Belladonna

Ophelia, the girl that drowned lost by grief and sorrow. Ophelia, the original sad girl. She was lost thanks to all the men in her life. Her man got lost in his own madness and she couldn’t take the pain anymore. Ophelia drowned in a brook by her own weight. Ofelia, on the other hand, had almost drowned in her own grief and sorrow. Both of them had lost her father. But our Ofelia was stronger and not written by a 17th century muggle. She would stand strong. She would not drown like her Shakespearean version.

Stand strong, Ofelia, and stand proud.

No surrender. So, she had to move on, which not necessarily meant forgetting about her father. It meant continuing with your life. Stop her life paralysis and re-enter the match.

The next weeks, she was very busy. She had to focus all her energy in catching up with her classes. Not only she had lost half of the year, but also a month of the last bit of the last part of her sixth year. Now, she had to catch up if she wanted to keep her grades up and pass the year. She had to work twice as hard, triple if it was necessary. It was obvious that she wouldn’t come up on top for the first time in school history. She guessed that Minerva could have it this time. She deserved it. But Bella still managed to pass everything with excellent grades.

The real challenge was the trials. She spent her birthday attending to the trials for the acolytes. Of course, she wasn’t an active part of them. It turned out that being the Representative of The Youth was a fancy term for secretary. But she still enjoyed sitting next to Theseus Scamander and making a record of each trial. Soon enough, she understood what was the method of the judge to imprison the acolytes. If you were a middle-class wizard with nothing to offer to the Ministry of Magic, then your trial was merely a procedure. But if your last name had any kind of influence, then you had the benefit of the doubt. Most of them ended up free, except if they had been openly standing with Grindelwald or if they had done something atrocious. It didn’t seem fair. But she didn’t care about the acolytes. She cared about Grindelwald, who many argued did not have a fair imprisonment. Mainly because he didn’t have a trial. The truth was that he had already been at many trials, in which they had found him guilty, but then he had run away or found his way out of it. So, in order for him not to escape again, they just threw him in a cage with almost no sunlight in it. It was a bittersweet feeling for Ofelia. But as much as she wanted to see him be held responsible for his crimes, she could understand that this was the best option they could come up with.

The point is that everything seemed to be fine again. Ofelia’s life was back on its tracks and there was nothing to worry about, as she and her friends focused on passing their final exams.

However, nothing could ever be that simple. Maybe she didn’t feel like being down anymore. Maybe she had received an inspirational letter by her biggest hero and cheered herself up. Maybe she was capable of climbing right up her depression cliff and bathing on the sunlight again. But Aberforth couldn’t do that. It wasn’t easy for him to change his moods that simply. It wasn’t easy for him to follow how fast Ofelia changed her emotions.

Yes, he didn’t need to mimic every emotion that she had. But her blue mood had been so contagious that it had dragged him into it as well, and now, he lacked the strength to be fine again.

“The lads want to do an End-of-School-Year party this Saturday” Bella announced, hugging Aberforth’s back. “Now, that everything is fine-”

“Not everything is fine” he cut her.

Ofelia wasn’t sure what to do now that she was fine and he wasn’t. Sure, she was hot-headed and with her heart on her sleeve. But when it came to others's feelings, she didn’t know how to help. In her world of black and white, she was not a therapist. So as far as she was concerned, Forth needed to suck it up and get over it just like she had done.

“I feel like a party should cheer you up.”

“I don’t need for you and your friends to ‘cheer me up’. I don’t even want them to throw a party in here...”

“What are you talking about? A party is a great opportunity for the Hog’s Head. You haven’t open it in 8 weeks now and-”

“I don’t care!” he yelled. “Don’t you see that I don’t care?”

“Do not yell at me, Aberforth!” she shotted right back. “I am not your enemy.”

“Then, stop behaving like it!” He tried to calm himself down. “Listen, I don’t care if you and your school friends want to celebrate. I don’t want to.”

“Don’t say it like that...”

“Like what?”

“You said ‘school friends’, like we are much younger than you.”

“Well, congratulations, Bella. You are.”

He had never brought up the age gap between them. At least not in this way. Now, he made it sound like it was something to be ashamed about. Something not to be proud of.

“I know I’m young. But I’m not a child, Aberforth. Don’t treat me like this.”

“I am not treating you in any particular way” he argued. “I just said no to a bloody party and your faddy arse cannot take it.”

“Why are you saying no then?”

“Because I don’t feel like partying with you and your friends. Because everyone wants to celebrate, and I don’t have nothing to be happy for.”

“You have me...”

“That is not what I am talking about.”

“Then what are you talking about?”

“Sometimes it feels like you are trying to replace your dad with me...” he whispered.

“Excuse me?”

“You love how much I spoil you, don’t you? Just like your daddy used to do.”

“You have no idea what you are talking about-”

“Oh, I don’t?”

“No, I loved you way before my father died. You are just being mean” she said trying not to get angry, though she was feeling furious. “And with that criteria, you just started dating me to replace Credence...”

She said that as a joke, just to prove at him how ridiculous his idea was. But she had never expected him to go quiet. He didn’t answer. He stared at his feet, as if there was something interesting in his shoelaces.

“Forth?” she inquired. “You didn’t... That is not what our relationship is... Right?”

But he didn’t answer.

“Forth! Speak to me!”

“I don’t know!” he broke down. “I don’t know...”

“What do you mean you don’t know? You don’t know if you were with me to fill the void your son left? We’ve been together for four months now.”

“I don’t know...”

“Stop saying you don’t know!”

“Well, that’s the truth: I don’t know!” he yelled back at her forcing himself to look her in the eyes. “I don’t know why I'm with you. I don’t know what I'm doing with you. I need to figure it out. All I know is that my son is dead and my life is a mess.”

“That is not my fault.”

“No, but your father died and you allowed yourself into a pool of depression and dragged me into it. Now, you are fine and you don’t care if I’m suffering. You never care about my fucking feelings. So, yeah, it is not your fault, but I can’t figure things out when I’m around you.”

"What do you mean?"

"I need to know why I am with you? It is not clear anymore."

“I don’t deserve this” Ofelia stated grabbing her things, ready to leave. “Owl me when you feel like being a grown adult. Or better off, do not write to me at all. I don’t think I ever want to see you again.”

She didn’t care if she looked like a kid storming out of his house, but she couldn’t see his face anymore. What he had said hurt her deeply because it basically confirmed what Druella had warned her. And she couldn’t let her be right about this. As she walked back to the castle trying to hold back the tears in her eyes, her own voice of reason kept repeating the same thing. I told you so. I told you so. I told you so. I told you so. I told you so. I told you so. I told you so. I told you so. I told you so. I told you so. I told-

The face of her brother crossed her mind as well. How disappointed he had been when he found out that she was actually dating a man who was older than her. Now, his face appeared in front of her saying I told you so, I told you so, I told you so. She couldn’t believe his words. She couldn’t believe that everything she had lived was a lie. But as the final weeks of school went by and she received no letter from him. She had to move on and accept that this was the end for them.

“I spoke to him” Potter said while they were making rounds on the train already heading back to London.

“Who?”

“Aberforth” he established. “Don’t act dumb. I went to the Hog’s Head three days ago. He was destroyed.”

“I don’t care how he's doing” she tried to convince him or maybe herself. “He did this to himself.”

“Well, you were the one that said don’t talk to me ever again.”

“Are you seriously going to take his side?” she questioned him. “You know what he said to me, or what he did to me. He had it coming.”

“I know and I’m not taking his side” he clarified, “but I don’t like that you are in a fight. It feels like when my parents are fighting.”

“Solve your family issues in therapy and don’t burden me with them.”

“If he wanted to talk, would you listen to him?”

Ofelia didn’t answer to his question, but she knew what was the answer. Yes, of course she would listen to anything he had to say. She loved him still, even if she had felt so disappointed by the end of the relationship.

The way back home was even more annoying, as all Ofelia could do was sulk about Aberforth. And all Filipe could do was ask her about Aberforth. The kid seemed to be pretty disappointed that the relationship had ended so suddenly. But at least, they weren’t fighting anymore. She and her brother were getting along much better after their fight over the cigarette. As if they had come to finally understand each other.

However, when it came to Braulio, that was another story. It seemed like she and her older brother were growing more and more apart. Ofelia couldn’t understand how their relationship had gone so south. But Walburga told her that it was only logical for this to happen: he had overprotected her his entire life and now she had become a wild, uncontrollable hero that won’t listen to him. Druella had another theory: he was jealous that she had accomplished almost everything she desired in less than a year, and he was stuck in a cheap apartment studying to become a mediocre worker of the Wizarding society.

Whatever reason it was, it only made things worse when Braulio said that Riddle was coming to spend the summer with them.

“He’ll arrive tonight.”

“You didn’t even ask if I want him to stay at my house...” Ofelia argued.

“It isn’t your house. It is my house too. And if I say he’s staying, then he’s staying.”

“You act like a bloody dictator honestly...” she mumbled, but he listened anyways.

“What was that?” he turned around to face her. “I don’t know who you think you are. But you are not the head of this family, Bella. I am. So, stop behaving like it.”

Maybe both Walburga and Druella were right.

If this was how her summer was going to go, she wouldn’t last more than a week. Just the thought of Braulio and Tom bossing her around made her sick. She thought of staying with Walburga, but her family was leaving for a trip to France that very same evening. And Druella was practically under house arrest. She could visit Fleamont, but she didn’t want to bother his parents, the constant fighters. So, she guessed she was stuck with them for the rest of the summer.

With nothing else to do, she sat in her father’s armchair and opened one of his books, when she heard the strong sound of a car horn outside of her house. Finding it strange by the fact that there were no cars at Clovelly, she went to the front window to see what was going on. Imagine her surprise when she saw who was standing outside her house with a red car behind him. Ofelia ran to the door and went outside.

“Aberforth?”

“Hi...” he smiled at her nervously.

“What are you doing here?”

“I bought a car...”

“I can see that” she said cuttingly, but she was actually amazed by the glorious muggle machine in front of her.

“It’s for you.”

“You bought me a car?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I was expecting for us to spend the summer on the road, just visiting some magical locations here in England.”

Ofelia could not believe what she was hearing. “If this is your way to say that you want me back, then let me tell you is lacking an apology.”

“Is not buying you a car an apology?”

“No!”

“I’m kidding” he smiled again. “Of course, I owe you an apology... and an explanation” he admitted. “Bella, I didn’t mean what I said to you. I was being unkind to myself. It was hard for me to be around myself and you just paid for it. And I’m truly sorry. I know that feeling down is no apology, but it is the truth. I love you from the bottom of my heart and I would never try to replace someone with you simply because you are so damn unique. There is no one like you and there will never be. And I know now that I was so lucky of having you, at least for a while. You don’t have to take me back if I hurt you enough for you not to forgive me. But let me tell you that I’ll be miserable for the rest of my life if you don’t stay-”

“Shut up!”

“But-”

“I said shut up. I need to think.”

Of course, she wanted to forgive him, but what he had said...

“I know I am younger than you. But I am tired of men bossing me around” she explained. “I was not with you because I was looking for some twisted father figure. I was with you because I love you.”

“I love you too. And I am not trying to replace anyone with you.”

Ofelia sighed. “You better not.”

“Does that mean that you take me back?”

“It means that you are on trial. We’ll see how you do...”

Forth brought her into his arms and kissed her like he had wished to do all those weeks.

“Merlin, I missed you so much, darling.”

Her nickname made her body shiver.

“Are you going to behave from now on?”

“Yes, darling.”

“Are you going to talk about your feelings instead of bottling them up?”

“Yes...”

“Good” she gave him another kiss. “Now, take me out of here, please.”

“Your brother?”

“A-ha...”

“Go and fetch your things. I’ll wait for you in here.”

Luckily enough, she hadn’t unpacked any of her stuff. Although she was already off age, she tried not making a sound while leaving the house. She didn’t owe anything to Braulio anymore, but she didn’t want to leave in bad terms.

“I feel bad for leaving Filipe here.”

“Do you want to bring him with us?”

“No, thank you!” Both lovers turned around to see the little boy standing behind them. “I rather stay here.”

“Filipe, I...”

“Go” he said. “Please.”

“I’ll write every day” she promised, hugging him.

“Please, don’t. Just have fun” he ordered and then looked at his brother-in-law. “Take care of my sister.”

They said their last goodbyes and Ofelia jumped into her car for the first time ever. She sat in the co-driver seat feeling so excited to see how the car actually worked from the inside.

“Let’s go” Aberforth said turning the car keys and the car made some noise that amazed his girlfriend.

“You need to explain to me again how the empine works.”

“I think you mean ‘engine’, darling” he corrected her, as the car started to move.

“That's what I said” she glared at him. “When are you going to teach me how to drive this thing?”

“Whenever you want to...”