LANDSLIDE, james potter [2]

Chapter Forty-Three

Though Slughorn's Christmas Party had been fun for as long as her son hadn't been caught in his Death Eater escapades, Lyra's Christmas was not yet over. She wished it was. She wished that whole horrid year would be over. 

It had been an awful year on all accounts. It had started perfectly pleasant, but by the time summer had come around then Lyra's whole world was shattered for what must have been the thousandth time. Now, all she did was worry, all day, every day. Nothing could distract her from her worry. 

Part of her just wanted time to freeze in the few good moments she was still experiencing. If the world had been broken as much as it had been, then it could only keep breaking. She didn't want to see the results of it. 

Lyra wanted to freeze time as she laid in bed on Christmas Day. It had been five days since she had been to Hogwarts and she was haunted by the image of Draco's paleness, how thin he had gotten and the dark circles underneath his eyes.

But she just wanted one moment where she didn't have to worry. One moment where she could pretend that it was still possible for her to be happy, no matter who she was with. She just wanted to be careless, to just sleep, or at least put her own worry to sleep. 

Rabastan was still sleeping. He looked so peaceful when he slept. Lyra liked more in those moments, because there was no hint of the darkness and the madness he had brought upon himself for so many years. She could almost imagine him happy. She hadn't seen him happy in many years. 

His eyes fluttered open, finding himself facing her. Her eyes were wide open, as green and lovely as always, surrounded by long, dark eyelashes. Every time he woke up with her by his side, he remembered just how beautiful she was. There was something about her and the morning light. 

"Good morning," he muttered rather groggily. 

"Morning," she responded softly, still not taking her eyes off him. "Still tired?"

"It's all right. I don't mind waking up early when I'm waking up to such a lovely sight," Rabastan said smoothly, reaching out to put his hand on the side of her head, on top of her blonde hair. "Are you hungry? Should we get some breakfast?"

The blonde groaned, burying her face in her soft pillow. He chuckled deeply, caressing the side of her face, but she only glared playfully at him through her hair. "No, not yet. I just want to be in bed for a while."

"Oh, well, there are plenty things to do in bed if we've got a while." Rabastan grinned lazily at her, which made her laugh to herself. 

"You horn-dog." She playfully shoved him, which was strange doing while they were laying down. "No, I just need a couple of minutes and then we'll get up. It's Christmas Day, after all. Bella and Cissy are coming over tonight for dinner in case you don't remember."

"Do they have to? Bellatrix is fine enough but Narcissa makes it clear that she hates me every time she sees me," he whined, though sending her a quick wink afterwards. "Also, I'm sure we could do some things that are more worthwhile instead of having some fancy dinner."

"We can do that after," Lyra said teasingly. She pushed herself up from lying position, looking down at him. She grabbed his chin and leaned down to kiss him softly, though he only looked at her strangely. 

He followed suit, pushing himself up so his back was resting against the headboard. The duvet was no longer covering his chiseled torso. "Look, we've been going strong for about five months now..."

Please don't say what I think you're about to say, Lyra thought. It's not true, I know it. 

"Yes?"