What would happen if there was a slight change in the family tapestry of The Most Ancient and Noble House of Black?
Specifically, four years before the birth of a certain Sirius Orion Black III, a little baby girl was welcomed into the world.
She wa...
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----------------------> CUSCO IN NOVEMBER CONTAINED MILD TEMPERATURES along with a few days of rain. Lyra and Lucius had arrived in Peru from Argentina a month ago and had finished unpacking with a literal wave of their wand. Their designated house until the peak of January was a large cottage --border lining villa-- that by the standards of the wealthy Blacks and Malfoys, could be considered modest at best.
Two meter thick blocks of green hedges composed of honeysuckle surrounded the one-acre property with a silver gate opening to a trail of pebbles guarded by pretty flowers growing on either side of it, leading to the wooden front door. Wild vines, money plants and cucumber plants tangled along the archway and climbed up the faded red bricks which were used to construct the cottage.
There was a pond near the cottage with lily pads floating on it along with ducks, frogs and the buzzes of bees. Surrounding this was a bed of flowers which lulled the butterflies towards them. The grass was green and yellow, scorched by the blazing sun. Trees littered the area-- large ones with hollow barks and red and yellow leaves, which were home to families of squirrels and woodpeckers. Occasionally, an owl would come and visit.
The simple exterior greatly complimented the interior of the cottage. This property, in particular, contained no fancy chandeliers nor was it decked with shades of silver and black and greens. Rather, it was decorated with warm, fiery colours of brown, gold and orange. Had Sirius or James visited, they would have laughed out loud that the Malfoys owned a place with Gryffindor colours.
The whole property was quite self-sufficient. Three house-elves were tasked to look after the whole estate and took care of the vast garden --more like a huge vegetable field, really-- and sold it in the local markets, keeping enough money that they needed to finance and take care of the estate and dutifully giving the rest to Lord Malfoy.
It was so different to the usual places that Lyra and Lucius stayed at and that was the primary reason they had chosen this comparatively small property owned by the Malfoys in Cusco instead of a mighty manor of the Blacks situated in Lima. The point of travelling was to gain a new experience, and this was it. Besides, Cusco was closer to Machu Picchu, and Lucius had been singing sonnets of it ever since they left Argentina and considering Lyra valued her fragile sanity, she had no choice but to cave.
Sunlight bled through the thin curtains which flew at the barest hint of wind, inviting the cool air in and making Lyra's lips curl upwards as the breeze gently caressed her cheeks, tightening her grip on the cup of hot chocolate.
"Fun fact," Lucius' started, sitting beside her on the sofa, "if you don't drink your hot chocolate soon enough, it will become cold chocolate."
Lyra rolled her eyes. "A very interesting piece of news there, love. I had absolutely no idea."
"I'm aware, life. Hence, why I chose to inform you of this."
"And I thought I wasn't good at being subtle," Lyra muttered under her breath before slowly inhaling the enchanting scent of hot chocolate and delicately taking a sip of it. The House Elves had made it nicely but it might be her bias speaking when she felt like it didn't taste as good as the one Regulus' favourite elf made back home. Setting it on the coaster placed at the wooden table before them, Lyra turned towards Lucius. "I need to go to London for a minute this weekend to pick up some documents regarding our stay in India in February. Would you like me to get anything for you?"
