Effervescence | h.p.

ii | xv. it's the holiday season

Lyra woke the next morning in a frenzy. Her dad was not with her and her father might not have come home the night before. She rushed part way down the stairs when she heard a commotion.

"Do you know how upset you made her?" Remus harshly whispered.

"I understand how upset she must have been," said another voice, sounding ashamed.

"You left her! I had to stay with her all night!" her dad hissed again. After a short pause, he sounded sad, saying, "You left me. You left your family."

Lyra knew then for sure that it was her father, Sirius. She softly padded down the rest of the stairs, walking quietly into the kitchen to the sight of Sirius leaning against Remus's chest with his head.

"Hi, Dad," she smiled kindly.

Sirius' head shot up and he nearly collapsed into Remus due to his imbalance of weight.

"Hey, Pup," he said back with a similar smile, but his bottom lip quivering. "How did you sleep?" he asked shakily.

"Could have been better," she said, nodding. "I would have liked for you to have been there," she added softly.

"I would have liked that, too," said Sirius.

"Where did you go?" Lyra asked curiously.

"Your uncle's house," he said.

"Did you get to say hi to Harry?"

"He was asleep when I got there," said Sirius. "He must not have come home and slept like you did."

"I'll miss seeing him everyday," said Lyra, but she smiled to herself. "But, seeing you makes up for it."

"We enjoy seeing you, pup," Sirius said, rushing up to her and grabbing her under the arms, twirling her in the air, making her burst out in laughter.

"Stop!" she screeched with a huge laugh. "Let me down!"

"Only if I get . . . hmm . . . three kisses," Sirius negotiated.

"Okay," she giggled. "One," she placed one on his right cheekbone, "two," another on his left cheekbone, "three," she said with finality, kissing the tip of his nose.

Sirius dramatically gasped, looking at Remus and saying gleefully, "Did you see that, Moony? SHE KISSED ME!" he said with the biggest, brightest smile imaginable.

"Now," she said sternly, but she couldn't keep her smile away, "put me down."

He made puppy dog eyes as he jut out his bottom lip, muttering a sad, "Okay," very meekly. He placed her feet on the ground and she turned to her dad.

"What are we doing today?" Lyra asked.

"Well, I thought we might visit the store and pick you up some treats for the holiday," Remus responded. "But I would think you'd like some breakfast before we leave?"

"Oh, definitely!" she said with wide eyes. "Yes, please!"

"Let's see . . . " Remus trailed off, looking in the fridge for some options for the girl. "What did you eat at Hogwarts?" he asked.

"Mainly fruit for breakfast," she said, with a shrug. "Sometimes toast or pancakes, but always fruit."

"Lucky for you," he said, pulling a container out of the cool box, "we have some in here."

She saw strawberries and raspberries on the top and in a wider, shorter container underneath were grapes of red and green.

Lyra took the containers from her dad and set them on the table as Sirius grabbed pancake mix from the cupboard and began making some of the flapjacks. Meanwhile, Remus began preparing bread for the toaster.