Bad Romance

Chapter 29

Chapter 29: In the Mind of a Lestrange

The Lestranges went directly home after dinner, promising to see Kreacher and Regulus again soon. They always visited frequently enough, but it felt all the more important to keep close now that HE was back...sort of. When they arrived at Raven's Nest, Lyra was quiet as they showed her around her family home. When they got to the second floor, Rod smiled. "Here is the part where you pick your bedchamber from any of these guest rooms. If you wish to redecorate, we'll have Harold, our house elf, take care of whatever you'd like done."

"Why bother? I am a guest so any guest room will do," Lyra said coolly. "I will only be staying a few weeks, after all."

Rodolphus stopped in mid step to turn and arch a brow at his daughter over one shoulder. "You don't strike me as the thick sort. You're a daughter of ours, after all. So why we need to have this conversation for the second time in less than an hour is beyond me. You aren't going anywhere."

"And as I told you less than an hour ago, I have a life and a job back in Australia," Lyra shot back, dark eyes flaring with sudden anger. "You're bloody mad if you think I'm just going to allow you to tell me what to do and control my life! I am twenty-three bloody years old. So sorry you didn't get to raise me, but I'm all grown up."

"That's interesting, because you're acting rather childish right now," Rodolphus shot back calmly.

"As for your ridiculous job," Bellatrix chimed in, giving her daughter a cold glare. "You have no need for a menial career. Working security? You are a Lestrange!"

At that, Lyra was happy to turn her rage-filled glare on her mother. "As it happens, I enjoy working with my man. It isn't about the need for money or a career! And considering you made a career out of being a bloody prisoner of Azkaban, I can't believe you're talking about the choices I've made. I'm sorry all of them were legal," she concluded, voice dripping with venomous sarcasm.

Bellatrix's hand twitched, where it hung at her side. It itched to slap her daughter until the girl's head spun, but a tiny...very tiny voice inside claimed that this wasn't the way to form a functional mother-daughter relationship. "Please let it be noted that I am struggling against every instinct to slap you silly," she announced.

"Oh wow, that really makes you seem stable," Lyra shot back, hostility radiating off her in waves.

"Hey, it really does," Rabastan defended lightly, his grin attempting, and even succeeding a bit, to break the tension of the moment. "Our Bella is never one to restrain herself from acts of violence when the urge comes upon her."

Lyra smiled at her uncle, but the expression faded quickly as her gaze returned to her parents. "See? That's psycho. It doesn't make me particularly proud to be your daughter."

"I really thought they would raise her well," Rodolphus said, giving Bellatrix a glance that was half frustrated, half apologetic.

This only served to make Lyra angrier. "They did raise me well," she practically shouted. "They gave me a happy childhood, and no thanks to you!"

Was she ever going to stop pushing it into their faces that they'd had to leave her? "Please, Lyra," Bellatrix said, anger suddenly draining away to leave her feeling cold and small inside.

"What?" Lyra demanded. As her eyes met Bellatrix's, they shared a look of honest frustration.

"Just let us get to know you... We need this time with you, and even if you don't understand that yet, you need it with us as well," Bellatrix said. Stepping forward impulsively, she reached to embrace Lyra. The girl stood stiffly as Bellatrix clung to her tightly for several seconds. When this grew too awkward, Bellatrix released her and stepped away.