INSTEAD, james potter [1]

Chapter Sixty-Eight

Lyra's appreciation for Ted Tonks couldn't be described with words. Not only had he taken such good care of her sister, Andromeda, who had been tortured and abandoned by those who were supposed to love her, not only had he been a good father to her niece, but he had agreed to help her save herself from the Dark Lord. 

He had answered her letter almost immediately, saying he was glad to hear from her, and so was her sister. They had been incredibly worried after she stopped writing them after Christmas. Little Nymphadora missed her Auntie Lyra. 

Lyra wouldn't admit it if anybody asked her, but she spent the rest of that night clutching the letter to her chest and crying herself to sleep. That part of her family was still too good for the world, loving her even after she had abandoned them. Still willing to do her favors. She adored them even if she couldn't tell anyone she did. 

Ted would arrange everything, he swore he would. Most of the journalists at the Daily Prophet wouldn't want to do such a task, thinking it would only be some sort of gossip and ass-kissing article. He was sure he'd find someone to do it. He wished he could, but he knew he wouldn't be welcome in the land of the pure and prejudiced. 

She understood, though she wished it could be him. It would be nice to have some sort of connection to her favorite sister with her, even if she knew they were worlds apart. Ted had also grown on her during her last summer home from school, acting like a proper brother-in-law. (He was definitely her favorite, not that she'd ever tell Hector or Rodolphus).

It didn't take long for a letter to come from the Daily Prophet, asking about which days they would be available to do interviews and how many they would like to do. Lucius and Lyra had both been relieved at the confirmation that their plan would work. If it didn't, they knew it would have consequences. 

The time had come for their first interview. For now, they had planned to have at least three, but if they went well, then they might get to do more. Lyra could do as many necessary for her not to becoming a Death Eater, like her fiancé.

She found herself sitting in front of her vanity, doing all sorts of beauty spells that she had either learned from her mother, sisters, former classmates or Witch Weekly. All of whom were great teachers.

Lyra wanted (no, needed) to put her best foot forward for the interview. It was absolutely necessary that this would make young witches and wizards adore them and their relationship, no matter how much the idea disgusted her. There wasn't anything to adore as far as she knew. 

That's why they would have to fake all of it. She faked her curls, faked her smiles, faked her love for her fiancé. She wondered how good she would be at lying once she was finally done with the interviews. 

She looked at the beautiful pearl necklace that Lucius had given her, debating whether or not she should put it on. She eventually decided not to, even if she knew Lucius would want her to. Maybe she wasn't 100% done with being a bit rebellious, only choosing to make it more subtle nowadays. 

She turned as she heard three curt knocks on her open bedroom door. Lucius stood there, looking her over in approval, also looking quite smart and dressed up in his finest dress robes. "Are you ready, Lyra?"

She forced a small smile to appear on her lips, because she wasn't ever going to be ready to pretend to love a man she barely even knew, though she had lived with him for over a month by now. "Yes, thank you."

"I hope I don't have to remind you how much is riding on this," Lucius said quite seriously, slicking his platinum blond hair back as he spoke. "It's important that you play your part well. That we both do."

"You don't have to remind me," Lyra answered coolly, putting the jewelry box with the pearl necklace in a drawer. "I'm the one who set all this up, not you. I'm the one who will be facing the consequences if we, or you, fail. I should be reminding you."