occurremus iterum

George’s uncle Hugo who lived in America was best friends with Ophelia Kowalski, whom he met while at Ilvermorny. Hugo always wanted to travel to America to break out of the Weasley family mold that was dominant at Hogwarts. His transfer was approved and he spent his second and following school years in the US.

It was during their 7th and final year when Ophelia’s parents had both died in a plane crash. Hugo insisted she joined him on winter break so that she wasn’t alone on Christmas. She was grateful and accepted the invitation. Hugo’s (and Arthur’s) family lived in a small wizarding village outside of London. It was quaint and quiet, much different from what Ophelia was used to being raised in New York City. Both her and Hugo had just passed the apparition tests before break and often popped into the city of London to go to bars and clubs. 

One night after Christmas, they snuck into a busy club full of muggles and Hogwarts students. 

“Wow this place is amazing! I feel like I’m back in the city!” Ophelia shouted to Hugo. 

“I’ll go get us some drinks!” he yelled back to her. He was so happy she was enjoying their time there. Her year had been so hard and he was so often the shoulder she cried on when memories of her parents crept up. He was in love with her, and if she didn’t have a new boyfriend every semester, maybe he would be able to find a chance to tell her. He turned his back to the bar after ordering, a drink in each hand, and he saw them. Ophelia dancing with a guy who Hugo recognized. It was Regulus Black, a pureblood family, one of the Sacred 28. The Weasleys were also members of this unofficial club of purebloods but Ophelia wasn’t fully aware of the blood wars that had been occuring in England recently, and The House of Black was in the middle of it all. 

“Hey, I see you’ve made a friend!” Hugo proclaimed handing Ophelia her drink. 

“Hugo! This is Reg, isn’t he gorgeous? He goes to Hogwarts with Art!” Ophelia downed her drink in one. Regulus watched her hungrily with his hand on the small of her back. 

“I heard there was a Weasley they had shipped off overseas.” Regulus began as he stuck out his hand for a shake. Hugo shook it quickly. 

“O, I think we should head over to the Leaky Cauldron, I told Arthur we would meet him there.” He urged Ophelia but she was already whispering into Regulus’s ear, and Hugo felt his normal invisible self.

“Well, I’ll be there if you need me later,” Hugo started to walk away, “and you will need me later, like you always do.” He added under his breath. 

The rest of the story from what George was told was that Ophelia and Regulus spent most of the winter holiday together. She rejoined Hugo and the Weasleys to catch the portkey to America and filled him in on all the dirty details. 

Back at school, it wasn't until the end of March that Hugo suspected something was wrong with Ophelia. She wrote to Regulus weekly and he slowly stopped replying. Hugo knew that Regulus was a Death Eater and warned her over and over again to stay away from that family and him, as she was a half-blood. But she insisted he was ‘undercover’ and had a plan to defeat the Dark Lord. 

Finally when the news broke that Regulus had been reported missing and presumed dead Ophelia admitted to Hugo that she was with child. 

“We said we would keep her and raise her here away from the Dark Lord! But he kept insisting that he had just one more thing he had to do, and then we would be free from him! And now he hasn’t returned a single letter and now this!” She pointed at the copy of England’s The Daily Prophet which Arthur had sent Hugo that morning. Front page was an article declaring the Dark Lord’s rise and in the obituaries, Regulus Black. 

Ophelia was now 5 months pregnant with Regulus’s baby, and one month away from graduating at Ilvermorny. That was when Hugo decided to stay with her in America for good. 

After graduation they moved into Ophelia’s childhood home, a massive penthouse in Manhattan. Hugo got a job at MACUSA as a liaison to the British MOM. 

Then Zinnia was born. It was late September. Ophelia insisted on giving her the Black family surname. She was full of so much new love for her baby girl, and took her to London behind Hugo’s back so she could search for Regulus. She never believed he was dead, just in hiding. She thought maybe the Dark Lord had figured out his plans and he had to lay low, after all a body was never found. She, with newborn in arms, stepped up to the door of 12 Grimmauld Place. A small ugly being answered the door. It was Kreacher the Black family house elf. 

“Hello Sir, I was hoping to speak with Lady Black,” She told him and he left her there in the doorway to fetch his master. 

“Yes, what is it?” Lady Black came to the door with a look of disgust on her face. “Oh we don't want any thank you, filthy muggles..” She trailed off to shut the door in Ophelia’s face.

“Wait!” Ophelia protested, waving her wand up to stop the door. Mrs. Black turned to face her slowly and looked down at the baby in her arms. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t think you heard me, we don’t want any.” Mrs. Black repeated through gritted teeth. 

“Mrs. Black, I’m Ophelia, I met you, er, briefly that one night in late December? This is Zinnia, your granddaughter,” Ophelia said and Mrs. Black grabbed her by the arm to pull her into the house. 

“What exactly are you saying?!” Mrs. Black said as she slammed the door, worried any neighbors may have heard. 

Ophelia explained everything to her starting with the night she met Regulus. She really believed now that she was a mother and had experienced love beyond all reason, Mrs. Black would understand and be there to be a part of her own granddaughter’s life. She was wrong. Mrs. Black didn’t believe the story at all. 

“You can order a DNA test if you really insist but this is Regulus’s daughter and I think he would want you to be in her life now that he can’t!” Ophelia begged as Kreacher the house elf was escorting her out of the house. 

“My son would never put his seed into a floozy American inbred like you. Get out of my house!” Mrs. Black shouted at her. Ophelia could see the doubt in her eyes. 

“Please Mrs. Black, check her blood. It’s the same blood that runs in your veins. And if you must know, Regulus and I, we got married. On New Year’s Eve at the London courthouse. You can see the records there. I am a Black and so is our daughter!” Ophelia was halfway out the door and Kreatcher basically threw her out on the stoop. 

When she got back to her hotel room she broke down and called Hugo to explain everything. She desperately wanted her daughter to have a connection with her grandparents and with Ophelia’s own parents dead this was her last hope. She also thought their support would be nice so she didn’t have to burden Hugo with everything. Then she booked her return flight and spent one more night in London. At 6PM that evening, Ophelia was nursing her baby in her room, an owl pecked at the window. She got up and untied the letter from its leg. It was from Mrs. Black:

Ophelia,

It seems that your story has been checked out. I went to the courthouse and found the records of yours and Regulus’s union on New Year’s Eve. Bring the child here immediately so I can confirm if does indeed have our blood. 

Walburga Black

After confirming that the baby was a Black, Walburga wrote Ophelia a check and told her that their lawyers would be in touch to add her and Zinnia to the Black Family’s last will and testament. 

Ophelia was heartbroken, she hadn’t come there for money, her parents left her a fortune, it was the family she desired. Mrs. Black protested that it was all too scandalous for anyone to hear and with her and her family’s main focus on helping the Dark Lord in his rise to power, she simply had no time to be a grandmother. 

Gutted, Ophelia traveled back to America the next day. 

Hugo did his best to help Ophelia raise her daughter, careful to not overstep as he was not her father, he took on more of an uncle role. He saw how much Ophelia missed Regulus. He would come over almost everyday for a few hours to watch the baby so Ophelia could shower and run to the grocery store. He could hear her sobbing from the bathroom and saw the bottles of liquor she purchased from the corner shop. As Zinnia grew, she looked more like her mother everyday and at the age of 7 her powers were really showing. She would tell Hugo about the auras she saw around people and how she could make cookies appear in her bedroom from the kitchen after her mom told her no. Her magic was impressive, even for a pureblooded young witch. 

Her mother started turning her sketches into lifesize gowns when Zinnia was at muggle school. Her designs quickly became famous and she committed more time and energy, building her wedding dress empire. 

***

Now that George was with her in her new world, pieces of the puzzle had started to come together. He would often catch Zinnia perform little bits of magic that she brushed off as nothing or even a party trick. It was highly impressive without her wand. Where was her wand? He wondered. She could also read people better than she could back at Hogwarts. She could almost read people’s minds and manipulate them with her eyes. She had tried to do it to him a few times but was able to resist, in most cases. She also was talented in glamor magic, she would tell him, ‘no I’m just good at my makeup or hair,’ but George knew that she was doing more to her face and body than the surface. She never went to a plastic surgeon or botox and some days her lips would be full and plump and other days thin and pale. 

He was happy to be with her again. Sometimes it was nice that she didn’t remember the war or the pain of loss. Sometimes it really sucked that she didn’t remember Hogwarts, or Fred, or magic at all. The pain George felt of losing the old Zinnia was remedied by the new one.