CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Surrounded by Their Best Opportunity

Ophelia packed the last of her things into her trunk.

Lily plopped down on the bed next to her, a huge smile spread across her face. "This is going to be incredible. We're going to be a few feet from Peter Townsend and Roger Daltry..."

"It's festival seating, Lil. I mean, there are going to be a few thousand people there besides ourselves. I doubt will ever going to be a few feet from the great ones."

"Oh well. We'll still have an awesome time."

Ophelia's heart sank. "About that.... did I mention that Sirius and James are coming with us?" she blurted out as fast as her lips could move.

"What?!" cried Lily. "Potter and his little friend are coming?"

"Don't call Sirius 'James' little friend'. He has a name."

"Why are they coming?"

"Well... because they're our friends--"

"Your friends." she muttered.

"Lil, shut up, they're you're friends too. And Sirius really likes The Who..."

"Ah, I see. That's what this is all about."

"Come on, we have to get to the train."

"See? You don't even want to talk about it. But I know. It's my job as your best friend to know." she said, dragging her things downstairs.

"What are you talking about?"

"You're little crush on Sirius." hissed Lily.

"What?" Ophelia cried, losing her footing and tumbling down the last few steps and into the common room.

James howled with laughter. "You really know how to make an entrance, Phe."

She stood up and threw a nasty look at Lily. "Haha, you're so witty. Can we go now?"

"Why are you bringing your trunks?" asked Sirius, motioning to his lone bag.

"Because we are. Come on, let's go." repeated Ophelia.

The four of them, with the addition of Talia boarded the train in Hogsmeade. Their compartment was unusually quiet.

"Fine." huffed Lily. "I take it back."

"Thank you." Ophelia smiled.

Sirius and James exchanged a confused look. "Take what back?"

"Nothing." said Lily and Ophelia in unison.

"Although I still think she likes him."

Ophelia swatted her friends arm. "Stop it! I don't."

"I didn't say any--" Lily giggled nervously. "Oh yeah... sorry."

"Girls can be so weird."

Ophelia frowned. She usually didn't pick up two thoughts in one day.

"I wonder if I'll still like Ian after all this time."

She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the noise.

"Lily looks so beautiful."

"I wonder what I'll wear tonight. If I borrow something from Phe she'll never know."

"Why is Potter staring at me like that? Do I have something in my teeth?"

"Off Limits. Just keep telling yourself that: Off Limits."

She frowned and rubbed her temples, wishing that she had actually read the books Noah had given her.

"Is everything alright?" asked Lily.

Ophelia cautiously opened one eye and peered around the cabin at her friends anxious faces.

"What? Yes, everything is fine."

"Your hair is turning red." she muttered under her breath.

She glanced at her reflection in the dark window. Her hair had turned a bright red color and was now flaring out at the ends.

"Whoa." cried James. "That's like Metamorphmagus stuff. How are you doing that?"

"Er.. I don't..."

James strained up his face like she had done. "Is it working?"

Sirius elbowed him in the ribs. "Give it a rest."

"No. I want red hair. That's so much cooler than..." He ran a hand through his own, making it stick up in places.

Lily took her hand. "Let's go to the bathroom."

The two girls ran down the corridor and into the toilets.

Lily locked the door behind them, "What's going on? Are you doing that on purpose?"

Ophelia wiped her eyes. "Does it look like I am?"

"Does it have anything to do with... you know, you being a Seer?" asked Lily, lifting a strand.

She nodded. "It's a side effect or something."

"Can you change it back?"

"I wouldn't know how." Ophelia shrugged.

"Well, it is a nice shade at least."

She pulled it up into a ponytail. "That's the best I can do."

They returned to the compartment, where Sirius and James were talking closely and Talia was staring dreamily out the window.

"Your hair's still the same." remarked James.

"Congratulations Potter, you're not colorblind." Lily giggled.

Talia looked up from her daydream. "Has your hair always been red, Phe?"

"Can we please drop the hair thing?" cried Ophelia. "So it changed color! I'm a witch! Stranger things have happened, you know."

"Sorry." muttered Talia.

James nudged Sirius. "Come on." he said softly, "Let's go see what Slytherins are on the train."

The two left the cabin, leaving Lily, Talia and Ophelia to ride the rest of the way in silence. Once they arrived at the bustling station, they got their things and disembarked.

Uncle Adolphus was waiting for them on the platform.

Ophelia ran over to him as he enveloped her in a hug. "I missed you, butterdrop. Your hair looks beautiful."

She grinned. "Thanks, Dolph."

Sirius joined her side. "Adolphus, long time no see."

"Ah, young Mr Black. You've grown since I last saw you."

He shrugged it off. "I heard you've been giving my father a hard time at the Ministry. Not hard enough if you ask me."

Adolphus smiled and shook his head. "And James, I see you've turned into a quite a Ladykiller."

"He likes to think he is." added Lily, stepping in front of James. "Hullo. My name's Li--"

Adolphus shook her slender hand. "Lily Evans, it's a pleasure to finally meet you, after all that my niece has told me." He looked behind her. "And you must be Talia."

She nodded awkwardly. "Y-Yes."

"Well, you're all here, yes?" he said. "We better be on our way then. I brought a Ministry car, thought you might enjoy that."

"You're so funny, Dolph." replied Ophelia dryly.

He led them out to the parking lot, which smelled heavily of wet pavement, and they got into the black car.

Within a few minutes they had reached his London home.

"Would you like something to eat before you go?" he asked, shutting the door behind them.

"Sure." said James quickly, wiping his hands on his robes. "Thanks Uncle Dolph."

Ophelia frowned. "What exactly did you do to the Slytherins?"

"Er.. let's just say that Snivellus may find it... impossible to leave the train." he smirked.

"You confined him? During Easter holiday nonetheless!" hissed Lily.

James shrugged. "It's his own fault for being such a git, Evans. Did you think about that?"

"You're horrible."

"Guys, come on." laughed Ophelia. "Can we save it? I"m starving."

They sat down to a noisy meal of seasoned turkey with mash and gravy, though Lily and James honored her wish to not argue at the table.

Only once they had finished, and Adolphus' house elf had cleared away the plates, did Sirius look at his pocket watch.

"We better be going." he said, getting to his feet. "As always, Dolph, it's been fun."

Ophelia elbowed him in the side. "Shut up."

"What time does your little concert get out?" asked Uncle Adolphus.

"Around twelve."

"You know you're all welcome to stay here for the weekend."

"I know," said Ophelia, squirming in her chair. "And that's really generous of you but I--"

"You want to get back to the Manor." he finished.

"Right. I miss it. But we'll see you in a few days."

"Hell, we might even see you tonight." said Sirius.

Adolphus laughed. "No, that's way too late for an old man like me. Besides, I have some business at the Ministry in the morning."

"Some very important business."

Ophelia ignored this comment. "You're not old, Dolph. You're younger than Noah, and he's fifty-five."

He only shrugged. "I feel old, butterdrop. Older than I used to be at least." He shook away some distant thought or memory and forced a smile. "Well, you have fun at the What concert."

No one bothered to correct his mistake, as they left the house and walked down to the venue.

A large crowd of Muggles were gathered outside the doors, waiting to be let in, and by some miracle, Talia spotted Becca and Ian in the crowd.

"Hey!" cried Becca, her teeth chattering even though it was the middle of April. "We were beginning to think you weren't going to make it ."

"No, we're here." said Talia, eying Ian nervously.

"Well well, look at the boys Ophelia brought."

"Are you going to introduce us?" Becca asked charmingly.

Ophelia felt her insides twist into a ball. "Er.. yeah, this is James Potter and Sirius Black."

Becca let out an extremely girlish giggle. "That is the most interesting name I've ever heard."

James grinned. "Well, thank you. Most would say James is a pretty common name, but I guess it all comes down to the Named, wouldn't you agree?"

"I was actually referring to your friend Sirius. But I guess if you lived in Alaska or someplace, then yes, James would be a... unique name."

Lily stifled back her laughter. "I like her already." she muttered to Ophelia.

"How did you get such a name... Sirius?"

"My parents gave it to me." he said simply.

She linked her arm through his and began walking to the building. "And such wit! You and I are going to get along terrificly."

"Phe!" screeched Lily. "Your hair."

Ophelia's hair, which had since gone limp, was now in tight curls and just as red- if not more -than ever.

She whipped her wand out of her purse and shoved it into her jacket pockets.

"Hey!" cried James upon seeing this. "You told us to leave our... sticks at your uncles, and you brought yours."

"I'm not feeling very fond of Muggles right now."

James grinned and took out his wand. "Good. Because I didn't listen to you anyway."

Lily stood in front of her friend, smiling the way she did when she had correctly answered a question in class."And why exactly are you disliking Muggles at the moment?"

"Not for any particular reason." she said through clenched teeth. "But it would be quite terrible if that Becca fell flat on her pretty little face."

Lily took her by the arm and away from James."What are you doing? You can't jinx someone just because they're hitting on a boy you like."

"I don't like Sirius."

"Bollocks!" she said fiercely, her long hair whipping her face. "I don't know why you're being so... stubborn about this, but you do. I get it, Phe, I really do. You can't help who you like. But you can accept it and deal with it."

"Lily I--"

"And furthermore, you can't hex some Muggle because she thinks Sirius is attractive, because news flash, half the girls at school do."

"Half the gir--"

"Now either be a good witch or give me your wand."

Ophelia looked as if she was a child who had just been disciplined. "I'll be good."

"Right. Let's get back to Potter because I don't trust him around Muggles."

"And what, you do usually?" she smirked.

"He has that weird gleam in his eye that means he's planning something." she replied suspiciously.

As they joined the crowd at the doors, Ophelia leaned over to James.

"Wanna help dear Phe out?" she whispered. "I promised Lil I wouldn't do magic."

He shrugged. "Sure. I don't suppose she could hate me more than she does now. What did you have in mind?"

"Becca. I want her to fall."

James raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Do I need a reason?"

"I guess not, but making her fall seems kind of tame."

"Well feel free to improvise." said Ophelia quietly, watching her and Sirius intently.