October 2008Wizarding London, EnglandGrimmauld PlaceWednesday
"YOU ENDANGERED MY FAMILY!" Harry roared.
"THAT IS SUCH BULLSHIT, HARRY! HOW COULD I KNOW WHAT HE WAS GOING TO DO?" She shouted back.
"It's you he wants. Not me. Not my family. You."
"So you're going to kick me off in to the street so he can grab me?" She looked at him incredulously. "I'm sorry. For a minute, I thought you were an Auror. I thought you were supposed to help people!" She fired back, acid in her voice.
"I am. But you and your heart-sick little ferret are NOT my problem. I will not have my family threatened because of some pratty little rich boy who never matured past his second year!" Harry had to admit to himself, he enjoyed that one.
Lyra paced rapidly back and forth through the sitting room with it's high windows. Ok, uh...call him a coward and and wave your arms a bit, she coached herself.
"How is it possible that the great Harry Potter is such a FUCKING COWARD!" She bellowed, throwing her hands in the air.
"I'd rather one nobody witch from America think me a coward than orphan my own children," he said softly.
Lyra paused. She was suddenly worried that they were about to start having a real conversation. Abort, abooooort, she thought.
"I want you out," he said, pointing out towards the street. "Now." and then he stormed out of the room.
Lyra watched him go then looking sadly after him before walking over to the writing desk that contained her bag of toiletries and the Quatrefoil necklace which she had removed prior to her war of words with Harry. She returned the item to it's little box and plunked both box and bag unceremoniously inside her suitcase before latching it shut. She used the bathroom and then trudged slowly down the stairs. She walked up to the front door, which had been replaced in the early hours of the morning by a Ministry clean up team, took a deep breath, and stepped outside.
It was late afternoon and the streets were busy with people coming home from work. She wandered to Diagon Alley on foot and got comfortably lost in the crowd. She could feel the hairs standing up on the back of her neck and wasn't sure if it was because she was waiting for Gold to jump her or because she knew Draco was watching her. He was. She could feel him. It was going to work.
She tucked herself into a pub for a quick bite, keeping a look of perpetual wariness on her face, before taking the plunge and using the Leaky Cauldron to exit out in to Muggle London. She walked several blocks over to the high street with the intention of hailing a cab to the airport. I wonder if they are going to wait until I get there, she thought. She had kind of hoped to be done and kidnapped by now. The anticipation was driving her nuts. What a weird thing to think...
She was standing on the curb with her hand in the air for a car when she felt the blunt stab of a wand in her lower back. She gasped and lowered her arm slowly. "Took you long enough," she murmured, allowing her face to telegraph the appropriate shock and worry.
"Petrificus totalis-" she heard him say in a Scottish burr Oh come on, man...
Lyra went rigid and she felt Gold's hands come around her waist to keep her upright. To passerby they probably just looked like a very mismatched couple. Lyra took tight little panting breaths, the inflexibility in her diaphragm allowing for little else. She allowed her eyes to go wide with fear. A black limousine pulled up to the curb in front of them and the rear door opened automatically, revealing an impeccably dressed, relaxed looking Narcissa Malfoy, complete with devious black sunglasses. If Lyra had been capable of rolling her eyes at that moment, she would have.
With a strength that surprised her, Gold hauled her inside the limousine and deposited her gracelessly on the floor before stepping in and shutting the door.
"Rennervate-" Narcissa cast at her, breaking her from the hold of the body bind. Lyra greedily filled her lungs with as much air as possible for a few cleansing breaths before turning on Gold.
"Really?! You said you wanted to make it look natural! You made me look like a damn amateur out there! Come on!" she whined petulantly.
"It's not my fault you weren't paying attention. What if that had been the boy, huh?" He offered.
"Bite me, Gold."
He didn't respond to her jab, but added, with a rising blush to his cheeks "We were running a little late, anyway. So, I wanted to keep it quick."
Lyra looked over to Narcissa for some back up, but saw that she too had a guilty blush creeping onto her face.
"Well great, guys. It's good to know that if we just blew our whole cover out there, that at least it was in pursuit of a good snog. Unbelievable!" She chastised them righteously for a few more moments as the limousine drove them down the busy London streets into Westminster.
They pulled into a parking garage under the Savoy hotel and Narcissa led them out of the vehicle into a private entrance that contained only a small foyer, a doorman and a single elevator.
"Back again, Mrs. Black?" The doorman said to Narcissa.
"Yes, Sam, thank you. This is my daughter-in-law Lyra and Pip, my security man," she lied smoothly, motioning to the Aurors.
"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you both. Mrs. Black and her son are two of our favorites," he beamed warmly at them for which Narcissa awarded him a sweet smile and a large tip.
Sam called the elevator and ushered them inside before pushing the button for number 4 and stepping back out. "Have a lovely day," he said.
"Thank you, Sam," replied Lyra, stunned. "You guys stay here a lot?" Lyra inquired, turning to Mrs. Malfoy.
"It's nice to escape Lucius from time to time," Narcissa explained.
"But it's out in...you know...Muggle land," Lyra pressed, knowing how the Malfoys tended to feel about the no-maj world.
"Where he would never look for us," Narcissa smiled sadly.
The doors of the elevator opened then, revealing a huge open-floored penthouse with lovely cream and gray walls and tasteful combinations of rich carpet and striking hardwood floors. It had a modern look, complete with a stainless steel kitchen and a sitting area with overstuffed couches and lovely examples of modern art done in shades of blue on the walls.
"Wow. This is amazing," Lyra said, taking it in.
"Thank you. It's a little threadbare, but I like it," she replied.
Threadbare. Damn. Lyra thought to herself.
"As much as I'm sure we'd all prefer to stay, we really should be geting on," Gold chimed in. "We've got a Portkey set up. It's on the table there."
Lyra frowned at inoffensive little silver dish sitting on the large oak table.
"Yeah," she replied, approaching it with her companions. She took a moment to look one more time around the lovely room. This was her last taste of freedom before getting to work. Work that would leave her either dead, grieving the death of a friend, or handing that friend over to authorities that may never being able to fix him, requiring him to spend the rest of his life away from his son.
"Count o' three then, lovelies?" Gold offered.
"1...2...3..."
The trio placed their hands on the rim of the silver dish in unison. Lyra felt the familiar, off-putting tug of gravity in all directions that was singular to the use of a Portkey for travel. She hated it. Always felt like she'd end up with her intestines getting pushed out of her belly button. It was an unpleasant experience altogether, even more so when you were Portkeying somewhere you'd rather not Portkey.
They came to rest sitting side by side on a delicate-looking white couch in the middle of a dark, but grand sitting room. The lights were low, but Lyra could tell that the walls were done up in hues of rich green. Stags and unicorns were charmed on to the wallpaper, moving gracefully about in glinting silver. A chandelier tinkled overhead, agitated by the current of wind generated from their sudden arrival. Lyra shook her head back and forth a few times to clear her disorientation from the trip. She looked over her shoulder in to the rest of the cavernous room where she spotted Harry and Simpkins speaking lowly to each other by the dim fire.
"Harry," she said gently.
"Hey there, Black," he replied walking over to her. "You give Gold a run for his money?"
"No, but Mrs. Malfoy did," Lyra said with a sardonic grin.
"Lyra!" Mrs. Malfoy chastened her.
Lyra pulled herself off the couch and wrapped her arms around her friend for the second time that day. "I"m sorry for what I said," she said in to his ear.
He squeezed her back, unashamed of the eyes on them and the sentimental display. "Me too. That wasn't much fun, was it?"
"No," she said releasing him, before turning to the rest of her companions. "So, I took a body bind to the back from the Scottish Gilderoy Lockhart over here and got all kidnapped," she said out loud to the room, spotting Rossman and Zabini around a desk in the back, pouring over a book together. "What have you guys been up to?"
"We went over to the east wing this afternoon and found the spell Lucius Malfoy used to do this. It's pretty much as we expected. Compulsion. Unbreakable with a possibility to blind a likely target and augment as needed. We did learn definitively that the person who cast the original spell has to be the same person who casts the blind. Meaning that unless Malfoy has a change of heart, we can't prevent it from expiring on Scorpius tomorrow," Rossman stated.
"Damn," Lyra replied. "So where are we then?" She asked.
"The west wing. My wing." Narcissa replied. "Lucius had the east and I the west. The north wing is the children's wing, which was Draco's and the South wing contains the kitchens and the public spaces."
"Wow. Ok, wait. So like, what would you do when Draco was a kid and it was time for dinner or something?" Lyra asked.
"I'd use the speaking dishes, or send him an owl," She replied as if it was obvious.
"Ha! Send him an owl. That's amazing!" Lyra exclaimed, looking excitedly around the great room. "What room is this?"
"My personal sitting room. No one can enter without my expressed permission. Not even my own family," she replied.
"Well, you know, gotta respect that personal space," Lyra responded, gazing up at the crystal chandelier.
"We're basing ourselves here, because it's protected. But after doing a walk-through with Mrs. Malfoy and the rest of the team, we've decided that the best place for the, er...confrontation would be the white ballroom in the north wing. It's big, has one entrance and few windows. There's also an antechamber hidden in the back wall that we can use to stage inside of for when you get him into the room," Harry said.
"Great," Lyra replied with a frown.
"It's also closest to Draco's room, which is where he will apparate when he comes home," Mrs. Malfoy added.
"How do we know he will apparate?" Lyra asked.
"Mrs. Malfoy closed the Manor off to the floo network after we arrived earlier today. The only registered Portkey is the one you used which is now here. We left the wards on the house that make long-range apparition impossible, so essentially, Mr. Malfoy will have to get himself close to the grounds and then apparate inside," Simpkins explained.
"And you're sure he'll apparate in to his room?" She asked.
"His room or the kitchens if he's peckish," his mother replied, knowingly.
"We moved the little muggle listening machines from where Mrs. Malfoy had placed them to various points around the north wing, including his bedroom, and also put some in the kitchens, just to be sure," Simpkins added.
"Damn, everybody. That's an actual plan," Lyra said rubbing her hands together. "So since he has to get himself here, and you dastardly villains kidnapped me off the street 45 minutes ago, how much time do we have?"
"About 2 hours if he takes the train, or 3 if he flies," Narcissa replied.
"Lyra looked over to a huge charmed clock on the wall that fit the stag and unicorn motif of the wallpaper. "So, that puts showtime in between 8:30 and 9:30 tonight."
She looked up at Harry, "I need to go through the north wing. I have to learn how to find my way to that ballroom with my eyes closed and I don't have much time."
"Ok, let's go," Harry replied.
MM
