Chapter 13
PERHAPS it was all the extracurriculars, tests, tutoring, homework or classes, but the days seemed to get over faster than George Goyle finished dinner.
Lyra still hadn't figured out if that was a good thing or a bad one.
On one hand, it meant that Lucius and herself didn't have a lot of time to chat about things that weren't school, court or politics related, which was a big relief because although she had acted all high and mighty and had told him that the two of them should use the six years they had before his twenty first birthday to plan anything and everything; she honestly didn't want to.
Because planning for the possible future events just meant that they were one step closer to actually happening, and Lyra didn't want a future where the people she loved had a choice between either being branded, killed, or if they were really unlucky, both.
Lyra had these set of policies that she had created herself over the course of time that she was absolutely, completely true to. Not liking Dark Lords was number thirteen on this mental list, and even though she didn't believe in Divention, she did however, believe in Arithmancy. And Arithmancy told her that thirteen was an extremely unlucky number.
She had already given Lucius a pre-ultimatum and something told her that she might have to do the same for her dear cousin Bellatrix as well in the near future.
A part of her deep down below was terrified of hearing their answer.
So, she got over her dilemma and chose the easier, non-Slytherin course of action and decided to ignore the problem and prayed it went away. Ignorance was bliss, after all, and frankly, the less she thought about it, the better it was for her sanity.
Besides, she had a vague idea on what to do anyway should that problem ever sadly arise, and she sincerely hoped that Lady Fortuna would continue to favour her during that time as she had been doing so everyday since the second she had been born.
Lyra offhandedly wondered when exactly she had become so spiritual that she was praying and hoping that something would happen instead of actually making it happen like she used to.
Before she knew it, she was back on the Hogwarts Express for Easter break. Of course, those who had to take their OWLS and NEWTS that year would not exactly term it a vacation or a break.
It was somewhat of a family tradition that the whole family, both extended and close, spent the week off for Easter break in Astra- one of the private islands owned by the Blacks- since they didn't celebrate the muggle festival of Easter.
However, while Regulus, James, Sirius, Barty, Narcissa, Andromeda, and all the adults enjoyed the days under the sun drinking mocktails and cocktails respectively, there were five sleep-deprived minors in particular who were on the verge of either crying or having a mental breakdown.
Molly Prewett and Bellatrix Lestrange were scheduled to take the dreaded NEWTS that year and Lyra Black, Gideon Prewett and Fabian Prewett, their OWLS.
Molly and Bellatrix, two people who never in a million years could get along, suddenly couldn't even be separated. They would stay in the kitchen, Molly stress cooking while Bellaltrix stress-ate, and yell random facts to each other.
Comparatively, Lyra was much calmer. They were already in their twelfth round of revisions but there was that annoying doubt in the back of her mind that caused her to worry over what if there was something that she hadn't studied, or what if she forgot to learn a particular point.
Exams were honestly excellent for completely damaging a person's self-confidence.
Fabian and Gideon, on the other hand, were sadly only faring a bit better than Molly and Bellatrix. Apparently, Gryffindor's put their absolute faith in last minute studies and now, they were freaking out.
To Lyra, it was actually a good thing because the two of them would make her summarise everything they had learnt over the years into small explanations, which increased her confidence a little bit at a time.
Luckily, the Black's were wealthy enough that Astra was fully equipped with potion labs and dueling grounds, making it easier for them to study the theory and practical aspects of Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts respectively.
To make matters worse, the wonderful parents, grandparents and siblings assumed they were each qualified enough to give them all suggestions and comments regarding what they were to do and expect in the exams, but ended up confusing them instead, making Bellatrix threaten to hex everybody and Lyra vowing to ask all the snakes to bite them, disownment be damned.
It got much quieter after that.
Over all, Easter break was an annoying mixture of boredom and stress and for the first time in forever, all five of the exam-taking students welcomed the opportunity to get off the private island and into the school with open hands.
Lyra resented returning to school after Easter break for multiple reasons. A few of them were rather silly, such as the fact that she didn't want to leave her dear family and she didn't want to be once again loaded with homework and tests the day upon returning to Hogwarts. Another reason she detested returning after Easter break this year, was because it meant that she was one step closer to having to write the dreaded O.W.L.S.
Did she mention that she had to get a perfect O in Transfigurations, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Potions, Astronomy because it was useful for learning Potions and Arithmancy, Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures in order to have a chance of becoming a healer?
The only subjects that she could have some leniency in would have been Ancient Runes and History of Magic, if not for the fact that her darling father had a Mastery in Ancient Runes and was expecting his beloved daughter to do well in the subject that he was so fond of, and she wouldn't dare get anything but an O in History of Magic because she feared that Lucius would never let her hear the end of it.
She also had to tutor many, many students; most of whom she doubted would get anything more than an lesser E even if Merlin himself blessed them with wisdom and knowledge.
Excluding anything related to studying and O.W.L.S, she also had her Silver Slytherin Queen duties to follow.
Typically, after Easter break was when they would begin training the successors of the Court.
Currently, they had four seventh years who would graduate that year, so they would have to be replaced.
Thankfully, there hadn't been any incompetent members this year, so the rest of the members would be able to stay.
Between the day they returned to Hogwarts after break, to the last academic day of school, the Replacement Members (also called the RM's) would be shadowing the members they were replacing in order to get a feeling of their workload, authority and behaviour.
Lucius and herself had already discussed the RM's during one of their Prefect patrols. The rest of the members of the Slytherin Court had no say in who the RM's were going to be, and this tedious selection process, on paper, rested solely on the shoulders of the King and Queen.
But reality was much different.
Considering that if there was ever a clash of opinions or choices between the Silver ruler and the Green ruler, the Silver ruler is obliged to get his or her way, you could say that the selection process of the RM's along with most other duties rested on the shoulders of the Silver ruler only.
It was during times like these did Lyra's increase for Atlas increase tremendously. It was not easy having the weight of the world on your shoulder, after all. She was exhausted after having the metaphorical meaning of the phrase itself, that she couldn't possibly imagine the literal one.
Anyway, the new Slytherin Court for the next academic year would include:
o.| Lyra Black ~ Silver Ruler (Year Six)
o.| Lucius Malfoy ~ Green Ruler (Year Six)
o.| Narcissa Black ~ Silver Second-in-Command (Year Five)
o.| Theodore Nott ~ Green Second-in-Command (Year Six)
o.| Dennis Yaxley ~ Silver Espionage and Networking (Year Six)
o.| Penelope Rowle ~ Green Espionage and Networking (Year Seven)
o.| Valarie Bulstroad ~ Silver Management and Organising (Year Seven)
o.| Septima Shafiq ~ Green Management and Organising (Year Four)
o.| Nathaniel Crabbe ~ Silver Strength and Muscle (Year Seven)
o.| George Goyle ~ Green Strength and Muscle (Year Seven)
o.| Katherine Fawley ~ Silver Education and Academia (Year Six)
o.| Harold Day ~ Green Education and Academia (Year Six)
o.| Leonard Rowle ~ Silver Sports and Fitness (Year Five)
o.| Patrick Parkinson ~ Green Sports and Fitness (Year Seven)
This meant that Narcissa would have to shadow Bellatrix while at the same time, Valarie would have to shadow Narcissa and Katherine would have to shadow Valarie.
Septima would have to shadow Cassandra Greengrass, Leonard Rowle would have to shadow Jonathan Flint while Patrick Parkinson would have to shadow Henry Flint and Harold Day would have to shadow Patrick.
It was confusing and a little hard, but this system had been working since the days of the founders, and it would continue to work long after they had turned to ashes and dust.
Lyra would gladly repeat the fact that the time after Easter break was truly horrid.
But there was one thing that she and all her fellow students eagerly awaited with anticipated glee.
Lyra loved traditions. Especially when they were fun, and this one certainly was.
You see, their esteemed founder, Lord Salazar of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Slytherin, was a kind man (no matter what those close-minded, muggle-loving idiots of the other houses said), one who well and truly understood the plea and minds of students like no other.
He realised that for students, facing the exams can be an extremely stressful thing, and so, he deciphered a way for students to release such tensions.
Hundreds of years later, when the concepts of OWLS and NEWTS were introduced, this tradition was both sadly and gladly confined to only those in their fifth years and their seventh years.
This tradition was honestly, the only reason she liked being a fifth-year.
Exactly two weeks after Easter sunday, the large and intimidating portrait of the Great Salazar Slytherin would fly open, revealing a secret passageway that would otherwise throughout the year be sealed with ancient, powerful magic.
Students of all years could enter this passageway and would soon find themself in a large arena that resembled the Roman Colosseum in both shape and structure.
Then, only students facing their OWLS and NEWTS (the fifth and seventh years) would stand inside the battle royale arena.
Fifth years versus Seventh years. Then, the winning year would pair with each other and duel until only two remained, and then those two would duel until a victor had emerged and by then, all their fears, doubts, hesitations, stress and tensions regarding their very important exams would have vanished.
There was just something satisfying about throwing dangerous, bodily-harming illegal curses at somebody in a semi-safe, secret environment that could compare to no other.
The secret passage that led to this duelling area was actually one of the underwater caves that were hidden in the Slytherin Common Room. The Slytherin battle royale duelling stage was an extremely large setting that resembled the Roman Colosseum in structure. However, the duelling ground of this structure was surrounded by a body of water.
Fourth years and below excitedly took their seats on the stands, eager to watch how the duels would play out. The sixth years were a little calmer, but they too were practically bouncing.
Andromeda Black was chosen as this year's Duelling Referee since she had knowledge regarding this art and she had a close cousin in fifth year and her sister in seventh year, meaning that she wouldn't be able to show favouritism and instead provide fair and just comments and make wise decisions that would not be partial.
The fifth years changed their robes into blue and white ones, to represent the flexibility and free form of the water around them, while the seventh years changed their robes into those with shades of brown and green, to symbolise the mighty earth they stood on.
Bellatrix levied a challenging smirk against Lyra, who simply tossed her an amused look.
The fifth and seventh years gathered towards the approximate centre of the duelling grounds in a crowd.
Andromeda, dressed in red robes (for symbolism purposes and also to make others realise that she was a referee and not a target. They didn't want a repeat of that time two hundred years ago when somebody had assumed the referee to be a contestant and had levied the blood gurgling curse on them, after all), walked right to the middle and cleared her throat loudly.
"Greetings everybody, and welcome." She began with a smile. "I doubt I need to explain how all this goes down, but unfortunately, I am obligated to list the rules." She now faced the teams. "I would like to remind you all that this is an informal duel, which means the following: nobody is allowed to take any object or living being with them except your wand. Summoning anything from outside this duelling field is prohibited. Physical confrontations are forbidden. No killing or extreme bodily harming anybody. Any breaking of the above rules will result in immediate disqualifications." Andromeda warned. "Other ways to get thrown out of the duel are being unconscious, verbally surrendering to your opponent, disarming of your wand by your opponent, and being pushed or thrown into the water surrounding this dulling field." She said, before pursing her lips.
"This annual, House duel will be divided into three rounds. The first round is between the fifth-years as a whole and the seventh-years as a whole, where during, each team will try to disarm the other year. However, I would advise you to thread carefully, as once you are disqualified or you have lost, you will stay so. No second chances whatsoever. At the end, the amount of yearmates left standing after eliminating their opposition year completely, will proceed to Round two after a five minute break in between." Andromeda explained. "Round two will consist of the remaining few to fend off against each other until only two are left standing. After yet another five minute break, they will proceed to round three where it will be a one-on-one against each other in order to be crowned the victor." She finished before waiting for a few seconds to let all the information sink in before asking, "Am I clear? Any doubts?"
Nobody answered.
"Great," Andromeda said, "Then if you all are ready, the duelling competition will begin in ...3...2....1... DUEL!"
The fifth years immediately, in union, formed a circular position with their backs facing inward. Lyra had earlier threatened each and everyone of them personally that if they weren't to form such a formation, then she would set Black Mamba's on them all.
Nobody sane who wished to continue being alive would dare go against Lyra Black, whether she was joking about the threat or not.
The seventh years simultaneously smirked as they threw curses and hexes at the fifth years, who struggled to block and defend themselves under the force and brutality of the attack.
Whenever a fifth year dropped unconscious, the others would simply kick the body inside the circle and step closer to fill in the gap, maintaining a good defence.
Jonathan and Henry Flint were duelling with Dennis Yaxley and Theodore Nott respectively. The two seventh years were bulky, strong men and were just about to win their matches when Lucius Malfoy, who stood beside Theodore in the circle, threw two quick stunners their way. The two boys had been so concentrated on their victory on Dennis and Theodore, that they didn't notice the stunners until they flew in the air and fell inside the water.
What some of the seventh years failed to understand was that the fifth years had done their circle formation right in the middle of the duelling field for a reason. As Lyra had reminded them all, they needn't make a person unconscious. All they had to do was get them inside the water.
So even the weeklinks of the team like Darla Sewlyn and Dolores Umbridge managed to push a seventh year into the waters by repeated use of Confundo's and Maxwell's charm, which was designed to make human beings start walking backwards.
Believe it or not, Bellatrix had been the first seventh year to fall.
As soon as Andromeda had proclaimed the duel to begin, Lucius had shouted Protego Maxima over himself, Lyra (who stood next to him) and a few others, while Lyra had deadlocked her wand at Bellatrix and had used Umbrania Maximus, which was a modified shadow paralysis spell that caused shadows to rise up and restrain the victim. It was actually easy to overcome and required only a simple Lumos to banish the shadows, but Bellatrix, who had thoroughly expected Lyra to throw a curse at her, was shocked for a second that Lyra of all people would restrain her instead of throwing a hex or a curse.
Unfortunately for her, a second was all Lyra had needed to rain curses down on her beloved cousin.
"Afflicto! Depletura Minima! Hominum Evanesca!"
Bellatrix let out a loud, strangled cry at the sound of her bones breaking but luckily, the pain from the breaking bones did not let her realise that blood had started to bleed out from all of her orifices due to her cousin's second curse.
Lyra had thankfully had enough sense to keep the bleeding to a minimum because like Andromeda had stated earlier, extreme bodily injuries could get you disqualified.
Lyra's third spell was actually a forced apparatation jinx that caused the victims of the spell to forcefully be apparatated to the choice of the user, which in this case, was the water that surrounded the duelling field.
Sadly, one of the downsides of the spell was that it made you extremely tired, so Lyra spent the next hour or two using simple jinxes, hexes and curses that could be performed well even by a third year mudblood.
But the good thing was that Bellatrix -the person who had made most of the fifth years nervous- had been eliminated from the competition, which nonverbally yet mutually compelled the other fifth years to in thanks, defend Lyra as she got back her energy.
A part of Lyra did know that she was perhaps a little too harsh on her cousin. But the bigger part of Lyra knew that Bellatrix would be more impressed than angry and that Bellatrix would have done worse to her if given the chance.
The first round continued for nearly two and a half hours in total. The fifth year defence circle got smaller and smaller while the number of seventh years in the water got larger and larger.
Cassandra Greengrass was the last seventh year to fall, thanks to being hit simultaneously by an Exanimo (the suffocating curse) and Maxwell's charm with credit given to Lyra Black and Dennis Yaxley respectively.
Round Two saw only five survivors with respect to fifth years, but shortly after, Dolores Umbridge (who had at one point on time crept out to the middle of the circle where she had hid as her other year mates duelled their seniors, and had thus, survived the round), was sadly accidentally hit with a stray petrifying curse by Narcissa Black and was hence, sadly declared ineligible to fight in the next round due to -for some odd reason- none of the members of the House of Slytherin remembering the proper incantation for the counter-curse.
The next round saw Lucius and Lyra paired against Dennis and Theodore, but none of them stood a chance against the Slytherin prefects and a tornado of slightly illegal curses later, the latter pair was knocked out unconscious.
Andromeda announced the commencing of Round Three with a pretty and proud smile on her face. Cheers erupted from the audience as she gave the green flag to the much awaited duel between Lyra Cassiopeia Black and Lucius Abraxas Malfoy.
"I hope you don't feel too bad after being completely crushed by me." Lucius drawled, hands in his favoured duelling position and eyes alert.
"Funny." Lyra said. "I was just about to tell you the same thing." She said with a smirk, making the audience cheer and Narcissa loudly scream on whether Lucius would like some ice for that burn.
Lucius took her retort good-naturedly. He took every negative comment and insult directed at him by Lyra with good sportsmanship because he really, really, completely loved her for a reason so deep not even he was entirely aware of it. "May the best dueller win."
"Don't worry, I will." Lyra promised, eyes shining. "Good luck, love."
"You too, life. You'll need it going against me after all." Lucius winked.
"Alright, let's get started." Andromeda announced. "Lucius, are you ready?"
Lucius nodded, face completely serious now.
Andromeda looked to her cousin. "Lyra, ready?"
"Yes." Lyra replied, sharp eyes fixed to Lucius' forms as they caught every movement made by him.
"Then, One... Two... Three.... GO!"
Lucius Malfoy used a very impressive, complicated and difficult water elemental spell as soon as the duel commenced. Offence was after all, the best defence. "Cataracta!" He yelled with all his concentration and drew a bazaar looking rune on the air with his wand.
The water behind him rose in a huge wave before taking the shape of a thick wire, meant to hit his opponent headfirst with tremendous force.
Lyra stood calmly, looking like the epitome of patience. She slowly raised her wand before saying clearly, "Fiendfyre."
The crowd of students watched in a mixture of horror and awe as fire erupted from her wand and willed itself to resemble a huge fiery Phoenix.
Headmaster Albus Dumbledore would have been proud over how much the fiery phoenix resembled his companion, Fawkes.
Lyra smirked as she watched Lucius' eyes widen. If he wished to use elemental spells instead of the usual curses and hexes, then why shouldn't she as well?
The fiery Phoenix collided beautifully with the forceful wave of water before turning it all into vapour. Only after all the water was consumed, did the two duellers drop their respective elemental spells, for it would have been quite dangerous if they had done so in the middle of the collision, where had Lyra dropped her fiery Phoenix, she would have been washed away by the water and had Lucius stopped his attack of water, the fire would have burnt him badly.
Narcissa Black and the newly healed Bellatrix -who had been healed by her cousin during breaks after receiving an apology that she had waved off- was smiling widely and wickedly while Andromeda looked as white as a ghost.
The impressive and excruciatingly difficult high level elemental spells no doubt took quite a toll on their energy levels as both of them breathed hurriedly and a bit tiredly soon after.
But never-the-less, Lyra shouted a spell in an unknown language, drawing shapes and letters on thin air with both- her free hand and wand.
"She was using an air elemental spell," Bellatrix whispered heatedly, and the whole of House Slytherin watched with horrified fascination as the extremely beautiful teenager and Silver Queen of Slytherin manipulated the weight of the air above the Green King, Lucius Malfoy, to increase tremendously, thus forcing him to fall to the ground clutching on the floor due to the load; while Lyra simultaneously started removing the air around him, making Lucius slowly suffocate and gasp for breath.
Narcissa watched as Lucius Malfoy struggled, but somehow managed to grab hold of his wand and regain enough concentration and force required to throw a Bombarda, aiming straight to his opponent's beautifully blank face.
Lyra obviously had to let go of her immense control on the air to just-in time cast a protective spell hastily in order to protect himself, and in doing so, allowed the King of Slytherin to stand up, breathe deeply and mutter a healing spell used to bring quick and temporary energy to a tired victim of dragon pox to himself.
But Lyra Black clearly preferred offence over defence, and she was not going to give that or her lead against him up so easily.
"Fulmencio." Lyra yelled, her wand moving in a hurried and hard-to-make out movement, and a big bolt of powerful lightning flew from the tip of her wand.
Lucius dodged it easily with effortless elegance by side stepping it, and sent a "Confrigo" at her.
As Lyra blocked his curse easily with a non verbal Protego, Lucius unfortunately failed to realise that while impressive, the lightning spell played by his opponent was really used to serve as a distraction.
And during the five seconds it had taken Lucius to dodge the spell and fire back with his own one, it was all the time Lyra had needed to shoot an overpowered Confundo, the Conjunctivitis Curse and an Obscuro for extra effort at him, all non verbally of course.
Thus, Lucius Malfoy had lost one of the most important senses of a dueller temporarily- his sight.
It was only after Lucius had finished a counter-curse for the Conjunctivitis did he realise that the incredibly amazing and currently annoying woman he was proud to call his girlfriend, had also put a veil against his vision, causing him to almost yell out in frustration.
The crowd watched with anticipation and barely hidden delight as Lyra's figure multiplied by ten, courtesy of a Geminio Decimus, and surrounded the then still blind Lucius, who unveiled himself just in time to put up a reflexive Flame Freezing Charm as soon as he saw the copies and the wand of Lyra herself spit out streaks of what looked like fire (presumably by a Flagrate).
But once again, it had been a trick as realised by the crowd as well as Lucius a second later, as rather than the streaks of fire failing against his powerful block, they made him fly straight into the water, his wand flying in the air for a few seconds before joining him in the water as well.
It was only the millisecond before he felt himself make contact with the water did Lucius realise that the beautifully scary Lyra Black had actually put a mild colour changing charm on an expelliarmus. (Since the colour of the spell was already red, it just had to have an orangish yellow undertone).
She had beat him with an expelliarmus.
A simple expelliarmus of all things!
This time, he did scream.
The O.W.L examinations were much easier than she had anticipated them to be. Or perhaps it was only her, if Fabian's face of absolute, undisguised horror and Gideon looking like he was a second away from bursting into tears, were anything to go by.
Nevertheless, Lyra was just happy that the exam season was over.
Narcissa and Cassandra had done a wonderful job in planning the annual 'We Survived' after-exam party in the Common Room, which only saw signs of coming to an end at around three the next morning.
The rest of the time between Hogwarts to the much-deserved summer vacations was spent chatting and joking around near the Black Lake with friends and handling the last bit of business of the Royal Slytherin Court before it would temporarily close for the holidays.
Narcissa was lucky in the sense that she could ask Bellatrix any doubts or enquiries about her new role as the Silver Second whenever she wanted, but the others didn't have the same luxury and tried to make the most of the remainder of the academic year by taking notes and asking questions to their predecessors about their new positions.
Lyra and Lucius, on the other hand, were unfortunately still not free (they never truly were) as they still had to allot good and respectable jobs to all the newly-graduate Slytherins.
Of course, there were still some current seventh years like dear Bellatrix who had no idea what they would do and others like Cassandra Greengrass who would follow their ancestors' footsteps for their family businesses. These were the type of people they needn't have to worry over until they either decided what they wanted to do and write to the King and Queen or get kicked out or disowned by their family.
There were also the individual family traditions coming into play as they grew older and when Lyra had asked Bellatrix if she had decided which business she would invest money in, as dictated by the Black family tradition, her cousin had laughed and said that she was investing the money into their own family business. Lyra had tried to tell her that she should probably invest in another business, probably a startup, since after marriage, she could depend on the profit earned by her investment; but like every time Lyra tried to talk to Bellatrix about the future, this advice too fell on deaf ears.
Bellatrix lived in the present and was under the opinion that her life would continue to be supported primarily by the House of Black like always. She blindly accepted the fact that she would be treated like a princess by the House of Lestrange after marriage.
However, if Bella had paid more attention to whenever her family talked to them, she would have realised that while Lord Arcturus Black had set up large funds for every single member in the family, he expected them to work after graduating school and make their living so they could contribute to the family money as well.
She also didn't know that while her fiance Rudolphous, loved her with every cell in his being, she was expected to also love him back and treat him in the care and kindness he treated her.
Unfortunately for them, Bellatrix was not exactly the kind and caring type. The only quality that dominated Bellatrix was passion. And currently, much to Lyra's worry, the only passion she showed was towards this up and coming Dark Lord, Voldemort.
And while Lyra was all for pureblood supremacy, she was strongly opposed to wars.
But something in her gut told her that there was going to be a war, one that couldn't be avoided, and Bellatrix was without a doubt going to fight for Voldemort.
Just after the NEWTS, Bellatrix had confessed to Lyra that she was thinking of making contact with Voldemort and asking him if he would train her in duelling.
Lyra, being the supportive person she was no matter how much she disapproved of their actions, simply smiled and nodded.
Narcissa, Uncle Alphard and Grandmother Malania were desperately trying to ignore anything related to Voldemort while Andromeda's eyes widened with horror upon hearing his name. Her Grandfather Arcturus, Aunt Cassiopeia, father and Grandmother Irma supported most of his ideals while her mother, Aunt Druella, Uncle Cygnus and Grandfather Pollux had nothing but praises to sing of him. Bellatrix simply worshipped the very air he breathed, and they hadn't even met him yet.
Sirius, Regulus and James held blissful ignorance on this matter for now; Gideon, Fabian, Molly, Uncle Ignatious and Aunt Lucretia were strictly against him while Uncle Charlus and Aunt Dorea chose to continue keeping House Potter in its neutral stance.
Lyra could relate to her godmother and her husband on their decision, and she could only hope and try her best to convince her Grandfather Arcturus on why they should shift their stance to neutral as well.
Slytherin won both the House and Quidditch Cup, as expected.
The Court both current and coming, spent the journey back home joking around and poking fun with no serious topics taken up for discussion.
When the Hogwarts Express stopped to a halt at Platform Nine and Three Quarters, they all exchanged pleasantries and goodbye's, with promises of regularly writing letters to one another.
As the occupants of the compartment bid each other farewell and left, Lyra sneaked a glance at the window where she could see her father, James, Sirius and Regulus patiently waiting for her and couldn't keep the smile from forming on her face.
She had just been about to exit the compartment when a hand touched Lyra's shoulder lightly, making her pause in her steps and give the owner of the hand, Lucius, a questioning look.
"I shouldn't have taken so long." He blurted out, making her confusion deepen (even though she would never show it). They were the only two in the compartment currently, not counting Phobos the snake who was deep asleep coiled around the length of her right arm. "I really shouldn't have because the answer was so bloody clear in front of me. It shouldn't have taken me my history O.W.L.S to realise this. I'm sorry, I honestly am, but better late than never right?" Lucius spoke sincerely with hope laced into his voice. "Months ago, you warned me that six years from now, you would be giving me an ultimatum," He continued with his explanation, clearing up her confusion and making her school her face to be perfectly blank. "But the thing is, you shouldn't have had to. I'm sorry about that."
"How does this relate to our History O.W.L.S?" Lyra could only ask instead of the billion things she wanted to.
Lucius gave a breathy chuckle mixed with a sigh of relief. "We make a mark in history whether we realise it or not." He said with a smile. "I would choose being remembered as your love over any other title in the world. I choose you, Lyra. I choose us. And I promise that nothing will ever change that. For better or for worse, rich or for poor, in sickness and in health, till death do us apart."
Lyra looked amused. "Did you just recite wedding vows?"
"Maybe." Lucius sang with a smile. "The point is, I'm sorry for taking so long but I will always put you -us- first."
"I thought you said the Dark Lord would kill you if you did not get branded by him?" Lyra asked, frowning. "I was a little impulsive then, Lucius. I shouldn't have said so much, but this is your life on the line. I don't want it to be thrown away."
Lucius gave her a weary smile. "Either way, I will be killed in the direction the future seems to be going, so I might as well choose what I want to." He said before clearing his throat. "Besides, six years. We have six years. We can figure it out by then, right?" He asked with a hint of pleading in his voice.
Lyra didn't have the heart to tell him that all the odds were stacked against them and how little the probability of success was. So instead, she graced him with the dimples on her cheeks that he was so fond of seeing. "Yes," she replied, "yes we can."