INEZ RETURNED FROM quidditch practice that Friday night feeling extremely tired, sweaty and hungry.

Overall this year, the inter-house quidditch cup had been going pretty good for Ravenclaw, but their captain Stephen was extremely determined to prepare them for anything -  not just for their remaining match with Gryffindor but for the next year, because he wanted to leave the team with good odds.

As she entered the dorm, she found Claudia pacing back and forth like crazy with a colourful sweater in her hands.

She had a tendency of pacing when she was anxious - which was quite often in all honesty.

Inez was ashamed of herself for acting the way she did. She hated that she told Betty and Pandora about Claudia's situation, and she hated that she hadn't been a good friend to her.

She was just so angry that it blinded her.

But Claudia didn't hate her for it. She understood, and she knew why she understood.

"Is everything alright?" Inez asked as Claudia took a deep breath in the middle of her pacing, causing the girl to stop and turn to her.

"Yeah," she breathed. "I just need to talk to all of you."

"And that's why your anxious?"

"Yeah," Claudia said as she walked towards the girl and handed her the sweater. "I made this...for you."

"For me?" Inez asked, clearly surprised as she accepted the knitted sweater, a small smile creeping up on her lips. "Why?"

"It's silly really, but I just remembered when you said how much you hated that things have to be labelled," Claudia shrugged. "And your clothes are always labelled, so I thought I would give a sweater that didn't have one. And it's all colourful too, so."

Inez wasted no time on hugging Claudia tightly, and of course Claudia hugged back.

"I'm so so sorry, Claudia," Inez said guiltily as the hug broke. "I've been a terrible friend, and I can't believe that I told them that...I'm so so sorry. It was the worst possible way that I could've handled this, I-"

"It's fine, Inez," said Claudia. "I understand why you got so angry, and I know you shouldn't have told them but I was going to either way so it doesn't really matter."

"You know why?" Inez asked.

"I know."

Know what you may ask?

Inez fancied Betty. Or at least, she had before.

Claudia knew that. Well, she wasn't entirely sure, but so many signs had showed it. Even though Claudia spent so much time with her nose stuck in a book she had realised it.

It was the way Inez had looked at her. The way she had always laughed a little louder at Betty's jokes. The way she always had been a little more cautious with herself around her. The way she had held a grudge against Sirius, and grew a little more cold at the topic off him.

She was a great pretender, but Claudia was an even greater one - meaning that she could see right through her.

Claudia had noticed it, and it did make sense. That's why she didn't do anything about Marlene at first.

That's why Inez had spent so much time not living her truth.

Because, Betty Arnaud, her best friend, had been holding her back.

And Claudia was not the only actress in the group.

"Yeah," Claudia said. "I think I've known for ages."

"How?"

"It's just the way you always looked at her, you never looked at me or anyone else like that. It was like...like you didn't see your friend when you look at her. You saw someone else."

"But I don't anymore," said Inez sternly. "This whole thing actually helped so much. I realised that she's not perfect, and I've been able to distance myself and I'm finally over it."

"You are?" Claudia asked in a surprised tone, not entirely convinced but also a little relieved.

"Yes," she said with a smile. "That's also why I didn't tell you when I hung out with Lily and Marlene. I just needed to create some distance, and I'm so sorry that I behaved the way that I did."

"It's alright," Claudia smiled. "Apology accepted. Just...promise me one thing, alright?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't go for Marlene if you're not truly over Betty. Wait instead. I want you two together but I'll despise you if you hurt her even though you're my best friend."

"I know, I won't. It doesn't mean that I don't fancy her to death, but I'm going to wait for at least a few months."

"You fancy her?" Claudia asked with a grin.

"Please, how could I not? She's absolutely badass, at the same time as she's a literal angel. And, clearly blonde is my type so," Inez said longingly. "Thank you so much for being so understanding, Claudia. And thank you for the sweater. And thank you for existing, because honestly you are fucking great-"

"Stop it, you keep flattering me," Claudia said dramatically.

"But it's true," Inez persisted.

"Of course it's true, I'm bloody amazing!" Claudia said the moment Betty came inside the room.

Betty had been trying to talk to all of them - but each time she said something they would make an excuse, and some nights they wouldn't even come back to sleep.

Betty saw how Inez's face fell immediately at the sight of her, but what surprised her was that Claudia's didn't.

"Betty," she said, in a strangely kind tone. "We need to talk."

"I know," the girl said with a look of relief. "I'm so so sorry. I can't seem to understand why I did what I did, but I just need you to know that I'm so sorry."

"Don't be," said Claudia with a small smile. "Because I know just why you did what you did."

Both Inez and Betty stared at her as those words left her mouth, both completely dumbfounded.

"What do you mean?" Betty asked as Claudia sat down on her bed and patted the space next to her, which Betty then sat down on.

"So, I assume Nolan and you had a lot to drink," said Claudia.

"I mean yeah, but why do you say that?"

"Because he used a love potion on you, Betty," she sighed. "It wasn't you. It wasn't you at all. They tricked you so that they could find out about my secrets."

"They?" Asked Inez as she sat down on the foot of the bed.

"Yeah, Nolan and Rosamund," Claudia explained, which caused Inez to immediately fume.

"You're joking!"

"Nope."

"I thought she was just fucking with me! I can't believe this, I-"

"Should've told me yes," said Claudia, with a strange smile on her face. "But you couldn't have known, and you've apologised too much for one day so we'll deal with that another time."

"Uhm, Claudia?" Betty questioned. "What exactly do you mean?"

"Did Nolan often give you something to drink?"

"Yeah...we had tea almost every day, you know I love my tea," Betty said. "I can't believe this. Did he really do that?"

"Yes, he did," Claudia sighed as Betty's face fell. "And I'm so sorry for my complete arse of a stepbrother. I'm so sorry that he used you, and made these choices for you. And I'm so sorry he exists."

"Claudia-"

"And I'm so so sorry that I didn't listen to you, and that I didn't believe in you. That's the worst possible thing, because even though you didn't understand it yourself you knew something was wrong, right?"

"Yeah, but Claudia-"

"And people who are treated like that deserve to have people who believe in them. And I'm so so sorry that I never payed any mind to what you said, I'm so sorry."

"Claudia!" Betty interrupted with a grimace. "I just...I need to tell you this now because I'm honestly terrified to lose you."

"What is it?" Claudia asked concernedly.

"I didn't drink anything the first time it happened," Betty said with a crack of her voice. "The first time it was actually me."

"Oh," Claudia said as her face fell as well. There was a long pause before she eventually continued again. "Right. But it doesn't really matter right now because you were sad and alone and I should've been a better friend-"

"Don't say that!" Inez and Betty chorused, accidentally sharing a weary glance at each other despite the fact that they were in a spat.

"I just mean that I understand that you were vulnerable. And that you couldn't stop it because of what he did."

"But I still messed up," said Betty, staying true to herself.

"At least you're self aware," Inez murmured, causing Claudia to kick her on the leg with her foot. "Sorry."

"You did mess up. You really did. Actually, we all did in one way or another. But the person who messed up the most was not any of us, it was Nolan. And he deserves hell for what he did."

"So...what are you going to do?" Inez asked.

"Revenge," Claudia shrugged.

"How?"

"With a little help from my friends I'll probably figure something out," Claudia said, surprising both Betty and Inez as she leaned her head on Betty's shoulder. "I might be a little angry, but I'm not so angry that I won't quote the Beatles anymore."

And that was Claudia Maple for you. She was sick and tired of being angry. It made her angry that she was always angry.

And she was terrified to lose the three girls that had helped her survive the past few years. Because, unbeknownst to them, they were the only people that had kept her going.

The list had grown, sure, and Remus was probably the one person who made her feel as if there was a possibility of an actual future for her - but just because she had him it didn't mean that all her other friends weren't her family.

Because Claudia had no real family. Sure, she had her father and her grandfather and her mum's cousins. But no matter what they were always gone too far - one was horrible, one was cold and three were unreachable.

Claudia's family were her friends. And there was nothing more important than family.

Even if they hurt and betrayed each other, they were still family. And with time wounds healed and distances closed.

Because what they had done was not entirely unforgivable - it was naturally selfish, sure, but it was still natural.

It was human of Inez to distance herself and human of Betty to be vulnerable.

And Claudia Maple needed her family to survive.

"Stay" is a charming word in a friend's vocabulary", Louisa May Alcott once said.

And Claudia was going to stay.

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a/n: i was going to put "life is too short to be angry at ones sisters" but i couldn't remember if it was in the little women book or just in the movie, so idk