1x1 with me? OPEN

“Oh, yeah, I bet. He has too much power as it is, being a Prefect.” Ophelia grumbled.

As Lissa got her water magic book out, Ophelia couldn’t help but be fascinated by the writing on it, as well as the actual writing on the book. Ophelia’s love of learning was well and truly taking over at this point.

Ophelia watched as Tom Riddle was hit in the back of the head by the ball of water, startling him. His dark hair was now dripping and even some of his face was wet, thoigh not much because it wasn’t much water. With a surprised sound he had risen instantly, eyes narrowing as he spun around, trying to work out who might have done such a thing.

Obviously, his eyes settled on Lissa and Ophelia, but Ophelia had made sure to make it look like she was still working on something with the Slytherin girl. Tom could see no evidence that either of them had done anything. To stifled laughter from all around the room, Riddle angrily stalked out of the room, followed closely by his little group of friends.

As soon as he was gone, Ophelia allowed herself to laugh.

“Oh my god...” she said, fighting for breath with laughter “That was possibly the best thing I’ve ever seen.”

(Replying soon x Sorry I’ve been sick and school’s been hectic)

“Oh, don’t worry about him,” Ophelia replied “He’s all bark and no bite. As far as anyone can prove, anyway.”

The girl didn’t really think Riddle was harmless, but she couldn’t fine any evidence to the contrary. He was rude and prejudiced, sure, but she couldn’t guarantee that he was anything more than that.

“Oh, can I? It looks very interesting,” Ophelia smiled when Lissa offered to let her look at the book. She had a look at the pages, her eyes scanning over the writing. Some was clearly original, some of it was clearly Lissa’s own additions.

“You added whole spells of your own? Wow! That’s pretty impressive. They work, then?”

Ophelia had been able to come up with only one or two of her own spells. It was hard to make ones that worked, especially if she had to take wand movement into account. Sometimes certain wands were less prone to certain types of spells so she even had to take into account the limitations of her own wand, spruce wood with a unicorn hair core, when it came to creating spells.

Ophelia listened to Lissa with great interest, looking at the book as Lissa spoke about it, following her descriptions and looking at the spells she pointed to as she spoke about then.

“Wow, well that’s all really interesting!” Ophelia replied

She didn’t mention any more about the animagi because she suspected Lissa wasn’t supposed to talk about it judging by the way she trailed off, stopping herself before she said too much. Yes. That was definitely how it seemed to Ophelia.

“Yes,” Ophelia said with a smile in response to Lissa’s suggestion “I’d love to. Tomorrow it is then.”

That would be nice, getting lunch with Lissa. The girl had fascinated her, ensnared Ophelia’s curious mind. And Ophelia definitely wasn’t looking forward to spending time with Lissa and she totally didn’t feel like it was a date or anything. Not at all.

Hey sorry for not replying I’m really busy at the moment x I’ll be replying as soon as possible)

That weekend, Ophelia headed out towards the Quidditch field, dressed in normal clothes instead of her robes. Her hair, which she tended to keep tied up during the weekdays to keep it out of her face during class, was loose and overall she just felt more relaxed.

She saw the bright colour of the blanket and the shape of the basket beside it and...a bird? She couldn't tell what it was from this distance, but as she approached she saw it was a peregrine falcon. And she wouldn't have needed for the falcon to be sitting on a blanket for her to realise it was Lissa; she'd been taught how a witch or wizard's animagus form had distinct features that linked it to their human form. She'd seen Professor McGonagall's animagus form, after all.

"Wow," Ophelia breathed as she sat on the blanket, "I didn't realise you had such a cool animagus form. It suits you, somehow."

It really did. She couldn't put her finger on it, but something about that falcon suited Lissa immensely. She supposed there must be some quality or attribute they shared that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

Ophelia already thought Lissa was so cool. She knew a lot of different magic and she was an animagus, something Ophelia could not say. She hadn't felt like doing all of the paperwork to register herself and she'd never do it illegally.

[I'm taking some creative liberties with the first horcrux because his first horcrux might not have been the ring but the diary instead. But, I think, it adds an air of mystery if we have the first horcrux there already. I think the diary and the ring were created at around the same time anyway]

Ophelia watched with a smile as Lissa transformed back into her human form. It was quite amazing - just a second ago she'd been looking at a bird, and now a girl.

"Thanks," she responded to the compliment "You look lovely too. The rest of the week was fine, it's been strangely uneventful. Riddle hasn't given me any trouble, no, and he hasn't given anyone trouble for days. Which is what unsettles me. But anyway, enough about him. Was your week good?"

She felt certain Riddle was up to something. She didn't know what. She largely suspected it was something to do with the rumours going around of strange happenings at Hogwarts. Riddle walking around wearing a brand-new ring with some sort of symbol on it, for instance, and looking even paler than normal. He'd been unusually quiet for a few days and there were rumours that people kept hearing a strange language being whispered in the school sometimes, mainly at night.

But she decided to forget about Tom Riddle, the charming little snake enticing young Slytherins into his group, and instead focus on Lissa and what she was saying. As the other girl leaned back, Ophelia did the same.

"I think it would be quite nice, yes, though I heard it's a length process and you have to have a mandrake leaf in your mouth for a month. And then you still have to register so it's not illegal...I would definitely love it, but it would take a while."

Ophelia nodded at Lissa’s question, just to show she knew, even though their encounter with Riddle had made it perfectly obvious that Lissa was a pureblood and Ophelia was not.

“Wow, it does sound pretty cool. I wish I was from an all-magical family, it sounds like an awful lot of fun. I’m aware that ‘mudblood’,” she began, spitting out the rude insult “doesn’t quite explain what I am. I’m halfblood, not muggleborn, though I might as well be. My mother left because she couldn’t bear not being able to use her magic - my dad didn’t like it and she was scared the neighbours would see. My sister’s in Hufflepuff, a couple of years below.”

At the question of whether she played Quidditch, she nodded “Yeah, I’m a Chaser for Ravenclaw - we don’t have practise until later. But our Seeker leaves after this year and they’re talking about putting me as the Seeker for next year. We never win, it’s usually Griffindor or Slytherin, but it’s fun and nobody cares so long as we beat Hufflepuff; it’d be embarrassing not to beat the least competitive team in the entire school. So when I play against Gryffindor I’ll look out for your brother trying to knock me out with bludgers.”

It was pleasant sitting out here, just chatting

Ophelia would have been surprised, but honestly nothin surprised her with Lissa anymore. She watched the lizard leave and turn into a boy some distance away. She couldn’t help but smile.

She took the chocolate frog Lissa had offered her before replying to her.

“Oh, no, honestly don’t worry about it. He seems to be quite a character, doesn’t he? I think he’d get on well with my little sister, Piper. She’s over there, look.”

Ophelia nodded in the direction of a girl a few years younger, sitting under a tree with a group of Hufflepuffs. She was chatting animatedly, her cheeks pink with excitement at what was clearly either a very funny or very exciting story. She had slightly lighter hair than her sister and a smattering of freckles, but otherwise they looked markedly similar.

At the mention of the forbidden forest, Ophelia’s eyes strayed towards it.

“Oh, it would be an amazing place to fly if it wasn’t full with all manner of magical creatures, some of them much less friendly than others. I’ve never been in there but apparently students have gone missing in there before.” Ophelia responded

(Yeah, I like it x I’m going to bring them in now)

Ophelia smiled “Wow, that sounds really fun. We have the lake here, but it’s full of merpeople and they’re a bit less nice. Very temperamental creatures, apparently. I wouldn’t like an encounter with them. It sounds great though.”

She looked up, though, to see pale skin, dark hair, and the glint of a prefect badge. Tom Riddle and his group had come outside. He was heading towards the Quidditch pitch but stopped now at Ophelia and Lissa, but instead at Piper and her friends. He was saying soemthing Ophelia couldn’t hear, but Piper looked upset and so Ophelia couldn’t stop herself from standing up and marching over.

“That’s the last straw, Riddle. You can have a go at me all you want but if you ever speak to my sister ever again, you’re dead. How dare you stand there and bully her?”

Tom raised an eyebrow, looking between Ophelia and Piper.

“Ah, of course. I was just here because Hufflepuff is a weak house filled with mudbloods, but now I see the resemblance. Cute. A little mudblood family. Figures that your little sister would end up in Hufflepuff. Scummy little house. Does she not even have the brains that got you into Ravenclaw? Then again, you were dumb enough to challenge me. There are always people who don’t belong in their houses.”

At those last words, Tom cast a disdainful glance towards Lissa.

(Tom’s all yours if you ever want to control him a bit. We can share him x)

(No you don’t need to worry, just if you ever feel like it x Yeah I’m not amazing at him XD Also, I nearly made the same mistake in a previous post, had to do a bit of research, but the Lestrange who was in Riddle’s gang was Bellatrix’s father I think. I almost did the same thing though so it’s not a problem)

Riddle didn’t break eye contact either, but just smiled.

“Observant, aren’t you?” Riddle smiled “Well, I think you’ll find that our little plan with Marianne Pine still counts as picking on people. But trust me, Miss Harley, everyone picks on everyone at Hogwarts. You just need to learn how to pick on the right people. Getting in with the right people could lead to great things. Or it could lead to...disaster. People like the Fieldwakes are going nowhere in this world. They will get what they are due. But you can do so much more.”

Ophelia stepped in now.

“Oh, shut up with your stupid pureblood propaganda. My sister and I will do just fine, whereas you’ll live your life trying to spread hate. Now tell your stupid little cronies to put their wands down”

Some of the members of Riddle’s group had wands raised by this point, and even Ophelia had her hand on her wand. Riddle raised his hand, and his friends lowered their wands.

“They’re not worth it,” Riddle sneered

“That’s right, Riddle, because you’re scared deep down and you don’t want a fight.”

(Lol these two are dicing with death)

Riddle nodded “I’ll take up my problems with whoever I want, Harley, and it won’t be you. But yes, I’m a halfblood,, and while I’m sure I’m interested in knowing how you got that information, it doesn’t matter to me. My father was scum, and yes he was a muggle. But at least I accept that purebloods should rule and that everybody, even half bloods, should know their place in the world. Salazaar Slytherin allowed me into his house despite being a mudblood, because he knew that i understood the world order and that I would fight for the truth. The mudbloods who know where they stand are the ones who have a chance. Even you, Fieldwake, if you just accept the truth and stop trying to hide from it.”

“No,” Ophelia said firmly, shaking her head “and I refuse to listen to your hypocrisy any longer. Now go away before we’re forced to draw our wands. There are some people you can’t brainwash, Tom Riddle.”

“Very well. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Tom said with a chilling smile “You and Harley. For a Ravenclaw, you struggle to see reason.”

(Sorry for a short post x I was thinking of having him leave but I’ve left it open just in case)

(Oh no that’s not good x Also don’t worry about the post x I ramble all the time in posts x Anyway, I have to leave to go to school soon but I’ll get a reply in later x)

Sorry I know you’re due a reply I’ll get you one now)

“Hi,” Piper greeted Lissa with smile

She had much tthe same appearance as her sister, but a much more extroverted atmosphere, overall more exciteable and more... Hufflepuff, really. As the girls introduced themselves, Ophelia jumped in to explain that Lissa was her friend (she didn’t dare suggest more yet) and Piper nodded.

With this done, Ophelia looked to the lizard on Lissa’s shoulder.

“Ah, the food thief is back,” she joked before looking at her sister “That’s Blake, Lissa’s brother.”

“An animagus?” Piper said with surprise

“Yeah. They both are.” Ophelia replied

“Wow, Lia,” Piper said, using her nickname for her older sister “that’s pretty cool. Hi Blake!”

The greeting at the end was coupled with Ophelia’s laughter. Her sister was so eager to meet people, even when they were in animal form.