J A M E S P O T T E R

He stared at the girl, afraid that if he looked away or even blinked she would disappear. Then something registered. "Sorry," he shook his head slightly, "You said you were upset about what I wrote on the table?" Ophelia nodded and James grew more confused, "I didn't write anything on the table."

"Uh, yeah you did," she countered. "I saw it. It said, 'I'm sorry but I can't do this anymore."

He frowned, "It may have said that but I didn't write it."

Ophelia's expression mirrored her own, "Then who did?" James took her hand in his before he led her through the hallway. "Wait, where are we going?"

"The library," he answered simply.

A moment later they arrived at the library and he opened the door before leading them to the table they had both grown fond of. They stopped and stared down at the words.

"That's not my handwriting."

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

The longer she stared at the sentence, the more she realized that it definitely wasn't his handwriting. Her face contorted in confusion as she looked at it. How had she not noticed before?

And that's when it hit her. Because while the handwriting wasn't James's, she did recognize it. "Huh," she scoffed, earning a confused glance from James.

"What is it?" he asked as he looked between the girl and the handwriting.

"That's Coralena's handwriting," she informed him and he was taken aback by this.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive," she nodded and James frowned. He opened his mouth to say something but someone interrupted him.

"What are you two doing out past curfew?" Reggie demanded and Ophelia jumped. His gaze flickered down to the pairs conjoined hands and he grinned, "Oh, I see. I'll leave you two lovebirds to it."

"Hang on," Ophelia spoke quickly. She waved him over and he obeyed, albeit, in confusion. She pointed at the table, "Who's handwriting is that?"

"Coralena's," he answered almost immediately. "That or Professor Binns. Those two always had matching handwriting. It's odd, really." Ophelia shot James a look and Reggie looked between the two, "I take it this is a bad thing?"

Ophelia nibbled on the inside of her bottom lip as she stared at the words on the table. Why would she do this?

R E G G I E M C L A G G E N

Reggie had taken a liking to wandering the halls at night. It was odd how quiet the school was when pretty much everyone was in bed but he enjoyed it. It was peaceful.

As he passed by the library, he halted upon hearing a sniffling noise from inside. He floated through the walls and searched the room until he found a girl in the back, sitting on the floor in tears.

He hesitated. Did he talk to her or pretend he saw nothing?

"Hey," he greeted as he took a seat next to her. That had been difficult to learn to do but after much time, he could finally sit on the floor. "What's got you so down?"

The girl looked up at him and he frowned upon seeing how red her eyes were. She sniffled and wiped at her nose with her sleeve. She had to have been crying for hours.

Her gaze flickered to his neck, "You're the Ravenclaw boy who was attacked in Hogsmeade, aren't you?"

He grimaced before nodding, "I'm not going to live that down, am I?"

She appeared to find this funny and laughed, "No, I'm afraid not."

"Since you know who I am, I think it's only fair if I get your name," he suggested.

She smiled faintly at the boy, "Ansley."

"Hmm," he replied, "It's nice to meet you, Ansley." He adjusted himself so his forearms rested on his knees, "So why are you crying?"

"It's stupid," she laughed through the sniffles, more tears trailing down her face. "My boyfriend and I broke up. He was cheating on me."

"Ah, yes, the cruel sting that is the broken heart," he replied with a sigh. "He's an idiot, he doesn't deserve you."

"You don't even know me," she reminded him with a pointed expression.

"Au contraire," he grinned. "You didn't scream when you saw my neck. You get a thumbs up from me."

She smiled at this, "I appreciate that."

The door to the library opened and shut with a rather loud bang.

"Someone's here," she concluded as she quickly wiped at her nose.

Reggie stood up, "I'll take care of it."

J A M E S P O T T E R

James had been trying to calm her down since the night before but nothing seemed to work. She paced back and forth in his room as he watched her warily.

"I just don't understand why she did it," Ophelia huffed, her hands flailing for a moment. "I mean, what was the point?" He opened his mouth to reply but clamped it shut when he realized it was a rhetorical question. "Is it because I'm a werewolf?"

"If that's the case, I vote we get Greyback to give her a nice matching bite mark on the neck," Reggie announced. James was startled for a moment. He had forgotten the ghost was there. Reggie gestured to his neck, "I think I wear it well though. With her complexion, she could never."

Ophelia narrowed her eyes at the comment, "I'm going to talk to her."

James grew alarmed at this, "I'll come with you."

"I can manage one conversation with her," she pointed out before she left.

"We are going with her, aren't we?" Remus asked once the door shut.

James nodded as he stood up, "Of course we are."

Sirius, Peter and Remus all got up and followed James to the door. He looked back at Reggie, "You coming?"

"I actually have somewhere to be," he informed them and James raised an eyebrow. He hadn't realized ghosts made plans. "Besides, you guys have got this covered."

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

"How could you do this to me?" Ophelia asked the girl. She hated that tears were filling her eyes more than anything but she did nothing to stop them from falling. She had intended to just ask the girl nicely why she had done it but Ophelia had never been good at regulating her emotions.

So there the two former best friends stood, shouting at each other in the hallway.

"I did you a favor," Coralena pointed out. "He could never care for someone like you."

"Someone like me?" she scoffed. "If you're referring to what everyone refers to as 'Loony Lovegood,' you of all people should know that that's not me."

"Isn't it though?" she inquired. "Even Reggie said-"

"You don't get to talk about him!" Ophelia shouted and those walking past them in the hall stopped to see what the commotion was about. "Keep his name out of your mouth."

"I should be the one saying that to you," she hissed. "After all, you're the reason he's dead."

Ophelia closed her eyes for a moment, shaking her head. She opened her eyes and let out a breath, "Stay away from me, would you?"

She started to walk away when there was a faint noise and a gasp. Ophelia turned back around to find James standing there, wand held in front of him and a shield coming out of it. Coralena had her wand drawn as well, her intended target having been Ophelia.

J A M E S P O T T E R

He had jumped in front of the spell without a second thought. He was grateful he had pulled his wand out in time because he wouldn't have known what to do had he not been able to.

James got a better grip on his wand as Ophelia joined him at his side. "He requested only you," Coralena informed Ophelia before her gaze flickered over James, "But I'm sure he'd love an extra snack."

It took James a moment to realize what she was talking about. "Merlin, Lena," Ophelia frowned, pity clear in her tone, "What has Malfoy done to you?"

"Lucius hasn't done anything but help me embrace who I really am," Coralena pointed out and her eyes were crazed. James stepped forward so that he was in front of Ophelia. If anything were to happen, she would be safe. "And I'm not here on his orders. I'm here for Greyback."

James could feel Ophelia tense up behind him and he wasn't sure at what point they had joined but Peter, Sirius and Remus stood behind them.

Coralena's gaze flickered to the three in the back. More specifically focused on Remus. "You're more than welcome to join. I'm sure he'd be elated to see you after all these years."

"You're just a little outnumbered," James informed her. Ophelia's hand shot forward and she gripped his free hand in hers as she held her wand steady in front of her. He gave her hand a gentle and comforting squeeze.

"I beg to differ," she replied and before any of them had a proper chance to react, six black puffs of smoke turned into people at Coralena's side.

"The Dark Lord will be pleased with you," one of the girls announced as she stepped forward and brushed Coralena's hair behind her ear. Coralena grinned at this. James recognized the women as one of Sirius's cousins, Bellatrix Lestrange. He knew who Lucius was and he had certainly seen the others before but didn't know their names.

James had no idea who had attacked first but someone had and they were suddenly engaged in a battle. He wasn't sure they could win. Not only were they outnumbered seven to five but they were also far less experienced.

At some point Ophelia had released his hand and this worried him. He didn't look for her though because he couldn't. Coralena seemed to have his eyes set on him and wasn't backing down.

"Just give up, Potter," she suggested with a maniacal grin he had never seen on the girl before. He knew he could easily beat her but he was afraid of hurting her at the same time. That is until Lucius joined her and he didn't have a choice but to take her out.

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

"Long time no see, cus," Sirius greeted as he blocked the spell that would have hit Ophelia otherwise. She let out a breath of relief. If she had to continue with the three, she wasn't going to last long.

Why were no teachers or people actually equipped to handle this situation coming to help?

"Is that the best you got?" Sirius mused as he blocked yet another spell. He sent a spell the girls way and she scowled at the boy.

"You filthy blood traitor," she hissed.

Ophelia zoned the rest of the interaction out as she focused on the death eaters in front of her. After many missed shots, she managed to hit one of them in the chest and they fell backward giving her a moment to relax and work with just the one.

She let out a breath. She was growing exhausted and wasn't sure how much longer she could last. A few other students had jumped in but it was no use. They weren't built for this.

Just when Ophelia thought they were royally screwed, all of the death eaters suddenly stopped. One by one they vanished. Coralena locked eyes with Ophelia as Lucius grabbed her arm and they vanished.

"Bloody hell," Ophelia muttered as she shook her head. She rested her hands on her knees. She had no idea why the fighting had stopped but she couldn't have been more grateful.

Ophelia looked around and saw that Peter had been hit by a pretty rough spell but he was alive. Remus was at his side. Sirius made his way over to the two but she couldn't find the one person she needed to find.

She felt her heart rate pick up. Had they gotten him? They were here for her. Had she just gone with them, then-

"Behind you," he spoke up and she let out a breath of relief. She turned around and immediately pulled him into a bone crushing hug, he squeezed her back and she never wanted to let go.

She crashed her lips to his and he happily kissed her back until she pulled away and whacked him on the chest, "Don't you ever even think about stepping between me and a spell ever again."

"Yeah, don't do anything to save her life," Reggie announced and Ophelia scowled. "It really doesn't end well." He looked around at the scene, his eyes widened slightly, "Maybe you guys didn't have this handled."