As soon as they entered Hogwarts, Snape had to go sit at his table with his house mates while Ophelia remained close to Potter and Black, though it was obvious she disliked their lousiness.
“Look, badge, there’s something we need to talk about,” Potter started, wrapping an arm around Ophelia’s neck, literally squeezing her close to him.
“Badge? Is that supposed to come from badger? That’s not a good nickname, mate.” Black out-loudly judged Potter’s skill to name people.
But the brown haired boy dismissed his friend completely and continued with his very personal request.
“I need you to move from tonight on. This is my year. I’ll get in the team and I’ll sharpen my wits.” He said, biting his lip as a way to encourage himself, “So let’s change seats.” He stated, looking into her eyes.
Ophelia raised an eyebrow, a bit confused what changing their seats had to do with sharpening his wits, whatever that meant.
“Alright? Where am I supposed to stay then?”
“Between Peter and Remus, of course! I need Sirius close by so could you make Littlewood move too?”
Even though Ophelia agreed with whatever he was scheming, once they arrived at the Gryffindor table, Lily was sitting next to a girl that was in the Quidditch team, Amelia Bragnam that was playing Seeker at the moment, position Potter had vehemently claimed he could play better. On her other side, Lily had Cissney Littlewood and she looked very angry.
“Good luck making Cissney move,” Ophelia mumbled, patting him encouragingly.
Potter remained on his feet, confused and helpless as Ophelia sat in between Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin, just as they agreed in the Entrance Hall. Remus was first to turn to her and smile widely.
“How have you been, Ophelia? Had a good summer?”
Lovely and soft-looking, just like always. She really liked Remus out of everyone in her house because he was the one who didn’t keep secrets from others. He was plain and not very secretive but he was loyal to his house and his mates and that was all that mattered to her.
“Fine. Do you think Spinnard will force us to take extra lessons this year too?”
As soon as she asked, both turned to take a glance at the cold hearted children hater. Professor Spinnard was not happy to stand there, especially with Dumbledore close by. If anything, he would have liked to just leave and lock himself in his room until Monday morning. Even worse, his eyes flickered over the tables and over Ophelia and Remus. The two turned towards each other immediately and faked a conversation.
“So yes, how was your summer? Fine? Ha ha.” Remus laughed awkwardly, still feeling Spinnard’s intense gaze.
“Last year, he only forced me to memorize stuff but never once he let me try it. I was hoping we could meet after dinner, once or twice a week and practice DADA.” She started, having a sudden urge to learn more.
“Where does this idea come from? Will we even have time?” He whispered, leaning towards her. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
Ophelia only gazed at Spinnard before her eyes moved on Dumbledore. The headmaster smiled softly at the child, making something in her stir.
“I think it’s a great idea.” She mumbled, turning to her house mate with purpose in her eyes.
As soon as the first years have been sorted and the Sorting Hat finished its song, the feast seemed to contain a lot of chocolate. Since his plan to stand next to Lily was failing miserably- Lily spending more time talking to Longbottom than Potter, which lessened his plans to sharpen his wits by half- he turned to Ophelia, who looked like she was enjoying herself way too much.
“See, badge. I told you, you should spend more quality time with Remus.” He started, making the two stare at him curiously. “What?” He asked before stuffing his face with a chicken leg.
Even Sirius was confused what was Potter thinking about. He wasn’t speaking much but by the end of the feast, he looked ready to implode if he wouldn’t say something.
“So, Evans. How was your summer?” He asked, in the end.
Almost half of the table turned to watch and even more was already betting on how he will fail and embarrass himself or Lily for that matter.
Lily. That was a whole different story. She wasn’t a friend but only an acquaintance of Potter’s, forced by circumstances to cordially speak to him from time to time. He didn’t see it like that; but again, Potter couldn’t see a lot of things when it came to girls.
“I visited my grand-parents, if you’re so interested.” The redhead answered, more or less.
Potter chuckled awkwardly and nodded before looking down at his plate. It was filled with tarts and chocolate cake so, out of stupidity or too much wit, he grabbed his wand and pointed it at a piece of cake.
“Wingardium Leviosa,” He whispered, the cake actually rising in the air.
Everyone at the table watched intensely, even Dumbledore from what Ophelia caught from the side. The cake was levitating well towards Lily’s plate until it got in front of her and, surprising everyone, exploded. Chocolate covered her whole upper part, especially her face. Everyone started to laugh, even people from other tables.
“Was that funny to you, Potter?” She said as softly as possible. She looked like she was going to cry from being embarrassed in front of the whole school. From the first night back.
“What’s wrong with you Potter?!” Both Littlewood and Bragnam hissed at the poor boy who looked like a deer caught in the headlight.
“I-I didn’t mean to! It was going really well!” He defended himself and from the looks of it, Ophelia believed him and so did Remus.
“Do you think someone played a joke on him?” The brown eyed boy asked, silently inspecting the Hall.
The subject was Lily so out of reflex, her eyes wandered to the Slytherin table; Severus Snape, to be more exact. He was looking down but she could see the ghost of a smirk on his face. Ophelia sighed and turned her attention on Potter. The unknown feud between the two admirers was still in the beginning but for some reason, she was looking forward to how it will evolve.
As soon as it all finished and Dumbledore finished his usual speech, the Great Hall emptied faster than expected. The students were happy to be back and even happier to get to spend more time in the corridors or the common rooms.
“I can’t believe it exploded in her face! What in Merlin’s beard happened?” He exclaimed, assured that Lily left early and was probably bad-mouthing him with Littlewood. “It was going so well, too,”
“No, it wasn’t. It was awful.” Alice interfered, being one of the few girls that didn’t jump at Potter’s throat on the way.
“So much for sharpening your wits,” Ophelia started bemusedly, her eyes glinting mischievously.
Potter seemed to be the only one not surprised that she was talking to him without having homework as a subject. Sirius raised an eyebrow, intrigued what exactly happened between her and his best friend. It wasn’t every day he’d find James with the subject of their jokes.
Seeing the awkward expression on his friend’s face, Potter shrugged it off with,
“We bonded during the train ride. We’re now friends.”
But Ophelia scoffed and that was enough for everyone to know nothing has changed.
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