LANDSLIDE, james potter [2]

Chapter Twenty-One

"Fred, George! No, just carry them!" Molly's shrill voice rang through the room, making Lyra wince for a moment. It reminded her a bit too much of her Aunt Walburga, hanging on the wall somewhere in the house.

The dinner was done, Lyra having hurried to take a seat next to Remus. But Fred and George decided that to get the dinner and all its accessories to the table without even having to touch them. They were of age, after all. They could use magic however they pleased. 

The stew, a lot of Butterbeer and a wooden breadboard (including a kitchen knife) were all approaching the table, not very carefully. The stew and the cauldron holding it skidded towards the end of the table, a bit too close to falling off for Lyra's liking. 

The Butterbeer simply fell to the ground, spilling all over the table (and a bit on Lyra's shirt, which made her sad because it was new and she quite liked it). The kitchen knife fell off the breadboard, hitting a spot on the table where Sirius's hand had been only moments before. 

"For heaven's sake! There was no need... I've had enough of this!" Molly basically screamed in her sons' faces. "Just because you're allowed to use magic now doesn't mean you have to whip your wands out for every tiny little thing!"

"We were just trying to save a bit of time," Fred tried to defend him and his brother, rushing to jam the kitchen knife out of the table, looking apologetically at the man they almost hit. "Sorry, Sirius, mate. Didn't mean to-"

Sirius and Harry were both laughing, making it easy to see that the man hadn't taken it personally. Lyra sat with widened eyes, staring at the spot where the knife had hit while Mundungus had to pick himself up after falling on the ground, cursing to himself. 

"Boys," Arthur said disapprovingly, moving the cauldron holding the stew to a better placement on the table. "Your mother's right, you're supposed to show a sense of responsibility now that you've come of age-

"None of your brothers caused this sort of trouble!" Molly continued, cutting off her husband in the middle of his sentence. She put a new round of Butterbeer on the table. "Bill didn't feel the need to apparate every few feet! Charlie didn't charm everything he met! Percy-"

An eerie silence fell over the room at the mention of Percy Weasley. Lyra hadn't ever met the boy, at least as far as she remembered. But Ron had told her about the big row between him and his father, his mother getting involved eventually. 

"Let's eat," Billy quickly said, catching the heartbroken and helpless look on his mother's face. He wished things didn't have to be like they were, but he didn't want his parents to sit around and grieve for his brother, who didn't seem to grieve for them at all. 

Remus shifted uncomfortably, taking her plate and pouring a ladle of stew onto it. He then quickly did the same for Lyra, who had been trying to seem as small as possible so she didn't have to get involved. "It looks wonderful, Molly."

They were all silent for a few minutes, eating their food to not create any drama or discomfort. The only real interaction was when Lyra would kick Sirius's leg and he'd kick hers back like they were little kids. In the end, Remus noticed and he kicked them both to get them to stop and act like adults. 

Molly quietly turned to Sirius after a while. "I've been meaning to tell you, Sirius, there's something trappedin that writing desk in the drawing room, it keeps rattling andshaking. Of course, it could just be a Boggart, but I thought weought to ask Alastor to have a look at it before we let it out."

The Black man couldn't care less about what was going on around the house as long as it was habitable. He hated the house, he hated being stuck inside and the sooner he could get out the better. He almost missed being a dog hanging around Hogsmeade. "Whatever you like."