Regulus didn't leave Ophelia's side for (almost) the entire train ride, rode in the carriage with her, and convinced her to eat with him in the great hall.
The two were contrasting greatly from the rest of the school. The students were smiling and laughing, glad to be back home with their friends. Two of the Black siblings, however, were the complete opposite. They were both trying their best to keep their composure, both dreading having to do anything. Everything sounded completely miserable, Ophelia didn't know how she was going to manage it. She hated the thought of going to classes, to see her friends, to see sirius' friends. She didn't want to talk to anyone except maybe Regulus.
Ophelia had her arm intertwined with Regulus', her other arm grabbing Regulus' same arm. The two walked slowly into the entrance hall. On a normal occasion, Ophelia would gawk over how beautiful it was and how amazing it felt to be back at her real home. But this wasn't a normal occasion and she knew it. They both knew it.
They both unknowingly took a deep breath as they walked up to the doors of the great hall.
"Ready?" Regulus asked.
"I'm going to have to be," she responded.
They slowly walked into the great hall, bright candles shining down upon them, comforting Ophelia a bit. She tightened her grip on Regulus as they continued to walk. All of a sudden, Regulus came to a halt.
"Phee?" he said in a small voice.
"Hm?" she asked, her eyes scanning across the Slytherin table, where she would be eating that evening.
"Ophelia," he said again, more desperately.
Ophelia turned to look at him, saw the look of despair upon his face, and followed his gaze to the Gryffindor table.
Sirius Black was sitting there, laughing with James, Peter, and Remus, as if nothing had happened at all.
"Oh my god," she whispered. "Oh my god."
"I can't do this," whispered Regulus, as he turned around and walked back out of the hall, Ophelia still at his side.
Ophelia saw her brother with tears filling his eyes, and she was quick to pull him into a comforting hug.
"I cannot believe him," she said into his chest. "How am I supposed to react to something like this Reg?"
"How could he be so selfish? He just left us there, nothing to indicate that he was safe, Merlin, nothing that told us he was even alive! For months he had probably been having the time of his life with Potter."
"I know," she whispered, trying to calm him down. "I know. I'm mad at him too, believe me. Oh my god, Reg. He's alive. I cannot believe him."
"He is such a dick!"
"You know what? He spent months ignoring us, not acknowledging us, nothing. We got nothing from him. We're not going to be upset tonight, we're back at Hogwarts, and he's alive. If he wants to ignore us, we can ignore him too," said Ophelia, determinedly.
Regulus wiped his eyes quickly and nodded down at his sister. Once again, they walked into the great hall and neither one of them spared so much as a glance at the Gryffindor table.
Ophelia sat down, ignoring the looks she got from the rest of the Slytherins, in between Regulus and Narcissa Black.
Narcissa looked at her for a few moments before speaking, "Ophelia Black, you're a Gryffindor. Why are you here?"
"I'm ignoring my dumbass of a brother right now," she said bitterly.
Narcissa looked warily over at Regulus.
"We're just resenting him at the moment. It's okay, Cissa, she can sit here."
Narcissa nodded for a moment before beginning to make polite conversation with their new guest.
After the sorting, Dumbledore's way too long speech, and half of the feast, Narcissa and Ophelia had gotten to know each other even better than before. They often hung out with each other at the pureblooded balls due to the closeness of their age.
Ophelia hadn't eaten too much, and she was glad that Narcissa didn't mention it. She had been so conditioned at Grimmauld Place to eat barely anything, that she couldn't eat more than an extremely small plate without feeling very sick to her stomach.
Narcissa glanced over to her, leaned in, and quietly said, "Your brother won't stop staring at you."
Ophelia rolled her eyes, "Just ignore him."
✩☾✩☽✩
"You're staring, mate," said James.
"Something's wrong, I know it," said Sirius, not taking his eyes off of his siblings.
"Why don't you talk to her?" asked Peter.
"Do you see her? If I go over there, she'll hex the living shit out of me."
"I don't know what to tell you mate, sorry," said James.
Frustrated, Sirius got up out of his seat and threw his napkin down at the table.
"Where are you going?" asked Remus.
"To the bathroom. I'll be back in a minute."
The three remaining marauders watched as their fourth walked bitterly out of the great hall and out of sight.
What they didn't expect to see was Ophelia, who whispered something to Regulus, and got up and came over to their table.
"Hey James!" she called as she got to their table. "How was your summer?"
"Uh- It was- It was good. Are you okay, Phee-" he asked with those stern yet gently kind Potter eyes.
"Hello Peter! I missed you," she pulled the small blonde boy into a hug, who gratefully accepted.
"I missed you too!" he blushed a bit.
"My dear Remus, how are you?" She pulled Remus into a hug too. He accepted at first, but tensed up as he realized how thin she was. His eyes widened and he pulled away.
"Ophelia! What-"
"Talk to you later!" Ophelia called, walking over to some of her other friends.
"Lily! How are you? How was your summer?"
"Fia, there you are! It was so good! Why are you sitting with the Slytherins?"
"Just wanted to spend some time with Reggie, that's all!" she smiled at them.
"Mar, how much did you miss me?"
"Not at all," she deadpanned before laughing. "I'm kidding! I missed you so much, you don't even know!"
"I think I do," Ophelia laughed.
"Alice, babe!" She pulled Alice into a warm hug as well. "How was your summer?"
"Oh it was great! How was yours?"
"It was pretty good as well!" She lied with ease.
"Why don't you sit with us for the remainder of the feast?" asked Lily, motioning for her friend to sit next to her.
"I wish I could Lil, but I said I'd sit with Reg today," Ophelia looked up and saw Sirius walking back into the great hall, a very confused look upon his face as he saw his sister. "I'll talk to you guys later, love you!"
She quickly walked away, trying to get back to the Slytherin table as fast as she could. But she wasn't fast enough, as Sirius grabbed her arm.
"Fia-"
"Leave me alone, Sirius."
She pulled away from him and walked out of the great hall and into one of the large corridors of the school, walking to the Gryffindor common room. It was dimly illuminated, and completely empty, as almost all students were at the feast.
Sirius ran after her, followed by the other three marauders, who stood back a bit from the two siblings.
"Come on Fia, what's wrong?" he asked, about ten feet behind her.
Ophelia just kept walking, acting as if she didn't hear him.
"What? You're ignoring me now?"
He caught up to her and once again grabbed her arm, in an attempt to stop her.
"Fia-"
"How could you?" she shouted, not meaning to raise her voice as much as she did.
"What?"
"Oh don't play dumb with me, Sirius. I cannot believe you!"
"I don't know what-"
"You're an idiot, Sirius Black. That's what."
"Ophelia, what happened?"
"Why don't you tell me what happened? What the hell happened that night, Sirius?"
"I got mad at mother and father! I left, I don't see what the big deal is."
"You left? And you didn't think to write a letter? To let us know where you were? That you were safe?"
"I wasn't thinking-"
"We thought you were dead, Sirius!" Ophelia shouted at him, tears silently streaming down her face.
"What-"
"Me and Reggie. We thought you died! We were terrified, Sirius. But no! No, you were over at Potter's, playing dolls and eating ice cream, while me and Reg were fucking mourning your death. Do you know how we felt?"
"Ophelia, I'm so sor-"
"No, Sirius. You don't get to be sorry. Not this time. You didn't stop to think once about us. That you left us behind, to deal with an enraged mother and father. That we missed you, and wondered where the hell you were. I thought that I was going to have to explain to all of your friends that you were dead, Sirius. That mother and father fucking murdered you. I thought I would never see you again."
"But-"
"Think about that night from my perspective. I hear you and mother and father arguing, I hear you getting punished, and then silence. Silence. I went down to make sure you were okay, I thought you were unconscious, but no. I saw a pool of fucking blood. Your blood. And days went by, without a word from you. We held on to hope. But days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months, and we really thought we lost you, Sirius. Do you understand what that does to a person? To think that their brother, their fucking twin, was dead? And the worst part, I blamed it on myself. I kept thinking, I should've been there to protect him. I could have saved him. I kept thinking, you were strong. You would fight back, like you always do. Why would you leave? Why would we hear nothing from you for months, unless you were dead-"
Sirius engulfed her in a hug, wrapping his arms around her as she sobbed into his chest.
"I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry, Ophelia. I wasn't thinking. I just wanted to get out of that hellhole, and I didn't stop to think what the consequences would be. I was just so happy to get away from mother and father, I didn't even think about the effects it would have on you and Reg. There's not really anything that I can say to express just how sorry I am, and I know that's not going to make you forgive me, which is completely understandable, but I just don't know how to put into words how sorry I am."
At this point, Sirius was crying as well, and the siblings just held onto each other. Ophelia had reluctantly forgiven him, just happy that he was safe and alive. They just held each other, for what felt like forever, each speechless and lost in thought, so much so that neither one of them heard a faint 'click' coming from behind them.
The two just stood in the middle of the corridor, crying into each other, thanking the universe that the other was okay.