𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 | 𝐡. 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫

𝟒𝟗 - 𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝

(TW - child abuse, physical injury and smoking (please do not partake.))

"𝙊𝙥𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙖! 𝘿𝙤𝙬𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙩!" Mary's shrill shout came from the bottom of the stairs, yet Ophelia was already dressed.

She was sat up at the edge of her bed, staring directly at the wall in front of her with her elbows resting on her knees, her concentration wasn't broken nor wavered by her grandmother's demand, she acknowledged it and continued to stare at the wall, calculating.

"What's going on with Phee?" asked Lily, sitting down cross-legged on the floor by the window, where Gwen was also sat, looking out of the window, it was just the two of them now as James went to go visit Harry.

"I'm not sure... she's been like this for three hours now..." said Gwen with a worried tone, her brows creasing together. "She only slept one hour... I don't know how she's functioning... I'm scared she'll crash... or collapse and there's nothing I can do."

"You don't think that she's plotting to escape again, do you?" asked Lily, turning her attention to Gwen as Phee had made no suggestion of moving from her place as Mary continued to call for Ophelia from below.

"I wouldn't put it past her, it's highly likely. I'm just wondering what's going on in her head." said Gwen, glancing back out the window, "She know's we're here at least, she can sense we're around... that I know, she can't see us yet, or hear us properly..."

"She'll get there, she's been thinking about it." said Lily, fiddling with the bottom of her trousers. "She wants to figure out a way to bring us back without all the dark arts stuff, like Voldemort did... she has come up with this theory that some part of him must've been alive enough spirit wise to be put into a body.... so she wants to try and figure out a way to do it without hurting anyone, and ethically. But as you can see, she's been staring at the wall thinking about it... I don't know how far she's gotten."

"How do you know that?" said Gwen turning her head, Lily dropped her head in shame.

"I read her journal as she was writing it, she's wondering about the parameters of her ability, what she could do, what she could sense, how far it would go and what were her limitations... she created a list of possible potions to try to rejuvenate a body... or create a new one...new elixirs, its incredibly advanced stuff. But I'll tell you something, with the venn diagram she came up with last night I'm surprised she wasn't sorted into Ravenclaw."

"I'm not, she takes like Remus that way... he was always so thoughtful and intuitive, compared to James and Sirius, he stuck out like a sore thumb when it came to brains." said Gwen with a chuckle, "But then again, she did inherit my bluntness, and I think my temperament-"

Suddenly, the door swung open as Mary demanded the doorway, cursing at her in explicit french, which Mary had specifically specified that she would be only speaking to her granddaughter in French, much to Ophelia's annoyance, having to refer to her second language was irritating, having to translate each and every word before it came out of her mouth, making sure her grammar was correct before speaking, by which point Mary would start berating her for not responding as quick as she wanted.

"Did you not hear me you ignorant girl? I said downstairs now... what on earth are you wearing-?" said Mary, slapping Ophelia's shoulder to gesture to her outfit.

"Clothes." replied Ophelia simply in french, "Or would you rather me not wear anything at all?"

"Now don't get smart with me-"

"Then don't insult me." Ophelia responded, looking up at her Gran, who proceeded to grab her by the wrist to try and pull her out of the room, Ophelia wrenched her wrist free and stood up, only a head difference in height. "I am perfectly capable of walking on my own."