"It is as inhuman
to be totally good
as it is
to be totally evil."

The light scuffles of girls getting ready in the morning were the sounds Callista woke up to on her third week of their Seventh Year.

She sat up and poked her head through the curtains, taking note of who was still in the dorm.

"Morning, Cal," Genevieve Parkinson mumbled as she shuffled past. She was one of her best friends and someone who loathed mornings.

Fallon Reyes was brushing her hair in the shared mirror, a smirk on her face as she watched Genevieve grumble under her breath about the inconvenience of mornings. She caught Callista's eye in the mirror. "Morning, sunshine."

Callista chuckled. She loved her friends. They were like this every morning. She climbed out of her bed and got ready for school.

"You coming, Cal?" Fallon called from the door.

"Yep," she replied, "just grabbing my bag."

With her bag in her hand, the three girls made their way out of the Slytherin Common Room and to the Great Hall.

"Stopping at Potter?" Genevieve asked.

"Yep." It was a weekly occurrence and it has been for years. James Potter was her best friend. They'd been friends for years because of her father and his father working in the same department. They grew close, which led to the two families getting together quite often for lunches and dinners. Since then, the two have been inseparable.

Every Monday, Callista would stop at the Gryffindor table to talk to James, or vice versa if she got there first. It was a way to spend time with him in the mornings if the weeks ever got too busy. It was useful the past two years as the workload increased with OWLs and NEWTs.

She took note of the stares she was getting. Ah, she thought. The paper must be out. The Greengrass' and the Potters made the front page of the Daily Prophet in an interview about their fathers' work.

People often spoke about her, whether it was good or bad, she did not care. She would not deny her reputation, thanks to her father's own reputation. She had to uphold an image and being friends with James made her quite well known.

Popularity was not always a thing to be enjoyed. It meant everyone was watching, all hours of the day. When the buzz died out about one thing, someone found a new thing to talk about. Some even found a small change in her routine was conversation worthy. She did not like being considered popular, rather well-known. Most of the time people did not like her, and it got exhausting having to uphold a certain image. Butt if she faltered, all those people who did not like her would get to comment on it.

But, she also did not mind. She enjoyed the looks she got when she walked into a room with Genevieve and Fallon at her side. People truly did not have anything better to do than gossip, but if they were going to waste energy and time thinking about something, she was flattered it was her. Even if it was bad, it was their loss, not hers.

She walked up to the Gryffindor table, spotting James was easy. She stood behind him to his left and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

"Good morning, Jamie," she grinned. He laughed and wrapped his arm around the back of her knees, nearly tripping her.

"Morning, Cal," he grinned.

"What are we? Chopped liver?" Sirius Black threw his hands up and scoffed, only to be shoved by Remus who rolled his eyes.

"I'm pretty sure, yes," she deadpanned, then turned to smile at Remus and Peter.

James pointed to the paper on the table, "Look how good we look."

She gazed at the photo of the two of them standing together with their parents on either side of them, and her two younger siblings, Stellan and Freya, in front of them.

"Astonishing," she gasped dramatically. "We should drop out and become models."

"You're already basically one." Sirius pointed to an article for her mother's clothing line, which she modelled for, along with Gen and Fallon. Her mother wanted it to be more personal.

"What can I say? I'm just that great." She laughed. "I need to go, I'm starved," she said rubbing circles on her stomach for emphasis. The truth was she could see the looks a few Gryffindors were giving her.

"I'll miss you," James said, grinning up at her.

"I won't be far," she laughed, ruffling his black hair that had grown long enough to have it reach just above his eyebrows.

James ran a hand through his own hair trying to shove the strands back, but they fell onto his forehead again.

A Gryffindor seventh year walked past, shoving Callista. He spat into her ear, "go back to where you crawled out of, snake."

She glared at him but shook her head and said her goodbyes to the Marauders, hoping they did not hear what he said. She was used to it anyway.

She knew why most people hated her. She was friends with James, a Gryffindor, while she was a Slytherin. But what was probably the biggest reason was that she was a part of what the rest of the school called the Slytherin gang.

It once consisted of people like; Lucius Malfoy, Rodolphus Lestrange, their wives, Bellatrix and Narcissa, and Antonin Dolohov. They were all rumoured to be Death Eaters, but they were also bullies and many people hated them.

Now the group consisted of herself, Genevieve, Fallon, Rabastan Lestrange, Severus Snape, Magorian Mulciber, and Aidan Avery. They were occasionally joined by four fifth years, Freya and Stellan, Regulus Black and Evan Rosier.

Most people thought that the Slytherin gang were all pure-blood supremacists. Some of them were, but she knew Genevieve and Fallon were not apart of the bad ones. They all stuck together because the rest of the school was against them. They had each other's backs, even if they did not like each other.

The ones that were pureblood supremacist, were that way because they grew up surrounded by it. She was lucky, she could talk to James and be friends with him because her parents were okay with half-bloods and purebloods, blood-traitor or not. It still was not right, but she could not change their minds, no matter how hard she tried.

So for her, someone who believed all wizards were equal, could interact with all wizards without consequences.

Her friends were not so lucky. So the ones who were good had to pretend to be bad, and the ones who everyone thought were bad could not even think about being good because to them it was wrong. People fear the unknown, and unfortunately, it is something that happens way too often. She wanted to help them but the cost of being good was too much for some.

People like Sirius had somewhere to go, for people like Fallon or even Aidan, they had no one outside of their group, and they wouldn't be able to take them in. Their families were all connected.

Callista sat down next to Genevieve and Fallon, smiling as she greeted the Slytherins surrounding them.

Gryffindors could hate her all they'd like, she would not give up on her friends when the whole world turned their backs on them.

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Hope you like it! <3

Edit: done some small editing. Biggest change is, Callista and her friends aren't in their sixth year anymore, but rather their seventh year. I felt it fit better with the story. And that means Regulus, Evan, and Callista's siblings, Freya and Stellan are in their fifth year instead of their fourth.

– walkingmasterpiece xx