THE SWEET AND THE GOLDEN // cedric diggory

09. ROMY DOESN'T KNOW GRIEF

"I know." Romy confirmed with a nod. "But he doesn't stick around because he thinks the both of you are lame." She joked.

Obviously, he didn't. Well, he did, because teenagers don't think their parents are cool enough to hang out with them, but let's be honest, Teddy and Romy's parents are the coolest. And if there's a single trait that every single member of that family undoubtedly shared, it was perhaps even their fatal flaw, was their loyalty. They all had this heartfelt commitment to support and protect one another.

Juliet gasped. "I'm not lame! Your uncle James is lame!"

"What do you have there?" The Hufflepuf chuckled and leaned against her mother, who accepted to embrace her, kissing the top of her head.

Juliet, with the arm that wasn't wrapped around her baby, opened the photo album, where were displayed pictures of what was probably the last New Year's Party organised by Fleamont and Euphemia Potter.

The two of them continued to look through the pages together, and Andromeda could tell her mother was feeling tormented by memories. She leaned over to grab the gift bag she brought along and handed it to her mother.

"What's this?" Juliet asked, as she took it, putting her hand in to retrieve whatever was the content of it.

Once her glassy eyes were locked onto the cute plushie her daughter had made for her, she let a small smile win over her lips.

"Is this Wormtail?" Her daughter nodded. "Your uncles and dad are going to want to have one of these."

"Way ahead of you." Andromeda responded, pulling away from her mother's embrace, grabbing the album on her thighs, and putting it away.

"Wow, so this wasn't a special gift just for me? I'm hurt." Juliet joked.

"You don't have to pretend you're fine, mum. I know you're not." Her daughter abruptly told her, knowing she was just saving face with her jokes.

The Potter sighed, leaning her head back onto the couch, her eyes forced shut. "I can't allow myself to break down, especially not in front of you."

"Why not?"

Juliet was starting to see a bit of herself in her daughter as more time passed by. She got irritated quickly when she was treated like a child, and she would get defensive about it. Because she, like everyone else, knew how mature she was, at least emotionally. She always understood how she felt and why. Juliet could see it now, why everyone told the blonde she was her mother's daughter.

"Because I am your mother. For as long as I'm alive, you must be able to feel like you can rely on me at any and every moment, and if you see me break and fall apart, you will never be able to do that. I'm your parent, and I'm responsible for you, so I can't." Juliet explained firmly.

Andromeda looked down, to her hands. "That's not fair."

"Most things aren't--"

"No, it's not fair to you."

Juliet blinked. "What?"

"It's not fair to you. How can you push through it if you don't have a support system? You could never talk about your grief, you could never rely on others, you could never let yourself go for just one moment! Mum, I love you, I promise I won't ever look at you differently."