𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑠𝘩𝑎𝑑𝑒'𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝗁.𝗉. 𝗇𝖾𝗑𝗍 𝗀𝖾𝗇.

.two.

Ophelia exhaled as the brick wall melted back into place behind her, the tingling sensation leaving her as quickly as it had arrived. Watching Platform 9¾ filter into view never got old, but waiting for the train always did. Making her way over to another alcove, Ophelia leaned against the cool brick and surveyed the scene in front of her.

Her eyes immediately rested on the rowdy group of Sixth Years she often saw in the hallways at school. She spotted the usuals, like James Potter and Teddy Lupin, as well as the very plentiful members of the Weasley clan, seeing as she was able to spot Fred and Roxanne, as well as Victoire and her sister (whose name escaped Ophelia's mind at the moment). What surprised her about what she saw was that a little way to the left of the crowd was a smaller group of kids who she recognized from her year. Albus Potter came as no surprise, Rose Granger-Weasley was there, and so was one of the other Weasleys, the customary shock of bright red hair gracing her head. She recognized her as Fred and Roxanne's younger sister and was pretty sure her name was something like Cas or Cassidy, although she couldn't be quite sure.

Upon a closer look, Ophelia noticed that all three of them looked very annoyed, and kept glancing between the group of their older siblings and the quickly growing huddle of everyone's parents. She was surprised to see that for the first time in what had to be five years, her own mother was there right along with the rest of them, her bright blonde hair standing out almost as much as the vivid red locks that Ginny, Bill, George, and Ron Weasley shared. They were there too, along with Victoire, Hermione, and of course, Harry Potter.

Ophelia was surprised to see how worn and tired he looked, the dark bags under his eyes veering towards purple, and his hair truly messy, in deep contrast to the perfectly tousled hairdo that he had worn every previous time that she had seen him. He was in the center of their crowd, and everyone seemed to be quite focused on him. As usual.
She hadn't even noticed that she had gotten closer to them, but Ophelia was surprised to find that she could now hear the majority of her fellow students' conversations. The older siblings seemed to be talking hushedly to themselves, their conversations definitely not as loud or laughter-filled as usual. Focusing her attention back to the smaller trio, Ophelia saw that both Cas and Albus seemed to be getting increasingly more annoyed, while Rose looked more embarrassed by the both of them than interested in the Sixth Years' conversations. After a few seconds of what looked like quite the internal battle, Ophelia watched as Cas and Albus approached the older kids.

"Okay, drop the act," Albus said, his voice a bad imitation of confidence. "When are you lot going to tell us what the hell is going on?" No one spared him a second glance beside his older brother, who laughed.

"Try never, how 'bout that?" Not even waiting for Albus' reply, he turned back to his friends.

"Wow James, so original. I don't even know how you come up with those outstanding comebacks!" Cas' reply reeked of sarcasm, but James paid her no mind as he continued to whisper along with his friends. When it was clear that she would be getting no reply, the redhead chose to turn to her own brother.

"Come on, Fred, you know you want to tell me!" Fred smiled, a bit of sympathy painted over his features.

"Sorry, Cas, but I've been threatened," his last word was obviously directed at his sister, whom he chose to shoot a glare at from across the group. She rolled her eyes, not even paying any attention to Cas' reaction when she replied.

"You bet your ass he's been threatened," Finally meeting her sister's eyes, she smiled quickly. "It's not even that big a deal, Cas." Cas rolled her eyes, while Albus chose to bite back.

"Then why not just tell us?"

He got no reply.

Ophelia rolled her eyes. Although none of them knew who she was, she still felt just as annoyed that no information was being given to her and the other Fifth Years near her. She didn't know why the age gap of one year even mattered, and if she had ever said more than two words to any of them, she would've chimed in, but she decided that continuing to stay silent was probably in her best interest.