A/N this is set at the beginning of OotP but in Lyra's universe. Remus, Tonks and Moody and the others have just rescued her from Privet Drive. This sort of leads into Eavesdropping, explaining how Lyra sleeping in Sirius' bed started. This ISNT a Lyra/Sirius fic!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs entirely to JK Rowling - none of it belongs to me.

Lyra clung to her Firebolt, her eyes on the people surrounding her - most of whom she didn't know. She would have been worried, she knew she should be, but the presence of Remus Lupin had calmed her enough to trust the lot of them, and her discussion with Tonks in her bedroom as they packed her trunk meant that Lyra felt close to two members of her escort, not just one.

Her trunk dangled from Tonks' broom, all her possessions including her only relics of her parents in the hands of someone she had only met two hours before. Yet Lyra felt calm, she trusted Tonks more than she thought she would, and she had not failed to notice the sideways glances her and Remus were sending at each other. If Remus liked her, then Lyra knew she was safe and her belongings well looked after.

But thinking about each member of the group surrounding her kept her distracted from the cold laying itself around her hands, creeping into her skin and numbing her fingers. So Lyra kept thinking about her companions, because she did not want to succumb to the vicious cloud freezing her clothes to her skin.

Eventually, she followed Tonks down through the skies beneath her to land in a grimy square. She listened to Moody's gruff voice explaining what she had to do before the paper was incinerated, and her mouth dropped open in astonishment as a house emerged in front of her.

Number 12, Grimmauld Place.

It was grimy, dirty to the extreme. She did not know who lived within, or why she had been brought here, so it was with a sense of trepidation that she allowed Remus to lead her in, his arm wrapped around her while the other members of the guard brought in her suitcase.

Her gaze travelled along the dark, narrow hall, as she wondered once again who lived in the hidden house. Tonks winked at the pair as she passed them, and Lyra watched Remus as he reddened slightly, before he turned to Lyra and opened his mouth - just as Mrs Weasley came bustling in and almost dragged her away from Remus to give her a hug. Lyra hugged her back, before she was tutted over and led away from her uncle as he made his way to the dark corners of the hall.

Lyra cautiously followed Mrs Weasley up the stairs, looking slightly nervously at the heads of several house elves that adorned the walls, and as Mrs Weasley made her way back down again, she opened one of the doors - only to be greeted by a shriek as Hermione launched herself at her.

"LYRA! Ron, she's here, Lyra's here! We didn't hear you arrive! Oh, how are you? Are you alright? Have you been furious with us? I bet you have, I know our letters have been useless - but we couldn't tell you anything, Dumbledore made us swear we wouldn't, oh, we've got so much to tell you, and you've got things to tell us - the Dementors! When we heard - and that Ministry hearing - it's just outrageous, I've looked it all up they can't expel you, they just can't, there's provision in the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery for the use of magic in life threatening situations -"

"Give her a second Hermione!" Ron cried, before he grinned at Lyra. "Hi Lyra, you alright?" He asked, before moving to shut the door behind them. Hermione relinquished Lyra, and opened her mouth but was interrupted by the figure of Lyra's beloved owl.

"Hedwig" Lyra breathed, a smile breaking out across her face as she caressed the snowy white feathers. "She kept attacking us, kept biting our fingers!" Ron grumbled beside her, and Lyra's good mood at the sight of her owl evaporated.

"Right.." Lyra said, her voice quiet. "If you'd just answered my letters properly..!" She left the sentence hanging in the air, and Hermione leapt in at once to correct her "but Dumbledore made us swear not to say anything!"

Lyra's voice remained quiet but turned icy as she studied her two best friends in front of her. "Since when does the headmaster of a school dictate who his students write to and what they write in the summer holidays?"

Hermione blushed, but exchanged pointed glances with Ron that only succeeding in exasperating Lyra even more.

"I think he thought it was best -" "and for who?" Lyra interrupted, "it couldn't have been for me! I was still attacked by Dementors so it's not like I was safe! And you all knew what was going on, you've all been together!"

Ron glanced at her, he could see that Lyra was getting angrier than he'd ever seen her before. "You were safe Lyra, he made sure of it, members of the Order have been guarding you for weeks!" He knew instantly that that was the wrong thing to say, as Lyra went bright red when she turned to him. "You all knew? Everybody knew that I wasn't alone every minute that I was stuck in Privet Drive? Is there anything else that I should probably know that everyone else seems to?"

"We haven't been in the meetings Lyra! We barely know anything!"

"But YOU knew that I was followed by invisible wizards! You knew enough that you've been forbidden to write to me!"

She started to shout at them, every frustration she had towards Dumbledore, towards Voldemort, towards the Dursleys and towards her two best friends pouring out of her. Her two friends stood in front of her, not able to get a word in edge ways and knowing that she was right. Both felt a strong sense of relief when Lyra was interrupted by the call for dinner, and as she turned away to make her way downstairs, by the dim light in the room, both noticed the glint of tears in her eyes.

They followed her downstairs meekly, joined by Ginny and the twins, who each hugged Lyra, lifting her off her feet. Lyra endured them with a long suffering grin on her face, before finally being allowed to finish her way down the stairs. She followed the twins to a door, which they opened and entered the room behind - the kitchen, and as she entered her gaze fell upon the one man she thought wouldn't be here, the person she had missed the most in the weeks since the Third Task.

"Sirius!"

He smiled at her, and she suddenly dashed at him, throwing herself in his arms. "I missed you Sirius" she mumbled into his shoulder. He stroked her hair, hugging his goddaughter back as the assembled members of the Order smiled at the sight.

They sat down to dinner, Lyra sitting at Sirius' side, Remus on her other side. She leaned in to Sirius' comfortable shoulder as she ate, and he wrapped his arm around her, eating with one hand as both men enjoyed their reunion with Lyra.

Eventually, as a tense meal finally finished and everyone made their way up to bed, Lyra joined Hermione and Ginny in their shared bedroom. As they went to sleep, Lyra turned away from the other girls. She still felt isolated from them, and from the Wizarding World even though she had now rejoined it.

As she tossed and turned, she drifted off into a restless sleep. Her hands gripped the sheets as her nightmares commenced. Cedric, shot down in front of her because he wasn't who they wanted. She replayed his death over and over in her head, her torture, her parents spirits, every moment of that night returned in flashes disturbing her subconscious. The fight with the basilisk, seeing Ginny's still body, the fight with Quirrell and Voldemort to get the Stone and her parents on the night of their deaths. Every bad moment from her time at Hogwarts and before filled her mind each night. Every night it was the same.

Lyra woke up with a start, her hands still twisted in the sheets but her fingers were trembling. Her blankets were pushed back and she was sweating. Even though her eyes were now open as she looked through the gloomy room, the flashes of curses still blinking in front of her eyes.

She couldn't settle again, so eventually rose out of bed. She quietly crept along the corridors, making her way to the top of the house where Sirius had told her his bedroom was. She opened one of the two doors to find her slumbering godfather, and almost regretting her actions but knowing she wasn't going to get any peace if she didn't, Lyra made her way to the edge of his bed.

"Sirius?" She whispered, her hands tentatively reaching out but stopping just short of his body. "Sirius?" She asked again, and he finally woke up, sitting up with a start and grabbing his wand, filling the room with light. He blinked at her, his eyes softening as he took in her trembling form.

"Ly?" His hoarse voice echoed in the room, "what happened?" She recounted her nightmare for him, and his face turned to one of pity. As an escaped convict he knew he couldn't give her much, but he could comfort her. He shifted in his bed slightly, and opened his arms, lifting up his blanket. Lyra climbed into his bed, snuggling into his arms as he comforted her.

Finally, her mind relaxed and she drifted off to sleep in Sirius' arms for the first time in fourteen years. More importantly, she had a peaceful nights sleep for the first time since the Third Task. Sirius looked down at his slumbering goddaughter, and as he lay down next to her again, he kissed her forehead before falling back to sleep himself.

Lyra woke early the next morning, confused as to where she was before she turned round and saw Sirius lying there. When he noticed her looking, he smiled. "Thanks Sirius" she whispered. As Lyra left his bedroom, both couldn't help but wish that it was James and Lily that Lyra could turn to for comfort rather than Sirius. But Lyra had felt right in Sirius' arms, and he had comforted her in a way that nobody else had ever managed to. She knew, now, what having a parent felt like.
Meanwhile Sirius watched her go and remembered how upset she had been the night before. How upset he had been at seeing her like that. It worried him that she suffered so, and as he watched Lyra leave his bed he realised that this must be what being a father felt like.

"I love you Ly" he whispered as she left, and turning, she whispered "I love you too Sirius" before turning the corner and heading back to her room.

A/N the stuff in bold I've lifted directly from OotP, as I thought Hermione's speech was typically Hermione. But I didn't want to copy too much so I changed the rest of their interaction and left a bit out as I wanted to get to the important bit - I didn't want to leave out her arrival so it was a bit of a hard decision what to write and what to skip over.