Since she did not have to return to the Lestrange Manor, Ophelia chose to go back home. That itself was a whole adventure because Potter wanted to make sure somebody could get her there in one piece.
"So, I know where she lives but I'm not sure she will be stable on my broom. On the other hand, someone needs to take Peter home too. He...is asleep." Potter started once they all gathered outside.
"We can take my bike. I came here with it and it didn't lose altitude once." Sirius said pointing down the street where he parked it.
"That's better for Peter then. He is unconscious, unlike Ophelia who is only dizzy." Lily explained. Everyone consumed alcohol but the redhead was the only one that didn't get drunk at all.
Sirius did not like that idea but he couldn't fight it. Peter was snoring against the wall in a position that would have hurt if he wasn't so intoxicated.
"Fine. Can we apparate?" He threw that idea in just to be sure.
"We cannot apparate. Physically. We haven't learned how to." Remus stated looking at Sirius.
"I know," Sirius said as if that was what he expected the whole night.
"But you also know where Peter lives. I'll leave first with Ophelia." James started already leading Ophelia towards his broom.
"Take care!" Remus said before he turned to their other problem.
The night was breezy and while they were getting closer to Spinnard's Cottage, it started to rain. When they got there the door opened and a confused Cerberus came out.
"What happened?" He asked helping Ophelia inside. "Oh, I smell it alright. Wild party, huh?"
James nodded and followed them inside. He was surprised to see Dylis in the living room, already preparing his bed for the night. He heard the noise and looked up.
"Is there anything Dylis can do?" He asked coming towards them. His eyes first fell over Ophelia and his whole expression changed. "I'll go prepare tea."
"Thanks, Dylis. James, you can go wait in the living room. I'll put this little one to bed and come out too."
"I should probably go, though." As he said that loud thunder filled the whole area. "Or maybe I could stay for a bit longer."
Cerberus smiled and wrapped his arms around Ophelia before he more or less dragged her upstairs. Once in her room, she sat on her bed and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Cerberus tucked her in and smiled just like a parent would.
Downstairs, Dylis offered some tea to James and then placed one on the table for Cerberus. He also brought one for himself as he got comfortable in his made-up bed.
"So, she is sleeping like a rock. I expect she won't wake up happy tomorrow. How much did she drink?"
"Enough."
"Good, good. At least she got a break from-" he stopped remembering Potter didn't know anything about Ophelia's family. "You're welcome to sleep here too, James."
"You really act like a father." The young wizard stated out of nowhere.
Cerberus' whole face softened up and he leaned against the door frame. That might have been true but realistically speaking, he was only honoring his promise to Peverell. It happened that Ophelia grew on him and with each passing day together, he could see Lillian in her more and more when she was at Hogwarts.
"How much do you know about her parents?"
James shrugged, having no idea what Ophelia's life outside the school was.
"They died, didn't they?"
"I don't mean the Molleys. Lillian was the name of her birth mother and Tom is the name of her birth father. The latter is still alive."
James' eyes widened but still didn't see the relevance.
"Tom is a dangerous person, James. He is unpredictable and recently he has been drawing her in too."
"What do you mean?" Potter asked growing serious.
"I hope you will stay by her side and help her discover who she is and what makes her happy. It is not Hogwarts that has an influence on the students. It is the friendships that are created in there that make a difference." Cerberus advised the Gryffindor, seeing in him what he treasured in Vernon.
James stared at Cerberus with a lot on his mind. He couldn't understand him but even more, he couldn't understand why Ophelia never told him about her birth parents.
Morning came fast and bright. Birds found her window particularly inviting so they decided to fly around and chirp, waking up the person whose bed was right below the window.
With hair as messy as Potter's, with makeup smeared on her face and a mark on her cheek from sleeping on that side, Ophelia woke up with the most horrible headache she ever had. It was not as bad as being the victim of legilimency; it was worse.
"Why is it so noisy?!" She shouted as soon as she opened the door.
It was really quiet since Cerberus was not in the house and Dylis was making breakfast. She groaned and went back in her room, plopped on her bed and groaned once more.
Somehow she fell asleep and woke up when she heard a knock on her door.
"Are you awake?" She heard James asking. "It's lunchtime."
"Why are you still here then?" She asked after moving her head so she could look at the door. "Oh, right. Because you are my friend." She added sarcastically.
Potter ignored her completely knowing the aftermath of a drunken night. Instead, he approached her bed and placed a bowl of cereals on her nightstand. Ophelia glanced at the bowl before she turned to Potter and then eventually she looked again at the cereals.
"Is this lunch?" She asked.
"Do you want bacon and eggs?" He asked and her answer came right away.
"Merlin, no."
She wasn't a fan of bacon and eggs in general but that absolutely felt disgusting at the moment.
That was how the day progressed with James Potter still in Spinnard's Cottage. Cerberus found his presence pleasant and they even flew around with the former Quidditch captain giving pointers to the Quidditch fanatic. That let Ophelia on the ground by herself and with many thoughts. Well, only one if she were to be honest: how was Rabastan? Will their relationship suffer or will it get stronger? He is her first boyfriend and she has some sort of expectations from it.
"Is Miss alright?" Dylis asked coming to sit next to her.
"Sure. My headache is almost gone thank to your tea." She answered with a smile.
"Dylis doesn't mean that. I means the Lestrange house. Dylis has heard of Miss Ophelia spending time with Bellatrix Black." He continued while also fidgeting at the horror of the crazy woman. "She is evil."
Ophelia couldn't help but start laughing. It wasn't loud but it did take the house-elf by surprise.
"Believe me, I know. Strangely, I do think having her around has taught me how not to be scared of death. It also taught me that I am nothing without dad." She admitted to the only being that would never judge her.
"The Dark Lord treasures Miss very much. Dylis had seen Master Cerberus coming home with bruises because he fights against dark wizards. Dylis had heard conversations between paintings too. The Dark Lord always gets what he wants." He explained, his eyes widening in fear as he mentioned the power of her father.
"He is truly a danger to us all, isn't he?" She asked to which Dylis nodded. "What about immortality? Is there a way to achieve it?"
Dylis glanced at the forest, then he looked at Spinnard's fountain and finally up at the flying men. He swallowed nervously and shook his head.
"No, no, no. That is very old magic. Dylis doubts it."
"Doubts what?"
"Immortality, miss. One has to give away his soul in order to live forever. Bad business. Dark business."
"That sounds just like Tom." She deducted, seeing how Dylis was a lot more helpful than anyone in the Lestrange mansion and even Dumbledore.
James ended up staying for dinner as well to which Ophelia got seriously curious if his parents weren't worried. But she didn't say anything and enjoyed his company. Dylis did not utter a word about their little immortality chat and Cerberus seemed tired.
"You're welcome to come anytime, James. It's a pleasure having somebody to fly around with," Knowingall said giving Ophelia a side glance. Potter laughed and nodded before he used Floo Powder to get back home. With that done, he turned to Ophelia with a knot in his stomach.
"You look a lot grimmer than a few seconds ago." She remarked as they returned to the living room.
"I know you spent the whole summer with Lestrange, under your father's orders. Are you alright?" He asked scanning her for injuries.
"No. Father instructed Bellatrix to get me on the brink of death and then let me relax before doing it all over again. But it wasn't all that bad," she added quickly, blushing at the memory of her boyfriend.
"Really...and what was good?" The adult asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You know...this and that." She said looking anywhere but his face.
"A boy, you mean? I hope for both our sanities that it isn't Lucius."
"No, not him. But I promise you he is the last person to ever hurt me. He's been nothing but protective and insightful."
"And a loyal servant of your father," Cerberus added thinking about Malfoy more realistically than she was.
Ophelia glared at her guardian and scoffed at his mistrust. Lucius Malfoy has been her ally from the beginning and Cerberus didn't know anything about their friendship.
"You judge people solely based on their blood. Lucius is not like his father or like Rodolphus. He cares."
Cerberus looked into her eyes and couldn't help have a chill. She was growing so fast and instead of resembling her mother she seemed to look more and more like Tom.
The rest of the time passed quickly. Ophelia did not dive into details about her feelings nor felt like she could tell Cerberus what happened at the Slytherin party. She trusted him, she really did, but not enough to spill her worries out to him.
No letters came from Lestrange or Malfoy so she figured out that her return home did not go against Tom's plans. No letters came from her friends either and she grew curious if Severus was angry with her.
"Are you sure you want to go by yourself to the station?" Cerberus asked for the tenth time that morning. He didn't like how after last evening Ophelia closed up.
"I'm sure," she said struggling with carrying her trunk down the stairs. Dylis came to rescue and levitated it the rest of the way. "Thank you, Dylis. Always there to support me, unlike others." She mumbled loud enough and emphasized enough to annoy Cerberus.
"Look, I know you have different views over the dark arts and dark wizards, especially Lucius Malfoy. But you cannot turn a blind eye to what they are doing. They are murderers." Cerberus said feeling incredibly tired of dealing with a teenager.
"Whatever," she mumbled before she touched Dylis and the house-elf disapparated.
When they arrived at King's Cross, Dylis did not leave. He followed her through the wall and onto the platform and even then Dylis did not leave.
"Are you worried?" She asked seeing how he was struggling to keep up with her in the crowd.
"Miss shouldn't be angry with Mister Cerberus. He only wants miss to be safe. He cares for miss very much."
Ophelia stopped and turned to the being that helped her more than he will ever know. He seemed close to tears, probably scared that she will go hang out with Death Eaters and become Tom's perfect daughter. She sighed and bent down to his level with a soft expression.
"No matter what happens, you and Knowingall have to be there for each other. I will manage by myself. When the time comes, and it will come, I want you to take Cerberus and leave me."
"But miss-"
"I'm not my mother but that doesn't mean I am not inclined to want to spend time with Tom. He is my father. I'm afraid that will never change and it is better to not be there when he'll get angry with me."
Ophelia patted his shoulder and left, getting lost in the crowd of students and their families. Dylis remained with a frown. He was smart enough to understand what she meant but how could she be so sure they were ready to abandon her? She saved him so if the case arose, he was ready to save her too no matter the cost.
"Molley!"
Ophelia barely stepped on the train when she heard Sirius' booming voice. He had one arm wrapped around the same girl he made out with two nights ago and she looked ecstatic.
"I see you and Louise are on the...lovey path." She couldn't really express what she was seeing. Showing love so openly was something she never experienced.
"Jealous?" He asked in a teasing manner.
"Yeah, I am," she muttered before she passed the love birds and entered the last cabin in that area. Luckily nobody was in it but she was sure one James Potter will definitely find her during the ride.
Coincidentally, James was quite thoughtful from the moment he left home and that state only intensified as he got on the train. Sirius was busy with his new girlfriend and Remus was reading.
"Peter is running late, isn't he?" Remus asked looking up from his Potions book. James would usually come up with a sassy remark about where he is exactly coming from or if his mother is driving him (an excellent driver mind you, but with an inclination for being late) she'll have to get him directly to Hogwarts. But James didn't sketch a gesture that he had heard Remus at all. "Sirius is outside our cabin making babies in front of everyone on this train." He added but his friend was unfazed. Seeing how major was the situation, Remus put his book aside and grabbed his wand. Aguamenti, he said and a jet of water hit Potter straight in between his eyes.
"Blimey!" He shouted completely taken aback by whoever splashed him. He needed a minute to fully register who hit him. "Remus!"
"Come on, what's bothering you? I've never seen you so silent and brooding before. Unless it's about Quidditch, of course. In that case I'd rather-"
"It's just something I was told a few days ago. At first I thought nothing of it but the more I tried to ignore it the more I began questioning it."
"As it usually happens when curiosity gets the best of you. What was it about?" Remus asked sensing how his own curious cells got the best of him.
Potter glanced out the window at the happy families saying goodbye to their children, particularly the fathers. Men reacting to their boys leaving was very different to them reacting to their daughters leaving; their whole demeanor seemed tense as if they were sending their precious little girls into the devil's den.
"Alright so if I tell you, you must swear to secrecy. I don't want Peter or Sirius to know about this. She wouldn't appreciate them knowing either." Remus only raised an eyebrow, intrigued who this person was. "It's Ophelia. The night I got her home, Knowingall told me about her birth parents. It seems her father is still alive and he is a very dangerous human being."
"Is he a wizard?" Remus asked leaning in.
"Yes, a dark wizard even. He told me that friendship is what makes Hogwarts strong and that we should stick together."
"Odd. Why would he say that to you?"
James shrugged and sighed dramatically, "I don't know but I agree with him. We should stick together, become best friends for life, be best men at each other's weddings, become godfathers to each other's children and be buried in the same grave. That'd be perfect."
Remus chuckled and grabbed his book, retreating into his silent bubble. There were indeed many problems in the wizarding world and Remus was aware of the powers moving into the shadows but he hoped none of their parents or friends or acquaintances were involved.
