𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐆𝐨

𝐕

On my way back to the eighth year common room, I was stopped by the girl in the painting again. She had more of an air of melancholy than last time, but she was still smiling.

"Glasses!" she yelled upon seeing me.

"I do have a name you know."

"I suppose, only you never said. And I like your glasses," she smiled still.

"Harry," I said, "Harry Potter." 

Her face twisted as she fell into deep thought. She looked up to her left, then her right as she tapped her index finger on her chin. "Potter... Potter... Where have I heard that?"

I knew what was coming. For a split second I had hoped that I would have an opportunity to speak to someone without the stories that were now associated with my surname.

It's not that I was ashamed or embarrassed by saving the Wizarding World, not at all. Sometimes though, I just wanted to be a kid.

But then, she allowed me the sense of relief. "Oh well," she shrugged, "I'll remember soon."

I sighed, the birth of a smile forming on my mouth. "So, what's yours then?" I asked her.

"My what?"

"Your name of course."

"Ophiuchus."

"Pretty."

"I hate it."

I frowned. "Why's that?"

"The meaning, Harry. I don't like it."

I said nothing. I hoped she would continue. It was getting late and I was tired, but I seemed to enjoy her company more and more every second.

"It means serpent bearer in Greek. I think my artist was Greek, or just very educated on the language. He liked astronomy too, got real fascinated by constellations and such. Well, that's what I'm told at least." 

I liked the way she talked. She was young, really young. But the way she spoke, you would think she was an ancient goddess or something. But, of course, she was a painting. She could be older than Dumbledore for all I knew.

"Ophiuchus, the constellation, is bordered by Hercules and Scorpius I think. That's what the bushy hair'd girl told me when I told her my name."

"Wait, wait, hold on. What's so bad about it then? Seems real fascinating."

"Serpent bearer, Harry," she said with sad eyes. "When I was first painted, like, way, way long ago, I was the portrait for the Slytherin common room. I was the one who had to keep letting all those kids back into that pit. I had to watch as they all got sadder and sadder each day. I got sadder too. So they moved me here, where no one's really spent much time in for ages."

"Wow. I thought they didn't have a portrait for the Slytherins, isn't it just a wall?" I asked confused.

"Now, yes. After me no one wanted to do it."

Someone brushed passed me in a hurry. They were speed walking through the corridors and muttered a quick word to gain entrance. They pushed my shoulder, caused me to stumble.

"Watch where you're going, Malfoy," I said venomously. He didn't say anything back. He just stiffly disappeared behind Ophiuchus' closing frame.