LANDSLIDE, james potter [2]

Chapter Twenty-Nine

For the first time in years, time passed quickly. Dreariness and pain no longer occupied Lyra's everyday life, though it still shone through in moments. But it wasn't the most important part of her life anymore.

Because she no longer had her husband breathing down her neck. Actually, more than ever, she was breathing down his. She was telling him to be careful out in the secretly warring world and trying to fish out information as stealthily as she could. She was quite good at that.

She had her sister again, for the first time in almost twenty years. Her sister, her niece and her brother-in-law. The only pure, warm family she had seen in ages. Not since she had spent a summer with the Potters had she seen such a loving family.

Of course, she had spent a lot of time with Sirius and Remus. She wanted to catch up on all the years they had missed. She wanted to try to make up for the pain she had caused. While they weren't happy about her blaming herself for it all, they could see that it helped her to try to atone. All they wanted was for her to feel better. She loved them more for it.

She missed the kids though. The ones who had hung around Grimmauld Place all the time, of course. But most of all, she had missed her own son. That was the worst part of the autumn, the only part she that hat pained her throughout the past few months.

But she knew he would be back and they would celebrate with all the happiness they could. He was her greatest happiness of all, after all. The only light she had for so many years. She wouldn't ever dare give it up.

The happiest time to celebrate was Christmas. It was a time for family, which had been ingrained in Lyra's mind for as long as she could remember. The Blacks may have had their faults, but they had family loyalty to some extent.

That's part of the reason Lyra was so excited to pick up her son from King Cross Station during the Christmas holidays. Last year, he hadn't been able to go home because of the Yule Ball and she had missed him so.

Lucius wasn't there this year. He wasn't there most years, actually. This year was different, though, and Draco understood that. He wasn't gone because he didn't want to be there. In fact, she thought that he had never wanted to be there more.

But Lucius had become obsessed with trying to protect his family and bring glory to their names at the same time. The less involved Draco was with everything, including his father sometimes, the easier it would be to keep him out of trouble, and it would be easier to keep his promise to Lyra. The promise that their son would be safe as long as he was around.

While he didn't say it, the promise he made to Lyra when she was eighteen was still as important to him. She wouldn't need to be Death Eater as long as he could prevent it. It wasn't an easy task, as the Dark Lord was as interested in Lyra's gifts as an Occlumens as ever. But Lucius was a sly man.

There were many Death Eater meetings as Malfoy Manor, but he always sent her away and coming up with some silly excuse about her being at a tea party or something. That usually worked out in Lyra's favor, as she could easily go to Twelve Grimmuald Place then.

Lyra's mind was racing with a million ways to protect Draco (and herself) if there was going to be a meeting at the Manor when he was home. She wasn't about to let Lucius worry about that on his own.

But all doubts and worries disappeared from her mind as she saw a glimpse of familiar platinum blond hair in the crowd. That was definitely Malfoy hair, and she wouldn't expect Lucius to walk around the train station after he said he had things to do. She didn't want to know what those things were.

"Draco!" Lyra called out her son's name, watching him search the station for her. Once his gaze met hers he quickly brightened up and smiled slightly. But it didn't take long for him to catch himself showing emotions (the horror) and straightened up, making sure to suppress his smile.