Lyra's appreciation for Ted Tonks couldn't be described with words. Not only had he taken such good care of her sister, Andromeda, who had been tortured and abandoned by those who were supposed to love her, not only had he been a good father to her niece, but he had agreed to help her save herself from the Dark Lord. 

He had answered her letter almost immediately, saying he was glad to hear from her, and so was her sister. They had been incredibly worried after she stopped writing them after Christmas. Little Nymphadora missed her Auntie Lyra. 

Lyra wouldn't admit it if anybody asked her, but she spent the rest of that night clutching the letter to her chest and crying herself to sleep. That part of her family was still too good for the world, loving her even after she had abandoned them. Still willing to do her favors. She adored them even if she couldn't tell anyone she did. 

Ted would arrange everything, he swore he would. Most of the journalists at the Daily Prophet wouldn't want to do such a task, thinking it would only be some sort of gossip and ass-kissing article. He was sure he'd find someone to do it. He wished he could, but he knew he wouldn't be welcome in the land of the pure and prejudiced. 

She understood, though she wished it could be him. It would be nice to have some sort of connection to her favorite sister with her, even if she knew they were worlds apart. Ted had also grown on her during her last summer home from school, acting like a proper brother-in-law. (He was definitely her favorite, not that she'd ever tell Hector or Rodolphus).

It didn't take long for a letter to come from the Daily Prophet, asking about which days they would be available to do interviews and how many they would like to do. Lucius and Lyra had both been relieved at the confirmation that their plan would work. If it didn't, they knew it would have consequences. 

The time had come for their first interview. For now, they had planned to have at least three, but if they went well, then they might get to do more. Lyra could do as many necessary for her not to becoming a Death Eater, like her fiancé.

She found herself sitting in front of her vanity, doing all sorts of beauty spells that she had either learned from her mother, sisters, former classmates or Witch Weekly. All of whom were great teachers.

Lyra wanted (no, needed) to put her best foot forward for the interview. It was absolutely necessary that this would make young witches and wizards adore them and their relationship, no matter how much the idea disgusted her. There wasn't anything to adore as far as she knew. 

That's why they would have to fake all of it. She faked her curls, faked her smiles, faked her love for her fiancé. She wondered how good she would be at lying once she was finally done with the interviews. 

She looked at the beautiful pearl necklace that Lucius had given her, debating whether or not she should put it on. She eventually decided not to, even if she knew Lucius would want her to. Maybe she wasn't 100% done with being a bit rebellious, only choosing to make it more subtle nowadays. 

She turned as she heard three curt knocks on her open bedroom door. Lucius stood there, looking her over in approval, also looking quite smart and dressed up in his finest dress robes. "Are you ready, Lyra?"

She forced a small smile to appear on her lips, because she wasn't ever going to be ready to pretend to love a man she barely even knew, though she had lived with him for over a month by now. "Yes, thank you."

"I hope I don't have to remind you how much is riding on this," Lucius said quite seriously, slicking his platinum blond hair back as he spoke. "It's important that you play your part well. That we both do."

"You don't have to remind me," Lyra answered coolly, putting the jewelry box with the pearl necklace in a drawer. "I'm the one who set all this up, not you. I'm the one who will be facing the consequences if we, or you, fail. I should be reminding you."

He pursed his lips, feeling like a bit of a failure for his inability to protect her, leading her to needing to protect them both. "Even if this doesn't work out, I'll do something. I'll take more missions, more dangerous missions. If that's what I have to do to get us through our wedding, I'll do it."

"Good. You might have to. But we'll deal with that if need be. There's no need to panic if we can do this. We've just got to use all the charm we have," Lyra said, though suddenly thankful that she had been raised to ooze charm as a young girl from the House of Black.

"Good thing we have a lot of it then," Lucius smiled cheekily, demonstrating the way he had been raised to have it to. Lyra chuckled to herself and shook her head at this, and he chuckled along. 

He reached out and offered her his hand. She took it carefully, still not used to being physically affectionate with him. She supposed it was necessary for the reporter to see them being happy and in love, even if she didn't like the feeling of her hand in his. 

They silently walked towards the parlor, both of them internally preparing what they had to say to the reporter. Lyra realized that they probably should have gotten their stories straight and talked about what they were going to say. It was late now, they'd just have to prepare better for the next one. She hoped there would be a next one, at least. If all would go well. 

There was a woman standing in the parlor, one Lyra had never met before. She was much younger than she had imagined the reporter, only being around her mid-twenties, probably not still fairly new at her job. 

Her blonde curls were well-done and rather frigid in a way Lyra's free waves fell over her shoulders. The most noticeable thing was something Lyra noticed when she smiled their way. Three gold teeth. 

She wasn't alone, there was man standing next to her, though he wasn't nearly as interesting to look at. He hid his face behind his professional camera, and Lyra supposed they wouldn't even exchange a word with him throughout the interview.

Lyra quickly noted a floating notepad and a green quill standing by it. A self-writing one, she supposed. It must be much easier to gather notes and remember quotes when she didn't have to do the work herself.

The blonde reporter grinned widely as she looked at the couple, glad they had finally arrived and she would be able to write a big article, like she had been wanting to for a while. "Hello, my name is Rita Skeeter, reporter for the Daily Prophet and I'll be conducting this interview with you two adorable creatures." 

Lyra smiled brightly at the other blonde, trying to look like the pretty little girl she had been raised to be. If there was any time to pull out all the stops, it was now. "It's very nice to meet you, Rita. I'm Lyra Black."

"A pleasure indeed," Lucius broke in. He looked at Rita with just the right amount of flirtiness for her to be charmed, yet still be able to believe that him and Lyra could be desperately in love. "I'm Lucius Malfoy."

Rita glanced down at their intertwined hands and smirked to herself. The quill started scribbling. Lyra quickly put her acting face on after this, looking at Lucius with the best look of love she could muster. 

Lyra wouldn't ever dare tell Lucius the truth of how she managed to look up at him with such a shine in her eyes, looking like she'd do anything for his embrace. But, honestly, she was just picture James's face in front of her and it quickly became much easier to pretend. 

"Oh, I can already see how much you simply adore one another," Rita gushed happily. "Tell me, how did you two decide to get married, especially with your age difference? If I'm not mistaken, the engagement was official when you, Lyra Black, were still at Hogwarts."

"That is correct," the eighteen-year-old witch spoke up, not trusting her fiancé not to screw things up yet. "Lucius and I have always known each other, but throughout my last year at Hogwarts, something simply clicked for us." 

"My feelings for him grew so quickly that when he asked me to marry him during my Easter holiday at home, I couldn't imagine declining." Lyra turned to fake a smile at Lucius, though it seemed as genuine as her happiest ones. 

"And Lucius Malfoy, how did you decide to propose to this beautiful young lady?" Rita spoke quickly, like was actually invested in their supposed love affair. Lyra didn't like the fact that Lucius had gotten a direct question, and she couldn't control his answer. 

But Lucius seemed very prepared as he responded. "Well, Miss Skeeter, you can already see how absolutely gorgeous my fiancée is. And although I am a few years older than her, we both grew up in the same marvelous community of great wizards and witches so we were bound to meet a few times."

"And she simply drew me in and I fell in love immediately." He managed to fake the exact same look of love towards her, though he didn't have anyone to imagine instead of  her. "I have waited my whole life to feel like this. I didn't want to lose so her, so I asked her to marry me as soon as I knew she felt the same way."

Lyra's expression shifted for a moment, surprised at what a good liar he was. She supposed she should have expected it. He couldn't gain all his connections and pull at the Ministry without dropping a few, unseen lies. 

Rita didn't seem to notice the shift. If she did, she didn't comment on it, only blinding them with her golden smile. "Well, you're certainly an attractive couple. And a blind wizard could feel the love between you." 

That meant it was working, and Lyra knew that all they were missing was a great, loving, convincing picture of them together. So she decided to stage one, by holding onto both of Lucius's hands. 

She grinned as brightly as she could towards the reporter as Lucius looked down at her, forcing a convincingly loving look. He seemed to understand what she was doing, and she was grateful that their minds seemed to work in similar ways. 

The flash went off, and Lyra's staged picture had come to life. Her smile only widened at this. Everything was going according to plan and Lucius was following it all well. Well, they hadn't been Slytherins for nothing. 

Rita was eager to continue the questions, still not asking anything strange or uncomfortable. They supposed she was determined to put them in a good light because of Lucius's connections at the Ministry, hoping he could help her rise through the ranks of the Daily Prophet. "Do you have a date for the wedding yet?"

"Not yet, no. We want everything to be perfect for our big day," Lyra exclaimed, though she mostly just didn't care and was waiting for someone to tell her when it would be. "Until we can be certain that it will as amazing a day as Lucius will be a husband it won't happen yet."

"I will spare no expense for my blushing bride. She deserves the very best," said Lucius, which was a quote she was sure Rita would use, charming every young witch out there. "But whenever the wedding is, you are of course invited to see the extravagance, Rita."

Rita seemed touched by this, putting her hand over her heart. "I wouldn't miss it for the world. I think I have found my new favorite couple. And I am certain the Wizarding World has found its new darlings. Thank you so much for today, I have greatly enjoyed it."

Even though the interview seemed to be over, Lyra knew it wouldn't hurt to have another connection at the Daily Prophet. "If you want, you can send us a letter any time and ask to come for tea. We would love to have you."

"It would be my pleasure. Thank you, Lucius. Thank you, Lyra. I will be seeing you both. Keep an eye out for our article, I'm sure it will find a good spot in the Prophet," the reporter said, her eyes twinkling as she turned to her cameraman. "Come on, let's go. We've got what we need."

In an attempt to play the part of the perfect engaged couple, Lucius wrapped his arm around her shoulder as they watched Rita walk away. He didn't remove it until she was out of sight. But once she was, he was quick with it, thinking she was uncomfortable with his affection. 

"I don't mind, you know," Lyra suddenly blurted out, making him look at her in confusion, not understanding what she was talking about. "The touching, I mean. We're getting married. we better get used to physical contact."

"Yes, you're right. We should get used to it." Lucius hesitated as he looked down at her, but he ended up putting his each of his hands on either side of her face, looking at her wide eyes and pink lips. 

She swallowed the lump in her throat as she realized what would happen. She knew they would have to do it eventually, but she hadn't thought it would be that night. She wasn't prepared for it. 

Lucius leaned in and carefully put his lips on hers, testing the waters quietly. They hadn't ever kissed before, and she honestly didn't want to start doing it. But they would have to at some point. At least they would hopefully be used to it by their wedding day. 

Once he pulled away, he took a few seconds to study her face, to look into her eyes and see her reaction to his kiss. He couldn't really read her expression, which was frustrating for the man who always seemed able to read anyone. He smiled slightly at her before releasing his grip on her, turning to walk off without as much as a goodbye. 

Lyra reached out to feel her lips, touching them silently. She hadn't kissed anyone since James. She didn't like knowing that he wasn't her last kiss anymore. She couldn't process that she had kissed someone else, which she hadn't done since she was fifteen (though she didn't like talking about her first snog with Davey Gudgeon, after he got her drunk at party). 

It almost felt like she was cheating on him, though she knew it was ridiculous. They had been broken up for about half a year, and she had been engaged for half that time. And he was still out there, holding someone, kissing them and being them. Only, it wasn't her. Not anymore. 

▹▹▹

It was only a week or two later when obnoxiously loud laughter rang through an apartment in London, where two young men had just come in after going for a ride on a flying motorcycle, ending up getting into a bit of trouble with muggle law. 

James Potter was throwing himself onto his best friend's sofa, shaking as he couldn't stop laughing at the ordeal. "I can't believe they really thought they'd caught us. What were our charges again, Padfoot?"

"Well, we didn't wear any helmets, we didn't stop for it. And we were supposedly exceeding the speed limit which I think is rubbish," Sirius Black scoffed, a lazy smirk on his face. "My motorbike wasn't even close to its limit. It could go much faster if I wanted it to."

"And don't forget! Elvendork!" the bespectacled boy exclaimed, remembering his favorite part of the night. Their parting words. Sirius joined in for the last words, both of them grinning ear-to-ear. "It's unisex!"

Sirius's mind instantly went to his best friend's girlfriend, who was always talking about how dangerous that motorbike was if they didn't wear proper protection, like helmets and that they would one day get in trouble with muggle law enforcement. "If Lily could see you now."

"What she doesn't know won't hurt her," James said sternly. He then looked towards Sirius's open window, where a figure seemed to be approaching. "Oi, mate! Isn't that your owl coming towards us?"

"That it is, Prongs. That it is," Sirius confirmed. He hadn't been home all day, so his owl didn't have the opportunity to deliver his mail or newspaper, as the always closed the window when he was out. 

The owl dropped a few letters and the Daily Prophet down in front of them before flying to the kitchen, getting its payment in the form of snacks. He wasn't waiting for his owner to give it to him.

James picked up the letters as Sirius quickly started flipping through the pages of the newspaper, wondering what news had come of the war. "Got one from Moony. One from Wormtail. Mum and dad sent you, too."

But Sirius didn't say anything back, only frowning at a page in the newspaper, clearly upset. James was worried something terrible had happened, that You-Know-Who had performed some terrible raid, and they weren't there to fight against him. "What's wrong?"

He still got no response. Annoyed at this, and worried about what had caused him to zone out, the Potter by threw the letters on the table and walked up behind his best friend, wanting to see for himself. 

 That's when he saw it, too. He quickly ripped the newspaper out of Sirius's hands, wanting to get a better look into what the article was about. He frowned deeply. "She's really going through with this, huh?"

Sirius didn't meet his eyes. "It seems like it."

James looked at the things she had supposedly said, looked at the picture, and everything seemed to suddenly be so much more real. He shook himself out of it, throwing the Prophet on the table next to the letters. "Well, let's just forget about her."

The Black boy nodded in agreement, but still found himself glancing at the picture of his favorite cousin, once so hopeful and in love with his best friend, pretending to be happy (though he suspected most would believe she truly was) next to Lucius Malfoy, a headline over her face reading THE UNION OF HOUSES BLACK AND MALFOY by Rita Skeeter.