Author's Note - Thank you to Conh3 for the nice review, more jewelry to come! Please follow/review and happy reading! -MM


November 2008
Muggle London, England
Wednesday

Draco walked out of the elevator at the Savoy to see Lyra's feet sticking out over the arm of the couch where she was reclining. She was speaking into the little Muggle communicator that she carried with her everywhere.

"I don't know why he doesn't, mom. You could always ask," she said into the room. He heard a muted rattle come out of the device that she held.

"Oh sure. Why would you ask when you can keep complaining," she said to her mother with a smile in her voice.

Draco took off his jacket and hung it on the hook. Lyra peeked her head up from the couch and smirked, motioning that she was almost done.

"I know, I know. Hey, I've got to run, Momma, but I love you and I'll talk to you soon," she said.

Draco could hear her mother protesting into the phone.

"Well yes, if you must know, I do have a date," Lyra said grinning fondly at her boyfriend. "Ok. Yeah, I know. Bye! You nosy thing! Love you, bye!" She said, ending the call.

"How's your mum?" Draco asked walking over to where she was laying on the couch and running his hand through her hair.

She made a happy noise and pushed into his hand encouraging him to continue. "She's fine. She's mad at Caelum. She's always mad at Caelum."

Draco chuckled and rubbed his fingers into Lyra's scalp. "About what?"

"Cae is a clone of my father. Her fights with him are essentially an extension of her fights with dad. This one is about dad and Cae not wanting to bring Bex along to Oregon when we all go on vacation in January."

"Bex?" He questioned.

"Rottweiler. Most annoying dog in all of dog history and my mom's third child," she explained.

"Ah," he answered, bending down to press a kiss to her forehead. "Good gods, Lyra. I can smell the hangover on you."

She snorted. "I may...have gotten carried away at the Potter's last night. Gold made me smoke. I barfed in my mouth," she confessed.

"Charming, sweetheart," he replied. "Are you feeling well enough to go out?"

"I'm feeling well enough for takeout. I don't want the noise. I just want to be with you," she replied sleepily.

Draco's heart flipped at her words. "Okay."

"I'll call. Will you pick up?" She asked.

Draco groaned. "Alone? Ugh. Fine."

"You're so brave, baby," she said, reaching up to pull him down for a kiss.

"Well, one of us has to be," he joked, nibbling on her top lip.

Lyra smiled.

After much grumbling, Draco gallantly ventured out for Indian food and they stayed in together, chatting at the table.

He inhaled warily. "Can we talk about what happened yesterday?"

Lyra sighed. "If we must."

"Sweetheart, what she said, it's just Astoria. She struggles with not being the center of attention. Add everything that's going on right now, I should have seen it coming. I'm certain that it's not really about you. It's not personal, " he explained.

She laughed without humor. "I dunno, Draco. It felt pretty personal." She fidgeted in her seat.

"I know, love, but try and look at it from her perspective. All of this attention, all of this interest and none of it is about her. I mean, a few weeks from now, the truth about my absence is going to come out and it's going to make her look even less relevant," He explained.

"So what. So I am supposed to let her take chunks out of me with her teeth because she's not being talked about?!" Lyra asked, incredulously.

He sighed. "Relevance is important to people in our class. If you're not in, you're out and you just get to stand on the outside, watching the world go on without you," he mused, thinking back on the last years of his own life.

"Rich, entitled purebloods are not the world, Draco," she fired.

"Well they sure as hell run it, don't they?" He replied, absentmindedly.

"By coercion and manipulation, not because they're better!" She exclaimed, pinning him with a hard stare.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Americans," he muttered, annoyed.

Lyra froze. He said it the same way Astoria had. The same way Julian Diamond had. The same way his father had. Like it was a judgement, not a description. Like it made her lesser. Stupid. Disposable.

Draco was oblivious to the blow that he'd just dealt her and carried on. "Anyway, she had no right to talk about you like that."

"Right, because only you get to talk to me like that," Lyra interjected bitterly.

Draco balked. "What the hell are you on about?"

Lyra shook her head, her breath quickening with rage.

"Hey. Don't...don't do that. What are you thinking?" He pressed.

"I'm thinking that I'm an idiot for being surprised by what she did! It's just more of the same aristocratic fuckwittery and I knew it was just a matter of time until you pulled the same shit!" She exploded.

Draco was shocked. "What?" He asked.

"You call me American like it's a goddamned slur. Like I'm a child who doesn't get the way the world works. Like I'm a fucking dog," she spat. "And now you're lecturing me about why it's okay for rich people to ridicule me just because their delicate egos are bruised. Unbelievable! Actually, no. It's completely believable and that makes it so much worse."

"That's not what I'm saying. Christ, I defended you Lyra," he dismissed.

Lyra stood. "You probably only defended me because a shot at my reputation is a shot at yours now that we're together! I feel like this is as much about you as it is about her. Your profile. Your relevance."

"How could you think that?" He choked out at her.

She looked down on him. "Because it's a thing that you do," She stated, her voice dead. "Because you're a cunning man who likes to win. Because all of this..the pictures, the interviews. The Dragon and his little American girlfriend, it's a good story," she frowned. "If I were your father, I would tell you to use it. Hell, Severus would tell you the same thing and your mother...God, your mother is playing us like chess pieces. You're the king, I'm the pawn."

"Don't. Don't talk about my mother like that," Draco said to her dangerously.

"Like what...like honestly? I love your mother, Draco. She's an incredible woman and I care for her a great deal, so don't. Don't try to paint me into that corner. You can both care about someone and understand that you're their pet project," she fired at him.

He ran a frustrated hand through his hair, scarcely able to process her words. This was all going wrong. He had to fix this. "Look, I know this is hard right now and I know you have your list of reasons not to trust me..."

Lyra raged. "MY list. Mine?!" She scoffed bitterly. "Like I made it up?! Like I ripped out my own heart ten years ago. Like I stalked myself for a month. Like I tortured myself to within an inch of my life. How dare you?!"

Draco lost it. He jumped up and got in her face. "Gods witch, it's like you're trying to crush me to dust just because you know you can. What do you want me to do, Lyra?! Go back in time? Be a fucking plebe? Tell me what the hell you want!" He bellowed, his body towering menacingly over hers. He saw her pupils dilate and she moved back. It was fear. She was afraid of him. He recoiled in shame.

His heart broke. For her. For both of them. She was tired, she was afraid and she was hurt. Instead of helping her rest, quelling her fears and licking her wounds all he'd effectively done was put her in front of the press, lecture her and loom over her like a monster before petulantly demanding she tell him exactly what to do. He'd fucked it all up.

Lyra was done. She already felt bad for the things she'd said. She'd been angry and merciless, but she couldn't bring herself to talk anymore. She'd fucked it all up. She walked past him and locked herself away in the bedroom.

He was afraid he was losing her all over again. No, he thought to himself. Not this time. He grabbed his jacket and jumped into the fireplace.


November 2008
Muggle London, England
Thursday

Lyra was woken the next morning by Draco, his warm hand rubbing gently over her bare abdomen. She arched her back into his palm a moment before she remembered the events of the previous evening.

"Lyra. Wake up, love," He said softly to her.

She opened her eyes. He was lying next to her, fully dressed. She turned on to her side and wrapped herself around him, rumpling his suit, stealing his warmth and breathing in his scent. "Sorry for what I said," she whispered to him.

He held her close, letting her drape her body over his. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart. Forgive me."

She nodded, snuggling her face into Draco's shoulder. "What time is it?" She mumbled.

"About half six," he replied.

She groaned. "But I have more time to sleep."

He trailed his fingers down her spine, causing her to shiver deeper into him. "No you don't, little witch. You're mine today."

"What are you talking about?" She asked.

"I want to take you somewhere," he replied, pressing a kiss behind her ear.

Lyra laughed. "I have a job, kid," she said.

"Not today you don't. I'm taking you away," he explained.

"What?" she questioned, pulling back to look at him.

"I got Potter to clear it with your boss. Shacklebolt said to sod off till Monday. I know you're far too much of a workaholic for that, but I want you to come with me. At least for the day," he informed her.

"You went behind my back to get me approval to play hooky at work and I'm supposed to just be okay with that? You can't just take me on a mystery outing whenever we fight. It fixes nothing. It changes nothing," she replied, feeling an uneasy tension rising in her belly.

He paled. "I guess I really didn't think about it that way."

"How did you think about it, Draco?" She said tiredly.

He huffed. "I just thought that you've been stressed out lately. You've been taking hits for me and for Potter since you got here and I feel like I haven't done anything to help you, except put you on display and lecture you...and that doesn't even address the compelled stalking and attempted murder."

He was trying to help her. In his own flashy, overbearing way, he was trying to ease her mind and take care of her. She looked down and started gently playing with the sleeve of his suit.

He sighed. "You know I went and talked to Ginny Potter yesterday. About things. You mostly. She pointed some things out to me that I hadn't considered before and then last night, when I yelled at you like I did, I saw it. It was right there on your face. You were afraid. Of me. That I'm the same as I was. That I'll abandon you. That I won't fight for you. For us," he regarded her sadly. "Is that close?"

Lyra nodded, unable to look at him.

"Then it's up to me to fix that, and that's what I'm trying to do. Please come," he said.

"Okay," she replied. "Where are we going?"

"Hogwarts," he replied.