Toxic Crush

~24~

The next morning Clara woke up to find Cho standing in front of the mirror trying to flatten down her fringe.

Written on her forehead in big, red pimples was the word 'sneak'.

"Oh god." Clara said, sitting up from bed. "I forgot Hermione did that."

"Did what?" Cho asked, starting to blend concealer all over her face.

"Charmed the sign up sheet. Remember when you signed it and we wrote Dumbledore's army at the top? Mione made it so that anyone who squealed got cursed."

"I didn't even mean to squeal!" She cried.

"Shh, or you'll wake Padma and Luna."

Cho threw her makeup brush down in frustration. "What am I meant to do about this? They'll all know it was me!"

Clara put her shoes on and pulled a coat around her. "We'll go to Madam Pomphrey and have her fix it before everyone wakes up, there's practically no one in the halls at this time."

Cho followed suit and the two of them left the common room, Cho with her head down so that no one saw the word sneak.

When they reached the hospital wing, Madam Pomphrey smiled.

"Young witches can be so awful can't they." She said, and she pulled her wand out. "Don't worry. This is an easy fix."

She murmured something under her breath and the pimples immediately faded.

"Next time I recommend staying silent." The healer said lightheartedly, but when she noticed how hurt Cho looked she softened her gaze. "Whatever's happened, I'm sure it will be okay."

Cho left the hospital wing with Clara at her side and walked down to the great hall.

When she entered it, a significant number of students turned to face her and scowl.

As she passed the Gryffindor table, Hermione stood up and glared at her.

"I know what you did, sneak."

"I didn't mean to-"

"Save it."

Hermione walked away with her arms crossed and her head in the air.

As the two girls sat down, they noticed the repetitive glances that were being thrown at them for the Gryffindor table.

"It was veritaserum!" Clara yelled across the hall angrily, but either they didn't hear her, or they didn't care.

During classes that day, Clara was pulled out.

She walked nervously down the halls towards the headmasters office, meeting up with other members of the DA as she did so.

They were all headed to the same place.

A large crowd was gathered outside the gargoyle statue that guarded the office, and Umbridge stood in front of it, a familiar sheet of paper in her hands.

It was the sign up sheet for Dumbledore's Army.

Umbridge had every single one of their names.

Her sweet voice was calling out to the crowd, and Clara jumped when she heard her own name.

"Harry Potter, Clara Wentworth. You two may come in now."

Harry and Clara exchanged mutual looks of terror before stepping onto the moving spiral staircase behind Umbridge and entering the headmaster's quarters.

When the door to his office opened, Dumbeldore looked at the two students with what could only be described as pride.

"Hello you two." said Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eye. "Please do try to ignore the other people in the room, you aren't in any trouble-"