Read All About It PV Opeila Winters Closed

It was loud. Too loud. At least for the usually quiet atmosphere of the study room. This place was for the students to go if they wanted to do homework or study for exams in peace- which were also getting closer every day.

End of the year. At this point, every time Opeila woke up and stared at the ceiling of her dorm, she couldn't help but wonder what miracle was allowing her to breathe still. To live to see the ending of her second year. Another summer vacation. It seemed surreal. And even more to do something as mundane as studying for exams. Where did all the riddles and dark curses go that she still had to solve? Where was the next deathly threat bringing her face to face with death again? The answer was simple. They were all still there. Pushed to the back of her head for now, as she decided to do something for her grades.

Studying. For which she had gone to the study room. Where it was supposedly quiet. So who in devil's name was thinking that it was okay to have their chatter party right outside the door? Five more minutes Opeila tried to focus on the book in front of her. The Salem Witch Trials... The words seemed to slip through her mind like wet soap, impossible to catch. Normally Opeila enjoyed History. What many others seemed to consider a rather dull subject- they rarely learned any spells in it- Opeila found fascinating. The soap blizzard- What a legend!

And the Salem Witch Trials especially. There was this one crazy witch that she just found hilarious. Wendelin the Weird. Who else would get an idea like she did, letting herself get caught in different disguises only to be burned around fifty times? If the flame freezing spell actually felt that nice, Opeila really had to try it out by chance.

But the chatter outside seemed to burn into Opeila's mind the more she tried to push it away and eventually the second year just gave up. Then she would just go and study outside or in her common room. The Slytherin usually avoided spending too much time in the common room. Over the last summer, she had developed quite a dislike against dark rooms and there was close to no daylight down in the dungeons. Ever. The little light that shone through the lake did not make up for that.

Sighing, Opeila picked up her books and stuffed them into her bag which she threw over her shoulder. Time to find a new place to study. Maybe she could go to the lake, if there were not too many students there. It had gotten rather warm in the past days and many students seemed happy about the chance to spend time outside with short sleeves and trousers. And although they were not allowed to swim in the lake, only putting the feet into the cool water was great.

Maybe the unused classroom was free...?
Opeila stepped aside to let a redhaired girl walk in first before she left the study room. She was still thinking about where to go, when her gaze fell on something on the ground. Was that a... book? The Slytherin picked it up and cleaned it of a few crumbs of dust. It had to have fallen out of someone's bag... Should she walk up to the caretaker's office again and hand it in? Opeila sighed at the thought. That would be the most unnecessary Hogwarts marathon in the world. Up to the north tower just to come back here?

She could at least have a look at it- not read it of course, but maybe there was a name on or inside... Oh. Yeah, there was, right on the cover. How did she not see it earlier? Jack had been carved into it in beautiful letters. And there was a heart in the bottom right corner. Opeila frowned a little. There were two Jacks in her year but a) she wasn't very eager to give the book to either of them and b) this did not look like something a boy would write. She had never seen a boy draw hearts anywhere. No, this looked like a girl's doing, maybe Jack was a nickname for... Jacquelyn or something. It could be, right? The 'Jack' did not necessarily have to have anything to do with the two Jacks she knew. Maybe the owner of the book had better taste than that.

Opening the first page proved her wrong immediately. Whoever owned this book was obsessed with a certain classmate of hers and it worried the second year more than it should. She really shouldn't have opened it. The second year glanced over her shoulder at the redhead that had just walked past her and decided to ask her. If it was not hers... Well. Then the Hogwarts marathon it was.
"Hey, erm, excuse me?" Opeila caught up with the redhaired girl and tapped her shoulder. "Is this yours?", she asked quietly to not disturb the other students in the room and showed her the book. "I just found it right outside, I thought that maybe you dropped it."

Winnie really should have been studying, but instead of pulling her textbook out of her bag, she had her nose in a Jane Austen novel. Emma. A classic, as all of Austen's literature was. Mr. Knightley was just making his declaration of love to Emma, and Winnie was carefully mouthing the words of his monologue.

"I cannot make speeches, Emma. If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more. But you know what I am. You hear nothing but truth from me... Yes, you see, you understand my feelings."

Oh... Mr. Knightley, how could she not? Such a sincere and direct statement was a harsh contrast with Emma's other love interests. Winnie remembered her mother had told her to be 'clear over clever' when expressing herself, and was Mr. Knightley's confession of love not just that? If Jack were to ever confess his love to her, would he be direct? Perhaps so... Maybe he would kiss her. She clenched the novel tighter in her hands and pushed it onto the table, burying her face into it to hide her blush. Maybe he wouldn't be direct. Jack was rather clever with his poems, Winnie also liked that, but she misunderstood so much that she sometimes wished she had someone to bluntly tell her the truth. The thought of someone loving her as much as Mr. Knightley loved Emma caused her entire face to burn red. Her love didn't have to be poetic, she could write all of the poems for them.

She finally pulled her face out of the novel, sighing dreamily as she gazed up at the ceiling. Would the universe send her a sign if she and Jack were meant to be? Anything would do... Perhaps a direct confession from Jack himself, she would--...

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a girl, a Slytherin student by the looks of it. She was holding a notebook in her hand. A very familiar notebook. Her blue eyes flickered down and saw a little heart in the bottom right corner. Winnie's entire face drained of it's colour at the mere sight of it. Her throat felt dry as she reached forward to grab the journal from her, trembling hands attempting to shove it back inside of her satchel. "T-Thanks..." She half squeaked, her entire body screaming at her to run. She couldn't even look the girl in the face. She hadn't looked, right? Surely she wouldn't... No... Winnie didn't even write her own name in there. She had probably just picked it up and asked the closest person to the notebook. "You... You didn't read it... Did you?" She was horrified to ask, but she just had to know.

@Winnie Harper

The girl looked at the notebook in Opeila's hands and was suddenly very pale. The Slytherin felt a little sorry for her, in the girl's position she would probably beg for the floor to open and swallow her. With a quick, stuttered 'thanks' the girl grabbed the notebook and shoved it into her bag, the embarassment practically written all over her face.

And then she asked the question Opeila would have preferred not to answer, simply for the sake of preventing any more discomfort for both of them. She asked if the Slytherin had read it. "I, um... I just opened the first page to see if there was a name in it. You know, often in those books there is a line on the first page for the owner to write their name on...?", Opeila explained, "And uh... well, there was a name, just not yours. " Well if this wasn't just the most awkward thing she had said all week.

"Don't worry, I can keep a secret.", Opeila quickly tried to comfort the girl, "It's not like he and I are on particularly good terms anyway." Great. And now she was just telling her history with Jack Burnett to a stranger. This was getting better and better. "Sorry, erm... I'm Opeila Winters. I hope I didn't just uh... ruin your day."

The discovery of the Slytherin's knowledge of her crush on Jack Burnett came with a harsh blow to the center of Winnie’s gut. Her entire face had turned a deep crimson colour that burned all the way up to the shells of her ears. “You... saw that...?” Despite the girl’s word she started to panic. Opeila held something over her now that could very easily be used against her. It wasn’t as if Winnie’s crush on Jack was uncommon knowledge but, knowing she had a full notebook dedicated to her obsessive thoughts was another thing. Even Winnie understood it was a bit... unconventional.

“Wait... What do you mean by that? You don’t like him?” She asked with a tilt of her head, her brows knitting together. It was difficult for the Ravenclaw to imagine anyone not loving Jack Burnett, except Mathias Pride at least. Burnett was so funny and smart, Winnie felt like she could listen to him for hours. So if this girl didn’t like him... Perhaps there was something wrong with her? Not that she wanted to judge the girl before knowing her, she would just be on guard, see why it was the brunette wasn’t on good terms with him. That was the plan, at least, but as per usual her mouth was ahead of her and she blurted out, “I can’t imagine anyone not liking him. He’s such a nice boy. Maybe you just have conflicting personalities?” That was a thing, right? That was also the only explanation that made sense to her.

"Oh... You didn't, um... So long as you don't tell anyone." Winnie stated, her face still flushed. "Opeila? That's a pretty name... I'm Winnie Harper."

@Winnie Harper

Immediately Opeila regretted her honesty towards the younger girl, who immediately turned red and stared at the second year with panic in her eyes. What had she expected anyway?
Opeila attempted a comforting smile. "I didn't see anything else. Only a name, that's all. I won't go around and gossip about it."

Well, Opeila's ability to shut up proved itself non-existent with her next words. Why in the world would she mention her own relationship with Jack bloody Burnett right now, to a girl who obviously had a crush on the redhead? Now it was on her to turn red, regret and discomfort forming an unpleasant knot in her stomach. "Well, not liking him is probably a bit too easy to say. We have some complications ever now and then. He can be super nice, but he can also... you know..." Why was she still talking?

The Slytherin was honestly relieved when Winnie presented a great answer and hastily she nodded. "Yes! Yes, that sounds right, we have conflicting personalities. We tend to disagree about certain things and don't seem to be able to solve them." Content with the explanation, Opeila nodded. So, no more talking about Jack Burnett and herself.

The girl introduced herself as Winnie Harper and complimented Opeila's name. "Oh, thank you. My parents have a knack for anything unique, including names. I like yours too!" Moving away from the topic of Jack Burnett, Opeila immediately felt more comfortable.