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

[serpentfangs]

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...

Comments

[alphaophiuchi]

It had been ages since Draco had last gone anywhere near the Hogwarts Express; he attributed the flutter of nerves entirely to that, rather than whatever else it might have been. Bad memories of the last few times he'd seen it, or a general desire to get back to the better years, when he'd stalked down the train with his Prefect's badge proudly affixed to his robes, or something else along those lines.

But for the most part, he was quite satisfied with the last few years and the way they'd gone. Things had bounced back. He had a proper life, one he could boast about. In fact, the one thing he could guarantee his nerves weren't about was being out in public, picking up his half-vampire little sister.

Draco wound his way through the throng of people quickly, still wearing his robes from the hospital - which was working in his favour; people were getting out of his way, thinking there might be an emergency somewhere - as he searched for that familiar head of blonde hair. Of course, she'd likely have better luck finding him first, given how tall he was, but that was neither here nor there.

The fact that she'd latched onto that one line from that one letter went unrealised; he was oblivious to Lyra's plans as he finally spied her and made his way over with a lighter tone and smile than his words might otherwise suggest. "They kept me a minute or two later than I wanted. Apparently picking you up wasn't high enough on their priority list to let me go on time."