On Christmas Eve, the Potter family was joined by Sirius Black and Lily Evans for their annual Christmas feast. 

The six of them gathered around the Potter fanily's dining table, sitting around plates and plates of decadent food and beautiful centrepieces. As the children were about to dig into the food, Euphemia stopped them because she said that she had a toast to make. 

James and Ophelia eyed each other and shot each other confused and laughing looks, thinking about how their parents had never made a Christmas toast like this before. 

She stood up and raised her glass. "A Christmas toast to our children. Sirius, who is now as much a part of our family than I, is one of the brightest, kindest, best children that we could ask for. We're so glad to have you here with us."

"Bloody right!" James said, causing the entire table to erupt into laughter. After a second of lightheartedness, Euphemia resumed her speech. 

"And of course, our other children. Ophelia is such a nice girl who hasn't gotten a single detention this year. And James, he's got a wonderful girlfriend, such amazing friends, he's set to graduate this year with O's in every single one of his classes."

Ophelia crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes. "Is that all?"

"Oh, you're right." Fleamont added. "He's also a Chaser on the best Quidditch team in the School."

"Are you kidding me?" Ophelia asked, getting frustrated and annoyed. "Sirius gets all that, James gets a whole speech, and all I get is a sentence?" 

"Well, James is a very good student."

"So am I!" Ophelia shouted. "But no one cares because he's the golden child and I'm just an embarrassment!" 

Ophelia stormed off in a huff up to her bedroom, her eyes welling with tears but she didn't want to start crying in front of her family and their friends. 

Sirius stood up, intending to follow the girl, but James and Lily stopped him and convinced him to give her a second to herself. 

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Ophelia skipped the Christmas dinner with her family and spent the better part of the night alone in her room. A few minutes after Ophelia stormed out of dinner, Euphemia knocked on Ophelia's door and asked if she wanted dinner at all. When she refused, the family resumed their meal without her. 

After the family had their dessert, the family engaged in standard parlour talk about school, friends, and other basic topics. James decided to skip out on the chat, and went to check up on his sister. 

He gently knocked on the door twice to get her attention in a polite way. 

"What do you want?" Ophelia asked, slightly muffled because she had her face buried in her pillow.

"Can I come in?" He asked. 

There was a bout of silence while Ophelia paused to think about whether she should let him in or not. After a second, she opened the door and returned to her bed without saying a word. 

He walked inside quietly and sat down on Ophelia's bed beside her. 

"What was that back there?" He asked, rather bluntly. 

"What do you think?" She replied. "I'm tired of you being the absolute poster child for perfection while I'm just the black sheep of the family."

"You're not the black sheep of the family, but you will be if you keep having random outbursts like that."

"Gee, thanks for the pep talk, James." Ophelia said sarcastically. 

"I'm being serious." James told her. "You're the one alienating yourself, and you need to stop blaming everyone else. Especially us."

"Get out." Ophelia ordered. "I thought you were going to try and cheer me up but you're just being rude."

"I'm not being rude, I'm telling you the truth. I may be the only one here with the courage to say it to you."

"Get out!" She repeated, even more frustrated this time. 

"Fine." 

James stood up and walked towards the door. When he opened it, he revealed that Sirius and Lily were standing by the door, listening to the conversation in Ophelia's room. 

"By the way, all you did here was prove my point." James said, hoping to get the last word in. 

"Shut up!" Ophelia roared at her brother. 

He walked out, leaving the door wide open behind him. Lily and Sirius both stayed behind next to the doorway, unsure of what to do. 

Ophelia huffed and mashed her face back into her pillow. When she realised that her brother's friends had stayed behind, she felt the need to push them out even more. 

"If either of you are here to say anything close to what James said, you can go follow him downstairs."