selenophile || remus lupin

chapter eighty four

"You know, Ophelia dear, we'll save you the lecture. You know what you've done better than anyone else. I think we've made it as clear as we can what is expected of you, and you just don't seem to be getting the message. So, I think we'll rely on other things to see if we can drill the message through your thick skull." Walburga briskly walked into the parlor and came out with a dagger, one that was silver and black with a long sharp point at the end. She hadn't seen it before, which made her even more nervous. Fear of the unknown.

"We got this specially made, just for you, sweetheart. You see, it's not just any ordinary dagger. Oh no, this dagger is rather special. I think you'll quite enjoy it. Want a taste?"

"No, please no-" Ophelia was cut off with a gasp as her mother plunged the dagger into Ophelia's thigh.

"How does it feel?" Walburga said as she forcefully pulled it out. "It doesn't feel normal, does it?"

Ophelia looked down and saw blood gushing from her leg, but she felt her chin get grabbed and pulled up to look at her mother, the black nails digging into her jaw.

"Answer me, stupid girl!" she shouted.

"No, no it doesn't" Ophelia unwillingly let out a dry sob.

"That's what I thought. That's because we went to our good friend Borgin and had him make this special for you. It's cursed, can you feel it? Can you feel the magic getting into your bloodstream, spreading throughout your body?"

It was worse than the drought of despair. One stab wound caused her entire body to feel like it was on fire. It burned and she dropped to the ground in pain, hitting her head harshly on the marble, a streak of red contrasting from the white flooring.

Ophelia saw her mother wave her wand and laugh, throwing her head back. Walburga had lifted all of her concealment charms, "much better. I want to see what all we've done to you. It gets old, doesn't it, Orion?"

"Quite. Every time you get home, we cause another few of those, but you can't seem to learn your lesson. All you have to do is obey us for once and you won't be receiving them."

"Bullshit!" shouted Ophelia, getting cut off quickly with another Crucio from her father. She flopped around like a fish out of water, hitting herself on walls and the floor to try to get the pain centered somewhere. But instead, she just caused extra pain that added along with the fire feeling in her blood from the dagger and the stinging ache from the cruciatus curse. Her mother cast a few diffindo jinxes at her, cutting up her arms and legs even more than already. Her back was split open, blood oozing into her hair, mixing with the blood that was already there from the fall to the floor.

After what felt like, and Ophelia wouldn't put her parents past, hours of torture, Orion sent a curse flying her way, the blue light hitting her in the chest and everything going dark.

She woke up after the moon came out, up in her bedroom, her dress and hair bloody and staining the sheets of her bed.

She heard a shuffling and a sniff before someone opened the door, a bruised and bloodied Regulus standing in the doorway. She shot up, ignoring every ounce of pain that begged her to stay back on her bed, and rushed to his side. She could barely stand, let alone bring Regulus to the edge of her bed, but she knew that her brother wouldn't let her touch him if she was showing any signs of pain. Of course, he knew that Ophelia had been crucioed, and injured, he could hear it very clearly from his bedroom, but after Ophelia had passed out and it was his turn to receive the punishment, he had been badly injured too. Of course, not as bad as Ophelia, but still greatly injured nonetheless.

"What happened?" she breathed, getting out a few muggle healing supplies that she hid in her trunk for this specific occasion.

"They found out about Aria," he muttered, wiping blood from his nose.

"Fawley? Your girlfriend? But they loved her, they encouraged you to start dating her!"

"That's the problem, isn't it. Aria was awful. She was such a bitch and she was rude and annoying. It felt like a chore to even be around her and I couldn't take it anymore. I broke up with her, Phee."

"And they didn't like that you went against their word to be with her," Ophelia concluded. "I'm sorry, Reg. What did they do to you?"

"Just the normal," he said, bitterly. "Crucio, diffindo, a few other smaller curses."

"They didn't use the dagger, did they?" she asked worriedly.

"The dag-, what do you mean dagger? Did they use a dagger on you?"

"It's nothing, really-"

"Don't give me any of the bullshit, Ophelia. Did they use a dagger on you?"

"A cursed one. They said that had it specially made. They stabbed me a fair few times, but it doesn't really hurt."

"What the hell do you mean it doesn't really hurt? Of course, it hurt, Ophelia. They stabbed you with a bloody dagger. Why are you healing me when you should be treating yourself? Get off me!" he stood up from the bed, towering over her.

"I'm fine, Regulus. Just sit back down and let me continue healing you. Muggle healing won't do shit to curses in your bloodstream. It doesn't hurt that bad, anyway. But you can be healed, at least a bit. The cuts and bruises can be fixed a little bit."

Regulus begrudgingly sat back down and let her continue to heal him. After a few minutes, they heard their father's angry footsteps marching up the stairs and Ophelia hid her first aid kit, barely making it back to a normal looking spot before Orion flung the door open and stormed into her room.

"Guess what just came in the post?"

"Post? It's almost midnight-"

"Silence, boy!" Orion shouted, flipping his wand at his son and a new, steady stream of blood came from his nose.

"A bloody screeching owl came in just a few minutes ago. I haven't bothered to read what the letter said and I took the liberty of burning, so you'll never find out what its contents were. But it was addressed to the two of you, from Sirius. You're still in contact with that blood traitor?"

"He's family!" Ophelia shouted.

"He is no family of ours! He chose to leave this family when he walked out, leaving you two behind. Do you call that family? His views on mudbloods are disgusting, he's homosexual, and he is the worst behaved child I have ever seen! Do you call that family? He was disowned, Ophelia. It's about time you get that through your head and actually cut all ties with him like you were supposed to do the moment he left."

"We both know that's not something I'm willing to-"

"Crucio!"

Ophelia crumpled onto the floor from the pain, Regulus looking down at her with tears in his eyes. She couldn't make any noise other than a scream, but her eyes pleaded for him to look away. She didn't know if he ever did, however, for, after several minutes under the curse, she was finally taken out of her misery and fell unconscious.