"Mum, Errols got a letter for you!" Ron shouted up the stairs, eyeing the envelope the family owl had just dropped off.
The Weasleys, Harry, and Lyra were gathered in the Burrow's kitchen ready for their day of shopping in the capital when the letter arrived. At Ron's exclamation Molly barrelled down the crooked staircase at top speed, delighted that her reply had returned so soon.
Molly was already in high spirits because she read in the morning edition of TheDailyProphetthat her favourite author Gilderoy Lockhart was visiting Diagon Alley to promote his latest book, but the arrival of the mysterious letter only increased her wonderful mood and the children didn't complain, it was a nice change. Lyra was too busy locked in a thrilling discussion about Muggle London with Arthur to pay attention to what was going on around her. Once she discovered that the patriarch of the family was bewitched by Muggles and their culture she never passed on the opportunity to swap questions with him, but when she noticed the lull in the noise around her Lyra turned to see Molly gazing at her with a hopeful smile.
"Who's that from, Mum?" Ginny piped up, concerned by her mother's sudden silence, and Molly simply pocketed the letter beneath her camel knitted shawl.
"I wrote to Andromeda yesterday asking if she would be in London today," explained Molly as she collected a small plant pot from the mantlepiece, "she's a big fan of Gilderoy and we spoke about attending his book-signing in the past, and it so happens that she is going," Lyra's legs quivered, knocked by the sudden information dump, and she gasped when Molly added, "her daughter and husband will be there too. Lyra, would you like to meet them?"
"Yes!" Lyra spat out in a hurry, "please! I hope she doesn't think I hate her, does she know I didn't write that letter?"
"Yes, she's perfectly aware," assured Molly, pleased with her answer, and she gestured at Ron to use the Floo Network first.
"Nymphadora will be there? Ugh, great," scoffed Percy in a huff, "Mother, do we have to stay with them all day? I would much rather fetch my books and come straight home instead of hanging around with another hooligan."
"We'll see, Percy," replied Molly sharply, "but I do want you to feel some sunshine on your face today. You've been in your room so much this summer, it's time you spoke to us."
Percy looked miffed but he didn't dare object.
"We knew it," Fred sighed, nudging his twin in the ribs, "it is that Tonks! We should have known she was related to Lyra." Their smiles were very telling and it piqued Lyra's interest. They already knew her newest second cousin? Wow, the Wizarding world is a lot smaller than I thought.
"You know who she is?"
"She was in Charlie's year at school," explained George, "she's a riot, you'll love her."
"Remember that time she transformed into Snape and hijacked our potions lesson?" snickered Fred, his eyes cloudy as he thought back to his cherished first year, and George copied with a breathy sigh.
"I'll never forget it."
"Hold on," Lyra back-tracked, "she transformed into Snape? Is she a shape-shifter?"
"Not quite but I think it's better if you see for yourself, I'm sure Tonks will want to show you in person," replied Fred, leaving Lyra with too many questions as he briskly followed Ron who had disappeared in a flurry of green flames. Lyra joined Harry's side and tutted, bemused that he left her in suspense.
"Can you believe that shape-shifters exist and we are just finding out about them?" She muttered, and Harry gulped, pointing at the fierce emerald fire in front of them, illuminating the apprehension in his eyes.
"I'm more worried about that," he said, fidgeting at the thought of potentially catching on fire, and Lyra's eyes bulged as she watched George hurl Floo powder at his feet in the hearth and cheerfully accept the flicking tongues of emerald fire that engulfed his whole body. Ah, great! Another form of painful transportation!
"You've got to be kidding me, what's wrong with just taking the bus?" she scoffed, chewing on her bottom lip as she observed the fireplace for signs of actual scorch marks.
Lyra felt silly questioning the experienced Purebloods' way of thinking but watching a human being be consumed by fire and vanish in a blink was pretty hard to believe. Some aspects of magic still blew her mind and she yearned to know the logistics behind them, the stack of topics she needed to discuss with Hermione had doubled since being at the Burrow but the proud side of Lyra mentally separated the explanations Arthur had given her from Tom's information. Riddle's words were just for her.
"A bus to London will take hours," said Harry.
"Yeah, on a Muggle bus, but what about the Knight Bus?" she clarified, and he stared blankly at her.
"There's a bus for knights?"
"You're up," interrupted Arthur, pulling the pair out of their hushed conversation before Lyra could tease Harry.
Lyra watched the disappearing hem of Percy's cloak flutter in the firebox as the fire settled and she pushed Harry forwards, nominating him to go first. Scowling back at her, Harry took a steadying breath and quietly thanked Molly as she poured the grey dust into his hand and relayed instructions on how to get to the capital.
"Remember Potter; stop, drop, and roll!" Lyra added helpfully, flashing him two thumbs up and Harry choked on his words, cursing Lyra for making him laugh. The powder had already split from his fist and he frantically spat out his destination.
The spitting fire swallowed Harry whole, vanishing in a flurry of soot, and Lyra approached the fireplace with caution in her usually heavy step. It would have been rather ironic if she was burnt alive but the sensation of teleporting via fire was undeniably riveting so she accepted her own fistful of powder without any complaints.
"Remember, speak clearly but not too slowly, and try to keep your eyes open," encouraged Molly. The flames tickled Lyra's skin when it enveloped her and she silently thanked herself for shoving a pair of shorts underneath her ditsy summer dress when she was swept away from the Burrow into what felt like an ashy tornado of fire. The whimsical journey was abrupt, she spotted the gang of red hair amongst the soot and she stuck her arms out, thrusting her body out of the fireplace and into the familiar London inn. That was certainly a lot less painful than I was expecting!
"Ho, ho, ho!" chortled Lyra, announcing herself to the immediate area, "Merry Christmas every—,"
"I already made that joke," called out George, ruining her fun, "too slow Black."
"No fair, I wasn't here so it doesn't count," she complained, locking onto him instead of taking in the busy pub around her, but the lack of black hair stood out amongst the fiery group and she pouted. "Wait, where's Harry?"
"Isn't he still at home?" asked Ron, his brows furrowed as he quickly scanned the area, "he didn't come through."
"He went before me," she corrected, her stomach plummeting in fear as she pictured him on fire, "for God's sake I told him to stop, drop and roll! He clearly didn't listen."
The fireplace behind them lit up and the rest of the Weasleys strolled through, brushing ash from their shoulders. Molly seemed to sense the problem immediately like a bitter scent in the air and she whipped her head around in a panic.
"Where's Harry?"
"I think he burnt to death," said Lyra, and with her hand on her heart she turned to a horrified-looking Ginny and patted her shoulder, "Ginny, I'm so sorry—,"
"He won't have gone too far," interjected Percy, straightening his cloak buckle before giving his sister a sympathetic smile, "Bill used to come out of the wrong fireplace all the time, I'm sure Harry is fine."
"He's never Floo'ed before, I wouldn't be so sure," muttered Ron, too low for Ginny's ears, and the kids continued to share conspiracies about Harry's whereabouts as Molly and Arthur briskly led them into the hustle and bustle of Diagon Alley. Just as the red bricks guarding the shops started to shift, someone called out Molly's name from within the pub.
"I thought it was you," gushed the mousy haired woman at the front of the trio that had joined them in the barren courtyard and she kissed Molly on the cheek, warmly greeting her friend.
A pang of familiarity rushed through her when she noticed that the woman had the same high cheekbones and petite nose as Narcissa and she felt all of the oxygen fizzle out of her brain like bubbles trapped in a fish tank — it was Andromeda. Lyra tried not to panic as she stood glued to her spot in the shadows beside Ron but he shot her an encouraging smile as they watched the twins greet the pink haired young woman next to Andromeda with a high-five.
"It'll be ok," whispered Ron, "from what I've heard they're really cool."
"Andy, who else did you think it was? Name one other red headed family that we know," mused the last member of the trio as he shook hands with Arthur, but Andromeda snubbed her husband with a brazened eye roll.
"Did my letter arrive this morning?" asked Andromeda, dropping her voice to a soft murmur, and Lyra's heart started to thump with vigour when Andromeda started to scan the children surrounding them for her long-lost niece. The archway into the high street opened up and Arthur helpfully nudged his children out of the way with the suggestion that they start their search for Harry, and Lyra braced for the unexpected when the pink haired girl spotted her. Please like me, please don't be like the Malfoys…
"Mum," gasped the young woman, latching onto her mother's arm as her dark eyes lit up like pinwheels, and Andromeda teared up when she finally saw Lyra. Lyra blinked and fidgeted on the spot, unsure how to react as the Tonks family exchanged a few dazed glances, but she fixed a polite smile on her face and rushed to think of something to say. Maybe don't ask too many questions, just in case...
"Just so you know, I didn't write that letter," Lyra blurted out, wanting to secure her innocence within their first impression, "I didn't know you guys existed until—,"
"Lyra, I told you it's ok," assured Molly, but Andromeda jumped in, desperate to speak to her.
"The world is full of unhinged people with nothing better to do, there are absolutely no hard feelings between us, my sweet, it was probably a Daily Prophet reader with too much time on their hands," said Andromeda, walking forwards to get a better look as Lyra stepped into the sunshine, "Lyra, it's so wonderful to finally meet you. Gosh, you don't half look like your parents."
"Likewise," said Lyra, smoothing her hands down her summer dress and retying the plaid shirt around her waist, praying she looked fine enough since the soot from the fireplace had stained her knee socks, "you haven't called me a blood traitor yet so you're already miles ahead of the Malfoys, it's nice to meet you too."
Andromeda visibly paled and glanced at Molly for some sort of confirmation, but the pink haired girl burst out laughing and shook Lyra's hand with great enthusiasm.
"Yeah sorry about that, our family is the worst! I'm Nymphadora but please call me Tonks, the whole first name thing is a tad suffocating."
Tonks' handshake was much firmer than Lyra expected and she tried to match her energy. The aura surrounding her newest cousin was mellow and a hell of a lot friendlier than the one that shrouded Draco, and Lyra couldn't wait to get to know her. Tonks looked like the kind of girl she used to gaze after whenever Danielle took her shopping, she would fit in perfectly on a SexPistols album cover and almost every passerby couldn't help but stare at her bubblegum short spikes, her vicious-looking studded necklace or the mohawked rockstar on her torn shirt. She looked like the complete opposite of Draco, she was everything Lyra dreamed of. Oh my God she is so cool!
Ted Tonks introduced himself with a hug and Lyra gladly accepted. It was rare to find a fellow hugger and she savoured his fatherly embrace, and to Ted's delight she erupted with a dozen questions when he revealed he was a Muggle-born. He was a towering man with a protruding gut and the smiliest face, Lyra couldn't help but mirror his expression whenever he spoke to her. The Tonkses were so much nicer than the Malfoys. She was blown away by their warmth and her questions were answered without any hesitation — unlike Narcissa, Andromeda knew Giselle quite well and she described her as the most fearless and caring person she had ever met.
"I don't mean to be hasty," Molly interrupted the loving union with a nervous glance down the high street, "but I was hoping we could beat the afternoon rush at Gringotts, you know what the queues are like around lunchtime and we have a lot of shopping to do."
"Can we all go together?" added Lyra, thinking of the key in her backpack. Her first trip to the wizarding bank was pretty overwhelming considering it was her first full day as a witch and she was itching to take a proper look at her vaults. Who better to accompany her than a family member who also had access to said vaults? "If you guys aren't busy, of course," she continued out of politeness.
"We would love to," accepted Andromeda, smoothing her frizzy flyaways out of her flushed face, "we have a couple of hours to kill until Gilderoy's signing," she and Molly shared a secret smirk, "and maybe we can help you shop? That'll take some stress off your back and I missed the back-to-school rush last year." She glanced at Molly who looked simply overjoyed at the prospect of scratching a few items off her crammed list, and she led them off towards Diagon Alley's most prestigious marble building.
Just as Molly predicted, Gringotts was heaving with witches and wizards. The neverending lines zigzagged from the tellers' podiums all the way to the grand entrance doors and the group had to wiggle their way through the crowds with a few muttered apologies when shoes were unavoidably trodden on. As the smallest of the group, Lyra took the lead once she found an empty booth that had been overlooked in the corner and she sprinted over, claiming the first place position with a yell.
"Ha! First!" she exclaimed, greeting the curious goblin teller with an out of breath grin.
The gold wire of the goblin's spectacles glistened when he nodded at her with an unusually pleasant smile. He seemed younger than the goblins on his row with his dark auburn hair and smooth complexion, and Lyra began to wonder if the young teller would be willing to let her do some admin work. She was dying to see the full extent of her inheritance and plans were already forming in her mind, she had a lot of work to do. She couldn't remember if Dumbledore stated whether she was legally old enough to tinker with her accounts but the alluring hiss at the back of her mind repeated some of Tom's wise words.
"Lesson number five, Miss Black; be charming and you will be able to persuade anyone to do your bidding. The key to manipulation is pinpointing the person's weaknesses and exploiting them, but you must never make your intentions obvious — that is most important. Highlight your own strengths, flatter your target, cover your intentions, and most of all, be confident… You'll have the world wrapped around your little finger in no time, Lyra, you've already enchanted me..."
"Good day miss," said the goblin with a subtle hat tip, "how can I help you today?" Lyra made a split decision and shot out her request before the adults reached the booth. She needed to go first.
"Good day to you too—," Lyra spotted his shiny name tag, "Cleed! Why, what a marvellous hat you're wearing," she smiled at him and produced her vault key from her backpack, "you look like you're the manager of this fine establishment and I was wondering whether you could take time out of your busy schedule to help me with my account? I know that goblins are vastly more experienced in this area, so it would be foolish of me not to ask the most important man here. You see," Lyra handed him her key, "My name is Lyra, I'm the new primary holder of the Black family accounts and I've not had the chance to properly introduce myself yet. I've been trapped at Hogwarts all year and I was hoping that you can walk me through the process of managing such a huge account? I only need the basics at the moment. You know, how to make a transfer between vaults, that sort of thing, and since I'm Gringotts' most valued customer this shouldn't be a problem, right? You look like an intelligent guy, Cleed, you don't want to lose the biggest account this bank has…?"
The bombardment of compliments and subtle threats discombobulated Cleed the bank teller. He never expected such a confident spiel from a girl as young as Lyra and he blinked, his fair face rosy as he collected his thoughts. He took Lyra's key and retrieved the massive dusty tome from beneath his desk, tapping his nails against the page as he searched for the most recent entry explaining the change of hands. His entire demeanour transformed when he found the evidence that verified Lyra's claims.
"Oh my," babbled Cleed, straightening his gold and crimson suit and adjusting his smile, "Miss Black, of course, it is always an honour to serve our most esteemed customer and I will be more than happy to support you while you are here at Gringotts. Which vaults are you looking to access?"
"All of them," said Lyra, trying not to celebrate her success, and Cleed nodded, searching the book for the appropriate numbers. He hopped from his bench and wandered off towards the shadowed alcoves that were restricted from the public, and Lyra bounced on her heels, wishing Cleed would hurry up. Flustered from their countless run-ins with fellow bank customers, the adults eventually reached Lyra and she tried her best to look innocent. She had a sneaking feeling that Molly would object to her plans and she wanted to finish the job before she got caught.
"Have you got your key?" Andromeda asked Lyra, not quite noticing that she had already requested access, but Cleed popped back up at his desk with the rest of the keys that had been waiting for their new owner. Tonks spluttered when she noticed the jangling keys and she turned to Lyra, not quite believing her eyes.
"Wait, I thought you had been disowned too," she inquired dubiously, but Andromeda stepped in with a simple explanation, her eyes also glued to the keys she hadn't seen in years.
"She was," Andromeda admitted, "but technically Lyra was legally dead for the past decade, she was reinstated when she was 'resurrected' so to speak. She's the heir since her father is in Azkaban."
"Yeah baby, I've got all the power," Lyra drawled, wiggling her brows as Tonks scoffed, and her pink hair darkened to a cruel aubergine shade.
"But you're twelve!" cried Tonks.
"And ten months!" corrected Lyra, "also did your hair—?"
"And you're not allowed to fiddle with your account until you turn of age," Molly interjected with her lips pursed, pointedly catching the bank teller's eye as though reminding him not to comply to the wishes of a naive young child. Lyra shook her head and caught Cleed's attention with another charming smile.
"I'm not fiddling, I just want to make a couple of transactions between accounts, that's it I swear. Am I not allowed to be curious?" she promised, using the old faithful puppy dog eyes trick on him, and it worked a treat.
Overwhelmed by the honour of dealing with the Black family account, Cleed happily agreed to Lyra's wishes and led the group into the catacombs beneath the city. The icy air engulfed Lyra as the cart rocketed through the twisting maze of tunnels and she breathed in the chilling scent of cold metal and smoke, enlivened by danger in the atmosphere around her and she revelled in the whooshing of her swooping stomach after each dip. The cart plunged deeper than her last visit, her parent's vault was rather new and much higher in the system than her ancestors, and Lyra held in her squeals when she spotted a flicker of fire far off in the distance… No freaking way! I thought dragons were illegal in Britain?
Windswept and shivering, they arrived at the Black family vaults. As the cart rolled to a squeaky stop on the disused tracks, they climbed out onto a multiple storey high circular plinth lined with ancient bronze vault doors engraved with the same bold 'B' that was embossed on Lyra's key. The eeriness of the deep cavern reminded her of the creepy underground tombs in an old Indiana Jones film, like a piece of heritage long lost waiting to be discovered. She walked along the doors with a million and one ideas running through her head, the soft hum of enchantments hovered around the intricate locks and she listened to the magical melody as though they were singing just for her. The decrepit orange metal bars lining the walkways above creaked as she moved amongst the vaults.
When she reached the end of the second floor her lungs seized.
Can you feel that?
There's something nearby, in one of the vaults…?
That might be Tom's diary, I can't feel anything new.
"Remember, Lyra," Molly called out, bringing Lyra out of her daze, "you have a huge responsibility and you must look after your accounts, think very carefully about what you're doing."
"I'm being mature about this, I'm not taking any gold for myself, don't worry," Lyra reassured her as she rejoined them on the ground floor and she opened the copy of her accounting book that Cleed that gifted her, "according to this I've got enough money in my parent's vault to carry me through school. It also says here that a few of these vaults have items listed as 'miscellaneous' and I'm dying to know what that means in wizard terms because the Wizarding world is weird."
Ted tried to stifle his laughter with a well-timed cough but Lyra caught it and shrugged, playing on his reaction. "You know I'm right though, why aren't you guys as curious?" she asked innocently.
"For the record I'm all for this," Tonks concurred, rubbing her hands together as she inspected the vault doors with narrowed eyes, "I've been dying to snoop around in them for years."
"Why haven't you?" questioned Lyra, confused.
"Because we're not a part of the family anymore, my sweet," explained Andromeda in a soothing tone, not at all dissuaded by Lyra's questions, "we don't have access to these vaults."
"Oh."
Suddenly it clicked in Lyra's head and her heart sank. Blood rushed into her cheeks and she shied away from the magnificence of her ancestors' vaults, mortified that she had been showing off her privilege in front of her shunned family members.
"Well that's dumb, did they have to go through some sort of process to disown you? Is it a legal thing? Or did they just cast you away and take away your key?" she continued, trying not to blush more under Andromeda's gaze.
"Pretty much, they took me and Dora out their wills and stripped us of everything that was remotely linked us to them, but I wasn't necessarily bothered by their decision since Ted and I were already married at that point. Being disowned didn't damage me, Lyra, it empowered me so please don't feel bad," said Andromeda, looking at her husband with a sparkle in her large eyes, but Tonks interrupted with a scoff.
"Didn't you steal your key back though?" she pointed out, and Lyra giggled as Andromeda blushed and shot her daughter a stern look.
"The key I stole wasn't mine, but that is a story for another time."
"Cleed, please can you make a copy of those keys?" Lyra asked the bank teller, and Cleed nodded as he fiddled with the heavy set in his pointed hands.
"Not a problem, miss!"
Lyra cleared her throat before anyone could interrupt again and she stood in front of the Tonkses with her head high and her shoulders squared.
"By the powers vested in me, the head of the Black family, and the only named Black that isn't in prison, I hereby announce that you are officially back in the Black family! Hurray!" Lyra declared, bursting into a round of applause as she soaked in their looks of incredulity, and Molly joined in with her own soft claps, moved by the scene.
"Abracadabra, you are now a part of the family account again," confirmed Lyra as she passed them their copies of the vault keys, and Andromeda responded with a tight hug after gulping wordlessly, struggling to find the right words. Nothing could justify how she was feeling but Lyra could feel her gratitude and love in her hug so she squeezed her back.
"You didn't need to do that," murmured Andromeda, stroking Lyra's hair out of her freckled face, "but I guess I can admit that I've always dreamed of this day now - thank you."
"Stop lying, Mum, you've always spoken about this! Lyra, you're officially the coolest twelve-year-old ever and I feel nothing but pride knowing the fate of this family is in your hands," gushed Tonks, "but let's stop getting emotional and get back to the exciting bit, let's explore! Cleed, crack 'em open!"
Tonks grabbed Lyra by the arm and dragged her towards the vault doors, equally as giddy as the twelve-year-old at her side, but Ted was quick to follow them as he knew his eighteen-year-old all too well.
Once she was satisfied that Lyra wasn't acting brashly, Molly left the group to their exploration with a promise that she was to meet them in the grand foyer after she had visited the Weasley and Potter vaults. Lyra waited until the second trolley carrying Molly whizzed out of view to enact her secret plan and she jumped into action with a belly full of butterflies.
"Andy, whose vault is that?" Lyra picked a door at random and Andromeda pursed her lips, searching her vague memories of her childhood.
"Uh, I believe that's your great-great-great uncle Sirius' vault," she admitted, glossing over the namesake when Lyra twitched, "his younger brother was headmaster at Hogwarts, Phineas-Nigellus, so if you're ever in the headmaster's office look out for his picture. It'll be the snide old man that likes to hurl insults at people."
"Noted," Lyra snorted, suddenly desperate to visit Dumbledore's office to taunt her ancestor, "do you think there's a lot of gold in there?"
"No doubt about it," agreed Andromeda, before dipping her brows in worry, "why?"
Due to her time-restraint, Lyra ignored her, ran over to Cleed who was immersed in a conversation concerning the Wizarding Exchange Rate with Ted, and politely tapped him on the shoulder.
"Hi, sorry, uh urgent matter — can you please transfer everything in that vault to the Weasley vault? Like, right now?" she spat out, chewing on her bottom lip, and Cleed jolted, startled by her alarming tone. He flicked through his clipboard and pulled a quill from his pocket, a deep crease appearing on his brow as he checked which vault she was referring to. The pounding in her anxious chest wasn't helping but relief trickled over her when Cleed found what he was looking for with a smile.
"If you could please sign here," he gave her his stubby gold quill and Lyra scrawled on the dotted line, "and I shall transfer it immediately."
Cleed pulled the appropriate key from the chain and tinkered with the locks on the vault door until they illuminated with electrifying white light. The bronze glowed for a few seconds, lighting up the dimly-lit cave. The gold dust settled like falling snow and Cleed turned to her with another professional smile.
"Transfer complete, your records have been updated accordingly."
"Molly isn't going to like this," warned Andromeda, blown away by Lyra's generosity, and Lyra embraced her impish smirk and shrugged away her concerns.
"I've been staying with the Weasleys for weeks, it's only fair," she claimed with her hands up, "and if she tries to transfer it back then I'll just put it into a savings account for them instead, either way she's taking my money." Lyra was only looking out for her family, she could never repay them for making her feel so welcomed and loved but she knew that an influx of cash would be the next best thing she could offer. Besides, Draco's insults were getting boring and this would force him to get a bit creative. Let's see him tease Ron for being poor now!
"Ahh this is so fun!" Tonks, who had been happily trying on any piece of jewellery she could find, emerged with gold chains wrapped around her arms and posed, "I could get used to this! Lyra, the next time you're in London we've gotta hang out again."
Lyra pulled her camera out of her bag and quickly snapped a few pictures, catching Tonks in her best light, and Tonks flexed her muscles, entertaining her younger cousin with her childish behaviour. "Deal! You're so much cooler than Draco, expect to be hounded by my letters," Lyra promised, winking at Tonks who beamed.
Once Lyra had swiped enough coins to fuel her shopping trip and subsequent year at school, the group clambered back into the cart and Lyra took one last sweeping look at the Black vaults. Her eyes were drawn to the second floor plinth, the vault doors glinted menacingly at her as the cart started to roll away, but the tightness in her chest didn't lessen when she lingered on the very last vault. Andromeda said it was her sister's, the eldest Bellatrix, but she and her husband were incarcerated so no one had touched that particular vault for nearly a decade.
But Lyra wasn't sure if that was true, something had disturbed that vault recently, she could feel it in her bones. But the dark image of her aunt's vault was swept from her mind as the cart picked up speed.
The crowds in the bank had thinned by the time the group emerged from the catacombs of London and Lyra immediately spotted Hermione and her parents from across the hall, exchanging money at a free booth. Hoping to avoid the inevitable shakedown from Molly, Lyra used Hermione's appearance to her advantage and dragged the Tonkses over to introduce them to her best friend.
"I can't believe it," scoffed Lyra, pouncing at Hermione and squeezing her until she squealed, "you're taller than me too?!"
"It's great to see you too!" said Hermione, glossing over her brash greeting with another hug. She was repping her Gryffindor colours proudly with a red and gold chequered skirt and a white blouse and Lyra was instantly comforted when she caught a whiff of her nourishing hair oils, "I've got so much to tell you! Have you seen the others? I thought you were with the Weasleys?"
"They're around here somewhere," Lyra tugged on Tonks' arm and brought her forwards, "Hermione, meet Tonks — my newest second cousin."
"Wotcher!" winked Tonks, shaking Hermione's hand.
"Another second cousin?" Hermione guffawed, unsure how to react to the punk eighteen-year-old that towered over her, "at this rate I wouldn't be surprised if I were related to you."
"You say that like it's a bad thing," said Lyra accusingly, and Hermione smirked.
"Not at all, I don't have any cousins, it would've been nice…" she muttered before introducing her parents to the group.
As the adults bonded over their relations to the Muggle world, Lyra instinctively scanned the bank's hall in search of ginger hair and she cursed herself for looking when she found exactly what she was dreading. Molly appeared amongst the crowd of faces leaving the underground rail, her face paler than usual and her eyes watering, but she was sidetracked from her task of tracking down Lyra when she spotted Arthur and the rest of their entourage at the bank's entrance. The usual whispers of wonder that followed Harry sparked up around Lyra and she stifled her snicker, restraining herself from making matters worse by making a few impromptu autograph sales. Harry's appearance, however, caught Tonks' attention.
"Merlin's beard, ain't that Harry Potter?" she whispered, nudging Lyra and Hermione who automatically followed her awestruck gaze.
"Who?" Lyra asked, deadpanned, but Hermione rolled her eyes and stood on her tiptoes, catching his eye with an enthusiastic wave. Harry's face lit up and he snuck away from the Weasleys who were listening intently to Molly, glad to have finally found his friends. The stares tracked him as he reached the group and Lyra looked him up and down, somewhat impressed at the amount of stains he had accumulated during his fireplace excursion. He preemptively shut her taunts down with a simple "Don't you dare."
"My mouth was literally closed," Lyra defended but her impish grin was louder than her jokes and Harry flushed, rushing to fix his hair before introducing himself. He didn't seem as shy when Tonks and her parents explained who they were and he accepted their admiration with a confident smile. She could tell they were naturally drawn to his striking scar but he didn't smooth down his fringe to hide it like she assumed he would and she found herself staring at it too.
"Magical scars are extremely rare, it's not a surprise that the world is enthralled with Potter's, but it does make me wonder what the Dark Lord Voldemort did to mark the child… He may possess some of the Dark Lord's abilities so be careful around him, Lyra." Riddle's words rolled around in her brain when she studied Harry's scar but Molly's voice roused her from her daze. She didn't realise that the Weasleys had joined them.
"Lyra, may we have a word?" she asked, her voice wobbling slightly, and Lyra swallowed the sudden lump in her throat and begrudgingly agreed.
Assuring their ever expanding group that they would meet them at the tailors, Molly and Arthur led Lyra into a shaded archway by the entrance where they could speak alone and she anticipated what they were about to say. She hoped they wouldn't be insulted by her actions but by the curve of their brows she knew that they weren't on the same page.
"Lyra, we cannot accept that money," Molly started off plainly, "I understand that you feel like you have to help us but you don't—,"
"But I want to," Lyra couldn't stop herself from interrupting, the words came shooting out of her like an uncontrollable twitch, "that money was just sitting there, not being put to good use, and I bet you guys know what to do with all of that money. If you really think about it, it was a very responsible decision on my behalf because you're adults and adults know what to do with money unlike me therefore I'm being mature by relinquishing some of my power to someone older than me. I don't have many adult influences in my life and like you said, we're family and we love each other. It's what families do, and I'm merely showing you love via a bank transfer..." Lyra pouted and waited, praying with her entire being that she was being in some way smooth. Guilt-tripping wasn't outside of her wheelhouse but she didn't want to overdo it, Riddle encouraged her to be subtle.
"But that wasn't just a bank transfer," Arthur muttered, keeping his voice low in case of eavesdroppers, "Lyra, that was an entire vault."
"Then I suppose you have a shiny new savings account!"
"Is there any way we can transfer it back? I noticed you put a block between our accounts," Molly tutted, persistently shaking her head as she came to terms with what Lyra had done. Her tremors had subsided but colour was yet to return to her cheeks.
"Not unless you want to take me, a twelve-year-old, to court?" Lyra shrugged, "and God knows who I could run into at the Ministry, which is where I assume the wizard court is since I have no clue. We could go to Muggle court but again, that would be pretty difficult to explain to a judge."
Arthur couldn't stop laughing.
"You're just like your mother, Merlin's sake," he sighed, pacing around the cramped alcove as he continued to chuckle, "I suppose we don't have a choice do we?"
"Nope!" Lyra chirped, thrilled that Arthur was on board, "just think about the renovations you could do to the house, or maybe that all-inclusive family trip that includes maybe a few more well-behaved kids than you originally planned to Egypt to visit Bill you mentioned the other day."
The Weasleys spoke about the two eldest sons a lot over the summer and Lyra was dying to meet them, she thought about Norbert a lot and the idea of visiting the Pyramids of Giza was almost too good to be true. Molly and Arthur swapped a tentative glance, their gazes more confident now, and Molly finished with a weighted huff. She clearly wasn't happy but it was enough, Lyra almost squealed in joy.
"Don't you ever pull a stunt like this again, young lady," Molly scolded, "I mean it." She smothered Lyra with a hug so soul-touching that she teared up and she nodded into her shoulder, agreeing to her terms.
"My birthday is on Halloween, just so you're aware," she replied, muffled by Molly's shawl and she felt her chuckle rumble through her chest.
Molly, Arthur, and Lyra eventually joined the shopping party in Madam Malkin's once they dried their faces and started ticking everything off their lists with much more ease. The Weasley kids relished in their fresh sets of robes and equipment that would set them up for their new school year, and Lyra 'lightly' encouraged Ginny to ask for a pet owl since her parent's moods were at an all-time high. They spent most of their time in the pet shop, overwhelming Ginny with endless suggestions of which pet to buy but she left in a huff empty-handed, shouting at Ron to shut up about how much cooler rats were than owls. Lyra stocked up on treats and toys for Apollo and she almost succeeded in persuading Tonks to buy a pet lizard until they were abruptly asked to leave when Tonks morphed her features into something more reptilian and she startled the poor animals in the store.
Once the majority of their Hogwarts lists were crossed off, they made a pit stop at Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and splurged on triple scoop sundaes, relishing the cold treat in the sun together. Molly and Arthur used the ice cream as a distraction to nip off and tend to their own shopping needs, leaving the Tonkses in charge. Fred and George became the so-called voice of reason and tried to get away with another trip to the joke shop but Percy shut them down and suggested they head to the bookshop early to avoid the surge of Lockhart fans. Lyra was too busy debating with Ron and Harry about which broom she was going to buy to pay attention to the neverending roll of shoppers passing by the vibrant ice cream parlour.
But a flash of white blonde hair caught her eye amongst the crowd and she froze, panic-stricken. Uh oh…
"Oh crap," she hissed, ducking her head, and Harry spun around, conspicuously trying to find who she was hiding from.
"What?"
"I think I can see Draco," she grumbled, rolling her eyes at his lack of discernment, and Hermione was suddenly repulsed by her white chocolate ice cream, pushing it away with a sneer.
"I can't see Draco Malfoy today, not while my parents are here," she whispered, joining Lyra as she crouched in her seat. On the other hand, Ron brightened up at the mention of his nemesis and he jumped to his seat with a smug grin.
"Don't worry, I'll speak to him, he won't come anywhere near you or your parents," he promised, puffing his chest out and scanning the immediate area. The influx of cash had gone straight to Ron's ego and Lyra caught Harry's eye as he shook his head, hiding his laughter behind his enormous sundae glass.
"You've created a monster, I hope you're happy with yourself," he muttered for her ears only, and she wiggled her brows in jest.
"My plan for world domination is coming together nicely, Potter, watch out," she teased.
"Oh no, they're coming," said Hermione under her breath, desperately clawing at Ron's arm and forcing him to sit down. Lyra braved a glance over her shoulder but every muscle froze in place when she watched the Malfoys stroll past the picket fence guarding the parlour's outdoor seating area. They looked just as suave as the last time she saw them, it irritated her how perfect they looked on the outside and she gritted her teeth to stop herself from piping up. Don't do it, Lyra, listen to yourself for once and stay quiet.
Narcissa seemed to sense the eyes on the side of her face and she met the group with malice. She knew who was watching her and yet her mean demeanour hardened when she realised that her sister was sitting amongst the redheads. Lyra felt her heart jump into her throat when Andromeda stiffened up as though Narcissa's stare had turned her to stone, but she didn't react. The sight of her estranged sister wasn't enough to break her stride and she turned to her husband with a naturally-drawn smile.
Lyra tried not to stare too much. The dirty scowls from Draco were starting to get on her nerves and she didn't want to rise to his bait, not today, but the pull from Lucius' cruel sneer was magnetic. Just by the way that he looked at her she knew not to speak to him, talking to him was dangerous right now and the crooked smile that flashed on his lips unnerved her. The tightness in her chest appeared and she felt the leather backpack pressing against her leg as though its weight had tripled. P
He knows you have the diary.
"Just ignore them," Harry broke the tense silence and he dared to steal some of Lyra's citrus sorbet, snapping her out of her intense focus. Life sprung back into the group as the Malfoys finally moved on, and Lyra absently shoved her backpack onto the floor, fighting the blush in her cheeks.
"Let's hope Draco gets the memo too," she said quietly, "I wonder how long they've been here."
"A while, I saw them earlier," confessed Harry, and Lyra arched a brow.
"When?"
"When I got lost I saw them in Knockturn Alley, in some Dark Arts shop that was selling dodgy artefacts. It was definitely the type of place Malfoy gets his furniture, there were lots of snake decorations for sale," he said, and Lyra mulled over his explanation.
"Knockturn Alley?"
"It's down there," Ron pointed towards the left side of the high street, a winding cobbled road leading past Gringotts, "it's where all the weirdos hang out, the shops are Dark Arts focused so we don't go down there. It's got a bad reputation."
"It was creepy, I got out of there as soon as I could," agreed Harry, but Lyra felt him nudge her foot and she forced herself not to smile, "seriously, I wouldn't go down there."
"I hear you," she said half-heartedly, "if it's the type of place the Malfoys hang out then I'll make sure to avoid it. Being at school with one of them is bad enough, I'm not spending my summer with them too."
"Out of sight, out of mind," agreed Hermione, "let's hope we don't have to share too many classes with the Slytherins this year. If I have to listen to him whine for another year then I might transfer schools."
"You've just jinxed it, Hermione! Now we're gonna be stuck with him!" moaned Ron.
Molly and Arthur returned once the sundae dishes were empty, their arms adorned with multiple shopping bags. Before they all moved onto Flourish and Blotts to see Lockhart, Arthur gifted Lyra with an extensive guide on Magical Technological Theory and a shiny stereo as a thank you present.
"We thought you might want to experiment while you're at school, see if you can get those CDs to work," Arthur explained, "it's not much but—,"
"It's perfect!" Lyra squeaked, blinking away her tears, "thank you so much!"
Struggling to carry all of their new purchases, Arthur agreed to wait at the nearest coffee shop with Ted to act as a resting point and they wished the children good luck as their wives stormed off towards the bookshop, eager to see the famous author.
"So this Lockhart guy," puffed Lyra, struggling to keep up, "is he really worth the hype?"
"Nah, but middle-aged women love him," said Tonks, laughing at her blushing mother who was pushing her way through the swarm of excited older witches.
"It's a bit creepy if you ask me," Fred shivered, pulling faces as the women thrice his age clapped and cheered like a teenager as the smiley, golden-haired young man approached the crowds at the front of the store, basking in the camera flashes of the reporters. Lyra found a spare box to stand on as she was far too short to get a decent view, and she watched in fascination as the wizarding celebrity played to his fans. He clearly possessed a lot of charisma. He knew when to smile and when to address his people with a few complimentary yet boastful words, and she patted Harry's shoulder when Lckhart started working the crowd.
"Now that's how you do it, Potter," she whispered, giggling as he studied Lockhart with a disconcerted look.
"Yeah, if I want a load of older women fawning over me, I know who to call," he grumbled, "he's being way too flashy."
"That's because you're humble," Lyra jabbed her thumb at the strutting author who was soaking up the laughter without shame, "he's clearly got a huge ego, I bet he's a massive dick in real life."
"He's a massive dick right now," corrected Harry, unable to hide his laughter.
"Someone sounds jealous!" sang Lyra, winding him up.
"Jealous? Of that?" he scoffed, "obviously, you know how much I love the camera."
"Eh, you're getting better with posing," Lyra shrugged, "you're lucky you're good-looking, Potter, plus the scar gives you that edge."
Harry lost all concentration for a split second and he stared gormlessly at Lyra, but before he stumbled over his words, heads turned in his direction and the spotlight was thrusted on him. Gilderoy Lockhart erupted at the sight of Harry and he dragged him against his will to the front, parading him in front of the press and using him to push his own agenda by announcing his new job position.
"You heard it here first, folks! That's right, I am delighted to announce I am Hogwarts' new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor and I couldn't be prouder to be in the position to teach our future generation how to defend themselves from evil. I hope you all will sleep soundly in your beds tonight knowing that I will be teaching our young Harry here everything he needs to know," declared Lockhart, laughing heartily as he clapped Harry on the back. More camera flashes blinded him but Lyra reminded him to smile with a theatrical hand gesture and he eventually got the memo.
"Are you excited to have Gilderoy Lockhart as your professor?" barked one of the journalists, eager for a response from the Boy-Who-Lived, and Harry somehow recovered with a smooth smile.
"Er, yeah, I'm looking forward to having a decent teacher for once," he remarked, humouring the fans and Gilderoy. The author smacked Harry on the back once more, thanking him for the praise.
"I'll be more than decent, get ready to have your socks blown off Potter!"