There was something off about Lestrange Manor. It was dark and dreary, unlike any place Lyra had ever seen before. She had seen her fair share of sad places, ones that made a person shiver, but never a place like this. 

It was dark and empty, filled with vast halls and rooms too big for their furniture. This was just a house, not a home. There were no pictures of Rabastan or his brother, only portraits of their ancestors from centuries ago. 

Both the walls and the floors were made from the same cold stone material that made her feel trapped, like there was no way out of the sadness around her. Lestrange Manor made one feel one was surrounded by a dementor at all times.

The only way for her to get images of how dreary Rabastan's childhood must have been out of her head was to imagine herself with her friends, in front of the Slytherin fireplace with her friends, drinking hot chocolate they stole from the kitchens. 

Lyra even missed the safe familiarity of her own family home and of Twelve Grimmauld Place. Even those two places, haunted by the history of her ancestors, felt warmer than this place. It must have been hell for a child to grow up there. 

If this was the feeling their house gave, Lyra wondered how Rodolphus and Rabastan were raised. She had met their parents on several occations, and every time they had found an issue with Lyra that needed mentioning. 

Her nose was too long or her mouth too big. She needed to cut her hair, and do a few spells to make it shinier. She was too short, and she needed to be blonder. If not, they didn't see how she would ever find a husband. 

She couldn't imagine growing up like that. She didn't find it odd how Rabastan always felt that he needed to prove himself, especially in comparison to his brother, the perfect Death Eater who found the perfect, pureblooded wife. 

Because while Lyra had grown up with a family where the wrong step could make you lose all their love, Rabastan had grown up feeling like he had to earn it to get love at all. It made it harder to hate the decisions he was making. 

"It's almost time," said a voice from behind her. Lyra turned and saw her younger cousin, the once so very sweet and innocent Regulus, looking somber, looking at the clock in terrified anticipation. 

Lyra sighed and looked upon the parlor she was standing in, sighing deeply. She knew that this was happening, and she had to force herself to realize this. She had tried so hard to escape it all, and yet there she was. 

Even when she had done all she could to push any involvement with the Death Eaters as far into the future as possible, and hopefully pushed it away for good, all her hope and work had been for nothing. 

Because as much as she despised the idea of torturing and murdering innocent people just because of their blood, she loved Rabastan and Regulus more. They couldn't do this on their own, and she wasn't going to let them get hurt on her watch.

She found herself glancing at the same clock Regulus was watching intently, realizing the portkey was supposed to go off at any second. She pulled out her wand, watching how Regulus clutched his own so tightly his knuckles turned white, even if he wasn't allowed to use it yet. 

Lyra couldn't help but jump as a man suddenly appeared in front of them. He was holding a weathered copy of a muggle book she didn't recognize, which she supposed was the portkey Rabastan had tampered with. 

The man was thin and blonde, and very obviously confused. He took several seconds to gather his thoughts, to find out why he wasn't at the destination he had been told he would arrive at, and why there were two unfamiliar teenagers in front of him.

"Expelliarmus!" Lyra pointed her wand at the man as he reached for his own wand, thinking he needed to defend herself. But she was too quick, and she caught his wand in the air. "Immobulus."

The man, Sturgis Podmore, froze in his step, only his eyes darting back and forth as he tried to assess the situation. Regulus then stalked forward, a blank mask of disinterest on his face, as he grabbed him and pulled him closer to Lyra. 

Their eyes all darted towards the grand fireplace in the room as a haze of green flames appeared, lighting up the dark room. From it emerged Rabastan, his chin held high and a smirk on his face. 

"Where am I? What am I doing here?" Podmore asked, his lips barely able to move from the hex Lyra had placed on him, and it looked like it was painful to speak, but he did it anyway. "What do you want."

"You're not the one who should be asking us any questions," said Lyra, trying to keep her voice cold, and perhaps even cruel. "As for what we want... you've been approached by Albus Dumbledore, haven't you?"

"What do you mean? I ran into him once, he was my headmaster," he lied, trying to make it seem like their meeting was nothing. He glanced between the three. "What do you want from me? You're just kids. You're probably all still in Hogwarts."

"Shut up!" Rabastan snapped, already raising his wand in a threatening manner, closing in on the older man. "Speak only when spoken to. Or you will learn your actions have consequenses, Podmore."

Lyra sent her friend a stern look, to tell him to let her handle this. "We don't wish to hurt you. We only want the truth. Albus Dumbledore has approached you, and we know this. And know what he has approached you about. Resistance against the Dark Lord."

Sturgis scoffed, looking disgusted at her words.  "The Dark Lord. You sound like a cult. You're children. You should not be here, you should be getting an education and acting like teenagers. It's not too late to turn back."

Regulus hissed into the man's ear from behind him, glaring heatedly at him."Yes, it is! We are chosen by the Dark Lord and it is a great honor. One you will never know or understand, you filthy half-blood."

"If you don't give us the information we want, and keep your mouth shut otherwise, we'll have to use more..." There was a terrifying smirk on her cousin's face that frightened Lyra. "Extreme methods."

"Regulus, let me handle this," Lyra said, a strict look on her face. She didn't want Regulus to go any deeper into the darkness, so she had to be the one to take over. She didn't want him to lose the rest of his light.

The young blonde clutched her wand, forcing herself to point it at the man. Because she knew that if she didn't, then either of them would, and she didn't know how far they'd go.  "You better start speaking or we will be far from forgiving."

There was a strange lack of fear in Podmore's eyes as he looked at Lyra, almost in pity.  "So you're the leader? I see I have nothing to fear. You don't believe in this, I can see it in your eyes. You don't want to hurt me."

Lyra knew that he was right. She didn't want to hurt him, or anybody for that matter. Especially not for a cause she believed did more harm than good. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Your hand's shaking," he pointed out, which suddenly make her much more aware of the fact.  "You can still change your mind. I see your arm, there is no Dark Mark there yet. There's still time to turn around." 

He looked sincere, like he was a kind man who only wanted the best for the world. Even for her, who was holding a wand towards him, threateningly. She hesitated, wanting to put her wand away as her breathing got hard.  

Regulus tightened his grip on the man, looking like he was close to reaching into his own robes to grab his wand. He couldn't believe he had the audacity to speak against his big cousin. "How dare y-?"

"Regulus, let me handle this," Rabastan said coldly, taking a step closer to the man. Lyra was scared of what he would do, as he raised his wand as if none of what he was doing bothered him. "Crucio."

The screams came quickly, and it was very obviously painful for him to try to open his mouth wide enough to do so. He couldn't squirm in pain as Lyra's spell from earlier was still in effect and Regulus held onto him tightly. 

"Stop! Rabastan, stop it!" Lyra tried yelling, or more like screaming, after Rabastan. He couldn't see the effect it had on both her and Regulus, who both looked like they were ready to cry from seeing the curse used once again. 

Memories flashed before her eyes, ones she had tried so hard to forget. They had haunted her nightmares from years, sometimes even making her scream in the middle of the night, although none came to her aid. 

Andromeda lying across her bedroom back at the Black Manor, screaming and bleeding. The cSurse cast by their own sister, forcing the girl to be disowned for leaving their house in the middle of the night, never to return. 

Sirius falling from the dinner table during the summer of 1976, the curse cast by his mother, who was tired of his tongue, and the way he mentioned the other disowned Black family member. Surrounded by blood, screaming, sweat and pain. 

Lyra wished that pain on nobody, especially not in front of her. The last thing she needed was to be the witness of the Cruciatus curse one more time, cast by someone she cared about that she never thought capable of such things. 

Sturgis Podmore had done nothing wrong except for believing in equality, a path Lyra herself had found herself upon for the past few years. Lyra wanted to leave him alone, she truly did. But if that meant abandoning Rabatan and Regulus, she didn't know if she could. 

That didn't mean she would stand for that horrible curse being used on anyone. There was a reason it was illegal. Lyra, through her tears, quickly raised her wand towards Rabastan. "Expelliarmus!"

As the wand flew through the air towards Lyra's hand, Sturgis stopped screaming, only sobbing and crying loudly. Rabastan was breathing heavily, glaring towards his friend. "Lyra, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Stopping you from making a big mistake!" she snapped, ignoring the heated glare he sent, and the way he looked ready to yell at her. Podmore was looking at her, in pity and gratefulness. But she still needed information. 

"Podmor," Lyra sighed, trying to keep desperation out from her voice, but it wasn't easy. "You need to give us the information that we want. What are Dumbledore's plans for resistance against the Dark Lord?"

While there was still the occasional sob of pain, Podmore was a strong man, not ready to give up yet. Or ever. He had loyalty, if nothing else. "Give up the fight. You're not going to get anything out of me. Torture or no torture."

Rabastan smirked in his direction, fiddling with his wand smugly. "I vote torture."

His words made her glance worriedly in his direction. It was enough to make her too impatiant, because she knew Rabastan would get his wand back before long, and would torture that poor man once again. 

She racked her brain, looking for a way to get information quickly and efficently while hurting Sturgis Podmore as little as possible, because she knew he didn't deserve the pain they were giving him. 

There was only one spell that came to mind, but it was ridiculously advanced, and she had never practiced it before. Then again, she was a natural at withstanding its effects, and her sister had hypothesised that it meant this spell would come easier to her. 

Because Lyra Black was going to use the natural shields she had been given as an Occlumens, and was transfering to Legilimency. At least, she hoped she would be able to do it. If not, she didn't know what they'd do. 

"Legilimens!" Lyra tried to cast the spell, imagining going through any mental shields and going into his mind, but nothing happened. Frustrated, she tried a couple more times. "Legilimens! Legilimens!"

Finally, after what felt like forever, Lyra felt herself penetrating his mind. She had no idea what she was doing, how to navigate through his mind. She felt like she was invading him, finding out things she didn't want to know.

She didn't have to see him hanging around with his brothers when he was a kid, the sorting ceremony when he started Hogwarts and how happy he was to be a Hufflepuff. When he met his girlfriend during a prefects meeting in fifth year, how he proposed to her a week ago. 

She could feel that he was trying to find. It felt like a tingling for her, like a small insect crawling up her body, but all his fighting didn't do anything. He had very obviously never practiced Occlumency, which she could easily recognize by now. 

It took a few minutes (at least, that's what it felt like) for her to finally come to the memories she had been looking for. She saw him and a few others meeting with Professor Dumbledore as he talked to them about the war.

As Dumbledore talked to them about the Order of the Phoenix. 

Lyra didn't need to hear much about the Order, only a few necessary pieces of information. She didn't want to ruin everything for them, only to save her cousin and her friend from harsh punishment. 

"What'd you see?" Regulus asked the second she exited his mind. He took a few seconds as he waited for her to respond, but she didn't, trying to come to terms with all she had learn. "Lyra, what'd you see?"

Podmore was crying by now, not as much as he had during his torture, but he was sobbing. If it was because of guilt or plain sadness, she didn't know. "Please! Please don't tell anybody! I'm begging you!"

"I know enough," Lyra answered shortly. 

Regulus looked at the man he was still holding back in his arms (who were honestly getting a bit tired from staying in the same position for so long, especially after the torture). "And what will we do with him now?"

The blonde girl hesitated as she saw the tears streaming down his face. But then she saw Rabastan reach for his wand, and she didn't want to know what he would do, so she pointed her own at him once again and took matters into her own hands. "Obliviate! Stupefy."

He would now forget everything that happened that night, at least hopefully. She hoped there was no way for Dumbledore to uncover what had happened, because she didn't want anyone to know. She also stupefied him so he could fall unconscious, not remembering ever seeing them.

"Bring him back to the Ministry. Now," Lyra commanded, looking at Rabastan, who looked annoyed that he hadn't been the one to decide his fate. She sighed and looked away. "Go. We'll talk later."

▹▹▹

Lyra felt numb as she sat down on her own bed as she returned home. She had no idea what to feel about what she had done, to how she had helped the Death Eaters learn of secret plans that could become the Order's doom. 

But then she watched as an owl pecked on her window, a letter in its hand. She quickly searched for some owl treats in her room before opening the window and grabbing the letter, feeding the owl, which was very familiar. 

My dearest Lyra Cassiopeia,

How's your Easter? Mine's great, although Sirius is being an annoying git as per usual. But anyway, I miss you. When we get back to Hogwarts, the welcome back snog should be amazing. Only if you want to. I'm still respecting your boundaries. I hope your family isn't giving you too much trouble. Sirius says he misses you, too. He would write his own letter but every day I become more convinced he's illiterate so he makes me do this for him.

Anyway, Sirius also can't keep his mouth shut and lied to my parents and said I had a girlfriend. Which I don't, as long as you don't want me to. See, respecting boundaries. But mum's really excited and wants to meet you, dad said he was proud of me for some reason. I don't know, they're old and don't understand how life works anymore. Sorry if the writing's messy, Sirius tried to stop me because he thinks I'm too cheesy. Well, I'll see you soon, love. Can't wait.

Love, your dearest James Fleamont

Lyra cried. There was so much light in James Potter, that she wasn't sure how he could be so much brighter than the world around him. How he could be so much brighter than Lyra felt at the moment. 

He also had the ability to make her feel it. The warmth that she hadn't felt other than with her parents for the past days came back, and it was all because of him and he did it all only through a letter. 

The tear that had built up in her eyes finally fell, because she felt like a horrible person in comparison to him. She felt like she had betrayed him and everything he believed in through betraying her headmaster. 

She cried because she now felt like the dark witch she had tried so very hard to avoid becoming. And all she wanted now was for either James or Sirius or Remus to hold her and tell her that everything was going to be alright. 

Lyra heard footsteps approaching her room, so she quickly hid the letter underneath the covers of her bed. She also hurried to dry her tears, not wanting anybody to see how affected she had been by this.

She froze as she saw Rabastan standing there, as if he was ready to either confront her or check up on her. But she didn't give him the opportunity, she became cold instead. "You went too far, and if you ever do so again, I will not hesitate to retaliate."

"Don't be weak, Lyra."

"Don't underestimate my wrath when not obeyed," she retorted, glaring at him heatedly. She didn't want to look at him, not wanting a reminder of what had happened. "Get out of my home. I'll see you at school. But for now, get out of my home."