Chapter two you all! For the banner and stuff of this story, go to my homepage on my profile. This is going to be a little lighter because Clare is based off my friend as you know, and she is a bit crazy :D.

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2. The Riddle

Five For Fighting

Here's a riddle for you, find the answer. There's a reason for the world...you and I.

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CLARE POV

I was sitting in one of the coziest seats in the common room. The fire was burning and I was dozing off that Saturday morning when Lily stepped into the warm room, obviously trying to avoid anyone. She saw me and gave me a look that said 'I don't feel like talking' before running up to the Head dorms.

Of course, being the great friend I was, I went straight to the source of where the problem most likely was: James Potter. Shaking my head, I pushed open the portrait and raced down the hall to find Lily's mortal enemy. I noticed him and his friends out by the tree. Like always.

"JAMES POTTER!" I screeched. He jumped a bit and I almost smiled. I mean, what great friend would smile at the most selfish, arrogant, conceited...

"Clare, don't you start to rant now..." He sounded pained. James Potter, pained? What did he do now?

"Why? I bet you did something to Lily...she's really upset! What did you do, Potter?" I stuck a finger in his face. He pushed it away and looked down.

"Nothing." Remus and Sirius gave him a look. "Okay I really screwed up." He proceeded to tell me exactly how he ruined Lily's day.

"Potter, that's a new low for you. This has got to be a terrible day for her! First Snape slaps her, then you! You better apologize..."

"Well, I told her that we should stay away from each other." James looked as though he would burst out into tears any moment. I had never seen him so bad. I was about to hug him, but decided against it considering the position we were in. But then I realized what he did and turned angry. He had hurt Lily. He should've known what he was saying!

"Potter, you hurt my best friend. So don't expect me to be all lovey-dovey with you right now." I glared at James. He blinked, surprised because I hardly got mad unless it was serious. This was far too serious for jokes right now.

"Clare, love..." Sirius set his hand on my shoulder. I shrugged him off roughly and he looked down with a sheepish expression.

"Don't you 'love' me, Sirius! You're just as much of a jerk as James is right now!" I fought off the urge to hit him. For some reason, Sirius and I never got along well. He had always been the bad boy that I chose to ignore. But he always wanted to bother me. Hence, we don't get along. Remus and I weren't really close, but we were at least friends. Remus was always super quiet and so we never talked much. As for James, well I hated him mostly because of what I heard from Lily. I wasn't sure if all she said was true though.

"What did I do, Clare?" Sirius looked sober. The usual mischievous glint in his eyes was gone and I saw a tint of anger in those gray orbs of light.

"You just all around annoy me."

"But you said right now I was being a jerk..." I couldn't fight that. I waved him off and turned back to James. I heard Sirius give a sigh as to say 'I give up'. I tried to ignore it.

"Don't be mean to my friends. Especially Lily." I turned to walk away with the great sensation of getting the last word in when James said "It's not like she didn't deserve it."

That turned me around.

"What?!" My hand itched for my wand, but I fought with all my might to keep control of myself. "Lily didn't deserve to be totally isolated from you!"

"Deserve? It's what she wanted! Clare, I did her a favor by telling her this. Now she won't have to repeat it to me all the time." James stood up and walked a few steps toward me. The grass rippled as wind blew across the outside of Hogwarts. The day was wonderful, unlike our conversation. Sirius had sat beside Remus and was now looking at me as though I had totally crushed him. Remus was reading and obviously pretending he didn't know what was happening although I could see him glancing up every once in a while. I just noticed that the ruffling of the leaves on the tree wasn't from the wind but Peter who looked a little scared up on a medium high branch.

"No one deserves to be ignored or avoided by a friend." I took one step forward with caution. I could feel the anger pulsing through my veins as I almost drew my wand again. There was nothing I loved more than a good duel.

"We were never friends. She hated and still hates me." James clenched his fists and for a second I felt a twinge of fear. James wouldn't really beat me up, would he? No, James isn't like that. He was a calm person. Even when he was angry, he was unnaturally calm. I had witnessed many of James and Lily's fights to realize how calm he could be. When Lily was screaming her head off, it was usually James speaking in a nice, civilized voice.

I was afraid that would change today.

"James, she may have hated you then, but since you guys became heads-" He cut me off.

"Oh Merlin...I forgot about being heads! Oh no, this is going to be so awkward!"

"You better hope it is for you! You deserve it!"

"Hey, Hermansen, you wanna stop coming down here and telling us what we deserve?" Sirius said from against the trunk of the tree. He had called me by my last name. Sirius must have been really mad if he called me Hermansen.

"I-I-I'm here to defend Lily against James so just-just stay out of this, Black!"

"Lily is strong, she doesn't need your defenses." James said.

"How would you know? You've been nothing but mean and annoying to her every year!"

"Annoying, maybe. Mean? You've got to be kidding! I have tried every way possible of getting her attention and she's been turning me down in every cruel way possible. While I have been trying to be nice and charming she's been turning her head up at the sight of me and won't even look me in the eye! So before you say I'm mean, get you're facts straight. Lily doesn't always tell the truth."

"Who should I trust, you or Lily? I think my best friend." I turned to leave again. I had walked a few steps before Sirius yelled after me.

"Yeah, but how do you know who's yelling the truth?"

The words echoed in my head all the way up to castle.

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The chapters will get longer I promise! I'll try to have chapters up every two days, depending on the length. Thanks for reading!

LIV