Closed Tangled Echoes

[Theodore Westwick]

Theodore Westwick had been a parent for nearly twelve years, and he still didn't feel like he knew what he was doing. The twins had been fairly easy babies and toddlers, mostly because they were so similar to how he and Edmund had been. It was familiar, so it wasn't difficult for him. But when Arachne and Nessie had been sorted in different houses at Hogwarts last year, Theodore had to admit that perhaps they were more different than he had always assumed.

He remembered how he and Edmund had been when they were younger, and how deeply things had gone wrong when they grew up. He had always known it was a risk when it came to his daughters, but their relationship deteriorated much more rapidly. He had known that he would have to deal with it over break, but it wasn't until he had found Arachne asleep on the couch this morning that he realized he needed to step in now. Apparently, her sister was icing her out so much that she sneaked out of the room at night so she didn't have to sleep in there. It broke Theodore's heart to see both girls hurting so much. He hoped that perhaps he could fix things, or at least help them a little.

Nessie was reading a book he had shown her a lot as a child, a textbook on taxidermy of insects. He quietly joined her, taking a seat next to her and reading over her shoulder without saying anything.

 

[Nessie Westwick]

If being at school was wretched, being at home was almost worse. At school, Nessie didn't have to see her sister anywhere but in her own mirror. Arachne could have all the friends she wanted in her own stupid house, and Nessie was alone, alone, alone, but at least she could be alone. Cut off a piece of her heart and pretend that she had always been a single person, instead of half of a matched pair. Life at home afforded no such grace, with no other children around to distract Arachne, and nothing but shared spaces where they would inevitably run into one another.

Their bedroom was the worst of all, and just having to be in there with her ex-twin made Nessie feel sick. There was no avoiding any of it in there. Face to face with her betrayer in the space that had been their sanctuary for so long... it was bright neon in her face, and Nessie's stomach churned with frustration and revulsion. The only option she had was to ignore Arachne harder than ever, and it had finally started working. Really, one of them should just change rooms, but Nessie was not going to be the one to break. If Arachne wanted to abandon her, she would have to ask to take over the spare room herself.

During the daytime it was at least easier to avoid Arachne with the whole house available, and Nessie had set herself up comfortably in the living room with an old favourite book. She was studying a picture of a particularly pleasant beetle display case when her dad approached, glancing at him out of the corner of one eye before returning to the book. If he wanted to read with her, that was just fine. At least Nessie had one person in her family who understood her.

 

[Theodore Westwick]

Theodore sat quietly with his daughter, for a while. He wasn't reading the page, he was looking at her face, marveling at how grown up she was now, but at the same time feeling she was so very young and small. He wanted to protect her from all the hurt. "I know how you're feeling." He said, finally. His voice was quiet and steady. "I felt the same when Edmund liked someone, a girl. It felt like he was ripped away, like he betrayed me." He gently put a hand on her shoulder. "It hurt a lot. It made me angrier than I had ever been before."