selenophile || remus lupin

chapter ninety six

7 September 1977

5:09 pm

Ophelia gave Alice her backpack, who slung it over her shoulder and headed in the other direction.

"Let me hold that," Remus offered, to which Alice declined and said that she had it. "What's wrong?" he asked his girlfriend.

"Oh, nothing! I'm just going to head to the library to grab a book, but you all can go to the common room. I'll just be a minute."

"Are you sure?" Remus asked.

"I'll be perfectly fine, I can handle myself."

"Alright," Remus said, knowing she was more than capable of protecting herself, but he still worried as any good boyfriend would.

Ophelia turned on her heel and spun around in the other direction, pacing away from her friends and to the library, halfway across the castle. The stone arches of the school towered above her as she mindlessly walked the familiar halls. The light background noise of the pitter-patter of rain hitting the paned glass windows only faintly registered in her mind, after seven years of often rainstorms, she learned to tune it out.

A new noise poured into her ears, though. A noise that she knew well, yet hated hearing every time. Her heart dropped as she looked around, searching for the source, desperately wishing she had the marauders' map on her to find it. She followed the sound around a corner she wouldn't have otherwise turned into, but she needed to find the sound and the boy who was making it.

She tracked it to the boys' bathrooms on the third floor, a secluded restroom that was rarely ever entered, for moaning myrtle often floated around there, trying to catch a glimpse of any guys who appeared. Ophelia noticed that the bathroom was devoid of any ghosts or ghouls, but the sobbing coming from the sinks haunted her more than any spirit could.

She quietly stepped onto the tiled floor and peaked her head around the corner, looking at the reflection of her brother in the mirror.

"Reggie?" she softly called. He jumped a bit and turned to face her. He quickly wiped the tears off his face, not wanting her to see that he was crying, but she knew better. His lip trembled as he tried to hold in his tears, then a small cry broke free from his lips, and finally, a sob escaped him, releasing the tears he tried so desperately to hide.

"Oh, Regulus," Ophelia muttered, "what have you done?" She rushed over to the boy and wrapped her arms around him. He was much taller than her, but he was so hunched over that she was able to put her chin on his head as she rubbed his back. He stumbled a bit, causing her to move backward until her back touched the wall in between the two walls of sinks, to which she slid down and held a shaking Regulus against her chest.

"I did something bad, Phee," he whispered after a few moments of calming down. "I'm so sorry."

He reached for his left sleeve which Ophelia now recognized had a patch stained with red. He rolled up the white sleeve of his button down uniform to reveal a jet black skull with a serpent protruding from its mouth. Three long ridges of ripped up skin went down his forearm, as if he tried to claw the mark out, but the deep red blood did little to conceal the ever shining black of the dark mark.

"Oh, Regulus, please tell me you didn't," Ophelia muttered. "No, no, no." Her face hardened and she looked up into his eyes with fury.

"I didn't want to, I swear it!" he tried to explain. "Mother and father-"

"I know, I know, shhh. I'm going to murder them, I swear to Merlin." She looked back up at his eyes, seeing the fear pour out of his eyes, and hers softened. "It's not your fault. You have to believe me, it's not."