AZKABAN WAS HELL. LITERALLY. OPHELIA, Narcissa and Draco only spent an hour in the wizarding prison, and the moment they stepped into the premises, all they wished to do was leave. 

The dementors were circling them the moment they set foot on the island. All of Ophelia's worst memories began replaying in her head, over and over again, until she was internally struggling not to scream out loud.

The dementors led the three of them to Lucius' cell.

The moment Ophelia saw Lucius in the cell, tears spilled down her cheeks. She couldn't bear to see him like this. Matted hair, a growing beard, dark circles under his eyes, and covered in filth.

He looked sunken and pale; like he hadn't seen sunlight for days, yet the moment he saw Narcissa, Ophelia and Draco, life entered his eyes. 

"Ophelia," he breathed, his hand reaching for hers through the bars of the cell.

"Daddy," she choked, sniffling as she tried to hug him through the bars.

"I'm okay, sweetheart, I'll be out in no time," Lucius said with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Lucius," Narcissa said softly, her hand touching his over the metal of the bar. 

"Be strong, Narcissa," Lucius told her hoarsely.

"And Draco, may I have a word with you?" Lucius added. "Alone?"

Narcissa and Ophelia stepped away while Lucius spoke to Draco. Narcissa had fear in her eyes, and Ophelia noticed that she was shivering. 

"Mummy?" Ophelia asked. "Are you alright?"

Narcissa nodded grimly, a tear trickling down her cheek and into her lap.

Ophelia took her mother's hand in her own, and went back to Lucius' cell after he was done speaking to Draco.

"Lucius," Narcissa whispered. "We won't be allowed to visit you any more..."

"I know, Narcissa. But I'll be out in no time," Lucius convinced her. "In the mean time, I need you to look after Ophelia and Draco. Do that for me."

Narcissa nodded. 

"Ophelia..." Lucius began. "I need you to—"

But nobody knew what Lucius was going to say, because at that moment, a huge swarm of dementors circled around Ophelia, Narcissa and Draco, and began sucking the life out of them.

Narcissa screamed, clutching the bars of Lucius' cell as she collapsed with the mere force of her memories as they began to play out in her head.

Lucius shut his eyes tightly, mentally willing the dementors to go away.

Draco was staring at them in fear, his icy blue eyes wide as he tried to stand upright.

And Ophelia. Ophelia was closing her eyes tightly, trying her best not to be affected by the dementors.

"Lucius is in Azkaban, sweet princess... Punished for disobeying me..."

"No... No... no, no no....NO! NOOOO!"

"Ophelia! Ophelia! Wake up!"

"You were found in the forbidden forest... Unconscious..."

"You're just a spoiled brat with insecurities and no real personality..."

"BECAUSE MY LIFE TURNED TO HELL AS SOON AS YOU CAME INTO THE WORLD!"

"He's a mudblood!"

"BECAUSE I FUCKING LOVE YOU!"

The last memory caused Ophelia to snap out of her daze.

Because I love you. 

Colin.

The sweet, innocent muggleborn; Ophelia's best friend. He showed Ophelia light in her little world of darkness. With his permanent smile and happy-go-lucky nature... And... How he always took pictures of Ophelia's smile, and when he leant in to tuck loose strands of her hair behind her ear, and how he always gave her his robes when she was cold...

A tear spilled down her cheek.

This time, not of sadness or anger, but of happiness; of hope.

She looked around her. Draco and Narcissa were both screaming as the dementors feasted on their happy memories.

She needed to do something.

Professor McGonagall was telling her that the only thing that could drive away dementors was—

"A Patronus!" She whispered out loud.

"Mummy, where's your wand?" Ophelia demanded, bending down to her mother's level. "Where's your wand?" she asked loudly.

Narcissa held up her hand, closing her eyes tightly.

Ophelia checked her mother's bag, and pockets of her robes, finally finding Narcissa's wand in her sleeve.

She closed her eyes tightly, trying to look for a happy memory.

"Colin!" Ophelia shrieked. "Stop that!"

"I'm not doing anything," Colin shrugged, trying to maintain a straight face. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Stop taking pictures of me!" Ophelia repeated, snatching his camera and looking through his film.

"Or what?" Colin asked, with a small smile, raising a brow, challenging her.

"Or I'll smash this camera to bits," Ophelia threatened, fire in her eyes. "And you know I will. I don't back down from my threats easily..."

"Oh really?" Colin challenged, towering over her small frame, reaching for his camera. 

Ophelia's eyes widened, her breath hitching as she was momentarily distracted by Colin's woody scent as she let the camera slip from her fingers when Colin took it. "Then you'd lose all my photographs..." Colin murmured.

"It's fine," Ophelia breathed. "I don't care."

"Well you should," Colin whispered, his breath ghosting her skin as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "They're all of you..."

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Ophelia roared, as loud as she could, through her mangled emotions of tears, sorrow, and her happy memories that she concentrated on.

And from Narcissa's wand, a wisp of light burst from the tip, and morphed into a roaring lioness, prancing and leaping as it chased all the dementors away with its light.

It was royal and regal, and graceful; everything Ophelia was, fighting off the darkness.

Ophelia crouched down before her mother.

"Mummy, are you okay?" Ophelia whispered, trying to help Narcissa up. 

"Ophelia?" Narcissa murmured. "What did you do?"

"You just produced a Patronus," Lucius stared at Ophelia like she wasn't his daughter; but a stranger in her place.

"A what?" Draco asked. 

"A Patronus?" Narcissa asked weakly, eyes widening. "A corporeal one?"

"I saw it with my own eyes," Lucius affirmed, his voice raspy. "I'm so proud of you, Princess."

Ophelia still held the wand straight. "Professor McGonagall taught it to me."

"Ophelia, I hope you aren't fraternizing with the other sort at Hogwarts—" Narcissa began.

"I believe Ophelia can take care of herself," Lucius interrupted Narcissa, much to everyone's shock. "She's not our little girl anymore..." he continued, sadness in his eyes as he stared at her.

When Lucius said it, Narcissa knew he was right. It killed Lucius to admit Ophelia didn't need protecting any more. But right now she had just protected her family, and Lucius knew she could handle herself.

"Don't worry, Daddy," Ophelia said softly. "I'll make you proud."

And then, their time was up.

One hour was gone. They had to leave Azkaban.

Nobody spoke for the entire journey home.

It was only when they were back home that Narcissa gave Ophelia a tight hug and said she was proud of her, before heading to bed.

And Ophelia wasn't moping around at Lucius' imprisonment anymore. Getting to visit him, and say goodbye to Lucius in person had helped her greatly. 

She sat in the kitchen, all alone, sipping her lavender tea when Draco sat on the chair opposite her.

He said nothing to her.

She said nothing to him.

Ophelia was reading a book called Cat's Eye, Margaret Atwood while drinking her tea. Mr. Harper had given it to her right before the school year ended.

Ophelia hid her smirk behind the pages of her book.

She knew why Draco was here.

And it wasn't to talk to her, or even eat.

"Would you like some tea?" Ophelia asked innocently, looking up from her book, trying to hide her smile.

Draco glared at her. "What? No!" he snapped. "You know I don't drink tea."

"If you say so," Ophelia shrugged, dragging out her next sip of tea. "More for me."

"Give me that!" Draco muttered, snatching the teacup from her grasp and taking a sip.

Ophelia stifled a laugh.

"Fine!" Draco admitted grudgingly. "I like your stupid lavender tea. Now go on, laugh!"

Ophelia giggled, chuckling behind her book. "I'm not laughing because you like my tea," she told him after a while. "I'm laughing because you're scared to admit you like the tea to preserve your masculine ego."

"What?" Draco asked, his voice slightly high pitched. "Pfft- that's not true."

"I won't tell Blaise," Ophelia teased, asking Little to bring her another cup of tea. "If that's what you're worried about..."

"Blaise?" Draco echoed. "You're on a first-name basis with him now?"

Ophelia nodded singly. "We're.... friends. Sort of."

"Sort of?" Draco narrowed his eyes. 

"We talk sometimes," Ophelia said nonchalantly.

Draco tsked and said nothing, drowning his sorrows in that itty bitty cup of lavender tea.

"How do you make this?" Draco suddenly asked, after another moment of silence. "It's different to the one mother drinks."

"Three sage leaves, a sprig of lavender and a stick of sweet cinnamon," Ophelia replied. "And you add hot water to it, and maple syrup." 

She looked up from her book in surprise. "Why are you asking; you planning to invite your friends over for a tea party?" she smirked innocently.

"Shut up," growled Draco. "And if you tell anyone about this.... Anyone..." he warned. "I'll—"

"I won't tell," Ophelia smiled cheekily. 

The kitchen fell silent again, as Ophelia busied herself in reading her book. She sipped her tea as she read, feeling sort of calmed by Draco's presence. 

Normally, Draco was aloof and cold, and it must have taken him a lot to willingly come and sit next to her.

She put down her book, put her cup in the sink, and turned around to go up to her bedroom.

"Wait," Draco said quietly, before she left the kitchen. He took three long strides towards her. "Thank you," he said quietly. "For saving my life today."

"It's okay," Ophelia said after a minute of silence, not sure if her hearing was impaired, or if Draco actually thanked her.

"That thing you produced..." Draco began.

"Patronus," Ophelia chided.

"Whatever," Draco rolled his eyes. "I think Potter used that same charm on me in third year..."

"On you?" Ophelia echoed, her brows furrowing. "Why—Oh..." Realization dawned on her features. "He thought you were a dementor," she giggled.

"Did you learn it from Potter's defense group?" Draco asked her.

Ophelia shook her head. "I wasn't on that group, remember?" She reminded him. "Professor McGonagall taught me."

"Right," Draco said, rubbing the back of his neck, as the pair climbed the stairs together. "Well, I'll... see you tomorrow... Er— goodnight.."

"Goodnight," Ophelia smiled, before going to her room, and flopping on her bed.

Cleopatra jumped on her.

"Very strange day today, Cleo," Ophelia murmured, before she gave Cleopatra her bath, and manicure.

When she was ready for bed, she slept soundly, for the first time since summer started, her heart brimming with hope.

Hope for her relationship with Draco, that is.

Because Ophelia knew that if she had Draco by her side, she would be fine.

Another week passed by, and Ophelia and Draco had gotten slightly closer. Every night the pair would drink lavender tea in the kitchen in absolute silence before going to bed.

It was a routine.

The only consistent thing in the Malfoy siblings' lives.

The thing they held onto most.

Bellatrix was treating Narcissa much better after Ophelia had defended her, and the blonde yet had to owe her aunt a favor in return.

Until finally, Bellatrix found Ophelia in the library, and demanded for her favor.

Bellatrix was going to cast the Cruciatus on Ophelia for a full minute, and Ophelia wasn't allowed to scream at all, or the minute started again.

Ophelia screamed on the first three tries, and cried a little.

On the fourth try, she merely whimpered.

By the seventh try, Ophelia could withstand the Cruciatus curse without flinching.

Bellatrix wouldn't say it verbally, but she was impressed, and left Ophelia alone after that, after getting bored that Ophelia didn't react to the curse any more.

Neither Narcissa nor Draco ever found out about this, and Ophelia was determined to let it stay that way.

Bellatrix then began to teach Draco legilimency, and suggested Ophelia to learn too. Narcissa did not want Bellatrix to teach Ophelia, because she knew Lucius would never take it if his precious Ophelia was alone with a maniac like Bellatrix even for two seconds.

So she wrote to Snape and asked him if he could teach Ophelia instead.

But Ophelia convinced her mother she would be fine learning with Bellatrix. 

And so, the Malfoy children began learning legilimency with their aunt.

Much to everyone's surprise, Bellatrix did not bully Ophelia or treat her like a delicate princess. Like the queen she was, Ophelia had managed to earn Bellatrix's respect.

This was something that was too good to be true, for Bellatrix looked at everyone like they were beneath her. She didn't respect anyone except the Dark Lord.

Ophelia and Bellatrix were similar in many ways, and secretly, through Bellatrix's madness and manic ways, Ophelia could see a tiny bit of her future self.

Perhaps this was what made Bellatrix respect Ophelia; the fact that Ophelia was brave and unafraid of anything.

The fact that Ophelia reminded Bellatrix so much of her younger self.

This was not spoken about, or verbalized; it was understood. Through silence, and magical duels, and bantering with spells and memories.

Ophelia just hoped Bellatrix would never, ever find out about Colin.

Thankfully, by the time summer was almost at an end, Ophelia was a master at Legilimency, and when Aunt Bella probed through her mind, all memories of Colin were gone; hidden, and tucked away in an invisible box in the depths of her mind.

Two weeks before summer ended, Ophelia and Draco had gotten more close. Their nightly routine of drinking lavender tea was the only constant thing they had in their lives, and neither of them voiced it, but they knew that they were both holding onto it as tightly as the other was.

They barely spoke, but a million words were spoken when they sat beside each other and let their presence be enough.

Until Ophelia began to notice Draco had began to behave strangely.

Stranger than usual, that is.

She would hear him crying in the middle of the night, and punching his bedroom wall suddenly, and she had noticed a bottle of firewhiskey in his room one night.

She decided to speak to him.

They were drinking tea in the kitchen, as usual, when Ophelia suggested they take their tea up to the library.

"Why?" Draco asked.

"It's cold down here," Ophelia replied, with a convincing shiver.

They moved to the Malfoy Manor library, where Ophelia was sure nobody would overhear. The kitchen was way too close to the dungeons for Ophelia's liking.

"Draco, is everything alright?" Ophelia asked quietly, leaning closer to the brother to take his hand in her own.

Draco flinched.

This felt strange. Them touching. He didn't touch her if he could help it, and she never touched him in fear he would get angry.

Draco closed his eyes and whimpered, but didn't pull away from her touch. 

Ophelia took this as a sign to move closer, and she made direct eye-contact with him.

"That day in Azkaban..." Draco whispered. "Father told me that the Dark Lord would try to punish him for failing to save the prophecy..."

"Punish him how?" Ophelia whispered, her chest tightening, her eyes wide and fearful.

"By.... using me," Draco whimpered, squeezing his eyes shut and curling his bruised hands into fists.

"Oh no," Ophelia breathed, her heart racing as she understood. "Oh Draco..."

Ophelia didn't care if Draco didn't like physical touch. He needed it. Slowly, she reached up to give him a tight hug.

Draco didn't reciprocate her embrace, but he leant into her touch. 

"Does Mummy know?" Ophelia asked quietly, inhaling his scent. He smelt familiar; almost like Lucius.

"Not yet," Draco murmured. "She will once the week's over."

"And then you'll...?" Ophelia asked, afraid to say the end of the sentence, almost feeling that if she didn't say it, it wouldn't be true.

"Then I'll become a Death Eater, yeah..." Draco muttered.

"I have one thing to ask," Ophelia murmured. "Please don't shut me out," she asked in a small voice. "I know I'm younger than you, and you don't like me, but you're all I have now... I'll be there to listen to anything you have to say..."

"I can't promise you anything, Ophelia," Draco said gruffly. "But I don't hate you. You're annoying, but you're not so bad."

At this, Ophelia couldn't help a tear-filled giggle that escaped her lips. "And you're not so bad either."

And Draco was right. By the end of the week, Lord Voldemort had called Draco into the dungeon and given him the dark mark.

Ophelia would never forget his face, contorted into an expression of pain as he twisted and writhed when he was given the Dark Mark.

She was forced to watch alongside Narcissa, tears pouring down her cheeks.

And Draco was marked. An ugly skull on his left arm, with a serpent coming out of its mouth. Ophelia and Draco had spent the entire night trying to stop it from burning, until Ophelia had the idea to use essence of murtlap. 

It stopped the burning.

Draco wanted to get rid of the mark. He tried cutting it off, but his skin healed over it magically. He tried to wash it off, he tried to use a spell.

Nothing worked.

The mark stayed on his arm, tainting what was left of his childhood, a reminder that Draco's soul now belonged to the Dark Lord.

Ophelia and Draco did not sleep all night, for the rest of the week. Draco was given the task to kill Dumbledore, and Ophelia was doing her best to be there for Draco and help him through this.

Ophelia knew Draco was scared; however hard he tried to be proud of serving the Dark Lord like his father; however hard he tried to be brave.

He was a Slytherin. He wasn't meant to be brave.

He was meant to be ambitious.

Ophelia was the brave one. She didn't cry. She endured, and she helped Draco endure. Perhaps this was the reason that Draco didn't mind her by his side.

Because she gave him strength. She gave him hope.

She didn't cry and make him feel more miserable. She could live through her pain, after years of practice, and she taught Draco how to live through his pain too.

How to wear his scars like armor.

And Ophelia knew Draco needed her, even if he said he didn't. She knew her presence soothed him.

But he would never admit it; he might push her away in fear that she would see him as vulnerable. He might say hurtful things to get rid of her.

But she vowed she would never leave his side, even if he pushed her away. How much ever he didn't like her, Ophelia would never leave his side because she knew that if she left him, he would leave himself.

And so, by the end of summer, Draco realized that he couldn't live without Ophelia.

And Ophelia realized she couldn't live without Draco.

Lavender tea had brought them together.

{ dear readers, once again i thank you all for bringing me this far. i am really sorry for not updating in almost two weeks. i've been really busy. anyway, i finally updated, and this is almost 3k words, so enjoyyy :)
well, draco and ophelia finally got close. but i don't know if it'll last or not.
i may not update next week, as i've got exams, they end on the 23rd, so i'll probably update right after that.
in the mean time, do enjoy the playlist, and this chapter.
also please comment, vote, follow and share. 
pray for the palestine-israel genocide. millions of palestinians have lost their homes, and thousands have been killed. try to boycott israeli products as well. little kids are being tortured, and there is no humanity left.
please vote for a ceasefire now. 
i hope you guys are okay. take care of yourselves, eat healthy, drink loads of water and try sleeping early. lots and lots of love.
yours always, jasmine <3. }

{NOV 14. 2023}