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The Raven's Song	By : Quills Category: HP Canon Characters paired with Original Characters > Het - Male/Female Views: 6265 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Lyra awoke in the hospital wing of Hogwarts with tears streaming down her face even before the horrendous events at the Ministry came back to her with enough force that she doubled over in the bed. A loud howl erupted from the back of her throat, but by the time that Moody came stomping down the ward towards her with Madam Pomfrey just two paces behind him, she had swung her trembling legs over the side of the bed and snatched up the robe that had been draped over the nearest chair.
There was only one thing to think of now. “Alastor, where’s my son?”
Moody grimaced as his fingers twitched around his wand. Sympathy shone in his sole eye and when he spoke his voice was gruff and strained. “At the Burrow with Molly. Nymphadora is in St. Mungo’s, and everyone else is in Albus’s office. I just came here on his request to check up on you and see if you’re ready to join us.”
“Thank you, but you wasted your time. I’m going to get my son.” Lyra thrust her hand into the pocket of the robes, relieved to feel the achingly familiar shape of her wand inside it. “I’m going for Leo and then I’m taking him to Grimmauld Place to get what we need.”
“And then you’re coming back here?”
“After what happened to my husband?!” The horror of the Department of Mysteries whirled relentlessly through her mind, one tableau after another until she reached the point she dared not relive. Choking back another sob, she ran her hand through her hair and broke for the door. “No, Alastor. I can’t.”
Leo. Only the memory of his face could keep her going now. Sirius’s son was all she had left, and she would gladly devote her life to keeping him safe – and when it seemed so clear the Second Wizarding War was about to erupt around them, the Order was no longer the safest place to be. She had to get him far away from them, and from the Death Eaters who would never give up looking for them. Only then would they have any chance of surviving the coming war unscathed.
As she reached the painfully familiar corridor outside, though, one thought stopped her in her tracks and she turned back. “Alastor, is Tonks going to be okay?”
The elderly Auror’s shoulders slumped. “I hope so, Lyra. Bellatrix held nothing back, but the Healers at St. Mungo’s are the very best.”
Lyra wished she had not asked. She shook her head furiously to clear it, unable to stifle a bitter resentment towards the other woman despite her awareness of how unfair it was. It was Tonks after all who had been fighting Bellatrix, and it was Tonks who failed and allowed her to cast the spell that had...
She could not bear to allow the memory to play out to its inevitable and terrible conclusion. Forcing herself to think of nothing but her son, she darted through the twisting corridors she knew so well, willing no other members of the Order to waylay her – and for once fate was on her side. She saw no one, and the moment she was outside the boundaries of Hogwarts she Apparated away to the Burrow.
When Lyra hammered on the front door, though, it was not Molly who opened it. Instead, it was Remus. She knew she could not afford to let him change her mind. She had no choice but to present a hard facade, so as much as she longed to be pulled into his arms and let him soothe the grief they shared, her top lip curled. “Dumbledore sent you, did he?”
Remus seemed to be a broken man. Unshod tears nestled in the corners of his eyes, and he sighed as his shoulders slumped. “You know he did, Lyra. Look, won’t you at least come in and hear me out? You’re not thinking clearly, and no wonder with everything that’s just happened, but I owe it to Sirius to at least try and talk you out of walking away. Please, come in?”
Her head bowed, she mutely pushed past him, her eyes darting from side to side for any sign of her son. Once she had him in her arms, she could leave and never have to face any of them again.
“Where’s Leo?” she said sharply, but as she spoke her eyes alighted upon him. He was sleeping in an old cradle in the corner of the kitchen, peacefully oblivious to the terrible loss he had suffered tonight. Her heart clenched painfully, and the urge to gather him into her arms was too much to resist, for it struck her in that moment that he was the only tangible connection she had now to the man she loved with all her heart.
Scooping him up, a fresh wave of hot tears rolled silently down her face. Leo looked so much like Sirius. Right now Lyra didn’t know if that was a comfort or just one more agony to endure, but she cradled him against her chest and held onto him tightly nonetheless as Remus quietly came to a halt at her side and laid a hand on her shoulder.
“Are you in any physical pain?” he asked under his breath.
“Physical pain? No.”
They did not need to speak about the black grief that consumed her, for that was all too clear. No doubt Remus was suffering just as badly, but he breathed in deeply and guided her into a rocking chair next to the silent fireplace. Only the sound of Leo’s snuffled snores broke the peace around them, and it was all Lyra could do not to let loose the loud sob building in the back of her throat as Remus summoned a stool and sat down next to her.
“How did I end up in the Hogwarts hospital wing?” she said, speaking only to break the silence.
“Albus said to take you there when we found you just inside the door of the Planet Room. You were unconscious, Lyra, with Malfoy standing over you. Kingsley arrested him; he’s at Azkaban now with the others we rounded up.”
Lyra swallowed hard, forcing herself not to think of all she and Lucius had been doing before they were discovered. “Bellatrix?” she said instead.
Remus’s face tightened. “She got away, Lyra. Voldemort Apparated her out after Albus stopped him from getting to Harry. They were the only ones who got away.”
She couldn’t hold back the anxious question that fell unbidden from her lips. “Then where’s Malfoy now?”
“On his way to Azkaban,” he said grimly. “This time the evidence is incontrovertible. He was arrogant to go into battle unmasked and at such close quarters, but clearly he believed the gamble would pay off. It didn’t. Not only did all but one of the Death Eaters end up captured, but Voldemort left the Ministry without hearing the prophecy. I would wager that, all things considered, Lucius Malfoy is actually rather grateful to be protected by the walls of Azkaban right now.”
Azkaban. She knew all too well what that meant, and though on the night her husband had died the very last thing she should be doing was thinking of another man, the stark realisation that Lucius too was lost to her made it clear how perilous her position now was. If he was free she did not doubt he would have stood in her defence – at a high price, of course – but he was far away and out of reach. She had heard enough of Sirius’s family to know how determined they would be to lay their hands on the sole surviving Black heir, and even Voldemort himself had declared his interest in both her and Leo.
Becoming aware that Remus was speaking again, Lyra forced back her spiralling fear and met his questioning stare. “What did you say, Remus?”
“I was asking how you ended up alone in the Planet Room with Malfoy. Lyra, what happened?”
She dropped her eyes to the floor, terrified the burning flush of her face would betray her. “I don’t remember, Remus. I was chasing after Harry and Bellatrix and Malfoy pursued me – I remember trying to follow them, but we ended up in the Planet Room. I don’t remember anything else after that.”
“I see.” His lips thinned. “Perhaps you don’t realise, but had we not found you when we did -”
“You don’t need to tell me what he would have done,” she said dully, unable to talk and think about Lucius even a moment longer. Already the guilt over what she had begged him to give her near overwhelmed her, but she knew the memory of the passion and hunger with which he’d kissed her would never leave her mind, at once both a thrill and a terrible burden to carry. “I know what could have happened, but it didn’t. I’m here and he’s on his way to Azkaban. Of all the things I have to worry about now, Malfoy isn’t one of them.”
Lyra stared off unseeing into the distance, grateful that her mind filled instead with thoughts of what lay ahead for her and her son. They would have to return one last time to Grimmauld Place to retrieve what few material things they needed, but after that there was no clear path ahead. Anything she instantly thought of was too predictable, too easy for those who would track them down to fathom. Even her job was lost to her now, for she could not take the risk of being parted from Leo’s side at such regular and extended intervals. Fortunately, her vault at Gringotts was well-stocked; Sirius had seen to that. So long as she kept her wits about her she could do this.
Remus finally broke the fresh silence that had fallen between them. “You’re not coming back, are you?” he said with a sad smile.
“I can’t,” she said, even as tears filled her eyes all over again. “I just can’t, Remus. If it was just me, maybe...but it isn’t. I’ve got Leo, and I owe it to Sirius to do everything I can to keep him safe. Risking my life for the Order every time I step out of the house is just too much now I’m all Leo’s got.”
“How I wish that didn’t make sense!” He sighed heavily, then nodded his head. “Okay. I won’t stop you, but if you change your mind, we’ll all be here at the Burrow for the next few days, I think.”
“Not going back to Grimmauld Place?”
“Dumbledore thinks the protective spells might have broken down now that...” Remus trailed off awkwardly and shrugged, his face contorted by a grief that she recognised all too well. “Anyway, I don’t think I’d want to go back there,” he continued after a tense pause. “Too painful. Too many memories.”
Lyra could bear it no longer. She swallowed hard and buried her head in Leo’s shock of black hair as she rose from the chair and left the Burrow without another word. Only her son’s sleeping weight in her arms kept the simmering anger and grief inside her restrained. She did not know where to unleash it, for logically she knew that the only fair target for her rage was Bellatrix Lestrange. Logic meant nothing, though, when Sirius was gone from her and their precious son would never know his father.
Sirius had promised he would come back and make everything right between them, but now she would never see him again. Nothing would ever be right, not without him. All she could do was keep their son safe, and there was no one she trusted to do that but herself.
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The Raven's Song