"How the heck do we create an army when my hand is so sore?" James asked feeling like a potato. "It's even worse than History of Magic, where I actually sleep. My eyes hurt from always looking at that book, then my parchment, then again the book and so on! I swear, she's doing it especially to torture us." He continued glancing with a nasty look at the staff table. Selwyn was there, eating all by herself. She looked up as if she knew she was mentioned but James couldn't care less at this point. "I hate her more than I hate Rosier."
"Speaking of, Rosier has been going all nuts lately. Poor muggle-borns can't even take a step in the halls because of him and his minions and I heard he actually tortured a third year Slytherin, one of his own." Peter said before their whole group took peeks at the perpetrator.
"Even more reason to be creating our little band of bandits."
"What should we name it?"
"The Gryffindor Brotherhood," Said Peter with excitement. It was quite clear that the four of them were far more involved than Ophelia herself.
"It won't be only boys and there won't be only Gryffindors." Ophelia mumbled. "We're going to have to invite people, which will have to be done in a subtle way." She added glaring particularly at Potter. "Since you seem so happy and can't wait to begin, why don't you make the plan?"
"But Dumbledore asked you to be in charge." Potter said although he very much loved being the boss in anything mischievous.
"We all live during this dark time when friendship and loyalty are placed under doubt. As part of this -whatever will be, you can also take responsibility. Feel free to come up with ideas for sneaking around because that's what we will be doing starting next week." Ophelia closed her somewhat encouraging and somewhat preparing speech before she ate one last strawberry cupcake and left.
"I wish I knew what is going on in her mind." Potter said looking at Ophelia retreating figure.
"Maybe if you try hard enough, you may be able to. She'll be the one to teach us occlumency, remember?" Remus said. "I'm more worried about the sneaking part. When it's just three or four people is manageable but with loads of students, it will be hard. Besides, professor Selwyn will definitely notice the lack of complaining during her classes."
The group of boys turned and looked at the professor but she was already gone.
Considering how times have changed even in Hogwarts, when Ophelia mentioned the change in values, she was not wrong. It was obvious just by walking down the halls that friendships turned into alliances and loyalty became feeble. It wasn't just about being a students in a house, it was about the survival of their families.
"I-I'm sorry! Pl-p-please don't curse me!" Yelled a third year Hufflepuff as he was hanging upside down with a group of Slytherins around- no, she noticed that not all of them wore green.
"D'you hear that? This little weasel says he is sowy! Oh my, momma's boy's being scared!" It was the poignant voice of that prick Avery. "But you know what, Willoughby? That is exactly the same way your mother pleaded when I had her against the wall." He said with a look of disgust. "Filthy muggle. She screamed for your father but you know what? He didn't come to help. Some brains in that big and bold head of his."
Willoughby was crying by now and his snot was dropping on Avery. He scrunched his nose and threw him aside, at Ophelia feet. The two locked eyes and Avery chuckled darkly.
"Are you alright?" She bent and tried to help Willoughby up but the boy slapped her hand away.
"I don't need help, especially from you." He spat with so much hatred and limped off. She watched him until he was too far to see and then turned to the torturers. They weren't there anymore but Ophelia couldn't help still see that scene in her mind.
On her way up to the Astronomy Tower, she continued to see students bullying muggle borns and even half bloods and it was sickening. She was on the stairs when she heard two people hissing at each other. She ran up and saw Rosier staring down at a bloody nosed Frank.
"Not so brave now, hm, Longbottom?" He asked with a smug smile, swinging his wand in Frank's face. "If you're not with us, you are just a liability."
"What are you doing?" It was not Ophelia that said that but Professor Sinistra. A young, maybe two years off school professor and very much in love with astronomy.
"Spring cleaning, professor."
"It's still January Mister Rosier and please do not hurt the students of this school."
"You're right, professor. I should wait until we are outside the castle." He retorted knowing she couldn't do anything to him. Evan turned and walked straight towards Ophelia, his eyes sparkling with malice when noticing her. "Did you enjoy the show?" He whispered leaning too close to her.
"Did you enjoy seeing me petrify your sister?" She asked, aware of how that could annoy him for the rest of the day.
She was right, his eyes and whole expression changed, showing his true scary and almost psychotic colours. He grabbed her by her neck and growled but Ophelia kept her composure.
"Let me remind you, Ophelia, that your knights are not always here to save you and I can use that opportunity to make you feel pain you have never felt before."
"I'd love to see you try." She whispered, her voice cold and expression set on defiance.
He started to laugh and let her go. He patted her head, or more like hit it, and walked right past her down the stairs.
Now that the danger was gone, she fell against the wall. Her hands were sweaty and her legs were trembling.
"Hey, are you ok? Did he hurt you? Did he threaten you? That asshole-" Frank still had blood running down from his nose and he looked a lot more torn than Ophelia but he was also incredibly worried for his friend. "He's gotten super scary," he added.
"Frank, would you like to be part of something?" She suddenly asked, changing the subject.
"Something? Like what? A club?"
"...sure. A secret club that will teach us how to protect ourselves and others against people like Rosier."
Frank's answer was incredibly quick.
"Where do I sign up?" He asked with a big encouraging smile.
"So, before the Devil comes, I already asked several people and some if not all are already here." Remus started and opened a notebook. He had a very long list of names, with signatures and times when they were available.
"I am truly grateful for your nerdy yet capable skills at times, Loony." Sirius said from his seat next to Frank, right in front of Remus and Ophelia.
"Thanks. Anyway, we've gotten 15 people until now and most of them are Gryffindors. Only 4 Ravenclaws, 3 Hufflepuffs and no Slytherins although some half bloods are being tormented by Rosier or Avery."
"Zabini. Write him down, he's in by default." Ophelia said and Remus quickly wrote his name on the next page. "Remus, why is Cissney not here?" She asked reading the list more carefully.
"I can't." She answered, hearing the question from her seat. "My father has been nagging me a lot lately and he wants me to train with the other Slytherins."
"And you accepted?" James asked not believing his ears. "You're a Gryffindor, Littlewood! You don't just go against your housemates!" He was getting visibly more worked up because she was the only one from their year that did not sign up.
"Calm down, Potter. You don't even know the whole story," Lily hushed James and glared at him. "You can't just cut all your ties with your family."
"Um, yes, you can. It's easy when your values and theirs don't match. Between living a life in a lie and a life of being who you are, I choose the one that makes me happy." Sirius pitched in, having the most relevant experience for that subject.
Cissney looked at him and then at Ophelia before she just decided to ignore them.
"You don't know how it is." She mumbled thinking about how scary her father has been ever since becoming a Death Eater.
Ophelia sighed and did not judge her friend harshly. Heck, if the rest knew she was worse than a Death Eater, they'd probably all abandon the plan.
"As for the place," Remus drew their attention back on the real problem. "We can use the Room of Requirement. It will fit us perfectly and always be ready. But we will have to be careful how we sneak around. Better if we come separately, if I am to give my sincere opinion."
"Or we could ask the house elves for some help here and there. They work for the school and we are trying to protect it, so..."
"I don't think that's what we are doing." Alice said with a frown. "It sounds more and more as if we are forming a little army. Controlling the mind and training against the dark arts...it will not stop when we graduate."
"That's because of Voldemort and his stupid Death Eaters."
"Better ready than dead, you know."
"But that's it. Will we ever be ready to face what's out there?" Lily asked growing scared and worried.
"No." Was Ophelia's genuine answer. "We will never be strong enough or ready to face him. But we can try. We can fight and even if our effort seems insignificant, it will not be so."
Sirius watched her knowing it was more of an encouragement for herself rather than for her classmates. He couldn't quite believe Dumbledore asked her, out of anyone else in the wizarding community in Britain, to groom young people into creating a resistance against her own father. Sirius knew Dumbledore's intentions were good, he wanted to protect his students and have them go and protect many others after graduation. But Ophelia was right there, under Voldemort's cape, a little girl that had to rise against her only living parent. So many things could go wrong...
"You're staring again," Frank whispered nudging his friend. "You're becoming more and more upfront about it." He added with a bemused smile.
"I'm pretty sure we are not on the same page, Frank." Sirius mumbled opening his book.
"I didn't say a word. But, you know, the Hogsmeade visit is just around the corner and it doesn't have to be Madam's Pudifoot's necessarily."
Sirius rolled his eyes. He was sure Ophelia already had plans for Valentine's Day. Rabastan was surely planning his great entrance on a white unicorn right in front of The Three Broomsticks.
And yet when Valentine's Day arrived, Ophelia did not go outside the castle. She was in the Great Hall, staring blankly ahead as she squeezed a piece of paper in her left hand.
"What are you doing?"
To her surprise, the one to lean over her shoulder and ask that so close to her face was Nott. He sat next to her and waited patiently with wide curious eyes.
"Fraternizing with the enemy?" she asked not even turning her eyeballs towards him. "You're walking towards rough waters, Augustus."
"Everybody knows I have a crush on you already, including yourself. In these times, I can't bother with embarrassment anymore."
"Ooo, such big words coming from a future Death Eater. Beware, such feelings are a weakness in your Dark Lord's eyes." She might have came off as ironic but she was genuine.
"Actually, there is a rumour about your involvement into everything Slytherin. Nobody quite believes it but I've known you since we were first years and-"
"I wasn't aware of our long time friendship," she added with a roll of her eyes.
"-they say that you are," he leaned in and whispered, "Lord Voldemort's daughter." he finished watching her carefully.
The change was so obvious that Nott couldn't help totally freak out on the inside. That could also explain that day when he saw her talking to someone tall and suspicious looking who was also speaking to her in parsletongue. Their little chat they had in the summer at his house was another clue that she was more or less encouraged to be wherever Slytherins were.
"You don't have to answer, not even breathe, because I can see it in your eyes. It's true. You are Lord Voldemort's daughter." He said with a smile so wide that it crept off some passing Hufflepuffs.
"Did Katie start this rumour?" She was still so calm although her number one fan was dying of happiness and pride.
"She might have said something, yes. But-wait! Where are you going?!" he watched her get up and rush out of there. "Who would have imagined..." he mumbled to himself feeling like his heart just skipped a beat.
Katie was, as expected, on their break to Hogmseade. Evan was not in sight but she was surrounded by her friends, which were not all from her house. When Katie woke up that morning she did not imagine that she will be pushed on the ground by this huge snake panther and then punched in the face.
"You fucking bitch,"
"What the heck, Molley! Get off me!" she screamed and pushed Ophelia but the panther wouldn't stumble a centimeter.
"You believed Bellatrix, didn't you? Did you think that I couldn't enter your mind and see it?" Ophelia kept her voice low, not wanting the whole village to know her secret.
Katie's expression changed immediately: her eyes gleamed in the sunlight and those tiny lips of her curved into the most hateful smile possible.
"Why are you mad? It's not like I lied. You are who you are," That tone was the same as her brother's. "If I wanted everyone to know, I would have openly declared it in the middle of the Great Hall during dinner. But it doesn't change anything."
"Then what do you want?" Ophelia asked finally letting go of her robes.
"Knowing people look twice at you in the halls, doubting who you are and what side you are on is enough for now. I don't even care about Rabastan, knowing your father I won't have to do anything for him to return to me. In the end, not even you can go against his word."
The tension between the two girls could be cut with the knife. However, Ophelia rose and walked away with her fists gripped. Katie's friends gaped at the whole scene before they helped her up.
"What the fuck is Molley's problem?!" one of them yelled out but Katie was happy that she now knew Ophelia's weakness.
Ophelia went as far as the Shrieking Shack knowing she had to calm down, because there were sparks coming from her fingers and she could feel all this anger try to flood her. She screamed and screamed until her throat was hoarse and then tears poured down. She fell on her knees and cried for a while, all alone with nobody to tell her that everything was alright- without Rabastan there.
She spent a few hours like that, until she got cold and realized she ran outside without a jacket. She didn't speak to anyone on her way back, she went straight into the tower towards Dumbledore's office. He found it open and entered without notice.
"I can't do it, I can't even find a name for it. You're asking too much from me."
Dumbledore was not alone, he was just finishing a conversation with professor Slughorn.
"Well, Horace, I believe that is our ending queue. Don't forget to tell me how our friend reacts," He said having no desire to share his plans with an angry teenager.
"Yes, yes, you can count on me." Slughorn said and turned to leave.
"Katie knows that Tom is my father and she spread the rumour around. I can't go out there and teach anybody Occlumency if they will look at me and see Tom." She started as she approached his desk. He was already in his seat, looking very calm.
"IT's only that, a rumour. If they look at you and see their enemy, then they are not meant to be there." He said, "I didn't choose you because I wanted you to suffer, Ophelia. You are his greatest enemy, his greatest surprise factor and that is why he keeps tabs on you."
"You do too," she said, her attention briefly disturbed by the Phoenix flapping, "I think something's happening to your bird," She said and then suddenly fire engulfed it and left nothing but ash behind. Ophelia's eyes widened and she glanced between the headmaster and his dead bird a few times in awe.
"Don't worry. Just watch," as he said that Ophelia walked a bit closer and watched as a little baby Phoenix surfaced from under all that ash. She smiled as the baby bird cooed cutely. "You see Ophelia, while Tom represents greed and death, you represent the life that can come out of this darkness, the order inside chaos. You were very disappointed when you weren't allowed to follow Severus to his table but the Hat sorted you based on your values. You never wanted power, you just wanted to learn and live and have friends. You are a true Gryffindor."
Dumbledore's words came from his heart, she could feel it in his delivery. His warmth reached her and she glanced once more at the baby bird.
"The Order of Phoenix, rising from fear and into war." she mumbled, thinking how much it fit the situation. "Were you expecting me, headmaster?"
"It was just a lucky coincidence," he said, his blue eyes sending the right mischievous message across.
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