"i know life well enough to know you can't count on things staying around or standing still, no matter how much you want them to. you can't stop people from dying. you can't stop them from going away. you can't stop yourself from going away either."...
"the great thing about this life of ours is that you can be someone different to everybody"
-jennifer niven
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On the run up to Christmas, Ophelia made sure to visit Colin in the hospital at least twice a week. Although he couldn't hear her, she'd make sure to tell him what he was missing in Charms, filling him in on the weekly gossip. That included the news that Hufflepuff Justin Finch-Fletchley and Nearly Headless Nick had also suffered the same fate.
The Weasley siblings had all decided to spend this year's Christmas at Hogwarts, along with Harry and Hermione, and a couple of Ophelia's Ravenclaw friends. It was the last day before the Christmas holidays, and the students who weren't packing for home would usually come to the library to finish their homework assignments before the beginning of the Christmas holidays, leaving them the full two weeks to enjoy Hogwarts without the work.
Ophelia was sat at a table in the middle of the library with two of her housemates who she'd made friends with at the beginning of the year, finishing up on the piles of homework they'd been given for the holidays. They'd become quite a trio themselves that afternoon. On Ophelia's right was Daisy Dixon. Daisy had been seated with Ophelia on the first lesson of potions, and it was clear they made a good team.
Daisy had a clear knack for potions, as her father was a well known alchemist, whereas Ophelia would struggle. Professor Snape seemed particularly keen on making the youngest Weasley look stupid, asking her nearly impossible questions, rolling his eyes at her and making remarks about her taking after her father. Luckily, Daisy had caught onto this from the very beginning, helping her out when she'd been put on the spot. Ophelia owed her a lot.
Opposite the Ravenclaw girls was Elijah Wood. They'd made friends during the first week, as he'd been down at a Gryffindor quidditch practice. Turns out he hadn't come to watch the team play, he was waiting for it to finish, because he'd been sent a letter for his brother by mistake. Oliver had failed to mention he had a brother in Ophelia's year on the night in the kitchens. "Oh yeah uh, little Weasley, this is little Wood, my wee brother." was their first introduction. They'd been good friends ever since.
The Ravenclaw trio were just finishing the DADA assignment when Elijah looked up at the table in the left corner of the library, where Ron, Harry and Hermione seemed to be having a heated discussion.
"Don't ye think those three always look a bit suspicious," Elijah nodded towards the second years in the corner, "like with something going around tryin to kill us all, you'd do ye best not to draw suspicion?"
Daisy slapped the boy on his arm, causing him to grab it dramatically, pretending to fall off his chair, before pouting at the witch. "What was that for?"
"Have you forgotten that one of them is Ophelia's brother?" Daisy sighed, rolling her eyes at the boy's dramatics. "Besides, you find everyone suspicious, it doesn't mean they're actually up to something. Right Lee?"
