Heroes at Hogwarts

forty-four | charmspeaking and huts

frank

"I can't act like I didn't see it coming," Jason muttered as they laid back on their beds that night. "But maybe not while Percy was gone. Percy and Harry." 

Frank had been surprised when Jason had mentioned him and Piper's breakup on the walk back to the school. Or...the fly. Jason had flown them back, Frank a mouse on his shoulder. He'd used too much energy helping the Weasley's move in he doubted he could have done it on his own. 

What mainly surprised him was their ability to act like nothing had changed. They still acted the same around each other, still pushed and shoved and laughed with their friends. Frank sighed, sitting up. Maybe that was why they didn't work, he thought, they weren't ever more than friends. Not really. 

The girls, Nico, and Will had walked, insisting that they needed the fresh air. Frank didn't doubt it. Hazel hadn't come back from her talk with Silena, but he knew she was alright when they flew over. The two were sitting by the lake, holding hands and staring out at the water. Frank had smiled at the sight; Hazel helping someone. She always did, always would. It was something Frank loved about her. 

"We weren't ever a real couple," Jason sat up to. "But we weren't ever just friends, you know?" 

Frank smiled sheepishly. No, he really didn't. 

"Sorry, I normally talk to Percy about this stuff. I don't know where he gets the advice from, though. It was always him and Annabeth, no doubt about it. Not even when she thought he was dead."

Frank frowned. "I know I'm not going to be good at this, but if you knew that...why did you hold on for so long?"

Jason stared at him, then looked down, voice low in volume and pride. "Because we were never just friends to me. Never." 

Frank blew out a breath, his cheeks deflating. "Oh. Okay, well, we can work with that. That we can definitely work  with." 

"Work with?" Jason rolled his eyes. "How? It's clear she doesn't want to be more than friends. I'm fine with that, too, as long as she's happy. I'm not going to stop her from being who she is...who she's destined to be, even if it means she goes on without me." 

Frank laid back down. "I know you're fine with it all, man, but... just... nevermind." 

Frank expected him to chase the bait, try to get Piper back, but Jason laid down as well and stared at the ceiling. That was when Frank realized that his friend really had given up on the daughter of Aphrodite. 

He'd heard once, from Drew, Piper's sister, that the tradition of a child of Aphrodite was to make someone fall in love with you. You made your way into their routine, got them around your finger, and then broke them. You ruined their view of love. Once you'd accomplished that, made Mom proud, you could continue on with your life- loving who you want and not paying the price for it. 

Was that how Piper had seen Jason? As her ticket into her mother's favor? She'd always been a screw-up back home, with her dad, Frank knew she'd voiced those views on her old life. Had she decided that to be the good daughter, the best daughter, the leader of Cabin 10, and go for the son of Zeus? Someone she could break, someone she could steal a heart from? 

Frank refused to believe it. Piper was his friend, and so was Jason. Piper and Jason were friends. She wouldn't destroy someone, not for the approval of her mother. Not for Aphrodite. 

Frank turned to look at Jason, too, and realized that the way his friend had just let her go, let her figure out her own life, maybe he wasn't so broken. Maybe he wasn't so destroyed. Maybe this was the break his heart had been waiting for, something to let it lose again.