The Sun, Moon & Stars

15. Minnie

'You're going where?' Ron asked, mouth agape, as Ophelia sat across from him at the round table in the common room; finishing up some Charms homework she needed to complete before her departure tomorrow morning.

'For the third time Ron, I'm going home for a couple days. It's a family thing, okay?' Ophelia replied, as she pushed a strand of her thick curly black hair out of her face. She continued writing on her parchment, dipping her quill in the ink every so often, not even meeting Ron's gaze; who looked completley taken aback at the prospect of her leaving, even if just for a couple days.

Harry was also at the table, but noteably silent; likely thinkng about Snape again. It was all he thought about latley, he seemed to have something to prove, and while Ophelia agreed something suspicious was definitely going on in the castle, she wasn't taking it nearly as seriously as he was. Ophelia didn't appreciate Snape much either, but if she was being honest she wasn't completley convinced this had anything to do with him. Like Percy had said, Snape's had the same position for over seven years, the idea of Snape being the imposter, if there even was one, seemed unlikely to her.

Hermione on the other hand, was sitting with Pavarti, Lavender and a girl named Katie Bell across the common room. Despite being somewhat friendly with the three of them again, she didn't go out of her way to sit with them or talk to them and if they were being honest, they weren't totally upset about it.

'I couldn't imagine going home. To the Dursley's. Though, it never was home there anyway.' Harry said thoughtfully, though still clearly not entirely in the conversation either. The other half of his mind was clearly elsewhere.

Ophelia didn't know how to respond. Her heart broke for everything Harry had went through, yet she couldn't find the words to describe it. The silence somehow said enough.

'I'll have nobody to play chess with.' Ron frowned.

Ophelia chuckled. 'Oh honestly, Ron. It's a few days. And by now, I'm sure Harry's got the hang of it. Try it out with him.' She offered, and Harry shrugged, nodding.

'Yeah well, don't do anything too fun without us.' Ron shot back, sarcastically.

If only he knew what she was really going home to do.

'I'll try.' Ophelia managed to joke back. 'Now, one last round?' She asked, pulling out the box of Wizard's Chess.

Ron's face lit up. 'You're on.'

...

                                                                                                                            When Ophelia entered Dumbledore's office the next morning, at 8 o'clock as requested; with a small bag carrying some of her belongings, it was to find Professor McGonagall waiting for her instead. She was sitting at the grand blakc mahogany desk, scribbling on some parchment with a fancy red quill she kept continually dipping in ink.

'Sorry...I...Professor Dumbledore said-' Ophelia started when Professor McGonagall had looked up; looking at her with her dark green eyes.

'I was asked to escort you instead, Miss. Lupin. I am aware of the situaiton.' She nodded, as she waved her wand to clean the parchment, ink bottles and textbooks sprawled across the desk, stacking them in neat piles.

Ophelia just nodded, straightening out her forest green jumper she wore.

'I am going to presume you have used the floo network before?' Professor McGonagall asked, as she strode out from behind the desk, her hair tied into the tight grey bun like always, and her small glasses on the edge of her nose.