Chapter 3

"Lyndell?" Remus asked, entering the room hesitantly.

Lyndell made no move to respond, simply turned around.

"Lyndell..." he sighed. "We weren't - this wasn't exactly some preplanned... thing we had in mind. It was just... I don't know what it was, but you have no reason to be jealous of Lyria."

Lyndell blinked. "You think that makes it okay? What the two of you did?"

"I'm not trying to make it okay, I'm trying to explain."

"Explain what? Exactly. I'm still unclear about all the details."

"I think we both know what went on. Lyndell..." he sighed again. "You were supposed to be dead. They claimed you were beyond recovery. And Lyria... I didn't exactly keep in touch but the few times I talked to her after she visited you, she was always depressed. We were the only two left... at least we thought we were."

"The two of you act like I wanted it...like I *chose* to spend fourteen years of my life insane and locked away in St. Mungo's. It wasn't my fault I went insane."

"I'm not saying it's your fault, Dell, it's just a fact. You were essentially dead."

"Funny, you'd think I'd have stopped...you know...being alive if I was dead."

"Once or twice you weren't breathing, alright? You were bad, Lyndell."

Lyndell stopped. They'd never told her anything about what had happened to her. "I didn't know. I didn't know anything that was happening to me or anyone else...you don't realize how confusing this all is for me....I come back and have *Snape* there, waiting gleefully to tell me my brother died and fill me in."

"I know you're confused. And I'd say you're entitled. We should talk someplace where we won't be overheard, come on." He guided her up the stairs, but when they passed through the foyer, Moody and Mundungus had returned. Something green and furry seemed to be growing from Mundungus's head, but Moody was carrying an unconscious Lyria over one shoulder. Remus decided it wasn't a good time to ask what had happened and simply continued to guide Lyndell.

Lyndell waited until the door was shut. "I did wake up a few times." She told him.

"They didn't tell us that."

"I don't mean woke up and began staring blankly at everything around me. I mean I woke up...like actually got up and asked to see the doctor. And started talking sanely. They just kept drugging me."

"Like I said, they never told us." He paused. "I missed you, you know."

"I thought you'd forgotten me...every time I woke up, you weren't there...*no one* was there."

"You picked bad times to wake up, then."

Lyndell shrugged. "I guess so."

He brushed a piece of flyaway hair behind her ear. "I think it'd do you some good to talk to Lyria. Actually talk to her."

"Maybe...I don't know."

"It'd do you both some good. Not today or even tomorrow... but soon."

"Maybe."

~*~*~*~

They were supposed to be having a serious, heart to heart discussion. About what, Lyndell wasn't really sure...about everything probably. Lyndell had no idea where to start talking. So she sat silently on the opposite couch.

"Well. This is going absolutely nowhere," Lyria commented.

"Well it probably would help if one of us started talking about something."

"Probably," Lyria agreed. Then, "It *was* your idea."

"I don't know what I'm supposed to be saying here...sorry I went crazy? Doesn’t really seem like the opening statement I really want to make."

"I imagine we're supposed to start with something we have in common that neither of us wants to talk about."

"Okay..what?"

Lyria was taking an interest in her feet. "I don't know."

Lyndell paused. "Do...do you miss him?"

"More than you know."

"Did you see him die? Did you see who killed him?'

Lyria shook her head no, certain she wouldn't get the words past the lump in her throat, but she tried anyway. "Remus told me it was Bellatrix LeStrange... I wasn't there."

"Why has it that everyone in my family decided to go psycho and turn into Death Eaters?"

"Because that's what the really old purebloods do? I don't know. And not *everyone* has... but the ones who have are rather... conspicuous?"

Lyndell shrugged. "Not like I was of any help to him anyway."

"He wasn't exactly accepting much help."

"He might have."

Lyria bit her lip. "He was... I never got to apologize. For believing he was capable of such a thing... and it's just... it's not fair. It's not fair to him."

"It really isn't. Why couldn't it have been Bellatrix or someone who deserved it?"

"Life doesn't work that way. The good people die and the bad ones are responsible.”

"The bad people suck."

"Agreed."

Lyndell sighed. "So what now.....what have you been up to?"

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