Frames » Remus Lupin

fourteen

The day ended solemnly, with Ophelia and Maggie making dinner while Jack spent some alone time with their mother. Ophelia has written to Lewis the week before term had ended, asking for him to make sure that there was food in the house when she came back. She hadn't been expecting to have any company, and would probably have to go to the store again tomorrow to make sure they had enough for the next two weeks.

When they finished cooking, Ophelia came upstairs, medicine for her mother in hand, watching Jack for a moment before making herself known.

"It's disheartening, isn't it?" Ophelia said, her gaze turning to their mother, who had since fallen asleep. "Seeing her like that."

"How do you do it?" Jack sighed, his eyes still trained on her. "Watch her just slip  away from reality?"

"I have distanced myself significantly from my emotions since you left," Ophelia said, her lips downturning ever so slightly. "I hide from my feelings, and put my energy into making sure it doesn't happen again."

"It was an accident, Li. You couldn't control it, don't put the blame on your shoulders," Jack paused as he watched his little sister with a heavy heart. "Its not your fault that you're like this."

"I had a vision at school," Ophelia said, the cup of medicine still in her hands. "When I tried to control it. And I was the castle. Burning. I was using it. I was in control."

"If you think you can do it, don't let me stop you," Jack replied, standing up from his chair, a grin gracing his face again. "Wouldn't want Remus in a situation, would we?" Jack grinned even wider and Ophelia narrowed her eyes.

"Dinner's ready," Ophelia replied, her voice light. "Might want to hurry up and get your fat arse down there before Maggie clears the table."

Jack laughed as he walked away, teasingly hurrying himself along. His ability to make a joke out of even the worst situations was one of the things that Ophelia had long admired about her older brother. He took the worst of situations, took a moment to accept them, then put a smile on his face and sent whoever was in his vicinity into laughter. He had the kind of personality where the entire room felt whatever he was feeling, good or bad. When he was happy, it was vibrantly so, when he was sad, it egregiously so.

Ophelia moved from her place at the doorframe to where her mother slept. She tapped her delicately on the shoulder, waiting a moment before her mother's eyes opened with a flutter. "Jack...son?" her mother mumbled.

"Just me," Ophelia replied. "It's time for your medicine." Her mother made no acknowledgement of having heard her. Her fingers trembling slightly, she opened her mother's mouth, just like the Healers at St. Mungos had taught her years ago, and tipped the potion in.

"Where's... Jackson?" her mother asked again. Ophelia's hand moved to stroke her hair, though it was tangled beyond even the help of Sleekeasy's.

"He's eating dinner right now," Ophelia replied. Her mother closed her eyes again. Ophelia watched her, feeling helpless, the guilt of what she had done an ever pounding drum in her heart. She watched her mother drift off to sleep again, wondering if she would be happier if she was just put out of her misery, if her mother was free from the body she was trapped in, constantly tortured by a curse: a curse that Ophelia knew there was no way to break, she had watched people slowly waste away from it before. With the memory of her mother's screams still fresh in her ears, blending into a shrieking harmony with each other person she had ever attacked, she made her way downstairs, the empty cup in her hand. Jack and Maggie had waited for her, their plates full of food. She took a seat at the table as quickly as she could.

"You didn't have to wait for me," Ophelia said as everyone began to eat.

"If we hadn't, Jack would have eaten everything," Maggie teased.

"It looks good," Jack replied, half jokingly defensive and half complementary. "I'm sorry I didn't help."

"You were busy," Ophelia said, her eyebrows raising as she watched Jack devour a third of his potatoes in a single bite. "Besides, you can help with the clean up."

"You're forgetting that I can do magic," Jack replied triumphantly, grinning as if he had just won a particularly difficult game of chess. Ophelia rolled her eyes, suppressing her smile.

"Has Jack told you the news yet?" Maggie asked, a smile on her face.

"News?" Ophelia said, an eyebrow quirked.

"You caught me," Jack grinned. "I lied, we didn't come just to see you, though I won't lie and say I haven't enjoyed seeing you. We have some good news."

"A lot of good news, actually," Maggie grinned, turning back to Jack with pride in her smile.

"Did you buy me a bookstore?" Ophelia asked. "I've always wanted to run a bookstore."

"That's 'cause you're a nerd, Lia," Jack replied, rolling his eyes. Maggie smacked his arm playfully. "We're moving back here."

"What about your job?" Ophelia immediately asked. She knew her mother could not support both Jack and Maggie, seeing as she wasn't exactly making much money, save for a pension from the ministry.

"They've had an opening at the offices near here. It's a bit further than I'm used to, but it shouldn't be too difficult to just apparate into work," Jack replied.

"I would start looking for work in the area, but.." Maggie paused to smile at Jack, "I'm pregnant."

"Congratulations," Ophelia said, unable to contain her smile. "Are you going to name them Ophelia?"

"We were thinking Elvendork," Jack replied, grinning. "It's unisex."

"So's Ophelia," she replied, her smile only growing. Though she knew that it was unwise to let her emotions rule her mind, she couldn't help but feel overjoyed.

"Nice try, but neither of you are naming the baby," Maggie replied with a roll of her eyes.

"That's what you think, love," Jack replied, leaving Ophelia doubles over in the most hearty laughter she had felt since she was cursed, her brother quick to join her.

And though she had her mother's health, the vision of Hogwarts, a constant worry about Remus, and a relentless urge for revenge all at the back of her mind, she felt at peace with her family. And nothing could change that.

For now.