'who knows if she never showed up what could've been'- last great american dynasty
"...make sure to see me before next lesson if you're interested in looking further into Grindylows," Professor Lupin announced over the bustling students packing up their textbooks, heading out of the classroom, "have a good weekend!"
Thank yous and you toos echoed throughout the room as Ravenclaw and Gryffindor students hurried away, excited to begin the weekend. All except one.
"Miss Weasley, feeling better are we?" Remus cocked an eyebrow at the red head leaning against her desk, who looked up slightly puzzled. Remus smirked, folding his arms across his chest, "Professor Flitwick told me you were ill yesterday?"
Ophelia's cheeks flushed slightly as she stammered, "oh right, yes. Much better. Thank you."
She shuffled on the spot, still not bringing herself to meet the professor's eyes, biting the inside of her cheek.
"Was there something you wanted to talk about?" The professor gestured to the now empty room as Ophelia nodded, twisting her mouth to the side as she swallowed.
"I-" her voice croaked slightly. She cleared her throat to try again, "I know- I know that you're a- you're a-"
"Werewolf?" Professor Lupin almost chuckled as the girl looked up, "I know."
"You- you know?"
"I'm quite impressed, actually," Remus smiled as she finally met his eyes, "over Christmas, I presume?"
Ophelia nodded, not understanding how her professor was so relaxed.
"So, were you planning on avoiding me for the rest of your time at Hogwarts?" Remus grinned again, pulling the chair at his desk out, gesturing for her to take a seat.
The girl smiled slightly as she sat down. To be honest, that had been her original plan, but she realised how stupid it had sounded now. And then came a wave of guilt as she met her smiling professor's eyes from across the desk.
"I'm not scared of you." She blurted out. "The boggart, I mean. I'm not- It wasn't-"
"Ophelia," his calm voice stopped her babbling, giving her a minute to breathe, "it takes a lot more than a boggart to hurt my feelings." He smiled gently, placing two cups on the table. "Everyone's first reaction to my condition is fear, you're not the first."
He filled the cup in front of her with hot chocolate, moving the spoon with his wand as he spoke.
"Here." He pushed the cup towards Ophelia, who simply nodded gratefully.
The pair spoke for a while, discussing patronuses and dementors, eventually moving onto the topic of Sirius Black. The Potters had used the Fidelius charm, entrusting Black as their secret keeper. The day they died, Sirius sold them out to Voldemort, betraying the people he'd once called family. Juliet was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, attempting to defend Lily as she hid, but it was no use. Their friend Peter Pettigrew tried to confront Black, but he killed him too, along with a few muggles. It was awful. He'd been their best friend, and he killed them all leaving Professor Lupin with no one.
After she'd finished her drink, Ophelia left, knowing more than she had before. She couldn't imagine being in her professor's position. There was so much pain throughout his life, yet he was one of the most caring individuals she had ever met- and her mother was Molly Weasley.
She walked through the corridors, going over everything she'd been told in her mind over and over again, eventually arriving at the Library. Ophelia hadn't been inside very often, as they tended to study in the Ravenclaw common room, which had plenty of books and space. It had also been discovered that previous Ravenclaws had broken the spell keeping boys from the girls dormitories a long time ago, so Elijah and Daisy started coming up Ophelia and Luna's room for late night studies.
"Lee, over here!" Ophelia turned her head towards the whisper, her eyes falling on an excited looking Hermione sitting with a large pile of books. She grinned, making her way over.
"Thanks for coming, Hermione." Ophelia dropped her bag on the table before sinking into the chair opposite the bushy haired Gryffindor.
"No problem. Which family were you looking for?" Hermione pulled down two, dusty looking hardbacks from the pile, handing the first one to the redhead, "This is a book containing every pureblood family, and this," the girl opened the other book left in her hand, "is a book of the most powerful wizards in history."
Ophelia's eyes scanned the book in front of her in amazement before looking at Hermione. She really was the brightest witch of her age.
"I'm looking for the Stone family."
Hermione's eyes widened, her mouth opening slightly.
"Are you telling me you don't know anything about the Stone witches?"
Ophelia shook her head slowly, slightly concerned that if she moved too fast, the girl opposite would throw a book at her.
"They're only some of the most powerful witches in history," Hermione scrambled over to the shortest looking pile of books, sorting through the books before pulling out an extremely heavy looking, navy covered book, "starting with Esme Stone," she opened it to the first page, pointing at the name at the top, "the first muggle-born witch known to the wizarding world."
Ophelia leant over the table, her eyes scanning the page.
"Every witch directly descended from Esme could inherit her power," Hermione explained, reaching for another book, "they're extremely powerful, but if they couldn't learn to control it they could become dangerous to other people. Here-"
She now had her hands on a smaller, red book who's pages looked slightly worn and tattered.
"-this contains every Stone witch who ever lived. They would be registered at eleven years old, when they first start schooling. Of course, most were homeschooled because their magic was temperamental," Hermione pointed to two names on the final page, wiggling her eyebrows excitedly, "but these two attended Hogwarts."
There she was, Juliet Stone, 1960-1981.
"This is-"
"Incredible. I know. And they all came from muggle-born descent." Hermione practically squealed. It was understandable. Hermione was definitely more powerful than most purebloods her age, and the fact that one of the most powerful witches in history was just like her, no wonder it was so exciting.
Ophelia smiled. It felt strange, looking for information about her professor's dead wife, but he'd said she was a lot like her. Being the curious type, she wanted to find out everything she could.
"Well I've got to run, I have an Ancient Runes study group in five minutes," Hermione seemed to be so busy this year, Ophelia had no idea how she was doing it, "I hope you find what you're looking for!"
Ophelia waved her off before turning back to the book.
"Juliet Stone, 1960-1981," she read again under her breath. She was only twenty-one. There was a photo of her in the corner, smiling. It was a muggle photo, so it didn't move. She flicked through the other pages too, none of the photos moved. Perhaps it was to honor where they came from.
She turned back to Juliet's page. She couldn't have been older than Ophelia in the photo, freckles splattered across her nose. Her eyes were a bright brown, a little bit like Ginny's, and her red hair flowed past her shoulders.
Ophelia continued to read until she reached the final page, where one last name was written at the top:
Ophelia Stone
Ophelia's eyes widened for a moment, until she read on. The girl in the photo looked slightly younger than Juliet but with the same freckles and bright brown eyes. She was grinning.
1962-1981.
She was only nineteen. She carried on reading.
~~~
"...Ophelia Stone was Juliet's younger sister, and a Hufflepuff," Elijah and Daisy had been listening to Ophelia talk for nearly an hour as she went over everything she'd read, "she was studying to become an astronomer, but she was killed just after she graduated, it said it was an accident but-"
The redhead took a breath, lowering her voice.
"-there were always 'accidents' back then."
The three were all sat cross-legged on Ophelia's bed, the deep blue curtains drawn. Daisy had thrown up a muffliato spell when they first huddled together, not wanting to be disturbed. Elijah shuffled around, folding his arms before dropping his head onto Ophelia's lap, frowning up at her.
"Why are you reading about them, anyway?"
Daisy scoffed, rolling her eyes, "Did you even listen? Like at all? Juliet was like Ophelia with the whole wordless fancy magic thing."
Elijah flipped his blonde head to face Daisy, crossing his arms tighter. "Of course I listened. I even listened to the part where she said it ran in their family. Unless she's a direct descendant of Esme Stone, this doesn't tell us anything." He shrugged nonchalantly, grinning back up at Ophelia.
"You have a point," the redhead sighed, "maybe my family originated with the Stones?"
Daisy shook her head, "The Weasley family and the Prewetts are both purebloods. Esme was muggleborn. There's no way."
Ophelia chewed the inside of her cheek, tapping her fingers on Elijah's forehead.
"Maybe you should just ask your mum," a mischievous look crossed his face, "and while you're at it, you can ask her about summer."
Daisy and Ophelia exchanged identical glances before staring at the boy, eyebrows knitted together.
"What about summer?"
Elijah sat up, now mirroring his friends confused looks.
"Did I not tell you?"
Both girls shook their heads slowly, equally perplexed.
"Oh, right, maybe I forgot," he ran a hand through his blonde hair, grinning again, "my family are going to France for a weekend, and mum said I could bring friends, so you're coming with me."
"Are you serious?" Daisy looked amazed, Ophelia knew she'd never been abroad before. Elijah's grin widened.
"It's the first weekend of the summer holiday, Friday-Monday. Mum, dad and Ollie can apparate us there, easy squeezy, and we'll be on a wizard campsite so we can-"
He was interrupted as his two friends tackled him with a hug.
"I'll take that as a yes?" Elijah laughed, struggling to breathe.
They spent the rest of their evening making plans for France, giggling at each other's French accents. It might've been months away, but a holiday was just what they needed, especially camping. The thought of an adventure was exciting.
~~~
Ophelia signed off the letter to her mum, sealing it with some blue wax Luna had left over from her father's letters. She slid on her robe, tucking the letter into it's pocket before making her way to the Owlery. The sun had gone down by now, but it wasn't curfew for a while yet, so Ophelia took her time wandering down the corridor.
Eventually, she made it to the owlery, tying her letter to a small tawny owl, giving it a small treat before it left. She stayed for a moment, taking in the view of Hogwarts after dark. The Forbidden Forest looked slightly more eerie in the dark, and she shuddered to think of what could be lurking there.
On her way back to the common room, she took a small detour to make the walk longer, turning down the History of Magic corridor. Everything was quite when it was empty, most students were in their common rooms by now, and who would want to visit Professor Binns in their free time?
A strange grunt from inside one of the classrooms, however, took Ophelia by surprise. Wand in hand, she crept up to the classroom door that had been left slightly ajar. She peered in not expecting to see-
"Harry?"
The bespectacled boy jumped at his name, adjusting the glasses on his nose.
"What are you doing in here?" Ophelia made her way in, taking a seat on top of one of the desks that had been pushed to the edge of the classroom.
Harry ran a hand through his messy black hair, stopping to scratch the back of his neck. "I've been trying to conjure a patronus," he sighed, "emphasis on trying."
"Let's see." Ophelia swung her legs back and forth, nodding encouragingly. Harry took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he raised his wand.
"Expecto patronum." The same blue wisps of light that had shown before flew out of his wand, fizzling out as they moved further away. He sighed again, slumping down onto a chair opposite the girl.
"You're getting there," she smiled brightly, getting to her feet, "maybe you just need a stronger memory?"
Ophelia took to the center of the room, wand in hand. She closed her eyes and thought back to the Weasley's trip to the beach. She and Ginny were ten, and it was the summer before Ron started at Hogwarts. Everyone was there: Bill, Charlie, Percy, Ron and both sets of twins.
She couldn't remember where they'd gone, but she remembered the feeling of sand between her toes, and the waves gently crashing on the shore. Since they were young, the Weasley siblings had developed a game of Castles and Queens, where Ginny and Ophelia would be princesses saved by their knights in shining armor (more commonly known as Fred and George). As they grew older, the boys would refuse to play, claiming they were too old or too cool for kids games.
But this beach day was different. Ginny demanded that she would be a knight instead, nominating Percy and Charlie to be the princesses. Ophelia wanted to be the wise old wizard, the role usually given to Bill, leaving him to be the second knight. Fred and George were the knight's noble stead, and Ron was an honorary horse (twelve year old George couldn't carry Bill by himself).
The game was filmed with pure laughter and joy as Charlie pretended to swoon at the sight of his little sister. It went on for hours, switching between land and sea, leaving the entire family in stitches.
That had been one of the last days all of the siblings spent together, and a day Ophelia could never forget.
She focused on it closely, picturing Percy's seaweed wig and Ginny's attempt at carrying Charlie. The way the twins neighed and snorted, and how Ron pretended to turn into a toad at the wave of her dry-wood wand.
A small smile crept onto her face as she opened her eyes, inhaling deeply.
"Expecto patronum!"
The glow of blue and white lit up the room as it swirled around her. She watched in awe as it left the tip of her wand, the bubbling sensation coursing through her.
She watched as it ran around Harry before meeting her side, looking up at her with longing eyes as it disappeared into a shimmering cloud.
The pair stood in silence, stunned. Harry's eyes were wide as he stared at the spot it had once been, his mouth slightly ajar.
Ophelia began to laugh, completely amazed, and soon the boy was laughing too.
"You just-"
"Did that just-"
Harry pulled her into a hug as they began excitedly jumping up and down.
"That was incredible!" he exclaimed, a smile plastered across his face.
Ophelia was still grinning too, taking a moment to realise what had happened.
"What was that?"
Harry squinted slightly, as if he was reading his memories before smiling again.
"I think that was a wolf."
~~~
ta dah another chapter on time. i've been trying to make them longer so you can get more out of each one.
thank you for all the votes and comments, i love reading them.
anyways thanksss- mia x