Nine
September 2nd 2017:
When Lyra Rose Granger woke up, it was in a dark room. When she tried to get up, she found her feet shackled to the bed. Her jeans were torn and her Weasley-made jumper gone, just a flimsy tank top was covering her top half. She sat on the bed looking around in the darkness for any sign of where she was.
“You finally woke up. I was worried we hit you too hard.” Someone somewhere spoke.
“Who are you? Where am I?” she asked, her voice raspy.
“No need to worry about that.”
“What do you want from me?”
“There’s no point in lying. This truly has nothing to do with you. This is all about your mother”
“Are you the one sending me those letters?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Your mother does not belong in our society. And while you have her blood, there’s more in you than her mudblood genetics.”
“You mean my father? You know who he is?”
“Yes. Do you?”
“Yes. That however is not relevant”
“I think it is”
“You are a half-blood. That’s forgivable.”
“Let me guess. You’re a pureblooded death eater my mom helped put away?”
“You're smart. Just like your mother.”
“I know.”
“Enough with the family reunion.” There was a second voice in the room. Wait, family reunion? “Smile half-blood.” A flash went off. It was a camera. “That’ll do.”
“We will pick up our conversation later.” The first voice spoke before mumbling a spell. The next thing Lyra knew was darkness.
September 3rd 2017:
“She knew?” Hermione asked quietly.
“Yes.” Abby looked to the ground, she couldn’t look at any of the adults in the room.
“Did you know?”
“Yes.” she whispered. She looked up to see Draco staring at her. “Uncle Draco, I’m so sorry. She asked me not to say anything. She kept asking me questions about you and your family and when I asked why she said she suspected you to be her father.”
“Why did she think it was me?”
“She said that Percy told her a story about how some pureblood families have special birthmarks. She researched hers and said it matched the reports of the Malfoy’s.”
“That bloody birthmark.” Hermione mumbled.
“Will someone please explain this birthmark thing to me?” Harry asked, very confused.
“It was a way to identify which family you came from. To prevent inbreeding. My ancestor Armand Malfoy, was having an affair with a woman who he later found out to be his cousin. He wanted to ensure that it could never happen again. He placed a generational spell on all future Malfoy lines. It appears as a birthmark.” Draco paused and untucked his shirt, revealing the birthmark on his hip. “Every child born with Malfoy blood has this birthmark.”
“Isn’t it said that all pure-blood families have crossed at least once in their lineage?” Harry asked.
“Yes, especially within the Sacred twenty-Eight. However, to have the birthmark you have to be a direct descendant of the original malfoy bloodline. While somewhere along the way, the Weasley’s might have crossed with the Malfoy’s, your wife isn’t a direct descendant. I do think the Potter lineage crosses with the Malfoy’s as well. So somehow, we could be related. The whole thing is very messy.”
A knock on the door broke the history lesson.
“Come in.” Hermione announced and walked Katie Bell.
“This just arrived for you.” She handed Hermione a letter.
“It’s addressed to both of us.” Hermione showed Draco. “Oh merlin,” Hermione gasped. “It’s Lyra.” Draco looked at the photo. He saw her. Her curly blonde hair, the glamour spell Hermione spoke of was gone. Her silver/blue eyes that matched his own.
“I need a moment.” Draco said before walking out the door.
“Draco-” Hermione tried to go after him but Blaise stopped her.
“Let me.” Blaise walked out the door.
“What just happened? I saw Draco storm out of here.” Theo stared at Blasie.
“They were sent a picture of Lyra.”
“Oh shit.” Blaise nodded for them to follow where Draco went.
When they walked into the conference room, Draco was sitting on the floor, head in his hands, shoulder’s shaking from his sobs.
“Draco,”
“She knew. She knew I was her father. If she’s anything like Hermione, that means she read every possible thing about me. She knows about who I was during the war, my trial, my marriage to Astoria. Which means she’s also figured out the timeline. If we don’t find her, I’ll never get to tell her the truth. She must hate me.” Theo and Blasie looked at each other before sitting down in front of their friend.
“When I first met Lyra, she was eleven years old. It was Abby and Damion’s birthday party and this little brunette child came running through the house holding Abby’s hand. I’m sure you remember how Abby was at the age. She was shy, she didn’t have friends. Which is why her and Damion always had joint parties. But here she was, running through the house, laughing, and smiling with her new friend. I cried that night because she reminded me of us. Running around the manor laughing our asses off.”
“I met her at twelve. Percy and Lyra started dating in first year. It was the sweetest thing. She came over one day and they rode brooms in the garden. It was the most innocent thing I'd ever seen. Milli and I just watched from the window.”
“Lyra is the smartest, kindest, soul I have ever met. She sees the good in everyone.” Blaise looked down and smiled. “She knew about all of our pasts in the war. But she didn’t care. I remember there was one time Damion was getting bullied at school because he’s my son, and Lyra stuck up for him.”
“She’s done it for all of them. Percy told me how some older Gryffindors couldn’t believe that she’d date a death eater’s son. And Lyra defended me. Percy told me that was the moment he knew he loved her. Because it didn’t matter to her. She sees the good in everyone.”
“She sounds too nice to be my daughter” The three laughed. “Alright, enough tears. Let’s go find her.” The three stood up and began walking to the door. “If you tell anyone I cried, I’ll hex you both.”
“There’s the Malfoy that we know and love.”