Silvia and the Rising Moon [EDITING]

6. Dinner Guests

Lita enjoyed sleeping in. She loved it when her husband would rise early and let her sleep alone in bed. He snored far too loudly for her to get any sleep at night. She slept blissfully for years, until the day her daughter learned to talk and walk.
"Mummy," Blaire whispered repeatedly as she poked her mother's face. "Mummy, wake up."
She swatted her daughter's hand away. "What do you want, darling?" She asked, attempting to mask her annoyance. The clock on the wall read 10:27 AM.
"Mummy, there's a little girl sleeping in the guest bedroom. What's she doing in there, mummy?" She asked loudly.
Lita squeezed her eyes shut and swatted at her daughter again. "Shhh. Stop being so loud, Blaire. That's your cousin, Silvia. She's Uncle Lyall's daughter. You've never met before. We went over this yesterday during breakfast."
"But, mum, I don't remember you saying that at all," Blaire wined.
"That's because you were playing with Blinky and not paying attention," she said, pinching her daughter's cheek. Blaire giggled. "I ought to throw that house elf onto the street for being such a distraction all the time."
Each member of the Einrich family had their own house elf. Blaire was gifted Blinky as a baby. From that day on, Blinky worked as a caretaker for her young mistress.
Blaire's face fell. "No, mum! I love Blinky. Don't take her away from me. I promise I'll be good, mum. I promise!" she sobbed, jumping up and down."
Lita ruffled Blair's hair and smiled at the thin scar above her lip. "I'm not taking her away from you, dear. Go get your bath now. Today is an important day for our family," she said as she began to rise out of bed.
"Yes, mummy!" Blaire yelled excitedly before scrambling down the hallway to the lavatory. Blinky followed her with a fresh towel and set of clothes for the day.
"Umbree!" Aunt Lita called for her house elf. Within seconds, Umbree stood in the doorway, prepared for her master's commands. "Umbree, you have some explaining to do."
The house elf stood erect. "Mistress, Tavus was very ill last night. Master Gustav requested my use to let his guests in. I'm very sorry, Mistress."
"You were not there to assist me when I rose from slumber, Umbree," Lita explained, sitting up in bed.
Umbree shivered. "Please, Mistress Lita, accept my sincerest apologies. It shall never happen again."
"Get my bath ready," Lita said simply before rising from bed and leaving the room.
She padded gracefully down the marble halls until she reached the guest bedroom where Silvia slept. Carefully, she cracked the door to peek inside. Silvia sat on her bed, silently sobbing. Aunt Lita pushed open the door and hurried to where the girl sat.
"Oh, darling, what ever could be the matter?" She asked, carefully placing herself next to her on the bed.
Silvia sniffed. "Tomorrow's my birthday, madam, but I won't see Remus or my mum or dad tomorrow. I'm stuck living here until my brother feels better."
Aunt Lita's heart ached. Remus must have been in awful shape if her brother was willing to leave Silvia here right before her birthday. She wiped the girl's tears with her sleeve. "Oh, Silvia," she said comfortingly, "I'm your Auntie Lita. Me, your Uncle Gus, and Cousin Blaire will all be here to celebrate your birthday with you. We're your family too. Your mum and dad and brother all still love you very much, but, this time, the other part of your family will be with you to celebrate your birthday. We're all so excited," she said as she carefully put an arm around Silvia's small shoulders. "We've been waiting seven years to celebrate a birthday with you, and we want to make this one the best one yet." Her heart ached a little more, knowing that her and her husband's staunch ways were the reason why it took so long to meet this poor girl. Lita decided at this moment to make it up to her.
Silvia smiled a little. She wasn't completely content, but she knew this birthday would be better if she celebrated here with Aunt Lita. Tomorrow night would be the fourth and final night of the full moon. She couldn't bear to witness Remus transform again, especially on her birthday. It would be far too painful.
"Come along, dear," Aunt Lita said suddenly. She hopped out of bed and extended her arm for Silvia. "I'll give you a proper introduction to Umbree, my house elf. She'll be getting you ready for our dinner gathering tonight," she explained as Silvia reached for her arm.
"Dinner gathering?" Silvia asked carefully, sliding off of the bed."
"Yes, Silvia," Aunt Lita nodded excitedly, "The Blacks, a wonderfully noble wizarding family, will be coming over tonight for dinner. We're going to talk about grown up things and Ministry things. You can play with Blaire and the Black children. My friend, Druella, has three daughters, but they're much older than you. However, my friend, Walburga, has two sons around your age. Maybe you can get to know them."
Lita hurried to a wardrobe. "I already checked your luggage," she said as she dug through an endless heap of clothes. "Absolutely nothing in there would fit for this occasion, could you believe that? All the money your father makes and he can't even buy you some decent clothes. No doubt he's probably spending away on that muggle mother of yours. I'm sure of it."
Silvia shuffled uncomfortably. Aunt Lita pulled out a green and white striped dress with layer upon layer of skirts as well as a large matching green bow. "Oh, now, this would be absolutely splendid!" She gasped. She then called upon Umbree.
"Yes, Mistress," Umbree said confidently, her pointed nose sticking straight up in the air.
"Umbree, is my bath water ready?" Lita asked sharply.
"Yes, Mistress, it is. Would you like me to prepare one for Miss Silvia as well?"
Aunt Lita laughed. "Why, Umbree, you just read my mind! Go, now," she said as Umbree scrambled away to fill up the tub.
She turned back to Silvia. "Oh, you'll have a ball tonight," she said. "My daughter so adores that little Regulus. Such a smart boy. Now, I must go, there's a hot bath calling my name."
And with that, she left, leaving Silvia alone with her thoughts.
After what felt like an eternity, Umbree returned to let her know that her bath was ready and her dress was to be steamed and pressed. Silvia thanked her promptly before walking to the washroom. This was the first time that Silvia was able to take a good look at the house elf. Umbree was squat, with broad shoulders and long ears. She wore what looked like something that was once an outfit for a baby. It was torn and stained and patched up. Silvia felt sorry for the elf. This family had so much money, but they couldn't take the time to give their house elves something nice to wear?
She walked into the bathroom to find that the elf added bubbles to her bath. Umbree reached out and helped Silvia undress and step into the bath. She sat in complete bliss as the elf scrubbed shampoo in her hair. She had never received such wonderful treatment from anyone before.
"Would you do this to Remus one day?" Silvia asked as Umbree wrapped a towel around her.
"Who is this, Miss Silvia?" Umbree asked.
Silvia sighed. Of course Umbree didn't know Remus. Why would anyone talk about him? She dropped the conversation and moved on, allowing Umbree to lead her back into the guest bedroom.
After the bath came the worst hair ordeal to ever come to the Einrich family Estate. It had been so long since Silvia's hair had been properly maintained. The house elf yanked on and fought with the girl's hair so vigorously. The ordeal reached the point of tears for both human and elf until, finally, Silvia's hair was brushed and smoothed. The green bow was neatly tied around her head. She ran a hand effortlessly through her hair. It almost felt good to not feel clumps of knots.
The dress was fitted and fixed to match her proportions. It looked absolutely stunning on the almost seven year old girl. She twirled around in front of a standing mirror.
Suddenly, behind her appeared Aunt Lita in a dark red, floor-length dress bearing the house of Gryffindor's coat of arms above her left breast. Next to her stood Blaire, in a blue dress, bearing the coat of arms for Ravenclaw, out of respect for her father. She wore in her dark hair an even larger matching blue bow. Her large eyes sparkled and the thin scar above her lip twitched as she smiled upon seeing Silvia.
"Aww," she gasped. "You look so pretty in that dress."
Silvia took a step back, unsure of what to say.
"I'm Blaire," her cousin explained, "would you like to play with me?"
Silvia smiled a little and nodded as Blaire suddenly ran out of the room. She looked to Lita, who waved her on. Cautiously, Silvia made her way to Blaire's playroom. "This is amazing," she gasped, looking around at all of the toys that surrounded her.
"You can play with this doll," Blaire explained, handing Silvia a ratty, worn out doll with brown hair and a torn, blue gingham dress. "I'm going to play with this one," she added, showing off a shiny new doll. The doll's red dress glimmered as Blaire waved it around.
Silvia looked down at her doll, disappointed. Her dolls at home were much prettier than this one. She watched enviously as Blaire played with the new doll, but sighed before sitting down next to her.
"Okay," Blaire explained. "My doll's name is Cindy, and your doll is Sally, Cindy's poor cousin."
Silvia frowned. "I'm not poor," she retorted.
"That's what Papa told me," Blaire responded.
"Well, it's not true!" Silvia cried out. Suddenly, there came a commotion from downstairs.
Blaire gasped. "They're here!" she yelled excitedly. "Come along, Silvia. Come meet my friends!"
Silvia smiled, suddenly forgetting about Blaire's previous string of insults. She ran down the stairs after her cousin to find a large gaggle of well-dressed wizards making their way to the dining room, where all three families and Silvia took a seat before the Einrich family's heirloom, a whomping willow dining room table.
"When the Nazis accused my family of witchcraft and burned our home to the ground, this table was one of the only things that survived," Gustav told his guests for about the eightieth time as they sat.
"Ah, Gus. That story gets better every time you tell it," Cygnus Black commented as Tavus the house elf pulled out a seat for him.
"If by better, you mean worse," Cygnus's seventeen year old daughter, Bellatrix, muttered to her younger sister.
Tavus held a seat open for Silvia to take, right next to Blaire. She took it, gladly. Despite the incident with the dolls, Silvia had grown quite fond of her cousin.
A messy looking young boy sat in the chair to Silvia's right. He looked at her in pure confusion before yelling, "Oi, Blaire. Who's this girl here?"
"Hey, quiet down there, boy," his father reprimanded before turning back to converse with Gustav.
Blaire peeped her head out from the other side of Silvia to see the boy. "She's my cousin, Silvia. Her brother's sick so she's living with me now," she said simply.
"Alright, then. Nice to meet ya, Silvia." the boy responded smugly. "My name is Sirius Black."
Silvia smiled a little and turned away. She didn't know how to feel, or what to say to this stranger.
"She's a bit quiet," Blaire explained loudly.
"Who is she, anyway?" Bellatrix called from across the table.
"This," Lita said, rising from her place at the table to wrap her arms around Silvia's shoulder's, "is my niece, Silvia Lupin. She's turning seven tomorrow. She is my brother's only daughter."
"Ah, your brother," Druella Black, Cygnus's wife, said simply, looking down at the table.
"Wait. Didn't he marry a muggle?" Bellatrix asked quickly.
Aunt Lita went white. "What? A muggle?" She chuckled nervously. "Oh, of course not. Not my brother. He married a pureblood witch from the States. I assure you, the Lupin name is strong and runs with only the purest of blood."
Silvia knew Aunt Lita was lying to her friends, but she couldn't understand why. She sat quietly, watching the conversation continue.
"I also heard that Lyall Lupin married a muggle," Cygnus Black commented. "However, if what you say is true, then I have no reason not to believe you."
"Of course it is true."
"Well, let's ask the child," Orion Black, Cygnus's brother-in-law, spoke up suddenly. All eyes turned to Silvia as he asked, "is your mother a muggle?"
Silvia looked from face to face, pausing briefly to make contact with Aunt Lita's pleading eyes. She wasn't sure what a muggle was, but she knew her mother was one. Regardless of the fact, Silvia replied softly, "Aunt Lita's right about my mum. She's a witch like me."
Aunt Lita loosened. The conversation was over, and she had won.
They sat in silence for some time as the three house elves served dinner. The adults spoke quietly amongst one another as they ate. Silvia caught Andromeda Black staring at her multiple times. The whole dinner was a horribly awkward experience for her. On top of that, she felt incredibly guilty for lying to everyone about her mother.
The elves returned to clear the plates. Suddenly, Orion's wife, Walburga Black spoke up. "Children, go off and have fun. It's grown up time." Blaire, Sirius, and two other younger children, named Narcissa and Regulus, rose to leave the room. Andromeda begrudgingly followed the children, despite being fifteen years old and perhaps the most responsible child in the room.
"Bye, sisters! Not everyone can have the rights of an adult, like me!" Bellatrix sneered.
"Not so fast," Cygnus spoke. "You too." He pointed to the door.
She left the room spitefully. Silvia timidly followed her out.
"They think I'm some stupid kid, like you," she snapped at Silvia. "I'll show them, someday. I'll become more powerful than the lot of them."
"Stop being so dramatic." Andromeda rolled her eyes.
Silvia caught up to Sirius. He stood with the others at the back door of the house. She finally knew what she wanted to say to him.
"I have a brother," she began. "His name is Remus. I think he's awfully lonesome."
Sirius looked at her in confusion. "Yeah, so?"
"Well, mum and dad think he's too sick to go to Hogwarts when he's big, but I think he will. I want him to go to Hogwarts."
"I hope he can go too, I guess."
"When he goes," she placed a hand on his shoulder, "I want you to be his friend."
Sirius nodded. "I suppose I can do that for you."
Silvia grinned from ear to ear. "You mean it? Will you be Remus's friend when I'm not around?"
"Of course," Sirius smiled back. "Also, I'd like to be your friend."
Silvia smiled even wider.
"Alright, kids," Andromeda said sophisticatedly, "we're playing quidditch outside. Silvia, do you know how to play?" She asked as she passed brooms to her sisters.
Silvia pouted, afraid of the big girl, and shook her head.
The big girls smiled. "We can teach you," Narcissa said encouragingly. The other girls nodded.
It was that day, the day before her seventh birthday, that Silvia first began playing quidditch.