Sirius' Birthday
November 3rd, 1989
It never got easier. As the years passed it never got easier missing Sirius, it felt like there was a part of Octavia missing. During the summer when she was home with the girls from Hogwarts and crawled into her bed at night, it didn't diminish the fact that the second owner of the bed was gone, wrongfully ripped from her life.
It seemed as though this particular year was harder on Octavia then ever before and she could only put it down to the rather large milestones that Willa was reaching and Sirius wasn't there to witness them.
She could see it on her daughter's face when her Hogwarts letter arrived, how much she wanted both parents there. How she would be okay with the rare wand she had received in Ollivander's and how she just wanted a second voice telling her it would all be okay.
Octavia's heart broke a little on September first, watching as Willa's head snapped around when she was looking for the Weasley family. Octavia knew Willa was slightly lying when she claimed she was looking for her best friends, Octavia knew.
She knew how much her daughter wanted her father there, watching her head off to Hogwarts for the first time, tell her she wasn't a freak.
Octavia knew that Sirius would have given in, would have given in at the sight of those round puppy dog eyes and caved, telling her that it was a hat that sorts them into their houses just to give her some relief to help ease the concerns she had about arriving at Hogwarts.
A short few months and Sirius had missed so much.
The last birthday of Sirius' that they were able to properly celebrate together was his eighteenth birthday, and that was only because they were still at Hogwarts. She promised him that the first chance they got they would celebrate his birthday properly, go back to do family things and celebrating together and not using Willa's birthdays and milestones as their only reason to escape the chaos in their lives.
It was enough to raise a smile from him as they laid in bed together when he turned twenty.
Octavia just wished she knew then that it was the last birthday she would have been able to celebrate with him. That come the following year when he turned twenty-one that they would be separated, that she would be on the verge of a mental break down while attempting to raise two toddlers with the help of their friends while he was locked away in Azkaban being charged with killing all of those people and being the person to betray James and Lily Potter, something she still doesn't believe to be true to this day.
Today was Sirius' thirtieth birthday and in an effort to feel closer to a husband she hasn't been able to see in nine years, she pulled on his leather jacket and ventured into Muggle London with the purpose of renting a motorbike for the day, riding it with his soothing words appeared in her mind from when he last attempted to teach her to ride the bike.
Remus' words before she left be damned.
And she prayed Willa would be okay for one day without her. She just needed this day to herself.