Chapter 11
LYRA SAT IN THE HOGWARTS EXPRESS once more, eager to go back home. The Silver side of the Slytherin Court plus Andromeda surrounded her in the compartment. This was the compartment that was specially reserved for the Court. There was more leg room, seating spaces and such. Also, there was a door inside the compartment that led to the adjacent compartment which was just a tad smaller and meant for all the Green's of the Slytherin Court.
There was a knock of the compartment door, and Lucius stepped in.
"Hey, what are you doing all the way here in the Silver territory?" Dennis Yaxley said lazily.
"Exploring it's vast lands in order to discover it's most beautiful maidens." Lucius replied with a smirk. He turned his face to Lyra who was sitting by the window. "There is one."
"Forgive me, but I seem to be confused on whether you are referring to me or your reflection." Lyra said, setting everybody in the compartment to laughter.
Lucius rolled his eyes as Narcissa gave him a mysterious smirk and moved to sit somewhere else so that the seat beside her cousin would be free. Lucius gave her a grateful nod before proceeding to sit next to Lyra.
"Binns is out." Lyra said as soon as he did. "My father received a letter earlier today and immediately sent it to me. Headmaster Dumbledore has until after Christmas break to find a new, proper, experienced and most importantly, living, teacher. If he doesn't, then the Board of Governors will be choosing one for him."
Lucius nodded. "That's excellent. Hopefully, that old coot will find somebody who actually treats the subject with the respect it deserves."
Lyra nodded as well. "Yes. I've told the Silver's-"
"-I'll go and tell the Green's in a bit." Lucius finished for her, making Lyra smile. "And they will spread it around to the rest of the school."
A silence descended upon them.
"I broke up with Darla Sewlyn." He said suddenly.
Lyra shot him an amused look. "I heard."
"And..." He prompted.
"And... what?" Lyra laughed. "What do you want me to do about that Lucius?"
Lucius scowled. "Say something about it!"
"I did, remember? I said 'so...'"
"Say something else then."
"I am so sorry for your loss?"
"Something that you mean."
"Congratulations." Lyra said with a smile.
Lucius fought a losing battle to keep the smile off his face upon seeing her dimples. Metaphorically stupid Lyra with her stupidly perfect dimples. "Thank you. Anything else?"
Lyra's amused twinkle grew brighter. "No."
"Nothing else?"
"Nothing else." She clarified. "Why? Do you want me to say something specific?"
I am so happy you broke up with her Lucius. You are the love of my life. Let's tell our parents how much we love each other and get married!
Lucius smiled. "Yes, actually."
Lyra tilted her head. "And what would that be?"
I love you to the ends of the earth and back. You complete me. Knowing you is the greatest gift I have ever received.
"I wanted you to tell me that you would make her life hell for the way she acted during the brief days she was one of us." Lucius replied in what he hoped was a dry tone.
"And who's fault was that?" Lyra retorted, giving him a pointed look before dimpling once more. Merlin her dimples. "And Lucius, love, that goes without saying."
She called me love? She called me love. She called me love! SHE CALLED ME LOVE.
"When?" Lucius asked casually, not showing any of his internal thoughts to affect his cool, calm composure on the outside. "When will you start?"
Lyra laughed again, the twinkle in her eyes were enough to make a diamond jealous. "It's already begun."
"How?" He asked curiously.
"It's better if you have plausible deniability." Lyra replied before simply smiling again, indicating that she was saying nothing more on that subject.
"My King?" Dennis Yaxley began, coming into view and since Lucius hadn't acknowledged him yet, he continued, "My Lord, Your Royal Highness, Your Majesty, Your Supreme Hair Gelliness-"
"-What," Lucius snapped as Lyra laughed again.
Dennis lifted his hands in the universal surrender motion before Lyra gave him a wink, making him smirk. "Your royal attendants are awaiting the return of Your Grace in his own compartment."
"He means get out, Lucy!" Bellatrix shouted impatiently. "You'll be staying with us until Yuletide gets over, so that is plenty of time to ogle at my cousin. But for now, go back to whatever level of hell you crawled out of."
"Alright, I will take my leave." Lucius stood up and gave them all a nod. However, just before he left, he looked straight at Bellatrix. "And the layer of hell I crawled out of, Bella dear? It's called the throne room. Don't forget that next time." He said, flashing them all a blinding smile and leaving to his own compartment.
Lyra clapped her hands as soon as he left. "And that, everybody, is why I like him." She announced.
"We know!" All the Silvers and Andromeda shouted in union, making Lyra roll her eyes.
"You really need to work on subtlety. Both of you." Narcissa added.
"But he doesn't yet, so keep it down, would you?" Lyra scolded.
The Silvers shared a glance before nodding and simultaneously standing up and bowing dramatically. "Of course, Your Majesty."
Lyra laughed. "Glad that we have an understanding among us. Now sit down, peasants. We will be arriving to the station very soon."
As soon as she stepped on to the platform, she was immediately tackled with three dark-haired blurs. Lyra laughed as she tightly hugged her brothers. Narcissa, Bellatrix and Andromeda waved her goodbye and shared a laugh at her expression before going over to and joining their mother, Druella Black nee Rosier.
"I missed you all too." Lyra mumbled into their shoulders with Regulus, James and Sirius returning the gesture.
After they reluctantly let go of each other, Orion Black smiled at his daughter. "Lyra."
"Father," She dimpled back, hugging him as well. Who cared what anybody else thought about them hugging? They would be too scared to say anything about the Blacks anyway. "How are you?"
"Perfect, now that you have returned." Orion replied, slowly releasing her.
Lyra laughed. "And mother wonders why nobody agrees with her when she insists that Siri and I get our smoothness from her."
"Lyra, you shouldn't say such things about your mother. Everybody has the right to their own delusions." Orion replied, making Lyra and the three boys laugh again.
Lucius Malfoy approached the crowd of five.
"You!" Sirius accused, pointing a finger at him.
Lucius raised an eyebrow. "Me?"
"You!" James said, joining Sirius in pointing a finger at Lucius. The younger boys and the Malfoy Heir did not have the best relationship, since Lyra, the fact that all of them were of the male gender, pureblood and wealthy were the only things they had in common.
"You... what?" Lucius prompted.
Regulus smirked. "You, Heir Malfoy are a complete and utter piece of shi-"
"Regulus!" Orion admonished.
"I was going to say shining beacon of saving grace." Regulus said innocently.
Lyra and Orion rolled their eyes simultaneously and said, "Sure you were," in union.
Orion seemed to remember Lucius' presence at that moment and so he willed his face to become perfectly blank. "Heir Malfoy."
"Heir Apparent Black." Lucius greeted back, slightly bowing his head.
"Your mother has already joined us in the Planetarium and your father will arrive in time for dinner. I thank you formally for joining us to celebrate Yule with us for the next twelve days." Orion said coldly.
Lucius bowed once again. "The pleasure and honour, both our all our's, Heir Apparent Black. We look forward to celebrating this most auspicious holiday with the members of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black."
"Excellent." Orion continued in his cool tone, before turning to face the three boys. "I assume the three of you can get back to the Planetarium yourselves?"
"Of course, father." Sirius said sharing a grin between his biological brother and his surrogate brother, both of whom he loved equally before he twisted the large black diamond ring on his hand, and vanished.
James winked and Regulus waved before repeating the same action.
Orion wordlessly handed Lucius a diamond ring, which he wore and twisted the stone, making his disappear as well.
With only the two of them left from their group, Orion turned to his daughter.
"Father, you must admit. Lucius is polite." Lyra began, linking her arm to her father's.
Orion scowled. "Only because he knows that he might permanently disappear if he isn't."
"He fulfils every requirement that Grandfather Arcturus and yourself said that I must consider." Lyra continued to talk as if she hadn't even heard her father. "Plus I like him, father."
Orion's eyes went wide as he placed a hand over Lyra's mouth. She looked at him with confusion. "You are forbidden to say things like that."
Lyra pushed her father's hand away. "Fine. But just remember that you brought this upon yourself." She smiled. "I like Lucius."
Orion's face twisted weirdly. "No you don't."
"Yes I do."
"No you don't." Orion insisted, his voice holding a bit of a pleading quality towards it as they walked along the platform. "You are a teenager which means that you are mostly ruled by hormones. You might be... attracted... to him and you may have a... crush... on him but you definitely, absolutely do not love him or like him or any of the words that start with L." He said, as if the words physically pained him.
"Light him on fire?"
"That is a phrase, darling. And that, by the way, you are not only allowed but encouraged to do." Orion replied.
Lyra laughed. "Dad, I love you, but you are honestly overthinking this."
"It's called being honest, dear." Orion said, smiling innocently.
Lyra rolled her eyes. "Speaking of honest, what do you really think of Lucius?"
"He deserves to be hit with all the ten plagues of Egypt." Orion answered in a heartbeat.
"Father!" Lyra chided, eyes shining brightly. "Please give me an answer that is not affected by your father-instincts."
Orion scowled at that and assumed a thoughtful look on his face. "He is an okay lad. Not good enough for you, but not completely useless either."
"That is high praise coming from you." Lyra noted.
Orion rolled his eyes before smirking. "But I like the way he looks at you though."
"Like I'm the love of his life?"
"With fear in his eyes." Orion answered, eyes dangerously glinting. "He'll be staying with us for the next twelve days, won't he? That's more than enough time to intensify that feeling."
"Father!"
"Don't worry, darling. He won't die. As much as it hurts me to admit, he does happen to be the Heir to a Most Ancient and Noble House, so he won't die, don't worry dear. Just castrated. Maybe maimed. Definitely hexed. Your brothers will surely assist me-"
"-Father!" Lyra said, fixing her eyes on his. "I'm going to say this slowly, so you understand what I am saying clearly. I love Lucius. So no hurting him."
"Not even a little stab?"
"Not even a little stab."
"Lyra sweetheart, don't you think you are being a little controlling out of this? What man can't handle a little hit in the chest with a knife?"
"Well, father, considering that many vital organs happen to be located in the chest and the technical term for the method that you described happens to be stabbing, no. He might die, father."
"What's your point?"
"We literally just talked about why killing Lucius is a bad idea."
"Darling, just because we talked about it, does not mean I agree to it..." Orion began slowly. "Besides, you said that Lucius might die. Might being the keyword there."
"Father!" Lyra said. "No."
"Alright, fine." Orion grumbled, like a little kid being told that they weren't allowed candy.
"So you won't hurt him? Promise?"
"I won't hurt him as long as he doesn't give me a good reason to do so." Orion promised.
Lyra nodded. "Sounds reasonable." She cracked a smile. "Don't you think we should go home now? Lucius is alone with only Regulus, James and Sirius for company."
"Once again, dear, I am not seeing the problem."
"But I am." Lyra smiled. "I love you dad."
Orion kissed her forehead. "Love you more, princess. Let's go home."
And with a twist of their respective black diamond rings, they were transported to the Main Black Manor- the Planetarium- where they were first met with the sight of Lucius with black hair.
Lyra sniffled a laughter while Orion didn't even bother. Both looked pointedly at Sirius, James and Regulus who were standing with their hands back like innocent little angels who could do no wrong.
"Why?" Lyra simply asked, dimples on full blast.
"Why not?" James retorted as he gave them a lopsided smile.
"All of us have black hair. We were just trying to make him feel more at home with us." Sirius said, blinking adorably.
"Don't you think he looks handsome, Lyra?" Regulus asked, eyes widened like a puppy dog.
Lyra laughed as Lucius flashed them a very, very stiff smile. She gave him a glance over again, from the top of his now black hair to the tip of his shiny shoes. "Actually, I think he looks very cute."
Lucius laughed at that, making the other four males confused since they weren't let in on the inside joke.
"All of us will be decorating the Manor later." Lyra smiled. "Will you be joining us?"
"With you? Always." Lucius smiled, making all the other occupants glare heatedly at him.
"Allow me to show you the guest room, please." Lyra said immediately, before her father could.
"Of course, Lyra." Lucius smiled as she looped their hands together and the two of them walked away without another word.
"Good job on the hair dye, boys." Orion complimented as he glared at Lucius's back. "But it seems that we have met a worthy opponent."
"We can hit him with a knife." Sirius suggested.
Orion sighed regretfully. "Unfortunately, your sister insists that we do not stab him."
"Not even a little bit?"
"Not even a little bit." Orion said before smirking. "But I won't tell if you won't."
"Grandma Mal hates when we get blood on her carpets." Sirius replied regretfully. "She says it stains and smells and if we clean it the magical way, then the glamorisation -whatever that means- will be lost, so she will make us clean it by hand without magic."
Orion scowled. "Prank him then. Prank him good."
The three boys smiled in union. "You don't even have to ask." James smirked.
Three days later, James, Sirius and Regulus were huddled together in a corner of the Planetarium.
"Is everything set up?" James asked, glancing at the Black boys.
"Yes," Sirius grinned. "I've asked Grandma Mal to set up the mistletoe just where we want it to be-"
"-and I've told Bellatrix that I have some extremely important information to share with her in the living room." Regulus replied, shooting them a thumbs up.
"Great," James smirked, "And I sent a letter to Otis Sewlyn saying that Lyra wanted to meet him in the living room. I swear to Melin I have never seen somebody reply so fast in my life. He say's he will be here under seven minutes. I have also asked Grandpa Archie to give him permission to enter the Manor."
"Did he ask why, though?" Regulus asked.
James shook his head. "Of course not. You know that his policy number eight is to do first and ask questions later. Besides, I told him Grandma Mal was helping us, so he didn't even bother."
"Perfect." Sirius said, eyes glinting. "By the time this prank is over, Bellatrix is so going to wish she was dead." He cackled.
"Metaphorically." Regulus added. He always felt the need to specify that whenever they were talking with respect to a member of their very large and slightly insane family.
Lyra had been a little down lately, and Bellatrix was as horrid as usual. So, they had created a perfect plan for a Yule prank designed to both, cheer Lyra up and get revenge on Bellatrix.
The premise of their very long and hard thought of plan basically consisted of putting Bellatrix under the mistletoe and push Otis Sewlyn -who happen to be the even more toad faced older brother of Darla Sewlyn with an awful personality to match, and who also happen to have an insanely large crush on Lyra- under the mistletoe as well, meaning that Bellatrix and Otis would have to kiss to get out of it.
"What if Bellatrix kills us for this?" Regulus asked offhandedly. "Literally." He added as an afterthought.
James shrugged. "Lyra won't let her."
"Besides, you know how Grandma Mal hates when blood gets on her carpets." Sirius chipped in.
James nodded in agreement before giving Regulus an encouraging smile. "We'll be fine, Reg. You are overthinking things. Nothing is going to go wrong, don't worry, and OH BUGGER!" James swore wide-eyed.
"What?" Sirius asked, confused.
James' mouth was wide open as he pointed to where they had set the mistletoe up. Sirius and Regulus followed his finger before almost doubling over in shock because right below the mistletoe stood not Bellatrix, but Lyra.
She didn't even seemed to have noticed it.
Lyra casually leaned against the archway of the entrance to the parlour from the formal dining room, looking completely immersed by the book she was reading. And that was when James, Sirius and Regulus were mutually enlightened with the fact that Lyra, like her father, had a habit of reading books while leaning on walls and archways instead of sitting down and reading it like any other normal person would.
"You said Lyra would protect us against Bellatrix," Regulus said mutely while looking at his sister's form with wide, horrified eyes. "But who's going to protect us from Lyra?"
"Grandma Mal hates when blood gets on her carpets." Sirius repeated quietly, his body shaking.
"Not to scare you, but I'm pretty sure Lyra knows curses that won't leave blood." James replied dryly.
"She's Lyra. She won't kill us." Sirius said desperately. "Right?"
"She won't kill us literally." Regulus answered. "But considering that we are dooming her to kiss toad-face Sewlyn, I'm having doubts."
"What do we do?" Sirius asked hurriedly, turning to face James and Regulus. "What do we do, you two? I'm too young to die!"
"I'm younger than you!" Regulus said.
"I say that we leave Sirius as sacrifice and make a run for it." James suggested, placing a hand on Sirius's shoulder and looking at him with a sympathetic expression. "It was nice knowing you buddy. Your sacrifice will not go to waste. Probably."
Sirius narrowed his eyes at his best friend before swatting his hand away. "There must be something we can do."
"What's wrong with this plan?" James asked.
"The part where you sacrifice me!" Sirius snapped, taking care not to raise his voice too high as to not alert suspicion. "There must be some other way."
"Like?"
"I don't know." Sirius snapped again. "But this can't be it. What else can we do?"
"We should get Lyra out of the mistletoe." Regulus said.
"Thank you, Warlock Obvious." Sirius said. "But how do we do that?"
"The only way to take her out of the mistletoe is to break the spell with a kiss." James said, before immediately shouting, "Not it!"
"Well it can't be Reg or me," Sirius said, "While our family has always been massive practitioners of inbreeding, I'm sure even they would say that this would be too far."
Regulus nodded strongly.
"Well, it can't be me." James said. "I love Lyra a lot, but definitely not in that way. She's my god sister, for Merlin's sake!"
"Should the kiss be on the lips?" Regulus asked. "What if it can be a kiss on the cheek or forehead?"
"No, Grandma Mal set it for lips, just like how I asked her to." Sirius grumbled.
"We can't just give up!" Regulus said. "It's not just our lives on the line, but if we don't do something about this, then Otis Sewlyn will kiss our sister in like five minutes." He said, scrunching up his face.
Sirius looked faint while James made a gagging motion.
"There is only one person in this house right now who isn't directly related to us and not married." James said, swallowing.
Sirius snapped his neck to face his best friend, eyes widened. "James- no. Please tell me that you aren't thinking what I think you're thinking." He pleaded.
James swallowed again, flashing him a weak smile. "You know it as well as I do, Sirius, that as much as it pains me to say this -like, really, terribly, agonisingly painful- Malfoy is our only hope."
Sirius tripped over air at that statement and would have met the ground if not for James and Regulus' fast reflexes that the two boys will find very useful in the future when they play the roles of a Chaser and a Seeker respectively for their Quidditch teams.
"So, it's either Sewlyn or Malfoy." Sirius mumbled, voice shaky. "Morgana, it's like choosing between the lesser of two evils."
James looked at Sirius seriously. "Ask yourself this question, what would you rather have as a brother-in-law: a peacock or a toad?"
Sirius stayed silent.
"Sirius?"
"I'm still thinking!" Sirius snapped.
"Well, think faster because the answer might be decided for you within the next few minutes." James snapped in return.
"Shut up, both of you!" Regulus shouted in a whisper, his eyes glaring heatedly at both of the older boys. "We don't have time for any of this. I choose peacocks all the way." He said, before beginning to run in order to search for Lucius Malfoy.
James stared at the spot where Regulus had been standing before glancing at Sirius. "Peacock or toad?"
"Definitely not toad." Sirius replied, a shiver running through his spine as an image popped into his mind of a baby with his sister's eyes and nose and Otis Sewlyn's looks.
"Never a toad." James agreed before the two shared a nod, and ran hastily in order to catch up to Regulus.
Lucius was admittedly startled when Lyra's youngest brother, Regulus, had burst into his room without warning.
"Regulus," Lucius greeted. "How can I help you?"
"I need you to kiss my sister." Regulus said hurriedly.
Lucius blinked. "Pardon?"
"Otis Sewlyn is going to try to kiss Lyra and I don't want a toad for a brother-in-law so I need you to kiss Lyra! Which part of my simple statement didn't you understand?" Regulus asked frustratedly.
"The entirety, actually." Lucius replied dryly. "Are you feeling alright?"
"Now, yes. But in another minute when Sewlyn will kiss Lyra, no!" Regulus said, before discarding every bit of manners and etiquette that had been instilled in him by proceeding to clench on Lucius' cuff and attempting to drag him to the parlour.
Attempting was the key word there because unfortunately for Regulus, Lucius Malfoy played Quidditch on the Slytherin team and was actually quite strong.
"Why would Sewlyn try to kiss Lyra?" Lucius questioned, eyebrows frowned.
Last year, it had been a big joke in the Slytherin Court over how Otis and Darla Sewlyn had a majorly huge crush on Lyra Black and Lucius Malfoy respectively. That was before Lucius decided to defy all odds and date Darla, of course.
"Because we stuck her under the mistletoe," James replied in a 'duh' tone as he ran into the room with Sirius by his side.
"In our defence, it was meant for Bella." Sirius added, making Regulus and James nod. "Now are you going to help us out or not?"
"By kissing Lyra?" Lucius asked to confirm.
"Unfortunately, yes." James said at the same time Regulus exclaimed, "Have you been listening to nothing I've been saying!"
"So?" Sirius prompted.
Lucius looked at the three of them doubtfully. "How do I know you boys aren't lying?"
Sirius scoffed. "Trust me when I say that we wouldn't be asking you of all people to kiss my sister if we were lying. She deserves much, and I do mean a lot, better than you."
"Are the three of you luring me to yet another trap to prank me?" Lucius continued to ask and one couldn't honestly blame him for doing so.
Just the previous night, Regulus had come to his room with tears streaming down his eyes saying that Lyra accidentally touched a poisoning object and was now dying, only for Lucius to follow the boy and find out that while there wasn't a dying Lyra, there had instead been a dung bomb waiting for him.
While Lucius tended to be very analytical and logical minded in most situations, anything that related to Lyra Black wasn't one of them since his mind, for some reason, got all mushed up and foggy when ever it was. This had led to Theodore to once exclaim that the longer you had a crush on somebody, the more braincells tended to disappear from their mind.
"The three of you are joking, right?" He asked.
James snorted. "Believe me, I wish we were."
"Please believe us, Heir Malfoy!" Regulus pleaded, turning all the attention on him. "Please. If Sewlyn kisses her, then Lyra will kill us. Metaphorically, I mean. Not literally. I feel the need to clarify that whenever I am talking with respect to my family." He added as an afterthought.
Lucius' now looked more bewildered than disbelieving, but Regulus didn't have time to convince him of their -for the first time in forever- pure intentions.
"Bugger this all!" Regulus shouted, grabbing Lucius's cuff's even tighter and dragging him with all his might. The other two boys took this as their cue as well, with Sirius grabbing the other cuff and James pushing Lucius from behind.
They had managed to dragg him all the way to near the staircases when-
"Oh sweet Lyra!" They could hear Otis Sewlyn exclaim loudly as the door banged shut.
Regulus swore in a way that left all three older boys surprised.
Otis Sewlyn entering the Planetarium was proof that for once, the three mischievous boys weren't lying. And now that Lucius had confirmation, he suddenly felt horrified and automatically began running down the stairs to where Regulus had mentioned Lyra was standing below the archway that connected the formal dining room to the parlour. There was no way toad face Sewlyn was going to kiss the ever perfect Lyra Black. Not before he did, not now, not even on his dead body.
He quickened his pace when he heard Lyra say, "Heir Sewlyn?" with confusion evident in her tone.
He ran down the stairs, jumping over multiple steps and ran past hallways until he could see Lyra. She looked as heavenly as she always did, as she leaned against the archway with a closed book in her hand. He could see a mistletoe placed directly above her and could also see Lyra looking at Otis Sewlyn who was walking towards her with evident glee and the only thing that was running through his mind was, 'No, no, no way in hell.'
Lucius suddenly appeared in front of Lyra, standing right below the mistletoe and also effectively blocking her sight of Sewlyn.
Lyra tilted her head, like she always did when she was confused or did not know something. "Lucius?"
She was so bloody perfect that it should have been a crime.
Instead of replying, Lucius bent down and touched his lips with her incredibly soft ones. It was only a second long, and was more of a pec than a kiss, but that simple gesture left the most wonderful feelings that he had ever felt.
Lucius's lips slowly left her own and searched Lyra's eyes in order to have an inking of what she was feeling. But Lyra Black's eyes were perfectly blank.
Lyra wordlessly took out her wand from the holster and proceeded to hit him with a nonverbal stinging spell, making Lucius yelp.
"First of all, never kiss me without my permission." Lyra stated, the epitome of calm, making Lucius worried that the next curse she threw at him would be the beheading one. "And secondly," She continued, "that isn't how you kiss somebody. This is." And with that, Lyra threw her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his.
Lucius' eyes widened for a second, before he relaxed and wrapped her arms around her waist and pulled her closer, their lips moving to a wordless yet mutually understood rhythm.
When Lyra and himself had been twelve, Narcissa had gifted Lyra a romance book for her birthday. Lucius and Lyra had both spend a jolly good time laughing loudly at the way the author had described the kisses between the characters. But now, Lucius wished that he really hadn't because the book described his and Lyra's kiss so perfectly.
It felt like lighting coursed through their veins instead of blood and fireworks were lit up above them. It felt to him like he was floating on cloud nine. For a small second, Lucius thought that all of this was a dream but then he could feel Lyra's beautifully perfect dimples deepen as she smiled into the kiss, and Lucius once again felt a burst of euphoria in him.
It felt like they were the only two people in the world, he could hear see and hear nothing else but her; and she was all that mattered.
However, just because the two of them were unaware of what was happening in the background, did not mean that it wasn't happening.
The whole of the Black's, Malfoy's, Potter's and one odd Sewlyn had played witness to their still ongoing and very passionate kiss.
Otis Sewlyn was glaring heatedly at Lucius, while most of the adults were grinning either suggestively or wickedly.
Regulus scrunched up his face weirdly before muttering a "Gross" before looking away from that rather disgusting sight.
James looked positively mortified as he looked at the sight of his amazing god sister snogging a peacock with absolute horror.
Sirius was visibly having a funeral for his eyes and was briefly tempted to use his wand to gauge them out, if only to spare himself from having to continue to see such a frightful sight.
Andromeda was indifferent, Bellatrix was smirking and Narcissa was pouting. All the carefully planned out hypothetical situations that she had come up with had not only been spoilt, but also outdone by James, Sirius and Regulus and those brats didn't even know it and they hadn't even been trying!
Walburga was beaming and Orion was alternating between glaring heatedly at Lucius -who was still snogging his lovely daughter right in front of him, mind you- and at Lord Abraxas Malfoy who was looking at the sight of his son snogging Orion's only daughter proudly.
Meanwhile, Lord Arcturus Black silently passed his smugly smiling wife ten gallons. If only Lyra had waited until New Year's to begin a relationship with Lucius, then he would have, for once, won a wager against his wife.
Ten minutes ago:
Bellatrix walked into Lyra's bedroom without knocking, like she always did. "Boys are weird." She declared, slumping on her cousin's bed.
"What finally clued you in?" Lyra asked, grinning.
"Your brothers, actually," Bellatrix replied. "Regulus wanted me to go downstairs because he apparently has 'some extremely important information' to share with me." She quoted from memory before snorting. "You should really teach them a thing or two about subtlety, Lyra."
"I already did. They are hopeless on that subject." Lyra replied dryly. "Besides, according to you and all the Silvers, I'm not too good on the subject myself, remember?"
"Do you think they are planning something?" Bellatrix asked instead with excitement and curiosity evident in her tone, because no matter how much she found those three brats to be annoying, they really were genius' and extremely funny.
Lyra laughed. "Oh, they are definitely planning something and it most likely involves mistletoes."
"Mistletoes?"
Lyra nodded. "Narcissa had a fit last night because a mistletoe was missing. Merlin knows why she needed it, though."
"Maybe to make Lucius and you finally kiss and make up, quite literally on that." Bellatrix laughed and was surprised to see Lyra looking thoughtful. "Don't tell me that you are actually considering it!" Bellatrix asked, bewildered.
"It's not a bad idea, actually." Lyra admitted. "At least then, Lucius won't fake date another girl."
Bellatrix laughed. "What's the plan?"
"Uncle Charlus has already placed many mistletoes around so Aunty Dorea will keep kissing him. Gross, by the way. Anyway, so I will 'accidentally' stand under one of those mistletoes and you go and bring Lucius under there as well -use any excuse and method as you wish, just nothing that will bodily harm him- and dun, dun, dunnn!" Lyra sang dramatically with jazz hands.
Bellatrix laughed again. "Great. Just tell me where you'll be so I can bring Lucy there."
"Most likely either the parlour or the formal dining room." Lyra replied, grabbing the first book that she saw. "And give me at least seven minutes before you go to get him."
Bellatrix grinned. "Okay."