Intertwined || Percabeth Hogwarts AU

Chapter 41

Athena Chase lived her life with pride.

At least that's what it looked like on the surface. And while most of it was true, she, like most people, had deep rooted regrets that plagued her every so often. But ever since her daughter began to attend Hogwarts... ever since she befriended Perseus, all of it had come back full throttle.

The boy in question was currently downstairs with her daughter getting ready to go to Azkaban to meet... him. Athena couldn't even muster the fight to refute Annabeth when she told her of the events of their sixth year. And as soon as she heard that they were dating, all her memories of her time in Hogwarts, the fiasco, the trial, the letter replayed in her mind on a constant loop.

She walked over to her closet, moving some clothes aside, and withdrew a black shoebox buried underneath years of clutter. Removing the lid, she took out a cloth wrapped bundle. Opening it, she felt a rush of nostalgia seeing all her memorabilia, but one item in particular stuck out.

A wand.

Thirteen inches, Thestral tail hair core.

Poseidon's wand.

Athena held it between her fingers and smiled lightly. Poseidon was told that his wand would be snapped and she had asked Kingsley for the responsibility. Instead of destroying it, she kept his wand in her possession all this time, having snapped a false wand in its place.

But then that looming feeling of regret panged within her and she nearly dropped the magical instrument. She had tarnished Poseidon's faith in the most terrible way imaginable. Even now, nearly three decades later, her heart still ached, his pained expression seared in her memories.

That letter she sent to her daughter... Athena didn't know what came over her, but in a rash decision she exploded in anger, in worry and undeservingly insulted Poseidon's son — no. Perseus. His name was Perseus Jackson, not Poseidon's son.

A sound of pure frustration crawled up her throat and out through gritted teeth. All this time, she only saw her once lover in that boy. Not him as his own person. And in turn, she hurt both her daughter and Perseus. She worried if they became friends... only heartache and misery lied in their wake. So, with hardly any thought spent, she had laced her magic into the letter, forcing Annabeth to harbor an uncanny hatred for Perseus.

Poseidon surely wouldn't want any trace of her in his son's life.

It was foolish thinking on her part. And unfortunately, her plan had worked a little too well.

Athena knew her actions were uncouth and unfair. How could she do that to her only daughter? She knew very well that Perseus was the most important person in Annabeth's life, and yet...

And yet she forced her to call him that vile word. Athena had called him that herself, knowing full well of his parentage. She, the Minister for Magic, the representative of all witches and wizards had been so prejudiced and manipulative. She was disgusted with herself.

Athena realized that she didn't prevent a tragedy yet to happen, but instead brewed the same heartache she feared. And it put them through an unnecessary period of hardship. It had turned her daughter into a hollow shell of the amazing woman she was growing up to be. It had turned a boy, too kind to everyone he met, cold and angry. He was someone who valued loyalty above everything, having always showed it in heaps and bounds to his loved ones. That was rare, a person so selfless in world plagued with only the selfish. So his loyalty being shattered and wrenched away by his closest friend...

The betrayal must've felt unimaginable.