The next morning was a hard one. The party was on Saturday so they only had one day to get back on track before they had classes. Sirius was drooling on his pillow when he was awakened by James falling off his bed.
"I was attacked!" He screamed before he opened his eyes and moaned. "Blimey, my head hurts worse than when I had Ophelia enter my mind."
Sirius groaned and opened one eye. Everything that happened last night came in rewind and he jolted.
"Merlin's beard," he moaned, his head buzzing.
It wasn't better in the common room nor in the Great Hall. But, Ophelia woke up feeling better than expected. She was walking all alone to breakfast when she noticed Nott. She started to walk faster and so did he. It was annoying so she stopped in the Entrance Hall and turned to face him.
"How can I help you this fine morning, Augustus?" She asked in the most polite tone possible.
He kept staring at her before he sighed and rubbed his neck nervously.
"Was the party last night alright?" He asked sounding like he was about to tell her a secret. He even approached her as if he was about to give her some bad news. "Are you alright? Your head I mean,"
Ophelia frowned as she realized what exactly he meant. But how did he know? Nobody was there except Sirius and she was sure he was still very much hungover.
"Was it not...my father who was angry last night?"
"...no. It wasn't him. I can't tell you what happened but it was from inside the school." That was it. He threw these words at her and ran off.
Ophelia blinked, surprised and yet doubtful since the one giving her this information was Nott. She knew he had a crush on her but it was still not enough to believe him. But if it wasn't Tom, who could bang on her mind with such force? Was there another student talented at legilimency? From what she had seen as she casually wandered through their minds, no. Peverell was out of the question, Spinnard was dead and Cerberus would never do such a thing. So then, did she miss something?
"It did seem like it came from nearby," she muttered to herself, going into the Great Hall with a dazed expression. "Great, another reason to worry," she said as she felt the burden on her shoulder grow heavier.
Ophelia was there, standing all alone, eating toast. Severus entered a few minutes after her and he went straight to his roommates. He couldn't help but take subtle glances at his Gryffindor friend but he didn't dare walk and speak to her directly. On the other hand, many students came late because they had drunk way too much and house elves had to either reheat the food or make some more. Dumbledore was aware of what happened in his school, he was rather chuckling under his moustache as he remembered how it was to be young and restless. His eyes fell on Ophelia and he watched her eat with pity but also with respect. He gave her a lot of responsibilities and she wasn't running away, on the contrary, she was evolving into a good leader.
"So much like her father," Dumbledore couldn't help but remark as Rabastan sat next to him. "Ah, did you find what I asked for, Rabastan?"
The young Lestrange looked like he needed a lot of sleep but he nodded nonetheless.
"Should I give it to you? I have to go home tonight."
"No, no, just hide it for now. We cannot have anyone know we have this particular object." Dumbledore whispered, eyes twinkling as they fell on Rabastan's face. "I trust that your accomplice will keep this secret well?"
"How can he not when you advised him to take over Spinnard's Cottage?" Rabastan asked, surprised by how tricky the headmaster was. "I'm surprised he agreed with your plan, considering how my brother and Bellatrix are breathing down his neck."
"Spinnard's Cottage is a special house, my boy. It is surrounded by strong magic that connects the building to its owner. The house is alive in some ways. If the house felt you were a danger to the owner or anyone living there, it would have repelled you."
"But I've been there before. So was Lucius and nothing happened."
"The owner back then was Luce Spinnard. Now, the owner is Ophelia. It's quite an interesting method to see which people she can trust." Dumbledore explained watching Rabastan with a soft smile. Right here, in front of him, looking like he had gone through hell, was the reason why Ophelia will never become like Tom. Love, friendship, all those emotions that Tom considered weak were being used in order to win respect and loyalty. There was no fear that led these young boys to aid Ophelia, but unfortunately, she did choose friends from very proud families.
Rabastan sighed and left to go and take a refreshing shower. He was going to take a nap, eat and then have his little occlumency lesson with Ophelia before having to go and meet Voldemort. He truly hoped that the Dark Lord won't see anything about last night, or else he wouldn't be the only one in trouble.
Rabastan was surprised when Dumbledore asked him for a favor. Even more interesting was the place he had to go to and the person he had to meet. He already knew how to get there and his old friend welcomed him with a manly hug.
"You're still taking care of this place," Rabastan said as he saw the well-tended front garden of Spinnard's Cottage.
"Of course, or else the house would literally throw me out. It almost did when I had to force that house-elf to go in hiding without Knowingall. Luckily, one of my house elves convinced him to leave. That's why you should never free them." Lucius Malfoy said through gritted teeth. "So, what are we searching for?"
"Spinnard's corpse."
"...what?!"
Lucius Malfoy had never thought he will have to dig through dirt for a dead body. At least, not without magic.
"Why are we doing this again? Won't his body be already rotten?" Lucius asked, dirty and sweaty and already regretting his decision to come and help. "Is this even normal? Burring someone in the backyard is a bit weird,"
"His body is what keeps this house standing, or that's what Dumbledore said. He was buried with a satchel, one that apparently holds several important objects."
"Like what? The Immortality Stone?" Lucius joked but Rabastan looked up like a deer in headlight. "...is that what it is?"
"No. We need to find a set of keys." Rabastan explained as his shovel finally hit something hard. The casket was pretty expensive, pearly white, with the crest of the Spinnard family on it: an S with a key on each side and two ravens. "Apparently, his family has been sorted in Ravenclaw for generations."
"Was he a pureblood?" Lucius asked as they struggled to open the lid of the casket.
"No, I heard that at the core, the family was mixed but they married into the right families and rose to a good status."
"You know a suspiciously amount of information about him, Rab," Lucius said as they finally opened it.
"Ophelia told me after she read his diary," Rabastan said nonchalantly as he faced Spinnard's rotting body.
Lucius shook his head in bemusement and concern and chuckled at the girl. She really was something.
"I can't believe I'm about to search a corpse," The blond muttered, scrunching his nose in disgust. However, Spinnard did not smell bad and didn't look half as bad as the boys expected.
Once Sirius and James entered the Great Hall, by reflex they went to sit across Ophelia. Lily and Cissney were there already, talking about girl stuff. As soon as Sirius sat right across from Ophelia, he realized it was a huge mistake. Memories returned all at once, her eyes were dangerous to look at because he couldn't speak anymore. It was really bad so Sirius decided to ignore her.
"Last night was amazing. I can't believe we actually got fire whisky without giving anything in return." James started, stuffing his face with bacon. Then he remembered Lily was there, watching, and decided to put it all on a plate and use a fork and knife.
"Aren't you a distinguished gentleman," Cissney teased the boy, making everyone laugh.
"By the way, where did you go last night?" James turned to Ophelia and asked. "And then Sirius ran out and I couldn't find him either."
"You fell asleep in a corner and started snoring so loudly that Frank really considered leaving you there," Alice said, coming and sitting on Ophelia's left side. Frank was right behind his girlfriend but he chose to sit with the boys. Remus and Peter were the last to arrive and they sat on Ophelia's right side. Therefore, Ophelia was between two perceptive people: Alice and Remus.
"Someone tried to enter my mind last night. I met Nott on my way here this morning and he implied that it was not father, it was somebody from inside Hogwarts." Ophelia explained, not leaving anything out.
"Do we have so many legilimences? I doubt it. If it was a Slytherin, then they must have tried really hard." Frank said remembering how hard it was to throw Ophelia out of his mind.
"What if it was, you know, the Death Eater in the castle," Peter asked, the whole table glancing at Rabastan.
"I'm teaching him occlumency and he is a slow learner. Legilimency is out of the question," she replied and considered one very unlikely culprit. But no, although Severus was good enough to try, it still wouldn't have been so strong. That, and he made a deadly promise.
"Well, he didn't come to the party after all," Alice commented since the subject changed to their apparition trainer. "It worked in our favour. If he came, who knew what else would have happened."
Sirius scoffed and rolled his eyes.
"He wouldn't have done anything. At least he has some pride left and chose to skip."
"He didn't come because he went on an errand," Ophelia started.
"See? He's a Lestrange alright," Sirius interfered, hissing at the older Slytherin.
"For Dumbledore." Ophelia finished. "The errand was for Dumbledore."
Sirius stared at her, straight into her eyes, and his heart skipped once more. He could feel his cheeks redden as he remembered how he felt last night while drunk and how it persisted, just as strongly, now while being very sober.
"Whatever," he muttered, looking down at his plate.
Ophelia didn't notice but Remus did, especially after his chat with Zabini. And he wasn't the only one. Dumbledore felt very amused and happy when he noticed Sirius' sudden reaction.
"My, my, this year has many surprises,"
"Excuse me, what?"
The place for every meeting between Dumbledore and Peverell's friends was a dark and damp pub, owned by Aberforth Dumbledore. He wasn't happy, he wasn't content in general to go along with his brother's antics, but he could also feel the danger brewing in the air.
Cerberus, Idris, Mr. Potter, Hagrid, and Minerva were there, discussing their next moves. And yet Dumbledore found it vital to announce one little detail.
"How is that of interest?" Idris asked not seeing the connection to the thousands of muggle-born wizards dying. "Who cares about one childish crush?"
"You didn't say that when you had a crush on Scamander, did you?" Cerberus asked, furrowing his eyebrows at the Veela-man. Idris scoffed and glared at the former Quidditch player.
"I'm not surprised. When Ophelia arrived at our house, she seemed to prefer spending time with Sirius more than my son. He acted as her protector and there has always been some type of understanding between them. Sirius ran away from a family just as bad as the Gaunts." Fleamont Potter explained with fatherly warmth.
"My Ophelia is growing up," Cerberus said, feeling like he was going to cry. "But isn't Rabastan at Hogwarts right now?"
"That boy is like a ghost. Always pale, always dishevelled, can barely sleep. You're putting too much pressure on him, Albus." Minerva scolded her friend, having in mind the image of a healthier young Lestrange boy.
"Lucius agreed to aid Rabastan in his Death Eater missions," Cerberus said, filling his cup with black tea.
"They're not doing it for us. We're lucky Ophelia is just as manipulative as her father but if placed between the two, we all know where these two boys will run to. They will not help her forever, that would mean death for them and their families. Maybe Rabastan is fine but Lucius is a married man." Idris continued, being more realistic than the rest.
"That's why I'm hoping this crush will develop into something more serious. Destiny works in mysterious ways."
Idris and Cerberus rolled their eyes at Dumbledore's romantic view of the world.
"We will all die, that's for sure," Idris mumbled, taking a sip from his glass of muggle alcohol.
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