THEO DID NOT UNDERSTAND OPHELIA'S sudden change of heart. From hating Mariana Cooper for most of her time here at Hogwarts, the blonde was now hanging out with her.

Indeed, now Ophelia barely even had time for Theo, she was constantly spending time with her new friends.

Her new friends being Astoria, and Mariana.

Pansy Parkinson occasionally hung out with them, and the more time Ophelia spent with the Slytherin girl, she realized that the Pansy she was with now, and the Pansy she had known in the past were two completely different people.

The old Pansy was racist, selfish and not to be rude, but a complete bitch. Later, Ophelia realized that she too had been pretending to play the role of a pureblood heiress in this large, twisted performance of the war between good and the evil.

Pansy and Mariana were a rather cute couple, even Ophelia would admit that. The Parkinson girl was older by a year, and fiercely protective of the shy, quiet Gryffindor girl, constantly defending her against Ginny, who always wanted to talk to Mariana.

Pansy did not even let Ginny come close to her girlfriend. The moment the youngest Weasley would take two steps towards her ex best friend, Pansy would shoot a quick curse her way.

Of course, when Lord Parkinson found out that his only daughter, his only heiress liked girls, and that she was currently with a mudblood, he disowned her. Ophelia knew the same would have happened to her had she made her fraternizing with Colin public.

Pansy never cried. When Ophelia asked Pansy if she felt bad, Pansy shook her head.

"Live with no regrets," she shrugged. "I'm almost seventeen. I was going to leave that hellhole anyway," she remarked loudly. "You must marry well," she imitated her parents with a scoff. "Those are the words I have grown up hearing. And frankly speaking, they never cared about me anyway. I was just a dowry. Nothing else." She shrugged once more, before turning to face her girlfriend admiringly, her hand slung around Mariana's neck. "To Mari, I'm more than my last name."

Mariana blushed very darkly, and Ophelia knew that Pansy was indeed right. To live without regrets, isn't that the finest feeling in the world? 

There were so many things Ophelia regretted at the moment, but if she could just... follow her heart, then she would never live to regret anything, right?

Once again, the blonde was discovering new things about life almost every day, picking up pieces of different people to build herself. Who was she? Why was she created? What was her purpose in life?

Ophelia was lost in deep thought as the questions of her existence filled her mind as she flashed through memories and hallucinations of the future.

"Lia," Astoria nudged her, snapping her out of her trance. She took a quick scan of her surroundings, realizing Mariana and Pansy had left. 

"Hmm?" she blinked, forcing a sudden smile on her face.

"I was asking if you started the book I gave you," Astoria repeated her question, going through Ophelia's bag and pulling out a yellow ribbon. "Mind if I borrow this? I lost mine."

The Malfoy heiress nodded a yes, before proceeding to answer the Greengrass' question. "No, I have not."

"Lia!" Astoria sighed, shaking her head with a frustrated sigh. "Read it! I swear you'll enjoy it."

That night, Ophelia decided to finally give the book a chance. 

The book was a romance, beautifully written. It told the story of two star crossed lovers who fell in love at first sight. Only the female protagonist was engaged to another man.

Thirteen chapters in, Ophelia slammed the book shut, her cheeks flaming at what she had just read, her heart beating faster than ever.

Oh. Oh God.

What have I just read?

She hid the book under her pillow. It was a dangerous book. Very, very dangerous indeed.

Ophelia couldn't sleep at all that night, her mind constantly drifting to the last few paragraphs of the book she had been reading. 

But she couldn't just stop like that. She needed to read more, she needed to know more.

Despite the red hot feeling that had been spreading all over her, she pulled the book from underneath her pillow and continued reading, because she couldn't stop there.

She needed to finish the book.

And so, she stayed up all night to finish it, even though she had to constantly take breaks, because she had just found out what lovers did behind closed doors.

So that's what sex is. 

All at once, she got even more embarrassed when she remembered asking Draco about it. 

And Theo. Oh God, what have I done?

She internally groaned, squeezing her eyes shut, remembering the conversations she'd had with Theo regarding the topic.

At this point, she wanted to melt into her mattress.

Sleep did not come to her at all that night.

No, Ophelia was plotting all the numerous ways she would kill Astoria for giving her the book that ruined her innocence without a warning.

Of course she was relieved she finally knew what sex was, but she wished she had found out a little earlier before she had gone and embarrassed herself.

She also wished she had been prepared for what the book held, instead of being surprised with it.

Astoria was dead.

Not only had Ophelia been unprepared for knowing these sort of things, but she had also now missed out on an entire night's sleep.

She had managed to fall asleep one hour before her usual wake up time, and when she woke up, she took a potion from Madam Pomfrey to help her stay awake all day so she could attend her lessons.

As her lessons went on, Ophelia's mind kept drifting to the book she had read, and once again, she cursed Astoria.

You're dead meat, Ria.

Sure enough, Astoria joined Ophelia in the library when she was studying for her OWLs. 

"So, did you read the book yet?" Ria greeted, sliding into the seat beside Ophelia, her straight, blonde hair fanned perfectly over her shoulder.

Ophelia had been sulking all day, plotting of the different ways she would take revenge on Astoria. But none of her scenarios came to mind when she was actually finally face to face with her best friend.

She threw the book at Astoria, making sure it hurt.

"I hate you," she grumbled, lower lip jutted out into a pout.

Astoria snorted. "You must have been so embarrassed when Theo—"

But Astoria never got to finish her sentence, because Ophelia had thrown herself all over Astoria, trying to grab the Slytherin girl's neck.

"I'll kill you, I swear to God, I'll murder you!"

Astoria was laughing hysterically, cackling loudly on the carpeted floor, Ophelia's hand around her neck as she repeatedly smacked the Slytherin with the book.

They had both forgotten they were in the library.

They had both forgotten they were supposed to be silent.

Until Madam Pince found the pair, throwing them out of the library for making noise and causing corruption, and Professor Flitwick gave them both detention.

Unfortunately for her, he had set the detention date to be the twenty eight of February, which happened to be Theo's birthday.

Ophelia inwardly groaned, and blamed Astoria for this one more time.

Astoria apologized by giving Ophelia more romance books. 

This time, Ophelia was prepared for the contents of the novel, so she accepted Astoria's apology.

She still hadn't decided what to give Theo for his birthday. For the first time since they were kids, Ophelia would be celebrating his birthday with him.

He was turning seventeen, a legal adult in the Wizarding world.

What did one give their boyfriend for his birthday?

If it had been Colin, Ophelia would have known what to get him; a new camera or a perfume... 

But Theo could buy any camera or perfume himself.

Ophelia needed to give him something money could not buy. She couldn't explain it, but she needed to give him something personal.

And as she finally thought of the perfect gift, she pulled out her quill and began to write a letter to her mother, requesting a copy of a very specific photograph.

On the twenty-eighth of February, Ophelia was already all dressed up and waiting for Theo outside the Slytherin common room before lessons. She had worn her school uniform, as normal, but she had done a half up half down hairstyle, holding up her magically straightened hair with a delicate white ribbon.

Leaning against the wall, her legs were crossed and her white bag was slung across her shoulder, a bright smile forming on her lips when she caught Theo's eye.

Theodore Nott had been at a loss of breath when he saw his girlfriend waiting for him, looking so pretty with her hair all done up just for him. He usually preferred her natural wavy hair, and the way it fell gracefully off her shoulders, but the way she had worn it today looked nice. Her bangs framed her face so perfectly, exposing the radiant smile she wore with the dimple in her left cheek.

She remembered!

Theo hadn't celebrated any of his birthdays since his mother died, so it was a huge surprise when Ophelia waited for him outside the common room and looked at him with that smile, indicating that she knew it was his birthday.

"Your wife's here," Blaise teased, causing Theo to scowl and push him away. 

"Asshole," He muttered. "Go. I'll catch up with you later."

It was a good thing Draco had a free lesson right now, otherwise he'd be accompanying Theo and Blaise on their way out of the common room. Instead, the Malfoy boy was still sleeping.

"Use protection," Blaise snorted, causing Theo to smack the Zabini boy at the back of his head.

"You really are unhinged," he remarked with a scoff. "Get a life."

Before Blaise could comment further, Ophelia had already made her way to Theo, wrapping her arms around his neck and Theo could feel his heartbeat quicken when the scent of perfume wafted into his nose.

Since Ophelia did not want anyone to know they were dating, she pulled him aside, into a more abandoned part of the dungeons, and Theo had no choice but to follow. He was pleasantly surprised when she kissed him deeply, her sweet mouth sending him into paradise.

"Happy birthday," she whispered shyly, twirling a strand of hair between her fingers. "I got you a gift..."

She was holding a silver giftbag up and extending it towards him. Was it possible to fall in love with the same person over and over again?

"Lia," Theo croaked, wishing she didn't have such an effect on him to render him speechless, to steal his words. "You didn't have to..."

"Of course I did. You're seventeen! This one's worth celebrating," she lectured. But Theo wasn't listening. His eyes were focused on her lips, which were painted the most beautiful shade of pink.

"Stop talking," Theo breathed hoarsely, before grabbing her waist and setting her down on one of the desks, kissing the daylights out of her.

He didn't want anything for his birthday. He didn't need anything for his birthday, as much as he needed her.

Her presence was enough. His ringed fingers tangled themselves into the back of her head, cupping the nape of her neck and holding her into place, with his other hand on her thigh.

Her knees parted to give him space, her small hands pressed into his chest as her fingers hooked into his collar to pull him close.

When he pulled away to catch his breath, his mouth was wet and swollen, but just as he dipped his head back in to resume kissing her, she placed her index finger on his lips, briefly silencing him, holding him in place.

God, if she knew the effect she had on me...

"I got you two presents," she explained, giving him the giftbag. "This is the first," she continued. "I was going to give the second one to you later in the evening, but I got detention today, so we'll have to postpone..."

He loved watching her speak. He loved how animated she became when she explained things using her hands and facial expressions. 

"Thank you," he nodded, his smile constant. It wouldn't fade away. And then he heard her words play over in his head. "Wait— you got detention? For what?"

As far as he knew, Lia had never gotten a detention before (not counting Umbridge).

"Astoria and I were too loud in the library," she had a reminiscent smile on her face. "Professor Flitwick told us we have to help Madam Pince arrange the books in the library tonight..."

"Shame," Theo sighed, pecking her lips. "I was looking forward to what you had planned tonight..."

"We can postpone it," she suggested. "How does tomorrow sound?"

"Okay," Theo smiled. 

In reality, he never cared about the date. She could postpone it to a year later for all he cared.

As long as it meant he would get to spend time with her. 

That was all Theo wanted. To spend time with her, even if it meant sitting next to her slumbering figure and watching her sleep.

"Well, aren't you going to open it?" Ophelia asked impatiently, tapping the gift bag.

Theo opened the giftbag, finding another elaborately wrapped box inside. Unwrapping it, he was pleasantly surprised to find a watch. A Rolex, to be precise.

"Okay, I know you already have one," Ophelia spoke. "But it's tradition to give a wizard a watch when he comes of age.." she explained. 

Theo looked at the watch she had gotten him. The latest Rolex model stared back at him. This year, the first ever white gold Daytona was released. He had seen pictures of it in the magazines he had subscribed to.

But this one looked completely different to the photographs he had seen.

Until it clicked in.

Holy fucking shit.

She had spent a fortune on him.

This model was new, but it wasn't like the rest. This one was specifically made for him. Like she had customized it to suit him. The Rolex Model and make was the same, the Daytona 16519, but the index of this one was made of rare black diamond.

Sure enough, when he flipped it over, the make and model was engraved into the silver metal at the back.

Rolex Daytona 16519 Zenith Rare Black Diamond 1997 Ser. A. Customized Edtn.

And a message. She had written a message.

7 yesterday, 17 today.
You and me, forever timeless.

Simple words. But oh, the meaning they held...

Theo would have cried right there and then, memories of their childhood flashing through his mind. His throat went dry, and he crushed the girl of his dreams, the girl he had loved forever into his arms, holding her there for a few long seconds.

"Thank you, Principessa. I love it," he told her honestly, because he didn't know how else to explain what he wanted to tell her without confessing his feelings. He used silence to convey the loudness of his heart.

She helped him put it on, and after another few kisses here and there, they parted ways, Ophelia going to Defense Against the Dark Arts, Theo going to Potions.

Theo would not stop thinking about the words written on the watch he now bore on his wrist.

Did they mean that Lia finally loved him? Or did the words simply carry mere sentiment?

You and me, forever timeless. 

{ hey guys, so sorry for the late update.
i actually came back from qatar on saturday night, and i've been sick all these days. i feel better, but my voice sounds like i ate a frog...
this chapter was the hardest to write, i just couldn't find the words...
anyway, i would really love it if you could SPAM me with comments, as per usual, because your comments are what keep me going...
no really, your comments are what motivate me. i'm being fr.
the next chapter contains big, big drama. i won't update until this one reaches 375 votes though : )
anyway, please do spam me with comments, vote and follow me (puppy eyes). socials are in my bio.
ALSO: lia's birthday is coming up !! the 24th of april. follow my profile to get updates for what i have planned for the 24th of april ;)
lots and lots of love,
jasmine. }

{ APR 16. 2024 }