The Youngest Malfoy

Chapter 9: Test Results

Lyra woke to find Severus sleeping next to her and she saw that another bed had been added to the room, her parents and brother were sleeping on it, all looking peaceful and yet concerned.

She was sore and was grateful to find a pain-relieving potion on the table beside her bed. She sat up slowly and gulped it down, sighing quietly in relief.

Her eyes caught sight of the glass cot and the tiny baby within. She was waving her tiny fist around in the air, even in her sleep. Her tiny chest was rising and falling slow and deep.

Lyra looked at the others in the room and saw that they were all still asleep. She slowly stood up from the bed and walked, still slowly, over to the cot. She peered down at her daughter and didn't know what to think. What to feel.

She loved her, she thought.

But it was difficult. Everything was a mess. The boy she thought was one of her best friends hurt her in the worst way possible. And this beautiful baby, her beautiful baby, was created from it.

Even though she couldn't remember it, it still hurt. It hurt to know that he would want to do that to her. It was one thing to take her money, and to pretend to be her friend, but to hurt her like that. The people she used to trust, was supposed to trust, had hurt her more than she could ever imagine being hurt.

Yes, the man she had thought was her uncle had hurt her the same way, but he had never pretended to love her, to care for her, to even like her.

Ron had. He had pretended to be her friend. Made her love him like a brother. Made her care for him as he pretended to care for her.

And Dumbledore had let it happen, wanted it to happen. The man she was supposed to trust as her Headmaster, the man who pretended to love her and care for her, almost like a grandfather, had allowed her to be hurt in such a way in his school. He had paid people to be friends with her. To spy on her. To hurt her, ultimately. And he had been one of the ones to steal her from her true family.

And if that wasn't the worst, they had hurt her baby. She didn't know everything that had happened to her baby because of their spells but she knew that her daughter would always have difficulty breathing, and she didn't have all of her magic.

Yes, she loved her baby.

She couldn't help it.

She had wished all her life for a family, and even though she had her parents and brother back, and her grandfather, and Sev… she had missed out on so many years. She had missed out on all the typical family things. And even though she loved them, nothing could bring those things back. Plus, she didn't know how to be a daughter.

Not that she knew how to be a mother. She never really had one, until Mrs Weasley, but even then she didn't spend much time with Mrs Weasley really, and everything was always so busy at the Burrow that it was hard to keep up with everything. And though she had her own mother back in her life now, she didn't before.

She knew nothing about being a mother.

She knew she loved her baby.

But was that enough?

She was so confused. So scared. So angry. So hurt.

What was she supposed to do?

How was she supposed to do this?

She knew she had time to figure things out. But how was she supposed to when she couldn't even sort out her emotions? Her feelings?

She loved her daughter.

But it hurt.

She didn't know if it hurt more knowing how it happened, or knowing that they had hurt her baby.

Everything just hurt. All the time. Everywhere. Everything.

She wanted her memories back so she could know everything. And yet she didn't want them back because then the pain would hold onto her even more than it already was.

It was already clawing at her every move, thought, and just everything. But if she actually remembered everything then it would be even more surreal. Even more powerful. Even more constricting.

Why?

Why did any of this have to happen?

Why did life have to mess with her so?

Why couldn't she just be normal?

Her baby's eyes opened and she stared into the blue orbs, her hand moving to let the little fist cling to one of her fingers.

She felt a presence beside her and tore her eyes away from her baby to find her dad there, smiling sadly at her. She smiled back before turning her eyes back to her daughter.

"I am so proud of you, Lyra. We all are," her dad said gently as he placed a gentle hand on her back, rubbing it gently in some form of comfort which made her heart flutter, along with the words.

It was both weird and painful hearing those kinds of words from her parents. Because she was meant to hear them all along, and yet she hadn't. That opportunity was stolen from her as she was stolen from them.

"What do you think I should do, dad?" she asked.

"Lyra… I love you, we all love you, so very much. And as much as I wish that I could take this burden from your shoulders, and all the other burdens you have been dealt in your life, I can't. You are the only one who can decide what to do in terms of your daughter. That doesn't mean we won't all be here to help, to stand with you and support you. But you are the only one who can and should decide what to do. We will be with you every step of the way, I promise. And it pains me that I can't… that I can't just make the decision for you. But we don't want you to live a life filled with regret. You need to do what is best for you, for your daughter,"

"I don't know, though,"

"I know. I know how very difficult it is for you. And I wish, so very dearly, that I could help far more than I should. You are so young, and you shouldn't be dealing with this, any of this. But we are here to support you, every step of the way, even if we can't make the decisions for you,"

She nodded, her throat bobbing and constricting with emotion.

She knew he was right, and yet there was a small part of her begging for someone to make her decision for her.

But she knew that if the wrong decision was made then it would tear her apart. Even more than she was already torn.

She felt weak.

Lost.

Confused.

She didn't know what to do anymore.

Everything seemed to have stopped moving.

How?

How was she supposed to make this decision when she couldn't even think clearly?

Why?

"Why did they do this to me?" she whispered so quietly she wasn't even sure he heard her.

She didn't know if she was glad or not that he did, "I don't know, baby. But I will find out for you, I promise. And no matter what, you will always have all of us here to support you, and love you, and help you in everything,"

"I know, but it is hard to remember," she said.

"I know," he wrapped his arms around her and held her as she looked at her daughter who still clung tight to her finger.

"I love her," she whispered.

"I know,"

"But I don't know what to do,"

He kissed the top of her head gently, "I know. But you have time to figure it out. And we will be here to help you as much as we can,"

She nodded, not taking her eyes off her daughter even as she leant into her dad, searching for warmth, and love, and comfort.

…

Lyra was sitting on her bed, sandwiched between her mum and brother, her dad and Severus sitting opposite her. Her knees were tucked up against her sore chest and her arms were wrapped around them.

Healer Greyclaw walked into the room, and smiled at them warmly as she walked over to the bed and climbed up. She had a folder in her hands which Lyra knew held the test results that would say what was wrong with her daughter.

"How are you feeling, sweetie?" she asked kindly, laying the folder on her bed.

"My… they're sore," Lyra said, blushing as she looked at her knees in embarrassment.

"That would be your milk coming in, Lyra. Which is a good thing, but we will discuss that in a bit. Are you okay to discuss the tests we ran on your daughter?"

Lyra nodded, still looking at her knees, even as her mother squeezed them in comfort.

"Alright. So, as you know, with your daughter being born prematurely, she isn't fully developed yet. She needs time to grow and allow her organs to finish their development. This can be helped with close proximity to you and your magic, as well as milk, as some potions which we are giving her to help her put on weight and to help her organs. The milk we give her can either be formula milk that is specialised for premature babies and enhanced with your magic, or your breast milk," Lyra blushed brighter at the words, "Now, your breast milk would be best as it will have a higher connection to your magic, and more natural nutrients, etcetera. But we can do whatever you feel most comfortable with. I understand that this is difficult for you and we don't need you to be more uncomfortable than you already are,

"Your daughter is underweight, even for her gestation. So we will continue giving her nutrient potions, as well as the milk and she should grow well enough. We will keep an eye on her though and if changes need to be made to the amount of times she is fed or given potions we can discuss this another time,

"Her lungs, as you know, are both not fully developed, and also damaged. The potions, milk, and closeness to you over the next few weeks will help them to continue their development. However there is some scarring on her lungs from the spell damage, as well as the fact that they aren't developing at the speed that they should be. Now, there is an extra potion we can give her to help her lungs develop. However, we will not be able to fully heal them with our current means. We have also spoken to some other creatures whose magic differs to ours and they also have no way of completely healing her lungs,"

"What does that mean for her?" Lyra asked quietly, clutching her legs tighter.

"It means that unless someone can come up with a way of healing her lungs she will always have some difficulty with breathing. We are going to try everything we can to come up with something to heal her but we don't know how long it will take. As she grows we will begin to see what kinds of difficulties she will have, and be able to help her deal with things as they come, but things will be a long and difficult road for her. It may be painful for her, she may have attacks where she really struggles, she won't be able to do certain things such as play sports, run, walk for long distances. But believe me when I say that all of us are trying to find something, anything to heal her,"

Tears leaked out of Lyra's eyes and she leant into her mum's side as the warm arms were wrapped around her comfortingly.

"Is there anything else?" Lucius asked, and Lyra could hear sadness, anger and danger in his voice, though she knew it wasn't aimed at her but the people who did this to his child and grandchild.

"Unfortunately so. As you know, the youngest two Weasleys used a spell that would steal some of her magic from her. Now, Lyra is exceptionally powerful magically, and so her daughter should have been also, and would have been if not for this spell. Though, thanks to this power that Lyra has, and the baby used to have, she hasn't lost all of her magic. According to our tests she is just below the power levels of an average witch or wizard. Which is extraordinary considering the spell used, and she has the ability to get more powerful when she is older also, like any witch or wizard,

"However, as I mentioned before, stealing magic from anyone is a serious crime. But stealing magic from an unborn child is exceptionally worse. It can slow down the development of the child both before and after birth. You can see some of the effects of this with her lungs. However it can also affect other aspects also, such as how long it takes her to reach certain milestones. She might have little to no accidental magic. She might struggle with learning spells when she gets to school. And because she doesn't have the full amount of magic that she is meant to have, she may have trouble with healing herself from illnesses, or get ill more often due to the magic not protecting her as it should, and would have if her magic wasn't stolen,

"This, in conjunction with her damaged lungs, could lead to her getting very sick, very easily. Her immune system is going to be weaker, and although we can help her with a good diet, potions and such, if she gets ill, it will be worse for her than it would be without her full magic there to protect and help her. And the lung damage will make it easier for her to get ill also as her difficulty breathing means that she will get coughs and colds and such more easily, which will then be worse because her magic and immune system won't be able to fight it off as effectively,"

"Why? Averagely powered witches and wizards are usually fine in terms of getting illnesses and being able to heal from them," Severus said.

"It isn't her level of magic that is the issue. If you are an average witch or wizard, more often than not that is what you are meant to be. That is what you are formed as in the womb, and that is how you will be as you grow. But if you are meant to be a powerful witch or wizard, especially on the level of Lyra and her daughter, then that is what you are formed as in the womb, and what you are as you grow. However, with her magic stolen from her, with no hope of getting it back, she isn't as powerful as she was originally made to be. The amount of magic you have is what you are meant to live with, to help you with life. She doesn't have the amount of magic she is meant to have because it was stolen from her. So now, the magic she has is trying to heal her, to help her grow, but it is struggling because it isn't enough, it isn't what she is meant to have. If she gets ill, although her magic will try and help her, it will struggle because it isn't what she is meant to have. It is a miracle she has any magic left at all, if she didn't have any then she probably wouldn't have survived long after the birth given the state of her lungs, and that is the very latest. More than likely she would have died in the womb if she had lost all her magic," Healer Greyclaw sounded empathetic as she said it, looking at Lyra who was shaking with silent cries as her mum held her.

"Will she die?" Lyra asked, looking at Healer Greyclaw with pleading eyes as the goblin healer looked at her with sad ones.

"She probably won't live as long as the average witch or wizard. And although all of us will do everything we can to heal her lungs, and just to heal her when she gets ill, we cannot guarantee anything. She will have a long and difficult road ahead of her, which we will aid you all with every step of the way. But there is a possibility that she will die, yes. I can't say when as it depends on a number of factors. But, if we are able to keep her as healthy as possible so she doesn't get ill too often, then we can hope that she will make it through to adulthood. I am telling you this so you are prepared, so that you understand. Things will be difficult, but we will do all we can to help you, and her, and everyone else to get through this. I promise,"

"Is there anything else?" Draco asked, and Lyra looked at him when she could hear the tears in his voice. He smiled at her sadly and kissed her cheek.

"There is some damage to her eyes. Thankfully we found out about her and Lyra gave birth to her before this could progress to the point where we wouldn't be able to heal it. We can brew a baby safe version of the eye repairing potion for her and she should be fine. Other than that we will have to keep an eye on her. We will have to keep an eye on her weight, height and lungs as she grows, as well as her other organs, just to be sure. And, due to her weakened magic and immune system she may also have some allergies that may come up. But that is all we were able to learn for now. Considering everything she is doing remarkably well, to not have more damage than she does. But we had to check everything. I am not saying that there won't be more issues that come up in the future. But, we will be there if things do come up to help as much as possible,"

"Thank you," Lyra said shakily.

Healer Greyclaw nodded, a concerned look in her eyes, "I believe you have found a lawyer willing to go against Albus Dumbledore," she had a spark of excitement in her eyes as she said this to Lyra's parents.

"Yes," Lucius said with a smirk, even though there was a deep sadness and pain in his eyes.

"Good. If it is okay with Lyra I can give you a copy of these documents to give to him so that you have more evidence to bring him down with,"

"That is fine," Lyra said quietly as she melted more into her mum's embrace.

"Perfect," the healer said, a smile on her face, even though her eyes shone with anger at the man who had dared do this to children.

They started talking about how Lyra wanted to feed her daughter, with Healer Greyclaw describing what could happen depending on what she wanted, and although Lyra tried to pay attention she just couldn't focus.

She just couldn't focus.

Hiya, how are you all?

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Sorry again for the wait. I have been super busy with health issues, work and such. I am also trying to get a good way into my new fanfics, and working on other new ones that aren't published yet, and I am working on original novels also. Plus I opened a crystal/spiritual shop a few months ago, online, so that has taken up a lot of my time also. But hey ho, I am getting used to it, slowly.

I have a Facebook group called Maraudering_Paige which each of you are welcome to join if you would like to. It is where we can talk about Harry Potter, fanfics, life, share memes and more. I am happy to accept any of you who want to join. It is also where, when I am more organised and have more time (hopefully soon), I will be posting some kind of an update schedule and will be sharing with you what I am working on and such. So if you want to join then feel free to.

I hope you are having an amazing day!

Kind regards,

Paige xx