Ophelia - (Harry Potter alternative story)

Chapter 1 - The New Girl

It was the start of a new school year, and an exceptionally miserable day. The atmosphere and morale between both wizards and muggles was low, the students were used to their once exciting routine, platform nine and three quarters wasn't as exciting or fantastical as it used to be. "Ophelia! Will you hurry up were going to miss the train!" shouted Remus, he was obviously stressed, accidentally knocking into the surrounding muggles as he pushed through the crowds. After hearing no response, he quickly turned his head to find Ophelia, who appeared to be in another realm wondering between the people, observing their movements, analysing their body language. 

She had always been a very observational person, she liked it, she felt it gave her control and allowed her to understand the thoughts and feelings of those that surrounded her, she knew when she felt welcomed and when she did not, which she felt gave her a power that no one else could obtain. She liked the feeling of power, she was a strong personality, some would say hard to handle but she felt that she was just misunderstood. Because of her strong sense of character she had always found it difficult to make friends, which never particularly bothered her, she could see the advantage it had given her throughout the years as it had made her a very intelligent and powerful witch, far more superior to the classmates she would be meeting this year. Ophelia was very good at understanding her strengths and weaknesses, she was tactical and cunning and knowing that she was more powerful than her classmates meant she felt less nervous than she usually would, when it came to socializing with them.  She wasn't a bad person, perhaps she could have been if she was given the wrong guardian, but Remus had brought her up to have a good outlook on others and a caring soul, perhaps a tad over protective of those she loved, but over all she was a very compassionate person. Ophelia believed that the downfall in her character was that she acted on her morals, which were good morals yet it meant she had a tendency to break rules and was incredibly stubborn and found it hard to back down from situations that could land her in trouble. She had red hair with light brown undertones just like her father and her eyes were a shade of violet, which people often found strange to look at, yet she was extremely beautiful and it was her eyes that made her look so unique and interesting. Her hair was in loose curls that ran all the way down to the bottom of her hips. She had the appearance of a doll that had been brought to life, with naturally blushed cheeks and full round lips.

"Ophelia!!!" he called again, this time managing to grab her attention, "I know i can hear you" she called, "we're fine we still have ten minutes till the train leaves the station, you should stop panicking so much, for one it isn't particularly great for your health and in fact you're kind of starting to get on my nerves" she said, with a smirk, she was usually sarcastic and joked around a lot, she was never fond of serious people. Remus rolled his eyes as Ophelia caught up to him, they finally made their way to platform nine and three quarters where they continued to climb aboard the Hogwarts express. 

Finally they found an empty carriage and Remus collapsed into his seat from the exhaustion of carrying all of the bags, Ophelia moved all of the bags that filled the carriage, she usually had to clean up after her father he was an untidy man back home and she quickly realised he was more than likely to keep these old habits. She sat down on the seat next to him and glanced over to see the exhaustion on his face. "You can go to sleep if you're tired, I'll wake you up when we get there", Remus nodded in response and covered his face with his blazer to block out the light. 

Ophelia could hear the chatter of her fellow students throughout the train, she watched as people rushed past and could see the panic and stress on their faces, she sometimes found it strange that people could demonstrate so much emotion on their face, it was something she never tended to do but nevertheless she always looked like she had something on her mind. 

"It's ridiculous, how can they expect such a big school to fit onto a train like this?" she heard from a distance. It made her giggle, she could feel the frustration in her voice. She listened to the wheels of the persons suitcase roll across the floor until it stopped, right outside of the carriage doorway. She looked to the left, to see three people around her age, two boys and a girl stood awkwardly in the doorway, she could tell they were looking for an invitation into the carriage. "There's enough room if you want to sit in here", she said, she gave an awkward yet friendly smile, she was nervous because she was unsure of what they would respond with, she wasn't used to getting positive responses. To Ophelia's surprise, they gave a sigh of relief followed up by three lots of "thank you". The three of them slouched into their seats and huffed out of fatigue.