Sunday morning, before Lys had even finished preparing breakfast, Friedm rushed into the dining room, waiting for Lys to take him broomstick riding.
"Today Dad will accompany you flying. Remember, you absolutely must drag Dad along with you. If Dad doesn't come out, I might be ten minutes late taking you out."
Friedm nodded earnestly, taking the salad from Lys's hands and distributing it to everyone's plates, then pouring four glasses of milk and setting them out properly.
"I'll go call Mum and Dad for breakfast..." Before he'd finished speaking, his voice had already dashed off.
Lys shook her head and tapped her wand. Everyone's meal flew to their respective places. Lys had even prepared a picnic basket—she hadn't planned to end things after just a quick broomstick ride.
But when Lys sat by the lake, she never expected Noah would ask her to fly as well...
Then Friedm stared absolutely dumbfounded at his sister, who sat on the broomstick but couldn't manage to get more than a foot off the ground no matter what she tried.
In his heart, Lys was the absolute best! Lys could do anything!
How could Lys possibly not know how to ride a broomstick?!
He was just preparing to organize his words to comfort his Lys, then let Lys sit behind him and enjoy the pleasure of soaring on a broomstick.
Then he watched Lys, looking rather helpless, jump down from that old Cleansweep, set it aside properly, and kick open the box containing the Quidditch balls, saying:
"No matter. I can fly without a broomstick."
Transferring her wand to her left hand, Lys cast "Volatus."
Under the Flying Charm, Lys's speed couldn't match a proper flying broomstick, but her agility was decidedly superior to Friedm's.
Her flowing robes and streaming hair lent her movements a touch of youthful spirit, even though she was now thirty-two rather than twenty-three.
This wasn't Friedm's first time seeing Lys cast the Flying Charm, but watching his sister soar in mid-air with the sun behind her, he reckoned Lys's hair was positively glowing...
"Lys! Lys! Let's have a proper race!"
When the sun climbed overhead, Lys and Friedm's goal scores had reached 5-4.
Lys still maintained a leisurely posture with her wand-holding left hand behind her back, but Friedm on his broomstick was already sweating buckets. Lys had insisted he wear full protective gear, causing him to sweat not just from exertion but from sheer heat.
He glanced at the sun overhead and caught the QuaffleSenna had tossed up.
The bright red scoring ball drew Lys's immediate attention. She struck the leather-wrapped Bludger hard toward Friedm, then positioned herself below him, successfully gaining control of the Quaffle and flying swiftly toward the goal hoops Noah was defending.
But Lys's speed simply couldn't match the broomstick. She had to abandon the Quaffle tucked under her arm and swing her bat to deflect the BludgerFriedm had walloped with tremendous force.
The Bludger kept pursuing Lys. She executed a sharp stop to dodge it, which made Friedm once again the player closest to the Bludger.
The Bludger chased after him rapidly, trying to knock this nearest player clean off course.
But Friedm refused to surrender his last chance to level the score. On his high-speed broomstick, he released both hands and even swung his entire torso forcefully to bat the Bludger away. This manoeuvre severely disrupted his balance, and the broomstick sent him spinning rapidly toward the lake surface.
At the very last moment before Friedm would've crashed into the water, he still managed to regain control of his broomstick, though the broomstick tail showed obvious damage from his frantic ascent.
Even so, clutching the bright red Quaffle, he flashed his little white teeth at Lys, who had her wand trained on him.
"I didn't lose!"
When the ball sailed into the goal Noah was guarding from a particularly tricky angle, Friedm bounced about on the ground in delight, waving his broomstick. With his enthusiastic movements, numerous broken twigs tumbled from the broomstick tail.
He clutched the broomstick to his chest with obvious distress, scrambling to collect the twigs that had fallen to the ground.
Lys seized the opportunity to suggest, "Let's go buy another broomstick, shall we? I heard Nimbus has released the 2001."
Friedm held his broomstick rather hesitantly. Lys could see the little blighter was reluctant to part with his current broom. "I'll try to mend it for you when we get back, but you really do need a new broomstick. This one simply can't handle your high-speed flying—there'll be accidents."
Noah watched with disappointment as his son nodded instead of suggesting they'd order by owl post after returning home.
But after standing on the street again and getting over his initial nervousness, he realised that most of the gazes cast their way were actually directed at Lys.
"Miss Lamb, buying something today?" "Miss Lamb, have a look—the latest materials!"
"Miss Lamb, fresh whiskey from Russia—absolutely potent stuff! Take a few bottles, won't you?"
Lys coughed and waved her hand dismissively, not taking those bottles, then turned to lead her family briskly into the flying broomstick specialty shop.
After purchasing the broomstick, Noah carried the broomstick maintenance kit and followed Lys with his head down. Lys had said she wanted to take him to her new shop in Germany's largest wizarding commercial district.
He didn't object—objecting would've been utterly pointless.
Only when he noticed Lys had stopped did Noah look up. Seeing the spacious, brilliantly lit shop before him, he couldn't help but exclaim—
"You bought this?!"
In a place like this, it wasn't simply a matter of having money to purchase a shop, especially such an enormous row of connected storefronts.
"Indeed, Dad. This is our family's shop." Lys's eyes held a glimmer of pride:
"This is one of the largest establishments on this entire street."
Senna had visited several times already. She wasn't interested in the shop itself—only the materials within.
Friedm clutched his new broomstick and dashed into the shop to find Lulu.
Only Noah lingered by the counter, discovering a long-missed sense of familiarity, reluctant to budge.
"Dad, would you fancy helping me mind the shop? You know Lulu's situation—sometimes negotiations with customers prove rather difficult."
Using a paper aeroplane to dispatch an order and coins to the beverage shop at the street's end, Lys enquired of Noah.
Noah touched the counter, somewhat tempted yet hesitant.
"Most of the trade here involves regular customers, and everyone on this street knows precisely what I do. They wouldn't dare offend you lightly."
Lys continued before Noah could speak: "I need to work during the day, Mum has potions to brew, and come September, our little pest—ahem..." Lys spotted Friedm racing over from afar and quickly corrected herself, "little Friedm will be off to school. You'll be alone at home, and I'm not comfortable with that."
"Lys! Mum says she wants to use this to make my wand! I don't want it—it's far too short!"
Lys could tell at a glance that Senna was having him on because she found Friedm irritating. It was merely a piece of wooden handle from a cleaning broom that she'd chopped off previously to craft some small trinkets.
After Lys vanished the bit of wood, she continued her conversation with Noah: "If Dad could lend a hand, both Lulu and I would be considerably more relaxed. And this way, after work I can pop here through the Floo Network, and we can head home together."
Lys's expression remained perfectly calm. Watching Friedm dash off, she continued speaking matter-of-factly: "Right then, it's settled. After term starts, I'll be going to work with you each morning."
Noah's mouth hadn't even opened, but even if it had, it would've been entirely useless. As mentioned before, since that incident, the household had become Lys's absolute dictatorship.
And Lys genuinely believed that after Friedm departed for school, Noah simply wasn't suited to lengthy periods alone at home.
What difference would that be from his existence when she was young?
Who knew what he might brood over due to guilt and self-recrimination, conjuring up more so-called compensatory notions that wouldn't benefit this family in the slightest...
Lys reckoned their current family arrangement was perfectly fine. She intended to keep it stable.
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