Thicker than Water (Marauders Era)

16 October, 1979 - News

"Thanks, love," Sirius murmured, giving her a peck on the cheek and helping a blushing Lavinia place tea bags in the cups before joining the others in the living room.

He had started doing that lately, calling her 'love'. She didn't mind, really and it made her blush like an idiot every time, but sometimes she wondered if she should have given him a pet name as well. Not that she had any ideas. Pet names had never particularly appealed to her if she was honest. Not that she was going to tell Sirius to stop because it did make her feel rather fuzzy inside but -

Lavinia was interrupted but the shrieking whistle of the tea kettle. Hushing it, more out of instinct than anything, she picked it up and poured the water into the mugs, setting them carefully on a tray before adding little containers of cream and sugar and levitating the whole thing. A moment later, Lavinia was in the living room, settling the tray onto the coffee table and tucking her wand into her pocket as she passed the mugs around.

"Rough meeting?" she asked, picking up her own mug and glancing around at her friends' tired faces as she perched herself on the corner of the coffee table next to where Sirius sat on one end of the couch.

James groaned and Lily nodded, forcing a smile. Lavinia frowned but left it at that. However much she worried and however curious she might be, she knew better than to ask. She had once and the ensuing awkward silence had been enough to tell her that what happened during Order meetings wasn't her business. She had tried not to mind, especially since both Sirius and Remus had looked so terribly apologetic, but it rankled her more than she cared to admit. It wasn't just the Order's war, after all and she might not be fighting, but that didn't mean it didn't matter to her what was going on out there.

"Did you read the Prophet today?" asked Remus, no doubt reading the curiosity she had attempted to hide as he gestured to the paper still sitting on the coffee table..

Lavinia pursed her lips slightly and nodded, wary of prying. "Is that the only bad news, though?" she pressed. If there was more... well, it would probably only be worse.

James snorted. "Well yes," he conceded and relief washed over her, "But it is very bad news."

Lavinia sighed and shrugged slightly. Obviously he was right, but she did think it could have been a whole lot worse. "At least it's expected," she pointed out.

"Of course you would expect bad news, sunshine," James muttered, rolling his eyes but looking rather tense despite his teasing tone.

Lavinia shot him a frown. "Yes," she returned, a bit baffled.. "I expected this. Obviously it's bad but... well. They were bound to get to this sometime. Isn't their goal basically to establish pureblood supremacy? Blood traitors counter their agenda by definition."

"How are you so calm about this?" squeaked Peter and Lavinia remembered with a slight jolt that he might well be labeled a blood traitor as well. As far as she knew his lineage wasn't exactly pure, but it hardly mattered. Besides, he was already in the Order. It wasn't like he didn't already have a target on his back. Then again, it was Peter and Lavinia had never been sure how much he really wanted to be a part of this fight.

"I don't know," Lavinia replied honestly, watching her friends carefully. Had they really not seen this coming? Or was it just that they had hoped it would never happen? "I guess I just assumed it was bound to happen."

"But this makes you a target now too," Lily pointed out and Lavinia didn't miss the worry in her voice however much the other girl tried to disguise it.

Lavinia frowned and glanced around at her friends' tight faces. Was that why they thought she should be more worried about this? Because they thought she was suddenly a target? Because they thought her life was now in danger and she wasn't particularly phased by it? She glanced at Sirius, whose jaw was clenched and couldn't help but remember the words she'd once spoke to him, in a much darker time: If I'm lucky, I'll lose my life too. Did he think her lack of fear at this news hinted at something darker? At a quiet sort of death wish? Not that he didn't have reason to worry, she supposed. He had experienced enough of her bad days to know how dark her head sometimes got but... but this time it really wasn't. She hadn't even though about such morbid things in... in a long while.