Corvus Lestrange was the first of the parents to arrive for lunch. His expression was pensive as Harold showed him into the library. "What have the three of you done," he asked in concern, words spilling out in a rush. As his gaze took in Narcissa and Lucius, he nodded a greeting at them, clearly as an afterthought.
Corvus, like his eldest son, had a wide stocky build and strong jaw with sharp intelligent black eyes. One to take care of his health, he had aged well with only a bit of gray at his hairline.
"Hi, Dad," Rodolphus said, lips twitching slightly. "Nice to see you too."
Before Corvus could reply, Rabastan spoke up in his usual cheeky fashion. "Well, Bellatrix and Rodolphus technically did do something, but it was back in the nineties, so you can relax." He grinned at his father.
"You were so vague in the letter, Bellatrix, it had me worried," Corvus said. "What's going on?"
"Sit down, and relax, Dad. It's alright," Bellatrix said, giving him a warm smile.
The man was like a second father to her. He'd seen her as a daughter from the time she and Rod had begun to seriously date in their fifth year at Hogwarts. Though Corvus was gruff and didn't often express emotion, it was obvious that he cared a great deal for all of them.
"I simply did not wish to share sensitive information in a letter in case it got intercepted," Bellatrix explained. "I also didn't want to give you that sort of news in such an impersonal way."
"What sort of news," Corvus asked, sinking into an armchair beside the fire.
Bellatrix drew in a deep breath, realizing that she hadn't exactly decided how to say it nor had she brainstormed with Rodolphus.
Interpreting the look on her face, Lyra leaned forward, winking at Bellatrix before turning to Corvus. "Hi, Granddad. I'm Lyra Lestrange."
Bellatrix watched Corvus's dark eyes widen as he took in the similarities to both Bellatrix and Rodolphus in Lyra's face. His startled expression made it clear that he hadn't even noticed her sitting in the corner beside a tall bookshelf. "And why was I not aware of you before, young lady," he asked.
"Because we only knew ourselves a few days ago, and then things got rather insane, so we haven't had much time to share the news," Bellatrix explained.
Together she and Rod told the story of Voldemort's request to perform sex magic for him, the odd winged clicking thing that may, or may not, have been his Horcrux or something worse that they had kept from entering them. Along with how they'd had Lyra in Australia when visiting that branch of the Lestrange family. At last they concluded with their choice to forget about her in order to keep her safe from the Dark Lord.
Corvus shook his head when they stopped speaking. "That's a lot to take in. I wish I had known. You kids have had to deal with so much on your own."
Rodolphus shrugged, waving his father's concern off with a casual gesture of one hand. "Nah. We didn't want anyone to know. The more people who did, the more challenging it would've been to keep her safe."
Corvus nodded reluctantly. "I suppose you're right. How did you reunite, then," he asked.
"I saw the article about Mum's article in the paper and my aunt and uncle encouraged me to come and see them. They said the way the spell worked, they'd remember me as soon as they saw me."
Bellatrix nodded. "The forget spell was linked to Lyra so that if we ever saw her again, we'd remember. Jehan and Agrona promised to return her to us if Voldemort died and we ended up evading prison. Unfortunately, as we were working secretly for the Ministry for all this time, they never knew and as we had no memory of Lyra, of course, we didn't consider letting them know."
Corvus nodded. Though he kept in touch with his Australian cousins, he never would've mentioned that Bella, Rod, and Rabastan were working Shadow Ops for the Ministry. The Ministry only allowed them to tell immediate family members, and those had to swear a blood oath never to speak of it to anyone else.
"Want a drink, Dad," Rabastan asked and Corvus nodded.
"Yes. Thank you, Son." He turned to Lyra as Rabastan moved over to the liquor cabinet. "How are you finding London, Granddaughter?"
Lyra looked thoughtful. "I suppose it's nice enough. Aunt Narcissa showed me some charming shops, but other than the Ministry, I haven't had an opportunity to see much else." She gave him a coaxing smile. "You could always show me around. Mum and Dad and Uncle Rabastan work so much I never get to have any fun."
Corvus's usually stern face broke into a pleased smile. "I would love to!"
It was then that Cygnus and Druella Black arrived, so Bellatrix and Rodolphus had to repeat the entire story all over again. Both were extremely pleased to have a Granddaughter, having never acknowledged their other one when she lived. Once someone was burned off the family tree, they were gone for good. Neither Andromeda nor her child had seemed to mind, judging by their shameful behavior.
Before Druella and Cygnus could do more than welcome Lyra to the family, Harold was announcing that lunch was ready. Soon they were all settled around the large dining table.
"It is so wonderful to see everyone in one place for a change," Cygnus said expansively. "Narcissa, you and Lucius don't visit nearly enough," he chastised. "Corvus, it's good to see you! I thought you were avoiding me after that last loss at chess."
"You were drunk, and I did not lose," Corvus said, biting back a smile at the same time as Narcissa said, "How were we to visit without magic to Apparate, Father?"
Cygnus swallowed a bite of broccoli and replied to both without missing a beat. "I was sober enough to remember winning, Corvus. You had magic for the past month during which you remained absent from our home, Narcissa."
He grinned over at Lyra, who watched the spectacle in open fascination. "See, girl? That's how it's done." To her immense credit, Lyra did not ask what was being done, nodding to Cygnus instead.
"I've been saving back some family heirlooms in hopes that Bellatrix and Rodolphus would someday produce," Druella told Lyra in her lightly French accented voice.
"What? You didn't give me and Bella everything?" Narcissa teased, giving her mother a look of mock horror.
Druella frowned slightly, shaking her head. "I wanted the Grandchildren to have a little something without having to go through the morbidity of waiting for you to die first."
Lyra choked on her drink, spraying it out her nose which set Rabastan to laughing like a hyena.
Bellatrix smiled, shaking her head. "Very considerate of you, Mother," she said.
Druella gave a regal nod. "I thought so, as well."
Corvus cleared his throat. The table fell silent as he regarded Rodolphus, Bellatrix, and Rabastan. "About that article in the paper… Are the three of you truly alright after what he did?"
Bellatrix swallowed and dropped her gaze. "Sure," Rabastan said with a shrug.
"I'm good," Rodolphus assured his father.
Silence stretched out as Bellatrix bit into a dinner roll. "Bellatrix?" Corvus pressed.
Bellatrix's gaze darted to her own parents who had dropped their gazes in what she hoped was shame for not realizing there had been something amiss all those years ago. Somewhat to her surprise, she couldn't find it in her heart to be as angry with Corvus. Not when he'd lost Rodolphus's mum so soon after. She sighed, swallowing the bite.
"I suppose I am alright," she said quietly. "Thank you for asking. It was a violation, and it seems those are unpleasant to recall." She gave him a forced smile.
"You all seemed so taken with what he was doing, it just never occurred to us that anything else was going on," he said, a look of shame on his face that made her heart swell with love for him.
Hastily blinking the liquid emotion from her eyes, Bellatrix nodded briskly. "Thanks for caring all the same."
Obviously seeking to lighten the moment, Lyra smiled brightly at Corvus. "You should've seen the way she stabbed Delphini when they discovered Voldemort's Horcrux was inside of her, though! That was awesome!"
Corvus nearly dropped his fork. "You were there?"
Lyra shook her head. "No, but I saw it in the Pensieve. It was epic Bellatrix! She kept stabbing and stabbing while basically telling him to sod off, and they no longer needed a god."
"Yeah, so...apparently he has a Horcrux in her," Rabastan said, grinning at the shocked look on the faces of Corvus, Cygnus, and Druella. "I guess we forgot to tell you. We did say it's been busy, though."
"What's interesting to me is that Delphini said she doesn't like him," Rodolphus said. "Makes me wonder how sharing space as closely as they are will work out."