AN: it's been a while again, I've been super busy, but I'm not forgetting about the story, of course :) thanks for the increasing number of followers so far, I would love to read some feedback!
Chapter 13: The Attack
"Look, Lyra", said Harry a while later, "you may think this is cheeky, and you have all the right to believe so, but-"
But Lyra held out her wand to him. "Take it." She said. "You can search my body, I don't have another wand. Keep it until you trust me enough." She smiled. Harry stared at her, for a few seconds, then took her wand and handed it over to Ron, who packed it away. Hermione glanced over to the girl, their eyes met for the briefest moment, but nothing was said nor done for the rest of the evening.
"What are we going to do with her?" Asked Ron, glancing at Harry and Hermione as the three sat around the dead fire the next morning.
"I don't know." Sighed Harry, his eyes swept over to the girl that lay in the tent.
"She could've disapparated if she wanted to. Could've stolen our wands during the night. She could've told him on an instant if she wanted to." Ron added.
"I still can't believe you did not tell us that you knew she is his daughter, Harry!" Hissed Hermione. "Do you have any idea how severe this situation is? Any idea at all?! I don't think she's trustworthy."
"Maybe we need to give her a chance." Said Ron, but Hermione's sharp glare hit him hard. "I mean, what can happen, you-know-who wants to kill us anyway, nothing Lyra has to say could change that."
"It's not only that, Ronald!" Said Hermione firmly. "He does not yet know what we are up to! Maybe he sent her after us to tell him."
"Fine, then we will just send her away again." Said Ron with a shrug.
"We can't." Said Harry. "Yes, she is his daughter, but she may know where he hid the others. We need to give her a chance, Hermione. She may not be like him at all. Who are we to judge people upon their heritage? Are we just like him?"
Hermione frowned. This argument seemed to be efficient enough to shut her up, Harry could tell because she looked at him like a fish before she lowered her head. "Fine! Fine, fine, fine." She grumbled, then got up from the tree stump and walked into the tent. Ron's eyes followed her, but he glanced at Harry, inhaling deeply.
"I think it was a good choice, mate. I just can't tell her that, you know we just got on good terms lately, and after the whole incident with the necklace, and me being gone...it's best if I don't rub her the wrong way."
"Yeah." Sighed Harry. "She's still fuming, isn't she."
"Wonder when she'll finally forgive me." Ron said, but a small grin creeped up his lips before he dismissed it and got up as well.
Harry still sat outside for a while, glancing at the fire dancing in the wind. Did he make the right choice? What would Dumbledore say? Would he have thought Harry to be reckless, would he see it the way Hermione saw it? Or would he, and Harry did well to believe this was true, try to give Lyra a chance? Yes, probably. But that was as bad as it was good. Dumbledore always tried to see the best in people. Maybe, in the end, that is exactly what killed him. Did he not die because he trusted Severus Snape, thought him to be on the good side, whereas he always worked for the dark? Harry's mind could not tell him the truth. So all that was left was listening to his heart.
And his heart told him that Lyra Riddle deserved a chance.
When Lyra woke up, she looked around a little hastily, glancing to the left and right.
"You okay?" Asked Ron. Lyra glanced up to him, nodding. "Just a bad dream." She said softly and rested back again. Harry walked over to her, bending down to her level.
"Do you know where your father is at the moment?" He asked. Hermione glanced over to them when this question erupted.
"No." Said Lyra. "He never told me where he goes. I merely know that he is not in the country at the moment. Of course that can change within seconds." She said. Harry nodded with a low smile. "Yeah, we know that much."
Time passed. Lyra was not so sure what exactly she was supposed to do. They were traveling around, Lyra followed everywhere while they were obviously looking for something. It was enormously cold tonight, Lyra sat cuddled down in a blanket and s cup of tea in her hands while Harry and Ron talked to each other about something - when suddenly, Hermione walked back inside the tent.
"We need to see Mr. Lovegood." She said, putting down a copy of Beedle the Bard. Lyra glanced at it, raising her eyebrow.
"Why?" Asked Ron.
"The sign." Said Hermione, pointing to a triangle with a circle and line. "It appears everywhere, and you said you've seen Mr. Lovegood wearing it, did you not, Harry?"
Harry nodded. "Yeah. But he could think it's something completely different than what it actually is, it-"
"It is the symbol of the Deathly Hallows." Said Lyra suddenly, almost in a bored tone.
"The what?" Asked the trio at once, all sitting down to Lyra's level.
"It is the symbol of the Deathly Hallows." Lyra repeated. "You all know the story of the three brothers."
"Yes." Said Hermione and Ron in unison, just Harry shook his head, then frowned at everyone. Hermione began to quickly explain the tale to Harry.
"So" Harry summed up. "It is about three brothers facing death, and because they tricked him, all of them were presented with a unique magical present."
Lyra nodded. "Long story cut short, one could say so, yes. But those are the three Deathly Hallows. The cloak of invisibility." Said Lyra, tracing her fingertip along the triangle on the book.
"One." Said Harry.
"The resurrection stone." Continued Lyra, tracing her index finger around the circle.
"Two." Said Harry.
"The Elder wand." Finished Lyra, tracing her index finger around along the line.
"Three." Said Harry. "And those are the three Deathly Hallows?" He asked. Lyra nodded. "Yes. It is not quite sure if any of these objects do indeed exist."
Hermione, Harry and Ron exchanged gazes, and Lyra raised an eyebrow.
"So you know at least one exists." Concluded Lyra. Ron sighed a little at that and Hermione glanced away. To their surprise, Harry nodded.
"I would not waste energy finding the others." Said Lyra wisely.
"Neither would I." Said Harry. "But somebody else might..."
"You think my father is after the Deathly Hallows?" Asked Lyra. Harry shook his head. "Not all of them. Just after one."
Lyra looked up to him, but said nothing.
"The Elder wand." Said Harry. "Somebody like your father, ever seeking power and destructive forces. He's been trying to decipher the unique meaning of our wands, my wand and his wand reacted to each other-"
Hermione clicked her tongue.
"Reacted to each other", repeated Harry firmly and obviously agitated, "and trying to find the Elder wand must be his ideal goal."
Lyra could see Hermione and Ron shaking their heads.
"I believe you're absolutely right about that." Sighed Lyra, causing Ron and Hermione to frown.
"But. Why do you not confront him as long as he does not have the wand?" Asked Lyra. Hermione frowned when she asked this. Ron glanced over to Harry at that, then to the girl.
"Because it makes absolutely no sense to do that now." Said Ron. "Not while there's still-"
"Ron!" Hissed Hermione, and Ron shut up on an instant.
"Still what." Said Lyra. "Leave me in on your stuff or let me go." Glared Lyra and crossed her arms. Hermione sighed and Ron shrugged at Harry.
"Do you know...what a Horcrux is." Asked Harry.
"No." Said Lyra and sat down. Hermione tried to catch Harry's eyes but he did his best to avoid looking to her direction now.
"A Horcrux is a dark magical storage of a persons soul. A container."
"But how does somebody create a Horcrux?" Asked Lyra. Harry looked into her eyes, feeling reminded of Tom Riddle when he asked Slughorn something similar, in a similar way.
"Through the act of murder. It tears the soul apart, the part of the soul can be sealed into any kind of object. Your father has created six of them in order to become immortal."
Lyra frowned immensely at that. Her eyes were just widened, she looked at Harry with a bewildered expression, and Harry could not shake off the feeling that something in Lyra clicked, made sense, something he said must be the final piece of a puzzle to her. Lyra bent over, a hand ran through her hair. Her eyes glanced over to Hermione and Ron, who both looked at her before she glanced to Harry again, almost helplessly.
"What's wrong?" Asked Harry. "What do you know?"
Lyra said nothing. She stared into the distance with empty and clouded eyes, eyebrows contorted, her lips parted.
"Lyra?" Asked Harry again.
"How many have you destroyed already?" Asked Lyra suddenly.
"Three out of six." Said Harry. "Gaunt's ring, Tom's diary, and Slytherin's locket. All of the objects are meaningful to him, Lyra. Do you know of any other object, could you think of one...that is meaningful enough for him to store a part of his soul inside?"
Lyra looked at him, still as if she had seen a ghost. "...Can his soul be stored...in-into living creatures, too?"
"We don't know that for sure, yet. But it makes no sense for him to store a part of his soul into something that can die."
"But the snake..." Said Ron.
"Yes, Dumbledore said so, but it was just theory, we can't be sure. It might or might not be the snake. Lyra, do you have any idea what other object it could be?"
Lyra looked away, not saying anything for a while. She stared into the fire, the light reflected in her eyes as she was buried deeply in thoughts.
"...Lyra...?" Asked Harry. Lyra looked up to him, then shook her head. "I have no idea." She said, but Harry had the strange feeling that she was not too honest at the moment.
"Lyra." Said Harry again. "If you want to fight Voldemort as much as-"
"Harry!" Ron yelled. "Don't say his name!"
"I am not afraid of his name!"
"You don't understand, mate! You don't understand - his name is jinxed,we mustn't-"
Lyra frowned when suddenly there were more noises; the sounds of cracking twigs was audible.
"Whoever is in there. You have three seconds to surrender." Said a voice from outside. "We have a dozen wands pointed at this tent. Don't make us come in to get you."
Harry instantly looked to Lyra, his eyes widened, Hermione almost cried, Ron hugged her - none of them knew what to do.
"Please..." Whispered Harry. Lyra stretched out her hand. "Leave it to me. Give me my wand."
"ONE!"
Harry looked at her, not completely sure if that was the right choice or not, but he nodded at Ron at last.
"TWO!"
Ron quickly handed Lyra over her wand, and she instantly walked out of the tent. Ron and Harry scurried over to Hermione in the back of the tent.
"We need to disapparate!" Whispered Ron but Hermione shook her head. "We can't, it would take me time to loosen the protection charms I put around us, nobody can apparate in or out, the taboo is an exception, the name's jinx is something else, it's- listen!" She whispered to them and the three listened to the conversation outside.
"Ohhh, who do we have here?" Grinned a man that Lyra saw once before.
"Daddy's little girl." He added with an amused tone.
"Evening, Fenrir." Said Lyra, crossing her arms.
"Now why would you say daddy's name just for fun? Talking to yourself? I doubt it." Smirked Fenrir, chuckling.
"No. That was intentional." Said Lyra, glaring at the werewolf. "Just wanted to see if at least you are doing your job right and come here when somebody says his name. Congrats...while the others can't find Potter, at least you're reliable. I'll let my father know. Now if you may excuse me."
Fenrir chuckled. "Now, now. Not so quick. My last update was that Potter and his friends kidnapped you. Is there somebody else not doing their job right?"
Lyra glared. "Fine. Yes, I let them slip, okay? I'm after them. Be quiet about that to my father. He will be furious."
"Nawhhh." Fenrir chuckled. "Daddy won't like to hear that."
"Don't you dare say a word to him!" Lyra hissed, but Fenrir held up his hands, chuckling. "Fine, fine. I'll be all quiet, princess."
"Thank you." Said Lyra and turned around.
"Is that all I'm getting tonight?" Fenrir asked with a smirk. Lyra raised an eyebrow, turning back to the werewolf, glancing at the group of males behind Fenrir that wolf whistled a little.
"Pardon?" Asked Lyra coldly, and the whistling died out at once.
"Ah, come on, girl", laughed Fenrir, "not even a kiss?"
"If you don't watch what you say, the only kiss you will be getting is that of a Dementor, Greyback." Said Lyra threateningly, raising her wand symbolically. Fenrir's eyes just widened a tad.
"Hey, hey, hey, I'm just joking a little. I would never touch the Dark Lord's daughter, oh, he would-"
"If you be kind and leave now...who knows. Maybe my father will present you with a real tattoo one of these days, if I tell him how ambitious you are. And then you can call yourself a true and honorable Death Eater. Does that sound good?" She smirked; Fenrir stretched up his back and chuckled.
"Alright, milady." He bowed. "This clearly sounds like a deal." He nodded, however, his eyes flickered up to her. "But tell me, are you truly alone in that tent?"
"What I do at night is none of your business." Smirked Lyra, winking at Fenrir, who just roared in laughter.
"Oh yes, the quiet ones are the naughtiest, hmm? Anyway. I doubt the Dark Lord's daughter would mess with any traitors. Mhh...too bad I'm not your type. Well then. Enjoy your night, Miss Riddle." Said Fenrir with another bow, then stepped backwards thrice before he dared turning his back on the girl. The lot disapparated on an instant, and Lyra sighed softly before she walked into the tent where Harry, Ron and Hermione stood together.
"Brilliant!" Exclaimed Ron. Hermione nodded and sat down while Harry smiled faintly at Lyra. "Thank you." He said.
"Look. I believe I can get more information. Now that I know what we are looking for, I can imagine where he would store at least one." Said Lyra.
"Where?" Asked Harry.
"The Lestranges are his most loyal followers. I am almost one hundred percent sure that he would entrust them a part of his soul. He entrusted me to them for some time, after all. I could search their home without a problem, they love me. And trust me."
Harry, Ron and Hermione stared at the girl, then exchanged gazes before looking at her again. Harry inhaled deeply, but nodded.
"Fine." Harry said. "You need to bring it here then. We have to destroy it here." He said, glancing over to a sword that Lyra spotted at as well.
"Remember it must be something meaningful. Don't go looking for something that has absolutely no meaning to him. I suspect it could be something having to do with Hogwarts. Something notable."
"Alright." Said Lyra, then frowned at Harry. "Where are we going to meet?" She asked.
"Hm..." Harry glanced to Ron, but Hermione then promptly said "you will meet me here."
Lyra chuckled a bit. It was so obvious that they did not trust her yet.
"Fine." Lyra shrugged. "I will be back by tomorrow." She declared, then dusted herself off before she straightened her back again. The trio nodded at the girl, watching how she disapparated into thin air.
Lyra inhaled deeply, narrowing her eyes as she stood in front the entrance of Lestrange manor. She stared at it for a fair while, then marched inside.
"Kreacher?" Asked Lyra when she stumbled across the shocked elf.
"Miss Riddle!" The elf squeaked in joy. "It's so good to see Miss Riddle! Oh everybody's so worried about you!"
"Where is Bella, where is Rod?" Asked Lyra hastily.
"Both Mistress and Master Lestrange are not at home, Miss, they are with the Malfoys at the moment. Shall Kreacher get them here?"
"Do you have an idea where my father is?!"
"N-No, Miss Riddle!" Kreacher yelped when Lyra growled angrily, then disapparated to Malfoy Manor, where she quickly hurried inside, bursting through the door of the salon.
"Baby!"
"Lyra?!"
The voices rushed. Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy glanced over to the furious Lyra, Draco jumped up from his seat,
Lyra searched for Bellatrix, who then ran up to the girl on an instant and hugged her tightly, kissing all over her face while pulling her into her arms. After a short while of fighting it, Lyra flung her arms around the witch and looked up to Bellatrix, whimpering, tears streaming down her face.
"B-Bella-"
"Oh baby! We were so worried!" Bellatrix exclaimed. Draco and Rodolphus walked up to them by now, both resting their hands on Lyra's shoulder, but Lyra shook her head and just cried against Bella's bosom.
"Bella...!" She whimpered again, trying to tell her something, but Bellatrix, completely unable to understand what was going on, just pulled the girl deeper into her arms, hugging her tightly as she dragged her away and upstairs while Lyra sobbed heart breaking tears.
"IT WAS ALL A LIE! EVERYTHING NO, LET ME GO, CALL HIM, I DON'T WANT TO-!" Lyra suddenly screamed while Bella tucked her into the bed, then gasped, but pushed Lyra back down.
"Let ME up-"
"Shhh, lay down, baby, lay down, everything will be alright, I'm here." Murmured Bella, running her hand through the girl's hair soothingly while Lyra screamed with tears.
"Shhh..."
"Listen! Oh please listen! Bella! Bella, everything was a lie!" Lyra exclaimed and hugged the witch, bursting out into tears again, but Bellatrix just kept on stroking down Lyra's hair, trying to console her, knowing it made no sense to ask Lyra what was going on while she was so upset and devastated about something. After a fair while of listening to the girls sobbing, Bellatrix realized that it had died out, and saw that Lyra fell asleep in her arms.
"Is she okay?" Asked a male voice. Bellatrix turned around to Rodolphus who leaned against the doorframe, looking over to his small little family.
"I have absolutely no idea what happened, what they've been telling her, nor what they said. She screamed everything was a lie." Said Bellatrix, rubbing Lyra's hand softly. Rodolphus bent down to Lyra's level, wiping away a silvery tear from her pale cheeks.
"She's a mess." He murmured. Bellatrix nodded, subconsciously squeezing Lyra's hand tighter. "My poor baby..." She whispered against Lyra's cheek, wiping away a tear of worry from her own face.
"Call him." Said a firm voice the next morning suddenly. Bellatrix and Rodolphus both turned around from their seats in the winter garden, Narcissa looked ahead, Lucius and Draco slowly got up in surprise.
"But my dear girl, why shall we-" started Lucius.
"Call. Him."
"Sweetheart, do you have valuable information?" Asked Rodolphus. "We-"
"CALL HIM! CALL HIM RIGHT NOW! HE HAS TO COME HERE RIGHT NOW!" Lyra yelled furiously; everyone looked at each other as though not sure if Lyra was completely sane or not.
"Baby!" Yelped Bellatrix and walked the girl back inside the salon, rubbing her shoulders. "Baby, what do you know, what did they tell you?!"
"Something I have to tell him immediately!" Lyra hissed. Bellatrix frowned, but nodded. "Okay, if it's information he has to know, okay." She inhaled deeply, then glanced over to Lucius and the rest, but wrapped her hand around her tattoo.
With a loud crashing and smashing sound, light flickering, lamps shaking, and the increasing coldness of the room, Lyra glanced into a pair of cold eyes directed at her. Lord Voldemort stood in the back of the salon, tall and dark as always, carrying an aura of utmost terror.
"My Lord." Said Bellatrix hastily. "Lyra's got information, she said."
"She does?" Asked Lord Voldemort luringly.
"She does." Responded Lyra coldly.
Loud screaming suddenly erupted from the salon, Bellatrix stumbled backwards, a flash of red light almost hit her; everybody's eyes widened, the whole manor gasped - for Lyra Riddle has just dared to direct a curse at her father.