That day in herbology.
The afternoon sun poured through the tall greenhouse windows in long golden beams. Dust and faint drifting pollen glimmered inside the light like slow moving stars. The air was warm and thick with the scent of soil, leaves, and something faintly sweet from the flowering vines along the walls.
Fila stood directly in one of those beams.
Her eyes were half closed, face tilted slightly toward the warmth. The sunlight soaked into her skin. For a moment she simply stood there, letting the warmth exist without thinking about it.
It felt good.
Across the greenhouse, Theo was fighting for his life.
"WHY IS IT STRONGER THAN ME," he shouted through the thick protective earmuffs.
The mandrake in his hands thrashed violently, its root legs kicking with surprising force as it tried to climb back into its pot. Dirt sprayed across the table.
June leaned casually against the nearby workbench, arms folded.
"You're losing to a vegetable," she said calmly.
Theo wrestled the creature downward.
"IT HAS MUSCLES."
The mandrake shrieked silently against the muffling charms of the room, its leafy top whipping back and forth like an angry wig.
Professor Naya stood beside Fila and watched this all play out. Repotting a mandrake was an important learning experience, or so she said it was more about looking at Theo struggling.
Fila looked down at her small pot where the oversized mandrake laid peacefully right now.
She grabbed the drake and pulled gently up, it was about to start screaming. Yet it didn't. The mandrake looked at Fila who smiled warmly, behind her the warm orange rays of the sun made her almost look like an angel for the mandrake.
"Shhh, no need to be scared. Just giving you a bigger pot." She said gently. The words even made the students around her calm a little.
The mandrake blinked.
Its small muddy face tilted as if trying to understand the voice speaking to it. The leaves on its head trembled once, then slowly settled. Fila lifted it the rest of the way out of the pot.
Theo was still wrestling his.
"WHY IS MINE TRYING TO KILL ME."
June glanced over toward Fila and then back at him.
"You might be offending it."
"I'M REPOTTING IT."
"That might be the offensive part."
Professor Naya's attention shifted fully now. Her eyes moved from Theo's ongoing struggle to the silent plant now repotted in a bigger pot. She walked up to Fila.
"Ophelia, would you mind having a little talk with me outside?" she asked gently
Fila nodded.
They stepped outside into the garden. Fila had been here a lot, even during free time. Helping remove weeds and just looking over the plants.
They walked slowly on the gravel path between blossoming flowers and herbs.
The greenhouse warmth faded behind them. Outside the air was cooler but still soft with the lingering warmth of the afternoon sun. Bees drifted lazily between clusters of small white flowers along the garden beds.
Professor Naya did not speak immediately.
Her hands were folded loosely behind her back as they walked. Her pace was unhurried, more like someone taking a stroll than a professor addressing a student.
"I still cant get over how easily you handle plants, I've seen it several time now but still." The professor finally said. She stopped to look after a dittany that was planted. "I know about your magic from the headmaster, im not scolding you. your magic is yours and you are free to use it as you seem fit." Naya stood up straight and looked at Fila. "But I'm worried you might grow bored of my lessons.
Fila met the gaze of the professor. She understood her point, a students who knows the subject would often get bored of repeated knowledge. But this didn't bother Fila, she was just here for the closeness she felt to the plants. Being near them more and handling them made her understand them further.
"No professor, I simply enjoy being close to the plants. I do not see myself getting bored." She said with a smile.
Professor Naya looked happy with the response. But under that smile she was also worried about the little thunderbird. She saw the change in her, Ophelia wasn't the warm and happy girl she had been last term. She was collected or more composed. Like a child who was force to grow up to quickly. But she knew Ophelia had other reasons for being like this.
They resumed walking along the garden path. Lavender brushed softly against their robes as they passed.
"For most witches and wizards," Naya said, "herbology is the study of magical plants. Learning their properties. Their uses. Their dangers."
Fila looked down at the small clusters of moss growing along the stone edge of the path.
"For you," Naya continued, "it seems to be something closer to… conversation."
Fila did not deny it.
She paused briefly beside a small flowering bush, brushing her fingers lightly over one of the petals. The plant shifted subtly toward her touch.
Naya noticed.
"Tell me something honestly," the professor said gently.
Fila looked up.
"When you stand among plants like this," Naya asked, "do they feel quiet to you… or loud?"
The question made Fila pause longer this time.
She considered it carefully.
"Both, its like a classroom. Sometime they are loud and sometimes quiet." She looked over the field of flower and herbs.
Professor Naya followed her gaze out across the garden beds.
Small rows of herbs stretched neatly along the path. Mint, thyme, dittany, and a few stranger magical plants that glowed faintly in the shade. Bees moved lazily from flower to flower, completely uninterested in the two witches standing nearby.
"A classroom," Naya repeated with a small smile.
Fila nodded a little.
"Some plants are calm," she said. "They just sit there and grow. Others are… dramatic."
Naya laughed quietly at that.
"That is a very polite way of describing a mandrake."
Fila's eyes moved briefly back toward the greenhouse where Theo's muffled shouting could still occasionally be heard through the glass.
"yes indeed, but even a mandrake can be calmed." Fila said before returning to the greenhouse, she needed to help Theo before he had a full-blown brawl with his plant.
As the days passed and Ophelia came into a rhythm of her own. Some days she went to class in the morning and sometimes afternoon. While her classmates were in class she often tried to learn French and had started learning some history. Even going as far as studying how her grandfather lost against the so famous wizard Dumbledore.
On Saturday she sat in the seats overlooking the dueling grounds. She didn't really want to go since she can't attend anyways. But June and Calla had dragged her out of bed.
On the field stood students dueling and training. Today wasn't a ranking day so they were just throwing spells to train.
A flash of light burst across the field.
"Expelliarmus!"
A wand flew through the air and clattered against the grass.
Someone groaned.
Another group nearby practiced shield charms, blue barriers flickering in uneven shapes as students tried to hold them steady.
Fila sat quietly in the wooden seat, elbows resting lightly on her knees as she watched.
June and Calla sat on either side of her.
"Well," June said, glancing down at the field, "if it makes you feel better, Theo is still terrible."
Below them, Theo attempted to cast a stunning spell and nearly tripped over his own foot while doing it.
The spell went wide and struck a training dummy instead.
Calla winced.
"That was… something."
June leaned forward slightly, hands resting on the railing.
"You'd be down there flattening everyone right now if they let you."
Fila looked at the students, her eyes were judging them. to many spells at short time. instead they should focus on one spells that would be more effective. But giving them this tip would also bite her later as she wanted to climb that leaderboard.
"Who is ranked first?" Fila asked.
June pointed at a guy walking down below. "That is the reigning champion of hearts and duels. Aaron"
Fila raised an eyebrow. "Of hearts? Is that guy supposed to be charming?"
Both June and Calla looked almost offended at Fila.
June turned slowly to stare at her as if she had just said something deeply unreasonable.
"Supposed to be charming?" she repeated.
Calla blinked once, then looked back down at the field where Aaron was speaking to another student.
"Have you been unconscious for five months or ten years?"
Fila glanced back down at the dueling circle again.
Aaron stepped into the ring once more, greeting his opponent with a relaxed nod before raising his wand.
"He looks normal," she said simply.
June put a hand over her face.
"Normal."
Calla leaned slightly closer to Fila, lowering her voice like she was explaining something very obvious.
"He's tall."
"Yes."
"He's good at dueling."
"Yes."
"He helps younger students train."
"Yes."
"And he looks like that," Calla finished, gesturing broadly toward the field.
Fila watched Aaron block a quick spell and step neatly to the side before countering. "if he is charming than Theo looks like a prince." She scoffed.
Both June and Calla stood up and tried looking dramatic. Fila sat still and looked at the students training. She wanted to kick his ass of the first place, that spot belonged to her.
She walked over to the leaderboards. The board consisted of almost thirty spots. Top five was considered the highest, and she didn't even see her classmates on this board. But since the board had only fourth years and above on it, it didn't surprise her. The difference in magical knowledge is too big for a second year to even beat a fourth year or even a third year.
Fila stood in front of the leaderboard for a moment longer.
The board was tall, carved from dark wood with glowing names etched neatly into the surface. Every position shimmered faintly beside a small number, the ranking shifting automatically whenever duels changed the order.
She scanned the list slowly.
Aaron Vale Marcus Ilyan Sera Donnelly Daniel Harrow Livia Chen
Below that the names continued.
Six. Seven. Eight.
All fourth years.
Then further down, a few fifth years and even a sixth year scattered through the middle ranks. Her eyes moved down until she found it.
Stella Marin
She nodded once to herself. "That's good," she murmured quietly.
That evening fila sat alone in her own creation. The training ground had become a place for people to hang out and relax. The mood created by the flower and vines made it very relaxing.
She sat leaving her back against one of the roots that made pillars. The idea for coming here an evening on Saturday was to study. But ones she arrived that idea faded rather quickly as she now just sat looking though the leaves in the vine ceiling.
The leaves above her shifted slowly in the evening breeze.
Small pieces of sky appeared and disappeared between them as the vines swayed. The last light of the day filtered through the canopy she had grown, turning the roses overhead into darker shades of red and gold.
The courtyard had quieted.
Her nightmare hadn't stopped, but she had managed to stay quiet enough not to wake her roommates as she didn't want them to go around tired with school and other things going around. They had insisted on waking up with her but no.
The quiet thinking for herself was rudely interrupted as she saw a figure appear in the doorway.
'oh no not again' she thought jokingly as the situation looked very similar to her previous encounter alone in the room.
"What you doing sitting her alone, ive been looking for you all over the school" Theo said while waving his arms to gesture how annoyed he was.
Fila raised an eyebrow. "Stop lying, you knew I was here."
"yup first stop." He said as he sat down beside her.
They both sat in silence for a bit, just looking up at the sky.
"You settling in well?" he asked suddenly
"Stop sounding like we aren't friends. I'm doing fine" she answered while twirling a flower.
Another silence.
She had been feeling. Heavy. "Hey, can I tell you something?" Fila asked, she didn't look at him. Only looked at the flower.
He nodded. "Yeah, of course you can."
She took a deep breath, preparing herself to tell him about what she had thought about a lot. Heavy things.
"When I was asleep… I could choose not to wake up again." she took another deep breath, feeling her eyes starting to feel really wet. "I almost chose not to." She admitted.
The silence afterward was only broken by her nose starting to run. She cried but tried to be silent about it. not making eye contact. Only looking at the flower.
Theo did not answer immediately.
The wind moved softly through the vines above them. Leaves shifted, brushing against each other with a quiet rustling sound. Somewhere in the distance a door inside the castle closed with a dull echo.
He kept looking up at the sky for a moment longer.
Then he slowly lowered his gaze.
Fila still stared at the flower in her hands. Her fingers kept twisting the stem gently, over and over again. Her shoulders were still, but the small uneven breaths betrayed her.
Theo rubbed the back of his neck.
"Well," he said after a while, his voice quieter than usual, "that's… a very heavy sentence to drop on someone on a Saturday evening."
She let out a shaky breath that might have been a laugh if it had not been wrapped in tears.
"I know."
Another pause settled between them.
Theo leaned forward slightly, resting his elbows on his knees the same way she had earlier.
"When you say you could choose," he said slowly, "you mean you were aware of it?"
Fila nodded faintly.
"Yes."
Her voice barely came out.
"It was… peaceful there. Quiet. No pain. No expectations." She swallowed. "I could feel people calling me back but it felt far away."
The flower twisted again between her fingers.
"For a while I thought maybe it would be easier if I just stayed. And… I wanted to see mom"
Theo looked down at the ground.
His usual joking expression was gone now.
"And the reason you didn't?" he asked.
Her response didn't come for a while, but he waited.
"I didn't want them to get what they wanted." The reason Amanda had attacked her or Emma, was to kill her for being who she is. She didn't want them to feel like they won.
Theo stayed quiet for a while after she said it.
The wind moved softly through the vines above them again. Leaves brushed together and a few petals drifted down slowly through the air.
He looked down at the grass between his feet, thinking.
Then he nodded once.
"That sounds like you," he said quietly.
Fila's fingers were still turning the flower slowly. The stem had bent slightly now from how tightly she had been holding it.
Theo glanced at her.
"Stubborn," he added.
She gave a small sniff.
"That is not the word I would use."
"It is the word I'm using."
Another small silence followed, but it felt different from the one before. Not as sharp.
Theo leaned back against the root pillar beside them.
"So let me get this straight," he said slowly. "You were in some peaceful place. No pain. No problems. Probably no homework."
She nodded faintly.
"And instead of staying there you decided to come back here."
"Yes."
"To a castle full of idiots."
The silence afterward was broken by Fila who started to laugh, and Theo joined her soon after.
"Yes but sadly you guys are my idiots." Fila said after she finally stopped laughing.
And she leaned towards his shoulder and let her head rest there. Theo didn't mind. The two of them had been with each other from day one of this school, they knew each other better than the others. As if they had been friends long before coming here.
Theo shifted slightly so she could rest more comfortably against his shoulder.
The movement was small and careful, like he didn't want to make a big deal out of it. The kind of quiet adjustment that only happens between people who have known each other long enough that silence isn't awkward anymore.
The vines above them swayed again.
The sky beyond the leaves had darkened into deep blue now. The first proper stars had begun to appear, faint but steady between the gaps in the canopy.
Theo looked up at them.
"You know," he said after a while, "if you keep saying stuff like that, people are going to think you actually like us."
Fila closed her eyes briefly, still leaning against him.
"That would be a terrible misunderstanding."
"Good," he said. "We have a reputation to maintain."
She gave a quiet hum that might have been agreement.
The flower she had been twisting earlier now rested loosely in her hand. She wasn't crushing the stem anymore. Just holding it between her fingers.
Theo glanced down at it.
"You just killed that little one."
She met his eyes and then looked down at the flower and the broken stem still standing from the ground. She held the broken of flower to the stem and it reattached itself.
She let go and the flower was whole again.
He shook his head. "never going to understand how you do that stuff."
The two close friends chatted for a long time under the canopy of leaves and vines. Fila had started to feel home again, she had got something heavy of her chest and it felt. Better. In a way but still, she had a lot to work through.