Shades of Silver and Black

Chapter 26

-------------------> 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.

------> 0o0 <------

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.