OPHELIA - D.M

3

"Ophelia!" She greeted, clearly pleased with her sister's presence. "What are you doing over here?"

"What a girl can't come and say hi to her own sister anymore?" She laughed at her, knowing Luna meant no harm.

"No, I don't mean that, you just never come over to Ravenclaw table. I usually see you between classes," the girl smiled. The two sisters looked nothing alike. You wouldn't have even thought that they were related. Luna sported brilliant blonde hair, almost white, while Ophelia's hair was so dark it was almost black. Even their personalities were polar opposites, people would often say she was the only normal one in her family, which would often earn them a fair bit of unfortunate language and a deafening glare; only she could call her family wack-jobs. When she was younger, Ophelia would always joke that she was adopted, although her sister - being the sweetheart she is - refuted it each and every time.

"Yeah I know, Sweets, but I just thought I'd come and see you since it's first day back 'n' all. Make sure you were okay," she smiled softly, Luna was Ophelia's weak-spot, not that she'd let anyone know it. "And, you know, make sure no one's calling you those names anymore."

Ophelia lowered her voice for the last bit, she didn't need to be airing Luna's problems out to the whole of Ravenclaw, even if most of them had probably participated in the bullying at some point. Everyone had. Even Ophelia's friends did when Luna first joined, but a swift kick to Theo's shin and a punch to the face for Draco ensured they didn't bother to do it twice.

Luna looked at her reassuringly, "Nobody's said anything for a while now, Opie, you know that."

"I know, I know. I'm just making sure. Let me know if anyone causes you any trouble though, okay, Sweets?" She gently stroked her sister's soft blonde hair before landing a kiss on the top of her head as she stood up. The people sat around seemed to be quite weirded out in seeing the Slytherin Princess acting so gentle and affectionate, since most of the time her talks with her sister weren't so public.

"Will do, I promise. Best get going to class, don't want to be late," she smiled at her before walking off, away with the fairies as usual. Ophelia watched her walk away, happy that she's doing well but also concerned for her. That was nothing new though, Ophelia would worry about Luna no matter what. The girl could be living on a rainbow and she would still worry.

— — —

After a painful hour of listening to Snape drone on in his torturously monotone voice as usual, the class was finally over. Of course he had assigned them all a mountain of homework to have completed by next week. The man was brutal, first day or not. For some reason though, he was always oddly tolerant of Ophelia. She supposed he didn't find her as annoying as everybody else.

He had let Ophelia know at the end of the lesson that Pheonix had been delivered to her room, so she was hurrying down the corridors full of excitement to see her baby. Most people wouldn't notice the excitement on her face as it rested the way it usually did, to them she looked just as intimidating as always, but to Delphina who she stumbled into along the way she could see the sparkle of excitement in her eyes.

"Is Pheonix finally here?" She asked, starting to perk up as well. Delphina loved Pheonix, she missed the way the little black fluffball would find herself curled up on the girls chest purring in the night, and the way she would sometimes sit on her lap as she did homework. Delphina had even convinced Ophelia to take her out on a daily walk around the grounds together in fourth year so that she wasn't so cooped up all the time.

"Yes she is," the girl mumbled as they brushed past the first years who all excitedly crowded the hallways. "I'm going to see her now. We have an hour 'til Flitwick so do you want to take her on a walk if she isn't sleeping from the journey."

Delphina nodded excitedly before rambling on about how much she'd missed the precious cat, if she didn't know any better, Ophelia would think she loved Pheonix more than her.

When the girls got to their dorm room, they saw Pheonix curled up snugly on the pile of Draco's clothes on Ophelia's bed. She would've blended in perfectly if it weren't for her big green eyes staring up at them. Realising that her favourite people had arrived, the cat stood up stretching out her body before walking over to the edge of the bed to greet them, meowing quietly for attention.

"Hi, baby!" Ophelia cooed at her cat, who she regarded to be her own child. The girl picked her up and cradled her in her arms, not minding any cat hair that made its way onto her robe. Delphina came over to join them as she stroked the top of Pheonix's head listening to her loud purs of content. "Do you want to go for a walk?" Ophelia asked, setting the cat down before reaching into a drawer to collect the pink harness and extending lead they would use for their walks. Pheonix let out a loud meow, jumping onto her hind legs before spinning in a circle. The girls took that as a yes and suited her up for her walk.

— — —

As they wondered the grounds of the school, with Pheonix running around excitedly, occasionally rolling in the fresh green grass or stopping to claw a tree, which leaves had yet to turn orange, they discussed the night before.

"No, Delphi, I'm telling you - the lot of you were passed out before midnight had even hit. Goyle was led out like a damn zombie for god sakes," she laughed throwing her cat a treat from the bag stored in her pocket.

"No, I know Goyle was, I remember that," she paused controlling her laughter, "but I don't remember falling asleep at all."

"Well, all I'm saying is that I finished a game of 3,2,1's with Nott and Malfoy, I stood up and looked around and everyone, including yourself, was out," she exclaimed moving her arms around as if it would emphasise her point.

"So what happened after that then? How'd you end up in Draco's clothes?" She asked, popping a chocolate peanut into her mouth as she spoke.

"Well we were having a good time so we went out to the lake to smoke the last spliff, which is why he let me change into his clothes, and then he started being a total asswipe and completely ruined the vibe," she groaned after explaining the situation to Delphina who just smirked at her amused.

"Well he's always an asswipe, how's it any different?" She asked, knowing what she was prompting her to say.

"Because, for once I was actually enjoying spending time with him. Like it was nice, you know, and then he had to do his weird Draco thing where he completely switches up and killed it," she shrugged not realising how much she needed to vent about the events of last night.

"Hm," Delphina said, as if she were pondering something.

"What?" Ophelia said back as they stopped and sat down, causing Pheonix to stop trying to chase pigeons and come and sit with them. "You can't just 'hm' and not explain the 'hm'." The girl was obviously frustrated with the situation.

"Nothing, babes. Just didn't think I'd ever hear you say you enjoyed the company of Draco Malfoy is all," she shrugged her shoulders innocently, looking off into the distance watching as she saw some first years practicing their expelliarmus's.

"I- I didn't. That's the point. He totally ruined it," Ophelia stuttered out. Her eyes wide with shock at her friend's revelation.

"That's just Malfoy though, he ruins everything. Doesn't change the fact that you actually enjoyed being around him and conversing with him until that point," the girl pointed out, and unfortunately for Ophelia, she was right.

"Whatever, we need to head back now," the girl grumbled as she picked Pheonix up off her lap and set her down to the ground, patting her head gently and standing up herself, using her free hand to brush the dirt off her robes. She failed to notice her best friend smirking at her as she did so.