"And where have you been?"
The two students barely stepped into the dining hall when Mr. Malfoy glowered at them from his seat. He was eating breakfast with his wife and two people were missing.
"That was fast," Ophelia mumbled, following Lucius to the table. The blond was so stiff that he looked petrified.
"I'm sorry, father. It was my fault." Lucius apologized. Ophelia glanced at Mr. Malfoy and swiftly checked if he knew where they have been. It didn't seem so.
"I needed to grab something from home. It was real quick." She interfered seeing how Lucius might give them out.
The blond turned to her with a confused and frustrated look but she didn't let him speak.
"I-"
"He came with me since he is babysitting me. I'm sure you can understand, sir." Her tone was definite and firm and Malfoy could not go against it even if he would have liked to.
"Very well but do not make a habit of it. Lucius, we'll discuss this later."
"Yes, father."
Content with herself and the recent events, Ophelia sat down next to the blond and waited for the house elf to enter and place the food for them. It was the same one Mrs. Malfoy screamed at and since she was in such a good mood, the witch smiled at the house elf.
"Thank you, Mildred,"
The house elf stopped and almost spilled the milk over Ophelia's lap but the girl grabbed it in time. Watching her leave, the rest of the table turned towards her with an exasperated sigh.
"I told you,they like to be enslaved." Lucius mumbled from the side.
The rest of the day continued rather silently for Ophelia. She took a shower, changed her clothes and went into the library. There were a lot of books about magic and law and history of the wizarding world. Walking around, she noticed a book with a familiar name: The Tales of Beedle the Bard.
It looked to be in a better condition than the one she got for Christmas, maybe a more recent edition. She skimmed through the pages of the book, chuckling to herself at the few pictures. One of them was called Babbity Rabbity and her Cackling Stump. Dipping into it, Ophelia found it quite interesting compared to the funny title.
Selfish King wants to do magic and if he doesn't,then nobody should either. A muggle tries to help but in the end, he also seeks help from a real witch, Babbity. When in danger, the woman turns into a rabbit and smartly turns the situation around.
"She turns into a rabbit, huh?"
That was very familiar, reminding her of her earlier years at Hogwarts when her housemates were talking about animagi. Back then Remus said he'd prefer a small form,which now made sense.
Next, Ophelia read the story that seemed to imply a lot more: The Tale of the Three Brothers. From the beginning to the end, she was absorbed by the subject.
When Lucius entered the library, he found her sitting comfortably near the window, reading about animagi from what he noticed. In the middle of the pile of books was the collection of childish stories.
"Are you planning on becoming an animagus?" Lucius asked with sarcasm.
"No. But I want to know how I can recognize one. It seems that when in animal form, you can talk to other animals and other animagi. Besides, you choose the form and it can come in handy at times."
"Saving a house elf, for example?" Lucius asked sarcastically but she nodded nontheless.
"What did your father say? He scolded you?"
"No. He got busy and postponed my punishment." Lucius answered grumpily while sitting in front of her.
"You're welcome." She didn't even raise her gaze from her studies. "I completely erased his memory of this morning. I didn't snoop around, if you're wondering. I have no interest in your father's memories." She added when she heard him stop breathing for a moment.
"Your father will come tomorrow so try to control your outbursts of kindness." The blond hissed, still not over their little adventure.
"It seems like Tom is quite a figure in the wizarding community. Malfoy and Lestrange are heavy names yet you're all stuck babysitting me." She threw into discussion.
"You have no idea,"
"I will, soon enough. I'm preparing to become a Death Eater, afterall."
Lucius felt like scoffing but he only rolled his eyes.
"I doubt you will become one. Just because you mastered the power to enter one's mind doesn't make you a valuable asset. You need to show loyalty to the cause and we both know you will never do it."
"And what's the cause? Pure blooded empire? Annihilation of the weak? Wow, such empowering reasons for a world from which we will depart at some point."
"You don't know what you're talking about. Wizards are hiding from muggles, having children with them, letting the pureblood diminish until one day, there will only be half bloods and mudbloods."
"Wow, aren't you passionate," Ophelia mumbled, placing her books aside, "And what part of this absolute wizarding world sounds so interesting to you? Not what your parents say, or anyone for that matter. What do you believe about this cause, Lucius?"
For a 13 years old witch, she was thinking too hard on the subject.
"Why don't you tell that to your dear father? I'm sure he'll have a lot to say about your mindset."
"I suppose we'll see that tomorrow."
Sunday arrived faster than Ophelia wished. The house was in such a heavy tension that house elves were trembling. Seeing how there was too much fuss about her father's arrival, Ophelia stopped the first elf that passed her.
"Why are you so terrified?"
The house elf's bat ears rose and eyes widened.
"Miss should know. The Dark Lord is coming. Dobby should-um- should-" he spun around a few times before he ran into the dining hall.
But Ophelia needed a moment. Her father was coming, no one else, and everyone was intimidated by him, she had seen that before. Her father was a pureblood and secretive and Rodolphus obeyed quickly to his orders, without a single question. Everything up to that moment seemed to piece together and there was one big title.
"Bloody hell," she whispered, her eyes tearing up a bit. She needed to hyperventilate or else she will suffocate. It was so much more than she imagined and memories of Spinnard and dreams and everything just-
Three knocks indicated that the guest arrived. She walked slowly towards the entrance hall and watched as the same man that introduced her to magic, the same who took her under his wing and protected her entered the manor.
The guest was Tom Riddle, also known as the Dark Lord.
Tom noticed Ophelia immediately and cracked what was supposed to be a smile. She swallowed nervously, suddenly feeling like she was in great danger.
Tom arrived around lunch and walked inside the study with Mr. Malfoy. That was quite fortunate since Ophelia locked herself in her bedroom and spent necessary time under the blankets.
She could hear all the sentences that included the Dark Lord and it made sense why it seemed to make such a difference in her relationships.
"He's here. He was here before and still is but so am I." Was the black kitten talking about Tom or was it talking about something else? And there was also the dream she had in which Lillian was talking about him: “Your father, he’s a peculiar man, Ophelia. He won’t look at you but he will search for your gifts and exploit them until you will be left with nothing. You’ll have to return to him again and again because without an aim in life, he’s the only one that can fill that emptiness.”
Pouting, she did what she's always done in times like these: play with magic. Small blue balls of energy were flying around her fingers, moving in every way she wanted, enlarging into her palms like fire before diminishing into little forms. Some of them were owls while others looked like cats; it was definitely relaxing.
A loud knock interrupted her and made her look up.
"It's Lucius. You should know that what you are doing is not wise. You have to meet your father soon." He spoke through the door.
She didn't respond but returned to her former activity.
"Look, Ophelia, right after Christmas, there is a muggle family that's been bugging wizards from southern London. The plan is to reduce them to silence but maybe you can save the Glenmores." Lucius added, waiting for a few minutes before the door unlocked and opened.
"They're sending Lestrange. How can I stop that?" She asked, revealing her form still covered by the blanket.
"Convince your father there's another way. This family has been quite the pest for the wizard family living there."
That proved to be hard, very hard. As soon as Ophelia entered the room her father was in, she saw him standing by himself in front of the chimney, thinking. At a closer look, she noticed he was hissing words to a snake, patting him like a normal house pet.
"Ophelia, come closer. You have met her before," the man spoke in his usual freezing tone.
"You can speak to snakes."
"You can too, it's part of who we are; descendants of Slytherin." He said those words before, she could easily recollect. "What have you done these past few days?"
She froze, her eyes widening as she turned to him. He looked a bit different from last time: his blue eyes were more towards a black or reddish colour, as if he was intoxicated and his features were sharper, longer yet still beautiful. No matter what transformation he was going through, he was still a handsome man.
"It seems everyone who comes in contact with you ends up following those green eyes of yours. We're not so different," he added, knowing what she did.
"But we have different ways of achieving what we want." She answered meekly.
Tom tilted his head to the side, amused from what she could see. He chuckled and leaned towards his daughter while the snake creeped through her legs. It was not as uncomfortable as she imagined.
"Snakes are not vile creatures, they do not cause pain to those who do not deserve it."
"You plan to kill a muggle family." The witch retorted, her tone getting firmer.
The snake hissed, dangerously creeping up her leg towards her knee. Ophelia gulped, her heart beats increasing.
"You'll come along. It will be a good experience for you."
It was quite clear that was an order and from his nonchalant behavior, it was clear that she better not go against his word. Tom was still her father and wouldn't harm her too much, that's been proven already.
On her way back to her room, she met Lucius who seemed greatly distressed.
"What did he say? Does he know about the elf?" the blond asked, alarmed that his punishment may just be worse than he thought.
"He knows but he doesn't seem bothered by it. Who are the Glenmores exactly? And what family lives in their neighborhood?" Ophelia asked, having the older boy tag along to her room.
"Roman Glenmore and his wife are squibs. That means they are children of both magical parents yet they do not have magic. They've always been sour about this subject in particular and have been encouraging muggles to take a stand against the wizards living there. Unfortunately for them, Nott lives there." Lucius explained, finally unveiling the mystery behind the importance of this family.
"Nott, hm? And why do they make such a fuss about it? Why not simply obliviate them?"
"I'm sure you heard Rodolphus when he said the army's growing. The Lord wants to gain Nott's favor by helping with this hindrance. Obliviating them wouldn't make much difference because their parents would notice and eventually lift the spell." Lucius continued.
"So they want to murder them because they're being lousy," Ophelia scoffed and opened the door to her room.
"They deserve it." Lucius mumbled but couldn't follow her in because she slammed the door in his face.
Days passed and Ophelia did not walk out of her room except when she was going to the library for books. Tom left before dinner on Sunday and although the Malfoys were disappointed, she was happy.
Unfortunately, Christmas was next and Ophelia got a lot of letters from her friends but Mr. Malfoy did not allow her to send any replies. Standing on her bed and going through the letters, she realized Severus was being incredibly interested in her life while also telling her what he's been doing and how much he's been studying legilimency and occlumency by himself. It was funny, which couldn't be said about her recent issues.
"Why are you laughing by yourself?" Lucius asked, leaning against the door frame. He was supposed to check on her whenever she was being too silent but now she was being too noisy. "I need to study for my N.E.W.T.s so be quiet," the blonde added in a scolding tone.
"It's the Christmas week, no one studies now. It's supposed to be a festive time." Ophelia combated, seeing the vein on his forehead trembling. "You're too stiff, Lucius."
"Maybe because I have reasons to be. I'm not the Dark Lord's daughter, I can be easily replaced."
"Between you and Rodolphus, if I'd have to reach out to one of you, I'd choose you."
Lucius' eyes widened, blushing faintly at her bold statement. He coughed twice before finally regaining his voice.
"Just keep the noise to a minimum." He said and left.
Ophelia raised an eyebrow, confused, before she returned to her letters. Among all those, she found one from a person she never expected: her new close friend, James.
It seemed that there was an unspoken rule among the pure blooded evil families and that was Christmas dinner. Ophelia didn't expect Mr. Malfoy to make such a big fuss about it but he ordered her to wear a black dress.
"This is so uncomfortable," she mumbled, walking down the stairs with the blond.
"It will get worse when the rest arrive." The older student commented, arranging his clothes, "Lestrange, Nott and Black. That's the menu for tonight."
"Wait...the entire Black family? Sirius included?" Ophelia asked having second thoughts about the arrangement.
"I'd be more worried about Bellatrix, if I were you. The families are in discussion to marry her and Rodolphus for later purposes."
The witch gaped at the new information, having a very bad mental image.
"To each other?!"
Lucius chuckled and nodded, enjoying her expression of absolute horror and disgust. She genuinely felt like shuddering, imagining little demons running around, procreated by the spawn of Satan and his best acolyte.
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