Bad Blood | Claudia & Jessie

[Deleted]

Early June 2025

Claudia had been spending a lot of nights with Simon since her accident. Even now that her bone was healed, there was only so much she could do on a weak ankle when it came to professional and competitive ballet. Claudia was a dancer, and it was hard to not be in the studio everyday - but she couldn’t go in. Everyone there still thought she was in a cast. Muggles couldn’t know she was healed magically, so she was just on her own for most of the summer. Which meant she now had a lot of free time to devote to things she had been closed off to, including Simon.

They mostly spent all their time in his room with the door closed, smoking and doing the things they normally had to do in her favorite abandoned classroom. She had never spent any time with him outside of school before, even though their friendship had gone for several years now. And it was kind of weird. But he was comfortable and he was the closest person she had in her life. She cared about him a lot more than she cared to admit. Which was why she was starting to feel better with more than just the physical aspect of their friendship, and staying the whole night sometimes instead of leaving late.

It was about 3 am on this particular night, and Claudia needed to use the restroom. She couldn’t be bothered to find any of her own clothes, and just picked up the first thing she could find, one of his t-shirts that covered down to her mid thigh. That, along with a black, lacey thong, was all she wore as she tiptoed into the hallway. She got a brief flashback to being on her toes on pointe, but shook it out of her head as she made her way down the hall.

@jessiemeadows

[Deleted]

Jessie's summer had turned into something rather unexpected. She was genuinely thrilled to be staying where she was. It was a stark contrast to what she had expected. Not that she had been disappointed when Simon's twin had invited her to stay.. but she certainly hadn't expected this level of enthusiasm from herself. Her days were now filled excitement and nervousness. She constantly hoped to run into Simon. His sister wasn't around much, like the half-vampire had predicted. So the little lioness had ample enough time to read and wait around for Simon. In all honesty, Jessie didn't recognize some parts of herself. She had never been head over heels for a boy. It was a little embarrassing. But at least it seemed that Simon was still in the dark about that little fact. 

That day, however, Jessie hadn't actually seen Simon at all. She had a sneaking suspicion that he was hanging out with someone. A small, jealous part of her wondered if it was a girl, but that feeling quickly went away. Surely not. And so she kept to herself that night. She had stayed up particularly late reading. Finally around three A.M., she decided it was time to sleep. As she made her way upstairs, a small yawn escaped her. She had stayed up far too late that night. When she rounded the corner towards the guestroom, Jessie stopped dead in her tracks. Her stomach dropped at the sight, as disbelief flooded her gut. 

A girl, who she now recognized as Claudia Watkins, was making her way to the restroom, it seemed. A nastier feeling rushed over her when she spotted Simon's t-shirt on her body, with seemingly nothing else on. She couldn't help but to feel inadequate next to the beautiful girl in front of her, though she had only been in her presence for mere moments. The feeling in her stomach worsened. 

@claudia

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Claudia heard footsteps approach her, but she didn’t really tense up. She knew that Simon had said that his parents didn’t really care if he had someone over, and she wasn’t afraid of running into his sister or her friend, even though she was fairly sure that his sister's friend had eyes for Simon. Claudia had nothing to worry about - she and Simon had already talked about it, well, fought about it, and made up. She knew there was nothing going on. But, according to the rumors around the school, his feelings about the situation were different than she suspected Jess’s were.

And to her glee, that was exactly who’s face she was when she looked down the hall. “Oh, sorry, hope I didn’t wake you.” she said, a smirk on her lips. But she figured it was too dark for the other girl to see her expression, not that she was trying to hide it.

@jessiemeadows

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Having her nose stuck in a book all day apparently had drawbacks. The Gryffindor was none the wiser that another girl was in the house, until this very moment. Without realizing it, Jessie's jaw had fallen slack. She slammed her mouth shut as she fixed the girl with a stony gaze. Claudia's sickly sweet tone made her cheeks flush with anger. The girl in front of her didn't exactly have a reputation of being nice. A small part of Jessie was sure that Claudia was actually thrilled to have run into each other. Jessie understood why she was upset to have run into her, because of her feelings for Simon. But she couldn't quite figure out why Claudia seemed anything but indifferent towards the situation. 

Unless the Slytherin girl thought that this would make Jessie upset. Making people upset seemed like something Claudia enjoyed doing in her free time. But still, how could she possibly think this would make her upset? Her gut twisted again, this time from anxiety. Claudia must have some idea of her newfound feelings. Her overthinking brain was already hurting from this short rendezvous.

Jessie crossed her arms, still staring at the girl in Simon's shirt. "No, actually. I was just going to bed," she said, a stiff tone surrounding her words. "What are you doing here?" she asked boldly. Though Jessie needed no explanation. She could gather what happened.

@claudia

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Jessie explained that she was actually just heading up to bed and Claudia didn’t really reply to that. She gave a very slight nod of acknowledgment. She couldn’t really say that she cared what the girl had been up to, or even whether she had actually woken her up or not. But she wasn’t mean most of the time, so she didn’t need to press any further or comment more than she needed to or wanted to. There was a decent amount of waning to make her territory that Claudia did want to ensure, though. Jessie then asked what she was doing here and Claudia couldn’t help the little smirk appear on her lips, “I mean, what do you think?” she asked casually. There really was only one answer. She wasn’t friends with Simon’s sister, and she wasn’t friends with Jessie. She wasn’t really friends with anyone, except a select few, all men now that she thought about it. “I was just heading to the bathroom.” she added. “Don’t let me keep you.” she stepped aside in the hall so Jessie could get past her, if she wished.

@jessiemeadows

[Deleted]

Jessie's jaw stiffened as Claudia's response confirmed her thoughts. A hot feeling caught in her chest. Jealousy, she thought it was. She couldn't fathom why Simon would want to spend time with such a cold person. She watched as Claudia stepped aside, as if to let her pass. But the Lioness wasn't quite ready to be done with the encounter. Another bold feeling swept her, one that could potentially get her in trouble. "You shouldn't mess around with Simon," she declared, arms still crossed against her chest.

She knew of Claudia's reputation, and she was sure Simon didn't care. But in that moment, Jessie most certainly cared. Perhaps a little too much. In a sudden afterthought, she realized what she said could potentially get back to Simon. Another bout of anxiety hit her, and she immediately regret her words. It was odd to feel so protective over Simon all of the sudden. Lately, though, a lot of things seemed odd when it came to Simon. 

@claudia 

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Jessie crossed her arms over her chest, not walking past, and instead reported that Claudia shouldn’t ‘mess around’ with Simon. Claudia couldn’t help a scoff escape through her lips. Claudia wasn’t messing around with Simon, well, sexually, she definitely was. But she had a feeling that wasn’t the meaning of the phrase that Jessie was using when she said what she did. “Simon’s a big boy, he knows exactly what he’s dealing with.” Claudia replied easily. She and Simon had been intimate for over a year now and, though it was hard for her to admit, there was a lot more than just sex between them. He admitted it. He had told her. But for her, it wasn’t as easy. And he was well aware of that. “And who are you to judge our relationship? To think you know anything about it?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at the girl. Simon had told Claudia exactly what he saw Jessie as. And while they’re relationship was complicated, their trust was secure. Especially after their last fight.

@jessiemeadows

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Claudia's scoff caused her blood to boil. As if the whole thing were a joke to her. Simon's a big boy, he knows exactly what he's dealing with, the girl in front of her said. Jessie cast a quick glare at Claudia. An internal battle raged inside her, a tug of war between the decision to respond or to tuck tail and run. "Does he though? Sue me for thinking that Simon would want someone who was kind to him. I hardly think you're capable of that." Jessie could feel an attitude settling into her. Nothing like what Claudia was giving off, but still there.

Claudia's next statement caught her off guard. Jessie quickly recovered though, for fear of looking like a fool while standing her ground. "Because I'm a friend. I wouldn't expect you to know anything about friends though." After a few seconds, Jessie continued on. The longer that Jessie stood in front of the beautiful Slytherin, the less certain she was about making a stand. But she cared about Simon, and he deserved to have someone looking out for him in this manner. 

@claudia

[Deleted]

Jessie questioned whether Simon did know what he was dealing with and Claudia’s smirk grew. It just went to show you that you really couldn’t judge what went on behind closed doors. And Claudia and Simon had spent a lot of time behind closed doors. A LOT of time… Jessie seemed to hate Claudia no matter what Claudia said or did, and of course, she didn’t mind. Why would she let it bother her? She didn’t worry about people's opinions of her unless she either cared about them or wanted to impress. Neither of those fit the bill. “I can assure you, he does. And he has for a long, long while.” she said that he deserved someone kind and that she didn’t think Claudia was capable of it, and then went off about how she’s Simon’s friend. “Wow, you must be really perfect to be judging someone that you don’t know at all and have never spoken to before. I should really aim to be just like you, now, shouldn’t I?”

As cold as Claudia was, she never really went out of her way to be rude or mean to anyone. But she also was hot headed and didn’t take anyone’s crap. She knew she was better than that. “So tell me then why he would choose to spend all of his time with me, when we’re at school and out of school, with me? If I’m so awful to him, why would he want me around? Did you think of that? He’s a fair judge of character.” she shrugged.

@jessiemeadows

[Deleted]

As the moments waned on, Jessie grew more and more unsure of herself. It seemed as though she made a mistake with her actions. Her confident stance in the hallway began to falter. It became apparent what a mistake it was as she ran out of things to say in response. Now she was actually fearful of this interaction getting back to Simon. "Of course I'm not perfect," she said, finding it difficult to add more. Jessie was more aware than most people how imperfect she was. Her sisters made sure to let her know. Jessie ran a nervous hand through her hair. It was past time for her to go to bed.

A final streak of bravery hit her, as she made a final statement, "Look, I don't know what goes on in the head of a teenage boy. Hormones, and whatever. Just... be kind to him." Jessie finally made her way past Claudia, and into the guest room. She closed the door softly behind her before collapsing onto the bed, certain that sleep would be hard to come by tonight.

[Deleted]

With her last, pathetic little comment, Jessie moved past Claudia and into the room that she assumed the girl was staying in for the holidays. It was slightly annoying that she was staying here, but Claudia knew that Simon had nothing to do with it and that it was his sister who had invited her to stay. She did feel kind of bad for her. The Quarantine wasn’t easy for anyone, but especially for those students who lived abroad. But that still didn’t make Claudia want to like the Gryffindor. It was more than clear that Jessie was interested in Simon, Claudia had known that since the rumors around Hogwarts had started. She had felt threatened at first, until Simon told her the truth. And then he had said those words, the ones she dreaded. That he cared about her too much to hurt her like that. Even thinking about them left a hollow pain in her chest.

She finished her business and then went back into Simon’s room. She crawled back into the bed, trying not to wake him, but she snuggled up to him, feeling the warmth radiate from him. Claudia rarely got sentimental. But in this moment, she just wanted to appreciate what she had.

@jessiemeadows
mentioned simon sixten svendsen

THE END