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xlii. FORTY-TWO
OPHELIA'S TALE
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THE TRAGIC TALE OF OPHELIA CROUCH WAS ONE THAT MIGHT BRING TEARS TO THE EYES, IF THE LISTENER WAS FEELING PARTICULARLY SYMPATHETIC. There was no selfish side to her story, and nothing that she did ever really happened due to a cruel and sadistic manner that people may have suspected she have. In fact, it was mainly her troubled and complicated childhood years that drove her to break the law in the way that she did. And that is where her sorrowful story starts.
Like any other regular pure-blood couple, Charis Black was married to Caspar Crouch shortly after graduating from Hogwarts in 1937. The two of them then produced an immediate heir to their fortunes, before having their first daughter three years after. The two Crouch children grew up in the same, traditional manner that all of the other pure-blood families portrayed, and each began showing signs of magic from young ages.
It was as the son entered his second year at Hogwarts that Charis Crouch became pregnant again. The third child, and second daughter, was a puny baby when she was born, and therefore was constantly mocked for her weakness. Around the same time as this Crouch's birth, came another arrival from the Black family. However, Narcissa Black was considerably more important than little Ophelia Crouch, and everyone was more than aware of that.
Surprisingly, the youngest girls from both families became close friends almost immediately once reaching Hogwarts, and as they were sorted into the same house of green and silver, just as expected. However, they were drawn closer once the other Slytherins began to tease Ophelia, and Narcissa willingly stood up for her friend, acting as loyal as ever.
The second person whom Ophelia had ever witnessed defend her, was Rabastan Lestrange. And despite the fact that his parents were well aware of the rumours over her supposed weakness, they were willing to arrange a marriage between their second son and the third Crouch child. Whilst Ophelia wasn't too fond of these marriages, she came to adore Rabastan quite fondly, and the two were incredibly close friends by the time they reached their final year.
But she was merely eighteen when both of her parents were pronounced dead by the Healers from St Mungo's, in the early months of 1973. Ophelia had barely seen her siblings during her childhood, and neither of them wanted anything to do with her. After all, why would they want to associate themselves with the weakest Slytherin to ever exist? Nobody wanted to talk to Ophelia, besides Narcissa Black and Rabastan Lestrange, both of whom were (surprisingly) influential people.
