The morning of February 14th was one that foresaw the events of the day: it was sunny and a lot warmer than the last few weeks, as if nature wanted to give a break from coldness for these young and restless kids in love. It was such a good day that even Willy, an owl that would hardly fly in with the mail, sneaked inside her room with a letter tightly bound to his leg. He didn't wake up his owner but stared at her with big brown eyes as if he knew something she didn't. It was such a good atmosphere in the castle that even the black cat that has been roaming around wore a mischievous glint in his green eyes as he strutted to the Entrance Hall with new found enthusiasm.
And yet when Ophelia woke up, she stretched and groaned in her pillow. She checked to see if her roommates were still sleeping and found the beds empty. She sighed heavily and slowly, oh so slowly, she walked inside the bathroom for a shower. She spent a lot of time getting ready afterwards and encouraged herself mentally before walking into the common room. Thankfully, very few students were there and most of them were talking about one thing or another, nothing romantic thank Merlin.
"Morning Molley!" Ophelia jolted at the sound of Black's booming voice. She swallowed nervously as he threw her a large grin, one that sent her the right message. "Ready for today?"
"What's today?" she asked as if she didn't know already.
"Valentine's Day, of course. I prepared a schedule-" as he said that he took a piece of paper from his pocket, one that looked like it's been there for years not days. He unfolded it slowly while looking at how she seemed to twitch with every move. In the end he laughed and threw it away. "I'm just messing with you, Molley. You don't have to be so uptight, it's just an hour or two with yours truly."
"I only want to find out who my secret admirer is and be done with it." she grumbled, feeling like Sirius was going to mess her day up.
"And what will you do after you find out his identity? Freeze his heart?" Sirius asked jokingly but she looked like she was genuinely pondering on that possibility.
"Maybe...I'll decide when I see him. If he is real, that is."
Sirius watched her stand there thoughtfully and glanced at the door out. "Aren't you going to breakfast?"
"Aren't you?" She retorted sharply.
"I was waiting for you."
That took her by surprise because she made an expression that Sirius had never seen before. He chuckled to himself and wrapped one hand around her shoulders, dragging her with him.
"You don't have to be so touchy, you know." She whispered feeling uncomfortable as they walked.
"I actually do. I want to see everybody's reactions. Oh look, Remus kept us some seats."
He literally dragged her to the table, laughing all the way there and making it impossible not to stare at them. She did not like that at all. Her eyes wandered to the staff table and saw Dumbledore chuckling to himself bemusedly while Idris was shaking his head. It would have been interesting to see Cerberus' reaction after she told him about Rosier. He would probably approve wholeheartedly of Sirius no matter what family he's from.
Remus was the first to notice the loose hand around her and he was confused. Worse was that Sirius did not let her go completely even when they sat down.
"Did you lose a bet by any chance?" Remus leaned in and asked.
"What's that supposed to mean?! Can't I show my love to my dear housemate?" Sirius interfered acting like he was offended.
Remus watched them skeptically but Frank chose to come at the right moment and notice the exactly same thing.
"Did I miss something?" he asked glancing between the culprits and the rest of his housemates. "Did something happen overnight? Or am I just that dense?"
"Firstly, you are dense, Frank. Sorry to burst your bubble, you could be more careful of your surroundings. And people in those surroundings." Potter mumbled although he seemed to be trying to balance his attention between what was happening and what he was reading.
Sirius laughed loudly which made Peter follow his example. Remus rolled his eyes and turned to Ophelia, pushing Frank in the back of his mind for now.
"What's going on?"
"Nothing. Sirius is just helping me with something. I'm having a bit of reluctance now that it's actually happening but it did seem like a good idea back then," Ophelia mumbled as she threw a glance at her 'date'. Maybe she should have asked Remus or Severus to help her rather than Sirius the brat Black.
"Aren't you curious why your best friend is being so fishy with a person he bullied for a while?" Alice asked James seeing how he was watching but not contributing to the overall amazement.
"You clearly don't know what bullying is if you believe Sirius ever did it with Molley. It might have sounded mean but he was just joking. We were children." He made it sound so common that even Ophelia was surprised.
"We still are, Potter. And you do bully students, Slytherin students." Lily interfered glaring at her classmate.
James looked up into the ginger's eyes and for a moment he almost looked apologetic before his whole face scrunched into an ugly scowl.
"Slytherins are sly and they love starting petty conflicts. Should I remind you how they threw that first years' Hufflepuff, what was his name?"
"Jeremy," Remus added.
"Right. That Hufflepuff Jeremy's cake into his face. On his birthday. And they transfigured his presents from his family into snakes. That poor bloke almost had a heart attack. And that was like, last week!"
Ophelia shifted uncomfortably in her seat as Potter's eyes flared up at the mention of Slytherins and they cunning trait. He was right and he had every reason to be annoyed with a majority of the serpent house and yet Ophelia couldn't help but feel a bit conflicted. She was sure that if she were to be placed in between the two sides, it would be difficult to choose.
"Morning!" Cissney came rushing with a bright smile on her face. At her appearance the tension dimmed and attention was fully moved on her.
"Well isn't someone all prettied up today," Frank pointed out seeing how Cissney took extra care of her image. "Giddy for your date with Zabini, huh? Finally happening."
"A Slytherin," Lily whispered to James who decided to ignore her in return.
"Shut up Longbottom. I'm way too happy to care what you say." She said and her eyes moved slowly on Sirius' hand still tight around Ophelia. She didn't comment but her eyes sparkled as if she knew something they didn't.
"I'm actually quite proud of you, Cissney. You wanted something and you have it now." Alice said with a wide smile. She looked at the Slytherin table for the black boy but he was nowhere in sight. "He's probably planning the date."
"Doesn't have to. I'm more than happy to go wherever he wants, even the Quidditch shop."
"How classy of you," whispered Sirius and rolled his eyes. "Better hurry and reserve a table at Madam Puddyfoot's."
"Maybe I will. You bother yourself with your own date." she barked in reply but it only brought a mischievous expression on Sirius' face. Ophelia wished he didn't just get the stupid idea to drag her in there too.
Time passed incredibly fast and Ophelia couldn't believe she had to follow Sirius around just to find out who liked her. Maybe she overreacted at that moment in time because now it all seemed so petty. In the end, it really didn't matter who was this secret admirer; the problem was Rosier and his knowledge of this issue.
"Maybe we should abandon and return to the castle and play gobstones." She mumbled being both cold and unprepared mentally.
"Are you really so worried to spend some time with dear old me? We've known each other since we were 11!" He started nudging her playfully, "You know more about me than I know about you, I should be the worried one."
"There's nothing to know. The castle is not exactly secretive. Rumors zoom around every day and most of them are false anyway."
Sirius glanced at her and chuckled. She was looking ahead with her hands in her jacket and a red beanie on her head that was threatening to fall over her eyes. He was stunned for a second because she almost looked pretty to him.
"What?" She asked turning to look at him.
"I don't think I ever saw you so distressed before. Come on, loosen up. I promise you'll have fun." He said with a wide smile before he placed his hand through hers. "Date or not, look at it as our bonding time."
Walking around Hogsmeade with Sirius Black was fun but also challenging. She caught the stares of a few girls along the way but not one boy, which was disheartening to say the least. She did not represent a fancy to anyone, and she had mixed feelings about that.
"D'you like sweets, Molley?" Sirius grabbed her hand and didn't wait for a reply before he pulled her inside Honeydukes.
Ophelia didn't seem to enjoy the mess of children inside especially the girls dropping amortentia in chocolate cauldrons before giving them as present to their crushes.
"Girls can be so scary." She mumbled to herself before going for a licorice. "Oh, sorry," she said when someone also reached for one and their hands touched. Looking up she came face to face with Rosier.
"Oh my, Molley, how nice to see you. Are you here searching for ways to get the attention of someone? Or maybe you are more interested if someone is searching for yours?" Rosier spoke those words with a knowing glint in his eyes and a smirk that annoyed Ophelia instantly.
"Why are you here? I thought you believe yourself far above such common and useless holidays." She spat back trying her hardest not to take him on. She knew it would be hard but not impossible.
"Have I ever said that? Have you seen those words come out my mouth? I don't think so. I actually find it quite joyous. You just made it better right now."
Ophelia could feel the sparkles of magic tinkle in her fingers. It was so tempting to petrify him and then torture him slowly. She had a flash of her father killing that man right in front of her before it changed to the poor state he got Cerberus in. Oh she wanted to do that to Rosier so much.
But all that anger vanished when she felt a warm hand engulf her cold and trembling fist.
"Is there a problem here? This guy's annoying you, Ophelia?" Sirius asked glaring at Rosier.
"No need to get your puppy all riled up against me, Molley. Not yet at least." He chuckled and left the shop, leaving behind him a trail of malice and anger.
Ophelia didn't react afterwards to anything. Sirius tried to comfort her and get her to forget their bleak meeting with Rosier but she didn't sketch a single smile. In the end he pulled her into the Three Broomsticks for a pinch of buterbeer and sat in a corner from where they could see the whole room.
"What are you doing? Still in a bad mood?" He asked after taking a sip. She was looking, or even surveying the whole pub with a hawk's eye.
"I'm checking," seeing how he didn't understand she continued, "I'm particularly good at legilimency so I took a quick look at every guy in this room."
"Me too?" He asked pointing at himself with a mischievous grin.
"No. I don't want to see what goes on in that pretty head of yours."
"So my head is pretty?" He joked making her chuckle. It was a lot nicer having her enjoy herself rather than be a moving ball of anger.
"Some may say you have handsome features, yes."
"What do you say?" He seemed to love messing with her and she wasn't exactly unresponsive.
Unfortunately for Sirius, a Ravenclaw girl entered the pub hand in hand with a tall, broad shouldered smiling Slytherin. The playful glint in Ophelia's eyes vanished and Sirius had to check the reason. He noticed her staring at the couple sittingg at a nearby table, closer to the window. He knew who they were but couldn't point out why it affected Ophelia so much.
"Seems like Lestrange is back to dating his half blood ex. They've been on and off for months." Sirius commented the sight. Rabastan Lestrange was quite relaxed for how much pressure his family was placing on him.
"Is that so? Is that what he does when he's not following his father around?" Ophelia's voice was almost threatening. Her eyes narrowed and she couldn't help but feel outraged by what she was seeing.
"He's in the castle most of the time, studying. He can't lose to his perfect evil brother, can he?" Sirius asked sarcastically and rolled his eyes.
"With a half blood nonetheless. He must really want to piss Rodolphus off." She said her eyes not once leaving that side. The Ravenclaw smiled sweetly at the boy and he pecked her on the lips and Ophelia looked like she was going to make them both explode.
"If looks could kill, they'd obviously be dead by now." Sirius mumbled before taking another sip. "Didn't expect you to fancy Lestrange." He added sounding quite disappointed.
"I...don't." She said looking at her actual date. "It's something else. He used to tutor me in-um...stuff and then he stopped. He stopped talking to me altogether." And she knew it wasn't a girl at fault but her father and yet she couldn't stop being bothered.
"I've gotta admit this is the first time my date ended up getting jealous on someone else with me right in front of her."
"Those girls liked you so of course they would concentrate only on you. I don't." she said it in such a way that sounded quite bad for the dark haired Gryffindor.
Sirius leaned back and placed his hand on his chest, his expression rather funny.
"I am deeply wounded." He said in a voice that was a mix of amusement and offense. "I shall never recuperate from this emotional trauma." He added actually getting a short laugh from her.
It looked like her attention was back on him as long as he could entertain her but that stopped when a group of boys entered, one of them a figure Sirius knew well. He frowned and unconsciously jumped on his feet, looking like a curious young lad.
Ophelia glanced at the bar and noticed Rosier with Nott, Mulciber and to their dismay, Regulus. They barely stepped in when Rosier started to gloat about his father's personal meeting with the Dark Lord. It seemed that his work over the years has finally paid off and he was now going to be in charge of sensitive affairs in the ministry. She didn't have to read his mind in other to believe him and to Black's terror, Regulus was quite interested.
"If you stand by my side, you'll have a lot to gain, Black. At least one of you should be wise and loyal to their ancestry." He said loud enough for Sirius to hear but it seemed Rabastan was touched by it too. Truthfully, it was hard to know who Rosier was attacking nowadays because he seemed to have grown a little feud with Rabastan.
"That means you'll follow Rodolphus soon, Evan? I thought we have to graduate before taking the oath." Nott said sounding hopeful.
"Anyone can join the dark lord, aren't I right, Rabastan?" Rosier targeted him directly looking like he was enjoying himself way too much. "As long as you don't mess around with mudbloods and half bloods. Purity is important." And then his eye fell on his favourite subject. "Oh, Molley, still on your date I see. Isn't going so well, is it?"
At that moment if she was more attentive she would have easily figured whose face scrunched in a glare at Sirius but she was focused on Evan. She was so angry and tired of his games that she got up and approached him like a snake approaching a mouse.
"You said I'm interesting, well I will prove to you that I'm not. Let's duel and get this over with. I will lose and you can go your merry way and let me alone." She said her tone incredibly monotone.
"Will you lose, Molley? Already made up your mind?" He asked taunting her with that same evil glint in his eyes. "But your boyfriend here won't let that happen."
"I don't need Sirius to fight my battles."
Rosier raised an eyebrow and chuckled, "I never mentioned which boyfriend, though." He glanced at someone in the room and added something, she could see his lips moving but she couldn't hear a thing. Instead she felt something like a hiss in the back of her mind and suddenly saw herself facing a very familiar pair of icy eyes.
"I don't need Vernon to fight my battles. I'm not afraid of you!" She heard herself say.
"Our child will not be born away from me. We discussed this and I do not like to repeat myself."
"You're not even around for most of the time!"
"Don't dare defy my word, Lillian. You know what will happen if you act recklessly." He said those words in such a vile way that it made her shudder.
She blinked and came back to real life when someone placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked at the door and could swear she saw a snake hissing at her, but there was nothing.
"Come on, let's leave. You too Reg," she heard Sirius say.
"You have no right to order me around." Regulus snarled at his older brother.
"What about them then?"
For a moment she heard hope in Sirius' voice and a short silence made her think that Regulus did doubt his choice but that soon ended when he answered.
"They are my friends, my housemates. I'll always be loyal to Slytherin."
Sirius sighed and shook his head in disappointment before he pushed her softly out. That was enough of a show.
The way back to the castle was silent for most of the time. Sirius was angry and Ophelia was thinking about her parents. Lillian had a lot of guts to stand up to someone as intense as Tom and Ophelia was almost proud of her. She couldn't do it and she was his daughter; there was this mesmerizing factor about her father that, as proved, not even Spinnard could fight and he was one of the greatest legilimence. She wished he could have been there, waiting in the castle with his usual scorn, scolding everybody in sight and yet coming to the rescue if it was needed. It was so odd how she felt so close to someone that wasn't really a pleasant companion while alive. And then she remembered Rabastan and her blood boiled in her veins.
"We failed." she muttered disheartened.
"It's Nott. I saw him glaring at me when Rosier mentioned I was your boyfriend and then Rosier himself turned to him. He probably thought he was subtle but nothing he does ever is." Sirius answered still in a grumpy mood.
"Nott...I guess that makes sense. I did enter his mind once and saw a hint or two." she commented. One glance at Sirius and she noticed he couldn't care less about her problem now. He was so bothered by his little brother and his life that Ophelia knew, she was super sure, that he was going to make it worse by interfering. "Regulus is young. It's not like he will hang around with Rosier forever."
"No. It won't be Rosier but there will always be someone else that he will cling onto, preferably a dark wizard. That won't change and it's all my parents' fault. They've always been pushing us to meet and befriend pureblooded assholes."
"You seem to miss out one important detail. Regulus is your brother."
"I'm pretty sure I've known that since he was born, Molley." he said sarcastically, not yet understanding what she meant.
"He is your brother, Sirius. Just because he tries to fit in does not mean his intentions are the same as his housemates'. He has doubts about the dark arts and the dark lord because he shares your blood. Do you understand now? You are already inside him in a dormant state, no matter how weird that sounds, because in the end you are his brother." she explained, trying to make Sirius feel better but also assure herself that she also had some of her mother's traits in herself that she hasn't explored yet.
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