Engraved Love | J. POTTER

1 | stakeouts and meetings

O P H E L I A  L O V E G O O D

Ophelia entered the library fighting down a grin. She was about to approach the table that she had grown attached to over the past three years when she realized something was off. She looked around until her eyes landed on a boy who appeared to be staring at it intently.

She huffed before walking over to him. She stopped when she realized it probably would have been weird for her to just approach him with no reason so she circled the room. She grabbed a book here and there before she finally entered the aisle the boy was watching the table from.

"Excuse me?" she spoke up but he seemed far too entranced by the table to respond. Maybe he was zoned out. She looked over at the table before looking back at the door. "Is anyone in there?"

"Hello?" the girl tried again as the boy remained standstill in front of the shelf. "Hey!" she shouted, grabbing his attention along with everyone else. He raised an eyebrow at her and she pointed to the books behind him, "I need that book."

"Oh," he replied looking behind himself and stepping out of the way. "Sorry."

She grabbed the book and eyed the boy curiously. She was about to walk away when she stepped forward so she was next to the boy and pinpointed where he had been looking. An empty table where absolutely no one sat.

She contemplated running in case the boy was crazy but decided against it, "What exactly is it that you're staring at?"

He jumped, clearly not realizing that she hadn't walked away. He glanced back at her for a moment, "Why does it matter?"

She shrugged, "I just thought it was odd that you were staring at an empty table." She glanced back at the table for a moment, "Then again, maybe I don't have much room to talk about being odd."

He turned to face the girl with a huff. He looked her up and down, "Who are you exactly?"

"Ophelia Lovegood," she replied. She shifted the books in her hand carefully so they were in one arm and stuck her free hand out, "And you?"

He took her hand and shook it, "James Potter." He stared down at their conjoined hands for some time. He seemed to snap out of it and released her, "I have to go. It was nice to meet you."

She nodded in agreement, waving as he walked from the library. He glanced back at the empty table and frowned before leaving the room. Ophelia waited a moment and then quickly ran over to the table. She looked down to see what message had been written there. 'When can we meet in person?'

Ophelia wanted to write 'We already have' but thought better of it, instead inscribing 'But that would ruin all the fun.' She pulled her wand out and erased the boys previous question before leaving the room.

There was no way she would ever tell him who she was. Especially now that she knew for sure that the person she had been talking to was James Potter of all people. She frowned as she remembered the look on his face as he talked to her for the brief moment. He would want nothing more to do with her if he knew that she was the one who had been talking to him so she would make sure he never found out.

J A M E S  P O T T E R

"It has been three years," James exclaimed as he sat down at the Gryffindor table with a huff. "Three years of talking to this girl and I have absolutely no idea who she is."

"How do you know it's a girl?" Peter asked as he placed a grape in his mouth. "Couldn't it be a boy?"

James opened his mouth to say that she was definitely a girl but the response died in his throat. Was she a girl? Or was she a he? How was he supposed to know if he never met her - or him? He groaned, slamming his head down on the table.