The eighth child of Weasley

Chapter twenty

4th of October 2008

Minerva was sleeping in her own room in her residence at Hogwarts.

Then the door of the room opened quietly and a person crept in on his tiptoes, and began getting closer and closer to the sleeping Minerva, until she was close to her face.

Then the person placed a kiss on Minerva's cheek and kept staring at her while smiling.

Minerva opened her eyes and smiled when she saw her daughter.

She said, "Good morning, my kitty. What woke you up so early?" and looked at the clock next to the bed. It was five in the morning.

Athena said, "Happy birthday to you, mother," and continued, "I wanted to be the first person to congratulate you on your birthday."

Minerva laughed and said, placing her hand on her daughter's cheek, "You are always the first person to congratulate me on my birthday, my child."

Minerva moved the bed cover a little and opened her arms and said, "Come, my kitty, why don't we get some sleep? It's still early."

Athena did not wait for her mother to repeat her request again, so she immediately entered her mother's arms and wrapped her small arms around Minerva's torso ( trunk ), and Minerva wrapped her arms around her daughter as well.

Minerva placed a kiss on her daughter's head, and closed her eyes.

Athena said, "I brought you a gift that you will like very much, Mama."

Minerva said with a smile, "You are the best gift I have ever received, my child."

Athena laughed and then said, "Mama, you are the best mother in this world, I love you so much, Mama ."

Minerva smiled. Today was Minerva's 63rd birthday, and then suddenly the thoughts that she had been thinking about a lot lately came flooding into her head, every time Arthur and Molly came to visit.

Athena loved Molly very much, and Minerva felt that Molly treated Athena with lovely as if she were a member of her family.

If she had told Arthur 9 years ago about her pregnancy, would the situation have been different? If she had given Athena to Arthur and Molly to raise her as their daughter, Athena would have been better off and her siblings would have loved her. If she had given Athena to a normal family, wouldn't this have been better for Athena than growing up with an old mother like her?

But just thinking that Athena was not present in her life made her feel panicky, her heartbeat increased, and some tears fell from her eyes, and she began to hold Athena in her embrace more, as if she feared (afraid) that these thoughts would turn into reality and Athena would disappear from her life.

Athena felt her mother's tears, so she looked at her worried and put her hand on her mother's cheek and said, "Mama, what happened, why are you crying?"

Minerva smiled at her to reassure her and said, "I am so happy, my kitty. I am very happy because you are my daughter."

Athena smiled and said, wiping Minerva's tears, "And I am very, very happy because you are my mother, Mama."

Minerva hugged her daughter, and the mother and her daughter slept for a while, as they had a busy day waiting for them, and an occasion to celebrate.
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Two days later

In the Ministry of Magic

Minerva was at the Ministry of Magic to discuss a topic related to Hogwarts School with Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt.