November 2008
Spinner's End
Muggle Yorkshire, England
Friday
After an hour or so of respite on the couch, Draco helped Lyra up and she weakly explored the house.
She made her way up a narrow staircase to the highest floor. She tried every door handle and all were immobile to her except one. The door opened into an oak study. Like much of the rest of the house, bookshelves covered the walls. This room had a private fireplace at one end and a large desk at the other with a portrait above it. A portrait of her father.
"Severus!" She cried, rushing forward as fast as her wary body would allow. He was sleeping in a high backed chair next to a flickering candle.
"Severus. It's Lyra. I need your help. Please," she said.
The man in the portrait slowly blinked awake. "Lyra. What's happened?"
"It's Malfoy. He's escaped. Tried to have Draco and Narcissa killed. He's going to come after me," she informed him, getting right to the point.
"Do you have any idea where he is?" Severus replied darkly.
"One," she replied. "The woman he sent to kill Draco is his mistress or something. She works at Nagini. Do you think he'd show up there?"
Severus considered the possibility. "Perhaps. It's discrete. Private," he conceded.
Lyra nodded. "I want to go. I want to find him and I want to kill him," she said in a hard rush.
Her father pierced her with his onyx eyes. "You will do nothing of the sort. Calm down," he admonished.
"I WILL NOT CALM DOWN!" She yelled. She was losing it. "I found Draco in a pool of his own blood this morning. He would be dead right now if I hadn't been raised by a Mediwitch. You want me to let it slide? Would you have let it slide, Severus?" She fired at him. It was a low blow, but she couldn't stop. "You've been in my position. Would you have walked away from a chance to shut it down? Or would you have me wait so he can finish the job?"
"Enough. I didn't say I wouldn't help you. But I will do nothing until you stop being so emotional. I'll make this simple for you, since you seem to be without your wits today. Emotional people are stupid people and stupid people makes," he said darkly.
Lyra scowled at him.
"Does anybody know you're here?" He asked.
"No. But Harry and the Aurors, I...I took Draco and his family out of the Ministry...uh...by force," she admitted, avoiding his gaze.
Severus regarded her very seriously. "You do realize that at this point the only way you can avoid being thrown in prison yourself is to catch him," he retorted. "Be the hero," added with scorn.
"I don't want to be a hero. I want to fucking kill him," she protested.
"And now, because you weren't thinking, you probably won't get the chance," he fired back.
"What was I supposed to do? There was a plant in the Auror's office. He tried to kill Narcissa on the way out! I suppose I was just supposed to wait there brooding in the shadows like you would do until the perfect opportunity came along." She was tired of his games and his judgement.
"You will do as I tell you, or I won't help," he baited.
She clenched her jaw in frustration. "Tell me," she replied.
"Go to the house, find your mother. She will hide you. If Lucius shows, you put a portkey in his hands and you come back here until it's certain that he's been contained," he informed her.
Lyra furrowed her brow in confusion. "What portkey? To where?" She questioned.
"A portkey that I have in the cellar. To Azkaban," he replied.
"What? No! He'll just fucking escape again. No way," she argued.
"Lyra. If you kill him they'll know it was you. You'll be trapped," he appealed, pinching the bridge of his nose as if speaking to her was exhausting. Maybe it was, Lyra didn't give a damn.
Lyra furrowed her brow in despair and buried her face in her hands. "I just want him to be safe. I just want them to be safe," she said miserably.
Severus sighed. "It's not likely that he would escape a second time. And after all he's done, he'd be lucky to avoid the kiss. Isn't that better than a simple death?"
Lyra lifted her head and gave an incredulous laugh.
"I hardly see how any of this is funny," he said flatly.
"You're trying to make me feel better by pointing out that with a little plucky undercover work I can have a cloaked monster suck the soul out of my boyfriend's father. Even you have to think that's funny. Come on," she prodded.
His mouth quirked.
"Alright. I'll bite. What's the portkey?" She asked.
"Crystal goblet, on a shelf along the back wall. The one with the red stem," he said.
She cocked her head. "You have more than one illegal portkey?"
He looked bored. "Well, if you must know I have three. If you bring him the one with the yellow stem you'll send him on holiday to Estonia. Give him the blue and he...actually I have no idea where that one goes," he mused.
Lyra smiled. "Thank you."
"Be careful," he counseled.
Lyra nodded. "How can I get Almitra to see me? Is it as easy as walking in and asking for her? I don't know how any of this works," she admitted.
"Tell one of the attendants that Mr. Prince sent you and that you were instructed to convey the message Utile Dulci," he answered.
"Okay," she replied.
"Are you going to tell him," Severus inquired, raising his eyebrow.
Lyra understood that he meant Draco. She sighed. She already had to fight a dear friend today, she didn't want to have to fight him too. But she would.
"I...I don't know," she replied nervously.
"I would recommend you not, but I imagine you'll simply do what you want...like always," he droned.
Lyra rolled his eyes at him. "Thanks, Severus. Your moral support is indispensable...like always," she quipped.
He yawned. Lyra frowned. "Get some rest, old man. I'll take it from here."
Lyra came up behind Draco and wrapped her arms around his waist, snuggling her cheek in between his shoulder blades. He was watching Scorpius play with a globe they'd found on one of the bookshelves.
Draco covered her hands with his own.
"Find anything interesting?"
She sighed into his back. "Severus has a twin portrait upstairs," she admitted to him.
Draco tensed. "And?" He said turning to face her.
"And what? I asked him for help," she replied evasively.
Lyra felt him brush his mind against hers. She slammed her walls down and stepped away from him.
Draco widened his eyes. He hadn't felt her do anything like that since they were probably thirteen years old and she was trying to hide her feelings for him.
Lyra watched him connect all the dots. He knew.
"You're not leaving," he said roughly to her.
"Baby," she started.
"No. You cannot be serious!" He exclaimed, raising his voice slightly.
"What do you want to do? Stay here forever?" She whispered gently to him. "Make the kid stay here forever?"
Draco furrowed his brow. "Potter will catch him," he said without conviction.
"Yeah, maybe, but how do we know Harry's not looking for us instead?" She replied. She doubted it, she knew Harry. He was too good. He'd agonize about it, go back and forth, but in the end, he'd be hunting Lucius just like she was...but Draco didn't need to know that.
"Plus, I don't know if Harry knows what I know. I have no clue if he'll follow the lead with the Nagini girl or try a different angle. I didn't tell him everything." She sighed. "And to be honest, I don't know if Harry knows things I don't. It's a gamble regardless, but I will be fucking furious if I do nothing and he gets away."
"Fine. I'm coming with you," Draco said.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because I can't protect you and hunt him at the same time," she explained.
"Who says I need protection?" He asked.
She smiled. "I do. I would never not protect you. It's a reflex." She leaned in to his chest. "Especially after today," she shivered.
He gripped her little waist and pressed a kiss to her hair.
"And besides, I am not about to let you loose in a brothel full of gorgeous women, some of whom may or may not be my sister," she said, pulling back to look at him.
Draco laughed.
Against her father's advice, and against her own instincts, she told him everything. The portkey, her mother, that she would prefer to kill him. Everything.
Draco listened to her pitch and, against his instincts, he agreed to let her go. To let her try. He made her promise to disguise herself and pull out at the first sign of trouble.
They ventured downstairs and retrieved the correct portkey, an antique crystal goblet with a red stem. The cellar was cavernous and packed with boxes and crates. Old wine, dried herbs, yet more books. Along the back wall where the portkey had been stored, there was an old crafting bench, with a cabinet adjacent to it that was stocked with potions.
Severus was a nearly unrivaled master of potions. Lyra knew that. He could brew things that weren't available anywhere else in the wizarding world. What she found in the cabinet was a treasure trove, and likely worth an incredible sum of money, not just because of the contents, but because of who had crafted the potions. He had everything. Felix Felicis, Amortentia, Liquid Death. He even had a homemade stabilizer for potions that would expire quickly if unused. They were cutting edge and expensive nowadays and, to think, he made one in his basement more than ten years ago.
"Merlin. Look at all that," Draco marveled. "Do you have any idea how much all of this would be worth? How much this house would be worth?"
"I was just thinking that, but no," Lyra replied. "It's his."
"It's yours, sweetheart," Draco noted.
Lyra trailed her fingers reverently over a row of the little vials in front of her. "I...I know. I think I want to keep it," she admitted.
Draco scrunched his face up in distaste.
"What?!" She exclaimed. "You don't like Yorkshire?"
"I don't like muggles," he corrected.
"You like Sam," Lyra argued.
"Fine. I like A muggle. One," he conceded.
"Baby, you'd like more if you got to know more. Maybe if we spent a little time here you could meet some," she offered absentmindedly.
"Are you staying you'd be willing to stay in England for a while? I assumed as soon as all of this blew over you'd run back to New York. Jump on a plane every few months when you needed a proper shag." His voice was a little raw when he said it.
Lyra turned to look at him seriously.
"I know you love it there. It's your home. If I could conceivably follow you there, I would. I would moan about being surrounded by Americans all day, to be sure, but I would do it for you. I just...you know that I..."
"Scorpius," Lyra filled in. "I would never advocate for you being separated from him. He's an incredible little boy and you two are incredible together," she said to him with a fond smile. "It means a lot to me to even hear you entertain the idea of becoming a New Yorker, but if I had to listen to you bitch about subway rides or the lack of french cuisine, I would probably murder you. So, it's better this way," she joked, smoothing a hand down the back of his arm and grabbing his hand. Her signature move.
Draco frowned at their intertwined hands. "What's your plan then? Will you stay?" He asked, anxiously.
Lyra sighed. "I love you and I like my little team at The Ministry, but it's not...it's not home to me. I'm really happy at MCUSA. I want to go back, at least for awhile. I have a life there. Responsibilities. An apartment. My family."
Draco nodded sadly, avoiding her gaze.
"Hey," she said, pulling him closer to her by the hand. "I have no intention of giving you up. I could start my own team of Aurors on Mars and you would still be mine. I have no plans to 'have a shag' with anybody but you. You're stuck with me, kid. Regardless of which continent I'm on."
His eyes lit up a little at her proclamation.
"Is that something you'd be willing to try?" She asked nervously.
He nodded. "I hate being away from you, but I would do it."
Lyra beamed. "We'll figure it out, baby. Plus, for the time we're apart I can get you a cell phone and teach you how to do phone sex. I think you'll like it," she said, pulling him in for a kiss.
Their kiss snowballed quickly into a mini-makeout. Lyra pulled back in a daze and turned reluctantly back to the potions cabinet. "Baby, I want nothing more than to strip you down and do you right here, but we have to send your dickbag father back to prison."
He laughed behind her and snuggled into her back. He felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He wasn't thrilled with the prospect of a long-distance relationship, but hearing Lyra affirm her commitment to being with him regardless made him feel lighter...and happy.
Lyra looked down at the stabilizer that was on the bottom shelf of the bench. She bent down and flipped it open, pulling out the 3 vials inside. One was labeled in Russian, and she had no idea what it said, but the other two she knew.
"Jackpot," she said to Draco, holding up the Polyjuice for him to see.
Author's Note - Hi all! I just wanted to let you know that I've made some changes to this fic for the sake of the prequel I'm writing called The Rook that will be launching soon. The biggest change to The Pawn is that I've made Lyra and Draco closer in age, so that they meet when they are both 11. I've also changed it so that the last time they saw each other was when they were 16, not 17, which just makes the AU a smidge more canon compliant and plausible. Also, I want to prepare you that this fic is drawing to a close. I will be focusing on the prequel after it's done, but have a few one-shots planned about Draco and Lyra's future and am not ruling out a sequel. Thanks and happy reading!
