November 2008
Wizarding London, England
Ministry of Magic of Great Britain
Office of Magical Law Enforcement, Auror Department
Friday Morning
Lyra had to threaten Draco with a hex to get him to stop kissing her long enough for her leave for work in the morning. She'd already abandoned her breakfast to make out with him on the couch and decided to just grab coffee at the little stand in the visitors entrance to the Ministry.
She stepped out of the Floo into the atrium with a goofy grin on her face that was abruptly wiped away when she was greeted by the aggressive flashbulbs of the wizarding press. There had to be a hundred of them and they were shouting. Shouting her name.
"Miss Black!"
"Over here, Miss Black!"
What the fuck? Lyra thought to herself.
She ducked her head and started pushing her way through the throng.
"Miss Black, can you comment on your relationship with Mr. Malfoy?"
Oh fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
"Is there any relationship between his father's arrest and his alleged disappearance?"
"How long have you been together?"
"Is he good in bed?"
Lyra felt a hand grip her upper arm and she flinched, preparing for a fight. She looked up to see a grim faced Zabini at her side followed by Gold.
"Step back!" Blaise yelled, pushing people out of the way with his body, leading her out of the crowd.
Flanked by Zabini and Gold she emerged from the fray and practically ran with them into an elevator.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" She yelled once they were moving.
"I could ask you the same question, Black," Zabini accused.
"What are you talking about? I thought they were over this!"
"Well lass, that was before someone got a snap of you snogging the life out of the Malfoy boy in the street," Gold said with a sardonic smirk.
"I..." Lyra balked. "I want to talk to Harry."
"By all means, but I have a feeling you won't enjoy that conversation," the younger wizard quipped.
"Shut up, Blaise." She sighed, rubbing her face in agitation. "And thank you. Thank you both."
"Don't mention it...heartbreaker," he joked.
She tugged roughly on his ear until he squealed, which had Gold rolling with laughter as the elevator brought them to the Auror's common.
Everybody predictably stared at her as the trio entered.
"Auror Black?"
"Yes, Colin?" She replied to the young wizard.
"Auror Shacklebolt would like to see you. Now," he replied.
"Yes, I imagine that he would," she fired back turning to the left back towards his office.
"Godspeed, lass." Gold called to her. She turned back to him and give him a little salute before continuing down the hall.
His door was open and he spotted her the instant she was outside.
"Get in here, Black," he said flatly.
She walked in, defending herself as she approached his desk. "Sir, I can explain. I mean, I don't really know what happened, but whatever happened I will explain the thing that may or may not have, in fact, happened..." she babbled.
"Where were you last night?" Harry fired at her from the corner.
She jumped and turned to face him. His face was a stone mask of judgement.
"I was...out," she stammered.
"Right. Well, I hope you had a good time. I tried to go see you to warn you about this mess and you were nowhere to be found! I guess I should have flooed over to Malfoy's, although who knows what I would have found if I had..."
"How dare you, Harry," Lyra said, truly shocked.
Harry's face broke a touch at her admonition. He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off-
"Enough. The both of you," Shacklebolt interrupted. He threw a copy of the Daily Prophet down on his desk and Lyra saw what all the fuss was about.
Mystery Woman Involved in Malfoy Disappearance Case?
Next to the lengthy article making gross speculations about who she was and what she knew was a large picture of her and Draco kissing passionately in the mist, just down the street from the little Indian restaurant they'd dined in earlier in the week. If it wasn't on her boss's desk, or next to an article making some sincerely moronic claims, she would like the photo. It was sweet, romantic even. She looked breathless and pretty and Draco looked handsome and absolutely smitten with her.
"Oh." Lyra huffed out.
"Let me guess. It's not what it looks like," Harry bit out accusingly.
"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, Potter, but no. It's exactly what it looks like," Lyra fired back with cool confidence. I am so done with this shit, she thought to herself.
"Lyra. Are you, alright?" Draco said, walking in without so much as a word to the two wizards in the room. "I saw the papers. Did you floo in through the atrium? What happened? Did anybody touch you?" He peppered her with questions, raising his hand to gently cup her cheek as he reached her.
She blushed fiercely but didn't avoid his touch, finding herself relieved to not be alone for the inquisition.
"No, I'm fine. I...I did. Zabini and Gold got me out. It was just a surprise. I'm sorry," she stammered out to him as if they were alone.
"Sorry for what?" He huffed in disbelief. "Look at it this way, now the press knows I've still got it. Beautiful witch in my arms, and whatnot. It's you I feel bad for. Brilliant Auror caught slumming with an ex-criminal and drug-addict," he explained, rubbing her arm gently.
"Stop," she said to him softly, putting her hand to his chest. His uncharacteristic self-deprecation was making her feel uncomfortable.
"Mr. Malfoy, so nice of you to join us," Kingsley spoke from behind his desk.
"Auror Shacklebolt, what can I do to help keep her safe from your perspective? Anything. You name it. I'll hire personal security, I'll do a press conference. You tell me. I'm at your disposal," Draco said coolly to the old wizard behind the desk.
Shacklebolt opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by Harry who came out of the corner, exploding-
"Well obviously her safety means fuck all to you, Malfoy. So come off it," he railed.
"Harry, you don't know what you're talking about," Lyra began.
"That's great, coming from you, you let her die!" Draco spat, guiding Lyra behind him and walking towards the dark haired wizard.
"Well, clearly that's not true," Lyra began again.
"YOU BLEW UP MY HOUSE, YOU KILLED MY FRIEND AND NOW YOU'VE SOMEHOW WEASELED HER WAY BACK INTO HER GOOD GRACES LIKE THE SLIMY LITTLE FERRET YOU ARE!" Harry bellowed.
"Oh for fuck's sake..." Lyra muttered, leaning back on Shacklebolts desk to watch the drama unfold.
"Brilliant. Here we go again, Potter. It's like a bloody formula with you. Yell about your house, try and take ownership of my witch and call me a rodent. I could write them for you and save you the trouble," Malfoy fired calmly, as if bored.
Well...he kind of has a point there, Lyra thought, glossing over his possessive overtones.
"You alright?" Shacklebolt asked her quietly from behind his desk as the two young wizards carried on arguing.
"I'm fine," she replied with a heavy sigh. "How do you deal with all this faux-chivalry bullshit? It's like the 1950's only with slightly better teeth and hair," she mused.
"Try being gay, and then tell me all about it," he shot back over the shouts.
Lyra laughed. "You know, after this...I'm considering it. Look at these idiots. I should just run off with Ginny Potter and Narcissa Malfoy. It'd be great. Think about all the outfits...and baked goods. My god, it would be paradise. You come too. Bring your husband. You don't really want to be Minister, do you?" she joked.
He let out a booming laugh that got the attention of both Draco and Harry who turned back to them, both looking shocked and incredulous.
"Kingsley, I hardly see how this is funny," Harry began.
"We really do need to come up with a concrete plan to ensure her safety," Draco interrupted.
"Would the two of you just fuck already and be done with it?" Lyra fired at them.
Both wizards made identical looks of disgust.
"Un-frigging-believable, both of you! Carrying on like spoiled brats!" She cried. "You" she said pointing at Draco, "I expect a certain degree of spoiled bratness out of you because it's in your genes and I will deal with you later, but YOU-" she accused pointing at Harry "you owe me about fifty fucking apologies for the way you spoke to me just now. Like I'm some slut without a mind of her own. Like I owe you any explanation whatsoever about where I go or who I screw. I told you not a day ago that I would have your back when you needed me. I can see now that was a unilateral offer. I am SO disappointed in you," she bit out with embarrassed tears welling in her hazel eyes.
"Kingsley, I need a few minutes," she said to her boss.
"Go. I'll deal with these two," he replied to her, pinning Harry and Draco with a hard stare.
"Thank you," she murmured, fleeing for the exit.
"Lyra-" Harry protested.
"Sweetheart-"Draco began.
She walked out of the room and slammed the door with her wand.
She stamped out past the common, where she could feel everybody's eyes on her and made her way back to the little library in the rear of the department. She planted herself forlornly in a chair and reclined, closing her eyes.
"Good Morning, Auror Black," came a gentle voice from the corner.
"Jesus!" She jumped, turning to identify the voice. "Simpkins, don't do that!"
"Sorry," he replied.
"It's fine. Sit down, kid," she huffed, hanging her head back.
The black haired wizard sat across from her, depositing a stack of books in front of him.
"Whatcha reading?" She asked, looking for any distraction from her shit day.
"Just some odd bits on legilimency," he shrugged.
"Oh? Anything good?" She inquired.
"Some. I'm reading Beck's postulations on visualizing subversion of defenses as the laying of a train track," he explained.
Lyra nodded. "I know it. Do you use it?" She asked.
"I try to, but I feel like it slows me down to think of a breech in terms of something done piece by piece," he admitted.
"I think you're entirely correct. I think he made a lot of money helping people practice safe and slow legilimency, and that's not a bad thing, when you have time and you want a predictable progression of the skill. I will tell you that I don't know a single legilimens that I would call outstanding that uses the Beck method," she replied.
"What do you use?" He asked.
"What I use doesn't have a name, but I think of it as breech by water. Ok, so you take your walls, right? You could spend all day Becking track around them OR you can layer your offensives in like little streams," she explained, talking with her hands. "A track runs you in a single direction, but water gives you ephemera and you can go everywhere at once and start chipping away at the barriers. It's certainly less grand than the track, but it's harder to detect, harder to stop and in my opinion, faster once you get the hang of it."
"Breech by water," he mused.
Lyra sighed. "I wanna do this with you, man, but I'm having a not great morning and I need to know if all I'm gonna see when I jump into your brain is what a hussy you think I am," she said to him flatly.
Simpkins gasped adorably. "I don't think you're a hussy," he replied. "I think you're bossy...and frightening," he confessed.
"Well, I'm fine with that," she replied with a smile. "Let's go."
They worked for about two hours and by the end Simpkins had remarkably improved. At the onset, Lyra would have characterized his legilimency as "better than a nobody off the street but not good enough for an Auror specializing in it," by the end, she would call him "straight-up good." Good wasn't great, but she didn't come across many people in her work that were even 'good.' She was immeasurably proud of him. He wasn't a huge natural talent but he was incredibly hard working and, to be honest, she liked that more than talent any day.
"Dude! DUDE! That was so. much. better, holy crap!" Lyra chirped at him excitedly. "How does it feel now, the water? I know it's super weird at first, but you are doing really well with it."
"I quite like it, actually," he replied, wiping a hand across his sweaty forehead.
"You'll get even better, I know it," she encouraged. "Some people have a talent for legilimency and most of those people never reach their full potential. Think of it this way. How do you make a path in the grass? By walking over it over and over again. How do you make a path in your mind? Exact same way. Practice. People with the 'touch' typically have this sense of entitlement that fools them into believing they don't need to grit like everyone else. They would be wrong. You could run laps around those people. You will run laps around them."
"You're a good teacher," he said with a small smile.
"And you are an excellent student," she replied grinning. "Thanks, Simpkins. I needed something good from today and you were it."
He blushed and looked away.
"So...have you talked to Azalea at all?" She inquired. The blonde witch was still everywhere in his thoughts.
His blushed deepened. "I think she's interested in someone else."
"You mean Blaise? I will give you that there is a compatibility there, but that's not necessarily the same."
"He's rich, well-bred and a bloody good Auror. What's not to like?" The wizard lamented.
"Oh, I dunno, the casual misogyny, the ceaseless flirtation, the playboy lifestyle. I could go on. Would you like me to?" She offered.
He laughed. "No, that'll do just fine, thanks."
"I mean it. Girls like that shit. Women are different. Women like partners who commit. Partners who work hard. That is more you than Zabini, no offense to him...although give me a pint and I'd probably say it to his face," Lyra mused. "Now, I'm not gonna say I have any idea how she feels about you, because I don't. But I do know you have plenty of good qualities and your work ethic isn't just a good thing on the job. It's good in relationships too, so don't take it for granted."
He looked thoughtfully at her for a moment. "Can I ask you a personal question?" He asked.
She smiled. "Well, I'd rather you than the ever enthusiastic press, so sure. Why not," she replied.
"Malfoy. Does he have a good work ethic?" The wizard asked.
"Oh you crafty bastard..." she began. She took a second to think and decided to tell him the truth. "Historically? No, not really. Now? I have no fucking idea."
"Does that scare you?" He wondered.
"Dude, what are you, part shrink? Um...I dunno, I guess it does. I don't know what to call this...thing and so I'm not sure if it's time for me to care about that or not," she said, feeling uncomfortable.
"Do you think it possible he's changed?"
"Yeah, I suppose, but again I don't know that that's something that's really my business at this stage," she answered.
"Hmmm," he mused.
"What's Hmmm?...I will read your mind right now, so help me god," she huffed.
"You look good together," he shrugged. "When I saw you two in the paper this morning I just thought, 'Oh well, now that makes sense.' I hope it goes well for you," he said genuinely.
"Huh. Well, thank you," she replied.
"I have to go train with Gold, but I appreciate you taking the time," he said, rising from his chair and gathering his books.
"What? Oh...yeah sure. Anytime," she replied, lost in her own thoughts.
