There was only one place where Lyra knew she would get quiet, and have the opportunity to talk to her son without interruption. And that happened to be Draco's room, where people saw no need to enter. Well, people other than her. She was still his mother, even after everything that happened. She still believed she should be allowed inside. 

She found him sitting on his bed, his face pale as he stared at the wall. She wasn't sure what he had just done, but she knew he had just been with his father and Voldemort. Part of her wanted to know what had happened, just so she could be there for him. The other part didn't want to know what innocence he had lost today. 

Lyra poked her head through the door, knocking it on it carefully. She pursed her lips as he turned around rapidly, looking rather frightened. He calmed down the minute he saw it was her, but only greeted her with a small nod. "Are you okay?"

"I'm- I'm fine," the blond boy stuttered, watching warily as she closed the door behind her. He didn't like it when people were around his room, mostly because he knew people could try to listen in. "Are you?"

She frowned, wondering why he'd ask that when she felt like he looked worse than she did. Then again, that was her point of view. It could very well be that she looked worse than she thought.. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"I just... With everything... it's got to be hard to hear. All those things said at the last meeting, I mean," Draco said, seeming to find it difficult to find the right words. He kept glancing at the door, worried that somebody could be standing on the outside. 

Lyra looked down for a moment. She wasn't very happy about the things said during the last meeting they'd been at, but it's not like she could say anything about it. She walked over to sit next to him on the bed. "You do know that I'm sorry, right?"

"You've only told me a million times," he responded dryly, turning his head to look at her. She couldn't help but notice the deep, dark circles underneath his eyes. "I've gotten pretty good at keeping secrets. It shouldn't be a problem."

"I'm not sorry that you found out," the blonde woman told him, wanting to clear that up. She still felt awful about lying to him all this time. "I'm sorry about the way you found out, and I'm sorry that I'm forcing you to keep this secret. And I'm sorry that I've lied to you and made you feel this way."

"There wasn't anything else you could do," Draco responded, his voice void of any emotion still. "I realize that now."

"I could have been more honest with you, I know that. You don't have to make excuses for me," said Lyra, not wanting him to forgive her just because he didn't want to feel alone. She had done things in order to not be alone, too. It hadn't worked out too well thus far. "I was just scared that whatever influence your father has on you would take over and the secret wouldn't be safe."

The blond boy looked at his mother with a slight frown. "So you didn't trust me?"

Lyra didn't want to lie to him anymore. She had to tell him the truth, even if it hurt him. She couldn't lie and say that she had trusted him. "I should have. I should have trusted that you loved me enough."

"Yeah, you should have," he agreed, smoothing over his strangely messy hair. "But I get that you're only doing what you thought was right. That's why you did the last thing, kept your last secret. I don't think anyone knows that."

"You do," she reminded him, confused. Though she did appreciate the fact that he didn't outright mention the Order of the Phoenix in a house usually filled with Death Eaters. "And everyone there does."

"I'm not talking about... that." Draco looked like he was psyching himself up to say something, like he was pained trying get the words out. He eventually sighed and forced himself to speak.  "I'm talking about you and Lestrange."

She quickly gaped. "What?"

"Don't even try to deny it." He rolled his eyes. "I'm not stupid, Mother. I notice things. Don't forget that I'm the one who managed to sneak Death Eaters into Hogwarts under Dumbledore's nose. I'm rather smart. And, well, I think I'm the only one who has, unless I'm wrong."

"You are," she said quietly, surprised that he had figured it out. She had thought she'd been slick about it, but not as much as she thought, supposedly. "Cissy knows. She found out at Christmas, so Bella probably does, too, but she hasn't mentioned it. And... Remus knows."

"You've seen Lupin?" he asked, surprised. He thought he would have known that, but he then had to remind himself that he had noticed a lot less than he thought over the years. Especially when it came to his mother. 

"A couple of weeks ago." He didn't say anything else about the matter. Lyra noticed how he didn't say much about the whole Rabastan thing, she would have thought he'd say how he felt. Like he did the last time she found out he knew one of her secrets. "Draco, I hope you understand that I did that, like I did everything, for you. Only for you."

Draco shrugged, obviously trying to seem unbothered. "I figured. I just can't see how."

"Your father has long promised to protect me. He did the same for you once the Dark Lord returned," she explained, feeling like he deserved that after everything.  "And then he got locked away and I needed that same assurance. I thought Rabastan could give it to me, but..."

"Then why'd you ask Professor Snape?" Draco asked, remembering very clearly that she had made his professor give the Unbreakable Vow to protect him. There wouldn't have been

"Because I was wrong," she admitted, which she didn't like to do, especially in front of her son. Parents very rarely did so, which she remembered well from her own childhood. "Because he couldn't help you. He didn't want to help you."

"Then why'd you stay with him?"

While she had been very candid up until that point, Lyra didn't feel like it was right to talk to her son about why she had been sleeping with someone other than his father. "Draco, I don't think this is appropriate-"

"No, you're going to start being honest with me," Draco cut her off in the middle of her sentence, giving her a strict look reminding her of the one her mother would give her when she lied about stealing cookies from Andromeda. "You owe me that after all these years."

"Fine, you're right. I do owe you that," she agreed, taking a deep breath as she tried to find the words to explain how it was. "I felt very alone. I haven't been truly alone for a long time. Lonely? Yes. Alone? No. And, well... Then it happened."

Draco raised a single eyebrow at her, looking slightly incredulous. "So you were with him because you were lonely?"

Lyra sighed, crouching together so her head was rested in her hands. He had every right to feel betrayed at this. What kind of stupid, horrible person cheats on their spouse just because they don't want to be alone? "It sounds awful, I know."

"And now? What's happening now that Father's back?" Draco asked the question she was dreading. She didn't know what to answer, because she wasn't sure what she thought or felt. Everything was so confusing. 

She pursed her lips, trying to gather her thoughts. "I haven't spoken to Rabastan in weeks."

Draco quickly picked up on the vague answer, looking less than impressed. He wanted to know about the future, not the past few weeks. "Is that because you know what to do or because you don't?"

"When did you get so smart?" Lyra asked, looking up at him with a soft smile. No matter what he had done or was going to do, she couldn't help but be proud of the young man he was becoming, no longer trapped by his father's influence, like had been when he was young. If this war would end, and he would be brave enough to switch sides, then she could imagine him taking the world by storm. 

"I get it from you." He smiled back, though it looked unnatural on his pale, tired face, like he hadn't done so in a long time. "Now answer my question. I'm an adult now, I can handle whatever happens."

"I can't believe how big you've gotten," the blonde woman breathed, looking at him in wonder. He was seventeen, of age now. She still saw him as the tiny baby she held in her arms all those years ago. So small, so fragile. Not anymore. "Fine, I... I think I know what I want. I just don't know how to make it happen."

"You'll figure it out," he said confidently, with the utmost faith in his mother. After realizing everything she'd gone through, he had been very impressed with how she had gotten this far. "You've managed to get this far, somehow."

Lyra almost wanted to cry, but not because she was sad for once. No, she was just proud of how grown he had become, and she could see that he could still be a good man. Once this war was over, she had faith he could turn things around. "You really don't need me anymore, do you?"

Draco smiled slightly, shrugging teasingly. It felt good to smile again, to act like things were all right for a moment, like he wasn't a Death Eater. "I don't know. Maybe not. Time will tell."

"I hope so," she said softly. She leaned in to kiss the side of his head sweetly before holding him close in her arms, just to remind him that she would always love him. "I love you, all right? No matter what happens next."

Draco leaned into her embrace, though obviously still tense. She hadn't given him a proper answer about what she was going to do. He just hoped she'd finally be happy after everything. "I love you, too."

▹▹▹

Lyra had waited long enough to make her decision, and she knew it was cruel to ignore Rabastan for weeks and torture herself with fear that Lucius would find out. Something needed to change, but she couldn't do anything before she found the courage to speak to the man she'd called her lover for the past year. 

She found him standing in the drawing room,  looking like he was thinking deeply about something as he looked at some documents. Probably from the Ministry of Magic, she supposed. They did have Pius Thicknesse under the Imperius Curse now, after all. 

He was alone, thankfully. The house was far from empty, but there was nobody else in the room or in the adjoining onces. The Manor was rather large, and everybody else found themselves on the other side of it. She knew Lucius was in his study, at least. Far away from there. 

Lyra hesitantly cleared her throat, wanting to get his attention. Well, she didn't want it, per se. She needed it, because it was time to stop being selfish. She needed to do the right thing. "Rabastan..."

The brown-haired man turned his head, a wide grin appearing on his tired face once he finally noticed she was there. He dropped whatever it was he was looking at and walked over to her. "Lyra, finally. I've been trying to talk to you for weeks."

Lyra shifted in discomfort once he put his hand on her upper arm, rubbing the bare skin on it. "It hasn't really been an easy time lately."

"I know," he sighed. He reached up to fiddle with her short, blonde locks but she pulled her head to the side. He pursed his lips, noticing how she didn't seem to keen on his touch. "I know, I know. I should have told you I was helping the Dark Lord break Lucius out of Azkaban."

"Yes, you should have," she responded coolly, biting the inside of her lip.

"But it was the right thing to do." Rabastan smiled slightly, obviously thinking that he was earning her forgiveness. "Lucius and I may not have gotten along since I got broken out last year, but he deserves to know that you're leaving him."

Lyra recoiled from him, even more than she already had, her eyebrow furrowed in confusion. "What?"

Rabastan looked confused at her reaction, his mouth opening and closing several times before he felt able to say something. "Well, you are, aren't you?"

"Why do you say that?" she asked rather rudely, though she wished she had said it in a more delicate manner. It just slipped out. 

"Well... I thought it was obvious," Rabastan said slowly, looking deep in thought. She avoided eye contact with him. "We've been together for over a year, Lyra. And now that he's out, you can finally officially tell me that you're leaving him."

"You assumed so," she said, reaching out to grab the hand he had rested on her arm and pulling it off. But he seemed to take it as her wanting to hold his hand, so he clutched hers. "I never told you that I was leaving him."

She could see the wheels in his head spinning, trying to make sense of her words but he clearly could only hear what he wanted to. "But you are. I mean, after everything, you've got to. You told me yourself that you've never loved him. And you- you love me. It's the only way."

"Rabastan..." the blonde trailed off, pulling her hand out of his grip, running her fingers through it as she took a deep breath. She still wasn't sure how to say what she was about to say. "I came over here to talk to you about our future."

"I thought that's what we were doing."

She closed her eyes for a moment, wondering how she was ever going to get to the point when he refused to listen. "That's not-"

"Lyra, come on," he cut her off, trying to throw her a charming grin. She remembered feeling her knees buckle when he smiled like that when she was fifteen. Now it made her a bit sick. "We both know how it's supposed to be. It's been that way since were fifteen. You and me, together. And you're going to leave him and he'll take the kid and we'll live our lives together."

"He'll take the kid?" she repeated, crossing her arms across her chest as she raised a cool eyebrow at him incredulously. "You think I'd abandon Draco?"

Rabastan had obviously made his own ideas about how their lives would be, but he hadn't imagined that they wouldn't suit Lyra's own plans. "I thought we'd start our own family. Just you and me."

It was almost insulting how he thought she'd leave Draco for anyone. No matter what happened, or what choices she would make, Draco would always be her first priority. "Draco is my family, and anyway, that's not-"

He rolled her eyes, but nevertheless cut her off and spoke, though sounding displeased about it. "We'll take the kid if it's that important to you-"

"Rabastan, listen to me!" Lyra cut him off sternly, glaring at him this time. She needed him to get it through his brain for once, he needed to understand so they could get on with their lives. "I'm not leaving Lucius."

Rabastan stayed silent for a few moments, only blinking as he tried to make sense of what she was saying. He was obviously struggling with it. "What? Why not?"

Lyra forced herself to look into his eyes, though she was afraid of what she'd see in them. For now, they were cold and calculating. But she knew that if she didn't play her cards right, then they'd be fiery hot with anger. "Because... he's my husband, he's Draco's father and..."

"And what? And what, Lyra?" Rabastan repeated himself, taking another step closer to her. He was standing so there was barely a few inches between them and she could see the coolness behind his eyes fading.  "Say it. Say whatever it is you're thinking right now."

Lyra gulped, reaching down into her pockets to grab her wand. "I think you know."

He noticed the movement of her hand and grabbed her wrist before she could even fully put her hand into her pocket. He held it up to his own eye-level, making her struggle to stand. His eyes were terrifying now as they looked crazed. "No, I want you to to tell me. Say it to my face!"

"Because I don't love you," she whispered, forcing her green eyes to keep looking into his blue ones, no matter how terrifying they had gotten. This was Rabastan, after all. Even after everything, he's never hurt her before. Would he start now?

Rabastan stared into her apologetic eyes with his jaw tightly clenched. And Lyra now understood why so many people feared him. This wasn't the boy she'd been friends with since she was a teenager, the man that hadn't given her comfort for the last year. This was the Death Eater, the murderer, the torturer. If you looked into his eyes, you would barely believe he was a man at all. 

He reached out and wrapped his fingers around her neck, slamming her agains the wall with a loud thud. His hand was tight against her throat, making her struggle to breathe. She could feel her back ache already as she struggled against his grip. 

He leaned in close to her, whispering into her ear with a cruel tone of voice, making her wonder what more he was going to do. "Huh, so what about this year, hm? What was that? Was it all a lie? Are you a liar, Lyra? Even more of a liar than I thought you were?"

Lyra's fingers clawed at his hand, trying to make him release her from his grip. She needed to breathe again. But he was so much stronger than her, and she couldn't even making him soften his grip. If anything, he tightened it. "Rabastan, let go. Please- I can't breathe..."

"You lied to me," Rabastan hissed, now looking straight into her terrified eyes, almost smirking as if he was happy that she looked so afraid. Like he reveled in the power he held over her. 

Lyra struggled to get the words out as she gasped for as much breath as she could. "I never- I didn't tell you that I-"

"Oh, shut it," he snapped, refusing to let her get a whole sentence out. If it was even possible, he used more of his strength to hold her against the wall by her throat. "You made me believe that you loved me, that we were going to be together. Why would you be with me then?"

"Rabastan-"

"Answer me!" he roared in her face as he turned red, veins sticking out of his neck. She clawed at his hands even more, choking loudly as she tried her best to take even a single gasp of air but she wasn't able to get it, tears streaming down her cheeks. 

He eased his grip - though only slightly - as he realized there was no way for her to answer when she couldn't even breathe. He could still make it painful, though. "I- I needed your help. Protection, someone to be there-"

"So you used me? You little bitch." He pulled her back from the wall, only to slam her into it once again, making her groan in pain, both because of the impact the wall made on her head and her back, but also because he still choked her tightly. "I loved you!"

"No, you don't love anyone but yourself!" she choked out, her voice raspy and much darker than usual as she forced the words out. Tears were involuntarily falling from her eyes. "Stop trying to act like you do. This isn't love! You wouldn't do this to someone you love!"

"Oh, Lyra, you don't understand the love I have for you. I love you. I'll show you how much I love you," he said, almost sounding nice, but she could hear the ominous tone, and she could see the dangerous look in his eyes. "And you'll love me. You won't have much of a choice."

Lyra let out a gasp in relief as he released her, coughing loudly. She fell on her knees, rubbing her throat despite how much it hurt. She knew it was going to leave quite the bruise. She barely had time to breathe when Rabastan grabbed her arm and pulled her up, and started pulling her out of the room.  "Rabastan! Rabastan, where are we going?"

He pulled Lyra with him, past many rooms, past some Death Eaters even. They all watched curiously as Lyra struggled against Rabastan's grip, but none of them said a word and none of them dared follow. They all knew what Lyra had just realized, just how crazed and willing to hurt others Rabastan was. She had had hope for him for so long, but the bruises that were starting to materialize around her neck told a different story.

Her eyes widened as she realized what room he was dragging her to. Lucius's study, where her husband had told everyone he was going to spend the next few hours, as he had some secret business, probably some punishing task from the Dark Lord. "Rabastan, stop! Stop it, please!"

"Shut up, Lyra!" Rabastan snapped as he pushed the door to the study open, not even bothering to knock. 

Lucius barely looked up from some piece of parchment when they walked in, just enough to realize who it was, but not enough to read the situation. "Lyra, Rabastan, what are you doing here? I'm busy, I have things to do."

Rabastan clenched his jaw, tightening his grip on Lyra's arm. He was about to leave yet another bruise that was going to hurt for several days to come. "Oh, nothing quite as important as this, I think."

Lyra's tears weren't only because of the physical pain she felt anymore, but also because she knew what he was going to do. He had realized that she had been afraid to be alone when they'd start and used it to manipulate her into being with him. Now, he was going to tell Lucius to make it so that Rabastan was the only option she'd have. "Please don't do this. I'm begging you."

At the sound of pained desperation in his wife's voice, Lucius finally looked up to study the situation. He put the piece of parchment down, looking stiff as he looked at them with careful eyes. "Lyra, what's going on? Are you all right? What happened to your neck?"

Rabastan released her arm, using the same hand to grab her cheeks, squishing them together as he showed her off to her own husband, a sick smirk on his face. "Oh, isn't she pretty, Lucius? Such a pretty, little wife you have, don't you think?"

"Let go of her, Rabastan," Lucius said coolly, refusing to meet Lyra's gaze. He tried to maintain eye contact with the other man instead, thinking it would intimidate him at least a little. 

"What are you going to do?" the Lestrange man chuckled madly to himself, raising his eyebrows in an intense challenge. He reached into his pockets with his free hand, grabbing his wand and twirling it around with his fingers. "You don't even have a wand anymore. I have all the power here."

Lyra wasn't sure if he was getting ready to point his wand at her or Lucius. Either way, she wanted him to stop before he hurt anyone more than he already had, and before he said something that could ruin her life. "Please, stop it. You don't have to do this."

He tapped his wand against her cheek, making her flinch. He smirked wickedly. "Don't I? Come on, Lyra, I think it's time you stop lying. You've been lying for far too long now, I think. You must have known it'd blow up in your face."

Lucius kept his cool, barely glancing at his crying wife. He knew that getting emotional wouldn't help Rabastan go away and stop hurting her. "Just say your piece, let her go and then get on with your day. I have more important things to do and I'm sure you do, as well."

"Look at you, trying to act like there's any respect to your name anymore. You've lost everything, Lucius," Rabastan reminded him cruelly, digging his wand into Lyra's neck, which was starting to get covered in purple and blue bruises. "No wonder your wife doesn't want you anymore."

"Rabastan, stop it," Lyra commanded him, but her voice was weak and raspy so they could barely hear her. 

"You know, seeing as she spent the last year screwing me. In this very house, actually. Sometimes in your bed," he revealed, laughing to himself. He looked at Lyra with a fake sweetness behind his mad eyes. "It started the very night he went off to Azkaban, didn't it, darling?"

Lucius stiffened, a deep frown on his face. He looked between the two people in front of him, trying to decipher whether Rabastan was telling the truth or if he was trying to cause trouble as usual. "What?"

"Oh, don't tell me Azkaban managed to mess your head up? Didn't do the same with me, but I suppose that's what happens with the weak-minded," said Rabastan patronizingly. "Allow me to say it in a way you'll understand. I've been sleeping with your wife for over a year behind your back."

For a moment, it was quiet. The only noise heard was Lyra's heavy breathing and sniffling as Lucius's pale face became even whiter than she thought possible. His tired, gray eyes looked into hers, trying to hide the hurt behind them. She knew him too well, he couldn't hide it from her. "Lyra, is this true?"

Tears were streaming down Lyra's face as she gulped, wincing in pain as she did so. Part of her wanted to lie, as she had always done. But she couldn't do that, not anymore. He may have done horrible things, to her and to others, but he deserved to know the truth. "Lucius... I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I-"

Lyra couldn't even finish her sentence before Lucius had punched Rabastan in the face, panting heavily. Rabastan fell to the floor with a crack, blood falling onto the floor next to him as he groaned in pain. Lyra only gasped in surprise. 

She was sure Rabastan's nose was broken, but she couldn't bring herself to care. In fact, it made her feel a bit better. She was already in intense pain every time she swallowed, and her back ached from being slammed into the wall. He deserved much more than what he had gotten. She didn't care about him, she could only watch Lucius carefully.

"Lucius!" Lyra called out for him as he shook his head and stepped over Rabastan's bleeding form. She tried to grasp onto his arm desperately, to make him listen to her, but he only threw her off him, stalking out of the room. "Lucius, please, let me explain! Lucius, please!"

He slammed the door behind him, and she fell against it, crying desperately and sobbing, even if every noise she made hurt her throat. Rabastan's pained whines were the least of her concerns, but she was alone with him now that Lucius had walked off without saying another word. 

"That hurt more than I thought it would," Rabastan commented, gripping onto his nose as he pulled himself into a sitting position. He still looked far too smug as he met Lyra's teary eyes.  "What about now, Lyra? What are you going to do? Looks like you're all alone. It's me or nobody."

"Get out," she said weakly, as she couldn't really speak in any other way at the moment, but the pure, unfiltered rage on her face more than made up for it. 

"What?" Rabastan scoffed, looking surprised. He had seemingly thought his plan was foolproof, as he always meant he knew her so well. She'd be too afraid to be alone, he thought. She'd choose him over no one, no matter what he'd do. Maybe he was wrong, after all. "You're joking."

"No, I want you out of my house!" Lyra hissed, glaring heatedly at him. She saw him sitting on the floor, bloody and looking so weak. She couldn't keep herself from kicking him in the ribs, making him be even more pain. Perhaps soon he'd be in as much pain as she was. "Get out of my life!"

"Don't do something you'll regret." Rabastan warned darkly, though obviously not happy about the kick. He forced himself off the ground, clutching his side with one hand, the other putting his wand in his robes for safekeeping. "You don't want to end up all alone, do you?"

Lyra noticed the fact that he had put his wand away and saw an opportunity that she didn't think she'd get. She got her own out before he could stop her, like he did before. She gritted her teeth and pointed it straight in his face, prepared to do things she never thought she'd do. She wasn't sure if he actually deserved it or if she was just angry for the pain he had caused, physically and emotionally. "Get out before I kill you."

"Don't be dramatic-"

"Get out!" Lyra screamed the last word, though hoarse. It was quite painful, but she couldn't keep herself from releasing her anger through the sheer volume. She dug her wand into his neck, the same way he had done with her. She wasn't sure if she could see any fear in his eyes, but there was still anger. Then again, it might just be her own reflected in his eyes. 

Rabastan clenched his jaw, glaring down at her. His spur-of-the-moment plan hadn't exactly worked out the way he had expected it to. Lyra wasn't supposed to hate him, or threaten him. She was supposed to feel defeated and alone, so she'd have no choice but to be with him. "You'll regret this."

"No, you will. I'll make you regret it," Lyra hissed. He moved so her wand was no longer tightly against his throat, but she couldn't see past her own blind anger. She wanted him to pay. She wanted him to suffer. "Cru-"

He scrambled to apparate away before she could complete the incantation. They both knew that she had enough anger within her at that moment to follow through with the curse, as she had only done once before. 

And then Lyra was alone, standing in her husband's study. Well, for however much longer he would want to be her husband. She wouldn't have blamed him if he'd want to leave her, even if it would break Draco's heart. Neither of them had ever cheated on one another before, no matter their differences, and there had been many. 

The anger seemed to fade away when she no longer had anybody in front of her to be angry at. The tears only returned as she realized she had ruined everything, that she had pushed everyone away. She had left the Order, but she just might lose her husband. And it's not like she could rejoin the Order when Draco was still a Death Eater, who still needed her, even if he was hesitant to admit it. 

Lyra found herself pacing back and forth, ending up in front of the window to their large garden, where nobody stood. There was nobody who could watch her cry. She let out a pained shriek, slamming her fists against the clear window. This might be it, the thing that destroyed her once and for all. 

▹▹▹

A/N: Finally got this long ass chapter out and hope you guys got what you wanted! I know you've been waiting for Lucius (or anybody for that matter, though Sirius did do it once) to punch Rabastan in the face for a long time now.