Celia I A Harry Potter Fanfiction

Chapter Twenty-Four - A Long-Awaited Meeting

Present Day, 9th June 2003:

I walked down the corridor, meeting Emily half way.
"How did the appointment go?" She asked.
"Yeah, I've got a lot to think about." I state, smiling at her as she guided me into another hallway towards the ward.
"Good I'm glad. Did she mention your Mum at all?"
"A little... how has she been?" I stop and look at her. Gathering all of my nerve, I try to force myself to stand still and not turn the other way.
"You've got her on a good day today. The medicine only does so much these days, so we just try to keep her calm."
"Can she not be helped then? She's been here for so long, surely she can't live her whole life here." I mention, wondering how someone could spend her whole life in a place like this.
"When someone goes down the rabbit hole as deep as your Mum has, it's hard to get out. You mum is here on a voluntary basis now. After so many years it's up to her when she leaves, she could leave today if she wanted to, but she's safe here and she's looked after." I remember looking down and finding her on the ground of our Quidditch pitch that day.

"She was at my Quidditch game about a month ago. I thought I'd imagined it, but she must have really been there."
"You're the girl that fell?" I nod at her and look at the door awaiting me.
"She left unexpectedly that day, we can't exactly stop her, but when she came back, she was extremely frazzled, talking on and on about a girl that fell from her broom." I smiled, embarrassed that my mum had seen me that way.
"I thought I'd caught a glimpse of her and stalled, it gave the other team a chance to hurl the bludger my way, I didn't have a chance." She grimaced at the thought.
"Well at least we know now that she hadn't dreamt it up." I laugh lightly and stare back at the door in front of me.
"Do I need to do anything before going in?" I ask, looking at her smiling gently at me.
"I'll take your wand for safekeeping and you can just walk on in. She's sitting on the couch in front of the bay window, she's got lunch ready for the both of you." I smile at her and breathe out, forcing myself to walk through the doors and into the room.

As I walked through I noticed the different people mulling around, many in their own clothes, but some in gowns. A few recognised me, as I noticed the paper lying down on a couple tables, I wondered whether she'd read it yet.

I found the couch facing the bay window. A woman with golden blonde hair, similar to my own, faced away from me. She was wearing a knitted cardigan over casual clothes and as I walked around the couch to face her, I stared at her face; it was aged from the years, but no different to my memory.

"Mum?" She turned her head to face me, confusion slightly clouding her eyes as she took me in. Once she'd fully looked at me, a smile took over her face. She stood up and walked towards me, grasping my hands her smile disappeared and her grip tightened on my wrists.

"Mum?" I asked again, watching as the healers surrounded us.
"You can't be here..." I frown in confusion as her eyes looked into the distance, like she was somewhere else but here.
"Mum, it's Celia. I'm here... I promise it's me." I tried to reassure her as her grip loosened and she stood back, staring at me properly.
"It's really you?" She finally asks after staring at me a little longer.
"It's me, it's your bunny." I state, hoping she'd come back around.
"Oh my, it's really you. My daughter..." I sigh in relief as the workers back off and she walks over to me and grasps my hands again.
"Mum..." I struggle to find the right words to tell her as the emotion overwhelms me.
"Oh, look at you. I knew you'd turn out to be gorgeous, but my goodness you are so beautiful... my Celia." I smiled at her, tears clouding my vision as she brought me in for a hug.

"I'm so sorry Mum."
"Oh my daughter, do not apologise." She pulls back and brings me over to the couch, never letting go of my hands.
"You must hate me... all of these years I didn't come to see you." She closes her mouth, her eyes still smiling at me.
"I could never hate you." She mumbles, squeezing my hands in comfort.
"If I'd known you had legilimency too, I would have tried to find you sooner. I had no idea you were here..."
"Your father did what he thought was best, it is no one's fault." I smile at her, surprised with how calm she'd become.
"I was so scared. I thought I was all alone, but when I found out you had it too, it all made sense to me."
"I always wondered whether it'd be passed down to you, you are so much stronger than I could imagine." She smiles gently at me, caressing my cheek.
"I got taught how to control it, but it wasn't easy. If only you'd been taught how to control it too." She hushes me as she pulls away from my cheek; brushing my hair back from my face as I imagine what my life could have been like if she'd known what I did all of these years.
"You've been through enough bunny, we're here together now, that's enough for me and it should be for you too." A tear, drops onto my cheeks as I realised my mother hadn't left me. She had been waiting all of these years, waiting for me to understand what she had gone through, to come to her and be together again.