Here is Chapter 16! The FF is almost done! :O
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Chapter 16: Rival Amends

Clementine sat in the Charms classroom watching the students slowly file in. Viktorya sat next to her.

“I thought you’d want to avoid me,” said Clementine bitterly.

“Why should I? I have nothing against you having a boyfriend,” she said matter-of-factly.

“Seems like everyone else does,” said Clementine.

“Well, don’t worry about everyone else. Worry about you. There is nothing wrong with you liking James. He’s a fine young man,” said Viktorya, trying to cheer her sister up. It was not working. Clementine simply rolled her eyes, and continued watching the students enter the classroom.

Albus entered by himself and he took a seat toward the back of the room. Lorcan and Lysander took their usual seat at the front of the class. Gordon and Dane were next to Viktorya and Clementine. Dane looked rather flustered, as if something he wanted to do went completely wrong. Clementine wondered what that could have been since she only just saw him. The bell rang loudly. Just as she went to turn back around to face the front, the door opened again. Clementine had to double take because what she saw completely shocked her. Rose was hugging Blake Snape. Mouth open wide in disbelief, she turned toward the front of the class and got out her school things.

“Did you see that,” she whispered loudly to her sister, who nudged her to keep her voice low. Clementine looked around to see if anyone had heard. Dane was bright red, and looked like he had tears welling in his eyes. Albus looked just as shocked as Clementine. Rose sat next to him, blushing furiously. Clementine saw them whispering at each other, but she could not make out the words.

“Welcome, class,” said Professor Indigo, appearing from behind the tapestry that covered the door to her office. She plowed through the lesson completely unperturbed by the preoccupied students. Many were still in shock to see a Gryffindor in the company of a Slytherin. At the end of the lesson, many got up to ask Rose what was going on, but she left swiftly, dodging the questions students were firing at her. Clementine and Viktorya were last in the room, until they noticed Albus. He, apparently, hadn’t noticed them either. He turned red when he had finally noticed and rushed out of the room. Viktorya just shrugged and motioned her sister out of the room.

“Why didn’t Gordon wait for you?” asked Clementine, noting the lack of Viktorya’s other half. Viktorya glanced at her and then shifted her bag to her other shoulder.

“Er, we’ve, uh, we’ve been having some issues lately,” said Viktorya with a frown.

“Are you guys okay? Did you break up?” asked Clementine, clearly shocked.

“No, we haven’t. Although, I’m not sure how much more I can take of his—“ she was cut off by what they saw yards in front of them. Clementine grabbed her sleeve, and pushed her behind the corner that was nearby.

“What does she think she is doing?” Viktorya whispered frantically.

“I don’t know,” said Clementine, peering surreptitiously around the corner.
Rose was leaning against the wall. Crowded around her was the gang of Slytherin’s that caused most of the ruckus when Clementine, Albus, and Rose were together.

“Is she in trouble?” asked Viktorya.

“No. It seems like she is there because she wants to be,” said Clementine, sadly.

Blake stood next to Rose, his arm extending above his head to help himself lean suavely against the wall. He kept flicking his greasy black hair out of his face as if he were trying to charm her. Erin and Scorpius looked like they were trying to tell her a joke. She chuckled merrily.

“This is so not right,” said Clementine. Without warning, she marched out from behind the corner. Viktorya followed. They walked right past them without acknowledging their existence. Clementine could feel all of their eyes on herself and her sister, but she did not care. She could not believe that Rose would hang out with Slytherin’s and not with her. What did Rose and Albus have so much against her? Surely it couldn’t just be that she was dating their relative.

“Their loss,” she said suddenly out loud.

“What?” asked Viktorya.

“Oh, nothing, sorry,” said Clementine, forgetting that she was with her sister. They were outside of the Gryffindor common room.

“Well, I should go find Gordon. I said I’d meet him in the library,” said Viktorya, and she left Clementine in front of the Fat Lady.

“I’m all alone, there’s no one here beside me,” sung the Fat Lady dramatically.

“Hark, who’s talking?” retorted Clementine. The Fat Lady huffed and admitted her without a password.

Clementine spotted James, Torr, and Albus sitting around the table in front of the fireplace. Albus got up and left the common room, allowing Clementine to sit by James and Torr without awkwardness.

“What’s up,” asked Torr, scooting over to allow her to sit in between him and James.

Clementine planted a kiss on James, and Torr rolled his eyes.

“You’ll never guess what I just saw,” she told them both, but was looking at James. They just looked at her.

“Rose,” she said.

“What about her? I thought she wasn’t talking to you?” asked Torr.

Clementine shot him a dirty look. “She isn’t,” she said stiffly. “She hugged that Snape boy, and Viktorya and I saw her hanging out with his gang!”

“Are you sure she wasn’t in trouble?” asked James concerned.

“Positive. She was giggling from a joke they were telling her,” said Clementine.

“What is wrong with her?” James asked, mostly to himself.

Clementine merely shrugged. Her eyes were drawn to the warm fireplace. Lucky for her, she had no more classes that afternoon. She didn’t go down for lunch. She didn’t want to see Rose or Albus. It just made her feel alone, despite being with James. He and Torr had gone to the Great Hall to eat, promising Clementine he would bring her some bread and pumpkin juice.

Clementine nearly fell asleep. She heard clambering at the portrait hole that made her jut awake.

“What’s going on?” she ask groggily.

Albus and Rose appeared; Albus looked terrorized.

“What—“ Clementine started, but cut off when she realized they still weren’t talking to her. Rose and Albus climbed up to the boy’s dormitory, no doubt wanting to avoid Clementine.

She relaxed back into her seat and sighed. When would they forgive her?

“She is absurd!” someone shouted, and Clementine was once again jerked from her thoughts. The person who shouted was James, and his face was screwed up in rage. Clementine had never seen him so angry. Torr was lurking behind him, looking apprehensive.

“What’s going on?” she asked calmly.

James said nothing, but sat next to her and threw the most recent Daily Prophet into her lap. He then buried his face into his hands. Clementine rubbed his back with her right hand, and flipped through the Prophet with her left. Torr sat in a chair next to them looking flustered.

“I don’t understand—“ Clementine started, but Torr held up his hand to silence her. He moved forward in his chair and flipped to the page that caused the rage. She nearly dropped the paper in shock.

“But, I thought your mum said she couldn’t publish in this paper,” she said, looking horrified. The headline read:

Harry Potter: The Boy Who Lived By Rita Skeeter: An Excerpt

“Well, technically it isn’t an article. So they had to publish,” said Torr. James fidgeted and handed her a small piece of parchment that was in one of his hands. He did not look up.

Clementine peered down at it. It had Ginny’s handwriting on it.

Dear son,
I’m sorry to say that the Daily Prophet has no control over what to publish, despite said article is from a banned reporter. Because it was not an article she wished to publish but an excerpt, they had to allow a printing of it due to her writing contract. Your father and I regret it very much, for nothing good can become of this. Just remember to not listen to the old bat, and everything will be okay. Surround yourself with supportive friends, and the bullies won’t get to you.
Much love,
Mum

Clementine set the letter down on the table and snatched the Daily Prophet back up. Turning to the page in which the excerpt was printed, she began to read it.

Chapter 1: The Boy Who Lived

Harry Potter has been known as many things: The Boy Who Lived, The Chosen One. But many do not know the extenuating truth revolving around this man’s remarkable life. In this book, you will not only find out about how it all began, but how it may all end. Learn about his boyhood outside of Hogwart’s. What happened before he found out he was, in fact, a wizard? Who were the relatives he lived with? Where are they now? What was up with Dumbledore’s infatuation with the boy (more revelations since “The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore”)? Why did Severus Snape hate Harry so much when he was at Hogwarts? Why did Harry name his son after that man that treated him horribly for all those years? Who are his so called “best friends”? Why would he marry a pureblood? Do his children show any of the talent that Harry himself exhibited in his youth? Find out about all of this and more!

Harry Potter is the son of James Potter and Lily Evans. Married at 19, the Potter’s were a peachy couple. They joined the Order of the Phoenix in order to combat against the evil the Dark Lord had unearthed. Lily gave birth, nearly a year later, to a health baby boy they had named Harry. The boy’s godfather, notorious Sirius Black, provided the boy with his first broomstick, in which he had already showcased flying talent.

“I saw a picture of the one year old baby Harry flying around on a toy broomstick. He was going berserk on it, laughing wildly,” recalled Mundungus Fletcher, a close friend of Potter’s and member of the Order.

Sadly, not long after that joyous of occasions, Voldemort brutally murdered Lily and James and attempted to do the unthinkable: murder an innocent child. Many questions revolved around Voldemort’s motive to kill the innocent boy, but more on that in later chapters.

Harry Potter was left an orphan. His godfather, Sirius Black, was arrested on charges of murder for blowing up a street full of Muggle’s and apparently killing Peter Pettigrew. We later found out that he was, indeed, innocent, and that Peter Pettigrew was the one to actually be blamed for the most awful event.

Harry was sent to his only remaining relatives. Many wondered why the boy couldn’t have been brought up with wizards, for his relatives were Muggles. But Albus Dumbledore had his reason, and that was all that could be followed.

The excerpt ended there. Clementine looked up. James was staring at her.

“Its not so bad,” she said. “Although, all of those questions were kind of crazy. But, I guess people are bound to be curious. And it seems to me she has her facts straight.”

“So far,” said James, his eyes bloodshot. “Who knows how long she will keep that up, though, right?”

Clementine frowned and gave him a warm hug. He relaxed at her soft touch. Torr just sat shaking his head. Clementine released James, and began flipping through the rest of the paper. In it was a copy of Witch Weekly.

“What’s this about?” she asked herself. Her jaw dropped. On the front page was a picture of Rose hugging Blake Snape. “No way!”

The article portrayed Rose as a scarlet woman.

“She is out of her mind!” Clementine shouted. James took the paper and stared in disbelief.

“Are you talking about Rose or Skeeter?” he asked.

“Skeeter, of course. We already knew this of Rose. How could she do this? First us, and now your cousin! What is wrong with her?”

“This must mean that she has a mole inside of Hogwarts. A spy,” James said. Torr had fallen asleep; drool sliding out of his mouth and onto the armrest his head was lying on.

They were quiet for a good ten minutes.

“James, we need to talk,” she said suddenly, breaking the abnormal silence in the common room.

James sighed. “I wondered when you were going to say that.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, bewildered. “How do you know what I want to talk to you about?”

“Its obvious. You miss Albus and Rose, and I am keeping you from them. I understand,” he said calmly, although there was a hint of sadness in his voice.

“Oh, right. Well, you know what that means?” she asked, hoping he would know that as well.

“Of course. You’re breaking up with me,” he said. He averted his eyes, and looked imploringly on the raging flames of the fireplace.

“Yes,” she said softly, and planted one last enticing kiss on his lips.

James nodded. He looked sad, but didn’t elaborate. Dinnertime came about very suddenly. Clementine headed out on her own, wondering if what she had done was right. She really did like James, but nothing was worth the neglect of her best friends. She arrived at Gryffindor table and sat by herself. She indulged in some roasted veggies.

“Where’s James?” someone from behind her asked. She turned and noticed it was Viktorya, who was also alone.

“He’s still up in the common room,” Clementine said, as Viktorya took a seat with her. “Where’s Gordon?”

“He’s in the library studying. He is driving me up the wall!” she exclaimed, loading her plate with food. “I figured you and James would be together. Must be lonely all by yourself.”

“Yeah, well, we broke up,” Clementine replied, and a rush of guilt flooded her body. She wished she hadn’t but she wanted Albus and Rose back in her company.

“Oh, Clem, I am so sorry,” Viktorya said, her mouth full of roast beef. “At least Albus and Rose will talk to you again.”

“Yeah,” Clementine said vaguely.

A group of Slytherin’s entered the Great Hall. Rose was with them, and Albus was lurking behind them looking scared. He rushed over to the Gryffindor table and sat down not too far from Clementine and Viktorya. Rose arrived several moments later. On the spur of the moment, Clementine leaped from her seat and rushed over to the Slytherin’s that had just entered with Rose.

“What is up with you guys? How come you are so interested in Rose?” she shouted at them, but not loud enough to cause a ruckus.

Snape answered first.

“Well, you see, your friend is very down to earth and doesn’t care what house her friends are from. Unlike most of you Gryffindor’s.”

“If you didn’t try to hex us every time you had a chance, maybe we could be friends,” Clementine retorted angrily.

Scorpius and Erin laughed.

“You don’t get it do you?” asked Erin, shrilly, clearly taking great humor from Clementine’s lack of knowledge.

“Well, you see, we Slytherin’s are notorious for those attacks. Its kind of what we need to do to catch the limelight once in a while,” said Scorpius.

Clementine was shocked. She could not believe that it was all for show.

“We’ll stop messing with you guys for the time being,” said Snape, catching Clementine off guard.

“I’d appreciate that. Thanks,” she said, somewhat confused. She turned around and headed back to the Gryffindor table. Viktorya was talking to Rose and Albus until Clementine arrived.

After dinner, Clementine said good-bye to her sister and made her way up to Gryffindor tower. She saw James and Torr inside, playing a game of wizard’s chess. Without saying a word to them, she went up to the girl’s dormitory to get an early nights rest.
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Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!