Sirius Black's Twin

Yellow Dresses

"Mum," Lynx said, raising her hands up to silence her mother. "I said I wanted to wear yellow. Not baige."

Lyra looked at her daughter in absolute horror. "Who wears yellow to a wedding? Oh, Lynx, I thought I gave you fashion sense."

Lynx looked embarrassed but met her mother's gaze head on. "Sirius would have worn yellow with me, Mum."

Lyra looked at her daughter, flabberghasted. "Lynx, baby, I'm. . ."

"I'm not trying to guilt you, Mum," Lynx said hurriedly. "I'm just saying that I've never actually done anything for Sirius before and dressing up uniquely in a wedding seems like something he would have a good laugh about."

"But yellow doesn't go good with our skin tone, Lynx," Lyra pointed out. "But baige goes good with our hair and our skin. . ."

"Mum," Lynx laughed at her mother's puppy dog eyes. "Please, let's just wear yellow. And imagine the look on Fluer's face."

Lyra smiled. "That would be sort of funny."

"Yes. . .?" Lynx prompted.

"Okay," Lyra smiled.

"Oh, Mum!" Lynx hugged her mother tightly, like she did when she was a kid. "You have no idea what this means to me!"

Lyra, a bit surprised, hugged her back.

"Now," Lyra said, pulling away. "We have to go to Diagon Alley to look for a dress."

"Yay," Lynx smiled. "Let's go."

*~*

But their perfect shop night didn't go as planned.

The second they went into Diagon Alley they wanted to leave. Everything changed, the windows were dusty and some of them were boarded shut. Everything seemed so dark even though the sun was shining brightly in the sky - but the sun only seemed to make the shadows that the shops casted over the street darker, and more scary-looking.

"Mum, what's happened?" Lynx whispered as they walked by an old man in a black cloak steering a blonde pigtailed girl down the street, both of them talking in hushed tones.

"Death Eaters," Lyra whispered back. "Things must be worse then we thought."

Lynx looked at the old man and the little girl, her mouth in a sharp line. "This isn't right. This shouldn't be happening - not today."

"This is happening every day, Lynx," Lyra said, steering her daughter to Madame Malkins Robes for All Occasions. "We were just unaware of it untill now."

Lynx didn't look reassured, but Lyra hadn't meant to reassure her. Lyra always knew that there would be a time where her daughter had to open her eyes and see what the true world looked like. Now was the time.

There was no sugercoating the fear that coursed through everyones veins, there was no sugercoating the deaths that were taking place all around them. There was no sugercoating. . . anything.

"I feel sick," Lynx muttered, and she indeed looked a bit green. "I want to go home."

"After we get those yellow dresses, Lynx," Lyra put a protective arm around her daughters shoulders as they walked into Madame Malkins, which was just as untidy as always.

"Hogwarts?" Madame Malkin said mechanically when they walked in.

"No," Lyra shook her head. "She already hves robes. Wedding."

Madame Malkin didn't look surprised. "Oh, yes, everyones getting married now-a-days."

"Why is that?" Lynx said as Madame Malkin gestured them to follow her to a rather large section in the back of the store, full of differant colored dresses.

"Everyones wants to get married before. . ." Madame Malkin glanced uncertainly at Lyra, who nodded once. "Before they die."

Lynx looked very sick. "Oh. . ."

Madame Malkin looked at her sympathetically and gestured to the dresses around them. "Take your pick. If they are too large come to the front and I'll get them fixed."

Madame Malkin wobbled away from them, leaving Lyra and Lynx to look dullfully through the dresses.

"How about this one?" Lyra said in fake cheerfullness.

"No," Lynx muttered, only having glanced at it for half a second.

The dress was very ugly, with puffy sleeves and a rigid turtle neck, but if Lynx had been feeling better then she would have laughed her head off.

"This one?" Lyra lifted a large gress with many layered skirts and loose sleeves. It was a faded yellow that looked almost pink.

"No, Mum," Lynx sighed.

Lyra found that no matter how many ugly dresses she found, her daughter would not rack a smile, so instead she looked through all the choiced yellows for the perfect dress.

Then, she saw it.

It was simple, really, but pretty enough. It had no sleaves, and it was tight around the torso, then fell loosely to what Lyra assumed would be her knees, there was a thin black band around the mid hip, right above where it flowed out. It was appropriate for a wedding.

"This one?" Lyra held it up.

"It would look lovely," Lynx gave a small smile, then held up the dress she had been looking at.

It was actually very pretty, considering it was yellow. It was also sleeveless, and the skirt flowed out right at the bottom of the waist part. The skirt had three layers, the first two were yellow and tattered and the last one, the one on the outside, was dark black and lacy; it, too, was tattered.

"I love it," Lyra smiled. "Are we done?"

"I think so," Lynx said, already heading towards the front.

Lyra sighed, and followed her daughter to the front, where they bought the dresses and left as quickly as they could.

*~*

"Lynx, I don't understand," Lyra said to her daughter, as she sobbed into her shoulder. "You were so excited to go to this wedding."

"I was," Lynx said, wiping her eyes. "I thought it was romantic - no matter how much I dislike Fluer she still loved Bill even though he was . . . clawed."

"It still is romantic," Lyra said. "They still love each other."

"You don't get it," Lynx said. "Madame Malkin said so herself - they are only getting married because they think they're going to die. I thought it was because they knew for certain that they were right for each other but it's not because of that, it's because they want to die married."

"Why does it matter, sweety?" Lyra said softly.

"It matters because when they say their vows, they won't be thinking about how much they love each other," Lynx said softly. "They'll be silently wondering if those would be the last words they tell one another. When the priests says 'you may now kiss the bride' and they kiss, they would be wondering if that was the last time they'll do that. It's not romantic, Mum, it's sad. It's like attending a funeral - and I'm not sure if I can attend another one of those."

Lyra stroked her daughter's hair and couldn't help but agree with her.

"It is sad," Lyra said quietly. "But it's also beautiful. Think about it, Lynx. They found happiness in the middle of a war, it just shows that there will always be a ray of light, even in the darkest of times."

Lynx gave her a watery smile.

"Now," Lyra said, getting up and brushing herself off. "How about I cook us some lasagna?"

Lynx's smile became more forced at the thought of her Mum's cooking. "Yum."