THE BOYS' DORMITORY was surprisingly quiet. James was boringly making paper airplanes as Remus patiently tutored a very confused Peter, who had decided there and then that he absolutely despised Transfiguration.

And Sirius, well, Sirius was nowhere to be found. The other three boys assumed that he was off with his favourite blonde, but he was off trying to figure some things out.

The irregular and almost terrifying silence in the dorm was however soon to be gone as a group of girls angrily ran into it.

Lily Evans, Marlene McKinnon, Mary Macdonald, and Alice Fortescue.

"Oh, hey Lilyflower, to what do I owe the pleasure?" James asked with a satisfied grin.

"Shut up, Potter," the girl with fiery red hair said angrily. "Is it true?"

"Is what true?" Remus questioned.

"Is it true?" Lily repeated.

"We're gonna need you to be a bit more specific there, darling," James said, causing the girl to roll her eyes as Marlene scoffed.

The blonde girl seemed far more furious than the rest of them, since Lily was always able to keep herself somewhat calm, and the other two were angry but also there to make sure no murder would be committed.

"Did he bloody do it?!" Marlene yelled, causing Peter to jump.

"Do what?" James questioned as he shared a confused look with Remus.

"Oh, you know what!" The blonde said impatiently.

"Not really, no," Peter shrugged as he took a bite out of the chocolate bar that Remus had given him as a reward for finishing half of his homework.

"Oh, Godric!" Marlene sighed. "And was it you that told everyone about Inez too?"

"What?!" The boys screeched in unison.

"Is that why you are constantly hanging out with Claudia, too?" Lily asked.

"How the hell does she know that?!" Remus said worriedly as James tried to understand what in the world was going on.

"I saw her, Remus," Lily said in an annoyed tone. "Why are you doing this?"

"We didn't do a single thing, what are you on about?" James said as the door opened yet again, nearly knocking over Alice.

"Watch where you're going, Black," the girl said, but Sirius gave no response as he looked straight at James.

"I think I messed up."

•••

"Betty?" Claudia questioned as she sat by her desk with a big pile of homework.

Spending all this time with the Marauders had caught up to her quite a bit when it came to her studies, which meant that she had put the entire weekend aside so she could finish everything before Easter break.

But she couldn't get anywhere with it, because something had been nagging her mind too much.

She had decided to tell Betty everything about what was going on with her and her family.

Betty had been confused about everything to say the least. Why Claudia was never around the boys in public, and why she was always dodging questions and whispering things with Inez.

Betty was a dreamer, she saw the best in people. Even if she knew that Claudia didn't have it perfect at home, never in her wildest dreams would she have thought that it was as bad as it was.

But Claudia could never blame her for not figuring it out. Inez was street-smart, Betty book-smart, and Claudia somewhere in between. Betty believed in true love, peace, and kindness. She saw the world through rose-coloured glasses, whilst Claudia and Inez saw it as it was.

Both good and bad.

The blonde girl hummed in response as she went over her notes in her bed.

"Can I tell you something?"

"Sure," Betty said with a kind smile as she looked up from her notes. "What's up?"

"I-"

But Claudia unfortunately didn't get the chance to say anything to the girl as Inez came in through the door, a grimace evident on her face.

It had been a few weeks since Inez's secret had been exposed, and at this point she was back to her new-old self, flipping off anyone who gave her bad looks or said something mean to her, at the same time as she stopped seeing boys and started to figure out who she was instead.

And Claudia and Betty were ever so proud.

But, Inez didn't look fierce or happy as she stepped into the room.

She looked angry.

"What's going on?" Betty asked concernedly as Inez paced back and forth in the room.

"I've heard some rumours," she said nervously.

"What rumours?" Betty asked, clearly intrigued, as Claudia realised that something was clearly up, something that maybe could explain the reason why some people had been looking funny at her in the Great Hall during dinner.

"Rumours," Inez stated as she stopped and took a deep breath, and then gulped nervously.

She really didn't want to say the next few words.

"Rumours that Sirius has cheated on you, Betty."

Turns out that people weren't looking at Claudia in the Great Hall. They were looking at the blonde girl next to her.

Betty didn't say a single word. The only reaction coming from her was her intrigued face falling.

Claudia couldn't believe it. It may have not been true, but if it was, how could he possibly do something like that?

Sirius liked Betty, maybe even loved her. Claudia knew that. The way he talked about her, the way his face lit up when she came into the room.

So why on earth would he do that?

Why the hell would Sirius Black do something so horrible to someone he was supposed to loved?

Claudia didn't know it then, but it had more to do with her than she thought. Just like Inez's secret being spilled had more to do with her than she thought.

Inez felt horrible. Horrible over the fact that Betty's face instantly fell. Horrible over the fact that someone would do that, especially to Betty of all people.

"Betty," Inez said as she walked closer to her friend. "Betty, are you alright?"

"What?" The blonde mumbled as she kept her gaze on the floor to avoid her friends seeing the tears that were forming in her eyes. "When? H-how?"

"Uh...Marlene said that someone overheard some Slytherin talk about it," Inez explained. "Apparently it happened at James' party. It was just some snogging, but still."

James' party. It had been a few weeks ago, and at this point they had entered April. Things were good. Everything was fine, just fine. Claudia was distracted, Betty was happy.

And somehow the person who was the reason why Betty was happier than ever had decided not to tell her what he had done.

"Oh Merlin," Claudia whispered to herself as Inez sat down next to Betty and hugged her from the side.

"Who?" Betty asked as she sat completely still, not even acknowledging the hug from Inez.

"What?"

"Who did he do it with?" Betty asked, the coldness in her voice almost scaring Inez.

"Rosamund Chang."

Claudia thought she was close to losing her mind at that point. Rosamund Chang, the girl who had ever so effortlessly stolen Inez's own secret and made it her own to spill. The girl who had told Claudia that what she had done was because of something Claudia would understand. Which she definitely didn't, by the way.

The girl that clearly had some issues with the group of Ravenclaw girls.

"Bitch," Betty said simply.

Claudia would've normally told her that maybe Sirius was the real bitch in this situation. But, something was different this time. Sirius was in love with her, and Rosamund had messed with them before.

Claudia was also just too shocked to even think like she normally would.

The three girls sat in silence for what must have been a few minutes. Betty was fuming, Inez was worried and Claudia was confused.

Eventually, when Pandora had entered the room and found her three roommates sitting still like statues, Betty had regained herself.

"No, Sirius is the real bitch," the blonde said hurriedly as she wriggled herself out of Inez's grip and headed out the door.

"What's going on?" Pandora asked Betty and Inez, who were looking at each other concernedly, before they realised that they probably should've followed her.

"Come on," Inez said simply as she took ahold of Pandora's wrist and alongside Claudia left the Ravenclaw tower in order to find Betty.

And, just as they assumed, they did so in the Gryffindor tower, where all hell was breaking loose yet again.

Sirius was being yelled at by pretty much everyone, and it got even worse when Betty entered the room with a pained look in her eyes.

"Is it true?" She asked the second her eyes met Sirius', causing each and every one of them to go completely quiet.

"Uh..."

"Don't lie to me, Sirius."

"Yes, but it's not-"

"Oh," the girl said disappointedly as tears welled her eyes.

"Betty-"

"No," She said out of disbelief. "I can't listen to you right now...I thought you actually cared for me."

"I did. I do. And I mean it," Sirius said cautiously as he walked towards her slowly. "I love you."

"Then why did you do it?"

"I swear, it wasn't... I don't-"

"I never should've trusted you in the first place," she said as she shook her head, refusing to look at him. "I should've listened to everyone else. You were always going to end up going back to who you truly are."

"What?! Betty, no-"

"What?!" The blonde girl snapped as the door strangely opened without anyone appearing.

"I swear, I can explain! It wasn't me, it was-"

"I don't care, Sirius," she sighed as she shook her head and the tears began to flow. "I trusted you, and you hurt me. And I'm not gonna stand here and listen to you embarrassing yourself, especially not in front of everyone."

"Please," he said desperately.

"No," she replied before she turned around and disappeared yet again.

Oh, how he shouldn't have let her go.

Because hours later, Betty would stumble back to her dormitory, her cheeks red from the tears and her head dizzy from the firewhiskey.

And she would feel lonelier than ever before.

__________________________________

a/n: she rly did hear the rumours from inez... if u get that ily <3