Thicker than Water (Marauders Era) PART II

15 July, 1995 - Normal (II)

Lavinia didn't know what she expected when she came down to the kitchen the next morning, but it definitely wasn't the pancake breakfast that was waiting for her. She stepped into the room hesitantly, raising her eyebrows at Sirius as he turned around at the sound of her approach.

"You're cooking," she observed, frowning in more than mild confusion. Which maybe was silly because it was just pancakes, but... well. She supposed she'd been bracing herself for a cordial greeting at best and dead silence at worst. Not... pancakes.

Sirius snorted and turned back to the pan in front of him. "Really? What gave it away?" he returned sarcastically.

Lavinia snorted and rolled her eyes, though she didn't suppose he could see the gesture. Apparently, she realized, they were going to pretend the previous night hadn't happened. Which, in her opinion, was far from ideal, but... well. She had promised him time.

"I didn't think you were much for cooking," she explained lightly. "Especially not since..." She caught herself, not particularly wanting to bring up Azkaban lest it tarnish what promised to be a rather decent morning. Maybe that was foolish, she realized. Maybe it would be good to talk about it casually. To remind him that it had happened and was in the past and didn't change anything about how she felt about him, but... but today she was tired and perhaps a little selfish and didn't want to bother properly thinking through what was best. So for the time being, she went with what was easy.

"Not recently," she amended hastily, stepping around Sirius to the coffee pot that was already warm and brewing on the counter.

Sirius, apparently, either didn't notice or didn't care how close Lavinia had come to bringing up Azkaban and merely glanced over at her again. "Well, I did burn the first several so..." He shrugged and glanced at her with a teasing expression.

Lavinia smiled and shook her head again, still rather confused, but not entirely sure she wanted to bring up the night before. Sirius was being... normal. Light and easy and... and like he was maybe actually trying to just have a good morning with her. Without the strained looks and pained hearts that had been punctuating these sorts of encounters for the past week. Without the 'it's complicated' that seemed permanently tacked on the end of any sentence about what or who they were to each other.

And so again not knowing if it was the right thing to do, Lavinia settled for easy and merely shook her head again before pouring herself coffee and sitting down at the table.

"There's a letter from Dumbledore for you," Sirius added, glancing at her over his shoulder. Lavinia, whose mouth was full of coffee, hummed her acknowledgement and picked up the envelope she'd just noticed on the table in front of her which must be what he was referring to.

The note inside was short and to the point:

The twenty second would be a good day for rhubarb pie. Plan for eight guests.

Dumbledore hadn't even bothered to sign it. Probably, Lavinia reasoned, for the same reason that the note was rather cryptic: With the Ministry firmly set against them and apparently uninclined to change anything about it's position, the post was a liability. And given the magnitude of the things they would be organizing in this house... well. They couldn't be too careful.

So Lavinia brushed aside the concerns about the somewhat ridiculous nature of the letter, and instead merely sighed and dropped the paper on the table, sipping from her mug and frowning as she watched Sirius taking pancakes off the stove without really registering it.

So the Weasleys were coming. And soon. And Dumledore still thought Lavinia wouldn't get along with them. Not that Lavinia supposed she had far to look for why. Molly Weasley was the one who had taken Harry in over the summers. That had been the compromise Dumbledore had been willing to offer. Harry could escape his Aunt and Uncle for a few months each summer. But not with her. With the family of his friend. So he would know that he was just a guest. So that place where his muggle family lived would still be his home.