The Entangled Life of Claire (TSLOC sequel)

The Birthday Surprise

The Birthday Surprise

            About a month later, it was my birthday. My actual birthday and not the one I made up while I was pretending to be Jessica. I was still shaken by running into Draco at the grocery store and I had been avoiding George whenever I could. I knew he knew I was upset by Draco but of course he didn’t know fully why.

            I woke up on the morning of March twenty-fifth and smelled food coming from the kitchen. My stomach growled and I felt the baby moving around like he has been more and more lately. It made me think that he was going to be a rambunctious one. I sat up and got on a dress and some flats before walking out of the room and finding George making waffles in the kitchen. He smiled at me and rushed over to give me a kiss.

            “Happy birthday, my love.” He kissed me again before touching my stomach. “He’s moving again?”

            I nodded. “Always does.” I sat down at the table and rubbed my stomach.

            George went back to cooking. “I’m almost done fixing breakfast.” He smiled. “What would you like to do today? I can get Lee to run the shop and we can go do something.”

            I shook my head. I don’t want to do anything. We celebrated my birthday back in August. We don’t need to do anything for this one.”

            “Yes we do. That was when you were pretending to be Jessica. We need to celebrate your real one.”

            “George, we really don’t have to. I’m fine not celebrating it.”

            He sighed. “Alright.”

            I sighed. “I’m sorry, George. I just don’t see the use of celebrating two birthdays. We can celebrate next year, okay?”

            He nodded and put a plate of waffles on the table. “Okay.” He kissed my head. “Happy birthday anyways.”

            “Thank you.” I smiled softly and started fixing a waffle.

            After breakfast, we went downstairs to the shop and I sat in the chair George had near the door for me to rest while I was greeting customers. It was actually a big relief on my back and was thankful George thought of it. I relaxed into the chair and started greeting customers as I rubbed my belly. The baby was moving and I sighed. I was definitely going to have my hands full with this one.

            As I sat there and greeted the customers, I looked outside and saw Draco standing across the street smiling at me. I flinched and forced myself to look away. I focused on greeting the customers and tried not to look outside. Around noon, I heard someone start singing “Happy Birthday” and I looked to see George bring out a cake with some candles on it. Tears filled my eyes as the whole store started singing and George knelt by me. He kissed my cheek and said, “Blow out the candles, love.” I did and everyone clapped.

            “George, you didn’t have to.” I told him with a soft smile.

            “Of course I did.” He grinned. “Want a slice? I have enough for the whole store with some spells.”

            I sighed and saw a glimpse of silvery blonde hair in the crowd and I tried to focus on George. “Um… not now. The baby’s restless so I’m gonna go try to take a nap.” I smiled and stood slowly.

            “Yeah. I’ll save you a slice.” He kissed my cheek again and I went upstairs.

            Once there, I lied on the bed and closed my eyes. I tried my hardest to get any and all thoughts on Draco out of my head but it wasn’t working. I groaned into the pillow and got up to take some sleeping potion. Maybe a good sleep would calm me down. I took some and went back into the room; squeezing my eyes shut until I was finally asleep.

            Hours later, I was woken up by George rubbing my arm. I groaned and looked into his eyes. “What?” I mumbled.

            “I have a surprise for you.” He said softly.

            “George, I told you I don’t want anything for my birthday.” I said and closed my eyes.

            “Please, Claire. Please come see it.” He said and took my hand.

            I looked into his eyes and hated seeing how they were begging me. I nodded and he helped me up. He led me across the hall and opened the other room. Inside was a sunny yellow room with matching furniture; including a crib, changing table, dresser, and rocking chair. George had made a nursery. Tears filled my eyes and I couldn’t find the words to say anything.

            “I know you’re upset by what happened with Draco in the grocery shop but you’ve also been depressed throughout your pregnancy.” George said and I looked at him with wide eyes. He looked sad and that pulled at my heart. “If I did something to make you upset, I’m sorry. I just want you to be as happy as I am that we’re going to have a baby and I hate when you don’t want to talk about him.”

            I cried more and took his hands. “You didn’t do anything, George. I’m sorry. It was all just about Draco. I’m so sorry I made you feel like that.” I kissed his lips before looking back into his eyes. I just wanted to make him happy. “I promise to be happier. I swear.”

            He sighed and held me as close as he could. “I love you so much.”

            “I love you too.”

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Sorry for the wait! School's keeping me busy. I'm gonna try to upload this maybe again this week but I want to also do the Charlie Weasley story and I need to work on Perfect World for my creative writing class so we'll see what gets done when. Though I might work on Perfect World throughout my Spring Break in two weeks. We'll see what happens. Please comment and vote!