When exams ended and Ophelia finally breathed out in relief, she received a letter from an owl that she did not know. It contained only two words but she understood what they meant. It said: Lestrange Mansion and she was sure that was her punishment for going against her father.
She moaned for the whole last day, also the whole morning while she packed and continued to do so at breakfast.
"Shouldn't you be happy to go home?" Sirius asked, never having seen her so sullen.
"Are you happy to go home?" She asked to which he shook his head immediately. "Exactly. It will be incredibly bad."
"But your family is not like mine." Sirius added trying to make her feel better.
"I don't know what to say about that." She mumbled reminding herself that she was supposed to go straight to Lestrange. Or maybe she could go home first and then come up with a plan to escape.
Thinking about how she should scheme her way out of this punishment, she ignored everything around her. Those thoughts consumed her until she found herself in Hogwarts Express between Lily and Alice and she seriously wandered how she was coerced to stand with them.
"What are your plans for this summer?"
After her little fling, if it could be mentioned as such, with Zabini, Cissney became more of herself than the stuck up bitch she had been for half of the school year.
"Are you going to visit your boyfriend? Sirius Black." She said with a glint in her eyes.
The girls stared at Ophelia but there was nothing to say.
"I told you before that we're not dating. Sirius is growing into a handsome guy and I don't deny that but I don't fancy him. There are more important things to bother myself with."
"Like what? School?" Lily asked with a skeptical look.
"...no. But I'm sure I'll find something." Ophelia answered, stuttering a bit at how they ganged up on her.
"If you want my honest opinion, you two do match. Don't ask me why, there's just something. You two never fought either and everybody fights with Black." Cissney added before she ventured into a long story about her fights with the Gryffindor Black.
But while Alice was fully immersed, Lily glanced at Ophelia and smiled softly. Ophelia frowned not quite understanding what that meant, she hoped it was not about Sirius again. That date was awful and it wasn't even fruitful. The only epiphany she got was that her mother had a loud mouth and was brave enough to face Tom at any moment. At least she inherited that, the foolish bravery in front of death.
As soon as they arrived in London, almost everyone ran to their parents except her, the Black brothers and Rabastan. They were standing next to each other and it was awkward.
"Well, I guess we'll go by ourselves since mother didn't bother herself." Sirius muttered grumpily. Regulus rolled his eyes and agreed however none moved.
"You take a whole lot to make up your minds." She stated when she noticed nobody moved. "And what about you? Aren't you going home?" She asked turning to Rabastan.
"I am waiting for you. In case you have forgotten, you will spend summer at my house."
If Sirius could have transformed into a fire crab and burn Lestrange with stinky arse fire he would had. She never believed those dark brown eyes could sink into such small lines and his expression could be so malevolent.
"What?" He asked through gritted teeth. "Are you out of your mind, Molley? I can understand Malfoy but Lestrange?" He hissed and growled like a hound. It was cute in a very overprotective way.
"I assure you that I won't murder her in her sleep, Black."
"But Belatrix will. She is bonkers and you know it." Sirius added still incredibly pissed.
"She is scary and unpredictable. You never know what mood she is in which makes her even scarier." Regulus commented shuddering at his cousin's behavior.
"Bellatrix is my brother's fiance now. She will assist but not directly be involved into hosting Ophelia. But, if it makes you leave faster, I promise I won't let your crazy cousin kill her." Right as he finished his sentence, a pop was heard and an elf in a very bad condition appeared next to Regulus.
"Masters, Kreacher came to take you home. Mistress is waiting." The house elf didn't even let them mutter a word before he touched them and they popped out of there.
"So you are the ride to my punishment?" She asked looking around. "Mostly everyone is gone. How will we get there?"
"Hold my hand." He said and her eyes widened. She looked down at his left hand and swallowed nervously. "It won't hurt too much if you don't let go."
She wasn't worried about apparating as much as she was anxious about holding his hand. Once her skin touched his she felt her cheeks reddening. Thankfully he didn't look at her but it was very visible.
When they got on the Lestrange premises, Rabastan turned to her with a grimace.
"I lied. Your punishment is actually Bellatrix. She will be your mentor this summer." Rabastan announced while house elves took away their luggage.
"Wait, my what? A mentor, can she even speak to me as to a normal person?"
"Of course I can, rat." That chilling voice came from behind her and it freaked her out. "Come, come, I've been expecting you. We will have so much fun," Bellatrix said with a wild look in her eyes. Oh, Tom was truly evil.
"This will be your room," Rabastan said as he finally stopped in front of a red wooden door. "You've been here before, no need to act so wary." He added watching her carefully.
The room was not as big as she expected and there was nothing more than what a human needed in order to call it a bedroom. To be sincere, Malfoy made it more comfortable than Lestrange.
"Does Bellatrix know that Tom is my father?" She asked as she placed her bottom on the bed. It made a creaking sound and the sheets were rash on touch.
"The Dark Lord." He corrected, "And yes, she does. Only, she got orders not to care about it. Bellatrix is a force of evil, Ophelia. Don't take her lightly."
"I guess that shows just what type of people my father loves having around." She spoke coldly making Rabastan chuckle to himself. "This will be worse than training with Rodolphus, won't it?"
"Much, much worse." Rabastan admitted, still quite amused by how well she was taking everything. She really had no idea just how far Bellatrix was allowed to go.
Next morning, bright and early, Ophelia was sleeping peacefully in her room. The Lestrange mansion was indeed grand and the echo in the halls was impressive. If something small, such as a plate, would fall and crash on the floor, the whole household would know. That was one of the very many reasons why house elves were so careful when doing anything, even walking. Luckily, whatever would happen in one's room was nobody's business thus there was no help if somebody, let's say Bellatrix, would try her hand at killing somebody else, let's say Ophelia. The Gryffindor was not aware of these details but Rabastan was, maybe too much so.
"Wakey, wakey!"
Ophelia groaned and rolled on her side, ignoring the sound that was coming closer. Her door opened and Bellatrix barged in, her wand in hand pointed at the young witch. One flip and the bed literally threw Ophelia against the wall. It was such a shock that the fact that she broke her nose when she collided was forgotten.
"Bright and early we will begin our lessons, Babbity. Come on," She said in an authoritarian voice before leaving.
Ophelia rubbed her eyes before she felt something dripping down on her lips. Her eyes widened when she saw it was blood and pain finally made its presence.
"You broke my nose!" she screamed, her voice cracking since it was barely six o'clock. Thankfully, once she touched it, her bones started to heal and albeit it hurt a freaking lot, it was brand new in a matter of minutes.
"Miss should hurry," a shy voice advised the witch. She turned towards the bed and saw a house elf making her bed. "Madame Bellatrix does not like waiting." he said, shivering after every word.
Seeing how there was not another option, she only brushed her teeth, tamed her black locks into a ponytail and washed her face. When she got downstairs, she was still very much in her pajamas but to her relief, nobody was there except her tutor. Dread fell over her when she saw the crazed woman tapping her foot expectantly.
"You took too long." she said before Ophelia heard, "Stupefy!"
Except being thrown once again, she felt a surge of internal pain. While rising herself, she heard her back make a cracking noise and realized it was going to be just as bad as she imagined.
The first lesson continued in the same way, with Bellatrix easily maneuvering her wand here and there, left and right, with more power or less power and yet the hit hurt just as bad. By the end of the two hours, Ophelia had her nose broken twice, she almost sprained her ankle when trying to run from that psycho and she had many other scratches on her face mostly.
"She's targeting my face." she explained to Rabastan when he visited her bedroom. "I don't think she had met mom but she definitely saw her somewhere because she wants to break every bone in my skull." she continued, still offended that she had to suffer and be embarrassed by the same dark witch.
"I only came to tell you that breakfast is ready." he replied, not able to contain his chuckle when he saw how disheartened she was. "Come on, the whole family is already there."
"Great," she mumbled rolling her eyes. "And why does she call me Babbity? Who in Merlin's name is that anyway?" she added, following the wizard to the dining room. Rabastan's chuckle got louder as he realized there was real meaning in the nickname his future sister-in-law appointed to Ophelia.
"The summer has only begun. I'm sure she will call you Crucio by the end of August." he joked but Ophelia threw him a very mean look from the side.
"That's not funny. You're not funny, don't try." The truth was that her heart could not admit that even if he was not amusing, it still flattered her how many expressions he was showing. The black haired witch had to breathe out a few times just so that she won't blush in front the whole Lestrange household.
That morning became regular: two hours before breakfast of easy curses, as Bellatrix explained; then followed another two hours in which Ophelia had to learn Apparating, Disapparating, the Patronus Charm and flying. She was not good at the latter, not at all, she heard Rodolphus laugh so much during her violent flying lessons that her ears wanted to bleed out. Afterwards was free time, or in her father's point of view, their bonding time in which he mostly scared her off with stories that were insane. One time, he encouraged her to read about Grindelwald and she actually found his ideas appealing. The way he'd propose certain ideas to the Wizengamot, with real answers and explanations to back him up made her realize that she could make anybody knee before her if she knew what words to use. And then was dinner, where Mrs. Lestrange would mostly tell Ophelia to be more lady like, that it was quite clear she had been raised by muggles, et cetera, et cetera. Worse was when she'd give Bellatrix as an example, which was equal to comparing a fox and a hound, and she was the hound as was her patronus.
"Why is it a hound, anyway?" asked Rabastan one night when they finished their food around the same time.
"It was a fox at first and now it's a hound. I'm not sure when it changed but I know a hound is loyal, friendly, proud and quite fit." she explained while going to her room. "What's yours?"
"You'll find out," he said, making himself sound mysterious.
"When?" she asked, her eyes widening and curiosity growing.
"When I'll send it to you to ask for help."
"And when will that be?"
"When that will be." he replied wittily.
"Right. You're really not funny. You should be sent to Azkaban for that reason alone. Maybe then I'll get to see that patronus."
She was endearing when thinking how she was surrounded by people that strongly disliked her. But she was sure nobody will kill her, she seemed to be more aware of her father and his name and if Rabastan was to look even deeper, she was letting herself be modeled by the Dark Lord. He couldn't pinpoint how much she was letting him in but the idea that she was acknowledging his power was enough.
June passed quickly in the same manner, more or less. Ophelia's body was full of punishment, full of inflicted rage and her nose had been broken more than ten times and still whenever she touched it, magic would help her out. But one day in the beginning of July was worse than ever. Bellatrix took it up a notch, if not a lot more than that, and started using the deadly curses. Ophelia could deflect them at first, which was pure luck, but then Bellatrix became stronger as if she could finally point exactly where the soft spots were. It got so bad that Ophelia had to run.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Bellatrix' evil chanting was echoing throughout the whole house, scaring the poor house elves that were only doing their chores. "Babbity~ there are just a number of places you can hide and I will find you." The certainty in that simple statement was nerve wrecking.
Listening carefully, Ophelia tried to stop her bleeding side with her hands. She could feel the electricity in her veins, it was rushing everywhere and she couldn't control it. Her wound hurt, her back was a mess and so was her face. She could taste the blood on her tongue and one of her eyes was probably going to swell.
"Babbity~"
The evil was getting closer so without knowing where she was or whose rooms were around, she entered the first she could open. She leaned against it and closed her eyes, breathing heavily since she was really tired.
"Can't this day just end already..." she muttered, forgetting that she was in someone's room.
A door opened, alarming the teenage witch until she realized it was not the one behind her but the one in front of her. A boy emerged, a fully grown boy in all his nakedness, whose eyes widened at the sight of his intruder. Ophelia spun around, her face so red that all her remaining pumping blood probably rushed to her cheeks. She was ready to apologize when she heard Bellatrix move outside. She remained still, barely breathed and listened. Once the steps moved further from the room, she sighed in relief .
"You can turn around now, I'm dressed."
What Rabastan meant by that was that he had pulled some pants on because he was still very much shirtless. He sat on the bed and patted the seat next to him. Ophelia swallowed her nerves and still with flushed cheeks, she complied. Trying to ease the butterflies in her stomach, she leaned on her back, flinching at her wound. Rabastan's eyes moved on it immediately but he didn't seem to have a reaction to it.
"I told you, she is a force of evil." He said as if that mattered anymore. However, he did grab his wand and started to mutter enchantments, at least closing it if not fully healing. Ophelia couldn't care less what he was doing because her mind was already elsewhere. Rabastan was really well built, more so than his brother who was taller but skinnier. Rodolphus looked like the evil wizard, he was by the book but Rabastan was younger, fresh, still defying the family tradition, or looks. Maybe because he inherited more from his mother than his father, from what she noticed during breakfast and dinner.
"You should tell a house elf to prepare you a bath. Bellatrix' powerful shots usually leave a mark." He said once he put his wand aside. Ophelia could only blink as she stared at him. Rabastan chuckled and leaned next to her.
Taking a closer look, after what felt like months, he could see the aftermath of her punishment. Her beautiful elongated green eyes were swollen and bruised. The biggest cut was on her right temple, which he reached out and caressed softly. Ophelia didn't react; she couldn't, she was frozen in space and time and she didn't want to admit to herself but she was going to hang onto this moment for years.
"You're leaning in." Rabastan mumbled yet he wasn't stopping her.
"You're leaning up then," she said without the slightest idea how stupid it sounded. But Rabastan just continued to stare at her and seeing how she was moving so slowly, he pulled her in and kissed her. It was innocent and inexperienced, after all Ophelia was experiencing her first crush and first kiss but Rabastan seemed to like being in control. When the two moved apart, the blush on Ophelia's face was at maximum point.
"We should stop or else I'm afraid you might faint."
She couldn't even hear the slight insult in his words, not that it was meant to be one. All that mattered was her beating heart and the green sparkles that started to shoot out of her fingers all around them.
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