A week had passed.
Isabel's leg had gotten better, she could now walk.
She hadn't cried in a week either.
But, the rest of the group would rather see her cry and show any bit of life.
She had gone numb.
Hardly eating, hardly sleeping, hardly speaking.
Harry was very stressed.
He was convinced that Draco Malfoy was a death eater.
Isabel wasn't getting better.
He longed to see her happy again.
It was August 28th.
Isabel's 16th birthday.
Everyone had been planning to make it a great birthday despite the loss of her family.
Everyone woke up early to make her a special breakfast.
Harry made sure they had her favorite, strawberry milk.
They made the table look nice with her favorite flowers, daisies.
When they finished, Hermione went to wake her up.
"Isabel, hey, happy birthday sleeping beauty," Hermione laughed.
Isabel yawned.
"Get dressed and we can go down to breakfast together," Hermione said.
Isabel grabbed some jeans from her trunk that Dumbledore had got from her house for her.
She also grabbed a light sweater, good for summer, but to cover her scars.
She put on a light bit of makeup to look less tired and she had Hermione braid her hair.
"Ready?" Hermione asked.
Isabel nodded.
Hermione took her hand and led her to the kitchen.
At the table sat a plate with pancakes with syrup and strawberry milk. In the middle of the table was a vase of daisies.
Isabel walked down the table with Hermione and was brought to a chair.
She sat as the smell of pancakes hit her nose.
Everyone sat around the table with their own breakfast giving Isabel smiles and 'happy birthdays.
Isabel gave them a small smile back and took the first bite of food.
Everyone smiled and enjoyed their meal.
"Thank you all so much." Isabel said, "the strawberry milk and daisies were the best."
Harry looked proud of himself.
Isabel took a couple daisies and sat on the couch.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked over as they watched as she pressed the flowers into her notebook.
"Thank you guys again for the breakfast," Isabel said.
"It was nothing," Hermione said, smiling.
"And that's not all, today we will take you to Fred and George's joke shop, then grab some butterbeer and lunch, some Quidditch in the yard, and finally my mom will make us a giant feast with a cake of course," Ron rambled, excitedly.
"That sounds great Ron, and you guys can go do that, but I kind of just wanted to stay in today," Isabel said quietly, fiddling with her sleeve.
"Oh yeah sure, it's your birthday after all," Ron said, looking disappointed.
"Sorry," Isabel said, her eyes filling with tears.
All she did was disappoint everyone.
She ran into the room she was staying in and cried.
Hours past, Isabel must've fallen asleep because she woke up to the sun setting.
The house was quiet, so she tip-toed her way out the front door.
She sat in front of the house and watched as the bright sunset creating beautiful colors in the sky.
Orange to red to pink to purple.
Then it was dark.
Night.
She hated the night.
Night killed her family.
"Isabel?" She heard a voice say softly.
She looked and saw Harry come and sit by her.
"Are you okay?" He asked sitting closer to her. In the moonlight, he could see the glimmer of tears on her face.
"I miss them," Isabel said, looking at the stars.
"I know," Harry said, "but it gets easier,"
Isabel nodded and put her head on Harry's shoulder.
Harry put his arm around her and held her close.
They sat like that for a while until Ron and Hermione came out and called them in for dinner.
Harry stood and held out this hand for Isabel. She gratefully took it and stood up.
Before she could let go, Harry laced their fingers together.
Isabel's stomach did a flip.
Luckily for her, it was dark outside so he couldn't see the blush across her cheeks.
She mentally scolded herself. She can't be developing feelings for her friend, that's the last thing they need.
She took her seat at the table as Mrs. Weasley finished setting the table and reluctantly let go of Harry's hand.
Isabel filled her plate with cheesy mashed potatoes and some fruit.
She looked around the table as the twins used magic to hover some mashed potatoes over Ron's head. Ginny giggled and nudged Hermione. Hermione sent a glare to the twins but couldn't help but laugh a little.
They then dropped the potatoes on his fiery red hair.
"Bloody hell!" Ron shrieked in shock shaking the mashed potatoes off his head, "Fred! George! That's bloody disgusting!"
The twins high-fived.
Mrs. Weasley was about to scold them when she noticed Isabel laughing. It was very rare when Isabel laughed or smiled recently so they all were very happy.
Isabel couldn't help but feel happy as she sat with her friends.
Dinner passed quickly and Mr. Weasley cleared the dinner as Mrs. Weasley brought out a beautiful cake.
It was covered with white frosting and had candied flowers around the edges.
Isabel smiled.
Everyone sang happy birthday to her, and she made note of the fact that Harry had a decent singing voice.
"Thank you, everyone, so much," Isabel said, smiling.
Mrs. Weasley cut into the cake and gave everyone a piece of the red velvet birthday cake.
Everyone devoured the cake quickly and complimented Mrs. Weasley.
Isabel looked over to her left and saw Harry has some frosting on his chin.
She laughed and grabbed a napkin and cleaned it off.
He looked at her, confused.
"You had some vanilla frosting on your chin," She laughed. He laughed back.
"Presents!" Ginny exclaimed.
"Wait you guys got me presents?" Isabel asked, surprised.
"Well it is your birthday," Ron said.
Three presents sat on the table, she opened each one carefully.
The Weasley family gave her a homemade quilted blanket that Mrs. Weasley and Ginny made together (and some prank supplies from the twins).
Hermione and Ron got her a box of assorted candies.
The last present in yellow and white wrapping paper was from Harry.
She opened it and found a picture frame and an album.
She looked at the picture frame.
It was the drawing Oliver made for her for Christmas, framed.
Isabel bit the inside of her cheek praying that she won't start crying.
She opened the picture album to see pictures of her and her family throughout her whole life, from being a baby, to a month ago.
She tried to blink back the tears, but she failed as she looked at pictures of Oliver as a baby.
You could hear a pin drop in the room.
She jumped up from her seat and pounced on Harry, giving him a tight hug. She hung her arms around his neck and had to stand on her tip-toes.
Harry was surprised but hugged her back.
Isabel let go, "Thank you so much," her face was happy-sad. She was smiling with tears coming from her eyes.
The two stared into each other's eyes, so close to each other.
Harry noticed some light freckles dancing under her eyes and on her nose. He never noticed them before.
They both suddenly became aware of how close they were together when Ron coughed awkwardly.
They both jumped back and blushed furiously.
The rest of the room laughed as Isabel and Harry exchanged happy smiles.
Harry laughed along, "Happy Birthday Isabel,"
•••