I do not own Harry Potter. All rights go to J. K. Rowling as well as Warner brothers (For the movie rights).
Daughter of Darkness
Chapter Thirty-Four
Lyra enjoyed her time with Susan and Amelia. The three of them stayed up until well past normal times, mostly for Amelia since she usually had to be at work before everyone else. They talked, laughed, horsed around. Lyra and Susan even demonstrated what they'd learned in the dueling club (even a bit rusty, Lyra still managed to beat Susan) much to Amelia's amusement. It only served to remind her what a loss to her auror division that Lyra wouldn't join up when she was old enough.
An unfortunate loss, but an understandable one.
"Are you ready to go?" Amelia asked after they had finished breakfast. Lyra nodded.
"Yup. It should be no problem for me to get in. After all, I'm just Lyra Black going to sift through the ancestral records to understand my family better," Lyra said with a smirk. Amelia nodded approvingly.
"Can I come with you?" Susan asked, standing on the staircase. She looked a bit nervous, but Lyra gave her a genuine smile.
"Of course! Who better to snoop around with than my sister?" Lyra replied. Susan's answering smile delighted the metamorph as Amelia grabbed the pot of floo powder.
"Be responsible, no getting into trouble," she warned. "I will know about it if you do," she added sternly.
"Yes, Auntie."
"No promises, Amelia."
The older redhead looked at the perfectly innocent look on Lyra's face and sighed. A troublemaker. Really, she shouldn't be so surprised. She was distantly related to the Weasley twins after all, and Bellatrix in her youth was known to be a trickster.
"Just try not to get lost in there. It's a bit of a maze," Amelia warned.
"Of course, Amelia. If for whatever reason I don't see you for lunch, which I'm not anticipating I won't, it's been a pleasure tonight and…I would very much like to do it again sometime," Lyra admitted nervously. Amelia hugged her into her side.
"We'd be delighted to have you over. You have your own room, if you want it," Amelia reminded.
"I know. Thank you," Lyra said. "You should probably get to work. Tonks would give you crap if you walk in after her," she joked. Amelia laughed in response before nodding.
"Yes well, at least I have the benefits of my own private floo. I'd let you use it, but I have to do some paperwork first before that could happen. I'll let you know when though, and you can talk to me any time," Amelia said before throwing the powder into the flames. "Don't stay down there too long. I'll send someone down to retrieve you at noon if you're not in my office assuming nothing has called you away." With that, Amelia stepped through the flames into her office.
"So…ready to spend some time in dusty old bits of parchment?" Susan asked. Lyra smirked.
"I have been taught the art of reading old bits of parchment by my master, Hermione Granger," she replied with a laugh.
"That's true. I've overheard some of the claws saying she's more of a bookworm than them," Susan said. Lyra smiled as she thought of her best friend.
"The only person who rivals Hermione is Daphne, but it's still not even a competition," she explained.
"I didn't know you knew Daphne," Susan said, curiosity and a hope for Lyra to elaborate in her voice. The metamorph indulged her redheaded half-sister.
"I only met her last term. We became allies in runes and arithmancy. She struggled with runes and I'm absolutely talentless in arithmancy. It was a mutual trade," Lyra explained as she gathered a handful of floo powder. Susan did the same as she adopted an odd look on her face.
"Wait…if it was last term, that was before you knew who you were. She would've thought you were a muggleborn?" Susan asked. Lyra nodded.
"I asked her that, if she was sure she wanted to be seen studying with someone of 'lesser blood,' but she smirked and said she didn't care so long as her grades were as perfect as she could get them." Susan shrugged.
"I always pegged her as a bit of an odd snake. She very rarely socializes with the other Slytherin's except for Tracey Davis," Susan explained.
"She's mentioned Tracey, but I've never met her. Kinda started to think she didn't want Tracey to know I was helping her study or anything," Lyra muttered.
"I doubt it. I've only mostly met Daphne at balls and gatherings, she's always been a private person, never keeps all her eggs in one basket," Susan explained. Lyra nodded before turning to the fireplace, then turned back to Susan for a moment.
"It's occurred to me I don't actually know where the department of records is. Just don't tell Amelia that. I assured her I would find my way around just fine," Lyra said with a laugh. Susan smiled amusedly before rolling her eyes and laughing as well.
"Don't worry, I know where it is. I practically grew up in the ministry the first few years of my life," Susan explained, a fondness in her eyes. Lyra nodded and threw the green powder into the fireplace.
"Ministry for Magic," Lyra shouted as she walked through the green flames.
After spinning for a moment in the green torrent, Lyra stumbled slightly out of one of many fireplaces at the ministry building. She had been here recently but couldn't for the life of her remember if it had been this busy. Witches and Wizards bustling about, running into and around each other before heading out on their merry way. There was a great deal of foreigners as well as magical creatures of 'near human intelligence' as the ministry classified them, such as goblins and even a few centaurs. How they got here, Lyra couldn't even guess since they usually didn't associate with witches or wizards.
A few fireplaces over, Susan came walking out covered in soot, coughing and waving her hand in front of her face before she looked up and saw Lyra.
"Ready?" Lyra asked in amusement. Susan shoved her playfully before walking through the main atrium of the ministry. Lyra followed behind her as they came to a series of elevators, the ones that went on both the x and y axis that always weirded Lyra out a little bit. Susan pushed a button, level four, as several other witches and wizards loaded on, pressing buttons of their own.
After one stop at level three to drop off a several officers for the office of magical creatures, they came to the correct floor and stepped off. The elevator closed behind them, and they looked ahead to see an elderly woman sitting behind a desk.
"Come on. We have to sign in," Susan said, leading the way.
The elderly woman looked up at their approaching footsteps and smiled.
"Ah, why if it isn't little miss Bones. I haven't seen you since before you turned eleven!" the woman said.
"Sorry Mrs. Corsich. School's been keeping me busy over the summers," Susan explained. The woman waved her hand.
"Think nothing of it. Besides, if you weren't doing homework, you should be out spending the holiday with friends, not cooped up in here with dusty old books and scrolls," she said with a laugh. Susan smiled before signing her name to the book. Lyra did the same, but the woman looked at her as she did so. "Oh my, forgive me, Lady Black, I didn't see you there! My eye sights not nearly as good as it used to be."
"Think nothing of it," Lyra said easily as she finished her signature into the book. She noticed that above Susan's, there was a record of Lucius Malfoy and Dumbledore having signed their names. The dates were only a few days after her formal declaration as head of house. With what she now suspected of the headmaster after recovering the piece of her memory, Lyra felt it couldn't be a coincidence.
"Are you coming?" Susan said off to the right as she held the door open. Lyra smiled as she placed the quill down and nodded.
"Yup. Let's do this," she said.
Susan lead Lyra through the door before coming to stop in front of a pedestal with a single book lying on it. It was blank, with a quill and an ink well lying beside it.
"What?" Lyra asked as she looked around. There were hundreds of bookshelves lining the walls of the room with a table in front of the pedestal. It would take forever to sort through these! "You've got to be kidding me! Where do we even start?" She asked. Susan merely smiled before walking up to the pedestal.
"Come on? You didn't seriously think that all the magic in the world and we look through records by hand, did you?" she asked teasingly. Lyra reluctantly nodded
"Look," Lyra said sarcastically. "I was a muggleborn not even a month ago. I've been muggle raised for the first eleven years of my life. Cut me some slack." Susan laughed as she handed the quill to the slightly irate metamorph. "So how does this thing work?"
"You just write the records you want, and the charm work does the rest. It'll bring up the records you've written down for you to sort through. The only thing is, you can't remove these records from the department. You can copy them, but neither of us knows that spell so we'll have to ask for help," Susan explained.
"Alright…so…I want records on Sirius Black. I just write his name?" Lyra asked.
"Yeah pretty much," Susan shrugged. Lyra did the same before writing in Sirius' full name. The ink settled into the paper before disappearing, reminding her of that cursed journal from second year. She gave an involuntary shudder before looking up as several pieces of parchment and a multitude of books appeared on the table.
"Which one of them would have the trial record?" Lyra asked as she looked at the sparse information on her cousin.
"Dunno. Try writing 'Sirius Black trial?'" Susan suggested.
"Alright," Lyra said as she wrote down Susan's suggestion. The ink disappeared once more, as did everything on the table in front of them except for a single sheet of parchment.
"That's not possible," Susan whispered in shock. "This is supposed to have everything from the trial. Records of the evidence, witness statements…"
Lyra walked around to the table and picked up the sheet. It was an official looking ministry document (She knew what they looked like by now, having seen dozens of them since her declaration) that read:
Accused: Sirius Orion Black. Death eater. Sentenced to life in Azkaban for the murders of Lily and James Potter. Arrested the first of November, 1980, after casting a bombarda and blowing up twelve muggles. Aurors arrested the accused at the scene where they said he was laughing hysterically, shouting that he had killed the Potter's.
Lyra flipped it over, expecting to see maybe a small record of evidence. But there was nothing. It was blank on the other side. On the bottom it was signed by three different people. Former Minister Millicent Bagnold, former head of the DMLE Bartemius Crouch Sr, and…
"Chief Warlock Albus Dumbledore," Lyra said in a disbelieving breath. Susan perked up at the headmaster's name.
"This…This can't be-" she started.
"Those bastards," Lyra muttered. Susan looked ready to rebuke her sister's language but a look from said sister stopped her. "They might not have known Sirius was innocent, I understand tensions were probably high back then. But this…They sentenced a man to Azkaban with no trial. Even my…Even Bellatrix got a trial," Lyra snarled. "And Dumbledore knew about it too."
"This is Dumbledore we're talking about here, Lyra!" Susan hissed, finding her voice.
"And he could be bloody fucking Merlin for all I care. This is wrong, Susan. Surely you know that. At the very least, if Sirius did kill the Potter's, he deserves to have a trial!"
"Maybe he's playing you, Lyra. People have gotten the best of you before," Susan said. Lyra shook her head.
"No. The way he looked at Harry the night we helped set him free…" Lyra whispered. "He cares about Harry. You can't fake that."
"And how would you know?" Susan argued. Lyra gave the redhead a dark look as her own hair turned black. Susan clammed up under the scathing stare down she was receiving, feeling foolish for her question.
"I barely know you, Susan," Lyra whispered in a dark tone. "But I know that Amelia has done her best to protect you from the world. It's evident in the way you talk. In my world, when I was an orphan, it was either learn to read people, or you got hurt by those people who said they'd protect you. Sirius cares about Harry even though he barely knows him. I saw it in his eyes."
"Lyra I-" Susan started only to be cut off by the currently raven haired girls sigh as she pinched the bridge of her nose.
"No, I'm sorry Susan. I had no right to speak to you that way." Lyra muttered, looking at the redhead with regretful eyes before casting them down to the table. "Only the second day with my sister and I'm already cocking it up," she muttered. Susan put a comforting hand on Lyra's shoulder before drawing her in for a hug.
"Well then I guess we can both be cock up's together. I know what I'm doing about as much as you do. Come on," Susan said, pulling away from the hug. "Let's go get this copied and bring this to Auntie."
"Yeah," Lyra answered, rolling up the parchment. The two exited the hall of records and turned to the elderly woman at the desk.
"Mrs. Corsich, we were wondering if you could copy this for us?" Susan asked as Lyra held up the sheet.
"Of course dear," the woman said, not even looking at the page as she pressed her well taken care of wand to the parchment. "Gemino," she intoned. Immediately the page glowed before another one appeared beside it. "Here you go. Just set the paper back on the table, I'll take care of the rest."
Lyra dashed back in with the original trial record and placed it on the table before running back out. "Let's get up to Amelia, see what she has to say about this." Susan nodded as she rolled the copy, clutching it tightly in her hands.
The two made their way to the DMLE offices, weaving through aurors as they bustled about doing their jobs. Lyra saw a flash of purlpleish pink hair, but decided she'd surprise Tonks after this.
"Is my aunt in?" Susan asked once they stopped in front of Amelia's secretary. The woman looked up with a disinterested look on her face, at first, until she realized who she was talking to.
"Miss Bones! Oh, yes, your aunt's free right now," the woman said before sliding her eyes to Lyra. "Milady Black!" she squeaked. "My apologies. Are you with Miss Bones?"
"Yes. Working on a private project with Director Bones," Lyra said smoothly. She didn't want it to be widely known that she was Amelia's long lost niece, as Narcissa had advised her. The older witch had pointed out that it would be better politically to publicly ally the two ancient and noble houses while keeping a close familial relationship private.
"Oh?" the secretary asked, clearly interested in the goings on of two of the most politically powerful houses. Lyra smirked, her eyes flashing a mixture of pink and purple.
"Yes. Rather hush hush right now, so if you could let us in, I could get to it sooner," Lyra pressed. The woman nodded, hitting a rune on her desk with her wand, announcing the two young witches' arrival.
Amelia opened the door.
"Come in, come in. Did you find what you were looking for?" she asked as she ushered them into her office. Susan held up the single piece of parchment before Amelia closed the door. She held her wand over it for a second, causing the edge of the door to glow a bright blue. "There, now we can talk without worry of being overheard," she explained.
"Well that's neat. Maybe I'll look into the rune scheme for Grimmauld place," Lyra said. "Lord knows Narcissa keeps telling me to expect business meetings as I get older," she grumbled. Amelia chuckled as she took off her monocle.
"It's not so bad. Mostly just old men asking if you'll support one of their bills in exchange for a favor in the future. Some of the old breed asking you to support their businesses and such. For example, I've had several requests from the Ogden family, the Greengrass', and the Nott's to support their businesses and push through changes to importation laws," Amelia explained. Lyra nodded and sighed. "Enough of that though, what did you find?" Amelia asked. Susan slid the single piece of parchment over Amelia's desk. The woman took the parchment and read over the sparse words before pinching the bridge of her nose and sighing heavily. "Damnit," she muttered.
"That's about the reaction I had," Lyra muttered. Amelia put the parchment down and leaned back in her chair.
"This was all you found?" she asked. Lyra and Susan both nodded. "Well, the only thing it really accomplishes right now is that Sirius didn't get a fair trial. Well…he didn't get a trial to begin with but that only complicates matters."
"How does it complicate anything?" Susan asked. Lyra looked to the redhead and shook her head.
"Because people hate Sirius. They all believe he helped murder, by all accounts, two of the most beloved people in recent history. He's already guilty in the public's eyes; if we brought up the issue now, we'd only be legitimizing his criminal act. We need evidence, something to convince people of Sirius' innocence," Lyra explained. Susan nodded in understanding before leaning back.
"So how do we find evidence on a fourteen-year-old case?" she asked.
"We'll have to talk to the man himself," Amelia said, looking at Lyra with an elegantly arched eyebrow that made the metamorph feel like she was in trouble.
"Right…I'll figure something out," Lyra said, tugging at her collar and laughing nervously.
"See that you do. Discreetly," Amelia said with narrowed eyes before handing the parchment back to Lyra. "Was there anything else?"
Lyra thought for a moment to tell Amelia what Dumbledore had done to her memory, burying the truth of Voldemort's real name and thus, his history, but she decided against it. One thing at a time. She was furious Dumbledore had tried to make her forget something so important, but the time would come when she repaid him for his transgression. She just had to figure out how to do it first.
"No," Lyra said. "If it's alright with you, I'll head back to the Ossuary for a little while before meeting Narcissa at the Leaky Cauldron and heading to Grimmauld place," Lyra said before hesitating for a moment. "Uhhh…If you want, and you don't have to, but maybe you wouldn't mind coming over this coming Saturday? It'll just be myself, Narcissa, and a few of my friends and their families as a little housewarming party. Nothing formal or anything," Lyra offered.
Amelia offered a serene smile. "We'd be delighted to attend. Any particular time?"
"Oh, well, any time after four I suppose. Like I said, it's just a get together really," Lyra said, her hair turning an odd grayish blue before she fought down her feelings and forced her hair back to her favored color.
"That sounds lovely, dear," Amelia said calmly. "We'll be there at four."
"Are you going back to the Ossuary right now?" Susan asked as Lyra stood up. The metamorph nodded, looking a bit more confident than she had a few seconds ago.
"Why don't you stay for lunch? We can have it in my office?" Amelia suggested, reading Susan's mind. Lyra knew they wanted to get to know her more, and she wanted the same. She knew she'd have to step a bit out of her comfort zone for this. Last night was a 'get to know you' ordeal, just surface level questions. From here on out, Lyra knew she was going to have to remember that this was her family, and they wanted to know her just as much as she wanted to know them. With a confident nod, Lyra gave her answer and sat back down in the chair. Amelia and Susan both smiled before the older witch called her assistant and had lunch be directly brought to her office.
"Thank you for lunch," Lyra said, standing form the chair once more as she finished her meal. Amelia smiled and stood with her, leaving Susan as the only one sitting.
"No problem at all. Thank you for staying and having lunch with us. If you'd like, Susan and I do this once a week during the holidays. You could join us if you'd like," Amelia offered.
"I think I'd like that. Just make sure you show up at my house warming party first," Lyra reminded with a cheeky smile. "And isn't that a weird thing to hear myself say!" she exclaimed. "I've got a house!"
Amelia and Susan both chuckled at her disbelieving exclamation.
"You do. We'll be there to help you celebrate it, you can bet on that," Amelia assured. Lyra smiled excitedly.
"Speaking of houses, I have a few other people I'd like to invite, and they deserve personal invitations before I head to Grimmauld place with Narcissa to make sure everything is up to her standards," Lyra said with a fond eyeroll.
"Of course. Oh, if you could, tell Narcissa I'd like to speak with her regarding her ex-husband," Amelia said. Lyra nodded, getting the feeling that Amelia wanted to know more about Lucius than simply his shady business dealings. "Good. So, I guess we'll see you Saturday then?"
"Yup. Four in the evening. Remember, nothing formal. Narcissa tried to talk me out of it and have me dress as a proper hostess but I managed to convince her that this was friends and family only. I kindly reminded her that 'Harry and Ron have seen me in sweat pants and a jumper with my wand holding my hair up, and Hemione has seen me in nothing but my knickers.' Of course, naturally, I will be wearing a dress and whatever the hell a corset is since it gets her off my back about dressing like a proper lady…at least for the time being," Lyra said, muttering the last part. Amelia and Susan shared knowing looks at Narcissa's insistence on the choice of clothing for Lyra's housewarming party.
"Don't worry. Nothing formal, four o' clock," Amelia said with a comforting smile. Lyra let out a satisfied breath before she placed a hand on the door.
"I'll see you then," she said, slipping out of Amelia's office. Susan turned to her aunt as soon as the door clicked shut.
"She's absolutely going to hate wearing a corset," Susan said. Amelia snorted.
"Oh, I can already tell," she replied.
Outside Amelia's office, Lyra searched for her her favorite head of bubblegum pink hair with light purple streaks before a sinister thought came to her. She'd never used her own metamorphic abilities to prank people like Tonks did. Well, she wanted to, but the opportunity never really presented itself. Until now.
Lyra ducked into a small office that was thankfully empty before transfiguring her clothes into a suit, complete with creases in the pants and a lovely red tie. Overall, it was very basic, but it would get the job done. Next, she looked into a mirror that hung on the office wall and shortened her hair, turning it black curling it at the top to give herself the Clarke Kent curly-q. She then shaped her jawline, plumping it out just a little before giving herself a slight cleft in the chin along with some stubble. Her cheeks filled out a little as her cheekbones dropped slightly. She changed the gap between her eyes and increased the width of her nose. Her eyebrows filled out, becoming bushier, more masculine. With a final once over in the mirror, she had to admit she looked quite handsome. Finally, there was one last thing that had to change. Her scar.
She brushed her fingers lightly over the raised tissue before willing it to fade into her skin. The werewolf claw marks wouldn't fade since it was a magical scar, but this? This scar disappeared with ease, fading into her skin like it was never there. And Lyra felt relief as it finally disappeared as she realized she no longer blamed herself.
She confidently stepped out of the office where two witches immediately noticed her. One was considerably younger than the older and blushed before looking away. Lyra couldn't help but smirk slightly, even if she did look like a guy. Now…where was Tonks?
It didn't take long to find the pink head of hair among a sea of plain black, brunette, and blonde (oddly enough, there was only a single redhead). With her target in her sights, she sauntered over, careful not to swing her hips like a woman would. That would be a dead giveaway to an auror like Tonks.
She snuck up behind her pink haired target as silently as she could, many aurors giving her strange looks as she did so but didn't say anything.
"Boo," Lyra whispered into the older metamorph's ear. Tonks' hair turned bone white before she whipped around, in her hand was a copy of the Daily Prophet, an article about the new head of the Black family on the front page. Lyra smirked as Tonks stared her down before she busted out laughing. "You should've seen your face!" she exclaimed, laughing maniacally. Tonks figured out who it was when the odd man's hair shifted to a bright orange.
"Oh, thank you, Izzy! Scare the shite out of me at work why don't you!" Tonks protested. Lyra's face adopted a smug smile as she changed back to her usual body shape, scar and all.
"And what was it exactly your mentor would tell you?" she asked. Tonks sighed.
"Constant vigilance," she muttered. Lyra laughed.
"Exactly. Now, the real reason I came here. Do you have a minute?" Lyra asked. Tonks looked at the office before shrugging.
"Yeah. Come on. I'll find us a place to talk," Tonks said, standing up, only to sit down when Lyra placed a hand on her arm.
"Don't worry. It's not that kind of conversation. I just wanted to invite you in person to my housewarming party. I see that you've read the prophet, so I don't think I need to explain where I suddenly acquired a house," Lyra said, nervously picking at her shirt. She knew Tonks though wouldn't react bad to the news; Tonks was the closest thing she had to a sister besides...well...her sister. "There's also something that needs to be done for your mother before attending the party, but I want that to be a surprise. So…will you come? I'd…I'd like to have family there, even if it would just be you, Narcissa, and Andi."
Tonks patted Lyra on the shoulder. "We'd love to be there, Izzy. Or is it Lyra now? Anyways, what time is the party?" Lyra smiled.
"I'm going by Lyra, but I'll still answer to Izzy, and the party's at four on Saturday," she explained. Tonks nodded before suddenly tugging Lyra into a hug.
"How are you? Mum and I have been so worried ever since we read the news and got your letter. Which, not cool by the way, sending us a letter and then nothing after that," she whispered. Lyra nodded.
"I was – I was pretty shocked at first, but Narcissa's been helping me a lot. I think I'd have been half mad by now without her. And I'm sorry about the lack of correspondence." Lyra said.
"Narcissa? Like-" Tonks started, latching onto the name and remembering what she knew of her.
"Yeah. She's not so bad, once you get to know her," Lyra said, a bit defensively. Tonks backed off a bit. "Sorry. She's not as bad as people think she is…that was Lucius' doing, and he's hardly a problem right now." Lyra looked at the clock on Tonks' desk before stepping back sighing. "I've got to go, a few things I need to do. What time are you off?"
"Uh, around six, why?" Tonks asked.
"So I can meet you at the Leaky Cauldron. That's where I'm staying right now, but I'll be moving in tomorrow. Can you meet me tonight? I need to talk to your mother, properly," Lyra explained.
"Of course. Mum and I can always make time for you…you were family before you even knew you were related to my mum," Tonks said. Lyra laughed.
"Well, it's nice to officially meet you as family then…I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot more of each other in the coming months though so, get used to having me around," Lyra said with a sly smile, her eyes turning a bizarre pinkish-orange.
"Wait, what do you mean?" Tonks asked. Lyra's face adopted a truly innocent look before she smiled.
"Nothing. Now, I really do have to go. I have a meeting with my account manager at Gringotts to discuss a few business dealings that have sat dormant since Arcturus died. Ta ta for now, Nymphadora!" Lyra exclaimed before bolting as fast as she could before Tonks' hair turned red. A gleeful laugh followed her out of the auror department as she made her escape down to the ministry lobby and the floo.
"Welcome back," Narcissa greeted as Lyra stepped into her room. The girl sat next to her godmother on the bed and gave her a light hug. "What's that for?" Narcissa asked with a smile.
"Nothing just…I'm glad I have you with me," Lyra said before releasing the older woman. "I just wanted to tell you that and a few other things," Lyra continued. Naricssa waited for the girl to gather her thoughts before she spoke again. "I'm going to Gringotts, and I'll be retrieving Andromeda's family ring. I want to reinstate her into the family as well as bring in her daughter since she carries Black blood in her veins. I think while Gringotts handles the financials until I understand them, we should rebuild the Black family. The war and years of infighting have reduced the family to a handful of officially recognized members."
"I think that's a worthy goal," Narcissa said, pride filling her chest as she gazed at the young woman she considered a daughter. Of course she still loved her son, but until she found a way to snatch him from under Lucius' thumb, there wasn't much she could do.
"Now, what's say you and I go to Grimmauld for a little while and see what needs to be done for the party," Lyra said. Narcissa nodded.
"A good idea."
"Wow, Kreacher really turned this place around," Lyra said as she walked through the front door.
The paint was no longer peeling off the walls, the lights were in full working order, the dust and cobwebs had been cleared away, and several of the doors no longer looked ready to fall off their hinges at any moment. Stepping further into the house proved that it wasn't only the entrance hall that looked this good.
The living room and the dining room both looked immaculate, as if they hadn't suffered years of neglect, and the kitchen looked new but old at the same time, elements of the original still lay about, namely the table and the cooling boxes. Off to the side was the pantry, no longer overflowing with rotten food. A door led down to the basement where the wardstone was kept, but Lyra decided to wait for later to look at that.
The Office, a room where all normal business deals took place, looked more welcoming even if it still possessed an oppressive aura once inside. Papers were no longer stacked to the ceiling, and the books were all neatly organized in their shelves. The office however, paled in comparison to the most important room in the house.
The Black family room, a room magically enchanted to only allow those who carried Black blood in their veins to enter, was where the Black family finances were kept, the family registry, and most importantly, the Black family grimoire.
Everything else, like the bedrooms and the bathrooms on the next floor up, had simply needed a good cleaning. Sirius' room had been left in disarray however, Narcissa explaining that Kreacher had probably left it that way out of spite.
"You've done an excellent job, Kreature," Lyra praised. "The house will look good for the party on Saturday." The elf perked at the praise.
"We'll need food," Narcissa reminded. "Kreature, go to Diagon Alley and fetch enough food for twenty people. Nothing fancy as this is a 'get together.'"
"Right away, Miss Black," Kreature croaked with a bow.
"We'll probably need to get a new house elf soon. A younger one would've had this house done in half the time. Plus, Kreature has been alone this past decade; I doubt its done any good for his mind," Narcissa said.
"What do you mean?" Lyra asked.
"I mean, a house elf needs magic from their owners to survive. If they don't get any, they slowly lose their magic and go insane. House elves live to serve, and in exchange, their payment is magic. Since no one has lived here for about a decade now, he was probably near death. With us here now, I believe it'll only extend his life by another year or two, maybe three," Narcissa explained. Lyra nodded, not sure how she felt about owning another creature.
"Give me some time to think about it," Lyra said, giving voice to her concerns. "I don't like the idea of owning another sentient being."
"Of course. If we're done here though, we should leave and let Kreature prepare everything. Let's go to Gringotts, go back to the Leaky Cauldron, and then you can write the letters you've needed to write for some time now," Narcissa said. Lyra nodded and took the older witch's arm before the two disappeared with a crack.
Red=angry
Gray=nervous/anxious/irritated
Orange=happy/excited
Blue=sad/overwhelmed
Purple=worried/concerned/frustrated
Green=jealous/suspicious
Brown=content/relaxed
Yellow=afraid/shocked
Pink=amusement/surprise
Silver=determination
Light blue=embarrassment
