It seemed like the cells grew colder by the day. Lyra was certain she could see her breath. A man was dragged from his cell and hadn't been back since. Lyra had counted and it's been two days since he was taken.
There was a panic amongst the prisoners that they'd be taken next. When the rusty hinges were squealing alive, everyone stirred awake.
There were heavy footsteps coming closer. Lyra sat up and peeked down the dark corridor. The lanterns caught a few shadows and silhouettes, the first cell opened and another person was taken from it. The prisoner started to scream and try to fight the shadows. Lyra heard shuffling and the man went silent. She watched as a body was carried out. There were mutters from the Death Eaters.
Lyra laid back down, but from her racing heart, she wasn't going to get any sleep.
An hour or two later, she was given bland porridge and stale bread. She picked the mold from the slice. She tried to choke it all down. It was like cement in her mouth. She had been in the hellhole for nearly five weeks. A month of this hell. She hadn't been brought back upstairs. Voldemort may have forgotten about her. She hoped so anyways.
When she was finished with her meal, she pushed it aside. She was going to stretch out her cold legs and walk around the room for a bit when there was noise coming from upstairs. There were quite a few voices.
She stood up and walked towards the front bars. It was only her, Luna and Ollivander now.
"Do you think they are bringing them back?" Lyra asked no one in particular.
"I doubt it." Ollivander said in a whisper.
The door opened and she noticed Wormtail's voice. There were quite a few feet that she heard. When they started to come down the corridor, she noticed Ron Weasley's voice.
"R-ron? Is that you?" Lyra asked hastily?
"Lyra?" He gasped.
"Shut up!" Wormtail shouted. He opened the door and forced four bodies into Luna's cell. He held his wand with a threatening manner but Lyra knew he was too stupid to know a spell. He looked over at Lyra when he got the door shut. "The Dark Lord will be back for round two." He gave a dark smirk before leaving the cellar.
Lyra felt a few tears leak from her eyes. She quickly wiped them away and looked at the boys. Ron was gripping the bars to her cell.
"What the hell are you doing here?" He asked urgently.
"P-please don't ask me that." She begged. "I don't want to say it."
"Did you betray my family?" He questioned.
"Ron... Harry?" Luna asked.
"Luna! What are you doing here?" Ron asked her.
Lyra watched Harry dig something out of his sock. Luna commented on it as the dim light reflected off it, Lyra noticed it was a piece of a mirror.
"What are you all doing here?" She asked, glancing at a tall form of a man and a short stout form that must have been a goblin.
Before either could answer the sound of a blood cuddling scream could be heard from upstairs.
"Hermione!" Ron shouted. "We gotta save her!" He started shouting down the corridor.
"Stop it! Stop it!" Lyra ordered him. "That won't do any good. There's nothing you can do. Nothing."
There was a sudden crack. Lyra hadn't heard that sound in a long time.
"Dobby!" Harry gasped.
"Hello, Harry Potter, sir! Dobby has come to rescue you and your friends!" Dobby said in his shrill voice.
"Dobby?" Lyra gasped. "How did you get here? Boy, am I glad to see you."
"Miss Malfoy!" He squealed. "Congratulations!"
Lyra's smile fell. "What for?"
"On marrying Mr. George Weasley."
"Oh, thank you." She said with relief.
"Dobby, quick, can you apparate in and out of the Manor?" Harry asked the elf.
"Yes, sir."
"Brilliant! Can you take Luna and Mr. Ollivander to-"
"To Shell Cottage," Ron finished. "It's safe there."
"Alright then." Harry said. "Then take Lyra there."
"Yes, Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby agreed.
"Whenever you're ready, sir." Luna said politely.
"Oh, Dobby likes her very much." The elf said before grabbing the two prisoners' hands and apparating away.
"Harry," Lyra said softly. "It's so good to see you."
"How long have you been here?" He asked curiously.
"Around a month-"
Dobby apparated in her cell and grabbed her hand. He transported her on an icy beach. The wind felt like knives cutting at her face. It was cloudy with barely any source of sunshine. But it was freedom. She sunk to her knees and touched the cold sand.
She was finally away from there. She could have cried with joy and relief.
She looked over her shoulder to see a trail going up an inclining hill with a house on the very top. There was a sudden drop off at the top, making it a cliff side. It was a cute cottage, with a white sandstone exterior. It looked comfortable.
A figure was coming down the hill, as it seemed three were entering the home. Lyra got to her weak feet and took a shaky step forward. She hardly noticed Dobby leaving her behind.
Lyra noticed it was Fleur coming close. She was like a beautiful beacon of safety. Lyra was quick to hug the woman tight. She broke down into fresh tears.
"He raped me!" She sob hysterically. "He raped me!" She felt Fleur rubbing calming circles onto her back.
"You're safe now. You're safe now."
Fleur walked Lyra up the hill and inside her nice and warm home. Luna and Ollivander were covered with a blanket while Bill poured them a cup of hot tea. Lyra was seated at the small kitchen table. Her hands were ice cold and were hard to move. She was shaking like a leaf.
Luna explained everything in an airy voice, as if they didn't just escape hell. Lyra looked down at her tea, feeling her tears roll down her red face.
"I-I've heard about... everything." Bill told her delicately. "You're safe now."
"C-can you send for Georgie?" She asked weakly.
"I've sent a Patronus, don't worry, ma poupée." Fleur squeezed her hands sweetly.
"I'll set up a bed for Mr. Ollivander." Bill said exiting the kitchen. His tall frame took up so much room, he almost had to dunk past the archway.
The front door suddenly opened and George ran in with a red face. Lyra got up from her seat and flung her arms around her husband.
He held her head close to his chest as he started to sob. "Fucking hell, Lyra!" He cried out. "You selfless dickhead!"
"I know, I know!" She replied.
"I'll kill that fucker! I'll kill him!"
Lyra and George moved to the living room. They sat near the fire, he worked hard to warm her up. He wrapped her up under his arm and kissed her temple.
"They're here!" Fleur announced, exiting the home with Bill and Luna on her tail.
George didn't move an inch. "Don't you want to see your brother?" She asked him.
"I'll see him when he comes inside." He replied. "Right now, my wife needs me."
"No, go."
"No," he bickered back. "I'm not going anywhere."
With time, the others came in. Hermione had seen better days. They all have. The Goblin entered and the tall figure Lyra couldn't make out. Now she noticed it was Dean Thomas. Harry had red eyes like he'd been crying.
"Where's Dobby?" Lyra asked curiously.
"He's dead." Ron told her softly before going over to comfort Hermione.
Lyra felt saddened to hear the news. He was a hero that day.
There were hushed whispers when everyone was getting comforted, warm and some tea into them. Fleur and Bill were great hosts as they took care of the prisoners and outlaws.
Griphook, the goblin, sat in the living room, looking out the window. He didn't say anything for a long time. He stayed rather still.
Everyone had been through so much.
"Are you mad at me?" Lyra asked George.
"What? Why would I be mad?" He asked her, knitting his eyebrows together.
"Because I let him... I let-"
"No, no. I'm not mad at you. I'm angry, so angry but not at you."
"I feel dirty and gross. I feel like I'm just as bad as him-"
"Don't say that. Don't you ever say that. Do you hear me?" He narrowed his eyes as he looked into hers sternly. She nodded her head slightly before he brought her closer to him for her to rest her head on his shoulder.
The room felt so heavy, yet so light at the same time. It was confusing.
The night started to approach and Fleur and Bill got everyone's rooms ready. Finally, Griphook turned his head.
"What do you plan to do about the pregnancy?" He asked casually.
The room fell silent. Hermione and the boys had sat around the room and grew eerily silent.
"The what?" Hermione questioned.
"Don't tell me you don't know? You can't feel it? Mrs. Weasley has a baby growing in her womb. But it's not the ginger's."
Lyra felt like a fish out of water. "What? Get it out! Get it out!" She cried hysterically. "I can't be pregnant with the Dark Lord's baby! Get it out!"
George seemed just as shocked. "What do we do?"
"I can be of service. In the medieval days witches and muggles alike came to goblins to terminate their unwanted offspring. I could do it for a fee." The Goblin suggested.
"I have nothing to offer." Lyra cried.
"That's not true." Griphook replied.
"What do you want, goblin?" George growled.
"Only ten galleons. It's very draining work."
"Fine, just do it." Lyra ordered. "I can't have his baby."
"Come," The Goblin stood up and led the couple down a corridor to an empty room. "lay on the bed."
Lyra let go of George's hand and walked closer to the bed. "No tricks? You'll terminate this pregnancy without damaging my chances in the future?"
"No tricks. No one wants to see the next rising of You-Know-Who, not even me." Griphook replied. Lyra lied back in the bed. "Take your trowers off." He pointed at George. "Get a thick towel."
Lyra's heart was racing and so was her mind. Could she do this? Could she actually do this? She had no choice. She had to. She just had to.
George came back with a dark blue towel, Fleur came inside the room as well. She had a sheet. Lyra took her trousers and knickers off, she had no time to be modest. Not now.
She laid on the towel and sheet. George dragged a chair to her side. He squeezed her hand.
Griphook took a step forward and extended his hands over her lower abdomen. "This may hurt."
Once he started, Lyra felt like her womb was collapsing in on itself. The burning and cramping was overwhelming. It was like her uterus was convulsing. She couldn't help but let out a blood curdling scream. The pain was so unbearable. She wanted it to stop. She wanted it all to stop.
Tears filled George's eyes as he smoothed her hair back and ran his thumb over her knuckles. "You're doing so well. You're doing so well. Just a little longer." He told her.
Blood and tissues covered the sheet. Griphook was not gentle with his magic in the slightest. She felt sweat dripping down her face and the urge to vomit.
It was almost as if she saw her life flash before her eyes. She was going to die, she felt like she was going to die. She looked at the ceiling as if a bright light would show itself to her and take her to paradise.
The cramping and the burning subsided and Lyra noticed she was clenching her teeth. The room fell silent.
"It's done," Griphook said. "You may be in lots of pain for the next few days. You will want to rest and let your body heal."
Lyra looked down to see blood coating her thighs, along with large blood clots, that probably wasn't that at all.
Fleur had tears in her eyes as she removed the sheet and tied it up.
"Wait, can you bury it?" Lyra asked the woman. Fleur gave her a sad glance and nodded her head. She'd bury it.
George walked Lyra to the bathroom and helped her shower. He had to get in with her and he would have made jokes and teased her if not for the serious situation they found themselves in. Lyra didn't speak as he helped wash her. She refused to look between her legs, she kept her eyes on the tiled wall as she scrubbed between her thighs. Her bottom lip quivered.
She was so relieved, yet so sad. But at least she's safe now.