Ophelia created several scenarios regarding the secret of her family and how it could jeopardize her remaining school years. She did take into consideration a number of aspects, such as the personalities of each Gryffindor and their standing against Voldemort. She was aware that some of them will hate her, some will judge her and a very limited number of her friends will accept her for who she is. She thought about it for a long time but now that the moment has arrived, she felt her hands and legs shake in fear.
"What did we just hear...? The Dark Lord's daughter?" Frank asked again, approaching Ophelia slowly. "What's going on? What does he mean?"
Ophelia's eyes widened as she glanced to Sirius for help. The poor boy was even more freaked out than her because he started to ramble about how it was a slip of the tongue.
"You didn't hear me right, Frank. I said-"
"I'm not an idiot, Sirius. None of us is." Alice took her boyfriend's side and the little group of Gryffindors, the ones who have been by Ophelia's side since their first year were now staring at her patiently.
"It's true. I have also found out in recent years. The Molleys were my adoptive parents but now that they are gone, I only have my father. His name is Tom. Tom Marvolo Riddle, and he is the Dark Lord." Ophelia started, feeling like she was about to faint. "I didn't choose him, I didn't choose to be in his family nor did I expect him to seek me out. But he did, from the very beginning, and I don't trust him, I had seen the terrible things that he did, how easy it is for him to kill and-" tears were by now dropping down her cheeks, "I had felt his wrath, I had felt his anger, his greed, his need for power and it's overwhelming. He is overwhelming. But I'm not like him. I don't agree with his ideals, with his conduct, with anything he does. I'm not like him in that sense but he still is my father."
Ophelia was a mess. She was crying really hard and her legs gave out. Luckily, Sirius caught her and caressed her back softly as nobody spoke a word.
"We know. Actually, we figured it out already." Lily said coming to Ophelia's side.
"What..?" Sirius and Ophelia asked looking up at their friends.
"At Grimm's Hollow. Some of us started to think about the person the Death Eaters mentioned. You and Sirius were the only ones who left in such a hurry. And the way James reacted, we understood that the rumours were true and that it might be you." Frank explained with a sympathetic smile.
"We know you're not like him, Ophelia. Even if you obviously are his blood, we know you are different. It's in the way you care for your friends, for the school, that you differentiate from him." Lily explained, tears gathering in her eyes at the state of her friend.
It was a shock mostly because Ophelia had never shown any weakness in front of the other Gryffindors, or at Hogwarts in general. She had a very well-built system of defence and would rarely lose her calm so for Lily and the rest, it was nice to see Ophelia's human side.
"So, you don't hate me?" Ophelia asked in a meek voice.
"No. At least not without a clear reason. You said it yourself, it's not like you can choose your family." Alice added as she came next to Lily. "But I'm not so sure about the others. If the whole school starts believing the rumours then..."
"It's alright. You don't need the rest of the school, Molley. You just need us." Sirius said, feeling a lot better now that things worked out in their favour.
When James Potter entered the common room, his eyes met the odd sight of Lily, hugging Ophelia on the ground while Alice, Frank, and Sirius were just standing there. Well, Sirius looked ready to push Lily off.
"What did I miss?"
The next morning, Ophelia felt rejuvenated. All her friends knew the truth about her family and she still couldn't believe how nice they were. She got up and rubbed her eyes groggily. While doing so, she watched her roommates and noticed that none of the girls were acting differently. Ophelia smiled and went to take a shower with her heart light and a positive attitude.
The day proved to move very slowly, with many Slytherins creating chaos left and right. Ophelia wanted to eat breakfast feeling good about herself, but two boys sat on each of her sides. Luckily, one was Nott, but the other one was Avery.
"Why so happy Molley? Did you finally come out with your secret?" Avery asked with a loud laugh.
"Actually, yes, I did." The girl was shocked at how he could guess without even reading her mind. "What about you? Finally killed somebody?" She asked back, taking the boy aback. Nott couldn't help chuckle which got Avery even angrier.
From that point on, many people tried to change her optimistic moment and none succeeded. Not even Katie's glares and comments could break Ophelia and her friends were there, every single time, in every class, behaving normally. Slytherins tried for weeks to get Ophelia to snap, for some reason, but she just couldn't bother.
"Why are they trying so hard to annoy you? Did they make some kind of bet?" Frank asked, sitting across Ophelia during a Friday dinner.
"Maybe they just have a death wish." Sirius said before stuffing his face with chicken wings.
"Do you think that maybe Rabastan told them to do something?" Alice added, glancing at the former student. Actually, Rabastan himself was talking to Slughorn, not quite as scornful as he has been acting during apparition lessons. "Why is he so content?"
Ophelia bit her lower lip as she thought about a few things that have happened in the last month. Like her occlumency lessons with none other than her ex-boyfriend.
It was right after DADA with Zabini when the professor himself asked Ophelia to stay behind. She raised an eyebrow, curious what he wanted.
"The Room of Requirement, every weekend, an hour before the curfew," Zabini said while gathering his books and feathers.
"...excuse me?"
"Occlumency lessons with Rabastan. As I understood, you agreed that it is in everyone's benefit if you teach him how to filter the information he gives your father." Zabini said watching how Ophelia's mind seemed to be remembering that specific moment. Her eyes always seemed to give away what she was trying to cover, which at the moment was disbelief.
"But-"
"He's very excited to help you to focus on apparating as well. I'm sure you know already that Rabastan is a good student who does everything by the book, including living his life." Zabini found it important to add the last part. "Good luck. Now, you can go. Please, go."
Ophelia smiled sarcastically at him but did leave. She just had so many thoughts swirling in her head. She didn't truly agree with helping him but she knew everyone was right and it would be better to have a glimpse of what her father was doing.
So she ended up in the Room, already prepared with a chair and mirrors around it. Looking at her reflection, Ophelia couldn't help but notice just how much she resembled Tom. Not the one that wanted to punish her after she ran away, but the one she met when she was a child, the one that took her to Diagon Alley and showed her that she wasn't alone.
And then a hand appeared on her shoulder and the youngest Lestrange joined her. Honestly, it was the first time she ever noticed how tall she was. She was reaching his nose, which was pretty tall, around the same height as Sirius. Rabastan had indeed lost weight and muscle because he had no time for himself. They did match, and they didn't at the same time.
"Sit."
He did without any question.
"What do I have to do?" He asked with eager eyes.
"Nothing for now. You'll have to learn how to feel my presence in your mind before you can block me."
And that was really the beginning of some very interesting afternoons. She could roam his mind with little to no rejection, not that Rabastan could do anything.
For example, she could easily find memories of his perfect Slytherin childhood. His life has always been so well thought out, there was no inferiority complex in being the younger brother of extraordinary student Rodolphus.
"You don't feel any hate towards your brother. You don't really feel much in general, do you?" She asked after their second lesson.
"Rodolphus and I are two different people. Besides, we used to rarely fight since we had different interests."
"What changed? The Dark Lord?" She asked with a roll of her eyes.
"You'll find out next week." He said leaning towards her, having her heart skip a beat.
That night, both Ophelia and Rabastan couldn't go to sleep. They were both in their beds, staring at the ceiling, contemplating their choices in life.
A ball of black fur surprised Ophelia, the kitten snuggling next to her. She caressed his head softly, making him purr before he looked into her eyes. So many people were searching for him, Tom wanted him so badly to die but she never wondered why before. What was that Peverell knew?
That was a recurring issue that she started to have afterwards. She knew that Tom wanted immortality and he wanted her to be one of his Horcruxes, however many they were, but was that what he wanted from Peverell? It didn't make sense, ordering his death but still wanting his memories.
"You're frowning. Did something happen?" Rabastan asked during their next session of occlumency.
"Except you not helping me at all during apparition lessons?" She asked, her eyes focusing on him once more.
"I watch you more closely, I give you more notes but I can't do it for you. Maybe you just need to find a place you really want to be in." He replied using the same sassy tone as her. "Where do you want most to be right now?" He asked narrowing her eyes.
Ophelia stared at him carefully, surprised by how intensely he was looking at her. She raised an eyebrow as she suddenly realized what he was doing.
"Are you...trying to read my mind right now?" She asked, more amused than anything.
"Do you feel anything?" He asked curiously if it worked.
"Yes. I feel like you should sit and focus on throwing me out of your mind before you try to enter mine." She said with a fake smile before harshly going straight to his more recent memories, like for example the day when he broke her heart.
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