CLAUDIA WAS IN the middle of the worst day ever. Well, it wasn't actually the worst day ever, considering just how miserable her life was, but still.

First, she had woken up at three am due to an awful nightmare, that was bad to the point were she decided to not sleep again so she could avoid seeing that familiar bloody face over and over again.

So, the girl was running on four hours of sleep, which was never a good thing when it came to her.

Second, she had received a letter from her grandmother telling her to try to not kill Evan for his wonderful action of telling the media that they were dating, because Margaret was concerned that she would hurt the family's reputation. Because Margaret believed that family was of outmost importance.

Third, she had received another bloody invite to one of Slughorn's Slug Club dinners, something she tried to avoid as much as possible due to three Slytherin boys who would guard her like she was a prisoner. She had attended two dinners in total, and been "sick" all the other times, including the Christmas party.

Fourth, she had an awful headache. She had also gotten her period and she had accidentally cut her finger up in potions.

And finally, everything just seemed to go horribly wrong. She dropped all her books in the hallway and bumped into a very moody Severus Snape. And it definitely didn't help that the entire school kept talking about the fact that her best friend and brother had been found snogging in a broom closet.

It was definitely not her day.

Oh! And she was of course all alone, with the exception of Pandora, who was pretty much the greatest person on earth at this point.

Claudia was furious at Betty, and when it came to Inez she was simply just really not in the mood to deal with her.

So, yeah, to say that Claudia wanted to crawl into a hole and never return on that day would be an understatement.

She entered the library after dinner that evening with the determination to get some homework done, hopefully without having a stroke or something in the process.

And, as she walked through the door, she ended up getting stuck in the handle with the strap of her bag, causing her to be dragged backwards, drop her book and curse uncontrollably, as well as hit the handle several times out of pure fury.

"Uh, are you alright Maple?" Somebody suddenly asked, and Claudia looked up to find Henry Chang standing there, a fellow Ravenclaw who was in year six.

"Yeah," she said with an awkward smile as she attempted to walk, but then she realised that she was still stuck, which caused her to be pulled backwards again. "Oh, for fuck's sake!"

"Need any help?" The boy, who for the record was extremely handsome, asked with an amused smile.

"No, thank you," Claudia said with a sigh as she unhooked the strap of her bag from the handle, and then leaned down to pick up the book, only to find Henry doing just that.

"Potions, aye?" He said as he read the title of it. "It's a nightmare in year six, trust me on that. Or maybe I'm just horrible at it, I always ask Rosamund anyways."

"Rosamund?"

"Yeah, my twin sister," the boy nodded.

"Oh...right," she said, accepting the book from him. "She's good at potions?"

"Incredible at it is what she is," he said proudly. "She even makes up her own potions, and she's going to be a potioneer when she leaves Hogwarts."

"That's...interesting."

"Sure is," he grinned. "One time when we were kids she came up with this potion that she poured in our uncle's tea, and then we could suddenly convince him to do anything. Which resulted in plenty of galleons from him and plenty of scoldings from mum."

"That's quite mischievous," Claudia stated, an idea popping into her head.

"Yeah, we were kids," he laughed. "But it wouldn't surprise me if she still does things like that, my baby sister. I'm older by five minutes, by the way."

Holy shit!

"Must be fun to remind her off that," Claudia chuckled, trying her hardest to not zone out completely as she figured things out.

"It sure is, she absolutely despises it," he grinned. "Well, anyways, I gotta go! But keep that in mind, yeah? You can always ask her for help in potions."

"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind. Thank you."

She really would. Because both Sirius and Betty had described their "affairs" as something they couldn't seem to control, and that's when it hit her.

Henry and Rosamund's uncle couldn't control his actions either.

And, she had a long time ago seen Nolan and Rosamund together on the map.

And when Rosamund said that she had done what she did to Inez for the same reason Claudia "does mostly everything", she had meant that it was because of Nolan.

Rosamund had tried to use Inez, but it didn't work, and that's why her secret had been spilled. That's why Inez refused to explain why - because it was all about Claudia.

It was all about finding out her secrets.

And because of the fact that Rosamund and Sirius got together, Betty ran all alone around the school at night, and Nolan found her. Then, they got together, and Nolan found out about Claudia's secrets and everything went just by plan B.

Claudia Maple was no idiot.

Nolan Clarke and Rosamund Chang had clearly worked together to create this mess, and she now knew this.

Because Claudia Maple was no idiot.

She was a fucking Ravenclaw for Rowena's sake.

And they for sure wouldn't succeed on outsmarting her, because she was tired of being pushed around.

She was used to being fooled, but she has grown into being hard to fool.

And, her mum had always said that Karma was real - and this time around Claudia would be Karma's messenger.

So, she left the library with the intention to make a plan, and thankfully that very plan seemed to form itself as a boy with dark messy locks appeared next to her.

"Hey, Maple Mistake," said Regulus with a smile. He seemed to be in a very good mood that day.

"Hey, Reggie Boy," she said with a mischievous grin. "Tell me, would you like to help me with a little experiment?"

"Oh, I'm intrigued," he said with a chuckle. "What kind of experiment?"

"A potion experiment."

"We're gonna make a potion?"

"No, we're gonna find a potion. Interested?

Regulus pondered for a few seconds, before a mischievous glimt in his eyes appeared, one that reminded Claudia so of Sirius.

"Interested."

•••

During lunch the next day, Regulus stood outside the Slytherin dungeons, waiting patiently for Claudia, who was late.

"Reg?" Someone suddenly softly questioned, that someone being Nicolas. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh...I'm just...hanging out?" Regulus said awkwardly.

"If you were just hanging out you wouldn't have said it like a question," the blonde boy chuckled. "Come on, let's eat lunch."

"Uh...I'm kind of waiting for someone."

"Waiting for who?" Nicolas frowned.

"Uh..."

"I'm here! I'm sorry! Bloody Flitwick kept talking about-"

Claudia stopped abruptly the second she saw Nicolas standing there. And, as she did so her eyes widened in panic.

"Uhm," she said as she gulped nervously. "Have any of you seen...uh...Rosier?"

"Rosier?" Nicolas asked confusedly. "You hate him, why are you looking for him?"

"No, I don't hate him!" Claudia lied. "We're dating, haven't you heard? Me and Rosier...Evan!"

"Claudia, don't worry about it, he won't tell," Regulus said calmly, causing Claudia to look at him in disbelief.

"No!" She whispered-shouted. "It's his bloody brother, Reg!"

Claudia had ended up telling Regulus everything. Well, with the exception of her friendship with the Marauders. She had pretty much just told him about Betty and Nolan, and what she think happened. Now she just needed to hope that he wouldn't betray her trust.

"He won't say anything, I promise you," Regulus insisted.

Neither of them noticed how Nicolas stood there listening, deadpanned over the fact that they really thought that he didn't hear everything they said.

"And why am I supposed to believe you when you say that?!"

"Because..." Regulus said as he waved his hands around as if that would help him come up with something. "He just won't!"

"Oh, yeah, real good reason there Reggie Boy," Claudia said sarcastically with a glare.

Regulus sighed loudly before he turned around to face the blonde boy, who in that moment awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, looking away so they wouldn't think that he was listening.

"How would you like to help us with something?" Regulus asked him, earning himself a slap on the arm from Claudia. "Claudia!"

"Regulus!"

"Help you with what exactly?" Nicolas asked with a raise of his eyebrows.

"Be our lookout," Regulus shrugged, feeling the daggers Claudia was shooting him on the back of his neck.

"And why exactly do you need a lookout?"

"No reason!" Claudia screeched. "We don't need a lookout!"

"Actually, we do," said Regulus. "Just...make sure no one enters the sixth year girls dorm, okay?"

"Sure, alright," Nicolas surprisingly answered without pressing on the matter further.

Claudia stayed put as Regulus and Nicolas walked towards the entrance, surprised out of her mind over the fact that Nicolas had so easily agreed.

"Claudia? Are you coming?" Regulus asked.

"What? Oh, yeah, right!" She blurted, taking the cloak out of her bag to be on the safe side.

"Is that a-"

"If any of you ever mention this I will kill you," she said sternly. "And that's not a threat, that's a promise."

Regulus and Nicolas shared a weary look before they nodded hastily as Claudia walked towards them.

"Let's go, Reg," she said, and suddenly the two were strutting up the stairs to the girls' dormitories under the cloak.

They opened the door to the sixth year dorm, and thankfully they found it empty.

"You play lookout here, alright?" Said Claudia.

"No, we already have a lookout."

"Yeah, but I don't trust him."

"Why not?"

"Why should I?"

"I trust him, is that enough?"

Claudia stared blankly at him for a few seconds before she rolled her eyes. "Okay, then. But I better be able to trust you then."

"Of course you can, Claudia! Why else would I have lied to Nolan, saved your arse when they cursed you-"

"That was you?!"

"Yeah. But that's not the point, the point is that you can trust me. Fully. Completely. Alright?"

"Alright," she said wearily. "Come on then, let's search for...something."

"I bet that's her side, aye?" Regulus said, pointing to the bed that was so neatly made that it seemed nearly impossible.

"Definitely," said Claudia, and then the two went into a careful search for some sort of potion.

And that "some sort of potion" was found under Rosamund's bed in a plastic box, where she had quite the stack of potions; each potion with a small note of instructions hanging from them with a string.

"This was almost a little too easy," said Claudia as she read the names of the different vials.

"Don't say that, you'll jinx it," Regulus sighed. "Found something?"

"Oh, if I found something," Claudia said triumphly as she picked up a bottle. "Love potion."

"Love potion?"

"Love potion," she confirmed, picking up another vial. "And Veritaserum. Those are the only two vials that aren't completely full here. I think that's what they used."

"Is it like a normal Love potion?"

"No..." Claudia said as she observed the potion and read the instructions. "I think it's made to be more natural, it seems. Not like obsessive. God, she's smart."

"Hand it over," said Regulus, observing the potion as well. "Yes, it seems to be."

"Let's drink it," Claudia said.

"What?!"

"Yeah, one of us can drink it and then drink the Veritaserum to see what effects it truly gives."

"You're mental!"

"No, think about it. That way we can see if it really affected Sirius and Betty to the point where they were like under some sort of Imperio-love-potion. Don't you think this is the best way to know if this is what truly happened?"

"Yeah, but..."

"So, which one of us is gonna take it?" Claudia asked, causing Regulus to stiffen.

"Not me," he said quickly. "This one's on you."

"Damn it," Claudia sighed as she poured the contents into the tea. "Well, seems I might be in love with you for the next few hours or so then, Reggie Boy."

"Me?" He asked, a small blush apparent on his cheeks.

"Yeah. Well, I mean it would be kind of inappropriate for me to fall in love with my stepbrother, even though he's our lovely lookout, don't you think?"

"Yeah...right."

"Just...stop me if I try to kiss you or something. No offense but I really don't want to do that. And I can't find the antidote, so we'll have to wait it out."

"Don't worry about that, I'll stop you."

"Good...actually no!"

"What?"

"Or...yes."

"What?"

"God, just promise you won't tell it I tell you a secret, alright?"

"What do you mean?"

"With the Veritaserum, I might tell you everything. And I'm full of secrets, so that wouldn't be a good thing."

"Then how will I know that it works?"

"Ask me something...not too dramatic, I guess."

"Alright," said Regulus. "Go on, then."

"You're supposed to give it to me, Reg, or it won't work."

"Oh, right!"

Claudia and Regulus had both failed to notice the fact that the note distinctly said that the drinker should only have three drops for the most natural results.

__________________________________

a/n:

isn't claudia just a genius??? i wonder what else she'll figure out...

henry's a tiny character but i love him to death!! let's make his face claim henry golding or something!

what do you think i mean when i tell you that this chapter = the start of something very important in the future?