What really matters. [Draco Malfoy love story]

Part one: Chapter one- The letter.

It was a late summer afternoon, Ophelia and the Wealsey's had just eaten supper. Ginny and Ron were helping Mrs Weasley to wash up, whilst Fred and George were in the garden engrossed in a deep conversation on the grass, probably about a new business idea for there shop 'Weasley's Wizard Wheezes'. Mr Weasley was sat on a chair taking in the last of the days sun with the daily prophet spread across his lap. The silence was comforting for Ophelia as she was leant up against a nearby tree replying to a letter that Hermione had sent a few hours earlier.
The silence was suddenly broken by the screech of a brown barn owl as it swooped around the roof of the house. It perched on the arm rest of Mr Weasley's chair. Mr Weasley folded his paper and untied the letter from the owls leg before it flew back up in to the sky and out of sight .
"I don't recognise that owl, who's it for Arthur?" Mrs Weasley shouted out the window to her husband. Mr Weasley held the letter as arms length as he struggled to read the small slanted hand writing.
"It's for you Ophelia" he called over.
All eyes diverted to Ophelia as she stood up and smoothed down her top, she wandered over to Mr Weasley, she took the letter then opened it with everyone still watching her.

"Well go on who's it from" Ginny prompted from inside the house. She unfolded the letter and looked straight to the bottom of the page to see who it was from and saw the words "yours sincerely Draco Malfoy". Ophelia stared down and a knot formed in her stomach. "What does he want?" she thought. She stared down for a few moments more wondering why Draco had contacted her, it wasn't like they were friends, quite the opposite actually, infact Draco had only uttered about 10 words to her the whole time she had known him. However, she would prefer him to not speak to her at all than have him throw insults her way like he did with her friends.

Ophelia must have been silent for a moment to long as Mrs Weasley said "what is it dear, who's it from?". Ophelia's thoughts were suddenly broken, "oh, it's, it's from uh, Remus, he's just wondering how I am".
"That sweet of him" she replied with a smile.

                                                                                                            ...

Later that night the whole family were sat by the fire all squeezed on to the two sofas in the living room. "Ophelia your awfully quiet tonight" Ginny started. She was right, Ophelia had put the letter in her jean pocket and had not stopped thinking about it. "I'm just tired... infact I might go off to bed, I don't want to be tired for tomorrow" Ophelia replied with an extremely fake cheerful voice.

As she was about climb the stairs Mrs Weasley caught up with her and held her arm. "You know Remus loves you like his own daughter Ophelia, he's still upset about Sirius, we all are, give him time". Ophelia gave a small smile and nodded, Mrs Weasley thought the reason Ophelia was acting different was because of Remus. Although Ophelia had lied about the letter, Remus was partly the reason she hadn't been herself lately, the man who raised her, Remus Lupin, had been constantly avoiding her after since the death of Sirius. She knew She reminded him of her father, it hurt him to lose his friend. He had started seeing Nymphadora Tonks, whom he invested all his time in now. Although Ophelia was happy he had found someone who accepted him it hurt her that he had moved on and seemed to have forgotten about her. He may have lost a friend that night but she lost a father and although she never mentioned it, It kept Ophelia up at night.

As Ophelia settled in for the night she picked up her jeans that were on the floor from where she changed in to her pyjamas and slid out the letter from the pocket. "Lumos" she whispered. Her wand lit up and she unfolded the letter to read the contents.

"Dear Ophelia,
I have been thinking about you all summer. I am so sorry for the pain my Aunt Bellatrix inflicted upon you. I hope you do not associate me with her actions. I knew how much you loved your father, everyone did. Anyway I hope you had a good summer.
Yours sincerely, Draco Malfoy"

Ophelia re-read the note several times, taking in every detail. It made her feel light to read the line "I have been thinking about you all summer". "He's probably doing this for a reaction" she thought. Ophelia folded the letter and put it under her pillow.
"Nox" she whispered, the light went out and she fell asleep with the letter on her mind.

Ophelia was awoken by Ron throwing a sock at her head, "come on Ophelia, get ready".
Today was the day herself and Ron were going into Diagon Alley to meet with Harry and Hermione. After eating breakfast the family and Ophelia set off. When they arrived Ron and Ophelia separated and met Harry and Hermione outside Gringotts. After many hugs and hello's the quartet wandered around the shops catching up. Harry told his friends about meeting a new professor whom he had met with Dumbledore, Professor Slughorn, the new potions teacher. The friends were deep in conversation when suddenly someone caught Ophelia's eyes. An unmistakable mane of bright blonde hair was wandering through the crowd. Ophelia must have been staring for too long as Harry turned around to see what had caught her eye. "where's Malfoy off to?" Harry questioned. "Off for a trip down knockturn alley with mummy" Ron laughed.

All of a sudden Harry bolted after them. The other three exchanged confused glances before following him. The friends ran down the damp alley way dodging various elderly women screaming curses at the walls and men with hunchbacks. When they reached where Malfoy was they hid round the corner of an old abandoned shop and peered round the corner as they watched Draco and his mother enter the shop: Borgin and Burke's.

"Harry why are we here?" Ophelia whispered.
"Shh" hissed harry "I need to get a better look". With this he began to climb the wall of the abandoned shop and peeked over the top of the roof. The rest of the group followed reluctantly.
"What's he doing in there?" Pondered Harry.
"It's a creepy shop, he's a creepy bloke" joked Ron. Harry ignored him. "He's up to something , I can feel it". They all peered down and watched Draco's mother speaking to the owner as Draco watched with a blank expression . They seemed to be interested in a black cabinet. Ophelia couldn't help but feel rather pleased to see him..
                                                                                             ...

Ophelia arrived back at the Weasley's and went straight to bed but was awoken by the nightmare she had suffered from since the night of Sirius' death; her father staring into her eyes as the the life left his body. She awoke with a start and decided to distract her self. She took out her parchment and quill and wrote,
"Dear Draco,
As much as I was suprised by your letter, I was also extremely grateful. I don't blame you for your aunts actions. I hope you also had a great summer and I will see you back at school.
Yours sincerely, Ophelia Black."

After attaching it to her owl and watching it fly off into the night and fell back to sleep.