\u201cWe brought a little something for you\u201d, Lyra smiled as she and Hermione unloaded two picnic baskets with wine, cheese, ham and fresh bread. \u201cIt\u2019s small payback for feeding everybody since forever, but we had to start somewhere\u201d.<\/p>\n
Molly and Arthur stood in shock, because that wasn\u2019t how things usually worked. \u201cAh. Oh. Thank you\u201d, Molly smiled. \u201cPlease, sit down, make yourselves comfortable\u201d, she managed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guessed Ginny would be hanging out with her boyfriend and George would be busy and we didn\u2019t want you to be alone now\u201d, Lyra smiled at them warmly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe home does feel so empty now\u201d, Molly whispered.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re here\u201d, Hermione came to hug the motherly woman.<\/p>\n
\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyway, does anyone know why Gamp\u2019s 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\u201d, Arthur looked at the two young women.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m afraid I don\u2019t know\u201d, Hermione shrugged. \u201cI can tell you what they are, being a nerd and all, but I don\u2019t know why\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do\u201d, Lyra whispered.<\/p>\n
Everybody looked at her. \u201cI thought nobody knows\u201d, Hermione started.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s because we refuse to live in a world where nothing matters\u201d, she looked at her friends with those beautiful silver eyes that looked like two stars. \u201cOr we are made by someone who refuses to have nothing matter. Pick either\u201d, she smiled. \u201cWe 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\u201d. She looked at Arthur. \u201cIf 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?\u201d She turned to Hermione. \u201cAnd your list of exceptions is incomplete\u201d, she smiled. \u201cWe also can\u2019t raise people from the dead. We can\u2019t replace body parts lost in battle with evil. We can\u2019t produce children magically. We can\u2019t cause true love magically \u2013 only a mockery of it. Loss needs to be real. Sacrifice needs to matter.\u201d She kissed her friend\u2019s hand. \u201cLove needs to be earned\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWoah\u201d, she rose up as she saw a dusty tome in the library. \u201cYou have it as well\u201d. She picked up Annales<\/i> by Tacitus. \u201cMy father used to read it to me before bed time\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou speak Latin?\u201d, Hermione managed to gather her bearings.<\/p>\n
\u201cLatine expedite loquor, quod pater meus me ab aetate duorum annorum docuit<\/i>\u201d, Lyra smiled. \u201cI speak fluent Latin, thanks to my father teaching me since I was two\u201d, she translated.<\/p>\n
They all looked at her with their mouths open. \u201cMy grandmother gave me this book, but nobody could ever read it since we didn\u2019t know the language\u201d, Molly managed.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe would also read me from Cicero, Vitruvius and Plutarch\u201d, Lyra\u2019s eyes were soft with memory. \u201cI especially liked the stories about Alexander\u2019s conquest of India, and how they mocked Nero\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is no wonder you were always so loyal to your parents\u201d, Arthur mused. \u201cI misunderstood. I always imagined you being united by common contempt and hatred of lesser families and lesser humans\u201d, he grinned. \u201cIt would never occur to me that Lucius was a loving father who would read to his little girl in Latin\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was, and I adored him\u201d, Lyra smiled. \u201cIt 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\u2019t defend myself or protect myself properly because it would expose them to repercussions. Terrible things kept crossing my mind \u2013 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\u201d, she looked at her with deep serenity and seriousness.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t know\u201d, Molly looked horrified. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t even imagine what you had to endure\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, we could; we just didn\u2019t bother\u201d, Arthur was repentant. \u201cWe didn\u2019t see Death Eaters or anybody else on the other side as actual people, and we didn\u2019t bother thinking about their children either. It would get in the way of business\u201d, he sighed remorsefully.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t say it to make you feel guilty, Arthur\u201d, Lyra smiled. \u201cI 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\u2019t feel guilty. Your problem isn\u2019t that you didn\u2019t give enough; it\u2019s 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?\u201d, Lyra looked at them pleadingly, with the eyes of a goddess, as they both burst into tears and came to embrace her.<\/p>\n
\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cYou learned Latin since you were two\u201d, Hermione looked at her, as they were back home on their couch.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes\u201d, Lyra smiled. \u201cSurprised?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cActually, no. I\u2019m in awe\u201d, she smiled as she massaged Lyra\u2019s feet. \u201cAt two, I was proud of myself for speaking full sentences in English\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish we were born as sisters. We both seem to have been lonely little nerds\u201d, Lyra laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrue, but at least we now seem to be making up for lost time\u201d, Hermione giggled.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe brought a little something for you\u201d, Lyra smiled as she and Hermione unloaded two picnic baskets with wine, cheese, ham and fresh bread. \u201cIt\u2019s small payback for feeding everybody since forever, but we had to start somewhere\u201d. Molly and … Continue reading