It was a great relief for Lyra as she watched the Dark Lord leave Malfoy Manor, knowing he wouldn't return for a long time. He couldn't stay in one place for too long, not even at their home. She wasn't sure where he was going. Part of her didn't want to know, but another needed to know in hope to give the Order of the Phoenix important information. 

She tried to ask Lucius, though not outright. He looked a bit suspicious as to why she wanted to know, but only told her the truth. He had no idea, and it was not their place to ask. They were measly servants of the Dark Lord, after all. 

Lyra hated the fact that Lucius had taken up his old mantle as a Death Eater. Not only because she hated being the wife of a Death Eater, but because he was obviously terrified and miserable, which meant he made everyone else miserable around him. 

She hated to admit that she cared about him. She didn't really want him to get hurt, even if she has spent a long time daydreaming about punching him in the face or hexing or cursing him. It always brought a smile to her face on a gloomy day. 

But she was 35 years old, closing in on 36. She was only 18 when she became engaged to Lucius, so she had spent almost half her life with him. Day in, day out, getting to know the person he was even if it wasn't someone she liked very much. 

That much time together meant that one would grow to despise parts of the other, but will also care about one another despite it all. She loathed caring about a man who had ruined so many parts of her life. That didn't mean she could stop it. 

The Malfoys ate their first dinner together in ages, even if Lyra told them to make it early because she was going out. She had a feast dinner at Twelve Grimmauld Place, which Molly had quickly invited her to. She didn't know what they were celebrating but she just hoped there'd be firewhiskey. 

The dinner was quiet for a little while, none of them knowing what to say. The Dark Lord had only left a little while before and they still weren't used to the feeling of being just them and the house elves. 

"I got a letter today," Draco then spoke up quietly, barely having touched his food. "My Hogwarts letter. I would have shown you earlier but... there were things going on here, you know."

Lyra exchanged a quick glance with Lucius, both of them silently agreeing it was sad that he didn't feel like he could tell them things because of Voldemort. "It's alright, darling. Any good news?"

Draco had a feeling about what she was asking. It was the entry into his fifth year, after all. Any student who had been even close to exemplary throughout the last years was waiting to find out if their efforts had been good enough. "I got prefect."

Lyra grinned widely, suddenly fist-pumping the air in great joy. If she wasn't sitting in a chair, she would have been jumping up and down in pure excitement. "Yes! Yes, I knew it! This is so great, I am so proud of you."

"Thanks, mother," the blond boy said softly, a small smile on his face. But he had always known Lyra would be happy and proud of him, also that she would show it. The last person at the table was a mystery for him.

"Very well done, Draco," said Lucius, though quite stoically. There was little emotion visible on his face, except for a small smirk. "I'm quite proud of what you've done. I knew you had it in you."

"They were bound to make you one, I knew it all along," the woman wouldn't stop saying, filled with the greatest happiness she had had in a while (excluding Remus, Sirius and Harry, of course). "Both your parents were Slytherin prefects, of course. We're building a damn dynasty."

Draco wasn't usually the type to show he was happy (or any emotion at all that wasn't anger, which again meant he was too much like his father), but he couldn't help but snicker a bit at how happy his mother was. "I wouldn't go that far."

Sharply, she turned to look at him, though it was clear she wasn't serious about her stern expression. "Don't rob me of my dynasty, Draco."

"Our dynasty, Lyra," Lucius reminded her teasingly, thinking it was quite fun to see her like that. He hadn't really seen her with that kind of excitement since the day Draco got his Hogwarts letter, or when he was born or when she told him she was pregnant. It was almost like every good memory from their relationship was because of Draco. 

"Shut up, Lucius, let me have this," she said quickly. She then plastered a great smile on her face, turning to her son instead of her husband. "I am so proud of you. I'm going to go out and buy you a new broomstick."

Draco raised an eyebrow at her, though he did love getting new things. He didn't want bad things though, because he didn't think she was capable of knowing which ones were good or not. "You don't know anything about broomsticks."

"I know a bit..." Lyra said, offended. She even put her hand on her chest, as if she had a broken heart. At his disbelieving look she sighed in defeat. "Fine, I know absolutely nothing. I have better things to do than learn about broomsticks. Lucius, buy him a broomstick."

The father did look like he wanted to argue just because he didn't like when he was told what to do, but chose not to do so. He seemed to know that there was no use for doing so. "Fine. I'll buy him a broomstick."

"Thank you, mother, father." Their son seemed a lot more keen (going on smug) on taking a broomstick now that he knew his father would be the one buying it for him. "I'll take that Quidditch Cup from right under Potter's nose this year."

Lyra couldn't show how awkward she found the statement, so she just ignored it. "And don't feel like you can't come to us with these things just because of our... situation. We'll be proud of you no matter what."

As usual, Draco became a bit awkward whenever emotions were involved. He only nodded, speaking quietly as he shoved another piece of food in his mouth, hoping it would excuse him from talking about his feelings. "Right."

As their son kept eating, Lucius turned to his wife at his side. He spoke in a low whisper, making sure that the teen in the house wouldn't hear. "Do you have to leave tonight? Can't we just stay in and celebrate Draco?"

Lyra pursed her lips, glancing at Draco. She wanted to celebrate him, but she just wanted to make the world a better place for him when she could. If that was through the Order, then alright. "I'm sorry but I have to. Soon, actually. But make sure he knows how proud we are of him. Don't act like the git you usually are, be a father. He needs one."

Lucius raised an eyebrow at this, having considered himself a father for over fifteen years already, ever since he actually became one. "I am one."

"I know that." She rolled her eyes. But it took more than being a father to actually be one to someone.  "Just act like one, I've been doing it enough for the both of us for fifteen years. You can handle one night."

Lucius wasn't a fan of her talking down at his parenting skills, but he didn't want to fight in front of their son on a day that they were given good news about him. So he only sighed and agreed. "Fine. I don't want to argue."

The blonde woman smirked. "Because you'd lose?"

"Because it'd hurt our son on a day that's supposed to be happy," he said, deadpan. 

"Finally you're starting to understand that." She had always understood that they were supposed to put their son first, a fact she didn't always know if he understood. "So, Draco, how about we get the house elves to make some cake? Chocolate? Our favorite after all."

Lucius hadn't ever been a fan of chocolate cake, always having been more of a cheesecake type. He had truthfully been a bit jealous that his wife and son shared a favorite he didn't. "I don't understand how chocolate is your favorite."

"Because we have sense, don't we, Draco?" Lyra grinned towards her son, trying to bring a bit more happiness to their day. It had been so rare for so long. They had desperately needed it. 

Draco smiled genuinely for what seemed like the first time in forever. 

▹▹▹

CONGRATULATIONS
RON AND HERMIONE
NEW PREFECTS

A Gryffindr red banner hung above the dining table of Twelve Grimmauld Place, making Lyra realize why she had been invited to the feast dinner. Of course, she was proud of Ron and Hermione for becoming prefects, but she was wondering why it was Ron and not Harry. 

Then again, Harry was a trouble magnet, sometimes too similar to his father. Lyra couldn't have imagined what life at Hogwarts would have been like if it James had been made prefect in fifth year. He was already chaotic enough as Head Boy when he had matured greatly. 

Molly was frantically running around, though in a great mood. Lyra liked seeing her not be angry and fighting with everyone (especially with Sirius, as those two had been butting heads ever since they met). 

Most of the Order was coming, but not everybody was there yet. Lyra, Sirius, Remus, Nymphadora and Kingsley Shacklebolt were the first to arrive, followed shortly by Mad-Eye Moody. 

"Oh, Alastor, I'm glad you're here," Molly said once she caught sight of the old auror, who was shrugging off his cloak. "We've been wanting to ask you for ages, could you have a look in the writing desk in the drawing room and tell us what's inside it? We haven't wanted to open it just in case it's something really nasty."

"No problem, Molly." Moody's false eye went upwards, looking through the ceiling, looking for the desk. "Drawing room... Yeah, I see it. Yeah, it's a boggart. Want me to go up and get rid of it, Molly?"

"No, no. I'll do it myself later. You have your drink. We're having a bit of a celebration, actually..." Molly gestured to the banner, beaming at Ron, reaching out to ruffle his red hair. "Fourth prefect in the family!" 

"Prefect, eh?" Moody was studying Ron with his good eye as his other swiveled around. "Well, congratulations. Authority figures always attract trouble, but I suppose Dumbledore thinks you can withstand most major jinxes or he wouldn't have appointed you."

Lyra raised an eyebrow at Moody's words, leaning closer to Remus at her side. She whispered to him, as they were having a private conversation. "We didn't meet any jinxes on our patrols, did we?"

"Not that I remember," the werewolf whispered back, a bit amused as he tried to remember all the memories of their days as partners in law (not crime, they were prefects after all). "Then again, we never really did patrol when we were supposed to."

"Yeah, we were pretty horrible prefects," the blonde snickered to herself. They would spend the whole nights talking, laughing or with him helping her cast the Patronus charm. "You were a bad influence on me."

Remus gaped at this, thinking that was unfair. He nodded to her cousin, who was standing next to them, wondering what they were talking about. "Well, James and Sirius were bad influences on me so I'd say we can blame them."

Lyra leaned forth as she studied Sirius for a moment, who looked a bit freaked out as he wondered why she was looking at him like that. "James is dead so I blame Sirius."

"Seconded," Remus agreed, they reached out and clinked their glasses together. 

Sirius only heard the last things they were saying, scrunching his nose up in disgust at the way they were ganging up on him. "Leave me alone, you little gits!" 

Lyra and Remus laughed together as Bill Weasley appeared, accompanied by Mundungus Fletcher. While they usually were pretty annoyed when the man stopped by, they were all in too good moods to even comment on it. 

After everybody had gotten their drinks (her second in Lyra's case), Arthur raised his glass and spoke over the crowd of people. "Well, I think a toast is in order. To Ron and Hermione, the new Gryffindor prefects!"

Lyra wasn't going to deny taking a drink and downed the whole thing in one gulp. When Remus and Sirius eyed her widely at this, she raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "What? I'm better at drinking now, surprise, surprise."

Everybody had started moving towards the table to get a bit of food, Nymphadora was smiling brightly as she talked to Hermione and Ginny. "I was never a prefect myself."

"Shocker," Lyra muttered teasingly, bumping her shoulder with her niece as she walked past her. 

"Shut it, Aunt Lyra," Nymphadora responded, though grinning widely. She ran her fingers through her hair, which had been colored Weasley red in celebration of Ron. "My Head of House said I lacked certain qualities."

"Like what?" Ginny asked, grabbing a baked potato. 

"Like the ability to behave myself," the Tonks woman answered, making Ginny laugh loudly. Hermione looked like she was debating whether or not to laugh, so she just took a big gulp of Butterbeer, which she choked on and started coughing wildly. 

The Weasley girl hurried to pat Hermione on the back to help her get over the coughing fit. She looked over at Sirius next, who was standing by Harry as they grabbed their own food. "What about you, Sirius?"

The Black man laughed loudly, while Lyra let out a cough very similar to Hermione's at the thought. "No one would have made me prefect. I spent too much time in detention with James. Lupin was the good boy, he got the badge."

"I think Dumbledore might have hoped I would be able to exercise some control over my best friends. I need scarcely say I failed dismally," said Remus, turning to Lyra as she chuckled at this. "What are you laughing at? You weren't much better yourself."

"Excuse me," the blonde scoffed. "If it weren't for being partnered with you, I would have been marvelous. I can't help it that you were literally the worst influence on me."

"Rather me than Rosier," Remus grinned, remembering Lyra's other patrol partner from when they first became prefects. She had a very clear favorite between him and the creep from her own house. 

She scrunched her nose up and raised her eyebrows in agreement. "I'll give you that one."

"Wait, you were prefects together even if you weren't in the same house?" Ron suddenly asked, looking a bit stressed. He used his hand to gesture between himself and Hermione. "Does that mean we might not work together?"

"No, I wouldn't say that. It depends on the Head Boy and Head Girl, so I wouldn't worry," said Lyra, smiling reassuringly at him. But she then exchanged happy glances with Remus. "Though, it can be good. It did start the greatest friendship of all time."

As Lyra and Remus high-fived, Sirius rolled his eyes and muttered to himself. "Or the most annoying."

"Shut it, Sirius," Lyra said sharply, though it was clearly teasing. As they all went off into their own conversations, she turned to look at Harry, who had been a bit down all night. "Harry? You all right?"

The bespectacled boy almost jumped in surprise, looking at the older woman with a thankful smile. "Yeah, I'm good. Thanks, Lyra."

"Bummed you're not prefect?" she asked, smiling slightly. "Come on, you can't lie to me. You look just like your dad whenever he was pouting. He did that a lot when I rejected him when we were kids so I know it well."

Harry looked down, though part of him liked hearing another similarity he had to his dad. "Maybe a little. It's fine and I'm really happy for Ron and everything... I just sort of wanted to make my dad proud. He was Head Boy after all."

"Yeah, but there's a reason he wasn't prefect," she reminded him, though understanding well why he was disappointed. "Nobody in their right minds would have even considered him for the job when we were your age. And Moody's right, you know. It can attract trouble, and I have a feeling you're attracting enough on your own."

"Thanks, Lyra," he said, thankfully. Maybe his dad wouldn't care if he was there. Also, it was true. He really didn't need any more trouble with everything going on. He just hoped her son hadn't been made prefect. There was a reason why she hadn't mentioned Draco to him that night, after all. 

She reached out and ruffled his already messy hair with a big smile. "It's what I'm here for."

▹▹▹

After her conversation with Harry, Lyra had found herself talking to people about different things, especially as she was trapped in a conversation with Hermione about house elf rights, asking her if her family still owned some. She had awkwardly excused herself from the conversation to talk to Remus, Sirius and Kingsley. 

"I don't understand why Dumbledore didn't make Potter prefect?" Kingsely asked, as the three had ended up in a serious conversation, very different from the happy atmosphere the rest of the house found themselves in. 

"He'll have his reasons," Remus said quietly, though obviously confused about it himself. 

"But it would've showed confidence in him. It's what I'd've done," Kingsley said, obviously disagreeing with the headmaster. "'Specially with the Daily Prophet having a go at him every few days."

"It'd just be more drama, Kingsley," Lyra said, understanding Dumbledore's reasons a bit better. "Dumbledore appointing him as prefect would only make it seem like he's playing favorites, like he's only supporting what Harry's been claiming because they're close. We can't afford that."

"That sounds understandable, I suppose," Sirius nodded, though he had seen how sad his godson had been at not being chosen for the position. He wished he didn't have to be disappointed for Dumbledore's agenda.

They continued discussing for a while, until they were interrupted by loud sobbing, which they could hear from a room close by. They hurried towards it, wondering what the hell could have caused someone to cry during such a happy day. 

"What's going on?" Remus asked as him, Lyra, Sirius and Moody rushed through the door. They all quickly understood what was going on as they saw Molly crying in a corner, watching the image of a dead Harry on the ground. They knew it was fake, because the real Harry was right in front of them. 

Lyra hated the sight of the young boy dead in front of her, so she took a step forward, wanting to get rid of that boggart. She hadn't dealt with one since she was in her third year and her worst fear was failing Transfiguration (James had made fun of her for weeks after that, until she had stepped on his foot and he had to go to the Hospital Wing). 

But the minute she stepped forward, the shape barely changed. It still looked like Harry, but some things were different. His nose was longer, his glasses were square instead of round. And then he opened his eyes, and they were hazel. In front of her was the dying form of James Potter. 

She froze, and she could feel several others in the room do the same. His form started flickering, and it wasn't only him. For a moment it was James, the next it was Regulus, then Remus, then Sirius, then Harry and then Draco only to repeat the cycle. 

Regulus was the first one to speak, and she could feel tears spring to her eyes as she heard his voice for the first time in over fifteen years. He was still so young, though he was lying in a pool of blood. She hated the idea that it could have been what he looked like in his final moments. "Why-"

Remus continued, also lying bloodied on the floor. She tried to remind herself that the real Remus was behind her, alive and well. But it just looked so extremely real. "Didn't-"

Sirius took over, his body bent in strange angles and blood falling from his nose. She whimpered as he spoke. "You-"

"Save-" Harry continued, his voice quiet and in obvious pain. 

"Us?" Draco finished, looking like he was crying and in pain. She had never wanted to see her little boy like that. She could barely notice the sight of a Dark Mark on his dying body, and it was clear to her how he would have died. 

Then James returned, and this time it didn't flicker to any other form. It stayed as him for several seconds as he stared at her through his glasses, though not with the look of love she remembered. It was complete hatred. "It was your fault. You killed me."

She gripped her wand tightly as tears started building up in her eyes, threatening to fall. She hadn't heard his voice since she was almost twenty-one. She hadn't expected to hear it like this, saying what she felt had been true for so long. 

It took only a moment after this for Remus to grab her arm and pull her away, standing in front of the boggart. It now took the place of the silvery orb that could only be the full moon. He raised his wand and spoke clearly. "Riddikulus!"

James's dying body disappeared, but the look in his eyes were burned into her memory. She couldn't stop looking at the spot where had been lying. She only glanced away for a moment, seeing Sirius do the same. 

The tears pooled her eyes once again as she looked at Harry, who seemed horrified at seeing his father like that. It struck her that it was the first time the boy could remember hearing James's voice. 

"I'm so sorry," Lyra muttered, though she wasn't sure if she was doing it to Remus (who was comforting a crying Molly), Harry, Sirius or James himself, if he could even hear her from wherever he was. 

She turned to leave the room, to get out of that house. She hated that house more than ever now, but Sirius wouldn't let her leave. He gripped onto her wrist, looking deep into her eyes with sadness behind his. "Lyra..."

"I've got to go home, Sirius. It's late anyway. I- I'll see you later," she stuttered, though it was strangely out of character for her. She never stuttered, unless she was doing it to hide her voice breaking. 

She had barely left the room before she let out a sob, but she decided to apparate away before Sirius could turn and stop her. In barely a minute, she had returned to Malfoy Manor. She couldn't see Draco as she came back, but Lucius was there. 

He frowned as he noticed her tears, which had just begun to fall. He jumped out of his seat for a moment, rushing towards her and grabbing her arm in concern. "Lyra, what's going-?"

"Shut up, Lucius, nobody likes you," Lyra only muttered quietly, ripping her arm out of his grip and stalking away to her own bedroom, which she usually used when they were fighting. Which was often. 

 She threw herself in her bed, laying on her side as she stared into the air for a few moments, tears filling her eyes and a few even falling. She could see his face, the pain and the blood and everything that she had caused. 

Young Regulus, who was barely older than the Weasley twins now that she thought of it. He had so much to offer the world but she hadn't fought hard enough to save him. He had seen her just before he died. If only she would have kept him from leaving, if she would have been a better cousin. 

The image of Harry, Draco, Sirius and Remus dying was horrible as well. She never wanted to see that sight in her life. Especially with the Dark Mark on Draco's arm, making sure she knew it was a future where he would be taken to the dark side and killed because of it. 

As she sobbed into her pillow, she knew one thing for sure. She wasn't going to sleep soundly that night. 

▹▹▹

A/N: There was a reason James in the cast list after all, y'all. Also, this took a million years because for some reason my school is starting up again which is dumb but alright. I just can't wait for summer when I'll get to write a lot more! Hope you liked this one though.