Author's Note: Hey guys! Just wanted to say thanks for reading :)
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Harry Potter franchise!
Chapter 2: The Tale
As Malfoy struggled to find the words to begin his tale, Harry began mopping the blood off of his face. He took a moment to examine the girl Malfoy had brought with him. His "sister," as the two were apparently claiming. Harry had to admit, they looked enough alike to be some sort of relation to the Malfoy heir, what with the platinum blonde hair and similar, aristocratic facial features. And yet, the mystery girl looked far less…severe than Malfoy. Her features were soft in comparison to his sharp, angular looks, and her eyes sparkled with both concern for her brother and a friendly curiosity. And the eyes, that was another difference. Whereas Draco Malfoy had almost fluorescent blue eyes, this girl had eyes of some odd silver color that he had never seen on a person before. One could almost say they were spectral, like the eyes of a ghost.
It was as Harry was observing his mysterious visitor that Malfoy began to speak. "The majority of this mess came about via the Death Eaters at today's meeting, though the Dark Lord had more than his fair share of it, stupid bastard that he is," he started casually, wincing as Harry had to scrub particularly hard at a nasty cut on his temple. Harry stopped his ministrations at that comment, staring at the blonde boy in disbelief. "What, you think I liked the psycho? 'Course not, he tortures the people that like him more than the ones that don't! Who the hell would want something like that? And even if he didn't, he tried to hurt Lyra, and I won't stand for that."
"Lyra? Who's that, your girlfriend?" Harry asked in the silence that followed. There was a chuckle from behind him, and he turned to see the silver eyed girl step forward with a soft smile on her face.
"I'm Lyra, actually. Draco's the epitome of 'over-protective big brother,' and I'm odd enough for that to make his life difficult," she explained, shooting Malfoy an apologetic look. Harry hid his surprise by busying himself untangling some of the bandages from the first aid kit. He picked a long, sturdy ACE bandage and began wrapping up Malfoy's forehead. Lyra continued, "This time I just happened to mouth off to the wrong person and royally pissed him off. Turns out murdering psychopaths don't like when you chastise them in front of their followers."
Harry snorted in disbelief. "You told off Voldemort? Would've like to see that, he's so full of himself he can't have taken it well."
"Yeah, well, he didn't," Malfoy cut in. "Soon as Lyra finished speaking, he started screaming and hexing, and it was just a huge bloody mess. I had all of ten seconds to push her to the floor before the first cutting hex shot across the room." He bit back a groan as Harry began examining his mottled left arm. Harry shot him a sympathetic grimace, trying to be gentler. Mostly satisfied with their description of Malfoy's injuries, he began to ask questions to fill in a few of the blanks.
"So Voldemort and his Death Eaters did this? How did you get out of there, then? And why were you even around them?" He began to get angry as the implications of their presence became clear. "Invited to the meeting, were you?" He asked spitefully. "Were you excited to be invited to be a Junior Death Eater so early? Probably thrilled—"
"OI! Want to actually wait until he answers you before you make him out to be the villain?" Lyra was glaring at him with a burning anger that belied her soft nature from before. Her eyes were like molten lead, as if someone had boiled down bullets. Her hands were balled into fists and her entire frame shook with fury. Malfoy was shooting her wary looks, but he did not look offended in the least by Harry's comments.
"Honestly, Lyra, with how I've had to act at school, I'm surprised we were even let into the house. If Potter wasn't such a stupid Gryffindor," he sneered, "he would've left us on the street and probably called the aurors to boot." His expression turned thoughtful. "Though, I don't suppose they would've come if you called, what with the Prophet is saying and all that. I banked on the fact that everyone thinks you're mad to keep out of the Ministry's attention."
Harry looked outraged. "Mad?! Is that what they're calling me now? Bloody hell, Voldemort is back, when is Fudge going to accept that?! I wouldn't make something like that up! I'm not mad!" Malfoy cut him off quickly, before his rant could continue.
"I didn't say you were! In Merlin's name, Potter, we just got out of a Death Eater meeting, you really think we're going to mock you for being mad? Calm down." He met Harry's sheepish expression with a level glare, before gesturing pointedly at his arm. "We had a deal. You patch me up and I'll explain everything." Harry rolled his eyes, but reached once more for the bandages. He began at the wrist, wrapping the gashes on Malfoy's arm tightly.
"Right, then. As I was about to say, we were at the meeting because the Dark Lord had dropped in on our home for the night before calling everyone. Mother had been planning on getting Lyra and I out of there before that could happen, but it was unexpected. Since he was there, the Dark Lord asked to be introduced to the kids, Lyra and I, so that he could 'properly influence the next generation.' Mother and Father had no choice, so they brought us in and Lyra…" here, Malfoy hesitated, before finishing with, "made him angry. I pulled her out of the way, was hurt in the process, and then got ferried off to a random spot by Lyra, who had a portkey to our safe house."
"I take it one of you Apparated here, then?" Malfoy nodded and pointed again to his sister. "Impressive, you're not supposed to be able to do that until you're seventeen." Lyra blushed at the compliment, but smiled ruefully at his implied disbelief. "I'm sure you wouldn't mind explaining how that's even possible. Or how you managed to piss off Voldemort enough that he attacked you straight off the way he did." Harry finished off bandaging Malfoy, shutting the first aid kit and crossing his arms as he waited for clarification from the strange, undiscovered sibling of the Malfoy heir.
Lyra sighed deeply. "Alright," she said heavily, "I suppose the first thing you need to know about me is that I was born with an unusual gift…"
And done for now! Sorry about the kind of slow update, I'll try to be quicker. Thanks for reading!
