*mentions of alcohol consumption - please remember to drink responsibly!

"Let's see the dress again!" Marlene bounced onto Ophelia's bed with full force, not caring for anything that lay across the bed already, such as Ophelia's assignments.

"Marls! My work!" Ophelia grabbed one of Marlene's arms and yanked her into a sitting position, only to fall back down on to Marlene.

"I'm having a bit of a bi panic right now." Marlene winked at Ophelia who laid currently on top of her.

"What?" Dorcas' voice was heard from somewhere in the room.

"Marls even if I did like girls, which I do not, you wouldn't stand a chance with me." Ophelia winked back at Marlene before pushing herself off. "Dor, Marls is being a vixen, please remove her from my bed."

"I'm not moving until I see your dress again." Marlene answered before Dorcas even had the chance to.

"You will literally see it in less than thirty minutes when I'm changed. I still do not understand why you've made me pick such a fancy dress to wear." Ophelia continued to apply some smokey eyeshadow to her lids.

"And I can't see why you don't just use magic to finish your makeup." Marlene retorted.

"Touché."

After a few more jokes were bounced through the room, the girls began to put on their outfits for the evening. Ophelia hadn't truly 'glammed' up for a long time and deep down couldn't deny she missed the concept. When she wore clothing that made her feel confident, it would also act as armour; shielding her from any negativity. 

Tonight, Ophelia felt the exact same way.

The dress was a blush pink satin with a sweetheart neckline. A corseted style bodice complimented Ophelia's beautiful figure without altering the waist much. From there, it continued to hug her hips into a mini pencil skirt, a small slit on the right hand side allowing ease of movement. Out of all of the outfit, the sleeves had to be Ophelia's favourite. From the neckline an eccentric chiffon bell sleeve puffed out, remaining billowing until they reached her wrists.

"You're so damn gorgeous it's unfair." Alice had come to stand beside Ophelia at the mirror, brushing down on her own dress to remove any creases that were most likely not there.

"You are looking gorgeous too Al." Ophelia wrapped her arm around Alice's waist, giving the girl a tight squeeze of reassurance. "Planning to speak to Frank tonight?"

A few evenings prior Alice had spoken to the girls about her growing feelings for Frank Longbottom. Frank was a rather shy boy, a cautious spirit. Often when he answered questions in class he would stutter slightly, lacking the self confidence that in fact he was extremely intelligent.

"Fi, I'm not as pretty and confident as you are. He wouldn't even look in my direction twice." Alice pulled out of the hug with a shake of her head. "It's just me being silly, I thought we bonded in Herbology but maybe I was dreaming too big."

Initially Alice and Frank only spoke alone in Herbology due to being partners; any other time they would be surrounded by others in which meant Frank would become reserved once more. Over time though, they began to study together and Alice explained how a new feeling inside of her had awoken.

"There is no such thing as dreaming too big. Anyway, I didn't say you had to do anything but talk to him. It will be nice to chat with him in this kind of relaxed setting rather than in class or him being surrounded by his friends." Ophelia explained to Alice, who listened to intently.

"I suppose. I'll just see how the night goes."

"That sounds like the best idea."

"Right bitches, are we ready to go?" Marlene had skipped over to where Alice and Ophelia were, giving Ophelia's bum a quick slap in passing.

"Is she drunk already?" Ophelia chuckled as she asked.

"More than likely yes." Dorcas walked past them, following Marlene who was still skipping as she tried to leave the dorm. "I'll keep an eye on her."

"Right, shall we go down." Lily appeared, wearing a deep navy playsuit that complimented her hair beautifully.

"Let's do this." Alice saluted mockingly and began to leave me.

"Lils?" Ophelia held onto Lily's arm before she had chance to follow. "You can't see any scars can you?"

"Give me a spin." Lily motioned with her finger. "Not that I can notice no."

"Most of them have gone now, but there's a few I don't think will ever go that are on my back."

"Hey Fi, shush. You're beautiful. Now let's go celebrate Remus' birthday." Lily went to leave but then suddenly halted in the doorway. "Wait, one more thing." Lily flicked her wand and Ophelia felt her hair fall out of its bun. "Keep your hair down please."

Downstairs in the common room, there was already an abundance of peopling hanging around. Some gathered around a snacks table, others stood with drinks in their hands whilst a few, in which meant the Marauders, sprawled out on the furniture.

"Lily flower!" James called out from where he currently sat upside down on the sofa, head touching the floor and feet resting on the back. "You look as gorgeous as a princess tonight."

"Thank you Potter." Lily was civil, like most times. "I'll go grab us some drinks Fi, what do you want?"

"Anything non-alcoholic please." Fi replied, before walking over to where James sat. "You alright there JamJam?"

"Oh FiFi, you are looking mighty hot tonight if you weren't my little sister I'd say you were a close second to Lily flower."

"Are you drunk?"

"No he isn't, in fact he hasn't touched a drop of alcohol yet because he wanted a clear head for the moment he saw Lily walk down the stairs." Someone had come to stand beside Ophelia to admire the foolery of James.

"Rem! Happy Birthday, again." Ophelia looked at the birthday boy who held a glass of firewhiskey in one hand; his maroon knitted sweater was pushed up to his elbows revealing his muscular yet scarred forearms.

"You look lovely Fi." Remus spoke, trying his hardest not to look the girl's figure up and down.

"Thank you, the girls pushed me into going full out with the outfit. You look good too, I don't think I've ever met a guy who can style knitted jumpers so well."

"I didn't realise your hair was curly." Remus ignored the compliment Ophelia had given her, too focused on the change of hairstyle.

"Oh, yeh I don't wear it down much."

"Here you go Fi." Lily returned with two drinks in her hand, passing one to Ophelia. "Are you having a good time so far Remus?"

"Yes thank you Lily. I'll leave you girls to it, see you both around." Remus gave one final awkward smile to Ophelia and his usual smile to Lily, before dragging James off the sofa by his arm.

Clinking of a glass, then an echoing cough for attention, turned the party silent for a moment. Stood on a table was the Gryffindor Head Boy, earning a few rather audible sighs from other Gryffindors.

"Now, I must remind you of the rules for a party in the common room. Number one, do not leave the Gryffindor Tower past curfew. Closely following that is Number Two, do not leave here at all if you are intoxicated we shall not lose house points to underage foolery. Number Three, this party must end by midnight sharp. And number four-"

"Number Four, enjoy yourselves! Now let's get this party started!" Sirius had pushed the head boy literally off of the table to yell his version of the rules. These were clearly well received by the series of cheers that followed after his announcement.

Time passed by quickly as the party continued, people were scattered around the room either drinking, dancing or discussing. Ophelia, who was still entirely sober, noticed for the first time how truly popular the Marauders were. Girls were latching onto them and boys were insisting on sharing a drink with them. At some point a rather drunk Sirius tumbled over to where Ophelia sat with Lily speaking.

"Dance with me Fi." Sirius bowed down to Ophelia like she was royalty.

"Sirius there's no music whatsoever." Ophelia rolled her eyes jokingly at the boy's antics.

"Please." Sirius pouted.

"Fine, but only because you have amazing puppy dog eyes." Ophelia placed her drink in Lily's hand before being dragged away into the centre of the room.

Sirius began to bounce up and down, throwing his long hair side to side with each jump. More people joined the centre of the room and began to dance, even with the lack of music it felt a buzz. Grabbing Ophelia's hand, Sirius spun her around a few times before catching her in a dip fall.

"Sirius what are you up too?" Ophelia, even though she knew Sirius was drunk, sensed Sirius had some devious plan behind all of his actions.

"Seeing if I can make someone jealous." Sirius booped Ophelia's nose, before pulling her back into a standing position. Rather than get the chance to reprimand or question Sirius, Ophelia noticed something happening over his shoulder.

"Oh my gosh." Ophelia muttered.

"What, what. Woah." Sirius turned around to see what Ophelia had spotted. "Get in there Frank!" Sirius let out a whistle, that was cut short by Ophelia yanking his arm.

"Sorry." Ophelia mouthed to a blushed Alice. "Sirius, not everyone wants the world to watch them."

"Unless they're a celebrity." Sirius threw back the comment.

"You really think that?" Ophelia replied rather curtly; unfortunately for Sirius he had no chance of realising that this would be a sensitive subject to Ophelia.

"Think what?" Sirius replied, still swaying to the imagined music.

"That-"

"Sirius, would you mind if I steal Ophelia for a moment?" A new voice behind Ophelia broke the growing tension in the air.

"Uh, yeh I guess." Sirius shrugged, but looked rather confused. Ophelia turned to see who it was, not feeling one hundred percent sure of who it could be. But she knew it was one of two people.

"Fabian? Hi."

"Hi Ophelia, you look striking tonight." Fabian offered his cheesy smile and wink as a greeting.

"Thank you."

"Sooooo, you and Sirius ayy?" He wiggled his eyebrows playfully at the question.

"What? Oh god no, he's just drunk and I couldn't say no." Ophelia shrugged, then began to walk off the makeshift dance floor. Fabian stayed closed to her heels, following her every step.

"I see. So you're single then?"

"And why would you like to know that?" Ophelia took a seat on the sofa where Dorcas was still sat.

"Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies." Fabian clearly wasn't one to give up, so squished himself into the small gap between Dorcas and Ophelia, then wrapping an arm around Ophelia's neck.

The action caused Ophelia to tense up. Yes, she had gotten much more comfortable around people, men especially, but this was very different. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the room, the Marauders watched the scene unfold.

"Sirius, what did Fabian want." Remus asked, a fresh glass of firewhiskey in his hand.

"Just said he wanted to borrow Fi." Sirius shrugged.

"Maybe he fancies Fi." Peter giggled like a child saying something naughty, he had only had one glass of the firewhiskey but it was enough to make him tipsy.

"He's a good guy, would be perfect for Fi." Remus downed his glass of fire whiskey look a shot then placed the glass loudly down. "I'll see you lot later."

"Where are you goi-oh." James' question was answered by Remus' actions, he had taken a seat with some girls from the year above. "Oh well done Pete."

"Me?" Peter almost squeaked the word like a rat. "I didn't do anything."

"To be honest, it was me. I tried to make Moony jealous by dancing with Fi, but I clearly gained someone else's attention." Sirius nodded towards where Fabian sat next to Ophelia, just in time to notice the tensing of Ophelia's body; something that only someone who had previous experience with abuse would notice. "Shit, I don't think Fi's too happy."

"I'll sort it." James being the only Marauder close to being sober stood to head over. "Fi!" Ophelia looked up from her hands she was fiddling with in her lap to where James called from. "Fi, I need to tell you something super duper important otherwise I'll forget. Come on."

"Sorry Fabian, it was lovely chatting." Ophelia took the moment to get away instantly and unintentionally didn't answer Fabian's question to meet later; her only concern was to reach James in the centre of the room.

"You ok?" James asked the second Ophelia had reached him.

"Yeh I am now, what did you want?"

"Nothing, we could tell you were uncomfortable so we -" James was cut short by Ophelia hugging him.

"Honestly, I don't know what I would do with out you all."

"You'd probably be very miserable."

"That much is true."

Remus saw the sweet interaction between his best friend and someone he now too considered a best friend. Mentally he scolded himself for being so hasty and taking himself over to the group of girls, but the reason he did this was because there was no strings attached.

These girls saw him as a quarter of the marauders, just one of the popular boys. They didn't know him for his love of books, his love of chocolate or his love for folding socks; they just saw him as one of the 'hot' boys of the year which usually would irritate him. Yet tonight, like some previous drunken nights, he found himself just wanting to forget that he would never be able to have the girl of his dreams and instead settle for what he saw as 'a one nighter'. He wouldn't go back to ignoring the girl the following day, not in the slightest, but he would also make sure not to have any feelings grow for them or anyone.

Yet, even sat with these girls, he found himself still thinking of one other girl and how beautiful she looked tonight.

A girl that deserved so much better than a monster.

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It's been a few years since I studied fashion & textiles so my sketching skills aren't the same, plus this was the first time I sketched on an iPad. My figure is a little out of proportion so I had to use some scaling templates to help but otherwise absolutely everything is by hand so I hope you like.

This is the dress I envisioned Fi to be wearing ❤️