𝑴𝑨𝑳𝑬𝑫𝑰𝑪𝑻𝑼𝑺,𝑯𝑷,𝑨𝑼

v.

Ophelia rolls her eyes and grabs her friend's arm, together they leave to the great hall and walk to their DADA class.

----

"Weasley give me a curse!" Mad eye shots at Fred, Fred stands up slowly,

"The imperious curse" he answers hesitantly. Moody nods and walks up to the front of the class, he picks up an incredibly small snake from a glass container and points his wand at it.

"Imperio," he says and the snake twitches, he then makes it fly thru the classroom while the class laughs. But not Ophelia and Celia. Ophelias breathing gets heavier and tears wells up in her eyes, memories floods thru her mind and she puts her hands against her head.

Celia puts a comforting hand on Ophelia's arm while trying to calm her down.

"Shhh, it's alright, I'm here," she says in a whisper, Ophelia doesn't hear her.

Memories of herself being back on the circus where she was forced to show herself as some freak while people screamed at her. The class goes silent after a moment and moody walks up to Lee Jordan's desk.

"Jordan, know any?" he asks Lee, Lee gulps while meeting the eyes of moody, with a shaky voice he replies.

"The cruciatus curse" he answers quietly. Moody points at him while nodding his head, once again he walks up to the snake and points his wand at it.

"CRUCIO" he says loudly while pointing his wand at it, the small snake wriggles and squeaks in pain. Ophelia grips her desk hardly while tears flow down her cheeks. She remembers when she was just a child and had to endure that same curse,

'that could've been her' she thought. A few years ago that was her, people watching excited as she was tortured in her snake form. Black scales start appearing on the girl's arm and Celias eyes widen. Ophelia feels Newt stroking har hair in a comforting matter from where his positioned on her shoulder.

Ophelia stands up hastily and her chair falls back, all eyes fall on her as she quickly runs out of the classroom, without hesitation Celia picks their bags up and runs after her friend.

Ophelia runs down the stairs and throws a door open to an empty classroom, she closes the door after her and locks the door quickly. She leans on one of the desks and sobs erupts from her mouth. Black scales spread on her skin and her body bends backward.

---

Celia guards the door knowing that her friend didn't want her inside when she's transforming, she sighs sadly knowing what her friend must have thought of. Ophelia didn't talk much of the time she had to endure in the circus but Celia knew a few things. She had been there those nights when Ophelia woke up screaming in agony from a nightmare, she had comforted her friends and stayed up the whole night calming her down.

The door suddenly unlocks and Celia stands up from where she sat on the floor. Ophelia walks out of the classroom with tear-stained cheeks and puffy eyes. Celia pulls the raven-haired girl in a hug and for a few minutes they just stand there Ophelia sniffed and wiper her cheeks a little when they pull away,

"I'm sorry" Celia whispers, Ophelia nods her head a little gratefully.

"I'm sorry Celia but I really just wanna be alone" Ophelia whispers, Celia nods in understanding, she gives her friend a last hug before walking away. Ophelia sniffs and starts walking down the hall.

She keeps her eyes trained on the floor not wanting to risk meeting someone's eyes. She doesn't notice someone rounding the corner in front of her, she stumbles back when she crashes into someone. She looks up a little and is met by the eyes of James Potter.

James looks down at the young girl, he smiles seeing the familiar girl but his smile falters seeing her puffy eyes and stained cheeks. Worry clouds his eyes and he feels a sudden protectiveness over the sad girl, he puts a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

"Hey, you alright?" he asks softly, Ophelia meets his eyes and sniffles a little, she wipes her cheeks and nods. James chuckles a little

"Somehow I found that hard to believe," he says whit a smile on his face. "Come on, you can talk to me," he says softly. Ophelia nods a little while a few tears run down her cheeks.

"Uhh, i-it w-was just M-moody-, moody's lesson," she says in a shaky voice. James furrows his eyebrows in confusion. "He went over unforgivable curse, and I don't really have good experience with those," she says and her voice breaks a little a the end. She doesn't know why she is telling James this but she craves the feeling of someone comforting and caring about her.

She never had any parents and therefore never had any adult really caring for her. James's eyes widen and a mix of anger and worry clouds his senses. He notices the hesitance behind the girl's words and figures that it is a sensitive subject.

Without thinking twice he pulls the girl into a warm hug. Ophelia freezes for a moment being unfamiliar with feeling an adult hugging her, she hesitantly puts her arms around him and a sob escapes he throat. She tightens her grip around him and cries into his shoulder.

James rubs his hand against her back comfortingly. They stay there for a few minutes until Ophelia breaks the hug and wipes her eyes.

"I wish I wasn't so week," she says quietly, James puts a hand on her shoulder.

"You're not week Ophelia, everybody cries, it's a part of being human" he reassures the girl, she nods her head a little and smiles sadly at him.

"Thank you" she whispers, James nods his head with a smile. He looks down at the girl as she keeps her eyes trained on a wall, she goes thru her hair with her hand unconsciously. James' eyes widen seeing the familiar act. Looking again he examines her black raven hair, her hazel eyes, and taller form. When she does the small act that no one normally would think twice about James saw himself in her.

His eyes widen and he tumbles back a few steps, she looks up at him with furrowed eyebrows while he looks at her with wide eyes,

"Mr. Potter are you okay?" she asks him, he opens his mouth to say something but closes it again. He turns around without another word and runs away in the direction of Dumbledore's office.

Ophelia watches with a broken expression as someone once again leaves her after spending time in her presence.

"Always" she whispers in a broken voice before going in the direction of the dungeons.

---

The door to Dumbledore's office swings open and a frantic-looking James Potter enters, Dumbledore meets the grown-up man's eyes and smiles gently at him.

"Ahh Mr. Potter, may I help you?" Dumbledore asks James, James looks at him and walks up to Dumbledores desk.

"Ophelia Lecter, it's something about her, she looks so much like me, it's unnatural and I don't believe for a second that it is a coincidence," he says bluntly. Dumbledore looks at him straight in the eyes and sighs.

"Take a seat, Mr. Potter," he says while gesturing to the stool in front of his desk. James sits does quickly and taps his foot impatiently. "Does the name Amelia Lecter ring any bells for you?" Dumbledore asks the raven-haired man. James looks at him with furrowed eyebrows. He thinks for a moment, memories from his own time in school going thru his head, sudden realization struck him remembering the Spanish, dark-haired girl with a pale face and sharp features who always seem to have a scowl on her face. He nods his head slowly wondering how he didn't see it before.

"Well as you know Amelia was two years older than you and in her last year, she got pregnant, she asked me not to tell anyone and I respected her decision and kept quiet. That baby was Ophelia Lecter" he explained, James's eyes widened and he looked at Dumbledore with his mouth hanging open.

"You James Potter was the father of this child" Dumbledore finishes. James gasps and stands up from his stool quickly, he starts shaking his head frantically while dragging a hand over his face.

"No, no, no, I can't be, how would you know that?" James asks panicked,

"Amelia told me herself, and I have double-checked it, and you did say she looked like you" Dumbledore reminded him, James looked at him with wide eyes a million taught running thru his head.

He had a daughter