A/N: I bet you all thought I had died. But you were wrong, hah! Sorry about the long wait, I had a terrible case of writer's block. But now I'm back. Although I said I wouldn't do this again, you guys deserve it after the long wait; I will post the next chapter by Thursday or Friday. We are getting near to a plotline that I love, so that'll be my incentive to write. Oh! And there is a tiny OOC, Mean Girls reference. I didn't plan on putting it in, but it just kinda happened when I was writing it.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE Vega Mizar
Ophelia took in the familiar sights and smells of the castle as she followed behind her friends. They entered the Great Hall and made their way over to the long, Gryffindor table.
Talia glanced round the Hall anxiously, looking for any sign of Mordechai. Her failed attempt made her grumpy as she tried desperately to drown out the laughter around her.
James strode into the school in his usually self-assured manner. His head was held high, as it was every year; only this time, he held the knowledge that he was dating Lily Evans, the most beautiful girl in school.
Remus followed behind his friends. An unusual cloud of apprehension hung over him, haunting his every step. He couldn't pinpoint what exactly was making him feel this way, but he didn't like it.
"Can everyone please just for one second stop thinking?" pleaded Ophelia, rubbing small circles into her temples.
James made a strained face as he struggled to comply. "Even when I'm trying not to think, I'm thinking. Sorry, Phe."
She sat down and ran her hand along the grainy wood of the bench. "It's the same as it's always been," she thought to herself.
Sirius' eyes darted around the room, counting the endless opportunities open to him. The nervous looking First-Years entered the Great Hall, keeping a close distance to Professor McGonagall. Sirius reached into his robes and pulled out a candy bar and after breaking off a piece, he handed it to Ophelia.
"Are you trying to start a tradition?"
He shrugged and helped himself to a corner. "It helped tide us over to dinner last year, I figured it was smart to have it around this year."
The Sorting Ceremony progressed quite slowly, with the usual numbers being sorted into each of the Four Houses. Once it had finished, Professor Dumbledore rose from the Head Table and motioned for the students to become quiet.
"Welcome back, everyone. We find ourselves at the starting line of yet another year, with the finish nowhere in sight," he began.
"Is this old Dumblydore's idea of a pep talk?" muttered James under his breath.
"I hope your summer breaks were safe and enjoyable. And as I see all of your smiling faces looking back at me... or at your empty plates," Professor Dumbledore raised his eyebrow to James, "I am compelled to save the speech for another day, one when you haven't spent hours within a train compartment, perhaps? Let us eat."
The Headmaster rose his arms high above his head and platters of food appeared in front of them.
They quickly filled their plates and began eating a meal of roast chicken and mash, with corn and chilled banana juice.
Ophelia, who wasn't feeling very hungry at the moment, took a few bites of the chicken and started moving the food around her plate.
"I wonder what my timetable will be like, if I'll have any classes with the rest."
She looked beside her to where Remus was sitting and squeezed his arm. "'Course you will, we'll have our standards together. Just relax, Rem."
"What ar--" realisation came to his eyes, "Right, thanks Phe."
Sirius tapped her on the shoulder. "Do you want to go for a walk?"
"A walk?" she grinned, "Sure, I'd love to go for a walk."
The two of them got to their feet and left the table. Once they had left the Hall, Sirius and Ophelia were plunged into darkness. Six years of navigating the hallways had turned useful as they shuffled their way through the castle and to the common room.
"Nyctea Scandiaca." he muttered, opening the portrait of the Fat Lady. The two stepped inside, the fireplace already lit and illuminating the room.
"Run upstairs and grab a sweater," Sirius instructed her, "Than we can have a bit of a walk outside."
Ophelia frowned, "You actually wanted to go for a walk? I thought you wanted to, you know... walk."
"Oh, well I do want to snog a bit, but I wanted to be a gentleman and say we were going for a walk," he smirked, "Good job ruining it there, Phe."
She rolled her eyes and ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time, until she reached the dormitory she shared with Lily, Talia and Mai.
Ophelia glanced round the room-- something was different. The bed in the corner that had gone unused for the past six years now had clothes and things piled on top of it.
A pretty girl with protuberant blue eyes and tight blond curls sat up from behind the heap. "Oh... hullo. Sorry about the mess, I've only just arrived."
She made her way over to Ophelia and shook her hand. "I'm Vega... Mizar. I've transferred from Beauxbatons."
"Ophelia Lupin," she replied shakily, "So you're a Sixth Year?"
"Yeah, my lessons were just becoming too easy for me." Vega admitted, putting the clothes away into her trunk.
Ophelia flopped down on her own bed, "Well, you'll love Hogwarts. And you're lucky you're a Gryffindor, though I suppose Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff aren't that bad. As long as you stay away from Slytherin, you'll do fine."
"My old school didn't have Houses... didn't have boys either."
She grinned, "There are definitely some attractive boys here, though the best one is taken."
A loud crash followed by a string of curses echoed through the dormitory.
"Dammit, I forgot," cried Ophelia, jumping to her feet, "Come on, you can meet Sirius."
She led her down the staircase to where Sirius was slumped against the stone wall. He stood up, rubbing the side of his head, "I got worried."
Ophelia gently parted his hair looking for any cuts or bumps. "Worried of what? You're fine, but you have to remember that boys aren't allowed in the girls dorm."
"Right," he chuckled, "Collapsing stairs won't keep me away."
"Sirius, I'd like you to meet Vega Mizar; she's just transferred from Beauxbatons."
"The Veela school... I nearly lost Phe to the Veela school." he said gravelly.
Ophelia rolled her eyes once more, "First off, you know it's not a Veela school. And secondly, I didn't consider for a moment going anywhere that Remus wasn't going."
"Either way, you still got the letter."
Vega smiled, her face brightening, "Well it was a pleasure meeting both of you, but I'm afraid if I want to get to bed tonight, I'll have to work on my things."
"Yeah, we don't want to keep you," said Ophelia, "I'll see you later tonight."
With a friendly wave, Vega disappeared down the corridor.
"I liked her," she said, taking Sirius' hand in hers.
"I'm not sure about that whole Veela thing though. And how about that accent, where do you think she's from?" asked Sirius, leading her back into the common room.
She planted her feet on the ground, refusing to budge. "Do we have to go for a walk? I really don't feel like it..."
"I thought we established that we weren't really going for a walk?"
"Yes," she argued, "But I don't want to go through the hastle of getting ourselves out there an--"
"Then where do you suggest we go?"
Ophelia walked round the couch and fell back onto it, "Why do we have to go anywhere?"
"Good point," he grinned, flopping down next to her.
A folded up copy of the Daily Prophet had been left laying on the couch, as if placed their on purpose. Ophelia picked it up and began thumbing through the pages.
"Hello?" cried Sirius, "Boyfriend who wanted to go for a walk sitting next to you."
"Hold on, this is interesting..."
"What could be interesting in the bloody newspaper?"
She spread the article in front of him, a picture of a scowling man staring back at them. The caption, "Man questioned under Veritaserum reveals truths behind Voldemort's growing army. Further details on pages four through five."
"Voldemort?" frowned Sirius, "I thought the Ministry was confidant they were going to find him."
"Obviously the Ministry isn't as powerful as we led to believe." Ophelia muttered, "They say he and his followers are responsible for the attack in Edinburgh last July."
"That thing that happened during our date?"
"The very same." she turned to the aforementioned pages, a brief smile lighting up her face, "Listen to what it says, 'Adolphus Lupin, Head Auror responsible for the capture of the wanted wizards, also led the questioning. It was under his direction that key secrets were discovered about Voldemort, including the motives for the recent attacks. Lupin was reached by the Daily Prophet and had this to say, 'Hopefully this new evidence will lead to the capture of Voldemort. That is all the department can release at this moment, but we would like the public to know that we are exhausting all available man power for this particular mission.' As of the first attack in March of 1973, four of his followers have been sent to Azkaban.'" Ophelia took a deep breath as she finished reading the article, "So that's good, right? They're close to capturing him."
Sirius shrugged, "It doesn't sound that way."
"What do you mean?"
"Well the way I took it, the Ministry wants us to believe that they're close to finding this wizard. But they're not releasing key information, they want to have the advantage over him," Sirius explained, "I don't think they're any closer to capturing him than they were three years ago."
"That's not a very encouraging thought." Ophelia huffed, crossing her arms over her chest, "If Dolph is leading the search, than this.. Voldemort,will be caught soon."
Sirius held his tongue and nodded, "You're probably right, Phe."
The others entered the common room a few moments later, looking rather disheveled. James, his hair more unruly than usual, ran over to their side. "First Years coming. Might want to get a move on, eh?"
They both nodded and reluctantly got to their feet. As the group of them took to the stairs, a heavy lump formed in Ophelia's throat. She would be starting a new course load the next day, which would lead her to becoming an Auror. In a few years, she, James and Sirius would be out at night, hunting for dark wiz--
"Phe?" Sirius chuckled, snapping her from her thoughts, "Are you alright?"
She forced a smile, "Yeah, never better."
"I guess... good night then," he replied awkwardly.
"Yeah, good night." Ophelia repeated, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.
She followed Lily, Talia and Mai up the winding staircase and into their dormitory. The arrival of the new roommate had slipped her mind, replaced instead by worries of the approaching year.
"Er... h-hello.." stuttered Talia.
Ophelia dove between them, "Oh! Vega, I'd like you to meet your new roommates, Talia, Mai and Lily."
"Hullo." Vega replied nervously.
Talia cocked her head to the side, "Where are you from?"
"That's so rude, Talia, you can't just ask people where they're from." Lily lectured, elbowing her in the side.
Vega dismissed it with a wave of her hand, "It's not a problem. I'm from Dunedin."
The girls stared back at her blankly.
"That's in New Zealand," she added.
"I went to New Zealand once," said Mai, strolling over to her bed and sitting down, "Lucien was bit by a Nogtail."
"There's Nogtails in New Zealand?" Ophelia screeched. "I hate those creepy things..."
Mai only shrugged and began unlacing her boots, "Nogtails are everywhere if you know where to look for them. I bet there are some lurking around the grounds."
"Why would you say that? In all common sense, why would you tell me something like that?"
"It's better to know."
Lily shook her head and sat Ophelia down on her bed, "What school did you transfer from?"
"Beauxbatons," answered Vega. "When they abolished Potions and Charms, I knew it was high time to leave. When I was eleven, I got a letter inviting me to Hogwarts but my mum thought it best that I go to school in Paris. That's where we were living at the time."
"Where do you live now?" asked Talia, leaning against the cool stone wall.
"We moved back to Dunedin, and I saw that as my opportunity to transfer schools. Before it was too late," she smirked.
"Did Phe already warn you about the Slytherins?" Mai began, "They're bad news..."
"What is with you tonight?" giggled Ophelia, "You're so ill-boding. Stop it, try and be cheery."
"I think Mai trying to be cheerful would be scarier than how she is now." muttered Lily.
"I'm just calling it as I see it," she explained.
"Well, look at something different, would you?"
Vega laughed, her blond curls bouncing off her shoulders.
"Are you a Metamorphmagus?" Mai asked.
"Er... no?"
"It's only that I've never seen a witch with hair so blond or tight," she responded.
"Just ignore her," Ophelia mouthed.
Lily propped a pillow against her friend and laid down, "So what classes are you taking? Did you have to choose a career at your old school?"
"Yes, I want to become a teacher an--"
"Just like Remus!" Ophelia exclaimed, "My brother, Remus, is studying to become a teacher. You'll have the same courses as him."
"Oh, that's nice..."
"I'll introduce you tomorrow," she promised, "You'll love him."
"Thank you," Vega smiled, "I would appreciate that."
Ophelia cast a weary glance at her trunk and decided to save the unpacking for the next day.
With a few exchanged words, the five girls retired to their beds, the apprehension of the next day weighing heavily on them all.
