DRINKING ON A WEEK-DAY NIGHT was never a good idea, Ophelia had known that from the beginning, before she had decided to have her three glasses of firewhiskey. But she had never known how truly horrific the aftereffects of drinking were until the next morning, when she woke up with a splitting headache.

"Oh, fuck—" she groaned, sitting up from wherever she had been lying, which happened to be one of the fuzzy orange armchairs in the Gryffindor common room.

"Language, there's first years here!" some random sixth year remarked, the voice echoing in her head, ten times louder than it actually was. Ophelia had a strong suspicion it belonged to Granger, but her mind was far too clouded to even think straight. She was still in her party outfit from last night, and her back ached like never before, considering she had passed out on one of the couches in the common room.

It was rather a soft armchair, most would say.

But Ophelia had never slept on anything quite so hard before. She was spoiled rotten, so used to having a soft layer of memory foam on top of her own personalized, medicated mattress. 

Even here at Hogwarts, she told Lucius to send her a mattress topper in her first year, when she couldn't sleep at all, the first night because the bed was too hard. And because she had found out she was sorted in Gryffindor instead of Slytherin unlike the rest of her family.

Her hand clapped itself over her eyes, blocking out the bright sunlight that streamed through the large, glass windows. She looked at her watch.

She literally had thirteen minutes to get to class.

"Shit, I'm late!" she exclaimed loudly again, forcing herself to get up.

"Language!" Granger called out again.

Ophelia ignored her, her feet scurrying across the stone steps to her dormitory, where she quickly shed off her party clothes and donned her school uniform. She didn't have time to take a shower that morning, let alone have breakfast, (not that she felt like eating after last night). If she planned this right, she had enough time to get a hangover cure from Madam Pomfrey.

She would probably get into trouble for underage drinking if any of the teachers found out, but the blonde was sure Madam Pomfrey wouldn't tell anyone, considering how she was one of Madam Pomfrey's favorite and most frequent patients, after Harry Potter, of course. 

She gathered her blonde hair into a quick French twist, fastening it with a large claw clip. Though it had been about ten years since the claw clip hair accessory came out, there were only some who could afford it.

Ophelia had gotten a hold of one as soon as claw clips first came out. Her father had made connections with the inventor, Christian Potut, and ever since then, Ophelia had a selection of the finest hair accessories from Christian's exceptional factory in Oyonnax, South East of France, delivered straight home to Malfoy Manor.

She would have preferred a ribbon, as it was more her style, but she didn't have time to brush her hair.

After spritzing some perfume on her person, she grabbed her bag and slipped on her manticore leather shoes, taking a short cut to the hospital wing.

Sure enough, one glance at Madam Pomfrey, and Ophelia had her hangover cure within her fingertips. 

In five minutes, she was seated in Professor Snape's classroom, next to Astoria, already feeling so much better after taking the potion.

Her headache had disappeared, the pain in her shoulders had lessened greatly, and the voices no longer echoed quite so loudly in her ears any more.

Halfway through Defense Against the Dark Arts class, there was a knock on the door and a scared looking first year appeared on the other side of the door when Professor Snape used his wand to magically open it.

"What is it?" he glared at the child as his deep voice resounded throughout the silent classroom.

The first year trembled, holding out a scroll towards Snape, before squeaking in fright and bolting far, far away from the frightening classroom of Professor Snape.

"I used to be scared of Snape too," Astoria whispered with a giggle. "Personally, I don't blame her. I'd have fainted."

"Quiet!" Professor Snape's monotone filled the air, reading through the contents of the now unfurled piece of parchment.

"Miss Malfoy," Snape called. "Professor McGonagall has wished me to inform you that you will have your detention today at five, in her office. She also wants you to bring a set of quills and red ink, as you will be grading papers."

Although grading papers was tedious, Ophelia didn't mind it very much.
In fact, she wasn't upset about detention at all, because she did not regret hitting McLaggen. Not at all. 

She also knew that she could have worse detentions. Not to mention she would be with Professor McGonagall. 

If anything, Ophelia looked forward to her detention.

She had actually planned to study in the library with Theo, but she sadly informed him that her plans had changed and she needed to go for her detention. They postponed their study date to an hour later, after her detention.

Sure enough, when five o'clock rolled in, Ophelia was already knocking on Professor McGonagall's office, a set of quills in her bag.

"Good evening, Professor," she greeted McGonagall, who nodded and allowed Ophelia to enter.

Much to Ophelia's surprise and amazement, the familiar, comforting scent of brewing tea filled the air.

There wasn't a single paper to grade in sight.

But that wasn't the astonishing thing.

Professor McGonagall's desk was gone, replaced by a small tea table, set perfectly to every last teaspoon. There was a plate of biscuits on the table, and an assortment of other small plates filled with treats like strawberries, crumpets, Florentine shortbreads, and mini slices of cinnamon raisin bread.

The blonde's head snapped to look at Professor McGonagall's face, who was suppressing a smile at the look on Ophelia's face.

"But Professor, detention—"

"This is detention," Professor McGonagall waved her wand, and Ophelia's chair automatically pulled back, inviting her to have a seat. "As of now, you are grading papers."

Oh. I see.

"But I hit McLaggen—"

"And he deserved it. That boy had it coming," Professor McGonagall sat opposite Ophelia. "Now, tea?"

Ophelia couldn't contain her smile.

"We haven't had tea in a while, since my favorite student is rather busy with a certain Nott boy, and it is increasingly difficult to get her attention nowadays as she had become popular as of late..."

"Sorry Professor," she replied sheepishly, her cheeks turning slightly pink at the mention of Theo. 

As the Professor took the seat opposite Ophelia's, she waved her wand and the teapot lifted from the tabletop, several inches up into the air and poured tea in both teacups, filling them to the brim. 

"I assume you wish to be filled in on all the gossip going on as of late," Ophelia remarked with a small smile as she took a delicate sip of tea.

"Naturally," Professor McGonagall replied. "But before we dive into that, I wish to ask you a somewhat personal question."

Ophelia's fingers set the teacup down and she took a bite of one of the cookies, nodding her consent to the Professor's question.

"What exactly is going on between you and Mr. Nott?"

Ophelia choked on the huge gulp of air she had just inhaled, her gaze snapping upwards rapidly to meet Professor McGonagall's eyes.

"We're— uhm— dating," the blonde mumbled into her cup with a nonchalant shrug, trying to wave of the fact like it was normal. 

"Interesting..." Professor McGonagall set down her teacup, her greyish-green eyes scrutinizing Ophelia with great interest. 

Ophelia opened her mouth to speak, but she found it hard to talk to Professor McGonagall about what went on in her head.

She wasn't sure she loved Theo, not yet, that is. But she did know she cared about him very, very much. And he made her feel good.

But when she closed her eyes, and imagined her future, she saw herself standing in a white dress facing Colin.

Because Colin was comfortable. Colin was her safety net.

And she knew that if Theo broke her heart, Colin would be right there.

Somehow, somewhere, Ophelia was having doubts about her boyfriend.

Although she claimed to herself she had fully forgiven him, and his past mistakes, part of her felt like Theo would easily get tired of her and resume his old ways of being a heartbreaker again.

There was no explanation for why Theodore suddenly went from hating her to loving her. It was too fast, it was too quick.

One day he hated her, the next he was comforting her.

What happened to all those girls he used to hang around with? 

A leopard never changed its spots, and with every passing day that Ophelia woke up as Theo's girlfriend, the fear that he would get tired of her and leave her for someone new grew more and more.

He said that he loved her, but Ophelia was sure he had said that to other girls too.

And this was why she was afraid of letting go and going into free fall. 

She was afraid of jumping and falling in Theo's arms. Because what if he never caught her?

Ophelia was just afraid to get her heart broken by him again. She had lost him once when she was ten, and it had hurt. 

If she lost him again, she wasn't sure she'd be able to recover.

She had kept him at an arm's length, just to keep her heart safe, but she wasn't sure for how much longer she could try her hardest not fall in love with him.

She never had these feelings about Colin before. He would never intentionally break her heart unless he was being blackmailed to, or it was for her own safety.

He truly cared about her. He broke up with Abigail for her! That was real dedication to her on his part, and Ophelia felt really special he had chosen her over his ex girlfriend.

She also knew he had picked his side, the side of Harry Potter, and she knew she would have to pick a side soon too.

It was too overwhelming. All of it.

"You went quiet for quite a moment there," Professor McGonagall remarked fondly. "Everything alright?"

She nodded habitually. "There's just a lot of things that need to be given thought right now," Ophelia murmured.

She needed to follow her heart. She needed to truly think on who she wanted to be with. Yet at the same time, she did not want to hurt anyone. 

"I agree," Professor McGonagall smiled. "But, I have a suggestion..."

 The professor pushed the plate of strawberries closer to Ophelia. "Forget everything important and the moment, and fill me in on all the latest gossip going on at Hogwarts... Does Mr. Zabini fancy Miss Lovegood? Or am I reading too much between the lines? If there is indeed something going on between them, then I must go and collect my ten galleons from Professor Sprout, and Professor Flitwick."

Ophelia smiled, a small giggle slipping past her lips. The thought of her professors betting on their students' personal affairs and love lives was rather entertaining and amusing to her. 

But then again, she wasn't surprised; it seemed befitting that the biggest gossips here at Hogwarts were none other than the professors.

"I'm not sure about those two," Ophelia furrowed her brows thoughtfully. "As far as I'm concerned, Blaise and Luna only meet at the library once a week when they have their free lessons at the same time."

"Hmm, I must ask Madam Pince to keep a closer eye on them.."

And so, Ophelia forgot her worries for an evening, and indulged in the sinfulness of gossiping about her peers and classmates, placing wagers on the brewing romance between the most unlikely pairings of the students at Hogwarts.

When she found Theo waiting outside Professor McGonagall's office for her after her detention, she found herself smiling, running into his arms and hugging him tightly.

It wasn't that she didn't care about him. She cared about him so much, that if he were to leave her for someone else, she would never get over it.

So the illogical part of her heart told her to continue to harbor feelings for Colin. 

It was all very complicated.

The past two years, she had been in love with Colin, yet she could never have him for so many reasons. 

Finally, at long last, she had him now, within her arm's reach. She had him right where she wanted him. 

And she was afraid that if she broke things off with him for Theo, he wouldn't be there for her when Theo would break her heart.

He wouldn't be her safety net to catch her when Theo would get bored of her and let go of her for another girl. She had watched Theo get bored of so many girls, that it was only fair for her to fear that she was next.

"You're in a good mood," Theo teased, chuckling slightly at the way she had flown into his arms, hugging him tightly.

She felt so guilty of thinking of Theo like this, thinking he would break her heart. Not to mention the horrible gnawing internal feeling of cheating on him.

But sometimes humans do things that do not make sense.

They do things for which they cannot reason.

So yes, Ophelia was in a tough mental state at the moment. 

But at least she was happy. Pansy had said live without regrets, and she didn't regret anything, even though she should.

She should, but she didn't.

Did that make her a bad person? No. It only made her selfish, it only made her human. And humans all had flaws.

Being selfish was one of Ophelia's.

This was her life. And yes, life was supposed to be messy, full of chaos and completely unpredictable, but did that mean one could not find happiness amidst the pandemonium?

She used to care about what people felt and thought of her, but what was the point of being a people-pleaser and making everyone happy except herself?

"Detention was fun," Ophelia merely smiled, snapping out of her own, private, little reverie.

Theo scoffed slightly, shaking his head and chuckling, brushing his lips against her forehead, pulling her closer with his arm wound tightly around her neck. "Only you, Ophelia Malfoy, of all people, would find detention to be fun... What did you do, lines?"

She shook her head, her smile widening.

Theo was suddenly unable to breathe. The way she was looking at him, with her soft, innocent gray eyes, shaking her head with that fucking smile of hers was driving him insane.

He could count every eyelash, he could see every single blonde strand in fall into place over her eyes as she shook her head. But it was the tiny glimpse of her canine peeking out from her smiling lips that sent him over the edge.

His jaw relaxed into a smile, his dark blue eyes boring into hers as he stared at her challengingly, a silent attestation to him trying to guess what exactly she was doing during her detention that had gotten her so hyped up.

"Did you... grade papers?"

"Well... I was supposed to..."

"Supposed to? What's that supposed to mean?" He had let go of her, his hand now holding hers, thumb running over her knuckles. 

The blonde had no answer for him. She wanted to tell him what she was really doing, but Professor McGonagall had told her not to tell anyone.

"Can I tell you a secret?" She bit her lip tentatively, her gray eyes flitting upwards briefly to meet his.

"Anything, Principessa, go ahead," Theo's large hand completely enveloped hers as he led her towards the Great Hall for supper.

Ophelia stopped walking, gently pulling him closer, before she went onto her tiptoes and brought herself closer to him, so she could whisper something in his ear. "Professor McGonagall and I were actually having tea," she murmured softly, finishing her revelation by pressing a slow, lingering kiss into his cheek. 

The enticing scent of her, the feel of her soft lips on his cheek, the gentle caress of her stray hairs tickling him as she leant in close... all of it was too much for Theo to handle.

Luckily, before he lost control and did something that would scare her, she spoke once more. "So everyone thinks I was grading papers, but in reality, I was enjoying a nice afternoon full of gossip. Oh, and Professor McGonagall said McLaggen actually deserved the whack on his head—"

"Of course he did," Theo cut her off. "He had it coming to him for a while. I'm just so fucking lucky to be the boyfriend of the girl that taught him a lesson."

Ophelia blushed, sliding her gaze away from his and looking at the ground, as Theo continued leading her to the Great Hall.

She was so busy thinking about Theo's very sweet words that she had not noticed the unnaturally cheerful and commotion and chatter that filled the Great Hall until she looked up when Theo urgently squeezed her hand, but by then, it was too late.

Even though Ophelia was just at the entrance of the Great Hall, there was no mistaking it.

Katie Bell was back.

{ hi guys !! so i know it has been FOREVER since i updated... nearly about two and a half weeks ago, which feels like a century, ngl... i finally finished my second year at university, and i have been going through a bunch of drama in my personal life atm.
first of all, family drama. LOADS of it. secondly, i had an ultrasound today because i've been having suspicions about my hormones (which aren't behaving normally) and i was right!! i have a hormonal imbalance, and it isn't a majorly painful problem (except during that time of the month), but i would suggest for all of you guys to check out your hormones just to be on the safe side, and to drink lots of green tea and avoid carbs if your periods are painful... i also got back into my old hobby of crocheting..
anyway, sorry for the long rant—
i actually really enjoyed writing this chapter, and all the emotions and the details that came with it. I LOVE THE DETAILS!!!
AND THE CHAPTER NAME!!! i love it. literally. it's a sort of tribute to how fast the gossip spreads in high schools, and hogwarts isn't any different..
please do spam me with comments, beg me to update again (istg that's what makes me update), vote and follow if you love me... socials are in my bio, and do join the discord server for blg.
take care, and i love you all so, so much.
p.s: what's your favorite hobby, not counting anything electronic related?
mine would be reading, crocheting or cooking. }

{ JUN 11. 2024 }