DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter. This fic was written purely for non-profit entertainment purposes, bla bla bla. Just read the damn thing.
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{One week later}
The desk in Lyralei's study groaned, literally groaned, under the weight of stacks and stacks of paperwork, various gadgets, and junk. Lyralei kicked one of its legs and sternly told the table to stop whining. The groaning stopped but the table seemed to sag slightly. Lyralei frowned and told herself for the millionth time to go and get a normal, muggle desk. One that couldn't complain. She usually preferred muggle furniture over wizarding ones, but she was attached to that desk, and knew that she would never get rid of it. She smiled wickedly and then blushed as she thought of the reason she was so fond of it.
Lyralei groaned to herself as she wrenched her thoughts back to all the work she had in front of her. It was almost midnight, and, not wanting to fall asleep in her office again, she had lugged most of her work home with her.
Geez, this stuff is going to be hard to finish even if I worked through the night. It didn't really matter, tomorrow was a Saturday anyway. But thanks to a certain someone, namely Sirius, almost everyone in the Ministry was working and searching 24/7. It was nerve wracking. On top of everything she had to do, she was constantly worried that someone might actually find him. Her plan to mess up the investigation wasn't going as well as she thought. In truth, there wasn't much she could do without completely blowing her cover, and even then, things didn't look good. Her only consolation was that the Ministry wasn't doing well, even without her attempt at sabotage.
As she had suspected, Hit Wizards were sent over periodically to check on Harry Potter. It was all very discreet, of course, but she had some control over that. She herself had gone twice to see him. Harry had no idea, of course. He didn't know anything about Sirius either, and it was probably for the best.
Lyralei glanced at her watch, and then dived into the stack of papers again. About an hour later, her phone started ringing. Lyralei didn't realize at first, since she was stuck in a sort of work-induced stupor. Finally, she noticed and started moving files and folders around, trying to locate her phone. It was one of the perks about being a muggle-born, that you get the best of both worlds. Lyralei still had a few child-hood muggle friends who contacted her now and then, and of course there were her parents and the rest of her family. Even some people from the Ministry used a phone once in a while, so it was quite necessary that she kept one in her house.
Lyralei finally picked up the phone, wondering idly as she did so who would be calling her at this hour.
"Hello?" Lyralei said into the receiver.
"Lyralei? Hello sweetie; Happy Birthday." Answered a pleasant sounding female voice.
"Mother?" Lyralei asked incredulously.
"Of course darling, who did you think? I'm glad you're still up; I wanted to be the first to wish you."
"Wish me? Oh yeah, thanks Mom," Lyralei said as she frantically looked around for a calendar.
"You're welcome."
Then, after a slight pause, Athena Maxwell sighed and said resignedly, "You forgot your birthday again, didn't you?"
"No!" Lyralei denied empathetically, but then said, "Well, yes actually, kind of."
"You're overworking yourself again, aren't you?" Athena asked accusingly.
"Of course not Mom. I'm completely fine, really." Lyralei lied.
"I don't believe you. You're exhausted; I can tell."
"Mother!" Lyralei said in exasperation, "I'm perfectly all right! I just forgot my birthday, that's all. It's no big deal; I've never liked birthdays anyway; you know that. And if I sound a little tired it's because it's after midnight, and I need to get to sleep soon."
"So you're honestly telling me that you're completely fine?" Athena asked.
"Absolutely."
"Good, then that means you won't mind if I come and see for myself."
"Of course no-, what do you mean come and see for yourself?" Lyralei asked, suddenly suspicious. "You're not planning to fly all the way over from the US just to see me right now, are you?"
Lyralei's mother laughed. "Don't be silly, dear. I'm not planning to fly over; I've already done it."
"What?" Lyralei asked blankly.
"I've arrived just a few hours ago darling. It was going to be a birthday surprise, but I just had to call you. I'm coming over to stay for a few days; isn't it splendid?"
Lyralei looked as if she had been told that her mother had suddenly turned into a bat. She completely lost her voice and almost dropped the phone.
"Lyralei?" Athena questioned, worry slightly evident in her tone.
Luckily Lyralei's voice came back just then and she managed to croak out into the phone, "That's great Mom! Tell me where you're staying so I can come and pick you up tomorrow."
After getting all the information and pleading sleepiness, Lyralei hung up and stared at her phone in slight horror.
Her Mother was coming over now?! Why in the world did the woman choose now for a visit? It was like the worst possible time, especially since Lyralei had just lied to her through her teeth. The fact was, she had completely forgotten that it was her birthday tomorrow, or rather today, judging by the time, and she was overworking herself, but that couldn't be helped. Damn, now her Mother would come over and worry and fuss. Lyralei sighed. She loved her Mother, really, more than anything; but did she have to visit now? Besides, the single biggest reason she got along with her family was the vast distance she kept between them. An ocean's distance, to be exact.
Lyralei got up and glowered over all her paper work. She couldn't do it now. She had to go clean up the house, make sure there was food in the kitchen, and then go and get at least 7 or 8 hours of sleep so she wouldn't look like a zombie when her Mother saw her tomorrow. It was a terrible nuisance, but without doing at least that much, Athena Maxwell would probably start a big commotion and extend her stay just to get everything into order. She worried about her daughter a lot, but it was understandable.
When Voldemort was still in power, Lyralei had refused to let her parents move to England, or even visit. The easiest way to get to a muggle-born witch or wizard was through their muggle families. Lyralei couldn't let that happen to her parents. So naturally, even though she never told them the exact nature of her job, they were very worried about her. Then there was that horrible night, when her whole life got turned upside down. Lyralei had been very reluctant to tell anybody about it, even though her parents had to know, and she wouldn't let anybody get close or try to help her. She became even more withdrawn and wrapped herself in her work, so obviously her family had been extremely concerned.
As to the matter of Sirius, no one dared to even bring that up anymore, but it was as if her family was ashamed of the whole thing. She didn't really see them anymore, but they never forgot. Their little Lyralei with a murderer and all that. It was horrible. The fact that Lyralei was the only magical person in her family didn't help things either.
Lyralei got up and went to her living room, deciding on a methodical approach to clean the place up. For some reason, she felt an impulse to vacuum her carpets, instead of using magic on them. It gave her an odd sense of satisfaction to get things done the muggle way sometimes. So she went and dragged her old vacuum cleaner out from behind a closet and proceeded with Operation Cleanup. After she was done vacuuming the house, she was thoroughly sick of cleaning and took out her wand instead. Within ten minutes, she had the entire house dusted, washed, wiped, and gleaming; all the pillows fluffed, and even the fireplace cleaned. Her desk still looked like a hurricane had hit it, but that couldn't be helped at the moment.
Yawning, Lyralei trudged to her kitchen and started turning out cupboards. Unsurprisingly, she found nothing in the whole place except for some 6-month old ice cream, 2 frozen pizzas, some chocolate bars, a box of cereal, and for some reason a can of refried beans and some limp lettuce. Oh yeah, her Mom would definitely freak if she saw this. Lyralei threw almost everything away and washed the few dirty dishes that were in the sink. Then, resolving to get up early and do some major grocery shopping in the morning, she went to bed and fell straight asleep.
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Lyralei smiled in her sleep as she stretched lazily in her bed. She was having the most amazing dream, in which she and a certain someone were just about to-
*BRRRING, BRRING!!!* *BRRRING, BRRING!!!*
The young Auror shot straight up in bed, her wand in her hand and mind racing a mile a minute before she realized that the intrusion to her thoughts was nothing more than her very annoying alarm clock. Cursing profusely at the object of her irritation, she shut it up with her wand and got out of bed, while trying in vain to remember the details of her very delicious, yet extremely naughty dream.
Giving up finally as her thoughts came back to the present, Lyralei glanced at her calendar and saw that it was in fact her birthday today. She was turning 34; big whoop. It was no surprise that she had forgotten, honestly, who would want to remember their birthdays after they crossed 30? Technically, it shouldn't make that big of a difference to her, because witches and wizards generally had a longer life span and a longer period of youth than that of muggles. They reached middle age at least 20 years after muggles did, meaning a 60 year old wizard would be like a 40 year old muggle. It's not to say that they didn't mature as fast; they just lived longer. That was just a generalization, however, as many lived even longer than that. That's not to say magical folk always lived longer than muggles, because there are a lot more deadly things in the wizarding world than in the muggle world, even though wizards are usually immune to most muggle-banes.
Lyralei went to take a quick shower, reminding herself that she still had to go grocery shopping before going to pick up her mother. Then there was that huge stack of work waiting for her in her study, and she should probably stop by her office too, if she could get away that is...
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Lyralei stepped out of the bathroom in a robe, still toweling her hair, when she smelled something very unusual coming from downstairs.
Shit, someone's here... was Lyr's only thought before her mind went completely into Auror mode. For some strange reason, her wards hadn't gone off; so it couldn't have been a death eater...
Quickly whipping out her wand, Lyralei made herself invisible, cast a light, protective shield around her, and quietly crept down the stairs. The smell was coming from the kitchen; were the intruders trying to gas the place? How odd. Creeping up to the kitchen entrance, Lyralei threw herself around the door, her wand out and ready, only to have her hex die on her lips and her invisibility fade away slightly as she saw who it was. Then, for the second time in 24 hours, Lyralei Maxwell got so shocked she almost dropped her wand. She could only stare and finally managed to say incredulously, "Mother?!"
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"Hi Lyr. Sit down. How do you want your eggs?" Athena asked her daughter calmly, ignoring the fact that Lyralei's bodice and legs were still invisible.
Lyralei got over her shock and sat down at the table, right after making herself completely visible again.
"Mother, what are you doing here? I was supposed to come and pick you up in a few hours. How did you get here? And where are the eggs from?"
"Eat, you look like you haven't had a proper meal in ages," Athena said frowning as she set a plate of toast and eggs in front of her daughter.
"But-"
"Eat."
Lyralei frowned slightly, but took a bite of toast anyway.
Athena looked at Lyr, her face taking on a disapproving 'Mother' look.
"I got tired of waiting for you dear. Besides, I correctly guessed the state of your cupboards and did some serious shopping before I came over. Did you even realize that you had absolutely nothing in your refrigerator except for a few frozen dinners? Honestly, it's no wonder you look so emancipated. I'm ashamed of you Lyralei; you promised me you'd take better care of yourself after last time."
Lyralei winced. She really was getting a bit too old to be lectured by her mother. "Mo-om, come on, give me a break. I was just a little behind on my shopping. Besides, it's been a little busy at work lately. I haven't had much time, that's all."
"So then," Lyr continued, trying to change the topic, "how long will you be staying?"
Her mother frowned at Lyralei again, this time more thoughtfully however. "Well, I was going to stay until about Tuesday or so, and then go to Paris in time for their Fall collection and to visit your Aunt Rose, but seeing the state you're in I think I'll extend my stay here."
"Oh, Mom, you don't have to do that! I'm a big girl, Mother, trust me, I can take care of myself!"
"Well, you're doing a horrible job of proving it," Athena said sternly to her daughter.
Lyralei winced again and tried a safer topic. "So, where's Daddy? Shouldn't he have come too?"
"Oh, he would have dear, but he's on a business trip in Japan; simply couldn't get out of it, you know."
Lyralei nodded, more at peace with her current predicament due to a full stomach. Besides, as tedious as it was sometimes to have her Mother around, Lyralei usually did feel better in some way. It was her Mother, after all, and Mothers tend to have that affect.
"So," Lyr asked cockily, looking up at her Mom, "watchya get me?"
Athena laughed at her grown-up, supposedly mature daughter. "So it's all about the presents, huh? I thought you had grown too old for that."
"No one's too old for presents," Lyr answered seriously.
Athena grinned. "Of course not. Anyway, I thought we'd go out, make a day of it, if you didn't have any other plans that is; don't tell me you have work to do, because I won't take that as an acceptable excuse today."
"Oh, well, I did have work today, actually," Lyr said hesitantly, "but I guess it could wait..." She stated, as if the idea were new to her.
Athena grinned at her daughter again. "Great! After we're finished here, I'm going to take you out shopping. Then we can go have lunch at Chez Louis; I already made reservations, and then I'll take you to that Zoo you used to love as a child, and I'll buy you an ice-cream, how about that? Or we could always go to the spa and relax there if you'd like. You do look like you could use a massage."
Lyralei looked at her mother in amazement, laughing at the Zoo part.
"You planned this whole thing out before you asked me, didn't you?" Lyralei asked, shaking her head in disbelief.
"Of course, sweetie; I'm your mother, what did you expect?" Athena answered calmly.
Athena Maxwell was an intelligent, good-looking woman in her mid-fifties, very dignified, but had a little too much energy than was good for her, or so Lyralei often thought. Anyway, Lyr was proven right after their 4-hour shopping trip, in which Lyralei emerged in a state of nervous collapse and Athena was still as exuberant as ever. That could have had something to do with the fact that Lyr always had an aversion to shopping ever since she was a small kid. She had always been a tomboy when she was young, and some of that never changed.
Anyway, she completely revived over lunch in the best restaurant in town, and by the end of the day, as Mother and Daughter took a walk in the park, right after their trip to the zoo, which they did go to, Lyralei was in better spirits than she had been in a long time. She almost completely managed to forget the current crisis in her life. For the first time in a long time, Lyralei Maxwell was simply happy, without any guilt, to just be normal and enjoy all the little things life had to offer, even if it was only for one evening.
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AN: Eh, this chapter was lame, nothing more to it. What am I saying? It totally sucked. Sorry, I just kind of had a fetish, had to get rid of it you know. Don't worry; it's only a one-shot thing. Sorry about the long wait too. I think I might have forgotten about this. ~Winces~ Right. Anyways, uh, reviews, yes?
ANNE( v )79: When is Sirius going to appear? Umm, hold that thought, will you?
~Looks around frantically~ Aagghh!!! I've lost Sirius!
PrOwLiNg-WoLf: Wow. Thanks for all the reviews. I'd have to say that I agree with you about J.K. limiting herself by making Harry Potter a children's series, but then again, I guess that's what we're here for- to write fics that take her world and twist it into something beyond recognition. ~Cackles Evilly~
~Ahem~ Yeah. Also, though I say this grudgingly, I suppose your right. The idea behind the whole thing is still marvelous. Perhaps that's why I was so upset when she messed it up.
As to your other reviews, I want to thank you for taking the time to point out potential errors. Although, if you go back and check you'll see that all the word replacements you suggested would have simply made the sentence seem redundant. As to the flashback thing, yeah, I should have put an [end flashback] there, but I forgot so I put a note in the next chapter, but that's all quite obvious. Keep up the reviewing!
Lyanire: Thanks! And no, the flashback isn't going on in Lyralei's head. I just wrote it as a back round story.
MWPP: Lol. I couldn't have said it better myself. (Was that the wedding march?)
melody: Yup, definitely my first fic. I'm really glad you see a plot in this fic, because it tends to escape me from time to time. :)
AN: Wow, all these reviews are doing wonders for my ego, which I'm sorry to say is already a little over-inflated…but don't stop! I think I'm addicted.