Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. Hold the presses.

Did Claudine just say they'd never have to be friends again?! Yes. That is definitely what she'd said. Isla didn't even try to hide the fact that she was following along now. She turned to look at Bernie, waiting for a reply. Should Isla step in and say something? Should she just act like she hadn't heard or something? What to do, what to doooo?

Then Claudine just switched topics of conversation like she hadn't just dropped the friendship bomb on somebody. "Oh, umm...the rat. Sammy! Right, umm..." Did she find the lessons boring? What had she said again? Oh, right! Her first year! She was all levels of distracted now. "No, I mean, the lessons weren't a bore or anything, but that's kind of all I got to experience about Hogwarts." Again, save for the founders roaming around trying to stir up trouble. "It was kind of lonely at times, so I hope to get out more next year."

Sammy scurried down Isla's arm and headed back in the direction of his new owner. Thank Merlin none of them had a kneazle or something.

Then things got iffy again, and Isla cleared her throat and shifted around in her seat. "Umm, you guys okay?" she finally asked, because it was one thing to be nosey, but it was something else altogether to ignore people when they were down. She doubted either of them would spill the beans, but whatever. She'd asked anyway, and she'd gathered that whatever was going on had something to do with crups?