Chapter 3: Of Muggles and Purebloods

There were a few things Theo noticed about James Potter, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and Sirius Black.

Observation One: They were a rather careless bunch. This became obvious to Theo right away, after her fiasco in charms as well as their failed attempt at pranking their professor. However, after the first few months it became more pronounced that when the prank (or really anything they did) was not big and well thought out it was executed with little regard for possible mishaps and consequences.

Observation Two: They were very close to one another. They rarely left each-other's side and when they did there was always a grand goodbye (namely when Remus and Peter went to Ancient Runes, leaving James and Sirius to Divination). Sirius and James were especially close, and very brotherly. Peter hung onto their coat tails, but they cared for him. They were not above teasing the boy, but there were obvious lines that they never crossed and they always helped him. They stood up for him too, making sure no one messed with their friend.

Observation Three: Sirius Black and James Potter were the heart throbs of Hogwarts. They were even popular amongst a few fourth and fifth years, Theo noted with amusement when she heard a few of them giggling about the duo. However, while James seemed to bask in the glory of being a school idol, and even egged them on when possible, Sirius did not seem to care one way or the other. Girls would giggle and smile causing James to shoot flirtatious winks and suggestive smiles, while Sirius just sat there and didn't seem to notice. This did not mean that Sirius did not do big, grand things; it just meant that he did them for himself, and not others.

Observation Four: Remus Lupin was a very sweet boy who should not be let anywhere near a cauldron. Theo found this out during their first potions class. She had walked with her friends from lunch just as she said she would, and was about to sit with the fair Isabel when Remus Lupin walked up to her and asked with no small amount of blushing if she would be his partner, as none of his friends wanted the job. Isabel smiled encouragingly ("making friends in your house is always a good idea") and off Theo went to help the natural disaster that was Remus Lupin.

Observation Five: Peter Pettigrew was an observant boy who did not seem to know his worth. Theo did not know the boy well at all, but she noticed instantly that he was what she called a watcher. The interesting thing about watchers was that they always noticed other watchers. This is why Theo noticed right away that he felt insecure about his place with the other three boys. He was reluctant to make jokes unless he knew what kind of reaction he'd get, which often manifested in him either playing heavily off of James or simply repeating jokes. He wasn't as talented as the other three, which completely dashed his hopes when he didn't get a spell right on the first try. Theo noted that when he knew something, he knew it incredibly well, and when he didn't his anxiety and insecurity caused him to fumble. She knew that Peter watched her like she watched him, in the sense that they kept tabs on everyone in the room. She didn't think she wanted to know what he thought of her.

Observation Six: James Potter and Sirius Black were smarter than anyone with such a wicked sense of fun ought to be. This was problematic for any of their chosen victims, which usually consisted of Slytherins. One in particular seemed to get under their skin more than anyone else: Severus Snape. This was Lily's Slytherin friend and the reason for Lily's blatant distaste for the boys. They never missed an opportunity to hex, humiliate, or harass the poor boy into oblivion. Watching the way they treated him made Theo incredibly uncomfortable because they were clever and efficient in their actions, making picking on the boy incredibly effective. Theo was right in thinking that Snape was actually doing something to incur their wrath, and that was never missing a beat to return the favor. But where James and Sirius were going for humiliation, Snape seemed to be going for bodily harm. Each interaction was unpleasant to watch. Slytherins weren't the only ones to suffer their wrath, however. This brings Theo to her final observation.

Observation Seven: James Potter and Sirius Black did not like Theodosia Clarke. This was a well-known fact, as they often found ways to upset her and humiliate her. It wasn't the same as Snape, because there were lines which they did not cross. They never tried to insult her quite like they did him, but they still made her life far more difficult than she wanted it to be.

She realized only in the last few days that the cause for their distaste was caused by two things: her friendship with three Slytherins and her friendship with Remus Lupin. Apparently, this whole discord between the houses was a little greater than just some house rivalry. Theo found that it was a difference in beliefs and values, which led to nasty competitions between the two houses. It was due to these differences that Sirius Black and James Potter hated Slytherins and anyone who associated with them. So naturally, this included Theo.

The discourse over Remus Lupin was much harder for Theo to understand. Of course she could follow their train of thought perfectly. They don't like Slytherins ideals, so they don't like Slytherins. If people are friends with Slytherins, then they must have similar ideals, and must also be disliked. If someone with the same ideals was influencing one of their friends, then it stands to reason that they would dislike that person. However, Theo and Remus have had very few conversations. 'Friends' was far too strong a word for what she and Remus were. They were partners in potions, in which Theo did her best to help Remus understand why things like Salamander Blood and Asphodel were not to be mixed.

However, Remus's friends saw the whole thing differently and after hitting her with the jelly-legs jinx and running off screaming "that's what you get for trying to steal Remus from us" there was little room for doubt. Theo was incredibly upset by this whole thing, but not as upset as she was with some of the other boys of Gryffindor house, and even some girls, who had taken to calling her "Stretch Mark Clarke". Theo's roommate situation had not improved after a month either, and may have gotten worse between her and Lily when Lily ranted about how terrible James Potter was and Theo asked if she was harboring feelings for the boy. Lily's response was to hex Theo into next week (she had no idea Lily knew how to make her armpit hair grow to the floor) and Theo had to sulk to the Slytherin common room to ask Isabel for help.

Theo began to notice, after spending more time with the girls from Slytherin, exactly what separated people in Slytherin from the people in the other houses. Slytherins were ambitious, more than anything else, and this manifested differently in each person. However, there tended to be a common theme amongst them, and that was that they all wanted to be better than other people. Some just wanted to work hard and prove that they are worth more, some wanted power over others, some wanted more money than anyone else, and others wanted all of these things.

It was due to this need to be better that many Slytherins found themselves exerting power over others by making fun of those they found inferior, or flaunting their power in some gaudy fashion or another. Theo found that while she disliked many Slytherins, there were others she was rather fond of.

Isabel Greengrass, Theo found out, was this thing called a pureblood. This meant she came from a long line of wizards who also came from a long line of wizards and more than once the lines they came from were the same. Isabel was fond of being a pureblood, and even fonder of the power it gave her. It ensured her a future, and ensured that she would be a gifted witch. Isabel didn't exert her power over others like other Slytherins tended to do. It was much more subtle, and often geared at those in her house. When Theo asked why she had said, "It's no fun winning if you're the only one playing".

Claire Parkinson was also a pureblood, but a little different than Isabel. She and Theo got along well, but Claire had little to no issue exerting her power over anyone and everyone. Isabel would call her out, and Claire would occasionally back off if she felt that the situation benefitted her. Theo rarely said anything to stop Claire, but when she did Claire listened. Claire had grown attached to Theo in the time that they had been friends, constantly claiming that "it's us against them". Theo often wondered why it was her that Claire and had decided to call her own, but was grateful for it. They told each other everything, a great deal of which revolved around her older brother. He had graduated and was already married to another pureblood.

"He's married and he hasn't even turned twenty! He'll have a kid soon; I'll be an aunt before I even finish school! How am I supposed to be an aunt?"

"It won't be your kid, though."

"No, but that doesn't matter. I don't know where I'd be if it wasn't for my Aunt Cathy. Everything is just so messed up in our family, and that little kid is going to need someone to point them in the right direction. His wife doesn't have any siblings. I'll be the only that kid has really got…"

"You don't trust your brother to raise his own kid?"

"No, not after the upbringing we've had. I go along with it, but he really believes that nonsense. I mean don't get me wrong, I like being a part of an important family, but I think the reason we're important is ridiculous."

And then there was Anna Hart. Anna was a half-blood who knew very little about anything outside of the British countryside. Anna was a very curious girl who had a lot of misguided notions. She apparently believed that all Americans lived on fast food, and was shocked when Theo explained that it wasn't the case. This explained her odd question when they first met, but that was not the last one she asked. Sometime Isabel would scold her, saying she asked too many for one day but Theo didn't mind. She found it funny most of the time. Anna had ambition like the other two, but was not keen on throwing power around that, she felt, meant nothing. Anna believed that true power was something someone earned and was not born with, which went against what the other girls were raised to think.

They complemented one another nicely, balancing each other out. Isabel would tell Theo during late nights when the others fell asleep that she was the one thing they were missing.

"You really do bring us back to earth sometimes, Theo. I don't know what we'd do without you."

"You'd keep doing what you were doing before. You don't need me."

"You don't give yourself enough credit."

"You give me way too much."

Theo's favorite nights were the nights spent with her friends in Slytherin. It was her safe place, really. No one messed with her as long as she had a Greengrass and a Parkinson on her side. In Gryffindor house it was much less safe for her, as many didn't like her. She wasn't sure what she did, exactly, but she knew that if anyone felt differently about her they certainly weren't making themselves known. The hurtful nickname had spread around like wildfire, and nearly everyone in her year had taken to it. It was for this reason that Theo either hid in her room or in Slytherin during her free time.

Her friends had no idea about the nickname, and Theo was glad for that. A first year accidentally tripped her once and Claire nearly hexed the poor kid into next Tuesday before Theo dove in front of her to keep the kid safe. They were fiercely protective of one another, and Theo was protective of them. Potter and Black had hexed Theo many times, and Theo took it in stride, simply asking Isabel or one of the others for help. One time even Remus helped her when a particularly nasty one was sent at her during Potions.

Theo never retaliated to any of the cruel things others did to her, partially because she didn't even know what she would do, but mostly because she didn't want to keep giving them reasons to dislike her. She felt wronged, to a certain extent, but she also felt like if she were better in some way or another, they wouldn't feel the need to turn on her like they did.

All of these things combined sent her friends into frenzy. They could not understand how Theo took all of it lying down, and would get mad when she went so far as to defend the people that were making her life a living hell. They'd tell her that she was brilliant and beautiful and smart and talented and should "show those gits what she's made of!" If Theo disagreed with anything they said they'd get even more frustrated. Claire would lose patience the quickest, shouting in French (apparently something all purebloods speak) and storming off while the other two attempted to convince Theo of her worth. Theo would smile and thank them and leave early to go literally anywhere but there.

When November rolled around, strange things were beginning to happen. The first strange thing was the fact that McGonagall apparently expected Theo to carry a mandrake leaf around in her mouth for a whole month. This was not something Theo was at all excited about, especially since she swallowed it a couple times during the first week trying to find a way to eat around it. Theo learned quickly that she was going to be on a primarily liquid diet for the remainder of the month.

Another strange thing was that Remus Lupin was not looking good at all. He got sick often, so he being sick wasn't the strange part. The strange part was what he asked her that day in potions.

"I'm going to visit my mother over the next few days, and I was wondering if you could get my homework for me? I'd ask one of my friends but they forgot last time." Theo only nodded, since speaking with a mandrake leaf in one's mouth was both odd sounding and difficult. Theo hadn't told her friends about how she was training to become an Animagus, and was hoping to continue keeping that information to herself for as long as she could.

Another strange thing that happened in November was her vision from Diagon Alley finally coming to life. Theo had been looking for a book to help her and Claire with their Herbology Paper when it happened. It was all verbatim, exactly how she remembered it, and picked up right where it left off.

"I didn't see you coming up with anything!"

"If you had just given me a second, I would have thought of something better than your stupid idea!"

Theo found the whole thing rather amusing, since they were still in the library and they didn't want to draw too much attention to themselves they adopted a sort of whisper yelling. It was all very comical until James spoke again.

"Look this isn't getting us anywhere. We just need to find a way to get that book. It's the only one that might have anything on Animagus transformations."

What on earth would they need that for? How would that help Moony? Who was Moony anyway?

"We're not even sure that it does."

"I know. Who would have thought that it would be this hard to find a book on it?"

Theo wanted to laugh, she really did. Of course there wasn't a book on the subject. Everyone has a different experience; there was no right way to do it. There were a few necessary steps, such as the mandrake leaf and the potion (Theo didn't want to think about that part yet since she would have to be the one brewing it) but for the most part, it was a very internal and personal experience. There wouldn't be much to write on the topic at all and since most wizards didn't even bother with it, it was already fading into irrelevancy.

But they needed it to help their friend, didn't they? Theo considered maybe helping them out but decided against it. It wasn't that Theo disliked the boys. It was more that even if she tried to help she wasn't sure that she could. She was still learning herself, and was still not sure she'd ever be able to do it. She watched them march off still bickering about the book they're failed to retrieve and Theo went back to her own hunt.

The night Remus missed class she managed to finish her homework early, and decided to look over Remus's. She remembered when James and Sirius and Peter had forgotten to get him his homework because he blatantly refused to talk to them for two days. They were particularly annoying to her then because he had decided to sit with Theo and her friends one day during lunch. She remembered the essay that Slughorn wanted him to write since he missed the practical application during class and felt more than a little pity for the boy. She had made sure to get all of his homework, even for the class they didn't share, and was going to drop it off in his room tonight. There really was a lot of it.

Maybe I could…

Theo remembered how some students in her class last year had taken to doing one another's homework; a sort of "I scratch your back, you scratch mine" sort of situation. They knew they had to be careful, though, because the professors would notice the different handwritings. Their solution was to charm their quills to only write in their handwriting, so if anyone else wrote with it, it would still come out the same. The remembered the spell well, since she had helped them find it.

Theo thought long and hard about whether or not this was something she should do, and in the end decided that she could write his potions essay, and if he didn't want it he didn't have to turn it in. With that plan in mind she got up from her seat in the library and made her way back to the Gryffindor common room.

She loved the Gryffindor common room as a concept. It was a place for students to come together and bond, as well as study or even hold parties if the mood struck. However, Theo never really got to experience those things, especially not in her house. People's distaste for her seemed to have plateaued and she figured she should be glad that it wasn't getting any worse. She hoped that at some point it would level out at neutral but for right now she would grind her teeth and march up to the dorm of the third year boys.

With her jaw set and her shoulders squared, she knocked far too softly for someone who wasn't supposed to be scared. There were some thuds and soft rustling for a few seconds before the door opened to reveal a very frustrated Sirius Black.

"What do you want?" Theo felt herself shrink but she didn't care, she was not here for any great show of strength.

"Can I bowwow Remush's qwill?" Theo knew she sounded incredibly strange, and the look on Sirius's face showed that he agreed. He looked at her like she was a potential threat, trying to gauge whether her request was something he would be willing to follow through on.

"You want to borrow his quill?" Theo nodded. "Don't you have your own? Why do you need his?"

"I wanna wite hish potions eshay sho he wouldn' have sho much wok when he gah back, but I nee hish qwill sho I can charm it to copy hish handwiting." Sirius looked at her like she was giving him a headache.

"You want to write his potions essay? We didn't get an essay."

"He did becaush he mished clash."

"Oh, right." There was a pregnant pause where Sirius seemed to be considering whether or not to give in to the strange girl who talked funny and asked for his friend's quill.

"Hey Potter, c'mere," Sirius shouted over his shoulder. A second later James was in the doorway. "Clarke wants to charm Remus's quill so that she can write his potions essay for him. What do you think?"

James looked her up and down for a second, seeming to be working something out in his head.

"He's not going to like that," James said finally.

"Thash fine, I still wanna wite it in cashe he wantsh it. He sheemsh weally ti'ed after he mishes clash."

"Why are you talking like that? You haven't always talked like that."

"Mandrake leaf," Sirius responded before Theo could come up with a suitable lie. She looked at him in shock, and he responded with a raised brow as if daring her to disagree. She nodded instead.

"What? Why would you…" Realization seemed to dawn on James face, catching up to where Sirius already was. Theo resisted the urge to run for the hills, knowing that two boys who were looking into Animagi would know exactly why she might be carrying a mandrake leaf in her mouth.

"How did you know that?" James had turned his critical gaze to Sirius, who just shot James a lazy smile in return.

"Peter told us. Don't you listen to anything he says Jamie?" James shot Sirius a warning look before turning back to Theo.

"You know a charm that can do that?" Theo nodded. "Can you teach us?"

Theo hesitated for a second. The pros of this were that maybe, if she did them this favor they would lay off of her for a little bit and not make her life a living hell. The cons were that maybe they might still do all of that while also giving them a new weapon to terrorize the school with.

"I don' fink thash a good idea…"

"You don't trust us?" Sirius was sending her a wicked smirk, already knowing the answer and all of the reasons why the answer was no. However, that smirk also looked like the smirk of a person who was about to get what he wants. Theo shook her head anyway.

"Say Sirius, how many people do you think know about Clarke's newest academic pursuit?"

"I don't think anyone knows, James."

"Achually, I'm shtudying wif pwofeshor McGonagaw." Theo was amazed at how hard it was to say her professor's name with such an obvious obstruction in her mouth, but they got the picture, their faces falling as they realized they didn't actually have a leg up on her. She smiled triumphantly.

"Yea, yea, laugh while you can Clarke," Sirius said as he turned back into the room. James stayed in the doorway, glaring at her with a great deal of distaste. She once again wondered why they disliked her so much. Her interactions with them were so limited she could count them on one hand. This brought her to four. However, despite their distaste, Sirius still returned with a quill that she could only assume was Remus's.

"Wash he the lasht one to ushe it?" Sirius nodded. "Ok, shank you." Theo turned and had made it all of one step when James said something that seemed to explain it all.

"Don't think this is going to make him fall in love with you or anything!" Theo didn't look back or acknowledge them at all because she was determined not to show them how much that simple line hurt her.

Don't think you can make her love you, Clarke! Just stay away from her you creep!

The marched dutifully back to the library and charmed the quill. It was a surprisingly hard endeavor since speaking clearly was still not something she could do very well. Two more weeks and she was done with this hell. She was glad the boys seemed to accept that what she was doing was not a secret when to her it definitely was. Theo had made some excuse to her friends to justify her odd behavior, claiming it was an "American Thing". They seemed more than willing to accept this and for that she was grateful. However, the fact that those merry little misfits knew about it made her more than a little uneasy.

When Theo brought Remus's homework, completed and otherwise, back to the boys dorm to leave it for him, they did little more than give her a curt not and shut the door in her face. Remus thanked her for bringing him his homework, but didn't mention the potions essay. She simply figured he didn't need it, and never brought it up.

As the month wore on, Theo began to feel a bit homesick. In America, they got a few days off for Thanksgiving which was always a very welcome and very exciting break before finals rolled around. Thanksgiving for Theo's family was also a very big deal. Extended family from all over the country came to meet at her grandmother's house where they all sat around three different tables and enjoyed dinner together while they watched the football game. This would be the first year Theo would not be celebrating with her family, and had taken to walking about the grounds until curfew to avoid her friends. If they noticed anything strange going on with Theo they didn't say anything. When Theo wasn't so upset about her missed holiday she started seeing her friends regularly again like nothing had happened.

Finally the day arrived in which Theo got to take that blasted leaf out of her mouth and wondered, not for the first time, what the bloody point was. However, she did as McGonagall said and trusted that the woman was not leading her astray. Theo's lessons with her had been interesting and involved, to Theo's surprise, and great deal of meditating.

"You can't just charge into a transformation blindly, Miss Clarke. It's important that you take this time to dig deep inside yourself. Who you are determines what you'll be. You need an understanding of yourself to understand that which you will become."

Theo resisted the urge to tell the nice professor that she sounded like a fortune cookie and continued to meditate for an hour everyday with her professor. McGonagall said she joined her to get Theo in the right frame of mind, but Theo was rather certain it was because she enjoyed the act as well. Theo did love it, she had to admit. Once she'd gotten over feeling ridiculous, it became a wonderful experience and Theo understood why McGonagall still practiced it.

Overall, things were going well. She missed her family from time to time, especially as the holidays rolled around, but found that she was much more at ease here after three months than she was after two years at Ilvermorny. The bullying that she faced did not cease, but that was to be expected. Theo didn't mind most of the time because even if those people didn't like her, she had some friends who did. Her friends were still blissfully unaware and that was the way Theo wanted to keep it. But as the holidays rolled around Theo noticed a change in two of her friend's moods.

Isabel, who generally maintained a constant stream of calm happiness, had grown frustrated and twitchy. Claire, who was generally very outspoken and fiery, grew very subdued and indifferent. Anna was still relatively perky, but she had also noticed the change in her friends, and stopped getting as excited about things when Isabel shot her a glare in her direction or Claire just wasn't listening. It was the day before they were leaving for break when Theo finally cracked and asked what was wrong.

"What do you mean?" They asked in unison as if this was a coordinated dance and that question was anticipated.

"You guys have acting super weird lately, and I want to know what's up." Anna had chosen this time to sit next to Claire on her bed and rested a comforting hand on hers. It was only then that Theo noticed that Claire had taken to clenching her fists so tightly her knuckles turned white.

"It's nothing, love. Never you mind," Isabel whispered as she pushed a strand of hair behind Theo's ear. It had grown a bit since she first arrived, and the blonde highlights she had gotten from the sun over the summer were slowly fading.

"Don't push me away like that," Theo pleaded as she wrapped her arms around the brunette. Theo was short for her age, she knew, and Isabel was surprisingly tall. They were the perfect height for Isabel to rest her chin on Theo's head when they got wrapped up like this.

"I can't say no to you, can I?" Isabel chuckled as she pulled away. "It's just, going home for the holidays isn't a pleasant experience for me or Claire. We'd avoid it if we could, and we tried once, but that just made things worse..."

Claire had taken to resting her head in Anna's lap, letting Anna card through her hair. Claire rarely needed much in the way of physical comforts, but she was clearly on edge tonight.

"What do you mean?"

"There are a lot of expectations for the kids of powerful families here. I remember you saying you didn't know anyone like that back home, so I'd imagine it's a little harder for you to understand, but you've seen the movies with the princes or princesses who hate their responsibility and power and just feel trapped? It's a lot like that, sometimes."

"I thought… I thought you guys liked being a part of powerful families?"

"We… do. We reap the benefits but there are expectations that have to be met that we don't always agree with, and it's rarely ever pleasant."

"Understatement of the year," Claire mumbled from her place in Anna's lap.

"Like what? Your grades are great, your school record is clean, what more do they need?"

Claire and Isabel shot one another a meaningful look, before both nodding and turning back to Theo. Claire got up and sat on the other side of Theo slinging her arm across her friend's shoulders.

"You know it's us against them, right?" She was whispering now, like it was hard to say. Theo felt dread pool in her stomach in a way that it never had before. Theo nodded anyway.

"In pureblood society, it's believed that those who don't have 'pure blood' are considered inferior. They especially don't like people who were born from muggles, like Evans or…"

"Like me," Theo supplied, going still beneath her touch.

"Yea, like you. If our parents ever found out we were friends, they would lose it."

"Mine would probably disown me on the spot," Isabel muttered more to herself than anyone else, but Theo still felt the words. Theo realized in that moment that she was different from these girls in more ways than she originally thought. They had this world and a whole life planned out for them, one that eventually did not include Theo. Theo was a passing fancy, something to pass the time with while they could still get away with breaking the rules, but eventually they would have to drop her, and she'd be left with nothing.

"I see. I'm sorry you guys have such a hard time with you families." This was true, but Theo was still a little bitter. What was she to them? Before she had been sure that they were best friends, that nothing could come between them, but now she felt like everything was fickle and temporary. She felt like their love and affection had an expiration date and Theo had no idea when it was. One day she was going to be left alone again and she began to wonder for the first time if making friends was worth it if she only ever lost them in the end.

"I mean it's not like they beat us into submission," Isabel laughed. She was trying to diffuse the tension, but didn't see to find it funny at all.

"Speak for yourself," Claire shot back. Her arm tightened around Theo, as if doing so would give her strength. Theo hoped that she did give Claire strength because Claire always seemed to need it. Claire was always so on edge like she was waiting for someone to jump out at her and attack. Theo understood the feeling, as any time she was feeling particularly fond of the girls around her she became very conscious of her surrounding and waited for someone to shout "Gotcha!" it never happened, just as no one was hiding in dark corners waiting for Claire, but the both knew fear that permeated into different parts of their lives.

"No one's got it worse than Black, though." Anna had finally chimed in, coming to lay with the girls on Isabel's bed. Isabel and Claire nodded.

"What do you mean?" They had only spoken of Black in passing, and it usually referenced his treatment of Theo. This was the first time they talked about him with anything other than pure distaste.

"The Most Ancient and Noble House of Black does not suffer blood traitors well." Isabel sounded like she wanted to be making a joke, but there was no humor in it.

"What's that?"

"It's a stupid and derogatory name for purebloods that don't hold the same bigoted beliefs." Claire was squeezing her again.

"They're not that bad," Isabel tried to defend and suddenly Claire was standing.

"Comment osez vous dire que quand elle est assise ici!"

"Elle sait lui placer."

"Sa place?!"

"Vous savez que c'est vrai, qu'elle est inférieure."

"Elle est plus que jamais, vous serez!"

"I'm sorry." The two girls stopped and looked at their friend and saw something they'd never actually seen before. They had never seen Theo get overly emotional. She would take things as they came and pretended like it wasn't bothering her. She'd hold her chin high and walk like she ruled the world even though she'd be walking quickly away from everyone else. This was the first time they really saw Theo express anything and what they saw caused their hearts to tug.

Theo's eyes had gone wide as she looked between the two, bringing her arms around her like a shield as if she was expecting someone to turn on her next. She looked the very definition of a scared puppy with its tail between its legs, shaking as Anna wrapped her arms around her as if to cradle her. Anna was glaring at both of them as she tried to calm Theo down, but the shaking only got worse.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you guys fight. I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" Anna was rocking her now, still glaring daggers at Isabel over Theo's head.

"Vous deux sortir ou arrêter dès maintenant." Anna's voice was soft, but the others girls immediately backed off one another. Claire went to sit in front of Theo, hands on the other girls thighs and rubbing little circles. Theo hadn't stopped shaking.

"It wasn't you, it wasn't you. It was all us. It had nothing to do with you at all. Don't worry, ok?" Theo had never hear Claire sound so soft and gentle, and that was enough to distract her from why she was upset, even if just for a moment. Isabel was rubbing circles on her back, whispering sweet nothings about how she could never upset them. Theo didn't notice the way Claire was looking at Isabel, Theo only knew the softly spoken words that were being whispered like a prayer in her ears.

As the night dragged on, they all fell back onto the bed and stared at the green curtains above and looking for answers. Isabel and Claire had rough home lives, so much so that it actually put them on edge just thinking about returning. Theo thought about how she wouldn't be returning, and how she was more than a little glad for this fact. She loved her family more than anything, but she felt like she was the reason they fought all the time. She was the catalyst, and if she was gone they wouldn't have to worry anymore. She wondered if she did the same thing to her friends. She wondered if her friends ever felt that way too.

Theo cuddled up to Isabel, resting her head on her shoulder as they lay and thought about what was to come. This was the first time anything so serious had come up between them, and Theo didn't like that she couldn't help them. She wanted to, more than anything she wanted to put her friends at ease and tell them that everything was going to be alright. But Theo couldn't make that promise. So instead she just held Isabel as she shook, and carded her fingers through Claire's hair when her eyes went eerily blank. Anna did the same, and Theo realized that Anna had done this for two years before Theo came along. She wondered, not for the first time, what life was like for them before she entered their lives.