LANDSLIDE, james potter [2]

Chapter Thirty

Lyra adored Christmas. Not only because the house would smell like eggnog, gingerbread and pine trees, though it was an aroma that brought back only the happiest of childhood memories of family dinners at Twelve Grimmauld Place before all their lives fell apart. 

No, she loved it because of the feeling of family and community. Even if she was all alone, she wouldn't feel lonely during Christmas time. Nostalgic and longing for better times, sure. But lonely? That could wait until January. 

But Christmas was almost over. That means the fleeting happiness it brought her was leaving. And all she wanted was to spend that night with her child. One more night where her, Lucius and Draco could actually be a family. Those moments were very rare. 

But Dumbledore had sent her a letter. This night, the last night before Draco would leave for Hogwarts, was a night she'd need to be at Twelve Grimmauld Place to talk to Harry about something. Well, her and Snape were to talk to him about something. It was quite vague, telling her that Snape would explain everything when she'd arrive. 

She didn't want to leave Draco, but it would be nice to see Harry and his friends, along with Sirius and Remus. But she had an idea, something that wouldn't actually hurt Draco so much. 

Draco and Lucius had always had a strange relationship. Not very warm or loving, though they both loved each other dearly. But they barely spent any time together that wasn't Lucius telling him about his Death Eater escapades or talking about Draco's grades and school work. 

She suggested that Lucius could spend a night with Draco, one where he didn't try to push an agenda or push his son into anything. She wanted Lucius to listen to Draco for once and they could have a healthy-ish relationship. Though he was surprised by her support, Lucius quickly agreed. 

So she found herself sitting in the kitchen at Twelve Grimmauld Place. Snape had barely given her an explanation on what they were talking to Harry about. Occlumency. Because the Dark Lord had found ways to invade his mind they had deemed dangerous. 

But they weren't alone, though. Sirius had sat himself next to Lyra on the opposite side of Snape, as they all sat by the dining table. Sirius had refused to let Lyra be alone with him, and wouldn't leave Harry with them either. 

The door was pushed open, though none of the adults realized this. They were too occupied with the weighty, tense silence between them. Harry was quite uncomfortable, but knew he was called in there for something. "Er."

Snape turned his head slowly, looking far less happy to see the boy than Lyra and Sirius. He sneered at the young boy, and they both looked like they'd rather be anywhere else. "Sit down, Potter."

Sirius was already rather annoyed by the man and this didn't help. He refused to even look at him, leaning back in his chair and looking up at the ceiling. "You know, I think I'd prefer it if you didn't give orders here, Snape. It's my house, you see."

Snape glared at Sirius and Lyra could already tell that this was going to be a long conversation. "If the two of you are going to act like this all night then I'd rather go home. And that's saying something."

"Well, we were supposed to see Potter alone," Snape said to Lyra, showing a surprising lack of disdain for her. She supposed he just hated Sirius (maybe Harry too) more than he hated her. "But Black-"

"I'm his Godfather!" the Black man exclaimed quite loudly, looking heatedly at the man. Harry was just watching quite awkwardly, not knowing what to do. 

"And I get why you want to be here, Sirius," Lyra said before Snape could sneer some insult his way. "But if you're going to stay, then don't hinder our conversation. We all know that this is rather important."