SINCE OPHELIA'S LAST INTERACTION WITH Theodore Nott, which was exactly three hours ago, she had been holed up in her secret corner of the library, carefully thinking over the words that repeated like clockworks in her head. 

At first, she had refused to believe that Colin was gone.

Then, she felt angry that Colin was gone.

Which was followed by her pacing and tearing her hair out in frustration, as she was thinking whether Colin was actually gone, or it was all in her head that he was still there. 

Or was he ever hers in the first place?

That made her depressed.

But her depression didn't last long.

Barely an hour later, Ophelia wiped her eyes and sighed her empty heart out that Colin was gone. That he had a girlfriend. And that Ophelia had to share him.

And that he wouldn't be around as much.

Which was followed by another hour of careful contemplating, until, she came up with the solution, to do something about it.

Because she, was a Malfoy.

And Malfoys always get what they want.

And so, as Ophelia noticed that Colin would be spending more time with Abigail, she observed them from afar, quietly, and discreetly.

No, nobody noticed her.

But this was only part of her plan.

Stage one. To observe her specimens.

She wasn't jealous. She just missed her best friend. The reason being that Colin would often forget that she existed. He'd promise to meet her in the common room, or after classes, then forget. If they had the same class with Abigail, he'd sit with her.

Of course, the blonde was happy for him, but, again, he was her best friend.

She missed him.

Besides, she told herself as she watched them from afar. She had him first. It wasn't like she was actually going to break them apart.

No, Colin would hate her if she did that.

It was the next day that she began to put her plan into action. 

And she started by slipping her pink ribbon into Colin's bag.

Then, she waited.

Classes continued, and Ophelia met her assignments with her usual enthusiasm. She had gotten her monthly allowance, and her brother was staying well out of her way. Nott hadn't been seen either. Best of all, Colin had begun spending a little time with her everyday.

Well, not everyday. Sometimes he had to go and spend time with that Ravenclaw girl. Once, Ophelia had spotted them in the corridor together, and Colin was smiling down at her while twisting her brown hair between his fingers. Ophelia had scoffed and rolled her eyes. Abigail needed conditioner. The split ends! And her hair wasn't even shiny or soft. In fact, it was merely slightly better than Granger's. But then again, Granger probably had the worst hair in all of Hogwarts, so it was hardly a compliment.

However, Ophelia was far too mature to mention any of this, or any other condemning remarks to Colin, who seemed to like his girlfriend well enough, even though the poor girl knew nothing of beauty, and those shoes! Good Lord.

But then again, Ophelia was mature. And Colin seemed happy. Although he could probably do much better. Like that pretty little Hufflepuff in the year below. Now she knew how to dress up.

So she would not comment, nor unfairly try to take Colin's attention away from Whatever Her Name Was. No matter how badly the girl needed a manicure.

"Ophelia!" hissed Colin, who had appeared by the witch's side quite suddenly. 

Caught completely unguarded, she placed a hand over her heart, trying to keep herself from shrieking. 

"What?" she asked with an air of nonchalance, glancing around the empty corridor. It was a Wednesday afternoon, and nearly everyone else was at lunch.

Colin took a deep breath, and Ophelia pursed her lips, barely keeping herself from laughing. It was rare to see him so irritated, and it made her want to giggle. 

His hair was as usual, dishrivelled, his tie askew somewhere, and his camera hanging down his neck backwards. His cheeks were flushed, and he was breathing deeply enough for Ophelia to know that he was rather provoked about her recent actions.

Yes, she knew exactly what it was that had put him into this vexed state. 

In his hand, he held one of Ophelia's white hair clips, and again, Ophelia fought the urge to snicker.

"Ophelia, you need to stop this." He tried to look firm. He tried to sound commanding, but epically failed. Instead, he sounded polite, like he was gently pleading her.

"I haven't the faintest clue what you're going on about," the blonde hummed impassively, giving away no emotion from her pretty features.

"You keep leaving stuff like this in my bag!" he accused, picking her hand up, and depositing the white hairclip into it. "And don't think I don't know what you're doing either."

"Doing?" Ophelia repeated, with mock innocence, blinking. "I'm not doing anything."

"Yes, you are, you little snake!" Colin told her heatedly, as again, Ophelia tried to fight her smirk. "Abigail found this one!" Ophelia grinned as Colin went on. "And now she keeps asking me about other girls, including all the other girls who talk to me during class!" He waved his arms frantically. "She asked me again, if we were just friends, even though I repeatedly keep telling her that. She probably thinks I'm cheating on her!"

"I don't see how that's my fault," Ophelia said innocently. "You can't get angry and blame me for forgetting my hairclip."

"You're doing it on purpose, Ophelia!" Colin concluded, crossing his arms over his chest. "And don't even try to deny it, because this is exactly the sort of petty thing you'd do."

Ophelia gasped dramatically, placing a hand over her heart to show that his words had wounded her. "Are you implying that I'm petty?"

"Oh," said Colin. "I'm not implying anything. I'm merely stating facts." He ticked off his fingers. "Your name is Ophelia. Your hair is blonde. Your eyes are gray. You are petty." He looked up at her. "See? Facts."

Ophelia smirked, deeply amused. Even Colin looked now like he was fighting the urge to lose his anger to exasperated amusement. After a moment, Ophelia sighed again, and flipped her ponytail over her shoulder. 

"You really should be thanking me," she said, past the phase of denying it. "A little jealousy is good for a relationship."

"Oh my God!" Colin dragged his both of his hands slowly down his face. "You cannot be serious," he moaned. "You've never even been in a relationship before, and now you claim to know that jealousy is good for a relationship?"

"It's true," exclaimed Ophelia, with an air of a wise old woman. "Jealousy reminds both partners to be thankful for each other, and appreciate what they've got."

"I'm going to strangle you," Colin told her flatly. "And then I'm going to dump your body in the lake."

"Tsk, tsk. Not very nice of you," Ophelia drawled. "Besides, it's my job to be giving out the death threats here, not you," she said with a wicked smile.

"Fine," Colin said at last, glaring at her. "But just you wait. Because when you finally date someone, I'm going to leave my tie around your bedpost or something. See how you like it."

"My dear Colin," Ophelia laughed. "We both have the exact same tie."

"Fine, then I'll leave my hair gel in your bag," he said sourly.

Ophelia pondered over this, not actually deterred or put off by the idea, which showed on her face. Colin seemed to catch on this. He pointed at her. "Stop leaving your girl stuff in my bag and pockets. Understood?"

The blonde folded her arms. "As you wish," she said coyly.

At that moment, she glanced down the corridor, and seemed to notice Abigail and a bunch of other Ravenclaws coming up a flight of stairs. Looking back at Colin, she flashed him a wicked grin, and took the pink ribbon from her hair out, letting her soft, blonde locks fall down her shoulders.

Draping the ribbon around his neck, and tying a tight little bow, far too quick for Colin to notice what she was up to, she left him stupefied as she darted away quickly.

Colin seemed to catch his reflection in a glass window and realized the pink ribbon was clearly visible, tied around the strings of his camera. 

"ARGH!" he exclaimed, trying to undo the knot just as Abigail rounded the corner. But she'd tied it too tight for a boy to know how to untie it. 

Ophelia nearly died of laughter behind a statue, listening to Colin make excuses furiously to Abigail, before hurrying off, his fingers still trying to unto the knot.

Satisfied, Ophelia sighed happily and skipped off to lunch, with raised spirits.

Colin did spend more time with her after that, and Ophelia ceased to annoy him by leaving her things in his bag and pockets.

Every night, Ophelia would curl up in the common room with Princess Cleopatra in her lap, as the pair worked on their homework and chatted about the most insignificant of trivialities, hidden away from the rest of the world.

They were in plain sight, in fact, but nobody took much notice of them anyway, something that Ophelia was grateful for.

And the blonde had a smile on her face.

She was happy.

But not for long.

Indeed, misfortune arrived in the form on the Daily Prophet, on the ides of February, when Ophelia and Colin were seated together in the Great Hall during breakfast.

When Ophelia's owl dropped the Daily Prophet on her empty plate, the first thing she read were the bold emblazoned headlines:

MASS BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN.

And underneath—

The Ministry of Magic announced late last night that there has been a mass breakout from Azkaban.

Speaking to reporters in , Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, confirmed that ten high-security prisoners escaped in the early hours of yesterday evening, and that he has already informed the of the dangerous nature of these individuals.

"We find ourselves, most unfortunately, in the same position we were when the murderer Sirius Black escaped," said Fudge last night. 

"Nor do we think the two breakouts are unrelated. An escape of this magnitude suggests outside help, and we must remember that Black, as the first person ever to break out of Azkaban, would be ideally placed to help others follow in his footsteps."

"We think it likely that these individuals, who include Black's cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, have rallied around Black as their leader. We are, however, doing all we can to round up the criminals and beg the magical community to remain alert and cautious. On no account should any of these individuals be approached."

Terror flooded through Ophelia, as her eyes widened. Whispers filled the Great Hall, as all eyes were on her and her brother.

It was obvious that everyone had read the news.

The blonde peeked up from the newspaper, trying to catch her brother's eye. 

But it seemed like his eyes had already found hers, his piercing blue eyes boring into her own, all the way across the hall.

She stood up, the seat screeching as she did so. Crumpling the newspaper in her hand, she swiftly walked to the door of the Great Hall, her heels clacking on the floor being one of the only loud sounds in the room, as she left, with everyone's eyes upon her.

And her head held high.

But the moment she left the hall, her poise and stance fell, as the truth hit her like a fast moving train.

It was real.

Lord Voldemort was indeed back; the stories her parents had told her seemingly became more frightening.

Not to mention the family reunion with her notorious Aunt Bellatrix, her husband Rodolphus and his brother, Rabastan Lestrange.

Indeed, Ophelia supposed they had already paid Malfoy Manor a visit, and were probably comfortably lodging at Malfoy Manor.

The time to kiss her childhood goodbye had arrived.

{ here's the next update. i wanted to thank you guys for reading, commenting and voting.
many of you are commenting about what a jerk theodore nott is. and i agree, but there is a reason he is like this. i shall explain everything in the future chapters.
there is an explanation for why theodore is behaving this way, please do not worry.
 anyway, hope you guys are doing okay. i don't know when i'll update again.
until then, stay safe luvs ,, and take care.
love, jasmine.
dedicated to malfoy-_-draco-_ for inspiring me to write <3 }

{JUN 12. 2023}