Selenophile

Chapter 23

February 1980

"You're back!"

Pandora jumped, startled and fell on her arse in a pile of snow.

"Oh, my," Molly Weasley rushed over to help her to her feet, "sorry for startling you."

"Don't worry about it," Pandora said.

Molly Weasley was for a lack of better words; huge.

"I just wanted to apologize," Molly said, "I treated you terribly, and after I heard what happened...."

An awkward silence fell between them.

Pandora looked down at her feet, urging herself not to cry. 

"You're not staying here alone, now, are you?" Molly frowned, looking over Pandora's shoulder.

"Oh, no," Pandora shook her head with a smile, "my brother-in-law and a  friend from Hogwarts are staying with me, they've just ran out to get some groceries from town."

"Brilliant," Molly smiled, "you can all come from dinner."

"Oh, you don't need to do that," Pandora said, "we wouldn't want to impose."

"Nonsense," Molly waved, "I insist, consider it a formal apologize for how I acted."

"Molly, I don't blame you for any of that," Pandora said, "if I were in your shoes I would've done the same thing. There was no way you could've known."

"I suppose..." Molly said hesitantly, a hand on her stomach.

"You're due soon, aren't you?" Pandora changed the topic.

"Any day now," Molly smiled, "I've been lucky, I've been feeling good this pregnancy, I'm still holding onto the hope it's a girl this time around...but what about you? How's baby?"

"Oh," Pandora said, the words seemed to die in her throat.

Molly caught on quickly.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she gasped.

Pandora shook her head, she looked at the shorter woman with a sad smile, "wasn't meant to be, I suppose."

"If you don't mind me asking..." Molly started, "when?"

"The day after Regulus passed," Pandora said painfully.

Molly brought a hand to her mouth, "no."

"If you'll excuse me, I left a pie in the oven," Pandora said.

"Of course," Molly nodded, "if you're feeling up to it, dinner is at five."

"Thank you, Molly," Pandora smiled, opening the door.

She waited until she could no longer see Molly from the window before going back outside.

She raised her wand and closed her eyes.

"Evanescente."

She opened her eyes.

"Shite."

She closed them again.

"Evanescente."

She did this over and over again.

"Dora?" Sirius called, climbing the hill.

"What?" She asked, turning to face him. 

"Err—is it just me or is the house gone?" He asked.

"What?" Pandora spun around, "what do you mean? It's right here!"

"No," Remus shook his head, "it's definitely not."