AN: sorry for the short pause; I've been very busy! Extra long chapter :)
Chapter 11: The Past
A few more days passed. Until the days became weeks. Until the weeks became more than a month. Draco and Lyra started collecting information but still yet, nothing interesting has happened during these times. At least not as far as Potter goes, that is. They started to travel throughout the country in secrecy, camping wherever they could, occasionally apparating back into the cottage just to check if somebody left a message, but of course, nobody did, and nobody visited. Nobody at all. So they decided to stay in the cottage for today.
Lyra, currently taking a shower, felt uneasy because she realized that lately, whenever something bad was going to happen, she had a strange feeling somewhere in her stomach area, her guts were cringing at the possible appearance of her father again. He had not come to visit ever since their first day here, but the fear remained presence ever since. If he came now, and realized she was no further, made no progress within two months, Lyra was sure that he would kill her. She gained no more information he could use, and maybe that's why she had the feeling something enormously odd was going to happen. It did not feel right.
"Hey." Came Draco's voice from behind the door, causing Lyra to flinch. "The snow is getting thicker, I'm going to get us some food. Do you want something specific?"
"No, thanks." Said Lyra gently, feeling the increasing nervousness starting to take over her body. What if her father came here now and injured her more than the last time while she was all alone? When Lyra stepped out of the bathroom, she had the quick idea of following wherever Draco was going, but he was nowhere to be seen anymore. And of course she had to remind herself that her father was not so keen on letting Lyra be seen outside, it could endanger their plan of getting closer to Potter, and if anyone came to know who she was loyal to, and told Potter, everything would have been in vain. Even while they were camping, Lyra had to send Draco most of the times to scan the area, while she waited in the tent and read the Daily Prophet or listened to the radio for any kind of news.
Lyra sat down on the couch, sighing gently, not knowing what to do as she watched the snow through the milky glass. Potter. There was only one place she knew he would go to - but her father didn't allow it. He did not allow her to go there. Why, however, he had not cared to explain. What. Just what was the point in letting her go for a mission that was so obviously pointless. Maybe she would try anyway. Maybe she would. But when?
Knock. Knock.
Lyra's head swiveled to the door, her eyes were widened. It could not be Draco. Draco had a key. Did somebody see her? No. She bewitched the windows, any person who would look through the glass could only see a dusty, empty cottage. With a glimpse to her right, Lyra drew her wand quietly, breathing heavily.
KNOCK. KNOCK.
Lyra's heart started beating faster. She jumped up from the couch and moved to the side of the door, hiding, she needed to know who it was.
Click. The doorknob turned and Lyra could see the door opening, however, did not see who walked inside as the door was hiding her in the angle she stood at.
"Baby?" She heard a voice, the door closed quietly and on an instant, the person fell down to the floor with a loud yelp.
"BELLA!" Lyra screamed in joy. The witch cackled and laughed heartily as Lyra sat on top of her, kissing and snuggling the older woman.
"Please stay here forever!" Lyra squeaked and cuddled down while Bellatrix ran her hand through the girl's hair, smiling gently at the smaller figure on top of her. "How did you even find me?"
"Saw Draco at Knockturn Alley. And had him tell me where you are, of course."
"What a lucky coincidence!" squeaked Lyra cheerfully and Bellatrix nodded with a bright smile, sitting up and pulling the girl into her lap.
"I missed you, baby. I know it's not exactly Christmas Eve yet but Merry Christmas."
Lyra looked at the witch with a mixture of sadness and joy. "Merry Christmas...I hoped so much that you would come! I hoped to be able to celebrate it with you...why hadn't anyone come to visit! It's been more than a month!" Lyra almost cried but Bella shook her head and hugged the girl to herself.
"I know dear. It's been such a long time, please don't hate me." She kissed Lyra's lips with a big, fat smooching sound, repeating this when Lyra kept pursing her lips.
"Crazy times, a lot of things happened, and we're all way too busy to think about Christmas or anything, I wanted to come here but it took forever to find out where you are. Your father was in no good mood before he left and he of course didn't tell me where you are. He forbade us to go look for you, even though you're so close, we never knew where exactly you are. So it was luck I stumbled across Draco...Cissy is heartbroken, she's a mess, worrying about Draco..."
Lyra lowered her head. Bellatrix sighed as she ran her hand through the girl's hair, smirking when Lyra threw her arms around the witch again, pulling her closer with that action. Bellatrix chuckled and hugged the girl so tightly that she could barely breathe, kissing the side of her head multiple times. "Mwah! Mwah! Mwwwah!" She exclaimed, hearing how Lyra giggled as this went on for the next few minutes. After a short while, Lyra's whole face was covered with imprints of red lipstick and nothing was said for some time as both women enjoyed the warmth and each other's attention, but Bellatrix sat up with the girl on her lap and turned more serious on the next matter.
"Any improvements so far?"
Lyra sighed. "None. None at all. I don't know what to do...he was here the first day when we didn't start collecting information at all, and he came here and attacked me, he was so angry, Bella...so amazingly angry..." Lyra's voice sounded shaky, which was the reason why Bellatrix held Lyra's face in the both of her hands.
"What if he comes here now and sees that I have nothing?!"
"Shhh. He won't, dear. He's not in the country at the moment. He's busy, he's basically everywhere but not here." She smiled and Lyra sighed a little again in sadness. Did the foolish little girl expect to get a merry Christmas card from Lord Voldemort? She chuckled at the ridiculous thought and shook her head.
"Hey. I'm back." Came Draco's voice from behind; Lyra did not even notice the door opening. "Oh. Hey." Responded the girl absentmindedly as she sat on Bella's lap.
"Was Bella here alrea-oh. Hey." Draco snickered slightly when he saw the two of them cuddling, walked by and sat down a couple of things on the table. He sure brought enough for six.
"Sushi?" Lyra frowned when she looked at the stuffed rice-rolls, glancing over to the other things Draco decided to bring.
"Lobster? Fish eggs?" she asked along but Draco's mouth just gapped open and Bellatrix laughed.
"Eh! Merry Christmas I thought. Heard some people mentioning it. I suppose you...don't like these things?" He asked nervously when Lyra snickered and shrugged.
"Kind of fancy." Responded the girl. "I never ate these things before. I guess I can try."
And together they started to eat. Lyra smiled brightly, this was as close as she could get to having a nice Christmas. Bellatrix kept stroking Lyra's hair, kissing the girl's cheek as she sat behind her and even randomly fed her with a bit of sushi, cackling when Lyra snarled up her nose in disgust at the flavor. Bellatrix shook her head in amusement but after a while, she moved Lyra to the side, muttering a spell but Lyra paid all her attention to the food. She was about to mention that the vegetarian sushi rolls tasted a lot better, but before she knew it, cold metal brushed against her neck. Lyra looked down to what it was and saw a necklace with a silver pendant in the shape of a heart, three dimensional silver snakes around it, and her own name engraved in its center. The girl smiled brightly and even wiped away a tear, turned around and hugged Bellatrix as much as she could. The witch chuckled and hugged back, rubbing Lyra's shoulders gently. "Like it?"
"It's so beautiful, thank you! And I have nothing for you!" Lyra said sadly but Bella shook her head. "Not true, I have you." She said and kissed the girl's forehead again before grinning at Draco, throwing him a small package. Draco smirked as he unwrapped it, pulling out gloves that were made of black leathery dragon skin.
"Thanks auntie! That's perfect, I think I lost mine last year."
"Your Mom and Dad also got something for you but I didn't bring it. I didn't want them to know that I was here...because your mother would be here everyday, and if the Dark Lord ever visited and saw her..." She said but everyone nodded, knowing what he would do with over-motherly Narcissa interrupting the mission.
"And before it gets too hot for me..." Bella started and got up but Lyra pulled her back down. "NO! Please stay!"
"Baby, I can't. I'd love to." Bellatrix looked at Lyra with utmost pity and regret, her own bottom lip quivered when she saw Lyra's tears but she could not lose it now, it would make it so much more difficult for the girl.
"Shhh. Don't cry. I'll be back very soon. I promise, okay? You! You take care of her, hear me, Draco?" She said sternly and Draco tossed his hand up from the side of his head.
"Will do, boss."
"Good boy." She grinned but sighed when Lyra tightened the hug around the witch and cried against her chest, not wanting to let her go. Bella kept stroking through Lyra's hair silently and rested her chin on the top of the girl's head, glaring at Draco's amused face, resentfully raising her wand to force two bits of Sushi into his mouth in order to keep him occupied with chewing and coughing. Lyra cried bitterly at Bella's Goodbye, and was not to be seen for a while.
Draco, reading the Daily Prophet for a while, sighed when he glanced over to the bathroom where he had last seen Lyra disappearing into. He put the newspaper aside and stretched with a hearty yawn that ended in a startled cough as the bathroom door shot open and Lyra ran out like a bull attacked by bees.
"Draco! I've decided. I have to go there. It's Christmas Eve, it makes sense for him to be there tonight!"
"But your father forbade it, he-"
"I don't care! We have to go, don't you understand? I know how Potter works, he's there. Come."
Draco shook his head but he got up nonetheless. He knew that if Lyra decided to do something, it would have to be done. And there was no excuse. Just when they were about to disapparate, a loud CRACK caused them to turn back around.
"And where do you think you're going." Cooed none other than Lord Voldemort as his black cloak slowly lowered down from the impact of air it had flown up with, he stood there with his wand in his hand, firmly looking over to Lyra and Draco.
"Father!" Said Lyra in surprise, letting go of Draco. Draco stepped back as Lord Voldemort walked closer to his daughter, seeing her starting to shiver upon his appearance. "I asked. Where do you think. You're going." He repeated and Lyra's lips started to quiver. She was about to say something but her father narrowed his eyes. "Don't you dare lie to me."
Lyra glanced over to Draco helplessly but Draco shook his head in distress, not knowing how to help her as Lyra turned back to her father.
"We...we wanted to go to...Godric's Hollow."
Lord Voldemort stared at her, eyes steadily narrowing as Lyra tried to explain. "It's been my original plan from the start, Bella and Rod thought it was good as well, and-"
But a loud BANG silenced her; the sharp pain on her cheek came a second later.
"Where. Have. You. Been." He hissed, causing Lyra to step back from him but he pulled her closer. "I HAVE BEEN COMING HERE TO FIND AN EMPTY COTTAGE IN THR PAST! HAVE I NOT TOLD YOU TO STAY HERE?!" He yelled so loud that Lyra had no choice but to hold up her hands to her face in protection as another slap would usually follow.
"But father!" Lyra started again. "That's the place he would go, you said-"
"Godric's Hollow is taken care of. YOU have not understood how Potter truly works, my child." Lord Voldemort hissed. "I have. I know what he will do. CRUCIO!"
"Argh!" Moaned Harry as he hunched down to his knees, the snow started to sicker through his pants.
"Harry!" Whispered Hermione as she looked around in the darkness, then knelt to his level. "Harry, say something, are you okay?"
"He's back again, he..." Harry growled in pain as he tried to get up. Hermione looked at him in a mixture of pity and confusion.
"He's with the girl right now, he attacked her. He's furious about something again. And I think I know where she is." He coughed. "She's being held hostage at Knockturn Alley, I've seen the name and I've also seen the building where she's at, I believe it's somewhere behind Borgin and Burke's. We should go there as soon as we can."
Hermione glanced away, her eyebrows were constricted once more. She was about to say something but she watched as Harry stood upright, brushed off the snow from his knees and stared to his parents's grave. After a long moment of silence, Hermione glanced over her shoulder, then back to Harry, informing him that somebody, an elderly woman behind, was watching them in the lonely darkness, close to a church.
"Get up!" Thundered Lord Voldemort at the girl below his feet. Lyra crawled up the couch and looked at him in fear, wiping away the blood from her bottom lip and slowly sank into her seat when he walked closer, his eyes resting on Lyra's necklace. He brushed his finger along it but said no word, his thin mouth merely curved into a grin. Lyra wiped off a tear and looked away from her father as he tilted her chin up to observe her face, but she was too scared to look into his eyes. He was about to say something when his attention was suddenly forced elsewhere, he looked around, eyes widened in delight and insane joy, and all that Lyra could hear was "hold him back, I will be there!" in parsel before he disappeared. Both Draco and Lyra looked at each other in confusion but Lyra just sniffled heart breaking tears as she rested her forehead against her pulled up knees while Draco rubbed her shoulder gently.
Time passed, Lyra stopped counting the days. She had lost all her hope to ever make her father proud and could not shake off the feeling of being betrayed or cheated on, as Draco said, there was something her father knew that he did not tell her. In the past, he kept encouraging her to bring him the boy, but how could she when he was infuriated whenever she tried to. "You haven't understood how Potter works!" He hissed at her the last time. But he too thought Potter would go to Godric's Hollow, he even said he took care of it, but he wanted her to stay here. How could she bring him the boy when she was not allowed to leave the cottage, what is it that he planned, and did not let Lyra in on?
"You never told me...how did you find out that he's your father?" Asked Draco one evening, wrapping a blanket around Lyra's shoulder as he sat down, looking at her face dyed in the orange light of the fire burning in the fireplace. The sound and scent of the wood enchanted the air.
"When my mother was found dead, there was not much left of the house we lived in. Of course I don't remember it, I was only a baby...but that's what I've been told at the orphanage. The house was burnt to ashes, but they collected what was left and put it in a box, I found it when I sneaked into the office one night. It's been old letters mostly and something like a journal, where my Mom occasionally wrote down what happened. I don't think they ever cared about the journal but I, the daughter that never knew her parents, I clung to each and every bit of information. And there was one name she put in the book, saying that she met a man called Tom Riddle, and that she had an enormous crush on him was proven by the little hearts she scribbled next to that note. And that's how I started researching on who Tom was. I asked the orphanage about him but they had never heard of his name, of course, they were muggles, how would they ever know."
Draco gasped. "You...grew up...with muggles?!" He frowned, shaking his head and Lyra nodded.
"For some years, yes. I've always known I'm different, I could speak to snakes, and when deeply angered, I could even curse somebody, and watch how their life turned more miserable as it went on..." Lyra glanced away. "And then, like most, I too received a letter, that I was a witch and that I could start magical education at Catala, Magical Institute of Sydney."
Draco smiled gently, asking. "How is school there? Do you have founder-houses as well?"
Lyra shook her head. "No. We don't. Catala is old, but not as old as Hogwarts. And it's not a castle, either. It looks like a campus, if you had ever seen a university, you'd know what I mean. It's like a normal school from the outside while on the inside, we get taught magic. We also don't have to stay at school throughout the year like you do, we have lessons everyday and then we can go back home and return the next day. Unless students, like I, had trouble returning back home because muggles have to go to school, too, and after all, nobody knew I was a witch and I never let anyone in on that secret. Because I had no parents, Catala allowed me to stay at school throughout the year, like other muggleborn students were allowed to do so, of course their parents knew and allowed it and could tell get around muggle laws whilst stating that they sent their children to a private school, Catala took care of that. So I ran away from the orphanage one night, they never found me, naturally."
"And you began research at school." Said Draco and Lyra nodded. "Mhm. I thought that maybe that's how I could find out about my parents, thought that they had to be magical. I started with my mother, Leona Dawns, and found out that my roots were in England, as she came from an English pureblood family. I continued researching on my father but I found nothing, there was no magical last name for Riddle...and I wondered if he, maybe, was a muggle, and I dropped looking for his name and concentrated on my mother. It took me years to collect all information about her, I wanted to find out about her death. But that was difficult, because the house was burnt to ashes, as I told you and...well, she of course, too. I had to accept that these things happened but it was difficult for me because she was a witch, something like fire couldn't naturally be the cause of her death...that's what I thought. But then I realized...unless a muggle suspected her to be a witch, and you know how muggles killed witches and wizards in the past, or tried." Lyra narrowed her eyes. "A dirty muggle killed her. And I swore to myself that I would find him. My first guess was Tom Riddle, maybe she told him what she was, and he burned down the house...and since I carried his name, it was obviously my father. So I picked up my research on him but I still didn't find anything. It took me years, and throughout the years, my hatred for muggles grew beyond measure, even though I tried to deny it at first, even though I tried to prove myself wrong, but I found myself agreeing to the terrifying ideals of the Dark Lord. I kept to myself, as of course he was feared, of course it was scandalous to agree with what he did."
Lyra paused, sipped on her tea, but Draco looked at her so curiously that she chuckled a little and continued. "And then." Lyra started over new. "The years passed and then...it's been in all news, he was back. The Dark Lord returned. He fascinated me so much that I started researching on him, wanting to know everything. I found out that he attended Hogwarts but that's about all I knew. For some strange reason, and I really cannot explain you how, I felt connected to him, and I wanted to know his real name. I didn't find it of course, but I stumbled across Bellatrix Lestrange, remembering the mass breakout, and when I found out that she was a former Black, I remembered from our local newspaper that Horace Slughorn picked up teaching at Hogwarts, and that he had taught the Black family for an extremely long time, and so I thought that maybe, maybe with some bit of luck, he even taught the Dark Lord, the timeline was perfect. So I wrote to him...l didn't write to Dumbledore, fearing he was way too busy to respond to something like that, fearing he would see through my plan, maybe believing I would just try to get information for an article. So I sent an owl to Horace. I introduced myself as a student from Catala, stating that we at Catala try to grow awareness of the Dark Arts, stating that he could play an important role of giving one of the finest magical institutions valuable information in order to find out what kind of signs a student shows when they're affiliated with the Dark Arts, and I told him that his name would of course remain a secret unless he wanted it to be mentioned. To be honest, I didn't expect him to write back, but he did! I guess he was enjoying the attention or something. He wrote to me that, and I thought my eyes would fall out, Tom Riddle was an extraordinary student when he was younger, told me everything about Tom and what he was like. My mind was blown." Lyra shook her head. "And that's how I found out, that's how I was sure that it wasn't the Dark Lord who killed my mother, after all, she was a pureblood. That's how I'm sure it was a different, dirty muggle who did it. And even stronger grew the urge to meet my father and help him getting rid of that filth."
Draco stared at Lyra, his mouth gapped open slightly but he chuckled and shook his head. "A fine researcher you are." He commented and Lyra giggled as the two of them munched on some roasted marshmallows and fell asleep on the couch once the fire died out. A loud crashing sound caused the both of them to shoot up, but Lyra's eyes couldn't adjust to the shrill light of three wands pointed at her.
