After that conversation with Nott, Ophelia did not return to the girls nor did she visit the boys. She stood in that compartment and looked only at her fingers, playing with her ring as she started to think about her next decisions. There was no way that she was going to be left out of her friends' lives aka Malfoy and, more or less, Rabastan. Besides, she was more than sure that she already missed a lot already.

Once arrived at Hogsmeade, Ophelia felt this dread, as if darkness was looming over the whole village. She wasn't the only one, many students shuddered as they stepped on the platform.

"It's not what I expected to see," Ophelia mumbled as she noticed how the number of students who returned to Hogwarts after the holidays was half of how many departed.

"The world is changing, haven't you heard?" Nott replied, approaching her with a poker face. "Dementors are watching these grounds, that's why it feels so...empty." He explained, pointing at the sky.

Indeed, once she raised her head, she could see more than the grey sky and dark clouds, these black spots were moving around yet none were anywhere near the castle itself. Dumbledore still had Hogwarts safe but for how long...that was a question she didn't want to answer.

As they were walking to their carriages, Nott noticed that Ophelia was deep in thought and was avoiding her Gryffindor friends. She was avoiding everyone. He could understand the heaviness of her situation, her father was the world's enemy (or savior, depending on which side you were on), and she was at the most extreme opposite corner, fighting against her family's values and beliefs.

"Let's ride together, shall we?" He asked, more assured of himself than before when he would scorn and call her names.

But Ophelia agreed, not wanting to see her friends and hear their opinions on the changes.

"You're awfully silent,"

"And you're awfully chatty," She said coldly glancing at him. "Didn't you just say that I have no business with Death Eaters?"

At that moment, Nott rolled up his sleeve and showed her his very clean and unmarked arm.

"I'm not a Death Eater yet. I want to graduate first and have a position at the Ministry before dedicating my life to your father," He said before he changed the subject to something he knew bothered her. "You know, Ophelia, you could be more like him. Or at least, let yourself use his ways if you want to survive. Death Eaters aren't scared of anything,"

"Except death. That's the main reason why they chose him."

"Not really. Some of us do believe in his ideals. Regulus seems to be obsessed with the Dark Lord, didn't Sirius tell you?" He asked with a smirk.

"What's your point?" She asked getting annoyed.

"If you wouldn't be trying so hard to be different from your father, you'd see there are certain ways to keep loyal people around," Nott said, watching as she started to play with her ring. "But you already know that, don't you? That words can bind people, not only spells."

"Why the sudden interest in my well-being?" She asked with a scornful expression.

"Because I like you," he replied nonchalantly, having accepted his feelings at this point. "It's the Slytherin in you that I like, more specifically. There are moments when you can't help but act like the pure-blooded murderers that you hate." He added with a grin. "Did you find out who tried to enter your mind on Halloween?"

Ophelia looked up at him with a glim of darkness in her eyes, which was a hint enough of the answer.

"Aren't you angry? It was your precious Snape after all," He asked, growing endearing and curious. "He did it willingly although he ended up with a massive headache after that night."

"Nobody in this whole castle could have done it but him. But I know it was probably a stupid dare from somebody else than my father,"

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because Severus would have died if that happened," Ophelia replied coldly.

The tone and her whole demeanor were intense and unapologetic. It was the subtle darkness that seemed to surround her and the way she looked so confident and bossy that reminded Nott she was just as sly as a Slytherin.

As soon as the carriage stopped and they arrived at Hogwarts, Ophelia had no choice but to meet her classmates. But the sight of students entering the castle, so few of them of every color, not just green...

"This number of students will not fill half of the Great Hall tonight," Sirius said as soon as he reached Ophelia. "Luckily, Regulus is somewhere around here. I already saw him," He said with relief.

"But he is still loyal to the cause," Ophelia replied thinking about her past thoughts. "If he gets killed, his blood will be on my hands,"

"No. It will be on mine. I am the one who left him alone with my parents." He said and tried to visibly calm down.

Ophelia glanced at Nott as he grinned back at her before going to the Slytherin common room.

"The world has changed so much, already. We've been in a safe bubble during the holidays but this is what truly awaits us," Ophelia added, sounding like she finally made her choice.

"Hey, aren't you coming to the common room?" Sirius asked when he saw her hurry to some other place.

Ophelia didn't answer, she just ran to the bathroom, feeling sick.

She stood there, in front of the mirror, and sighed several times. The mere thought of forcing someone to obey her was horrible. She was not Tom, she didn't want to use fear but at the end of the day, it seemed that there wasn't a better way.

"Always planning something evil in the bathroom,"

Ophelia looked up at the reflection of a familiar ghost.

"Tom did too. I was still alive when I heard him whisper things to himself right here, in the girls' bathroom," Myrtle continued and rolled her eyes. "Did not expect it but I didn't expect dying either,"

"But I'm not him,"

"You certainly look like him. Leaning over the sink, looking at yourself as your eyes darken with malice at your thoughts. People usually die afterward. I did," Myrtle said, flying down, behind Ophelia.

"Why did you recommend making an unbreakable vow back then? With Severus," Ophelia asked and turned to face the dead girl.

"Hmmm, isn't that the best way to protect your secrets?"

"I have no secrets, not anymore,"

"Then what do you want from me? Why are you here?" The ghost asked pouting. "What are you planning?"

"I'm only...trying to survive. And it seems like the only way to do that is for others to risk their lives," The green-eyed girl muttered, looking down at her ring. "I want to protect them but I also want to protect myself,"

"So what? Are you going to enslave your friends? Because the last one seemed very willing to vow his life for you,"

"But the others have more to lose. One is married and one is so loyal to his family. I just...don't want to become my father,"

"Does it matter at this point? It's you or them, during troubled times. Tom is growing stronger, even ghosts feel his darkness." She shuddered and flew straight into the sink.

Ophelia bit her lip as she made up her mind. Rabastan was easy to convince but Lucius may need a bit of time. An unbreakable vow was for life, after all.

When she walked out, Ophelia was so preoccupied that she didn't even look where she was going, thus she collided with a very sturdy wall.

"Ophelia, you returned too," came the manly voice of Goldstein. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, you just grew up a lot," she said massaging her nose. "Why did you return, though? Many of your classmates have not."

"Because there is no safer place than Hogwarts. I prefer to be here with you, with Dumbledore, with the Order, and do more,"

"What about your family?"

"They are in hiding right now. I won't get to see or hear from them until summer break. But it's fine. It is my choice. I can be a greater help here," he said seeing how she seemed to suddenly not be able to look into his eyes.

"I'm sorry," she muttered looking down at her feet.

"I don't need an apology. I need a date and hour scheduled for our training," Goldstein said with a soft smile.

With that little chat, Ophelia decided to return to the common room however, the corridors were so empty and even the few students around were so scared of each other or of what could happen. She didn't see any Slytherins and she was anxious about Snape. She did want to ask him what exactly happened during Halloween. Ophelia probably knew from the beginning that it was him, nobody could get so far as to make her head hurt, and it came from somewhere inside the castle. It was disappointing but at the same time, she was glad to have made that vow.

She wasn't very careful where she was going once that she started thinking about her best friend so she didn't expect to find herself back in the Entrance Hall. She glanced at the front doors and remembered the time when Spinnard caught her trying to slip out and how sure he was that she was going to get everyone killed.

"I guess he has been right all along," she whispered to herself still staring at the doors.

"What are you doing?"

The voice surprised Ophelia because she didn't expect him to return to Hogwarts at all.

"I thought you were exiled in America," she said, turning to face Rabastan.

"I wasn't exiled," he said with a roll of his eyes, "I just needed to speak to some people,"

"You missed Lucius' wedding,"

Rabastan's whole expression fell into a frown, aware that for Ophelia, not attending must have meant quite a big deal.

"That's fine."

"It's not for me. It feels like I will never be able to reach him again."

"What do you mean? Didn't you get his present?"

"Yeah, so? It's a pocket mirror, foe-glass if I remember correctly."

Rabastan raised an eyebrow and watched her carefully, but in the end, he realized she had no idea.

"It's not foe-glass, although I understand why your friends might think that. Why don't you take it out tonight and write something on it? See what happens," Rabastan explained, knowing it will put her in a better mood.

But Ophelia still wanted to ask him something, even though it was not the best place to do it. He could see her glance around as if afraid someone will jump out and destroy her plans, but in the end, she grabbed his arm shyly and stepped closer to him. Rabastan's eyes widened and couldn't help but let his mind wander about possible outcomes. If, maybe, she wanted to give him another chance, then, what was he going to say? His mind went crazy with such theories.

"Would you like to make an unbreakable vow with me?" she asked, destroying any hope that resisted in Rabastan's heart.