It has literally been forever since I've updated this. But a lot of personal shit has happened, and I just haven't felt much like writing. Hopefully I'll be able to get back into it now.

Y'all should really leave me a review, it gives me a lot of motivation to keep writing!

-Morrigan

I own nothing except Lyra and a picnic basket

"Are you honestly trying to tell me that you don't have feelings for Charlie?" Andromeda smirked at her blushing niece.

Lyra tried to hide her face behind Teddy's blue hair, but her Aunt just chuckled.

"I'm not saying that I don't have feelings for the prat, I'm just saying that nothing is going to come of it."

"And why not?" Andromeda picked up the toy that Teddy had dropped and handed it back to her grandson, who was attempting to climb off Lyra's lap.

Lyra groaned. "Because there isn't, that's why."

Andromeda arched her brow and Lyra shook her head.

"What do you want me to say, Aunt Dromeda? I just don't think I'm ready for a relationship."

"Why aren't you ready? You've been, what do you call it, friends with benefits?" Lyra's face turned an even deeper shade of red at her aunt's words. "You've been friends with benefits for what, about eight months now? It's not unusual that things would progress into a relationship."

"What do you know about friends with benefits?" Lyra asked, trying to change the subject.

"Enough to know that more often than not, at least one person involved ends up developing feelings for the other person," Andromeda said, a knowing look twinkling in her eye.

Lyra groaned again. "I just—I dunno. Charlie and I are so different."

Andromeda laughed. "Do you think that a relationship with someone who is the same as you are would be any fun? Ted and I were a lot like you and Charlie."

"How so?" Lyra asked, setting the squirming Teddy down on the floor to play with the toy he had once again dropped, she looked back at her aunt, intrigued.

"Well for starters, Ted could make me laugh like no one else could, he always knew exactly how to cheer me up," Andromeda smiled nostalgically. "When I left my family, I was distraught for days. I had thought that I'd made a huge mistake; I even tried to go back one night. But Ted—he convinced me that I had made the right decision in leaving my family. It wasn't the easy way, but it was the best way.

"There was another night where your mum and Aunt Cissy had come to my house, Cissy had made Bella come. It—it didn't end well. It was the last time I ever spoke to your mum. Afterward, I didn't even want to get out of bed for a fortnight. But Ted, he made everything better somehow, just by being there for me. He was always there when I needed him."

Lyra nodded in understanding. "I have pushed him away so many times, but he's always still there. He's knows me better than almost anyone, definitely better than any boyfriend I've ever had. He wants to know the little things, like my favourite colour and ice cream flavour, but he also wants to know the big things like my biggest fear or greatest accomplishment. I've just—no one outside of the family has ever cared that much about me."

Andromeda smiled softly and squeezed her niece's hand. "Which is exactly why you should give him a chance. I see how much you care about him, it's written all over your face. When you talk about him, your eyes light up."

Lyra rolled her eyes.

"I'm not saying that you love him," Andromeda said, smirking. "I'm just saying that you could."

"You and I are going somewhere today," Narcissa said, not even looking up from the Daily Prophet spread across the table where she was sipping on tea and eating a breakfast of eggs and toast.

"Where?" Lyra asked, sitting in front of her usual toast and tea.

"You'll see when we get there," Narcissa said, a small smirk playing on her lips.

Lyra knew not to ask again, growing up in the care of the youngest and most mischievous of the Black sisters, she knew that if her aunt was up to something, it was bound to be good.

Twenty minutes later the pair were walking through the grounds towards the apparition point that lay just outside the Manor's wards.

"Why isn't Wes coming with us?" Lyra asked suddenly, remembering they'd left her "bodyguard" fast asleep in his room.

Narcissa looked at her niece with far more mischief in her eyes than normal. "I thought we could give him the day off, I can't imagine your uncle will try anything with two fully capable witches around."

Lyra furrowed her brow but didn't have time to ask any more questions as they had just stepped beyond the wards and Lyra's senses were on high alert. They walked for about ten minutes until Lyra could see the figure of a woman, dressed in black robes standing about a block ahead of them.

She was just about to reach for her wand when the woman turned around, a playful smile on her lips.

"I've been waiting for fifteen minutes for you two!" Andromeda squealed, pulling them both in for a hug.

"Where are we going?" Lyra asked again, but both of her aunts just smiled and walked ahead.

Lyra sighed and followed them.

Another ten minutes of walking, and the three women came to a stop. Andromeda looked around and when she saw no one there, she pulled her sister and niece into a small patch of woods.

"Okay," she said, grabbing Narcissa and Lyra's hands. "I'll apparate us to there, both of you just hold on tight."

Lyra closed her eyes and braced herself for the really awful feeling of side-by-side apparation and once she felt her feet on solid ground again, she opened her eyes.

They were in a meadow, sunlight flooding the tall golden grass, she could see a small pond only a few meters ahead with crystal clear water and she heard birds chirping all around.

"Where are we?" she asked, a little breathless from the beauty of the place.

Narcissa smiled and tilted her head back in the sun. "Our favourite place."

"We used to come here when we were growing up, along with your mum," Andromeda smiled. "We'd spend half the summer here, swimming in the pond, running through the grass. I have so many wonderful memories of this place with my sisters. I haven't been here in so many years."

Narcissa laughed softly, walking toward the pond. "I think the last time we were here was a few weeks before you ran away with Ted."

Andromeda nodded, looking at the serene pond. "Whenever we were here, it was like the rest of the world didn't exist. We could just be three sisters who loved each other dearly, and none of the rest of it mattered."

"Bella and I never came here without you," Narcissa said, taking her sister's hand. "Mother suggested we come, after you left, but Bella refused. She said that it wasn't a place we could be without you."

"Then why are we here now?" Lyra asked softly, standing next to her aunts.

"We thought it would be good for you, to come to a place where we used to have so much fun with your mum," Narcissa said, her blue eyes piercing Lyra's black ones. "She would have wanted us to bring you here."

Andromeda nodded. "The person that your mum became, that's not who she was. It's not who she would want you to remember her as. Do you remember much from before your parents went to Azkaban?"

Lyra stared out at the pond, thinking over her aunt's question, while Narcissa reached into her handbag, pulling out a blanket and a picnic basket.

The three women sat down and Lyra's aunts started putting a lunch together. Narcissa had really thought this through, bringing delicious sandwiches, a salad, crisps, and pumpkin juice.

Lyra sighed, taking the plate from her aunt. "I remember a lot, but what I remember the most was her smile. The way it lit up her whole face and her eyes would sparkle. And she would always use her hands when she spoke, her whole body went into the expressions she made."

Andromeda laughed. "Our mother would always make her sit on her hands so she would learn to speak without gesticulating so much, but it never worked. Mother would walk out of the room and Bella's hands would be flying again."

"Remember when she broke that vase?" Narcissa said, smiling.

"The old Hun Dynasty one?" Andromeda barked out a laugh. "Mother was furious, but that thing was hideous!"

"Hun Dynasty?" Lyra asked incredulously. "As in nearly two thousand years old?"

Narcissa snorted. "It was magically preserved, of course. It had been in the family for centuries. We all hated it. We were in the library one afternoon, home from Hogwarts for summer holidays, and Bella was telling us a story about something that had happened in Charms class. She was mimicking the wand movement, standing a bit too close to the table that held the vase—and we all watched in delighted horror as the vase went falling to the floor."

"Of course," Andromeda said, face red from laughing. "Mother walked in just at the moment when we burst into laughter. Bella would have done a simple reparo on the stupid vase if we hadn't been caught in the act, and Mother would have been none the wiser. Instead we were all grounded for the rest of the summer."

"It was worth it, just to see the look on Mother's face," Narcissa smiled.

Lyra shook her head. "I wish she would have stayed like that, instead of becoming who she became."

Narcissa took her niece's hand, and rubbed comforting circles on the back of Lyra's hand with her thumb. "She loved you more than anything in the world, even at her worst, Bella still loved you."

Lyra's eyes brimmed with tears. "I know, but sometimes it's hard to remember that when all I can see when I think of her is the Dark Lord's most trusted lieutenant. It felt like she loved him more than she loved me."

"I may not have known your mother after she was in Azkaban," Andromeda said quietly. "But I do know that Azkaban broke her. She may have even believed that she loved him more than you, but I think that if it came down to a choice between him and you, she would have chosen you."

Lyra shook her head slowly. "I guess we'll never know."

When Lyra got home from her outing with her aunts, Charlie was waiting on her bed for her.

"Hey," she said softly, sitting on the edge of the bed next to him.

"Where did you go?" he asked, his eyes searching hers.

"My aunts took me to this meadow they used to go to with my mum."

He nodded, and looked down to study his hands that were clasped together, resting on his stomach.

"What's wrong?" she asked, touching his forearm gently.

He shook his head. "They almost caught your uncle today, but they got away."

Lyra gasped. "Where was he?"

Charlie sighed. "Dublin, apparently they'd been staying in Ireland, but they haven't your families summer house since the Aurors searched it. Harry said they barely got away, that they almost had them."

She felt the tears well up in her eyes and cursed herself for being so emotional lately. "Charlie, I hate to admit it—but I'm scared."

He sat up and pulled her to his chest, leaning back so she was nearly laying on him. "You'd be stupid if you weren't, but I'm serious when I say that I won't let anything happen to you. Lyra, I'm going to keep you safe, no matter what it takes.