“Did you know?”, Hermione gave Harry a mock-suspicious look.

“That Latin is her second native language and that she read the classics in the original? Of course”, he smirked. “Since we were thirteen”.

“And you never told me”, her look became judgmental.

“A gentleman never tells”, he took a bite of his croissant. Viktor choked on his coffee, while Lyra pretended not to notice and smiled into her cup.

Hermione pointed a finger at Harry, tried to say five things at once, was left without words, and just stood like that while everybody broke into laughter in earnest.

“I’m pretty sure this statement wasn’t meant to cover those circumstances, but I do applaud your discretion”, Hermione eventually finished and smiled.

“We talked about lots of stuff that was private, and I felt comfortable talking about it only if it were politics, and stuff I felt both of us would feel comfortable talking about in the mess hall, to others”, he got serious. “It felt sacred. I still feel I’m allowed to mention any of it only if she already told you herself”.

“Thank you”, Lyra whispered.

“I think it’s a wonderful family tradition”, Viktor nodded. “Knowing the langue of the ancient family books really gives you a sense of connection to your ancestry, makes you able to participate in it properly”, he smiled at Lyra. “Will you teach the kids? And I’m including myself”.

“I would be honoured, if everybody agrees”, she looked at them and they all nodded. “And if you don’t mind, I would like to include Lucius as a fellow teacher, since he’s feeling pretty low and abandoned; and Narcissa can teach them the family lore and lineage, the way she taught me, because Lucius wasn’t the only caring and diligent parent”, she smiled.

“That’s a great idea. They must feel terribly lonely and possibly guilty in that big house, all alone”, Hermione nodded. “And honestly, I would love to learn enough Latin to be able to actually read that book you gave me”.

“De incantationibus by Apollodor of Syracuse?”, Lyra winked. “Oh, I might actually read from it to all of you and translate; that’s a much better way to learn than cramming declinations”.

“What is it about?”, Harry was curious.

“Oh, ancient spells and basics of verbal magic. The original was in Greek, and this is a second century BC translation. Interestingly, the spells themselves were in Latin, but slightly messed up, as if created by a non-native speaker who didn’t really know the grammar. I think the original was written around second century BC, soon after the Roman conquest of Syracuse, so the author might have been a contemporary of Archimedes, or close enough. He even explains how he made his wand from Phoenix feather and olive, and consecrated it to Athena and Apollo, invoking their blessings upon both components as their gifts”, Lyra explained.

“Woah”, Viktor was the first one managing to speak.

“Exactly”, Harry nodded. “Now you see why I spent my school years feeling like a dumb kid who somehow lucked into being taught stuff by the two smartest girls in the world”.

Hermione blushed. “To their credit, they never actually bragged or treated me like an idiot, they just slowly brought me up to speed”, Harry smiled at both women.

“I felt guilty when I realized how poorly you were treated by those horrid muggles, while I was pampered, taught and loved”, Lyra took his hand and kissed it. “The least I could do is share”.

“We brought a little something for you”, Lyra smiled as she and Hermione unloaded two picnic baskets with wine, cheese, ham and fresh bread. “It’s small payback for feeding everybody since forever, but we had to start somewhere”.

Molly and Arthur stood in shock, because that wasn’t how things usually worked. “Ah. Oh. Thank you”, Molly smiled. “Please, sit down, make yourselves comfortable”, she managed.

“I guessed Ginny would be hanging out with her boyfriend and George would be busy and we didn’t want you to be alone now”, Lyra smiled at them warmly.

“The home does feel so empty now”, Molly whispered.

“That’s why we’re here”, Hermione came to hug the motherly woman.

…

“Anyway, does anyone know why Gamp’s law of elemental transfiguration has exceptions in the first place? I always wondered about that, lacking money and having to figure out food and housing and all that. I though you might know”, Arthur looked at the two young women.

“I’m afraid I don’t know”, Hermione shrugged. “I can tell you what they are, being a nerd and all, but I don’t know why”.

“I do”, Lyra whispered.

Everybody looked at her. “I thought nobody knows”, Hermione started.

“It’s because we refuse to live in a world where nothing matters”, she looked at her friends with those beautiful silver eyes that looked like two stars. “Or we are made by someone who refuses to have nothing matter. Pick either”, she smiled. “We refuse to accept a prize without a contest. If something is not deserved, we refuse to value it. If we value it, we want it to be precious, we want it to come as a result of a battle won, of choices well made”. She looked at Arthur. “If we can just wave a wand and produce gold, why would anyone accept it as payment for anything? If we can produce food and shelter, why would money be precious? If we want something other people have, what could we offer them as compensation?” She turned to Hermione. “And your list of exceptions is incomplete”, she smiled. “We also can’t raise people from the dead. We can’t replace body parts lost in battle with evil. We can’t produce children magically. We can’t cause true love magically – only a mockery of it. Loss needs to be real. Sacrifice needs to matter.” She kissed her friend’s hand. “Love needs to be earned”.

“Woah”, she rose up as she saw a dusty tome in the library. “You have it as well”. She picked up Annales by Tacitus. “My father used to read it to me before bed time”.

“You speak Latin?”, Hermione managed to gather her bearings.

“Latine expedite loquor, quod pater meus me ab aetate duorum annorum docuit”, Lyra smiled. “I speak fluent Latin, thanks to my father teaching me since I was two”, she translated.

They all looked at her with their mouths open. “My grandmother gave me this book, but nobody could ever read it since we didn’t know the language”, Molly managed.

“He would also read me from Cicero, Vitruvius and Plutarch”, Lyra’s eyes were soft with memory. “I especially liked the stories about Alexander’s conquest of India, and how they mocked Nero”.

“It is no wonder you were always so loyal to your parents”, Arthur mused. “I misunderstood. I always imagined you being united by common contempt and hatred of lesser families and lesser humans”, he grinned. “It would never occur to me that Lucius was a loving father who would read to his little girl in Latin”.

“He was, and I adored him”, Lyra smiled. “It was a hard blow when I found out that he could be wrong, and in such a grave matter. I think I grew up then, ceased to be a child and became a grown woman, who had to make her own choices and carve her own path. But I repaid them for their love, Arthur. I could have escaped that horrible dungeon at any moment. The price would be their death or terrible torture, so I stayed there to protect them, and I knew that I couldn’t defend myself or protect myself properly because it would expose them to repercussions. Terrible things kept crossing my mind – things like having to silently accept being gifted to some villain as a trophy, be raped in my own bed and not make a sound, because they would be punished for my disobedience. I am incredibly grateful to all of you who fought for us on the outside and won our freedom, and to God or fate or whatever for sparing me the worst of consequences. I am grateful to you, Molly, for killing aunt Bella for me, despite it being my job”, she looked at her with deep serenity and seriousness.

“We didn’t know”, Molly looked horrified. “We couldn’t even imagine what you had to endure”.

“Oh, we could; we just didn’t bother”, Arthur was repentant. “We didn’t see Death Eaters or anybody else on the other side as actual people, and we didn’t bother thinking about their children either. It would get in the way of business”, he sighed remorsefully.

“I didn’t say it to make you feel guilty, Arthur”, Lyra smiled. “I wanted to let you know that I repaid my parents for all the love and kindness they showed me in my childhood by enduring hell in order to save and protect them. I did it because I wanted to remind you that you, like my parents, gave everything to your children, and yet, I fail to remember Ron ever reciprocating. He consumed your love, care, shelter, food and other things you could barely afford, and he thought he repaid you by coming for more. In the end, he repaid you by becoming a terrible person and putting a stain on your family name. What I am saying is: please, don’t feel guilty. Your problem isn’t that you didn’t give enough; it’s that you received too little in return, and you ended up depleted. Will you allow us to love you, and take care of you, in his stead?”, Lyra looked at them pleadingly, with the eyes of a goddess, as they both burst into tears and came to embrace her.

…

“You learned Latin since you were two”, Hermione looked at her, as they were back home on their couch.

“Yes”, Lyra smiled. “Surprised?”

“Actually, no. I’m in awe”, she smiled as she massaged Lyra’s feet. “At two, I was proud of myself for speaking full sentences in English”.

“I wish we were born as sisters. We both seem to have been lonely little nerds”, Lyra laughed.

“True, but at least we now seem to be making up for lost time”, Hermione giggled.

“How did you turn out so normal? I was in that place for only a few hours and I was at my limits. If that lasted for days, let alone years, I’d have gone insane”, Hermione rested after their practice session. The children were so exhausted from running and jumping at the floating lights that they fell asleep on the floor, and they had a peaceful moment now.

“I believe you, but you were actively tortured by aunt Bella, in the same way she mentally damaged Alice and Frank Longbottom to the point where they are permanently in St. Mungo’s and unaware of the world around them. I was at no point the target of their focused attention in that way, which was fortunate for me”, Lyra pointed out.

“But still; you’re so incredibly sorted out that you’re basically healing everybody and providing comfort, rather than being broken and in need of healing yourself. How did you even manage that?”

Lyra thought about it. “It was horrible. I still feel cold terror and start sweating when I visit that house. It is full of terrible memories for me. I wouldn’t look nearly as sorted out if I had to live there”, she smiled. “But to me, the actual terror was of a different kind. It started when Voldemort returned, I saw what a horrible person he was, I understood that my parents were wrong about him, and I returned to school to tell Harry, only to find him flirting with another girl”, she shrunk into herself a bit. “I understand now that I assumed all sort of things about our relationship he had no idea about, so he didn’t understand how that would affect me, but from my perspective… my life was over. I chose him when I was eleven. It could be only him. He looked at me with suspicion and fear thinking I sided with Voldemort now that he’s back, and he kissed another girl; he never kissed me like that. When I gave him a hateful look because he betrayed me, he took it as a confirmation, because argumentum ad Voldemort always seemed to hang between us”, she smiled, and wiped a tear off Hermione’s cheek. “For two years things were broken between us to the point where he ended up almost killing me”, she continued. “Those two years were the darkest in my life; I had Voldemort and his minions in my home, and they contributed to my despair and terror, but after Harry realised he loved me – and by the way I will be eternally in your debt for your role in this – and he told me he’s mine if I wanted him, it was as if a sun lit up in my heart again and I was whole, and I felt my life returning, I felt I had something to hope for, other than merely trying to keep my parents alive and surviving for their sake. My chosen life was back on track. I might not die as an old maid after all”, they both laughed through tears. “I was still terrified at home, but it was all external now, not terror feeding my inner despair and hopelessness. I understood what truly mattered, what I had to protect at all cost, and what I merely had to endure”, Lyra smiled like a small sun.

“So that’s what you meant by ‘nobody hurts what is mine’, after you wiped out those thugs”, Hermione realised.

“Yes”, Lyra nodded. “I realised that life isn’t time, or place, or things. It’s the people you love. Life is when you spend quality time with them, and everything else is just scenery and energy to power it. At the time I came to that realisation, my life were my parents and Harry. When my parents had a change of heart and allegiance about Voldemort, and Harry understood he loved me, the two parts of my life that tried to tear me apart came together to heal me. Voldemort, werewolves, death eaters – they were just scenery. Sure, they were the scenery of a Lovecraftian horror, and they still threatened everything I loved, but after my heart was healed, it was just an external threat. It was manageable. I still shivered in fear every time I had to pass through a dark corridor in my own home, and I would wake up screaming in terror from nightmares I had about what would happen if it came to the worst, and the absolute worst were those five minutes when Hagrid brought Harry from the woods, as dead. How I even survived that, I will never know. I was in a daze even when he stopped pretending to be dead and woke up properly only when Voldemort was dead. Then I realised that I lived life conditionally, until that moment. I expected us to die together more than I expected us to live together. I didn’t mind, as long as the ‘together’ part was there”, she smiled, and wiped both their tears now. “After all, I didn’t know if Voldemort could be defeated at all, now that Dumbledore was dead. I hoped, but it was a weak hope, easily defeated by reason. And then we went to talk, we both apologized for our respective roles in our misfortune, and he asked me to marry him, and I said yes”, she beamed. “From that point on, my soul was so thoroughly and profoundly healed, that nothing really bothers me, unless it threatens the people I love, but as you could see, I practiced magic a lot in case that happened”, she grinned. “And there was another thing that felt like deep healing: when I surrendered my virginity to Harry in our first night together after the wedding, and I felt such relief and happiness that it got to be him, and not some filthy creep Voldemort gifted me to, or that accursed werewolf raping me as prelude to eating me alive”, she shivered. “That fear was with me for years, and only at that point it felt finally resolved, and I got to live my life as I chose it”, her smile came back.

Hermione just hugged her, because there were no words.

“You know what I thought was the most frightening spell in the world, during those horrible three years of having Voldemort, death eaters and werewolves in my home?”, Lyra sat on the couch, hugging her knees.

“I’m afraid, with those people, the list would be extensive”, Viktor frowned, and Harry and Hermione seemed to agree.

“Expelliaramus”, Lyra whispered.

They all looked at each other, not understanding.

“Oh, it’s quite simple, in fact”, she nodded. “And it’s the reason Harry uses it in duels. Once you remove a wizard’s wand, the next spell can be whatever you want, and you can even take your time, because you’re no longer dealing with a wizard, you’re dealing with a muggle”, she explained. “Once the wand is out of your hand, the duel is over. The fight is over. Your bodily autonomy is over. Your life is over. My greatest fear was being disarmed from an ambush, being rendered helpless, and then having someone… take their time with me”, she shivered. “They were already making suggestions out loud. I didn’t even have to use my imagination”.

The rest of them felt as if the temperature in the room dropped ten degrees. “Oh”.

“And you gave me your wand”, Harry whispered.

“Yes”, she smiled. “I did get some other wand, that didn’t like working for me very much, and then I thought, this is hardly better than having no wand at all, so why not try that”.

“How long did it take you to get it to work?”, Hermione wondered.

“Not long. Days. What actually helped is that the new wand processed everything with a delay and a reluctance, and I could feel individual steps being taken, now my command is being translated into the magical layer of the world, what it ends up being… and then I stopped telling it to the wand, and started telling it to the world itself”, she explained. “With my old wand, it would actually be much harder, with how eager it was to obey me”.

“Those must have been a terrible few days”, Viktor rubbed his chin. “Having a disobedient wand, not yet figuring out how to do it wandlessly, and all those horrible people roaming about”.

“One would think, but actually it gave me something else to think about, and they also had other things to think about, with Harry, Hermione and Ron breaking into Gringotts about that time. Nobody was giving me any thought”, she smiled. “And once I got it, I very quickly advanced from the basics to replicating everything I could do with a wand”.

“Also, a wand limits you to what you’re pointing at. When those five thugs surrounded me, my first thought was that I can’t deal with more than two of them in time the others will get me. From what I could see, wandlessly you just dealt with them all at once”, Hermione noted. “You need to teach me this”, she hugged her friend. “It makes me feel exposed to be the only one not to know it”.

“Well, technically, nobody knew it before Lyra figured it out, and you didn’t miss it then”, her husband pointed out.

“That’s true, but now that all of you know it, I feel I need to learn it quickly”, Hermione managed a weak smile.

“Tomorrow after breakfast”, Lyra nodded. “We’re all too tired now. Also, keep in mind that it’s more dangerous than using a wand. You put your wand away when you don’t mean to use it. You are also deliberate about where you point it. You can’t put your mind away when you’re not using it, and once you get accustomed to binding it to magic directly, you can’t allow your mind to wander aimlessly, or think too hard about something because you will make it happen”, she pointed out.

An orange levitated, peeled itself, separated into slices, the slices transformed into roses, assembled themselves into a bouquet, and fell into Hermione’s lap.

“Point taken”, Hermione giggled.

“Also, avoid messing with space geometry. That’s probably the easiest way to get yourself killed by accident”. She pointed in the air, and space suddenly looked like a cracked mirror, one shard showing Hogwarts main hall, the other Slytherin girls’ dormitory, another their office in the Ministry, and the final one showed Diagon Alley. She closed her eyes and the space healed.

The others looked at her with mouths agape. “Scary girl”, Harry smiled.