Getting over one's first love was always a task people people deemed hard. Ophelia Greengrass, however, finds it to be even harder as she has to get over her first love whilst being engaged to his little brother.
✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈
❝we may be in a love...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
[february 1972]
everyone was quite that day. no talking, no teasing, just silence. ophelia hated it.
she wanted her aunt to tease her, her mother to scold her, her brothers to make jokes. she didn't want them to treat this day like it was special. this day wasn't special. today is just any other day, ophelia thought as she clutched her utensils tighter.
but today was special. three years ago today, ophelia greengrass had met tragedy. and it has not left her side since.
nightmares of that day plagued her mind. the sight of her aunt's dead body sinking down the deepest depths of the ocean were forever engraved in her mind.
ophelia didn't know how she got back on the boat, she didn't know how long she was seated in the control room and she didn't know how long the rest of her family suffered under the sleep potion her aunt had made.
she only knows that as soon as they woke up, they searched the entire boat for her and her aunt, only to be met by the captain telling them where the younger girl was. "ophelia!" mr greengrass shouted as he opened the door.
she was ready for a scolding, for a beating perhaps. but she didn't expect her father to throw himself at her and hold unto her as though his life depended on it. it was the first and last time ophelia thought her father loved her.
"what happened, my love?" mrs greengrass said as she approached the two of them. the rest of their family remained at the doorframe, listening.
"aunt— aunt artemis jumped off the railing. she tried to drag me down with her but i— she wasn't able to bring me dow," ophelia lied. she didn't know why she lied. but she did.
not that anyone believed her. she was wet and dripping on the floorboards. but she was seven and shivering. mrs greengrass carried her daughter out of the room and gave her a bath.
now everyone walked on eggshells around her on this day. on this day that ophelia wished would remove itself from the calendar. it was her birthday and also the worst day of her life. and it only came every four years.
she would only have to deal with this silence, this sense of false peace, every four years. but why was she so miserable? why did this tragedy have to follow her even now?
[february 1976]
ophelia just wanted to be alone today. she loved her friends—truly, she could not have survived the last five years without them. but she could not be around them today. she wanted to be spared of the looks of pity. she did not want to be walked around eggshells with; she received that enough from her family.
so she did the only thing that brought her comfort. she read little women.
she was lying in bed, reading the story about the march sisters for possibly the hundredth time.
it was a silly thought but this book had saved her from her darkest times. it was the idea that girls like the march sisters could overcome their problems made her think she could as well. and if only ophelia knew who sent her the book, she would kiss and thank them.
it was 10th birthday, if the facts aligned, and she found the book on her nightstand. it was a muggle book, piquing her interest.
she asked all possible suspects, her parents, venus, and her brothers. but nothing. they didn't have a clue as to who gave her the book.
but everytime she read it, she thought of the sender. ophelia thought about a person who knew her so well that they gave her this book. someone who saw this book and said 'ophelia would like this.'
often, she even romantized the idea of the sender (since it was clear no one in her family had given it to her). she imagine falling in love with someone and them saying 'i sent the book you love the most. the book that saved you.' because in a way, that sender had saved her.
when she and sirius got together, only a few weeks ago, she had hoped it was him. it was him that knew her so well. it was him that saved her. but sirius merely laughed and said, "me? a book? ask remus." remus didn't send the book, he didn't even know her then.
ophelia was reading the scene where amy and laurie were talking when she started craving some food. she memorized the number of the page and slipped out of the book and headed towards the kitchens, the book still in hand.
as she turned the corner, just a few more steps away from the kitchens, she bumped into someone. and in an act of surprise, she ended up throwing her book at the person.
"ow!"
as ophelia stood up, she got a better view of the person. "shit! i'm so sorry, regulus!"
