Traffic in London was worse than Richard imagined. He was growing impatient with the londonese drivers.
“Calm down, we have 15 minutes to spare.” Gloria whispered to her husband.
Sitting in the backseat with Willy, Ophelia couldn’t help but watch the people rushing down the streets as if they were all late for supper. Now that she was aware, she could easily spot the wizards in the crowd. They had a different feel and different taste in clothing.
As a couple just passed by, Ophelia saw an elegant man wearing a top hat and leaning half of his weight on a cane. He met her eyes and smiled, his eyes tinkling with something unrecognizable. Ophelia tilted her head to the side, confused and intrigued what the reason was. The man raised his hat and nodded at her, his eyes mesmerizing her. It was him. It was the same man that showed her magic; the man that brought her to the only place she belonged.
It was Tom.
“Finally we’re moving!”
Richard’s annoyed voice drew her attention for a moment but that was enough for him to disappear in the crowd.
“Please, if your owl disappears again, ask your friends if they can borrow you one of theirs. Last year was horrible! If it wasn’t for that kind man Spinnard we wouldn’t have known anything about you.” Gloria stated worriedly, her eyes begging her daughter to understand.
But something about that sentence triggered even more questions.
“What? Spinnard did?”
Gloria Molley nodded and smiled sadly at her daughter. She was ready to advise her about more things when the train honked loudly. It was time for the students to embark and there was no time for long goodbyes.
Richard helped her daughter carry her trunk on the train and quickly jumped off, unprepared for a journey with more than one wizard.
Looking for a compartment was easier than last year. She first met Frank Longbottom who was searching for his friend. Next, she saw a few Slytherins chatting loudly about dark magic and even complain that Spinnard’s lessons were useless. Ophelia couldn’t deny that; she’s had so many lessons with him and he never let her practice magic but just memorize.
Walking further, Ophelia had the misfortune to see Potter waiting patiently for someone to open the door for him. Unfortunately, he saw her too.
“Oi, Molley! What a pleasure!”
He came right at her and grabbed her arm, pulling her along towards another compartment.
She could barely register what was happening when he pushed her inside and closed the door. Afterwards, he helped her put her trunk away and sat across her with bright brown eyes. He looked sparkly.
“You’re suspicious.” She admitted bluntly.
Potter grinned boyishly and shrugged.
“Is your wife not here yet?”Ophelia asked with an eyebrow raised.
It took a few minutes for Potter to understand that she was joking. The sole thought that she could do it in the first place was mind-wavering.
“Was that a joke?”He asked, leaning towards her.
Ophelia sighed heavily seeing the widening smile forming on his face. She shouldn’t have been so friendly with him, not so early in the year.
“Wow Molley, you’ve changed. Did something good happen during summer?” He questioned, moving next to her yet still not very close since Willy’s cage was in between and that owl was glaring at him.
“No.” She answered quickly.
“Too late. Why don’t you tell your friend James everything you did this summer?” He urged, or more like his eyes were urging her to tell him everything.
For a moment, the thought of telling him struck her mind but it vanished quickly. Potter was an outsider but telling him would mean revealing her weaknesses and that could be a huge mistake.
“I ate cake.” She answered in the end.
“Is that it?” Potter asked, getting a nod in return, “Are you sure? That’s not much.”
She shrugged but Potter didn’t seem convinced at all.
“What kind of cake was it?”
“Expensive chocolate cake.”
“Are you sure there was only chocolate in that cake? You look livelier.”
“Time spent away from Spinnard is heaven, that’s why.” She mumbled, not careful how that sounded.
It was the second time Ophelia joked and Potter had to pinch himself to make sure that he wasn’t imagining it.
“Will you try out for Quidditch this year?” She changed the subject.
“Of course! Charlie’s seen my amazing seeker skills last year. I’m sure I’ll make the team!” He exclaimed, his eyes sparkling at the thought, “You’re not that good at flying, are you? I’ve seen you last year and it was a disaster.”
She didn’t know how to retort to that so she said whatever came to mind first.
“Not as much of a disaster as you around girls.”
Potter’s eyes widened and sincerely, he could not believe whom he was sitting with in the compartment. His eyes traveled down her clothes before they moved up, to her head. She looked the same, more or less, maybe a bit taller and grown but overall, she was the same Ophelia.
“I think we should change your nickname soon. Sour Grape doesn’t fit you anymore, Molley.” He started in all seriousness possible. “I don’t know if I should wait for Sirius or just think about it myself,”
He started to ramble by himself, laying out all these strange nicknames that she wanted to forget. None seemed to be good enough because Ophelia was a spontaneous human being.
“Can you just leave? I’m sure Sirius is looking for you everywhere.”
“Not everywhere. He’s not here yet is he?” Potter combated, his eyes shining with amusement.
Right when he said that, the door opened and the dark haired Black set his eyes on his best friend.
“Mate, I have been searching for you everywhere! Even had a few small chats with the Slytherins hoping you’d apparate behind me!”
“That’s stupid. No one knows how to apparate at this age,” Said a voice that seemed to have been searching for Potter as well. Only, he wasn’t.
“Oh my, smart yet not so funny Snivelly. Shouldn’t you be with your classmates, torturing toads or something?”
Suddenly, Potter’s head rose to his friend, surprising everyone when he fully turned to Ophelia.
“You know Molley, you remind me of a badger. Every time I come to you or ask you something, when you turn to me I can clearly see the eyes of a badger staring back.”
That sudden revelation ended up confusing many people. While Potter decided he did enough and left with Sirius, still talking about badgers, Severus entered with his trunk and placed it near the door, almost as if he wanted to use it in order to block the door.
“So, what have you done this summer?” She asked, seeing how they were staring at each other awkwardly.
“Nothing. I read and met Lily when her good for nothing muggle sister was busy. She’d only screech at us, like a wounded owl.” Severus mumbled, getting annoyed only remembering just many times that happened in three months. “Have you met someone this summer?” The Slytherin asked.
Ophelia stared at him for a few minutes before she shook her head.
“My parents have been eagerly spending time with me since I am gone for most of the year. It’s been suffocating but that’s alright.” She answered nonchalantly.
“Yes, I know how that feels. My father’s been even worse than usually.” The Slytherin boy mumbled, frowning at the memory.”He’s been coming home late and would shout at anyone near him.”
Hearing the tone Severus was using while remembering his father was enough to remember the way Spinnard spoke about Tom. It might have not been as angry and hateful but even their expressions matched.
“Last year, we have been somehow dragged into Malfoy’s schemes with other families. The philosopher’s stone, have you read about it?” She asked, changing the subject completely.
Severus’s eyes widened, making him look like an owl caught by a muggle. He glanced around the compartment, his eyes setting on the door, before he changed seats and sat next to her.
“Malfoy is not the problem here. I had an unfortunate meeting during exams last year with Rodolphus Lestrange. He is the one that will cause trouble.” Severus whispered, leaning really close to his friend.
But Ophelia looked anything but worried about anyone with the name Malfoy or Lestrange.
“It’s fine. Why would he target us anyway? It’s not our fault.” She added.
“He’s targeting you in particular. He thinks that you gave them the fake stone and kept the real one for yourself.”
Snape’s eyes didn’t seem as worried for her safety as his words did, which Ophelia have grown accustomed with. Everything about Severus Snape was tricky and she liked that about him.
“I didn’t. I don’t know where it is but I’m sure Dumbledore does. He seems to know about things before they happen.” She informed him with wide bright eyes.
The brunette was rather small compared to other girls her age but her chubby built was slowly becoming more lean and mature. She was growing up but her eyes seemed to be the same. Indeed, they were green and elongated but if he were to look into her eyes, especially when she was excited, they were round and darker than usually.
“You know, Potter is right. You look like a badger.” He stated, leaning back and getting up to take something from his trunk.
Ophelia blinked, not expecting Severus to agree with anything that came out of Potter’s mouth.
The rest of the ride in the train was spent in silence. Severus was reading a book about magical creatures while Ophelia changed her seat and opted for the one next to the window. It was nice to see the sight passing by fast enough to admire it but not get bored of it.
Her mind was moving from the image of Tom she had met to the image of Tom she had seen in Spinnard’s memories. She couldn’t take her mind off Tom, anyway that led to. He was seen as someone respectable, someone to be admired, someone strong but maybe too strong. Ophelia’s eyes moved on Severus and she tilted her head to the side. If anyone could help her, that was someone with the same amount of slyness as Spinnard.
“Sev, what if one day you find out that you have been adopted? Do you go search for your real parents?” She started, taking him by surprise.
“I’m not adopted, unfortunately.” He mumbled venomously. Then, he remembered that Ophelia was and he remembered what Dumbledore told him before. “But if I was, I suppose I’d be curious who my real parents are and what they do.”
“My mother was murdered right in our house. I can’t remember anything else about that day except Dumbledore’s comforting hand.” She started.
“And your father?” Severus urged, curiosity getting the best of him.
“For a long time, I wasn’t interested who he was since he had never searched for me. But lately, I’ve been thinking about him a lot.”
Severus’ eyes widened, Dumbledore’s voice rising in his mind to a more strict and loud form.
“You shouldn’t. You don’t matter to him and he shouldn’t matter to you. Just like you said, he never came searching for you.” The boy added, feeling his mind ache with Dumbledore’s voice. It felt a lot like he was doing it at the moment, just to be sure Ophelia wouldn’t grow more curious.
The two children were looking at each other when Ophelia suddenly turned her head to the passing surroundings. It was getting dark already.
“What if he did?” She asked, so soft that Severus had to move closer to her.
“What?”
“What if he did search for me? What if he’s searching right now?” She repeated more firmly.
Severus’ eyes widened as his mind became blank and silent.
“He is my father after all. What if he wants to see me? And what if I want that too?” Ophelia continued, still not looking at anything but the view outside.
Severus couldn’t help but stare at her with no idea what to say. Those questions were far above his level of understanding and he was sure he should better not answer in haste.
When the train arrived at Hogsmeade Station, there was one man waiting in the shadows, eyes trailing over every face. He couldn’t help but chuckle when he saw those green elongated eyes of his daughter, narrow at one boy in particular: a Black. He knew the Blacks, met them a few times and they had darkness in their roots. He could agree with such an influence, that until he noticed the colors on his robes.
“A Black in Gryffindor,” He whispered bemusedly, “How unfortunate.”
His eyes moved afterwards on the boy walking by Ophelia’s side. She seemed to like him better than Black. At least, his colors were a nice green and silver but still, he wasn’t content with her choices in people. He might have to intervene…
ns 18.68.41.175da2
