The Squib and the Werewolf

72. Birthday Blues

Raya was a mess when Sirius left on his mission, and she worried about him all the time.
When she woke up each morning alone, she cried, as she realised that Sirius was not with her.
She also worried a lot about Remus, and she prayed that he was still alive, as she hadn't heard anything from him, and that frightened her.
At the end of July it was Harry's 1st birthday.
Originally they had planned to make it a huge celebration, but since James and Lily were in hiding, Remus and Sirius were on missions, and Marlene and Dorcas were dead, Harry's birthday would be a much smaller affair.
Peter came around in the morning, but didn't stay long. And Bathilda Bagshot came for Harry's birthday lunch, before going home.
Which meant that Raya was the only one there that afternoon.

Harry loved flying on the toy broomstick Raya and Sirius got him, even though it only rose a few centimetres off the floor.
Raya took several photos of him on the broom, so that she could show Sirius when he got back.
Unfortunately though, Harry managed to fly into a table, knocking the vase on it onto the floor, and breaking it into several pieces.
"I'm really sorry about the vase" apologised Raya.
"Don't be, it was hideous" admitted James, as they returned to the living room to sit down, as they were tired from chasing Harry around the house on the broom.

"Why did you put it on display then?" Asked Raya.
"It was a wedding present" answered James.
"Really. From who?" Questioned Raya.
"My sister" replied Lily, as she entered the room after putting Harry down for his nap.
"Oh, have you heard much from her recently?" Quizzed Raya.
"No. She refused to come to my wedding, even though she sent me a gift. But I haven't seen her in years. I still send her letters, the Muggle way, so that she doesn't have owls arriving at her house. But she never responds to any of them" sighed Lily, as she looked at the broken pieces of vase on the table in front of her.

"You could just fix the vase with magic" reminded Raya.
"I'd rather we didn't" mumbled James.
"He's right. And maybe this is a sign, that I need to look to the future, and not the past. If my sister doesn't want to be a part of my life, then I should stop trying to force myself on her" announced Lily.
"That sounds like a good idea to me. Being around her only makes you miserable, anyway" replied Raya.
"That's true. Besides, I don't need her to be my sister, because I have you" smiled Lily.
"You certainly do. And I'm not going anywhere" promised Raya.

"So, Lioness, what's new in your life?" Questioned James.
"Not much with Sirius gone" answered Raya.
"It must be hard without him" sympathised Lily.
"Yes. And not just emotionally. I hadn't realised how hard it would be to not have a wizard around all the time. I can't do magic, so I have to rely on someone else to help me with their magic to do certain tasks. So, without Sirius around, even every day things can be a challenge. You don't know how many times a day I wish I could apparate, as there are so many stairs in the manor" sighed Raya.

"You could move in with us until Sirius gets back, we have a spare room afterall" offered Lily.
"I don't want to intrude. You have Harry to think about afterall. And Sirius will be back in a week or two" replied Raya.
"You won't be intruding. You are our family, Raya, you belong with us. And I hate to think of you all alone in that big house. Especially as you are pregnant right now, and I know how hard it is carrying a child. So, please move in" begged Lily.

"What do you think, Prongs?" Raya asked James.
"I'd love it if you stayed for a few weeks. Having someone else in this house to talk to, would do us both some good, as we are starting to go a little insane, trapped in here all day. You don't know how much it sucks to not be able to join your friends on missions" admitted James.
"As a Squib who is pregnant and currently not going on missions, I can sympathise" replied Raya.

"I know that protecting Harry is important, because he might be the one the prophecy is referring to. But that shouldn't mean that me and Lily have to be house bound. Only being allowed to leave on special occasions is really frustrating" said James.
"I would have assumed that you were using the invisibility cloak to sneak out, without telling anyone" replied Raya.
"I told Dumbledore about the cloak a while back, and he seemed really curious about it. He asked if he could borrow it, and I said yes, because I'm not supposed to be leaving the house anyway. And if letting him borrow my cloak is the only helpful thing I can do for the Order right now, then I want to do it" informed James.

"Why did he seem curious about the cloak?" Questioned Raya.
"I don't know. I guess because most invisibility cloaks stop working after a while, but mine doesn't. My cloak has been passed down through my family for hundreds of years, and that seemed to intrigue Dumbledore" revealed James.
"Well, he had better give it back soon, as it is yours and not his. And as he's always saying, he has his own ways of making himself invisible without a cloak" mumbled Raya, unable to hide the anger for Dumbledore, in her voice.
She was furious at Dumbledore for sending her brother and her husband away, leaving her alone. Especially when so many Order members were dying.

"The cloak is no use to me right now, so he can keep it for the time being... I haven't seen Dumbledore recently anyway, so I can't ask for it back. It's like he's told us to remain in hiding indefinitely, and just forgotten about us" admitted James.
"I'm not his biggest fan right now either" muttered Raya.
"I'm sure Dumbledore knows what he is doing" insisted Lily.
"I hope so, because all of our hopes rest on him... Raya, have you heard anymore about Caradoc Dearborn?" Questioned James.
"No. He is still missing" answered Raya.
"I wonder how much longer Dumbledore is going to keep telling us that Caradoc is missing. He's dead and we all know it. We might not have found his body, but I think we all know that he hasn't retired to a nice sunny beach somewhere" replied James.

"Can we please talk about something else" begged Lily.
"Fine... Raya, when do you want to move in? Tonight or tomorrow?" Questioned James.
"Well, you're the one that will have to apparate me there and back, so it's up to you" informed Raya.
"O.K, I'll take you home tonight as normal, and then I'll come for you tomorrow morning. That way, we'll have a chance to set up the spare room for you. Is that alright?" Asked James.
"Sounds good to me" answered Raya.