HEY! Long time no write... Don't blame Maya, blame me. I've had lack of inspiration. I was at school and some struck, so I got it written down as soon as possible for you!

For the record: I don't smoke. Just wanted to be clear, there.

Enjoy, and please review!

Ti, x

Ti really couldn't be bothered to go to Charms. She didn't want to face Maya again after what had happened. She knew it was her own fault, but a small part of her couldn't help being mad back at her.

She sat, sulking in her dormitories for the majority of the lesson, looking at the time twenty five minutes before the class was due to finish, and deciding to go for a walk. "Who cares if I get caught..." She muttered to herself, rolling up the sleeves of her new jacket and exiting the dorm, quickly slipping on her boots.

She'd been walking for five minutes when, she walked quite literally into none other than James Potter. Again.

She sighed deeply and turned around to walk the other way.

"Why aren't you in lesson?" He asked.

She stopped and looked over her shoulder. "I could ask you the same question. And it's really none of your business. Just leave me alone, okay?"

She put her hands in her pockets and started walking again, flicking her head to the side to get her fringe out of her face.

She carried on walking until she reached the bottom of the large Entrance Hall staircase where James stopped her. "Ti, a deal is a deal..."

"Well, Maya's sort of pissed off with me right now and we're not talking. Why? BECAUSE SHE FOUND OUT ABOUT ME AND AL." She practically screamed at him. Her and Maya had never fallen out before in their life. Well, they had. Just not like this, and Ti was finding it particularly hard not having her best friend around.

"Okay, okay. Keep your hair on..." He muttered at her, raising his arms in mock surrender.

"If you want me to make you infertile, I suggest you carry on pissing me off, Potter, because as I've told you, I'M NOT IN THE MOOD." He really was going the right way for another kick in the balls.

James rolled his eyes, reminding Ti of the times her and Maya had done their synchronised eye-rolling. "Look, Ti..."

"It's Zabini to you." She corrected him.

"Fine." He said through gritted teeth, "Zabini. How about we make a deadline?"

"How about we don't?"

"How about I tell everybody about your little Romeo and Juliet shit you have going on with my brother?"

"You're missing something here, Potter. As you said: If anybody found out that your brother was dating me, your rep would be ruined." Ti smiled humourlessly and moved her mouth closer to his ear. "So you have absolutely nothing on me." She said quietly, pushing him away from her and turning to see Maya looking at her furiously.

"Why the hell are you talking to him?" She screamed.

Ti looked at Maya, her mouth forming an 'O' shape. This couldn't exactly look good, could it?

"Maya... I can explain..." She said desperately, feeling her stomach flip over.

"No, I don't want to hear it." She replied. "Normally, I'd storm off, but I have to go this way for transfiguration." She said angrily, storming past them both and walking down the corridor so fast, Ti was sure her legs would fall off.

Ti sighed and looked towards James, her look of fuming distaste evident. "Just leave me alone, okay?" She asked calmly. "You've ruined enough."

And with that, she ran off after Maya, hoping to catch her. She didn't mind if she was late for Herbology. When would she need Herbology later on in life, anyway? It's not like she wanted to be a gardener.

But by the time she'd reached the Transfiguration corridor, it was completely deserted. No Maya. No anybody.

The noise of anger that escaped her lips echoed around the walls, and she set off slowly for Herbology. A double period with the Hufflepuffs. Joy.

Ti had half a mind to just go back to her dorm and sulk, but she hoped being in a lesson would take her mind off of things.

By the time she reached the greenhouses, she was ten minutes late. Professor Longbottom would have her head. To make it seem as though she'd at least made an effort to be on time to lesson, she decided to run the rest of the few feet to the door, and come in looking flustered. Unfortunately, she tripped as she ran in and fell right onto somebody, knocking him off his chair.

She bit her lip as she opened her eyes, hoping it wouldn't be anybody she knew. How embarrassing would that be? But, as her luck went, it was none other than Scorpius Malfoy.

"You just can't help falling at my feet, can you?" He asked with a grin.

Ti shook her head and laughed. "Don't flatter yourself, Scor... You okay?"

"Swell." He replied, standing up and brushing himself off and holding out a hand to help her up.

"It's fine, I've got it." She told him, pouting slightly and getting up by herself. She looked over at her usual table, where Amélia, Claire and Rebecca were sitting with two random Hufflepuffs they sometimes talked to. "Thanks for saving me a seat." She smiled at them sarcastically, huffing and then flung her bag onto the only table with a seat left, which just happened to be next to Scorpius. He was sitting with his friends, Dane, Mark and Mitch.

"Thank you for disrupting my lesson, Ms Zabini." Professor Longbottom said, raising an eyebrow. It was quite uncharacteristic, actually. He was probably having one of his stressed out days.

"Whatever." She muttered in reply, crossing her arms and slouching back in her seat.

"Ten points from Slytherin, and you can go and stand outside."

"What?" She asked disbelievingly.

"You heard me. Outside, now."

Stuff that, she thought, picking up her bag and walking out of the room, slamming the door behind her angrily. Dorm it was, then.

The weather was horrible that evening. The rain lashed against the windows and the darkness made the lightening seem even more eerie.

Ti was in tons of trouble for skipping a large percentage of her classes that day, as Amélia had informed her when her and the others came up to deposit their bags after lessons. "Oh, and Professor Spence wants to see you." She'd added, before walking off and closing the door behind her loud enough to make her jump.

Now it was an hour later, and there were footsteps on the stairs, accompanied by laughter. Claire, Amélia and Rebecca stopped, however when they saw their dorm-mate still sitting on her bed with her arms folded stubbornly, exactly as they'd left her.

"Honestly, Ti, if you don't go and see him, you'll be in even more trouble." Claire told her, walking into the bathroom and coming back out in less than five seconds.

"What have you lost now?" Rebecca asked her, laughing slightly. It was so like Claire to lose things.

"Don't worry about it." Claire shrugged, opening one of the desk drawers sharply. "What the..." She trailed, pulling out a half empty cigarette packet.

Ti pouted slightly and remained silent.

"Whose are they?" Claire asked sternly, looking at each of their faces in turn.

She had always been the most sensible of the four. Ti sometimes wondered how she'd got into Slytherin at all. Her heart was in the right place, and she was hardly ever in trouble. The last time she knew of was two years ago, and it had been Ti's fault anyway. She had the characteristics of a kind, friendly Hufflepuff. Though she was quite witty and cunning at getting out of things, much like a true Slytherin did.

"C'mon, Claire. Live a little." Ti sighed, getting up and snatching the pack from her, then turning to the drawer and retrieving her lighter, too. "Anyone needs me, I'll be by the lake."

She tugged on her leather jacket again and slipped on her boots. "Don't look at me like that." She rolled her eyes at her aghast looking friends and slammed the door, defeated.

Everything was screwed up. First, Maya wasn't talking to her, then she'd got in trouble with one of her favourite Professors, and the head of year, and now her friends had found out about her most disgusting habit. Great. She knew if Maya ever found about her smoking habits, she'd be even more pissed at her.

Maya despised smoking with every fibre of her being, which Ti fully knew, though she continued to do so anyway.

She didn't do it from peer-pressure; as far as she knew, nobody even knew she smoked anyway, with the exception of Albus, whom she told everything to and then Claire, Amélia and Rebecca, though they didn't really count seeing as they'd only just found out. She did it to escape from the horrors of the real world, not to 'fit in'.

When she reached her spot by the lake, it was already pre-occupied by somebody... Somebody that looked an awful lot like... "Maya?" She asked quietly.

The girl turned around sharply. "Oh. It's you." She huffed. It was still dark, but Ti could tell by the voice that it was in fact Maya.

Crap, she thought, quickly stowing the lighter and cigarettes into her jacket pocket in what she hoped was a nonchalant way.

"What are you doing here?" Maya asked, turning back around and folding her arms angrily.

"I could ask you the same question." Ti replied coolly, taking a seat beside her. "Look, I know you're mad at me for lying to you... I'm sorry, I really am..."

"Ti, not now." Maya interrupted. "I think... I don't know. I just can't believe you didn't tell me... Do you not trust me?"
"Of course I trust you! It's just... I don't know. I really felt bad keeping if from you. You're my best friend, Maya."

Maya sighed deeply, looking towards her friend. "You're mine too." She said quietly. "No more secrets, deal?"

"Deal." She smiled, reaching over to hug her. Unluckily, though, her pockets weren't very good at holding items, and her half consumed cigarette pack fell out onto the ground in between the two girls.

Maya frowned slightly and picked it up, examining it. "Tielle, what the hell is this?" She asked furiously, her teeth gritted.

Ti knew that Maya could perfectly well identify the object she was holding.

"It's... I..."

"Save your breath." Maya spat, getting up from her rather comfortable position regrettably and storming up to the castle.

Ti sighed and got comfy. She'd been within distance of getting her best friend back, and she'd ruined it yet again.