Happy August everyone! Well it's still a crazy year and I don't think anyone could have seen 2020 turning out the way it has. Anyway congrats on making it to level 8 in Jumanji! I am officially back at work and I'm still ahead on updates and loving being back at work. It feels good to be back working and it appears to have unblocked my mind and I feel creative again. We wll see how it goes.

Stay safe.

Lots of love,
LM xxxx

Finally Belonging Somewhere-Part 75:

Lucius and Narcissa were beginning to turn their minds to Aurora's 12th birthday. It was coming up soon and they wanted it to celebrate the reunion of their family and it would be Aurora's first birthday back at home. The two saw her as their little princess and they were going to show her that she was home and no matter what happened they'd always seen her as that.

They'd called a meeting with the parents and all four had instantly come around to discuss the plans. It did have to be special for Aurora but Priscilla had a feeling that Narcissa may try and go overboard and overwhelm Aurora and that is the last thing she wanted.

"I want to make it pink and gold, fairies and unicorns themed," Narcissa said, "princess themed as well because that's what she is. She was a princess before she was even born and now she is back where she belongs and she should know that."

"Yes I agree," Druella said, "but what she could also do with is a day with her family and Charlotte and the Greengrass Sisters as well. A day where she can just have some fun and relax for the day, wear a pretty dress. In some ways she understands that she's home but, in some ways, she fears that she will be sent away again and that is the last thing we want to do. It will take quite a lot of explaining to her that it's because of her birthday why this is happening and not because she's going to be sent away. That fear will probably cross her mind and we need to be prepared for that when she asks about it."

"The weather should be nice and if not then we could make it nice for her and have the whole party outside. She'd be able to play things and see the new things in Cissa's Garden that we have had made for her. She lost a lot of her childhood and we need to help her gain the skills that she lost," Lucius said, "a garden party would allow us to do that."

"We could maybe do a treasure hunt type thing of the garden and maybe the ground floor of the Manor," Lucius said, "that would help her to learn where things are in the Manor and Gardens and she could even ride on Snowflake if she wanted… with supervision of course," he added as he looked at his wife and saw the look on her face.

Narcissa had looked horrified until Lucius had added the supervision part and then she nodded.

"The treasure hunt would help her think and learn more puzzle learning. We could have little figurines hidden and she has to find them using the puzzles," she said as she thought, "but it needs to be figurines that she would love and that go together as well. It would be so lovely for her as she could look back and say that she managed to find them all."

"We'd have to help her at points but maybe we could colour code them so one colour would mean in the garden and then another one for inside the Manor," Priscilla said, "that way she isn't trying to figure out if it's inside or outside but yes that idea sounds really great to me."

The treasure hunt was soon agreed on rather quickly and Abraxas and Cygnus said that they could work on that. Lucius was grateful as his wife's plans appeared to be big and he made a silent note to speak to Draco and warn him that is birthday might seem a disappointment after Aurora's but he knew that Draco may well understand.

"I think a butterfly and flowers cake would work," Priscilla said, "if the main theme is pink and gold then it could be worked into the cake but be different at the same time. The same theme constantly may get boring for her even though a lot of things she'd have never seen before."

"We need to have a central theme that appears to be exactly how Narcissa wants it but we need to play around with areas so we can make sure that nothing is the sae constantly for her," Abraxas said, "I propose that Narcissa… and Lucius… take the decorating, Priscilla and Druella can take the cake and obviously Cygnus and I will take the treasure hunt. However I think Lucius and Narcissa should also take the figurines as well."

That was agreed upon pretty quickly and then the elders left and Narcissa headed out to the Gardens and to her Secret Garden. Only she, Lucius, Draco and Priscilla knew about it. Aurora had yet to been shown it but Narcissa was adamant that it had to be safe for Aurora and certain things repaired before she'd allow her daughter anywhere near it.

She sat on the repaired swing and allowed herself to swing a little. She soon began to get lost in her thoughts as she swung slowly and it was those thoughts that Lucius followed to find his wife.

"How did you find me?" Narcissa asked as she looked and saw Lucius walking into the Garden.

"Followed the thoughts," Lucius replied, "they are rather loud even if I don't know what they are," he said.

"What if I let her down Lucius? What if I let our daughter down like I did when she was born? What if I let her slip from us again? I cannot let her down again," Narcissa said as she looked at her husband, "I already let her down once and the thought of letting her down again makes my heart ache…"

Lucius didn't respond at first. He simply picked her up and carried her into the summerhouse and sat her down.

"You never let our daughter down in the first place Cissa. You didn't know that she was going to be taken. All you knew was that the Mediwitches were trying to save our daughter's life," he told her softly, "just the same as I would have done, just the same as your mother would have done. What happened shouldn't have happened but none of us expected Bellatrix to do something like this."

Narcissa sighed. She knew in her heart that Lucius was right but she should have protected their daughter better in the first place.

"I should have told them to keep her in the room where we could see her. I was so worried she wouldn't make it…"

"Stop it Cissa. You'd just given birth and our daughter was fighting for her life. Neither of us were thinking straight. Aurora was taken from us but what matters now is that she is safe and sound and back home where she should be. I am so proud to call you the mother of my children. Don't ever doubt yourself as a mother Narcissa because I never wanted children with anyone but you. You just need to believe in yourself a little more. You did an amazing job with Draco and you'll do just as well with Aurora. Just believe in yourself a little more."

Narcissa nodded softly before snuggling into Lucius and she felt him kiss her head. She would try but would never forget the moment her daughter was taken from her… ever.