A Fairly Happy Family
Around 10 years later, Ophelia and Eve were in the kitchen with a plastic liner protecting the linoleum and an old, pink-and-yellow-stained chair in the center. Eve sat on it with an equally stained old apron wrapping around her body while Ophelia held a hair straightener in one hand and a hair-dyeing brush with pink hair dye in the other.
“Can you believe it, Lia? We're finally old enough to go to Hogwarts!” Eve squealed, pittering her feet on the kitchen floor.
“Don't move so much, you're gonna make me burn you,” Ophelia said, running the straightener through her sister’s hair before setting it down on the counter. “And I can't – god, I'm so excited!”
“What do you think the Slytherin common room will be like in-person?” Eve yammered on, excited as ever. “Do you think we'll get to see the fish and other creatures in the lake from windows inside? Oh, do you think they have, like– a Loch Ness Monster?”
“It wouldn't be a Loch Ness Monster since that's a centralized sort of beast, but I'm sure that there's a lake monster,” Ophelia responded, running the dye-lathered brush side through Eve's hair before switching it to the comb side to comb the dye through her hair. “I’m so curious to see what Dad’ll look like as our teacher and not as– y’know, Dad.”
“I don’t think he’s as mean as he says he is,” Eve admitted. “No way can he be that mean.”
“I dunno, you should’ve seen him with the Abney boys on Daylight Street last year,” Ophelia challenged. “He got mean. Like, real mean.”
“Well, that’s different,” Eve shrugged. “Those boys are awful. Of course he was mean. But, just other kids? No way he’s that bad.”
“Oh, you’d be surprised, Evelyn.” Their Dad’s voice surprised both the girls, both looking up in excitement to see their Father back from the supermarket and standing in the kitchen doorway. He wore a snarky grin on thin lips, arms folded before he walked further into the kitchen.
“Dad!” Ophelia grinned, setting the hair dyeing brush down in Eve’s lap and jumping into his arms for a hug. She felt his gentle laugh reverberating against her chest as he wrapped his arms around her, lifting her up with him. Hugs from her Dad always felt so comforting, so warm and full of so much love. He set her down after a second or two before tutting, walking over to the hair straightener.
“Hey, how many times have I told you to not put the straightener on the counter?” He lightly scolded, picking it up and taking his wand out to cast a levitation spell on it. Ophelia shrank into herself a bit, flushing from the embarrassment.
“Sorry, Dad,” she said sheepishly. He gave her a grin and ruffled her hair a bit before turning to look at Eve.
“You look absolutely beautiful so far, Sunset,” he grinned warmly, leaning down to give Eve a little peck on the cheek. “I can’t wait to see how it looks finished.”
Eve giggled, smiling up at him. “You say that every time Lia does my hair, Dad.”
“And every time it looks amazing,” their dad quipped back.
“Thank you,” Ophelia grinned, giving a little bow. “I do my best work in this kitchen.”
Their dad chuckled, stepping away. “Well, I hope your best work will be done in time for our trip to Diagon Alley.”
The two girls gasped, excitedly looking at each other with grins spreading from ear to ear. “Diagon Alley!” They both exclaimed; they’d only gotten to go a few times in the past, but today it meant something different than just a family lunch at The Leaky Cauldron or a roller coaster ride at Gringotts. Today it was far, far more special.
“Yes, and we ought to get there sometime before 12:30 and it's 10 now,” their Father began to ramble. “Would you two be able to finish this up before then?”
“Uh– ” Ophelia looked at Eve's hair again, doing a little loop around her sister as she grabbed the dye brush– “, yeah, it looks like I've just gotta do a little touch-up work and then she's done, and then we let it set for an hour or so, so we should be fine.”
“Lia, can you do part of my bangs this time?” Eve piped up. “I wanna try something new.”
“Oh, I think that would look very nice!” their Father smiled. “As long as it doesn't take too long, of course.”
“It won't,” Ophelia grinned. She grabbed the last messier chunk of Eve's hair and brushed through it with the dye and comb. “Just a few more minutes is all the difference.”
“Perfect then,” their dad said, clapping his hands, “let's get some hair dyed!”
It didn't take long for Ophelia to finish dyeing her sister's hair and for Eve to start putting an outfit and purse together after wrapping her hair in cling-wrap to keep her from staining anything. Ophelia did the same, going to their room to put a bag and outfit together. The two worked in silence; they didn’t need to talk right now, anyways, and neither of them felt like it. She decided to go with putting together her outfit first, and after searching through all her clothes she settled on a light blue Spider-Man T-shirt with a long, flowy patchwork skirt she found at the thrift store down the road a few months back. That coupled with some long socks that sagged down her legs and her typical dark blue Converse and she was good to go. She sat herself in front of her and Eve's vanity, brushing through her hip-length, midnight-black hair and adding little braids here and there.
Ophelia didn't know a lot about her biological parents on account that she never felt the need to ask, but she took her heritage very seriously. Her and her sister were ethnically Afro-Indigenous American, but after the late and not-so-great Lord Voldemort killed their biological parents, their father, Severus Snape, a former Death-Eater and loyal double agent, saved them, adopted them, and raised them in Spinner's End in Cokeworth, England. Her father though, being the amazing man he was, went to great lengths to make sure the girls were educated on their heritage. While Eve leaned more into her African side than her Indigenous side, Ophelia was the opposite; from everything they could find, they were part Inuit.
She didn't have anything to give herself a tattoo with yet, but she did use some of her and Eve's eyeliner to carefully draw a line from the center-bottom of her lips down to the end of her chin as a makeshift tunniit. She didn't do much else in terms of makeup, just throwing on some deep red lip stain she definitely did not five-finger discount, and a little mascara before calling it a day.
She looked at herself in the mirror; it looked nice. Not extremely-feminine like how Eve liked to do her own makeup, but enough to make her face look not bare. She then turned back to her side of the room, picking out her Father’s old messenger bag to be her bag for the day and filling it with all the necessities – and, of course, the not-so-necessities. She threw in a few pads and a few tampons along with a change of underwear just in case she started, some money she’d saved up from her allowance in a little blue coin purse, all the makeup she’d used in a side pocket, her favorite summertime-sweater (which was light enough to not cause an issue of overheating but warm and wooly enough to keep her toasty on colder or rainier days and the same shade of black as her Father’s eyes) rolled up in the main pocket, a small Spider-Man figurine along with a little Care-Bear keychain plush (so neither would be lonely), a personalized badge with her first and last name and how to contact her father in case the bag was lost (she had covered it in plenty of Spider-Man stickers), and finally, her favorite Spider-Man comic book. She examined the bag after packing it, making sure everything was in places that made sense. After finding the placement of everything satisfactory, she picked it up to make sure it wasn’t too heavy, and it was more than light enough to carry. Plus, if she decided she wanted to put any new school supplies inside, there was certainly space for things like a wand and spellbooks.
After setting her bag back down on the bed and looking through it to make sure she had everything, she glanced over at her nightstand–
The Whistle.
She’d almost forgotten. On her nightstand sat a simple, silver, narrow whistle attached to a keychain. It was small, lightweight, and easily overlooked by most; however, when blown into, it would create a noise so loud and high-pitched it’d get the attention of anyone and everyone within a 500-foot radius at least.
A precaution her Dad had taken after the events of last year.
She grabbed it, fiddling with it between her fingers as she thought of a way to keep it on her but not in her bag; in the case of an emergency, it would be too hard to reach from all the way in there.
“I’m going to go shower now, I think it’s been long enough,” Eve suddenly said, snapping Ophelia out of her trance. Ophelia glanced at the clock in the room; it was 10:50am. Man, time had flown, hadn’t it?
“Yeah, that should be fine,” Ophelia nodded. “Don’t trip and die.”
“You neither!” Eve called after her sister as she walked to the bathroom. Ophelia smiled and rolled her eyes before looking back at the whistle. Finally, an idea struck her.
She walked back over to their vanity and set the whistle down before taking three small strands of hair close to the back of her head and began to braid them. Around a third of the way down, she stopped, putting the braid in her mouth as she grabbed a small plastic hair-tie and cow-hitched it around the keychain part of the whistle. Then she removed the braid from her mouth and tied it with the little contraption she had made and let the braid hang down naturally to make sure it wouldn’t pull on her hair too much. To her great satisfaction and pride, it felt perfectly fine; she spun around in the mirror, keeping an eye on where it would be in her hair as she did so, and it didn’t show up in her hair at all unless she turned her head a little too violently.
Satisfied with her work, she grabbed her bag and went into the living room to wait with her Dad. He was reading on the armchair when she happily walked over, causing him to look up and set the book down on the end table.
“Hello, Midnight,” he smiled affectionately. “Are you all packed?”
“Yes-sir!” she giggled happily, showing off her bag. “With your old bag, too.”
His smile widened as he looked at her with pride and love swelling within his dilated pupils. “Of course, of course. I wouldn’t expect anything less from you, dear.”
He stood up and bent down to kiss the top of her head, and she stood on her tip-toes for him as she grinned contentedly. He leaned away and looked at her again, his expression more serious this time. “Have you accounted for everything you may need?”
“Yes, Dad,” she nodded.
“Do you have pads?”
“Yes, Dad.”
“Tampons?”
“Mhm!”
“Change of underwear?”
“You betcha.”
“Any extra money in case you wanna buy anything special?”
“Sure do!”
“Alright– oh, do you have your whistle?” He asked, his tone becoming far more concerned as he squatted down to her level.
“Yes, Dad, I have my whistle,” she nodded, although a little less happily as she pulled up her braid to show him. “And it’s in an easy-to-access place. If anything happens, I’ll be fine.”
He smiled, albeit a bit sadly, chuckling as he ruffled her hair. “Smart girl. I never would’ve thought to keep it like that.”
She smiled; she always loved receiving her father’s praise and pride. It made her feel important, loved.
“I have something for you, actually,” he said, standing up. “Come, sit with me.”
He sat down on their couch and she quickly followed suit, kicking her feet excitedly as he produced a small black box from his robes and handed it to her. Her smile widened with glee as she took it, and her eyes widened as she removed the lid to the little box.
Inside was a beautiful, beautiful labradorite pendant carved to look like a crescent moon. It was deep blue with a rainbow-opalescent sheen to it. It was smooth and cool to the touch, and it shimmered beautifully in the late-morning light pouring in from the front window. She gasped as she lifted the pendant from the box, and through a carved hole in the middle of the top-section a simple black chord ran through it with an adjustable knot at the top.
“Dad, it’s beautiful,” she whispered. “Thank you!”
“It’s not just beautiful,” her Dad said, sounding gentler now but still serious. She looked at him as he took it from her hand and placed it around her neck. “It’s magical, and it’s connected to another pendant I have.”
As he explained, he pulled the collar of his robes down to show a matching pendant in the shape of a black circle made from black opal, equally as beautiful and as fitting for his personality. “Your sister has one too, though I haven’t given it to her yet. You just squeeze yours as tight as you can whenever you’re in danger, whenever you’re in an emergency, and I’ll feel it and I’ll apparate right to you, okay?”
Ophelia nodded as he explained before saying, “Okay, Dad.”
“Oh, and also, they do this– ” He took his pendant off before gently grabbing the cord above the moon-shaped stone now sitting around Ophelia’s neck, and they both watched as the two snapped together to form a little lunar eclipse. Ophelia’s eyes lit up a bit at that, causing her to grin and giggle.
“They’re amazing, Dad,” she smiled as her Father pulled the pendants away and he put his back on. Though, she felt a little sad in a way. As thoughtful as the gift was, part of her would’ve preferred it just be a pretty necklace and nothing more. “Thank you so, so much.”
“Of course, kiddo,” he beamed. However, after a moment, the smile faded from his face as it was replaced with a look of worry and concern. “How are you doing? Since the last time we spoke about… this.”
Ophelia’s smile faded too, replaced with that sense of sadness and hopelessness. She looked down as she spoke. “I’m doing fine. As fine as I can be, anyways.
“I still get nightmares, but not as often,” she admitted. “I think really only once or twice every two weeks. They’re getting more manageable, though. I just… wake up and then grab the closest comfort object, I guess. A-And, I still get a little freaked out when I see boys or men staring at me when we’re in public, but I know I’ll get better with that over time. Being at Hogwarts might help, since you’ll be closer.
“Dad, I– I don’t think this is something I’ll ever get truly better from,” Ophelia confessed, shrinking in on herself as she kept her gaze glued to the ground. She didn’t want to look back up at her Dad because she could already feel the pained, sorrowful look in his eyes boring into her. “I think this is just something I have to learn to live with and that it’ll keep affecting me even when I’m the most healed I can be. Kind of like you with your past.”
“I know, and I’m so, so sorry, Ophelia,” he sighed, wrapping an arm around her. She melted into his touch, leaning on him as she closed her eyes and let him pull her into a small hug.
“No Dad, I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“What for?” He asked, a gentle hand stroking her hair.
“I feel like this made you and Eve sadder and angrier and it’s my fault.” She spoke quietly, and she felt incredibly ashamed at that moment. Tears began to well in her eyes as she sank further into her Father. Suddenly, he lifted her up gently, squeezing both her shoulders as he looked her in the eye.
“My Midnight, none of what happened was your fault in the slightest,” he whispered. “Evelyn and I love you, and we’re both upset that you had to go through such a thing. But if anything good came out of what happened, it’s that it brought us closer together as a family.”
Ophelia tried to look at her Father as he spoke, but eventually, she just turned her gaze downwards. “I know, I know, but… I just feel like I’ve become such a burden since then. You’re always worrying about me now, and I know you blame yourself at least to an extent.
“I know it’s silly to say, but I just wish that I was the only one having to suffer,” she sighed. “I don’t mean to make you so concerned about me all the time.”
Her father was quiet for a few moments, causing her to look up. His own gaze was averted as he seemed to be in deep, concerned thought.
“Ophelia, you have never been, and never will be, a burden to me,” he finally began to say, speaking a little slower to stress his point as he looked back up to meet her eyes. “You don’t make me do anything, I have just as much free will in how I raise you and your sister as my father did. I actively choose to protect you and worry about you and your sister because you two are my daughters and the lights of my life and I love you both very, very dearly.
“I know you’ll find it hard, but please don’t worry too much about how I feel regarding everything,” he emphasized, one hand moving up from her shoulders to tuck some hair behind her ear before resting on her cheek. “That’s for me to work out, not you. I promise, you have absolutely nothing to blame yourself in the slightest.”
After he finished speaking, he pulled Ophelia back into an embrace, hugging her tightly against him. “I love you so much, Midnight,” he whispered.
She found herself melting into her Father again, hugging him back tightly as she buried herself in his chest. “I love you so much too, Dad,” she whispered back. It was in moments like these she could almost forget about everything. It was just her and her Dad, hugging and having the sweetest father-daughter moment they could. Nothing was wrong with the world in those moments; all she knew was the warmth of his embrace and all she felt was the love they had for each other.
“Lia!” Eve’s voice shouting from the bathroom broke her from her trance as the two pulled apart. “Can you come help me with the hairdryer?”
“Just a sec!” Ophelia shouted from the living room. She slid off the couch and got to her feet before turning back around. Her father was smiling at her again, and while the sadness in his eyes stayed, it was accompanied by tenderness rather than pain.
“Go help your sister,” he smiled, ruffling her hair one last time. “And man, am I proud of you for that little braid and whistle trick.”
She grinned back at him as she spoke back, “Thank you, Dad. We won’t be long, I promise.”