November 2008
House of Nagini
Wizarding London, England
Friday
Lyra walked into the grand foyer of the House of Nagini wearing another woman's face.
She flooed from Severus's house to Diagon Alley and snatched a hair off the first society witch that she saw who was similar in size and age to herself. From there, she ducked into a restroom and transformed. The witch she'd chosen had short brown hair, green eyes and an upturned nose. Narcissa, thankfully, had schlepped her charmed handbag with her to Spinner's End and provided Lyra with a thin strapped satin dress in vibrant gold that hung from her frame handsomely. It had a slit up to her thigh and left her back completely exposed.
Lyra looked at herself in the mirror. The witch she'd transformed into was attractive and unquestionably upper class. The dress had looked better on her own body, and had made Draco's eyes pop out of his head, but it looked good on her Polyjuiced form as well.
She used the fireplace at the back of a fine restaurant to floo into the foyer at Nagini. She made a fuss dusting off any hint of soot from her coat and gown and emerged from the hearth into an opulence that reminded her of Malfoy Manor. Stately marble floors with deep purple on the walls. The chandelier that hung above the center of the room was made of tinkling crystal flowers and it cast a charming mix of rainbows and soft shadows around the space.
A young woman approached her, taking her coat, and asked her if she had an appointment.
"I don't," Lyra said airly, in a high British accent, feigning nonchalance. "I've been sent by Mr. Prince for Almitra Nagini. He sends his regards and asked me to pass along a particular message."
"Which is?" The young woman asked expectantly.
"Utile dulci," Lyra twittered regally.
"Please wait here, Ma'am," the attendant replied, before turning and ascending the marble staircase behind her.
Lyra spent a few minutes marveling at the trappings of the grand entrance. She was so engrossed that she scarcely heard the floo activating behind her.
"Miss Aldridge, is it?" A voice inquired from behind her.
Lyra turned. It was Julian Diamond in all of his fat, red faced glory. He looked buzzed and even more smug than usual.
"Mr. Diamond, how do you do?" Lyra inquired politely, gripping her handbag to tamp down her rage.
"I've had quite a good day, then I suppose so many of us have," he mused wistfully.
"To be sure," Lyra responded placidly.
"Miss?" A female voice came from up the stairs.
Lyra turned.
"Ms. Nagini will see you now. This way, please."
"Will I see you inside, Mr. Diamond?" Lyra inquired.
"Maybe later, dear. I have a long appointment with my Helena," he replied with a wink.
Lyra reigned in her inclination to sneer and instead schooled her new face into a knowing smirk. "Of course. Do enjoy," she remarked, before heading up the stairs. Poor Helena, she thought to herself.
"Lovely dress, Arwen," he called from behind her.
"Thank you," she replied, not looking back.
Arwen Aldridge? Helluva name, she mused to herself, shaking her head.
The attendant led her to the landing of another staircase recessed into a stone wall. It was much like the entrance to the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts. This one, however, didn't move of it's own volition and Lyra followed the woman up its curves to a cozy, firelit landing. There was a door ajar at the end of the small room and the attendant motioned Lyra towards it before taking her leave and disappearing back down the staircase.
Lyra walked over and paused outside the door. She took a deep breath. This woman is your mother, but she is also an opportunist and master manipulator. Don't let her play you.
She entered into the sitting room of a lavish apartment. For some inane reason, Lyra had been expecting an office. Considering the kind of place she was in, an apartment made more practical sense.
"Sit down. I'll be right out," a female voice called from down a corridor.
She sat down on a plush crimson colored couch and tried to normalize her heart rate. She wanted to keep her wits about her, and she knew that when push came to shove she would be able to do it, but in that moment, she was just a little girl about to meet her birth-mother for the first time.
"Hominem revelio-" a gentle voice spoke behind her.
Lyra felt the magic wash over her skin like a warm rain. She felt her hair grow, her skin tan, her nose straighten and turn down. She closed her eyes. She was nervous. Really damn nervous.
She felt a soft hand grab her by the chin, turning her face up.
"Lovely," the voice said. "Thank god you didn't get that nose."
Lyra smiled and opened her eyes.
A petite witch was standing before her. She was stunning, as Draco had said. Every inch of her invited you in, every centimeter radiated sensual warmth. Her skin was like creamy coffee, her hair like spun caramel and her eyes were the same shimmering butterscotch as Lyra's own. She was a visual feast.
Apart from Lyra's black hair and natural frown, putting the two women in the same room, there could be no doubt that they were related. They were even wearing the same color. Lyra was in gold satin and Almitra was wearing a gown made of sheer muslin that had glittering gold flowers embroidered strategically to cover her delicate areas. It was breathtaking and suggestive.
"The hair though, it suits you," the woman mused, running her hand through Lyra's raven strands before sitting down next to her on the couch.
They stared at each other for a few moments before the older witch spoke again.
"Please tell me you're not the brooding silent type like your father, that would be no fun at all," she quipped.
Lyra snorted. "I'm not...much to his great disappointment."
"He owled me, and seeing that he is most unfortunately dead, that can only mean one thing," Almitra mused. "You're in trouble."
"Yes. Someone is trying to kill me and I think they may be hiding here," she explained.
"Then why on the gods green earth would you come?" The woman replied.
"He's trying to kill people I care about as well. I came here to find him. To stop him."
Her mother rolled her eyes. "Oh wonderful. Another Snape with a bloody martyr complex."
Ok, so she's doing the mean girl thing. Don't back down.
"You got me," she replied. "I would die for these people. If I hadn't considered it, I wouldn't be here. Mystery solved. Shall we move on, then? Or do you have a few more barbs to stick in me to assert your dominance and congratulate yourself on being the most detached person in the room?" Lyra replied, looking bored.
Almitra widened her eyes imperceptibly, then smiled. "You're not at all what I expected."
"Yeah, I get that a lot," Lyra mused.
"He's a good looking lad, I'll give you that," Almitra said, changing the subject.
"Who is?"
"Your boyfriend. He used to be a regular. I haven't seen him in probably 4-5 months," she said, with a baiting edge.
Lyra smirked. "He prefers the houses in Lisbon and Seville," Lyra replied honestly. "More diversity. Plus, he's a sucker for an accent."
The older witch quirked her shapely lips.
"Jealousy is unattractive, I'm sure you know that," Lyra said plainly, toying with a gold bangle she wore on her wrist.
Almitra laughed and clapped her hands together. "You would have done well here," she said brightly.
"I did well where I was," Lyra fired back. She winced at the harshness of her words and changed course. "I mean to say that I don't resent you or Severus for not giving me the chance to do well here. My...my parents are wonderful people. I was in excellent hands. Still am," Lyra offered with a small smile.
"Good," Almitra replied quietly. "You're an Auror?"
"Yes."
"It's dangerous."
"It has been lately, yeah. I can't imagine it rivals this place for intrigue though," Lyra said in a conciliatory tone.
"No, probably not."
"Will you help me?" Lyra asked.
"Who are you looking for?"
"Lucius Malfoy. He escaped from Azkaban today along with a handful of blood purists," she explained.
"What makes you think he's in my house?" Almitra asked surprised.
"He sent his mistress to my apartment this morning all but killed Draco. She works here. Ophira. She's in a holding cell at the ministry."
Almitra's eyes widened.
"She's safe and she's unhurt, I swear. I apprehended her myself. I mean, to be honest, I did want to cut a few of her fingers off after what she did, but you know, seeing as she's my cousin and all, I just couldn't do it."
"Ophira is a vapid idiot, and I indulge her because her mother is very dear to me," the older witch admitted. "Is your boyfriend alright?"
"He's fine. He's safe," Lyra said tiredly. "I have a hunch that Lucius is either hiding here somewhere or will come here to see that Ophira finished the job. I think he had help escaping and I know he more or less owns the head of Magical Law Enforcement. Horrible troll of a man named Julian Diamond."
Almitra rolled her pretty eyes.
"Exactly. Well, Diamond wasn't at work today, said he was in Wales for an outing but curiously just flooed into your foyer to see Helena."
"Poor girl," Almitra mused quietly.
"No kidding."
"So what's your plan?"
"It's not my plan. It's Severus's plan," Lyra explained miserably. "I have a portkey in my bag that'll send him back to Azkaban so they can lock him down and he can stand trial."
Almitra gave an unsatisfied frown.
"Yeah, tell me about it," Lyra offered.
"But why..." the older witch began.
Lyra sighed. "Because I busted Draco and his family out of the ministry in rather bombastic fashion this morning and if Malfoy ends up dead, everyone will know it was me."
"Well, what if it wasn't you?" Her mother asked.
"But it would be me."
"But what if it wasn't?" The older witch pressed.
"I don't follow," Lyra replied, her brow furrowed.
Almitra frowned. "The way I see it, you have two problems. You have Malfoy who seems to have consequences slide off him like he's made of dragon glass and you have Diamond who appears happy to get Malfoy out of whatever trouble he runs headlong into."
"That's true," Lyra conceded.
"Right, so assuming both of them show, you generate tension between the two of them and convince them to turn on one another. They're egotistical, rich men. It wouldn't be hard at all," her mother explained.
Lyra was gobsmacked.
"At a minimum you could get them to expose each other and have an embarrassing public row, but if we're having a good day, maybe they'll just kill each other and we can spare your loves and my sweet Helena from a most unpleasant future," Almitra explained calmly.
"You...you're an evil genius. I can see why Severus respects you so much. You're right up his alley," she said with a grin.
"Well, I was never quite far enough up his alley, you know," the older witch replied sadly.
"Did you love him?" Lyra blurted. "I'm sorry, that's a very invasive question. Please don't feel like you have to..."
"I did, or I think that was the closest I ever got to the feeling. I'm not sure it's an emotion I understand too well, to be honest. I believe in good business, in sensuality, in sisterhood, but the conventional 'find a mate, settle down' that was never for me. It wasn't for Severus either and I liked that about him," she replied without hesitation.
"Why did you decide to have me? I say decide because you don't strike me as the kind of woman who would have...that kind of surprise," she explained.
Almitra smiled. "You're right. Would it offend you to hear that I sort of just wanted to see what would happen? Severus was already a powerful wizard. I was in my prime and I owed the house an heir."
"Owed the house an heir?" Lyra questioned with raised eyebrows.
Her mother nodded. "It's part of the magic of the house, part of our covenant. We have to bear at least one child."
"And the women have to work here?" Lyra pressed.
"Gods no! That's barbaric, they don't have to do anything. Many do. Women and men, actually. It's not a bad way to live. There's security and love, not from clients of course, but from each other. You read our Ophira, yes? Her delusions aside, did it seem to you that she resented her upbringing?" Her mother questioned.
Lyra reflected for a moment. "No. To the contrary. She was proud."
"Precisely."
Lyra nodded. "Why didn't you keep me?"
Almitra's face fell. "Severus and I were both doing quite dangerous things around the time you were born. Severus was looking for a way out of his affiliation with the Dark Lord and I was trying to help find a way to separate the house from it's entanglement with the Vox Prima." She waved her hands. "The Vox Prima is a..."
"I know what it is," Lyra cut in with a frown. "What happened?"
"My mother, your grandmother Andina, ran the house at that time. Our shift away from the Vox made a lot of people very angry, both inside and outside of the house. When I was in my 6th or 7th month with you, we were attacked by Death Eaters, disciples of Voldemort, for our betrayal. They killed her, my mother. They almost killed you and me. Severus was there, as one of the attackers. He hid us. Brought me to his home. I gave birth there."
Almitra's eyes glassed and she suddenly seemed far away. "You were a funny little thing. Red faced and bossy. Severus wanted to keep us hidden until the war was decided. I hated it there. I was away from my family, mourning my mother and he was always gone. I loved you very much, but domestic housewifery is not something I'm well suited for. I had just about convinced Severus to let me return to the house with you when Voldemort escalated his executions. Women, children. It didn't matter. I was terrified and we agreed to send you to Scotland to be put up."
"How old was I?" Lyra asked.
"Four months, eleven days," her mother mused wistfully." Almitra shook her head as if to clear the sadness. "Anyway, I returned to London, took control of the house and it's reconstruction and Severus went around spying and fighting, gods only know..."
"Did you ever consider going back for me?" Lyra asked.
"At first I did, but after several years passed and I had every assurance from Severus that you were being well cared for by kind and stable people, I figured it might be better to let you be. Severus couldn't do it though," she laughed. "He demanded time with you. He played it off like he wanted to make sure you were well educated, but that was never it. He just wanted to see you. He would always come to me after you left Hogwarts and talk about how clever you were, how kind. He was very proud of you."
Lyra laughed. "Well, I have some bad news for you. He was lying through his teeth. We battled incessantly."
"Well of course you did, darling. Do you think he'd waste his time fighting with someone he didn't give a fig about?" The older witch inquired.
Lyra made to speak and then paused thoughtfully. "I never really thought about it that way."
Her mother smiled.
"So, I'm a little out of my depth here. I don't know how to get two douchey, entitled men to fight...hopefully to the death. I'm going to need your help and I'm going to need a disguise," Lyra explained.
"Well, I can help you with the first bit. With the second, we can do some enchantments, perhaps? Say you're a new girl?" Her mother offered.
"Actually, I was hoping to take a slightly different approach," Lyra replied.
"Go on."
"I assume Ophira has a room here. I need some of her hair," Lyra said, pulling a vial from her purse.
"Polyjuice, I should have known. Where did you get it?" Her mother inquired.
"Severus. Always prepared for anything and everything," she replied with a smile.
Mr. Prince - Prince is Severus's mother's maiden name in the books
Utile Dolci - Latin phrase meaning 'the useful with the agreeable' often used in the context that a successful communicator combines the informative with the enjoyable, turning business into pleasure
Author's Note - Thank you to Ahsilaa for the kind reviews! I'm glad you gave it a chance! Please keep them coming :) -MM
