One day that everyone was waiting for was the day they could leave for Christmas. It came very, very slowly and Potter had a few ideas why. Firstly, detention with Spinnard was partially terrorizing and partially educational. He'd take every student for one or two partnerships but the one that seemed to enjoy it was actually Sirius. Maybe because he had detention with McGonagall too and that was very boring, but Sirius was one of the few who were enjoying Spinnard's dueling lessons.
"I'm sure we should not tell our parents what we have been doing these past Saturdays." Cissney whispered, careful not to be heard by anyone outside their year.
"Are you still afraid of professor Spinnard?" Frank asked her, glancing for a moment at the staff table. Spinnard wasn't even there on their last day before the holidays. "It seems he left already,"
"Or he's somewhere in the castle, waiting for us to leave so he can practice dark magic." Potter threw in without caring who or what could hear him.
Hearing of that particular subject, Ophelia glanced at the Slytherin table. The fifth years were talking between themselves while Severus and his dorm mates were missing the festivity.
"What are your plans for this Christmas? Should we give each other presents? We've been partners in suffering this year." Alice came up with the idea, her eyes wide and bright in the candle light.
"Why would we?" Sirius asked confused.
"True. We ended up in this mess because of you and Potter." Lily spoke up, awakening the offense in the two boys.
"At least we are learning real defense against the dark arts. And dueling." Remus added, saving them from listening to a full rambling.
Dinner ended with everyone agreeing they should exchange gifts during the holidays so they won't have to react face to face when receiving them. Ophelia smiled contently, curious what presents she will get with how her owl was acting.
"Let's hope Willy will send the right presents to the right people." Ophelia told Lily before they reached the staircase.
"I just hope you'll get home this Christmas. Last time, you stayed here." Lily said in worry.
"Ah right, I should visit someone. I completely forgot about him..." Ophelia spoke quickly before turning towards the corridor to the hospital wing.
But when she got there, Cerberus was not in. She was foolish to believe he wasn't already healed and back home where he was as far as possible from her. A bit disappointed, Ophelia returned to the stairs.
"Molley, I have dreadful news for both of us." Spinnard called her out, grabbing the attention of a few passing Hufflepuffs.
"Excuse me?" She was confused especially with how annoyed he looked.
"You'll spend Christmas with me."
"But my parents-"
"Have already been informed."
"By Dumbledore?" She asked the first thing that came to mind.
"By Tom." Spinnard replied not liking the news anymore than her.
Her eyes widened before she looked down at her hands.
"Does Dumbledore know?"
"Does it matter? Your father won't be joining us but another friend of your mother will."
"A friend of mom's or Peverell's?" She asked sarcastically.
"Both. Are you done with these foolish questions now?"
"I'm a child and there are numerous reasons why I have so many curiosities." She spoke up staring into his blue eyes.
"Keep them for yourself. I want to enjoy my time home even if you'll be there."
Wow, so much kindness. Obviously, he was less than happy to spend time with the object of his hatred.
Therefore, next morning bright and early, Ophelia packed her stuff and met the rest of the girls in the common room, all of them having a lot of fun talking about their plans.
"I'm going to spend this Christmas with my grandparents. Mum and dad have to leave for America...not that it surprises me." Cissney started, disappointed that she won't have her parents there to welcome her home. "It sucks. I wish they were muggles so that they wouldn't have to leave so often."
"What do they do?" Ophelia asked curiously. She never heard Cissney or any of the girls speak about their families.
"They work for the Ministry of Magic. Dad says it's important but when they took me for Parents' Day I found out they work in Muggles Administration."
"Did I hear that right?" Everyone turned around to look at a boy two years their senior, stumbling down the stairs with a huge trunk following behind. "Your parents work in Muggles Administration, Littlewood? That's amazing! I've always been interested in muggles and their ingeniousness!"
"You make it sound even worse, Weasley." Cissney grumbled, not liking to speak about her parents.
"No, no! I'm serious, you should see what I discovered during the summer break! I'm sure it is somewhere around here-" The ginger opened his trunk only to have it flood with things.
Ophelia blinked in confusion when something rolled to her feet. She took it and inspected it closely before she looked at Weasley.
"This is an ashtray," she mumbled, not knowing how to react.
"Ah, right. I found it in the neighbourhood..." He explained, taking it carefully as if it was made out of glass when it was visibly plastic. "I have a lot more in here but-" with one swift sway of his wand, everything retracted into the trunk but also locked itself. Weasley turned then to the girls and smiled boyishly while showing them...
"That's a kettle." Alice pointed out. It was medium sized so it was very strange how it fit with all the other stuff.
"Yes. I found it thrown in the yard...it looks like a mixer for beverages," Weasley continued, "I've been using it as a cup though...it's very useful for late night sips of butterbeer."
Everyone was watching the peculiar boy with poker faces except Ophelia who heard a new word.
"What's a butterbeer?" She asked, getting an incredulous look from the ginger.
"How can you not know what's a butterbeer? It's a beverage of course; the best one." Weasley explained, "Are you by any chance a muggle born?"
"No."
The girls turned to Ophelia when she answered, none underlining that subject before.
"Then maybe is one of your parents a muggle?" Weasley asked again, his eyes brightening at the idea.
"No." That was questioning, "A kettle is used to boil water in it. Then you pour into a cup." Ophelia added seeing how it got very silent in the group.
"Oh. Oh! That makes sense now," The boy mumbled to himself.
"Oi, Arthur are ya comin'?" It was another fourth year, a blond boy with brown eyes. He waved at Arthur impatiently.
"Oh! Well, have a very jolly Christmas!" The ginger told everyone with a smile before he hurried to his friend.
"That was weird, wasn't it? It wasn't just me." Lily mumbled seeing how both her parents are muggles and a boy was being all excited over a kettle.
"It was. He's Arthur Weasley, fourth year. He's a nice guy but it seems he has an obsession with muggles." Cissney informed the girls.
"You really do know everyone." Lily added, surprised.
"I do, yes. Ask me about anyone and I probably heard stuff about them."
"What about Lestrange?" Ophelia asked since she was being given the opportunity. "What do you know about the Lestrange brothers?"
By now the girls were all in their compartment having gracefully avoided the boys. They could hear Sirius complaining on the way to the train about how he had to spend days with his family.
"Well, Lestrange is a famous name. They've all been more or less interested in dark magic and took that path be it through actions or titles. It is a feared family in the wizarding world."
"What about Rabastan and Rodolphus Lestrange?" Ophelia pressed, gaining the interest of Lily and Alice too.
"Rabastan is a lot nicer than his older brother. Rodolphus is just like the rest of his family: dark, authoritarian and hateful. He dislikes muggle borns and half bloods and some pure bloods...yeah he hates pretty much everyone." Cissney mumbled thoughtfully.
"I'm usually not so sure of rumors but Rabastan does seem to be different than his brother. He tutored you after all." Lily told Ophelia.
"But they are evil and everyone knows it. We should be cautious, just in case. Once they both graduate, Hogwarts will be better."
"I doubt that," Alice mumbled remembering the second year Slytherins.
For the rest of the ride, the girls took turns in asking Cissney about people from Hogwarts, testing her knowledge. It was fun when asking about Ravenclaws.
"McGrey is incredibly sassy. I met her in the girls' bathroom from the first floor and she was talking and talking." Cissney rolled her eyes at the memory making the rest laugh.
"Oh, speaking of the first floor's girls bathroom. I heard there's a ghost haunting it. I've never entered it but I heard Hufflepuff girls talk about it during Herbology." Alice started leaning towards Ophelia who was sitting right across her, next to Lily.
"All I can hear in Herbology is Potter arguing with Remus who should plunk the plants and a bit of professor Sprout here and there."
Lily chuckled, "That's because Remus gets cranky around plants."
"Herbology is boring. I prefer detention with Spinnard over it." Ophelia added grumpily, leaning back and folding her arms in front of her.
"I am still scared of him but yeah, he's taught us a lot for the past few weeks. Memorizing in class and then applying it in detention...it's like having him tutor us." Cissney laughed it off as a joke but Ophelia frowned.
"Beautiful London!" Pettigrew sighed contently. The chubby boy couldn't believe he was going to spend a few days home where he could eat whatever and learn nothing.
"Tch, don't blind me with your happiness, Peter. I'm looking for my parents." Potter mumbled, his eyes searching for his father's figure.
"I hate Christmas." Sirius muttered next to Remus, who unfortunately seemed as excited as Peter. "I'll have to dine with the family, ew."
"Don't worry. We'll make sure to send you useful presents." Remus comforted his friend, making the boy feel better.
"You better, Lupi. I'll be looking forward to new utensils." Sirius added, moving his eyebrows up and down.
"I'll send you all the presents as soon as I'll get a hang of civilization. My folks live in the middle of nowhere." Cissney said grumpily as she hugged each girl.
Her grand parents were there early and she left with an unhappy expression.
Lily found her parents next and hugged them before leaving with her mother.
"Where are your parents? Aren't they coming?" Ophelia asked Alice who shook her head.
"They're waiting for me outside the station. Mum hates crowds." Alice explained, "What about yours?"
Ophelia bit her lip, following her friend through the wall and on the muggle platform.
"I'm not spending Christmas with my parents. I'll go at a family friend." She tried her best to cover whose house exactly.
Alice walked out to her awaiting parents and Ophelia found herself alone in London. It was a bit scary because everyone passing her was either in a hurry or simply ignoring her altogether.
"What now, Willy?" She asked her owl who stared right back at her, "Yep." It was awkward and the suspicious stares from passer byes were not helpful.
"Oi, get up. What are you doing by yourself here?"
The guard from the station had seen the kid from the moment she walked out with that big trunk of hers and an owl in a cage. It wasn't a sight he was accustomed with so, naturally, he let her alone thinking she was waiting for her parents. However, after two hours passed and wandering around the front of the station, he decided to interfere.
"Where are your parents?" He asked when he reached her. She looked fine from every aspect, cleaned and fed so definitely not an orphan.
Ophelia looked up at the fat man and noticed first his amazingly stuffy mustache. It was hard to take her eyes off it afterwards and she couldn't focus on what he was saying because the mustache was moving continuously.
"Oi, are you listening to me? Should I call the Scotland Yard to take you-"
"That won't be necessary." A tall imposing man interfered, hurrying to the muggle guard. "Thank you for keeping an eye on her, officer. I will take her from now."
The guard raised an eyebrow and put his arms on his shoulder, glancing between the dark haired man and the kid.
"You don't look like her father." The guard mumbled, taking a closer look at the kid. She looked nothing like the man, from the color of their eyes to their face shape.
"I'm not her father. I'm a family friend. Now, excuse us," He threw a polite smile, one that looked suspicious, before he looked at Ophelia expectantly. The girl chuckled but followed the man down the street and away from the curious eyes of the guard. "How could you stay there when you can easily invade my mind?" He scolded her, pushing her around the corner so they could move quicker.
"I-" She couldn't finish her sentence because a familiar feeling of diminishing space engulfed her, making her nauseous.
