𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 | 𝐡. 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫

𝟐𝟎 - 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠

A few weeks had passed since Harry's birthday and Harry, Ron and Hermione had headed back to their respective homes, of course, Ophelia missed having her friends over for the day but she realised she didn't have the chance to pop around to the burrow as Hermione did. But truth be told, she appreciated getting the chance to hang out with her dad on her own once again, waiting for that Hogwarts letter to turn up.

Well almost on her own.

Sirius was living with them part-time now, since it was just the three of them, he had taken refuge in the spare bedroom.

He couldn't stay all the time given he had to make him scarce every now and then to make the Ministry believe that he was moving about the country. Though on the nights had been here, Ophelia had often heard him screaming in his sleep and Remus had been the one to go in to comfort his friend, ushering Ophelia that it would take some time for Sirius to adjust to sleeping on a bed and having warm food, they had taken precautions such as silencing the home with a charm so no-one could over-hear any conversations and the windows were wiped down with a potion that made them so you could only see the outside from the inside and not from the outside. Sirius had objected at first to live with them but at the assistance of Remus and stubborn Ophelia, he relented and decided to stay with them.

Guilt sank like a brick in her stomach with Sirius' panic attacks, so the teen had almost literally thrown herself into the kitchen so she could crank out a pumpkin pie at 5 in the morning to give Sirius and her dad a slice while Sirius was coming around from his anxiety attacks. The two adults would notice that it would always come with a healthy dollop of hand whipped cream and a mug of hot chocolate.

It was incredibly endearing for poor Sirius, who would smile at her as she'd tiredly pop it on his bedside, along with that charming smile she'd flash him, her eyes were tired but her soul wasn't.

He'd once caught her tucking him into his bed, while Remus was overseeing in the doorway, he'd have given anything to have seen the two of them grow together with Gwen. He'd give anything to see James and Lily with Harry, but he would always appreciate their gestures of generosity.

Ophelia was working none-stop on drafting a case for Sirius, she was working on it day and night to work out any creases, loopholes and chinks in the armour and make it an incredible argument to plead Sirius's case.

The case now had a considerably large folder, but there was a small issue.

The fact that both Peter and Sirius were unregistered animigus', she wanted to be completely honest but that would expose how Sirius had escaped from Azkaban and could send him back. She kept coming back to it in frustration, not wanting to expose him but to expose Peter.

But she wouldn't be able to have it both ways.

Currently, Remus, Sirius and Ophelia were lounging about in the kitchen, the latter of which was preparing a hearty stew with plenty of meat and gravy. It wasn't much but her dad wasn't always in the mood for spices and pasta, so she opted for something simpler, not that either Sirius or Remus were complaining at the smell of gravy, meat and freshly baked bread.
Their mouths were watering like the animals they were.

A light tap at the window drew their attention, it was a black owl, a letter addressed to Ophelia in that signature green ink. Remus grabbed it from the beak just as Ophelia was putting portions of stew into bowls for the three of them.
"Feels a bit heavier than normal don't you think?" Remus said, weighing it in his hands.

He passes it to Sirius, who in turn also puts in either hand to compare it, after a moment he puts it by Ophelia's bowl and comments lightly and without thought.
"The heavier it is, the heavier it'll be on the wallet."