Life After Death - An Erica Black Continuation (4)

Fifty Nine

Cassandra Eurydice Black was born on January 30th of 2029, at 6:03 PM, at the peak of the full moon. She was the picture of everything a child born of the Black family would be expected to be.. Except for one, unmissable detail, a birth defect like none other any healer had ever seen; her eyes resembled crystal balls and the child was, despite her beauty, almost eerie to look at. Every healer the parents had visited had told them the very same thing; there was no way to tell if the child could see until she was two months old. And so, for the last two months, they had been waiting the appointment anxiously.
"Mr and Mrs Black?" Called out a healer, beckoning them into a small hospital room in St.Mungos. They stood and followed her into the room where she closed the door behind them and turned to see a tired looking blond man, a petite woman with black ringlets and the baby she had just finished examining, cloudy white eyes and wild, tufts of black curls now back in her mother's arms as the woman cradled her protectively.
"Mr and Mrs Black, we have come to the conclusion that your daughter is, more likely than not, visually impaired." The healer sighed, avoiding the parent's eyes as she spoke.
"What doe that mean exactly?" Asked Erica slowly as she bounced her daughter in her arms.
"We think she is completely blind.. Or at least severely visually impaired. This means that we don't think that she will ever be able to see.."
"What could've possibly caused this?" Exclaimed Draco Black, stepping forward, his brow furrowed. The healer hesitated before answering the, clearly agitated, man's question.
"We aren't sure but there is a unusually high amount of dark energy radiating off of her.."
"You think our daughter has been cursed? " Erica asked softly, squeezing the baby closer to her.
"That can't be. She was born this way." Muttered Draco, shaking his head disbelievingly
"I understand your concern Mr Black but we can't be sure what's caused this. And unless it begins to cause her discomfort or distress, we can't recommend looking much further into it than we already have I'm afraid, it simply wouldn't be fair on the infant..."
"I-" He started, hi tone low and angry a he stepped forward once again towards the, clearly anxious healer, Erica cut him off, grabbing her husband's arm to hold him back as she spoke softly,
"Thank you. We understand.."

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For the first time in a long while, Erica and Draco Black stood outside the front door of Black manor together. Just as they were about to enter, He caught his wife's arm and held her back lightly before speaking hesitantly, "Erica I think I want a divorce.."
Her blood ran cold at the blond man's words.. "A divorce?" She echoed helplessly. He shrugged,
"Yeah, I mean, we never did marry for love and Astoria is back now so I just thought maybe..."
"S- Sure, get the paper's drawn up and I'll sign them" She nodded through jagged breaths
"You can keep the house, for you and the girls, the Order and all that.." He continued, trying desperately to meet the witches eyes but she continued to avoid his gaze.
"O okay... Yeah, let's not discuss this right now, we have guests, it is Easter after all." She sighed,
"You're right. But we will need to discuss it Eri, Especially regarding Cassie and what to do there" he relented, placing a hand on the door knob and turned it. The two of them entered, their daughter held tightly to her mother's chest. Immediately, a small crowd of friends and family surrounded the three of them with cooing and chatter. The extended Weasley family had, once again, gathered at Black manor for a holiday, knowing that Erica and her family had been busy with work and the baby, each household brought something, Fleur brought selection of pies, something she had become renowned for within the family and combined, they produced an impressive spread.

After hours of celebrating, they sat in the third floor living room, talking amongst themselves, laughing, joking, playing games and catching up. Erica Black laid with her head in her God-father's lap, her baby asleep on her chest, dozing in and out of sleep as some of the others played a spirited game of twister which, as always, Lily was dominating at. Remus chuckled, seeing his old friend, her red hair scraped back into a loose ponytail, her cheeks flushed as she held herself in an awkward position, the others around her tumbling to the ground one by one. Her husband cheering her from the side lines as he and Sirius knocked back drink after drink. Willow sat with her great-grandfather, Garrick Ollivander, comparing notes and discussing wandlore in depth whilst her twin played an intensely heated game of exploding snap with Regulus.

By the end of the night, Erica Black was deeply asleep on the sofa, most of the guests had retired for the night, either to their own homes or to the beds provided to them by the family. Remus Lupin picked up the infant from her mother's chest and carried her to the safety of her cot. He took a moment to appreciate the white, wooden cot, the satin blue walls, the cream carpet spread across the hard wood floor, the pictures on the walls, beautiful, watercolour paintings of dragons, hippogriffs, centaurs and sirens in white wooden frames. shelves full of children's books and a variety of stuffed animals; dragons amongst others and a, rather odd looking, marmite - a transparent squid like creature. He adjusted the quilt which hung over the edge of the cots wooden bars before leaving, pulling the door too behind him.

Ginny Potter lifted Erica into her arms and carried her down the stairs and into her room, tucking her into her bed and closing the door behind her on her way out, she nodded at Remus as she passed him outside the nursery and joined her husband in the library, ready to floo home and join his parents at the Potter house.

The twin didn't quite make it to their beds, they slept in the second master bedroom where Draco used to sleep, the fell asleep talking animatedly to Teddy who had also passed out, sprawled across the double bed. Black manor stood still, quiet and content.