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 Forty

Appearing at the Weasley house when it was quiet as a mouse was honestly the most surreal experience Lyra could say she'd had so far in her fourteen years of life. It sounded like a graveyard it was so quiet!

"Oh, you're here!" Lyra jumped, her hair turning a bright yellow, when she heard a voice off to her right. She looked to see Mr. Weasley sitting in a rocking chair with a book sitting on his chest. "Sorry dear, didn't mean to give you a fright."

"It's alright Mr. Weasley. Is anyone else up?"

"Molly is waking everyone else up right now. They should all be down in a few minutes once they've woken up." The sound of feet on the rickety stairs drew his attention. When Molly Weasley stepped into the living room, Arthur stood from his chair and went over to his wife before placing an arm around her waist and giving her a loving kiss. "Good morning my dear."

Molly smiled before bustling over to the kitchen and stirring a few things into a pot that Lyra noticed had been sitting on the stove.

"We have some fresh bread if you haven't had anything to eat, dear," Molly said over her shoulder. Lyra nodded, her stomach rumbling just slightly. She was never really hungry after waking up, but this time she could make an exception. Fresh bread was always delicious!

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley," Lyra said as she sat down at the table, picking up a bread roll and putting a small pad of butter on it.

There was a small thundering on the steps as the Weasley boys, plus Harry and Hermione, all made their way down the steps.

"Morning," Fred yawned. George, a little bit more alert, looked around.

"Where are Bill, Charlie, and Percy?" he asked.

"Well since they're apparating, they can sleep in a bit," Arthur explained.

"Wish we could apparate," Fred grumbled before taking a large bite of his breakfast.

"Well when you pass your test, then you can apparate," Arthur said with a smile, though Lyra could see a warning in his eyes. The look on Fred and George's faces told her they received the warning loud and clear. Don't even try it.

"You have to pass a test to apparate?" Harry asked. Lyra looked at Mr. Weasley in confusion. She hadn't known that.

"Well of course you do. It's very dangerous to apparate without proper instruction. You might end up splinching yourself and that's not something anyone wants," Arthur explained.

"Splinching?" Harry asked again. Sometimes it was easy to forget that he hadn't grown up in the wizarding world with how naturally he seemed to understand magic in a way few ever did.

"Well, splinching is rather nasty business. It's when someone who's apparating leaves a part of themselves behind. Gives the magical reversal department a headache every year when some kid thinks they know what they're doing only to leave an arm or a leg in the place they were trying to apparate from," Arthur said. Lyra's hair turned pale green at the thought of leaving any part of herself behind.

"Lovely," she commented, an uncomfortable tone to her voice.

"That's still a few years off anyway. Don't think about it too hard. For now," Arthur said excitedly holding up several pieces of parchment. "Focus on today!"

The Weasley boys let out a cheer that their mother hushed a moment later, sending a glare their way and pointing at the stairs, reminding them all of the eldest of the Weasley sons still sleeping upstairs. A moment later, there were two pairs of footsteps coming down. Lyra looked to see a very tired Ginny, and a barely awake Hermione.

"Morning sleepyheads," Lyra teased. Hermione yawned and stretched hard enough for Lyra to hear her joints popping.

"Why do we have to be up so early in the morning?" Ginny groaned, grabbing her own bit of breakfast.

"We have a bit of a walk so, thought we might have to be up a bit early for once," Arthur joked, leveling a look at Ron and the twins. All three of them looked at each other with confusion before snorting. They knew they were the ones who always made the family late.

"Where are we walking to?" Harry asked.

"To the portkey, Harry. It'll take us all the way to the campsite," Hermione explained.

"Ah, okay then."

"Everyone ready? Got everything they need?" Arthur asked. Everyone gave a positive nod. "Alright then! We should head off. It is still a walk to the portkey."

Everyone stood up and made for the door before a shrill voice called out, stopping them right as Arthur laid his hands on the doorknob.

"George Weasley! You stop right there!" Molly called. Fred and George both cringed. "What's in your pockets?"

"Nothing!" George replied. Molly gave a skeptical look that only a mother could give.

"Don't lie to me, George!" Molly exclaimed before pointing her wand at her son's pocket before casting the summoning charm. Several small packages came out of the pocket which George immediately tried to grab, but was too slow. They flew through the air, straight into their mother's hands. She looked at the little things, what looked like candy to Lyra, and threw them down on the table. "We told you boys to destroy these!"

Molly, apparently fed up with her son's antics, cast multiple summoning spells, bringing forth multiple little piles of candy from all sorts of odd hiding places on Fred and George's persons. Lyra had to admit, she was rather impressed with all of the hidden little spots, but found herself curious as to why they had taken the time and patience to try and smuggle these little sweets out of the house.

"We spent six months working on those!" Fred protested.

"Six months!" Molly exclaimed. "What a fine way to spend six months! No wonder you didn't get more O. !" she said sarcastically.

Lyra watched the quite sad scene as Molly said goodbye to her husband and children, but the twins were so upset they elected not to respond. Instead, they picked up their things, and walked out of the house without so much as a backwards glance.

"What was that all about?" Lyra whispered to Ron as the group started on a trail into the woods.

"Fred and George have been working on products they hope to sell. You know, knickknacks and joke stuff. That was probably stuff they'd hoped to sell, get their name out there," Ron explained. "Feel a bit bad for em.' Mum's always going on about how it'll never work and they should just focus on getting jobs at the ministry when they're old enough."

"Their products, are they any good?" Lyra asked, her mind slowly beginning to turn with the possibilities.

"I dunno. Never really paid any attention to their stuff, you know?" Ron said as he began to walk up ahead to go and talk with Harry. Lyra sidled up to Hermione and Ginny, who were talking animatedly about one thing or another. She didn't feel the need to join their conversation, however, and chose to listen as she found out they were talking about what Ginny could expect of her third year at Hogwarts.

Eventually they came to a hill where Arthur declared the portkey to be around somewhere.

"You don't have to look long, Arthur!" a voice called from atop the hill. "Ced and I have it up here!"

"Amos!" Arthur exclaimed happily as he trudged up the hill.

"Good to see you, Arthur. Not to long of a walk, I hope?" The man, Amos, asked.

"Not at all, not at all. Everyone, this is Amos Diggory," Arthur waved.

"These all yours, then?" Amos asked, looking over everyone. His eyes stopped on Lyra for a moment, the slightest narrowing of them taking place behind his wire frame glasses as his smile tightened. His name sounded familiar to Lyra, but she couldn't quite place it.

"Only the redheads. The rest are Ron's friends. Hermione, Lyra, and Harry-"

"Harry potter?" Amos asked excitedly, holding his hand out for Harry to shake.

"Er, yes," Harry answered awkwardly.

"I remember hearing about you form my son, Cedric. Right proud of him when he told me he beat you at quidditch!" Amos exclaimed.

Ah, that was where Lyra primarily knew the name from. Cedric Diggory, Hufflepuff at Hogwarts. The Diggory name was also one an old one, but not old enough to be considered ancient. Amos Diggory was one of the voting members in the light bloc of the Wizengamot. Him being who he was, he would know who Lyra's mother was.

It was something Narcissa had been warning her of. Lyra would find no allies amongst the light leaning members of the Wizengamot. She'd never thought she'd find outright disdain though.

There was nothing for it, though, so Lyra pushed the man out of her mind. If he was going to be petty, then she would ignore him and allow him no room in her thoughts.

In her private thoughts, Lyra hadn't noticed that everything had rather quieted down and now everyone was focusing on the portkey.

"Lyra!" Hermione called as Arthur began his countdown. Lyra immediately latched onto the mangy old boot right as Mr. Weasley was getting down to three. A moment later, there was a pulling sensation right at her middle as the boot glowed and they were whisked away.

Lyra barely managed to stay on her feet as her friends tumbled down around her.

"Not bad," came a voice to her right. She looked to see Cedric standing as if he hadn't been yanked through time and space. Not even his hair was messed up. "Most people don't manage to stay standing until after they've had a little experience.

"My godmother is a persistent teacher. While she wasn't making portkeys for me, we made do with floo travel. It felt about the same, if I were to compare the two," Lyra answered, smoothing down her greenish hair and getting her pale green skin back to a normal skin tone.

"Come on, Cedric, we have to get going," Amos suddenly butted in, an insistent hand on his son's shoulder. "Milady," he added, almost as an afterthought. Lyra scoffed at his dismissal of her. While she wasn't exactly expecting everyone to like her, she'd expected a bit more…decorum from those who, while not espousing or preaching pureblood superiority, certainly benefitted from the system geared towards purebloods.

"Come on everyone, we have to check in," Arthur said, gathering the group together and breaking Lyra from her thoughts. She, Fred, and George brought up the rear of their group, with Arthur and Harry talking about muggle things and Ron right behind them.

"How many O's did you get on your O. ?" Lyra asked the twins out of the blue. Fred and George both blinked in surprise.

"Well, I believe we both got about four each, right George?" Fred spoke up first.

"Speak for yourself. I got five," George boasted with a lopsided smirk. Lyra snorted. "Why do you want to know?" the twins asked in sync. Lyra merely shrugged.

"No reason. Just curious as to why your mother seems to think that those aren't impressive numbers. They're above average, I can certainly say," Lyra explained nonchalantly. "As it stands, I was asking for my own curiosity. Nothing else, really." Her hair and eyes betrayed her however as they flashed a bright mischievous pink. Of course, Fred and George didn't exactly know what her color scheme meant exactly in regard to her emotions, but the way their eyes narrowed at her told her they thought something was up. Fred and George were going to ask, and had their mouths open and ready, when they came to a stop.

Arthur checked them in to the campgrounds with…minimal…issues. Lyra thought it couldn't have been good for a muggle to have their memory modified or obliviated so often. Muggles were pretty decent about remembering things, and not remembering a few days? That wouldn't go unnoticed.

When the group passed through the enchantments hiding the massive gathering of magicals from all over the world, Lyra couldn't help the shiver that ran through her body. Not because of the sudden burst noise in her head (though that didn't help), but because of the odd magic she could feel. After spending several weeks within the welcoming wards of Grimmauld place and getting used to the feeling, this was like a bath of lukewarm water.

Arthur led everyone to a small tent in a sea of other small tents. Of course, Lyra had a sneaking suspicion this was no ordinary tent. Stepping inside confirmed her suspicions. It was far larger on the inside than it was on the outside.

"I love magic," Lyra heard Harry whisper behind her as he stepped inside. She couldn't help but smirk. Magic truly was a wonderous thing to behold.

What followed was several hours of settling into the tent, seeing as nobody knew how long the game would last. The record for the longest world cup was almost a month, though that hadn't happened in the last century. Lyra, of course, had no intention of staying if the game lasted more than several days. She liked watching quidditch, but not that much! Finding out there was no running plumbing was the real kicker though; there was definitely no way she'd be staying more than a few days if this match dragged on longer then expected.

"Honestly, you'd think everyone hear had never heard of secrecy," Arthur grumbled as he peered around the tent, looking for things to get a fire going. Lyra could appreciate his willingness to not let magic do everything for him. However, not everyone certainly shared his views, as was evidenced by the plethora of witches and wizards with open multicolored flames in their little campsites.

"Well, magicals in general seem to lack the common sense that most muggles seem to have," Lyra commented. Arthur laughed before snapping in realization and pulling out a map of the campgrounds.

"Ah. We can go get firewood over here, and look, there's a tap at the far end," Arthur exclaimed, pointing to various spots on the map. "Why don't we split up and you can go exploring for a bit?" he asked. "Ron, you and your friends can go get water, and Fred, George and I can go get the firewood. Ginny, the Lovegoods are somewhere in this area if you wanted to go find them."

"Why don't we just use a charm, Dad? We're inside the tent?" Ron asked.

"Because we're camping, Ron!" Arthur said, looking for all the world like an excited child on Christmas. "The muggles do it all the time! Besides, we're supposed to be maintaining magical secrecy. Haven't you seen all the Obliviators and magical reversal agents running around? It wouldn't look good for me as the head of my department to be flouting the secrecy laws," Arthur reasoned. Ron nodded after a moment, acquiescing to his father's excitement and determination to do it the muggle way.

"Come on, Ron. Let's go find that tap," Harry said, holding open the flap of the tent. The four filed out with Ron leading since he had the map. Along the way, they passed many a witch and wizard who seemed not to care for the laws of secrecy, causing several ministry officials to come down on them about it.

Lyra was enthralled though by the international magicals who were appearing every other minute. She saw many from Africa, others from the European continent, more still from the America's, and quite a few Australians. It seemed every witch and wizard from all walks of life had shown up to watch the game. Lyra marveled at the magical engineering that must've gone into setting this area up. Narcissa had told her that it would be breathtaking, but words didn't seem to do even that justice.

Walking with her friends through all of the different magical nationalities was really quite something, though when she got to predominantly English groupings of witches and wizards, she couldn't help but feel their eyes on her as she walked through the throngs of people. Several adults even went so far as to pull their small children away from her once they noticed her passing by. She noticed a few dirty looks, some outright nasty, as she passed and tried not to pay them any mind.

Of course, when you knew the person giving you suspicious looks, it was far harder to ignore.

Seamus Finnigan, a boy she'd never really talked to but often attended class with, and his mother very clearly didn't like her if the suspicious looks were anything to go by. The fact that Seamus even went so far as to entirely ignore her presence only made her frustration build.

Was this what it was going to be like the rest of her life? Were people always going to be looking at her like she was the spawn of a monster and nothing more? Would they never look past what her mother done and see that she was her own person, with feelings and ambitions not too dissimilar from their own? Narcissa had tried to prepare her for this, Lyra knew, but she hadn't quite thought it would be this bad. She sighed in dismay, consigning herself that this would be the rest of her life if she couldn't prove she wasn't her mother.

For the immediate present however, she could only focus on the fact that if the real world was like this, what was Hogwarts going to be like? Given Seamus Finnigan's and his mothers reaction, most likely not that great.

"Lyra!" a voice called from somewhere within the throng of witches and wizards. Lyra looked around to find a shock of blonde hair making its way towards her. Ah. That could only have been Daphne.

"Hello Daphne," Lyra greeted with a smile. She immediately took notice of the dark-haired brunette following behind her friend.

"I didn't expect to see you here. You never really struck me as much of a Quidditch fan," Daphne observed. Lyra chuckled and jerked her head to where her trio of friends were still chatting with Seamus.

"Ron's family invited me to attend with them," Lyra explained.

"Ah. That makes sense. I have a feeling you wouldn't have gone, even with that invitation from the Minister," Daphne said before looing to her friend. "I haven't introduced the two of you, but this is Tracey Davis. Tracy, this is Lyra Black. We met in ancient runes."

"Pleasure to meet you," Tracey said, holding out her hand. Lyra took the offered appendage, and the two shook hands like they had just awkwardly been introduced.

"So where are you two sitting for the game?" Lyra asked.

"Oh, just off to the side of the Ministers. Dad got us tickets, but Mum wasn't feeling well. If you wanted to join us for a bit during one of the breaks I'm sure Dad wouldn't mind," Daphne offered. Lyra smiled.

"I may have to take you up on that offer," she laughed before turning her head slightly after hearing her name being called. "Well, it appears Hermione is calling for me. I'll be off, see you later I suppose," she said before turning to Tracey. "It was nice meeting you, Tracey. Hopefully we'll see more of each other in school and we can study together."

"Of course. Way Daphne tells it, you have an aptitude for Defense and I'm absolutely pants at it," Tracey said.

"I'd be more than happy to help," Lyra smiled. "Well, best be heading off. See you later, ladies," she said, turning with a wave. Daphne and Tracey began walking back around the grounds as Lyra jogged over to her friends who had separated from Seamus thankfully.

"Was that Daphne?" Hermione asked. Lyra nodded.

"She was introducing me to her friend Tracey. Nice girl, kind of quiet. Either that, or she's terrified of the big bad Black," Lyra joked.

"Stop that. Not everyone's afraid of you," Hermione murmured at her best friend's self-deprecation.

"No, they just don't like my family," Lyra bitterly muttered. Then a lightbulb went off in her head as she remembered something. "Speaking of family…" she whispered before shaking her head. No. She'd talk to him later, once they were in a more private setting. Hermione looked at Lyra curiously, but the young metamorph merely shook her head. She'd find out soon enough.

After collecting the water from the tap, the four friends headed back to the tent, where they ran into their favorite pink haired auror.

"Wotcher, kiddos!" Tonks exclaimed.

"Tonks! What are you doing here?" Lyra happily asked, hugging her cousin around the middle.

"I'm working security for the tournament. Handling the southern and eastern sections with a few others. Just headed to the southern section now, actually!" Tonks explained.

"Nice. Our tent isn't too far from here if you're able to walk with us for a bit?" Lyra offered. Tonks beamed, her hair turning a bright orange in her happiness.

"I've always got time for my favorite cousin!" Tonks exclaimed. Lyra beamed as Tonks began walking with them, chatting them up, what they thought of the world cup so far.

"Oh, it so fascinating!" Hermione exclaimed. "All the different cultures and languages, food, magical interpretations of different spells! I wish I could talk to everyone here and learn everything they know," she sighed wistfully. Lyra chuckled and slung her arm over Hermione's shoulder.

"Well, when we're older and I'm a world-famous dueling champion, you and I can go all over the world and you can study to your hearts content!" Lyra suggested with a grin a mile wide.

"While that would be fun, what about the boys? Are they just going to sit around bored all day?" Hermione teased.

"Ha!" Lyra exclaimed. "They'd be with me of course, as my entourage and personal assistants!"

"Assistant?" Harry asked, more amused than he had any right to look since he didn't know Lyra was being mostly serious.

"Yeah, you know, get my coffee, file my papers, do my laundry," Lyra joked. She stopped laughing when she saw the deeply uncomfortable look on his face. She morphed her eye color into a soothing light blue while being sure to keep her facial features gentle and slightly rounded. "I'm only joking, Harry. If anything, you'd be my training buddy! You're a magical powerhouse!" she chirped, filing the odd reaction away in the mental file she had on Harry that was only creating more concern in her mind.

Harry smiled and laughed as the five of them continued on back to the tent.

When they finally made it back, Lyra gave Tonks another hug before she had to leave.

"Oh hey!" Tonks called back before she was swallowed up by the crowd. Lyra turned away from the tent flap and arched an eyebrow in question. "I was wondering if, after this, the last day or two before you go back to school, if you would like to come hang out. I moved out of Mum and Dad's place and got my own flat! I've got alcohol! We could make it a housewarming party if you wanted to invite Hermione," she suggested.

"Yeah! I'd like that. Not sure Hermione would have fun with alcohol around, but I'll see if she's cool with it," Lyra said. "See ya later Tonks. Wouldn't want you to get in trouble with your superiors or anything."

"Yeah, course. Boss lady is cool though, she'd understand," Tonks said. Lyra had to chuckle as she remembered that Tonks didn't know yet about the relationship between Amelia and herself just yet. Maybe she'd tell the older metamorph later after the world cup. "Well, guess I'll see ya later, Lyra," Tonks finished.

"See you, Nym," Lyra called, coming awfully close to the dreaded full name. The woman shot her a stink eye before heading back to patrol her sector of the grounds.

Lyra walked into the tent to see Hermione taking the matches from Arthur and lighting the fire herself, much to the Weasley patriarch's fascination and childish wonder. Lyra couldn't help but smile and wonder why more people weren't as kind and warm as Mr. Weasley.

As the fire got rolling everyone went outside with their food and talked, watching the people rush by in flurries of excitement as Mr. Weasley pointed out various ministry officials who were trying to keep the statute of secrecy under wraps. Lyra noticed two odd…people? In the crowd, and she couldn't help but ask Mr. Weasley.

"Who are they?" she asked. Mr. Weasley looked up and quickly found the two people she was referring to. After all, they stuck out in a crowd what with their full body length robes and hoods covering their faces.

"Oh, that's Croker and Bode. They're Unspeakables. Top secret research within the Ministry," Mr. Weasley explained. How he knew who they were when she was sure he hadn't seen their faces was beyond her, but she found that the moment she looked away from them, the oddest feeling of not caring who they were and what they did tried to flood her mind. Looking down, her Lady's ring glowed a bright red as it fought off the mental magics. How odd.

She looked back at the two, only to find the one seemed to be staring directly at her!

Then suddenly, they turned together and disappeared into the crowd, as if they'd never been there at all.

Lyra was broken out of her thoughts as a man she hadn't noticed held out his hand in front of her face.

"I don't believe we've met!" he exclaimed. "Though I've heard of you and seen your photo in the paper. A pleasure to meet you, Milady!" the man exclaimed. Lyra shook her head.

"I'm sorry!" she chuckled, throwing a smile on her face as Narcissa had taught her. "You've caught me daydreaming and I missed your name?" she asked. The man smiled.

"Ah, not to worry, Milady. Ludo Bagman, head of the Department of magical games and sports!" he introduced.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance," Lyra said, bowing her head ever so slightly in respect to his position as a department head.

"It's thanks to Ludo we got such good seats," Mr. Weasley explained, turning to Lyra, who nodded. Ludo waved off the praise before eagerly looking everyone over.

"A wager on the match?" he asked excitedly. "I've got quite a few people already invested!" he added enticingly, jingling a sack of coins on his hip. smiled and thought for a moment.

"Oh alright then, a bit of fun can't hurt. A galleon on Ireland winning," he said, sounding quite pleased with himself. Lyra caught the flash of disappointment on Ludo's face before he recovered.

"Alright then, any other takers?" he asked hopefully. Fred and George eagerly jumped in with their entire savings, much to their fathers' displeasure, though they didn't hear his protests over Ludo's enticing words.

After a brief meeting with Percy's boss (an more rigid and stiff man Lyra had never met), everyone questioned Mr. Weasley on what Ludo meant by the surprise being announced at Hogwarts. Lyra of course, knew it was something big. She'd heard Amelia and Narcissa mention it, but they'd never gone into details. All she knew, was that it was some kind of tournament.

As Fred and George tried to weasel the information about the 'surprise' from their older brother Percy, Lyra caught sight of a cart full to overflowing with little trinkets, souvenirs for the match and whatnot.

"Let's go check it out!" Ron said eagerly, jumping up and heading over to the cart. Harry, Hermione, and Lyra all followed after him, shouting joyously for him to slow down.

Ron bought a few things for himself, momentos of the match and things to show his support. He did slightly regret it a bit when the merchant pointed out the omnioculars. Lyra chuckled to herself before looking at the man running the cart.

"Four pairs, please," she said, pulling out a small pouch from one of her pockets. Thank god Narcissa had insisted on having a little bit of spending money. And forty galleons? Pffft. That was nothing.

All three of them protested however, causing Lyra to frown.

"Honestly you three, it's like I offered to kill a puppy. It's just a bit of money for something the four of us can enjoy!" she countered.

"Forty galleons is a lot of money though!" Hermione exclaimed. Ron nodded dourly, not quite looking at her, as if debating with himself.

"It isn't, not to me. I'm the Lady Black. If I can't treat my friends every now and again, who am I going to spend money on? Myself? That's boring!" Lyra replied. She huffed a moment later, looking at Harry for backup. He shrugged awkwardly. Lyra rolled her eyes fondly at the boy, despite his being absolutely zero help. "Fine," she huffed. "If it means that much to you, I won't spend any money for Christmas on any of you."

That did the trick. Ron and Hermione perked up and accepted the deal.

"Finally. Now, let's get back so we can relax a bit before the match," Lyra groaned, walking back towards the Weasley tent to rest up for tonight.

AN: sorry about the late update. Took a break to spend time with the family over the holidays. Also worked a bit, so that sucked, but I should be back on a relatively normalish schedule.