The same dream had plagued her that night....

“Nerd,” I coughed out, before glancing around me. “Who said that?”

“There’s this thing you know, Mackintosh, it’s called sleep. Maybe you should give it a try,” Black suggested sarcastically, and I rolled my eyes, sitting up straight.
“Huh, now that you say it, I guess it does sound familiar…” Unamused I all but glared at Sirius, before giving him a half-smile and stretching.

I wasn’t the one who’d blown up the living room because he’d wanted to see what would happen if he threw a deck of exploding snap cards into the fire.
No, that had been Decius.

“We’ve all got our demons Sirius, some are just more cruel and open in their haunting.”

“I’m just tired of having to listen to the stereotypes, and then being looked at darkly when I don’t jump to defend my family’s name immediately. I shouldn’t have to defend them, people should already know, after everything my family have done to help the Wizarding and Muggle Worlds, that they aren’t death-eaters in waiting.”

“You really care about her don’t you?”
“I care about all of them,” I say quietly, “Even deep, deep, deep down despite my dislike of you Black, I don’t want to see you die.”

“You looked like you had it covered,” he shrugged, a smirk pulling at his lips as he tried to keep an innocent expression. Rolling my eyes, I sat up straight and turned to face him properly.
“At what point, as I lay on the common room floor with a rapid owl screeching and clawing at me, did I look like I had it covered?”

“I meant what I said to Eloise. Your family don’t define you, so don’t let them.” 

“You’d have thought…” I huffed as my suitcase got hooked in the snow for the third time, “That someone would’ve seen us from the house by now. Especially since James is meant to have a built in Lily-Sensor.”

“No, I do. You’re right, if you can talk to me about your family, about your brother… about yourself, then I should at least trust you enough to… to do the same. I mean, we are friends, yeah?”

“Yeah, we’re friends, Lyra.”  

“Good lord you two just got together and you’re already acting like a married couple.”

“A married couple? Hear I thought I was reliving all the years Lily tried to deny her undying love for James.” 

 "...She can tell herself a hundred times that she accepts what she is, but she won’t truly until she stops fearing what others will think when they find out.”

“Whatever it is, whatever you’re holding back – it’s not going to change the fact that you’re my best friend. I’m always going to be here for you, Ly, I’ve always been here.” 

 My vision blurred at my peripherals, my hands shaking as my heart took on a distant, empty thudding against my chest and the ground was suddenly so much closer than it had previously been as my body slumped to the floor. Scrambling quickly to the wall, I hugged my knees to my chest as my vision disappeared altogether and my surroundings were replaced by a sheer blinding nothingness. 

 For the first time in my memory, the Manor was quiet.

"I've got no idea what's going on."

"Fairly typical."

"Rude."

"Why does it kill you so much? Why do you feel like you have to do something to make this better?"