selenophile || remus lupin

chapter forty two

1 November 1976

9:15 am

Ophelia woke up to soft sunlight shining through the translucent curtains in her dormitory. She sat up and blinked, adjusting her eyes to the brightness. She looked around and noticed that the three other beds in the room were all empty, two of them already made. Marlene's, of course, was still a complete mess.

Today was a Hogsmeade day, but it was also just a few days before Sirius and Ophelia's birthday, so all of their friends were busy shopping for presents for the twins. That meant that Sirius and Ophelia were sent away from the group to avoid seeing what their friends had bought for them.

Ophelia threw on a jumper, brushed her hair and teeth, and walked down the stairs to the Gryffindor common room. She didn't see her brother anywhere so she walked up to the boys' dormitory and opened the door.

"Siri?" she called.

"Don't call me that," muttered Sirius, who was dressed and almost ready to leave, other than the fact that he was brushing his hair.

"Hurry up, knowing you, this is probably the twelfth time you've brushed your hair."

"Thirteenth actually."

Sirius put down the hairbrush and the two siblings walked shoulder to shoulder down to the great hall, occasionally bumping into each other to try and make the other trip. They ate a quick breakfast before getting on a carriage and getting to the wizarding town.

They hopped off the carriage and Ophelia went to pat the thestral as a quick gesture of gratitude. Sirius gave her a weird look.

"Why do you do that?"

"They're nice creatures."

"We've been over this, Ophelia," Sirius mimicked. "They're bloody terrifying."

"I've told you this before, and I'll probably tell you this a thousand times more, thestrals are nice. They won't hurt you, I promise."

"I still don't like them."

For the next while, Sirius and Ophelia just walked around the town. The two didn't really need anything, so they didn't need to go look around in the shops. Additionally, they didn't want to run into their friends and see what they were getting for their birthday. So to entertain themselves, they decided to hex people at random.

Ophelia performed a beautiful bat bogey hex, which Sirius almost collapsed to the ground from laughing so hard. It was aimed at a middle aged witch, who seemed a bit too arrogant for her own good.

Sirius saw a seventh year Slytherin and decided to try out the instant scalping hex, which immediately shaved all of the hair off of his head. He wasn't very happy, but luckily, he didn't know who had done it.

After a stickfast hex, Ophelia spotted Regulus walking around with a girl who Ophelia knew to be Aria Fawley. Something was going on between the two of them, and Ophelia knew it, but she didn't say anything at the moment.

"Ooh, there's Reggie! Let's go say hi," Ophelia said.

"But-" started Sirius, but stopped when he felt Ophelia grab his hand and drag him towards their younger brother.

"Hi, Phee," he smiled at Ophelia, then turned to his brother and nodded stiffly. "Sirius."

"Hi, Reg! And you must be Aria?" asked Ophelia.

Aria smiled politely, but it seemed as though she wanted nothing to do with the two Black twins.

"Yes, Aria Fawley. I've heard much about you two," she said, with an obvious undertone of disgust.

"Of course you have," said Sirius.

At this, Aria rolled her eyes and started to walk, but turned around when she realized Regulus wasn't behind her.

"Are you coming or not, Regulus? We haven't got all day to talk to your family."

"Give me just a minute, Aria."

She rolled her eyes and walked away.

"No offense Reg, but she doesn't seem like a super great person to hang out with," Ophelia said hesitantly.

"She's not always this bad, I think she's just not used to Gryffindors talking to her," he said.

"As if that's an excuse," muttered Sirius.

"Oi, that's my girlfriend, show some respect!"

"Girlfriend? You're going out with that bitch?" asked Sirius, repulsed.

"What else do you think girlfriend means?"

"You know what, Reg?" said Ophelia quickly. "I think Siri and I are going to head to the Three Broomsticks to grab a glass of butterbeer. We'll let you get back to Fawley. Love you."

She grabbed Sirius' arm, crossed the street, and heard the bell ring as they entered the busy pub. Sirius, still scowling, took a seat while Ophelia got two butterbeers. Once she returned to their seats, placing the warm mugs down on the table, she asked, "What's your problem?"

"What?"

"What's your problem with Regulus? What do you have against him?"

"He's a Slytherin, Ophelia. All Slytherins are bad and you know it."

"Have you been hit with a confundus charm? You forget that Regulus is family."

"No, Phee. You're family, James is family, he is not. Mother and father are not family."

"He's still your brother. And his house isn't a reason to shun him out."

"Yes, it is! I've said this before and I'll say it again, all Slytherins are bad!"

"Sirius, you're starting to sound like mother and father! This is exactly what they say about Gryffindor."

Sirius' eyes widened, but he kept going, "Either way, he's just like mother and father. His mother's perfect son, all he does is things to make her happy. It's all for mother, and he doesn't give a damn about anyone else."

"That's not true-"

"Remember last year? How he kept snitching on us and mother and father sent a howler? Remember how badly we were punished?"

"How could I forget?" she said quietly, remembering how awful it was.

Sirius noticed her change in tone and quickly said, "I'm sorry. I really am, but you put too much faith in him. He's just like the rest of them, give it time and I'll bet you a thousand galleons that he becomes a death eater."

"Sirius!" Ophelia exclaimed. "You're wrong. You don't put enough faith into him."

"How so?"

"He's changed, Siri. So, so much. I don't know why, but I think something in him changed last winter. He's kinder, more caring. He's not like mother and father. I do agree that he does a lot of things to make them happy, but inside, I think he's just scared."

"He's a coward."

"He's not. He's doing what needs to be done to survive. It works, he gets punished less than you and me."

"I don't get punished anymore. He's too weak to leave."

"And what does that make me?"

Ophelia sighed, "Look, Sirius. You should've seen him after you left. He's changed. He acts differently to the both of us. He's closer to me since we were together so much after you left. We depended on each other, I honestly don't think I would be here if I didn't have him. And he resents you because you left. You left the both of us, and he- we thought you died. He was scared, he was so scared. And when he realized that you had just abandoned us, he got upset, and he hasn't forgiven you yet."

a/n: hey babes, i'm going on vacation pretty soon and i wont be able to update much, if at all, so sorry in advance! i love you all <3