Closed The Offer Still Stands PV Opeila Winters

@Alec Mason

With the end of the year approaching, the increasing nervousness had started to reflect in Opeila's general demeanor, as it seemed to do so often. The young Slytherin had returned to normal after the month of coma, she had turned back into a quite happy person, even picked up her old habit of doing an event on Valentine's Day, for a while, but she had become more serious again since. More jumpy.

It had to be noticed at some point and when Alec invited her for tea on the grounds, she accepted. Rather happily so, welcoming the distraction as well as the opportunity to spend time with her still new, unanticipated friend. In the afternoon she joined him on the grounds.
The passing of winter had brought some warmth to Scotland it seemed, enough for Opeila to have tucked her sweaters away to the bottom of her trunk and switched to thinner clothes. Today, this was a dark green t-shirt with one of her numerous jeans. The now short brown hair was held out of her face by pins.

While Alec was silent, Opeila was as well, but it didn't feel awkward. It was quite nice, sipping her tea in silence, holding her face into the sun. She turned to face Alec, when he finally spoke up. "Mhm."She took another sip of tea before setting down the cup. "It feels weird, doesn't it? It feels like fourth year just began and now we'll be fifth years soon. Preparing for O.W.L.s and all..." Hogwarts will be over in no time.

Alec continued, speaking about how he kept himself busy to not have to think of going home. Opeila watched his face, an odd feeling of warmth spreading through her, that she couldn't quite identify. "Is there something happening at your home this summer?", she asked. Not that it was any of her business, but the fact that he made such a vague mention to her made her think that there was something he did want to talk about, like he was prompting her to ask. Besides, she knew the feeling too well. Hadn't she buried herself in schoolwork for the better part of her third year in order not to have to think about what was waiting outside of school?

Opeila tensed a little when Alec directed the topic to her and told her that she seemed stressed as well. Pondering over what to say, where to even start, she looked at her cup, her fingers turning it from left to right. "You are not projecting.", she finally said, looking up at him again, "This summer is just going to be very different from all the others." One way or another. "I have made a decision and I am not sure if it was a smart one." And there she was, being just as vague as Alec had been just a moment ago.

Opeila brought up O.W.L.s, Alec nodded. It was surreal to acknowledge he would be coming back from summer break as a fifth year. He always thought the title of being a year higher would invoke something in him; the same one might expect grand knowledge to be revealed from one birthday to the next. It had never and would never be that way. Alec struggled to articulate just how he had changed over the years. Making a comparison was hard, he couldn't simply flash back in time and find himself back in the headspace he'd been in a few years ago.

When Alec admitted to trying to busy himself; the conversation switched tone. Opeila asked if there was something happening at his home this summer. Alec face scrunched up, he shrugged at the question. “I mean... No.” Did he though? “I think.” It wasn't as if he knew there was something happening or something that was going to happen. “It feels more like I'm waiting for something to happen, as if something inevitably will.” He was satisfied with that answer for but a moment. Then he frowned. “It's silly; I know.” It was hard not to feel that way when most of his summers tended to have some sort of disaster highlight reel to go along with them.

After some time Alec had directed the conversation to something he'd had on his mind recently. He hadn't been sure how to bring it up to Opeila before, but in seeing the opportunity he took it. While he was relieved to have not been projecting and assuming she was stressed with the tinted lenses of being stressed as well; knowing this didn't do anything to reassure Alec. Him not projecting meant she had been stressed. Opeila mentioned this summer was going to be very different from all the others. Ominous, but that didn't mean it had to spell out bad things immediately. Different could be good! Even though Opeila had been stressed by it so clearly it couldn't be all that good. She said she'd made a decision and was not sure if it was a smart one. Now this summer being different from all the others she'd had before was starting to make sense.

Whatever it was, it was clear that it was big. If that was what she was starting off with, where it would be going next was anyone's guess. Despite having taken the role of the listener Alec felt the need to say something; if only to help him gather his thoughts on her vague starting off point. “That sounds like a lot to have on your mind. It has to be with how much its been stressing you out. It makes me wish I'd asked you sooner.”

@Opeila Winters

@Alec Mason

Opeila tilted her head a little when Alec explained why the thought of going home was making him nervous, looking at him thoughtfully. "I don't find that silly at all." So far every summer since she went to Hogwarts for the first time something had happened, it seemed to be part of it at this point.

And it seemed that neither of them were looking forward to a calm summer this year, Opeila certainly wasn't. At least there was still a little more time, summer camp was set in July this year.
Now that she had hinted at things she would have to explain them to her classmate. The green eyes would lock their gaze onto her cup as she tried to find the right words to even begin. It had been a while since Opeila last talked about her story to someone who didn't know even a little about it. How much time had passed since she talked to Jack about it?

"I don't even know where to start.", she would let Alec know after the silence seemed to become too long, "There is so much that happened."
Slowly she set down the cup and finally looked at the Gryffindor again. "So... the Virtanens are not my real family, you probably know that." They had never made an effort to convince anyone otherwise, they had presented Opeila as their ward even.

"Until I was 12, I lived with my parents and my grandmother in a muggle area. For the longest time I didn't know that we were actually... hiding there. From my mother's first husband, a pureblood. I had an older half-sister too, a squib, Maybell." Maybell would be 18 this year, she realized with a sudden stab of pain. Who would her sister have become, had she survived? "My grandmother was a seer like me and when she figured out that Maybell would not be magical, they fled from the man. And when they told my dad, he sent her away. She lived in the muggle world, away from magic and with a different family." A loving one. Opeila remembered the words written in the obituary.

"Long story short, all of them, Maybell, my grandmother and my mother died in summer 2020. We believed that Maybell and my mother were killed by the first man then. And with all magical protection gone, my dad was given instructions to take me to a portkey that sent me to Finland, to live with friends of my grandmother. Which is where I still am now. And my dad has been in hiding ever since."

So much for the backstory. Time to get to the point. "Well... We were wrong. The man stopped looking for us after only a year and re-married. He has a son who is a little younger than me. The Virtanens invited my grandfather to meet me and he brought them along. They want to arrange a betrothal between their son and me and I am still betrothed to this American boy. And no one ever asks me what I'm thinking, I feel like a football that is being kicked from one person to the next."

Realizing her casual mention of a muggle sport, she quickly added an explanation. "Football is a sport where players kick a ball around a field and try to score goals. Like Quidditch without bludger and snitch and on the ground. And with only one goal on each side of the field." At least this was easier to explain than that other time when she brought up youtube and the internet to Illowy Magnard.

"Anyways, I found out some stuff about my sister's aunt, the first man's sister. Apparently she is an outcast from the family and ran away to live with other outcasts instead of marrying someone she didn't want. And... well, I owled her. Apparently there is a whole branch of the family in France and she agreed to pick me up when we arrive in London. She will try to get to me before the Virtanens can. And... I don't know, maybe all of this is silly, I am probably an idiot for setting the whole thing into motion, but I don't know these people. Initially I thought this was a great idea but... What if anything happens. Imagine I prepared to hide from my guardians, made sure they can't find me only to end up needing to be found. I'd only have myself to blame for it."

The relationship he had with Opeila was different from any other one he had before. It was never given the time of day to develop naturally. One day Alec was worrying if Opeila would wake up from a coma and that was that. It always bothered him that it hadn't developed naturally and instead had a sudden jump. They didn't really have the time to get to know each other. Even while they knew each other now they didn't know each other. While they didn't need to know everything about each other; Opeila abruptly divulging her backstory was remedying this qualm. There was no warning; and Alec had been brought along for the ride. Opeila had said she was not sure how to start; how to begin to explain. Word after word, further and further along and Alec finally understood what she meant. He was only getting a summarized version of events; summarized or not it was a lot. The question of why he had received all this backstory was up in the air, it was personal; he wondered how sharing it now related to the decision she'd made.

The long story short explained it all. There was not much Alec could do but sit and listen. Her backstory had been so much to begin to take in but he still had more. There was a lot he wanted to say, he had too many thoughts. His scattered brain could stop at a resting point when she went on to stop and explain football to him because of her use of an analogy. In the midst of such a serious conversation Alec found himself glancing down at his lap; he was trying to hide the stupid smile that edged onto his lips. He appreciated that Opeila thought of him and bothered to stop and explain. He wondered when to tell her that an explanation about football was one of the few explanations he didn't need. Then, he forced himself to pull it together. Serious situation. serious topic. Don't smile. He stopped.

When Opeila finished, Alec let out a breath of air he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. Whew, that was a lot. Alec ran a hand through his hair. “Do you think... Do you think you'd be able to write to me? I'd be there in a heartbeat if you needed help. We could figure something out last minute if it came down to it.” The first words out of his mouth, as he was already trying to come up with solutions trying to help. To make her feel better about it. “Your not an idiot for setting the plan into motion. It's terrifying enough to be in that position to begin with.” Her backstory went unaddressed. There was tragedy and it was hard for him to know what to say. The loss of a grandmother and a mother. He wanted to say something about it. To hug her. That would have to wait.

Alec stared into his teacup. Her particular predicament brought something to mind that he hadn't thought on for a while. “Last summer my older sister did the same thing.” Except she didn't run to family. From what he had been able to gather after analyzing it over and over again, she had run off with a lover. He hoped she was happy. It still made him ache, especially with still not knowing where she was or what ended up becoming of her. “Sorry, that's completely unrelated.” He shook his head to clear the thought and focus and glanced back to her. “You're taking a chance. Wouldn't you regret not trying more than the off chance this doesn't work out?”

@Opeila Winters

Reducio

I am going to have her react more to her backstory in a bit but I felt like the most Alec reaction was to immediately start focusing on the problem at hand and address everything else later. As he has done MANY time before like in the "a chaos to confess" thread.

@Alec Mason

Once she had finished, Opeila felt like every single muscle of her body had tensed. The fourth year had struggled with the constant question if what she did was selfish, if she was being too much and if she was considering the other person enough in every single interaction for years now and still did. One of the things Jack Burnett had- probably unintentionally- burned into her subconscious with every single fight they had. Which had been a lot over the years.

Shame felt like it was pressing against a gate, ready to flood her if Alec said the right words. As much as a "Why did you tell me this" would have made her want to run away and hide. It was not a story she had shared much. Flash knew some of it. Jack as well. And that was it. Opeila had thought about telling Alec before but... well, it simply wasn't something that one just brought up.
Green eyes were fixed on the cup in her hands, that were anxiously turning it again and again.

But then Alec didn't say anything wrong. Instead he once again offered to help her. I'd be there in a heartbeat if you needed help. Relief replaced the shame as she relaxed again, now more fighting against tears. It only took her a second to catch herself and she shook her head. "I don't have an owl, I just-" Her head shot up, widened green eyes looking at Alec. An idea had just crossed Opeila's mind, but the moment she had processed it, it seemed almost ridiculous that she had even thought of it. "Umm..." Again she shook her head, one hand reaching up to rub the back of her neck. "So, yeah. I'm not sure if they are going to have one either."

Curiosity washed away the remainder of the sadness that always stayed behind for a bit when she talked about her family, when Alec mentioned his sister doing the same thing. "She ran away? For the same reason?" Was there no way that people in this community noticed how entirely messed up all of this was?

“You're taking a chance. Wouldn't you regret not trying more than the off chance this doesn't work out?”
Opeila needed a second to think about that. "Yeah, I guess I would. I mean, I did set this into motion for just a chance. I guess I'm just... I don't know, anxious as it's so soon." The words were followed by a nervous chuckle, hoping that this would take some of the worry away that he clearly felt.

Their tea time had turned into something else entirely as Alec began to wrap his head around Opeila's ideas, Opeila's plan. Alec, being who he was, immediately went to trying to problem-solve. He had offered up suggestions and tried to give her reassurance as best as he could. She was working through it on her own as well, explaining the lack of an owl when she looked up suddenly. He rose a brow, but her sudden movement was only acknowledged with an "um" before she continued where she had left off speaking. “That would complicate things.” Alec spoke trailing off with indiscernible mutterings his mind trying to go through every option they had available but coming up with nothing.

When Alec had mentioned his sister, Opeila asked follow-up questions, trying to get reassurance that his sister's actions had really been for the same reason. She was asking as if she could hardly believe it. Alec nodded, his expression shifted to something somber. It was hard for him to think of and recognize even now. Her leaving had a massive effect on him and he'd never really gotten over it, or talked about it much for that matter. “She left a note and I haven't seen her since.” At least she had been old enough that nothing could be done about it. She was free... and hopefully happy wherever she was.

After making the efforts of trying to reassure Opeila, Alec recognized that his mind was still stuck on his older sister, her situation, and the sheer luck of his own. He swallowed before speaking, eyebrows furrowed. “It's hard to believe I never got around to mentioning why I've understood your situation as well as I have.” He exhaled a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding in. “My mother arranged something with the Ironwoods. It was a plan for decades in advance seeing as I had only then recently finished my first year of schooling.” He explained, adding details even he deemed unnecessary. He still had the instinct to minimize his mother's actions as his mother was his mother; though they had certainly never been close, it was always something he had done. “I was betrothed to Cash for a while. The reason the plan ended of falling through was due to my parents divorce, and some more complicated things with my mother and her standing in pureblood society now.” There were few who actually knew the two had been betrothed for a time. Alec hadn't exactly felt like advertising it to the school.

Knowing his father Alec would probably end up in the same situation in a few years just with a different person... or maybe he would try to enforce the original one after all. He preferred not to think on it. “There's got to be something,” Alec spoke mind drifting back to Opeila's predicament. “I'd be worried sick for you all summer if I had no way to at the very least make sure your okay. Besides, if we had some way to speak... communicate, whatever really, and it would also reassure you right?” He asked before smiling in a teasing way, “any hint of trouble or danger and I'd be there to whisk you away.” His lighthearted teasing turned into something more serious. “You're always welcome at my house. It isn't grand or anything but there's and extra bedroom. And... If trouble continues to follow you, we'll find a way to deal with it. Together.”

He pursed his lips in thoughtfully, then gestured his head towards the castle. “The library has to have a communication spell or something of the sort?” He asked going over their options in his head.

@Opeila Winters

@Alec Mason

Opeila watched Alec when he spoke about his sister, who's disappearance was seemingly affecting him more than he let on. The guilt seemed to crash over her like a wave when she thought of Lysander. Lysander, whom she would leave with not even a note to hold on to. Would he be as affected as Alec clearly was? The two of them were not related by blood, they had only known each other for a couple of years, but Lysander had taken on the role of the older brother without hesitation when they had taken Opeila in. She knew that he cared about her and she did care about him too.
But if their situations were this similar, Alec's sister had as little of a choice as Opeila.

"Ironwoods?" Opeila's head snapped up at the name. "As in... Cassandra Ironwoods, my dorm mate?" Cash had never mentioned it. While the two got along, Opeila hadn't known of this arrangement. She nodded when Alec confirmed that it was them and explained why it was cancelled. "So you were just... let of the hook like that?" Did this only apply to Alec? Did his sister not know- or was she not welcome back home? Opeila didn't dare to ask.

When Alec tried to figure out a solution for the problem at hand, Opeila could not help staring at him for a moment. She hadn't realized how much she got used to operating on her own. Even during the fake relationship, she had been plotting alone in the background, not wanting to trap Alec in something he hadn't signed up for. She wasn't used to this much support, this much understanding and for just a second she was scared that she would start to cry.

That was until he mentioned the spell. A little uneasy, Opeila tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "There- there is a spell actually. I learned it short after our first year.", she admitted. "It's called a Binding Mark. It's basically a magical tattoo that links the marked person to the one who marked them. It allows them to know where the other is and communicate via telepathy." Which was basically all they needed. If only... "It is permanent though. Once they are linked, they couldn't be unlinked again." Opeila would avoid his gaze. She didn't even know how she felt about this suggestion herself.

Alec nodded in confirmation. Then it was his turn to act shocked. “They're your dorm mate?” Thinking about it, that actually made a lot of sense, though he never would have guessed. Alec's face scrunched up at her comment about being let off the hook. He answered thoughtfully, “It seems that way...” At least by what he had been told, being told something didn't mean it was set in stone. “I have a feeling it is not going to end up being as simple as that. Whether things are smoothed over with the Ironwoods, or another arrangement is made; only time will tell.” He knew he shouldn't let himself dwell on it, he pulled himself into downward spirals that way. He would figure out what to do when that time came. For now, he had something much more urgent to focus himself on.

In and out went his lists of ideas, going through all the reasons each one couldn't be used for this very predicament. He was going to at it for a while, he had no way to narrow it down when each solution had as much flaws as the last. There must be something. There was not something, not until Opeila spoke up. There was a spell, something she had learned shortly after her first year. A binding mark. This was not the first time he had heard of a binding mark. He wasn't as familiar with it as he would have liked to be given the situation, but he knew enough to have an understanding of it. The idea of him ever suggesting something so permanent would have been out of the question. He was stunned, he stared and kept doing so even as she tried to avert his gaze.

Suggesting a binding mark was certainly a leap from finding a way to contact Opeila to make sure she was safe and well. A binding mark meant more than making sure she was safe and well over the summer, it meant being tethered for life. He would forever have a link to her, he would forever have a mark that bind him to her. Finding words he spoke, “Is that something you would be comfortable with?” There was a certain kind of bond that came with the trauma they had endured throughout the school year. The bond he had with Opeila was different to any he had before. Alec was grateful to have Opeila around, someone who understood. They were things he kept from George and others, even Wyatt, with Opeila he didn't have to do that and it felt good. If there was anyone he wanted to be tethered too in that way, It would be Opeila.

Alec breathed in sharply. “I don't want you to feel like you have to make a rash decision because of the situation your in.” His tea by now was long forgotten. His attention swiftly focused on Opeila. “There most definitely has to be options other than a binding mark.” He added to reassure her, though she likely knew that herself. “But... if it is a decision you would feel good about making, I wouldn't say no.” It would make him feel a lot better about things over the summer, it would put him at ease in general, still he held his tongue not wanting to sway her one way or the other.

@Opeila Winters

@Alec Mason

Opeila nodded. "Yes, we've been dorm mates since first year." It seemed that this was news to Alec.
His explanation of how the cancellation of the betrothal wasn't that easy rung close to Opeila, she was certain that it would be just the same if Miles' and her betrothal was cancelled due to external reasons. "I see." The Slytherin would watch Alec while he talked, feeling like she could relate to him more than ever. His willingness to help her made more and more sense, as they obviously felt very similar about similar situations they had been put on. "You know that I am here when you need me too, right?", she would speak up once he had finished. "You don't have to be alone in this either."

The explanation of the Binding Mark, the unspoken suggestion hung in the air and seemed to eat up the oxygen around Opeila, while she was waiting for Alec to say something. She wasn't sure what she expected. For months, ever since the ruse, she felt like she had been pushing it with Alec, asked for too much, for too long. Like, who would even be willing to go so far to put months of effort into a facade that did not benefit them? Especially after Opeila had essentially pulled him into her troubles without asking his permission?

Their friendship, if one could call it that, hadn't developed naturally. They hadn't just met in class, or bonded over shared interests, no, it had started with Opeila going into a coma. Continued with a ruse.
And now this, it felt like too much. Too big. Opeila was trouble. She had been at home and she had certainly been time and time again since her first year and Hogwarts and she had been trouble to Alec in the past as well, she was certain. So he couldn't really be willing to be linked to her forever, right?

And yet the first thing he asked was if she would be comfortable with it. Opeila would look up again, try to find answers to unspoken questions in his face. Are you doing this out of a feeling of obligation? Pity? Am I asking too much? Am I too much? It was Jack Burnett's voice that echoed inside her head with various accusations of her being self-centered, not knowing what a friendship was. And maybe she didn't.

"... Are you?"
Something inside her seemed to awaken, telling her to take it all back, shut the gates and play down everything that had happened. Calm Alec, deal with it yourself. Your problem. And maybe, she would have a few years back. Maybe she would have pushed him away, like she had done with everyone but Flash. And then Jack. Only she wasn't that child anymore, even if she felt thrown back in time right now. She could do better than that. She owed Alec better than that.

"I could do it right now.", Opeila would start, unsure herself where this would go, "But if you are willing to, I want you to think about the why." She was still watching him closely, looking for something that she wasn't sure of what it was. "Don't say yes because you feel like you have to... please." The plea slipped out before Opeila could stop it and it was only now that she realized, how much she needed this reassurance. She couldn't be a burden, not again. "I-" Opeila swallowed when she actually felt tears well up, angrily wiping her eyes before they could spill over. "After all of this trouble I caused you, I don't want to make you feel like you have to tie yourself to me."

She couldn't bear looking at him anymore, so she turned her head to the side, trying to regain her composure. "Because I am trouble, I have always been and maybe I will always be, no matter how much I try not to be."