**A/N** Hello! I'm totally aware that we haven't had an Annabeth POV recently but I've really wanted to write these events from the POV's that I've chosen. I promise I haven't forgotten about my darling Annabeth and she will be back shortly!
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Worst week of my god damn life.
I felt absolutely fine after the first night, sure I had a weird fever dream about Theseus. Or at least I thought it was a dream till I woke up the next morning and there were a few sweets on the table beside my bed that had Greek writing on the wrappers.
And now to make things worse for me because that's what the world likes doing apparently. My Mother and Father are going to be walking in those doors any second now and talking about my feelings and crap.
"Hi, Madam Pomfrey. Violet Weasley. Headmaster McGonagall said I could stop by and see Cassiopeia before she went back into the general public?"
Only Mum? Godric I didn't think it could get any worse than both my parents coming by. And now Dad's not even here to act as a buffer? Someone shoot me in the foot.
Madam Pomfrey nods over to the bed that I'm lying in and I wait for the dreaded moment where my mother is standing over me and asking if I'm up to take a walk around the grounds. How do I know she's going to ask me that? Because I know my mother.
"Hi, darling. How are you feeling?" Mum says coming over to my bed.
I shrug, not really in the mood to have much of a discussion with her. I'm not really sure I even know how to have a one on one conversation with her anymore.
"Fine yeah. Ready to get back to class." I say.
Mum smiles a bit. I can't really read her face but I know exactly what's coming next.
"Do you feel up to taking a walk around the grounds? I haven't been back here in so long...."
She says it like she didn't come by for the quidditch final last year. But I nod and get myself up out of bed all the same. Ophelia has brought me a new change of clothes every day so I wasn't stuck in the itchy pyjamas that Madam Pomfrey provides. Today I'm in some baggy jeans and a massive black jumper, so big that it completely covers my hands.
"You don't have to come back here once you've finished your walk, Miss Weasley. I'll have a house-elf bring your belongings back to your room for you." Madam Pomfrey says. Putting on a sweet and caring voice now that my mother is here with me. Not that she's a bitch when adults aren't around or anything but she definitely isn't this nice.
Before Mum can whisk me off I snatch the Greek sweets off of my bedside table.
Yes, it's been a week and I haven't eaten them. Sure I may be holding onto them because it very well may be the only gift that Theseus ever gives me ever and I want to keep a hold of them no matter how much my gut is telling me to toss them into the lake. What about it?
Mum and I head outside in silence. We can hear the faint chanting of Theo's protest echoing through the empty corridors. It's a nice day outside and nearly the entire school is outside making sure to enjoy it while it lasts.
"Have your friends been keeping you up to date with all of your lectures?" Mum says after a bit of silent walking along the lakeshore.
I snort. I nearly say, what friends? Ophelia, Darcy, and some bloke that I've been snogging to get attention from someone else? Oh yeah, they're great at visiting.
But I don't of course,
"Yeah, yeah they've done a good job."
Mum nods and we go back to silence for a long while, till we both start talking at the same time,
"I heard Theo has over fifty students protesting with him..."
"Mum, why are you here?"
Mum stops walking and looks at me head-on, "What do you mean why am I here? You were injured."
"I was injured Monday. I'm fine now. I've been fine." I say, crossing my arms over my chest. Mums a lot taller than me but we have the same presence almost. We take up the same amount of space in any room if that makes any sense.
"Your father and I weren't allowed to come till today darling, McGonagall's orders."
"Seems like my father couldn't be bothered to show up at all." I scoff.
Mum looks pretty hurt by that but at this point, I'm used to the look she's giving me right now. It's the look of sheer disappointment.
"I asked your father not to come. I think it's high time that we have a conversation without any interruptions." Mum says, picking her words carefully.
"Just me and you? You sure you're up for something like that? Given you haven't spoken to just me in I dunno how many years at this point." I start walking again.
"Cassiopeia Lee Weasley, you will not walk away from your mother when you are having a conversation with her." Mum snaps from behind me.
"Pulling out the full name I see. I thought you'd forgotten it."
Mum walks closer to me, "Don't be daft. You're my daughter."
"You sure about that?"
"Course I'm bloody sure about it. I keep telling myself that you're just a teenager and all teenagers talk back to their parents, especially the ones that they are most like. But Merlin's left testicle Cassiopeia you are making that difficult to remember."
We stare at each other for a beat. Both of us trying to keep our emotions in check so we can have a conversation without ripping each other's heads off. It's seeming like it's going to be a lot harder than either of us thought.
"I came here to apologize Cass." Mum says, "You said that I was one of the main causes of your break. Hearing that..." Mum takes a shaky breath and starts to play with the rings on her fingers. One that Dad gave her when they were my age, the other Dad gave her when they got married, "Hearing that hurt me in a way I've never been hurt before. As your mother, I'm supposed to be the person you can come to with these things, not the person causing them."
I look up in the sky and press my lips together, doing everything in my power not to break down sobbing. I take a breath, calm myself down as much as I can so when I speak again my voice doesn't crack and show emotion. I know she's sincere. It's written all over her face, how she's carrying herself. But the biggest part of me wants to hurt her just a little bit more. Make her feel how I've been feeling all these years.
"Yeah well. You were the person causing it all. And I don't think you could ever change that. No matter how many tears you shed, or trips out to Hogwarts you make. The damage is done."
Instant regret floods my entire body as I watch my mother do everything in her power not to completely break down in the middle of the castle grounds.
"Mum, I didn't mean – I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry." As soon as the word sorry leaves my mouth tears spill down my cheeks.
Mum sniffs her nose, "No darling, please never apologize for telling me how you truly feel. Keeping all your emotions in the way you do leads to things like overcharging yourself and nearly blowing up your school."
I laugh and do my best to stop myself. But it's not long before I'm a giggling mess. Mum's stunned for a second but she starts laughing right along with me.
"I've missed this," Mum says. She puts her hand on my cheek and brushes a few of my tears off my face with her thumb, "My darling Cassiopeia... how I've missed that smile."
I can't hold my tears in any longer, they flow down my face in hot streams, "Mumma..." is all I can manage to say before grabbing onto my Mum and hugging her as tight as I possibly can. I always bitch about being the shortest one. Theo and Annie are both taller than me now even though they're so much younger. But being so short means that I get the best hugs from my wildly tall parents.
Mum holds me against her as I cry into her blouse. She doesn't tell me to stop, never shushes me. She just strokes my hair slowly and peppers my head with small kisses till I've calmed down enough to form a coherent sentence.
"I'm sorry I've been such a bitch." I say, hiccupping mid-sentence.
Mum laughs lightly and wipes my face with her sleeves, "I'm sorry I've been such a bitch darling. I took my own personal qualms out on you and that wasn't fair on either of us. Forgive me?"
"Forgiven," I say. I cover my face with my hands, "Ugh Godric, I was not prepared to cry today." My voice is muffled by my jumper and Mum laughs.
"Promise me something, Cass?"
"Bloody hate promises."
"Oi, watch your language."
"Mum I fully just said bitch nearly five seconds ago and you didn't tell me off for it but you'll ridicule me for saying bloody?"
Mum and I start walking along the lake as she answers, "We were having a moment when you said bitch. It didn't feel like a good time you call you out on it." We laugh at the same time.
"Suppose not... sorry." I take a sweet out of my pocket and carefully unwrap it, making sure not to tear the aluminum that it is wrapped in so I can keep it. Godric I hate myself for doing that but it's been done.
"What's that?" Mum asks as I pop the sweet into my mouth.
"A sweet."
"Gimme one," Mum puts her hand out flat in front of me. I hesitate and Mum instantly picks up on it, "Or not...."
"I just don't have very many is all?" I cuss myself under my breath for making that sound like a question rather than a statement.
Mum picks up on it immediately, "Who gave them to you?"
"Uhm, someone."
Mum laughs, "Are they a special someone or a not so special someone?"
The sweet in my mouth makes it a little hard to talk so I sound all awkward when I say, "Dunno really. Kind of hard to explain."
Mum smiles, "I know the ones..." She pauses, "actually I haven't got a bloody clue your father and I were already thinking about having children when we were your age so I never had a hard to explain person before. But I know someone who has."
"Who?"
"Emma. Your Uncle Fred was her hard to explain person."
I make a face of disgust and Mum roars with laughter, "I'd really rather not hear about all that thanks. Bad enough I have to listen to you talk about your relationship with Dad."
"Is this someone the someone that Blaize caught you snogging in the corridors?" Mum asks, bumping her hip into me.
I groan, "Mum! I am not having this conversation with you."
"Alright, alright!" Mum puts her hands up in the air, "But I hope that you and whoever this someone is, special or not so special are using the right sorts of protection..."
"Muuuuuuum!"
She laughs again, "I'm just making sure that you know everything that you need to know! You've made it very clear that you don't want a big family of your own..."
"I'm not listening to this anymore. You can go right back to London if you're going to continue on this topic."
Mum bumps her hip into mine again, "Is that your someone? The boy walking over here, waving at you... smiling... he's sort of mousey looking isn't he?"
I loop up and instantly the sweet that I've been sucking on turns sour in my mouth. Shawn Fletcher is making his way over to me and Mum and he looks determined to have a chat.
"Mum please if you love me, you'd turn around right this second and not interact with him," I say grabbing onto her arm.
"Cassie where on earth have the manners that I taught you gone?"
"Out the bloody window mother. Please for the love of Merlin himself..."
"Cassie! You're out of the hospital! I was going to come to visit you this evening to keep you, uh, company... hullo, er..." Shawn looks from me to Mum.
"Missus Weasley. Cassiopeia's mother." Mum sticks her hand out for Shawn to shake it, "And you are?"
"Oh, Shawn Fletcher ma'am! Cassie's boyfriend. Bloody fucking hell, if I didn't know any better I would have thought that you were my Cassie's twin instead of Ophelia" Shawn grabs onto Mum's hand and shakes it hard. He pronounces Ophelia's name wrong; he says it like O-pail-ia.
I do my best to control my face when he speaks but by the looks of Mum's very amused smirk, I'm not doing a very good job of it.
Mum sort of yanks her hand back from Shawn, "Pleasure to meet you, Mister Fletcher. I'll return Cassie to you momentarily, we're just on a mother-daughter walk currently."
Shawn looks between me and Mum a few times, "Oh right. Totally understand. Cassie, I'll meet you in the common room yeah? I've missed you so much."
"Yeah, missed you too," I say through gritted teeth. Mum chuckles but covers it with a cough.
Then Shawn does the unthinkable and leans in to kiss me in front of my bloody mother. I dodge him just in time and he ends up pecking my cheek instead of my lips. I don't think he's noticed because he smiles all the same and says goodbye to us both before walking off.
As soon as he's out of earshot mum bursts into laughter.
"Not funny. So not funny." I say which only makes her laugh harder.
"He's not the someone is he?"
"No, Godric no. Never. He just thinks he is."
Mum laughs even harder, "Well thank goodness I at least taught you to have some standards. He smelt vile... like...."
"Like eggs that were cooked last week?" I suggest.
Mum shrieks with more laughter, "Exactly! Has he ever had a bath? Shower? At least brushed his teeth? Cassiopeia please don't tell me that he was the one Blaize caught you with."
"What happened to minding our manners?" I say to her.
Mums not laughing anymore, "Don't you dare tell me that he was the one..." When I don't say anything Mum laughs once more, "Your father is going to have a field day with this one."
"No. This dies with us. Dad doesn't get to know anything. What happens at Hogwarts stays at Hogwarts."
"That's what Freddie thought till that girl Platypus snogged him on the train platform in front of his entire family."
"Poppy mother. Her name was Poppy." I say rolling my eyes.
"That's what I said!"
"You know good and well that that is not what you just said." I keep walking, thinking that Mum is still beside me, "When have you got to go back to the shop? Dad's probably having a fit being gone from you for so long..." but when I turn to look at her she isn't there.
Mum's standing a few steps away from me, watching a fox and a weasel walk past us a little to our left. "The bloody hell is a weasel doing with a fox?" Mum says watching them.
I walk over to her, "That's not a weasel and a fox. It's Ophelia and her friend Chandler."
Mum blinks a few times, "Ophelia's animagus is a weasel?"
"Yeh."
"Draco's going to have the time of his life teasing her about that one." Mum says before she brings her hands up to her mouth and shouts, "Ophelia Emma Weasley!"
"What is with you and the middle names today?" I say to Mum, but she's not paying me any attention.
The fox and the weasel, also known as Chandler and Ophelia, stop in their tracks and slowly look over at us.
Now I'm not fluent in weasel, I don't think anyone but Ophelia is. But it doesn't take a genius to tell that the only thought on weasel Ophelia's mind right now is,
Well, fuck me.