October 2008
Wizarding London, England
Ministry of Magic of Great Britain
Wednesday Morning, continued ad infinitum.

Lyra secluded herself in the tiny equipment room with her coffee, mulling over the events of the day...the endless day...the horrible day that just wouldn't die. She left it to Shacklebolt to brief everybody on the new developments in the case and the trap she was currently living in. She rubbed her eyes in exhaustion and wondered when Harry would return with Astoria and the kid. She owed them some information and then had to get them far the hell away from her as possible. Her stomach clenched in worry. There was essentially an entire family at stake here, not to mention Draco himself. She felt the gravity of it, the responsibility of it, pressing on her and she wished she could just disappear.

As she was preparing to launch in to Act II of her pity party, Harry walked in. "They're here. They're scared as hell, but they're safe. Narcissa Malfoy was with them."

Lyra exhaled in relief. "Good. I need to talk to them...eventually." She was not looking forward to that conversation.

"WE need to talk. Shacklebolt filled me in.".

She looked at him sadly. "So I kill him, or he kills me, or the blinding cast on the kid expires and Draco comes after his own son...and we have to kill him to stop him, obviously. That's what I got."

Harry said nothing.

"Harry you're holding your breath."

He exhaled.

"So you help kill him or you die for him," he said.

"Or I die for his son," she pointed out.

"Semantics. You die," he protested.

"I should never have come here," she mused to the ether.

"Don't be dramatic."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Harry. You're right. I'm facing several possible futures where I'm dead. I understand that's something you have some practice in, but for me it's a bit new."

"Well, technically you're dead in all possible futures...I mean long term. Me too," he said, trying to make her laugh.

"Harry. I will slap you in the mouth, I swear to god." She said without humor.

"What do you want to do?" he asked.

"Save them both. Stay alive. Live forever, just to spite you," she quipped with a raised eyebrow.

Harry huffed a laugh. "Do I get an opinion?"

"Have I ever denied you anything, darling?"

"Kill him."

"Absolutely not," she fired.

"Can I kill him?" he asked cheerily.

"No. Harry, Help me. If anyone knows how to find a loophole in seemingly inescapable death, it's you, right?"

Harry furrowed his brow at her. "Look, it's complicated in my case. The first time I 'lived' it was because my mother had just sacrificed her life for mine. The second time, I'm not actually even sure. The wand Voldemort had at the time was hugely powerful but it wasn't answering to him. That particular wand would only answer to the person who had disarmed the last owner. That hadn't been Voldemort, so the wand wasn't really his. I think he couldn't kill me for good that night because the wand didn't want to kill me. Is that crazy?"

"Was it Hawthorne?" She asked.

"What?"

"The wand. Was it Hawthorne?"

"Er...elder, actually. I hardly see why that matters."

She nodded knowingly. "Elder. It's temperamental. Makes a wand that always seeks a better owner. The kind that would throw you under the bus to seek a source of greater talent. Let me ask you this, Auror, what's the crux of casting the killing curse, or any Unforgivable?"

"Intent. You have to mean it."

"Right. Well, so does the wand, in a sense. It has to be a willing conduit for the spell."

"You're in to wandlore?"

"I'm in to stalling," she said with a sad smile.

"My wand, it's Hawthorne. What does that mean?"

"Hawthorne. Emotional wood. Needs to believe in the wizard who wields it. What's the core?" she asked.

"Uh...unicorn hair."

"Ah. Faithful. Long memory. I would not have guessed that for you. Shows what I know," she said looking off into the distance.

"We need a plan," he said, bringing the stalling to an end.

Lyra sighed hard, shaking her head. "I don't know. Catch him first. Contain him. Get the biggest pulsating brains in the Ministry to try and break the curse. Win. Shove it in Lucius Malfoy's evil fucking face," she mused.

"Ok. We catch him. How?"

"With delicious, irresistible Lyra bait. And we do it fast." she said, resigned.

"Uh, no."

"Uh, Yes. It's the only thing that's going to draw him out. Other than his overtures towards me, he's been a ghost. What other option do we have?" she countered.

"We have Scorpius Malfoy. He's at the center of a sodding fortress here, protected by an army of Aurors. Why can't we take our time to plan? Let the blind expire and let Draco come to us?"

Lyra cuffed his ear in time to her words. "He. Is. A. Baby. We are not using baby-bait. You. Are. Awful."

"Ow. Gods, you're bloody mad!"

"I'm mad! Baby-bait, Potter. I will NEVER forget you said it."

"Alright, fine," he acquiesced.

"We let him chase me out of London. Leave the kid and the ex here, under high security. I run to some place private. Secluded. We bring a team. We catch him and we box him. We reassess after that."

"If it comes down to combat?" Harry inquired.

"Then I beat his ass and then we catch him and box him."

"And if it gets really bad?"

"Fuck, Harry, yes. Then I kill him. Is that what you want me to say?"

"Yes it is! I am not having you die because of...

"Harry. That...it's not going to come to that, ok?"

He said nothing.

She walked over to him and gave him a good hugging. She was a hugger. Everybody else would just have to adjust. Harry did fine. He hugged her tightly for an appropriately English amount of time before releasing her.

"Right," he said with a blush on his face. "I'll take you to see everybody."

"Did Shacklebolt talk to them yet?" She asked.

"He did. Filled them in on the spell, the blind over the boy. He left out your part, though. He thought you should take them through it. If you're going to risk your life for that kid, you should be the one to tell his mother," Harry explained.

"Yeah, for some reason, that doesn't make me feel a whole lot better." She paused, considering something. "Do you know her? Astoria Nott. Is she approachable? Does she have a mean uppercut that I should know about?" She inquired.

"They're divorced. I hardly see why it would matter," Harry quipped.

"Good lord, you are dense, Potter. Thank Merlin you let Ginny call the shots," she replied.

Harry snorted and rolled his eyes at her. "I knew her sister, Daphne. She was a Slytherin. Pretty. Polite. Kept her head down."

"Ugh. I've had just about enough Slytherins for a lifetime, to be honest," she griped.

"Hey now, your father was a Slytherin. I was almost a Slytherin," Harry replied.

"You know, I would not have believed that possible until today. That stunt you pulled with Lucius Malfoy. That was pure evil genius," she grinned at him.

"Praise indeed, coming from you. You're the one who punched him in the face," he quipped back, ushering them out of the room.


Harry led Lyra to a secluded room in the back of the department that was typically unused. When they entered they saw that Colin and several other staff members were setting up cots, and bringing in blankets and food. Lyra's eyes zeroed in on Narcissa Malfoy in a far corner talking anxiously to a short blonde witch and a large brunette wizard that she recognized easily as Astoria Nott and her new husband.

Her gaze trailed slightly over to the left to see a little boy playing quietly by himself in a chair. He had his father's shock-white hair and proud features, but with rich green eyes that he had to have inherited from his mother. He was talking softly to himself and flying a smoking toy train around in tiny circles.

"Miss Black!"

Lyra looked up to see Mrs. Malfoy heading towards her with her former daughter-in-law and the large wizard in tow.

"Mrs. Malfoy. Are you alright?"

"Yes, yes I'm fine," the elegant woman dismissed with a wave of her hand. "Kingsley said you had more information. Did you see Draco? What's next? You have to help him, you have to stop this curse. I don't understand how this is happening..." she continued babbling, frantically.

Lyra swallowed nervously, and locked her hazel eyes briefly to the vibrant greens of Draco's ex-wife, who was giving up nothing. Damn. "Let's sit down, shall we?" Lyra said, addressing them all and motioning towards a disused sofa and chairs in the back of the large room. "Colin, would you mind watching young Mr. Malfoy there a moment while I talk to his family?"

"Yes, ma'am," he replied walking over to the child who eyed him shyly.

The newlyweds installed themselves on the couch and Mrs. Malfoy lowered herself regally into a shabby armchair. Lyra stood in front of them struggling to find the appropriate words for this conversation. Hey, so your son, your ex is stalking me and, barring an act of curse-breaking innovation in the realm of ancient Finnish runes, only my death or his death will prevent harm to your grandchild/child.

"Uh...I..." she bumbled.

"Where did you get that?" Narcissa inquired, her tone flat.

"What?" Lyra asked, confused.

"The necklace you're wearing," she said icily, nodding to the Quatrefoil hanging on her chest.

"Oh, it's not what you think. I was wearing it in the interrogation room to annoy your husband."

The older woman's lips quirked. "Did it work?"

"It sure did," Lyra answered.

"You didn't answer the question, Auror," Astoria Nott interjected from the couch.

"No, I didn't." Lyra drew a deep breath. "I don't know exactly how Auror Shacklebolt explained the situation to you all, but you know that Draco's been cursed to kill someone he...cares for a lot. Well, clearly, as I'm sure you will agree, the person he cares for the most would be your grandson." She paused a moment before continuing. "Until tomorrow night, the boy's protected with a blinding cast making him ineligible to be tracked by Draco. Since this cast has been blinding Scorpius to Draco, Draco moved on to the next person down the list, so to speak." Lyra looked up at the ceiling then lowered her voice to afford them some privacy. "Lucius thought that he would move on to you, Mrs. Nott. He...he was planning to use Draco to kill you, then turn him in for your murder and petition the courts for custody of your son."

Lyra looked down at the blonde witch on the couch. She was in shock. Silent tears rolling down her pretty face.

"But he didn't," Narcissa chimed in.

"Excuse me?" Lyra asked.

"Draco. He didn't go after Astoria."

"No, ma'am." Lyra paused nervously. "He went after me. I'm not just here on an exchange. I'm here for this particular case because the target is me."

"That's absurd. You don't know us. You're not even from here!" Astoria shouted through her tears.

And there it is, Lyra thought to herself.

"Who the fuck do you think you are? This is absurd." The blonde witch continued.

"Astoria, stop," Narcissa instructed. "Speak," she directed at Lyra.

"He's been stalking me for a month. In New York and now here." She picked the pendant up off her chest. "He sent this to me yesterday. I...I know what it means. I figured it would be a good way to get a rise out of his father." she said regarding it warily before letting it drop back down. "I've been staying with the Potters and Draco attacked us there early this morning, right after I got your owl. He blew the front door off Harry's house trying to find me." She paused to look over at Scorpius, who was talking to Colin and showing off his train. "Harry has 2 little kids who were both there when it happened."

Astoria broke out in to full sobs and threw herself in to her husband's arms. Lyra crossed her arms over her chest.

"Look, I understand the uncomfortable position that this puts all of us in but this is bigger than petty mistrust and suspicion," Lyra said, suddenly feeling defensive. Maybe a bit irrationally so. "The facts are that we have to do something before midnight tomorrow or your son will be in danger. Now I, for one, refuse to let that happen. I am willing to risk my own life in the process and not just because your cursed Ex was my friend for years, but because it's my job. Because THAT is who the fuck I think I am." Lyra breathed in a shaky breath to calm her anger. God, I need to sleep, she thought. Apologize, you jerk...

Lyra let the woman's sobs quiet to soft hiccups before speaking. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said-" She began, running a tired hand across her face.

"I didn't know." Astoria said sadly pulling her head off of her husband's chest and sniffling. "It's a terribly stupid thing to be territorial over, you know? I mean, I'm quite sorry for you and all that..."

"I get it. Believe me, you don't want this." Lyra said tightly. "You are right though."

"Right?" the blonde witch asked, dabbing her wet eyes.

"This is absolutely fucking absurd."

The woman gave a sad laugh. "So what are you going to do? How are you going to protect my son?"

Lyra sighed seriously. "I think you and your family need to stay here. This building is secure and you'll be surrounded by Aurors ready to protect you. I'm going to get Draco to chase me out of London, far away from Scorpius. We'll put a team in place, draw him out somewhere secluded and capture him. From there, I honestly don't know. We'll have to essentially find a way to break a thousand year old curse that was designed specifically to be absolute and unending."

"What if you can't catch him?" Astoria's silent husband spoke.

She gave him a level stare and looked over at Mrs. Malfoy. Lyra owed her the courtesy of an honest answer and a look in the eyes. "If I can't contain him and he comes after the kid, I can't promise we won't be forced to escalate."

Narcissa widened her eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Malfoy but think. It's what Draco would want done. What would you want if someone cursed you to kill him? Now, I don't know you all that well, but I have a feeling you would want someone to stop you at any cost."

Narcissa dropped a few silent tears down her pale cheeks and shook her head but said nothing, looking forlornly over at her grandson.

"It's my sincere belief that we can catch him. I would never hurt him unless I had no choice. Please believe me," she added.

"Where are you going to go?" Narcissa inquired, changing the subject.

"I don't know. Someplace big enough to fit a team. Big enough to fight. To run. I was thinking Hogwarts, but it's too crowded. It needs to be isolated," Lyra replied.

"The Manor." Narcissa stated plainly.

"What?"

"It meets all of your requirements. Plus, I know it inside and out, and you leading him there will give him a false impression that he has the advantage," she explained.

"Wait. Are you really willing to let me and Draco shoot flaming hexes at each other all over the inside of your mansion?" Lyra asked.

"I think it would improve the space, actually. Like modern art," she dismissed easily.

"Hmm. That could work," Lyra replied honestly, raising her eyebrows. "Let me talk it over with the Aurors and I will get back to you. Now please, get some food and rest."

And with that, she walked out in search of a bench or deserted couch to nap on. Immediately. Worst. Day. Ever. She thought to herself. I will never get the awkward washed off my skin...


Author's Note - Trying to push through some setup chapters quickly to get to...showtime. Bear with me, the dynamite goes boom in just a few... -MM