Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

The Raven's Song	By : Quills Category: HP Canon Characters paired with Original Characters > Het - Male/Female Views: 6265 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 20
- 21
- 22
Though Lyra dutifully went through all the motions as she sat at her desk in the Ministry, her head was spinning wildly out of control. Despite all the chaos that had consumed the department as preparations for Harry’s hearing reached fever-point, she could think of nothing but the bolt out of the blue Sirius had delivered.

Though what they had together was far more than a mere fling even before they had found out about the baby, a marriage proposal had been the very last thing she expected from him. He had never spoken of love, or even any emotion at all beyond the possessive jealousy she knew he felt so fiercely. If all he saw her as was a possession, then Lyra knew marriage would only bring misery, for what she felt for him was so much more than that; their furious argument had given her all the proof she needed of that.

She had hated the way that Sirius spoke to her and the words he had let slip, but they had been able to do nothing to stop her from flying into his arms the moment he spoke the command. She knew why it was, and it was for that reason that she feared she would be unable to give him the answer he wanted.

Lyra was wholly and inescapably in love with Sirius – and he did not love her back. He could not give her what she needed, for what she yearned for from him was far more than he gave. If she married him, then it had to be in the confidence that she held his heart, and Sirius was not a man given to allowing his emotions to spill through. All that drove him was the bitter fury and resentment he felt over his false incarceration; that, and the possessive jealousy he clearly felt with such abundance when it came to her. That, though, did not necessarily translate into love, and when even a proposal of marriage had come without any mention of love, the only conclusion could be that he was incapable of loving her in the way she needed him to.

Becoming aware that for a rare moment the office around her was calm and peaceful, she snatched the opportunity to lay her heavy head on her desk. Just as she had wryly predicted what seemed like a lifetime ago, she had been at the Ministry for nearly twenty four hours now – and of those, not a single minute had passed in which she had not thought of Sirius. No sooner had she closed her eyes than her mind exploded with his image seared into it once more, but before she could even try to sort through the painful emotions that accompanied it Mafalda Hopkirk bustled to a halt in front of the desk, her hair flying out in every direction and her eyes wild as she frantically rifled through the papers in front of Lyra.

“Come on, Miss Menadue, the hearing begins in an hour!”

Lyra’s eyes widened in incredulous disbelief as she hastily checked the clock to make sure she hadn’t lost half the morning inadvertently sleeping. “An hour?! Miss Hopkirk, that’s not right.”

“It is now,” the older woman said, her words tripping off her tongue so fast that Lyra barely understood what she was saying. “The Minister has changed the arrangements, and we can do nothing but obey his word. The hearing is going to be in Courtroom Ten.”

The gravity of all she was hearing slammed into her like a freight train. “Ten? Then –“

“Yes. The Wizengamot are already assembling.”

Lyra could barely breathe, for thought Dumbledore had warned against subterfuge, none of them had expected this. Fudge clearly intended to stop at nothing to discredit Harry, and at the age of just fourteen, alone Harry could not be expected to stand up to the full weight of all the Minister intended to throw at him.

Yet there was one person who could help. If she was swift, there was time enough to get a message to one of the Order – and Lyra knew precisely who it would have to be. With a tight smile, she excused herself on the pretext of needing the bathroom and locked herself in before warily withdrawing her wand and pointing it towards the window. Taking a leaf out of her former headmaster’s book, she whispered the scant words there were time for and then unleashed her canine Patronus to streak through the air, carrying to him the warning that was all that could save Harry now.

That done, she gritted her teeth and fought back her consuming nausea to throw herself back into the chaos now consuming the office. Swept away on the tide of it, time flew past until she found herself being ushered brusquely into the very bowels of the Ministry where they would find the infamous Courtroom Ten, scene of so many trials in the past where the very worst atrocities had been judged. It seemed brutally unfair that a teenage boy would now stand there to await his fate, especially when he had already endured so much, but all she could do now was put her trust in Dumbledore to steer Harry safely through this next test.

Lyra’s body was strained to its limit, torn in every direction by the weight of her physical and emotional exhaustion. She was falling to pieces, and all she wanted was a time turner to take her back to last night and the security of Sirius’s arms, for everywhere she turned now turmoil lay ahead. Tears pooled in her eyes, and she had to blink them back and force herself to focus as Fudge strode into the courtroom flanked by a pair of silent Aurors. His face was black as thunder, boding ill for what was to come as time ticked past with no sign of Harry or Dumbledore.

Becoming more afraid by the moment that her Patronus had not reached the headmaster in time, she leaned forward in her seat next to the court scribe, Arthur and Molly’s estranged son, and battled to calm herself as the potential consequences whirled through her mind. Finally, just as she began to give up hope, Harry burst through the doors and stumbled awkwardly towards his seat, clearly overwhelmed by all that surrounded him. The Minister barely gave him a chance to draw breath before beginning the harsh line of questioning, and Lyra’s hand clenched furiously around her wand as it became clear that he cared for nothing but achieving his selfish goals. Harry was struggling and badly so, and though she could do nothing to help him, the temptation to leap to his defence near overwhelmed her.

Just as she began to fear she could fight it no longer, the doors swung open once more to reveal the desperately welcome sight of Dumbledore himself, a calm smile upon his face that did nothing to mask the simmering fury in those startlingly blue eyes she knew so well. She didn’t doubt for even a moment he would keep Harry safe now he was here, and with a low sigh of relief she sunk back into her seat as events played out to their conclusion around her.

Waiting only to see Harry returned to the safe custody of Arthur Weasley outside the courtroom, Lyra retreated to her office to assist with the paperwork until Amelia Bones realised she could barely keep her eyes open any longer. With a crisp admonition and orders to take the next two days as leave, her superior ushered her away from the office and out of the Ministry to Apparate home.

However, for the first time, returning home to Grimmauld Place was no longer the welcome sanctuary it had once been. Badly unnerved by that unwelcome realisation, she lingered for a few moments longer on the top step, then drew a deep breath of resignation and lifted her hand.

Sirius had clearly been waiting for her, for the instant she knocked on the door it was wrenched open from within. Hope flickered in his eyes and then died when she dropped her gaze towards the worn carpet and silently moved into his possessive embrace. Though she knew what lay ahead, she could not resist the compulsion to be held by him, not when it was the only thing with the power to soothe her. Laying her heavy and aching head on his shoulder, she closed her eyes as he let the door swing shut behind her.

“You okay?” he eventually said, his voice low and strained. “You’ve been gone for ages, Lyra. I was beginning to think you weren’t coming back.”

His weak attempt at humour failed to raise a smile from either of them. “As if I could stay away,” Lyra said, drawing a deep breath to allow his scent to wrap around her before she realised to her consternation that the intimacy was only worsening the pain she felt. “Is Harry back safely?”

“Arthur brought him back an hour or so ago. They’re all in the kitchen, Lyra; are you coming through to get something to eat?”

“No thanks. I’m exhausted,” she said evasively, still not daring to meet his eyes as he drew a sharp breath. “Sirius, I can barely remember my name right now, let alone think of anything else. Please, for the baby’s sake if not mine, I need to sleep.”

The silence between them was laden with tension, but Sirius let loose his hold on her with a heavy sigh. “Fine. Head on up then, Lyra, and I’ll bring you something to eat when you’re ready to face it. Is there anything else?”

Tears stung at Lyra’s eyes and she turned away so he would not see them. They both knew she knew what he meant by that. She was hurting him, she knew that, but to give him the answer he didn’t want to hear would only hurt him more. “No, nothing else,” she finally said. “I’ll see you later, then.”

“Sure.”

But she wasn’t sure of anything, not any more.
- 20
- 21
- 22
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

The Raven's Song