says.” Sirius smiled at Claudia and winked.
“Do you think your mum missed me?” Emma seemed to ponder this question seriously. Then she nodded. They all three laughed together and headed for the house. When the house was in view, Sirius stopped walking abruptly. Standing on the back porch, next to the pool was Severus.
“What the hell does he want?” Sirius’s face looked nasty. Claudia knew from talking to Remus that these two hated each other with passion.
“He probably wants to talk to me.” Claudia said. Sirius looked at her and put Emma down on the ground.
“Why?”
“Severus and I are supposed to go and check something out for Dumbledore in a few weeks. I’m sure it has something to do with that.” She continued walking, as did Emma and Sirius, until they were in front of Severus. Emma said, “Hi!” and went inside. No doubt to find Hagrid again. Sirius and Severus just stared at each other. Claudia felt like an intruder. She just kept looking back and forth from one to the other until Sirius spoke first.
“What do you want Snape?” He crossed his arms across his chest and spread his feet. Severus just stood still. Without taking his eyes from Sirius, Severus turned his head slightly to Claudia and said, “You received my letter?” Claudia just said “Yes.” She didn’t know what else to say.
“Our plans have not changed. Some of us have work to do.” With those words almost spat at Sirius, he turned and walked away into the house. Claudia looked at Sirius and knew she should not talk to him at the moment. She went inside and left him standing on the porch.


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What is going to happen with Claudia and Severus??? And what will Sirius do about it???? (No reviews yet!)