WHEN OPHELIA ASKED THEODORE WHY he did not want her to hate him, after all these years of hurting her, he delivered the simple answer that they were supposed to be getting along, for Draco's sake, and said no more.

But thoughts regarding the very matter continued to plague her mind.

What had suddenly changed that made Theodore want her not to hate him? After all these years of constant torture and words that had broken her confidence... What changed?

Her confusion constantly mingled with her mind, the whos and the whys... All possible scenarios invaded her mind like twisted tendrils of smoke, diffusing all over her head and clouding her thoughts completely.

And Ophelia's hate for him grew... just a little less. She yet had to forgive him for the five years of mental torture he'd sent her way, but this year he had been less of a jerk towards her. And no doubt, Ophelia knew that this was because Draco had threatened him.

Although he had comforted her and helped her start eating again after weeks of food deprivation, Ophelia could not bring herself to just welcome him back into her life and continue their friendship to where they had left off. 

She could not bring her old feelings for him to resurface. He had hurt her to the point of scarring her so deep that it would take loads of redemption for her scars to heal and fade.

And he had seemed to understand this. Theodore had kept his distance from her, without imposing too much, and only approached Ophelia once a day, to take her to the kitchens and makes sure she ate.

And day by day, Ophelia began to heal.

The jagged scars of her past began to heal with his help, starting with her eating disorder. Everyday, Theodore made her eat a little bit more, and with time, she was back to gaining weight. She was feeling extremely insecure, with every pound she gained, but Theodore constantly assured her that she was starting to look healthy.

For inexplicable reasons, Ophelia believed him. She trusted him. She wasn't afraid. Because somehow, without explanation, she knew he was right this time. She knew he wasn't trying to hurt her.

Her mind kept telling her that she shouldn't trust him, but her heart said she should.

Potions was her worst class. It wasn't the subject material, it wasn't the professor, and it wasn't that she found it difficult.

No, everything was perfect, except for her partner.

Colin Creevey  had done nothing to earn Ophelia's resentment, but the Malfoy heiress still hated him.

She hated him for not kissing her back. She hated him for not cheating on Abigail. She hated him for not loving her back. But most of all, she hated him for being so fucking good all the time.

She hated that she had no reason to hate him.

She hated that she was supposed to hate him but loved him instead.

She hated that she tried so hard to make him hate her during potions, but he was nothing but kind towards her.

The next two weeks of potions were utter hell.

Ophelia would order Colin to get the supplies, she would intentionally drop his things on the floor, and she would accidentally step on his toes without apologizing.

And every single time, the muggle born would merely apologize saying it was his fault, and give her a smile.

She hated him, and that stupid camera of his.

Draco never found out about her accident, and Ophelia was determined to keep it that way. Two weeks after the whole ordeal, it seemed to be forgotten, by everyone except herself.

Another thing that had changed over the course of these two weeks was Ophelia's acquaintanceship with Luna Lovegood. Of course, the Lovegood girl was far too cheerful for Ophelia's opinion, but she did have this calming aura that Ophelia liked.

They weren't exactly friends, per se; they just sat on the same table in the library whilst doing homework, and when the Lovegood girl needed help, Ophelia would assist, because she felt she owed this to the Ravenclaw who had dropped off a nice Get Well Soon card when she had fallen off her broom.

Ophelia despised Fridays. Because of double potions.

Once again, she routinely walked to the potions room and sat down on her three legged stool, she occupied her mind with thoughts of her latest novel series The Chronicles of Narnia. Often she would find herself slipping into daydreams of the fascinating fantasy world when she wanted a distraction.

In this case, she needed a distraction from the boy beside her.

Today, they were brewing everlasting elixirs, which when added to other potions, would cause them never to run out.

With the potions book open between them, there was no need to discuss anything as the instructions were already written on the board, and the ingredients were already on the table.

As the two Gryffindors wordlessly worked on the potions together, each taking turns to follow the steps, Ophelia couldn't help that this was one of the best potions lessons since Colin became her partner. 

It was like they were strangers again.

And everything was going perfectly, until Colin suddenly shouted, "LOOK OUT!" and pushed Ophelia aside and shielded her with his body as the potion right behind them exploded.

And Colin sharply cried out as the hot metal of the cauldron burst, and a shard flew into his back, instantly causing blood to spatter all over his back.

As for Ophelia, she was fully prepared to start yelling at Colin for pushing her with enough force to send her sprawling to the ground, when she stood up and noticed the blood all over his back, and his pained expression.

The classroom was in havoc. Mariana was crying behind Ophelia, hands clapped to her mouth, eyes wide in horror on seeing the results of her exploded potion.

"Alright, everyone, calm down!" Slughorn used a magically magnified voice to attract the attention of the students in his classroom.

But Ophelia's eyes were glued to the shard of hot metal stuck in Colin's back, her stomach horribly churning with her last meal as she realized the implications of what would have happened if Colin hadn't moved her out of the way.

The jagged piece of metal was wedged into Colin's skin at his upper back, exactly the same level of Ophelia's neck. Had she not fallen to the ground, the metal would have sliced her neck.

He saved her life.

"O-oh my God.. Oh God!" she kept whispering, completely shaken up with her hand pressed against her chest, her breathing heavy, her sweat mingling with the tears on her cheeks, her face and ears completely hot.

"I'll take Mr. Creevey to the hospital wing," Slughorn announced, waving his wand and levitating the passed out muggleborn into the air. "Miss Malfoy, you might want to accompany me and get a calming draught from Madam Pomfrey. The rest of you, finish your potions." His glare landed on Mariana and Jimmy Cootes, and he pointed at them with a chubby finger before telling them to clean their mess up.

They would get detention every day until the Christmas break.

Blindly following Slughorn out of the dungeons, Ophelia's mind was completely blank with each step forward her foot took towards the hospital wing.

The calming draught helped, but Ophelia was still quietly crying and still very shaken up. She had nearly lost her life, which was saved by Colin.

Madam Pomfrey excused Ophelia from the hospital wing, but she did not leave. Instead, she stayed seated on the wooden chair right beside Colin's bed, and she did not move, sleep or eat. She merely hugged her knees and stared blankly, blinking every few seconds. 

Princess Cleopatra seemed to have found her mistress in the hospital wing, and Ophelia moved only to shift her position to make space for her cat.

She stayed still until Colin woke up.

The moment his eyes opened, and found hers, she found herself crying once more as her hard grey eyes softened when she looked at him, and she remembered why she loved him.

Because he was so goddamn good. He would never hurt her.

Uncaring that she might hurt him in the process, the Malfoy heiress moved from her chair to hug him tightly. She was thankful that he was alive, thankful that he had saved her, thankful that he loved her enough to save her life even though she had been ignoring him completely.

And guilt filled her; that it was all her fault he was like this.

She was a victim to guilt, and she acknowledged it. Her mind was on its knees as it surrendered itself to the feeling of guilt that filled her. 

She was meant to be here, in the hospital wing, not him.

It was her fault he was injured.

She wouldn't feel so bad if she had at least treated him nicely.

"Colin, I'm... I'm so glad you're okay," she sobbed, her fingers gripping his hard enough to squeeze the blood out from them.  "I'm.. I'm so sorry... You saved my life..."

"Ophelia, you're hurting me," he murmured softly, a small grunt of pain leaving him, causing the blonde to fly off him and back into her seat.

"I.. I was so worried about you, it's.. it's all my fault," she blubbered, not even bothering to wipe her eyes. "How can I repay you?"

She needed to do this, to clear her conscience. 

"I'm fine," Colin croaked. 

"No... Please, tell me something... anything..."

At this point, she was desperate. She could never live with herself if she did not fix this complete mess.

"There's just one thing I need to make me feel better..." Colin croaked, trying to smile despite his pained expression.

"Anything," Ophelia found herself saying. 

"I want us to go back to being friends..."

As Colin uttered those words, he knew it was a longshot, but he would try anyway. And as much as Ophelia did not want to rekindle her friendship with him for a long, long list of reasons, she found herself agreeing.

"Okay," she whispered, closing her eyes tightly and allowing her tears to fall.

Colin seemed to understand her feelings. He was always able to know what her mind told her. "Ophelia, it's not your fault... I chose to protect you."

"Why?" she croaked, without opening her eyes. Cleopatra had seemed to understand her depression, and she climbed into her mistress' lap.

"Because you would have done the same for me."

Colin seemed to heal faster during the next two days, and Ophelia's heart no longer felt so heavy with guilt as she watched time nurse her friend back to health.

She wasn't ready to go back to being super close with him, but she did begin to speak with him here and there.

By the time the first Quidditch match arrived, it was already snowing, and freezing cold. Draco had given up his position on the Slytherin position as seeker, to focus on his task, and some other younger Slytherin had taken his place.

Gryffindor won the first match against Slytherin, and Harry decided to celebrate by hosting a party in the common room. Ophelia was invited too.

During the Gryffindor party, Colin finally got around to teaching Ophelia how to play that muggle game, Uno, and Ophelia had already decided that it was her favorite game of all time. She made a mental note to teach Draco how to play.

Ophelia hadn't realized how much she had missed her best friend until she had him back. This time, she found it easier to hide her feelings for him deep within her being, until they would go away, which she hoped would be soon.

About a week before the Christmas break, Ophelia got an invitation to Slughorn's Christmas dinner, and she was required to bring a date.

And so, in the room of requirement, when she was sipping her lavender tea, she asked Draco.

"Dray," the blonde had just interrupted the eerie silence in the room that they all seemed to spend so much time in lately.

"What?"

"I need a date to the Christmas party. Could you come?"

"I can't," Draco had answered simply. "I've got a lot to do... Lots of work to catch up on."

"But Dray— I don't want to go alone... Blaise will be there.." Ophelia had not wanted to go alone for the sole purpose of having someone next to her so that the stupid Ginny Weasley wouldn't embarrass her and ridicule her for showing up alone.

"Go with Nott," he replied simply, as if the answer was as simple as that. He then turned to face the Nott boy, who had looked up at him with interest after his name was spoken. "Nott, will you be my sister's date?"

"But—"

Before Ophelia could even finish her sentence to explain why she shouldn't go with Theodore, the Nott boy had already answered.

"No."

Ophelia looked at her brother with a smug smile, her eyes declaring that he should just stop being stubborn and come with her, for one night of fun.

"Nott, please?" Draco asked his friend once more, tilting his head sideways, a gesture that was understood as desperation. "I don't want her to go with some... weirdo."

Theodore sighed, before looking up. Dark eyes meeting Ophelia's, he nodded singly.

"Yeah, fine."

{ hey guys !! so sorry for the late update. this chapter is unedited, so it may have a few errors. please do let me know if you see any, so i can correct them later.
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how have you guys been? 
i've been really busy, i don't know when i'll update again, but i'll try as soon as possible.
anyway, stay safe, study hard, eat healthy and stay warm <3
lots of love, xoxo,
jasmine }

{JAN 23. 2024}