Of Irrevocable Fate And Virtue

03

Monday, October 26th, 1998.

4:44 am.

6lbs 10oz

Our baby was born.

A baby girl.

The most perfect child I had ever laid my eyes on. And she was mine. She was half of me and half of the man I loved most in the world, and my god, did she look so much like him.

Her eyes. Her eyes were his. They were so similar; it took my breath away as soon as they opened for the first time.

Her hair was dark like mine, and her skin pale and perfect. Her nose was mine and her lips were her father's. Perfectly drawn up and pink. Her cries were something of music to my ears. Something that I never thought I would be so happy to hear given her abrupt entrance into the world.

"Have you decided her name yet, deary?" Molly smiled, gently stroking the top of my daughter's head, where her soft hair was already as unruly as mine.

"You would think after what...almost ten months that she would have something picked out." Pansy chuckled from the corner of the room.

"It's hard to name a child when their other parent isn't here to give input, you know?" I raised an eyebrow in her direction, "But I think I've narrowed it down given the circumstances."

"Well that is wonderful." Molly said in an excited whisper as to not wake the sleeping angel in my arms.

"Unfortunately, at the moment, she will have to take your last name." Arthur informed, peering at some papers in his hands, "If we were to give her the Malfoy name, they would be alerted to our whereabouts, and that is too dangerous at this given time. I'm sorry, Scarlett."

I bit the inside of my cheek.

Draco is her father. I am her mother. And this stupid fucking war has taken away the simplest right to give her the last name of the man that makes of half of her DNA, and that ultimately sacrificed it all to save me. To save us.

But I still had a part to play in all of this, of course. I mean, I did make her from scratch and she was just cut out of my stomach due to her refusing to switch her positioning in the womb.

Healers said it was her being cozy, I said it was her already taking after her father.

That Malfoy stubbornness is apparently rooted deeply in DNA.

"Not even hyphenated?" I asked, gently patting my baby's back as she slept.

Arthur solemnly shook his head, "But that can be changed once...once everything is safe again. It is just for the time being."

I tried not to let that hurt as much as it was.

And God, it really fucking hurt.

"Lyra." I finally said, "I like Lyra."

There was a small gasp around the room, followed by what could only be described as puppy dog eyes.

"Is there a meaning behind it?" Molly asked, smiling comfortingly.

"It's a constellation," I started, keeping my eyes down on my sleeping daughter, "Named after a Lyre that was placed in the sky by the gods to play forever."

"Right next to the dragon." Pansy added with an emotion-filled expression on her face, "God damnit, Scarlett, you're going to make me cry. Cut it out."

I laughed quietly, tears already filling my eyes.

Hormones.

"That is beautiful." Ginny sniffled herself, "No middle name?"

"Jane." I sighed softly, "For my mother."

The mention of my mother made the tears build quickly, and my chin trembled as I held the perfection in my arms even closer to me.

"Lyra Jane Monroe." Arthur nodded curtly, busying himself with jotting the name down, although I already saw his own tears welling up.

"I feel like I've been waiting ages to meet you." I whispered down to the sleeping baby once everyone as either filed out of dozed off in the makeshift hospital room, "I wish it was under better circumstances. I must admit."

Lyra's small hand opened, and her fingers curled around my finger with a tight grip. I knew it wasn't intention. Only a reflex. But it made my heart swell and my eyes water yet again.

"Your father would be so happy to finally see you too." I whispered, trying not to let my voice shake, "I know he's going to love you. He already does, he just doesn't know it yet."

I wiped a tear from my cheek before it dropped onto her.

"I love you so much." I gently stroked her cheek, "And I'm going to protect you and love you and cherish you and fight for you every single day of my life. No one is ever going to hurt you. I will do everything I can to give you everything you deserve, because my darling, you deserve the world already."

She made a small noise that made my heart leap. With every noise and small twitch of her nose, I found myself falling deeper in love with her.

She was perfect.

Completely and utterly perfect.

And I would do anything I had to do to make sure that she was safe.

I would fight as hard for her as I fought for Draco.

We had to find our way back to each other. He had to find his way back to us. An us he didn't have any idea about, but an us that I knew he would fight like hell to protect.

Nothing was every going to hurt this baby girl. My baby. Our baby.

Our Lyra.