selenophile || remus lupin

chapter thirty one

1 July, 1976
9:47pm

"You can't control who we hang out with and who we don't!" yelled Sirius.

"We can and we will! We have more power than you can imagine, Sirius. Don't underestimate us," spat Walburga.

"You may be able to overpower us when we are here, but you will never take away our friendships while we're at Hogwarts!" shouted Ophelia.

"You have no idea the problems you have caused by hanging out with those so called friends of yours! Half bloods! Blood traitors! Mudbloods!" yelled Orion.

"They have only ever caused problems in this society! Everyday, they risk revealing the wizarding world to those stupid muggles. They go against everything we have ever stood for, and will continue to stand for!" shrieked Walburga.

"That is such fucking bullshit!" yelled Sirius.

"Sirius Orion Black, don't you dare-"

"You guys are so prejudiced that you can't even think for a moment about your own children's happiness and wellbeing! You only care that we're not hanging out with death eaters or joining you-know-who ourselves!" retorted Ophelia.

"We want what is best for this family-"

"Bullshit!" shouted Sirius. "You only want what's best for you! That's how it's always been!"

"What's best for this family is best for us and best for you! And what's best for you two is to stop hanging out with those freak friends of yours! You'd be extremely better off hanging around with our type! Purebloods, Slytherins, real wizards!"

"What's that supposed to mean? Real wizards? Just because someone is a Gryffindor, or comes from a muggle background doesn't mean that they're not a real wizard! You don't get to decide who has magical blood and who doesn't!" yelled Ophelia.

"You two have no idea how this behavior is going to bite you in the arse in the future. Sirius, you're never going to get a respectable job, you're not going to get far in the ministry, and Ophelia, no one is going to want you. You won't get married, won't have kids, won't be able to continue this bloodline-"

"I don't give a damn about this bloodline-"

"You will speak when instructed to. You will never disobey me, so you understand? Now, back to what we were saying, there are plenty of pureblood slytherins to hang out with. The Notts, The Averys, The Carrows, The Crouchs, The Malfoys, I could go on. But no, you waste your pathetic little time with that Potter boy and those mudblood girls. The Black family name is going to shit because of you two ignorant fools. Centuries of reputation, of hard work, dedication to the dark lord, are all going down the drain because Gryffindors weasled their way into this family. Do you understand how much you have disgraced us? How much you've disgraced the entire Black family. Think of your grandparents, great grandparents, your ancestors from hundreds of years ago. What would they think of you two, destroying the name of The House of Black? You two are ignorant, conceited, foolish, blood traitors!"

"And? What do you want us to do about that then? Drop out of Gryffindor and join the Slytherins? I'm sure that'll go over real well!" shouted Sirius.

"You boy, do not talk to your mother with that disrespectful mouth," roared Orion. "You will do as instructed. You will do as we have told you countless times in the past, and yet you still refuse to even acknowledge these orders. You are not to be around those mudblood, blood traitor Gryffindor friends of yours. You are not to eat with them, you are not to speak with them. You will introduce yourselves into the Slytherin group. Eat strictly with them, talk only with them. You will focus only on your studies and staying out of trouble. You will no longer make mischief with those pathetic excuses of friends of yours, Sirius, and we will no longer get any owls from the school. You will take care of your brothers, Ophelia, both of them. You will tend to their needs, you will make sure they are safe and behaving appropriately."

"I'm not a fucking house elf!" screamed Ophelia.

"And I'm not losing all of my friends because you guys got your feelings hurt by a coworker!" yelled Sirius.

"Don't you dare speak to me that way! Wash out your mouth, Ophelia. And don't you dare insult my pride, Sirius. You have nothing worth protecting, the little reputation you've ever had went away when you were sorted into Gryffindor. You, boy, are barely even worth protecting. I would have killed you long ago if you weren't so important to the bloodline. To keep the Black family name going through generations."

"So I'm useless except for my last name? The only reason I'm still alive is because you guys like your last name?"

"Precisely. Ophelia, you are just the same as that pitiful brother of yours. You have spoken out of turn too many times. Your job in society is to look pretty, stay quiet, and raise strong children that will impact the ministry greatly and serve the dark lord faithfully."

"The only reason you haven't killed me is so that you can sell me off for sex? I'm not a fucking object! I won't just do whatever my husband asks of me, or get fucking raped because you want a grandson that didn't disappoint you the way that I did? This is fucking unbelievable! I'm done with you two and all of your shit!" Ophelia shouted, and she stormed up the grand staircase and into her bedroom.

"Ophelia Callidora Black-"

She was fuming. She paced around her room, trying to blow off the steam that wouldn't release from her. Defeatedly, she gave up and sat down in the armchair in front of the fireplace. She crossed her legs and shook it restlessly.

She could still hear the argument continuing downstairs. Her parents shouting at Sirius, Sirius shouting back. Occasionally she heard a loud noise that she could only assume was Sirius getting slapped. But soon, the slaps turned into punches, and the punches turned into getting thrown to the floor.

Ophelia couldn't help but cry, hearing her twin brother get beaten up mercilessly and not be able to do anything to stop it. She knew that if she were to go down there, Sirius would get beaten up worse, and Ophelia would get punished as well. Tears fell down her face as she heard her father shout a spell which made Sirius cry out in pain.

She heard her father cast the severing charm towards his son, and Sirius trying his best to block the spells that were thrown at him.

He's strong. He can stand up for himself. He can fight them off. He'll get out of this alive, don't worry, Ophelia thought to herself, over and over again, trying to convince herself that it was true.

For many long minutes, which felt longer than hours, Ophelia overheard the duel going on just beneath her. Her father shouting spells to harm his son in any way that he could think of, her brother blocking as many attacks as he could, her mother shouting cruel words that would make her throw up if she even tried to repeat them.

And after a long time of chaos, breaking glass and ceramics, slurs being thrown back and forth, the slamming of bodies into the now bloody walls, the curses and defensive spells being cast for what seemed like hours on end, Ophelia became terrified. Her body shook with each massive sob that escaped her mouth. She couldn't hear a thing. She couldn't hear a single thing.

Silence.