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"WE'RE GOING TO HOGSMEADE TODAY." LILY said to the Slytherin who was still in the redhead's pyjamas, "we need to get your clothes first."

Ophelia nods, "Tizzy." A pop rang throughout the room, the house-elf stood happily in front of the girl, "could you possibly get my things, I left them in my dormitory under my bed."

"Of course, Miss Lia!" She says popping away to the Slytherin dormitory's, Lily smiles and goes into the bedroom to wake James.

Ophelia silently chuckles when she heard Lily hitting James awake. She could hear a thump and a groan, she lets a smile come to her face, but turns her head when Tizzy came back with her suitcase, "miss Lia, I's was stopped by your brother."

Oh Merlin.

"Master Snape was wanting to know where's you's were going, buts I's said you were doings somethings important." Tizzy said giddily, but also looks ashamed, "I lied to a wizard....but at least it was for a good cause."

The Slytherin smiles and gets on her knees and pulls the elf into a hug. Tizzy was always so supportive of her, was always there for her through thick and thin. She pulls away as she heard Lily coming back into the room while James was getting changed, Tizzy left with another pop and Ophelia opened the case. She pulled out a pair of jeans, boots and a dark-purple jumper. She shut the case over and wandered into the bathroom feeling eyes on her back.

She locks the door and drops her stuff on the toilet seat, she wanders over to the sink and turns on the water, she splashed chilled water on her face and stares at her reflection. Her black eyes stare back at her, a frown embedded on her face, she was a little uncomfortable at the thought of leaving the castle to hang out with the Marauders and Lily's friend group, she hadn't known them that long and was nervous, what if she messes up? Would the bully her like they do Severus?

She shoves on the jeans and buttons them up, she then goes onto her boots which she slips on her feet, next was her dark-purple jumper that she tucked into the jeans, her locket lay comfortably on her chest. She ran her hand through her tangled strands and hums to herself, what could go wrong. She ties her hair up into a low ponytail leaving the strands by the ears down, she turns and exits the bathroom.

"Hey, Jamie had to leave for quidditch practice, he said he'll meet us at the Three Broomsticks." Lily said as she placed breakfast down on the table, she looks over her shoulder and freezes. Ophelia looks so different to her, sure, she's noticed it before. But Ophelia out of the uniform looked so much maturer, she didn't look so slender, she had curves in all the right places especially towards her chest. "Come sit, Poppet."

Ophelia walked towards the table and sat down in one of the chairs, the redhead sat across from her, the Slytherin pour herself a cup of tea while Lily buttered her own toast. "Tea?" She asks Lily in a fake posh accent making the Gryffindor chuckle.

"I'd be most delighted." Lily said back making Ophelia let out some giggles. The redhead smiles at the familiar sound, it's been awhile, she missed doing this with the girl in front of her who was laughing at her heart's content.

Lily couldn't help but study Ophelia, this girl in front of her was very different than the girl she was friends with. This girl had built walls surrounding her – blocking her emotions and everyone from ever getting to know her. When Lily stopped talking to the twins, she could remember Marlene pointing her out of the crowd, she would always see her sitting alone staring at a book or staring off into nothing. But staring at her now, now she looked like a free girl, she was muttering to herself as she chuckled pouring the girl a cup.

They both sat in silence before it was time to go, they both exchanged small words and jokes as they left through the portrait. They made their way outside where the girls were waiting on them, "finally you both are here." Marlene said giving Lily a sly smirk, "got up to any interesting things, hm?" Wiggling her eyebrows.

Ophelia turns red and looks away embarrassed, Lily gives a scolding look towards the laughing blonde. She then turns to the Slytherin with a cheeky smile, "looking good, Ophelia." She winks.

"Marlene!" Lily growls causing the rest of the girls to laugh. The redhead did not like her friends 'friendly flirting.'

"Marls, stop your nonsense." Alice rolls her eyes, "c'mon, I booked a table with Frank earlier, it was becoming dead busy."

"Alright, let's go." Mary giggles walking away holding the blondes arm dragging her down the hill as she sent winks and protests.

"Ignore Marlene, Ophelia." Alice states joining arms with her while Lily did the same. "She's just playing with you, she's already into someone called Dorcas Meadows."

Ophelia smiles slightly, but listens to Alice and Lily's conversation and almost chuckles when she hears Marlene's faint voice shouting how much Lily was 'gay' for her. She watched Mary slap her and scold the girl for such 'language,' but she continues to shake her head and relaxed slightly – listening to their banter.

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"Finally, we're here, my legs are so tired." Whines Marlene, everyone just laughed at her as she pretends to be an old person who had just broken their backs. The Gryffindors and Slytherin went and sat in a booth that had a big round table with four cushioned seats. Mary and Marlene sat across from Lily and Ophelia, while Alice sat in an empty seat waiting for Frank. They all ordered a butterbeer and eventually fell into a light conversation, the Slytherin looked around and noticed some eyes fell on her, but she ignored them and saw some of the teachers chatting.

Ophelia turns and takes a sip of her butterbeer, the relaxing conversation between the girls gave the Slytherin a comforting setting. She didn't feel like she had to pretend or feel the need to get up and walk away, no, this aura around everyone was calming. She jumps when Lily put a hand on her thigh and gave a gentle squeeze, Ophelia turns to see the girl staring at her with concern, but she offered her a small smile.

"Oh look, there's the boys." Mary states as she points to them coming in and looking around for them, Ophelia had forgotten all about Lily's hand laying there when she meets eyes with James who grins and walks over.

"Evening, ladies." He says sitting down on Ophelia's right side. He eyes Lily hand on the smaller girls thigh with a smile before turning to everyone else. He continues to stare at her and sends a sly smirk to Lily, "lookin' good, Princess." Ophelia stares at him in horror, what kind of nickname was that? Marlene bursts out laughing.

"See, Lily. James even agrees with me that she looks good." She says earning a hit from Mary who saw the redhead glare at her, but she turns to James and gives the smaller girl a thigh squeeze.

"Yeah, Prongs." Sirius began, "the pup looks good without those robes on."

Remus gives her an encouraging look, holding his thumbs up. Even Peter gave her a nod, she blushes furiously and looks to Alice who snuggled up with Frank as soon as he came back with the boys' butterbeers.

"Ignore them, Ophelia." Remus said before taking a gulp of his beer. He was next to Sirius who was practically on his lap, she held a little bit of mischief on her face as she stares at him with curiosity.

James places a hand on her other thigh and leans in close to Lily and herself, "so, what have you girls been up to?"

"We just ate breakfast, joked around and then came here with the girls. How was your morning, Jamie." Lily asks as Ophelia was smushed in between them, she could see everyone was having their own conversations, but her focus was on the couple who was resting their hands on her thighs.

"It was alright until Avery came to the pitch claiming that the Slytherin's were training today, even though I had already rented the pitch." He said rolling his eyes, he was annoyed. "There was a fight, some words were said." He looks at Ophelia who was looking down at her knees, but Lily caught on. "But, Minnie broke us all up and ordered us to leave."

"Let me guess, you made it physical?" James nods his head and grins, but Lily smiles back at him, she wasn't angry. She would have done the same if she had heard the mean words that spewed from their rotten mouths.

"Change of topic," James said as he turns his head to the girl in the middle of him and his girlfriend. "Ophelia, what's your favourite sweet?"

"M&M's." She states, "the blue packet, I don't like the yellow ones due to nuts."

"What are M&M's?" He asks confused, "is that a muggle sweet?"

"Yeah, but my favourite Wizarding World sweet would probably be.....pumpkin pasties." She adds, but trails off. She preferred muggle sweets to the magic ones, she wasn't used to her food coming alive, but sometimes she found them alright. It just creeped her out, but she did love the savoury taste of the pastie.

"Good to know." He smiles before kissing her on the cheek, she once again became bashful and tries to scoot herself up against Lily.

The redhead laughs, "you've been red all day, Ophelia. Are you sure you don't have a fever?" She teases.

"Stop." Whined Ophelia who was sipping on her mug. She had forgotten all about her walls and glared at Lily who simply raised an eyebrow.

A slight vulnerability was shown upon her, she sat keeping eye contact with the redhead. Ophelia had almost forgotten where she was, almost. She felt James' hand squeezed her thigh tightly for a second before she turns back to her butterbeer, ignoring the stares of Remus, Sirius and Marlene.

"Don't whine." Lily states with a slight tone that held no room to argue with. "We were only teasing you."

"Sorry." She mumbles, "I don't like being teased." Keeping her eyes focused on the foamy leftovers of her drink. Ophelia wasn't used to people joking with her, she was always used to people bullying her with their teasing.

"Sorry, Ophie. We didn't know," Lily said giving her a small hug. "Next time tell us if you don't like something, it is very important for communication, we would hate to hurt you unintentionally."

"It's okay." Welp. She's suddenly made things awkward, Ophelia was imaginary hitting herself. She always did this, she stiffened when James suddenly changed the subject.

She was silent for the rest of evening, she was now building her cracked up walls and putting them back together again, she wouldn't let that happen ever again. She had gotten excited with everything and then she opens her mouth and suddenly ruins it, Severus was right, she couldn't have friends without her ruining it for herself.

Maybe I should just pretend I need the bathroom and leave? It's not like they'll notice, right? She thought to herself, they were only being nice to her because of the bond thing, they never noticed her before, so, why now? Ophelia traces her tattooed hands with her fingers.

James suddenly snaps her out of her thoughts when he leans down and whispers, "you're thinking too much." It gave her a little startled flinch, she turns her head to him. "What's goin' on in that pretty little head of yours?"

She shakes her head and listens to Marlene saying they should explore some shops, Ophelia was looking up now, she was interested, exploring. She loves exploring, they reminded her of her adventures. She stood up with everyone else ignoring the stares of the students at other tables, she was once again boxed in by the group so nothing would happen to her, while Lily and James held her hands, rubbing their thumbs over her hands in soothing little circles.

"C'mon, love. Let's go explore the shops." James says as they all walked out of the warmth and into the chilly air of Hogsmeade.

"Ohh, girls, let's go to Honeydukes." Mary says dragging Marlene and Alice who pulled Lily and Ophelia along with them.

"Meet us back here!" Remus calls out causing Marlene to wave her hand as they walked into the shop.

Lily still held Ophelia's hand and guided her down some of shelves, the redhead had grabbed a lot of chocolate frogs probably for the boys and herself, but Ophelia grabbed six packets of pumpkin pasties. A raised brow from Lily caused her to do puppy eyes, "you're gonna get a tummy ache, remember last time?"

"Yeah, but I'm not gonna eat them all," she states. "I'll keep them for later."

"Okay, give them to me when we go back to the dorm, I just want to watch over you." Lily said sternly before chuckling, "last time, you ended up in Madam Pomfrey's infirmary."

"Yeah, and you never let me forget it." The Slytherin rolls her eyes. She was trying to act like her brother but it failed terribly it made her sound whiny.

"Ophie, you've been very bratty today." Lily said, she narrows her eyes at the smaller girl. "What's going on in that head of yours? I overheard James asking you too."

"I-I," Ophelia stutters. Bratty. A deep heated feeling sunk at the bottom of her stomach. "Overthinking." She mumbles feeling heat rush passed her cheeks.

"Awe, is little Ophelia feeling shy at being called a brat?" Lily cooes, but the tone came off as a mock. Ophelia shakes her head and whines slightly, what was she doing. She was supposed to keep her walls up, Ophelia wanted to bash her head off of a wall, she could feel small cracks breaking through.

A small floaty feeling rushed to her head, it was as if cotton balls were stuck in her head. She felt light headed, she stares at Lily with wide eyes, "not a brat."

"Mmhmm, James and I have a little brat on our hands." Lily seemed oblivious to what she was doing to the Slytherin, who was bouncing on her heels wondering what was going on with herself.

Marlene bounded over once she saw the small slip of Ophelia, who looked lost, but also in a headspace. She could see panic written all over her face and frightened obsidian eyes staring at Lily. "Lily." She calls out to the Gryffindor who looks over, the blonde questers to the small girl, "I think she's somehow managed to slip."

"– more like Lily took a bit of her walls down and she's reacted like that." Alice cuts in looking at the girl with a sweet smile. "She probably didn't know how to react today, it is after all new experience for her."

"Alice, could you go find James and the boys and tell them what's happened?" Lily asks holding onto the girl turning her away from prying eyes.

"On it." The short haired girl said before passing her things to Marlene, "I'll pay you back." Once she had gotten a small nod from the blonde, she went off to find the boys who were looking at the new quidditch broom.

Lily had paid for the things while Ophelia clings onto her not sure what was going on or what's happening. She just felt safe with her. Lily leads them out for some fresh air, but nothing seemed to have been able to get Ophelia out of the state. Lily sat her on one of the benches and gave the girl a pumpkin pastie while brushing a piece of hair away from her face.

She stares intensely – taking in Ophelia's appearance once again. But this time, she seemed far away, her black eyes were now full of vulnerability, but panic was still written all over her pinked cheeks. She was quiet, but she was settled, she kept looking at Lily unsure of what to do. All Lily could do was wait for James and praise the girl sitting next to her.

"Lily!" James' voice rang through the air, she turns to see him running towards them. Once he was in front of them he bent down on the ground which caused Ophelia to turn to him, she couldn't talk, she wanted to say something, but it just came out as small whimpers, she was scared. What's happening to her, the same comment was running throughout her mind.

"Oh, Poppet, look at the state you've gotten yourself into." He says watching her face turn into a calming one, "was today too much for you, huh, pretty baby."

"– it was also our fault, especially mine." Lily confesses looking away ashamed. She once again went too far, she keeps forgetting how this girl was a different version of what she used to be.

"Don't be hard on yourself, Lils." He said grabbing Ophelia's hand, he was helping her stand on her own feet. She was like a baby deer standing up for the first time, "we all hadn't thought about her boundaries, but we'll apologise later when she comes around again."

"Yeah, you're right, Jamie." She says standing up, Lily turns her head and spots Remus and Sirius looking at Ophelia was adoration, the girls had came out too and was looking at the girl with concerned gazes before turning to Peter to include him in a conversation knowing Lily and James wouldn't want them to stare for very long.

"Let's head back, we'll sort it out when we head back." James says taking Lily's hand before leading them up to the castle with their friends following up behind them. James knew Ophelia would get better in no time, after all the oldest Snape sibling was a girl who had many secrets, but she was still an elegantly written girl.

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oooooh! ophelia accidentally went into a subspace!

honest opinion, James and Lily are definitely brat tamers! They would be the best doms ever, as Remus and Sirius are the babysitters lol!

at least we get to see fluff next chapter! don't worry her walls will drop soon, but we can't have it too soon or no plot! also, a chapter with over 3000 words!!!!

I've still to get my prelim results, my teacher won't give me them as she's already given them to the rest of the class which frustrates me. so, taking my mind off of her and turning it into fluff and angst with this book! Thank you so much for 15k and all the support you've given me! 💕

thanks for reading!
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