Chapter 3
Severus Snape left quickly once he had given the couple the information he had been able to find.
So far, they had more questions than answers, and they knew she would be the one to hold a few keys of the story, so they waited.
The next couple of days passed quietly. Severus Snape returned to Hogwarts, having fabricated a story about Hermione Granger needing specialty care at Saint Mungo's to the Headmaster to explain her sudden absence from the infirmary. Dumbledore had narrowed his eyes but dismissed the matter quickly without even inquiring about the girl's health.
Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy spent the days in their daughter's room, waiting and hoping for her to wake up now that she was free from the mind-altering potions and charms. They were looking forward to meeting her properly, and even though they remained mostly silent and did not discuss the reality of the situation, they were aware of the potential reaction of their daughter once she awaken. From simply hating them, to an identity crisis, especially as her mind would be her own for the first time in years.
Lucius Malfoy, for his part, was extremely worried about what it meant for their daughter to have been raised in the same orphanage as the Dark Lord, a place very few people knew about, it couldn't be a coincidence. His father, Abraxas Malfoy, had been a student with the Dark Lord and part of the original inner circle, which is the only reason he knew the name of the orphanage. At the time, Dumbledore had been Deputy Headmaster and therefore knew about it as well, an awful coincidence as it were.
Lyra had been sick at a few months old, and in their panic they had rushed to Saint Mungo's for help, only to be told she had passed away during the night, he even had seen his little girl pale and laying still, dead.
Both he and Narcissa had made arrangements with the hospital to have her body brought back to the Manor, to bury her in the family cemetery.
For the death to have been faked required connections and a devious mind. At least one Healer had to have been in on it.
That would require an investigation once Lyra woke up. They needed to know what happened and hopefully she might know something to help them. Lucius also hoped she would want answers, and maybe even revenge.
On day 6 of her stay at the Manor, she started to stir, and Lucius sent a patronus to Severus Snape. They had decided he should be the one there to greet her, as the only person who knew her well and that she might trust as her professor, instead of them. At the moment, she was still Hermione Granger, Harry Potter's best friend and she had just fought against him while he was dressed as a Death Eater.
Less than 5 minutes later, Severus entered the room quietly.
"You should go. I'll call you in when she's okay with it." He said to the couple before conjuring a chair for himself next to the bed. With a nod, both Lucius and Narcissa left the room, dread pooling in their stomachs.
Severus focused on the stirring form of his student with trepidation and worry. Almost 10 minutes passed before her eyes fluttered open.
She looked around in confusion until her eyes stopped on him, "Professor Snape?" She asked hoarsely.
He conjured a glass and used Aguamenti to fill it before giving it to her, still confused she took it and drank it anyway.
"Hello Miss. Granger, how are you feeling?"
"Tired, confused, where am I?"
"Somewhere safe, do you remember what happened?"
"We were at the ministry, it was a trap, we were duelling Death Eaters. One of them cornered me, I silenced him but he still sent a curse my way, it felt like burning alive."
Severus nodded, "Yes, that curse should have killed you. Would have had you not silenced him.
Anyway, you were transported back to Hogwarts, to the infirmary and I cast the counter curse."
"We're not at Hogwarts anymore, are we Professor?"
Severus sighed, "No, we're not. While I worked on ridding you of the curse, I found something else. A long-term glamour had been cast on you, tied to your magical core. The counter curse took it away as well. You were moved for your safety."
"A glamour?" She inquired with a frown between her brows.
"Yes. An appearance glamour, it changed your hair colour, eye colour, skin colour and a few other details." Severus explained.
"What do I look like now?" She asked.
"It's easier if I simply show you." Severus said softly before he conjured a mirror and levitated it to hover over her.
He watched as she examined her new features for a few minutes.
"My eyes, they're grey like Sirius, like Malfoy." She finally whispered before adding in an even lower voice, "My hair looks like a Malfoy."
"That was my thought as well when the glamour broke. I did a parentage test, we can do another one now if you'd like." Severus replied while internally wincing about the mention of Black, while he loathed the man, he knew she knew him well enough, and he was also her cousin now, even though her aunt had killed him.
"Please."
"Very well." Severus said and summoned a blank parchment he had prepared for this possibility.
"Do you know the spell?" He asked her and she shook her head no, "Alright, it's a simple parentage charm I will cast on the parchment. Then I will cut your finger and let a few drops of blood onto the page."
She watched him while he did as he said, intoning the charm out loud and clearly for her benefit and making a small cut on her finger. Once the results started appearing, he placed the parchment in her view and watched as she took in what it meant.
"You're my godfather?" She asked.
"Yes." He said simply.
"My name is Lyra." She stated out loud.
"Yes."
"What happened to me?" She wondered, focusing on the mystery more than the reality.
"Well, when you were a little over a month old, you got sick. Your parents rushed you to Saint Mungo's where you were declared dead overnight. They buried you, mourned you." Severus explained.
She took a shuddering breath, "Why?"
"We don't know. We truly thought you were dead. Lucius was devastated when he came to the infirmary and saw you.
I looked into your file, you were never adopted despite the name change. You grew up in an orphanage."
She closed her eyes in pain, "It's all I've ever known. When Professor Dumbledore came to visit me, to give me my letter, he said I shouldn't tell anyone I was an orphan living there. Then he explained I was a muggleborn."
"Professor McGonagall is the Deputy Headmistress, she's the one you should have seen. The orphanage you grew up in is the same place the Dark Lord grew up in as well."
"That's an awful coincidence." She muttered.
Severus hummed but said nothing.
"Where am I?" She asked again.
"Malfoy Manor."
"Right. Can I see them?"
"Of course." Severus said and conjured his patronus to alert Lucius.
Less than a minute later, both Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy strolled into the room.
"Oh Lyra, my sweet girl." Narcissa gasped and made to go hug her daughter but stopped herself before getting too close to the bed, not wanting to frighten her.
Lucius had no such issues and immediately went to kneel in front of the bed, clasping his daughter's hands with his.
"I'm so sorry I was there the night you were hurt. I'm so sorry for everything you had to go through, I'm sorry I believed the Healer when he said you died. I'm so sorry."
She had tears running down her face, not having expected the Malfoy to show that much emotion for her.
"Do you know who chose my name? Hermione, I mean."
"I'm sorry sweetheart but we don't. Based on the information we have it was magically changed right before you were left at the orphanage so we have to assume whoever took you did it." Lucius explained.
"Why did anyone take me?" She asked.
"We don't know. Revenge, punishment, who knows." Lucius said with a small shrug.
"I thought I was muggleborn." She whispered.
Lucius squeezed her hands, while Narcissa finally moved to sit down at the end of the bed.
"I'm sorry you had to go through that. You're a pureblood." Lucius said.
She nodded, "What happens now?"
"The glamour isn't the only thing we removed." Severus chimed in.
"What do you mean?"
"There was a block on your magical core, to block a percentage of your potential power but to also block any natural abilities." Severus explained.
Her face grew grim, "Who?"
"The same magical signature was found on the block and glamour, we have to assume it was whoever took you." Lucius cut in.
"That's not all. You were under the influence on two loyalty potions as well, an odium one and a love potion more recently." Severus added.
"Did you find who they were keyed to?" She asked in a harsh tone.
"One loyalty potion keyed to Harry Potter, the other one to Ronald Weasley. The odium one was keyed to Draco and the love potion to the Weasley boy again." Severus said.
"Is that all?" She asked with dread.
"No. There were three charms cast as well. One to force you to study as much as possible, another one to prevent you from thinking about your biological parents and orphan status and the last one was cast on you to make other people react negatively, especially if they were sorted into Slytherin." Severus added.
"So they knew who I was." She concluded tonelessly.
"That's likely." Lucius confirmed with a nod.
"When did it start?" She asked.
"Loyalty to Potter when you were 12 years old, a year later for Weasley. The odium one when you were 11 years old and the love potion was started only a few weeks ago. The charms were cast at 12 years old as well." Severus explained.
"That explains so much." She muttered.
"We will find out who did this to you, the potions and charms while at Hogwarts, as well as faking your death and kidnapping you as a baby." Lucius declared.
"It was Dumbledore, wasn't it?"