selenophile || remus lupin

chapter eighty four

17 June 1977

5:54 pm

The next day after Regulus' panic attack, the two of them actively avoided Sirius as if it were life or death, because, in reality, it kind of was. If Sirius learned any more about what happened at Grimmauld Place, he wouldn't hesitate to go there himself and try to rescue his siblings, only resulting in his death and their further punishment.

The biggest problem with that was that Ophelia wasn't able to sit with her friends or boyfriend on the train ride home, which she normally wouldn't mind sitting with Regulus -- and she didn't, it's just that she wasn't going to be able to say goodbye to them without having to confront Sirius.

That being said, Ophelia and Regulus were both woken up by the loud whistle of the train, signaling that they were pulling into Platform 9 ¾. Students ran past their compartment window, all of them excited to see their family after a semester, and Ophelia felt a pang of jealousy that she would never be able to feel that.

She smoothed out her skirt as Regulus pulled both of their trunks down. Ophelia squeezed Regulus' hand as they stepped off the train, both knowing what was to come. They immediately found Walburga in the sea of crying parents, the only one who didn't look happy to see her children.

Her eye caught James' in the crowd and without missing a beat he turned to his mum and said something. The two came barreling through the crowd, Remus and Sirius quickly following after.

"Walburga," Euphemia said. "How are you?"

"Excuse me? Who do you think you are talking-" she said.

Euphemia nudged James as she continued to talk, "From a mother to a mother, we worry about our children and I just wanted to let you know that Sirius is doing just fine. I know that you're probably worried about him, as any good mother would be, but my sons are just wonderful."

As the two parents started talking, Walburga taking everything in herself to remain diplomatic, James rushed to Ophelia and gave her a hug goodbye. Remus did the same, knowing it wouldn't be good for her if they were to kiss, so he settled on a goodbye hug, putting all of his worries into it. Sirius hugged her last, whispering into her ear, "we're not done talking," and pulled Regulus into a side hug before the group walked back into the crowd.

Walburga let out a quiet shriek of disgust as they walked away and gripped Regulus and Ophelia's wrists, digging her nails deep into the skin. With a pop, they were back at 12 Grimmauld Place, Ophelia getting pushed onto the cold marble floor. Orion came out of the study at the sudden noise, a wicked grin on his face.

"Let's see, who shall we start with?" He rhetorically asked himself. "Eeny, meeny, miny, crucio!" He flicked his wand at Ophelia, who fell to the floor with a scream.

"Leave, Regulus! Go up to your room!" she begged between gasps. Regulus, looking terrified, hesitated for a moment but took both of their trunks up the grand staircase and she heard a bedroom door shut.

Walburga kicked her harshly in the ribcage, making the girl lose her breath as the curse was lifted off her. "Get up off the floor, girl. Stand straight," she hissed, grabbing Ophelia's arm and yanking her off the floor. Ophelia stumbled but regained balance and stood facing her parents with a brave face.

"Remus Lupin," said Orion. "Are you fucking kidding me, Ophelia? We have made ourselves explicitly clear, that you are to romantically involve yourself with Slytherins and Slytherins alone. Not a halfblood, dirty Gryffindor. When we got that letter that Lucius Malfoy found the two of you out of bed doing Salazaar knows what, we were appalled. Not only the fact that you chose to spend time with that mudblood, but also that you were caught after curfew acting like hoodlums!"