Bad Romance

Chapter 46

Chapter 46: Blacks and Lestranges

Corvus Lestrange was the first of the parents to arrive for lunch. His expression was pensive as Harold showed him into the library. "What have the three of you done," he asked in concern, words spilling out in a rush. As his gaze took in Narcissa and Lucius, he nodded a greeting at them, clearly as an afterthought.

Corvus, like his eldest son, had a wide stocky build and strong jaw with sharp intelligent black eyes. One to take care of his health, he had aged well with only a bit of gray at his hairline.

"Hi, Dad," Rodolphus said, lips twitching slightly. "Nice to see you too."

Before Corvus could reply, Rabastan spoke up in his usual cheeky fashion. "Well, Bellatrix and Rodolphus technically did do something, but it was back in the nineties, so you can relax." He grinned at his father.

"You were so vague in the letter, Bellatrix, it had me worried," Corvus said. "What's going on?"

"Sit down, and relax, Dad. It's alright," Bellatrix said, giving him a warm smile.

The man was like a second father to her. He'd seen her as a daughter from the time she and Rod had begun to seriously date in their fifth year at Hogwarts. Though Corvus was gruff and didn't often express emotion, it was obvious that he cared a great deal for all of them.

"I simply did not wish to share sensitive information in a letter in case it got intercepted," Bellatrix explained. "I also didn't want to give you that sort of news in such an impersonal way."

"What sort of news," Corvus asked, sinking into an armchair beside the fire.

Bellatrix drew in a deep breath, realizing that she hadn't exactly decided how to say it nor had she brainstormed with Rodolphus.

Interpreting the look on her face, Lyra leaned forward, winking at Bellatrix before turning to Corvus. "Hi, Granddad. I'm Lyra Lestrange."

Bellatrix watched Corvus's dark eyes widen as he took in the similarities to both Bellatrix and Rodolphus in Lyra's face. His startled expression made it clear that he hadn't even noticed her sitting in the corner beside a tall bookshelf. "And why was I not aware of you before, young lady," he asked.

"Because we only knew ourselves a few days ago, and then things got rather insane, so we haven't had much time to share the news," Bellatrix explained.

Together she and Rod told the story of Voldemort's request to perform sex magic for him, the odd winged clicking thing that may, or may not, have been his Horcrux or something worse that they had kept from entering them. Along with how they'd had Lyra in Australia when visiting that branch of the Lestrange family. At last they concluded with their choice to forget about her in order to keep her safe from the Dark Lord.

Corvus shook his head when they stopped speaking. "That's a lot to take in. I wish I had known. You kids have had to deal with so much on your own."

Rodolphus shrugged, waving his father's concern off with a casual gesture of one hand. "Nah. We didn't want anyone to know. The more people who did, the more challenging it would've been to keep her safe."

Corvus nodded reluctantly. "I suppose you're right. How did you reunite, then," he asked.

"I saw the article about Mum's article in the paper and my aunt and uncle encouraged me to come and see them. They said the way the spell worked, they'd remember me as soon as they saw me."

Bellatrix nodded. "The forget spell was linked to Lyra so that if we ever saw her again, we'd remember. Jehan and Agrona promised to return her to us if Voldemort died and we ended up evading prison. Unfortunately, as we were working secretly for the Ministry for all this time, they never knew and as we had no memory of Lyra, of course, we didn't consider letting them know."