"How did you know it was time to leave?"
"Do you feel sick to your stomach every waking moment in that house?"
Romina stepped back for a moment and let out the breath she did not even realize she had been holding. "Y-Yes." she admitted sheepishly...
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F E B R U A R Y 1978
If Romina hated her birthday in the past, it was only a testament to how unhappy she truly was. When her brown eyes fluttered open on the fourteenth of February, for the first time in seventeen years - Romina Lestrange smiled. She pulled the covers tight around her shoulders as she snuggled back into the mattress. A happy sigh escaped her lips and she found herself starting to fall back asleep before a loud bang erupted in the next room.
"Merlin! I think the walls shook with that one, Pads!"
Romina could hear James and she let out a groan. Though this groan was not out of annoyance. She soon laughed as she heard Peter yelling over the noise that they shouldn't wake her up and to let her get her beauty sleep.
She could kiss him for being so thoughtful - but she wouldn't really do it, of course. But to be honest, Peter was right. Ever since she read Peter and Sirius' futures, she barely slept a wink. She felt so attached to what she saw, and it pained her to think of what kind of pain and torment was waiting for them in the future. The unknown of how far away said future really was also played a role in how terrifying it was to know there was nothing to do to change what she saw. Romina knew her life was already mapped out for her, the decision she made between Regulus and Sirius, between light and dark, was always in the cards for her.
She rubbed at her eyes, pulled back the sheets and then slipped out of bed before she grabbed her robe and tightened it around her body.
The moment she opened her bedroom door, she had to quickly duck out of the way. James stood but a few feet away, a wide grin on his lips as pink and gold fireworks shot out above her head, some even shooting through the doorway and dissipating in her bedroom.
"Are you trying to kill me!?" She cried, laughter bubbling up from deep within as she cradled her head to protect herself from the fireworks.
Sirius was beaming, his hands on his hips as he watched Romina duck and squeal.
"Happy Birthday!" James shouted, "A witch only turns seventeen once, we had to go big!"
Romina couldn't help but blush. She tucked hair behind her ears as she looked at everyone before her. This, though nothing too grand, was the grandest birthday celebration she had ever experience. She felt herself begin to tear up and was quickly swept up in a joint hug between Lily and Marlene.
"We are so happy you're here, Mina. Truly. You deserve this and so much more. James wanted the fireworks to go off earlier, but we begged him to hold off until atleast quarter after seven." Lily laughed softly, rubbing Romina's back as she pulled out of the hug.
