Disclaimer: See "Stories of the Hogwarts Sisterhood"
Disclaimer 2: Wellard and the Aurors come from "Hornblower"
Disclaimer 3: Some of lines come from "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, so you may find them familiar and I certainly don't own them.
To flamers: I don't take kindly to flames so get out of here, if you know what's good for you.
Note: This is a sequel to "Stories of the Hogwarts Sisterhood"; taken place several months later during Easter holidays, so read that first.
Thank you for the reviews!
Jestana- *sad sigh* Unfortunately, the happiness couldn't last long. And yes, William is killed in action (see "Stories of the Hogwarts Sisterhood" Chapter 15)
Isabelle3, PrincessWitch- Thank you!
Rated PG-13 for content
Chapter 18: 1953
"That is the cause of everything?" asked Achilles.
Mandy nodded. "Are you ready to hear the whole story?"
Achilles nodded slowly.
Mandy and Georgia sat down.
Mandy cleared her throat and started. "Let's see..... where shall I start? Hm....." she thought for a while. "Okay, the whole thing started in 1953, a few days before Poppy's 20th birthday..........."
***
1953
The Hogwarts Sisters were in Poppy's bedroom, talking and laughing over Albus and Minerva's wedding album.
"Look at this one!" said Mandy, pointing at a photo of Minerva in her wedding dress. "You look gorgeous."
"That one? Nah, I look ridiculous," said Minerva in disgust. "I look like a clown with a little mascara."
"No, you don't!" protested Poppy when her mother came in.
"Poppy, William is at the door."
"He is? At this time of the night?" asked Poppy and looked at the clock, it was already 11pm.
"He says it is important." said her mother.
"Okay, I am coming." said Poppy and got up from the bed.
"Maybe he wants to ask for your hand!" teased Mandy and lowered her voice to imitate William's voice. "Oh Poppy, will you be my dear Mrs. Potter?"
Poppy blushed in response and threw a pillow at her direction. Mandy caught it neatly.
"Ha! I save it!"
Poppy quickly rushed out and Mandy said to the Hogwarts Sisters, "Let's go and see some fun!"
***
"Okay, William, is there something you want?" Poppy asked William as they sat together on a long chair in the garden.
Minerva, Mandy and Georgia were hiding in the bushes behind the chair, listening. William put his arm over Poppy's shoulders and held her closer.
"There is something I have to tell you." said William seriously.
Mandy giggled and Minerva tried to shut her up by poking her in the ribs. Mandy continued to giggle silently.
"Hm, what?" Poppy asked quietly.
"You know that I am working as an Auror, right?"
Mandy stopped giggling, looks like William was not proposing.
"Yeah, but I can't say that I like that," said Poppy grumpily. "You are always so busy in the Ministry."
"Oh." said William slowly.
"Yeah? So what about it?" asked Poppy.
"Well, I need to go to Russia to........"
"RUSSIA?!" said Poppy and jumped up from the chair.
The Hogwarts Sisters gasped in surprise but thankfully, they were not loud enough for Poppy to hear.
"You can't go to Russia!" exclaimed Poppy and started pacing.
"But I have to! Some dark wizards have escaped to there and the Head decided to send me and a few Aurors to catch them......."
"Can't the Head send someone else?" asked Poppy hysterically. She stopped pacing and she sat back down. "Why are you leaving me?" She hit William's chest hard with her fist and he didn't respond. She went silent. After a while, she whispered: "Why can't you stay here and love me?"
"I am sorry, Poppy. But it is an order." said William quietly.
Poppy didn't say anything.
William reached out and held her hand. "Poppy, are you okay?"
Poppy shook her head. "No, I am not. My heart is breaking into a thousand pieces, happy?"
"Oh come on, Poppy, you think I like to leave you?" asked William in shock. "I would rather stay here if it isn't an order."
"You will die there," said Poppy and looked at William with tears in her eyes. "Don't go, William, it is too dangerous for you."
"Poppy, I assure you that I won't die of this kind of thing." said William and grinned.
Poppy didn't return the grin. Instead, she asked, "Will you come back?"
"I will," said William and let go of Poppy's hand.
Before Poppy could stop him, William got up and raised his right hand. "I swear to the Goddess Artemis that I, William Potter, the suitor of Empress Singing Flower, also known as Poppy Pomfrey, will come back immediately after my mission in Russia."
He sat back down.
"How about that?"
Poppy couldn't help but smile. "You are an idiot, swearing to the Goddess like that. Do you know that the Hogwarts Sisters will punish you if you break your promise deliberately?"
"Let them, I deserve it."
His expression went serious.
"Poppy, I swear to the Goddess again, that when I come back, I will ask for your hand in marriage."
Poppy blushed deeply. "Are you serious?"
"Do I look like I am joking?"
"No........"
Without warning, William leaned forward and captured Poppy's lips with his, putting his arms around her. Poppy responded and ran her fingers through his brown hair as the kiss went deeper.
Minerva's eyes widened, Georgia's mouth dropped open and Mandy took out her pocket watch.
When they finally came up for air, Mandy whispered: "Five seconds, now that's a long one."
Minerva just stared at Mandy in annoyance.
"What?"
The couple smiled at each other and William let Poppy to sit on his lap. He put his arms around her waist again.
"By the way, I am sorry if I can't make it back in time for your birthday." whispered William.
"It is okay, as long as you come back." said Poppy.
"Oh yeah, before I forgot, I bought you a gift, in case I can't come back." said William and put his hand into his pocket, his other arm still didn't let go of Poppy.
He pulled out a long flat box and handed it to Poppy. "Here."
She took it and opened it immediately. "Wow," she took out a pin entwined with two serpents.
"I think it suits you. This is the symbol of health, right?"
Poppy smiled again. "Thank you."
She put her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek.
***
2004
"And he didn't come back?" asked Achilles quietly.
Mandy sighed. "No. We received the news on William's death during Poppy's birthday. It was said that he was killed by a dark wizard. At first, Poppy didn't believe it, but she did after a while. A few days later, we attended William's funeral, and we noticed that she looked pale. Mrs Pomfrey told us that she refuses to eat since her birthday. The next day, we tried to visit her but she didn't want to see anyone."
"The worse part happened a month later after William's death." said Georgia.
"What happened?" asked Achilles curiously.
Mandy was silent for a while before she started talking again.
***
1953
Mandy was at home, listening to the WWN to the radio when someone called her from the fireplace. She got up, turned off the radio quickly and went to the speaker. It was Mrs Pomfrey.
"Mandy, you better come to my house immediately." she said urgently.
"What happened?" asked Mandy anxiously.
"Poppy, she is not herself. I will talk more later." said Mrs Pomfrey before her head disappeared into the fire.
"Oh I hope Poppy is okay......" said Mandy before she disapparated.
***
Mandy appeared beside Jonathan Wood in the Pomfreys' living room and immediately, she asked: "What happened to Poppy?"
Jonathan just shrugged.
Mandy looked around and found that Minerva, Georgia, Albus and the rest of the male classmates were there, looking worried. Mrs Pomfrey came into the room, looking sad but relaxed when she saw all of Poppy's close friends were there.
"Guys, girls, Poppy's sick, she's cracked up, you have got to give her some real help." she said sadly.
"Cracked up?" whispered Minerva in fear.
"Ever since William's funeral, she locked herself up in her room. She refused to eat anything either. I heard her crying at night and today.........."
"What?" asked the Hogwarts Sisters.
"Suddenly she went screaming an hour ago that it is her fault that William died, and that she could have stopped him from going to Russia."
"It is not her fault that William is killed by a dark wizard!" cried Nicholas Longbottom.
"But Poppy insisted that it is." said Mrs Pomfrey.
"And now? How is she?" asked Georgia in concern.
"Now she is like, I don't know how to put it......."
"What?" asked Mandy anxiously.
Mrs Pomfrey trembled as she spoke. "She didn't respond to anything. No matter what I say or do, she doesn't react. When I fed her a glass of water, the water just flow out, as if she doesn't know how to drink......." She took a breath and started weeping.
"Where is she now, Mrs Pomfrey?" asked Joe Black.
"In her bedroom."
"Let's go and see her." suggested Albus and all agreed.
***
When they arrived at Poppy's bedroom, it was dark inside. Robert Lupin switched on the light and they found Poppy sitting on the floor near the window, looking rather blank. Her hair was untied and her eyes were red.
"Oh Merlin, Poppy." whispered Minerva.
"Ah!" exclaimed Don Weasley and everyone looked at him (except Poppy of course). "I can tell you what the problem is, the poor girl doesn't eat."
Minerva rolled her eyes while Joe snapped at Don, "Oh please, don't be an idiot."
"Well, we can try, I will get her favourite food, maybe she will eat that." said Don hopefully and went downstairs before anyone could stop him.
He came back with a delicious looking chocolate cake in his hand and squatted down in front of Poppy. The gang looked at them doubtfully.
"Hey Poppy, want this chocolate cake? It's your favourite." said Don gently.
Poppy just stared at Don with her lifeless eyes.
"Okay, so you don't want that......." said Don slowly. "Want anything else?"
She didn't respond.
Didn't know what else he could do, Don just got up and left the room to put back the cake. The Hogwarts Sisters, on the hand, rushed to their Empress Singing Flower.
"Poppy? Can you hear me?" asked Mandy.
She continued to stare ahead.
"It's us, Poppy, your Hogwarts Sisters." said Georgia.
"Speak to us, please." pleaded Minerva.
Silence.
"Poppy, do say something, you are scaring us." said Jonathan.
No matter what they said, Poppy continued to act as if they were invisible and the blank look remained on her face throughout the whole thing.
"Oh Poppy," said Minerva with tears in her eyes and reached out to hug her.
As she embraced her, Poppy remained like a doll, she didn't even return her hug. Georgia and Mandy didn't know what to do.
***
"I hope Poppy will be okay soon." said Don to Mrs Pomfrey when they left the house a few minutes later.
"My husband and I are thinking about sending her to a psychiatric hospital if she continued to be like this." said Mrs Pomfrey quietly.
"What?" asked the Hogwarts Sisters in horror.
"She needs professional help."
"Oh." said Minerva quietly.
"Well, um, thank you all for visiting." said Mrs Pomfrey gratefully.
"No problem." said Albus politely.
"Goodbye." said Mrs Pomfrey before closing the door.
Soon, they heard Mrs Pomfrey wailing upstairs. "Oh Poppy, do respond, please! Don't scare your mother........"
Albus sighed and put his hand onto Minerva's shoulder. "Come on, Minerva."
Minerva turned to Albus and immediately, she put her arms around him and started sobbing. "Oh Albus, how did she turn out to be like this? I don't want her to be like that for the rest of her life......"
Georgia started to cry and Nicholas comforted her.
Mandy was silent since they left Poppy's house and when Jonathan asked, "Mandy, are you okay?"
"Hm, what? Yeah, I......." Mandy sniffed and wiped the tears away from her eyes. "......okay....." she ended weakly.
"No, you are not." said Jonathan quietly.
"Fine, so I am not......" said Mandy, her voice saddened and a second later, she began to weep.
"Jonny, I don't get it, why does everything turn out to be like this?" she demanded in a feeble voice.
***
A few days later, Mrs Pomfrey asked the Hogwarts Sisters to accompany her, Poppy and her father to a private psychiatric hospital, because Poppy remained to be the same since the gang left her house days ago. At the hospital, they wanted Poppy to sigh herself in because they didn't want her to feel like she was being put away.
When the witch at the counter asked for her name, Poppy said, "Empress Singing Flower."
The witch stared at Mr Pomfrey.
"Ask again." he suggested.
So she did.
"I told you, it is Empress Singing Flower!" she snapped, grabbed a small Muggle vase from the counter and threw it at the witch, nearly missed her head.
Minerva put her arms around her and cried, "Empress, please! The witch didn't mean to offend you by asking you the same question twice!"
"I afraid it would be involuntary commitment if the girl doesn't give me her real name." said the witch as calm as possible after she had gotten over her shock.
Mr Pomfrey rushed out and slammed his hands onto the counter. "Listen Miss, I paid your hospital bloody well to get her in here, if she wants to sign herself as Empress Singing Flower, then she IS Empress Singing Flower, am I clear?"
Boy, was he clear.
***
2004
By the time Mandy finished her story, it was late evening.
"There were no records of Poppy Pomfrey ever having checked into a psychiatric hospital for 6 months. No one ever knew, except her family, the Hogwarts Sisters and her friends. On the day of her discharge, we took a solemn oath that we would not talk about it." said Mandy and took a deep breath. "But today, Georgia and I have no choice but to break it because we have to make you understand why Minerva doesn't want you to be an Auror. Poppy isn't here because the past is too painful for her to say."
Achilles didn't respond.
"Achilles, your mother doesn't want you to be an Auror because she loves you. She doesn't want to lose you like how Poppy loses William. Have you ever imagined what your mother will be like if she loses the one she loves? What if you, your father or Athena dies suddenly? She will break down and may even die of depression."
Achilles still remained silent.
"Achilles, are you okay?" asked Georgia.
"Yeah." said Achilles quietly.
"Look, Achilles, it is your choice. If you still won't forgive your mother for not telling you the truth 19 years ago, go ahead and leave the house........." Mandy trailed off and looked at Achilles for his reaction.
Achilles had a blank look on his face.
"Achilles?"
"I will, um, stay here for the night." he said finally.
"Is that means you will forgive your mother?" asked Georgia.
Mandy frowned. "Um, Georgia? If Achilles has Minerva's temper, I don't think he will say it out loud that he has forgiven her."
"Oh, right."
Achilles silently thanked Mandy for that.
"Well, we got to go home and prepare our lessons for Monday, right, Georgia?"
"Huh? (Mandy stepped onto her foot) Ouch, hm, right."
"W-wait, you are not staying here for the night?" asked Achilles.
"No." said Mandy and Georgia in unison.
"You can stay here if you like. I have two adorable babies to take care of at home." said Mandy.
"I have loads of paperwork to do," lied Georgia. "See you tomorrow."
"Don't try to escape tonight, okay?" said Mandy and ruffled Achilles's hair before she and Georgia left.
***
After the two Hogwarts Sisters left, Achilles looked at the album again. After a few pages, he found a photo of Poppy with blood on her white robes. She looked tired. He looked at the top of page and saw the words:
March 17 1966, the birth of Queen Cold As Ice's son, Achilles
Achilles raised his eyebrows at the words and looked at the photos carefully. He saw photos of Minerva, looking extremely exhausted but happy on a bed with himself in her arms. There were a few sentences under a photo of Albus, Minerva and baby Achilles. It looked like a transcript of a conversation:
Poppy: So what are you going to call him?
Albus: Achilles.
Poppy: Achilles....... Wait a minute, THE Achilles? The Trojan War hero?
Albus: The very same.
Poppy: Why do you name him after a hero who died because of the injury in his heel?
Minerva: Hm, we will ignore that part. I am the one who named him. I give that name because I want him to be invulnerable like the hero himself. So that nothing could harm him.
Achilles nearly cried when he read that. Now he understood everything.
Disclaimer 2: Wellard and the Aurors come from "Hornblower"
Disclaimer 3: Some of lines come from "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, so you may find them familiar and I certainly don't own them.
To flamers: I don't take kindly to flames so get out of here, if you know what's good for you.
Note: This is a sequel to "Stories of the Hogwarts Sisterhood"; taken place several months later during Easter holidays, so read that first.
Thank you for the reviews!
Jestana- *sad sigh* Unfortunately, the happiness couldn't last long. And yes, William is killed in action (see "Stories of the Hogwarts Sisterhood" Chapter 15)
Isabelle3, PrincessWitch- Thank you!
Rated PG-13 for content
Chapter 18: 1953
"That is the cause of everything?" asked Achilles.
Mandy nodded. "Are you ready to hear the whole story?"
Achilles nodded slowly.
Mandy and Georgia sat down.
Mandy cleared her throat and started. "Let's see..... where shall I start? Hm....." she thought for a while. "Okay, the whole thing started in 1953, a few days before Poppy's 20th birthday..........."
***
1953
The Hogwarts Sisters were in Poppy's bedroom, talking and laughing over Albus and Minerva's wedding album.
"Look at this one!" said Mandy, pointing at a photo of Minerva in her wedding dress. "You look gorgeous."
"That one? Nah, I look ridiculous," said Minerva in disgust. "I look like a clown with a little mascara."
"No, you don't!" protested Poppy when her mother came in.
"Poppy, William is at the door."
"He is? At this time of the night?" asked Poppy and looked at the clock, it was already 11pm.
"He says it is important." said her mother.
"Okay, I am coming." said Poppy and got up from the bed.
"Maybe he wants to ask for your hand!" teased Mandy and lowered her voice to imitate William's voice. "Oh Poppy, will you be my dear Mrs. Potter?"
Poppy blushed in response and threw a pillow at her direction. Mandy caught it neatly.
"Ha! I save it!"
Poppy quickly rushed out and Mandy said to the Hogwarts Sisters, "Let's go and see some fun!"
***
"Okay, William, is there something you want?" Poppy asked William as they sat together on a long chair in the garden.
Minerva, Mandy and Georgia were hiding in the bushes behind the chair, listening. William put his arm over Poppy's shoulders and held her closer.
"There is something I have to tell you." said William seriously.
Mandy giggled and Minerva tried to shut her up by poking her in the ribs. Mandy continued to giggle silently.
"Hm, what?" Poppy asked quietly.
"You know that I am working as an Auror, right?"
Mandy stopped giggling, looks like William was not proposing.
"Yeah, but I can't say that I like that," said Poppy grumpily. "You are always so busy in the Ministry."
"Oh." said William slowly.
"Yeah? So what about it?" asked Poppy.
"Well, I need to go to Russia to........"
"RUSSIA?!" said Poppy and jumped up from the chair.
The Hogwarts Sisters gasped in surprise but thankfully, they were not loud enough for Poppy to hear.
"You can't go to Russia!" exclaimed Poppy and started pacing.
"But I have to! Some dark wizards have escaped to there and the Head decided to send me and a few Aurors to catch them......."
"Can't the Head send someone else?" asked Poppy hysterically. She stopped pacing and she sat back down. "Why are you leaving me?" She hit William's chest hard with her fist and he didn't respond. She went silent. After a while, she whispered: "Why can't you stay here and love me?"
"I am sorry, Poppy. But it is an order." said William quietly.
Poppy didn't say anything.
William reached out and held her hand. "Poppy, are you okay?"
Poppy shook her head. "No, I am not. My heart is breaking into a thousand pieces, happy?"
"Oh come on, Poppy, you think I like to leave you?" asked William in shock. "I would rather stay here if it isn't an order."
"You will die there," said Poppy and looked at William with tears in her eyes. "Don't go, William, it is too dangerous for you."
"Poppy, I assure you that I won't die of this kind of thing." said William and grinned.
Poppy didn't return the grin. Instead, she asked, "Will you come back?"
"I will," said William and let go of Poppy's hand.
Before Poppy could stop him, William got up and raised his right hand. "I swear to the Goddess Artemis that I, William Potter, the suitor of Empress Singing Flower, also known as Poppy Pomfrey, will come back immediately after my mission in Russia."
He sat back down.
"How about that?"
Poppy couldn't help but smile. "You are an idiot, swearing to the Goddess like that. Do you know that the Hogwarts Sisters will punish you if you break your promise deliberately?"
"Let them, I deserve it."
His expression went serious.
"Poppy, I swear to the Goddess again, that when I come back, I will ask for your hand in marriage."
Poppy blushed deeply. "Are you serious?"
"Do I look like I am joking?"
"No........"
Without warning, William leaned forward and captured Poppy's lips with his, putting his arms around her. Poppy responded and ran her fingers through his brown hair as the kiss went deeper.
Minerva's eyes widened, Georgia's mouth dropped open and Mandy took out her pocket watch.
When they finally came up for air, Mandy whispered: "Five seconds, now that's a long one."
Minerva just stared at Mandy in annoyance.
"What?"
The couple smiled at each other and William let Poppy to sit on his lap. He put his arms around her waist again.
"By the way, I am sorry if I can't make it back in time for your birthday." whispered William.
"It is okay, as long as you come back." said Poppy.
"Oh yeah, before I forgot, I bought you a gift, in case I can't come back." said William and put his hand into his pocket, his other arm still didn't let go of Poppy.
He pulled out a long flat box and handed it to Poppy. "Here."
She took it and opened it immediately. "Wow," she took out a pin entwined with two serpents.
"I think it suits you. This is the symbol of health, right?"
Poppy smiled again. "Thank you."
She put her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek.
***
2004
"And he didn't come back?" asked Achilles quietly.
Mandy sighed. "No. We received the news on William's death during Poppy's birthday. It was said that he was killed by a dark wizard. At first, Poppy didn't believe it, but she did after a while. A few days later, we attended William's funeral, and we noticed that she looked pale. Mrs Pomfrey told us that she refuses to eat since her birthday. The next day, we tried to visit her but she didn't want to see anyone."
"The worse part happened a month later after William's death." said Georgia.
"What happened?" asked Achilles curiously.
Mandy was silent for a while before she started talking again.
***
1953
Mandy was at home, listening to the WWN to the radio when someone called her from the fireplace. She got up, turned off the radio quickly and went to the speaker. It was Mrs Pomfrey.
"Mandy, you better come to my house immediately." she said urgently.
"What happened?" asked Mandy anxiously.
"Poppy, she is not herself. I will talk more later." said Mrs Pomfrey before her head disappeared into the fire.
"Oh I hope Poppy is okay......" said Mandy before she disapparated.
***
Mandy appeared beside Jonathan Wood in the Pomfreys' living room and immediately, she asked: "What happened to Poppy?"
Jonathan just shrugged.
Mandy looked around and found that Minerva, Georgia, Albus and the rest of the male classmates were there, looking worried. Mrs Pomfrey came into the room, looking sad but relaxed when she saw all of Poppy's close friends were there.
"Guys, girls, Poppy's sick, she's cracked up, you have got to give her some real help." she said sadly.
"Cracked up?" whispered Minerva in fear.
"Ever since William's funeral, she locked herself up in her room. She refused to eat anything either. I heard her crying at night and today.........."
"What?" asked the Hogwarts Sisters.
"Suddenly she went screaming an hour ago that it is her fault that William died, and that she could have stopped him from going to Russia."
"It is not her fault that William is killed by a dark wizard!" cried Nicholas Longbottom.
"But Poppy insisted that it is." said Mrs Pomfrey.
"And now? How is she?" asked Georgia in concern.
"Now she is like, I don't know how to put it......."
"What?" asked Mandy anxiously.
Mrs Pomfrey trembled as she spoke. "She didn't respond to anything. No matter what I say or do, she doesn't react. When I fed her a glass of water, the water just flow out, as if she doesn't know how to drink......." She took a breath and started weeping.
"Where is she now, Mrs Pomfrey?" asked Joe Black.
"In her bedroom."
"Let's go and see her." suggested Albus and all agreed.
***
When they arrived at Poppy's bedroom, it was dark inside. Robert Lupin switched on the light and they found Poppy sitting on the floor near the window, looking rather blank. Her hair was untied and her eyes were red.
"Oh Merlin, Poppy." whispered Minerva.
"Ah!" exclaimed Don Weasley and everyone looked at him (except Poppy of course). "I can tell you what the problem is, the poor girl doesn't eat."
Minerva rolled her eyes while Joe snapped at Don, "Oh please, don't be an idiot."
"Well, we can try, I will get her favourite food, maybe she will eat that." said Don hopefully and went downstairs before anyone could stop him.
He came back with a delicious looking chocolate cake in his hand and squatted down in front of Poppy. The gang looked at them doubtfully.
"Hey Poppy, want this chocolate cake? It's your favourite." said Don gently.
Poppy just stared at Don with her lifeless eyes.
"Okay, so you don't want that......." said Don slowly. "Want anything else?"
She didn't respond.
Didn't know what else he could do, Don just got up and left the room to put back the cake. The Hogwarts Sisters, on the hand, rushed to their Empress Singing Flower.
"Poppy? Can you hear me?" asked Mandy.
She continued to stare ahead.
"It's us, Poppy, your Hogwarts Sisters." said Georgia.
"Speak to us, please." pleaded Minerva.
Silence.
"Poppy, do say something, you are scaring us." said Jonathan.
No matter what they said, Poppy continued to act as if they were invisible and the blank look remained on her face throughout the whole thing.
"Oh Poppy," said Minerva with tears in her eyes and reached out to hug her.
As she embraced her, Poppy remained like a doll, she didn't even return her hug. Georgia and Mandy didn't know what to do.
***
"I hope Poppy will be okay soon." said Don to Mrs Pomfrey when they left the house a few minutes later.
"My husband and I are thinking about sending her to a psychiatric hospital if she continued to be like this." said Mrs Pomfrey quietly.
"What?" asked the Hogwarts Sisters in horror.
"She needs professional help."
"Oh." said Minerva quietly.
"Well, um, thank you all for visiting." said Mrs Pomfrey gratefully.
"No problem." said Albus politely.
"Goodbye." said Mrs Pomfrey before closing the door.
Soon, they heard Mrs Pomfrey wailing upstairs. "Oh Poppy, do respond, please! Don't scare your mother........"
Albus sighed and put his hand onto Minerva's shoulder. "Come on, Minerva."
Minerva turned to Albus and immediately, she put her arms around him and started sobbing. "Oh Albus, how did she turn out to be like this? I don't want her to be like that for the rest of her life......"
Georgia started to cry and Nicholas comforted her.
Mandy was silent since they left Poppy's house and when Jonathan asked, "Mandy, are you okay?"
"Hm, what? Yeah, I......." Mandy sniffed and wiped the tears away from her eyes. "......okay....." she ended weakly.
"No, you are not." said Jonathan quietly.
"Fine, so I am not......" said Mandy, her voice saddened and a second later, she began to weep.
"Jonny, I don't get it, why does everything turn out to be like this?" she demanded in a feeble voice.
***
A few days later, Mrs Pomfrey asked the Hogwarts Sisters to accompany her, Poppy and her father to a private psychiatric hospital, because Poppy remained to be the same since the gang left her house days ago. At the hospital, they wanted Poppy to sigh herself in because they didn't want her to feel like she was being put away.
When the witch at the counter asked for her name, Poppy said, "Empress Singing Flower."
The witch stared at Mr Pomfrey.
"Ask again." he suggested.
So she did.
"I told you, it is Empress Singing Flower!" she snapped, grabbed a small Muggle vase from the counter and threw it at the witch, nearly missed her head.
Minerva put her arms around her and cried, "Empress, please! The witch didn't mean to offend you by asking you the same question twice!"
"I afraid it would be involuntary commitment if the girl doesn't give me her real name." said the witch as calm as possible after she had gotten over her shock.
Mr Pomfrey rushed out and slammed his hands onto the counter. "Listen Miss, I paid your hospital bloody well to get her in here, if she wants to sign herself as Empress Singing Flower, then she IS Empress Singing Flower, am I clear?"
Boy, was he clear.
***
2004
By the time Mandy finished her story, it was late evening.
"There were no records of Poppy Pomfrey ever having checked into a psychiatric hospital for 6 months. No one ever knew, except her family, the Hogwarts Sisters and her friends. On the day of her discharge, we took a solemn oath that we would not talk about it." said Mandy and took a deep breath. "But today, Georgia and I have no choice but to break it because we have to make you understand why Minerva doesn't want you to be an Auror. Poppy isn't here because the past is too painful for her to say."
Achilles didn't respond.
"Achilles, your mother doesn't want you to be an Auror because she loves you. She doesn't want to lose you like how Poppy loses William. Have you ever imagined what your mother will be like if she loses the one she loves? What if you, your father or Athena dies suddenly? She will break down and may even die of depression."
Achilles still remained silent.
"Achilles, are you okay?" asked Georgia.
"Yeah." said Achilles quietly.
"Look, Achilles, it is your choice. If you still won't forgive your mother for not telling you the truth 19 years ago, go ahead and leave the house........." Mandy trailed off and looked at Achilles for his reaction.
Achilles had a blank look on his face.
"Achilles?"
"I will, um, stay here for the night." he said finally.
"Is that means you will forgive your mother?" asked Georgia.
Mandy frowned. "Um, Georgia? If Achilles has Minerva's temper, I don't think he will say it out loud that he has forgiven her."
"Oh, right."
Achilles silently thanked Mandy for that.
"Well, we got to go home and prepare our lessons for Monday, right, Georgia?"
"Huh? (Mandy stepped onto her foot) Ouch, hm, right."
"W-wait, you are not staying here for the night?" asked Achilles.
"No." said Mandy and Georgia in unison.
"You can stay here if you like. I have two adorable babies to take care of at home." said Mandy.
"I have loads of paperwork to do," lied Georgia. "See you tomorrow."
"Don't try to escape tonight, okay?" said Mandy and ruffled Achilles's hair before she and Georgia left.
***
After the two Hogwarts Sisters left, Achilles looked at the album again. After a few pages, he found a photo of Poppy with blood on her white robes. She looked tired. He looked at the top of page and saw the words:
March 17 1966, the birth of Queen Cold As Ice's son, Achilles
Achilles raised his eyebrows at the words and looked at the photos carefully. He saw photos of Minerva, looking extremely exhausted but happy on a bed with himself in her arms. There were a few sentences under a photo of Albus, Minerva and baby Achilles. It looked like a transcript of a conversation:
Poppy: So what are you going to call him?
Albus: Achilles.
Poppy: Achilles....... Wait a minute, THE Achilles? The Trojan War hero?
Albus: The very same.
Poppy: Why do you name him after a hero who died because of the injury in his heel?
Minerva: Hm, we will ignore that part. I am the one who named him. I give that name because I want him to be invulnerable like the hero himself. So that nothing could harm him.
Achilles nearly cried when he read that. Now he understood everything.
