Chapter 2

Snape pushed the door open. "If you want breakfast before we go, third door on the left."

"You know, you could pretend to be pleasant. It's not that hard." Lyndell followed him to the kitchen. "It's bad enough being sent here, but the least you could do is be amiable to your guest."

"You'll live, we're leaving this morning."

"Thank Merlin." She replied. "Let's go."

~*~*~*~

Remus walked down the hallway, heading for the stairs, he paused at Sirius's old room. The room his old friend had grown up in....Remus pressed his ear to the door, causing it to open a little upon hearing the sound of a woman crying.

Lyria was sitting on the bed, her head in her hands, openly sobbing.

Remus entered the bedroom and shut the door behind him. "Lyria?" He asked, walking around to face her. "Lyria?"

"I think so," she echoed the first thing she'd said to him, still crying, though at the moment it seemed she was trying to stop.

"What are you doing in here?" He demanded, though his voice seemed to lose the edge it had when he'd spoken to her earlier.

"I suppose you could say I set up camp here. I thought it'd help... but nothing helps much, things just make it worse."

Remus paused. "Lyria...." He sat down and wrapped an arm around her. "It won't do anyone any good torture yourself over it."

"You don't understand," she said. "You talked to him, you got to apologize..."

"It doesn't matter, I still failed him."

Lyria's thought seemed to be miles away, or perhaps more accurately, years in the past. "We had such a fight, that fall... that summer we'd even talked about getting married, but then.... and I was writing a letter to apologize when I heard... when I heard what he'd done - or hadn't done, but I didn't know... and I spent so long teaching myself to hate him... but he didn't do it, he didn't, and I never get to tell him I'm sorry..."

"Shhh. He knows." Remus soothed.

"He doesn't, it's not the same..." She was trying futilely to swat away the tears again.

"I'm sure he knew you loved him." Remus said, helping her wipe her tears.

"It's not *fair* to him, he never did anything, and he had to live like that... he must have hated being here," she said, glancing around the room.

"It isn't fair, and he did hate it...but he stayed here anyway. He wanted to protect Harry...probably thought he was protecting you too, some how."

"Probably," she agreed, then suddenly threw her arms around him. "Thank you."

Remus seemed to hesitate before wrapping his arms around her waist. "You don't have to thank me."

There was a moment's awkward silence, then Lyria let go. "I'm sorry, I oughtn't have --"

Remus cut her off by kissing her softly. "Don't be." He said.

A moment passed before Lyria kissed him back.

Lyria's kiss seemed to break the awkwardness between them and he began kissing her. On some level he knew it was wrong for them to be using each other like this... but on another level it simply seemed to fit. The last two left, after all; there wasn't anyone else to turn to anymore....

~*~*~*~

"Are we there yet?" Lyndell asked for the third time.

"Shut. Up," Snape ordered. "And yes, we are." He shoved the door open. "Welcome to your old home."

"Old hell seems to fit better." She replied, stepping into the hall.

Snape shrugged. "Everyone will be in the kitchen when you've finished exploring."

There was a pause. "Thanks." She said before she walked up the stairs. Lyndell opened the door to her old room and looked around. It looked about the same as the last time she'd slept in there...everything where she'd left it.

Wandering for a second, Lyndell turned and went back into the hallway, hesitating before opening Sirius's door. Half of her hoped he'd be sitting in there, with that grin on his face, ready to tell her about some prank he'd just pulled on their mother or brother. When she did open the door, however, Lyndell felt as if she wanted to retch. Remus and Lyria were lying in her brother's bed. "GET OUT!" She screamed at the both of them. "GET THE HELL OUT OF HIS ROOM!" She screamed as she practically turned and flew down the stairs.

Lyria had, for about the first time in a week, been sleeping dreamlessly, but that ended quickly. "What the - was that - *what* is going on?" She demanded of Remus.

"Your guess is as good as mine." He replied, pulling his pants on. "But whatever it is, about half the house probably knows."

"I'm surprised that - "

"FILTH!" Screamed the painting downstairs.

"Nevermind." Lyria dressed quickly. This was going to be a rather awkward moment... "I think... we need to talk about this before we go downstairs... so we're on the same page when people start demanding to know what's going on."

"Well....honestly, Lyria, what is going on? I don't want to sound callous...but were we just using each other? We're the only ones--we thought we were the only ones left..." He hesitated.

Lyndell had slammed the curtains shut and walked through the kitchen door, where most of the Order was waiting. "I want to go back to your house." She announced to Snape.

Lyria couldn't help the moment of relief. "You don't sound callous - I'm glad you had the nerve to say it. I think we're both pretty aware that this isn't going to blossom into some lasting... thing."

Snape blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Yeah....so...we should probably go down." Remus said.

"I don't want to stay here." Lyndell told him.

Lyria nodded. "I think you're right. You realize this is going to be... awkward for a while?"

"Why not?" Dumbledore asked from his spot at the table.

"Yeah. I realized that." Remus said, holding the kitchen door open for her.

Lyndell turned to look at him. "I just found my fiancée and my best friend sleeping together in my dead brother's room."

Mundungus Fletcher, for one, looked amused. "They've got shows on the Muggle telly for people like the lot of you," he told Lyria and Remus as they entered.

Lyndell sent Mundungus a glowering look before directing her attention to Lyria. "How dare you...you filthy whore! Sirius isn't even cold in the ground yet and you're already fucking his best friend! Have you no respect for the man that you supposedly loved? You were in his room -- in his bed!"

"We can't all wind up in St. Mungo's, Lyndell, some people try to move on. That implicitly involves making errors in judgment."

"Errors in judgment? Sirius has been dead less than a month! And you think it's okay to come here and start screwing the first person to show some pity for the poor, guilty feeling girlfriend?" Lyndell demanded angrily. "And of all people, you had to choose him."

Lyria's temper had once more gotten out of control. She physically grabbed Lyndell by the collar. "You have no idea. Don't even *speak* to me about Sirius - you just turned into a vegetable and left the rest of us to deal with it - you don't understand - you don't *know* - " Lyria couldn't even properly form a sentence.

Lyndell wrenched herself away. "I don't *KNOW*?? Sirius was my brother! Don't go be all high and mighty about being upset he's gone. He was my brother...and you didn't even seem to care what happened to either of us." She said accusingly. "You never cared enough to visit him or me. To see if either of us was still alive."

"In case you've forgotten, my *friend,* I lost three brothers within two years. And as for not caring to visit, next time *you* discover someone you love more than your very life is responsible for killing your friends, and possibly even the siblings, you come talk to me. I *did* visit you... and you stared blankly like I was wallpaper-colored. I visited you *every* holiday for the past 14 years, did you know that? Not as if I had much by way of family to visit, except my parents, but I didn't even visit them. It hurts too much to be in my old house."

"Well now we know how each other feels, I guess." Lyndell replied. "We're in my old house, so don't think it doesn't kill me when I walk by every old portrait...every house elf's head...every room...and the one room that should have Sirius in it...was the one you *chose* to fuck the one person that I happen to love more than my very life in. So sorry if I'm a bit upset."

"Well I've been 'a bit upset' for the past fourteen years while you rested comfortably and were medicated on the half hour." Lyria swept from the room, grabbing her cloak from the stand and headed for the door.

Lyndell remained there for a moment before leaving the kitchen as well. Instead of following Lyria, Lyndell went into the living room, where she saw the Black Family Tree. Both she and Sirius had been burned out of it...

The eyes of every single person in the kitchen suddenly fixed on Remus.

"If you'll all excuse me." Remus said, heading for the door as well. "Lyria, wait."

Lyria had fastened her cloak. "I'm leaving, Remus. Go on, you'll make her jealous." And with that she swept out of the house, closing the door behind her.

"Er...who was that?" Ron asked after a minute. "Mum...what happened?"

Molly blinked. "I'm not quite sure...but that was Lyndell Black, wasn't it, Arthur?"

He nodded. "That was her. And the other one, who stomped out of the building, that was Lyria Strider. As for what happened... I think you'd have to ask them, and it might not be a good time."

Harry was sitting at the table positively dumbfounded. If Sirius had attracted girls like *that* at school, no wonder he hadn't gotten married. Harry stopped. "Wait! Lyndell Black... was she... was she married to Sirius?"

"Heavens no!" Molly replied. "That was his sister. If you look closely, Harry dear, Sirius wasn't the only one burned out of the family tree."

"But then... would someone please tell me who these people are??" Harry asked.

"Well, from what I remember...Lyndell is Sirius's sister. And Lyria was his girlfriend....but then Sirius was sent to Azkaban....and Lyndell went insane from the shock of your parents’ deaths and the possibility that Sirius was responsible for them." Molly explained calmly.

Harry was still rather confused, but decided that since everyone else seemed to be too, it wasn't a problem... besides, he still felt a bit ill when people talked about Sirius. "Alright... where'd they come from?"

"I'm afraid that's my doing, Harry," Dumbledore told him. "Miss Strider, you see, is an Auror, and I was hoping she and Lyndell would both be interested in joining the Order... unfortunately, they seem to be letting other matters distract them."

"Yeah, no kidding." Ron muttered.

"Er - is someone going to try to get - " Harry wasn't sure what to call her. "Sirius' girlfriend back?"

"Yeah, but who would want to?" Mundungus wondered aloud. "It's not like she's become any less hostile since the last time I've seen her."

Dumbledore was looking at Mundungus.

He shook his head. "No. Not going. I'm too young to die..."

"With Alastor, of course," Dumbledore said.

This didn't appease Mundungus all that much, but he did get to his feet and followed Moody out.

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