Rune stone path

Birthday Shenanigans

Lily poured the mix into the bowl and started opening cabinets with a slight frown on her face. "I could've sworn we had a beater in here somewhere…"

Shiva raised an eyebrow as she tapped Lily's wand on the table. "Uh, hon, we are witches you know. We can just flick our wands and mix the batter without going full Muggle here."

"Cakes always taste better when made without magic," Lily said distractedly. "You agreed that we could do this my way this year and my way is the Muggle way. The Muggle way needs a beater…Aha! Found it!" She pulled back from the cabinet triumphantly raising her hand high with a mixer clutched in it. "I knew I saw this the other day! Now we can finish it."

Shiva just rolled her eyes good-naturedly and moved to the second bowl. "Well while you finish the batter I'll get the icing done. How long does this thing cook for again?"

"Well the box always says 30 minutes, but I find if you 'turn up' the heat a bit you can get it done in 20."

"Turn up the heat? I thought you said no magic," Shiva said laughing.

Lily shrugged. "No magic in the cake. Magic to speed up the baking a bit…well, I can be a bit impatient at times."

Shiva laughed harder. "Hypocrite." She teased lightly, shaking her head as she finished up with the icing. "I'm surprised the girls didn't want to help out honestly."

"I'm not. I asked Hermione yesterday and she was saying that they got to monopolize Harry in the evening so we should get to monopolize at least part of his day," Lily said. "What I'm amazed at is that we managed to get Dobby to let us help out."

"I bribed him," Shiva stated. "Promised the little guy he could make the next two weeks worth of meals – well lunch and dinner. Nobody steals breakfast prep from Harry if he's up."

"Why is that? I haven't gotten around to asking him yet," Lily asked as she slotted the cake into the oven and leaned back against the counter.

Shiva grimaced and hopped up on corner next to Lily. "It's partly because he enjoys it, partly because he feels it's one of the first things he was ever good at, but…largely it's because of habit."

Lily frowned. "My sister?" she guessed.

"Yeah. Sorry. Harry had to make them breakfast since he like five or something. Young enough that he needed a stool to reach the stovetop." Shiva's lips curled into a scowl and her fists clenched. "Don't ask him about it, okay? I only found out because I made him tell me about one of the scars on his arm. Apparently he spilled boiling water when the pot was too heavy to carry because of his age. Vernon hit him afterwards for 'getting the floor wet'." Shiva shuddered and continued in a quiet voice, "God I hate those people."

Lily's mouth had narrowed into a line. "Don't worry, we'll make them pay. My darling sister and her family aren't going to get off scot-free for treating my son like that. Dumbledore too for leaving Harry with them." Lily heaved a sigh and shook her head. "Enough of that. How are you doing, Shiva?"

Shiva's eyebrows rose. She chuckled and leaned over slightly to bump Lily's shoulder. "How am I doing? I'm not the one who came back from the dead here. How are you doing? Seriously, Lily, you've barely even mentioned your husband for weeks now. Are you doing alright?"

Lily grimaced, but nodded. "I'm okay. Really, Shiva, I'm okay. With James, I…I just…" she picked up her wand a cast a privacy charm around the room. "Look, don't tell Harry what I'm about to say please. I don't want him to get the wrong idea."

"I promise," Shiva said cocking her head at the other woman.

"Thanks." Lily shook her head and crossed her arms. "James and I probably shouldn't have gotten married." Shiva's eyes widened at that, but she remained silent. "I did love him. I really did. The man was just a bit too…immature and impulsive. I can be fiery and impulsive myself and I…well I always thought I'd wind up with someone a bit more methodical than me. Someone who could balance things out. James never did that. I was always the grownup in the relationship. He mellowed out a lot during his last two years when he actively pursued me and we started dating, but…he was a prankster at heart and that never fully went away." She laughed and gave a little smirk to the air. "He was a lot like Sirius is now actually."