Clover Hawkings and the Triwizard Tournament

6. Letters of Unfortunate News

Cassandra Willows sat down on her living room couch. It was a musty green, old and battered, but at the moment Cass wouldn't trade it for anything.

Except for maybe this whole mess to undo its self.

Her beloved sister, Charlie, to not be murdered, her husband, Eagle, not to die in an "accident", her parents not to pass on, her sister's husband not to have been murdered as well- everyone had left her.

Everyone but Clover. 

Her niece had been doing well at Hogwarts, Cass thought with a ting of pride- she'd always known something was off, of course, but considering her traumatic background and being raised by Cass (which was also traumatizing, in Cass's option) she was flourishing. 

Or so Cass had thought. The letter Clover had sent below indicated nothing was wrong, just as Cass had thought. 

Aunt Cass;                                                Some date, Artemis says I'm supposed to put 'em in letters.

How are you doing? I expect you'll say "good, good," and waving your hand to hear about how I'm doing, hence me actually writing stuff for once. I had the most dreadful start to the school year- all my fireworks went off by accident! Food is as great as ever. Supposedly there's the Triwizard Tournament thing going on- WHY didn't you tell me?! Hagrid's giving us an odd project in Care of Magical Creatures. I made a badger in Transfiguration.

Love you,

Clover

PS. Can we have a badger? I promise I'll take care of it!!

 The one laying beside it, in a purple envelope with "Cassandra Hawking" written neatly on the front, however, claimed otherwise. It lay open on the table, begging to be ripped into shreds and tossed into the fire just for the news it brought- but yet Cass picked it up and read it for the fourth time since it had arrived by Owl Post at morning. 

Dear Mrs. Hawking,                                                                                                          October 24, 1995

Cass stopped there out of instinct, for she was neither a Hawking or Mrs. Still she forced herself to read on. 

Dear Mrs. Hawking,                                                                                                          October 24, 1995

This is Artemis, I'm writing to you from Hogwarts School, where your daughter- a close friend of mine- is currently attending. I'd like to speak with you about a concerning topic. Clover often wakes up in the night, screaming and trashing, or is woken early by these - or what I presume must be- nightmares. Sometimes she yells "Mom!" or mumbles about how it's all her fault.

She never talks about it during the day, and it's only of a few days ago she accepted Scar and Alura's dreamless sleep potion- you know all about us, of course.  She did mention (in her sleep one night) that she's had this nightmare before (her exact words were "No, Mom, not again!").  As someone who is normally so proud and put-together during the day, I find this very worry some. 

I know its not my place, Mrs. Hawking, but  I was wondering if there is anything we can do? I realized it's too much to ask about what happened, although I do want you to you that if you ever harm her, I will bring her to my house for the rest of your life and quite possibly inflict some painful, irreversible damage on you. 

Sincerely,

Artemis Ezra-Sanders. 

Ps- maybe you could not mention this to Clover? I didn't exactly have her permission.....

Cass put the letter down and sighed. 

There was a number of things wrong with this- first off, she wasn't Clover's mother, she wasn't a "Mrs." and she wasn't a Hawking either, it was Willow- but none of those were important. 

She had known her mind would bring it up eventually- it was expected- but if she started having those nightmares again the scene would start becoming more detailed, which meant she was remembering more, and if she was remembering more- 

Then Cass would have to tell her. Legilimency couldn't erase it, merely buried temporarily, and Cas knew this day was coming for years- yet why did she dread it so?

Cass knew why.

Her Clover had a temper of fire, as anyone who knew her would know, and she was proud, too- not a good combination. Clover would react badly to the first part (as anyone would) start screaming at the second part, and be too proud to apologize- Not like I deserve it, Cass thought bitterly- and she would lose Clover like she had lost everyone else.