Not one person in Gryffindor Tower slept the rest of the night. They knew that the castle was being searched yet again, and the whole House stayed awake in the common room, anxiously waiting to hear whether Black had been caught. Professor McGonagall came back at dawn, to tell them that the mass murderer had escaped.
Throughout the day, everywhere they went they saw signs of tighter security; Professor Flitwick was seen teaching the front doors to recognize a picture of Sirius Black around breakfast; Filch was suddenly bustling up and down the corridors, boarding up every tiny crack. Sir Cadogan had been fired, which was met with sighs of relief from several of the students who hated dealing with him, Lysandra included. Thankfully, the Fat Lady was back, nervous, but expertly restored, and protected by a pair of surly security trolls which stank up the hall.
Weasley was getting far too much attention for his own good. Longbottom, on the other hand, was a total disgrace. Professor McGonagall was so furious with him she had banned him from all future Hogsmeade visits, given him detentions for the rest of the year, and had forbidden anyone to give him the password for the tower. He was forced to wait outside the common room every night for somebody to let him in, while the security trolls leered down at him. None of these things matched what his grandmother had in store, because two days after the break-in, he received a Howler.
The school owls swooped into the Great Hall, and a very large barn owl landed in front of the third year.
"Run for it, Neville," Weasley advised.
Longbottom didn't need to be told this twice; he snatched the Howler from the owl and raced for the entrance hall while the Slytherin table exploded into laughter at the sight of him. The Howler went off in the entrance hall, and the entire school could hear how Longbottom's matriarch thought he had brought shame to the whole family.
Nothing particularly interesting happened after the break-in, save for the abundance of homework over the Easter Holiday, and the full moon in April being one of her bad ones. Thankfully, this one wasn't as bad as the others, but she was still sore the next morning, playing it up to get cuddles from Remus, who was more than happy to indulge her, sharing his chocolate as he did so.
The Gryffindor-Slytherin match was causing the school some trouble. Never, in anyone's memory, had a match approached in such a highly-charged atmosphere. By the time the holidays were over, the tension between the two teams and their Houses was at the breaking point. Several scuffles broke out in the corridors, culminating in a nasty incident in which a Gryffindor Fourth year and a Slytherin Sixth year ended up in the Hospital Wing with leeks sprouting out of their ears.
The teams themselves got the worst of it, but Lysandra had already had her black hair dyed green, would have fallen down the stairs had she not somehow sensed the trap lying in wait, and she'd been pelted with half-rotten eggs before breakfast that were particularly potent to her sensitive nose. Thankfully, Cassius had been around the corner and knew a charm to send them back to the throwers with double the damage; it had been highly entertaining to watch the group of second years attempting to avoid the eggs.
The Gryffindor Common room was abuzz with energy the night before the game, and Lysandra had given up attempting to sleep upstairs by about eleven at night. She slunk her way out of the Tower and had nearly made it around the corner when Remus showed up, looking highly amused.
"Loud?" He asked, already knowing the answer. She nodded grumpily, clutching the blankets she'd stolen from her bed around her shoulders. "Have you tried silencing charms?"
She fixed him with a look that had him grinning.
"It's probably not appropriate, but go sleep on my couch, Lizzie." He ruffled her messy hair, chuckling at her attempts to bat his hands away. "I have to patrol until two, so I'll try not to wake you up when I get back."
"Thanks, Remus." She grumbled sleepily, sulking down the corridor to his rooms on the Fourth floor. She was yawning widely when she rounded the corner, narrowly missing McGonagall, who was turning the corner with a stack of essays. The Transfiguration teacher opened her mouth to reprimand her Gryffindor but shut it again with an amused look when Lysandra fumbled for the handle to Remus's room and nearly fell on her face on her way in. She shook her head at the were-pair's affection and went to shut the door after her student.
The youngest Malfoy had vanished in a pile of crimson and gold blankets on the cream couch, completely hidden except for a tuft of black hair out the top of her blanket pile. McGonagall shut the door and returned to her own room.
Gryffindor, in a spectacularly violent match, finally won the Quidditch Cup for the first time in years. It was, according to the gossip around the school, also the dirtiest game Hogwarts had seen for years. Lysandra had listened to the match from her perch on the window seat in her dorm room, far far away from the noise.
The euphoria from the game lasted over a week, and even the weather seemed to be celebrating; as June approached, the days became cloudless and sultry, and all anyone wanted to do was stroll onto the grounds and flop down on the grass with several pints of iced juice, perhaps playing a casual game of Gobstones or watching the giant squid propel itself dreamily around the lake.
However, despite their wishes, no one could do this. Exams were upon them, and the students were forced to remain inside the castle, trying to get their brains to absorb as much information as they could. Even the Weasley Twins had been spotted working, though they were taking their OWLs, and Lysandra doubted they were studying on their own motivation. Prefect Weasley, she knew, was getting ready to take his NEWTs, and was far more bossy than usual.
Amid all this frantic studying, Lysandra turned fourteen on June Fourth, quietly and without much fanfare, though she received a book from her cousin Lazarus at breakfast, Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charms, which was full of fascinating spells she couldn't wait to practice.
The schedule for the exams was going to be a nightmare for Lysandra, who's two elective course exams were the same time as her Charms and Transfiguration exams. Granger didn't seem overly worried about the double booking but was just as bossy as Prefect Weasley concerning the quietness of the common room.
Thankfully, both Flitwick and McGonagall were used to this sort of double booking of exams and informed her that she could take her exams with the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs instead of her own House and Slytherin.
Monday's Arithmancy exam was easy, as was the Ancient Runes exam after lunch. Tuesday morning, Lysandra took her Charms exam with a group of Ravenclaws, performing a perfect Cheering Charm on her partner, whose name she didn't remember after. Lysandra's Potions exam was after lunch, one she didn't find difficult, and Astronomy was at midnight, and she found herself surprisingly alert for that exam. On Wednesday, the Gryffindor Third years had their History of Magic exam, which they all struggled with, and then a Herbology exam after lunch, where they all suffered in the greenhouses because of the exceptional weather, returning to the common room with sunburnt necks.
On Thursday morning was Remus' exam, and it was possibly the only exam Lysandra was excited for. Remus had made an obstacle course outside in the sun, where they had to wade across a deep paddling pool containing a grindylow, cross a series of potholes full of Red Caps, squish their way across a patch of marsh while ignoring misleading directions from a hinkypunk, then climb into an old trunk and battle with a new boggart.
Being a part werejaguar gave Lysandra a bit of an advantage, because her senses were sharper than normal with the approaching moon on the Twenty-Third; the grindylow snarled at her from the water and vanished when she shot a Stinging Hex at it, the potholes full of Red Caps proved no problem because she could smell where they were hiding, the misleading hinkypunk was easily ignored as it kept pace beside her, and then Lysandra was facing the extended trunk that contained the boggart. She was thankful that Remus was standing by and he'd decided to let them face their fears privately. He sent her a reassuring smile when she stepped down into the darkness.
The only thing the suitcase's room contained was a replica of the Defence classroom and a large wardrobe that rattled when she approached it.
"Riddikulus." She muttered, lifting her wand with a determined scowl. The wardrobe shook again and then opened slowly.
Something was growling in the darkness of the wardrobe, and Lysandra shifted so that she was standing firmly with her wand aloft.
A long leg stretched from the darkness of the wardrobe, and a pair of bright golden eyes shone from in the darkness. In a second, the boggart had launched itself from the darkness and straight at her, wrapping its newly formed claws around her shoulder and her side, while Lysandra felt the phantom pain of her attacker's claws ripping through her.
She shuddered, clenching her jaw shut to prevent a whimper escaping, and she twisted her wrist to point at the boggart breathing heavily over her ear.
"R-riddikulus!" She said though nothing happened. "Riddikulus!"
The arms around her retracted, and the breath on her ear pulled away until the boggart-werejaguar was a tiny figure on the floor that Lysandra promptly spat upon. She turned on her heel and hurried out of the suitcase, throwing a glance over her shoulder as she did so, her face pale and her hands shaking.
Remus stopped her with a small piece of chocolate, a worried look in his now-familiar eyes.
"Do I get marks taken off if I spat on the boggart?" She whispered, prompting a snort from her favorite werewolf. He shook his head, gesturing for her to join the others who had finished.
After lunch, Lysandra sat her Transfiguration exam, though she was slightly distracted and her usually perfect pureblood handwriting was shaky, earning a raised eyebrow from McGonagall when she collected the exam.
The rest of the afternoon Lysandra spent by the lake's edge, catnapping in the sunshine while several other students splashed in the lake, petting the Giant Squid when it came by to say hello. She was just about to fall asleep when someone coughed over her and moved to block her sunlight.
"Can I help you, Prefect Weasley?" She asked, lazily opening one of her silvery eyes. Prefect Weasley pursed his lips, and then cleared his throat.
"Professor McGonagall would like to see you in her office." He supplied, and then he turned to join Penelope Clearwater, the Head Girl, under a shady tree several feet back from the water. Lysandra sighed heavily and heaved herself to her feet, gathering the robe she'd shucked and her mostly empty bag.
McGonagall called for her to enter when she knocked on the door. Lysandra shuffled in and perched on the edge of the chair in front of her Head of House's desk. The Transfiguration professor watched the Malfoy girl for several minutes before she sighed lightly and leaned forward.
"Miss Malfoy," she began. "Do you remember the conversation we had at the end of your first year here?"
"The one about moving me up a year?" Lysandra replied, curious about the rest of this conversation.
McGonagall nodded. "I've just received your exam marks from Professors Snape and Flitwick, and I've had a word with Professor Lupin, all of whom seem confident that we could move you up a year if you sat your Fourth-Year exams near the end of July, which is when make-up exams happen for the particularly…. Challenged students. If you managed to pass these exams, Miss Malfoy, please note that you would be moving into an OWL class, which is a very different environment than your previous classes, and we grade them much harder."
"Yes, professor." Lysandra nodded.
"Are you interested in trying?"
"Yes, professor." She grinned up at the Scottish woman. "Particularly, Potions and Charms, and perhaps Transfiguration?"
"I don't see why you cannot try." Professor McGonagall folded her hands together with a small smile. "If you do choose to challenge those three exams, we will be sending you review packets when you return home and a date for each exam. Are you absolutely sure that you would like to do this?"
"Perfectly sure, Professor McGonagall. It'll keep me busy."
"Very well then, I'll let Professor Dumbledore know to place your name on the list." The Scottish woman nodded, reaching for her quill, and marking something down on a square of parchment. "Best you head off for dinner, Miss Malfoy."
"Would you… like me to wait, Professor?" Lysandra asked quietly, fiddling with the edges of her sleeves. McGonagall looked surprised, focusing on her curiously for several long seconds before she gave a small smile, a rare occurrence on the stern woman's face.
"No, dear. I'll be down in a couple of minutes."
Dinner was an ordinary affair, though she received several pointed looks from her godfather and Remus when she skipped over the vegetables in front of her. She pouted up at them, but was given two eerily similar looks of 'I-don't-care-do-it-anyway.' She snickered quietly and served herself some carrots and potatoes.
Remus, her poor were, was looking a little haggard as he passed her by at the end of dinner, and she eyed him worriedly as he headed for his office. Snape vanished into the dungeons like a great bat, throwing a glance at her out of the corner of her eye. Lysandra frowned at their distractedness and hurried herself up to the Hospital Wing, feeling itchy but not transformative.
Madam Pomfrey shook her head good-naturedly at the girl and set her up in her usual corner of the room to wait for her packmate.
It was hours before the Hospital Wing doors open, but not by who Madam Pomfrey had expected. She cast a glance over at the Malfoy girl curled up on the bed in the corner and flicked her wand in her direction, ensuring that she wouldn't be disturbed.
Severus Snape hurried into the room, three stretchers floating beside him, bearing the some of the most trouble-making students she'd seen in a long time. The Hogwarts matron sighed heavily and directed the Potions Master to set them on beds, pausing to delicately inquire about Remus.
"Running rampant in the Forest, no doubt tearing things to pieces." He drawled. Pomfrey looked as though she wanted to smack the man, glancing to the corner of the room where she knew Severus' goddaughter was sleeping.
He glanced swiftly in her direction, and then wrinkled his nose.
Lysandra woke up when somebody decided to move her without her permission. She growled and swatted angrily at whoever it was, making them chuckle.
"Come on, pup." Remus murmured to her softly, making the girl go instantly limp and content. "Up we go."
She grumbled at her packmate as he hauled her to her feet. Remus gathered her blankets around her and cocooned her until only her face stuck out of the bundle and then lifted her easily into his lap, watching her sadly.
"Remus?" She whispered, sensing the melancholy mood of the man.
"I'll be okay, Lizzie." He muttered into the top of her head. "I'll always be okay."
"What's going on?" She asked, yawning.
"It looks like I won't be teaching here next year." He replied, tightening his grip around her waist. Lysandra grumbled at him. "There was a bit of an…. Incident last night, and it's gotten out to the school that I'm a werewolf, pup. I resigned before I came to see you, and I'm going to start packing after lunch."
Lysandra's fingers clawed their way out of her blankets and latched onto Remus' shirt. Her eyes stared up at him, and Remus grumbled as they filled with tears.
"But you can't go," She whined, looking desperate. "I don't… But, Remus… You can't!"
"By lunchtime tomorrow, owls will start arriving from parents… they won't want a werewolf teaching their children, pup. I could have bitten someone, and being a werewolf isn't something parents want for their kids. I don't want it for you."
"But…. I don't want you to leave." She cried, throwing her arms around him now. Remus purred at her, trying to soothe his young packmate. He sat with her for a long time, running his hand through her long dark hair and soothing her in a way that was instinct driven.
But when she fell asleep again, Remus almost couldn't bring himself to leave.
The end of the year loomed ever closer, and Lysandra was not in the mood for the jovial student body. Remus was gone, and as the impending train ride grew closer, the Malfoy girl was reminded of the letter her mother had sent her at Christmas. Come the end of the term, and she would soon after no longer be a Malfoy in name.
She hovered obsessively in the library, leafing through the law book Lazarus had sent and the inheritance book from her mother. Her exam results, through stupendous, were tossed aside in favor of the Legilimensy book and another chapter of Mermish.
She boarded the Hogwarts Express alone and found a compartment that was empty. She was joined by an exhausted-looking Seventh-Year Hufflepuff who collapsed onto the seat across from her and began to snore immediately.
He woke briefly for the trolley lady, snuffling something incoherent, before falling back into a blob of exhaustion. Lysandra eyed him warily, concerned for her own Seventh Year if it was going to be that hard.
"Lysandra,"
The raven's head jerked around to the door of the compartment, and she stared, wide-eyed, at the form of Cassius, who was dressed in a pair of slacks and a pale blue button-up.
"You should probably get changed." He said, smiling sadly.
"You know what's going to happen then, I suppose?" She snarked, rising to gather the clothes her mother had sent before the end of the year.
"My mother again." He replied, closing the door behind him and turning around so she could change. The Hufflepuff snored loudly in their silence, and Lysandra shot the boy a glare. "But this time it was something your mother shared."
"Why?"
"My mother works in the Underage Trace Office…. Your mother was asking questions." He answered, shifting uneasily. "I know that we're not really friends, but you can owl me if you need anything alright?"
"Cassius," Lysandra murmured, touching his shoulder. He turned, observing her with an unreadable expression. The younger girl looked far older than her fourteen years, dressed impeccably in a set of dark purple robes and her hair pulled back into a stupidly perfect bun. "You are probably the closest thing I have to a friend, except Remus."
"… I'm not sure what to say to that." He grumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Just let me know if you need any help or anything, okay?"
"Alright. I will. Have a good summer holiday, Cassius."
"You too, Lysandra."
Lysandra hovered next to her mother in the elevator, her fingers twisted in her long purple sleeves. The elevator was mostly empty, save for an older witch carrying a large purse and a small fleet of paper airplanes above their head.
"Level Two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement."
Narcissa placed a hand on her daughter's back and ushered her out of the elevator. The pair headed for the large desk placed in the middle of the Second Level lobby and were both greeted by a friendly witch with a broad smile and build.
"Afternoon, dears." She greeted, jotting something down on a sheet of parchment that folded itself into a small bird and vanished deeper into the Department. "How can I help you today?"
"We have an appointment with Madams Bones and Zambini," Narcissa told the woman, and though she was confident, she did not speak as loud as she normally would have. The secretary witch's eyes went wide, and she nodded quickly, her graying bun bouncing as she did so. The older woman slid down from her stool and gestured for the two Malfoy woman to follow her.
They were led into the Department and shown into a small, but well-furnished, office done in dark brown wood and cream accents.
"Please take a seat; both Madams will be with you momentarily." The broad witch said, quietly shutting the door behind her. Narcissa sighed quietly and gazed at her daughter fondly. The raven-haired teen sighed quietly as she peered around the office.
"I'm so sorry, my darling little lion." The Malfoy matriarch cooed, pulling Lysandra into her for a hug. "I am so so very sorry."
"Everything will be fine, Mother," Lysandra reassured, curling her arms around her mother. The women clung to each other tightly for several long minutes and pulled away from each other when the door was pushed open. Another pair of women entered the room, both of whom Lysandra had met briefly before. The first one to enter was Madam Bones, who's monocle and square jaw was easily recognizable, and she was followed by Madam Zambini, who carried a clipboard full of parchment and flashed a pearly smile at the two Malfoys.
Madam Bones took a seat behind the desk and motioned to the pair of chairs in front of the desk. "Please sit. I know that this meeting needs to be quick and brief, because someone will inevitably mention something to Lucius, and from what I hear, we are avoiding that at all costs."
Narcissa nodded, tightening her fingers around her clutch purse nervously. The two Malfoys quickly seated themselves. Madam Zambini shuffled a couple of parchments around on her clipboard and brushed a strand of her dark hair from her face with her fingers.
"Now, Miss Lysandra," Madam Bones turned her sharp gaze to the Gryffindor girl, who straightened. "Your mother was here earlier in the week, to discuss the majority of this case of yours with us, and because of that, there are only a few questions I need to ask now."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Are you currently able to financially support yourself? This includes the supplies for Hogwarts, you understand, and any basic costs, such as food."
"Yes," Lysandra answered with certainty. "I've had my own vault at Gringotts for several years now, and I've squirreled away all my allowances."
"In addition to this, if everything goes the way we planned, Lysandra will have access to the main Black family vault." Madam Zambini informed the room, signing something on the topmost parchment. Lysandra glanced at her mother with a veiled surprise, but Narcissa merely gave her hand a small pat, focusing on Madam Bones, who was signing the same parchment that Madam Zambini had a moment earlier.
"Excellent. Do you have an adequate living arrangement?"
Lysandra hesitated, but Narcissa answered this with surety. "I've arranged a place for my daughter to live."
"As I understand it, you have just finished your third year at Hogwarts." Madam Bones glanced down at the parchment Madam Zambini placed in front of her, and her eyebrows rose. "At the top of your class, no less. I heard that Professor Dumbledore has you on the Exam Retake list, but your marks are impressive, why is this?"
"Professor McGonagall believes that I can be placed with a higher year in a couple of my classes, so if I can pass the exam for the year above me, Professor Dumbledore was going to move me up a year."
"Impressive. I know a few students who did that myself." Madam Zambini commented, smiling with enthusiasm. Madam Bones nodded, flipping through several pages, all marked with the Hogwarts crest.
"You've had no detentions, excellent attendance, and your marks are superb. I think everything is in order." She said, folding her fingers together. "Emancipation is quite rare in our community, but not unheard of. You understand that by doing this, Miss Lysandra, you will no longer be a Malfoy."
"I understand." Lysandra nodded, shifting nervously in her seat.
"You understand that because you are leaving your parents, you will also have the Trace removed from your person, because after we sign these papers," Madam Bones tapped the red parchment in front of her with one of her fingers, fixing a serious look at the young girl across from her. "You will be treated as an adult in the Wizarding community. This includes any punishments for breaking the law."
"Yes, I understand." Lysandra nodded, twisting her fingers into her sleeves and nervously watching as Madam Bones began signing the official-looking documents.
"You understand the when we remove the Malfoy name from you," The Head of the Department continued, pausing to glance at Narcissa, who nodded. "You will be taking up the name Black, of the Most Ancient and Noble House Black, and all the responsibility that comes with being the Head of a family."
"I…." She paused, glancing at her mother with enormous confusion. "Yes, I understand."
Narcissa looked a bit relieved but didn't look at her daughter.
"Well, then," Madam Bones pushed a stack of parchment towards the pair across from her. "Sign on the bottom of these please, both of you."
Narcissa was the first to take the offered red quill, flourishing her signature onto the stacks, and then Lysandra followed with her mother with her own slightly scratchy signature. Madam Bones motioned for the papers and tapped her wand on the parchment before it folded itself tightly and vanished into a shower of sparkles.
"Well, Lady Black," Lysandra was startled to find that this was her. Madam Bones was not addressing her mother, and Lysandra was no longer a Malfoy. "I wish you good fortune in your endeavors."
"Thank you." The raven-haired witch smiled, her shoulders straightening confidently for the first time since she'd entered the office. Narcissa smiled sadly at her daughter.
She was free.
Short chapter this time, but I hope you enjoyed it. Please Review.