November 2008
House of Nagini
Wizarding London, England
Friday

Two hours later, Ophira Nagini emerged into the grand parlour on the arm of her beloved aunt.

After their talk, Lyra and Almitra had ventured very carefully into Ophira's room and retrieved some of her hair and a gown for Lyra to wear that would fit in better with the rest of the ladies.

I am naked. I am in a room full of gross, handsy men and I am naked, Lyra thought to herself as she and her mother strolled around the room. Lyra did her best to bat her eyelashes and look coy but it was hard...because she was naked. Almitra had put her in a dress very similar to her own. It was sheer gauze with leaves and vines in shimmering green sewn in to barely cover her breasts, crotch and butt. She could feel the air in the room moving across her skin in places where it would normally not be moving.

Almitra buzzed in her ear, pointing out the rich and powerful who were scattered throughout the room drinking, playing cards and balancing beautiful women in their laps. Lyra pulled away from her mother to pour herself a drink at the well stocked bar. She picked a spiced whiskey and suddenly wished Draco was with her to mix it how she liked and let her sit in his lap.

She was leaning on the cherry wood bar, exchanging useless pleasantries with some rich solicitor from Southampton when she felt a cool hand caress down in between her shoulder blades and give her ass a squeeze. She tensed her body in preparation to swing around and punch her grabby friend in the face but then remembered where she was and what she was doing. She swallowed the bile in her throat and leaned into the touch.

"That's not free, you know," she said in her best approximation of Ophira's voice.

"I think you've gotten quite enough out of me already, don't you?" Came Lucius's silky voice close to her ear. His hand wrapped around to her front and caressed her very lower abdomen through the thin fabric of her dress.

She froze, but then gasped and turned, throwing herself into his arms. "I was hoping you'd come!" She said to him sweetly. It wasn't a lie. She was hoping he'd show up...the prick.

"Settle down, woman," he said annoyed, disengaging her arms from around his neck. Lyra was grateful. He smelled like Draco, but colder. Wrong. She didn't like it one bit.

"You look so tired," she cooed, ghosting a hand along his stubbled jaw. Lyra knew that he had escaped from the pre-trial quarters at Azkaban and supposedly they weren't as terrible as those for convicts, but she couldn't imagine that they were anything to get excited about. He looked unpolished and wary, but not wary enough to satisfy her for all he had done.

"Yes, well clearly I've had a trying few weeks," he said through gritted teeth. "Let's go to your room, I don't want to be seen in here until more important people arrive," he said with a sneer at the man behind her.

Lyra took his arm and they started making their way out of the parlour. She shot a panicked glance at Almitra and reached out to her mind.

Make him angry about Julian. I'll work on the other side.

Lyra turned her head back and led Lucius out to Ophira's room. It was a tacky, frilly little space full of unicorns and ruffles, heavily perfumed in saccharine scents like peach and honeysuckle. If Lyra was thirteen, she would have thought it was awesome.

There was champagne chilling in a bucket on Ophira's white vanity and Lyra busied herself pouring two glasses, praying that the old pig wouldn't touch her again. She had to move fast, not only because she'd rather peel the skin from her face that have any more contact with him, but also because she only had about 40 minutes left with the polyjuice.

"How did everything go this morning?" He asked, taking the flute she offered him.

"As expected," she said in a blase tone.

"How did you do it then?" He pressed, feigning disinterest.

"I used disguised myself as the girl and went to their flat. He was alone, I shot him full of enough heroin to fall a giant and bled his wrists. Left a note from her saying that she was going back to New York," she said, her voice thin and dead.

"You sound...upset," he noted, with a raised eyebrow.

Lyra allowed the tears to well up in her eyes. "I think I was just unprepared for all the blood and how...how much he looked like you. It was like doing those things to you," she lied brilliantly.

Lucius clicked his tongue in a patronizing gesture of sympathy. He lifted his hand not occupied by a champagne glass and reached out to trace one of her nipples over the embroidered ivy of her dress. Lyra shuddered and hid her disgust by humming and tossing her head back.

"He is nothing like me," he said coldly.

Well, you're right about that, thank god, she said to herself. The thought allowed her to give him a genuine smile.

"What's your plan for her?" She asked innocently.

He licked his lips as he toyed with her breast. "Have one of my men in The States kill her parents. Let her run home and wallow in it for a while then throw her in a cage somewhere and let her starve to death covered in her own filth. She's not worth wasting any magic on," he said in a bored tone as he gave her nipple a little twist.

She let her smile drop. Her face cracked and he saw it.

"What's the matter with you?" He asked, raising his eyebrows in suspicion.

Lock it up, Black. She shook her head. "I'm sorry. It's just..."

"You're still in this with me, aren't you? I mean you did just commit murder today. I would hate to think that you're getting cold feet now. There's no telling what they would do to you if you were caught," he informed her darkly.

"No, it's not that..." she began, then schooled her face to light up, as if remembering something important. She wanted to distract him from her mistake and get him back on task. "Oh Lucius, I meant to tell you earlier, about Julian Diamond..." she began.

"What about that fat sack of marbles, my pet?" He questioned softly, moving in closer to her and pressing his growing erection into her barely clothed hip.

Oh fuck no. No no no no no no no, she screamed internally.

"He's here. He's with Helena," she said turning her head to the side to hide her pinched expression from him.

He froze. "What?! He was to be at the Ministry, muddling the investigation into the break-out. What the devil is he doing here?" He railed, digging his fingers painfully into her hip.

Lyra winced. "I have no idea, but I saw him when he arrived and he seemed insufferably smug, and already quite drunk."

Lucius made a dissatisfied noise, released her and started pacing around the room in agitation. "I think that pudgy old rat has outlived his usefulness, don't you?"

Lyra smirked. "I think that ship sailed ages ago," she said snobbily, earning her a hard snort from the blonde across from her. She slinked up to him and started fiddling idly with the buttons on his waistcoat. She put on her best pout, made her eyes smolder and pinned him with the sexiest look she could muster. "I think if you hexed him to ruins, you'd not only save yourself a lot of trouble, but you'd earn Helena's gratitude as well. She's a very pious little thing, absolutely effluent with affection for those who save her from fat, red-faced trolls," she purred to him, pulling him in by his lapels and bringing her mouth to his ear. "And I feel in a sharing mood tonight." She let her breath tickle behind his ear.

He chuckled and brought his hands to her waist. "You depraved little thing. It's noble of you to come so gallantly to the aid of a sister."

She pulled back and gave him a sinister look. "Well, you don't know yet how good she is with that mouth of hers. I assure you, my motives are entirely selfish."

He pulled her into his body and pressed a bruising and aggressive kiss to her mouth. "There's my girl," he said, letting her go and making for the door.

They reentered the hallway to head up front to Helena's room when they saw the back of a half dressed Julian heading towards the main staircase.

"Julian, old man!" Lucius called, causing the fat wizard to pause in his tracks.

"Lucius! Aren't you a sight for sore eyes!" Diamond said thinly, eyes darting for an escape route.

"Come! Have a drink with us! You must be dead tired after work," He said innocently.

"Oh, I've a lads weekend in Wales to get to in the morning. Must be on my way. Next time, Lucius. Truly," the fat wizard replied.

"Is that Julian! When did you arrive!?" Almitra's pretty voice rang out from the opposite side of the hallway that Lyra and Lucius were on.

"Almitra, beautiful as always. I was actually just leaving..." Julian began.

"What nonsense! You must stay, I insist. Come into the parlour. Indira is about to sing," she said sweetly, taking Julian by the arm and guiding him inside the large room that was now full of noise.

"Ophira! Bring Mr. Malfoy, I have his favorite brandy," she called to them.

Lyra smiled and took Lucius by the arm. The portkey. Just in case they don't get it done, she thought. She paused. "Darling, go in. I have something in my room that I think might make this a bit more fun for us," she said with a devilish glare.

"And what is that, little dove?" He asked.

"Cursed chalice from one of my mother's friends in Florence. Makes anyone who drinks from it piss themselves in rather spectacular fashion," she told him with a petty smirk.

Lucius laughed. It was a gurgling, ugly sound. "Go. Hurry back," he commanded.

Lyra rushed back to Ophira's room. She had staged the portkey on a shelf of unicorn figurines the girl kept in her small sitting area. She pulled her wand from the holster in the glimmering gold garter around her thigh, courtesy of Almitra, and spelled a barrier over her hand so she wouldn't inadvertently portkey herself to Azkaban.

She reached up for the goblet and registered the sound of the door shutting behind her.

She spun around quickly, wand at the ready, just in time to see Harry shed his invisibility cloak.

"Lyra," he said sadly, raising his wand.

"Harry," she replied coldly, in her own voice.

"Don't do this. Don't kill him. We have him. Let's catch him. Together," he encouraged gently.

Lyra heard shouting from the direction of the parlour. Damn. That escalated quickly. She smiled.

"Don't kill him, Lyra. You're no executioner."

"By the sound of it, I'm not going to have to do a damn thing, Harry. Bored, rich men with limitless egos and axes to grind? Sounds like a good day for a duel," she said cruelly.

Harry shook his head in disbelief. "This is what you wanted? You're going to let them kill each other? It makes you complicit!" He argued as a loud boom sounded from down the hall. "Would Severus or Draco want you to become a killer? Would they be proud of you?" He fired.

"Severus and Draco want me to stay alive. Draco wants his mother and his son to stay alive. I don't want Lucius and his fucking cronies coming after me and the people I love forever! I don't want him coming after you, and Ginny and my parents..." her voice broke.

"I know. I know. I was here before. I heard what he said. I don't want that either, but we can do this the right way," he said softly.

Lyra shook her head and let some tears fall down Ophira's pretty face.

Harry heard screams and more explosions from elsewhere in the house. They needed to move.

"Lyra, what about me? I hate his bleeding guts. I've imagined his death more than once and I don't want you to do this. You let him die like this and you tie his name to yours forever. You are so much better than he is, you deserve to put him away and forget him. Don't let this happen. This isn't you," he pleaded.

"No."

"No what?"

"He needs to die," Lyra said flatly.

Harry froze. "Fine. I'll do it. No bullshit. No games. He should know what he's really dying for," he said resolutely.

Lyra paled. "No. Not you," she answered, her facade starting to crumble.

"I would do it for you," he admitted.

"I know," she replied.

She looked at the goblet in her hand and sighed. "It's a portkey. Severus gave it to me. It'll send him to Azkaban."

"Let's do it," Harry said.

Another loud boom came from the direction of the parlour.

Lyra flexed her jaw in agitation and looked seriously at her friend. She nodded stiffly at him and then bolted out the door with Harry on her heels.

The two wizards were hexing each other on the grand staircase, shouting the other's sins and secrets for the whole house to hear. Lyra shoved Harry back, so Malfoy wouldn't notice him.

"Incarcerus!" she yelled, wrapping Julian in thick ropes, sending him to the ground.

She walked over to Lucius's side and they sneered down at the fat man on the ground.

"You're going to let your little whore fight your fights for you Lucius?! Typical. Did he tell you that he has plans for you too, poppet? More dead at the bottom of the channel than chalet in the Alps," Diamond baited.

"Honestly. I leave you alone for five minutes and look at you," Lyra quipped at Lucius, in Ophira's high voice.

He inclined his head towards her. "Lovely as you are, my treasure, I think I should be leaving now," he said, eyes darting nervously for signs of the many people who had seen the argument unfold. He could hardly kill them all. He'd have to run now. Tonight. Fuck the girl. The dementors could have her, he thought.

"I couldn't agree more. You really should be going," she remarked calmly. "Harry, would you get Mr. Malfoy his jacket?" Lyra called out clearly in her own voice as Harry appeared behind her. "Here, asshole. Hold this for me," she said and shoved the portkey into Malfoy's chest, stepping away. His eyes widened in realization for just a second before the portkey took him and he was gone.

Harry came up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Nice work, Black."

Lyra gave an unsatisfied huff. She wanted to wriggle away from his hand, partially because she was mad at him for upsetting her plans and partially because she felt guilty about said plans to begin with. She could go with silence, she could go with sulking or she could harden herself for the long night ahead and try to be cool. She turned to him warily and sighed. "Thanks, man. Hey...I know what comes next, but do you mind if I go home first, to tell Draco and...get pants?" she said motioning at her barely there outfit.

Harry frowned. "If you run..." he began.

"I won't. And, anyway, you'd catch me if I did," Lyra said tiredly.

Harry nodded and walked over to Julian, to prepare him for transport back to the ministry.

Lyra went off in search of Almitra to explain herself and apologize profusely for any damage done to her house. Her mother informed her that the house had seen much worse and reassured her that it wasn't all for nothing, as Lucius and Julian both confessed to a number of unsavory dealings in the presence of several very opportunistic people. She told Lyra to keep the gauze gown she was wearing and helped transform her back into herself.

Lyra clasped the woman in a brief but tight hug before heading back to Spinner's End.


Author's Note - Hi all! I'm sorry if you're not getting notified of my updates. I've been having some issues with uploading to FF. I've sent emails to their support staff, but haven't heard back yet. It's affected the last 2 chapters. So here we are, Chapter 51. I added a note to Ch 50 with some definitions for clarification. Happy reading! -MM