Ophelia Black ~ Harry Potter fanfic

Peace

"I'm fine, I promise."

"People who are fine don't fall to the ground in pain, Ophelia," Madam Pomfrey scolded the blonde girl who was being taken to the hospital wing.

"It was probably some sort of side effect of the spell they used to put us in the Black Lake. Maybe my body reacted badly to it."

"That is a good theory, but it's very uncommon..."

"Most things in my life are uncommon. Uncommon things are common for me, so much so that they stop being uncommon. And common things are very much uncommon for me."

"What the bloody hell?" Harry said, almost laughing after hearing the very confusing sentence that came out of Ophelia's mouth.

"I understood, and that's all that matters," Ophelia shrugged.

"You kids are going to be the death of me," Madam Pomfrey sighed as she moved over to tend to Harry.

Ophelia didn't want to tell Harry about her little panic attack earlier in the day, but sadly, Ron was always bad at keeping his mouth shut. She wasn't mad, though—Harry would have found out eventually.

"Am I finally free to go?" Ophelia asked.

"You won't wait for me? Rude. I thought you liked me."

"Like you? I think you might have swallowed too much lake water, Potter." I got up and walked towards him, giving him a soft kiss on the forehead. "I don't just like you, Potter. What I feel for you is so much more," I whispered. I smiled down at him once I saw the slight shift in his demeanor as he registered my words. I'd never seen him look so happy.

"I don't like you either, then." He sat up straight and cupped my face, bringing me in for a real kiss, only to be interrupted by a loud cough.

"You are, in fact, free to go, Miss Ophelia," Madam Pomfrey said in a stern voice, almost chiding the girl she had helped raise along with every other professor or Hogwarts worker. It was strange for them to see her now all grown up—the once scared little girl had bloomed into a strong young woman.

"I think I'll stay, Pommy... please?"

"Please?" Harry also pleaded.

Both kids gave her their best puppy dog eyes, but she remained stern in her demeanor. Ophelia was still her little girl, too young to be kissing boys.

"No. Off you go, or I'll tell Severus what I just saw."

Both kids went pale as they practically shot away from each other.

"That was a low blow, Pommy," Ophelia said, holding back her laughter, although the fear of Severus finding out was real. He always did have a special sort of hatred toward Harry.

"Out you go, missy. You're too young to be hanging around with boys."

"But it's me," Harry said, as if that made everything okay.

"I don't care—now out." Madam Pomfrey practically pushed Ophelia out, making the two kids laugh.

•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•

"Oh my Merlin... and are you sure he was dead dead?"

"As dead as can be, I suppose. How much deader can you get once you're dead?"

"What?" Ophelia laughed as she sat down in her silk bed, Harry plopping down beside her.

After a little rendezvous the trio had with Hagrid, Harry found Barty Crouch dead in the forest and had to go to Dumbledore's office.

After that whole ordeal, he managed to sneak into the Slytherin common room to pay Ophelia a visit. This was the first time they had been alone since the Yule Ball.

"After that, I went to see Dumbledore... Snape was there."

"Really? Why?" Ophelia shifted in her bed so that she could prop her head up on Harry's stomach.

"I overheard them slightly—they were talking about you. Snape sounded... scared."

"Scared? Of me?" she asked, confused.

"Scared for you."

"Why? Because of what happened in the Black Lake?"

"All I heard was them mentioning something about you and some sort of connection—it was strange. And after my talk with Dumbledore, I found Snape again in his potion cupboard. He was accusing me of stealing some of his herbs; he thinks I'm cooking up a Polyjuice potion."

"Polyjuice? The question is, who is actually stealing the ingredients, and why would they need it?"

"Exactly..." Harry looked down at Ophelia, lost in his thoughts. She reached a hand up to touch his face, and he immediately leaned into it.

"This is nice. Just us..." Ophelia smiled.

"Yeah... but I think Snape is onto us. After he accused me of stealing, he warned me to stay away from you. He said I'm bad for you."

"You are bad for me. You made my heart start to bleed, just like yours. I quite enjoyed being cold-hearted."

"You never seemed cold-hearted to me..."

"Maybe I stopped being cold-hearted the moment I laid eyes on you, and I hadn't noticed till now? Or maybe you're just oblivious," she joked.

"I like the first one more."

"The second one is more accurate, though." I laughed, causing him to smile as he playfully pushed me back and crawled on top of me.

"You're the one who fell for this oblivious boy."

"I already regret this."

"This... what is this, exactly?" Harry finally asked the dreaded "what are we" question. Ophelia sighed as she looked away and thought.

"I'm not sure... but I like it. It's comfortable—safe."

"It's also a secret. I don't want to keep you a secret. I want you to be mine." His hands slowly trailed down her neck and stopped at her collarbone.

"I am yours. So long as you are mine." Harry slowly leaned down and kissed her soft lips passionately.

"I've always been yours," Ophelia smiled into the kiss.

"Good." She pulled away slightly. "And as much as I want the whole world to know that we belong to each other, I'm not particularly ready for Ron to find out..."

"You're scared he won't accept it."

"He told you so himself when he caught you preparing the necklace and flowers for me... and I don't think I'm ready to bring all the drama that comes with telling him into whatever we have. I want to give us some time to grow and figure out what this is in peace. For us to be just us without having to worry about anyone else."

"We have to tell him eventually. The longer we wait, the madder he'll get."

"I know... but this is worth it. We deserve a little happiness in our lives."

"I adore you, Ophelia Black."

"Who wouldn't?" They both fell asleep after a long night of smiles. Peace...