We Lose Some, We Gain Some

On the night of December 25th, a sharp brown owl was flying back to his master after sending the last package to Spinner's End, Cokeworth, Midlands. He was flying peacefully above London when his ears caught on a hiss. It was coming from down below, from a house hidden between other houses. The owl landed on a railing and listened because that was everything he could do; he couldn't see into the house because it had protection all around.

"I can't believe you're so excited for the Christmas dinner. Stop being so preppy, Reg."

"We'll have the Malfoys over and the rest of the Blacks. But I heard mum that someone new will visit us tonight."

Sirius Black scoffed and rolled his eyes at his younger brother. They were outside, escaping their mother's screams. Sirius was tired of the same accusations. It would begin with the usual How could you disrespect us and deny changing houses? and go along How can you befriend mudbloods? and the newest one, How could you send such a message to me? Family should come first. Life was hard in the Black household.

"Oi, what's that?" Regulus asked, noticing a stoic object in the form of an owl, standing with its eyes closed.

Sirius turned towards the owl and blinked in confusion before walking closer to it. The owl opened his eyes and stared up into those black orbs, tilting his head to the side when he caught sight of the younger boy following his brother.

"This is Molley's," Sirius mumbled, remembering him especially because he bit when approaching him.

"He doesn't seem to have any presents for you. I guess there's someone who hates you more than mother." Regulus said bemusedly, which might have been true. Sirius and Ophelia were house mates and classmates and lately, partners in mischief. But nowhere near friends.

"What's he doing here? Molley's staying with a family friend from what James told me."

"Who is this Molley?" Regulus asked curiously, glancing at the brown owl.

Sirius couldn't respond because the owl moved his wings and flied away. But Regulus remained with a question and he was sure he will find out the answer, be it good or bad.

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"Merry Christmas!" Cerberus yelled opening the door widely to her door. "Wake up, little fox! You've gotten gifts!" He announced, waiting patiently for Ophelia to wake up.

"It's really early in the morning, isn't it?" She asked rubbing her eyes tiredly.

"Very." Cerberus replied before he walked out, leaving the door open.

Ophelia sighed and fell with her back on the bed, spreading her hands and groaning loudly. With closed eyes, the witch felt something on the right side of the bed, something under the covers. Unveiled, it was a beautiful ring, made of silver with a crest in form of a serpent. Looking at it closer, there was one eye on the serpent and it looked like a very small ruby. It was beautiful and Ophelia was so touched that she teared up.

"Come or I'll open your presents myself!" Cerberus screamed from downstairs.

Ophelia rubbed her eyes and wiped her nose before she put the ring on. It was perfect.

The day continued rather well with lots of butterbeer for Cerberus, his mug filling itself every time he'd gulp it down. The brown haired man seemed way too happy compared to the cold professor. Spinnard was standing on his favorite armchair, a cup of tea in his hand, looking uncomfortable.

Overall, Ophelia received presents from each of her friends, including the loud mouth Potter and dark locks annoying Black. The difference was that those presents were obviously bought by someone other than them. Lily bought her a muggle book and Cissney bought her an empty globe.

"It's a Rememberall. There's red smoke forming inside when you forget something." Cerberus explained, sustaining a grin and fond look.

"Does it show it to me? What I forgot, I mean."

Cerberus seemed a bit confused as he thought about a response.

"Well, no. It just informs you that you forgot something."

Ophelia hummed and nodded, finding the object useless but still happy that she received it. Another present that she genuinely liked, except her father's, was Snape's. He sent her a phial of potion, a bit strange looking.

"That Severus Snape has too much time on his hands. Do you know what that is?" Cerberus asked, once again his mug filling by itself.

"A potion. Perfectly made, probably." She replied pulling it closer to her eyes.

"It's Baruffio's Brain Elixir. It increases the brain power." Spinnard said coldly, eyes falling on the sparkly new jewel on her finger.

"That's helpful. But if you believe it's too hard during an exam, just read their minds." Cerberus said jokingly, being hit immediately by a flying object. "I wasn't serious, of course! Didn't have to hit me, Luce. Why not give her our present now?"

"Our?" She asked sarcastically, her eyes falling over Spinnard.

"Here," Cerberus took something from his back pocket and handed it to her with bright eyes.

It was a book but slightly different from the muggles'. It looked ancient and worn out but it was truly beautiful. The title was completely unfamiliar, though she might have heard her mother talk about it before under different circumstances. The Tales of Beedle the Bard. The cover felt soft at hand and once she opened it, carefully as to not harm it in any way, she couldn't help but caress it gently.

"Thank you. Was this mother's?" She asked looking up at Cerberus with tears in her green eyes.

"It was Peverell's," Spinnard interfered, "He wanted to give it to you on your 11th birthday but circumstances didn't let him to."

"Is Peverell dead? Did father kill him?" She asked, looking down at the book. Her ring was shining beautifully on her finger while her hand was resting on the red cover. It was like two different pieces of her past placed together.

"That's hard to say. Nobody knows what happened to him. He just vanished." Cerberus said with a tint of sadness. That changed quickly when he finished yet another mug of butterbeer. "Let's not dwell on the past and look towards the future!" He exclaimed smiling at the witch.

Truthfully, Christmas was far more entertaining with Cerberus Knowingall. He was a loud drunkard and his personality was the same as a teenager's. But it was lively and even though she spent most of her free time with him and Spinnard, those two weeks meant a lot to her.

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"Hogwarts, my dear! I have dearly missed you!" James Potter exclaimed.

"D'you think he'll fall on his knees and give the floor a smooch?" Cissney asked, walking between Alice and Ophelia.

"That would be entertaining but I don't think he will." Lily answered, keeping her voice low so Potter won't hear.

"By the way, Pheli, how was Christmas? I have to say I was surprised when I saw your gift." Cissney started smiling at the brunette, "I didn't expect your owl to find me."

"I hope you liked it." Whatever Ceberus bought you, she would have wanted to continue but better not.

"I did! I hope you liked mine too!" Cissney smiled widely making it hard to answer bluntly. Ophelia nodded and so the peace was not disrupted.

Dinner that day was incredibly messy and loud. Dumbledore had to rise and silence the students twice in order to actually welcome everyone back. Next to McGonagall, standing proudly at the staff table with a sneer was Spinnard. He kept his eyes on his plate for most of the time and only when necessary did he raise his head and conversed.

"Spinnard seems as excited to be back as a troll falling into a lake. Believe me, they don't like water nor know how to clean up." Frank Longbottom started the conversation.

"He doesn't look like he had a jolly Christmas. He's probably spent it all alone in his one room house among a lot of dark artifacts."

"Or in a pub, drinking his sorrows away."

Ophelia raised an eyebrow and listened with amusement to all the scenarios the boys could think of. It was funny to compare Spinnard's image at home with his image anywhere else; it wasn't much of a difference in personality but there was definitely one in looks.

Unconsciously, Ophelia's eyes moved on the Slytherin table, not somewhere particularly but overall. Unconsciously, again, her eyes fell over Rabastan Lestrange, who was smiling at a girl from Ravenclaw which was very curious.

"Cissney, who's that blonde that seats right across Gethsemane? The know-it-all from Ravenclaw," The brunette asked the person who most definitely knew everything about everyone at Hogwarts.

It took Cissney a few minutes to figure out who that girl was but in the end she nodded to herself and went back to eating her dessert, adding through bits, "That's Helena Trainer, a fifth year Ravenclaw. Why?"

"Oh, a muggle born, isn't she?"

Cissney raised an eyebrow and turned to Lily, curious and confused why Ophelia was suddenly so interested in blood ranks and Ravenclaws.

"How do you know if she is a muggle born or not? She may be a half blood," Alice interfered, genuinely interested where the brunette witch was leading to.

"The name. Rabastan, Rodolphus, Lucius, Sirius, Cissney...there's obviously a pattern here." Ophelia replied as if that was a simple answer and they should have thought about it by themselves.

"I'm a pureblood too and my name is James."

"Yes, a bit common. But your father's name makes up for it." She mumbled the last bit, looking down at her plate and starting to play with her leftovers. "So, how was your break, Potter?" Ophelia replied, innocently diverting their attention to something else.

James raised an eyebrow and exchanged a suspicious look with Sirius before he spoke.

"Didn't know you were interested in my personal life, badge. Glad to know we've become so close." He said with a wide smile. having no idea what his father has been doing for the past two weeks but getting a suspicious vibe from the green eyed witch.

"We haven't, though." She mumbled, drawing Remus' attention.

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After dinner, the long trails of students of every age were crowding most of the castle, which wasn't exactly in Spinnard's favor. He had to stand at the staff table and eat as if the last two weeks haven't happened and Ophelia's mind wasn't being manipulated by her father.

"Going to read that letter a thousand times more, Luce?" Cerberus asked, morphing right in front of his former colleague's eyes. "We both know Vernon trusted very few people and no matter how much you dislike it, Dumbledore was one of them."

"It's not Dumbledore that I don't trust, it's her. In case you haven't noticed, Rabastan and Lucius are Slytherins from pureblooded dark wizards. Her closest friend is also a Slytherin that's been swaying between goodness and darkness."

"And you're pushing her towards them with your insufferable personality. You were Vernon's best friend so why can't you treasure what he treasured?" Cerberus asked, connecting his hands behind his back and straightening his posture while walking.

"I'm not Vernon. I can't sacrifice more than I already have. Tom will kill me if what I teach his daughter ends up being in his disfavour."

Cerberus nodded with a blank expression, which wasn't exactly a sight Luce was accustomed to. The owl man stopped and tilted his head to the side, expecting someone to catch up. The thing that ran towards them was a black kitten with wide blue eyes that seemed to be judging the cold wizard.

"Who are you more afraid to disappoint, Luce? Your best friend or the wizard you admired during your school years? They're both watching you fervently, you know," the owl man spoke in such a low tone that Luce was curious if that wasn't Vernon talking instead of the goofy Quidditch player.

"I have already disappointed Vernon in the moment I killed Lillian's mother." Luce hissed, his eyes darkening at the memory.

"The past doesn't matter. The future does and if you don't work with the rest of us, you may as well go and become one of Lord Voldemort's henchmen. That's how he calls himself now, doesn't he? A Lord." Cerberus continued, his features morphing back into a brown owl before he flied towards what looked like Dumbledore's office.

Spinnard sighed heavily and rubbed his face, feeling like he just fought with his best friend. One faint yet audible hiss drew Luce's attention to his surroundings. It was dark and that corridor was not one of the usual routes students took. The hiss seemed to linger in the air and even lure Luce up the stairs towards the Astronomy Tower. Knowing fully well what he was walking into, the dark haired wizard followed the hiss into what he believed was an unfortunate and not needed meeting.

"I should have expected you to be here and not him." Spinnard started, the elegant yet hateful man turning to look at the professor. "He's not going to visit me ever again, is he? He has his henchmen after all."

"That tongue of yours will be the death of you, Spinnard."

"Aeron, is that the way you talk to someone as old as I am? Where's that characteristic Lestrange politeness? Or did you lose it all in the courtroom, with the dark wizards that you exonerated?"

Aeron Lestrange growled but didn't step from the shadows of the night. A thin, long snake groveled from behind his legs towards Spinnard but did not reach him. There was enough space between them for Spinnard to defend himself but one look in those eyes and he knew he was being watched by the reason behind all his troubles.

"I can only guess the Lord has deeds for me, doesn't he?"

"Do not let anyone enter his daughter's mind. There is a furry little problem running around Hogwarts, trying to enter her consciousness. The Lord wants you to remove the pest." Aeron informed the elder, a smirk playing on his lips at Luce's frown. "Not so talkative now, are we, Spinnard?"

But how could he say something when Tom was more or less forcing him to kill his best friend.