November 2008
Muggle London, England
Wednesday Evening

Lyra stepped out of the fireplace and scarcely had time to catch her balance before a little blonde boy tore into the room and wrapped himself around her leg, babbling at her with excitement.

"It's you! I waited for you forever, but now you're here now!" Scorpius exclaimed. "Do the shoes, please please please!"

Lyra stared down at him in surprise before looking up to see a much larger blonde boy enter the living room smirking at her handsomely.

How long have you been waiting? Weren't you coming back at five?" She asked Draco, handing him the box with the crumble-crusts for dessert.

"We got here about 30 minutes ago," he explained. "What you need to understand is that there is regular time and then there is Scorpius time," Draco informed her, matter of factly. "By his measure he's been waiting for you for approximately 42 years."

"Ah," She replied, dropping a hand to pat the little one on his pale head. "Ok, kiddo. Wait's over. Let's do this. On the couch with you," she instructed.

Scorpius flung himself onto the couch with abandon and sat up to face her as she knelt in front of him. Draco sat down next to his son and watched with amusement as they interacted.

"You want the blue ones with scorpions again?" Lyra asked, pulling her wand from her pocket.

"Yesyesyesyesyyes" he replied, wiggling his feet giddily.

She laughed before waving her wand over his little shoes turning them a rich blue. "You wanna chase them?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. "You gotta be fast."

"Yesyesyesyesyes" he answered reaching down for his toes.

Lyra put the tip of her wand to his toes and rush of silver scorpions scuttled across his foot before freezing.

Scorpius squealed with laughter, which made both her and Draco laugh. She did the other shoe with similar results and then sat back on her heels watching the boy kick his feet proudly before flopping over on the couch and sticking his newly blue shoes in his fathers lap.

"Do Daddy's too!" He begged.

Lyra looked over at Draco, who was clearly barefoot and shaking his head at her. "Well, Scorpius, I don't think it would be very nice to turn his feet blue, do you?" Lyra asked.

"Mmm...no. But it would make me laugh so hard," he answered with the kind of sociopathic bluntness only a kid could muster.

"And you have a pretty good laugh, so I suppose we must," Lyra replied, shooting a look of fake sympathy over at Draco.

"Yeah, Daddy. We have to do it because we really just have to." Scorpius explained.

"An excellent point, son. Your logic is flawless," Draco replied extending his bare feet out to Lyra with a skeptical look on his face.

"Oh Scorpius, I have an idea. You're gonna love this," Lyra told him. She waved her wand over Draco's feet turning them Slytherin green, making him look like a half-man, half-goblin. Appropriate, Lyra thought to herself.

"While I appreciate the color, sweetheart…." Draco said, flexing his green toes at her.

"Silence! I'm not done," Lyra cut him off. She touched the tip of her wand to his big toe sending charmed silver dragons spiraling out to curl over the surface of his foot.

"Wow!" Scorpius exclaimed, before howling with laughter and proceeding to roll happily all over the sofa.

Lyra did the same on the other foot and looked back up at Draco to gauge his response.

"Hmmm. Actually, I don't hate it," he said, studying his feet.

"Good, because I made yours permanent," Lyra joked at him.

"Brilliant," he replied.

"Daddy, do Miss Lyra's!" Scorpius demanded, with the full force of a tiny Malfoy.

"Pass," Lyra said immediately.

"Oh no, I insist," Draco said standing and pulling Lyra to her feet.

"Of course you do," Lyra frowned at him.

"Do it, do it!" Scorpius implored.

Lyra huffed and shucked her shoes, because she knew he would just do it for her anyway. She recalled that he'd been hesitant to point his wand at her yesterday, but he was Draco and this was about payback, so she figured he'd muscle through.

She climbed up on the sofa, next to Scorpius and set her feet on the coffee table in front of her.

"Mummy says you can't do that because it's not proper," Scorpius informed her, pointing at her feet.

"Mummy is right and you should always do what she says, because you are a proper English boy. Lyra however, is an American, and Americans are many good things, but we are seldom proper," Lyra explained, causing Draco to snort at her.

He knelt next to her and put one of his hands on her shin. Lyra tried not to be distracted by the contact. This was about entertaining the kid with some cute charms, not thinking about his hands. How warm they are, how heavy...nope nope nope, she thought to herself.

Draco waved his wand over her feet turning them a strawberry red.

"Oh come on," she protested.

"Patience. This is my masterpiece," Draco said over her feet. He touched his wand to her toe and sent a shower of golden harps tumbling over the surface of one foot and then the other.

Lyra blushed, not quite so red as the color of her feet, but close.

"What are those?" Scorpius asked, looking at her feet.

"The Lyre of Orpheus," Draco explained.

"The what?" Scorpius inquired.

"It's a harp, buddy," Lyra explained. "It's what my name means."

"Oh. Why didn't they just name you Harp?" The boy asked.

"Because in my family, just like in your Grandma's family, we all get named after stars and stuff. Your dad is named after the stars and so is your Grandma, and so are you, and so am I. How cool is that?! Look at us, we're half the sky!" She explained.

She saw two practically identical sweet smiles pointed dangerously in her direction. One by the little boy and one by his father. "It's cool," Scorpius said.

"I agree," Draco added.

"Scorpions are the best though," Scorpius added.

"Well, obviously," Lyra agreed. "Then harps."

"Yeah, and then dragons," the little boy added.

"Alright you lot, who's hungry?" Draco asked, chuckling.

"I am starving. What about you kiddo?" Lyra looked over to Scorpius.

"Yeah for forever," he replied, looking down absently at his feet.

"I've got fruit for nibbles and we can call out for room service from the hotel," Draco informed them.

They spent the evening eating and chatting. Scorpius nearly lost his mind over Ginny's crumble-crusts. They were good, but not great. Lyra's mother's, now those were great.

Lyra and Scorpius proved an excellent team in making fun of Draco, much to his chagrin. She got hers, however, when the boys turned on her and started calling her Harp, which Draco had to put the squash on after Scorpius innocently started calling her Harpy. Lyra thought it was hilarious.

Scorpius started yawning at around 8pm which, according to his father, was about right on time. For continuity's sake and since Astoria was retrieving him in the morning, Draco decided he and Scorpius would stay at his flat in Wizarding London. It would give Lyra some space as well, which he could tell she needed.

"Daddy, can we read Babbity Rabbity when we get home?" Scorpius asked.

"I don't see why not. Go say goodbye to Lyra," Draco answered.

The little boy bounded over to Lyra who was spelling up the dishevelment in the kitchen.

"Bye, Lyra. I'm glad you're not sick anymore. You're more pretty this way," Scorpius said to her plainly.

"Uh...thanks," Lyra replied with an eyebrow raised.

"We can talk about the trains next time," he reassured her, figuring she was probably agonizing about the lack of train talk over dinner.

"That sounds good, kid. Go get some sleep and be nice to your dad." She then leaned in to whisper to him "mostly nice."

Scorpius laughed a secret little laugh for her and then ran back over to the fireplace.

Draco approached her, full of things to say, but afraid to say any of them. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Tell the Potterwife thanks for the sweets. That was nice of her," he said, staring at her back as she levitated some dishes back into the cabinets.

"Yeah, for sure," she answered.

"Lyra,"

"Draco," she replied, turning to face him.

"I..." he huffed out a breath. "My mother would like to have you for dinner tomorrow." That wasn't what he was going to say. Hell, it wasn't even true. He figured she wouldn't mind, but now he'd have to arrange the whole thing.

"Well, I don't think she'd like me very much. I'm not low fat," Lyra joked to him.

"Will you go?" He pressed.

"Sure," she shrugged.

"Great," he choked out in a rush. He needed to touch her. Nothing gratuitous, but he couldn't leave without it. He reached out for her waist with one hand and gave her a little squeeze which she leaned into. He swooped down and gave her a peck on the cheek, pushing forward to murmur in her ear. "Goodnight, Harpy," he said with a smile before releasing her.

Lyra answered him by whipping him in the backside with a dishtowel as he walked away and dramatically banishing him from her presence for all time, which led Draco to having to explain the concept of sarcasm to his three year old over their bedtime story.