selenophile || remus lupin

chapter fifty one

17 December 1976

4:32 pm

Ophelia's boots crunched each time she took a step, sinking into the several inches of snow. She was walking back from the last Hogsmeade visit before the Christmas holidays, and of course, everyone bought each other Christmas presents. As always, they would be doing their marauders tradition of a gift exchange that night, as they would be going home the next day.

The first stop she went to was Gladrags Wizardwear, where she assumed she would get most people's gifts. She found a wonderfully loud pair of socks to give to Sirius, just to annoy him. They sang Christmas songs almost continuously, but every time you took a step, it would change the song. She found the most darling dress to give Lily, a pair of boots for Dorcas, and a cozy-looking sweater for Maisie.

She next went to Dogweed and Deathcap, looking for a Flutterby Bush, something that she knew Alice would absolutely love. Alice was wonderful at Herbology and easily could have been a Herbologist had she not wanted to become an auror. The flutterby bush she found was absolutely perfect, it smelled wonderful and had blue and purple flowers that looked like butterflies.

Afterward, she headed to Zonko's, looking for a good gift for James, Marlene, and Peter. She picked out a Fanged Flyer for James, a sneakoscope for Peter, and a nose biting teacup for Marlene.

She went into Madam Puddifoot's tea shop, looking specifically for a special type of tea that was only sold there. She loved the environment of the place if she was being honest, it was very fancy and proper, but bright and cheery unlike what properness she was forced to endure at Grimmauld Place. She found Madam Puddifoot herself and bought a container of Dragon Roasted Tea for Mary.

Finally, she went to Scrivenshaft's to get presents for Remus and Regulus. She found a stack of short childhood stories to get Regulus, knowing that he would be interested to read about them, even if they did seem a bit childish. The Black siblings were never taught anything so foolish, instead being forced to learn about the dark arts, become fluent in foreign languages, or learn different ballroom dances.

For Remus, she remembered back to what she got him last year, a brown leather notebook, and decided to get him another notebook. That boy wrote so often that he had to go through several notebooks each year, so what was the harm in getting him a brand new one? The one she picked out was absolutely gorgeous. It was a dusty blue color, with a tree in the shape of a woman on the front, her arms acting as branches, sprouting up into the very corners of the cover.

After the long Hogsmeade outing, everyone gathered together in front of the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room. They hadn't any time to wrap their gifts, so they all just handed whichever gift was to each person, who didn't need to take the time to unwrap it.

In the end, Ophelia had received a bit of candy from Peter, Dorcas, and Marlene, a cozy cardigan from Remus, a few muggle classics from Mary, a hat from Lily, Hiccouch Sweets from Sirius, a pair of shoes from Alice, and a silver necklace from James.

By dinner, Ophelia's mood had completely deflated. She had sat in the middle of Remus and Sirius, and it was rather uncomfortable. She couldn't stop thinking about the next day, where she would have to meet her parents and return to Grimmauld Place. She could see Regulus across the Great Hall and noticed that he was having similar thoughts rushing through his brain.

Sirius, however, had of course left the last break, so he would not be going back. He was too preoccupied with his excitement of celebrating Christmas with James and his family to remember where he had come from and who he had left behind.

Ophelia, lost in thought, didn't even realize she was shaking until Remus took the fork out of her hand and held it, as a subtle attempt to calm her down. She looked at him, who was looking down at her with kind and concerned eyes.

"It'll be okay," he whispered. Ophelia only weakly nodded in return, finding it hard to keep eye contact with anyone for longer than a few seconds.

Sirius was rather restless throughout dinner and had taken to annoying Ophelia. As she was staring off into space, he kept poking her cheek.

"Please stop," she whispered, half heartedly, gently moving her face away from him.

"It's almost Christmas, Fia! Stop being such a bah humbug!" Sirius had a wide grin on his face, only intending on making her smile, not realizing that he was only putting her in a worse mood.

"Please stop," she whispered again, this time finding the courage to look him in the eyes. Sirius hadn't registered the fear and sadness that swam in her eyes and instead acted as if he took offense to what she had said.

"And what's got your knickers in a twist?"

"I'm just not in the mood to celebrate right now," she said, regaining her voice a bit.

"But it's almost Christmas! This is the best time to celebrate! We're going to be going home tomorrow!"

"You might," she said bitterly. This made Sirius understand where she was coming from a bit, but he still did not understand exactly how she was feeling.

"Just come to James' with me, Monty and Mia wouldn't mind, and it's way better than that hellhole," Sirius almost laughed.

"I can't," Ophelia snapped.

"But why not?" Sirius pushed, both twins' tempers rising.

"I'm not doing this right now," Ophelia stood up from the table and left the great hall, and as far as she was aware, only Sirius had followed her out. They had walked into a nearby corridor until they were far enough away from the Great Hall that no one would hear them.

"Why can you not come to James' Phee? It makes perfect sense, it's so much better there!"

"Because I can't leave Regulus like you left us. I have to protect him, Sirius!"

"He's not your responsibility! He's a Slytherin and he's shown us well enough whose side he's on"

"No, he hasn't! I don't know where you're getting this from, but Reg has shown us nothing but kindness. I feel responsible for his safety while we're at Grimmauld Place, even if he were to be, say, a death eater. He could be the dark lord himself and I would still feel responsible for his safety because that's the way it has always been."

"But he won't be getting hurt! He's mother and father's Slytherin prince, the star child! He won't get hurt, but you will Fia. You're a Gryffindor, you've shown yourself to be a blood traitor, you're a woman in the house of Black for Merlin's sake, they have every reason to hurt you! I'm not an idiot, Ophelia, I know there's something going on that you aren't telling me about what happens when you go back-"

"It's not your place to pry-"

"But it is, Ophelia! It is my place because you're my sister and I care if you get hurt!"

"But you don't care if Regulus gets hurt? He's your brother, what's the difference?"

"The difference is that Regulus won't get hurt, but you will! Please, leave Grimmauld Place, leave mother and father!"

"I can't-"

"You have to, Ophelia. If they treat you as badly as they treated me, or Godric forbid worse, then you need to get out of there as soon as you can!"

"I'm not leaving Regulus to fend for himself in the hands of mother and father, I won't!"

"Ophelia, you're going to get the Cruciatus Curse used on yourself if you're not careful!"

Ophelia's heart dropped at this comment, but she kept her composure and her face as neutral as it was before and made up a quick lie on the spot. "Mother and father wouldn't stoop that low, I'll be fine Sirius. Stay out of it-"

But Ophelia stopped in the middle of her sentence when she saw that the two twins weren't really alone throughout their argument. Regulus had come out from behind one of the walls, tears threatening to spill down his face.

Sirius turned to where Ophelia was looking, he paled and breathed out, "Reg-"

"Come on, Reggie. Can we go back to your dormitory? I think we're done here," she snapped at Sirius, as she took Regulus' hand and the two silently made their way to the Slytherin house.