Bullying

Next morning, Ophelia woke up in the Hospital Wing under the intense, watchful big brown eyes of a person that she did not meet before. Seeing how she was tucked in the hospital bed so tightly that she could barely move, she shifted a bit in order to get a clear view around her.

"Madame Pomfrey asked me to watch over for a while and instructed me not to let you move." The girl explained warmly.

Those brown eyes of hers were staring at Ophelia closely, inspecting her face for any kind of wound or slight crease that would be a reason to worry. But Ophelia was completely fine, not a trace of physical abuse –not even emotional abuse. So then, why was Molly asked by Dumbledore to come and check on Madame Pomfrey's only patient?

"I'm Molly. We're in the same house but I am one year older." She finally introduced herself seeing how Ophelia was blankly staring at her, "Would you like some chocolate?" She asked when silence filled the room.

Ophelia blinked owlishly as Molly opened her bag and grabbed what was a handful of chocolate frogs before placing them on the table next to her head. The brunette shifted once again, signing to Molly that she couldn't get up or move her hands.

"Ah right. They tucked you in pretty tightly, haven't they?" Molly mumbled loosening the covers and helping Ophelia lean against the mattress. "Here," The ginger gave the patient one chocolate frog before she sat on a nearby chair and smiled.

"Thank you. This is very good, actually." Ophelia mumbled, nodding towards the new acquaintance.

Molly's smile widened but she didn't say anything, just stayed there until the doors opened loudly and an elegant yet firm woman hurried inside.

"How could he not tell me; one of my students…" She muttered as soon as she entered.

Professor McGonagall went straight to Ophelia's bed and smiled at Molly before she turned to the brunette. "I heard you fell down the stairs last night. How could that be possible?"

Ophelia had only one answer, that might be working yet had the same fifty percent chances for it not to.

"Peeves?"

McGonagall sighed loudly and held her head in astonishment.

"I will have a talk with Albus about that poltergeist." She started, making Ophelia feel a sudden wave of guilt.

"He didn't push me, only scared me and I fell. It wasn't entirely his fault." Ophelia added, playing nervously with the wrapping of the candy.

Professor McGonagall furrowed her eyebrows at the brunette student, having quite a hard time understanding how a perfectly capable young girl could fall down the stairs when there was magic all around her. Besides, even if she wasn't aware of it, she had her mother's talent and it should have kicked in unconsciously.

"Well, it still doesn't absolve him of scaring you. Are you alright now?" McGonagall asked her voice hoarse since she probably woke up less than an hour before hurrying there.

Ophelia nodded, having no memory of what exactly happened that got her in the hospital wing in the first place. Actually, the last thing she remembered was walking towards the Entrance Hall after a very nasty comment thrown at her by Potter.

"Do everything Madame Pomfrey instructs you to and I guess I'll see you in class." The professor started, taking a long look at Ophelia before she turned to Molly, "You should hurry to your lessons, Prewett. Professor Sprout was looking for you."

Molly's eye widened as she gasped and nodded before grabbing her bag and running out the door. McGonagall waited for Molly to leave before she glanced at Ophelia worriedly and sighed.

As soon as McGonagall left, still muttering about Peeves and what a problem he was for young students, Madame Pomfrey walked in and checked her condition for the second time. Ophelia was fine, as healthy as possible and luckily, she could walk to her next class without giving any explanation to the teacher.

It proved to be a day of utter annoyance and meetings that Ophelia would have preferred to avoid. It was probably one of the days she would have wished she could sleep in her room, eventually read a book about what Professor Spinnard has been rambling about for the last few months.

During the break between Transfiguration and Herbology, a Slytherin of the name Nott threw something at her feet that looked like usual joke-balls, only they were biting. They would move wherever she was going so she arrived in the classroom, her toes bitten by annoying balls.

Even though it was obviously not her fault and she had no idea how to get rid of them –because no matter how much she tried or Lily tried, they wouldn't disappear or leave or drop dead- Professor McGonagall didn't seem to care. It actually felt like that morning in the hospital didn't even happen.

"No matter how much I would like to see you transfiguring these things, I would like for you to get rid of them, Molley. Now."

Professor McGonagall was just as strict as ever, even if she showed genuine worry for her student that morning.

"Evans! Hey, Evans, I bet you a cauldron of chocolate frogs that I can transfigure Molley's little friends in butterflies." Potter whispered not so silently.

Lily rolled her eyes but seeing how uncomfortable they were making Ophelia and the people around her, she accepted.

"Fine." She said.

Potter's eyes widened, probably he wasn't expecting her to accept so easily. Anyway, he high fived his best friend before drawing his wand and pointing I at the balls jumping all around Ophelia's feet.

"Papilio Efectus." He whispered, his eyes focusing on the task at hand.

Ophelia raised an eyebrow when she looked down and noticed that the jumping stopped. The joke-balls changed into pretty and colorful butterflies and flied towards other students, girls especially enjoying them.

Professor McGonagall was ready to intervene, a frown on her face as she quickly rose from her desk, until something even worse happened.

Potter was ready to claim his prize with pride when he noticed Ophelia flinching. Since he was still a beginner, once he pointed his wand at the balls he automatically targeted her feet too thus her feet got affected as well.

Ophelia started to raise in the air, drawing everyone's attention, inclusively a very angry looking McGonagall.

"Molley, get down this instant! We're in the middle of a lesson here!" The professor said firmly, her eyes following Ophelia's flying feet.

As if it wasn't bad enough, her feet flew higher and slid to the right, turning Ophelia upside down before sliding to the left. Luckily, she had pants underneath her robes or else it would have been even worse.

Ophelia's eyes fell over Potter and glared, even if it looked funny from her position. Sirius Black was laughing so hard that she swore he was going to implode, his face getting flushed as he tried to regain his breath. That only amplified her annoyance and antipathy.

"You are so dead Potter."She hissed, those green eyes looking evil.

----------------------------------------------------

That was how during dinner, half of the school found out about the butterflies during Transfiguration. Nott was standing with his friends at the Slytherin table, telling everyone that he did it which was absurd. Potter was standing as far as possible from Ophelia but not because he was afraid but because he was annoyed that he got detention.

"How could she give me detention after that? It was a success, wasn't it? She should have given me points not detention!" Potter whined, using the same ever since he walked grumpily out of the classroom a few hours ago.

Next to him, Pettigrew was nodding his head, approving everything Potter said yet Black seemed abnormally impartial.

"Mate, are you alright? I'm in pain here." Suddenly, Potter's eyes widened as he remembered something, "I hope she won't call me for detention when the team is practicing."

"She probably will. She's evil like that." Sirius mumbled, leaning his head on his right hand as he was playing with his food.

It wasn't peculiar to see Black pouting, especially after such a boring class of History of Magic, where he did nothing but sleep with his head turned towards Ophelia, snoring softly and flinching from time to time. It was entertaining when he would frown and mumble incoherent words under his breath but once he'd open his eyes, he'd be silent for the rest of the day. Ophelia wasn't the only one that witnessed that slight change in his behavior, Potter did too and it was worrying.

Watching subtly the boys speak a few seats from her, Ophelia realized there were only three of them.

"Where is Remus? I haven't seen him all day." Ophelia asked turning to Cissney.

"Maybe he's sick. The Halloween feast had the same effect on me last night. I'm surprised you didn't hear it." Cissney mumbled, eating dinner without a worry.

But Ophelia was worried. She finished fast and hurried out of the Great Hall, ignoring all the calls from the Slytherin table.

"Excuse me, Madame Pomfrey?" Ophelia asked, sticking her head into the room.

No one was there, the beds were all neatly made and empty except one in the far back. Being extremely curious, Ophelia pushed the door open and took one step in before she felt a cold hand grasp her shoulder.

"You might disturb the patient, Ophelia."

Dumbledore's voice was soft yet she could hear a tinge of firmness that urged her to stop moving. It has been a very long time since she has heard it but it seemed to have the same safety to it.

"Is that Remus?" She asked before anything else, her eyes moving on the furthest bed.

Dumbledore moved behind her and scrunched his eyes towards the patient.

"Who knows, my vision is not what it used to be." He muttered lowly before his blue eyes fell over the student, "Anyway, let's take a walk, shall we?" He added, already walking away from the Hospital Wing.

Ophelia glanced one last time at the mysterious patient before she sighed and gave up, following the headmaster.

"Do you like Hogwarts, Ophelia?" Dumbledore asked suddenly.

"Yes, of course. Not everyone is friendly and many have never heard of common sense before but it feels a bit like a home." She answered, her choice of words amusing the elder man.

"A home?"

Ophelia nodded, "I can't really recall how home feels like. The orphanage was comfortable for a while and being adopted felt like a new beginning but never have I felt like I truly belonged in any place." She admitted. The brunette took a gulp of air, feeling like she should tell Dumbledore what she was hiding but she decided not to.

Dumbledore noticed her abstention and he only hoped it wasn't about Tom. As wise and manipulative as the older man knew Tom was, the snake could easily wrap himself around her and squeeze every ounce of good out of her. Trying not to think about the worst but the best, Dumbledore changed the subject.

"You know, your mother attended Hogwarts too. She was a witch with certain qualities." Dumbledore said, chuckling at the memory.

"What do you mean?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Certain qualities for Transfiguration and Charms. She had magic that not many of us have but she never quite discovered the lengths of such a gift."

Ophelia hummed, registering everything he said. She wasn't sure if it was an allusion to what happened earlier in Transfiguration or what happened in the Entrance Hall that she couldn't remember.

"What about my father? Was he a wizard?"

That was a question Dumbledore strongly disliked. If Ophelia was showing interest in her father, it could bring bad news. Thankfully, she didn't look like a child that could be easily manipulated so Dumbledore could only hope she wouldn't end like Lillian.

"Your father is not a pleasing man to be around, has never been. His interests have always been darker than most." Dumbledore explained as easily as he could but she seemed to grow even more curious.

Thankfully, they were approaching the stairs towards the Entrance Hall and down there, waiting near the entrance towards the dungeons, was Severus Snape. His eyes were following the redhead Gryffindor that Ophelia has befriended, a girl that seemed to promise a lot. Once they started to descend the stairs, Dumbledore smiled at the brunette girl that still looked eager to know more about her parents.

"Trust only those who trust you more." He gave her that piece of advice before walking away, into the Great Hall.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ophelia asked, rubbing her elbow with confusion.

----------------------------------------------------

Spending every Saturday night with Severus was pleasant and educational. Now, spending every morning getting laughed at by a Slytherin or more was not nice at all. Even worse was Malfoy who was watching everything without saying a word, even when Longbottom got fooled into drinking snake venom instead of his usual juice at dinner. He spent the night in the Hospital Wing, vomiting it out while Nott and Mulciber were sleeping peacefully. It was particularly annoying when Mulciber would take a turn at Ophelia because he'd call her a mud-blood and would constantly remind her that he was a pure-blood. Malfoy was always there, in the back, watching with a poker face, fact that would annoy Ophelia more than the bullying.

That was why, three days before the Christmas break, Severus asked Ophelia something very, very unpleasant.

"You want me to spend Christmas here?!"

"We need to enter the forest and that is the perfect time. Everyone will leave the school and we have to give it to Malfoy on the night before Christmas. It's a perfect plan."

Severus seemed genuinely pleased with himself. He had thought carefully how to get in the forest without drawing attention and the Christmas break was the opportunity they needed.

"It's not. I want to see my mum and dad."

Severus rolled his eyes and moved his chair closer to the table. She had to cooperate in order for his plan to succeed.

"They are not your real parents anyway. You can do greater things here, where you can do magic and be yourself than back in Birmingham where you are just an adopted child." He said, emphasizing facts that most children would get angry about.

Ophelia actually needed a moment to think about that closely. He was right in some aspects, magic became already a big factor in her life and without it, she was just an orphan at the core but returning to Birmingham meant a chance to meet the stranger and ask him about everything she was curious about.

"I'm not so sure of that. What did Malfoy ever do for us? Every time Mulciber bullies me, he keeps his hands clean. That's exactly what he's doing with us, forcing us to do his dirty work while he will most certainly take the prize."

Ophelia's elongated green eyes were staring at Severus so intensely that he couldn't help but agree with her just so she would avert her gaze. Unfortunately, having Malfoy's angry face appear in his mind, he'd prefer getting punished for a year than having Malfoy mess with his life for far longer than a year.

Therefore, he had to come up with a plan to keep her there or else they will get in bigger trouble than breaking a few school rules.