Through the dark sky, rain was falling rather fast, as Larissa Rosendale washed the dishes. It was quiet in the house. It was hard to believe that only one week ago, this house was filled with 12 children (Her oldest child, Niko, had moved out, barely graduated, and Sydney decided to move out during the summer), 10 owls, three rats, and nine cats. Now, there were 4 children, 2 owls, thankfully, no rats, and nine cats. For her, it was hard to believe that one of her children wasn't going to Hogwarts this year, while 2 barely started.
She looked over from the sink and smiled at the scene. Her youngest, Cairo, but known as Cai to everyone, was coloring on the table a few feet away. He, unlike all her other children, was two years younger than his older sibling. That, back when they were trying for him, scared her. She was, she was extremely happy when she found out she was expecting him.
As she set the dishes to dry, and started to dry her own hands, Cai's head turned to her. "Mummy, look what I drew!" He held up his picture, and Larissa couldn't help but laugh. The picture was of three stick figures, and with his 5-year-old handwriting, he labeled her as "μούμια". Her husband and Cai's father, Naoise, was labeled as "Παπα". He then labeled himself (And may she add that it was in the biggest handwriting.) "Κάιρο".
"Είναι όμορφη" She went over and ruffled his dark brown hair. Right now, they were the only two people in the house. Her two oldest at home aka not at Hogwarts, Copenhagen and Munich, were next door, sleeping over for the night. Naoise and Helsinki were on a trip, they weren't coming home until tomorrow, and the way the rain was acting, it was a small possibility they would come.
"Do you want to know why only me, Papa, and you, Mummy?" Cai's bright blue eyes sparkled in excitement as he sat up in the light brown wooden chair.
"Why?" Larissa knew the answer. For a five year old, Cai was slightly arrogant. He had some reason. He was pretty adorable, being slightly taller than the average 6 year old, he had fluffy dark brown hair, and his blue eyes were his best feature. He fluently spoke two languages, English and Greek, and was learning another, Irish. He was, no doubt, amazing.
Before Cai could open his mouth, a crash of thunder was heard, making Cai jump slightly. "Mum, what was that!?" Larissa could hear the slight tone of fear in her son's voice.
"Don't worry, it's just thunder." Her head turned to the clock on the wall. 8:20 pm. 40 minutes til Cai's bedtime. But Larissa knew he couldn't sleep with thunder and lightning and high winds, proven by the all the times he had slept with her and Naoise for that reason.
"Cai, if you get ready for bed right now, we can sleep together in my bed and we'll read for a while. How does that soun-?" Larissa asked, but Cai cut her off.
"Of course, Mummy, now let's go!" Larissa laughed as Cai got her hand and pulled her upstairs to his room. After ten minutes of Cai searching for his pajamas and finally finding them, getting undressed, and then getting into his pajamas, the pair went off to the home library.
"Mummy, how about this one?" Cai was in the process of finding Larissa a book, as Cai insisted on doing so. He pulled out a book with a dark green cover, written in Greek, and very long.
"No, that doesn't really look interesting, does it?" Larissa asked, as Cai was finding her a book, she was finding Cai a book. She pulled out a book, written in Irish, but easy enough for Cai to thought it looked cute, it was about rabbits. "This one, Cai?"
"Ewww, no, Helsinki said it was her favorite, so I'm not reading that one." Cai shook his head in disgust.
"Cai, you know, sometimes, I wish you would stop being Cai."
"I don't get it." His face showed confusion, and it was hard for Larissa to sigh and keep from smiling at the same time. "Like, how do I stop being myself?"
"I meant to say to stop acting like you are."
"But that's hard, I have to be myself." After another 5 minutes, they finally found books for each other. Five minutes after that, they were both under reddish-pink blankets, reading their own books, their arms linked together.
It was raining considerably harder, and the wind was blowing harder against the windows. Cai was distracted, on average, every 2 minutes to look outside the window. "Mummy, what if the rain broke the window?"
"Hm?" Larissa looked up from her book, and saw Cai staring intently at the window. "Of course it wouldn't break, the wind isn't strong enough to break the window."
She listened to the wind, as she felt Cai throw her book off somewhere and snuggle up to her. After a while of reading, she looked at Cai,who was fast asleep. She smiled as she kissed his forehead, marked the page she was reading, and turned off the light, settling into sleep with Cai at her side.
