However, Ophelia never made it to McGonagall's class. She needed to stop because her head started to hurt so badly that she could barely see where she was going. She stopped only when she felt like her eyeballs were about to jump out of her sockets and she leaned against the wall as she started to cry. She suddenly looked up and noticed a hand being stretched to her. Two blue eyes were sparkling as the person that appeared helped Ophelia back to her feet.
"Vernon?" She asked still seeing only a blurry face.
"Not quite."
Ophelia rubbed her eyes and saw that her real helper was Tim Goldstein. However, she was sure that this wave of calmness that fell over her after that strong thumping against her mind did not come from a student.
"What are you doing here? What happened?" The girl asked her helper once she regained her vision.
"You were on the ground, looking like you were in a trance. I thought that maybe a Slytherin jinxed you but there's nobody around and nobody came out of here."
As the realization hit, Ophelia noticed that she was no more in the corridor but in an old, dusty classroom. Odd because she was sure that when the pain began, she was in a place with no doors.
Returning to the moment that triggered this pain that Ophelia felt, at the core of it was indeed Rabastan. His eyes were not a mirror to his soul but one towards the Dark Lord himself. His young mind was wide open for anyone to read and explore which was a very big flaw in Dumbledore's plan...if he wasn't aware, that is. But Dumbledore was ever so scheming and he wanted to use Ophelia for his own gain, which was truly to mess Voldemort's future plans.
Rabastan suffered more than he let out, and that because he couldn't show any type of weakness in front of his father. He didn't search for Ophelia after she ran away because he did have an idea where she could have gone. By the time august came around, he was doing petty missions for Voldemort that not even new Death Eaters were doing. He knew that was more of a punishment for his family rather than for him.
"You don't seem too happy with cleaning up after your friends, Rabastan."
Dumbledore's voice was easy to recognize. The Hogwarts headmaster approached Rabastan, stepping carefully as not to walk over dead bodies. Indeed, there were three dead people sprawled on the floor and Dumbledore frowned as he recognized one of them as a former student whose family was mixed.
"I see that Bellatrix did a...thorough work as usual." Dumbledore added feeling disappointed with the way of the world at the moment.
"Nobody lives to see another day after a brief meeting with her. But that's not why you came here, is it?"
Dumbledore smiled, his eye twinkling in the moonlight.
"The wizarding world has darkened terribly. Disastrous times are approaching, if not already here and if my information is right, it will be never-ending if we do not fight it properly."
"You do realize I am part of the opposition in this case."
"Are you, Rabastan? You have a responsibility but your heart tells you otherwise. Your heart is still longing for that gleam of happiness that you recently lost."
"Exactly. It is lost."
"We both know that Voldemort will send spies into the castle under the mask of students or other forms. She hid well but she has to return to school and it will not be the same for her, or for the others. The enemy is among friends and he is waiting for the right moment to strike and kill. Ophelia will be in great danger."
"I doubt it. She is more like her father than you believe."
"Which is why I do not want her to be wrongly influenced. Besides, not everything that Voldemort sees is actually true."
"What do you want from me Dumbledore?" The boy asked feeling tired already.
"Be the spy. Return to school and be Tom's eyes."
"Why would I want to do that?"
"Because your heart still has hope and love, unlike your brother. You are not one of them, even if how desperately wish that."
And so, here he was, walking to spend some time with the only person that was still more or less his friend.
"Merlin's beard, you scared me," Zabini said flinching when the door to his room opened abruptly.
"Who did you think came? Voldemort?" Rabastan asked bemused as he approached his friend.
"Even worse, Ophelia."
Rabastan laughed loudly and laid on Enzo's bed as if it was his. For a moment, it felt like back when they were students and had nothing to worry about except their grades.
"She wants me to teach her how to apparate and disapparate. Of course, I said no, I don't need more work."
"Is that so? Or maybe because you can't do it in the first place? Didn't you splinch your shoulder the last time you tried?"
Zabini glared at his Slytherin colleague and scoffed.
"Ha ha ha, make fun all you want."
There was a brief pause in which Rabastan closed his eyes and almost fell asleep. But Zabini had curiosities of his own.
"Are you here to help Dumbledore or something else?"
"Why did you return as a professor, Enzo?" Rabastan asked instead of replying.
There was no answer but he heard Zabini moving around and then, eventually, sitting on the bed as well. He looked ready for bed.
"Because I am afraid, I guess," Zabini said finally. "Voldemort has been trying to get my family on his side for two years now. This summer they ran to South Africa, as far as possible from him and the safest place for me to be right now is here."
"Dumbledore won't be able to protect the castle forever," Rabastan said with a scoff.
"But Ophelia can. As long as she is here, we are safe. You should see her duel sometimes, she is quite good. And of course, her talent to invade minds. You could take some lessons of occlumency and in exchange teach her how to apparate." Zabini said with a snicker before he literally turned off the lights.
"But would she even want to spend time with me after everything that's happened?"
"She will if you know how to lure her in." Enzo said and yawned loudly.
"But she has been hanging out with others, especially Black and Potter and I can hardly get close to her."
"Go to your room, Rab."
Rabastan sighed and pouted but he did leave.
Next day, Ophelia was on her way to Charms when she bumped into Rabastan yet again. She raised an eyebrow and made a run for it. That happened again and again for a month until the whole Gryffindor house started to notice there was something odd. The Death Eater would suddenly appear everywhere except of course the common room.
"What is Lestrange thinking? Is he mental enough to try and get back together with you?" Potter asked, not exactly careful of who was around.
"Were you even together?" Alice asked leaning over the table. "Merlin's beard, you were!" She added seeing how Ophelia suddenly focused on her dinner. "How long?"
"Two years, I guess. Maybe one and a half."
"Do you think he will ask you out for the Tipsy Tides?"
"What's that?
"Halloween Party. We'll have one, the Order I mean." Frank whispered with a smile.
"But he doesn't know about the Order. He cannot know. He is a death eater." James replied emphasizing the important part.
"But he is working with Dumbledore."
"It doesn't matter. He is a spy."
"Then maybe you should temper with his memories or something. You're good at that, aren't you?" Sirius asked feeling grumpy.
As if the places have turned, Ophelia did not see Rabastan by himself at all during the next week. He was either with Zabini or he wasn't there at all, completely gone with Merlin knows what business. Dumbledore was not speaking to Ophelia either, he would disappear for days and when he was in the castle he was always busy in his office.
Saturday morning Ophelia woke up with dark circles around her eyes and a very bad attitude. She sat at breakfast between Remus who was reading and a thoughtful James Potter.
"Where the heck is he?" Ophelia asked feeling dejected for many reasons.
"I know right, he has been very secretive lately," James added absent-mindedly.
"He was always right there, spying and now he has vanished." She added glaring at the toast before roughly taking one and biting it.
"I noticed he has been late to some classes and even to bed...do you think that he might have found himself another girlfriend?" James asked looking at his friends with wide watery eyes.
"Do you think he leaves in order to give his report to Voldemort?" Ophelia asked turning to Remus.
The poor boy took a deep breath and put his book down. He could not concentrate at all and barely made it through three sentences on that page.
"Sirius may have his own troubles, maybe a girl maybe not. As far as I am concerned, I'm sure he will tell us eventually. As for Rabastan..." Remus sighed and chose his words wisely. "He will start teaching apparition classes on Monday so you know for sure he will be there."
Both Ophelia and James pouted and it was such a surprise to see both start eating in sync. Remus scoffed and rolled his eyes but he couldn't help but be happy that at least these two were acting normally.
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