The Snake Skinned Lioness (part 1 of 2)

Consequences

Contrary to Snape’s belief that Lyra hadn’t noticed his injuries, the girl had and was in fact fuming with her adopted sibling. Oh, she knew it was him alright. For a start Lucius’ and the Carrows’ magics were all over him like they had been with Tippy, and the bruises were strategically placed in a way that could only be his doing. She kept it away from the boy of course, he was already in enough pain, and she needed to apologise to Sirius and James; they could be mean but there was no way they would do this to him, she shouldn’t have compared them. Ever. With her magic bubbling away she strode with more confidence than she felt and crashed into Remus who had been out searching for her.

“We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” He chuckled and rubbed his head as she steadied herself.

“Sorry,” She said abashed. “Sorry for last night too, I got caught up in…” He raised a hand to stop her rambling kindly.

“It’s not me you need to apologise to Ly, but we’ll get to that later.” Remus straightened up and brushed away the dirt from his robes. Her hair was even more untamed than usual and her eyes a darker shade of worry than he liked. Even Pete would notice this, he thought distractedly. “Why are you on the war path?”

“I’m not.”

“Really?” He said, curling a sparking strand of her hair round his finger. “So this is just how you wake up huh?” Lyra scowled. She did not need this right now. She needed food before her animal instincts hunted Lucius round the castle; when they were younger she would have given in and been punished. As a result, food became a way of taking a step back before getting even.

“I’ll tell you tonight, you’re right I need to apologise to the others first. Can we go in now please its freezing!”

“You would go jogging in shorts and t-shirt and no warming charms,” He chortled before casting one and huckling her indoors, leaving his questions out to the chilly autumn fog. His wolf was more concerned with mending his would-be pack at any rate and was growling round the girl who was shaking the left-over magic out of her blonde locks in front of them. She slipped into her uniform behind a statue and walked, the picture of calm, into the Great Hall.

The tables were decked with the typical breakfast splendour of cereals, porridge, bacon, sausages, eggs and the like each flanked by hot and cold refreshments and the flurry of owl wings as the mail arrived. It was normal. Peaceful, in spite of the ruckus the students were making as they prepared for the day’s lessons. As though strategically placed, the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs straddled the middle laughing and genuinely enjoying the morning while their other houses seethed at each other from a distance. The Gryffindor table was sparse, it being too early for most of them to dare show their faces with their prefect sat doing tie inspections to meet her exacting standards. Only Alice and Frank seemed oblivious to the tension at the table as they tried in vain to lighten the mood. In almost mirror image were the Slytherins were quiet, watchful and sat in staggered hierarchy with Lyra’s newest friend sat at the very edge of Lucius’ line of sight, his head bowed over a steaming bowl of porridge. He didn’t look at her. The beginnings of camaraderie they had shared that morning shelved somewhere near the pumpkin juice by her brother’s left hand. Only Lucius and his crew were showing any kind of mirth and Narcissa was nowhere to be seen as per usual- she hated mornings. Remus watched as Lyra strode purposefully toward that table with a cold expression and address Malfoy and the Carrows directly.

“Ah, sister,” Lucius crooned, “Come to your senses at last?”

“Only in as much as I’m more certain of my choice than before. I see you’ve been enacting familial methods of control,” She replied gesturing to the flinching lower ranks along the table. The fear in their eyes as they looked at her made her innards tremble and the dark voice at the back of her magic grin gleefully, but she squashed it and kept going.

“Ha, well one of us had to make my parents proud, why are you here?”

“To remind you of our  father’s tenant of defending what is ours. You should take greater care over your charges given that you are their head boy. One would hate to think that the Malfoy name was being besmirched by something as lowly as failing to protect family members from bullies now.” Snape did his best to keep his choking down to a dull uproar, he couldn’t believe she’d just done that? How could she rat her supposed friends out to him of all people? Narcissa smirked as she entered, having already cast an eavesdrop charm on the situation, and winked at the confused werewolf by her side knowing exactly what she was referring to. While Lucius was cruel he never laid a finger on his subordinates magically or physically if he could avoid it, except when he needed to prove himself the leader and she had let slip that the Carrow twins had been challenging him of late. Her vague disappointment more of a cue to get his cronies in tow and back off her friends than direct accusation. In truth it had nothing to do with Potter or Black and all to do with controlling her brother’s vicious ego.

“My dear sister I assure you…”

“Words are pointless brother, just get it done. I would so hate to see you fall after all.” She smirked casting dark looks at Amycus who was looking steadily more murderous as she interfered.

“I will have no fear. I see you came to home for tutoring that was well done.”

“Yes and I would so hate to see that good work undone by unruly subordinates, can…” Before she could finish her veiled threat Alecto was on her feet her wand in Lyra’s face, the angular vein in the middle of her forehead pulsating as she threw the younger girl back. Remus swore and went to charge in only to be held back the prettier (in his humble opinion) Black in time to see Lyra hide a genuine smile.

“She planned this, didn’t she?” He whispered as the older girl nodded and held a delicate finger to her lips.

“She’s protecting all of you, Snape too by making Lucy do his job and provoking a detentionable reaction from his cronies. The teachers will back her even if she casts a spell now, forcing them to back down to save face. Quite ingenious really.” Narcissa murmured her face full of pride for the lion cub she loved like a sister. She had no doubt Lyra’s bravery would land them at opposite ends of a fight eventually, but she couldn’t help admiring the ferocity that she was capable of, as Alecto was about to find out.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the school the Carrow twins had a shared mind they chatted through constantly and even if one of them couldn’t work something out the other could. It was exceptionally useful in moments where tests of any kind were being administered and yet… when it came to the smallest Malfoy all either of them saw was red. Hatred had felt like too mild a term since she had dared to interrupt their play with the Malfoy house elves, her untamed magic inflicting every wound she received from one twin on the other tenfold. They had never told Abraxas or anyone else for that matter, but they did not forgive, and every time she had gotten them into trouble and denied them access to the connections they wanted at the balls only compounded the issue. It was high time, in their mind, that she faced the consequences for that.

Alecto stood on the Slytherin table levitating the young Gryffindor off the messy tables and dropped her flat on her back laughing with a madness all her own as she whimpered. Knee reversal jinxes and cutting hexes followed, the teachers being kept away by her brother levitating tables at them as Lucius screamed for order. Lyra rolled under the Ravenclaw table and sprang up catching her off guard as her brother rendered the other Carrow unconscious. She screamed with rage, her eyes narrowed, ears deaf the frantic cries around her as she dug into her curse book for the brat and started the spell.

“Os du…”

“Anatikula!” Lyra’s Welsh lilt gloated. Alecto’s spell short circuited, firing her into the air and changing the colour of her wand to a bright neon yellow. She tried again and this time a duckling the same shade as her wand formed on the floor and quacked at her, more ducklings following suit as she screamed more and more spells. Gone was the fear of five minutes before as the whole hall started laughing and cooing at the ducks. Their laughter was quickly dispelled as the Headmaster waltzed in and Remus hoiked Lyra to her feet.

“Off to class early, all of you, except those involved here.” Half in relief half in disappointment the rest of the students left and Narcissa squeezed the boy’s shoulder to get him to leave. Remus grimaced but followed when Lyra nodded gratefully to the fourth year and mouthed she’d catch him later.

Sirius hated apologies. Hated giving them, receiving them, and having to deal with the fall out it was all too… awkward really. However, when Lyra had approached them after her lunchtime detention to say sorry and make it up to them, he’d been relieved by it. It threw him how he was constantly re-evaluating things since he got to Hogwarts; affection was a weapon and then James being the most open and caring person he’d ever met, apologies were for the weak yet apologising to Lyra and Lily made him feel better, having followers was a must still, Peter Pettigrew’s trailing after him making him queasy. Whenever he tried to think too hard about it, his head ache only got worse so naturally he avoided it, which is why he knew this was the best apology he’d ever gotten. What better way to distract yourself than by sneaking a bucket of especially slimy slugs into the Slytherin Common Room with your friends?

Lyra had come back from detention early as her and Remus needed to make their way to his mothers (or so he thought) and told him the plan. Her apology was stilted but it came none the less and James had explained that they were giving Severus the benefit of the doubt. Lurking in the tunnel to the empty Slytherin Common Room at 2am, Sirius remembered how bright her smile in relief had been to him and was glad the darkness hid his blush. Only she could make him do that and while it infuriated him he was glad she was relaxed round him; after seeing her home life first hand Merlin knew she needed it. It was partly why he had agreed to sneak out in the middle of the night after Peeves had distracted the prefects, to enact her revenge. The other part was he really wanted to see all the Common Rooms in Hogwarts so he could tell Regulus at Christmas what they were like. He’d already talked his way into Ravenclaw and bribed his way in with cake to Hufflepuff, but he highly doubted either tactic would work on his relatives in the snake pit.

“So far so good,” Peter whispered, being far better at sneaking than his plump frame would have suggested. Sirius ruffled his hair and ushered him on into the green light. It was like being in a fish tank. The only noise was the odd blublublub of the giant squid leaving air bubbles by the glass, glass that was covered in weird green algae making the room stink of seaweed. The green half-light from the lamps flickered casting weird patterns on the ceiling and everything was coloured to match.

“Reminds me of home.” Sirius thought.

“Then maybe you should leave, Black.” Came a shy but familiar voice came from inside one of the enormous couches. Sirius bit back a comment as he saw Severus’ face uncharmed. He had a slap mark where Alecto had dug her fingers in the night before and the way held himself was someone used to being in pain. As was the tired glazed over look in the boy’s dark eyes. Yeah, Sirius winced, too much like home.

“We will Sev,” James obliviously chimed in. “ As soon as Lucy gets a taste of his own medicine.” Peter saw the boy straighten, self-preservation doing wonders to hide any emotion on Snape’s face.

“I I its from Lyra, “ he stammered quickly. “She hated the way he treated you, so she sent us to get pay back while she’s at Lupin’s mothers.” Severus breathed out slowly almost willingly swallowing the whole tale when something caught his attention.

“The why would you lot help me?”

“Mayhem, she’s our friend, trying to make amends… take your pick!” Sirius drawled.

“Amends?”

“Yeah. We’ve been a bit… cruel I suppose with you, and this is us trying to make it up to you.” James said. “From now on we won’t start on you if you don’t start on us. Deal?” And left his hand out for Snape to shake. The boy looked at it all suspicion and anger and then at Potter. Sirius thought he might reject them outright, but the boy nodded and too their bucket.

“Fine. You better leave before the prefects come back. I take it this is for Malfoy’s dorm?

“Absolutely! Make sure you put the big orange one on his pillow, Lyly says he hates those. See ya.” Sirius grinned and sauntered out knowing Peeves won’t let the prefects and head boy back til the Fat Lady told him to- thank Merlin for ghostly crushes! The three of them went to bed peacefully with know one knowing they’d ever been there to start with.

Severus on the other hand waited in the dark of a wardrobe. He was nothing if not patient and as soon as the bucket was in his hands he’d had a plan to keep Lucius off his case for good and swore to get Lyra and Exceeds Expectations on their Christmas tests to thank her for it. He was starting to like the youngest Malfoy, she had a habit of making consequences worthwhile.