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Chapter 92 - All in the Family

When guests arrived at Raven's Nest manor as early as breakfast, it was usually someone from the Ministry. This time, though, it was Cassius Winterhaven. When Harold showed him in, Lyra lit up and gave a squeal of joy, launching herself away from her chair at the table and into his arms. Cassius grinned, giving her a quick embrace as his eyes lit up. Before Rod could do more than glare, he was stepping back. "Though I am happy to see you, love, do keep in mind that my life is still very literally on the line when it comes to your parents."

Lyra pouted, flashing them a resentful look.

"Are the bloody Malfoys refusing to feed you?" Rodolphus growled at Winterhaven, not bothering with a good morning.

"Actually they did offer breakfast, but I told them I'd like to pop in and dine with you all," Cassius replied cheerfully. "I figure it gives me time to get to know everyone considering all of our days will be busy with work. Also, to be honest, though the Malfoys were polite and relatively gracious, I can't say that I feel as comfortable with them as I do with you."

"So you're comfortable living on the edge," Bellatrix asked. Lifting her raven shaped coffee mug she took a sip before turning her attention to the eggs and toast on her plate.

"It honestly depends on the situation," Cassius answered. His grave expression suggested he actually put some thought into the question."Getting to know the bloody Lestranges is worth a bit of danger." He grinned.

"So does Harold give him breakfast," the elf asked, the round goggles of his mask fixed on Rodolphus.

Rodolphus sighed. "I suppose so, if Bella doesn't mind."

Bellatrix shrugged.

"Thank you, oh great and crazy ones," Lyra said, taking Cassius's hand and pulling him to sit in the chair beside hers.

"Be nice to them," Cassius chided lightly, then grinned at Bellatrix and Rodolphus. "Thanks."

Harold left to bring Winterhaven a plate of breakfast.

"So you're off to the Ministry today, then," Rabastan asked, and Cassius nodded.

"I get to meet the actual Grindelwald. I mean, compared to the three of you, it shall definitely be a little anticlimactic, but I am looking forward to it nonetheless. It is quite certain that he shall work me within an inch of my life, though, so breakfast will really help to fuel me up for the rigors of the day."

"Flattery will probably get you nowhere," Rabastan said with a grin.

"Not even if it's completely honest and heartfelt," Cassius asked plaintively.

"Is it wrong to feel myself relenting a little," Rabastan asked, turning to his brother and sister-in-law.

"Perhaps not," Rodolphus said grudgingly. "He is protecting Lyra, after all. Aren't you, Boy?" he demanded, turning to Winterhaven.

"Of course," Cassius said. "Sir, I would protect Lyra with my life, I swear it."

"I can take care of myself, you know," Lyra grumbled under her breath. "I have a very nice Mind Ripping ability in case anyone forgot."

"And if Delphini is somehow able to turn it back onto you?" Bellatrix shot back, a lump rising in her throat at the very idea of something befalling her baby.

She would never forget her Aunt Walburga's soul deep misery at the loss of Regulus. She knew she would break under such grief were something to befall Lyra. The fact Walburga had died before she knew that Regulus hadn't, made the entire mess more depressing. Bellatrix's feelings must have shown clearly on her face, and fortunately Lyra thought they were all about her rather than in part about Walburga and Regulus.

"Alright, mum," she said, heaving an exasperated sigh. "Just don't look like that."

Bellatrix gave her daughter a tight nod as she forced a smile. "Thanks," she said, meaning it. If Lyra were careful, it was one less thing she'd have to worry about.

"I'm taking Cassius to the Ministry today, just so you know where I am," she said.

"And you'll be home for dinner," Bellatrix asked.

Lyra nodded. "Can Cassius come too? I mean, you don't want to make him digest his food while looking at the probably disapproving face of Uncle Lucy, do you?" she coaxed.

"My stomach is hurting at the very idea," Winterhaven proclaimed dramatically.

"You can come to dinner IF you stay and drink then drunken duel with us," Rabastan said.

"Brilliant," Cassius enthused happily. Then his face clouded as his eyes filled with concern. "Say, the three of you aren't going to gang up and kill me during this admittedly fun sounding drunken dueling, are you?"

Rodolphus smirked, shaking his head. "Nah."

Cassius heaved a sigh of relief. "Good!"

Rod's smirk widened into a happy smile. "Any of us could take you on our own."

"Dad! Do stop," Lyra said, giving Rod an exasperated glare over the rim of her coffee cup. Draining it, she stood.

"Hurry, Cas. I need to get out of here before they drive me as crazy as they are."

Cassius grinned. "If I eat too fast, I shall get indigestion. Don't you remember learning that in health class?"

Lyra sighed. "Yes I remember, but with my sanity slipping, it hardly seems as important."

"You took health class," Rabastan asked curiously. "The Australian curriculum is vastly different from ours here. We didn't learn about chakras or Auras or how to fucking eat. You lot got some weird shit for your education over there! Plus Auras are weird." He laughed.

Cassius grinned back. "Health class is for Healers and psychics, and in our first year we all have to take it to see what level of potential we can develop," he explained.

Forking the last bite of egg up from his plate he popped it into his mouth, then washed it down with a swig of coffee. "Auras aren't that weird if you look at it right," he said easily. "They're made of the same sort of matter as the mind. Not the brain, but the actual mind, where thoughts are."

"What, like, because you can't see or touch it, but it's still there," Rabastan asked after a second of consternation.

"That's right," Cassius nodded. "Ever felt someone thinking about something? Like if you ask them a question, and they pause to think, you can tell they heard you even if you're not looking at them because it's like a loaded pause?"

Rabastan nodded. "Yeah, I guess so."

"That's because if the thoughts are hard enough they're tangible on your mind. It's something you sense with that intangible part of you that is still very real. Auras are just an extension of that. Psychic ability is in the mind so things reflect in the Aura sort of the same way."

"Why didn't you just say that," Rabastan asked Lyra. "He teaches it better."

Lyra shot her uncle a glare. "I did basically, but I am glad you can appreciate the way Cassius explains things because he is rather brilliant. He can make things all simplistic but super deep at the same time." She gave Winterhaven a loving smile, and Bellatrix found herself glancing away.

"Thanks," Cassius said. "I just explain things the way I think about them."

"So the locking and unlocking thing you do with your mind, that's with the part that one can't touch, the part you're saying can feel someone else thinking," Bellatrix asked.

Winterhaven nodded, smiling at her as if she'd just won the grand prize to something. "Yes, that's exactly it!"

"But isn't that where all magic comes from, then," Rodolphus asked, and Cassius nodded again.

"Well, at least half of it."

"Which is why Auras are important," Lyra interjected.

"And emotions," Bellatrix asked, suddenly thinking of the love room and the work they were to be doing there.

"That's the other part of where magic comes from, yes. Some believe it is still a part of the mind, and others believe in other layers of the soul. It's all dark matter, if you ask me, but others can split hairs," Cassius said with a nearly careless shrug. "I suppose everyone is right when it comes down to it. All theories I've heard on the matter have their valid points, after all."

He stood from the table and gave Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and Rabastan a warm smile. "Thanks again for breakfast," he said with an open sincerity that made him hard to hate. "I look forward to chatting more at dinner. And I'm super excited to drunken duel with you lot! Are there any rules, though?"

Rabastan shrugged. "No killing. Anything else goes."

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