Chapter 10
DECLARING WAR WAS EASY. Planning and executing it, however, was in a different dimension.
The four of them were dramatically spread out on her bed, looking blankly at the ceiling Lyra had enchanted in her first year to look like stars. Andromeda and Bellatrix were laying down properly on the bed while Lyra and Narcissa laid horizontally across them. All four of them were in deep thought.
"You could flirt with some blokes or get a boyfriend." Narcissa suggested. "Boys already throw themselves at your feet, why not make use of it?"
Lyra scoffed, not deviating her eyes from her namesake on the plafond above. "Boys are dumb, Cissa, but not that dumb. I don't flirt unless I want something and that would be red lights that something is wrong. And I'm not even going to start on how weird it will look if I get a boyfriend two days after Lucius asked Darla to be his girlfriend. It'll look like I'm jealous."
"You are jealous," Andromeda replied in a dry tone.
"That is not the point," Lyra said, "The point is, that I do not know what the point is and I am getting frustrated by the fact that there might not be a point to what I want to do but that doesn't mean that there shouldn't be a point to what I want to do and could somebody tell me why there isn't a point!" She yelled out in frustration, eyes fixed to the constellation of Orion, in hopes that her looking at her father's namesake would impart some much-needed wisdom to her.
"Did you catch any of that?" Bellatrix whispered to Andromeda.
"Not even one point," Andromeda replied, making Bellatrix lightly giggle.
"Don't laugh about my misery." Lyra scowled before her face lit up and she slowly sat down properly, making the other three girls mirror her action with confusion. "Or, maybe that's what we should be doing."
"Laughing as Lucy dies?" Bellatrix guessed, excited.
"Not yet," Lyra commented offhandedly, a little distracted, "Let's kill him with kindness."
"I like the first part but I'm not sure I follow you on the second." Bellatrix said with a frown.
The twinkle of amusement returned to Lyra's eyes as she turned to face her cousins. "Why is Lucius Malfoy doing this charade?"
"To make you jealous," Narcissa answered, her eyebrows frowning, "He's going along with a relationship in order to see whether or not you will be jealous for the purpose of confirming whether or not you reciprocate his very obvious feelings."
Lyra dimpled. "Yes. Now, what if that doesn't go according to plan?"
"You mean he dies mysteriously before he gets the confirmation?" Bellatrix asked. "I think it's best if we give Uncle Arcturus a three day heads-up before we commit murder, just so there is enough time to get proper alibis and hide the body cleverly."
"We're not going to kill him, Bells." Lyra chided.
Bellatrix muttered a quiet "Yet" under her breath.
"I got the point. The point is the best way to backfire Lucius' plan is for me to be encouraging and supportive of his relationship with dearest Darla and make her feel more welcomed into our humble group. He wants me to be jealous-"
"You are jealous."
"-Once again, not the point, Andy. Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes! See, the best way to throw him off would be by doing the opposite of what he wants me to do. He wants me to be negative, I'll be positive. He wants me to be jealous, so I'll be so accepting that it will make him bleed." She smiled viciously.
"Reverse psychology." Narcissa muttered, eyes lighting up, "Genius."
"Close, but not quiet." Lyra replied before chuckling. "And thank you, Cissa. Now, would you like to join me? The fifth years have potions in ten minutes, and I think I should invite the happy couple to join me on the walk over, don't you think?"
"Genius," Narcissa repeated, smiling widely. "I'll come with. I want to see how many shades of red Lucius's face will go upon finding out that you want to be friends with his wonderful, dear girlfriend."
"I bet ten," Bellatrix called out. "What about you, Andy?"
Andromeda seemed to ponder on her question. "None." She said finally. "I don't think Lucius' face will go through any shade of red."
Bellatrix rolled her eyes. "Don't be such a spoilsport."
"You didn't let me finish," Andromeda continued, "I don't think Lucius' face will go through any shade of red. Rather, I think he will go through every shade of white upon realising that Lyra has caught onto his little plan."
Bellatrix cackled while Lyra smirked and Narcissa smiled. Once a Black, always a Black.
"Do you think he will abandon his plan after finding out that Lyra knows about it?" Narcissa wondered aloud.
"On the contrary, I think his pride won't let him admit that he did all this just to find out whether or not Lyra likes him and failed horribly." Andromeda replied. "In fact, I think he will actually go through with all of this, just so he doesn't have to admit that his very clever scheme failed."
"I think so too," Lyra smiled, "and that is what is going to make this even more fun."
Playing nice with somebody turned out to be significantly harder when all Lyra Black wanted to do was use them as lab rats to perform incredibly dangerous and slightly illegal dark curses on.
"Admittedly, we did not have the best introduction this morning," Lyra began, "and I hope that you will let me make up for it. I would really like for us to be friends." She said in such a sincere and honest tone of voice that unicorns would be jealous. It certainly did the trick as Darla's eyes softened significantly and her posture relaxed completely.
Rule number one- never let your guard down fully to anybody who isn't obligated to love you.
"I would love that as well, Heiress Black." Darla admitted excitedly, because who wouldn't be excited it THE Lyra Black- Slytherin prefect and shoe-in for Head Girl, Heiress of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, top of their year in academics, Queen of the House of Slytherin (and those achievements were just the ones she could list from the top of her head) and the over all embodiment of perfection- asked you if you wanted to be friends?
Most importantly, being friends -even acquaintances- with Lyra Black would not only increase her popularity status greatly inside Slytherin and in Hogwarts, but her social standing outside the school would also make a tremendous leap.
Lyra laughed, reminding Darla of twinkling bells. "Please, call me Lyra." She smiled. "I insist." She continued, upon sensing Darla's hesitance. "I do tend to overreact sometimes. It comes with being a Black, I am afraid. But since then, I have seen the error of my ways and I really hope you will forgive me for how harshly I acted today morning." She said softly with nothing but sincerity in her eyes even though each word that left her mouth made her feel like a cruicio was being cast on her.
Darla giggled. "That's alright. I have talked with Bellatrix and Narcissa, you know-"
Lyra's eyes twitched lightly.
"-and they do over-react a lot but-"
Lyra's smile stayed kind on her face as her fingers pressed into her palm in order to stop her from speaking or cursing her.
"-I am willing to overlook all of that to be friends with you." Darla finished happily.
"You are too kind." Lyra replied, making Darla giggle.
"Well, thank you, Lyra."
Forget this. Her family lawyers were paid enough to get her out of any real trouble and there was nothing that bribes and threats couldn't solve. Screw grandfather Arcturus and his policy in giving him a three-day notice before killing somebody.
Fortunately or unfortunately, Lucius Malfoy arrived at the scene at that moment, which made Lyra reconsider her decision. It would be best to not have any witnesses but considering that Lucius hated Darla possibly more than she did, Lyra began an internal debate in her mind on whether or not she should risk it.
"What's going on?" Lucius asked as he frowned his eyebrows, eyes darting between his crush and his 'girlfriend'.
Lyra tilted her head. "What do you mean?"
"How are the two of you talking together?" Lucius elaborated.
Lyra looked at him innocently. "Why shouldn't two best friends talk to each other?"
Lyra felt glad that she didn't kill Darla. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to witness Lucius's reaction to her statement.
For a pureblood heir who had been trained to keep all his emotions masked, Lucius had developed an odd habit of letting it down whenever he witnessed Lyra's dimples- just like he had done at that moment.
The poor boy looked like he was going to have a heart-attack on the spot. His eyes darted between the two girls hurriedly. Lyra's statement had done nothing to clear his confusion, in fact, it had only served to deepen it further.
"...What..."
"As much as I would love to continue this absolutely delightful conversation, I am afraid that we would be late to Potion's class." Lyra said, turning to Darla. "Would you and Lucius like to walk with me?"
"We would love to." Darla replied immediately, linking her arm with the still shocked and statue-like Lucius. "Just let us get my cousin on the way."
Because with Darla Sewlyn came Dolores Umbridge, who for some odd reason, viewed the ministry to be as sacred as Lyra considered Avalon to be when she had been younger.
"Of corse. Your relationship with Miss Umbridge is very admirable." Lyra said politely.
Darla giggled. "Well, thank you Lyra." Lucius's eyes widened with surprise as his neck snapped to face Lyra's face, who gave him a polite smile. "In fact," Darla continued, blissfully unaware of the exchange that had taken place. "Isn't that one more thing the two of us have in common? Both of us are very close to our cousins!"
More?
"Yes. Our relations with our family says a lot about our character." Lyra said, making Darla nod seriously. "Shall we go?" She asked politely, gesturing to the hallway.
"Lets." Darla giggled once again before calling out for her cousin to join them and tugging on Lucius's pristine, expensive robes and trying her best to be in between Lyra and Lucius because being seen with the two of them would do wonders for her popularity.
Dolores Umbridge quickly trailed after them, sticking to the other side of Lucius, much to the boy's dismay and Lyra's amusement.
It got worse when they arrived at their potion's class. While Lucius was fast to move away from Darla and Dolores to sit next to Lyra during potions as he always did, Lyra had waved him off, her eyes sparkling in merriment as it always did.
"Darla is your girlfriend." Lyra had insisted. "And the two of you make such an adorable couple together, it would be a shame if the two of you were to be split. An absolute shame." She had said, shaking her head sadly before raising it up again in determination. "You know what? I do not want to get into the middle of the two of you. So Darla, why don't you take my place as Lucius's partner?"
"Really?" This question was asked by both Darla and Lucius simultaneously, in tones of happiness and disbelief respectfully.
"Honest." Lyra promised. "In fact, I happen to sit beside Lucius next to a number of classes. I wouldn't mind if you take my place."
Lucius glared heatedly at her while Darla thanked her.
"But where will you sit?" Lucius asked suddenly.
"Our class has always had an uneven number of students and Dennis has been asking me to be his partner for quite a while now. I think it's about time I took him on that offer." Lyra gave them all a quick smile before going to sit with Dennis Yaxley.
Darla immediately turned to look at Lucius as soon as Lyra left. "Isn't this amazing, Lucius?" She squealed.
"Amazing." Lucius echoed as he followed Lyra's movements with a glare. The final piece of the puzzle had been placed and now he could see the whole picture- and he didn't like it one bit.
"Miss Black," Slughorn said suddenly as the bell rang, signalling the class ending. "Would you please stay back for a moment?"
Lyra tilted her head in confusion before nodding. "Of course, Professor." She said, watching as all her other classmates left, a few tossing curious glances at her direction.
Lucius Malfoy reflected her confused state as he stared at her. Darla Sewlyn tugged on his wrist impatiently, making him give the girl a quick glare and reminding her that despite him being her boyfriend, he was the king of Slytherin first and foremost; and the king did not bow to anybody but the queen.
"Only Miss Black, Mr Malfoy." Slughorn emphasised, making Lucius frown. He took a quick glance at the classroom and realised that it's only current occupants were himself, Lyra, Professor Slughorn and an irritated-looking Darla.
He hesitated before nodding. "Of course, Professor." Lucius said before turning around and beginning to walk out with Darla excitedly walking beside him and her cousin Dolores, giving him a sickly sweet smile from where she stood below the archway of their potions classroom beside a cringing, guilty looking Theodore Nott.
Lucius paused one last time at the archway and took a quick glance at Lyra only to almost positively melt upon spotting her dimples.
Upon noticing his expression, Theodore Nott rolled his eyes and tugged on his best friend's sleeve in an attempt to bring him out of his trance. "Come on, lover boy." He said loudly, prompting him to continue walking. "Your girlfriend and her pet are waiting." He whispered so it was just heard between the two of them.
Lucius scowled. "If I had just done what Lyra told me to do in the first place and not talked to you, then that would have been Lyra Black as my girlfriend and the pet you are referring to would have been one of her very dangerous snakes." He whispered back heatedly.
Theodore Nott shrugged. "Sorry. But in my defence, you really shouldn't have believed this was going to work."
"I honestly don't know why I did." Lucius sighed. "Now, even if I don't want to, I still have to date Darla for at least another week or two, otherwise, Lyra will think that I dated Darla just to make her jealous."
"She's Lyra Black," Theodore pointed out dryly. "I'm pretty sure she already knows that."
"I know that," Lucius snapped, still making sure that the two girls couldn't hear their conversation as they walked further away from the potion's classroom. "but I am not going to give Lyra the satisfaction of being right."
"But she is right."
"That is not the point," Lucius said hotly. "The point is, if I keep this charade up for another week, then I will be able to make a good counter argument if she ever says that I dated Darla just to make her jealous."
"But you did."
"And who's fault is that?" Lucius said, glaring heavily.
"Yours," Theodore said bluntly. "You shouldn't have believed me."
"Actually, it's your fault. You are a chaser in the Slytherin team and you played so horribly last time that we tied the match against Gryffindor. If you had played the match better, we would have won and I would have been able to propose to Lyra as originally planned. But no, you just had to screw it up." Lucius ranted before looking determined. "Quidditch practise will be at 5 tomorrow morning until breakfast."
Theodore spluttered loudly. "You can't do that! You aren't the Captain!"
"I'm not the Captain yet." Lucius corrected, unknowingly making Darla -who had eavesdropped on the last three seconds or so of their conversation- puff up her chest with pride at scoring such a popular boyfriend and making mental plans to immediately tell her father about their relationship to finalise a match between them.
"Yet." Theodore emphasised. "You aren't Captain now, meaning you can't do such things."
"I'm worse, I'm the King." Lucius grinned.
Theodore spluttered once more. "Okay, so maybe you can do that. But it is still wrong. If you do this, I'll organise a mutiny." He warned.
Lucius waved off his threat. "No, you won't. Organising a mutiny takes effort, something that you will never put."
"I'll tell Lyra embarrassing things about you." Theodore blurted out.
Lucius abruptly paused in his steps for a second, before continuing to walk. He glanced at Darla and Dolores to confirm that both girls were still happily chatting in their own world, before glaring at Theodore. "You won't."
"Yes, I will."
"Then I'll tell her things about you."
"Oh, you'll tattletale on me? Great way to impress your crush."
"She's not my-" Lucius glanced at the girls to see if they had heard. The fates were being kind to him that day, because they had not heard a word he and Theodore had said. "She's not my crush." he whispered heatedly.
Theodore Nott snorted. "Alright. What is she then?"
"She's my Everything." Lucius replied simply, before spotting the large, imitating figure of Johnathan Flint standing ahead. "Come on. We need to update him on the mutually agreed and decided upon, special five a.m practises." He said loudly, making the two girls' attention fixated on him.
Theodore shook out of his trance then and spluttered again. "Mutually agreed and decided upon, my arse."
"You do have a lovely arse," Dolores Umbridge said coyly before exchanging giggles with her cousin.
It looked like every colour had been sucked out of his face at that moment, as Theodore Nott's face turned a deathly pale shade. He cleared his throat politely and turned to Lucius, stopping his steps. "You should go on without me. I just remembered that I had a very important matter to attend to that I absolutely cannot postpone." He said seriously before promptly turning on his heels and starting to walk away.
"Where are you going?" Darla Sewlyn curiously called after him, the pitch of her voice going so high, it made Lucius cringe.
"When we tied in the Quidditch Match, I had tried to drown myself in the shower and had failed. I'm going to go and re-test that method now." He called back.
Darla blinked. "He's weird." She declared.
"Yes, he's the weird one." Lucius said, looking between Darla and her cousin. Mostly at her cousin.
"I don't know why you are friends with him." Dolores said snobbishly.
If Lucius was in Hufflepuff or Gryffindor, he would have immediately jumped to the defence of their friendship. However, as a Slytherin, he had learnt to be subtle. On the other hand, Theodore Nott was the reason he wasn't holding hands with Lyra Black right now, so it was honestly a dilemma.
"I have made choices in the past that I have come to regret presently." Lucius said finally, once again looking between the two girls. "Very deeply, sincerely, painfully regret." He said before longingly looking at the door that led to their potion's classroom which was located all the way at the other end of the corridor. "So much." He added.
If Darla or Dolores recognised or noticed his looks or tone of voice, they didn't say anything.
"Miss Black, I am sure you are wondering why I asked you to stay behind," Slughorn began, "Have you started studying for your OWLS?"
"Of course, Professor." Lyra replied, still confused as to where the conversation was headed. "And everybody in Slytherin has as well, if you are asking. We have long started our study groups and will be starting revision since after the Yule holidays."
"Good, good," Slughorn complimented proudly. "But that isn't why I asked you to stay back, my dear." He said. "You wanted to be a healer, don't you?"
Lyra tilted her head again. "Yes, professor. The art of healing has always intrigued me, so I would like to pursue it. Is there a problem with my grades?"
"There has never been and I'm sure that there never will be a problem with your grades, my dear. Do not worry." Slughorn said, waving off all her concerns. "But I did stop you to talk to you about somebody else's grades. Not from Slytherin, but from Gryffindor." He explained. "I was hoping that you would tutor this person in potions from now on until they graduate." He said seriously. "Now, dear, I know that it seems like a very daunting task and I do not blame you for having to think about it. You are a very busy young girl, Miss Black, and I am aware that you do not have much time to spare and to hear me ask you to tutor a student thoroughly for the next three years- well, I do not blame you for whatever must be going on in your mind."
Lyra raised an eyebrow at his statement but kept silent otherwise.
It wasn't rare for a Professor to ask students to tutor others, in fact, it was quite common. However, the tutoring would usually be for a concept or two that the other students were having doubts on, not for a whole, wide subject and certainly not for so long.
Not to mention, this was their OWL year.
By now, if a student hadn't caught hold of the subject, the teachers would look at them pityingly before calling them privately to reevaluate their career choices. Because if they weren't good at the subject now, they never would be.
She also pondered over the fact on why she had been chosen for tutoring a lion. While she had -and still was- topping her year academically, she did know that there were smart students in Gryffindor as well, and wouldn't the student prefer somebody from their own house to teach them?
Slughorn seemed to sense where her train of thoughts were headed before he chuckled and continued to speak, "And normally, I would not ask you -or anybody- to do such a thing, being OWL year and all, but this is a special case, I'm afraid."
Lyra looked at him with intrigue, prompting him to continue to elucidate.
"This student, he is not a lost cause at Potions. Rather, he does admirably well, his marks being in the A ranges."
"Then Professor, I've heard of you making exceptions to students in NEWT-level classes. Surely you can do the same for him."
"That I can, my dear, and I will. However, this reason goes a little deeper than that." Slughorn said, making Lyra even more intuited. "You see, this student needs perfect O's in his marks card in order to try to achieve his dream." He revealed before clearing his throat and meeting her eyes. "He wants to become an auror."
And that seemingly simple statement cleared up every question Lyra had and even caused her to sympathise with the currently unknown student. It also answered the matter of why Professor Slughorn had asked whether or not she still wanted to be a healer because the only other job that came close to the amount of qualifications needed in order to become a healer, was the amount of qualifications it took to be an auror. And while an E was acceptable, an O would increase his chances of getting recruited and selected to join the auror forces.
"He is a very determined boy. Very hardworking as well." Slughorn quickly took to assuring her. "Very smart boy, he is. He gets O's in every other subject he needs. Everything except-"
"-Potions," Lyra finished for him, making Professor Slughorn smile at her.
"Yes, my dear. In your year, there have been seven students who wish to be healers and twenty four who wish to be aurors. However, if I have to be honest, solely based on academics, you might become the only healer from your year while only four students may meet the qualifying mark to be aurors." Professor Slughorn admitted. "We could make that number five, however, if this young man gets an O in potions -something that I am confident he will with your help. He is very determined, Miss Black, and I can assure you that he will not be a waste of your time and effort. I give you my word on that." Slughorn promised before pausing nervously. "So, would you?"
Lyra gave him a half-smile. "I am not going to lie. It will be hard, Professor, but our dreams define us, and it would be inhumanly cruel of me to crush this student's dreams."
Slughorn beamed. "So, you will do it?"
"I am honoured that you have entrusted such a task to me, Professor, and I will do my absolute best to live up to your expectations and not disappoint you." Lyra replied.
Slughorn looked at her proudly. "I know you will, my dear girl, unlike..." He trailed off with a pained look in his eye before clearing his throat forcefully. "Now, enough of me. I will go and get him here and then- do you have any classes today?"
"Not anymore, Professor."
"Excellent! Neither does he. The two of you can start right away." Slughorn announced, clapping his hands excitedly. "I shall go and call him. I also have some other work that I will go to on the way, so this classroom will be empty and you can use it as your study destination if you wish. Otherwise, feel free to choose any place you feel comfortable with."
"Of course, Professor. Thank you for offering."
Slughorn chuckled jovially again before waving goodbye to her and leaving Lyra alone in the classroom with nothing but her thoughts for company. It was times like these that she missed Phobos, her pet snake and all his nest-mates.
Approximately two minutes later, the sound of pitter-patter footsteps grew louder, alerting her that the mystery student was approaching.
Lyra was admittedly surprised upon seeing his familiar face as he threw her a grin.
"I didn't think you wanted to be an auror," She said, smiling warmly.
"And I didn't think you wanted to be a healer." He replied good-naturedly, returning her smile. "So I guess that we are both surprised."
"Indeed," Lyra dimpled. "We haven't talked much, have we?"
"No. As far as cousins go, I think we have the suckiest relationship." He admitted.
"Then I guess it's time to change that now."
"Your mother won't approve. She hates my whole family."
"Don't take it personally. My mother hates everybody except a selected few." Lyra replied as she dimpled again, making a laugh escape him. "But I think my father would be delighted if the two of us become close and I am sure that your mum will as well, if only so that she can see my own mother be angry."
"Well, then it is best not to disappoint our parents, right?" He laughed, his grey-blue eyes sparkling.
"Of course." Lyra said, mirroring the glimmer in his eyes.
Gideon Prewett, the son of Lucretia Prewett nee Black held out an arm for her. "My lady, may I have the honour of escorting you to our wonderful study corner."
Lyra curtsied. "The honour is all mine, kind sir. But if I may ask, where is this wonderful study corner you speak of?" She asked, accepting his hand.
"I... don't know," Gideon answered with a frown, his messy red hair half falling into his eyes.
"Then might I suggest the astronomy tower?"
"The astronomy tower it is." He declared, before facing Lyra with an amused look. "But are you really so vain that you wish to study under the heavens you were named after?"
"I'm a Black." She said dryly.
"Point taken." Gideon accepted. "Let's go."
There was only a week left for Yule break (any respectable pureblood would certainly not term it as 'Christmas vacations') and to the surprise of every single person, Lucius Malfoy was still dating Darla Sewlyn. They had been together for three weeks now, and coincidently, the past three weeks, Lyra Black had been spending the majority of her time with her numerous cousins, most notably Gideon and Fabian Prewett.
In another complete coincidence, Lucius Malfoy had taken up glaring as a hobby and was being more temperamental than usual. The only times he wasn't snappish was (once again, a complete coincidence) during meal times (when he was seated beside Lyra Black), during their nightly prefect patrols (when he was walking beside Lyra Black) and during the meetings of the Slytherin Court (when he was talking with Lyra Black). A complete and utter coincidence.
Lyra, meanwhile, was quite enjoying herself. It turned out, Lucius Malfoy, much like her brothers, detested being ignored or given the silent treatment and they thrived off of attention. To take it away from them was actually really pathetically funny.
Besides, she rather liked spending time and conversing with Fabian and Gideon. The three of them surprisingly had a lot in common and they were very fun together. Even Bella had grudgingly admitted that the twins were rather brilliant.
And like she had predicted, her father and grandparents were delighted with the revelation that the three were spending more time together. James, Sirius and Regulus had a tendency to look up to the twins due to their mutually shared love of pranks and had sent her a very long letter that was entirely devoted to praising the Prewett twins, who they hadn't seen in months, with a post-script at the end of the letter from Regulus asking her to get their autograph. Lyra was very much tempted to remind the three of them that the Prewett's were their cousins, but Auntie Lucretia and her mother did not really get along which in turn meant that they the cousins didn't really meet up as often as they wished they would, so she instead wrote back saying that the three of them could hero-worship the Prewett twins in person, considering that they would, for the first time in forever, be joining them for the Yule celebrations. Lyra had also made a copy of the letter and shown it to Gideon, who happened to be very much touch and even may or may not have framed the letter.
Her mother's letter was equally as predictable. Although the words were written, she could swear that she could hear the words being shouted into her ears. Lyra wrote back to her mother a rather apologetic letter, saying that she was sorry but 'dad would feel so happy at seeing his nephews and niece again after a terribly long time', 'they are delightfully wonderful mother, I am sure you will like them when you meet them in person. Gideon and Fabian are very intelligent and want to become aurors when they grow older. With how much ambition the two of them have, I am honestly surprised that they didn't get into Slytherin!'. Her mother's reply to her letter was much more calm and collected. Lyra had a feeling that it was because she had mentioned the phrase 'Prewett's are part of the Sacred 28' in various forms and at almost every paragraph.
It was much easier convincing her Aunt Lucretia to spend the Yuletide days with them. All she had to mention was that it would make her own mother really angry and Aunt Lucretia had sent her a tin of homemade cookies along with a letter that contained only three sentences- "I knew I liked you. We should spend more time together. The two of us would get along spectacularly, don't you? We might even burn the house down, and I mean that statement quite literally". Lyra's mind resonated with her aunt's words. While her father resembled grandfather Arcturus in terms of personality, Lucretia Prewett nee Black was her mother's daughter through and through.
"I still can't believe Lucius is still with Darla." Narcissa said, glancing at the 'happy' couple at the corner of her eye where she could see Darla trying to feed Lucius lunch, and Lucius trying to dodge her attempts all the while not pausing his conversation with Theodore Nott and Dennis Yaxley.
"Maybe we judged her too fast." The ever-nice Andromeda suggested. "We haven't spent enough time with her and her... lovely cousin to really know them. Maybe the two of them get better with time, like wine or cheese."
"Or they could be like vinegar and get more putrid with time." Lyra replied offhandedly, making Bellatrix laugh and even Andromeda crack a smile.
"Ly-Ly!" Gideon shouted as Fabian waved her over from where they was standing below the archway of the Great Hall.
Lyra rolled her eyes fondly at them before standing up and walking over to them. "De-De, Fab-Fab!" She said, dimpling on the way making the boys' smile drop.
"Ly-Ly!" Fabian whined. "Don't call us that! We have a reputation to uphold!"
Lyra tilted her head cutely. "What reputation?" She asked innocently.
Fabian spluttered, as Gideon laughed.
Fabian scowled at him. "Gid! You're my twin! You're supposed to be on my side."
"Yeah, but it's so much fun to not be." Gideon said in between laughs before turning to face the smiling Lyra and flash her a smile of his own. "Besides, considering she embarrassed us-"
"-You both did it first-"
"-Not the point, Ly-Ly. But considering you embarrassed us and basically doomed us to a lifetime of teasing from our friends," Gideon began, smirking. "I think we should do the same to you."
The glint in his eyes was so familiar to Sirius' that Lyra was immediately cautioned. "Oh no."
"Oh yes." Gideon said nodding. "Are you thinking what I am thinking, Fab-Fab?"
"Of course De-De!" Fabian grinned before throwing his arms out wide. "Group hug!"
"Aah!" Lyra exclaimed dramatically, as she was sandwiched between the two Prewett boys. "Can't breathe. Losing oxygen. Almost dying."
"That's fine." Gideon mumbled into her shoulder.
"The two of you aren't in my will." Lyra managed to choke out, making the two boys jump away from her immediately like she was on fire.
Gideon's eyes were wide as he cupped his mouth and shouted loudly. "This is a medical emergency! Does anybody know how to make somebody breathe properly again?"
"This is not a drill, people. I repeat, it is not a drill!" Fabian added.
Lyra once again rolled her eyes. "Nice to see that my death only has meaning to you if you are in my will."
"When we are in your will." Fabian corrected her.
"Bold of you to assume you'll be in my will." Lyra said.
"Bold of you to say that we won't." Gideon retorted, throwing an arm around her shoulders. "Because deep inside-"
"-Extremely, impossibly deep-" Lyra muttered as she leaned into him.
"-extremely, impossibly deep inside," Gideon continued. "You like us."
"Unfortunately, yes." Lyra replied, giving them a small smile.
"Yes, but you'll hate us in another minute." Fabian muttered, as he began to back away from his cousin slowly.
Lyra blinked before fixing her pretty mercury eyes on him and tilting her head. "Why would you say that?"
Gideon unwrapped his arm and also started to slowly retreat, making no sudden movements.
Fabian laughed nervously. "Well... You see," He began as he looked around in caution for any objects that were breakable or had the ability to kill him that were placed nearby. Lady Fortuna was being kind on them, and thankfully, there weren't any. "We may or may not-"
"-Fabian did it. I am completely innocent in this case!" Gideon said quickly, backing away even more as he pointed a finger at his twin, making the latter glare heatedly at the former.
Lyra narrowed her eyes at Fabian, hand immediately going to her wand. "What did you do?"
"Before I tell you, you must know that it was a complete, unfortunate accident and I didn't mean to do it." Fabian said hurriedly.
Gideon snorted from where he was still backing away cautiously from Lyra. "Yes, you did."
"Not the time!" Fabian snapped.
"You know what else would be a complete, unfortunate accident?" Lyra asked casually as she began walking towards the now extremely scared Fabian.
"No?"
"Your death, if you don't answer my question honestly." Lyra said, mercury eyes fixed on his blue-grey ones. "What.did.you.do?"
Fabian laughed nervously again, which only served to make Lyra narrow her eyes even more. "Well, I may or may not have sort of accidentally invited the Malfoy's to spend Yule with us in the Planetarium?" He said, ending it like a question and making Lyra pause abruptly in her steps. "Surprise?" He offered weakly.
Lyra smiled in reply, and it was the single most terrifying thing Fabian had ever seen in his life.
"Run." Gideon warned, stepping closer to Lyra as if to restrain her from committing homicide in front of many witnesses.
"You don't have to tell me twice." Fabian mumbled before running away as quick as his legs could carry him.
Lyra's smile grew wider at that scene, making Gideon hesitate for a few seconds before placing a hand on her shoulder.
"As much of an idiot as he is, I quite like being a twin. Please tell me you are not going to kill him."
Lyra rolled her eyes. "First of all, you don't kill family." She stated firmly, making Gideon relax for a moment before he once again tensed at her next sentence. "Besides," she continued, "death is a completely natural process. Trust me when I say there is nothing natural about what I am going to do to him."
Gideon's eyes widened, before he suddenly let out a laugh.
Lyra gave him a surprised look. "You're not worried or scared?"
"My mother is a Black, it will take more than that to scare me." He grinned. "Besides, Fabian is strong and I know you won't go overboard and this is just the dramatic side of you talking. You'll probably just give him the silent treatment or kill him with kindness or something, just like what you are currently doing with our future brother-in-law. I'm confident that not even a hair on Fabian's amazing head will be harmed." He replied, laughing again.
"Shh," Lyra winked. "Keep it down. You're going to spoil my image."
"That's what I'm going for, actually." Gideon said giving her a lopsided smile. "Not to mention, Fabian tattled to Aunt Florence about our previous prank and blamed it all on me. The woman practically ate my ear off for that. He deserves this. He'll think that you'll harm him so he'll be so paranoid and so utterly scared, that he won't realise that you wouldn't do such a thing. I believe that it is time Fabian learnt that karma sucks."
Lyra laughed.
"Anyway," Gideon said, clearing his throat. "Want to go and work on potions?"
"Oh my, Gideon Ignatius Prewett is voluntarily asking to work on potions without me having ro remind or use force on him? What is the world coming to!" Lyra exclaimed dramatically.
Gideon rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Now are you coming or should I work on love potions all by myself?" He asked once again, as he dramatically bowed and offered his hand.
"Of course I'm coming. Merlin knows you need supervision." Lyra said as she accepted his outstretched hand.
Gideon snorted as they began walking. "I do not." He protested.
"Yes, you do. And I say that on behalf of every wizard and witch that values their life and sanity." Lyra replied.
"It's really hard to come by people who value both their life and their sanity these days." Gideon said offhandedly. "Usually it's only one of them."
"Unless you carry the Black gene in you. Then you value neither." Lyra pitched in.
Gideon laughed. "It's funny because it's true!"
Lyra joined his laughter. "Yes, yes it is."
"Why is Lyra hanging around with the Prewett's so much?" Lucius asked his friends, Dennis Yaxley and Theodore Nott, scowling as he glared at the mentioned Prewetts. Darla had stopped trying to feed him a minute ago and was now excitedly conversing with her cousin about something that he could not care less about.
"Firstly, just because you glare at them, does not mean that they will spontaneously combust." Dennis said, rolling his eyes.
"And secondly, it might be because the Prewett's are her first cousins?" Theodore offered.
"You are first cousins with the Weasley's. It does not mean you talk to them." Lucius retorted to Theodore.
"Yeah, but they are the Weasley's." Theodore said pointedly. "You would have done the same if you were in my shoes." He defended.
"Weasley's, Prewett's, what's the difference?" Lucius said, waving them off and still glaring at who was most likely Gideon Prewett as Lyra looped an arm through his before both of them laughed and walked out of the Great Hall. "Both have red hair, both don't deserve to be on the Sacred 28 list and both have brown eyes."
"Actually, the Prewett's now have grey-blue eyes." Dennis corrected. "The grey part comes from the Black family through Lady Lucretia Prewett, formerly Black."
"And there happens to be a lot of difference between the Prewett's and the Weasley's." Theodore said, as if personally offended by the mere thought that the two families could be compared on the same level. "The Prewett's are rich, the Weasley's are not. The Prewett's are neutral, the Weasley's are light. The Prewett's are proper, the Weasley's are blood-traitors. The Prewett's are-"
"-Wasn't your mother a Weasley before marriage?" Dennis interrupted, facing Theodore who scowled at his comment.
"Don't remind me. I'm still clinging on to the hope that her red hair might be because she is secretly a Prewett." He grumbled.
"But she isn't, is she?"
"That doesn't mean I can't have hope." Theodore snapped before composing himself. "Hope is very important. It keeps a person going. Just look at Lucius, as he hopes that Lyra Black is in love with him and that they get married and have -what I presume would be- the most gorgeous children with his hair and her eyes." He winked.
Lucius threw him a glare, but his lips twitched upwards as he tried to contain a smile at the image his mind brought of a little boy with his platinum blond hair, chin and nose along with Lyra's beautifully startling grey eyes, smile and dimples.
"- to lover boy. Can you hear me, lover boy?" Theodore questioned, waving a hand in front of Lucius' face. Lucius swatted his hand away and retuned to his recently taken up hobby of scowling at anybody who wasn't Lyra Cassiopeia Black.
"Had a nice dream?" Dennis smirked.
"Yes. The sight of your mutated body has never failed to bring a smile to my face." Lucius said smiling.
Dennis scowled before muttering a "It's like talking to a male Lyra" under his breath.
Theodore, on the other hand, shook his head. "You have been spending way to much time with Lyra, my King."
But still not enough, Lucius thought in the safety of his mind. On the outside, he just rolled his eyes before proceeding to return to his scowling.
No matter how much he disliked the Prewett's, he was admittedly thankful to one of the twins for inviting his parents and himself to join them in celebrating Yule with the Blacks. His parents had accepted it, of course. The Black's and the Malfoy's had always been close, but this would give him another opportunity to try to confess to Lyra Black. Properly this time.
But first--
He glanced sideways where Darla was staring at him with such a lovey-dovey expression that she may as well have had hearts in place of her eyes.
A part of him -the one with emotions- was a little sympathetic that he had practically used her. This was the part that pushed and forced him to date her for an extra week longer than he had wanted to originally. But considering that that psychotic bitch and her nasty cousin were attention hoarding girls who, like every other girl who had wanted to date him, used him as well in order to elevate her social standing and attempt to marry him for his wealth and position, that part of him was now nonexistent.
If Darla wanted to be the centre of attention, then he was going to be a gentleman and fulfil her wishes. After all, what brought more attention to someone than being publicly dumped?
"Sewlyn," he called out standing up, making her giggle once more with her cousin, "We need to talk."
"About what, Lucykins?"
Lucius's eyes twitched and any regrets or patience he must have had disappeared into the air. "I'm breaking up with you." He said bluntly, making some of the eavesdroppers gasp while most of them just either nodded or shrugged, as if this had been long-time coming.
"What-Why?" Darla cried.
"It's not me. It's definitely you and that nasty cousin of yours." Lucius continued without pausing. "You cannot sit with the Slytherin Court any longer and Morgana help me if you call me any awful nicknames from now on, I will make you regret it."
"What-What did I do wrong?"
"Oh where do I begin," Lucius sighed. "Too many things. You made one too many mistakes."
"Name one." Darla said, her eyes daring. "All I did was love you, and last I checked, that isn't a crime. Name one thing wrong I actually did and I'll accept that you are correct."
Lucius leaned forward until his mouth was just beside her ear, making Darla shiver. "You made Lyra Black frown and for that, you deserve to rot in hell." He said before returning to his previous position and nonverbally gesturing for Theodore and Dennis to follow him out the Great Hall.
Darla spluttered behind them. "That's- that's not a good enough reason! You can't do this to me! Do you know who I am?" She shouted hysterically, but all her cries went ignored as Lucius, Theodore and Dennis elegantly exited the Great Hall.
Darla slumped in her seat.
"Do you really think Lucius Malfoy cares who you are?" Narcissa asked coldly, coming into view. "Now, get out of that seat." She ordered.
"No." Darla said, clutching the seat she was sitting on. "It's mine! I'm the King's consort! I rank higher than you! Lucykins will have your head for this!"
The remaining members of the Slytherin Court laughed, like it was the funniest thing they had ever heard, and so did the others who were eavesdropping.
It was cruel, Narcissa presumed, to put salt to her wounds. But when did they ever start caring about other people's feelings? Children were cruel, mostly because they didn't care who they were hurting and how badly they were doing so. It was all just fun to them. And if it was considered ethically wrong to feel a sense of pleasure at seeing Darla hysterical and Dolores look frozen, then Narcissa would proudly proclaim herself to be a sadist. Besides, she had never claimed to be a saint in the first place.
"Get out of the seat," Narcissa calmly repeated. "Or we will make you." She finished in a voice that was the perfect blend of a warning and a promise.
Dolores Umbridge seemed to snap out of her trance at that, and slowly urged Darla to get up, but Darla seemed determined to be hysterical. She wouldn't listen to anybody.
"We'll go. We didn't want to be here in the first place anyway." Dolores said, sticking her pug-like nose in the air.
Narcissa gave her a look of pure disbelief as Bellatrix laughed.
"Sure you didn't." Narcissa said dryly. "Go, then."
"No." Darla said in a firm tone. "Tell me why. Tell me why Lucykins doesn't like me. Tell me and I will go."
Narcissa smiled warmly, but her eyes were cold enough to make glaciers jealous. "You want the truth? Alright. You're not my cousin. Lucius doesn't like you because you aren't Lyra." She said simply. "Now get out of my sight, you mewling quim."
Later in the evening, when Narcissa invited herself to Andromeda's room to chat with her sister, she wore an excited expression while sitting on the bed.
"Now that Lucius and Sewlyn have split up, I think Lyra and Lucius should get together soon." Narcissa explained to Andromeda. "I just think they need a little push in the right direction."
"Don't meddle, Cissa." Andromeda warned. "You'll get into trouble."
"Not if I succeed and I am confident that I will." Narcissa replied.
"Playing matchmaker always goes wrong."
"Not if I am the one playing the matchmaker." Narcissa said before sighing dreamily. "And just imagine. The two of them will be so grateful to me for being the reason they get together, that they will name their children after me. Narcissa II for a girl, and Narcissus for a boy. Wouldn't that be lovely?" She asked with a smile before walking away without waiting for her sister to reply to her rhetorical question, all the while making match-making plans in her mind.
Andromeda sighed. "Why do I have a feeling that this will go horribly wrong and somebody will most likely die in the end?"
Sometimes, Andromeda really hated that she was a Black.