—--------------------------princess Andromeda, pre-battle of labyrinth
Cedric finds himself regretting everything that led him to this point, don’t get him wrong Cedric loves his siblings and friends. But right now with a huge battle approaching, everything seemed to be falling apart, Raiden was MIA in the labyrinth, Alabaster was panicking and wouldn’t let anyone help, and now Cedric was being called into a meeting because of something concerning his twin sisters Sarah and Ash.
As he speed walked to the meeting room Cedric racked his brain for anything the twins could have done wrong to warrant this. The only thing Cedric could think of was that they had been pretty distant lately, but he had just chalked it up to them being teenagers or grieving but none of that would justify a meeting.
Cedric couldn't hold in a gasp as he arrived and saw the 2 girls tied up looking like they were on trial for murder. Alabaster’s head snapped over to Cedric; he looked like someone had just killed his dog in front of him. Alabaster quickly ran over to Cedric and blurted out that Sarah and Ash had betrayed them and now Luke and Hecate were going to do something to them. Cedric only had a second to process everything before Luke locked the door behind them.
“Cedric, Alabaster, Hecate you all are aware of the situation correctly” They all nodded, Cedric snuck a peek at his sister but neither would meet his eyes. Before Luke continued his voice got quiet and melancholy.
“Kronos has decided that killing them would be the best course, however, I felt that their mother and heads of coven should have a say in the matter”. Cedric didn’t miss the way Alabaster got closer to the twins when Luke said kill. Before any of the Hecate kids could make a sound their mother spoke up.
“Thank you, Luke, now I feel like there could be another way to punish them and keep them from betraying us further, without killing them” Luke gestured for the Titaness to continue
“I propose that until the end of the war I turn them into polecats”. Cedric knew this was coming, he knew it could be so much worse but something in his heart broke for his little sisters. Luke agreed with Hecate's suggestion and stepped away from Sarah and Ash. Cedric and Alabaster didn’t have time to say goodbye before the sisters were no longer human. For a second the sound was crunching and twisting bones. In their place were 2 female polecats who looked scared and confused, Hecate walked over and picked them up clutching her daughters close to her heart before handing them to Cedric.
Cedric's hands shook as he gently held the polecats(his little sisters). Alabaster quickly left to tell the rest of their siblings and Cedric drifted back to his dorm. He knew that he couldn’t stay on this ship any longer, but where would Cedric go? The idea popped into his head as he took out his notebook and spotted last night's research. Cedric had recently gotten interested in London’s wizarding world (so had Raiden).
He had already pitched the idea of attending Hogwarts after the war to Hecate; she had said it was a good idea, and Cedric could go there. He had already done the necessary research, it would be easy and he knew Hecate would say yes. But that would mean leaving everyone and everything behind.
Cedric only realized his sisters were trying to get his attention when Ash bit his hand, he looked to see both polecats staring at him, when they noticed his attention they started squeaking and tugging his sleeves to the door. Cedric got the message and picked them up then started walking to the common area where most Hecate kids would be hanging around at this time.
As Cedric walked in the whole room went silent, and the polecats jumped from his hands and hesitantly approached the group. Not a second went by before they were scooped up and softly held by Alabaster, immediately the room seemed to unpause and everyone started to ask the twins questions. The polecats seemed to be overwhelmed so Alabaster commanded silence and told everyone to ask one question at a time and told the twins to squeak once for yes and twice for no.
The rest of the night passed slowly and no one went to bed happy, the twins slept in Cedric’s room seeming tired and depressed, the atmosphere of sorrow and acceptance was enough for Cedric to make up his mind about leaving.
Cedric woke up the next day feeling genuinely horrible, his nightmares had been plagued with sounds of blood spilling and crunching bones. The polecats were no better as they hopped onto his shoulder to get to breakfast. They seemed miserable, whether it was from being an animal or the fact that no one knew how to feel about them after the whole traitor thing Cedric didn’t know. Almost everyone ignored the animals at breakfast
After breakfast Cedric requested to speak to his mother alone, Hecate nodded her head and took him aside. He confessed his plan to move to London and begin Hogwarts when the school year started, she was understanding and validating permitting him. At the end of the day Cedric told everyone, the reactions varied from being worried about him to being angry at him, nothing changed his mind and he stayed firm on his stance. After a while, everyone understood he wasn’t budging and just made him promise to visit for holidays and breaks.
As Cedric packed the twins would not leave him alone and kept hopping into his bag, it took a while but when he understood what they were conveying he verbally asked them if they wanted to come to London with him they nodded and squicked happy their point was finally acknowledged. Cedric resolved to ask Hecate about it later.
At the end of the day, Cedric and everyone on the boat knew he was leaving for Hogwarts.
—------------------------------------------Hogwarts ,almost a year later
Cedric was happy at Hogwarts, sure it was still school and there were some crappy people but it was safe and mostly peaceful which was more than he could say for the boat or worse camp. But sometimes the longing for his siblings got so much worse, even with Ash and Sarah with him(albeit as polecats but at least they're not dead right). After upwards of 3 years in constant companionship with other demigods and people like him, Cedric couldn’t help but feel a bit lonely without someone to complain about monsters and absent parents.
That being said Cedric wasn’t completely cut off from his family, he still sent letters and photos to them and they always responded quickly and excitedly with the raven Hecate had gifted him for messaging. Some of them had even visited him at school before, however due to their full armor covering their faces and aura of power (that Cedric always covered with the mist) they had been dubbed as ‘ghost soldiers’. Cedric found it funny when he heard gossip about Alabaster or Raiden being considered bad omens or ghosts.
Cedric had sent out another letter to the Andromeda only earlier today so when his typically graceful raven sped into the cafeteria like a bullet and crashed into him Cedric was concerned even more so when he recalled how close the date was to August 18th. That was until he saw the dark purple envelope with his mother’s signature and stamp he understood, but the friends he was sitting with not so much. Not a second went by before Dain, a fellow Hufflepuff and history buff commented.
“Merlin's beard dude! What happened to your bird!” Cedric quickly got up and explained that it was a letter from his mom and how he was going to go read it. Cedric had already opened the envelope by the time he reached his room, immediately he could tell it was something bad by the way his mother worded it. By the time Cedric finished the letter he was distraught, apparently those bloody terrorists at camp half-blood blew up Princess Andromeda and greatly injured Raiden and Isra whom Hecate rushed to a wizarding hospital because she feared a normal one wouldn’t be enough.
Cedric grabbed his broom (and his polecats because that was also their brother's) and started to the hospital, Cedric would be damned if he wasn’t there when his younger brothers awakened.