mahogany ; d.m

31 - condolences

CW: distressing thoughts and feelings
-

As the next two months dragged along, the bitter chill of Winter approached its end as March was seeing its last few weeks. In Athena's perspective, it hadn't felt like she were really alive at all throughout the course of the two months, instead floating aimlessly along as the days passed.

It seemed strange how time had passed since the day of the Quidditch match, when Athena's entire world had come to a halt. Whilst she was presently living through each day, they hauled on tortuously to the point where it seemed they would never end. However, looking back on the past two months, she couldn't comprehend where the time had gone.

For the first few weeks, it were as it she had been living under a dismal cloud which drained her of every slither of excitement, every emotion of affection and most importantly her ability to be close to others, but specifically herself.

Without realising, she had distanced herself from everyone and they left her to it, as if trying to show some understanding for her situation. They did not ignore her in anyway but only showed more care and attentiveness.

She would simply attend her lessons throughout the daytime, go to the Great Hall when it was time for dinner and would remain to sit with her friends, though she would never contribute to the conversation or show much interest in it. They did not question her silence, nor did they think ill of it in anyway and showed civility to her.

She had spent most of her nights alone in her dormitory, never wanting to immerse herself in the company of others which before she had always been so fond of doing.

Though after a while, she had grown tired of her solitude and sought for her friends once again and was gratefully welcomed back with open arms. The first evening that she had spent with them after several weeks, they were delightfully surprised to see her to willing to be around them again.

At first it had been quite difficult to speak with anyone due to the fact that her late pregnancy was now to everyone's knowledge. There was not one single student that had not found out. One evening, while she still rested in the hospital wing, Hermione had come to break the news to her.

Finding out that everyone knew had aggravated her but the mood quickly passed as she saw no reason to be so upset over something which had already happened and now subsided in the past. She did not know how the news was shared and was not sure if she even wanted to know.

She had remained in Madam Pomfrey's care for two weeks after the incident and had received several visits from her friends. Hermione had dropped by almost every single day and Harry and Ron had spent most of their free periods with her as well as sometimes visiting with Hermione.

Fred, George and Ginny had visited occasionally and one of the days brought with them a hamper which Mr and Mrs Weasley very kindly sent. It was filled with homemade baked goods as well as a knitted woollen jumper, similar to the one she had received at Christmas, only a purple, plum colour and instead of the letter 'A' sewn in the middle their was a beautiful green botanical.

She made sure to send a letter of thanks to Mr Weasley and Mrs Weasley presenting immense gratitude and affection through her words.

She had also received a few visits from Maeve and Luna who would sit with her for periods of time and catch her up on all of the gossip she was missing.