Chapitre 41: The Father Sees Everything
Winter is usually the coldest time of the year, especially when one isn't living in the city but in a wider place surrounded by nature mostly. It is a lot colder in a village.
Ophelia drew the covers closer to her, feeling her feet getting cold. But it still wasn't enough because the coldness seemed to be creeping under the covers as well.
Her eyes opened when it became so cold inside the room that her breaths became vapors in the air.
She first looked at the window above her bed but it was closed. Then she got out of bed and realized there was water on the floor. She retracted immediately on the bed and covered herself.
From the corner of her eye she saw something sneaking inside her room through a small crack of the door towards the bathroom. It was like a shadow hiding in the dark corners of the room before it reached the bed and crawled up. Her eyes widened as she backed into the wall, tightening the covers around her.
It was a snake, one that seemed a bit bigger than normal but dangerous nonetheless. The snake hissed and kept his eyes on the girl before Ophelia's ears started to ring loudly. She frowned and held her head in her hands, the ringing accentuating.
"Listen to me, Ophelia. You will receive a present on the night of 25th. Never take it off."
It was a whisper that she heard before. It was faint and charming and now, she was sure it was Tom.
Next morning she could swear everything was a dream until she heard hissing once again. She stopped on the stairs and looked around but there was nothing.
"Morning!"
Cerberus was a man who loved mornings and seemed ready to do his chores for the day. When he saw her frown, he raised an eyebrow.
"Are you alright? You look concerned."
"I'm fine. It was just very cold last night." She avoided telling him the rest.
"Of course it was. It's December." He mumbled, passing her down towards the kitchen with a grumbling stomach, "I hope Luce left something for us in there."
"Why? Is he not home?" Ophelia asked, running after him.
She was a bubble of curiosity and Cerberus knew it was hard for him to contain it. He wasn't Luce and couldn't just boss her around.
"He's out." He answered, having the young girl follow him closely with a lot of questions.
"Out where? Is he at Hogwarts?"
"No. I don't know."
"Is he with Dumbledore?"
Cerberus chuckled bemusedly, stopping and turning to face the girl. Those eyes were looking at him with so much innocence that he actually felt a bit bad of what they were planning.
"I don't know where he is. If you don't believe me, you can just rummage through my mind."
"Oh, right. Right," She almost forgot about that. Last time she hurt Cerberus by luring him into a dark and slightly altered memory. She avoided entering anyone's mind afterwards but maybe she shouldn't.
The one person that arrived after breakfast was the half giant man. Hagrid proved to be a very kind man with a good sense of humour. He had very different interests compared to others, for example he told her about hippogriffs, creatures she didn't believe existed.
"What about unicorns? Have you seen one?" She asked with sparkling eyes.
"'Course I did! Great creatures but you shouldn' harm one. Bad things happen to those who harm unicorns." He advised before he smiled at her. His beard was bigger than last year but he seemed to haven't aged one year.
"That's amazing. What else is there? Mermaids. Are there mermaids?"
"Right they are. Merpeople live at Hogwarts too in the lake. They're usually nice but...it's hard to keep a chat with them." He continued, "You know, with their differen' language and all."
That was such an amazement that Ophelia didn't register the rest of the sentence. She couldn't believe that unicorns and mermaids were real, some even as close as Hogwarts.
Hagrid left when Spinnard came back. She didn't get the chance to ask him anything because Mr. Potter arrived a few moments later.
"Good morning, Ophelia!"
The father was definitely an influence on his son.
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That continued as Hagrid came over quite a few times to give and get things from Spinnard. Ophelia couldn't look into what exactly was that they were exchanging every time because Cerberus was teaching her how to fly, Rabastan was helping her concentrate for long enough to make a potion and Fleamont Potter was teaching her how to duel. Now that that was clear, I bet you wonder what is Lucius Malfoy's role.
Well, it is pretty clear that it wasn't Tom's idea to involve Lucius in Ophelia's preparation which automatically meant he had to lie to his father where he was going. Luckily, he didn't have to come as often as Rabastan because Lucius wasn't a great dark wizard just yet.
"What's this?" Ophelia asked one day during Malfoy's dark arts lesson. It was far from that with the way the blond was looking down at her from his imaginary pedestal, but it was also funny.
"It's a goblet. You drink from one every day at school." He explained sarcastically. "It's not important what it is but what it can be."
"What do you mean?" She asked curiously, "What can you do with a goblet?"
"Curse it. You can use a cursed object to inflict a curse on someone else. If you're good enough, it cannot be traced back to you."
"So I curse an object that will get to someone and that someone will be cursed because they have the cursed object." She repeated in a simpler way. "That's not bad," She mumbled, her eyes darkening at the idea.
"Yes. Not bad in theory but you need a certain affinity for such a task. Affinity you clearly don't have with how short your attention span is during classes." He had to offend her somehow, he just had to. Luckily, she was taking him very lightly compared to how serious he was.
"So, how do I curse this goblet? Can I curse it so that everyone who drinks from it will choke?"
That question raised a few suspicions with the blond, mostly because he thought he was going to be the victim but Ophelia had bigger plans.
Once their hour was up, Malfoy left Ophelia alone with the cursed goblet. Looking down at the object, her mind swirled with the bad memories of Luce and how his hatred made her decide to meet her father. It was his fault and he was still keeping many secrets from her. How could she trust someone who was putting up a mask even around his friends? No, Luce Spinnard was not worth all the trust Tom had invested in him and she wasn't going to mistake his so called kindness.
Thus, at dinner that day, Ophelia watched Spinnard's every move. She placed the cursed goblet along with the others and smiled when she saw Cerberus taking it out and putting butterbeer in it. She bit her lip when Cerberus put the goblet on the table, next to his own plate.
"What's that?" She asked pointing at the beverage.
"Butterbeer. You want a sip?" Cerberus asked smiling boyishly.
Ophelia reached for the goblet but Spinnard glared at both of them and forced her hand down. She glowered at the older man and reached for it again, touching it slightly before the same dark haired professor grabbed it. Her eyes widened when he rose it close to his lips, the moment happening too slowly for her taste. Ophelia swore she noticed his lower lip touching the goblet and sincerely, her heart was beating so loudly that she was surprised nobody could hear it. Growing a bit nervous she started to lean forward, her eyes set on Spinnard's lips. The blue eyed teacher was ready to drink it when he stopped and put the goblet on the table.
"It smells different." He stated, making Cerberus frown and with confusion all over his face, take the goblet and drink the butterbeer in a long gulp.
Ophelia bit her lower lip harder and leaned back on the chair with a guilty conscience. When Cerberus started to choke on his own saliva, the girl licked her lips and sighed, her eyes traveling towards Spinnard. Her hands grasped her pants under the table, annoyed of that subtle grin on his pale face. Spinnard was enjoying every second of her failure.
For the rest of the week, Ophelia tried to curse different clutters in order to curse Spinnard but every chance she got, Cerberus interfered and suffered instead. It was not a nice sight to see the good guy being nudged towards what Spinnard believed was an attempt at a cursed object so in the end, she just gave up.
"He's an evil man. I've never seen someone so hateful."
"You clearly haven't met many wizards. Students at Hogwarts are nothing compared to wizards from real life." Rabastan explained while watching her stir. "Professor Spinnard is weak. Out there, he's just a half-blood who likes dark artefacts and potions. He's part of the laughing stock, if I am blunt."
"Then how did he convince you to tutor me during the break? Wouldn't you prefer to be home rather than here with me?"
Rabastan didn't think once before he answered, "He didn't convince me. I'm here because I have to obey the orders of my father."
"Aren't you a good son," She mumbled sarcastically but it made her feel bad as soon as she spoke it. From Rabastan's stoic face, she was sure she just took a step back in their relationship. "You are a good son." She repeated in a firmer voice, trying to alter the result.
The older boy looked down at her and sighed. If only she knew what was happening in the world, she wouldn't be so petty. The number of muggles entering wizarding grounds was increasing and so was the number of annoyed pure-bloods. It was only a matter of time until the pure-bloods will unite against the common enemy. They only needed a leader and from the looks of it, there was one person above everybody else and that was the Dark Lord, also called Voldemort and coincidentally, Ophelia's father.
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One week passed quickly, maybe because of all the activities she had, but one thing was for sure: Spinnard was disappearing for longer and longer periods of time and it was disturbing how he'd always come back before 7 in the afternoon in order to dine together. Cerberus and Mr. Potter were secretive and Rabastan had no idea what was happening -not that he cared- thus there was no one she could ask.
On the morning of 24th December, Ophelia woke up feeling her heart beat fast in anticipation. Only a few hours were keeping her from the bliss of the Christmas morning where usually she'd wake up only to find presents under the tree. It was such a busy week and she ended up forgetting to send anything to her housemates.
"So, you need presents as soon as possible? I can arrange that." Cerberus said that at breakfast and vanished afterwards, through the chimney most probably.
It was worrying how there was no lesson on that day which gave her enough time to feel guilty and ignorant. Spinnard saw her pace in the living room and ignored her for most of the time but two hours later and she was still in the same spot doing the same thing.
"Trust Knowingall. He's always had a flair for choosing presents."
"Did you get presents from him and Peverell?" She asked, not really assured yet.
It seemed like her question reached deep in Spinnard's memories because he actually smiled, genuinely so.
"I did. There was a time when my biggest troubles were getting good grades and making my friends happy." He seemed to miss his student years a lot but when his eyes fell on her, that wonderful nostalgia transformed into the usual cold exterior, "Those times are over now. They've been getting worse and worse and soon, a war will break out."
"How does that make it my fault? You're making everything my fault."
"You shouldn't have been born." The man spoke so nonchalantly even though those words hurt her.
Ophelia was a child and everything Spinnard was doing was amplifying her emotions and her loyalty to her father. He was selfishly attacking the subject instead of getting closer to her and gaining her trust. Once those emotions have been triggered, her eyes darkened and emptied of life. She looked like a puppet and in that particular moment, she was a puppet.
"But you're the one who gave Lillian to him." She started, her voice so soft and calm, as if every fiber of her being was in perfect harmony with the hatred in her heart," You could have said no, you could have told Vernon or Dumbledore but you didn't. You obeyed Tom because you wanted to be like him. Let's be blunt, Luce. You don't hate me, you hate yourself because I have Lillian's green eyes."
For a second there, he seemed worried but that didn't last long. He was proud and he knew what were his faults, he didn't have to be scolded by the one who destroyed his peaceful life.
"The father sees everything, doesn't he? I guess what muggles say is true; the eyes are the mirror to one's soul." He spat out angrily, sounding like a pissed off wolf. If the light didn't return in Ophelia's eyes sooner, he would have growled and shown his true character.
Luce Spinnard was a wolf in cheap clothes and Tom Riddle had chosen him specifically for that trait.
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When Cerberus arrived home, Spinnard was in the kitchen, drinking rum from his personal reserve. The owl-like man sighed heavily and fell on the chair across the dark haired professor.
"I guess something happened while I was gone?"
Spinnard poured more rum in his glass and scoffed.
"You do know you're pushing her away instead of pulling her closer. At this rate, she'll be completely loyal to him and we won't stand a chance." Cerberus was only making Spinnard feel worse but he was only stating facts. "I bought presents for everyone based on what I know from her memories. There's a muggle that seems to be close to Ophelia. I think that being the first wizards she met, Lily Evans and Severus Snape can help us."
"The bookworm and the dark magic fanatic,"
"They're better than you, that's for sure. At least be nice to Ophelia on Christmas. I bought her something after I sent everything to her friends. Say it's from you and-"
"No."
Cerberus rolled his eyes at Luce's childish behavior but dropped the subject. Luce could be very stubborn if he wanted to.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone