This poem flows really well with this chapter ❤️

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Nothing much had occurred in the previous few weeks. For starters Ophelia had served her detention for 'Operation Prank Minnie the Cat', each one spent with a different member of staff. Filch's detention was by far the worst and Ophelia could completely understand how he was a prime target for many of the Marauder pranks.

Like Ophelia had expected, Minnie wasn't actually that upset about the prank; she was rather impressed. Strangely she seemed excited about the prospect of Ophelia becoming closer to the Marauders. Also Ophelia kept trying to mention to Minnie about her sleeping struggles but every time she attempted to, something made her stop. This could be down to interruption from another student or it would be Ophelia's doubts interrupting them. Instead, Ophelia found herself writing to Dr Weber, asking for her advice on the sleep and why the draught was no longer working. Hopefully Dr Weber could give her an unbiased answer and also medical response.

The bond with her and the Marauders continued to grow; especially with James. Ophelia was finding how they balanced each other out perfectly whilst being unusually similar. James always had a way to light up a room but also make you feel safe. Sirius and Ophelia continued to bond too, Sirius she had noticed kept an extra close eye on her movements but never questioned things. Between the three of them they would 'perfect' the Marauders pranks; Sirius explained this was because Ophelia added a 'necessary female touch'.

Peter and Ophelia didn't necessarily bond through words or in the day, instead it would be Peter sneaking bits of food from his midnight kitchen run and leaving it on the table for her with a note. Sleep, or rather lack of, was something that hadn't changed for Ophelia, clearly Peter had noticed this or maybe he had guessed. But the bits of food each night being eaten were definitely a give away.

Remus however hadn't really bonded with Ophelia much more, if anything he was rather reserved when around her. Ophelia was beginning to notice this and couldn't help but feel like she had possibly done something wrong. However these worries were settled slightly when she heard that his mother wasn't too well and he had to go home this weekend; Ophelia decided this may be the reason he seemed less enthusiastic.

Otherwise, everything else was the exact same and that was exactly how Ophelia liked it. Change was daunting, it was unknown and Ophelia just wanted something to stay the same. Hogwarts was giving her that chance.

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16th November was a very exciting Saturday, today was the first trip to Hogsmeade of the year; and Ophelia's first ever trip. Ophelia noticed how the prospect of the village enlivened almost everyone, this in turn made her want to see what all the fuss was about.

The usual smoothie to start the day was interrupted by the owl post, or more specifically an anticipated visit from Virginia. Ophelia was relieved to see the letter attached to Virginia's leg.

"Hello lovely." Ophelia spoke to Virginia who had landed directly in front of her with a claw lifted up. "Thank you." Virginia ruffled her feathers seeming happy to be complimented, and lifted her beak up to meet Ophelia's face. "Do you want a kiss!" Instantly Virginia opened and closed her beak around Ophelia's lip.

"Fi are you kissing your bird?" James sat with his mouth wide a few seats down.

"Yeh, you jealous?" Ophelia winked in response.

"You couldn't get me even if you wanted."

"Fi you literally treat your owl like a human baby, it's the sweetest." Marlene attempted to stroke Virginia's head but accidentally made the owl jump.

"She can be a little timid. Marlene is friendly it's ok." Ophelia directed the last part to the owl, to which Virginia responded with a hoot and shuffled across the table to Marlene. Just as Virginia moved, another owl swooped on to their table but directed to Lily who was opposite Ophelia. The bird was carrying a roll of glossy paper which caught a few of the groups attention. Initially it didn't catch Ophelia's attention, but as Lily picked it and unrolled it, a certain title caught her eye.

'CRAZE Weekly'

'Craze Weekly' was sadly way too familiar for Ophelia. For most people, or muggles at least, it was purely a celebrity gossip magazine. Few are immune to the lure of celebrity gossip and Craze was many muggles source to weekly whispers.

Ophelia hated the magazine with a passion, it did exactly what it's readers wanted, it gave them gossip. But that was where the problem for Ophelia lied, what people read was often far from the truth. These magazines crossed the line between scandalous tittle-tattle and legitimate news so often that it was barely noticed. Journalists would find pseudo-empowering ways to get their gossip across - for Ophelia and many celebrity females it was often to do with their weight. Rather than the magazines publish daring headlines like 'Ophelia looked two sizes larger in this swimsuit', they would instead write 'Ophelia doesn't care what people think and is happy with her new weight." Often Ophelia wouldn't have even 'put on weight', it would be a sneaky paparazzi grabbing an awful shot but even if she had she hated how people enjoyed this gossip and why it was perceived as gossip in the first place baffled her. So what if she had put on a little weight? As long as she's happy who cares! But sadly this was the forgotten life of a celebrity, your 'negatives' becoming someone else's excitement.

Unconsciously Ophelia had blocked the talking around her out and continued to study the front cover whilst Lily opened the magazine. Maybe if Ophelia hadn't have been so fixed on this, she would have noticed how considerably long Lily spent reading the contents page. Or even how she tilted the magazine a bit further into Ophelia's view.

That's when Ophelia saw it, a headline she wasn't ready to read.

"Lia Montgomery's boyfriend caught kissing another girl."

"Um, Lily can I borrow that magazine?" Ophelia mustered up the courage to speak.

"Course you can!" Lily practically threw the magazine towards Ophelia.

Ophelia opened the pages delicately, saying an almost inaudible 'thank you'; she wasn't surprised to see that the article was early on and covered two pages. Photos smothered the pages, one of her and her 'boyfriend', photos of Ophelia alone, photos of the 'cheating incident'. Enough to bring back too many memories of a life she was attempting to leave behind. Enough to make her heart beat faster. Enough to make her fingers leaving wet patches on the pages.

"I-I just need to run the bathroom." Without a second thought, Ophelia shot to her feet and left the hall, the magazine still clutched in her hand. Unaware of someone following her just a few strides behind. Just as Ophelia turned a corner to another long corridor, a voice alerted her to someone else's presence.

"Fi." Ophelia didn't stop, she wasn't deliberately ignoring the call, instead her body just willed her to keep walking.

"Ophelia, wait!" The voice called again, earning no response. Ophelia had just muttered the password to the Gryffindor portrait when the voice turned more assertive.

"Lia Montgomery wait." The name made Ophelia stop mid step into the portrait. "I'm right then." As Ophelia turned around she was met with no other than Lily Evans, arms crossed looking rather pleased with herself.

"I-" Ophelia was cut off by Lily walking past her and grabbing her hand.

"Come on, let's talk about it." Lily continued to hold Ophelia's hand as she guided her to their dormitory in silence, where they both sat cross legged on Lily's bed.

"How long have you known?" Ophelia spoke first, but her eyes remained fixed on her hands resting in her lap.

"I've had my suspicions since the day we met, but today cemented it for me." Lily reached out her hand and placed it over Ophelia's. "It was only little things really, I mean when I saw you I thought I recognised you but I'm a bit out of the muggle show biz gossip so wasn't sure. Then it was how excited you were by magical things, like how I was when I discovered magic. You knew so much about a book too, like you studied it in and out. More than someone who simply enjoyed reading. Finally it was when that first year came over, it all clicked."

"You got the magazine on purpose didn't you?"

"Yes. I sent an owl to my mum the night after the library incident and asked her to send me the first magazine she with Lia Montgomery in. I was shocked it took a few weeks before you were mentioned, but here we are I guess."

"I want to be angry at you Lils, but I'm so impressed as well as feeling a little relieved." Ophelia sighed as she leaned her bed back on the headboard, looking up the ceiling.

"Why were you hiding it?"

"It's - I don't know where to begin."

"Maybe start with how you met Professor McGonagall? You seem rather close to her, I mean you use her last name!"

And that's what Ophelia did, she spoke about her first meeting with Minnie. About the hospital, about why she was in a hospital. About how she discovered she was a witch. Lily listened intently, only speaking a few brief affirmations such as 'I see'.

"I'm sorry." Was the sentence that concluded Ophelia's 'story'.

"Why on earth are you sorry?" Lily grabbed Ophelia and pulled her into a hug. "You have nothing to be sorry for. Your reasons are valid and I also promise not to tell anybody until you're ready. I care even if I don't understand exactly what you've been through. At least now you're not alone."

"Thank you Lils." Ophelia stayed in the hug, feeling safe and loved in this moment. "I promise I'm no different now you know who I am, but to be honest the Fi is more me than Lia ever was."

"And I love you either way. Now I didn't want to interrupt you earlier but I'll tell you now, we've missed the Hogsmeade carriages."

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to make you miss out!" Ophelia pulled out of the hug.

"Nonsense, I'm glad I did. I've gotten to spend some more time with you. Normally I'd say we could study, but how about we just go for a walk around the grounds?"

"Sounds amazing." Ophelia began to stand up to leave.

"Oh wait one more thing, it said your boyfriend cheated on you? Are you ok?" Lily asked with sincerity laced in her words. To Lily's surprise Ophelia let out a chuckle.

"More than fine. He was never my boyfriend in the first place." Ophelia had carried on getting ready for a walk, speaking whilst slipping a jumper over her head. Once she could see again, she saw Lily looking confused. "Ok, it's complicated. Come with me and see if we can find Minnie. She probably needs to know and I need to ask her something. I don't really want to explain myself more than once."

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Ok released a day early as OMG I HIT 2K!! Whoop whoop! Plus I just wanted to get this chapter out.

Anyway thank you all for reading, to be honest I still forget people read this. I only wrote this because I create these mad ideas in my head and needed to write it down!

Love you all xx