Through Her Eyes

Chapter 118

With no Dylis to help Ophelia in the house, she was stuck on how to cook. The last time she tried, Mrs. Potter threw her out of the kitchen, not to mention how she never got the chance to learn from her mother or stepmother. So, there they were, all three, sitting at the table, with nothing in the cupboards and an empty fridge.

"Don't you know how to cook?" Severus asked Ophelia, feeling disheartened by the beginning of this last vacation.

"I never lived alone. Every summer I had someone cook and clean and...at Hogwarts, we don't really do anything but study," she said, blushing in embarrassment at how useless she was without magic. "What about you?"

"Mum was always at home, or there was Lily's mother," he said meekly before they both turned to Rabastan. "Have you ever done anything by yourself?"

"Yes, I do know how to cook easy recipes but there is nothing to cook with," Rabastan explained and they all sighed. "We could go and buy groceries if any of you has muggle money,"

"I do," Ophelia said and surprised the two boys with her hiding spot.

Rabastan and Severus followed her silently into her room, which had nothing Gryffindor-ish on the walls to Snape's surprise, and to her dresser which she opened and then unlocked a secret compartment.

"How did you make this?" Rabastan asked, taken aback in a good way by her mischief.

"Dylis helped me. Nobody knows of this compartment except Dylis, and now you two. I do hope it will remain secret," Ophelia said and both she and Severus turned to Rabastan with knowing looks.

"Why are you only wary of me?"

"Because I trust Severus," she said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Anyway, here. This should be enough," she said and grabbed a few thousand pounds from her little secret stash.

"How rich are you?" Severus asked, counting the money, growing more and more shocked by the amount.

"My stepparents had decent jobs," she said quietly and closed her dresser.

With food on the table and their stomachs full, Ophelia decided to go into the garden and lie there, next to the fountain. Life outside the castle was so much more peaceful than she expected, but it must have been the sacrifice of thousands of unnamed heroes, who fight in the background to stop Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Many of them were parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, friends, and so on...innocent people who were brave enough to sacrifice for the greater good. And here she was, hiding, strong enough to fight but not to win. It was such a disappointment that she was so close to the enemy and yet couldn't do anything to stop him.

It was already night when she walked back into the house and noticed for the first time how quiet it was. Without Dylis, the house seemed empty. And Knowingall, she hadn't heard from him in so long, she was scared that something bad happened. That night she had a nightmare of a snake appearing at her feet and crawling under the covers to her face before biting her. She woke up in sweat and tears but she heard Spinnard cough in the hall, which surprisingly put her at ease.

The next morning, bright and early, Severus woke up and went straight into the kitchen, following the entrancing smell of cooked eggs. Rabastan was there in a blue apron that matched his eyes and he seemed...happy.

"This is a new sight," Severus stated, sitting at the table, a plate with a well-made omelette that smelled heavenly. "I heard that you are supposed to leave for Japan soon. The Dark Lord's ideals reached the Mahoutokoro School of Magic and he needs someone to inform them of his plans further,"

"First America and now Japan," Rabastan said although with no subtle meaning. "He wants me as far from her as possible,"

"Not her, but Dumbledore. He knows you have disappeared here and there, and he knows it had something to do with Dumbledore," Snape spoke nonchalantly, eating while at the same time almost threatening Rabastan. "You should be careful, Lestrange. It was not me who told him, but Dolohov and Rosier. If those two noticed, then you're not being as careful as you think,"