autumn | severus snape

twelve | meetings

"Alright, Pheebs?" Cory popped his head through her window.

"Mhm," Ophelia hummed.

She was sitting crossed legged on the floor, her focus entirely on the papers in front of her.

"What're you up to?"

"Uhm.." she sighed, "just trying to make sense of all this."

"What's all this about, then?" He climbed through the window, putting his hands on his hips and looking down at the papers.

"My dad's having these meetings, but the invitations are all in code," she picked one up, "see this, for example. It says Malfoy Manor, but the message is all messed up and I can't make out the order in which the letters are supposed to go."

"That's.. actually pretty weird," Cory frowned, "who encrypts their messages?"

"People who've got something to hide."

"Hey," Cory nudged her shoulder with his foot, "what do you say we leave the mystery solving for another day and go get pissed tonight?"

Ophelia pursed her lips, then nodded, "yeah, okay."

𖠇

They clinked their glasses together before swinging their heads back and downing the contents.

"Let's take another one," Ophelia opened the tequila bottle and refilled their glasses.

"Slow down, you'll make me barf before it's even ten," Cory said, but took the shot with her anyway.

"You were the one who said you wanted to get drunk."

"Yes, but I also want to remember getting drunk."

Ophelia rolled her eyes and took one last shot before filling her cup with some sort of concoction Margot had mixed together.

"Where's your girlfriend?"

"Broke up."

"I didn't even get to meet her," Ophelia scoffed, "and you complain about me."

"Hey, don't compare me to you," Cory flicked her nose.

She smacked his hand but then she froze. In the corner of her eye she could see Teddy and Margot making their way over. Ophelia hadn't really thought about what she should do about the whole Isaiah situation. Should she tell Teddy? Warn him? She didn't know him that well, however, and without context it was hard to betray her father, despite what he asked of her.

"Hey, Ophelia," Teddy smiled, "where've you been?"

"Oh, I've been.. around," Ophelia answered, her voice two octaves too high. "I gotta go refill my cup," she smiled awkwardly and then made her way to the kitchen.

She had come to the conclusion that she had to stay as far away as possible from Teddy, the less she knew about him, the better. Ophelia looked around at the bottles. What she had learned was that every time Margot was in charge of choosing the alcohol, Ophelia always ended up black out drunk.

"Having a hard time choosing?" His breath on her neck made her shiver.

Ophelia glanced over her shoulder. He was slightly taller than her, hair short and blonde, and ice-gray eyes. His sharp features were so similar to Vincent's it actually took her breath away.

She nodded slowly, "seems that way."

He stepped up beside her, picking up a bottle and looking it over.

"They've got some good stuff here, but nothing beats the good ol' fire whiskey."

Ophelia stood up straighter, "wait, you're a wizard?"