More Than Words

Ophelia woke up as the early morning sun streamed through her bedroom. She always woke up early, her Dad always said that she woke up with the sunrise. It was only five o’clock in the morning, but she was wide awake.

Her bedroom was the room she had lived in ever since they had moved to this house when she was six months old. It still had pink and purple fairies painted on the walls that Hope had painted when she was two. The room wasn’t small, but it was crowded with books.

Ophelia loved her room, but there was only one bad thing about it. Harry. Harry had the next-door room and wasn’t as excitable and bouncy as he had used to be when they were younger.

But whilst Ophelia was an early riser, Harry didn’t usually go to bed until gone midnight. He would stay up laughing with Ron or playing his guitar, or sometimes listening to music. Ophelia would have to remember to get Harry some headphones for his birthday, or maybe she’d just get some for herself, so he stopped disturbing her?

Ophelia woke up so early that she always went swimming before she got up in the mornings. She loved swimming, and the beach was only at the end of the garden.

She got dressed quickly in her light blue swimming costume and pulled a jumper and a pair of jeans over the top. She plaited her long strawberry blonde hair out of the way so it wouldn’t get wet.

Ophelia went out of her bedroom door and got covered in ice-cold water. Ice cold, as in a bucket of water with ice in it that had been hanging off her bedroom door.

‘Harry!’ screamed Ophelia.

Only Harry would have been stupid enough to booby trap her bedroom door with a bucket of ice water. Probably with help from Ron. Now that she thought about it, she had heard some muffled laughter from outside her bedroom door as she fell asleep last night.

‘What’s going on?’ asked a very annoyed Stefan coming into the corridor. Stefan had only gotten back from school yesterday and had been trying to get some sleep. That didn’t include being woken up by a screaming niece at a quarter past five in the morning.

‘Harry, Ron,’ she shivered, ‘ice water!’

‘For Merlin’s sake come here,’ said Stefan getting out his wand.

Stefan dried Ophelia off within seconds with some drying and warming spells from his wand.

‘Harry Ron!’ said Stefan bashing on Harry’s door, ‘get out here, I know you’re awake!’

Harry and Ron’s faces appeared around Harry’s door, and they were hardly able to contain their laughter.

‘Did it work?’ asked Harry.

‘You bet it did,’ said Ophelia glaring at Harry and Ron.

‘It was Fred and George’s idea to add the ice,’ laughed Ron.

Ophelia looked at them both so angrily, Harry thought she was trying to explode them with her eyes.

‘You were going to get wet anyway when you go swimming anyway,’ shrugged Harry.

‘I don’t go swimming fully dressed you idiot!’ vented Ophelia.

‘I swear we really are sorry,’ said Harry.

‘Yeah we don’t do it again,’ agreed Ron.

‘Next time we’ll prank Percy’s room,’ beamed Harry.

‘You’d better bloody not prank my best friends room!’ said Stefan outraged.

Ophelia walked out of the house muttering to herself about how stupid boys were. She picked up her towel and pulled on her trainers on the way out the back door.

She half ran in excitement as she went down to the beach through the cave. She stopped at the end of the cave and breathed in the fresh sea air.

There was something about the sea and the beach that made her feel so at home. She clamoured down the steep path to the beach, that she was so accustomed to climbing down she could probably do it in her sleep.

She pulled off her jumper and jeans and trainers, leaving them on her usual rock with her towel so that they wouldn’t get wet.

Then she ran into the sea until she was fully immersed in the crisp cool water. She stood in the sea for a few minutes, and let the waves wash over, occasionally splashing her face which made her giggle.

Then she dived right in and swam back and forth in the sea for an hour. There was something about the sea that made her feel so comfortable. There were no annoying cousins and his friend trying to prank her, no people that she had to try and force herself to talk to.

She had selective mutism, so could only talk in front of certain people. Up until a few weeks ago, she could only talk to her own family, and Luna and Ginny her two best friends. But recently she’d started to feel more comfortable talking around Harry and Neville as well.

That was why she went swimming every morning, she liked being alone with no one she had to talk to. She could think to herself and get ready for the day.

She had been swimming for a while and was floating in the water when she heard someone calling for her.

‘Come in number four!’ shouted Stefan from the beach, ‘your time is up!’

‘I’m coming!’ called Ophelia dipping back into the water, and swimming back to the beach.

Ophelia got out of the sea, and Stefan passed her, her warm towel. Ophelia wrapped herself up in her towel and pulled her trainers on.

‘Thanks, Stefan,’ shivered Ophelia as she warmed up under her towel.

‘Aunty Hope says you’ve got to get in the shower before breakfast, you’re seeing that Fawcett guy again today.’

Ophelia groaned internally. It’s not that she didn’t like Healer Fawcett, but she hated going into St. Mungos. Healer Fawcett was very nice and was always very kind to Ophelia.

He was the person that had diagnosed Ophelia with her selective mutism and her autism, and Ophelia had been visiting him since she was two years old.

She just didn’t like all the questions that he had to ask. It wasn’t Healer Fawcett’s fault, but he had to check how Ophelia was progressing, and Ophelia had to go to meetings with him about every six months.

‘Now get your kit on,’ said Stefan throwing Ophelia her jeans and jumper.

‘If your Granny sees you in just your swimming costume she’ll get worried that you’ll get hyperthermia.’

‘It’s July!’ laughed Ophelia pulling on the clothes all the same.

‘Hey, you’re the idiot that goes swimming in the English Channel every morning,’ smirked Stefan.

‘How are the other two idiots?’ asked Ophelia as they went back up to the house.

‘Harry and Ron?’ asked Stefan.

‘You’re not going to believe it, but they went straight back to sleep after that debacle this morning.’

‘Did we wake anyone up?’ asked Ophelia biting her lip.

‘No,’ shrugged Stefan, ‘I think Remus and Lyall have started putting silencing charms on their rooms when Ron visits. It’s either that or getting woken up by your screaming when Harry and Ron try pranking you again.’

‘Maybe you should try that,’ laughed Ophelia.

‘But then who would defend the fair princess from the mischievous jesters?’ asked Stefan.

‘You are ridiculous you know that?’ said Ophelia.

‘You’ve got twenty minutes until breakfast Ophelia,’ said Hope as Stefan and Ophelia came in.

‘Ok Granny,’ said Ophelia leaving her sandy trainers by the back door and running upstairs to take a shower.

She unplaited her hair and washed the seawater out of her long thick hair. She towelled her hair dry, before brushing it and pulling it in a half up. She put her wet towel and swimming costume in the laundry basket and pulled on a pair of shorts and a lilac t-shirt.

Some things in the Lupin house never changed. Lyall was stirring his coffee as he waited for his newspaper to be delivered. Harry and Ron were chatting away, twelve to a dozen discussing what they were going to be getting up to today, and Stefan writing a letter to Percy at the table.

‘Stefan what are you writing?’ asked Harry.

‘I’m writing to Percy,’ shrugged Stefan.

‘That’s not even English,’ said Ron raising his eyebrows as he looked at the letter.

‘And he only lives a few miles away,’ agreed Harry.

‘It’s in elvish,’ said Stefan, ‘because I don’t want little twats like you reading my letters to Percy.’

‘Then why don’t you just talk to him?’ asked Ron.

‘You see each other every day at school, because you’re in the same house, and you come over to our most days during the holidays.’

Percy had been sorted into Ravenclaw, rather than Gryffindor four years ago, and it was still a bit of a sore spot for Fred, George and Ron.

‘If I hang out with Percy at The Burrow, either Fred and George will eavesdrop, or you two buggers will prank us and place dung bombs over the door.’

‘Stefan McKinnon!’ scolded Hope bringing over a rack of toast, ‘mind your language!’

‘Sorry Aunty Hope,’ grumbled Stefan. Harry and Ron stuck their tongues out at him, and Stefan gave them the finger when he thought none of the adults were looking.

‘So, Stefan,’ said Lyall casually ignoring the finger that Stefan had just given Harry and Ron.

‘Now that you’ve graduated from Hogwarts what are you going to get up to this Summer?’

Stefan had just finished his seventh year at Hogwarts and had just taken his NEWTs. He had only gotten back from school the night before, so he wanted to spend some time at home before he did anything.

‘Well, Uncle Michael’s willing to look after the firm until September,’ said Stefan, ‘so I’m going to take the Summer off, and then come September the McKinnon publishing firm will have a McKinnon as its head for the first time in ten years.’

‘So you going to be moving out then?’ asked Harry.

‘Oh of course you can’t wait to sweep in and nick my room,’ said Stefan rolling his eyes.

‘It’s not for me,’ said Harry, ‘it’s for Ron.’

‘Ron lives half an hour away,’ said Remus, ‘and that’s when he walks.’

‘Well then it’s for Neville,’ shrugged Ron.

‘Ron and Neville can both get here in five seconds via the flu,’ said Stefan, ‘they don’t need a room!’

‘Neither Ron or Neville are getting Stefan’s room,’ said hope putting her foot down, ‘that’s Stefan’s room whether he moves out or not!’

‘So are you going to be moving out Stefan?’ asked Ophelia apprehensively.

‘Of course not,’ chuckled Stefan.

‘I’m only eighteen, I don’t think I’m ready to live on my own. Maybe at some point, I might get a flat in Diagon Alley or something, but for now, I’m staying here.’

‘As for today though, I’m getting started on the unpacking, and Perc is coming round to help me.’

‘So Ophelia,’ said Remus, ‘your birthday’s in a few days, and you haven’t told me what you want yet.’

‘I don’t know,’ muttered Ophelia.

There wasn’t really anything in particular that she wanted, she knew she’d be getting loads of books, and she always loved reading. But other than that, she didn’t really know what she wanted.

‘How about a spell that will stop two little devil’s booby-trapping her room?’ asked Stefan smirking at Harry and Ron who had suddenly gone deadly quiet.

‘What did you do this time?’ asked Remus wanting to get the worst over with.

He could never be too angry with Harry and Ron, as Remus knew that he and his friends had been ten times worse when they were younger. But he never exactly encouraged them either.

‘A bucket of ice water over her door,’ said Harry trying not to laugh, as Ron’s shoulders shook.

‘Did you both say sorry?’ asked Remus.

‘Yes,’ sighed Harry and Ron.

‘Harry no sweets for a week, Ron I’ll be telling your parents.’

‘Yes Remus,’ they both grumbled.

‘Now don’t do it again,’ said Remus firmly.