As he quietly headed down to the dungeons with Snape, Draco idly wondered what was happening with the rest of the school. There was no sign of anyone so he didn't know if the rest of the students were in classes with someone covering Potions and Transfiguration, or if everyone was gathered in their house dorms. Not that it really mattered as Draco was about to leave Hogwarts and he didn't honestly believe he would see the place again. He would be lucky to even be alive at the end of the day.
The sobering realisation that he may not have long to live took Draco's mind back to Hermione. He trusted Blaise and Theo would do their best by her and Lyra, and he was thankful that they'd been there before he had to leave. Of course Hermione would have her own friends who would undoubtedly support her, but it made him feel better to know there was people he trusted with his girlfriend. Blaise actually had no connections with the dark at all, and even though Theo's father was a Death Eater he wasn't anyone majorly important to The Dark Lord and more importantly Theo had no intention of following in his father's footsteps. The fact Blaise and Theo were both planning on keeping as far away from the dark as possible was one of the main reasons he was friendlier with them these days and he'd left some of his other friends like Crabbe and Goyle behind. Crabbe and Goyle were sheep who would do whatever someone told them to do, but Blaise and Theo had minds of their own, and they were just the sort of people that Hermione could rely on.
Draco was brought back to reality with a bump when he realised they'd arrived in the dungeons. With growing nerves he followed Snape into his office. Suddenly he was really pleased that he had Snape at his side as he prepared to face The Dark Lord.
"Won't you get into trouble for knowing about Lyra?" Draco asked, the thought suddenly popping into his head.
"I didn't know before today," Snape replied, the lie slipping off his tongue easily. "I'm confident I can hide my memories of events before today. And since I wasn't involved too much, I'm hoping you can do the same."
"I'll try," Draco vowed.
"Just do what you can," Snape replied. "I'm hoping The Dark Lord won't press you too much. Hopefully once he's checked my memories he'll be satisfied I'm telling the truth. But if he asks you, tell him you confided in Dumbledore and he brought in Tonks and Remus. Other than that, no-one knew about Lyra."
"It's near enough to the truth that I should be able to manage that," Draco said, as he concentrated on pushing thoughts of Snape out of his head.
"We should go," Snape said. "We don't want to keep The Dark Lord waiting. The floo network is connected to the manor and we should land in the main floo room."
"Thank you for coming with me," Draco said, offering his Potions Professor a small smile before turning his attention to what lay ahead of him.
Grabbing some floo powder, Draco headed home before he lost his bottle. As Snape said, he arrived in the main floo room. Draco had barely stepped away from the fire when it lit up a second time and Snape followed him into the room. Before either of them had a chance to make their way to the door, a house elf appeared with a crack.
"Master Lucius is waiting in the living room," The elf announced, before disappearing again.
Steeling himself for what was about to come, Draco led the way out of the floo room. Turning to his left, he headed down a short corridor that led into the main entrance hall. From there he crossed over the entrance hall and came to a halt outside the double doors that led to the main living room in the manor. Behind him, Snape placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
"Just think of Lyra," he whispered.
Draco nodded and taking a deep breath, he pushed open the doors and strode into the room. Lucius was standing imposingly in front of the fireplace, but all of Draco's attention was on the sofa. Narcissa was sitting on the sofa, fiercely cradling Lyra in her arms. Draco immediately rushed over to his mother, and when she looked up he could see she'd been crying.
"I'm so sorry, Draco," Narcissa whispered. "We tried to fight them off but they took us by surprise."
"It's okay, it's not your fault," Draco said to his mother as he pulled Lyra into his arms and hugged his little girl. "Have they hurt her?"
"Of course we haven't," A cold voice said from the far side of the room.
Handing Lyra back to Narcissa, Draco got to his feet and slowly turned around. He'd been so distracted by the sight of his mother and daughter that he'd failed to notice the dark wizard sitting in the corner. As Voldemort rose and stepped into the light, Draco automatically stepped in front of Narcissa and Lyra.
"Draco, it's nice to finally meet you," Voldemort said.
"I can't say the feeling is mutual," Draco hissed. "Not when you've kidnapped my daughter."
"She's merely a means to an end," Voldemort said, waving his hand dismissively. "Do as we want, and she leaves here unharmed."
"And what do you want?" Draco asked.
"All in good time," Voldemort replied with a low chuckle. "Sit down for a minute. I want to talk to Severus."
Draco glanced over at Snape, and when the older wizard subtly nodded his head he did as Voldemort requested and perched next to Narcissa. Taking hold of Narcissa's hand, he gave it a reassuring squeeze as they watched Snape fully enter the room and stand in front of Voldemort.
"My Lord," Snape said, dipping his head in a show of respect.
"What do you know about the situation?" Voldemort asked.
"Just what I've discovered today," Snape answered, aware that Voldemort had entered his mind and was flicking through his memories.
"You had no idea about the baby before today?" Voldemort checked.
"No. I only found out about her today."
Voldemort continued to look through Snape's memories before withdrawing with a slight nod. He then turned his focus on Draco, and the blond wizard fought hard not to wince as Voldemort forcefully entered his mind. Draco concentrated on keeping Snape out of his thoughts as Voldemort viewed the memories of him and Hermione talking to Dumbledore.
"I'm satisfied Severus knew nothing of the situation," Voldemort said to Lucius. "Dumbledore kept it under wraps."
"And what about the mother?" Lucius asked, glaring at his son. "Do I get to find out who my son got pregnant."
"Hermione Granger," Draco answered. Considering Voldemort had been through both his and Snape's memories, he knew there was no point lying about who Lyra's mother was.
"A mudblood," Lucius snarled. "No wonder you went to the Order."
"The Order were protecting my family," Draco snapped back.
"And what a good job they did," Lucius snorted. "From where I'm sitting your daughter is anything but safe."
"If you touch her, I'll kill you," Draco snarled, jumping up and glaring at his father.
"Such darkness, I like it," Voldemort chuckled.
"Draco, don't," Narcissa cautioned. "Just find out what they want."
"Be a good boy and listen to your mother, Draco," Lucius said, smirking at his son.
Draco glared hatefully at his father, before turning back to Voldemort. "I'm here, so what do you want?"
"That's simple, I want you to join me," Voldemort replied.
"And what about Lyra?" Draco questioned. "I'll do whatever you want, but you have to let her go."
"I was always planning on letting her go," Voldemort replied. "Of course, it'll be under my terms and not yours."
"And what might those terms be?" Draco asked.
"Give me your left arm," Voldemort instructed.
Despite knowing what was going to happen, Draco was unprepared for the searing pain that shot through him as Voldemort pressed the tip if his wand to his wrist. Crying out in pain, Draco fell to his knees as the Dark Mark etched itself onto his pale forearm. When the mark was fully formed, Voldemort yanked Draco back to his feet as he sheathed his wand back into his robes.
"And this will ensure you do as I say," Voldemort announced, carefully pulling a spotty ribbon from his robes.
Draco's eyes widened as he recognised the ribbon as being a match to the one of Lyra's that he'd received at lunchtime. Before he had a chance to ask what Voldemort was going to do with the ribbon, The Dark Lord closed his hand around the ribbon. Instantly Lyra let out a loud squeal of pain and Draco rushed over to his daughter as Narcissa tried her best to comfort her.
"What have you done?" Draco demanded, his heart racing as he realised The Dark Lord had power over his little girl. "Stop it. Stop hurting her, she's just a baby."
With a chuckle, Voldemort opened his hand and smoothed the ribbon back out. Once the ribbon was lying smoothly in his hand, Lyra's pained cries turned into gentle whimpers.
"A simple spell to keep you in line," Voldemort explained. "This ribbon is tied to your daughter. You've seen how easy it is to hurt her. If the ribbon is cut or snaps, it ends your daughter's life. Obey me, and I'll have no cause to use it. Refuse to do as I say, and your daughter suffers. It's your choice Draco."
Draco looked down at Lyra, who was still whimpering slightly, and his eyes filled with tears. He wasn't going to let Voldemort hurt her again, no matter what that meant he had to do in order to keep her safe.
"I'll do whatever you want," he spat. "Just let my daughter go."
"Severus can take her back to Hogwarts when he goes," Voldemort said. "I don't need her, not as long as I've got the ribbon."
"And what about my mother?" Draco asked. "Will you let her go as well?"
"I don't think so," Lucius replied with a chuckle. "Narcissa stays here, where she should have been all this time. It's time for us to be a family again."
"Don't argue," Narcissa whispered to Draco. "Lyra is the important one here, not me. As long as she's safe, that's all that matters."
"Your mother is a wise woman, I would listen to her," Voldemort said. "Hand your daughter over to Severus and he can take her back to her mother."
Draco gently lifted Lyra from Narcissa's arms and held her close for a few minutes before slowly walking over to Snape and reluctantly handing his daughter over. While Snape got Lyra settled in his arms, Narcissa picked up the bag of Lyra's baby stuff she had on her when she was taken and handed it to her friend.
"Off you go Severus," Voldemort ordered. "And make sure you tell Dumbledore to leave Draco alone. Any attempt at rescue will result in the ribbon being destroyed, and I'm sure no-one wants that."
"Goodbye princess," Draco whispered, dropping a kiss to Lyra's head before she disappeared out of his life.
Not wanting to risk Voldemort changing his mind about letting Lyra go, Snape turned round and hurried out of the room. Because the floo room was a short walk from the living room, no-one heard the floo network activating to signal Snape had left the premises, however a few minutes after he left the room an elf appeared and nodded at Lucius before disappearing again.
"Now that filthy child is out of my house, we can continue," Lucius remarked. "It's time the pair of you both learnt your place in life."
"I don't want to get in the way of family business, so I'll leave you to it," Voldemort said. "I'll give you a few days to settle in Draco, but don't worry, I have the perfect first assignment for you."
Sweeping out of the room, Voldemort left the Malfoys alone. Instantly Draco crossed back to Narcissa's side and stood next to his mother as they faced Lucius.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt either of you," Lucius said with an amused chuckle. "I have no intention of striking my wife and son, no matter how much they may deserve it. I just want to lay out some ground rules to the pair of you. From now on both of you are confined to the manor, unless you're out with myself or The Dark Lord. You're to have no contact with the outside world, and there'll be no visitors allowed. I'll get an elf to go and get your belongings from the other house, but as of this minute, you're both back living at the manor."
Lucius issued a few more reminders that they were to obey him, before he headed off to his study. With Lucius gone, Draco and Narcissa headed upstairs to get settled back into the family home. Lucius had told Draco he was to go back to living in his old room, while Narcissa would be moving back into the main bedroom with her husband. Draco automatically headed to his old bedroom, and Narcissa followed her son.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered as the pair entered the bedroom that Draco hadn't used since he was fourteen.
"It's not your fault," Draco reassured his mother as he sat down on the bed. "I'm sure you did everything you could."
"We did," Narcissa said as she sat down next to her son. "Tonks and I were taking Lyra for our normal morning walk when we were grabbed from behind. We tried to fight, but Tonks was knocked to the ground and one of the Death Eater snatched Lyra from her pram. We couldn't risk him hurting her, so we did as they asked. I went with one of them, and I don't know what happened to Tonks. Is she okay?"
"She's dead," Draco answered quietly. When Narcissa began to cry, he put his arm around her and held onto his mother. "I'm sorry," he whispered.
"It's not your fault," Narcissa said through her tears.
"Do you know how Father found out about Lyra?" Draco asked.
"All he would say was a little bird told him," Narcissa answered. "I don't know if that means someone has seen me out with Lyra, or if the Order have a leak."
"I don't know, and we're not exactly in a position to get a message to the Order warning them," Draco replied with a sigh. "I doubt we'll even be allowed to talk to Severus from now on."
Narcissa was silent for several moments, before a smile lit up her face. "I think I have a way we can keep in touch with Hermione," she announced. "Tipsy!" She called quietly.
With a pop a frantic looking Tipsy appeared in the middle of Draco's old bedroom. "Tipsy was so worried, Mistress. No-one is in the house. Little Miss Lyra was gone."
"Things are complicated Tipsy," Narcissa said, briefly filling the elf in on what was happening. "I want you to go to Hogwarts and look after Hermione and Lyra. If you can come back with messages, come back to Draco's room but be careful that you're never seen here at the manor."
"Tell Hermione, we love her and we're perfectly fine," Draco said to the elf. "Also tell her that someone told Father about Lyra. Dumbledore might want to look to see if the Order have a leak. If you can, try and visit once a week so we can pass messages to one another, but don't take any risks."
"Tipsy will do her best," The elf vowed.
"Go," Narcissa urged the elf. "And thank you, Tipsy."
The elf smiled at Narcissa and Draco, before quietly disappearing. Left alone again, mother and son shared a final hug before Narcissa left Draco to settle in back at home. With a depressed sigh, Draco flung himself onto his old bed and stared at the ceiling. He was now a Death Eater, and he hated to think what Voldemort would make him do. Unfortunately, with the power he held over Lyra, he could pretty much make Draco do anything. There wasn't anything Draco would refuse to do if it resulted in his daughter being killed.
A/N - Currently fan fiction isn't alerting followers to story updates, which was what happened when I posted this chapter, so there will be a small pause in my updating. Hopefully it will be sorted soon, and I'll post some bonus chapters when it is sorted, but until then I'm not going to update until I know my followers are getting their notifications as half the people reading the story will end up missing half of it and it's not fair on them.