MANY MONTHS HAD PASSED SINCE the summer, when Draco had become a Death Eater, and had been given his mission, but there had been no visible change to the vanishing cabinet ever since the beginning of the year.

That is, not until now.

After an infinite amount of days of trying and trying, Draco had finally succeeded in repairing it. Just a little.

There was just one teeny tiny problem; everything that entered the cabinet came back damaged.

Ophelia was trying her hardest to help Draco. She was now reading up on everything he was learning, then explaining everything to Draco in simpler terms. She had even charmed his quill to write down his thoughts on the subject she was discussing so he wouldn't waste any time on trying to look for words to write his essays.

He wasn't the top ten in his year anymore, but he was still above average, and that was good enough for him.

And over the next two weeks, as Ophelia helped him get through his never-ending load of homework, along with the increasing pressure of getting the vanishing cabinet fixed, and trying to kill Dumbledore, Draco found himself relying more and more on his little sister.

He had come to realize that she bore no ill towards him, and her heart was clean; all she wanted was to help him.

And when he opened his heart up to her, he was unable to push her away, no matter how much he tried. She was so goddamn stubborn.

But Draco respected her for it. Because without her, he would be long dead. Either from making a mistake, or from the pressure and the weight of the burden he bore.

Draco Malfoy had accepted that he couldn't live without his sister, to the point where he would die for her.

Said blonde had never been busier. As the next two weeks bore on, Lia found herself constantly occupied with something or the other, giving her absolutely no free time at all do do as she pleased (playing Uno with Colin, reading or talking with Theo).

Indeed, talking to the brunet boy was one of her favorite things to do. Now that they were on good terms and had set aside their differences, Ophelia even considered him to be one of her best friends.

He understood her background, and he was her childhood friend, so the pair would often sit in the tree and converse about their childhood, or about random topics, such as which Spellebrities was most likely to win the Witch Weekly Grammagic Awards. 

He also helped her study for her upcoming Transfiguration OWL, which was almost in two weeks. Of course, they would both start studying but get sidetracked as one or the other would change the subject suddenly, and the conversation would flip into a heated debate.

With Theo, Ophelia found herself almost always laughing and smiling without even trying. Somehow, he knew exactly what to say to make her smile or laugh.

Amidst all of this, Colin had been constantly by her side; never once leaving her, except when she would hang out with Draco, Theo and Blaise. Even then, he insisted he come with her, but Ophelia knew that her brother and his friends would feel awkward if there was a muggleborn in their presence.

Not to mention the fact that Ophelia was still trying to keep her friendship with him a secret; she did not want him to get hurt, or pulled into her family's mess.

Colin would stand up for her when Ginny and Mariana Cooper would find some sort of way or the other to demean her.

And he would be there at the Quidditch stands during every single one of her practices.

And Ophelia had missed him so much, during the time they had spent apart; she had almost forgotten how annoying it was to hear the camera shutter going off every single time, or how many times Colin would tell her to wait, so he could get a good photograph of random things.

Though she would rather die than admit it, Ophelia had missed the familiar clicking sound of the camera that had helped her get through her third, fourth and fifth years.

Now that Ophelia knew Colin's feelings towards her held no deeper meaning beyond friendship, she had grown to just accept the fact that he cared for her almost as much as Draco. Most of his photographs were of her, and every single time he would ask her to pose because she was so good at it.

"You're my favorite model," he would tell her with a teasing smile. 

Then she would scowl and tell him to shut up, but she was flattered nonetheless, and he could tell, judging by her slight smile and her dusted pink cheeks.

Colin would only proceed to tease her further by calling her a "Goddamn fashionista," which resulted in the blonde threatening to smash his beloved camera almost all the time.

But the blonde was so grateful to have Colin in her life, that often during the night, she would be unable to sleep because her dark thoughts would take over her mind and feed her the what ifs of the upcoming war.

What if she had to choose family over friendship?

What if she had to choose Gryffindor over Slytherin?

What if she had to pick a side?

And though these questions still bore no rational answer in her head, somehow, she knew the outcome would result in someone getting hurt.

Ophelia only hoped these feelings were wrong.

Another three days later, and Ophelia still hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. Her dark circles were beginning to form from the lack of rest, and she was unable to focus in class.

Theo asked her what was wrong, but she brushed it off as stress.

Colin asked her what was wrong, and she gave him the same answer; automatically.

But Colin knew she was lying.

"You can talk to me, you know?" he asked quietly one day, during their free period, when they sat in an empty classroom, revising for their OWLs, which were set to be taken in May, four months away.

"I know," the blonde murmured nonchalantly, flipping through the pages of her Charms notes, saying nothing more.

"Oph, I'm serious," Colin's tone caused her to suddenly look up from her book, tilting her head quizzically at him. "There's something you aren't telling me."

She shrugged. "I am telling you everything," she bent her head back down to look at her book, even though nothing was entering her mind at this point.

Colin slowly got up and pulled his chair to sit next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "I know you're not fine, Ophelia," he said quietly. "If you don't want to tell me what's going on, I'll respect that and move on. But I know that sometimes you might need some coaxing to say what's really on your mind."

Ophelia looked up at Colin, a sigh leaving her. Her hands were clasped together in her lap. This was a boy who knew her really, really well. Perhaps even better than she knew herself. 

"You're right," she finally said, slowly turning around to face him. "I'm afraid of the future. What if I have to pick sides?" she mumbled, averting her gaze to the hands in her lap.

"Just follow your heart. And if you're afraid to do that, then follow your family. Deep down, I know which side you truly lie on."

This was the exact answer she had been looking for.

All at once, all the doubts brewing inside her simmered down to a calm. "Thank you," she smiled, allowing him to pull her into his shoulder whilst her arms found each other as they wounded themselves around his neck. 

They stayed there, like that, for a few seconds, until Colin uttered words Ophelia never thought she would ever hear from his lips.

"I'm breaking up with Abigail," he had whispered, ever so softly, his words spoken to the air around her shoulders.

That caused her heart to do a double take.

"What?" she breathed, pulling away to look into his eyes and actually see if he was serious.

"I'm breaking up with Abigail," Colin repeated again, this time, much louder and decidedly. 

"But why?" Ophelia blurted. Didn't he love Abigail? She was confused at this point. "We're just friends... We hug all the time..." If anything, this hug felt more platonic than anything else. "You're not doing anything wrong..." she continued. 

And Colin shrugged and shook his head. 

"In my heart I am."

Too astounded to speak, or comprehend what he meant by those words, Ophelia merely brushed his words off and gave them no second thought before she turned back to her books and began to make adjustments to her notes.

Nothing more was said.

As the end of January approached, so did Ophelia's transfiguration OWL. Professor McGonagall had already told her she would take the blonde to the Ministry of Magic to do her examination early, and they would arrive back at Hogwarts very late in the evening.

With the last minute stress of studying, Ophelia had no time for anyone but herself. She would recite everything she learnt in her head, over and over again until nothing else occupied her thoughts.

The weather only grew colder and more snowy as February came closer, and on the last day of January, the morning of her exam, Ophelia was thoroughly bundled up beside Professor McGonagall on their way to the Ministry.

She wasn't nervous. This was the one thing she was good at. Professor McGonagall gave her a few tips, and wished her good luck before she went into the room for the transfiguration OWL.

Her exam did not take long. The journey took up most of their time, as they had to go all the way to London, using non-magical means so as not to attract any attention.

By the time Ophelia arrived back at Hogwarts she was thoroughly exhausted, even though her exam went well. Without even waiting to eat anything, she made her way straight to the Gryffindor common room.

The first thing she noticed was that it was extremely noisy.

The second thing she noticed was that only two people were shouting; the rest were whispering.

The third thing she noticed was that they had a Ravenclaw in their common room.

And the last thing she noticed was that the two people shouting at each other were none other than Colin and Abigail, and within the span of a few minutes, the whole school would know.

They had broken up.

Ophelia felt sad for Colin, knowing how hurt he would be. But she did not want to attract any sort of attention towards her, and neither did she have the energy to deal with all these people.

So she slipped out of the common room quietly, unnoticeably, and took the stairs up to her dormitory.

She told Little to bring her a cup of lavender tea.

 { hey guys ;; another update. so i might get busy in a couple days, so that's why i've been updating quite frequently, i'm not spoiling you guys jkjk ;)
hope you are all doing well. shit's about to REALLY blow up during the next few chapters, so i hope you enjoy the peace while it lasts.
any predictions??
i published a new sirius black fic on my profile (invisible string) and it would mean the world if you could check it out and lmk if i should continue or not.
anyway, take care, lots and lots of love.
SPAM me with comments, vote, follow, share, and follow me on spotify. P.S: ramadan kareem to those who celebrate.
love you loads, xoxo
jasmine.

p.p.s: spellebrities and grammagic are puns/terms of my own. do not steal, or give credit to use. }

{ MAR 11. 2024 }