RIDDLES PROPERTY

chapter 64

Emelia woke up to the sound of Ophelia wailing.

"Please shut up!" she groaned.

Ophelia cried out again and Emelia had to force herself to get up. Tom wasn't in bed so she suspected he'd gone out for a smoke.

"I'm never having another child," Emelia grumbled. By the time she got to Ophelias crib, there was a figure already there in the dimly lit room.

"Hello," he said quietly.

"Hi," she replied.

"I didn't want to wake you up..."

"You can be such a gentleman when you want to Tom," Emelia sighed. She was absolutely lovestruck.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"Lumos." she said.

She moved the wand closer to his face. Tom was so soft when he was tired. His words were garbled and his eyes were shutting. His eye bags were getting worse. It'd been a week since they moved and every so often Emelia thought of sending a letter to Mrs. Weasley or Ginny, apologizing. She shouldn't have felt that way, but Emelia even wanted to apologize to Fred. He did partake in raising Ophelia even if it was limited.

"Don't be sorry, go back to bed."

He handed Ophelia to Emelia and sat on the rocking chair with his head put back. Tom seemed to be shivering because of New York's cold night time temperatures.

"I think we'll need to get jobs, yanno," she said.

"In my imagination, you're waiting lying on your side with your hand between your thighs when I get back from work."

"Our daughter is in my hands and you're talking about sex, great," she joked around.

He grinned sheepishly.

"You're not cute, I hope you know that." Emelia said sarcastically. God, her personality was just purely sarcasm and Tom admired it.

"C'mere."

He grabbed her arm and sat her down on his lap. They were sitting there in the dead of the night with Ophelia in her hands and her in Toms. This was what a family was supposed to be, right?

"I miss the Weasley's." she stated.

"Do you now?"

"They were like my extended family," she sighed. "Mrs. Weasley was like the mother figure I never really had and yeah...she's the best. I wonder if this is permanent."

"Wherever you go, I won't be hard to follow. But for now we have to stay put."

She sighed.

"I suppose...might as well make a few friends while we're here. We've been stuck here almost all week. Also, why is Ophelia crying so much!"

Ophelia let out a howl and Emelia did a double take.

"Oh my god, how could I be so dumb? Her first transformation is tonight..."

Tom's grip on her loosened, but she was still in his lap. Emelia got up and looked at Ophelia. She recalled what Remus said.

"Ophelia's only a child so for now she'll turn into a puppy, but they get much more violent as they grow older especially near puberty. You can keep her in your room, but it's better to lock her in a safe place till it's over and keep food and water there too. Tha way they'll get accustomed to it as they grow."

All of a sudden, ears started to emerge from her head and she was howling in pain. There were tears in her eyes and in that moment Tom felt so useless. What could he do to help? One of his own henchman did this.

"Get a bucket of water and some of the raw steak," Emelia ordered. Tom followed them quickly and handed it to her. She set Ophelia down in her crib and kissed her forehead. Fur was starting to spread.

"We must leave the room." Tom said.

"But my baby..."

"You know it's best for her, Emelia," he said softly. She shut her eyes and took her last look at Ophelia before exiting the room.

"I really hope she's okay."

The rest of the night they could hear screams coming from the room next door and had to cast a Mufflisto charm around their apartment to stop the neighbors from hearing.

"She'll be okay, we've got to have faith. Yeah, faith."