CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE Constellations and Consequences
It was a good few minutes before Ophelia moved from her spot. When she did regain her strength, Professor McGonagall had already escorted Sirius and James inside for their punishment.
In a sort of trance, she went to the courtyard and took out her Astronomy notes.
Regulus sauntered by, sneering at her. "All right, Lupin?"
She frowned. "What business is it of yours?"
Regulus was very much unlike his brother, in more than just ideals. He was short and his long, black-blue hair was tied back with a red ribbon.
"Saw you with my brother."
"Ah Reg, he's only your brother by blood."
"Mum's not going to be too pleased that he's taken up with a Gryffindor." he continued.
"He hasn't taken up with anyone." said Ophelia coldly. "What your mother thinks is of no concern to me. She'd do best to keep her crooked nose out of Sirius' life."
Regulus sat down across from her on the stone bench. "I wouldn't get too wrapped up in my brother's life. Lately he's flitted from girl to girl that it makes it so hard to keep track of who he's with. He has a certain charm with witches, have you ever noticed?"
"Like you care anyway." she scoffed.
He faked a smile. "I was just looking out for you, Ophelia. We Purebloods have to stick together."
"I would rather fill my mouth with Acid Pops then stick with you."
Regulus' expression twisted into a look fury. "You'll regret that, Lupin."
"What are you going to do, Reg? Get your Slytherin buddies to hex me?" she smiled, beginning to enjoy this. "A real wizard would do it himself."
He pointed his wand at her, but a moment later thought better of it.
"Too many people. I'll leave her for Dora."
"Just as I thought." said Ophelia. "Run along now, Reg. I've nearly met my talk to gits quotient for the day."
He spat at her feet and left.
"Right," she muttered to herself. "And I just happened to be wearing my favourite boots. Scourgify."
Following a few moments of shuffling through her notes, she stuffed them into her bag.
A clear bell chimed, signaling the beginning of dinner.
Ophelia's heart gave a nervous jolt as she thought of seeing Sirius. She got to her feet and joined the groups of students filing into the castle.
She clutched her books close to her chest and sat down at her usual spot along the Gryffindor table.
A few minutes later Lily sat down next to her, wrapping her tiny arms around Ophelia's shoulders. "What did you do? Talia told me you went after Snape. Oh I wish you hadn't, I don't care what that prat thinks of me. Did you get in trouble?"
Talia joined them. "What did you do?"
"I somehow managed to get into his head and told him I knew what he was thinking. He didn't like that too much. Then James dropped him into the lake." she replied.
Lily suppressed a smile. "That's horrible."
"I don't know about that."
"What about you?" Ophelia asked. "Are you okay?"
Lily dismissed it with a wave of her hand. "I'm perfectly fine. It's not the first time I've been called... that by a Slytherin, and I doubt it'll be the last. Whenever that happens I just remind myself that I'd probably take them in a duel."
Remus and Pete sat down across from them.
Remus helped himself to the mashed potatoes, scooping it into a tall pile on his plate. "James and Sirius are still with Professor McGonagall. I doubt we'll see them before the Astronomy OWL."
Ophelia felt a pang of guilt. "Maybe I should talk to her..."
"No you won't." said Remus firmly. "They can handle--"
"Stop telling me what I can and can't do!" she cried.
"I didn't mean--"
"You didn't mean what?" she repeated. "Yelling at me last night in your dorm? Or telling me leave it to Sirius this afternoon?"
A pink blush crept onto his face. "Yeah, sorry." he muttered.
"It's fine." she replied, downing a glass of banana juice.
"Phe, can you help me with some last-minute review?" asked Pete.
She nodded. "Yeah I guess. What did you need help with?"
"I always get October confused with May, with the seasonal positions and all." he explained.
Talia nudged her. "What are you so happy about?" she asked quietly.
"Er.. what?"
"It's practically radiating off of you, it's kind of disgusting." she smirked. "What's happened?"
Ophelia shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"You can't fake emotions, Phe."
"Phe," began Lily. "What is the declination for Ursa Minor?"
She thought for a moment. "Seventy degrees."
"And the ascension?"
"Fifteen hours."
Lily scratched her chin with her sugared quill. "That doesn't make sense, we won't be able to see it tonight, it'll already have passed."
"Not true." replied Remus. "We'll catch the tail end of it."
Lily scribbled some notes in her book and continued reading.
"You have to eat, Lil." said Ophelia, snatching the book away from her friend.
She grumpily began picking at a dinner roll.
Talia was eating her sixth piece of bacon from her plate. Ophelia looked around and couldn't find the platter.
"Tell me you didn't conjure bacon, Tal." she chuckled.
Talia held her plate up. "Have some, it's the best I've ever had."
"No thanks. But you might want to drink some water or eat some bread so your heart doesn't give out on you."
Talia grinned and continued to eat away at her bacon.
Ophelia glanced up to the professor's table, where McGonagall had just returned, looking quite irritated.
"Professor McGonagall is back, where are Sirius and James?"
"Why?" asked Remus suspiciously.
"Because she was punishing them and now she's back." said Ophelia. "Where are they?"
Her brother shrugged his shoulders and sipped from his juice goblet. "Why do you care?"
"I don't care.. I just want to know."
"I've eaten, can we leave?" asked Lily, collecting her books.
Ophelia nodded and together they made their way to the quiet dormitory.
Lily had her head buried in the Astronomy textbook, so it was up to Ophelia to steer her right and make sure they didn't bump into anyone.
"Haileybury Hammers." she muttered once they reached the Fat Lady. The portrait swung back and they made their way up to their room.
Lily collapsed onto her bed and retrieved her new telescope from the trunk.
Ophelia shuffled over to the window, watching the pale pink sun dip below the Forbidden Forest, the sky completely void of clouds.
"It'll be a good night for our OWL." she said dreamily.
"Oh, yes it will." Lily answered, not daring to glance up from her work.
She walked back and laid down upon her own bed, resting her head on the soft pillow. "I'm going to take a nap."
"You should study."
"I can't read anymore. Just wake me up when it's time, alright?"
"Mm-hmm." she mumbled.
Just before the grandfather clock in the common room chimed eleven, Lily nudged her friend awake. "The OWL starts in ten minutes, we have to go."
Ophelia rubbed the sleep from her eyes and sat up in bed. She had dreamt of a dark alley behind a derelict building. After putting it in the Mellezerant, she got to her feet.
Lily was panting, almost to the point of hyperventilation.
Her friend rubbed her back in small circles. "Calm down. It's Astronomy, the easiest of all our classes, and I could not fathom you getting less than an E, alright? Now come on, breathe in calm blue oceans..."
"Breathe out hot fire." she finished, exhaling deeply.
"Are you we good now?"
Lily nodded, smiling. "Yes, thank you." she slung her telescope over her shoulder. "Let's go."
They headed outside, where the rest of the Fifth Years had already set up their telescopes.
She and Lily chose a spot near the back and began screwing the small pieces together.
Ophelia wiped the glass lens on her robes and locked it into place.
"Phe!"
She spun round to face the Marauders a row behind them, putting their telescopes together. James grinned and elbowed Sirius in the ribs.
She turned back to Lily. "Oh god!" she hissed.
"What's wrong?" asked Lily.
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing at all." said Ophelia polishing the correcting plate.
Lily glanced behind them. "Did something happen with--"
Sirius stood next to her, hands stuffed inside his robes."Phe, I--"
"We are about to begin the exam." said the moderator. "Will you please take your places behind your telescopes."
Sirius smiled and returned to his spot behind them.
"Have I missed anything?" asked Talia, hastily setting up her telescope. "I was... detained."
"No, we're just about to start."
Professor Sinistra instructed them to take out their star charts and begin.
Ophelia positioned the body and looked into the eye piece. She jotted down where Jupiter was in relation to the Vega constellation. Which led to Corona Borealis and Venus.
Next she placed Mercury, Crux and Bootes. When she glanced at her pocket watch, it was already half past midnight.
She scribbled down the locations of the Galactic Bulge of the Milky Way and Canis Majoris.
She smiled to herself as she placed Sirius and Adhara on her chart.
Beside Ophelia, Lily was muttering aloud, as she usually did during exams. "Right ascension, fifteen hours. Is that right? Yes, yes it is. Negative forty-five degrees."
Behind them, James was straining his ears for what Lily was saying, and quickly copying it to his own chart.
She shook her head and turned back to her writing.
"Ten more minutes." called Professor Sinistra.
Ophelia looked back to her telescope, and hastily copied down the remaining planets.
A flash of light flew across the sky.
'A shooting star.' she thought to herself. 'I wish...'
"Quills down, please." said Sinistra. "Roll up your parchments and I will take them."
A few seconds later forty exams zoomed up to the front and she expertly caught them, remaining on her feet unlike the dear Professor Flitwick.
Lily was smiling like mad. "It's over. The OWLs are all done with."
Ophelia dismantled her telescope and stuffed it back into it's carrying case.
"All set? Let's go then."
"Phe."
They both turned around to face Sirius, who was standing awkwardly apart from Remus and James.
"Er.. Lily, can I catch up with you later?" said Ophelia.
She looked between the two of them and giggled. "Yeah, of course. No more studying, I'll be up all night."
The students quickly left the Tower, eager to return to their dorms.
Once the last straggler had left, Ophelia perched herself on a window sill high above the castle.
He made his way over to her and leaned against the cold stone wall.
"So th-that.. thing that happened this afternoon, we've never done that before." she stuttered.
"The part where we put Snape in the lake? Or the part where I kissed you?" Sirius grinned.
"The part where you kissed me."
"Ah yes, I thought you were referring to that. So obviously I... have.. feel.. I like you. More than a friend." he added, after a moment's hesitation.
Ophelia's heart fell into her stomach and the two did a sort of dance. "You like me?"
"Yes."
She quickly crossed the distance that separated them and took Sirius' face in her hands, kissing him.
They broke apart a few minutes later, a wide smile spread across his lips. "I'm guessing that means you feel the same?"
"Yeah. It does... I mean, I do. Very much so." she admitted.
"Does that mean I wouldn't have to beg for you to go out with me?"
"Apart from that being quite hilarious, no. You will not have to beg."
"Great. How 'bout.. er, first night back?" asked Sirius.
"Th-That's perfect."
"Perfect." he repeated, taking her hand in his and leading her back to the Gryfindor common room.
