Thicker than Water (Marauders Era) PART II

5 August, 1995 - Plans (II)

Lavinia woke with a jerk as the lights were turned on. She wished she hadn't, because the sudden movement made her aching neck protest terribly. Swearing under her breath and rubbing the sore spots, Lavinia looked around. She was in the kitchen of the Black house, a book spread open on the table in front of her. Which was probably why her neck hurt, she thought with a small sigh. Because she'd fallen asleep on a book.

This wasn't actually her main concern, however, because standing in the doorway, wand out and looking slightly dumbfounded was Molly Weasley. Lavinia swallowed a bit uncomfortably.

"Hi," she greeted, feeling very awkward and not at all sure how she was supposed to react to this. After all, she had just been discovered asleep in the kitchen after what had been a rather trying night for everyone.

Molly just blinked at her. "We would have given you a bed if you'd said you were staying the night," she said simply, apparently deciding not to return the greeting as she bustled forward, headed for the coffee pot. Lavinia watched the woman's movement, trying to decide if she was being reprimanded for not informing them of when, exactly, she'd intended to return to the house. Not that she knew what to say even if it was a reprimand so...

"I didn't mean to fall asleep," Lavinia admitted with a shrug, stretching slightly as she kept her eyes on Molly's back, still trying to riddle out what exactly, the mood of this conversation was going to be.

Molly didn't reply beyond a slight hum as she flicked her wand and the coffee started brewing. Lavinia breathed deeply, savoring the smell of it in the air. Merlin, she was tired. Not that she thought coffee would be anything close to enough to compensate for a nearly sleepless night but... well it would be something. And right now she was in a position to be taking just about anything she could get.

She wondered, actually, if Molly might also have had a restless night because the kitchen was silent and still as the two women waited for their morning dose of caffeine. And once they both had it, they were both sitting, which struck Lavinia as slightly odd. She'd rather expected Molly to be preparing to make breakfast or something, which would have explained why she was here and her husband was not. Not that Lavinia particularly cared. She didn't think she'd have any appetite even if there was food. It was just... awkward. Awkward because of the already strained relationship between the two of them. Awkward because Lavinia couldn't get that look the woman had given her last night out of her head. A look she had expected from Molly, of course, but which had been mirrored on Sirius's face. Which had hurt more than Lavinia would have thought possible.

"Any word from Dumbledore?" Lavinia asked after a moment, trying to fill the awkward silence with something perhaps a bit more useful for both of them. And, if she was honest, she wanted to fill her head with just about anything other than thoughts of Sirius.

Molly nodded and frowned at Lavinia, again giving the other woman rather the impression that she was being told off for something. "He sent a letter," she explained when Lavinia watched her, clearly waiting. "All he said was that Harry was safe for now and he would be by in the morning to discuss details."

Lavinia hummed, looking down into her coffee. So Dumbledore must have succeeded in stalling long enough to prevent Fudge from pushing the Wizengamot into drastic action. Which probably meant he had secured a hearing instead of an immediate expulsion.Which made sense, if the Ministry was going to bother even pretending to abide by their own laws. It should have been a given, really, but... But it wasn't. And Lavinia felt something like relief trickle through her as she let out a long breath that set the surface of her coffee rippling.

So at least they had time. At least Dumbledore got the chance to come up with arguments. At least all of them got the chance to make contingency plans. Just in case.