Chapter 24
LIKE HER FATHER HAD TOLD HER INITIALLY, there were too many things to do in Iceland with too little time and so, the two days they had spent in Iceland was a bit of a whirlwind where they had to keep jumping from one historic spot to the next tourist attraction and as her father had predicted, they had to sacrifice meals and sleep in order to see them all.
So the second their foots graced British soil, Sirius and Regulus immediately headed to the kitchen and stayed there for hours at a stretch while Lyra and Walburga answered the Siren's call that was let out by their respective beds and fell asleep, not caring that they were missing dinner and not waking up until well after sunrise the next morning. Meanwhile, Orion sat on his armchair in his study, satisfied as he ticked yet another location of places that he wished to show his children.
When Lyra finally woke up, she had roughly two hours to get ready before she had to reach the duelling arena for Round Three in the duelling tournament.
Since originally there were only sixty duellers in the tournament, Round One saw the elimination of thirty of them. Again, in Round Two, the numbers got divided in two, leaving fifteen people.
The way Round Three worked was, in a word, complicated.
For starters, Round Three had been divided into three parts once again- gamma, beta and alpha.
In Part Gamma, one of the fifteen persons would be given an exemption to fight, solely based on how well they had performed in the previous rounds, leaving fourteen contestants to duel each other so that in Part Beta, there would be an even number of contestants to duel- the seven who won in Part Gamma along with the one exempted contestant.
Part Beta was a team event. The eight people would be split into teams of two and would have to fight the other three teams. If even one of the teammates was either disarmed, stunned or unable to duel, the entire team would be eliminated from the tournament. It was a survival of the fittest.
Part Alpha saw the last two standing duellers in an epic battle against each other, to be crowned the winner.
Energy was going to be an important factor for her to win this tournament and her mother seemed to think so as well, ordering their House Elf Kreacher to make the healthiest brunches for her to eat.
Kreacher also informed them that Sirius and Regulus had fallen asleep leaning against the kitchen walls, prompting Walburga's eyes to soften as she asked the house-elf to tell Orion to carry the boys to their respective beds. She would not dare ask a house-elf to carry her darling sons, after all.
Bellatrix floo'd in and waved them a hello, taking a seat across from Lyra to eat lunch. Her abrupt coming ins had been occurring so frequently ever since she got married that neither Lyra nor her mother had batted an eye at her sudden appearance.
Lyra had asked once before on why Bellatrix wasn't spending too much time with her husband especially considering the two were newlyweds, but her wild-haired cousin had just shaken her head and said that "It was complicated", in a tone that clearly indicated the end of that conversation.
Lyra knew Rudolphous wouldn't have treated Bellatrix badly or abused her in any way. The man looked at her cousin as if she was a deity that he wished to worship, after all, and treated her as if she was an actual queen of the olde.
But she also knew that Bellatrix married Rodolphus because he was a friend and she could have done worse. While Rodolphus wedded for love, Lyra always assumed that Bellatrix did it due to the societal obligatory pressure for women to be married.
Lyra wondered though, if she didn't spend time with her husband or didn't want to get married, why Bellatrix simply didn't remain a spinster for life like their aunts Cassiopeia or Lycoris did. The House of Black would have supported her in her endeavours nonetheless.
Alas, Bellatrix stubbornly refused to spill the reason for her marriage, leaving Lyra with plenty of reasons but not knowing which answer was correct.
Bellatrix made small-talk with her mother, asking how their trip was and what they did and somewhat patiently listened as her mother elaborated the horror her poor favourite pair of heels had to face due to their mountain climbing adventure.
Lyra could see from the tapping of her cousin's fingers on the table and the not-so-subtle glances directed to her that Bellatrix wanted to tell her something eagerly.
Sure enough, as soon as Lyra's brunch and Bellatrix's lunch was over, the latter quickly excused herself and motioned for Lyra to do the same before dragging her cousin into the nearest vacant room, anxious to tell her something and not able to hold it in any longer.
"I got a letter from the Dark Lord," Bellatrix blatantly confessed immediately after shutting the door, her cheeks flushed with excitement.
Lyra stilled, but not for the reasons Bellatrix thought she did. "Oh," she smiled tightly. "When?"
"Just this morning," Bellatrix replied cheerfully, her statements drawing conclusions in Lyra's mind. "He asked me to be his apprentice." Bellatrix continued. "He's going to train me personally. Isn't that wonderful?"
"Is it?" Lyra couldn't help but ask hesitantly, making Bellatrix freeze, as if she couldn't understand her cousin's question.
"Of course it is," Bellatrix replied, cocking her head to the side. "Why would you believe it isn't? It's a great honour."
"It's a Dark Lord, Bella," Lyra began slowly. "Tragedy and destruction tend to surround them if history has taught us anything."
"This time He will be victorious," Bellatrix said matter-of-factly, giving Lyra a weird look.
"I never said He wouldn't," Lyra said, "I'm just pointing out that it isn't really safe."
Bellatrix's features went blank. "I thought you would be happy for me." She said, her voice unreadable. "The Dark Lord has chosen me to be his apprentice. He is going to personally train me. Only me, nobody else, to fight for our most noble cause."
"I understand that, but-"
"No, you don't understand!" Bellatrix snapped before her voice cracked. "And you never will."
"Bella, I-"
"-Don't," Bellatrix said, icy in her eyes and frost in her tone. "Oh Bella, why can't you be more like Lyra, she became Slytherin Queen at eleven, you know." She imitated in a high pitched voice. "Oh Bella, Lyra's so powerful, she used accidental magic moments after her birth and you couldn't even do it properly until you were six. Oh, Bella, Lyra's a parselmouth but you are completely useless, aren't you? Oh, Bella, you're so talented at the Dark Arts- well almost, Lyra's better." She said bitterly. "Oh Bella, you're so good at duelling, but I still think Lyra can beat you." She met her cousin's eyes. "But now- now I have a chance to be more than the Queen's second. The runner-up in everything, always behind you and never the first."
Lyra's eyes melted like candle wax and her tone was as warm as fire on a cold winter's day. "Bella..."
Bellatrix raised a hand, stopping Lyra from speaking before shaking her head with a sighing. "I'm tired, Lyra. I'm tired of always being in your shadow. I'm tired of hoping that I'll ever be as good as you even when I knew I won't. I'm tired of trying my best to be as perfect as you but nobody ever noticing. I'm tired of doing so much -trying so hard- yet never doing anything as good as you and now-" Her eyes became determined. "Now, I have a chance to be someone useful. I have someone who believes in me. Someone who chose me over you. The Dark Lord chose me as his apprentice, not you. You don't have any right to take this away from me and don't you dare fucking try!" Her voice dripped in fury.
Lyra stayed silent, choosing not to tell Bellatrix about the letter Voldemort had sent to her. A letter that Lyra had conveniently forgot to reply and not even three days after which, the position of apprenticeship had been offered to her cousin.
"This time..." Bellatrix continued, eyes scathing. "This time I'm going to be the brightest star, not you; and I am going to be the Dark Lord's apprentice whether you like it or not! You can't control me anymore and neither can Grandpa Archie! I'm a Lestrange now, you can't order me around anymore. I'm doing this and I assure you I will enjoy every fucking moment of it." Bella turned around, her robes falling theatrically around her as she apparated out of the house, leaving Lyra all alone with nothing but her dark and torturous thoughts.
And it was then that Lyra finally understood why exactly Bellatrix got married to Rodolphus.
It wasn't for love. Rather, it was for freedom. To satisfy her rebellious desire to do everything that the House of Black prohibited her from doing.
And that scared Lyra. There were genuine reasons why Grandfather Arcturus had placed those restrictions there, after all.
Lyra was mad. No, she was more than mad, she was furious.
She was furious at Bellatrix for not understanding how dangerous being associated with Dark Lords was. She was furious at Voldemort for dangering her cousin but mostly, she was furious at herself for every bloody thing she did wrong but she was even more furious at the universe for constantly reminding her in one way or the other just how much of an absolute failure she really was.
The threads that strung together her family were slowly unwinding. Andromeda's love for the mudblood was the first clue and Bellatrix's words were her second. It was only going to get worse from here.
A hand was placed on her shoulder, breaking Lyra out from her thoughts. She turned her face to meet Grandmother Malania's concerned one. "Are you okay?"
"Yes," Lyra lied, and they both knew it.
Grandmother Malania's lips thinned but she didn't push. If there was one thing she had learnt from marrying into an all-Slytherin (except Sirius) family, it was that in terms of expressing emotions, they considered it a weakness and had a tendency to simply ignore every feeling they felt and refuse to speak about it to anybody.
"Pay attention to your opponent," Grandmother Malania advised her instead. "Part Beta, you can rest because your partner will have your back, but you need to be alert for Gamma and Alpha."
"I know, Grandmother, don't worry," Lyra said, wearing a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"Me? Worried? Never." Grandmother Malania grinned, even when her eyes shined with concern for her granddaughter. The announcer announced her match and her grandmother pulled her into a quick embrace. "Be careful."
"Always," Lyra smiled, taking a deep breath before confidently climbing the steps surrounding the Arena and walking over to the centre of the stage where her next opponent and the referee were already standing there, patiently waiting for her.
The referee recited the rules and did the obligatory check for any concealed items they might have smuggled in before waving his wand and muting the noises made out by the audience and gesturing them to bow.
Her opponent, a mudblood named May Radford, gave her a respectful nod, one that Lyra returned with a barely visible slight tilt of her head as she took her preferred duelling stance- a partially crouching position with her legs apart to make moving easier.
The referee signalled the start of the match and fire immediately flew from Lyra's wand, the blue and white flames rolling themselves into the shape of a burning phoenix as it headed straight to May Radford who immediately began summoning a wave of water to block the attack.
Lyra took that time to cast a spell, "Augete petram", and slashed her wand upwards in the air. Immediately, the stone platform that May had been standing on spiked an abrupt jerking motion upwards before settling down, successfully making her lose her balance and trip, even as her wave of water put out the flames of the phoenix.
Lyra wasted no time in casting the bone-breaking curse on her, just to ensure that the mudblood wouldn't be able to use her arm before finally sending a stunner in her direction.
Lyra was peasantry surprised with how quick the match had ended, especially considering that they were in Round Three, but then remembered that her opponent was a mudblood and was reminded of something her grandmother had told her before the match.
"They want diversity. They think it's unfair that only half-bloods and purebloods make it to Round Three. It says more about lack of talent than favouritism, according to me," Grandmother Malania had told her with a roll of her eyes. "Anyway, the tournament as you already know is extremely hard to get into. Not to mention, expensive, something mudbloods cannot afford. So just to satisfy the public, the duelling association makes sure that they sponsor at least three mudbloods for the tournament and that one of them makes it to Round Three, whether or not they are good at duelling." She paused, a thoughtful expression overcoming her face. "There is one of them in Round Three. One of the judges told me that the girl was textbook about spells but not exactly a quick thinker, so if you get her, just drop something powerful or elemental in the start without giving her time to cast the first spell. Then, fire another thing to disarm her and you win." Grandmother Malania sighed. "I hope you get her as your opponent in Gamma. That way, you'll be able to save your energy for Beta and most importantly, Alpha."
Grandmother Malania was happy her prediction regarding Lyra's opponent had come true but was overjoyed when Lyra's teammate in Part Beta was Timothy Nott, the forty-year-old uncle of Theodore's father who had been born from his grandfather's young fifth wife.
Timothy grinned dashingly at her, prompting her to giggle as they exchanged familiarities and discussed strategies for Part Beta.
"I think we need to save our energy," Lyra told him. "Alpha is what matters."
"I agree," Timothy nodded. "Our fight in Alpha is what matters, not one of these fools. I'm glad I got you as my partner, Heiress Black, for a scary minute I was worried I might get one of the half-bloods!" He laughed, and Lyra joined in his amusement.
That had admittedly been her concern as well. In Part Beta, there were four purebloods and four half-bloods, an even match. It wasn't as if Lyra completely detested half-bloods, because she certainly didn't. They were powerful and most of them were even cultured. However, she had wished to be paired with a pureblood simply for the sake of familiarity. For a friendly face.
While she had been lucky, the other purebloods, not so much as they found themselves paired with a half-blood. So in Part Beta, there would be one pureblood pair, two mixed and a half-blood pair. Interesting.
They walked into the Arena together, each team standing in one end of the circle-shaped arena, forming a square if their positions were to be connected.
Lyra and Timothy stood side by side, ready to protect each other's backs to win and the other teams copied them, albeit the mixed pair did it reluctantly.
The referee did the obligatory procedures and signalled them to begin.
Immediately, Timothy and Lyra disappeared from the Arena, leaving shocked expressions to be seen on the faces of not only the contestants but also the crowd.
Testing, one of the contestants fired a spell in the direction where they had previously been standing, but it was fruitless as the spell cut through the air and ultimately, the shield that had been put in front of the spectators to protect them from stray spells.
Lyra Black and Timothy Nott had vanished, most likely with an invisibility spell, and had already slipped through to a location on the Arena with a shield charm. This way, when the last pair was standing, two stunners from behind or out of nowhere should do the trick into moving them to the vital Part Alpha.
It was dirty and cowardly, but it was also not against the rules. All is fair in love and war, after all.
The other contestants had neither the time to figure out where the duo had disappeared nor did they have the opportunity to use the trick themselves as immediately they began firing hexes and curses and jinxes at each other, all the while attempting to protect their partner as well.
Predictably, it was a short battle, as either one of the partners had been knocked off or both members of the team were left a bloody unconscious mess.
In the end, Lyra and Timothy didn't even have to resort to stunning someone from behind. The contestants had managed to eliminate themselves. First, the two mixed pairs had ganged up on the half-blood one and disarmed them. After that, one of the mixed pairs consisting of Langdon Bulstrode and Kirk Blue had engaged themselves in one-on-one duel against Gerald Avery and Dick Roberts.
Gerald had successfully won against Langdon, but Kirk had fired a stray stunner to him and gotten hit himself by Dick, the half-blood standing alone in the Arena before Lyra and Timothy had finally revealed themselves to have been standing four steps from their initial position all along.
Since Dick's teammate was eliminated, so was he. Part Alpha would see Lyra Black duelling Timothy Nott.
A twenty-minute break later saw Lyra standing in front of Timothy, both their wands raised into their preferred stances and a competitive glint twinkling bright in their eyes.
Gone was the playful way they had spoken before. Now, there was ruthlessness intertwined in their features, aggressiveness knitted in the caress of their eyebrows and determination present in their soft breathing.
Absent was their familiarity as the urge to be victorious consumed them entirely.
As soon as the referee called the start of their match, they each fired a spell of their own.
"Ventus!"
"Bombarda!"
Lyra had to apply a sticking charm to the bottom of her feet in order to avoid being flung away by the gush of wind while Timothy rolled to the side to evade her spell.
And once again, they fired at the exact same time, pace matching. She threw a slicing charm while he threw a cutting hex. Both of them ducked to dodge.
They did their next move together again. Timothy threw a mutilating curse, but this time, Lyra used conjuration instead. "Avis Oppugno!"
Birds appeared from thin air and immediately began to attack their target, successfully distracting Timothy while Lyra cancelled the curse he sent in her direction with a slash of her wand.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Lyra quickly applied a Silencio on herself and threw the conjunctivitis curse his way just as Timothy used the slicing curse on the necks of all the birds with frustration.
Rendered temporarily blind, Timothy fired borderline illegal hexes into the general direction where she had been and carefully listened for any of the sounds made, only to let out an irritated yell when he realised that she had silenced her footsteps.
So, he abruptly stopped his hurricane of spells and instead worked on quickly removing the blindness from his eyes. He succeeded but was still confused to find himself still not be able to see anything. Throwing a shield charm around him, he simultaneously worked on figuring out what was blocking his eyesight even now.
Thinking she had thrown yet another conjunctivitis curse at him, he tried dismissing it only to find his attempts futile.
He still couldn't hear her and honestly, he couldn't even feel his own wand and then--
He closed his eyes and inhaled a sharp breath as enlightenment dawned upon him. He can't just see and hear her, he can't feel anything either which means she had also hit him with the sensory deprivation curse.
Possibly the only reason he hadn't been stunned already was due to the extremely strong shield that he kept putting up.
Immediately, he worked the counter curse.
He regained his vision just in time to be thrown off his feet by another bombarda ruthlessly hurled at him, leading him to fall to the ground with his fingers tightly curled around his wand.
He tried to shake the descending migraine away when consciousness slipped away from him. With his shield dropped when he was knocked down, he had been hit by Lyra's simple expelliarmus, thus, crowning her the winner of England's National Duelling Tournament that year.
The next part was a bit of a blur for her -the referee announcing her the winner, the crowd cheering, her grandmother having proud tears in her eyes, the referee putting a necklace of beautiful and pleasant smelling nasturtium flowers which symbolises victory in battle.
But as Lyra lifted the victory cup she had been presented with high in the air and was enveloped in embraces by her family, she couldn't help but think back to her conversation with her cousin earlier that day.
Bellatrix had said that Lyra was powerful, but she wasn't. Not even a little bit.
Because if Lyra truly had power, why was her family constantly in the eyes of danger and why is it that she couldn't prevent it or protect them from it? Why was it that all she could do was stare with horrified eyes as the crime took place in front of her and simply hope for the best?
The grand victory party that Grandmother Malania threw that day in celebration did not come to a stop until the faint rays of the morning sun were seen the next day. Breakfast was made for all the guests who had slept over and it was when everybody was bidding each other goodbye did Lyra pull Bellatrix into a random room to talk.
"Bella," Lyra started, but Bellatrix had taken a seat on the couch and was pointedly ignoring her. She had messed it up so badly that Bellatrix of all people was giving her the silent treatment.
"I'm so, so sorry," Lyra continued, slowly walking over to her. "I should have been happy for you. I should have been more understanding. I'm so, so, so sorry, I really am. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me for words that I didn't even truly mean."
She received no response from Bellatrix, so Lyra continued to speak.
"I was just... surprised at what you said Bella, considering I think the same of you." Bellatrix sneaked a side glance at her upon hearing her words, making Lyra understand that she had her attention. She took a seat beside her, eyes firmly fixed on her lap. "You've always been this amazing role model for me and I strived to be like you when I was little. I still do." With her eyes still downcast, a small sad smile worked its way onto her face. "I wish I could make you understand just how much you mean to me. You inspire me, you always have. Everything about you, really, your boldness, power and skills. You were the older sister I always wanted."
"Not Andy?" Bellatrix asked, speaking for the first time, a hint of vulnerability in her voice and Lyra shook her head in reply.
"Not Andy," she confirmed. "I'm so sorry I made you feel that way, I really didn't mean to. But- It's you. It's always been you. The reason for my ambition, I've done it all so you would be proud of me." She paused and finally averted her eyes from her lap and onto her cousin's eyes. "Are you?"
"Of course," Bella said without hesitation or a shred of doubt.
"You're the reason I'm strong, Bella," Lyra said softly. "You're my strength and my power. I was just worried when you initially told me whether or not you would get hurt while duelling the dark lord but," she shook her head and in the most sincere voice Bellatrix had ever heard in her life said, "I'm sorry. It was wrong of me to voice my concerns in such a brash manner that may have come off in a questioning way."
"It was," Bellatrix finally said before her lips curled into a playful smirk. "I guess Lyra isn't perfect after all."
"I'm not, but to me, you certainly are," Lyra smiled, eyes shining with genuine respect. "Bella, you've always been my rock. I'm honestly sorry I offended you with my words, I was just concerned. But I'm truly happy for you. Being recognised by the Dark Lord himself isn't an easy achievement and I am so, so incredibly proud of you for having the Dark Lord himself not only recruit you but also offer you an apprenticeship potion. I really am."
Bellatrix's chest puffed up with pride at her cousin's words. "Yes, He only takes the best."
Lyra nodded. "I know, your recruitment is proof of that."
Bellatrix stayed silent for a while. "I can teach you a couple of things He teaches me." She offered, simply because Bellatrix didn't do apologies or I forgive you's or accept her mistake.
Lyra smiled, understanding the sentiment behind her words, "I would be most honoured," she said, bringing her cousin into a hug and causing everything to go back to normal, just like it always had been and how Lyra hoped it always would be.
Manipulation wasn't entirely a bad trait. After all, who didn't want to hear honey-filled words that made them feel better? Lyra felt almost disgusted with herself at how easily the lies and half-truths escaped her mouth and worse, how sincere they sounded even when she knew they weren't. No matter how much she wanted it to be. No matter how much she wished they were.
Because although Lyra loved Bellatrix completely and meant what she said about being a sister-figure to her, she would never ever be even remotely fine with Bellatrix being anywhere close to that him.
Voldemort.
The one who wants to start a war and was in the process of recruiting her family to fight in its battles while he reaped the rewards. The one who all but assigned a death sentence onto her family. On Bella.
"What company did you invest in, by the way?' Bellatrix asked much later, just as she was about to floo to her new manor, a smile playing on her lips. "I realised I never asked."
Lyra half-smirked. "I invested in the one company that can ruin somebody's life just as easily as they can save them. The company that embodies the House of Slytherin, twisting phrases into whatever they desire to influence the mindset of the people." And just as the flames engulfed Bellatrix, Lyra clarified. "I bought majority shares in the Daily Prophet."