Girl Talk Slytherin Style (Ophelia/Openish)

[Leilani Evetts]

Lani turned her head and looked at her friend as she spoke. For as shallow as she often thought her friend could be, those were deep thoughts.

Lani sighed. "I guess I'm still just worried that he still likes her. It's just... she and I are so different. If it was another girl even similar to me, I wouldn't be as worried, but I don't even know how to compete with her. I guess now I don't need to. I just... you're right. I should enjoy this for now. However long it lasts."

[Ophelia Burke]

"You being so different from her is a good thing," Ophelia assured her. "She's not a very nice person, if you ask me. And you're prettier than she is. I guess she's OK-looking, if you like that type, but I've never seen anything very special about her." She shrugged carelessly. "And she has absolutely no connections to speak of. I don't know... I just think the better person won. You should totally enjoy it. As for me, I don't know if I'm ever going to fall in love... I'm afraid my daddy is going to pick someone for me, and I don't want an arranged marriage. It's so humiliating!"

[Leilani Evetts]

Lani wrinkled her nose. She didn't think her parents would arrange a marriage for her, though if they were going to, they hadn't said anything to her about it.

"Yeah, it would be a little. It's like they don't trust you to find someone decent on your own. I guess they just want what's best for us, though. The whole idea that we're kids and we don't know as much... I can understand it. Besides, I am sure you'll find someone decent and upstanding. How could you not?"

She fell into the new conversation easily, almost glad for it because it got her mind off Lyra.

[Ophelia Burke]

"I know, exactly!" Ophelia said. "I can't see why they wouldn't trust me to pick someone appropriate. It's not like I go around, talking to just anyone. I know I can choose someone perfectly fine on my own. As far as I know, Daddy hasn't picked anyone for me yet, but he's mentioned it before. It's just positively... medieval! I love my family, but I just don't know what I'll do if I have to deal with an arranged marriage." She pouted deeply. "You're so lucky you don't have to deal with such things. It would be wonderful if you could marry Rystain, but I guess it's too early to think about that."

[Leilani Evetts]

"Yeah, I guess," Lani said. "There's not a lot less pressure on me, anyway."

She shook her head, thinking about marrying Rystain, and sighed. "If I even mentioned marriage to him, he'd be gone. I'm honestly surprised that he picked one of us anyway. He's not exactly the monogomus kind."

And that was what worried her.

[Ophelia Burke]

Ophelia thought about this for a minute, twirling a curly lock around her index finger. "Well, at this age, anyway, most boys are going to take off when you mention marriage, unless they're willing to go for an arranged marriage. Didn't Rystain have an arranged marriage? With the Gryffindor Champion?" She frowned at that thought. "Do you know if that's still on?"

[Leilani Evetts]

Lani groaned. "I don't know," she said. After everything that happened, she hadn't even thought of Alice in all of this. Were they still engaged? And if so, what did Alice think of all of this? Surely the rumors had spread to Gryffindor by now. "He hasn't mentioned her. But then again, he never mentioned Lyra, either. I don't know what to think, Fee. But when I'm with him, you know... I don't have to think. It just feels right and I fit in his arms and things slow down. It's when I'm not with him that I start thinking and worrying about all of it."

[Ophelia Burke]

Ophelia considered this. "Well, if Rystain's not concerned about it, maybe it's OK. I mean, Alice is dating someone, too, right? Longbottom? Maybe they aren't really set on the arrangement. And I can hardly blame them for that." She sat up and began to pin her hair up so it wouldn't get too messed up while she slept. "But as far as Lyra is concerned, I wouldn't worry about her. If Rystain chose you, he must really like you. Don't think about Lyra. Obviously, they're just friends."

[Leilani Evetts]

"Just friends, yes, but obviously, Lyra wanted more. And Rystain wanted more, too."

Lani was afraid that would come back to haunt her in time. She needed to stop worrying about it. She needed to enjoy Rystain for the time that she had them, and stop worrying about him choosing anyone else.

"I'm just worried about Lyra trying to get revenge for this."

[Ophelia Burke]

Ophelia frowned. "Well, that is a concern," she said. "I can totally see Lyra doing something to get back at you... she's not exactly the type to just let things go. And with Sam on her side... There will probably be something. I guess all you can do is just be ready."

[Leilani Evetts]

Lani sighed. Fee wasn't really much help there.

"If she does something, you know, I don't know if I should let it go or fight back. Lyra is just enouraged either way. Anyway, I'm tired of talking about it, Fee. Tell me about something completely unrelated. Tell me something... anything... that hapened in your day."

[Ophelia Burke]

Ophelia privately thought that, whatever Lyra did, Lani should definitely fight back. But it was easy for her to say that, because she wasn't the one in that position. In fact, Ophelia really didn't think of herself as much of a fighter. If someone did something to hurt her, her usual response was to tell Jadon. She knew that her wonderful, perfect brother would never allow anything to happen to her, and that he would kill anyone who harmed so much as a single blonde curl.

"Hmmm... well, I witnessed a most interesting little fight in the common room today," she replied. "Severus Snape and Seth Inophen. They were fighting about... Oh, I don't know. Something about that mousy Hufflepuff Seth likes and the weird Ravenclaw girl Severus is always hanging around. But Severus... he used the most interesting spell on Seth. It looked like an invisible hand grabbed Seth by the ankle and hung him upside down in mid air."

[Leilani Evetts]

Lani furrowed her brows. Severus was a few years behind her, which meant that she should be more than familiar with the spells he knew how to use. The fact was, she didn't know what spell that was, and it bothered her.

She would be the first to admit that she wasn't that great in school, but it should at least sound familiar, shouldn't it?

"I don't think I remember that spell."