Ravenclaw's Shadow

Chapter 60

On Boxing Day I head up to Mum and Dad's. I wait until evening, knowing they won't be awake until then. I disapparate right to the doorstep, then step inside out of the drifts of snow.

"Hello?" I call, shaking my shoes off, "Mum? Dad?"

"Darling!" Mum comes out of the next room and sweeps over to hug me, "how are you?"

"Great, how're you?"

"Oh, we're fantastic," she says, guiding me into the next room where my father is. I greet him with a kiss on the cheek and we sit down to some warm blood.

"Aurelia, are you getting enough blood?" Mum asks, "you're looking peaky."

"Yeah, just been stressful lately," I sigh, "how're things here?"

"Oh, we're looking forward to your birthday," Mum says, "it'll be a quiet one, I'm afraid, but things have been so dull, I can't think of anything better than a party."

"Mum, what's going on?" I ask, looking at her. Dad glances at her too.

"Nothing, dear," she says, "why?"

"Because you're never this bubbly," I say, "what happened?"

Mum exchanges a look with Dad and sighs.

"He Who Must Not Be Named," she says, "he's been sending Death Eaters around to all the vampires, trying to convince us to fight for him."

"And?"

"You know us, we're neutral," Dad says, folding his newspaper up.

"But they're getting more and more persistent," Mum says, "a lot of the family has gone into hiding."

"Why haven't you?" I ask.

"We don't hide," Dad says. Mum glances over at him.

"Yes," she says, "we don't hide."

"Who isn't in hiding?" I ask. Mum sighs.

"Well, at the moment, just us," she says.

***

Georgiana comes over the morning of my birthday and we spend ages catching each other up on news.

"It's weird," I say, "I've never seen them afraid before, not like this."

"It's going to be fine," Georgiana says, "you'll be in Romania. He can't be that desperate for vampires that he'd go there."

"Yeah, but they're too stubborn to go into hiding," I sigh, "and..."

"It'll be fine," Georgiana repeats firmly, "come on, relax. You go home tomorrow and I want to enjoy my one day with you."

We spend the rest of the day decorating cakes, painting our nails and just generally pretending there isn't a war going on. By the time Mum and Dad wake up, we're all ready for a party. A dinner party, that is, consisting of my parents, Georgiana, Mr and Mrs Weasley, Fred, George and Ginny.

"This is lovely," Mum says as we eat. She pours out another round of wine and I shoot her a look of caution. The last thing we need is a drunk vampire insisting that she has a 'party trick' that can make you live forever.

"Ooh, look at the cake!" Mum says when Dad brings it out, "girls, you did a lovely job!"

I can feel myself slowly dying of embarrassment, but Georgiana seems to find it funny.

"Shall we sing happy birthday?"

"Mum, no..."

But they do. Loudly and energetically. We take our cake into the living room. To my surprise, Dad and George are standing aside, talking. I'm about to go over to them when Fred catches my arm.