serpentfangs | ~but mercy is above this sceptred sway { closed to alphaophiuchi }

Lyra had been looking forward to coming home for the holidays for weeks. Oh, never mistake her - she loved Hogwarts. As much as nearly every generation of young wizards of the past loved the school. She would miss her new friends, the lively feasting hall meals, the many hours lost in the library, teas on weekends at the gamekeeper's hut, the misadventures in the many winding stone passages of the halls, the gatherings in the Slytherin common room, even the the lessons.

(Most of the professors too, she supposed - although some not as much. Her last mark from Professor Binns on a small exam he had posted just before holidays was burning a hole in her pocket, the only gloom threatening to dim her shine the whole way home. Shockingly mediocre - unacceptable for a Malfoy.)

But she had never been away, really away, from the Manor for the first eleven years of her life. And after the months away at Hogwarts, she did miss it so. It would be good to come again, if only for a short time. Before it was back to the castle, and her friends and their scrapes, and learning more new magic.

She hadn't bothered changing out of her Hogwarts uniform on the train ride back. She knew how proud it would make Mother and Father to see her in her Slytherin green. Her favorite barrettes, designed to look like black and silver striped serpents, were in her hair, and she had on an unbuttoned black cloak to help keep herself warm as she waited at the platform with her trunk and her horned owl hooting gently from its cage.

She passed the time waiting by already working on one of the letters she would be sending to her friends, as soon as she arrived at the Manor safe - some thought her a bit mad, but Lyra loved writing and getting letters, and she intended firmly to keep in touch with her new companions over the holidays. She must at least write them once, maybe twice or even three times.

Mother had written to let her know that Draco would be picking her up on his way by from Saint Mungo's, that he would be bringing her to the Manor by himself. This was perfectly fine by Lyra who was looking forward to showing her elder brother how grownup she had surely become in the time since her becoming a real, full-fledged student of Hogwarts.

Also there were a few things on her mind, that she wanted to talk to him about while they were alone. Though it was such a little thing really, it was still nagging at her, that bit about Portia's cousin...

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Draco couldn't help himself: he did flinch. Just a little bit. He tried not to, but it happened anyway.

"Oh?" He asked, voice slightly pitchy with awkward surprise. It apparently hadn't helped any that he'd already run through the possibility in his head; that Lyra was so openly stating it was enough to render him down to sputtering bemusement. "Well, that's- I-"

He cleared his throat again.

Good thing she'd already moved on.

"Scarves are always popular. Tori has a few that I've given her. Though sometimes I wonder if she only wears them because I gave them to her and she doesn't want to offend me," he hummed, considering that thoughtfully as well. At least it provided a nice foil to the previous admission.

Fortunately - for them both, perhaps - the nuance of Draco's reaction went right over Lyra's very young and easily distracted head. She was admittedly self-absorbed in that naive way belonging to children. Especially ones whose names were 'Malfoy'.

There was only so much awareness that could be expected from a girl for whom so much in life had already been all about her, anyway.

Brightly, unthinking, Lyra went on, "Well I don't know about that, it does seem a bit like the kind of thing that she might do to humor you. But a scarf is a nice place to start. Do you think it should be something really, really nice, or maybe more practical?"

Ah, Lyra. It was both a blessing and a curse, though Draco could, at least, now see exactly why he'd been so exasperating as a child. And probably now, for that matter. He wouldn't deny that he was definitely still exasperating at times. He just hoped he wasn't quite so exasperating.

(Exasperating. What a good word.)

"Oh, thank you," he drawled, rolling his eyes a little. It was a good thing he was no longer quite so quick to offend either, though. "Go with practical. You hardly want to open with something really, really nice, and have her flit away. Besides, you'd be setting unrealistic expectations, probably."

"You really think that?" It wasn't a question, more like an incredulous accusing demand. "You really think she'll 'flit away'? For one thing as I said, she's in the same room as me. Bed right next to, a matter of fact. So it's not like she could get very far," she concluded, huffily.

And then picking up another little cake from the tray between them, in lieu of biting in right away she turned her nose up at him, and gave a little toss of her head that sent those platinum blonde locks shaking beautifully.

"Even if she wanted to try. Which she wouldn't." She bit her sweet for emphasis, sinking her fangs in first. "Honestly, Draco. You act as if you've never had a real friend before."

Spoken in that worldly know it all tone of a child addressing someone much older than them as if they are, nonetheless, an idiot.

"You really never know," he pointed out mildly, regarding his little sister thoughtfully and not without some amusement. She was so optimistic, so upbeat, so unable to believe anything negative. He was fine with it, as long as no one broke her heart for it.

She was just as pretentious as he'd been at her age, and it was definitely entertaining.

"Well, then. Perhaps I haven't," Draco hummed mildly, shrugging one shoulder as he sank his teeth into a cake of his own. "What would you say to that, o worldly sister of mine?"

~but mercy is above this sceptred sway { closed to alphaophiuchi }

oh noes

OHH YEAH

FLEEEEEEE

FLY, YOU FOOLS

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