Panacea || Remus Lupin

𝟙𝟡 - 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔹𝕖𝕒𝕦𝕞𝕠𝕟𝕥'𝕤

Minerva did exactly what Ophelia explained and soon enough was stroking the head of the creature. Lily followed, a little more anxious, but eager to not fail; again once the 'greeting' was complete, Lily was stood beside the bird looking much more relaxed. After they were deemed 'trustworthy' by Stormy, the Hippogriff turned and began to walk deeper into the forest.

"She wants us to follow her, it will be worth it I promise." Ophelia was already following the Hippogriff as she said this. Not bothering to look back to see if Minnie and Lily were following her. Stormy led them to the opening Ophelia first met her, and curled up on the floor was baby Buckbeak. Ophelia walked over to the sleeping Hippogriff and took a seat on the ground and stroked his head. Minerva and Lily stood back for a few moments, watching the small interaction, until Minerva transfigured two chairs from branches on the floor.

"Are you feeling ready to talk freely?" Minerva took a seat, beckoning Lily to sit beside her.

"Yeh." Ophelia continued to stroke Buckbeak's head, finding that with each stroke felt like a weight lifted from her shoulders. "So Lily found out because I freaked after seeing a magazine."

"A magazine?" Minerva questioned?

"A muggle one, when my suspicions were at their highest I needed one last piece of evidence. So I had my mum send me a magazine with Fi, or rather Lia, in it." Lily explained.

"In this magazine, or rather on the front of it, was a headline-"

"A headline saying Fi's boyfriend cheated on her." Lily interrupted and finished the sentence, partly with pride in her voice but also in hope to hear the full story soon.

"A boyfriend? Ophelia, you never mentioned a boyfriend?" Minerva looked at the girl with concern and guilt; she sometimes forgot that the girl had an entire life before now.

"Well that's the thing, he wasn't really a boyfriend." Ophelia looked up to see the quizzed looks on the two's faces. "It's rather complicated how it happened. But it was down to Mr and Mrs Montgomery really, and Miss Mills but her for a different reason. Mr and Mrs Montgomery formed a contract with the Beaumont family. The Beaumont's have a son who is 17, he was being perceived by the paparazzi's as out of control and the Beaumont's are a highly influential family and they couldn't have their name tarnished. They were close friends with Mr and Mrs Montgomery, I didn't really meet them much, I wasn't really allowed to."

"Wait, you keep saying Mr and Mrs Montgomery? Your mum and dad?" Lily interrupted again, out of curiosity rather than rudeness.

"As I'm sure you're aware Lily, I was known as the 'poster girl' for adopted children, they were the perfect adoptive parents. They weren't obviously, otherwise I wouldn't be sat here having this conversation." Stormy moved towards Ophelia on the ground and laid behind, head resting on her shoulder in a protective way. "The thing with the Montgomery's it was all about money, with money came status, I was like a cash cow to them. I was never their daughter, I was an employee - that's the politest way to put it." Ophelia chuckled dryly, earning a beak nudge from Stormy. "So, I was never allowed to call them mum and dad in personal situations, it was always Mr and Mrs Montgomery. The only time this didn't happen is if I was in public. It would ruin their perfect image you see?"

"So you've never had a mum or dad?" Lily answered the rhetorical question with another.

"Miss Evans, please refrain from speaking every thought." Minerva turned to Lily, her lips tightly pursed. But she too had thought the same and admired the girl for her constant curiosity.

"I'm sorry Fi, I didn't think." Lily offered a smile in remorse.

"It's ok. I get it, it's nice to talk about it in the strangest of ways. They weren't ever my parents no."