Silvia and the Rising Moon [EDITING]

9. The Arrival

     Four months had passed since Silvia's incident with Fenrir Greyback and Lucius's trial. The Christmastime holiday had finally begun, and all of the Hogwarts students were returning home for a well-deserved break.
     Silvia spent a lot of time at Einrich Estate with Aunt Lita. It was a time of great euphoria for the young girl. She had finally started to adjust herself to life without her family. Christmastime was much more exciting at the Einrich estate, anyway. The house elves wore handmade, makeshift Santa hats as festive hairnets when they were preparing dinner. Gustav often made fun of them, as the hats were made from old scraps of fabric and spare cotton balls. Despite his brutal commentary, the elves continued to practice their holiday themed music for Christmas dinner entertainment every day for the last three weeks. Silvia enjoyed hearing them play song after song. Little Visty played her wooden flute the best out of all the elves. Once they had ceased practice for the day, Silvia would treat Visty to a gingerbread cookie. The act was frowned upon by the other house elves, but Silvia insisted that Visty take her treat. It was an order, and Visty couldn't refuse an order from her mistress.
     During the day, Aunt Lita and Silvia would sit in the parlor, which had been recently cleared of every magical creature killed by Gustav. They enjoyed lighting a fire and drinking eggnog and butter beer together. Lita loved to talk. Silvia loved to listen. Her aunt would tell story after story about her childhood with Lyall.
     "Oh, and we'd laugh our heads off until the cat stopped spinning," Aunt Lita explained during one of her many storytimes. "Then, you know what? He'd do it all over again! Oh, my, it was the craziest little charm I had ever seen. My brother, your father, was a very creative young man. It's so wonderful to have a brother, isn't it, Silvia?" She asked.
     Silvia looked away, eyes welling with tears. "Yeah," she said simply as she rubbed her eyes.
     "I'm sorry," Aunt Lita said softly. She reached out to pat Silvia comfortingly on the shoulder. "I didn't mean to upset you. I just want to find something that the both of us can relate to. It's difficult to do that with Blaire simply because she's so much like her father. She doesn't enjoy my stories like you do, neither does Uncle Gus. I'm absolutely nothing like either of them."
     Silvia turned to look at her aunt and smiled. "I'm sure Remus would love your stories. He's my best friend and Visty is my second best friend."
     Lita looked down at her feet, heartbroken. "Well, what about Blaire? Don't you like her, sweetheart?"
     She shrugged. "Blaire doesn't let me play with her new dolls, only the old ones. I want to play with the pretty new dolls too, Auntie."
     "You'll play with new dolls, Silvia. I promise."

Christmas Day approached quickly. Blaire and Silvia awoke to a blanket of five inches of freshly fallen snow. The windows were frosted and the fireplace was ablaze. Silvia got exactly what she asked for: three brand new dolls and a Speedzard 9000. It was the newest and fastest broomstick model on the market. Blaire had received more gifts than Silvia. Despite that, she glared at the speedy broomstick enviously.
     "Mummy, why didn't I get the Speedzard 9000?" she asked, setting all of her expensive gifts aside.
     "Because, dear, you already got a new broomstick last Christmas. Silvia needed a new one. Besides, she's far too talented for that training broom she's been using," Aunt Lita replied politely, briefly turning to blink at Silvia.
     Gustav brooded in an armchair with a cigar dangling from under his mustache. Blaire stood up and ran over to him to give him a hug. "Daddy, I want the Speedzard 9000, too," she begged.
     He smiled and placed his hands on his daughter's shoulders. "Well, then we will go to Diagon Alley and get that for you bright and early tomorrow morning. We can go shopping together and buy more gifts, too. I promise, my love."
     Lita sighed in utter defeat.
     The girls were then taken away to the bathrooms to get cleaned up for dinner. They were each dressed in matching red and white dresses accompanied by huge hair bows. Blaire walked around the house posing in front of each and every mirror and reflective surface she could find until the guests arrived.
     "Daddy said I would win a muggle beauty pageant if I competed," Blaire explained to Silvia as they made their way to the dining room.
     There was that word again, muggle. What did it mean?
     Suddenly, each and every guest appeared in a whirl of dusty floo powder. The Blacks and the Malfoys piled into the dining room one by one, brushing the magical powder off of their almost bourgeois appearing dress clothes. Silvia took notice of Lucius Malfoy's presence and greeted him unenthusiastically. He gave her a warning look. "I won the case," he muttered before taking his seat at the table. She sat at the very end of the table, right next to Blaire, who was already chattering away with Regulus Black.
     Aunt Lita sat on the right side of the head of the table, where Gustav sat. He then stood and clapped his hands together twice. One by one, the family's house elves appeared holding endless trays of food. Visty held a salad bowl. She served Silvia first, despite Gustav's clear demand for all elves to begin serving at the head of the table.
     He looked around the room. "I am supposed to be served," he commented. Suddenly, he spotted the fresh greens that had been placed upon Silvia's plate. "Das verdammte, nutzlose ungeziefer!" He quickly rose from his seat, throwing his chair behind him, and marched to where Visty stood, cowering in fear. "I'll have your head, you little imp!"
     "Gustav! That is enough!" Lita cried. The guests looked around. She lowered her voice. "You're making fools out of us. Sit back down right this second, darling. It was an accident." He turned to look at her. Visty scrambled away. Silvia began to cry softly.
     "Du bist der peinliche. Sag mir nicht was zu tun, schlampe," he said simply before returning to his seat.
     Silvia looked up, quickly wiping her tears as she noticed the boy who stared at her from across the table.
     "Sheesh, that was something," Sirius Black told her, unaware of the fact that she was crying. "I wish I spoke German. I want to know what he said."
     "Hush up," Andromeda hissed to his right. "Your mum wouldn't like to hear you talking like that," she explained as a house elf placed a dinner roll on her plate.
     "I don't give a bloody damn, Andy," Sirius replied, this time talking a little bit louder. The families couldn't hear him over their conversations.
     "You're eight-years-old, Sirius. Watch your language," she reprimanded. "All I'm doing is trying to look out for you."
     Silvia sat, watching these two as they bickered and the elves completed serving the food. The families ate Christmas dinner joyously, ignoring Gustav's unnecessary outburst. Suddenly, a knock came upon the door. The room went quiet as Aunt Lita stood quickly and hurried to follow Umbree to the front of the house.
     "Oh, Merlin's Beard!" They heard Aunt Lita cry. "Well, I was not expecting you two."
     To Silvia's surprise, Hope and Lyall walked into the dining room to greet the other guests. Cowering behind them was Remus. Silvia yelled out in pure joy before jumping out of her chair and hurrying to them. She wrapped her arms quickly around Remus's waist and held on tightly. It was as if her world had suddenly returned. The light in her life had appeared once more to allow her to grow and prosper the way she had before the two were separated.
     "Oi, who's this?" Sirius called, a smirk spread on his face. He rose from his seat to approach the strange boy.
     "This is my brother, Remus," Silvia said, turning to him. "Remus, this is Sirius."
     Remus smiled softly.
     Just then, the two turned back to each other, suddenly realizing that they may be separated once more. Silvia felt the light of her sun fading away quickly into black again. The moon would rise once again, and Remus would forever be bound to be damaged by his affliction.
     Once again, Silvia sobbed. She unleashed cries of joy, fear, and sorrow. Her happiness in the moments before had left her hollow and black inside. She held tightly onto Remus as the room stared at her. There were hands on her shoulders. Something was trying to take her away. The hands of fate pulled, harder and harder, until her grasp around her brother was broken once more. She screamed an awful scream until fate spoke to her.
     "Don't cry, darling, please," her father said, cradling her in his arms. "You're coming home. You're coming with us. Right now, we're all going home, as a family. We're never going to leave you ever again."
     Silvia wiped her tears and laughed nervously. The sun rose once more, and the darkness of the night faded away into golden brightness.
     Then, Lyall stood up and looked at the Malfoys, the Blacks, and Uncle Gustav. Bravery overcame him, suddenly, and he knew that he could not fear his secret any longer. "You all know who I am. You all know my name. Some of us even work together." He put a hand on Hope's shoulder. "This is my wife. She's a muggle," he announced. A gasp rippled through the dining room. "Together, we have two children. Think whatever you'd like about us, but I will not live in fear of people knowing this fact about me any longer. I love my family no matter what they are." He looked down at Remus and smiled. "And with that said, we will be going," Lyall declared. He then sent Silvia upstairs to pack her bags. Visty assisted her.
     After waiting for a moment in awkward silence, Silvia returned with her bags and gifts. Together, the family headed toward the floo.
     "Filthy blood traitor," a voice spat. Silvia turned to see Bellatrix glaring at them.
     Lyall only shrugged. "Sometimes, love trumps blood," he said before dropping a fistful of powder in the fireplace. Silvia gave Aunt Lita one last hug before vanishing away with Visty and her luggage.