Frames » Remus Lupin

thirteen

They all stood outside of the house, observing what had once been a neat and tidy home. From someone who had not seen the house before, it might still be considered so, but those who had seen it in its prime knew otherwise. There were vines creeping up the walls of the house, all of the flower beds were dry and empty, the grass, while still well maintained, was not quite as green as it had been the last time Ophelia had been home, all of the curtains were drawn tightly shut inside of the home.

"Lewis should have been here today," Ophelia noted. She checked under the flower pot and saw the key to the house. Taking it gingerly between her fingers, she slid it into the lock until the door opened with a click.

"Who is Lewis?" Jack asked as Ophelia entered the room first, braving the dark and finding the light switch with a familiar ease. The light revealed many more things that, to the two Edwards children, were red flags. The house inside was neat and tidy, but the cushions on the sofa looked far too perky to have been sat in recently. There was no dust on top of any cabinets, but handles to drawers sat rusted and unused.

"He's the carer I hired for Mum," Ophelia replied quietly. "I'll go tell her that we're here, why don't you show Maggie around?"

Jack took Maggie's hand with a smile and led her through the house leaving Ophelia alone to marvel at the pictures of her family. They hadn't taken a new one since she was seven and the accident happened, leaving her mother's health to slowly decline.

Ophelia made her way to her mother's room, where there was nothing but a bed. Her mother lay on top of the sheets, eyes staring straight up at the ceiling. Ophelia sat uncomfortably, like a bird about to take flight, in a chair at her mother's bedside.

"Hello, Mum," Ophelia sighed, observing her mother with strong guilt clasping her heart. "Jack came home."

"Jackson?" a raspy voice came from her mother's throat. Ophelia turned her gaze away from her mother. It was not often that she spoke, as her vocal chords were so damaged that it pained her greatly to speak.

"Yes, he brought his girlfriend, Maggie," Ophelia said. She turned her gaze back to her mother. For the first time since Jack had left, her mother smiled. "I'll bring him in here, yeah?"

Ophelia left and found her brother and Maggie taking quietly in the lounge. "She's excited to see you, Jack," she said.

"What happened here, Lia?" Jack asked.

"She got bad, when you left," Ophelia said shortly. "And then I went off to school and she just got worse. I hired someone to take care of her, just while I wasn't here. She used to be able to move around, get out of bed and stuff. One day she  had a bad fall and has been in bed since. Lewis is getting old now..." she trailed off.

"When you wrote, I didn't think it was this bad," Jack replied.

"Go in," Ophelia replied, smiling once more, nothing more to it than the turn of her lips. "Both of you."

"You're not coming in?" Maggie asked as she hesitated with Jack just outside the door. Ophelia smiled again, bitterly this time.

"She's seen enough of me already. Go on, she'll be ecstatic to meet you, Maggie. I won't be far if you need something, just the second door to the right," Ophelia replied, pointing to the door she would have liked to retreat to for the next few weeks. But she knew better than that.

Maggie smiled kindly at her before turning and following Jack into her mother's bedroom. Ophelia sighed heavily, taking blind steps until she found her bed and sat on it as if she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. In a way, she was, as the fate of the wizarding world depended on her ability to control the weapon inside of her. She desperately wished Remus was here, though she was far too ashamed to even tell him about her mother, much less show her to him. Now that Jack was here, she could afford to forget about the life that she lived.

Ophelia's mother had always told her that strength did not come until you needed it. Ophelia was sure she did, and yet, she had never felt less vulnerable in her life.