Thorns are Sharp | Claudia & Ashley

[Deleted]

September 2024

Claudia walked into the first Herbology class of the year and took a seat anywhere that wasn’t next to her brother, who was already there. Of course he was, what a dork, she rolled her eyes at the back of his head and sat in the back, away from her annoying, older brother. While everyone around her was pulling out their notebooks and getting ready for the first class, all starting the year off on a good note, trying to be good students, she just saw there, staring down at her feet as she twisted her ankle and drew circles in the ground with her big toe, pointed as far as she could flex it. She didn’t pay attention to the world again until she heard a person approach her and ask if they could sit in the empty seat next to her. “Oh, sure, knock yourself out.” Claudia nodded to the blonde girl, moving her bag out of the way for her.

@ashley

[Deleted]

The beginning of the year was never Ashley's favorite time. She always had to come up with things to say to people she hadn't seen in a while, or meet new people. That second one was coming into play a lot more now that she was attending a new school. Ashley couldn't decide how she felt about that. She liked meeting new people, which was definitely happening a lot at Hogwarts, but she also didn't like feeling forced into it, which she also felt. A part of her couldn't help but wonder if the Hogwarts students were annoyed that all these Americans were waltzing in and taking over their school. At least no one seemed too upset so far. 

Today Ash's first class of the day was Herbology. It wasn't her favorite subject, but it started to grow on her ever since last year when she met Eli and learned of his love for plants. She couldn't help but think of him whenever she went to class now. Not that he would know that. The two of them weren't friends anymore. 

She got distracted at breakfast and found herself rushing to class, getting there just a minute or two before it started. She walked towards a girl who was sitting next to one of the only empty seats. The nice thing was, it was at the back of the classroom. Ashley asked the girl if she could sit there and the girl answered with her prim, proper little accent. Ashley was still getting used to that. "Thanks," she muttered as she sat. She looked over to the other girl. "I'm Ashley Fontaine, what's your name?" She thought she recognized the girl from the night she'd been sorted, but Ashley couldn't remember for certain. That night was kind of a blur to her, and she didn't want to say something about it and be wrong. 

@claudia

[Deleted]

The girl sat down and seemed to have been rushing based on her slightly flushed and frazzled appearance and breathing pattern. Claudia turned her heard to take in the face, she seemed vaguely familiar, and based on the voice, she was one of the new American students. Claudia took a look at the crest on her robes seeing that she was in her own house. “Hi, Claudia Watkins.” she introduced herself in return, politely, but didn’t offer her hand or anything of the sort. “You’ve picked the right seat, even if you didn’t have much of a choice. No good conversation ever comes from the front of the room. They’re all dorks.” she said, mostly in reference to her own brother and the little princess whom he was sitting next to. Hmm, maybe he was doing one smart thing. It was always a good idea to cozy up to the royals.

@ashley

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Ashley smiled when the other girl introduced herself. "Nice to meet you," she said, trying to be polite. Most of the people here seemed to like it when others were polite. Then again, she might just think that because their voices sounded all proper. The other girl, Claudia, started to explain how she chose the right seat, and all the dorks sat at the front of the room. Ashley smirked. She might be very interested in getting good grades and doing well in school, but she also did not want to be labeled as a dork. Everything would go much smoother here if she was able to fit in with the rights kinds of people. "Oh? So if they're the dorks, then what crowd do you run with?" Ashley asked curiously, smiling at the girl and hoping she wouldn't take that offensively. Ashley didn't mean it that way.

@claudia

[Deleted]

Claudia was far from a Hogwarts mean girl, but she wasn’t exactly on the welcoming committee either. She just really didn’t have a desire to make a bunch of friends. She liked people and she loved being social, but she didn’t feel the need to have a clique or a group, and thus answering the American girls question proved to be harder than it should have been. “Um, I guess I don’t really?” she shrugged. “I’m not really a crowd girl.” Claudia wasn’t a follower. She wasn’t someone who would do well as part of a group. She was really better on an individual basis. She needed individualized attention.

@ashley

[Deleted]

Talking with Claudia was definitely one of the more interesting things Ashley had done since starting school. The girl was different, which was interesting in a good way. She surprised Ashley by saying that she didn't really "run" with any specific crowd, saying she wasn't the type of person that liked crowds. That was interesting. After everything that happened last year with Eli, Ashley was wondering if she still wanted to be with her "crowd." Maybe becoming friends with someone that didn't have a crowd could help her with that. She chuckled, "So you don't have a crowd, you just don't want to be associated with the dorks," she teased lightly. "Sounds like a wise decision to me." 

Ashley looked up to the front of the room, but the Professor was still moving around, not focused on the students at all, so she figured they still had a bit of time before school started. "Okay, so what kinds of things do you like to do?" Ashley asked, content to learn a little more about the American girl. 

@claudia

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Claudia gave a slow nod at the girls words. It wasn’t that she didn’t just want to not be associated with the dorks, but she didn’t really care to be associated with anyone. At least not with any clique label. She didn’t want to be one of the popular girls, or a dork, or a jock. Thought, she supposed she fit the most in the jock category didn’t she? Dance was a sport as much as anything else. It certainly required more physically training than Quidditch did, yet Quidditch was what everyone glorified. “I don’t really want to be associated with any label.” she admitted. At least none of these social labels. She knew that she fit a few of them, maybe a few more than a few, but she didn’t want to associate with them. Ashley the American then decided to continue the small talk and asked what she liked to do. Claudia shrugged. “Dance. Annoy my brother.” she smirked. “Sometimes both at once.” she teased.

@ashley

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This girl was almost an anomaly to Ashley. She didn't want to be associated with any labels? So, did she just stay away from everyone that had a label, or was she friends with everyone? It definitely wasn't a bad thing to stay away from labels. Ashley had joined the "mean girls" over at Ilvermorny almost without realizing it. That caused problems for her last year with Eli. Now she wasn't quite sure if she wanted to be a part of that anymore, even though she and Eli weren't friends anymore. It was an interesting and strange situation for her. She was used to knowing exactly what she wanted. "I think that's really cool. Not sure I'm that brave," Ash admitted. She liked the idea of not being in a group, but did that mean she'd be alone? She wasn't good at being on her own. She smiled when Claudia admitted she liked to dance and annoy her brother. "I like to do that to," she agreed with a firm nod. "Annoy my older brother, that is. I don't really know how to dance, unless it's ballroom dance. Is your brother older or younger? Maybe he and Joe will be in a class together or something." It was an interesting idea and she found herself suddenly curious.

@claudia

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Ashley suggested that she wasn’t brave enough to no associate with a label and Claudia found that odd and maybe a little sad. She had never thought of her not wanting to be a part of a clique as a brave act. Honestly, she just didn’t fit with most of the labels. And if she did, she didn’t like the people or want to hang out with them, at least not exclusively. She never wanted to be known as being a part of another persons group. She didn’t mind being associated with people as friends, but as part of a group just seemed too much and Claudia had absolutely zero interest. “It’s not that hard.” she casually shrugged off the thought. She hated the idea that you needed to conform to be normal.

Ashley admitted that she liked to annoy her brother too, and then asked about her brother and asked if he was older or younger and suggested that maybe their brothers would be in classes together. “He’s in our year. His name is Toby. He’s the Ravenclaw sitting in the very front.” Claudia pointed him out in the classroom. Everyone assumed that they were twins since they were in the same year, in a way they were. “What year is your brother?” she asked.

@ashley

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Ashley smiled when Claudia mentioned that it wasn't that hard to do things on your own. "Probably not; I'm just not used to being on my own. I grew up with three brothers and we were always going to social events and such so I never really tried before, you know?" She couldn't tell if the girl was tired of the conversation or not, but Ashley was actually finding it kind of intriguing. "Then again, I am at a new school, so I guess I have the chance to start things all over a different way if I want." Which she did. As much as she liked her friends, Ashley didn't want to be part of the "mean girl" clique anymore. Even though she and Eli weren't friends anymore, after him she just couldn't see things the same way. He made her look at people in a new light. 

Her older brother was in the same year as them? Ashley blinked, a little surprised. Were the two of them twins or something. Ashley sat up a little taller so she could see the boy Claudia was pointing to. Toby. He had dark hair, and seemed to be very focused on something, but Ash was far enough away she couldn't tell what it was. She looked back to Claudia. "How much older than you is he?" she asked curiously. Then she smiled as the other girl asked about Joe. "He's a seventh year." She sighed dramatically, "Going to leave me next year." She was joking about it, but Ashley really wasn't excited about that. She hated being separate from Joe. It had only happened once in her life before for a significant amount of time; when he went to school without her for a year. She'd hated it. 

@claudia

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“Yeah, I guess just as many people don’t know you here as do know you, so if you want to change anything, now seems like a pretty good time.” honestly she didn’t care whether the girl decided to take her advice and change or not. It didn’t effect Claudia either way, but it was interesting to think about. She supposed that there was a time in everyone's life where they could reinvent themselves, and for a lot of people, maybe this was that time. Claudia personally had no desire to change. She loved who she was and she didn’t care who didn't. That wasn’t her problem.

“Ten months.” Claudia let out a sigh as she said the words. They had come so close to being in separate years, if Claudia had just been another week in the womb she’d be a fifth year and not nearly as close with her brother all the time, but nope, here they were, Irish twins. Both sixth years. Claudia laughed when the girl feigned drama about her seventh year brother leaving her next year, Claudia wished she had that problem. She’d always be with Toby now. There was no Hogwarts without him. “If it were me, I’d be pushing him out the door.” Claudia teased. Though the idea of a new 7th year caught her attention. “Is he a Slytherin too?” she asked, noting the girls robes. Her own house.

@ashley

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Ashley honesty hadn't thought- prior to this conversation- about how now was a good time to change things up if she wanted to. A part of her did, while the other was nervous about being left alone, her great fear. The thing was, she already was starting to feel a divide between her and her friends from Ilvermorny. They were still in the same house now, she was still a year younger than most of them, but the difference was Eli. How he was always the difference with her, she didn't know, but he was. Eli made her want to be a better person, and being among the "mean girl" group wasn't a good way to be a better person. 

She nodded her head when Claudia agreed that now was probably a good time to change. Ashley was slowly starting to like who she was becoming, but she did want to start changing who she spent her time with. She wouldn't abandon her friends entirely, but making new friends was always a good idea. "Thanks for letting me talk that out with you, Claudia," Ashley answered, actually meaning it. Claudia gave her a lot to think on. 

Claudia admitted that she was ten months younger than Toby and Ashley was a little surprise. She'd expected them to be twins. She smiled, "Well, you don't see that every day. Is it annoying being in the same year with him?" Ash couldn't imagine being in the same year as Joe. She didn't think the two of them would be so close if that were the case. She shrugged when they were talking about Joe, "He'll leave soon enough. I don't spend all my time with him, I don't even spend a lot of time with him, but it will be weird not having him around when I want to talk or something." Ashley was very close to her brother and would miss him a lot next year. She didn't like to think about it. She nodded, "Yeah, he is Slytherin. He's going to try out for the Quidditch team, if you follow that sort of thing. He likes beating." And flirting with any and all girls he ran into, but Ashley didn't need to mention that. 

@claudia

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“It’s extremely annoying.” Claudia agreed with a little giggle. It was annoying having people always compare the two, and it was annoying having everyone think that because they were so close in age that they were best friends and attached at the hip. Don’t get her wrong, Claudia did love her brother and care about him very much, but, he was an absolute git. And most of the time she wanted nothing to do with him. At least they had been put in different houses, but they still spent a lot of time around one another in classes. “I don’t really follow Quidditch, I think it’s kind of obnoxious how they think they’re so cool, actually.” Claudia had a lot of very strong opinions on most things. Dancing was harder than playing Quidditch was, yet she didn’t walk around acting like she ruled the school. “But good for him, I’m sure he’ll get in. The Slytherin team could use some good players.” she heard from previous years that the team wasn’t doing well.

@ashley

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Ashley laughed along with Claudia when she admitted that it was annoying to be in the same year as her brother. Ashley couldn't imagine what that would be like, but it wasn't hard to understand where she was coming from. People probably always thought they were twins and compared the two like they were the same person or something. Ashley chuckled again when Claudia expressed her feelings on Quidditch. "Joe would probably strongly disagree with you on that. I like watching, but I really have no interest in playing a game like that." Unless it was just for fun. Ashley liked to fly, she just didn't like all the violence that came along with the game. She quirked her head to the side a little. "Does Slytherin not have a good team?" Ashley asked curiously. She didn't know anything about their team, not having heard anything previously. 

@claudia

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Caudia just didn’t see the appeal. Quidditch was like every other muggle sport in the world, overhyped. It was a bunch of people, usually without real athletic abilities, chasing balls around. What was so interesting about that? At least dance required some actual skills. “Well if Joe has a problem with it he can take it up with me.” Claudia teased. It was easy saying all that while she didn’t know him, but she didn’t think that it would change anything if she had met him either. Claudia wasn’t one to get scared or intimidated by anyone. Maybe if Joe could dance and showed some actual strength and skill, she’d give Quidditch another try. She doubted anything like that would ever come to pass, though. “Um, it’s fine.” she said with a shrug. “I don’t really know what qualifies as a good team. They win sometimes, I think.” Claudia stayed far away from Quidditch matches. Those were the best days to dance since there was hardly anyone around to bother her.

@ashley