Through Her Eyes

Chapter 21

The Scavenger Hunt ended up with a lot of ruckus and not all of it was because of the competition. It seemed that a few eggs have been tempered with and even more have exploded when given the right answers. In the end, the house with the most points was-

"Hufflepuff." Potter started at breakfast the following Saturday, "Hufflepuff found the most silver eggs for the fifth and seventh years. So, even if Ravenclaws had the most points for the third and fourth years and Slytherin for the second and first, they won. And even worse, Gryffindor didn't win anything at all. Anything!" He exclaimed, offended, drawing the attention of the whole table.

"Please, calm down. I'm ashamed enough as it is." Charlie mumbled. He was exhausted after he did all those schemes in order to win points.

"I bet he feels the worst. After the work and time he spent on plans, it ended up disastrous." Lily whispered to the girls, throwing quick glances at the fourth year Gryffindor.

"Well, at least it was fun. It prepared us for the upcoming exams." Alice added, smiling encouragingly at her friends,

"Everyone will pass with flying colors now."

"I doubt it," Cissney coughed, trying not to make it obvious who she was referring to.

"Anyway, looking back this year has been the greatest time of my life. I can't help but look forward to the next and next." Alice changed the subject quickly, before Pettigrew could realize Cissney was very much referring to him.

Everyone agreed and even toasted for that, making weird comments from the side but not Ophelia. She was happy with the friends she made but at the same time, there was something bugging her.

Later that day, she was called outside the common room for a quick chat. It wasn't a surprise when she met Severus in front of the Fat Lady. He grabbed her arm and pulled her aside with a frown on his face.

"We have a problem. An immense problem," He whispered.

"Does it concern the Scavenger Hunt?" She asked, her mind going back to the time she dueled Nott.

Severus looked confused before he shrugged that idea away.

"It concerns Malfoy,"

As soon as Severus spelled that name, Ophelia knew it was trouble. She could understand the constant frown on his face and the reason he looked even paler than usually. There were traces of sweat on his forehead and his eyes were shining with fear.

"Something happened. The stone that we gave him was supposed to work with whatever his father was supposed to make. It didn't because the stone was not the right one. It wasn't the philosopher stone but a copy of it, very well made too." Severus explained slowly for her to understand how bad it was.

Ophelia understood well just what kind of troublesome matter that was but couldn't understand one tiny detail.

"We found it in the spot he told us about. How could it not be right?" She asked.

"I know. You took it from the trunk but maybe something happened when the dementor appeared."

That was one way of putting it. Ophelia's eyes darkened as she remembered how she got in the possession of the stone.

"I didn't." She started, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion, "I didn't take it out. Before I fell unconscious, someone put it in my hand. Someone small and quick handed." Ophelia explained, looking down at her hands.

Severus Snape was scared. For some reason, all the happy memories left him and he started to remember the days he spent at home, the days of pain and loneliness from before he found Lily and before he came to Hogwarts. No, he wasn't going to that dark corner again.