Chapter 4: Breaking the BottleChapter TextThe aftermath of Ophelia rejecting Theo, an emotional explosion.
CW: Self-Hate, Misgendering & Deadnaming (unintentional), Depression, Internalized LGBTphobia, Child Abuse Mention, Arguing
~~~~~Ophelia~~~~~
Breaking the Bottle
~~~~~Ophelia~~~~~
November 29th, 1994
"WHAT THE FUCK, HARRY?!" Blaise's voice shouted from behind her. She didn't have time to react before he grabbed her shoulder and forced her to turn around. Ophelia immediately began to cower at the look of anger on his face.
"I–"
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Blaise growled, visibly pissed. "He asks you to the Ball and you… you act like he's playing a prank on you?!"
It took Ophelia a moment to realize Blaise was talking about Theo. She'd rejected his request to go to the Ball together a few hours ago. Now it was a free period and she was getting ready to go to the Library. But now she was being confronted by Blaise, and nobody else was around. Oh no.
Her heart started to hammer at her chest as she tried to say something - anything - but her voice didn't come. She couldn't say anything at all. Blaise's anger reminded her of something much, much worse.
I'll teach you to be a freak under my roof, boy!
"What do you have to say for yourself? Seriously? You know Theo isn't like that! He was being genuine, you dick! He might've been awkward, but he asked you because he wanted to go with you! Why can't you just stop being an idiot and realize we aren't jerks like Weasley?!" Blaise hissed. At least he had stopped raising his voice, but maybe it was because he'd gotten closer.
Ophelia pressed herself against the wall, wishing she could just hide. She wanted to run. She needed to run. She was afraid. He was mad, she'd made a mistake. She needed to apologize, but her voice wouldn't come.
"Theo's a good guy! He's nice! A bit rough, but that's just who he is! To top it all off, he likes you! What, do you not like the idea of dating a guy because you don't like gay people?!" He grabbed her collar and Ophelia flinched violently.
"Nnnnn!" She tried to say no, but that was all that would come out. She needed him to let go. She scrambled to grab his arms and pull them away. She needed him to let go because if he pulled wrong or did something wrong he'd feel her binder. She couldn't afford that. But Blaise was much, much bigger and stronger than she was.
Then he lifted her, "Explain your–" He froze and so did Ophelia.
His forearms were resting against her chest. He could feel her binder. That was the only reason he would stop like that.
"Wait, wha…" Blaise seemed utterly caught off-guard as he slowly let Ophelia down, confusion filling his face. She couldn't move. In fact, her legs gave out and she slipped to the floor.
It was over. It was all over. He knew. He'd tell everyone. Everyone would know. They'd know she's a freak. A weirdo. A pervert and a monster. Tears slid down her face, though they didn't matter. It was all over.
"Harry, wh–"
"BLAISE!" Daphne's voice called out as three sets of footsteps echoed, running up. "YOU IDIOT!" She hit Blaise in the back of the head, causing him to flinch. "We should have come together, but here you come in guns blazing and– Oh, shit. Harry?"
She crouched next to Ophelia, who had begun to shake and tremble. The tears began to slide faster. She hiccuped and a low whine came out of her throat before she began to sob.
"Harry?!" Tracey's voice came from somewhere far off, but it didn't matter.
Blaise knew. He would tell them. It was over.
Another hiccup, more sobs. Her Charm had long since broken. They could hear her real voice. She went to draw her legs close and curl into a ball, but Daphne hugged her tightly. Ophelia flinched, and Daphne did as well. Probably because she felt it, too.
"Oh, no… Blaise, did you–"
"He's wearing a binder, yeah," Blaise whispered.
A louder, much more agonized sob came from Ophelia's throat. She couldn't help it. She returned the hug and buried her face in Daphne's shoulder as she cried. Her voice warped and warbled, filled with the fear, anxiety and pain she'd been holding in for so long. Daphne returned it tightly.
"Shhh, shhh, it's okay, Harry. It's okay, I promise," Daphne murmured as she held Ophelia close.
It was several minutes of this before her throat became so worn and raw that she couldn't sob anymore. Her eyes felt painfully dry and sore from so much crying - they'd probably gone all red and puffy. The shaking and shuddering didn't stop. She still couldn't put strength in her legs.
She was so selfish, holding Daphne in a hug like that for so long. She pulled away, and after a moment, Daphne did the same.
All four of the Slytherins looked at her with visible concern. Any anger there had been in Blaise's face was long since gone.
"Harry… let's get you somewhere private. Come on," Tracey murmured, gently putting an arm under Ophelia's own and helping her up. She didn't flinch when she'd touched the binder, but another shudder ran through Ophelia. It took several minutes for the four Slytherins to help her into an empty classroom, and when they did they carefully helped her sit down.
Tracey and Blaise sat next to her while Daphne and Theo sat across from them.
"Harry… I'm sorry for yelling at you and-and being such a dick. I… gods, I should have remembered you'd obviously had a lot going on," Blaise said, his shoulders sagged unlike usual. He seemed truly remorseful.
Ophelia couldn't manage to respond. She… she didn't know what to do. She didn't know what to say. She didn't have the strength to say anything, to do anything, to feel anything. She felt so… numb. So dull and… maybe hurt, maybe afraid, but it all felt like it was being shoved deep, deep down.
"Harry… so… you're a trans man after all? Why… why did you tell us you weren't?" Tracey asked softly as she gently wrapped her arm around Ophelia's shoulders.
She blinked twice in surprise. They… oh. It made sense they'd think she's a transgender man. "I…" Her voice was still really hoarse, and she winced at the pain of talking. "I… f-family…" She managed to get out. It was the truth. Vernon and Petunia would kill her if they knew she was transgender.
They all seemed to nod at that, and Ophelia shifted a bit in her seat. If… if they thought she was a trans man… maybe it would be okay. She'd still be able to keep her secret, as long as they were 'supportive' of it…
"I'm sorry you didn't feel comfortable telling us, Harry. Though, I promise we won't tell anyone," Theo assured her with a tentative smile. He shook his head a bit ruefully, "Guess I can't blame you for freaking out when Granger… wait. Does she not know?"
Ophelia pursed her lips before she shook her head, "Only um… Pomfrey… McGonagall… A-Alicia. Spinnet." She sniffled a bit and used the sleeves of her robes to dry her face. She was still really shaky, her throat still hurt, and her entire face felt sore and raw. But… but maybe this would work out… At least they still thought she was a boy. A trans boy, but… it would be fine.
"Huh… um… Do-do you want us to keep it a secret?" Blaise asked a bit awkwardly. Ophelia nodded rapidly to that. She absolutely did. "Oh, yeah, sure. Absolutely. Uh… listen, I'm– I'm sorry for lifting you like that, I… I should've kept my head cool. I was upset, but I lashed out at you instead of asking you politely what happened. I… sorry."
Ophelia pursed her lips, but shook her head softly, "It… it's okay, I… I didn't like it… but I understand… why you were upset." She looked at Theo, then, and pursed her lips before she continued. "I'm sorry, Theo… I shouldn't have, um… said those things… You aren't like that. I– I'm sorry."
Theo shook his head, "I get it. You've got a lot of people asking you to the Ball, and it's gotta be stressful as Hell… well, hey, at least I'm sure you'll look sharp in your robes." He grinned and so did Tracey.
She nodded and had a slight grin of her own, "Honestly, you had us all fooled pretty good. I know you use makeup to look more masc, but you totally pass. Look completely like a guy. Is that why you use a Charm, too?"
Ophelia squirmed a bit uncomfortably at the comments. While it was good her disguise worked, hearing compliments to her 'masculinity' just plain hurt. "Uh… yeah. Voice-Altering… I just sorta make it deeper and stuff…" She shrugged a bit feebly.
"Um… you-you guys don't think it's… wrong? Weird? Freakish?" She asked softly, looking at them as the pit in her stomach grew.
Blaise shook his head earnestly, "Absolutely not. It isn't. Who told you– oh. Your relatives?" She nodded meekly and he winced. "Damn… I'm sorry, Harry. But it's not wrong. It's you. I see why you're always so stressed, at least."
"Yeah. What he said, Harry. It's not weird, and you're not a freak or anything. Gods, now I feel bad for calling you a git and shit. I'm guessing you haven't heard very many compliments ever?" Theo asked with an ashamed expression.
Ophelia pursed her lips a bit before shaking her head softly, "I… n-no… sometimes from Hermione, if… if I impress her, but… n-no. Not really." She cleared her throat in spite of the pain, because her voice was beginning to rasp. Tracey squeezed her shoulder gently and she gave the girl a thankful smile.
"Well, I suppose we can't expect more from Weasley, and Granger at least tried," Theo mused with a small grin. "Guess they just assumed a guy as handsome and intelligent as you got plenty of compliments as is."
Ophelia managed to force a smile in response to the friendly one Theo flashed, though her stomach twisted.
"I bet that's why Draco picks on him," Blaise said with a chortle. "Can't handle being the third best-looking guy in the year."
Theo snorted, "Oh? Harry's obviously first, so who's supposed to be second?"
"If you say yourself, Blaise, I'm breaking your neck," Daphne called out with a grin.
Ophelia swallowed the bile rising in her throat from their words, because they were being nice. Plus, her disguise was working. She should be happy about this. But instead she was starting to feel quite sick.
"Once we help you with your confidence, you'll become way more popular," Tracey said with a grin. "Quidditch star? Handsome? Polite? Add confidence in there and you'll be the hottest guy there is."
"Um-" Ophelia went to interrupt them, but then Daphne continued it.
"The other boys won't stand a chance. Girls would love a guy who knows how to do makeup and hair, I bet." Daphne beamed, but Ophelia just wrapped her arms around her middle.
She was really starting to not feel well. She needed them to stop. This just hurt. It didn't feel nice at all. Their compliments felt like knives. She needed to say something - anything to make it stop.
"You're a good guy, Harry–"
She vomited. Her stomach twisted one last time and her lunch came right up as she vomited right on the floor. Everyone exclaimed in shock, but pretty quickly Tracey began to pat her back to help her get it all out, and Theo cast Mundaris to clear up the mess.
After she finished emptying her guts, she still dry heaved a couple of times. That hurt… so much. She couldn't– she couldn't listen to more of that.
Tears slid down her face again and she shuddered before hiccuping. The taste made her dry heave again, and Tracey immediately cleaned out her mouth with a modified Mundaris and Daphne gave her a glass of water she had filled with Aguamenti. Ophelia immediately downed the entire thing, grimacing at how it felt against her painfully raw throat.
"I'm not a boy," she whispered hoarsely, and everyone seemed confused before she continued. "I don't want to be a boy. I'm not a boy– I-I was born one, but– I can't, I– I hate it s-s-so much, I…" She shuddered and hiccuped, "I hate being a boy. I hate it so m-much, but– but everyone ex-ex-expects me t-to be one." She sniffled as tears kept sliding down.
She so desperately wanted to shut herself up, but she couldn't. It was all tumbling out of her. She had nothing in her stomach, so instead she vomited her feelings. She didn't want to lie to them anymore. She couldn't.
"I n-never m-m-meant t-to lie, but… I j-just– I c-can't, I– I p-put on the m-m-makeup t-to h-hide, I–" She hiccuped again and let out an agonized groan before forcing herself to continue. It hurt so much, but she couldn't stop. Not now. "I-I st-started blockers in-in f-f-first year, and hormones at-at the end of the year, and– and I just– I felt so-so right, I– I c-couldn't just– I-I hated m-myself, I– I thought it was wrong, I–" She couldn't say more, then. She dissolved into tears.
Arms wrapped around her and she immediately clung to them as she once again began to sob. Ophelia tried hard to fit apologies out of herself, but every time it just came out as a blubbering sob and she began crying even more intensely. She didn't realize she had so many tears left.
"I– I'b zorry, I-I'b zzzo zorry," she sobbed into a shoulder. Based on the blonde hair she saw, it was Daphne's. Another hiccup forced its way up and she held onto her tighter.
"I– I just– I'm–"
"Shh. It's okay. I promise. I– I've got you. It's okay," Daphne whispered as she held Ophelia close. "I've got you. It's okay."
~~~~~Ophelia~~~~~
It took a while before Ophelia had finally calmed down. When she had, she was quite thoroughly exhausted and had gone through several glasses of water. Thankfully she at least hadn't vomited again.
When she'd settled, Blaise and Daphne had changed seats, and she was resting her head against Daphne's shoulder. She just didn't have the energy to sit properly, and after all the crying it was getting a bit hard to breathe.
"Um– I-I… I need to, um…" She sniffled and took a slow, shaky breath, "My… my binder it– it's hard to-to breathe." She flushed after saying that, but the boys both nodded.
"No worries. It's dinnertime, so Theo and I will go nab some food from the Hall, alright?" Blaise replied with a smile. Ophelia managed to return it - albeit weakly - before he and Theo got up and headed out. They closed the door behind them.
"Um… I-I can, um… just… please turn away…" Ophelia asked softly as she made herself sit upright. The girls exchanged a look before they nodded and both turned around.
Ophelia took another slow breath before she first shrugged off her outer robe, then she took off her tie. Her hands hesitated for a moment before she gritted her teeth and unbuttoned her shirt. She temporarily slipped it off and reached behind her for the zipper. Her hand found it, and she paused again.
"Um… p-please don't, um… uh… st-stare, or-or anything when-when I'm done, okay?" She asked hesitantly as a flush crept up her cheeks. She knew full well her growth would make for a big difference, and it made her nervous. Especially since this would be the first time in years anyone but Pomfrey had seen her chest without the binder.
Daphne giggled a bit, "It's fine, Ha– er… what do you want us to call you? Do you have a chosen name?" She asked tentatively, and Ophelia flushed further when she realized she hadn't told them.
"Ophelia," she murmured, just barely loud enough to be heard. She then unzipped the binder and let out a gasp of relief as she took in a proper deep breath. "Oh, gods…"
Tracey chuckled a bit, "Sounds like me whenever I take my bra off… still. Ophelia? That's a pretty name. I like it. And… very you, I think."
Ophelia couldn't help the tiny smile that crept across her face while she pulled the very sweaty binder off, carefully setting it on the ground in front of her. She grimaced at her sweaty body, and flushed a bit when she saw her own breasts. She fished her wand out of her robe pocket and used the appropriate spell to clean herself off before finally putting her shirt back on. Then she slipped the robe back on, making sure it covered her front properly, before something came to mind. Well… if they're going to see her without the binder… she cast a quick spell to clear her face of all the makeup, smiling in spite of herself. She always did like how she looked without the 'boy' makeup on.
"Uh, o-okay… I-I'm decent."
The girls turned around and both paused when they saw Ophelia.
"Uh… woah. You… wow, you're cute," Daphne blurted out. She flinched after saying that, as if she didn't mean to. "I– I mean, um– well– yeah. Well, you just– you took your makeup off, and–" She flushed red and buried her face in her hands while Ophelia herself had turned a deep shade of crimson.
"DAMMIT!" Tracey shouted, causing both Daphne and Ophelia to flinch. Ophelia drew her shoulders in, expecting to be yelled at. "Your tits are bigger than mine?! UGH! First Daphne! Now this! And you're this cute?! Not fair!" She lamented, laying back in her chair and letting out a frustrated groan.
Ophelia and Daphne traded a look of confusion before they both flushed again.
"Um… I-I don't look… weird? Or-or like… like a boy just… p-pretending?" Ophelia asked with a bit of hope in her voice.
Tracey shook her head, "Absolutely not. You're a girl - through and through. With your makeup skills, I'm actually afraid to see what you look like all dolled up. You'd turn SO many heads. The boys would be all over you."
Ophelia shuddered and shook her head, "Ugh. No boys. Absolutely not."
Daphne seemed a bit surprised at that and a nervous look crossed her face while Tracey smirked. "A lesbian, huh?" She asked with a grin.
Ophelia frowned, "Um… well… I–"
Tracey held up a hand to stop her, "Okay, I think I see where you're about to go with this. Step one: are you a girl?" Ophelia flushed and nodded hesitantly. "Alright. And you like girls?" Ophelia felt her face burn with embarrassment and she nodded. "Alright. Then, lesbian. Simple."
Ophelia struggled to put together what she wanted to say, "I– It– it isn't… w-wrong? I-I'm… am– am I allowed to-to be a… a girl while I also like girls?" She fought back the sobs that wanted to break through.
Daphne winced but Tracey shook her head furiously while a fire seemed to burn in her eyes. "It isn't wrong. At all. You're absolutely allowed to be a girl who likes girls. I like both boys and girls. Is there something wrong with that?"
"Wh– no! No, not at all!" Ophelia answered immediately. "You– no. I–"
"Then why would it be wrong for you to like girls? You don't want to hurt them, right?" Tracey asked kindly. Ophelia shook her head, and Tracey grinned. "Then that's the problem solved. Girls can like girls. People born as boys can actually be girls, and they're allowed to like girls. You aren't doing it to hurt people, and that's what matters. 'Kay?"
Ophelia sniffed, "Okay… I– thank you."
Daphne seemed to think about something, "Um… are… are you going to wear, uh… a dress to the Ball?"
Ophelia shook her head, "N-no… Um… I still need-need to um… be a-a boy… for-for now…"
Daphne's brow furrowed, "Wait… why? I mean… if you're scared of someone rejecting you, we'll support you. We're on your side."
Ophelia shook her head, "N-no. I-I can't, I– my relatives, they–" She shuddered at the thought of what they'd do if they found out. Of how they'd hurt her. Of what they'd say. "... I can't." Her voice was barely above a whisper as she grabbed her sides, grabbing so tightly it hurt.
Tracey wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and despite her initial flinch, Ophelia relaxed at the touch. Daphne then pulled her hands away from her side and held them - the blonde girl had a slight blush but looked closely at Ophelia.
"Okay… alright. But you'll need a girl to go to the Ball with, so I expect you to learn how to dance. I rather like having my feet intact." Daphne smiled at Ophelia, who was confused.
"I– but– but you should–"
"If you're about to tell her to take someone she'd enjoy going with, stop it," Theo called out as he and Blaise entered, a tray of food in the latter's hands. "She's taking you because she has nobody else she'd want to go with, and it's better for you to go with someone you trust - who knows your secret. Alright?"
Ophelia swallowed the lump in her throat, and looked at Daphne. "Are… are you sure?"
"Positive."
"... okay– but-but just as friends, right?" She became a bit worried. She didn't want another person developing feelings for her. She wasn't worth that. Especially not from a girl as beautiful and amazing as Daphne.
The other girl pursed her lips, "Of course." She drew Ophelia into a brief hug before she looked at the boys. "Her preferred name is Ophelia."
Theo grinned, "Works for me." He levitated a table over so Blaise could set the food down before both boys sat down. "So… guess Tracey's still the smallest?" He grinned mischievously at Tracey before ducking as she shot a Bat-Bogey Hex at him.
"NOT FUNNY, THEO!" She shouted at him, causing the brunette to raise his hands in surrender while Ophelia flushed a bright crimson.
"I… I went through, um… a growth spurt in summer… I used to get away with just bandages and… well, sports bras," Ophelia mumbled as she took a bit of goulash for her plate. It was one of her favorites.
"Huh. How big did you use to be?" Blaise asked with a confused look.
Ophelia flushed, "Um… about Tracey's size," she murmured before giving Tracey an apologetic look.
"I– That is so unfair. I'm fifteen and it took me this long to get this big, but artificial hormones got you to this size when you were thirteen?!" She asked incredulously before angrily taking a bite of her sweet potatoes.
"... I, um… Madam Pomfrey says… um, I'm not done," Ophelia mumbled. "It… it'll be hard to bind if…" She winced and rubbed her sides a bit. It was already hard to bind.
Daphne stopped tucking in to her own sweet potatoes, "Wait… it hurts to bind? You shouldn't be doing it, then. It'll hurt your ribs…"
Ophelia grimaced, "Madam Pomfrey said the same, but… well, it's not like I can just leave my family." She poked at her goulash sullenly before taking a bite.
Tracey looked thoughtful, "Family… I guess I can't blame you… but, well… aren't they Muggles? You could still be 'out' here and not there…"
Ophelia shook her head, "They'd find out. They always seem to find out when I do something wrong. They're…" She grimaced and took another bite of goulash to try and force down the lump in her throat.
"Huh… I… I'm sorry your family is like that," Theo said apologetically before a thoughtful look crossed his face. "I wonder if we can find binders enchanted to be painless even if they bind… er, a lot."
Blaise shrugged, "Should be able to. Whenever Mia Madre had to bind for work, she always seemed to look totally flat. Which is an accomplishment in and of itself…"
Ophelia frowned, "What does your Mum do that she'd need to bind for work?"
Blaise snorted, "She's an Auror of sorts for the Italian Ministry. Though in reality she's more like an assassin. Their government isn't as… polite as the Isles'."
Ophelia nodded at that before she took pause for a moment, frowning at her goulash. "Um… th-thank you, all of you… f-for not… h-hating me or… or judging me, I…" She sniffled and rubbed the tears out of her eyes, "I really appreciate it."
Tracey grinned and ruffled her hair, "We're just glad we know the truth and can help you. It caught us off guard, but now we can help you. Hopefully someday you'll be safe to come out, but in the meantime… we're your friends, okay? We're on your side."
Daphne nodded in agreement as she lightly wrapped an arm around Ophelia's shoulders, "I'll admit, it confused me… but Ophelia, we've been trying to show you for almost a month now that we trust you and want to be friends with you. We aren't going to give up just because you're a girl and not a boy."
Ophelia flushed with a bit of happiness at being called 'a girl and not a boy'. She'd never really had the confidence to think of it that way, not truly. She'd always thought she was just a boy who was… pretending to be a girl. But… maybe she can actually be a girl?
A slight shudder ran through her at the thought, and the voice in her head that sounded like Uncle Vernon sounded much quieter than usual.
Blaise and Theo traded a look.
"We… owe you an apology," Blaise began with a wince. "Honestly, the both of us pushing such masculine views on you can't have been pleasant. Maybe we didn't know, but it still had to hurt. I'm sorry, Ophelia. I promise we'll do better. We want to help you, but not if it means hurting you."
Theo nodded at that, "Yeah, exactly. Honestly, all in all, you're hardly a coward. The opposite, honestly, if you're still transitioning despite everything. Doing that and hiding it to protect yourself? Maybe not the smartest plan, but definitely brave. I'm sorry for all the harsh things I said, Ophelia."
She was a bit stunned by their words, "I– but–"
Daphne pressed a finger to Ophelia's lips to silence her. "No buts. They're apologizing. Accept it, and you don't have to forgive them yet if you don't want to, but I promise they'll try to do better. All of us will. We'll see if we can set aside time for you to be yourself. Your trueself. No boymode. Okay?"
Ophelia flushed at Daphne's touch, but when the girl pulled her hand away, she took a moment to gather herself. "I… okay. I… I accept your apologies, and… I'm not mad or-or anything. I… I want to stay friends, so-so I don't want to hold it against you. So… um, yeah…"
She fidgeted a bit in her seat, but the reassuring smiles her friends gave her helped, even if they caused butterflies in her stomach. It…
It was nice, being accepted like this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Your Kudos congratulate Ophelia on successfully coming out and your Comments tell her to get some therapy already.
Discord for patting Ophelia: https://discord.gg/w5k4TfFRGG
Chapter 5: Regarding OpheliaChapter TextDaphne has a loooooot of emotions to sort out, and a redhead to scare.
CW: Transphobia Mention
~~~~~Daphne~~~~~
Regarding Ophelia
~~~~~Daphne~~~~~
December 3rd, 1994
"Daphne? You alright?"
Daphne jumped at Tracey's words before she groaned, "Ugh… Yeah, I think so. Just… I've got a lot on my mind."
The other girl snorted, "Can't imagine why. Not like it just turned out your crush was a girl after all."
Daphne swatted Tracey's shoulder, "Among other things, yeah. I'll admit when we thought Ophie was a trans man I nearly had a panic attack because I thought I was transphobic, so at least I don't have that issue."
Tracey hummed thoughtfully as she sifted through her Tarot Cards, frowning at them, "Honestly Daph, sometimes limiting yourself on who you think you're attracted to is more harmful than helpful."
Daphne groaned and flopped back onto her bed, "I know, I know. You and Theo tell me that all the bloody time. But I've never thought of a boy as attractive! Ever! So sue me, I'm pretty sure I'm lesbian."
Tracey rolled her eyes and started to shuffle her cards, "Alright, alright. Don't get your damn knickers in a twist."
Daphne tossed a pillow at her best friend and was rewarded with a muffled 'Oof!' when it struck the girl in the face. "I just wish she felt happy being herself."
Tracey grimaced at that, "That's the problem, Daph. I don't think she believes she can be happy. I mean, shit, she was shaking like a fucking leaf when Blaise yelled at her."
Daphne grimaced at the memory. Blaise always tended to be hot-headed - especially where Theo was concerned - but he'd overdone it with Ophelia. Though it seemed to affect Blaise pretty strongly, too - later that night he'd vomited everything he had into the toilet.
Why did they have to be such a collective mess?
"How bad do you think her relatives are?" Daphne asked softly, her stomach twisting at the thought of Ophelia suffering through her childhood.
Tracey stopped shuffling her cards and pursed her lips before setting the deck down, "... Bad. She's been… conditioned to think poorly of herself. She downplays her achievements, treats herself like dirt - no, less than - and has absolutely no self-worth at all. She… she probably doesn't think she's allowed to be happy."
Daphne's stomach twisted much worse at that, "Gods…" A tear slid down her face as she thought of a little Ophelia constantly being yelled at, put down, told she doesn't matter, and worse. "What can we do?"
Tracey took on a thoughtful look before she laid next to Daphne, "Well… we help her, however we can. She's our friend - and she's dead clever. She needs someone to pull her out of the hole she's in. Granger can try, but she's only one person, and has her own issues holding her back. Weasley seems to be actively trying to bury her, so he's no use. We're in a position to help - and obviously we all want to help. It'll just… take time."
Daphne sighed as she fought back how heartbroken she felt on Ophelia's behalf. Bawling wouldn't help anyone right now. "I wish we could just… make everything better for her. Hug her and hold her and…" Her voice started to warble as tears slid down regardless, so she stopped herself and took a slow, shaky breath. "I don't care how long it takes. I'm helping her."
Tracey bumped her head against Daphne's shoulder, "Atta girl. Don't worry. I'll be right with you, and I'm sure the boys won't be far behind. If they complain then we'll just guilt them about how shitty they were to her for the last month."
Daphne snorted at the idea of Blaise and Theo begging to be allowed to help after being guilted and blackmailed. They weren't bad guys, they were just bullheaded and oblivious as all get-out. Speaking of a bullheaded guy…
"We need to set Weasley straight. We can't dig Ophelia out of the hole she's in if he's pouring more dirt in there." Daphne sat up and looked down at Tracey, a determined look on her face, "Let's get the boys and set the bastard straight."
Tracey grinned as she sat up, "I like where this is going. What's the plan? Threats? Blackmail? We've got a lot of dirt on him thanks to Brown."
Daphne shook her head as she slipped a cloak over her clothes - a basic dark green jumper and jeans. "No, we guilt, warn and intimidate him first. He'll already feel threatened by Four Slytherins cornering him. You know he hates our House, but he's also terrified of us - only ever seemed to stand up against us when he was with Granger and Ophelia."
Tracey frowned and looked down as if in thought before realization dawned on her face, "Merlin! You're right!"
Daphne snorted, "'Course I am. He's a coward. We just gotta make sure he doesn't get it in his head that it'd be a good idea to hurt Ophelia any more."
Tracey gave a feral grin before she slipped her boots on and grabbed her cloak, "So how do we get him out of Gryffindor Tower? You know he hides there every weekend with Thomas and Finnegan."
Daphne drew her wand and grinned, "Easy. I get help." She focused on the right memory, mentally prepared the message and recipient, and then– "Expecto Patronum - Nuntis!" A ghostly white porcupine shot out from her wand and bolted out of the dorm room.
"I– wait, you can cast a Patronus?! A Corporeal Patronus?!"
Daphne grinned, "'Course I can! My parents made sure I knew how to in the summer before our Third Year when they found out Hogwarts was gonna have Dementors." She frowned, then, "Though I could have sworn it was a rabbit when I last cast it…"
Tracey chuckled, "Didn't read the literature, did you?" Daphne blushed as an answer, causing the raven-haired girl to snort. "If you fall in love, your Patronus changes. Guess someone really likes a certain prickly, skittish and defensive Gryffindor I know."
Daphne glared at Tracey before turning away and flicking her hair over her shoulder, "Oh– come on. Let's just go threaten a redhead."
Tracey whooped and followed her out of the dorm room.
~~~~~Daphne~~~~~
"Hermione? What'd you bring me to an empty cla– Oi!"
"Not so fast, Weasley," Theo drawled as he forced Ron Weasley to sit in one of the chairs of the empty classroom. He and Blaise had been waiting for a few minutes.
"Thanks, Granger. We've got it from here. No worries, your ginger will come out of this in one piece," Blaise said cheerily as he waved Hermione out.
Daphne gently touched Hermione's shoulder, "Don't worry. We're just going to make sure he won't hurt Harry anymore."
Hermione pursed her lips and looked back at Ron, who shot her a betrayed look. "Just… don't break his bones or anything," she muttered before slipping past Daphne and Tracey to leave the room.
Daphne and Tracey shared a look and knew that Hermione had basically given them free reign as long as Weasley got out of it in one piece.
Daphne grabbed a chair and flipped it to be backwards before sitting in it - about a meter away from Weasley. She rested her arms on the top of the chair and leaned forwards a bit while scrutinizing Weasley.
He was tall - maybe 5'10", so Daphne still had a couple inches on him. Scrawny, messy red hair, not particularly good-looking, and quite plain muddy-brown eyes. Nothing to write home about - which was exactly his most frequent complaint. His eldest brother became Head Boy, the second eldest nearly got the Quidditch Cup for Gryffindor - twice. The third was also Head Boy and graduated last year. The Twins were popular and well-liked. His sister was the only girl and also pretty smart - Astoria seemed to look up to her, actually. Said she and the Creeveys liked spending time with Ginny and Luna Lovegood.
But Ron… he only ever made a name for himself by being a good Wixen Chess Player, yet he never even joined the Chess Club. Of course everyone knew him as 'Harry Potter's Best Friend', but in Slytherin it was rather agreed that he'd latched onto Ophelia to be something of a leech.
Overall… he could be better if he actually bothered to put in effort. But he didn't, and instead chose to lash out at Ophelia and Granger - easily the two best students in their year, with Ophelia dominating the Practicals and Granger the Theoreticals. Daphne made a mental note to check if Ophelia even knew she had the best Practical scores in their year. Maybe that'd help her confidence.
"You're a shit friend," Daphne started casually, drawing her wand and Silencing Weasley when he went to object. Theo and Blaise were still holding him in place, each gripping his shoulder quite tightly. "Hermione only actually agreed to this because she realized you're being a dick and need to get over yourself."
Weasley's eyes blazed but Daphne just met it with an icy gaze of her own. She knew full well she was famously known as the 'Ice Queen'. If the paper Theo and Blaise mentioned was making the rounds had the right of it, she was popularly considered the prettiest girl in their year. That was two points in her favor against a boy with as much of an inferiority complex as Weasley.
"Why don't you believe in Harry? We do, and we're Slytherins. You know, the notorious 'greatest enemy' of Harry Potter," Tracey drawled as she sat in another chair, idly twirling her wand in one hand. "He says he didn't put his name in the Goblet. Cool, done deal. We believe him."
Daphne ignored the twinge she knew all four Slytherins in the room felt at deadnaming and misgendering Ophelia. "He literally forfeited the First Task because he wanted no part in this mess of a Tournament," she said, looking Weasley dead in the eyes.
"Hell, he almost tried to worm his way out of the Yule Ball. Eventually he agreed to go with one of us - no spoilers on who, though," Theo remarked. He didn't seem even remotely upset about the rejection anymore. Then again, Daphne was pretty sure that Blaise asking him to the Ball had helped.
"Wait, let me guess. You don't like that it's 'always about him'?" Blaise asked sarcastically as he looked distastefully at Weasley. He made a disgusted noise and shook his head, "Wow. Egotistical, much?"
Weasley struggled in his chair until Daphne pressed the tip of her wand to his chest, "Ah ah ah, not so fast. Stay still, yeah? He's right. You're being egotistical. You aren't owed jack. You don't deserve to be the center of attention in any way if you're not even going to support your so-called best friend when he's obviouslyfloundering and struggling." Weasley looked angry for a second before doubt flickered in his eyes and he turned his head away. She could practically see the gears frantically turning in his head.
"Frankly, we don't care if you and Harry make nice," Tracey said with a grin as she grabbed Weasley's chin and forced him to look at her, a fire in her eyes as her grin became outright predatory. "But if we ever find that you so much as lay a finger on him? Cast a single spell that ended up hitting him? We'll break you."
"Thoroughly!" Theo sounded far too cheerful as he drew up a chair behind Weasley and sat in it, his own smile becoming a bit sadistic as he leaned in close, "We have ways of making sure our friends are safe. It's why we travel in packs, you know."
"And we have a lot more ways of avenging them if they aren't," Blaise added as he pulled up his own chair, his hand gripping Weasley's shoulder even tighter. The redhead looked terrified. "Why do you think Gryffindors make a point of not antagonizing Slytherins on their own? They only go after us when we're in groups because they know attacking a lonely Slytherin is like signing their own death warrant."
"Unlike you unruly lions," Daphne continued as her voice went low. She grabbed his collar and pulled him close, her gaze as steely and cold as she could muster, "We snakes look out for our own. Harry may be a Gryffindor, but he's our friend all the same - the four of us have claimed him as one of ours. Back off." She shoved him back into the chair and he looked at her with an utterly terrified expression. Daphne and the others stood up, exchanged looks, and nodded before they left. Daphne barely remembered to cancel the Silencing Charm before they did so, but Weasley didn't make any noise when she did. Hopefully that meant he was actually thinking.
"Will it work?" Hermione asked softly. She was standing outside the doorway, just out of sight.
Daphne pursed her lips, "I hope so. All the same… I want your help. All five of us are in Ancient Runes. Let's see if we can't put our heads together and make an Array that'll protect Harry and give us a warning when he's in danger."
Hermione nodded, her expression hardening, "I'll start drawing up schematics. You always beat me on the practicals, but I'll work on the Theory. Let's meet up tomorrow to make it more solid?"
Theo grinned, "Good plan. I'm liking you more and more, Granger."
Hermione flushed but kept her expression brave, "I've made enough mistakes with…" She looked around and leaned in close, bending slightly, "her."
All of the Slytherins froze, but Hermione brought a finger to her lips. "I've known since forever, just… waiting for her to tell me. I know you know because you trip over her name and wrong pronouns. Practice it. A lot," she continued in the same hushed whisper as she'd had when using Ophelia's true pronouns before she ran off.
Daphne looked at her housemates, "... We should have given her more credit," she muttered before she glanced in the classroom again. Weasley hadn't moved. Well, at least they hadn't been eavesdropped on… probably.
~~~~~Daphne~~~~~
Later in the day, Daphne was approached by Hermione again. She had rather expected this to happen at some point.
"Daphne? Can we talk, um… privately?"
Daphne nodded and gestured to a nearby classroom. "I'll catch up, Trace."
Tracey waved her off good-naturedly while Daphne and Hermione headed into the room. The brunette girl locked the door and cast a Privacy Charm before she looked nervously at Daphne.
"So… you're taking her to the Ball, right? Er, Harry?"
Daphne nodded, "Her preferred name is Ophelia, and yes. I am."
Hermione's expression brightened, "Ophelia! It's a pretty name. I'd had my guesses in first year when I saw her writing names on some spare– ah, nevermind. Um… you like her?"
Daphne was caught off-guard by that, "What?! How did yo– shit, my Patronus."
Hermione nodded, "You're not what I call the skittish and defensive type. Ophelia… very much is. I don't mind that you do! Really, I don't. Honestly you'd probably be really good for her. It's just…"
Hermione sighed and sat down in a chair, running a hand through her curls. "Gods, how do I explain this? I had a crush on her back in First Year. You remember the story of some Gryffindors fighting the Troll? Me, Ophelia and Ron. Ron… he, uh… bullied me that morning."
Daphne nodded, "I remember. In Potions you were pretty put-out, and Ophelia seemed to be trying to calm you down, but…"
Hermione grimaced, "I shut down if I'm upset. It's not fair to Ophelia, and I'm trying to be better… but she ended up dragging Ron to save me when the Troll got in. It's been a lot like that ever since. Ophelia… She doesn't volunteer herself for danger unless her friends are in it. The Car hitting the Whomping Willow? Ron's idea. Even when Ginny was in the Chamber, she actually knew what a Basilisk was, so she went to talk to Lockhart first while Ron ran to save Ginny. Eventually she got a hold of McGonagall and together they saved both of them…"
Daphne wracked her brain, and indeed recalled the story from their second year. She also recalled something else…
"She limps," she whispered softly.
Hermione nodded, "It's not easy to notice, but she puts most of her weight on her right leg. She got bit by the Basilisk on her left leg and left arm. McGonagall had a couple vials of Phoenix Tears, so she was able to save Ophelia's life, but…" She took a long, deep breath while Daphne sunk into another chair. She felt very, very sick.
"Gods… I never knew she was at risk so much…"
Hermione grimaced, "The curse of being the 'Girl-Who-Lived'. Fame she never even wanted. Did you know she tries to avoid the Samhain Feast?"
Daphne's face fell, "Her parents. And Weasley…" She felt a new wave of anger, "He gets jealous and yells at her about her fame? When she got it in a way that… that she grieves people she doesn't even remember?"
Hermione nodded as she seemed much older than a teenager should, "I skipped the Feast in our second year so I could spend time with her. She… she cried a lot that night, and then when we saw Mrs. Norris… she lovescats, and so do I. Filch accusing her and the whole 'Heir of Slytherin' business distressed her pretty badly…"
Daphne resolved to punch Ernie MacMillan in the face when she saw him next on sole principle. She had it on good authority that the little git had been the one to start the 'Heir of Slytherin' rumor. He'd deserve it.
"What about last year?" She asked softly, remembering how run-ragged Ophelia had seemed throughout the year.
Hermione's face seemed to become a bit darker in complexion, as if she were blushing, "Ah, well– you see, um–" She sighed, "Well, we don't have them anymore… Ophelia and I were given Time Turners since we took all the Electives. It was the only way we could take all of our classes and properly keep up with our health, studies and sleep. Unfortunately it had the added effect of… well. Legally my birthdate is the 19th of September, 1979. Effectively it's the 6th of July, 1978. I'm a full year older, and thensome. It's similar for Ophelia - her legal date of birth is the 31st of July, 1980. Her effective date of birth is the 15th of April, 1979 - she's older by an extra month and some change from all the Quidditch practice on top of some other issues."
Daphne took a moment to think about that. If what Hermione said was right, from a biological standpoint Ophelia was almost sixteen and should be in her fifthyear and Hermione was sixteen and in her sixth. That certainly explained why their coursework this year seemed so much more effortless to them - that much extra time probably let them study ahead on a few occasions. Also explained why Ophelia grew so much, so fast in the chest department…
She ran a hand through her hair, before a giggle burst through her. Hermione gave her an odd look so Daphne explained, "I thought I had a crush on a younger girl - it was an older girl all along! Hehehe!"
Hermione snorted at that before her own grin spread across her face, "I suppose that is pretty funny… still, I'm sure you remember she 'caught Sirius Black' last year?" Daphne nodded and Hermione grinned, "He's her godfather, actually. Told her the truth - Peter Pettigrew survived. He proved it - that's why Ron doesn't have a rat anymore, though unfortunately Pettigrew escaped."
Daphne's eyes widened, "Pettigrew was an Animagus?!"
Hermione nodded, "He's not the only one. Black is, too - He's a Grim."
Daphne froze, "He's… he's an Animagus for a Magical Creature? That's… Merlin, that's mad…"
Hermione snorted, "You're telling me… still. Sirius was only captured because Professor Snape saw them together and Sirius turned himself in so that Ophelia wouldn't get in trouble. 'Course, the Ministry didn't expect him to be capable of wandless magic, so he escaped."
Daphne shook her head and chuckled, "Your lives are utterly mad…"
Hermione smiled sadly, "They are… we've been through a lot. I know I haven't shown her the trust she deserves, but I'm intending to do better. Still, she's my sister, as far as I care… So please, just… be kind to her. She… she needs that. Badly."
Daphne smiled softly and got up. She walked over to Hermione and drew the girl into a brief hug, "I promise. I care about Ophelia a lot, and I like her a lot. She deserves to be happy."
Hermione returned the hug, "Thank you."
~~~~~Daphne~~~~~
December 4th, 1994
Daphne tried not to stare much at Ophelia during their study session. It wasn't easy.
She kept worrying about the girl, especially now that she knew so much more about her. So much stood out to her, too. She'd always seen how small Ophelia was, but now she seemed outright tiny. Her hair was quite well-kept, but intentionally mussed up so that at first glance it'd seem as messy and poorly-kept as the other boys'. Her posture was slouched, shoulders hunched… as if she expected to be hit or something. Her left arm had the occasional twitch and tremor - likely residual from the Basilisk bite, though she only noticed because Ophelia was left-handed.
Then there were the less noticeable things. How she made very, very little noise whenever she worked or moved. The occasional furtive glances she always made to the exits, as if she always needed to know her escape routes. The constant tension in her posture, and how whenever she was addressed by her deadname - by passing students - she reacted by instinct, but there was still pain in her eyes. Whenever Daphne whispered her real name, though, the reaction was a bit delayed… but there was always a teensy, tiny hint of a smile on her face.
On the couple occasions Blaise or Tracey brushed her shoulder or hand, she flinched. Badly. She didn't make a mess - almost as if she'd been conditioned so her reflexes were designed not to make a mess. She never once knocked over an ink pot or broke anything, but it was still alarming to Daphne how her arms crossed in front of her and she tucked her head when she flinched.
If there was one thing she was certain of… the girl had been hit before. Not once or twice… but regularly. But that wasn't even the worst of it.
Ophelia was cautious to keep her sleeves all the way down - Daphne realized that even in warmer months when they were allowed short-sleeved shirts that she'd never once seen Ophelia in anything but a long-sleeve. Her shirt was always buttoned all the way, too - the collar covering as much of her neck as possible.
She also hadn't had a single day without either her vest or her jumper on since the school year started. Daphne felt her stomach twist as she realized it was to prevent the white of the shirt from showing her darker binder, maybe even add bulk to hide the tiny curve there was to her chest even with the binder on. She had to admit it was clever and well-executed.
Despite the softness of her face and jawline that would make her fit in well with the girls, her choice of makeup was flawless. She'd made her skin seem rougher rather than the enviable smoothness Daphne had seen the other day, and also managed to make her eyebrows seem thicker, her eyes darker and she'd even managed to make some pock-marks that would imply acne, despite how clear her skin actually was.
She had to admit, Ophelia's choice and usage of makeup suited her grades - second best in their year for theory as of early third year, only after Hermione. In terms of practical, though, she'd dominated first place ever since their first year, while Hermione hovered between third and fourth. Suffice to say, overall Ophelia was the best in their year.
Yet she was a Gryffindor, rather than a Hufflepuff for her loyalty to her friends and her admirable hard work, a Ravenclaw for her creativity and hunger for knowledge, or even a Slytherin for her cunning deception and the ambition she had to be hiding to seek first place. As odd as it was… Daphne couldn't help but admit it made sense.
In her own way, Ophelia was impossibly brave. She'd been transitioning for, from a technical perspective, about 2-and-a-half years. But accounting for her use of the Time-Turner… closer to 3 years and 9 months. Yet she'd hidden it expertly. Feminine mannerisms came natural to her, yet she masked them well with practiced - if a bit clunky - masculine mannerisms. She'd even hidden her many years of abuse well. The casual observer would only think of her as skittish, nervous and easily written off. It wouldn't even be surprising for the adults to miss things, with the vast amount of students they had to keep track of. Daphne had always been of the opinion that Hogwarts needed more Professors, but there were so few wixen in the world that it would be a challenge to accomplish.
Internally, Daphne groaned. She had it bad. Damn it. If her Patronus wasn't evidence enough, she was pretty sure she'd caught things literally nobody else would notice. Not to mention how her observations of Ophelia kept getting sidetracked. She couldn't stop thinking about how perfectly the girl would fit in her lap, about how gentle and soft her voice was without that accursed Charm, the softness of her hair, or how utterly impressive she was.
Normally an Heiress Incumbent like herself should be looking at someone who carried themselves better. Thankfully, Mum and Dad hardly cared about that - they hadn't even blinked when she told them she was lesbian. They'd just hugged her, said they were proud and promised they'd support her unequivocally. So she could absolutely date Ophelia.
The problem was Ophelia's confidence. Or rather, the fact she didn't have any. She was practically afraid of her own shadow, too - and whether she had feelings for Daphne in return or not, she didn't seem to think she was worth Daphne's time. Every time she or her friends went to talk to Ophelia, she had the tiniest flash of surprise cross her face, as if she was shocked they wanted to talk to her. She'd seen it a bit with Hermione, too - but in her eyes, rather than her face. Whenever Hermione asked Ophelia her opinion or advice, Ophelia always seemed floored - as if she couldn't imagine a single reason why Hermione would want her advice.
It was more pronounced in their group study sessions, when - since Hermione didn't really hang out with them - Blaise, Theo or Tracey would practically beg her for help. She aced every subject - even Potions, much as Daphne knew Snape was looking for even the tiniest reason to drop her to an E rather than the O's she kept earning. She made a mental note to see if she could slip something in the greasy-haired git's coffee at some point. Not only did he treat Ophelia and Hermione like garbage since they were smarter than all his precious snakes and better teachers than he was to boot, but he acted like Ophelia was arrogant. Ophelia! Arrogant! About the only ones in the shared class who seemed to buy into that were Malfoy, his two trolls, Weasley and Finnegan. Even Thomas, who usually hung out with Weasley and Finnegan, looked like Snape was off his rocker whenever he called Hermione a know-it-all or Ophelia arrogant.
Maybe if the greasy bat ever bothered teaching his subject properly he'd have more than two students in the Gryff-Slyth class earning O's without him blatantly favoring the Slytherins. While technically she benefited from it, Daphne couldn't help the chip on her shoulder on behalf of her tangential friends scattered across the Houses, on behalf of her crush who really needed a confidence boost, and on behalf of her little sister who was bloody well terrified of the man.
… although, her fear of Snape wasn't like Ophelia's. Astoria said he gave her the creeps and she couldn't really talk around him. Ophelia seemed like she fully expected him to poison, hex or even hit her. But… she acted like that with all the Professors. Whenever Flitwick raised his voice to be heard, Ophelia shrank back. Whenever McGonagall spoke sharply, she'd go pale and hunch her shoulders as if bracing for a blow. Whenever Vector rapped his wand on the blackboard during their first few lessons last year, she practically fell out of her seat - at least Vector noticed and had taken to not making more loud noises like that.
There was one thing Daphne was sure of. Not only was Ophelia used to being hit… but it happened a lot. Most likely at the hands of adults. The way she talked about her relatives…
Ophelia was being abused.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Your Kudos tell Daphne to save her friend and your Comments tell her how awesome she is.
The Discord, aka Chaos Incarnate: https://discord.gg/w5k4TfFRGG
Next Time: Hermione's Thoughts.
Chapter 6: A Family MatterChapter TextDaphne isn't the only one worried about Ophelia.
CW: Misgendering & Deadnaming (Unintentional & Protective), Internalized Transphobia (Non-POV), Depression
~~~~~Hermione~~~~~
A Family Matter
~~~~~Hermione~~~~~
December 7th, 1994
Hermione wondered whether it would be appropriate to demand the Twins target Ronald with their pranks - the more cruel ones.
They'd been sharp-sighted and stopped pulling pranks on Ophelia's Slytherin friends, which was good. Probably because they saw how distressed Ophelia was when they'd given Zabini some trick gum that made any bubbles blown burst like a firework. Zabini had laughed it off and gotten his eyebrows regrown, but Ophelia had looked horrified.
Not for the first time, Hermione found the solidarity between the Quidditch Team members the only redeeming feature of that dangerous sport. But the real issue was Ronald, as always.
It was always Ronald, she began to realize with no small amount of outrage.
She'd had an initial crush on 'The Boy-Who-Lived' when Ophelia saved her from the Troll, she couldn't deny it. She'd even had a passing improvement on how she felt about Ronald, even if he was a bit later in following Ophelia to help. Still, Ophelia quickly became something like a younger sibling to Hermione.
Unfortunately, she'd taken after Percy Weasley in his interactions with Ronald for how she treated Ophelia, rather than Sylvester Johnson in how he treated Angelina for his last two years before he graduated at the end of Hermione's second. Percy was harsh, doubtful of Ron's words and quick to reprimand. Sylvester was kind and understanding - and fiercely protective.
She was trying to be better. Ophelia deserved better, especially with what suspicions she had.
Hermione wasn't totally inobservant. She knew Ophelia's behaviors weren't normal. Her fear of adults was one thing, but the way she made excuses for Ron… he'd avoided both Ophelia and Hermione since Sunday, but she still didn't like how he hadn't apologized to Ophelia. She deserved that much.
Not to mention the various ways Ronald had proven himself to be… not a good friend, over the years. He'd let his fear of spiders stop him from finding a way to help Hermione - which, honestly, she hadn't expected much from him, but that had chafed quite a bit. Then there was how he had berated her and Ophelia when they'd dropped Divination. Honestly! Trelawney was a fraud and Ron knew it - plus she kept predicting Ophelia's death! What was worse was that he'd only taken the course for 'an easy class' and still ended up relying on Hermione to check his work. Not to mention how he always acted like Ophelia, his 'best mate', was struggling just as much as he was.
Ophelia never refuted him, to which Hermione could only attribute a heartbreaking lack of confidence and the likelihood that Ophelia had probably never glanced at the scoreboards in the Classrooms. Professors organized each scoreboard by year and grade, and then into two separate lists - practical and theoretical. Hermione had yet to lose first place even once on theoreticals, but Ophelia was hardly far behind. As of third year she'd remained steadily in second, but even before then she was always top five. In terms of practical scores it was the opposite, but Hermione wasn't always able to earn second place while Ophelia dominated in first.
It wasn't necessarily that Ophelia was a genius, though she certainly had no small amount of talent. But she was dedicated and hard-working - and stunningly creative, if her disguise was any evidence.
The bell shook Hermione out of her thoughts and she looked at Ophelia. They'd been working on decoding some Engraved objects passed around by Professor Babbling - based on how Ophelia was putting away so much parchment, she'd probably finished ages ago just as Hermione had. But while Hermione had been lost in thought, Ophelia was testing arrays again. Technically combining Arithmancy and Runes for arrays was supposed to be N.E.W.T. level content, but Ophelia had already successfully enchanted an inside pocket of her robe to be expandable. She'd shown Hermione, who had been shocked that Ophelia had successfully given herself enough storage space to rival her trunk's - in the pocket of her robe!
Hermione had different focuses, herself, but still! It had been one thing when Ophelia invited her to try something that was already utterly mad last year, but it had gotten so much worse as time went on. Of course, Hermione dragged Ophelia into her own fair share of mad projects - the charm bracelets on their wrists were proof enough of that - but sometimes Ophelia's ideas truly beggared belief.
Together she and Ophelia left and headed to Potions. "Hopefully today won't be too bad. I believe Professor Snape said last class that today we'd be working on a salve," Hermione said while trying to keep her tone light.
Ophelia hummed while sifting through her papers, frowning at them, "Hermione? Do I have these right?" She passed the handful of papers to Hermione, who immediately took them.
She looked through them and frowned, glancing at them. Her head began to ache as she tried to comprehend what she was reading. It took her a moment until she realized Ophelia was combining Elder Futhark, Egyptian Heiroglyphs, Ancient Greek and Cuneiform. Somehow. "Gods, Harry, what on Earth is this?" She asked in disbelief, arching an eyebrow at her friend.
Ophelia flushed in embarrassment, "I'm trying to see if I can enchant my satchel." She lifted her satchel to explain. It looked perfectly fine as it was already fitted with an expansion enchantment that let it hold all of her school supplies.
"Yes, but it looks as if you're trying to make it so big you could walk inside of it?"
Ophelia nodded, "I read a book by Newt Scamander where he described his suitcase. Apparently his is quite large, so I looked at a lot of options and realized that if I string runes of different languages together just right, they can work together to actually improve the power of the enchantment. It's taken some work, but I think I might also be able to make it so I can expand the outside as well so that I can use my satchel, rather than having to get something that can already fit a person."
Hermione shook her head in disbelief as she looked through the work again. This… wasn't necessarily beyond her, but it was a sort of project Hermione herself never would have personally considered. She triple checked it and returned it to Ophelia. "Honestly I can't find a problem with it. But the dimensions you're suggesting there are massive! What are you planning to put in it?"
Ophelia flushed, "Well, I thought it'd be nice to have a sort of living space. A greenhouse, library, potions station… ugh, I should make sure to quintuple check the atmospheric charms I'll have to weave-in. I wonder if I should use the external atmosphere? No, probably best to have it make its own, in case the satchel ends up thrown in water or something. I'd make it imperturbable, but going artificial means I can have full control of the state of the greenhouse so I can start…" Ophelia started to ramble and Hermione tried to listen. She really did, but sometimes the amount of detail Ophelia went into scared even her.
And she was the one who created her own unique series of curses last year. Spellmaking was supposed to be hard. Merlin, magically expanded environmental-facsimile suitcases had been done before!
But not by a fourteen-technically-fifteen year old witch with a penchant for finding herself in trouble. Hermione made a mental remark to ask Professor McGonagall just how mad what they were doing was. Somehow she had a feeling the answer was 'extremely'.
"Potter!"
Hermione fought down a groan. Did Draco Malfoy alwayshave to be an insufferable git?
Ophelia didn't seem to notice he'd called out to her, though. She was still muttering to herself and sheafing through her papers, frowning at them as she seemed to consider them with scrutiny.
"He's busy, Malfoy. Just leave us alone," Hermione said with no small amount of exasperation. "We just came from Ancient Runes."
She made a point of saying the class name whenever she could because Malfoy had taken Care and Divination. The easy classes. Everyone knew he had, and it made Hermione's life easier since she didn't have to deal with him in Vector's class, which was shared with the Slytherins and Ravenclaws. She and Ophelia had been the only Gryffindors to take Arithmancy, while Ernie MacMillan and Hannah Abbott from Hufflepuff did the same, so it was all one class. Ancient Runes they shared with the Ravenclaws who'd taken it, so that wasn't quite so rowdy or intermingled.
Regardless, mentioning either Runes or Arithmancy always seemed to sour Malfoy's mood and make him leave them alone. Likely because of the Howler he'd gotten at the start of Third Year when Lucius Malfoy found out he'd not taken either of the challenging courses. Hermione had a wager that Malfoy expected her and Ophelia to be taking Care and Divination with Ronald, and that he'd only taken them so he could harass them. Of course that left Ronald to fend for himself, but Hermione actually found a guilty pleasure in listening to Lavender or Fay cackle about the things Malfoy said about Ronald.
Anyone who thought she didn't have a mean bone in her body really didn't know Hermione Granger at all.
"Oh, Runes? Whatcha workin' on, Harry?" Zabini asked casually as he glanced at Ophelia's sheets. He immediately reeled back, "Woah! What the fuck?!"
Ophelia jumped, startled, "I– wh– what is it, Blaise?"
Zabini looked thunderstruck as he looked at Ophelia's work again, "That… I've never seen anything like that."
Ophelia flushed in embarrassment, "Oh, it's… it's just a pet project of mine." She immediately shoved the papers into her satchel while Zabini looked at her with the kind of awe that Ronald tended to give Hermione whenever she did something well. Though on Zabini's face it looked more like admiration than Ron's envy.
Zabini shook his head and draped an arm over Ophelia's shoulder, "Pet project my arse. You're bloody brilliant. Granger, you saw what he was making?"
Hermione nodded, forcing herself not to smile when he had the tiniest pause before misgendering Ophelia. "I did. It's magnificent. I bet if the Professors saw it, they'd be floored," she agreed, a proud smile on her face as she beamed at Ophelia. The girl deserved more compliments. Maybe it would help bolster her confidence, too? Hermione certainly hoped so.
Daphne sidled up to Hermione, "Clue me in? What's going on?" She whispered.
Hermione grinned and turned her head to whisper back, "Those papers are for a suitcase meant to be more impressive than Newt Scamander's."
Daphne's eyes widened as she took in Hermione's words. Hermione knew she'd had to have read the same book.
"No… wait, seriously? I knew you were good, Harry, but… damn."
Malfoy looked between the lot of them with confusion while Lavender, Fay, Nott and Davis joined their group, all asking questions about Ophelia's 'pet project'. Ophelia seemed a bit uncomfortable from all the praise, but Hermione saw how her back straightened the tiniest bit and she had a flush of embarrassment on her face. Maybe it was because the praise was coming from friends that she didn't mind it so much?
Well, she definitely deserved it. Hermione knew for a fact that Ophelia spent as much if not more time reading and theorizing than she did. Ophelia was talented in a practical sense, and had an immense fondness for experimenting and absorbing information like a sponge. Not even Hermione understood how Ophelia could have come up with the idea of combining Runic Languages. In her opinion it was fantasy even by magical standards. Yet… Ophelia's papers made it seem like it could become reality.
"What tripe are you talking about?" Malfoy thundered as he stepped forwards. Hermione loathed how scrawny he was and how bulky Crabbe and Goyle were. Malfoy was able to push his way between Lavender and Davis easily while Crabbe and Goyle widened the gap. As much as she hated Draco Malfoy, the ferret had a brain. It just happened to be disgustingly prejudiced.
"None of your business, Malfoy," she shot at him darkly, carefully raising an arm protectively in front of Ophelia.
"I wasn't asking you, Mudblood," Malfoy hissed dismissively.
Malfoy went sprawling while Zabini flexed his fist - he'd just used the arm not around Ophelia's shoulders to punch Malfoy in the face. Hermione's eyes widened - it was the first time she'd ever seen Slytherins fight amongst themselves.
"Be nice to Hermione, Malfoy," Zabini (Blaise?) drawled, sounding uninterested but shooting Hermione a small smirk. "Honestly, she's got some of the best grades in our year. Why do you keep acting like you're above her?"
Malfoy fumed and drew his wand, but instead of at Blaise, he aimed it at Hermione. Her eyes widened as he fired a spell, "Densaugeo!" - The Abnormal Growth Hex.
Before she could react, Davis shot a spell from her wand at Malfoy's spell, "Furnunculus!" The spells collided and while Malfoy's just harmlessly hit the wall, Davis' smacked Malfoy himself right in the face. He immediately started to scream as giant boils appeared all over his skin.
Davis beamed and linked her arm with Hermione's. "I– why did you–?" She asked in confusion.
Davis smirked, "I happen to be invested in protecting my friends, Hermione," she teased before playfully poking her shoulder.
Hermione flushed, "I– well–"
"What is the meaning of this?" Professor Snape's voice came sharply from behind, and all the kids flinched when they saw him. He looked down at Malfoy, and then looked around. The only ones with wands drawn were Davi– no, Tracey and Zabini. "Davis. Explain yourself."
Tracey shrugged, "Malfoy shot a hex at Hermione after he called her the m-word." Hermione flushed and noticed that all of the other kids were earning glares from Daphne while Malfoy whimpered on the ground. Even Crabbe and Goyle didn't seem confident in mentioning Blaise's punch, and he'd slipped his punching hand in his pocket while still staying relaxed with his arm around Ophelia. It seemed more protective than anything, now. Honestly Hermione still had an arm in front of Ophelia, herself.
Hermione kept her mouth shut. Like Hell she'd get Blaise in trouble. He… yeah. He was her friend, too. Not just Ophelia's. Besides…
She was starting to realize that sometimes the truth wasn't as important as protecting her friends.
Snape looked at them, before he shook his head, "Ten points from Slytherin, I am ashamed to say. Crabbe, take Mister Malfoy to the Hospital Wing. The rest of you, inside. Davis, Zabini, put your wands away. Now."
Snape strode past them and Hermione traded a look with Blaise. They both grinned and he held up a fist. She was a bit surprised but bumped hers to his and they went into Potions as a group, Ophelia pairing off with Daphne while Blaise commandeered Nott's (Theo's?) attention and Hermione sat with Tracey.
She had a feeling it would be a good class today, and couldn't help smiling even in spite of the braces she was usually quite self-conscious of.
~~~~~Hermione~~~~~
"So what's with the metal on your teeth, Hermione?" Tracey asked as they left Potions. Next was History, and then they had dinner after that.
Hermione flushed a bit as she felt self-conscious, and thanked her lucky stars that her skin would only seem to darken a smidgen, "They're called braces. They're meant to straighten my teeth and make my front ones not look so big."
"Huh. Is that a muggle thing, then? Or did you take a wrong turn down Knockturn Alley?" Tracey sounded so serious that Hermione couldn't help but giggle.
"They're a muggle thing. My parents are dentists - like Healers, but they focus on dental care. Keeping teeth clean, straight and healthy."
Tracey's eyebrows rose in surprise, "Wow… well, I guess I can't be so surprised. Worldwide, muggles outnumber us like… I think three-thousand-to-one. Not a surprise they can… diversify their interests, I guess." She shrugged while Hermione nodded.
"Definitely. Oh, by the way, the answer to your question from yesterday is dark red." She flushed when mentioning her dress.
Tracey flashed a smile, "Perfect. Mine's dark orange. They'll go great together. Were you going to be wearing your hair up like it is?" She gestured to the messy bun Hermione had bullied her hair into atop her head. Some of the wild chestnut curls were still running loose.
Hermione shook her head, "No. I was thinking I'd try and use some Sleekeazy's. I'm just not sure how much. Lavender uses it sometimes, but her hair's not curly the way mine is." She blew a curl away from the front of her face and it proceeded to fall right back into place. She glared at the offending hair.
Tracey chuckled, "May I?" She gestured at the hair without touching it.
Hermione nodded, thankful that she'd asked. Sure, her arms were full, but someone touching her hair without asking would be infuriating and upsetting - even if they were a friend.
Tracey carefully moved the offending curl out of the way, tucking it in place so that it wouldn't fall again unless Hermione moved too quickly.
"Thanks, Tracey," she said with gratitude. But Tracey didn't move away. Instead she seemed to study Hermione's face closely. Hermione felt her face warm and something flutter inside as she looked at Tracey's eyes. They were hazel, and quite pretty.
She'd taken notice of Tracey a few times in the past. Her hair was gorgeous, and she had a nice figure, but she was also studious and charmingly funny in a way the few boys she'd had crushes on weren't. She had a sense of humor that was hard to place, but funny all the same.
"Hmm… no, I think I can still wait," Tracey murmured before winking and turning around. She headed off, leaving Hermione a bit stunned as she stood there confused.
"I… what?" She muttered, confused and lost. What on Earth did Tracey mean?
She felt a hand on her shoulder and jumped, a bit startled. Though she saw it was just Blaise.
"Good luck," he said with a laugh.
Hermione blinked in surprise and followed him, hoping she'd get an answer. "What did she mean 'she can wait'? What was she talking about?"
Blaise snorted and Theo, who was next to him, had a grin on his face. "What, Hermione?" The brown-haired boy asked, "Not sure what to do with your date?"
"I– how did you–?"
Theo snorted, "Hermione, Tracey is terrible at keeping secrets. Let me guess, she told you she would keep it a secret, didn't she?"
Hermione flushed and nodded, "I told Ophelia, but only because she asked me to the Ball. I don't like lying to her. I… I've done a terrible job of it, but I feel like her older sister."
Theo grinned at that, "Hey, siblings make mistakes. Point is you're making up for it. Blaise and I are still trying to make it up to Ophie for how we treated her." He shook his head shamefully, "Honestly, I always thought she just didn't like people. I need to stop judging books by their covers."
Blaise shrugged, "It's in the past, Theo. We've apologized, now we can only do better and prove that we meant that apology, you know?"
Hermione beamed, "Exactly."
Both boys grinned as they headed down a staircase - the trio were almost at the History classroom now. Hermione frowned.
"Wait, where is Ophelia?" She asked, a bit worried. She'd been so distracted by Tracey that she didn't see Ophelia leave the classroom.
"Relax, Hermione. She's with Daphne. They left first - seems Daphne wanted to make sure they'd avoid Parkinson - who seemed angry at you as well, and that's why we hung back with you," Blaise chided while subtly jerking a thumb behind him.
Hermione nodded in understanding, but didn't turn around. "Does Parkinson really like Malfoy that much?"
Theo shook his head, "Honestly? I doubt it. But she has a duty to the Malfoy family. Betrothal Contract and all that." He rolled his eyes in disgust, "Father would never - mostly because he knows better than to try and control me. I got Mum's 'Storm'. That's what he always calls it. Says he'd rather see me happy than deal with the fallout of trying to control me. He… he's done some really horrible things, but… I guess he didn't want to hurt me."
Hermione nodded slowly. She'd heard of Cadmus Nott being a Death Eater, but hadn't let it bother her because, like Ophelia, Theo was a good person in spite of his relatives. Not to mention how kind Theo was. She just couldn't bring herself to judge someone for their relatives - not when the person in question was so obviously good.
Blaise grinned, "See? Told you she wouldn't judge you."
Theo lightly shoved Blaise, but Hermione could see the relief on his face. She felt her own fall.
"How often do people judge you… because of…?"
Theo shrugged, "Often enough. I know in our world it doesn't happen to you, but I'd say it's about as frequent as muggles judge you for your skin. They may be very, very different things, but… you can't deny the similarities."
Hermione nodded sadly. "Judging people for something out of their control - the color of their skin, the people they love, their gender, their relatives… I hate that so much." She flicked her eyes forwards to where Ophelia was sifting through a book while she walked with Tracey and Daphne. She felt a tightness in her chest as she thought of her best friend. Her little sister.
"People can be so cruel," she murmured.
~~~~~Hermione~~~~~
"Hey," she greeted Ophelia.
"Hm? Oh, hey there 'Mione. What's up?" The smaller girl asked as she shifted in her spot on the couch so Hermione could sit close, like she preferred. The Common Room was, of course, deserted - it always was this late at night. Especially in December when people preferred to study in the quieter environments of their own dorms for their end-of-term exams.
"I think I need to tell you something," Hermione admitted softly. A lump formed in her chest, but she didn't let it rise to her throat. Ophelia needed to know the truth.
The smaller girl sat up straighter, setting aside her books. Naturally she was self-studying - like Hermione, she'd probably finished her homework ages ago. "Of course, 'Mione. Anything. You know I'll always hear you out."
And that's why I can't bring myself to lie to you anymore,Hermione thought with a smile. She gently wrapped an arm around Ophelia's shoulder and took a slow, deep breath. The girl gave a tiny flinch at her touch, but Hermione knew it was both reflex and worry regarding her binder rather than any actual fear.
"I know you're a girl," she whispered softly. "I've known since first year. I've seen how you've changed through your puberty. I promise I'm not upset, mad, and don't think less of you. I swear it."
Ophelia had become tense and started to shake. Hermione squeezed her shoulder reassuringly and some of the tension seemed to leave, but she still gave Hermione a worried look.
"I… y-you… p-please, don't… I can't…" Her voice faltered as tears threatened in her eyes. Hermione made the gentle squeeze into more of a one-armed hug.
"I'd never tell anyone. I swear it. I know Alicia and the Slytherins know, but that's just because I see how happy and secure you look around them. I… I felt like after how I've treated you in the past, you deserve honesty from me." She rested her head against Ophelia's, and the smaller girl slumped into her embrace.
"I'm just… so scared, 'Mione. All the time, I– I try not to be. I'm a Gryffindor. I'm supposed to be brave, but… I can't even… I can't even be me. I have to… to lie to everyone. It makes me so sick, and I hate myself for it, I–"
Hermione tightened the hug, "I know, Ophelia. I know."
Ophelia froze again, "How–"
"I told Daphne I knew. She told me your preferred name. Like I said, I want to be honest with you… I… Ophelia, I think of you as a sister." She gave a wet chuckle at the admission. She'd never said it aloud before that afternoon to Theo and Blaise, but saying it to Ophelia herself felt a bit silly.
Ophelia looked at her in surprise, but she saw the start of a nervous smile, "A… a sister?"
Hermione nodded, "Yes. I've felt this way… ever since you saved me from the Troll, honestly. You've always been skittish and anxious, and… I know you've had your fair share of struggles." She tightened her hug again, letting out a sad sigh. "I won't ask you to tell me anything before you're ready. Just… remember you can always rely on me."
Ophelia leaned into the hug a bit, and for the first time Hermione saw her truly, fully relax. She seemed to practically sink into the couch.
"I want so many things, but I'm too afraid to have them."
Hermione just nodded, listening quietly. She knew Ophelia just needed her to listen right now, and she would.
"I… I want to wear girl's clothes. I want to stop wearing this awful binder. I want to be able to use the girl's dorm. I want to be called 'she' and 'her' and 'Miss Potter'." She began to sniffle as her voice warbled. Whatever Charm she'd been using on her voice broke, and Hermione heard her true voice. Softer, higher pitched and distinctly feminine.
"I want to wear the blouse and-and skirt uniform. I want to-to be able to wear makeup how-how a girl does. I want-want to…" She sniffled and Hermione began to gently stroke her hair, still keeping Ophelia held close. "... I want to be a girl, Hermione. I really, really do."
"I know, Ophelia. I know."
Ophelia hiccuped, but continued. "I-I want to stop needing to cast my-my voice Charm. I want to-to have sleepovers and-and girl's nights." She clutched Hermione's cardigan tightly, and Hermione had to fight not to cry as well. Ophelia needed her to be strong, even as her heart broke hearing her little sister asking for such small, simple things. Things she should have been able to have for years, but had been neglected because of her abusive relatives and her own fears. Because of how desperately she feared for her safety.
A single tear slid down her face, but she continued to listen.
"I… I want to be able to hear you call me your sister in-in front of everyone. I want to-to wear a-a gown to the B-Ball with Daphne. I want to be able to be a girl and… and…" Her voice became impossible soft. Even as close as she was, Hermione had to strain to hear it.
"I don't want to live with my relatives anymore, 'Mione. They hurt me."
She drew Ophelia into a full hug, letting the smaller girl sob into her shoulder. They were the most agonizing sounds Hermione ever heard. She squeezed Ophelia as tightly as she could, even as the girl grabbed fistfuls of her cardigan on her back and each sob was punctuated by a shudder, hiccup or tremor. She'd probably never admitted this to anyone before.
She needed help. She wasn't saying it outright, but she needed and probably wanted Hermione's help.
"It's okay. I promise I'll be here for you. I swear it, little sister."
Ophelia's sobs only got louder as she whispered her warbled thanks as she took hysterical, nearly-hyperventilating breaths. Hermione held the small girl until she wore herself out and fell asleep in her arms.
"Oh, my sweet little sister… I promise I'll do everything I can for you," Hermione murmured as quietly as possible.
And she meant it. She was done lying to her sister.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Next Chapter: Ophelia's POV Returns