November 2008
Muggle London, England
Heathrow Airport
Friday Evening
Lyra saw him immediately as he walked out of the arrivals area at the airport.
"Daddy!" She called, aware that it made her sound like an eight year old, but not caring. She whooshed into his arms and snuggled into her spot on his shoulder.
"Hey, kiddo. I barely recognized you," he said, rubbing her back. "I hardly think picking your father up from the airport warrants formal attire."
"To me it does," she said, with a grin before pulling back and pressing a kiss to the unruly stubble on his cheek. "I missed you. I'm so glad you're here," she said sincerely, hugging him a little tighter.
"Aren't you a clingy little wildebeest." He quipped down at his youngest.
Lyra scoffed and dropped her arms in defiance. "Did you just call your heroic, dark-magic fighting daughter, who almost died last week, a wildebeest?"
"Yes. A clingy and little one," he deadpanned.
"Well, it's been a nice visit, old man. Back on the plane with you," she mocked, pushing him back towards the terminal.
He laughed and wrapped his arm around her as they made their way back to the taxis.
November 2008
Muggle London, England
Saturday
"Hey, dad! Do you want to go get dessert? There's this Indian place down the road that's just like Vikram's back home." Lyra shouted out to him as he flooed back in from town, while she put away some dishes.
"Sounds good," he said walking into the kitchen at the Savoy apartment, with some freshly bought books in his arms. "But first, I'd like you to tell me why you're on the front page of the newspaper here elbowing through a crowd of reporters with an...albino male model?" He said, dropping a copy of The Prophet in front of her.
"Ugh. How did you even get that?" She griped, forlornly.
"Oh it was just, I dunno, on every street corner in Diagon Alley," he replied, undeterred.
Lyra huffed in defeat. "Yeah, so about that. He's not a model. Dad, that's..." she sighed. "That's Draco. You know, like my Draco."
"What?! You mean that boy from when you were a kid?" He questioned, squinting at the photograph. "As in that little prick turned you into more waterworks than girl for a solid six months? Care to elaborate?"
"He's what brought me here. He was part of a case, some stuff happened and we just..." she trailed off.
"So you're...seeing him again?" Her father asked.
"Yes," she replied.
"Draco Malfoy, son of presently incarcerated Former Death Eater Lucius Malfoy leaves the Ministry of Magic Friday evening with his partner, Lyra Black. Ms. Black is an American national currently working in an unknown capacity for the Ministry," he read from the caption of the photo.
"So I take it your case was some kind of big deal?" He inquired.
"I mean...I guess?," she sighed. "Draco is pretty well loaded and his family was on the dark side during the Wars, so there's some uh...notoriety there." she explained.
"Seems like fun," he ribbed. "The phrase 'sucker for pain' comes to mind..."
"That's not far off," she retorted with a humorless laugh. "Are...are you disappointed in me?" She asked, suddenly nervous.
"No, honey. I'm just...worried."
"So am I," she admitted honestly.
"I remember how hard it all was for you back then. It seemed, to me, like he didn't take good care of your heart when he had it," her father explained.
"You're not wrong," she offered.
"So, has he changed?"
"I don't know yet. I've changed for sure. Hell. I've changed more in the last three weeks than I think I have in the last three years. I'm just worried that it's not a change for the better. And I'm afraid that reconnecting with someone who hurt me like he did makes me weak...or crazy," She sighed warily. "Am I crazy?"
"Most definitely. You take after your mother," he quipped without hesitation, unable to resist the joke.
Lyra socked him in the arm.
"Speaking of your mother, I think that if she were here, she would say that being willing to give someone a chance, being willing to let them regain your trust is the opposite of weak. It takes a strong person, a brave person to make themselves vulnerable in that way," he said to her.
Lyra exhaled a breath she didn't realize she was holding. What her father said to her rung true. That is exactly what her mother would say...but her mother wasn't here.
"That's all well and good, but what do you say?" she pressed, looking for his pragmatism and reasonable guidance.
"I say, if he fucks it up, you hex him blind and come home. There is nothing you could ever do, nowhere you could ever go, no shady albino you could ever date that would make your mom and I love you less," he said pressing a kiss to her forehead.
She threw her arms around his waist and gave him a squeeze. "I love you, dad."
"I love you too, kiddo," he said, holding her close and quietly thanking every deity he didn't actually believe in that his baby girl was still alive.
November 2008
Wizarding London, England
Sunday Evening
Lyra and her father arrived right on time to Draco's flat on Sunday evening, despite Alistair's valiant efforts to delay them or have them cancel the engagement altogether. Lyra had filled him in on a few of the grittier details that led to her injuries, which hadn't endeared Draco to him in the least.
Lyra was persistent and eventually resorted to his sense of punctuality to get him into the Floo. If they didn't leave now, they'd be late and even worse, late with no excuse...which was akin to murder in her father's book. He reluctantly agreed.
Draco walked in from the kitchen and met them at the fireplace, Lyra could tell he was nervous. Good. He should be, she thought.
"Lyra. Lovely, as always," he said giving her squeeze and a kiss on the cheek. "I missed you," he whispered in her ear.
She smirked at him. "Hi," she said shyly. "Let me introduce you. Draco, this is my father, Alistair Black. Dad, this is Draco Malfoy."
"The albino male model," her father said flatly, taking his hand.
Draco laughed awkwardly. "Thanks, I think? Pleasure to meet you, Sir."
"LYRA LYRA LYRA LYRA!" Scorpius chanted as he ran in with a newspaper in his little hand.
Lyra beamed and swooped down to pick him up. "Hello there, young man! How can I help you?"
"You and Daddy are famous! Look!" The little boy chattered excitedly as he pushed the picture into her face.
"We are?!" Lyra exclaimed taking the paper, "My goodness! What for?" She inquired moving further into the room with him, leaving Draco and her dad to stare awkwardly at each other by the Floo.
"I don't know, but you look pretty...and mean. You look like Gran!" Scorpius explained.
Lyra erupted in a bright peel of laughter that had Draco smirking at the sweet scene unfolding between his witch and his son.
"Oh man, kiddo. You are comedy gold. Should we tell your Grandmother? What do you think?" Lyra asked.
"Yesyesyesyes," he replied excitedly.
Lyra snorted. "Oh, Scorpius! I want you to meet somebody," she said carrying him back towards the sitting room and walking up to her father. "Scorpius, this is my Dad. His name is Alistair. He's cool...mostly."
Scorpius laughed shyly and buried his face in her shoulder.
"It's nice to meet you, Scorpius. You've always been one of my favorite constellations," he quipped at the boy.
Scorpius pulled away from Lyra to turn back to him. "What's constellations?" He asked.
"That's a great question!" Her father exclaimed. "Constellations are the shapes made by the stars. Scorpius is shaped like a Scorpion."
"And daddy is a dragon! And Lyra is a harp!" Scorpius offered before turning back to Lyra and grabbing her cheeks with his little hands. "Harpy Harpy," he chirped at her.
Alistair laughed loudly at the little boy calling his daughter a harpy.
"No, Scorpius. Harp is fine. Harpy is a naughty word," Draco chastised.
"Harp Harp Harp," the little boy self corrected before looking back to the new person in the room for validation.
Alistair was trying to stifle his laughter, lest he encourage the boy. "You're funny. You remind me of Lyra when she was little."
"She still is pretty little," Scorpius retorted.
"Hey!" Lyra exclaimed. "If you are quite finished calling me names and making fun of my size, I was hoping we could talk about what's really important here," Lyra said to his expectant face.
"Trains," she whispered.
She swore she saw Scorpius's little pupils dilate with glee.
"Do you like trains?" Her father asked him.
"No, dad. Scorpius hates trains. Thinks they're the worst," Lyra filled in, setting the little boy back down.
Scorpius shot her a look of utmost betrayal before turning confidently back to Mr. Black to rectify the situation. "No I doooooon't! I love them-love them-love them -love them!" He clarified passionately, doing a little stomp dance for emphasis.
Draco sighed. He was so bloody sick of trains. "Son, how about we talk about the trains while we eat, yeah?"
And talk about the trains they did. Lyra figured this vein of conversation would kill two birds with one stone. It would fulfill her promise to Scorpius to have the long anticipated 'train talk' and it would keep her father, the pedant, occupied and not focused on shooting eye-daggers at her boyfriend. Everybody wins.
Speaking of said boyfriend, Lyra found herself aching to touch him. She wanted to spirit him down the hallway while Scorpius and her dad talked locomotives and plaster him with lazy kisses. It's only been two days, Lyra. Get a grip.
Her father was leaving for the airport early in the morning then Lyra was going into the office to work on some things for Harry's professional inquiry. She was due at Narcissa's at four for the interview where she would be next to Draco but not alone with him.
She locked eyes with him and felt something she hadn't felt in a long time. The familiar brush of his mind against hers. He was trying to read her. Little punk, she thought tilting her head at him to let him know she knew exactly what he was up to.
He shrugged at her before popping a bite of chicken into his mouth nonchalantly.
She glanced down at his mouth and then sent him a booming mental broadcast of herself writhing underneath him in agonizing detail. Soft panting in his ear. Nails scratching lightly down his back. Her breathless voice begging him for more. Moaning his name.
Lyra relished in the way his eyes darkened as he looked at her. She smirked before looking away and severing their connection.
"DADDY!" Scorpius shouted to get his attention.
"Sorry, what?" Draco looked over at his son, rubbing at the snap of tension that hit him in the forehead from his wandless encounter with her thoughts.
"Can I go get my trains to show Mr. Black?" The boy asked, innocently.
"You may once you've finished your potatoes," Draco replied in full dad-mode.
Scorpius huffed, but got to work.
After dinner they spent some time in the sitting room, Scorpius and Mr. Black still deep in train talk. Draco approached Lyra as she stood by the fire, handing her a glass of amber liquid.
"Ooh! Is this what I think it is?" She inquired, taking a sip and enjoying the rich flavor of the spiced whisky he'd made for her at his mother's.
He smiled down at her. "Did Lady Malfoy fill you in on all the specifics for tomorrow?" He asked casually, watching Lyra's father turn one of Scorpius's little trains upside down to show him something about the wheels.
"She sure did," Lyra replied. "I'll be there at four to get aggressively pretty," she said with a roll of her eyes.
"Do you really hate it that much?" Draco asked with a sad edge to his voice.
Lyra deflated. "Not really. I don't mind playing dress up with you. I just resent the reasons why," she admitted, smoothing her hand down his arm. "Plus, I'd much rather play with you without a dress on at all," she whispered to him with a wink.
He exhaled hard, but said nothing.
Scorpius called out to Draco then to show him something Mr. Black was teaching him about one of his trains, so Draco joined them on the couch and Lyra watched with an amused fondness her father, her boyfriend and his son crack into the infinite mystery of train wheels.
An hour or so later, Lyra sat on the couch, with a fading Scorpius in her lap demanding that she read him just one more story.
"You never sound more like a little Malfoy than when you are telling me what to do," Lyra noted.
"I am a Malfoy," he said confidently.
"You are? I never would have guessed," she joked, ruffling his white hair.
"Please?" He implored sweetly.
"Oh, alright," she conceded, taking the book from his hand and letting him snuggle into her.
Draco knew he should at least try to make some small-talk with Lyra's father that didn't involve trains, but he scarcely knew where to begin.
"Smart kid," Alistair offered, breaking the silence.
"Thank you. Gets it from his mother," he replied. "How is Caelum? Is he still doing conservation work?"
"He did that for awhile, but he teaches Magical Creatures at Ilvermorny now. It's better for him now that he has kids," the older wizard replied, surprised that the blonde would know about any of that.
"So, Lyra's somebody's batty Aunt?! That's brilliant. She's a natural," he mused, looking back at her.
Alistair laughed. "She is. Orion and Porrima. They adore her."
Draco gave a small smile and then inhaled to gather courage for his next point. "Mr. Black, I don't know how much she's told you about our history, specifically my behavior and that of my family. But if I were in your position, I would want some answers," he said in a rush. "I want...it's important to me that you know that I will do everything in my power to see her safe, happy and dearly loved for as long as she affords me the privilege."
The older wizard eyed him warily. "That's nice I suppose, but she was all of those things before she got here. I'm her father and I can tell you she's stressed out, doubting herself and exhausted. Those aren't necessarily bad things. They can catalyze growth, but only if you have good people to lean on. Is that you? I have no idea. What I do know is that she's smart, can defend herself and has deemed you worth the trouble...for now. So, you screw it up, or you don't, it makes little difference to me. She'll do good wherever she is."
Draco said nothing, but nodded. As far as threatening father speeches, it wasn't bad and it reinforced something that had been on his mind for days. He wanted to deserve her. Be something safe for her. Comforting. Something that made her day better, not worse. Like she did for him. Like she'd always done for him.
He glanced over at Lyra. She was staring at him and he felt her in his mind. She had heard him. She looked away embarrassed and blushed. Scorpius was full asleep on her chest and she stood up to bring him into his room.
After Scorpius was in bed, Lyra and her father decided to head back to the Savoy since they had an early morning ahead of them. The two men shook hands politely and the older wizard flooed back first to give Lyra and Draco some privacy.
"It was nice," Lyra said to him softly.
"Are you referring to the two solid hours of train drivel or the bit where your father said he doesn't care if I fuck this up?" Draco inquired.
Lyra leaned in and snorted into his chest before pulling back to look up at him. "I mean reading you. Having you read me. I missed your brain," she said with a little blush. "Did you mean it?" She asked, referring to what she'd heard from his thoughts.
"I did," he replied.
She yanked him down for a long kiss before hopping into the fire and heading back to her place. Tomorrow was going to be a long day, but she had high hopes for the evening.
