The Tale of the Black Knight: The Mark

The Silver Rings

The first thing she saw on that morning were the owl-like eyes in the patterns of the wood of the ceiling. A typical greeting to wake to on a typical morning, yet this time... there was a whole new feeling. Once again, there were voices in her dreams. It was a woman's voice. Perhaps her mother's, just whispering something so kind and gentle to her? She was sure it was a memory. Her very own memory from a time when danger was imminent.
The Night when it all began...

Rosie, you are loved
Mama loves you
Dada loves you

Honey, be strong
Be brave
Help him stay
Help him heal

Save each other
Trust each other
Guard each other

This morning though, she noticed was the overwhelming knot in her stomach. She was so out of her mind that eating wasn't even rational thought, which was one thing Prince could not stand. Breakfast this time was just something simple, only being some slices of banana alongside toasts and tea because they had to make a very brisk getaway this morning.

Lyra ate as best she could just to appease him, despite herself not feeling up to the task just yet. Most mornings it was a little tough to eat anything too big. Strangely, it seemed to go better when she ate a little, such as some fruit or anything like that. Prince had a protective streak where he had to watch her eat something every so often. Truthfully, she appreciated it while feeling embarrassed as well. So it was a custom that he would eat with her with his constant urging. As far as annoyance goes, the girl always worked hard to take his advice as best she could muster at the time, actually obeying random requests. It was just the same as this morning.

As soon as she ate, Lyra was as giddy as Felix the one day before, even peeking out her window for the sight of Hagrid, forgetting about the existence of the Portkeys. Shaking herself out of her reverie, Felix flew to her, nibbling at her ear. Prince went back upstairs to place one important document back onto his desk, passing by her bedroom so quickly that, to her, he looked no more than a phantom shadow in the corner of her eye. What he had was the Hogwarts letter itself with one drastic change in those velveteen scribbling. No longer did the invitation state that name Rose Evans Potter but only Lyra Eileen Prince.

Softly, he passed by bedroom door, letter in hand with a melancholic shadow over his eyes, he knocked lightly on her door. Deep, deep down he could sense how nervous she was and to an extent, so was he. Naturally. Regarding her frightened questions from the nights before due to the wandmaker's blabber, he reassured her many a time that they would work together against anything and anyone coming their way. Prince, due to changes and battles alike in the past, was confident in the strength of defenses already set in motion for this first year. She did not know it fully, but she was special compared to other magical children. Regardless that each one was precious, this little game with a fair few undesirables, this was likened to finding a needle in a haystack. It had to be that way as much as it hurt him to do it to her. Above all else, he wanted her to be strong — Lily would have wanted her to be strong, and loved. James as well despite the grudge that lingered during younger days.

There was not a single hint of doubt in his mind about that, but the issue was now how to go about it, in the most subtle of ways. Only a wizard was as clever as he would know, not in ways others would. Only a good fair few knew the honest truth. If he was still among the Death Eaters, this would prove entirely impossible. Were there times when he lamented ever taking her under his wing?

Now that was one complicated question.
Of course, there were.

There was one time that he did and it was the night after he brought her home that night, only due to the fact that he felt something was at work. It was not the reason many would think... In all truth of the matter was that he was terrified, amidst grief sinking in. Over time, as he feared her becoming more like her father, she always remained reserved and quiet. He lamented because he did not deserve much, or felt that he deserved such forgiveness... The girl deserved better. Him taking her instead of leaving her with Lily's grudge-holding sister was lesser of the two evils, as it were. Why did Evans even think of him after what he did? Just... why?