"MS. MAPLE!" McGonagall called after Claudia as she walked down the stairs of Hogwarts alongside Inez to breakfast the next morning.

"Yes, Professor?" She said politely as she nodded to Inez, a way of saying that it was alright for her to leave.

"I just wanted to make sure you were alright after last night?"

"Uh... yeah, I'm fine!" She smiled.

"Good! You can always come to me if you need something, though I'm sure there is the possibility of you preferring to talk to Professor Flitwick since he is your Head of House!" Not true.

"Thank you, Professor."

"I also wanted to let you know that Mr. Clarke has received detention and I have owled his - well your - parents."

"Thank you, Professor", she said with a faint smile as she tried not to scoff aloud.

Like they would care that he slapped her, she thought.

"Well, you best be off and eat. Have a nice day Ms. Maple", McGonagall said finally as she walked away with a faint smile on her normally stern face.

Claudia then walked into the Great Hall and sat down next to Inez at the Ravenclaw table, Inez frowning when she realised something.

"Hey! Neither Betty nor Pandora came back last night!" She whisper-shouted with a big smile on her face as Claudia giggled and wiggled her eyebrows.

"Mmm... wonder why", she said, wondering if Pandora was ever going to tell them about Xenophilius.

"Yeah", Inez chuckled as a grape found it's way onto Claudia's back.

"What the fuck", she sighed as she turned around to find four boys and a girl; one of them grinning widely with a big bowl of grapes in his hands.

"Hey, Claudia, Inez! Come here!" James said happily as he threw a grape in his mouth.

Claudia's heart broke right there and then. She wasn't supposed to be seen with them, so she couldn't. It was extra difficult that morning since they all looked so happy, Betty especially since she was thrilled about the fact that Claudia had befriended them, meaning that Inez had too.

Claudia and Inez shared a subtle look as Inez slowly shook her head and grabbed her hand in an attempt of bringing Claudia comfort, squeezing her hand tightly as they turned back around without a single word.

The group at the Gryffindor table frowned at the sight. Claudia and Inez had clearly seen them; so why didn't they even acknowledge them?

Betty's excitement was killed.

But James wouldn't give up yet. He threw another grape. And then another one. And another one. He threw fifteen grapes at the two girls without receiving a single reaction from either of them.

"Try to ignore them, Claudia", Inez whispered to her as a sixteenth grape had hit her on the back.

"It's not as easy as it sounds", she whispered back as another grape hit Inez on the back.

"We'll just have to try, alright? Let's try talking about something else."

"Okay", Claudia said slowly as she tried to think about something to say. "What the hell am I supposed to say?!"

"I don't know, anything!" Inez exclaimed with a stressed look on her face, a face that Claudia also wore.

"I can't think of a single thing!" Claudia exclaimed as another grape found it's way to her; this time to her head.

"What do people normally talk about?" Inez said as she ate one of the grapes James had accidentally thrown on the table instead of at them.

"No idea! Grapes?"

"Grapes is like the last subject we should be on right now!" Inez sighed.

"Okay... um, books?"

"Boring. But, I did think about something yesterday. Technically books are just like pieces of wood and paper you stare at, and then you hallucinate by staring at it."

"What?!"

"Yeah, if you think about it, you're kind of mad", Inez chuckled.

"Did you just call me mad?" Claudia said confusedly. "Because I read?"

"Yup", she said honestly. "But you're smarter than me so maybe lunatics are the best kind."

"I'm not smarter than you!" Claudia scoffed, but she got no reply as she saw Inez's eyes wander to a different place. Or more like, a different person.

"Like what you see", Claudia teased, wiggling her eyebrows. Inez broke out of her trance with a start and immediately came to her own defence.

"No!" She said. "I was just... observing."

"Observing my arse! Do you like her?"

"What?!"

"I said, do you like her? And by "her" I mean Marlene."

"No I don't!" Inez whisper-shouted, though the pink tint on her cheeks told Claudia a different story.

"You do!" Claudia teased as she poked her friend on her rosy cheeks. "My goodness."

"Shut up", Inez said in an insecure tone. "I... how could you talk about that like it's nothing?"

"Because it is nothing?" Claudia said confusedly, the whole thing sounding more like a question rather than a statement. "What do you mean?"

"I've never... thought about myself liking a girl - not that I'm crushing on her - it's just... what if I am?"

"Then it's completely fine", Claudia said genuinely as she patted her friend on the back. "It doesn't matter who you like, or love, or whatever. As long as they're a cool, kind and intellectual person who treats you well, it really doesn't matter who they are."

"But... what if it matters to other people?" She whispered.

"Then they'll be forced to deal with me", Claudia said confidently as she held her head up proudly. Inez chuckled at her.

"What?! You've seen what I can do, I can kick people's arses!" She said dramatically as she sounded very offended.

"I'll know it when I see it!" Inez said teasingly.

"Rude!" Claudia scoffed as she lightly shoved Inez. Then, Inez shoved her back; and soon a shoving war broke out between the girls who started to giggle like lunatics. They were both a little mad, after all.

Then, somebody cleared their throat as Betty sat down next to the two with a sad smile.

"What's going on?" She asked her friends.

"Oh, just a little shoving-war! This one here thinks I can't beat people up!" Claudia said as she pointed to Inez.

Betty laughed softly as she played with her hair. "Um... I meant why are you two ignoring us?"

"Oh", Claudia whispered as she tried getting something out as an explanation, without the actual real explanation.

"Claudiaisinlovewithpotter!" Inez blurted out of nowhere. Claudia looked at her warningly as Inez grimaced and mouthed a "sorry" to Claudia, at the same time as a very confused Betty stared at Claudia suspiciously.

"You are?" She said in a shocked tone.

"I-I a-"

"She is! She told me! She said she didn't wish to be with them because it hurts to bad since he is so in love with Lily! And that's why we'll be ignoring them from now on, we are very sorry Betty but we do need to put Claudia's mental health before everything!"

"Okay... well, I didn't exactly expect that but it's fine. Uhm, if you need someone to speak to I'll be happy to be your therapist for a change!" Betty said awkwardly as she hugged Claudia, pity apparent on her face.

"Thank you, Betty." Claudia said as they hugged, giving Inez the finger as her head rested on Betty's shoulder.

"Well, let's go to class!" Betty said as Claudia sneezed.

"Look who's getting ill", Inez teased.

"Shut up."

•••

Betty Arnaud was a terrible liar. So, when Sirius asked her why Claudia and Inez had been avoiding him and his friends all day long - from breakfast, to attempted conversations in the hallways, to lunch and to dinner - he saw right through his girlfriend. Betty tried to lie, she really tried. So, she did. But Sirius knew it was a lie, and one thing lead to another and Betty accidentally let it slip.

Sirius Black was an excellent liar. So, when he told Betty he wouldn't tell a living soul of what she accidentally told him; he was lying right to her face.

"Claudia likes James!" Sirius exclaimed with a huge grin on his face.

"What?!" Three boys said in unison.

"Claudia likes you, that's why they are ignoring us! Because she doesn't like the fact that she likes you!" He said to James, who had a small smirk on his face since he found it rather flattering.

"Oh", he said as he saw how Remus' face fell. He looked a little pale, and a little disappointed. Like he wanted something else to be said, anything else to be said.

Remus wondered why it felt weird in his body. Like someone had punched him in the gut, and then frozen him in place. He wondered why he found himself growing a little mad; at the same time as disappointed. He wondered why his head was thinking things he never would've thought he would ever think about:

He wondered why he wanted to punch his best friend so badly.

"Isn't that sweet!" Sirius said, "Maybe you should go for her, she seems pretty great don't you think?"

"Yeah, she seems great", James said as he sneakily watched Remus. "But I think I'm going to stick with Lily, thank you."

"Ever so loyal", Sirius sighed as he plopped down onto his bed.

"That's me", James said as Remus covered his face with his book, "The Picture of Dorian Grey."

That night, guilt trapped four people specifically in the castle. Actually, five people. Meh, maybe even seven people.

Claudia and Inez felt terrible about lying. But Claudia didn't want Betty to know just yet, because she didn't feel ready and that was fine. She knew that the girl wouldn't understand her old excuse, the one where she just didn't want her brothers to be annoyed, since she had already spent with the boys in front of Nolan. So, she had to lie, and her and Inez felt terrible about it.

Betty felt terrible about accidentally telling Sirius of something so vulnerable. She felt like the most terrible person on earth.

Sirius felt terrible about lying to his girlfriend and exposing Claudia like that; but he felt that he had to.

James felt terrible about the fact that Claudia "liked" him, because he saw how Remus' face fell slightly in the corner of his eye. Peter's didn't fall whatsoever, which meant that he only felt bad for one of his friends.

And as for the two remaining members of the seven-guilty-people group:

Well, they felt terrible about so much.

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