Malfoy Manor was silent. Deadly silent as night time had come and most of the household were asleep in their beds all except one. Lyra Malfoy was supposed to have gone to sleep hours ago but sleep was evading the eleven year old. Lyra's was too excited to sleep, her mind was racing with excitement to the point where it was active for her to fall asleep even if she wanted to. The day that she had been waiting for, was almost here, after so many years of waiting, it had come. Tomorrow morning Lyra would be leave her family home and travel down to London and go to Kings Cross Station, board the Hogwarts Express and head off to her first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Lyra had been looking forward to this day for a while even when there were times that Lyra wasn't even sure that she would get to this point as her father had intended on Lyra going to Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, he had been rather insistent about it but her mother had been adamant that neither of her children would be sent of far away from home as possible and as such would attend Hogwarts. It was rather exciting and as she crept out of her bed, Lyra made her way over to where her truck was neatly situated in the corner of her room ready for tomorrow. Her wand freshly purchased from Ollivander's sat on her desk ready to begin a life time of use. Nerves were bubbling in the bottom of Lyra's stomach and had been for the previous week but she had kept it all bottled up as Malfoy's didn't do nervous. They were too proud for that as Lyra's father Lucius often told her. They didn't do nervous, they didn't do much when it come to displaying emotions. Standing in the middle of her bedroom Lyra was taken off guard when she saw that someone was opening her bedroom and she quickly scurried back to her bed and dove under the covers and shut her eyes. No doubt it was her father making sure that she was asleep.
"Ly? Are you awake?" A quiet voice asked and opening her eyes Lyra found her four year old little brother poking his small head around her bedroom door, his normally pristine white blonde hair was all over the place which seemed to match the odd look on his face. Seeing Draco look so frazzled wasn't something that Lyra saw quite often as her brother was pretty much always picture perfect, pristine and not even one hair out of place.
"Draco! What are you doing up so late?" Lyra couldn't help but quietly hiss as it was way too late for her brother to be up, let alone getting out of bed and wondering over to her bedroom. Lyra had to keep her voice down as she didn't want anyone to hear them or even wake up as that wouldn't be good for anyone. "If father catches you out of bed, you'll get into big trouble…"
"I had a bad dream Lyra." Draco quietly said as he shuffled into Lyra's room with small and careful steps after shutting the door behind him. Lyra looked over to her brother and with a small sigh she moved over in her bed, pulled back the cover and motioned for her brother to join her. It took Draco mere seconds to run over to the bed and get himself settled giggling as he made himself comfortable. Lyra couldn't help smile as she watched her baby brother's grey eyes light up as he laughed, It wasn't often that Draco laughed as he was a very stoic boy, reserved and very quiet at times. Practically everything that their father expected children to be.
"What was your dream about bud?" Lyra questioned and she watched as her brother scrunched up his small little face and Draco didn't say anything, he just shook his head and Lyra gently poked her brother's shoulder in order her to prod him along. "Whatever it is you can tell me Draco, you know you can tell me anything…"
"I dreamt that you left for school and forgot all about me." Draco admitted after a moment and Lyra's heart sank ever so slightly, she couldn't believe that her brother thought that she would go off to school and forget all about him. That wasn't possible and yet here Draco was, curled up next to her in bed because he was so scared of that. Lyra was seeing how hard the seperation was going to be for Draco and she hadn't even left yet.
"Never going to happen. You are my brother, my only brother and I could never forget all about you. No matter where I go or how long we may be apart for, I will always love you the most Draco. I would never abandon you."
Glancing down at her wrist watch that sat on the inside of her left wrist, Lyra couldn't help but sigh as she took note of the time. Draco was cutting it rather fine, that was if her brother was actually going to show. Every year her brother seemed to slip further away from her and Lyra knew that the day was soon coming when Draco would no longer come and meet her for their annual meeting. The day was inching closer every single day and Lyra knew it was only a mater of time before her brother cut her out of his life just like their parents did. Lyra had been disowned by her family years earlier when she had announced to them all that she was not like them, that she didn't believe in their silly notions of blood purity and that their were superior because they were a pure blooded magical family and were very wealthy. For as long as Lyra could remember, she had listened to her family project their bigotry and prejudice onto her, to make her one of them. A supporter of the dark arts and pure blood supremacy, Lyra had never really understand especially when she was told that she couldn't repeat the stuff that she had heard so not to get daddy in trouble. When Lyra was eleven and went off to Hogwarts, it soon became apparent that no everyone shared the same views as the rest of her family, which Lyra gradually became aware that their views were narrow minded and filled with such hatred. It was poison. Eventually Lyra had enough and when she had finished school, she told her father exactly what she thought along with the fact that she had no interest in practicing the dark arts or being anything like them, Lyra had a made it a point to show her distaste over the whole matter by announcing to her family three years ago that she had been accepted into the auror training programme.
Things hadn't gone down well, it had been just as bad as Lyra had been expecting it to be as she knew her family were involved in the dark arts. Lyra had never seen anything explicit that implicated either of her parents as followers of the dark arts. She had grown up hearing the rumours, hearing stories from people who were acquainted with her parents, she knew of people who her father knew who were involved in the dark arts and had been sent to Azkaban because of it. Then there were her relatives, numerous of them and some worst then the others such as her Aunt Bellatrix who was an out and proud death eater currently in Azkaban for participating in the torture of two aurors. Lyra didn't want to be like any of them and the furthest thing she could do was become an auror. That was the last day that Lyra saw her parents as they refused to have anything to do with her. Glancing up from her watch Lyra was surprised to see that her brother had made it to the clearing in the woods that they usually met which was a mile away from the family home. They couldn't meet in the open and Lyra was not welcomed at the family home.
"Hello little brother." Lyra said as she greeted her brother in a warm and affectionate manner, in the past year her brother had grown so much and he now looked so much like their father. He was no longer the boy that Lyra used to chase up and down the halls of Malfoy Manor when their parents had gone out, making as much noise as they liked. Now he was fourteen years old and a young man who fast losing his remaining innocence.
"Don't call me that." Draco sneered and Lyra forced herself to smile, watching the hardened look in her brother's grey eyes, the same eyes as hers, look at her in distaste. No longer the bright eyes that used to light up, there was no brightness in Draco's eyes, her his eyes were cold and empty. Hewas becoming more and more like their father with every year. Lyra wasn't allowed to address their father by his parental title. Lyra tried not to take it personally but it did hurt. Draco had been her favourite person in the world growing up and her decision to break away from her family had cost her. It had cost Lyra her brother and it was a decision that she had to live with everyday. The only contact that she had with him was these yearly visits as he no longer responded to her letters and she wasn't welcomed back at the family manor.
"How are you doing Draco?" Lyra questioned attempting to make small talk with her brother who just chose not to saying, instead he looked at her with contempt. This was pretty normal as when they did meet Draco didn't have much to say to her. It was a rule in the family that when a member of the family had been disowned it was forbidden to talk to them. It made life pretty lonely, although Lyra had made the choice to leave her family it didn't mean she didn't miss them. Her parents as screwed up as their ideals and beliefs were good parents, growing up Lyra always knew that she was loved. Her parents weren't neglectful in the slightest they were loving by most accounts although were quite flawed at the same time. Lyra missed them at times.
"Is this the part where I ask about your job?" Draco questioned in a sarcastic manner.
"No. I know that you don't approve of the choices that I've made Draco and what I've decided to do with my life. I know I didn't go about telling you all about it in the best possible way. I didn't want things to end up the way they did, I should have explained it to you myself but I didn't know how to explain it to you as you were so young and things were getting very difficult between me and our parents. I tried to protect you from everything as best I could but our father was relentless with his blood supremacy nonsense and eventually I had enough and so I–" Lyra began in an attempt to explain herself as she never had a chance to, she had sent her brother numerous letters but he never read any of them. Draco would always send them back unopened.
"You left Lyra–" Draco interrupted in a disgusted tone of voice and the way he looked at Lyra was in a way that no person should ever look at a member of their family. It was a look of pure disgust and for Lyra, to see her brother looking at her like that was like she had been punched in the stomach several times. It broke her heart to see someone she loved so much, completely hate her.
"–It wasn't my choice Draco, dad was the one who told me to get out and never come home again. He kicked me out the house without even a second glance and he acts like I'm dead. That he only has one child!" Lyra retorted.
"You turned your back on us. It's what you get." Draco sneered and Lyra could see that their father's grip on her brother increased only further.
"I made a choice and I have to live with that everyday. I lost my home and my family but I never turned my back on you. I turned my back on our family's beliefs, the warped sense of entitlement and hatred, which seemed to be passed down through the generations. The things were exposed to were not normal Draco, we were being taught how to hate. I couldn't live that way and accept those ideals when I knew that we were continually being exposed to the ignorance and narrow mindedness from people who I loved. I didn't want to leave you, I wanted to take with you but that could have never happened. They wouldn't have ever let me take you from them. They would have killed me before they let that happen. Don't you ever think that I have turned my back on you… You are my brother Draco, my only brother and I love you. I have always loved you, more than you will ever know and I would never turn my back on you."
"You are not my sister any more Lyra, you are nothing to me any more." Draco stated and Lyra allowed herself to wearily laugh. Her brother could never really lie to her. But he did sound like he wanted to believe what he was saying.
"I don't believe that. I know you care Draco, deep down behind that cool exterior you've learned to eat, sleep and breathe since the day you were born you still care about me. Regardless of what has happened I'm still your big sister and whilst I know you hate me I think a tiny bit of you still loves me. Otherwise you wouldn't be here, you wouldn't have shown up continually on the same day at the exact same time for the last three years despite knowing what our father would say if he knew if you had seen me." Lyra stated and she watched as her brother looked at her a few moments before walking closer to her and he placed a small leather pouch in her hands before placing a kiss on her cheek.
"Happy birthday Lyra."