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( chapter three. )

❝  sister(-in-law)   ❞

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IT WAS CLEAR, EVEN NOT LONG after my birth, that I'm not just an usual Black daughter. My baby blonde hair never darkened, so this was the first detail why they thought I was different.

Why I thought I was different.

My siblings all got sorted into Slytherin, which they always viewed as the family house,  and my siblings... they were all proud to wear our name and they continued the Black legacy, just as proudly. At the age of eleven, when I got to wear the Sorting Hat at the Sorting Ceremony – right after my twin brother, Cygnus got sorted into Slytherin, naturally –, the magical Hat shouted the name of Ravenclaw. 

Maybe these are why my father treated me harsher and harder than any of his children.

Or maybe he treated me differently because I had a great relationship with my older brother, Phineas. We were crazy alike, we understood each other better than anyone else out of the family. Even with the fact that he was years older than me. And my father disowned my brother. So maybe Papa expected... me to be the next. Because I took after Phineas so much.

For a while, I was actually really close to ... get my name and my picture burned out on the family tree tapestry in our home.

Toujours pur. Stay always and forever... pure. Papa constantly told us this when we were kids.

But Mama... Mama said something different to me. Fine china. The kind of china which is the gem of the holiday table. The perfect accessory, the cherry on top, the one that show the quality of aristocracy. A tiny movement can fracture it though, cause it to vitiate. But if the owner takes care of it... the china lasts forever. Because it has perfect size, perfect shape, perfect ornamentation. Not too ostentatious, but magnificent and elegant.

It always stayed with me that my mother said that... A fine china is an essential accessory for a household.

Mama swored me that I always stay a fine china.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about this after. Porcelain that needs gentle touch, it must be treated delicately. But it always remains only and will be treated as what it was born for. An object.

The House of Black had always been recognizable by the nobility, the air swinging around them... us, overcrowded pockets, and the expensively sewn robes. And the most important thing at all times was to keep our family, our blood, clean. Pure.

But everyone with a little bit of common sense has seen through the noble surface, since the Black Clan, under the thin layer of purity, is a terribly dark family. Dark magic resonates in the golden... pure blood. All our enourmous estates are full of cursed items and artifacts, the screams of torture are still echoing between the walls. Our porcelain skin is scratched by the wounds of the dark like the thorns of a rose. And in our safes are the golden cups they’ve been given as gifts for many years of Muggle hunting.

That’s why keeping the family clean was... is so important. After all, only people who are worthy of it can look behind our curtains. By whom these sins do not see the light of day. Whose family has the same number of skeletons in the closet of their villas.

I once threatened this. Our name. And I endanger it with my blonde, blue-eyed, Ravenclaw self every single day of my life.

I got my punishment for it. And I can't make a mistake like that again. I just... can't.

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

I Apparated to the end of a street of Wizarding London. I sighed heavily as I landed, the street lamp had just illuminated the rain-soaked sidewalk. It was rather late, no other soul walked on the street, though Diagon Alley was quite close.

That little stroll felt good as I walked past the Victorian townhouses. I only paid attention to the color of the houses, staring at their structure as the tall, narrow, two- or three-story buildings were connected to each other. I had to list something in myself to divert my attention.

I reached our house too soon. The pale yellow paint almost sticked out a mile after the darkness I got used to.

It didn’t look a bit like it, but it always reminded me of my family’s house in Grimauld Place, where I grew up. The cold shook me from this recognition.

"I'm home! Is anybody here?" I called out as I got in the front door. With a few nonverbal charms, I pulled my coat off myself, swept the stray raindrops off the fabric, and conjured my shoes straight next to each other.

"In the kitchen!" I heard the answer, and I sighed with relief as I took my hat off my head. It was the voice of my brother, Cygnus' fiancée, Violetta Bulstrode. It couldn't have been better. I rolled up the sleeves of my blouse as I walked down the hall with my legs covered in stockings to get to Violet as soon as possible.

We've met each other in the first year of Hogwarts, and even though we were not in the same house, I soon found common ground with her. She started dating my brother about the same time I ... when I was with Theseus.

The difference is that Violetta and Cygnus stayed together. Obviously.

"Bel was here an hour ago," Violet began when she saw me turning in the kitchen of the corner of her eye. She was still wearing the healing rope she used to wear at St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, her raven-black hair twisted on top of her head into a tousled bun, which was probably helded in one place with a charm because it looked really... Lousy. "We figured that you must be working overtime again, so she said she would go home, pack up, and then come over again."

I hummed. I went to the counter to take a mug out of the cupboard and drink a tea, as Violet did, kind of in a meditating state. As I sorted through the filters with one hand, I snatched the hairpins out of my hair with the other, thanks to Merlin, I was finally able to loosen my bun.

"Nash was here too." Violet continued slowly and carefully. The cup trembled in my hand.
 
"When?" I asked back, without looking up at her.

"Not long after I got home." she stepped closer. "I told him you must stay and overtime."

I blew out the air of my lungs.

"He replied that you have been working too much lately and Theseus must be exhaust you directly. With purpose. He also said that he's coming over later. I awared him that Bel is sleeping here, so unfortunately he has to go home for the night."

And then she couldn't even know that Belvina was sleeping over.

Nash was a Malfoy. Who I happened to date with for two years now.

We knew each other before too, of course. He was the housemate of Cygnus and Violetta, in the same year as me, so we've had classes together. He started working at the Department of Mysteries a couple of years ago and we ran into each other one day in the Atrium. We've been together ever since.

"How was your day?"  I could not even form into words how grateful I was to Violet at that moment for the change of subject. I blew out my air again and to calm myself, I mixed my tea. Maybe the act will slow down my heart too.

"Ah, just the usual, you know how it is..." I shrugged with faked carelessness, while I did not look up to my friend. As she was capable of reading my feelings out of my eyes. That was her speciality. "It's beginning to nag me that ever single little Auror trainee thinks that I'm just some baby doll who just... jumps into their lap for a quickie... because they all have heard... some rumors."

"Why can't people finally realize that sex is not vulgar, but slut-shaming is?!" the question was purely rhetorical, of course. I snorted approvingly and tasted my tea. I haven't put enough sugar in it, but I was too lazy to take the buck out of the cupboard to flavor it again. At least the taste matched my mood. "You know what I first thought when I heard about you sleeping with Richard "extremely handsome and fit quidditch captain" Flint in Sixth Year? Good for them!"

"Who you wanted to sleep with then? Me or Richard?" I laughed weakly, but the sound came out of my like some shortage of a relieved puppy, while I quickly sipped the last sip of tea from my mug.

"Both. At the same time or separately, completely whatever!"

"Thank you for your candor, Vi! But I seriously doubt Cygnus would be happy!" I nodded with a light smile, then I pushed myself off the cupboard. "I'll go, have a bath. Nash must be here soon."

In the bathroom, I peeled off the most uncomfortable skirt in the world — which I even cast a spell on, in the morning to make it more stretchy, but the idea miserably failed — while letting hot water into the tub. At least we’ve been ahead of the Muggles in the sense of  underwear. Every single time Violetta and Lysandra walked through the Muggle districts of London and saw the boutiques, we thanked Merlin for normal bra and comfortable knickers.

If I had been wearing a Muggle fashioned bra, I would most certainly have had to defend myself more from the wanker trainees. Maybe I should have dueled once or twice at the Auror Department.

How lucky I am that I quickly learned the perfect process of a duel back in Hogwarts.

It was one of the benefits of Ravenclaw. In fact, I learned the curses and charms by rote without effort, so by the end of the sixth year I could have been a Cursebreaker with ease.

My face trembled as my toe touched the water and the sense drowned me completely. Then I had to bite into my lips not to jump out of the tub right away, but to sink into the water with my whole body. My back was straight, I was simply unable to relax. And that would be the exact reason of having a bathtub.

Eventually I tilted my head back to the edge of the tub, the water just reached my breasts, the foams forming from the shower gel swirling around me. I knew I should hurry because Nash must be sneaking in the flat soon. But all my fingers were numb. I didn’t know exactly why. From the fatigue or the news I didn’t want to hear in this lifetime.

Not even paying attention to it, I started poking the necklace pendant hanging around my neck. The small, oval, openable pendant with ciradas on it, with beautiful tendon patterns. I haven't opened it since time immemorial. Just like I haven’t dared to face many other things in a long time.

I don’t know how much I sat like that, motionless, just fidgeting with the necklace. I just shuddered as the bathroom door opened and Violetta walked in. With quick movements, she released her hair from the bun and got out of her clothes without taking her eyes off me. I slid forward so she could get behind me.

The surface began to ripple as Violetta sank into the water, her knees carefully placed on both my sides. Her black locks fell on my shoulders as she leaned against my neck and combed my hair out of the way. She hugged my waist confidently and placed her chin in my shoulder pit after pressing a soft kiss on my skin.

"And now tell me... How was your day really?" Violetta’s soft accent tickled my neck and I blew the air out that I hold in for too long, leaning into her chest as her palms began to roam my belly. The sweet caress slowly melted and relaxed me. So it was much easier to talk about my state of mind.

"Theseus is marrying Leta." words slipped out of my mouth easily, my eyes stared at the bathroom tiles without blinking, and as easy as it was to say, the air and my heart became hard afterwards.

"Oh, Lyre!" Violet sighed, sincerely sympathizing with a light pity. "I'm so sorry."

"It's just that... Reality's smacking me in the face over and over again." I admitted. Not many people could have opened me up like Violetta did. Known each other for a thousand years, she knew everything about me except for a few small incident. She knew all the vibrations of my face, all the cartilage in my body, the twists and turns of my cerebral cortex.

"We've been broken up with Theseus for... ten years now. But I still... can't get over it. I was the idiot for starting to work as an auror. I'd... rather continue to fight for the rights of house elves, my life would be much better.

"You have so much more potential than... some house-elves, Lyra!" Violetta stroked my side comfortingly, causing a weak sigh to escape my lips. "Men worth no more than professional success."

"You want me to share that with my brother?" I bantered.

"Lucky me, Cygnus is supportive. In everything." One of Violetta's hands slid up my torso and smoothed my nipple with her thumb. A wrinkled moan ran out of me and my head leaned back over her shoulder.

"I have... too many past with Theseus, that's the problem." I squeezed the words out of myself, between a few sighs, and my back arched as Vi grabbed my boob. "And the biggest ... trouble is that ... Merlin, don't stop ... I can't blame Leta. After all, Leta... is perfect. And I will forever remain the lame chick who couldn’t get over her school sweetheart."

"Lyra, you know it too that Theseus wasn't only a school fling for you." Violet whispered in my ear and the cold suddenly shook me. And not just because of her touch. "You wanted to run away with him. You wanted to marry him. You would have sacrificed everything for this love."

"Yeah, too bad Theseus doesn't even know the half of it." I laughed dryly. Ten years ago, there were a couple of grievances too fresh for me to tell him, without breaking down, or he wasn’t nearby when they happened, so I preferred to bury them in myself. And to this day, I have not dug the wounds from the depths of my soul. They were in a good place there, they didn't hurt anyone. Especially not me. “Again, this is a case where the Ravenclaw is the biggest fool in the world."

"Cut yourself some slack now! Don’t expect yourself to process such news in an hour..." I had a suspicion that even a month wouldn’t have been enough for me to process this marriage announcement. But the break sounded good. Very good.

Running away from problems, that was always my strong suit.

So... I turned my head. Violetta's face was already waiting there. With her closer hand, she touched my chin to pull it closer, and stretched her neck so she could lean over me. She leaned down, hovering in the soft exhalation that had previously left my chest. It was as if I had prayed to Merlin for diving into oblivion, and for something exciting to finally happen that would distract boredom and break me out of confusion. That I can finally escape.

Violetta softly raised my face and pressed a gentle, careful kiss into the corner of my mouth, as if to make sure I wasn't backing out. But I never backed out. If we've gotten this far, if we've already been in a tub, naked, we've both known for sure that... we wanted this to happen, for one reason or another. Because of an escape. Praying for an escape. For a minute of silence in the noise.

Violetta slid her free hand down, all the way between my legs. When I felt her delicate fingers meet my wet body, my hips rose against it and our eyes met lazily as we pulled back a little from the lasting kiss.

"Lyra." she whispered, but only barely, and then... I leaned firmly back to her lips, pressing a real, persistent, lingering, and longing, desired kiss on her tasty lips. I ran my tongue down her lower lip, that I knew makes her crazy. Her fingers also started to move on me, and my hips followed that pace. I moaned and got up a little so I could kiss her more freely. "Lyra!"

We get lost in each other’s scent and skin, in the heat dancing under our fingertips, which warmed our bodies like the spring sunshine. When she whispered my name, it was like a prayer. Yet I should have been the one who prayed and thanked Merlin for blessing Violetta with such fingers.

I sank into the delight that flooded me, trying to enjoy every minute of it. Keep it in my memories so I can pick it up when I’m alone.

With my eyes closed, just feeling her kiss and fingers... I could believe for a tiny moment that Theseus was in Violet's place. And when I rode the waves of pleasure that had completely swept me away ... I had to bite into my lips not to say the name of Theseus.

Yet, honestly, we’ve gotten to the point over the years that I’ve been satisfieThby my brother’s bride more than by Theseus in my life.
 

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

About half an hour later, we stood in the kitchen the same way we did when I got home. Violetta brushed her hair, it fell wet on the back of her pajamas. I quickly dried my own locks after we got out of the tub and stood next to my friend, wrapped in a bath-robe. I thought from experience that it made no sense to put on clothes if Nash was on his way anyway.

Nash arrived first, landing in the fireplace using the Floo network. He quickly dusted off his robe before anyone could see that it looked a little imperfect. He smirked while he smoothed his dusty blonde hair, to brush the glittery dust off there. I forced a smile on myself and welcomed him with a greeting kiss.

Violetta was the one who spared me from the embarrassing smalltalk – in which Nash would have asked if I didn't want to leave the Auror Department because Theseus was  working me "as if you were at least his house elf" – and asked Nash if they'd been interrogated someone or not. A wizard fleeing Grindelwald, who had been taken to St. Mungo's a few days earlier, Nash replied, his earlier grin on his face as he put his arm around my waist and pulled me closer.

Luckily, my brother and sister stumbled in just as the conversation had flattened out, saving us all from the awkward silence. Belvina and Cygnus, as usual, hopped to the end of the street, as I did, and arrived through the front door, after a loud noise of key rattling, as if only Cygnus wanted to warn the occupants in advance that they were coming in.

They talked to each other with a grin and everyone present greeted them with a quick hug.

"Hi, sweetheart!" Violetta smiled at her fiancé, full of love for my brother, and Cygnus, after a quick kiss, stayed next to his girl and hugged her softly, clutching a paper bag in his hand. "You haven't worked so late in a long time!  Did somehing happened?"

"One of the goblins was angry at me again because I fucked up some numbers in my weekly report. And he... Declaimed for an hour how incompetent I was for my job. Then, of course, it turned out that he was looking aside at the lines, but he no longer had a face to admit it!" Cygnus rolled his eyes, upset.

My twin brother worked at the Gringotts, in the wizards' bank, in the immediate vicinity of the goblins. He had been fighting for a mission abroad for years as a Curse Breaker (as almost all members of our family, Cy was very talented at this), something he had rejected a few years ago and had been regretting ever since. Papa became ill at the time, and although he did not ask us for anything — in fact, he downright refused all pity, help, and worked as the headmaster of Hogwarts until the day of his death —, Cygnus remained at home with a heavy heart as he felt obligated.

Our father would have called this a weak act. Both family and career were important principles in the Black family. But if some of us had to choose between a high position and a sick relative (who was... pretty helpless anyway), we had to choose the position, without thinking.

"Speaking of superiors... Lyra!" I looked up to my sister as soon as she started the sentence. I widened my eyes, taking the last chance that Belvina maybe understands my sign and leave the subject. Please don't talk, please don't say his name! But no. My sister was never good at recognizing nonverbal cues. She didn't see the sudden panic on my face. "Did you talk to Theseus?"

"With Scamander? Why?" Nash's hand pressed an ant harder against my waist, virtually unnoticed. I chewed on the inside of my face and knew I only had seconds to say a sentence that wasn’t a little ambiguous or suspicious.

"Belvina wondered what was going on with the whole Grindelwald case," I finally declared, responding to Nash, smuggling fatigue and boredom into my words, playing with indifference. It was a tone in which I was a professional. Then I looked at Bel. "And he said he knows nothing. They are only now getting the information from the MACUSA. No one can say anything new yet other than what was in the Prophet."

In the end, I shrugged, though I just guessed this information. I tried to infer logically from the words of Theseus, and I hoped I would not say such great stupidity that Nash, an employee of the Department of Mysteries, does not recognize or know about things to the contrary.

Merlin, just don't have that much Ravenclaw knowledge in vain!

"Okay, guys! Quit talking about work now!" Cygnus waved impatiently, and I blew out my breath with relief and let out a light smile to Nash. As I whispered a prayer to Merlin for the existence of my brother. And Cy flied the bag to us , as a signal. "Coca Cola! The only good thing that comes from the Muggles!"

With the help of Violetta, the small bottles were unpacked on the kitchen counter from which the water had dripped, indicating that the soft drink was still cold inside. With a grin, I took one and got rid of the metal cap with a quick spell.

"This was the most pureblood thing I've ever heard!" I rolled my eyes, reflecting to Cy's previous statement.

"But why? With the many shit we have to suffer through because of the Muggles, at least we can thank them for Coca Cola!" My brother argued against me right away, then gladly drank into the drink and hummed contentedly.

"Yeah, I'm sure that equals out the damages caused by the Great War!" I said ironically. I haven’t had a problem with Coca Cola since Cy made us all fell in love with it, he brought some cans home pretty often after work, and as purebloods, this was our mandatory rebellion.

"Salazar, what a luck that I have this shoulder injury because of my perfect Quidditch career over the years, and I didn't have to enlist to the war." Cygnus was old enough to enlist after he finished school, as did our whole year.

The war did not only affect the Muggles. The wizards also had to get involved. My brother theatrically patted that shoulder, which really wasn’t perfect, considering he used it quite a lot for six years as a Slytherin's Keeper.

"I doubt that Papa would ever let you go!" Belvina interrupted, and the three of us's face trembled. Papa’s loud mention always brought this out of us.

"But then at least you could be the great war hero, and not the perfect handsome boy, Scamander! A pureblood would definitely be better than a sleazy little half-blood!" Nash's words sparked a stronger reaction from me than mentioning our father.
In my anger, I squeezed the cold glass in my hand and tried to restrain myself from throwing it to Nash's head.

As I knew him, he would have find it... Amusing.

Fortunately, the cold also prevented the images of memory associated with the war from spinning through my brain. That is why I was immeasurably grateful.

"Well ... I'm sure Theseus deserved it." Cygnus, unlike Belvina, could read of my face, and not just because we were twins. He knew all about my past with Theseus. And he tried to refine Nash's sentences. "I wouldn't  dare to enroll into auror training, even if the war hero label required it."

"You can't blame the poor bloke, he always wants to play a hero!" I shouted in myself.

Theseus is a hero! He doesn’t just pretend it, and he does not do anything just because his interests desires it. He is the most selfless person I know.

He is a real hero. He saved me more times than anyone else in the world. He took care of me when no one else knew what was going on in my life.

Theseus will be a bigger person than Nash will ever be. Bigger wizard. Bigger man.

He is more than Nash Malfoy in so many ways that I can’t even list it within myself.

But I still had to go to my room with Nash as he put his arm around my waist. To my room, where the presence of Theseus Salmander did not sway the air — obviously, since he had never been there before.

I had to let Nash kiss me where Violetta did just a few minutes ago. His kisses moved to my neck, which made me smile reflexively. That he was the one who praised me during kisses as he took off my robe. He hugged me as I imagined other man's arms in his place.

I tried to enjoy. And in most cases, I actually succeeded. Nash was furiously handsome and fantastic in bed. But that day simply ... I couldn’t abstract from the bad feeling in my stomach. When his fingers dug a little into the flesh of my back, I tried to control the vibrations of my face.

I closed my eyes and tried to surrender myself to the feeling. As he penetrated me, stroked, combed my hair ... I was just seeking for pleasure, nothing else. I wrapped my legs around his waist, kissed him, and ... in the end, I believed it was good that way.

I moaned loudly and dug my head in his shoulder. Maybe because it was easier to imagine someone else by not looking at him. And that was the second time that day that I tried to imagine someone else than I currently snogged with. I climaxed and it was beautiful. But not real.

But he didn't know that.

He hopped beside me in bed as I pulled the blanket over myself, fighting the unpleasant waves running down my side. I turned to my side, Nash looked at me with a gentle smile that he only wore on himself in the bedroom and smoothed my hair out of my face. He stroked my arm all the way with an unusually warm touch, and finally stopped at my collarbone.

Where my necklace hung.

"I've been thinking about asking ... what's in your necklace?" I shuddered as Nash took my pendant between his fingers. I looked down as if I had just realized that there was something around my neck.

"I don't know anymore ... I haven't opened it in ten years," I shook my head. I’ve lied to him several times that I don’t even know where the necklace is from, that I’ve never even opened it, and I couldn't open it , even with a spell.

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to face memories. It hurts too much."

And Nash leaned over to kiss me.

It was another thing that we Blacks are good at. In lying and diversion.

After all, I knew exactly what was in the pendant. I knew who I got it from.

But it was true that I didn’t want to face it.

cheers, wizards, witches and muggles!!!! *british accent*

i've finally finished translating this long-long chapter ❤❤❤

in this chapter, you can meet with not one, not two but three new characters!!! cygnus, violetta and nash! 

and you can get to know a little bit more about lyra's childhood

i hope you all liked this chapter, so comment any any thought you might have had during reading

fyi: english is still my second language, i'm not far from perfect but i'm sure that there are grammar mistakes and some phrases or some words i used wrongly, so... just have faith in me ❤❤❤❤😍😍😍