Chapter 12

"Severus! Thank you for joining us, how are things?" Narcissa Malfoy inquired as soon as Severus Snape crossed the threshold of the sitting room.

Severus sighed dramatically and threw himself on an armchair.

"That bad, huh?" Lucius Malfoy commented while raising an eyebrow.

"It took a few days before I could have accurate readings on the common rooms wards but I wasn't expecting it to be this wide spread." Severus replied with a sigh.

"How wide spread? Are Lyra and Draco okay?" Narcissa asked.

"They're fine. The signet rings they've been wearing since the summer protects them both from mind altering potions and charms. They both know how to throw off the imperius curse as well.

The Hufflepuff are okay, the only readings comes from self administered or medically monitored mental health charms and potions. They're well adjusted honestly. I expect a lot of those actually come from people who were closed to Mister Diggory.

In Ravenclaw, there's Miss. Lovegood who's under some sort of confundus potion, the wards can't remove it directly but I'm looking into it and preparing a counter potion for later on, I've never encountered a potion capable of the same abilities as the confundus charm, especially long-term and I wonder of Dumbledore was able to develop it without a potions master. It does explain her behaviour, hopefully she'll be able to express herself more clearly once it's gone.

Gryffindor is a mess, there's quite a lot of loyalty manipulations going on. Mr. Potter is under a few potions and charms, mostly to modify his behaviour, making him loyal to the Weasleys and Dumbledore himself, beyond reason, there's also something that I think is the cause of his short temper, hopefully when the wards nullify it over time, we might be able to see changes. There's a few protective wards, cast by McGonagall I would assume, they don't present a threat to anyone and seem to actively be trying to fight the curses and hexes placed within the room, without much success thus far but I doubt she knew what she was fighting against when she cast them.

Surprisingly the youngest Mr. Weasley didn't trigger the wards at all, and neither did Miss. Weasley. I'm not sure if they own something to protect them, or if they were deliberately excluded from the more nefarious curses.

A few others are under weak or mild manipulative potions and charms as well. Mostly fifth years and above.

The biggest shock was Neville Longbottom, his core have been basically shackled, he's operating on barely 30% of his actual power, and there's two signatures for him, I would assume his grandmother is involved in it and maybe the whole thing. My measures can't repair his core, but I am preparing the ritual we will need to free him."

The Malfoys' eyes grew wider and he went on, they had assumed their daughter wasn't the only victim, alongside their son, but they hadn't expected such a big and wide conspiracy.

"Slytherin?" Lucius finally asked after a tense silence.

"Not as bad as I feared. Most of them get their signet rings after their OWLs so only the younger years were affected beyond lingering effects of potions and charms in their earlier years. It seems Pansy Parkinson had been operating a strong love potion keyed to Draco for years, it's fading now thanks to the purging ward I placed but it's been so long she will need a mind healer to distinguish her real feelings to the manufactured ones. She's always been a bit obsessive with Draco and I'm sorry to say I assumed that she was simply like that.

There was also a curse in the room directly, meant to fan the flames of hatred, resentment and negative emotions generally. The wards I placed negated it but it does explain a lot of over reactions I've witnessed over the years." Severus replied.

"How long ago was that curse placed?" Lucius asked.

Severus' lips thinned, "About 40 years ago."

"He created a divide that was mostly harmless." Lucius stated with a scowl.

"Between that, placing Lyra into the same orphanage as the Dark Lord, and forcing him to go back to that place years after years despite a world war raging... It feels like Albus Dumbledore wanted to create a villain." Severus concluded.

"So he could be the hero saving everyone." Narcissa added bitterly.

The conversation centred around what Severus' wards had picked up for a little while and the steps he was taking to help a few people when it would be a possibility before they finally circled back to Narcissa's gardening.

"Are you sure it was wise to tell the kids in a letter?" Severus asked with a frown.

Narcissa shrugged, "It's fine. No one else would understand what I actually meant. Besides only someone with Malfoy blood can read those letters." She finished with a smirk.

Lucius rolled his eyes, "It is safe. I think we mainly wanted Lyra to know Dolohov was gone."

"I get it. It's fine." Severus replied, "She's adjusting fairly well considering everything."

"How is she dealing with her former friends around?" Narcissa asked with a small frown.

"The Weasley boy is showing is showing his true colours fairly well, he's already started bullying her on her name alone, and she's recently decided not to simply take it. Potter seems to be struggling the most as he has no reasons to despise her, and while his manufactured loyalty to Weasley is slowly fading away, it's been ingrained in him for so long he's not sure how to react or what to do really, it's quite fun to watch."

"You need new hobbies." Lucius said with a smirk.

"Fair." Severus replied with a nod.

"Isn't Dumbledore going to notice the dismantling of his work on the common room wards?" Narcissa asked after a small silence.

"I don't know. A lot of it is going to gradually disappear so it wouldn't be a shock. Some of the curses and hexes were cast a long time ago, and not renewed since as far as I can tell so it might not be his first thought. The ones directly cast on people are trickier, while most of them are being negated now, he should still be able to see the traces of his magic and therefore not worry. I'm unsure how often he recasts them." Severus answered.

"Do you think he'd notice before the end of Lyra's seventh year?" Lucius inquired.

"Unlikely, a year without the effects won't be a drastic change, there might be less hostility from the Slytherins, and hopefully Potter and Longbottom might start to sort themselves out."

"Alright, the Dark Lord has plans for Dumbledore, his timeline is next summer so it should work out." Lucius replied with a nod.

"Dumbledore is still a beloved figure right now. Killing him won't bring us any points." Severus pointed out.

Lucius rolled his eyes, "I am aware. The total destruction of his reputation is of course the first part of the plan we're currently discussing."

"Perfect." Severus said with a smirk.

Lyra was walking along the Black Lake, enjoying the autumn sun, close to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, unaware a couple of different people were following her.

Settling at Hogwarts had been good and bad, she got along well with her fellow Slytherins, the few friends she had made since she started made her feel accepted in ways she had never previously experienced, except with Harry most of the time she added quietly from the privacy of her mind.

It was early on Sunday morning so she felt free and relaxed, she knew most of the grounds would be empty for hours yet.

Suddenly, a branch cracking caught her attention and she whipped her head around, not seeing anything or anyone around her until she was stunned from the back.

She woke up some time later, the first thing she noticed was the dense canopy of trees above her and the lack of sunlight. She figured she was deep into the forest, much deeper than was safe. She wasn't sure how long she had been unconscious.

"Not so feisty now, are you?" Cormac McLaggen sneered above her.

Lyra stared at him, unwilling to show him her fear. She subtly felt around but her wand was nowhere to be found and she was too terrified to wield wandless magic well. She didn't know him that well, she knew his reputation of a cocky bully and a rake but not much being the usual gossip.

"Incarcerous. Right, now you won't fight me. I've been watching you walk around the castle for weeks now, feeling all powerful and important, not sparing me a fucking glance." McLaggen ranted, "I had plans this year, you know." He finished with a put upon sigh.

"Did you?" She inquired, with a steadier voice than she hoped.

"Silencio. This isn't a conversation Malfoy, I don't need your input.

Anyway, I was going to seduce Granger, and when the time was right, I would use her in this ritual, shore up my power. No one would really miss her really, I'd be celebrated.

But no, she had to fucking die. So now I need someone new. You look a bit like her, and no one would miss you either, so new, so shiny, so unattached. The only rule I really need for this is for you to be pure. I checked, you'll do." He finished with a nasty smile.

Lyra's body grew cold as he explained his plans and realised the type of spell he had cast while she was unconscious, she felt bile starting to rise up her throat. She wasn't sure what type of ritual he meant exactly but she was certain she wasn't meant to survive it.

She hoped he would continue talking, delaying the inevitable as she tried to fight off the incarcerous spell, to no avail, but he walked away and started prepping what she assumed was a ritual space nearby.

She observed his actions, hoping to get a clearer picture of what it would entail and when would be best to escape. She refused to simply give up.

He cleaned a patch of forest floor, drew a circle and started placing things in all cardinal directions. Once he was done, he cast a few spells over the space, his voice was too low for Lyra to pick up what he intended as he cast and chanted but she could feel the dark magic start to form in the space, she felt waves of it rolling away and towards her as well.

After what felt like hours, but likely only a few minutes, he walked back to her.

"Hope you're ready. Thankfully I don't really need your permission or participation." He said with victory burning in his eyes before promptly levitating her off the ground and moving her to his ritual circle.

He never said anything more to her from this point forward and focused on preparing the ritual itself, from her new point of view, Lyra was able to see what he had planned.

She saw a jar of water on the south point, a controlled ball of fire towards the north, what appeared to be blood west and an animal's, she hoped, heart to the east.

Those elements and the magic she could now feel quite clearly made her realise this was one of the darkest rituals to exist. He would siphon out her magic, leaving her to crumble to dust and float away. No one would find her body, she would simply disappear.

"I would say I'm sorry, but I'm really not. It's too bad Granger isn't here, she would have been great at this. Anyway, at least this way you won't die a virgin, nor have to wait until an arranged marriage with some pompous Slytherin pureblood, I'm doing you a favour really." McLaggen said with a shrug and arrogant smile, as he took out a dagger and approached her like a predator would a prey.

Before he could touch her, she heard the swish of a wand nearby and a yelled Sectumsampra.

McLaggen stumbled with a hoarse What the fuck and fell down next to her, he was still conscious but his face had frozen in a painful grimace and blood was soon covering his entire body, lacerations all over him made him unable to move.

Lyra was still silenced and bound but she could make out a figure in the darkness coming towards her, she wasn't sure who her saviour was but she was so grateful she could barely process it.

Harry Potter took off the invisibly cloak she knew so well as he ran towards Lyra, and immediately unsilenced and unbound her.

"I'm sorry I didn't act sooner, I wasn't sure what he planned to do." He said immediately.

Lyra slowly got up and studied the scene around her.

Harry looked worried and a bit manic while McLaggen was bleeding out on the ground next to them. The way he fell had disturbed the circle and the ritual had started to break down, magic escaping all around them.

"You killed him." She stated, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I.. I don't know, I didn't know what the spell would do..." Harry said while raking his hands through his hair.

"You used an unknown spell?" Lyra wondered out loud.

"It said it was for enemies, I felt like it applied, I acted on instinct." Harry muttered.

"You saved my life." Lyra said, staring at her former friend with a puzzled frown.

"He said he was going to kill you." Harry retorted, like saving her was an accusation.

"Do you know what he planned to do, what the ritual was?" Lyra wondered softly, feeling her surge of adrenaline leaving her now that she was safe.

"Not really. I followed him when he stunned you, I assumed it would be bad but I wasn't expecting this." Harry said, not aknowleding he was quite likely following her too in the first place, but she didn't miss it, shelving it to think about later.

"It's one of the darkest rituals ever recorded. Usually, a wizard rapes a a virgin witch, and at the moment of climax he kills her. Her death activates the ritual and her magic transfers to him. The younger the witch, the more power is stolen." Lyra explained matter of factly, trying to reign in the tears she could feel pricking her eyes.

Harry looked horrified and seemed to struggle with himself for a few moments before taking a deep breath and taking her in his arms as he realised how shaken she appeared to be, "You're safe now."

Lyra nodded and let her tears finally fall, her body was trembling as Harry hugged her tight.

They remained that way for a long time, embracing each other.

"What happens now?" Harry wondered as he detangled himself and nodded towards McLaggen, who wasn't breathing anymore.

Lyra sighed, "Can you summon my wand? I think he took it."

Harry nodded and did as she asked, the vine wand flew out from under the body and landed onto his palm, he felt it looked familiar but couldn't place it, so he handed it over.

"Thank you." Lyra murmured then with a few spells she removed all traced of the ritual, and transfigured the body into a deer bone before digging a deep hole and throwing it inside. She then placed a few feet of dirt over it and cleaned up the site, making it look like the ground was never disturbed. Hopefully time would simply make him disappear forever.

With a final few flicks of her wand, she removed all traced of her magic, Harry's and even McLaggen.

"Right, let's go back to Hogwarts." She said once she was satisfied, and Harry nodded wearily.

They walked in silence, back to the shore of the Black Lake then towards the castle.

Once they were in front of the main doors, Harry looked at her for a few seconds, "I don't regret it, I would save you again." He said before stepping inside and leaving without a glance back towards her.