𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 | 𝐡. 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫

𝟏𝟑𝟑 - 𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐥

"𝙄 𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙤𝙙 𝙄 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙤𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙄'𝙢 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙪𝙨𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚." sobbed Ophelia as she dried her cheeks with one of the very many tissues she and Hermione had used, "I mean I never usually give a fuck about my appearance any other time but I don't know... this time I just..."

Hermione rubbed her back in circles soothingly, "She probably didn't mean it like that."

"I know..." Ophelia whimpered quietly as she looked up at Hermione with bloodshot eyes, "I know... but it doesn't make it hurt any less."

"She shouldn't have said it," said Hermione pulling her in for another hug, "She's probably too stressed thinking about this whole war thing... I know it has me stressed."

They pulled away as they got themselves comfortable on Hermione's rug, Ophelia noticed practically everything that made her room look even remotely Hermioneish had been neatly sorted into piles that were at the foot of her bed, each of them with it's own colour-coded label and purpose -- to Ophelia it looked like she was preparing to make a break for it any second and she suddenly felt quite guilty, she'd been so cosy and comfortable back at her parent's house that she hadn't thought for a moment to pack anything and now she realised that was a large oversight.

The only thing she had been focused on was finding out more information about Horcruxes.

Everywhere her eyes went was just piles upon piles of books, organised by category and weight.

"You can't plan on carrying all of this Hermione," said Ophelia lifting up one of the heavier books on the pile, "This is heavier than Hope after she's had a big shit."

"I've found a way around that." said Hermione, pulling out a book which she noticed had been dog tagged and labelled to hell in a variety of colours she didn't even want to begin to comprehend, "Remember when I said Mary Poppins? It's an undetectable extension charm, makes the bottom of your bag bigger and lighter... they're not exactly... legal per se--"

"Hermoine Jean Granger, breaking the law, unheard of." said Ophelia with a bright laugh that brought her smile past her teeth, "Alright, so you're planning on bringing the whole Hogwarts Library with you too?"

"No, I'm just working on narrowing down the piles." she explained gesturing to the various towers surrounding them, "It's difficult when I have absolutely no clue what we're going up against, no doubt he used different curses and creatures to protect the Horcruxes from those who might stumble upon them."

"He's too arrogant to think that anyone would realise what he's done, let alone that we would go after his biggest kept secret." said Ophelia tersely, "I know he would never would've told anyone what the object's true power was, probably entrusted them to his most loyal supporters."

"Like Lucius Malfoy?" asked Hermione, "It's hard to think that Tom Riddle's Diary had such an effect on Ginny that she managed to open the Chamber of Secrets, you don't think the others will have the same effect on us do you?"

"Hard to say." said Ophelia vaguely thinking back to Harry's sudden outbursts during their fifth year, "It will have an effect on us, but how strong it is will probably depend... I did have a thought though -- Dumbledore didn't exactly leave us with a way to destroy them did he, would it be easier to sever them or transfer his soul into an object that was easier to destruct?"

"Why would we do that when we need to destroy the entire thing? Surely destroying the vessel would destroy all traces of Voldemort from it, we should toss them too just to be safe." said Hermione, pulling a book into her knees all the while Ophelia pictured Harry meeting the end of the dagger, before throwing his remains into a ravine.