LANDSLIDE, james potter [2]

Chapter Thirty-Two

Lyra was wary of the situation she had at home. The fugitives broken out from Azkaban had been at her manor for four days, and had been making themselves very comfortable. She wasn't sure if they were ever going to want to leave. 

She truly wished that Narcissa could be there with her, but she was busy housing five fugitives of her own, because her husband was a pushover who would never dare say no to someone with higher status than himself. Especially when it was Lucius asking, because Hector would never want there to be an awkward mood at any family functions. 

Lyra couldn't bare to hear Bellatrix and Rodolphus argue about the little things anymore, or watch Antonin Dolohov try to steal her jewelry and pretend he didn't know where it was from whenever he was caught, or go to the bathroom after Augustus Rookwood. That man needed to learn how to flush the toilet. 

It was actually sort of nice to spend time with Rabastan again. She hadn't realized how much she had missed him in the past few years. All she had been able to see when she pictured him had been the crazed look in his eyes the last time she'd seen him and the horrific crimes he'd committed. 

But there had always been something about Rabastan that blinded Lyra to the world's horrors. She had depended so much on him when she was a teenager and part of her couldn't stop seeing that same boy in front of her. 

Because he was still intelligent, easy to talk to and someone who she could easily get along with. There was a reason he had been one of her best friends (and biggest crushes during their fifth year) all those years ago. 

Just like when she had reunited with Remus and Sirius, she felt so much younger when she was with Rabastan. For a few moments, when they were laughing about some memory that happened twenty years ago, she could fool herself into believing nothing at all had changed and she had her whole life ahead of her. 

But, as always, reality had to set in. She had remember that she was fighting in a war that had yet to officially start, on the opposite side of not only Rabastan, but the opposite side of her sister, husband and son. 

She truly did hope her son wouldn't have to fight and she would do her best to make sure it didn't happen but there was no guarantee. The best she could do was try to end the war before it started. The only way for her to do so was through the Order of the Phoenix. 

She had missed a meeting because she hadn't been able to leave the manor. Lucius had been out with the Dark Lord and she was going to make sure Dolohov didn't attempt to steal anything else. Or worse, actually succeed in stealing something. 

She couldn't miss any more. Well, she didn't want to miss any more. She wanted to joke around with Sirius, annoy Remus playfully, talk to Nymphadora about her life, discuss mothering with Molly and, hopefully, finally get an explanation for what a tellyphone (she wasn't completely sure if that's what it was called?) was by Arthur. 

Lyra had made sure that Lucius was home and keeping a keen eye on Dolohov and she had commanded the house elves to remind Rookwood how important it was to have good bathroom hygiene. 

She had barely taken a step out of the door when she could hear a deep, male voice calling out her name, stopping her in her tracks. "Lyra! Where are you going?"

The blonde had hoped nobody would catch her leaving, only having made the arrangements with Lucius as usual. She turned around and plastered a shining smile on her face. "Oh, hi, Rabastan."

He scratched his chin, which had newly been shaved for the first time in over a decade. "Yeah, hi. Are you going somewhere? Or just outside? Because if you're just going to be walking around the garden, do you mind if I join you?"