Fractured Fairy Tale (Burkes or Tyler)

[Ophelia Burke]

Ophelia looked up at him, her blue eyes sparkling with tears. Even she wasn't sure if the tears were of joy, because he loved her enough to fight for her, or if they were tears of sorrow at the idea of being separated from him. Maybe they were both.

"OK," she said after a moment, breaking the spell. "We can go inside."

She was still clinging to him as they made their way back into the castle. But strangely, her feet didn't seem to touch the floor. She was sure she was floating.

[Tyler Parsons]

He reached up with a hand and started to wipe her tears away with his thumb. "We'll be alright Ace, I promise." Tyler didn't know how they were going to do it but they were going to make it through whatever fight was coming to get her out of her marriage. If her father wanted her to be on the shelf, then he would ask Ophelia to marry him. It might not end up being the brightest idea but if it would work then he would ask it. He wouldn't accept any kind of graditude for marrying her if it had to be done that way.

He pushed all the thoughts of getting her out of her predicament out of his head for the moment. He would have more time later to think about it.

"We can go up to the Seventh Floor. We won't be bothered in the Room of Requirement and it will be a lot warmer in there." Tyler led her into the castle, ignoring any students around. He started to take Ophelia up the stairs. "

[Ophelia Burke]

Ophelia, meanwhile, was secretly hoping that they would have to run away. She hated the thought of leaving her family, because she really did adore all of them, even if she was angry with her father right now. But Ophelia couldn't deny that there was something deeply, wildly romantic about the idea of running away with Tyler. They could just take off and leave the rest of the world and all their stupid fights behind.

After all, Ophelia was not unaware of the bleak situation in the world around them. Her roommate, Justine, had almost been killed in the Hogsmeade attack, and the girl's boyfriend had died instead. She remembered about the girl, Katie, who had been murdered in the forest, and her best friend had died in Hogsmeade. It seemed like they were all in danger of being killed, either deliberately, or being caught in the crossfire. If Ophelia had found something good in this world of war and violence, it was her right to cling to it and not let it go. And she had--she had found love. How dare her father try to take that from her?

She sniffled loudly and leaned against Tyler as he led her up the stairs. "I just can't believe Daddy would do this to me. Why can't he ever let me make a choice on my own? This is the most important choice I'll ever make... it's about my future. He doesn't get to decide that for me."

[Tyler Parsons]

He wanted to answer her question directly, but he didn't want to sound harsh. It was the way that the wealthy insured that their children were going to be continuing to live the way they had been living. What father or mother didn't want their child to marry wealthy? It didn't matter if they loved each other because sometimes love could just come and go. If a person married wealthy, they wouldn't have to worry about financial problems. They would be insured to get what they wanted. Tyler wasn't exactly sure that he would be able to give Ophelia everything she wanted materialistically but he could try.

"I don't know Ace," he replied. "But you have a strong will and that is what is good. You're going to be okay Ace. You know that, right?" Tyler smiled down at her as he continued to led her up to the seventh floor.

Once they reached the seventh floor corridor, Tyler walked a little slower. "If you want, you can decide what the room looks like. Anything you want Ace, I don't mind."

[Ophelia Burke]

Ophelia was far from being a financial expert, but she did understand that money did not exactly grow on trees. She had taken it for granted that whenever she needed or wanted something, Daddy would pay for it without question. But she had a trust fund that had been set up for her when she was born, as all of her sisters did, and she would have access to that money when she came of age. And Tyler's family was well off, too, so she was not concerned about money. Her father's concern, as far as she understood, was in preserving blood purity and the family's reputation. And again, Tyler was from a pureblood family, so as far as Ophelia could see, she was doing nothing wrong. Her father had no right to dictate who she should marry when she was perfectly capable of making an acceptable choice on her own. And she had.

"I will be OK," Ophelia said, raising her chin. "I have you. And once Daddy understands that I will not just go along with his orders, I'm sure he'll relent."

She was not sure about that, actually, but she hoped it was true. She was usually very good at manipulating her father, and so far it wasn't working. Not that she was going to give up so easily.

Ophelia looked at the wall where the door to the Room of Requirement would appear. "OK," she said to Tyler, and closed her eyes, imagining a room where they could relax. When she was ready, she opened her eyes and walked over to the door that had appeared, opening it.

Inside was a spacious room decorated in soft pastels. The walls were a soothing sea green, and everything seemed to blend with that color. The sofa was white with soft, squashy cushions, and the carpet was a sandy yellow made of thick, plush fibers. There were pink and yellow roses in vases on the tables, and a grand piano was playing itself in one corner.

"Ohhhh, it's perfect!" she squealed, clapping her hands together as she led him into the room.

[Tyler Parsons]

The only thing thing that Tyler was really worried about was the fact that Ophelia's father wouldn't accept him. He wanted Ophelia to still be in contact with her family. If things were pretty bad and her father disowned her, Tyler wouldn't leave her. He would step up more if he had to but he hoped that things didn't get bad.

Tyler followed her into the room of requirement and there was a smile on his face. He was more or less watching her face. Seeing the excitment on her face made him happy. Walking up behind her, he put his arms around her and rested his chin on her shoulder. "It is," he replied.

The room Ophelia created already made him feel like he was relaxing. The soft piano music was soothing. Tyler moved his arms from around her and took her hand, then started to lead her toward the couch to sit.

[Ophelia Burke]

Ophelia sighed softly as she followed Tyler to the couch and sat down next to him. It just wasn't fair that everything had to be so complicated. She just wanted to be with Tyler and for her father to accept him and for everyone to love one another. Why couldn't people just be nice to each other? It seemed like people just made everything harder than it needed to be. If people could just all get along and love each other, then there wouldn't be all this stupid fighting, and people dying. She didn't like the fighting and the anger and hate and death. It was all so ugly. She wanted everything to be all puppies and rainbows and cupcakes.

Leaning her head against his shoulder, she closed her eyes. "I wish it could always be like this. Just the two of us, no mean people."

[Tyler Parsons]

Once Ophelia leaned her head on him, Tyler put his arm around her shoulders. Carefully he pulled them both back to lean against the back of the couch. The way things were going, he knew that there was going to be more fighting around them. Common sense stated that there wasn't just going to be one attack. The attack on Hogsmeade was just the beginning, it was fairly clear, even if things were going to get quiet again for the time being.

He didn't want Ophelia involved in any attack and he knew that he would do what he could to protect her from that. "Maybe we'll have that one day," he said. "We have it right now while we're here and while we're still at school, we can just slip up here whenever. It will be our hiding place. Then once we're out of school, we'll just have to find us another hiding place."

[Ophelia Burke]

It wasn’t fair that they had to hide. Why should they have to hide? They weren’t doing anything wrong. Shouldn’t the people who were doing things that were wrong be the ones who had to hide? Like the people who were involved in the Hogsmeade attack. She couldn’t even imagine that anyone could show their faces in public after killing school kids. But people who were in love, who weren’t consumed with hate…. They should never have to hide.

She shifted in position, laying her head down on his lap. “Tyler, tell me how it will be in the future. When we don’t have to hide anymore. Tell me what it will be like when we’re married.”

[Tyler Parsons]

When Ophelia put her head in his lap, Tyler started to play with her hair. He wanted to tell her that everything was going to be perfect, that they wouldn't have to watch out where they went even though he knew that it was probably a lie. Even a sixteen year old with a little common sense knew that, and he knew that Ophelia probably knew that everything might not be perfect as well. However, he wasn't going to bring everything down. Maybe, just maybe, things would be over in the near future.

"When we get married," he started, "We'll travel the world. See everything we possibly can and enjoy ourselves. We'll go to Greece, France, the Caribbean. Everything will be perfect as we travel. Then once we finish travelling, we'll settle down in a house anywhere you choose in any country. There, we'll have a family of our own and you'll be a great mother and wife. You'll play the piano and teach others how to play it too. We'll both have a lot of friends and then we'll grow old together as we watch our children grow up as well as our grandchildren."

It was a nice dream, that was certain. Tyler only hoped that he could make it all come true.

[Ophelia Burke]

For the longest time, Ophelia had dreamed about what it would be like to fall in love and get married. Being the spoiled society girl that she was, she had, until very recently, imagined life to be a magical fairy tale. She pictured castles and princes and fancy balls where everyone dressed in shimmering gowns of gold and silver. And while, to a certain extent, some of those things had come true, it all felt so different from what she had expected. In her dreams, children weren't murdered in the streets, and she wasn't forced to hide her love for her prince. No, in her dreams, everything was perfect and happy and everyone loved one another.

But she was learning that life was not a fairy tale. And while her future might not be the fairy tale wedding she had always imagined, Tyler's dream sounded very nice, too.

She opened her eyes and looked at him through the fringe of her long lashes. "It sounds perfect. Can we have dogs, too? Big fluffy ones with lots of hair and soft brown eyes?"

[Tyler Parsons]

"Sure we can," he replied continuing to play with her hair. "We can find one as a puppy if you wanted to. The pound would be a great place to look for one. We could teach the puppy all kinds of things and it could be the best dog." Tyler smiled down at her. He couldn't really believe that he was thinking more so about his future than he thought before. Whatever he did with his life, he hoped that Ophelia was there beside him. She made him feel like no other.

"We could have a house out on a lake, the beach, in the city, or a house out in the middle of nowhere." Tyler preferred if they didn't really live in the city. There were a lot of people that lived in the city and he wanted a little more space than what a city usually provided.

[Ophelia Burke]

Ophelia gave a dreamy sigh. Even she knew instinctively that things would probably not be quite as simple and perfect as they were imagining, but she needed to believe that they could be. Life shouldn't have to be so complicated all the time.

"I want a lot of kids, too. Like 5 or 6. In fact... yes, 6. We could have 3 boys and 3 girls, and you could teach the boys to play quidditch, and I could read to the girls and buy them pretty clothes and have tea parties. Oh! And maybe we could ride horses! We could get them little ponies that they could learn to ride on. Wouldn't that be cute?"

[Tyler Parsons]

"Six kids is a nice number." Having a lot of kids wouldn't be a bad idea. They would always have someone to play with and they wouldn't have to be lonely. "It is a cute vision. We could live out in the open in the countryside. It would give the kids plenty of room to ride and run outside and play. There could be neighbors not that far away and we could go visit them while our kids play together."

Tyler did want what they were dreaming to come true. "We could even have days like this one, where we just sit around and do absolutely nothing."

[Ophelia Burke]

Ophelia sighed contentedly. She loved the sound of all of that. It just seemed so perfect and beautiful and simple, and the very thought of it all made her ache inside. But there was one thing missing. She also imagined her father, doting on the little ones, cradling a granddaughter on one knee or teaching one of the boys to catch a quaffle. But if they couldn't get him to change his mind... that would never happen.

"What's your family like, Tyler?" she asked suddenly, her eyes popping open and looking up at him.

[Tyler Parsons]

"My family," he repeated as he looked down at Ophelia. "I have an older sister who now lives in Scotland. She recently said that she was engaged so we're waiting to see if she's going to come here so we can meet the guy she's engaged to. My father is always traveling with his job. He's home from time to time but it's my grandfather and mum who are at the house all the time. Grandfather can be a stickler for the rules sometimes but he knows when to have a little bit of fun. It's nice to go sailing with him in the summer sometimes."

Tyler gave her a gentle smile. "My mum is a decent cook. I love to go home to see her happy in the kitchen while father is off working. When father is at home, things are usually more relaxed, although sometimes there are those extremely tense moments that make you want to leave for a bit but over all we're an okay family."

[Ophelia Burke]

It all sounded so… normal. It made Ophelia realize that her family was most decidedly not normal. The idea of Emma Burke in the kitchen cooking something was almost laughable. They were the kind of family with a ton of servants, both human and house elves, to do all the work for them. Half of the furniture was so priceless that you couldn’t actually sit on it, and the family dressed for dinner and had polite conversations. It was, Ophelia realized, a cold and empty life, like playing with paper dolls.

“I want to meet your family,” she said, her blue eyes wide. “I want to know how normal families live.”

[Tyler Parsons]

"I'm sure that they'll be excited to meet you," Tyler said with another smile playing on his lips. "My mother is actually already excited. She wanted me to find out if you wanted to go off one weekend to come visit. She also said that you could come over during break if you wanted as well, whenever was most convenient for you."

He really wanted Ophelia to meet his family. Tyler had a feeling that his family would love her. "I'm positive that they'll love you."

[Ophelia Burke]

Ophelia sat up and clapped her hands together excitedly. “Oh, I would love that!” she said. “But we have to keep it a secret. I’m sure my father would not approve at all. He probably wants me to meet this Axis person, and I won’t. I won’t even talk to people I don’t know in the common room anymore. I don’t want him to think that just because my father wants me to marry him that I’m just going to go along with it.”

Her jaw was set in a very determined, serious manner at this. She didn’t even care if it was rude that she wouldn’t even meet the man her father wanted her to marry. He couldn’t make her do it.

“I’m sure if we told Allaire, she would help cover for me. Maybe Kassia would, too, but I don’t know. It’s probably better to just tell Allaire.”

[Tyler Parsons]

"Sneaking off will not be a problem. We can get you in and out of the school without hardly anyone knowing." Tyler gave her a wink. "You are talking to a Gryffindor after all."

He reached up and pushed some hair behind Ophelia's ear. "I can always keep you away from this Axis person, well as long as we're here at school. I can even try outside of school as well." Tyler would do anything she wanted him to, as long as it made her happy.

"Let's just tell Allaire. I don't think that Kassia likes me very much," he said a little skeptically. "Everything is just going to work out the way we want it to, one way or another."