Home Sweet Home Solo

Opeila had gotten used to life at Virtanen Manor rather quickly again. The first one, two days had been a little odd, when she woke up alone in this bedroom that was larger than her dorm she shared with a whole bunch of other girls, when she went down to breakfast only awaited by Lord and Lady Virtanen reading the Finnish newspaper and Lysander studying. Her stepbrother did take his final year very serious, that was obvious and Opeila didn't doubt that he would graduate with outstanding grades.

Something that had changed was that she no longer had any lessons in behavior. It seemed that her guardians finally trusted her not to wreak havoc when they let her socialize in public without their lessons, so the young Slytherin spent a lot of time in the big library with Lysander, doing homework, studying, or sometimes just going through one of the countless books the Virtanens owned. It was a pleasant holiday. Hilja had not even made a comment about Loras, who showed his face every now and then and Opeila had caught Jarno once, stroking Loras' head in passing. Her cat was making a home here as well, something that pleased Opeila greatly.

Still he wasn't allowed in the library, so Opeila and Lysander spent the afternoon undisturbed and in silence. Opeila was supposed to learn the guestlist for an event the Virtanens would host in a few days, but she wasn't really in a mood. Her head was hurting from reading all those names over and over. To her great pleasure, there were familiar names on there, such as Aurelia's or Cassandra's. She didn't know Aurelia that well, but Cash, her dormmate, was a good page in her bood.

Instead of learning the names, the teen had taken a book out of a shelf, one that was about old pureblood families. A sudden curiosity had sparked inside her upon reading the title- after all, she was the descendant of an ancient pureblood line, right? Even if her dad was breaking the tradition being a muggle. So there she sat, looking through other lines and names and got more and more impressed at the size of many of those family trees. Lysander, busy with a book about what looked like Charms, left her activities uncommented.

Soon she had found her own family tree, her grandmother and -father, even her mother, connected through a line with the name Leopold Ravensburg. Opeila was not on there, neither Maybell or her father. Was it because of their shame? Or did the book not recognize whoever wasn't of pure blood? And Leopold's and Fioria's marriage had also never been officially annulled, so maybe it still considered them married?

There was a picture of her mother in it and her grandmother tool. Both of them were younger, her mother wearing a smile that had been painfully rare during the time Opeila had known her. Her skin seemed to shine, while Opeila remembered it to be pale, almost transparent, with bags below the green eyes that looked so much like her own. Wistfully, Opeila moved a finger over her name, repressing the urge to kiss the photo. Her mother. Her grandmother's hair had already been white when the picture was taken and she wore the proud and stern look that was so familiar that it caused a sharp pain in Opeila's chest.

"Are you alright? What are you looking at?", Lysander asked. Apparently he had heard the difference in her breathing, the little gasp that had escaped her at the sight of Lady Margary. "Um... I- I am fine. Just fine." Her voice sounded hoarse and she knew that Lysander would hear it too. He put down his quill and bent over the table to see what Opeila was reading. He froze when he recognized the names. "That is your family." Opeila nodded. "Yes. My mum. And Lady Margary, my grandmother. It doesn't show my dad though, only..."

Opeila couldn't continue. Another pain had shot through her body when she looked at the image of Leopold Ravensburg, but this time it wasn't a pain in her heart. It was as if someone had punched her in the guts, pressing the air out of her lungs, making her gasp again. White light exploded in front of her eyes, erasing the sight of Lysander in front of her. His calls became a faint echo in her ears, his hands that were suddenly on her shoulders seemed to melt away.

The young seer saw things. Other things, images moving in front of her like a film inside her head.

Opeila was in a parlour, similar to the Virtanen one, but it wasn't their house. Houseelves were collecting empty teacups from a table, quickly and quietly, like little shadows. There was a man, his trembling back turned in her direction. He was holding himself on a window sill and his breath went quick and uncontrolled. "Are you sure it is them...", Opeila heard him ask, "Are they really gone?" Another figure whom Opeila first hadn't noticed stepped closer. "Yes. I inquired in the St. Mungos, as you asked me too. No Fioria Ravensburg or Crane, but a Fioria Seilun died in there. The first name is rare, so I investigated further and managed to track her back to a house in Cambridge that belonged to Margary Crane. They lived there with a muggle man, Nicholas Seilun and..." The man stopped talking, seemingly uncomfortable.

Leopold Ravensburg turned away from the window sill, his face like stone, only the fist that was clenched tightly around a newspaper showed how emotional he was. "And what? Maybell lived with them? How did they all die? Where are they?" The man shook his head. "No, Leo. Maybell was given away. I managed to find her, she lived with a muggle family called Tanner, but died of a muggle illness. I am sorry. It is..." The man sighed and nervously ran a hand through his hair. "They had a daughter. Fioria and the muggle man. Opeila, she is visiting Hogwarts now." Leopold showed no reaction at first. He simply stared at the man, the poor messenger who was seemingly getting more and more uncomfortable.

Finally, Leopold through the newspaper on the table, anger darkening his features. "That girl should have been my child. The heir of the Cranes, the one who inherited the seer gene. She would have strengthened the Ravensburgs' position. Where is she now? At Hogwarts? Her mother is dead, her grandmother is dead and her father is hiding from me, she has to be somewhere else. She has to have different guardians." The man shook his head. "It appears that they hid the girl. I couldn't track her, it has to be an unofficial thing. No one knows about her whereabouts and I can't just go up to Hogwarts and ask." Impatiently, Leopold waved his hand. "Well, find her then. Try harder. It's time to unite her with the remains of her family. Dorian is still there and... Well, despite her inconvenient bloodstatus, I believe she might have a chance. With my help even more." The man nodded and stepped away, at the same time as Opeila's view became blurry again.

Gasping, she returned to reality and almost fell off her chair, if Lysander hadn't held her upright. "Woah, woah. Are you alright, little one?" Disoriented, Opeila clasped his arms and took a moment to catch herself before she nodded. "I- I think so..." Lysander watched her, carefully. He knew what had just happened, but he didn't pressure her. He waited until Opeila would start to talk by herself.
When she did, she wasn't sure if she would start to cry or not. "San...", she began, only slowly realizing the impact of what she had just seen. "I am safe. He doesn't want to... He never wanted to..." She pressed one hand on her mouth, when a sob followed her words.

Lysander eyed the library door, seemingly reluctant to leave her alone. "Just a second, I will be back in a moment." With that he ran outside, barely outside the door. Opeila could hear him shout for his mother, something that would have normally brought her to tease him. Hilja would not let anyone yell inside the building and only moments later she could hear her angry voice. "Lysander Virtanen, the cause of this better be a good one-" She barely got to finish, when Lysander told her what had happened.

Hilja's expression when she entered showed concern, something Opeila had never seen on her face so far. "Opeila. Are you alright? What happened?" She crouched down in front of the young Slytherin and analytically scanned her face and took her hands. "She is ice cold. When did this happen, Lysander? What triggered it?" While Lysander was still explaining what he had seen, Hilja pulled a little bell out of her pocket and rang it. A houseelf appeared withing a second. "Bring some tea and a blanket for Miss Opeila into my office. We will be there shortly. Lysander, will you help her please?"

Opeila barely noticed that Lysander put one of her arms around his shoulder and pulled her off the chair. Minutes later she was in a different chair, a blanket wrapped around her shoulder and a hot cup with tea in front of her. "I saw Leopold Ravensburg. He was... talking to a man, who was looking for us. For my mother. And he found out that she was dead. And Maybell too. And he found out about my existence." With warmth slowly returning to her limbs, it became easier to talk about it. Hilja said behind her desk, her eyes concealing her thoughts.

Lysander's eyes were wide with surprise. "He didn't know about you, so... he wasn't after you?" "He didn't murder my mother or Maybell. It was... It was all tragic coincidences coming together. I never needed to hide, my whole life..." Opeila shook her head, still not quite able to grasp the full meaning. She had hidden from a shadow that scared her mother.
"He said he wants to find me. To... to improve my chances and his family's standing."

Hilja got off her chair so quickly that Opeila winced. The black haired woman moved over to a cupboard and opened it. What she took out looked like a very flat plate with a weird liquid in it. "This is a pensieve. It allows you to rewatch the memories you store in it. Or the memory of others. If what you say is true, then everything changes. Everything. But I need to see it myself first, for your safety.", Opeila nodded, feeling a little intimidated at the seriousness in the woman's voice.

Hilja gave her instructions, Opeila placed the tip of her wand at the side of her head and, after multiple attempts, managed to pull some sort of silver string out of her head. Her memory. Carefully she dropped it into the pensieve. The Slytherin waited for Lady Virtanen to finish watching the memory of her vision, grateful for Lysander's closeness in this moment. Opeila felt exhausted and overwhelmed by everything. It all seemed so... surreal.

When Hilja returned, her expression was different. Her eyes seemed to shine with a different light than before and quickly she stored the pensieve in the cupboard again, which she locked afterwards. "This is... This is unexpected news. I will need to talk to Jarno about this. Lysander, if you would help Opeila into her room to rest and recover and then join us, please. I would like to hear your thoughts as well."

When Lysander helped her up again, a small part of Opeila wanted to protest. She had a right to be present, to know what was discussed and what would become of her, but... she couldn't. Opeila was tired and actually kind of glad that she got to rest now. Surely Lysander would tell her about the outcome of whatever discussion would happen in the parlour.

Opeila had slept through the night until the next day after Lysander had brought her to her room after her prophecy. The prophecy that had shown her the man that her mother had runaway from, apparently unnecessarily so. The realization had been disheartening. Did all of them die for nothing? For a shadow that had never actually been there? It made Opeila want to cry. A tragedy, a big tragedy that had been, but what had it been for? Well, a few things she had learned now, that were of big interest for her: For one, her grandfather was alive. The man who Lady Margary had married, who had raised her mother, so he had to be a good man, didn't he? And second, Leopold Ravensburg didn't want to kill her. Didn't even want to harm her.

On the contrary, it had sounded as if he wanted to help her to have higher chances, whatever that might mean. If Opeila remembered correctly, Ravensburg had influence in the ministry, maybe that was what he had been talking about. Perhaps he would be able to get Opeila a job after Hogwarts.

The young Slytherin was woken up by a houseelf, who seemed rather unsure as to how they were supposed to wake her up. Apparently the poor creature had settled on calling her name several times until she woke up and then told her that she was being awaited in the dining hall.
Her first instinct was to get off her chair and storm downstairs, but the thought of Jarno Virtanen's disapproving gaze let her change her mind. Hastily she got changed and made her hair, before she walked downstairs, trying not to appear too excited.

The three Virtanens sat at the table, having breakfast. Apparently they had decided not to wait for Opeila, which was just fine with her, she wasn't hungry anyway. "Opeila. Please, have a seat.", Jarno greeted her and gestured towards the chair next to Lysander. The young Slytherin did as she was told and waited. Hilja was the one who began to explain what had been discussed last night. "You were right. The man you saw in your prophecy was Leopold Ravensburg, who apparently didn't even know about your existence until shortly." The darkhaired woman laid down her cutlery and folded her hands on her lap.

Opeila nodded, those were things she already knew. "It changes everything. You no longer have to hide who you are and we can introduce you to influential people. You will be able to meet your grandfather and the Ravensburgs themselves, who are also quite influential people." Not yet able to grasp what Lady Virtanen was saying, Opeila looked at Lysander. "But- my father. My father is out there, running from a man who isn't after him." She looked at Hilja again. "If he is still alive, I need to go and find him." It seemed only logical to her, why were they talking about influential purebloods? What did it matter? "I can go back to my old life. In Cambridge. I can live with my father, you wouldn't need to take care of me anymore."

To her surprise, Jarno spoke up next. "You see, Opeila, your grandmother, Margary Crane, was a good friend of my mother and always very good to me. I valued her advice and I was sorry to hear about her passing. You are not here because we feel like we owe her, child, but because we did care about her. And she cared about you, so we will do so in her honor."
The blue eyes had a softer look in them than usual. Jarno Virtanen scolded Opeila often for various things, but he was not a monster. He could only guess how hard it would be for Opeila to hear what they would tell her next.

"Your father is only- he is a muggle. A muggle with a muggle job and as far as I understood some despise for the magical world. You are not like him and you will never be, although you were raised by him. He raised you to forget who you are: The heir of the ancient house of Crane. And if you go back, that house, that noble bloodline will die with you. We will not let that happen if it is in our strength and right now, it is."
Opeila sat on her chair, silently, staring at her two guardians who were trying to tell her to do the impossible- to forget her poor father. "But he is only a victim in all this. He doesn't deserve to be abandoned. If we abandon him because he is a muggle, he is right in his despise. Then you would prove him right!"

Unable to sit still any longer, Opeila got off her chair and walked through the room, rubbing her temples with trembling fingers. "Sit down again, Opeila. Please." Ignoring Hilja's request, Opeila spoke on. "So what would you have me do? Pretend to be pureblood? Something I am not? Marry a pureblood and continue the noble Crane bloodline as if we were in the middle ages? What- What even does that mean, I am the only one left and my father is a muggle!" "That is not as unlikely as you think." Hilja's voice had lost its understanding tone, it was stern like Opeila knew it. The young girl froze. "Yes it is."

She had been joking, exaggerating, now she was staring at the trio, horrified. "No. No, I won't do it. You can't make me if I don't play along, I'll tell them all that my father is a muggle!" Lysander stared down at his plate, clearly not willing to participate in the discussion. "It won't matter. You are born into a line of seers, who have passed on the gene to a girl in every other generation. Your mugglefather has not overwritten that gene, meaning your children will inherit it. The seer gene is very valuable, something that gives a family influence and will likely bring them to look past your muggle heritage."

Opeila had become pale. "No." She was determined to win this discussion, this was something no one could force her to do. "I will not do this, I will run away, I will act embarrassing until I am not wanted anymore!" "You owe us."
Opeila winced, as Jarno stood up from his chair in a swift, angry movement. "You spent money taking care of me. I will earn money, I will work until I can repay you, in fact I have money already-" "We don't want your money. We have more than enough, this is not how we count debts.", Hilja interrupted her.

"This... This is not... I don't owe you control over my life! Lysander-" "This is not how we count debts.", the young man finally spoke up, repeating his mother's words. "You needed protection. A home. People to look after you. Those were things you needed and we provided, even though we believed at that time that it would put us at risk. In return you give us something you need. And a marriage would strengthen the connection between this family and another, so if this ends up being what we need from you, it is what you owe us."

Opeila opened her mouth and closed it again. Debts were something Opeila had been taught to honor and repay, always. The way she had been raised, everything she had been taught would be to surrender now. If this was what she owed them... It did make sense, the way they counted debts and payment. Only was that not quite what she had expected from them. The Winter family, they would have been the kind of people to do that to her, but Opeila had felt safe with the Virtanens. Her dad... Her life... Would it all change now? Would she have to become this pawn in pureblood hierarchy games?

Her shoulders sunk, her will to fight vanished in a moment. It wouldn't get her anywhere now. "Lysander, I believe Opeila is currently not capable of talking to us in a civilized manner, would you please take her back upstairs? I believe it would be best to give her a bit of time to think about her actions now."
Obeying his mother, Lysander stood up from the table and pulled Opeila with him back towards the stairs. Neither of them said a word.