don't wanna be torn

0.1

thestia black knew, even at 8 years old, that this moment was coming, though she hadn't understood how yet or why. nevertheless, it was unsurprising when the healer came into the room to check on her mother and delivered the bad news. she still cried as she told her.

molly weasley had just gone back to the burrow to give her some time with her mother, telling her she would be back later. neither of them knew that when she came back, thestia and her mother would no longer be there or that they wouldn't see each other again until she was 11 years old- even then it would only be fleeting.

"my mother's hand is very cold. she needs more blankets," the child said with a shaky voice.

"we're very sorry to inform you, dear," the healer said as kindly as she could. "but your mother, delphinia, has passed away. she had the greengrass family maledictus, i'm afraid. it's a blood curse. as you probably know, she's been fighting it for years, but it's finally won out."

even though she had been prepared for it, thestia felt like someone had pulled out a piece of her soul and torn it to shreds - fragmented and lost. she didn't know what to say. she didn't understand how this had happened or why it had happened to her mum instead of somebody else's. here she was though, two parents short, heart breaking in her chest, and no idea where she was supposed to go from here.

she heard a pained gasp from the doorway behind her, and then suddenly her uncle was beside her, watching her aunt throw herself down on the bed. sobs wracked her body as she clutched at delphinia's robes. thestia didn't know what to do or say to console her when she was falling apart herself. so, she just held her mother's cold hand and waited for somebody to come tell her this was some awful joke. she didn't know what came next, and she didn't know why these near strangers were here beside her, wailing like they'd lost something precious, though she knew that they had.

thestia knew that she was, her mother had been unlike anyone that she'd ever met- confusing and harsh at times, but kind and smart and never unwilling to share knowledge with her daughter. this was her loss though- her mother. whatever claim they thought they had on her, it would always be thestia's mum who was lying in the hospital bed. now, she was never coming home.

she looked up at the strange man and woman the healer had left her with. she had only met her aunt and uncle a few times in her life- none of which had been particularly pleasant- when the holidays rolled around. she liked her cousin daphne well enough and adored astoria, but it was still a shock to her when she found herself being moved out of her home, away from her friends in ottery st. catchpole, to live with them instead at greengrass manor.

she was grateful to them for taking her in - really and truly. she knew that her mother had loved them, despite the fact that in the last few years they seemed to have different opinions in all the things that really seemed to matter to thestia. more than anything though, she just wanted her mother back, and it hurt her knowing that it would never happen.

the funeral for her mother was held not long after, all remnants of her mother packed away or sold to fill thestia's gringotts account. afterwards, she was taken back with her trunk and few belongings to her new home. when they arrived at the manor though, it became abundantly clear to her that this was not her world.

with a sharp reminder to herself that she would just have to get used to it, she entered the front parlor and braced herself for the next 9 years of her life.