Through Her Eyes

Chapter 31

Those uncorrelated faces of Vernon Peverell ended up haunting Ophelia for the next weeks. Nightmares transformed into dreams about Cerberus and Spinnard's memories and not even those were correlated. Vernon Peverell was a man with many faces and she had no one to ask directly but Dumbledore.

That was how right after Transfiguration on Tuesday, she fled from the classroom as if she had done something. Potter raised an eyebrow and hummed to himself, nodding to Pettigrew and Longbottom. The two boys nodded right back and walked the same direction as Ophelia.

"Those two won't be subtle." Black mumbled, feeling like taking a nap.

"A sudden friendship between you and her is not believable." Potter replied, turning towards the Great Hall, hungry and in mood to mess around. Also, he wouldn't say no if a redhead would sit near him at the table.

"She doesn't even speak to Peter. At least we fought before,"

Potter raised an eyebrow, smirking bemusedly at his friend, "D'you fancy her, Sirius?"

"No! Ew, no!" The dark haired boy exclaimed appalled, making Potter laugh loudly scaring a few nearby Ravenclaw girls.

Seeing two young and healthy boys stalk a equally young and healthy girl was quite disturbing in theory. In practice, the unnamed black kitten tilted its head to the side, confused yet curious how far they would go. They were Gryffindors based on their robes but not very good at keeping themselves covered in shadows.

"Isn't this the way towards the headmaster's office?" The bulkier one asked the thin one. The kitten couldn't really bother with names since there were so many students in Hogwarts.

"Why would she go to the headmaster? Is she reporting the bullying herself?" The thin one asked back, no reply coming from the other one, "Maybe we should go back. It doesn't look like any Slytherin is targeting her for the moment."

The kitten's eyes widened, those innocent blue eyes turning towards the headmaster's office. Dumbledore was not in, he knew that much, so he might as well satisfy a little curiosity that he had ever since Cerberus arrived.

Thus, when Ophelia arrived in front of the gargoyle, the 'butterbeer' password didn't work. She huffed and paced around for a few minutes before he tried another one. It didn't work either.

The black kitten felt like chuckling, which came out more like a purr. He hurried in front of the gargoyle and with one swift look, the statue moved aside. Ophelia's eyes widened and she started to look around but the kitten already entered.

When the witch opened the door to the office, she felt her heartbeats quicken. There wasn't a reason to be nervous yet she couldn't control her body, especially her heart. Actually, it wasn't really nervousness as it was the feeling of anticipation.

But Dumbledore was not inside. Her eyes wandered every suspicious shelf and crest in the wall but it didn't seem like he was hiding either.

"I thought children these days are smarter. Can't you see Dumbledore is not in?"

A second year at Hogwarts and she should have expected that even portraits of older headmasters and headmistresses could speak.

"Are you not going to respond to me? At least show some respect and turn to look me in the eye!" The man continued, waking up other portraits as well.

"I'm sorry..." She had to squint in order to read his name, which was so small that she could barely make it up, "Phineas Nigellus Black. I'm sorry sir," She added, looking up at the man.

"You! Have I seen you before?" The former headmaster asked, leaning slightly on his knee, "You look incredibly familiar. If only you wouldn't be so-" He scrunched his nose, stopping himself before saying something that would make the others complain.