November 2008
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Wizarding Scotland
Thursday
Draco and Lyra walked the grounds together. It was a cold day, but the sun was out and the air smelled amazing. As they strolled, Lyra took stock of the subtle changes she noticed from the post-war reconstruction and wondered what the castle had looked like half destroyed. Draco had been there, she could always ask, but decided not to.
"So, what's next? Do you want to go loom in the hallways and scare the kids, or should we go to the lake?" Lyra asked, squeezing his arm through the thick felt of his jacket.
"Actually, we have an appointment with the headmaster," he informed her.
"Oh? We in trouble?" She asked.
"No. There's something I want to show you," he said.
They made their way to the landing of the Headmaster's office and stood on the lowest step of the staircase, which automatically started winding it's way up to the foyer of the suite. Ilvermorny was modeled after Hogwarts, no doubt, but it was a bit less elaborate in execution. No rearranging staircases, no giant squid. Honestly, Lyra thought Hogwarts could be a bit much.
The staircase ground to a halt and they entered the office.
"Ah. Malfoy. There you are. You're late," came a female voice from behind a large desk.
"Professor McGonagall?" Lyra gasped excitedly, rushing forward to greet the old Scottish witch.
"Hello again, Miss Black. How grown you are! I hear you're an Auror now. You always had such potential," she said.
"Thank you! I'm sorry, I should have called you Headmistress," Lyra said with a grin.
McGonagall nodded. "So you're working with the Aurors in London, is that right?"
"Yes, Ma'am, with an excellent team. Potter, Rossman, Zabini, Gold and Simpkins," she said.
"Ah, some of my absolute favorites...and Zabini," the old witch quipped.
"You know, I feel exactly the same way most days," Lyra retorted.
"So, you said that there was something that you wanted to show her," she said, peering at Draco over her bifocals.
"Yes, Headmistress. If you don't mind, of course," he said politely.
She raised an eyebrow. "Not at all."
Draco guided Lyra to a round almost chapel-like offshoot of the large office. It was full of portraits. All the headmasters of Hogwarts, she assumed. Gray wizards and witches in fine robes and tall hats. He walked her over to one end of the room. Next to Albus Dumbledore, who waved at her warmly, was a portrait of Severus. He was dressed in all black and sitting at a potions bench with something brewing next to him over a flickering flame. He regarded her seriously at first, then inclined his head in greeting.
"Severus," she said to him.
"Lyra," he replied.
"Did you hear about what happened to us?" She asked. Could he get the news and stuff? She didn't really understand how sentient portraits worked. It wasn't her thing.
"I've heard...whispers. Albus has a portrait in the ministry, so he's given me some information," he replied.
Lyra looked over at the portrait of Dumbledore. He'd fallen asleep in his chair. She smiled.
"Is it true?" Snape said to the blonde wizard who was standing, or maybe hiding, behind his short girlfriend.
"Yes," he confessed with an awkward shuffle of his feet.
Snape said nothing, but stared daggers at Malfoy's forehead.
"And you two were supposedly close," Lyra quipped at the pair of them.
"I wouldn't say close," Draco said quietly to her. "He kept me alive, that's for sure."
"Slytherins. It's like...let's make a house exclusively for difficult, emotionally pent up jerks and just see how it goes," Lyra mused aloud.
Lyra saw her father's mouth quirk, which was something he did in place of laughing, or smiling, or telegraphing any emotion whatsoever.
"Did you know that Harry Potter and I have been working together? He has a little boy he named after you. Albus Severus. He's the sweetest thing," she babbled to the portrait.
"Yes, so Mr. Potter's told me," Severus replied, seeming disinterested.
"You two still talk?" She asked.
"Some," he replied noncommittally.
Lyra huffed. Even in vibrant oil paint, he was still a stone wall.
"Thank you," she said to him.
"For what?" He inquired.
"For the warning. For leading me to Harry. He saved my life, you know," she explained.
"It's nothing," he dismissed.
Lyra felt her chest constrict painfully. She had so much she wanted to tell him. "It's not nothing to me, Severus." She looked over at Draco, who had stepped away to give them some privacy, and smiled. "And thank you for him."
Severus huffed. "Well it's not like I picked him for you. He was there, you needed a practice dummy and he was moping, like usual. I take no responsibility for you two whatsoever," he said dismissively.
"So...then should I also thank you for my terrible taste in men?" She asked.
"No. You should thank your mother for that," he said.
Lyra smirked. "I would if I knew who she was."
Severus frowned. "I thought that Kingsley would have mentioned it by now."
Lyra's jaw dropped. "No. He didn't tell me a damn thing!"
"Well, you can address that with him," he replied, disinterested.
"Hell no. I'm addressing it with you. Tell me."
"No," he replied.
Lyra narrowed her eyes dangerously and approached the portrait. "You will tell me who she is or I will rip you off this wall and bury you in the ground." The force in her tone was enough to call Draco back from the other end of the room to stand behind her.
Snape's mouth quirked again. He was laughing at her. "You have her temper. It's amazing to me that you were able to learn occlemency so well with emotions like yours."
"That is the closest thing to a compliment that you have ever paid me," she replied nonplussed. "You have plenty of time to catch up with Harry, but I'm your daughter and you would bait me with her name? No. You left it to other people to raise me, you do NOT get to leave it to someone else to do this. Tell me," she said, schooling her voice to sound sad. She knew he would pick up on the emotional manipulation, but just because you're aware doesn't mean you are immune. Worth a shot, she thought.
The dark haired wizard frowned deeper than normal. He looked back at Draco.
"No," Lyra interjected. "He stays."
Her father rolled his eyes at her. "If you insist. Your mother lives in London. Her name is Almitra Nagini," he replied.
"Fucking hell," Draco muttered.
Lyra looked back at him in question.
Draco looked in between Lyra and her father. Yeah. Yeah I can see that.
"Bloody well done, man," he said to the portrait.
Lyra scoffed. "Nagini...wait a fucking minute. Is she a prostitute?!"
"Absolutely not." "Not really." Both men replied simultaneously.
"She's...I don't know how to say this, Sweetheart. The Nagini house in London. She runs it. She's a legend. She's stunning and, now that I see it, she's right well written all over your face," Draco explained.
Lyra swallowed hard. "Uh...have you ever..." she began.
"What?! No! No. She's way out of my league...I mean, given the opportunity I would have...just being honest, love."
Lyra wrinkled her face at him in disgust before turning back to Severus. "Why tell me now?"
"In case you have need of her in the future," he explained.
Lyra nodded. "Wait. Is she some kind of pureblood extremist?" Lyra asked, suddenly nervous.
Severus sighed. "She is the reason the London house still exists. She cut ties at the right time. You can hardly blame her though for following the money. It's what she does."
"That's not very convincing," Lyra replied.
"She knowingly gave birth to the child of a half-blood. So, no. She isn't a blood purist. Just an opportunist," he explained.
"Did you love her?" Lyra asked.
"I respected her. Fascinating woman," he replied.
"Did she love you?" Lyra asked.
"That is not for me to tell," he replied.
"Thanks," she said to him.
He inclined his head.
They visited a while longer. Snape gave her the passwords and wardkeys to his home in Spinner's End, in case she needed a safe place to stay. Apparently the Ministry had been trying to make it an espionage museum for years but the protective enchantments had prevented them from even getting in the door.
"You don't want it to be an espionage museum! Why not?! Severus, that is so cool!"
"I want things to be kept quiet," he replied definitively.
Lyra smiled. "I miss you." She didn't mean to say it. It just came out. She realized something in that moment. She was happy. It was an odd feeling because she hadn't felt it like this in awhile. It was her and Draco and Severus. It was Draco observing as she and Severus hurled half-hearted insults at each other because they were incapable of saying 'I love you' like a normal father and daughter. It was familiar. It was something she recognized. Like Draco's face when he walked into the Savoy that day. It felt good.
"Your hair's gotten quite long," Snape said awkwardly.
"I feel like it looks less greasy when it's long. Thank you for that, by the way," she said with a grin, pulling at a lock of her thick black hair.
He waved her off with his hand. "It suits you. Anyway, I'm tired now," he said, turning off the flame under the cauldron with which he shared his portrait.
Lyra frowned. "Okay. Well, you get some rest. Can...can I come see you again?" She asked, feeling like she was eleven years old again and waiting for him to crush her.
He frowned, not sadly, it was just his default. "You may."
She beamed. "Okay."
"Malfoy, a word alone before you leave," Snape said authoritatively.
"Right. Yeah," Draco said, rubbing his neck.
Lyra gave him a confused look. "I'll wait by the stairs, okay?" She looked up at her father. "Bye, Severus," she said with a little smile.
"Lyra," he said, inclining his head.
Lyra paced in front of the stairs for a few minutes until Draco reemerged, looking paler than usual and a bit queezy.
"Uh-oh. Was it threats of violence? Or Poison? Probably poison," She joked, rubbing his arms.
"Something like that," he replied, his face tight.
They headed back outside and Lyra reflected on the day. Draco had thought of everything. He'd gotten permission for her to sit in on a Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson for sixth years and the Professor had invited her to talk to the kids about being an Auror. He walked her past the Quidditch pitch just long enough for her to make fun of the Hufflepuff house team, but not so long that she got bored. They toured the greenhouses where Lyra was introduced to something called a Neville Longbottom, who was a friend of Harry's and the most adorable thing she'd ever seen. All of it, capped by the afternoon visit with Severus in the Headmaster's office, had made Lyra feel lighter, more like a person and less like a puppet. He'd done good.
Draco led her down to the lake. She removed her jacket and transfigured it into a blanket for them to sit on at the base of a gnarled old willow tree. Draco cast a warming charm around them to ward off the cold.
Lyra sighed dreamily and looked out at the water.
"What are you thinking, Sweetheart?" He asked.
She snuggled into his side. "I'm happy," she replied.
Draco pulled her into him. "Good. That was the idea."
"Does it bother you? Being back here?" She asked him. "I know you have some...bad memories."
"I have good memories too," he reminded her, pressing a kiss to her temple.
She smiled. "Oh yeah? Give me one," she pressed.
He thought for a moment. "When McGonagall was making us research advanced arithmancy in the library and you let me get my hand under your skirt for the first time," he quipped.
"I'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume you're still hopeless at arithmancy, but you have markedly improved at getting your hands under my skirt," she quipped.
He laughed. "How about when Snape made us learn how to cast a Patronus?"
"And you sucked," she added.
"I did not suck. I just needed some incentive," he retorted sensitively.
Lyra snorted. She remembered that odyssey. Draco had not been a particularly happy kid, which presented a problem for performing the charm. The addition of Snape breathing down their throats demanding success didn't help either and he struggled with it where Lyra excelled. Lyra had kind parents, a loving brother and good friends. She had things to draw on. For Draco there was just...less. He'd failed to produce a corporeal form for two of her exchanges over fourth year. Snape had been pretty unkind about his failure, Lyra recalled. During her summer interval, prior to the start of fifth year, Lyra snuck him out of the castle in the middle of the night to help him form some memories that might help. It worked. He cast his first successful patronus while swimming naked in the lake with her, the two of them shivering, laughing and clinging to each other for warmth.
"So do you still use that?" She asked.
"I do," he replied. "I think about you or Scorpius or my mother."
"And it's still a fox," she said smugly.
"Still a fox," he confirmed. He pulled out his wand and cast his patronus out over the lake.
Lyra followed suit and watched fondly as the two little foxes chased each other across the glassy surface until they disappeared. Lyra hummed happily and put her head on his shoulder.
"I have something for you," Draco said, pulling a small box out from a pocket in his jacket and handing it to her.
Lyra gulped. The last piece of jewelry she'd received from him was his mother's quatrefoil. She wasn't sure how she felt now about Draco and little velvet boxes in general. She opened it slowly. "Oh!" She gasped in both surprise and relief.
"Now before you get crazy, know that it cost far less than the Potterwife's earrings," he noted.
"I...I love it. It's beautiful," she replied softly.
It was a small pendant in the shape of a starburst. It was done in silver and covered with tiny sparkling diamonds. It hung from a sheer ribbon instead of a chain and was exactly the kind of thing Lyra would drool over in a store window, but never buy for herself.
"You can charm the ribbon to any color you like," Draco informed her. He picked it out of the box and encouraged her to turn so he could put it around her neck. He spelled the ribbon navy blue to match the dress she wore. The pendant glinted like snow in the sunlight and looked lovely against her honeyed skin. Draco lowered his mouth to her skin and planted a soft kiss along the border of the ribbon.
They readjusted so that he had his back to the tree and she had her back to his chest. Lyra pressed into him and brought his hands around her waist. She tilted her head and nuzzled into his jaw. "Thank you," she whispered to him, trailing her fingers over the necklace. "For the necklace and for today."
Draco smiled. "You're welcome, Sweetheart. Would you like to stay a bit longer? We can get a room in Hogsmeade or go back home. Whatever you like," he offered.
Lyra considered the options for a moment, staring thoughtfully out at the water. "I want to get you out of your clothes as soon as possible, so I'd like whichever arrangement enables me to do just that."
He laughed. "Hogsmeade it is."
Author's Note - There's a lot going on here I wanted to clarify a few things in this chapter.
First, I read up a little bit on the portraits in the HP world and typically the sentient portraits are restricted to simple mannerisms and mostly catchphrases of the subject, but more powerful witches/wizards can imbue their portraits with more character by interacting with them personally. Severus was an absent headmaster, spending a greater portion of his time serving the Order and Voldemort. When I read the last book, it read to me like Snape knew he could quite probably die. Being a careful, well prepared sort of person, it doesn't seem out of character to me that he would prepare a well developed portrait in advance as a source of help/advice to Harry, Lyra and anyone else he cared about that may need him after his death.
Second, We find out who Lyra's mother is in this chapter and we will be hearing more about her and her relationship with Severus in the future.
Third, I like this AU. I think I might just go ahead and write a damn prequel. Lyra and Draco as kids/teenagers. What do you think?
Thanks and happy reading! -MM
