O P H E L I A L O V E G O O D

When she realized what she had to do, a wave of relief washed over her. She was going to tell him. Because if James Potter could accept her werewolf and all, maybe he could accept the girl from the table as Loony Lovegood.

She approached the table cautiously, she hadn't responded to anything he had said prior to Reggie's death. She half expected nothing to be written there but what she saw was far worse than anything she could imagine.

As she read over the line, her heart dropped in her chest. 'I'm sorry but I can't do this anymore.' She squeezed her eyes shut as she fought back the tears that stung her eyes.

Of all the times for him to decide to stop talking to her, it had to be now? It couldn't have been weeks ago, when she herself was contemplating if this was still a good idea? It had to be when she was finally ready to tell him who she was.

Then again, she couldn't entirely blame him because he didn't know that it was her. Maybe it was her fault that she hadn't told him sooner.

Despite telling herself this, she was still angry at the boy for something he probably didn't even know he did.

J A M E S P O T T E R

James hadn't been entirely sure what he had expected from the 'talk' ghost Reggie had requested but what he had gotten had not been anything he had imagined. In short, Reggie had told him to grow a pair and ask the girl out before it was too late. And yes, he had pulled the 'anything could happen at any moment' - specifically getting attacked by a cannibalistic beast - card.

So that's exactly what James was going to do. He was going to tell Ophelia how he felt about her and hope for the best.

"Ophelia," he greeted upon seeing the girl sitting at the table in the library. She shifted slightly but made no move at acknowledging him. "Lovegood," he tried again as he sat down across the table from her. "Is it the Wrackspurts?" he joked and this seemed to grab her attention.

She slammed her book closed and he grew confused. She shook her head, anger clear in her expression. That and the fact that her hair was a fiery red and her eyes were shining gold told him that she was livid. "Don't do that."

"Do what?" he asked, unsure as to what the sudden issue was.

"Make fun of me," she informed him. His once confused expression morphed into that of alarm. "I've been Loony Lovegood since my first day here. While most people seem to think I'm clueless, I'm actually not. And I'm not going to sit here and take it from you of all people."

"Wait a minute," James shook his head as the girl stood up, shoving her books into her bag angrily. "I was not making fun of you. It was just a joke."

"I know exactly what it was, Potter," she stated, a scowl on her face. He had never seen her this angry before and never did he think she would hold this much disdain toward him. "I'm not an idiot and I have no interest in being made a fool of by the likes of you."

She slung her backpack over her shoulder and James stood up quickly. "Hold on," he requested as he followed her out of the library. "I wasn't making fun of you. It was just supposed to be a joke. Had I known you would have gotten so upset I-"

"I don't want to hear it," she shook her head, not sparing the boy a glance. "Just leave me alone."

James stopped following the girl as she made her way down the hall. He ran a hand through his hair as he raked his mind for what he could have possibly done to make her that upset and came up empty handed.

"What happened?" Sirius asked from behind her, watching the girl's retreating figure in confusion.

"I have no idea," James huffed. "I said the wrong thing?" he assumed, although it certainly felt like it had been a lot more than. He took a step forward, "Maybe I should try and talk to her."

"No," Remus spoke up and James turned to look at him. "Let me do it."

R E M U S L U P I N

Remus followed after the girl. For such a small girl, she was abnormally fast. Eventually, not soon enough, he found her sitting in the empty corridor.

"What is it they call you again?" he inquired as he sat down next to the girl, "Loony Lovegood?"

Ophelia looked up at the boy with the best glare she could muster but it didn't work. He wasn't sure if it was because she was so upset or because she was just incapable of being that angry at a person. Except for James, apparently.

"Why did you get mad at James?" he asked, beating around the bush.

"Why do you care?"

He eyed her for a moment, "I'd like to consider us friends."

She rested her head back against the wall, "You know the girl he's been talking to?" Remus nodded and he already knew where this was going. "It's me."

Remus let out a laugh at this and now Ophelia shot him a real glare, "I hardly see how this is funny."

"Ophelia," he began, shaking his head, "He already knows."

She faltered at this, "What?"

"He knows you're the one he's been talking to," he explained. "He had suspected it for a while but he knew for sure at the Yule Ball."

She seemed conflicted as she thought this over, "Then why would he cut things off?"

Remus frowned. He hadn't known that James had decided to stop talking to the girl through the table but he was sure he had a reason. "I don't know," he answered honestly. "You'll have to ask him."

"No," she shook her head. "I won't."

"Oh, come on," he tried, nudging her gently with his elbow. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"I humiliate myself," she informed him.

"I guarantee James will find some way to humiliate himself long before you do," he stated. "You're just making excuses."

"I'll make you a deal," Ophelia breathed out. "I will tell James everything on one condition." Remus looked at the girl warily, "You have to talk to Sirius."

Remus shook his head immediately, "No, I can't."

"Then I'm not talking to James," she shrugged before she forced herself to get up. "I don't know what prompted him to end it so suddenly but I guess I'll never find out."

"Sirius and I are far different from you and James," Remus shook his head. "Sirius and I can't be fixed."

"Yes, you can," Ophelia countered. "You guys both just need to learn to communicate." She held up her hand, "Don't say it."

"As much as I hate to admit it, I agree with Loony Lovegood," Reggie announced his presents and the pair jumped, causing the ghost to laugh. "Ha, that never gets old." The two glared at him before he continued. "Talk to him. And really talk to him and tell him everything. Although, maybe you should leave out the part about hooking up with me. I don't see that ending well."

Remus fought down a blush at the last comment but ultimately nodded in agreement. He was going to talk to Sirius.

S I R I U S B L A C K

"We need to talk." Sirius's head shot up at this. He didn't need to turn around to know who it was. He would recognize that voice anywhere. "Sirius," he continued and this pulled him from his thoughts.

He stood up off the couch in the Gryffindor common room and turned to face the boy, "We do?"

Remus nodded and Sirius sucked in a breath. He had no idea what this could be about. As far as he knew, he hadn't done anything and he couldn't get a read on the boy in front of him.

"I want to apologize," he explained and Sirius froze. Of all of the scenarios he had run through in the thirty second silence, this was not one of them.

"What?" he gaped. As far as he knew, Remus didn't have anything to apologize for. He did. He was just too stubborn to bring himself to do it.

"I should have done a better job at explaining to you what had happened that night," he informed the boy as he circled around the couch. "I barely tried to tell you that nothing happened. As soon as you accused me, I shut down and-"

"I know you didn't cheat on me," Sirius announced, cutting the boy short. Remus was taken aback by this.

"You do?" he asked in surprise.

"Of course," he replied. "You would never cheat on me."

"So then why-" he shook his head, cutting himself short. "You knew nothing happened? Then why go through all of this?"

"I panicked," he admitted. His hands dropped to his sides, "When I saw you talking to the Hufflepuff...I realized how much you deserved to be with someone else. How you deserved better than me. So I picked a fight."

Remus raised his hand to the side of the boy's face and Sirius leaned into it. He hadn't realized how much he had craved Remus's touch until this moment. "It's me who doesn't deserve you."

Sirius leaned forward and pressed his lips to the boys and in that moment it was as though all the pain and fighting from the last few months vanished. It was just the two of them alone in their bubble and everything was right again.

That is until the portrait opened. They pulled apart and turned to see who was there. It was Ophelia. He didn't even know she had the password to Gryffindor common room but maybe he shouldn't have been all that surprised.

Ophelia stared at the two for a moment and whether she was unsure as to if she should say anything or walk away, Sirius had no idea.

Remus sent Ophelia a look that Sirius couldn't decipher before she huffed and walked right back out the portrait.

J A M E S P O T T E R

He had absolutely no idea what to do with himself. What had he done that had made her that upset with him? Surely it hadn't been the Wrackspurt comment, it just didn't make sense.

But he couldn't think of what else it could have been. "You're doing it again," Lily accused and he looked up.

"What?" he asked, confused as to what she was talking about.

"You've got that vacant look on your face," she explained. "Should I be worried?"

He shook his head as he looked at the floor, "I'm fine." But was he?

James had come to realize that he and Lily were far better as friends. In fact, he preferred it this way much more than he did when he was pining after her. And that had a lot to do with Ophelia.

Who was now pissed at him for a reason he couldn't understand.

"Can I ask you a question?" he blurted out and Lily raised an eyebrow. "It's just...you're a girl."

"Very observant of you, Potter," she replied and he huffed. How did he ask this question?

"I've been told I have a thing for pointing out the obvious," he explained and she waited patiently for him to continue. Ophelia wouldn't have done that. She would have tapped her foot impatiently or berated him until he talked. "I think Ophelia's mad at me."

"You think?" Lily inquired. "I feel like it would be obvious. Her hair is usually a clear indicator of how she's feeling."

She made a good point. James didn't think she was mad at him, he knew. "Fine," he huffed, "She is mad at me. I just don't know why. I mean, I do know why, I just don't understand it."

"What happened?"

"I made a stupid joke about Wrackspurts," he explained. "It had never been a problem before but she seemed to think I was making fun of her. I wasn't."

"Right," Lily frowned. "She's a pretty reasonable girl, have you tried talking to her?"

"She won't give me the chance."

"Well-" she began but stopped upon seeing someone ahead of them. She smiled a little, "Now's your chance."

O P H E L I A L O V E G O O D

Every nerve in her body felt like it was on fire. What if this ended poorly? What if he decided he hated her and wanted nothing to do with her? She stopped giving herself reason's to back out and stepped out from the corner, standing in front of Lily and James.

Lily said something to James who was staring at Ophelia. "I'll leave you two to it," she announced with a smile before walking off.

"Hi," he managed to get out and Ophelia couldn't help but smile at the way the two letter word was laced with nerves.

"Hey," she replied as she walked toward him. Her hair was no doubt grey, possibly even black, giving away her anxieties but she couldn't bring herself to care. "Can we talk?"

He said nothing and merely nodded. When she had given Remus the ultimatum, she half expected him not to do it but she was mostly glad that he did.

"Remus and Sirius made up," she stated and James was surprised at this. She knew that's not what he had been expecting her to say but he also appeared happy with the information.

"They did?" he asked and she nodded.

Ophelia had no idea how to do this but she knew she had to do it before she chickened out. She would just rip off the bandaid. She turned around and faced him so that they were no longer walking. "I know you know that I'm the one who's been talking to you through the table."

James paused for a moment, thinking over the statement, "Okay."

"Okay?" she repeated in confusion.

He shook his head, "What else am I supposed to say?"

She clamped her mouth shut. She was not good at this whole talking thing. She let out a breath, "I'm going to say something and I'm aware that it's probably going to sound crazy, insane even, but I need you to promise not to say anything until I'm done."

He looked at the girl for a moment before agreeing, "Got it."

"Okay, so, in the library earlier today when I got mad at you for the comment, that's not why I was upset. I was upset because of what you wrote on the table. Not that I knew that you knew it was me at that point but I was just so angry I couldn't separate the two," she explained and she paused for a moment to make sure he was up to speed.

"That's not the crazy part. The crazy part is that I think I like you. Like, a lot. Well, I don't think, I know. And I know you're in love with Lily and that won't change but if I've learned anything these past few weeks is that everything can change in a blink of an eye and I didn't want anything to happen without you knowing how I feel even if it's completely improbable that you feel even remotely the same way. So...yeah."

He watched her for a moment and she took in a sharp breath, "I'm done now." He said nothing and she faltered. She wasn't sure what would be worse, if he remained silent or straight up turned her down.

Before she could weigh the two next to each other, he had his hands on either side of her face and pressed his lips to hers. She was so surprised for a moment that she forgot that she was supposed to react. After a moment, she kissed him back eagerly, her own hands resting on either sides of his face as she stood up on her tiptoes to reach him better.

They both pulled away from each other, their breaths mingling together. James grinned at the girl, "I like you, too."