𝙰𝙽𝙶𝙴𝙻 𝙾𝙵 𝙳𝙴𝙰𝚃𝙷 | 𝙵𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚆𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚕𝚎𝚢

𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔦𝔦

"I told you I'm fine," Maria huffed as she smacked her brother's hand away from her face.

Perseus had been hovering over her ever since she had almost fallen in the well again. While Maria appreciated his concern, she was quickly growing sick of it.

"I'm sorry. It's just..." Perseus trailed off as Maria let out a sigh at the guilty expression on his face.

"It's not your fault," Maria reassured him as she reached out to hold his hand only for him to pull away. She tried not to show how much it hurt as her hand dropped back to her side. "Perseus-"

"No, you don't understand," Perseus ranted as he sat down on his bed across from hers. "You're my responsibility. I know you would've come back but how many times are you really able to die? Maybe it's infinite or maybe you're living on a ticking clock. We don't understand half of what's going on with you and you've already died on my watch twice."

"Magic," Maria muttered as she spun around in her desk chair to face her brother.

"What?" Perseus seemed taken aback by her one-worded response and Maria couldn't blame him.

"I mean, it's the only explanation isn't it?" Maria didn't wait for his response before she continued. "I died by falling down a well but came back to life a few hours later. Same with my next death. I was stabbed. There was no magic or curses of any kind involved. We live in a magical world, Perseus. I've done research before and it's the only thing that makes sense."

"But you're not sure?" Perseus questioned, annoying Maria even further.

"No, I'm not one hundred percent positive," Maria admitted. "There's a lot of variables involved. Can any magic kill me? Is it a certain type? Or am I only supposed to die the way it's predicted? There's a lot I don't know but I don't exactly plan on experimenting with it."

"So what? You're just okay with dying now as long as it doesn't include magic?" Perseus demanded, growing concerned with his sister's seemingly lack of care.

"Of course I'm not okay with it," Maria snapped at her brother, anger boiling inside of her with every octave their voices raised. "Dying isn't exactly a walk in the park and I'd rather not experience it. But you have to admit that it's better-"

"Now there are buts?" Perseus interrupted her as her fists clenched at her side as she struggled to keep her emotions at bay, but every word he yelled at her only weakened her struggle. "You have no idea-"

Maria's anger grew out of her control as the lights around them burst out of their electrical circuits and Perseus was sent flying over the edge of his bed and hit the floor with a solid thud. Maria held her hands over her mouth in horror before she rushed over to him.

"Perseus!" she exclaimed, her face falling in horror at his body sprawled out across the floor with no sign of movement. She fell down beside him as she turned him over, praying to whatever god was out there that he wasn't dead. Maria would never be able to live with herself if she had killed her brother.

"Gah!" Perseus yelled as he shot up into a sitting position, scaring Maria out of her wits as she jumped backward.

"You asshole," Maria shoved her brother back when she realized his cruel joke. "Don't ever do that to me again."

"Let's not fight anymore," Perseus shrugged her off as he climbed onto his feet. He offered a hand out to Maria, who bluntly ignored it as she stumbled onto her own feet.

"Fine," Maria made herself sound reluctant as she crossed her arms across her chest and turned her head away from her brother, still angry for the cruel joke he had played on her.

"Hey, Mara?" Perseus asked as Maria continued to ignore him. 

"Hmm?" She didn't bother to look at her brother, still pretending to be angry with him. 

She released a startled gasp when something soft and white hit the side of her head, sending feathers flying everywhere around the room. Maria's head snapped towards Perseus and narrowed at the fluffy pillow gripped in his hands.

"You didn't," Maria voiced her disbelief as Perseus sent her his infamous, mischievous grin.

"Oh, but I did," Perseus mocked before he swung the pillow at her again.

Maria ducked just in time as the pillow missed her by mere centimeters. Wasting no time, she shot towards her bed to grab one of her pillows. She had barely wrapped her hands around her pillow when she felt the soft blow of Perseus hitting her with the pillow.

Maria turned around and swung her pillow with all her might, managing to knock Perseus back a few feet as he released a laugh. They continued their pillow fight for a long time, managing to take their mind off their problems for a little while.

"Okay, okay," Perseus finally lowered his pillow and held up his hands, panting as he was getting quite out of breath. "Truce?"

"I suppose," Maria agreed, although even she was starting to become tired. 

Again, Maria noticed a look of worry and fear come over Perseus as they were brought back to reality. She released a small sigh as she tossed her pillow back onto her bed and walked over to her twin. Perseus opened his mouth to question what she was doing but closed it when she simply pulled him into a hug, surprising him the most out of the two.

"I'm not going anywhere," Maria muttered to reassure him as she hugged him tightly.

"I know," Perseus replied but it didn't stop him from holding onto her as tightly as he could. Maria may not have been going anyone in a long time, however, Perseus knew he only had a limited amount of time before he was gone.

"Hey, Perseus?" Maria questioned as she pulled away from her brother's hug.

"Hmm?" he hummed as his hands dropped to his side, curious about what she wanted.

"Gotcha," Maria waved the letter from earlier in his face mockingly as Perseus released a playful scoff, as he realized what she had done.

In another lifetime, Perseus could almost imagine Maria sending him a teasing grin as she held the letter in her hand. Instead, all he got was a small twitch of her lips before she tucked the letter into her desk. 

"You're not going to read it?" Perseus questioned as the curiosity inside him burned. 

There wasn't a doubt in his mind that Fred Weasley was head over heels for his sister but he wasn't sure how Maria felt about the Weasley boy. Sometimes she seemed happier around the boy and other times she was completely frustrated. What hurt Perseus the most, however, was the fact that she seemed to show more emotions around Fred than she did with him.

"What's the rush?" Maria raised an eyebrow at her twin with a questioning gaze. Again, Perseus could almost imagine her teasing him with a joyful expression instead of the stoic one he received. 

But this was all his imagination and he knew it was very unlikely he would ever live to see it.