Chapter 4

"We have no proof, but him or his Order in general would make the most sense. Why did you think of him?" Severus Snape asked.

She shrugged, "I'm not sure honestly. I feel like my mind is clear for the first time in a while, and a lot of thoughts and feelings I wasn't allowed to experience and would repress without even knowing why are coming up."

"About Dumbledore?" Lucius Malfoy clarified.

"Not directly. Ron basically worships him, and Harry does too because Hogwarts is his home, his home life is a disaster so I get it. However, a lot of things that happened over the years seemed weird to me but I couldn't really talk about it to them, or anyone really. Besides, beyond Ron and Harry I had no one." She finished bitterly.

"What do you mean, you had no one?" Lucius asked with a frown.

"The first couple of months were hard. I had no friends, then Ron and Harry saved me from the troll and suddenly I had a couple of them, even though they clearly didn't enjoy my presence that much. I didn't want to lose them but over the years we had fights, and they barely ever apologised, I felt this pressing need to grovel when I had done nothing wrong. They were all I had."

"That would be the loyalty potions." Severus muttered.

"I'm still tired and confused, but mostly I feel like my life over the past few years didn't belong to me. When I think about some of the things I did, it feels like watching someone else."

"This is the first time your mind is your own since you started Hogwarts." Narcissa chimed in softly.

"What would you have done differently?" Severus asked, wondering if the irritating qualities he had despised in his student weren't really her own.

"Well, in first year the boys obsession with you and what was hidden in the 3rd corridor didn't make a lot of sense to me. I wanted to focus on my classes, on assimilating at Hogwarts but they kept roping me into their adventure to the point we went through the whole puzzles to find the stone and stop Quirrel at the end of the year." She said with a frown, then added, "That was such a weird thing. Why hide the stone behind something first years can solve? That didn't make sense, wards would be the logical choice. It felt like a test, for Harry most likely and I wanted to tell someone, anyone but I couldn't."

"It was a test for Potter, set up by Dumbledore." Severus confirmed.

"And the Basilisk in second year, why didn't the school close down? Why didn't the ministry get involved? People could have died!"

"That was partly my fault. I didn't know the diary could open the Chamber, I simply wanted Arthur Weasley to get in trouble and I assume the wards would pick it up immediately. From the Board of Governors, I tried to get the Ministry involved but was shut down every time." Lucius explained softly.

"Dumbledore shut him down. He refused to have the Ministry involved, whether the Aurors, the Department for Control of Magical Creatures or even the Department of Mysteries. We tried to get him to involve any of them, not a lot of things can petrify but he refused. He never explained why, but I got the feeling he simply wanted to see how things played out." Severus added.

"So his curiosity got me petrified for two months." She retorted with venom.

"I'm so sorry." Lucius said.

She nodded, "I understand you didn't know, and you tried. It wasn't your fault completely, not really. Why did you want to get Arthur Weasley in trouble?"

"Because they're blood traitors. I don't know if they ever truly explained what that means, but it's basically about their lack of respect for Wizarding traditions and Culture, thinking they're above it and better than us as they cut their links to Ancient Magic for example. Weasley is a thorn in my side specifically though, he's always trying to get the Manor raided." Lucius explained.

"What else?" Narcissa asked to change the subject.

"Well, third year was a disaster from beginning to end. I didn't actually want to take all the classes, I had no interest in Divination or Muggle studies but felt like I had to and suddenly I had a time turner. I spent that year completely stressed out. Then the whole Sirius Black thing, the broom fight...

Sirius was innocent, I checked and he didn't even get a trial."

"He didn't?" Narcissa gasped.

"No. A grief fuelled confession got him thrown into Azkaban." She confirmed.

"Dumbledore was Chief Warlock at the time, he could have granted him a trial." Severus added.

"Exactly. It made no sense. He wasn't the Secret Keeper and as the caster, Dumbledore would have known and would have known Pettigrew had betrayed the Potters."

"Had he been granted a trial, Black would have taken Potter in as his godfather, much harder to manipulate then." Severus added bitterly.

"You think giving him to his abusive relatives was part of his plan?" She asked with a glare to the wall.

"I don't know what the endgame is, beyond winning the war for the Order, but I would guess an abused boy is easier to manipulate than someone raised by Sirius Black." Severus said with a shrug.

"What about the Tournament? I tried to tell him he wasn't bound by the magic to compete, only the person who wrote and cast his name but he wouldn't listen to me."

"You were right, he didn't have to compete. Dumbledore wanted him to, wanted to see how things played out, figure out what the motive was." Severus said with a nod.

"Right, we got Voldemort back in the end." She said with a sneer, not caring that her audience currently had 2 confirmed Death Eaters.

"Which is seen as good by some." Lucius said with a small smile.

"Do you see it as a good thing then?"

"Yes and no. The whole thing started as a political revolution, Muggle-raised children didn't assimilate well into the Wizarding world and caused quite a lot of issues socially as well as usually didn't contribute much to the world despite the free tuition to Hogwarts as well as the subpar levels of power of muggleborn children." Lucius said before she cut in.

"What do you mean subpar levels of power?"

"Well, a lot of the prejudice as it were comes from their lack of social and cultural understanding, but that applies to all Muggle-raised witches and wizards. The biggest issue is they simply lack power. Currently the main theory is that muggleborns come from squib ancestors, which is why some people say they steal their magic, as they inherit from pureblood squibs generations back. Because it's from squibs, the magic has been dormant for a long time and is now with enough power to warrant a Hogwarts letter but most of them would have a better life if the little magic they had was bound and they lived out their lives as Muggles." Lucius explained.

"And the term mudblood?"

"Right, that's back to the lack of cultural and societal integration, the lack of respect for our traditions." Lucius retorted without missing a beat.

"Draco called me a mudblood in second year." She replied back.

This time, Lucius winced, "I am aware. You accused him of cheating to get into the Quidditch team because I gave brooms to the team. While I am aware that bribes can happen in Quidditch and in life in general, and I have even given some myself, that particular moment was a tradition, a good luck gift to the whole team when someone makes it in second year, as it is rather rare. The gift doesn't have to be brooms of course but a gesture from the family following the decision often happens. Besides, even at the level of Hogwarts, Quidditch is extremely competitive and choosing a supbar player is not done, especially as a Seeker since they often decide the end result."

"It's not a comment about blood, not really, but a lack of cultural understanding." Severus added.

She frowned, "Why don't they teach Wizarding studies then? So people who don't know can learn?"

"We tried a few times to have a class like that, but it usually resulted on tantrums from the students about how archaic and conservative our society was. It hasn't been approved since Dumbledore became Headmaster, the last time was under Headmaster Black, it's one of the reasons he's considered one of the worst Headmasters, the conflicts caused by the class due to Muggle-raised students not agreeing with what they learned gave the whole thing a terrible reputation and no one wants to try anymore." Lucius explained.

"What about Voldemort wanting to kill all muggleborns?" She asked suddenly.

If anyone was caught off guard by the abrupt question, they didn't show it and Narcissa decided to answer her this time, "He doesn't. I'll admitt he's been unstable since he came back, but most of the rumours and fear mongering from the first war were unfounded. His plan was to bound their magic, it still is when he's lucid enough."

"What about Lily Potter? Wasn't she considered a really bright student? She was muggleborn."

Severus winced slightly, "She was. She was academically gifted and did well in potions for example, but her power level wasn't high. One thing we need to mention is family magic, because she inherited her magic from a long dead squib ancestor, she didn't have access to her family magic, the only reason Potter is as powerful as he is is due to his father, he inherited nothing magically from his mother."

"That's why half-blood are considered okay?" She asked.

"Yes, mostly. As long as there is a parent with family magic, the child should be powerful." Lucius confirmed with a nod.

"What is family magic?" She asked.

"It's what links us together, an ancient magic, from the first person in our family to be blessed by the Gods thousands of years ago. You can see it in specific traits, like the curls in the Black family, the grey eye colour as well, while Malfoy always have white blond hair and most often light blue eyes, the Weasley have red hair and so on. It's a physical representation of the shared family magic, the strongest the traits, the strongest the magic usually."

"What about Crabbe and Goyle?"

"They're powerful, but they're simply not bright enough to apply it. Simply having power isn't enough, of course." Severus replied.

"Nobody said anything about my abilities, even though I was thought to be muggleborn." She insisted.

"You had a charm that prevented anyone sorted into Slytherin from getting to know you enough to say anything directly but Draco did, I assure you. He's been asking since first year about you, how you were much too powerful to be muggleborn. I assume a few other students had the same conversation with their families or friends." Lucius said with a shrug.

"What was the point of faking my death and kidnapping me to think I was muggleborn?" She wondered.

"We don't know yet. Maybe it was to punish us for our involved with the Dark Lord, maybe there's a prophecy at play, we can't know yet." Narcissa replied softly.

"Whoever did this, Dumbledore or otherwise, they chose my name, I don't want to be Hermione Granger anymore." She whispered.

"You don't have to be. You're Lyra Malfoy, you were born Lyra and you can be again." Narcissa said fiercely.

"What about 6th year?"

"Well, your date of birth was changed, you should actually be starting your 7th year. If you like, you can do that as Lyra Malfoy should you be up to the task." Lucius said.

"What happens to Hermione Granger in that case?"

"She's supposed to be being treated at Saint Mungo's, we can make it look like she passed away from her injuries." Severus said.

"Very well." She said before closing her eyes and yawning.

"We should let you rest, you're still recovering." Lucius said before getting up.

Before leaving the room, Narcissa bent over and softly kissed her daughter on the cheek while whispering, "Welcome home Lyra."

A/N - Things will get darkish, some murder and violence but that's about it. Also apologies about the erratic uploads, I started writing this summer while unemployed and I now have a in office full time job.