A/N: Hope you enjoy this one, we're back in the present once more. Please review!
Tress Blues
Spiralling
Chapter Eight
Four Years On
"Ly...can...yo...hear...wh...not...wakin...what...appened..." the murmuring was disjointed and broken as it reached my brain. I felt like I was floating. I felt like I was just hanging in this peaceful sleep, undreaming, unmoving, unpinned.
Vaguely, I recalled the feeling of panic, fear, worry but they fell away, seeping from my bones as soon as I thought of them. "Lyra...wa...up..plea..." the voice was soft and distant but I liked it. It was comforting. "Please...come on...Ly...wake...up..." Who was that?
"She...frown...good...sign..." New voice, calmer, more like an intellectual's. But it was strangely beautiful too.
"Isn't...up...yet?...Scor...pius..."
Scorpius. The name made me tense. Scorpius was my brother, my twin, my best friend, my worst enemy...Scorpius was-
Hurt.
He was hurt.
I was hurt. My body started falling, tumbling, spinning in a kaleidoscope of shadows. "Keeps...asking...for...her..."
I was hurt, my body was remembering and there was suddenly an ache in my veins and pain all through my chest. "Should be...waking...soon..." the voices were getting clearer as the pain grew sharper.
Scorpius. Yes, he was hurt. Because of me. Memories flitted through my brain.
"Al...get...some...rest..."
Albus. My best friend. Albus Potter. Green. Albus needed rest? Well I did wake him up...I remembered. The lion knocker...
"S'okay...not..bad...Rosie..."
Rose. Rosie. Best girl friend. Temper. Worried. Loud voice. Christmas Eve...
"Lyra..."
Oh Godric. Oh no. I remembered, the memories splintering my mind like needles-
Lucius. Narcissa. Blood. Twilly. Pain.f
"Can you hear me?"
Scorpius. Blood. Apparating. Pain. Curses.
Blood. Lion's Head Knocker. Pain.
"Lyra, come on."
Albus. Blood. Red hair. Pain.
"Lyra..."
Rose. Blood. Pain, pain, pain, pain-
Green.
"Lyra?"
Then Nothing.
My eyes snapped open, wide and panicked as adrenaline pumped through my system. "Scorpius," I wheezed, scrambling as I saw the unfamiliar shape of the room and ceiling. My hands met sheets that were not mine. I freaked out, trying desperately to sit up but the sudden stabbing in my chest and stomach stopped me.
"He's fine, Ly, come on, he's fine, calm down," said the comforting voice from my dream and my eyes took in the dark shapes surrounding me, gradually turning them into faces.
"Albus?" I whispered. "Where's- Scorpius, he's- Narcissa- Crucio-" I rambled, nonsensically, still trying desperately to sit up, to get away from the danger I remembered. "Oh Godric, oh Merlin, no-"
"James, help me a little." Albus murmured to another dark figure that was blurring in and out of focus. Was that her? Was that a wand she was pulling out?
"Hey, hey, Lyra, calm down, you're fine, kay? Do you remember where you are?" a dark shape to my right turned into the tall figure of Albus' brother, James. I stopped, looking around. The walls were soft blue, white lace curtains, beds comfortable and cosy. This wasn't Malfoy Manor.
"P-P-Potter Mansion?" I asked, weakly. Albus nodded, sitting beside me with a tiny smile.
"Yeah. Came in last night. Scared the shit out of me Ly." He scolded, tight in tone. I felt my heart start to calm down from his frantic pace.
"Not my fault you're skittish..." I mumbled and James laughed, loudly. Loud.
"Where's Rose?" I murmured, blinking a little. "She was there too..."
"Yeah, you told her she had a loud mouth, said goodnight and went to sleep," Albus recounted, strained. His hair was curly and very dark whereas James' was straight but messy and a few shades lighter, I noted as they stood together. But they resembled each other too much not to be brothers.
"Was tired..." was all I could mumble.
"Out of the way, you're tiring her out." Said the beautiful voice from my dream and I watched as Victoire Weasley entered the room, her beautiful face tense and concerned. She was a Healer, I recalled immediately. Of course she was taking care of me. "How're you feeling Lyra?"
I thought about the question and frowned. "Bad."
She smiled a tiny bit. "Gave us all quite a shock, you and your brother. Here, drink this." She handed me something pink and sweet in a little vial and I tossed it to the back of my throat. My eyes got sharper almost immediately, my brain starting to clear away the foggy mist that was residing there. "That should wake you up for a little while so you can talk to Uncle Harry."
"Why?" I whined. I didn't want to be awake. I wanted to go to sleep again.
Victoire gave me an astonished glance. "Lyra, you showed up on the Potter doorstep, covered in blood with Scorpius half-dead in your arms. You tell me why you should talk to him. Take this. I've never seen a curse like it but a lot of internalities were torn. I've healed all of them but your still weak." She handed me another vial and I downed it without looking, grimacing.
"How is he?" I asked, a little afraid of the answer. Scorpius had to be fine.
She seemed to understand my expression. "He's not dead Lyra, just resting at the moment. He keeps waking up and asking for you. Doesn't seem to understand the phrase 'She's fine' though. Rose is with him now, to calm him down." She told me and I sighed, leaning back down. "I'll go check on him if you want." She offered and I nodded, thankfully.
She left and James coughed a little. "I'll go tell Dad you're up. He's been driving himself mad." He chuckled, ruffling my hair as he past.
Which left me and Albus.
He studied me closely, as if trying to convince himself I was still awake. I don't know why but I couldn't take my eyes off him. Maybe to reassure myself I was safe. Maybe because he was my comfort. The silence reigned for a while. "You scared me Lyra Malfoy." He admitted, softly.
"I'm sorry." A thought occurred to me. "Oh Merlin. I ruined your Christmas. Oh Al, I'm sorry, I just didn't know where else to think of-"
Albus laughed- it was hysterical with respite. "Only you Ly, only you would feel worse about ruining Christmas than the fact that you almost died." He gasped through his laughter although the relief was so evident in his voice that I felt my stomach roll, nauseous with the thought of his own worry.
"My timing is awful. I couldn't think of anywhere else though. All I wanted was somewhere safe. So I thought of you guys." I replied, softly. Albus sobered up.
"Well, I'm glad you did. You picked the only house in Ottery St Catchpole that had four ministry officials, three accomplished Aurors, one Auror-in-training, a Healer-"
"And a partridge in a pear tree." Said a voice at the door and Albus' father, the great Harry Potter walked through the door with a small smile. He looked very much like Albus, only more wrinkled and with a distinguished greying at his temples. But his eyes were exactly the same. Bright green. "Merry Christmas Lyra."
"Merry Christmas." I mumbled back, feeling even worse for ruining the festivities.
I'd known Harry Potter for almost four years now, ever since Albus had invited Scorpius and I to stay for the Easter Break at Potter Mansion during our First Year. His parents, aunts and uncles had been sceptical of us to begin with, especially Rose's dad but apparently the fact we'd won over Dominique and their kids had swayed them a fair bit.
Gradually, they'd come to accept us. Personally, I loved Ginny Potter the most. It was probably the way she adored and loved her children but kept them safe and raised them properly as well, like a real mother should. And her heart was so big- she had space for two extra screw ups and had surprisingly welcomed us with open arms.
Harry had been stiff at first with us being the children of his enemy but the news about our parents leaving England had drawn parallels with his own parents dying and leaving him with disapproving relatives. He could understand how we felt, being left alone with people that hated us.
Rose's dad Ron was the only one who had fully hated us in the beginning. But after several conversations with his wife (who was sweet and the smartest person I'd ever met) and daughter (read: yelling matches) and seeing us act around Rose and Albus, he came to the realisation that we were not in fact the reincarnation of Draco Malfoy, come back to haunt him.
We'd been invited back for the Easter break (secretly of course, with our grandparents thinking we were at Hogwarts) every year since.
"Can Albus stay?" I asked in a small voice. I felt shaky like one breath might knock me over. Al linked his fingers through mine and squeezed.
"I'm not going anywhere Ly," he whispered in my ear, firmly.
"Sure," Harry agreed, eyeing our hands with an odd look. "Lyra, do you remember what happened last night?" Harry asked carefully, taking a seat next to Albus.
I bit my lip, glancing between Al and Harry. "Yes."
"Can you tell me who did all this to you and Scorpius?" His face told me he already had his own suspicions. Showing up to their mansion every year with bruises and marks left over from Christmas was enough to make him suspicious.
I sighed, trying not to look up at them. "It was my fault," I stated, quietly. "Scorpius nearly died because of me."
"Lyra-" Albus started to protest but a look from his father silenced him.
"Lyra, what happened?"
I took a deep breath. "My grandparents. They- they were clipping my owl's wings again for the Christmas Break so I couldn't send letters to Al and Rosie. I got angry but they're stronger than me so I couldn't do anything about it. I just wanted them to see I wasn't going along with them. So
when it came time for dinner-"
My breath stopped as the memories flashed through the front of my mind. Tears gathered in my eyes. "I wore that stupid dress. It was one of my mother's, one she'd left behind. It was bright red and I wore the brightest gold and ruby jewellery because I knew it would piss my grandmother off. Gryffindor colours always do."
I looked down suddenly, feeling sick. What if I was still wearing it? But I'd been changed into a pair of cotton, black pyjama pants and a shirt that had the Beatles on it. I knew immediately it was one of Al's shirts and cast him a thankful look. It felt soft and safe and smelled just like him.
"So I wore it and I went down to dinner and my grandmother- She's not in her right mind. Since my dad left, she snapped and she went crazy," I rambled, the whole story coming quicker. "We're not allowed wands at the table but she flicked hers and- and she stung me and then I went flying and Lucius kept going on and on about how disgraceful I was and Scorpius-"
"Disgraces? You're the one who went to Azkaban! Leave her alone!" he roared, stepping in front of Lucius. His wand slid from his cane and tapped against the side of Scorpius' neck.
"You'd better move out of the way boy or you'll be joining your brat of a sister." He sneered.
"Make me."
"Suit yourself." Lucius shrugged elegantly and Scorpius went flying, his head hitting the ground. The barrage of spells hit him all over- his nose started to bleed, cuts and gashes appeared on his limbs, his shirt was turned to shreds in the crossfire. Except it wasn't crossfire because Scorpius couldn't fight back.
"I got up and Narcissa grabbed me and I screamed-"
"Silencio!"
"Crucio!"
"And Scorpius started screaming and I couldn't stop it and he just kept yelling and Lucius wouldn't stop-"
After what seemed like hours, Scorpius fell silent, his head hitting the stone ground with a sickening thwack! I stared, waiting for some sign he was still with me. My heart felt like it was going to shatter when he remained motionless.
My grandfather tossed Scorp's body aside, like a rag doll, letting it hit the wall and fall in a graceless jumble at the bottom. Still no movement. Come on Scorpius, I begged, mouthing the words. "You can't die..."
The silencing charm wore off and I hurled every curse, jinx and hex I knew, struggling as I always did with the wandless magic. Narcissa pushed me away from her, the Body Binding Jinx stopped.
Her lip curled in disgust, her long, platinum blond hair looking wild and deranged and more like the portraits of my Great Aunt Bellatrix than I'd ever seen. Her eyes were too wide, too wild, too mad. Narcissa Malfoy had snapped.
"Oh how pathetic you two are. Such disappointments." She snarled as I nursed my burning wrist from the Flame Charm that began this whole mess. I just glared at her, wishing my wand was with me, wishing I could kill her.
"Go to hell, you psychotic bitch," I snapped back at her, rage-filled. Her face screwed up and a single word flitted from her lips-
"And then they used the Cruciatus Curse on me," I whispered. "And it hurt s-s-so much..."
"You're okay now Lyra, you're safe." Albus murmured by my ear and I hadn't even realised he'd come to sit next to me on the bed, to hold me still. I hadn't even noticed I was trembling.
Ashamed as I would be later on, I cowered into the comfort Al provided. I caught a glimpse of his expression and he looked terrifyingly angry. I tried not to draw the comparisons between him and them. He was nothing like them. He was their opposite.
"When they stopped, Narcissa went off to another room with him and she started screaming like she always does, tearing things down, blowing things up...Scorpius...I thought...Godric, I thought he was dead..."
I fell to my knees and slowly rolled Scorpius' head into my lap. I almost screamed when I saw the blood matted in his hair, dripping from his nose, gashes above his eyebrow, on his chin, across his cheek and one eye swollen shut. His limbs were littered with slashes- my grandfather had been cursing him for almost an hour now I realised.
His dark dress robes were in tatters and wet with blood. I doubted I looked much better. I had to take a few breaths before trying to wake him, knowing that I would start hyperventilating soon.
"I used her wand and summoned my own and woke him up a little. We called the House Elf to come help us get our bags. We always talked about running away but I always thought we could hold out a little longer...just til we were seventeen, so it was legal..."
I bit my lip. "I know. But will they even..."
"I know them. I know Al. They'll let us. They always said it was okay." Scorpius finished my thoughts, with certainty. His eyes drooped and I nudged his shoulder.
"And we got the bags and we were going to Floo here...but I think Lucius guessed we were going to try to leave and he took all the Powder." I recounted, softly. "And then Narcissa appeared. And she was going to kill us. I know it. She was going to Avada Kedavra us and kill us both. So I Apparated."
Albus coughed, suddenly, like he'd swallowed his tongue. "You what?"
I looked away from him as Harry looked confused. I sighed, uncomfortable. "I can't Apparate well. I don't know why, Scorpius isn't as bad. Usually, I end up splinching myself-"
"You put yourself in the Hospital Wing for a week!" Albus exclaimed, furiously. "You could've killed yourself! No wonder half your internal organs looked like they'd been put through a blender-!"
"Well, I had to get out somehow!" I snapped back. "There was no other way! I Apparated before Narcissa could cast anything and then...I think we landed here. Albus opened the door just as Scorpius lost consciousness and I don't remember much else." I finished, feeling like I'd just run a marathon.
Harry had a hard look on his face. "I always knew Lucius was insane but I never...how long has this been going on Lyra?" he asked his final question and I looked away as I answered.
"Since First Year." I whispered. Albus hugged me tightly and I closed my eyes, fully prepared to just fall asleep again and never wake up this time.
"Why did no one tell me she was up!"
Alas, Rose Nymphadora Weasley seemed to have some thoughts on that.
Rose bounded through the door, her eyes wide and relieved. "Oh thank Merlin, Lyra, you gave me a heart attack!" she sagged with relief against the door frame, coming round to sit on my other side.
I gave her a small smile. "Sorry Rosie."
She brushed the hair away from my face and smiled. "Godric Lyra, are you feeling okay?" she asked. "Can I do anything?"
"She needs her rest, Rose," Harry interrupted, looking at me knowingly. Rose nodded immediately.
"I'll just go back to Scorpius in case he wakes up. We thought it was probably better to separate you so you wouldn't freak out at the sight of each other." She explained. I frowned.
"I'm not that bad am I?"
Rose let out a low whistle, picking up a mirror from a bed side table beside me. I took it, feeling a little apprehensive before glancing at it.
My face was a mess. I was about ten shades paler than usual, my eyes dark, murky green above the bruise-like shadows under my eyes. Or maybe they were bruises. My hair, normally golden ringlets, was lank and flat and there was dirt and flecks of blood matted in there. Two long cuts traced parallel across my cheek but they were healing. Slowly, I put the mirror down and lifted my shirt a little, wincing when I saw the bandages across my stomach.
"Victoire's going to minimise the scarring all she can but there's going to be a few marks." Rose said, sadly. I knew she was upset that I looked like this- worn down, defeated, injured, that I was in trouble and she couldn't help.
I just nodded, trying to push the mirror away as far as I could. I didn't want to see the ghost of Lyra Malfoy anymore. "How is Scorp?" I asked Rose before she left.
She bit her lip. "He's not healing as quickly as you but Victoire says he's a fighter and he'll make it through fine." She responded, though her voice lacked certainty. She suddenly rolled her eyes. "He's arguing with me, believe it or not. He keeps bickering with me, about who really got the top score in Astronomy last year, whether the Christmas Equation was correct or incorrect for Arithmacy. Your brother is, quite frankly, insane."
I tried not to grin but it slipped through. "Sounds like him," I agreed.
"I'll let you rest Ly. Uncle Harry, Aunty Ginny wants to know what's happened. Actually all of us do." Rose commented to her uncle. He nodded, wearily.
I frowned. "You mean everyone stayed? After we showed up?"
"Of course they did," Albus murmured in my ear. The sound gave me goose flesh. "Weasleys are a very stubborn bunch. Mum can't make them leave til they know you're going to survive."
I fluttered my eyelids shut, Victoire's potion wearing off. "I love your family..." I mumbled as I started dozing off.
Before I lost consciousness, I heard Al chuckle and squeeze my hand. "We love you too."
-''-''-''-
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