EDITED 11/20/18
As we walked into the Great Hall, I felt a sudden calmness come over me with the long tables and candle it room, how could one not feel safe? I was just glad to be back at Hogwarts instead of at home in the open. My family has gone on high alert with protective charms and such due to Bellatrix being on the loose. I have waited all summer long to see my friends again. On the bright side, I saw my eldest sibling when I arrived. Michelle became an auror and she and Tonks are going to be hanging around a bit. Lucy is with Charlie in Romania caring for the dragons and for their kids, Gregor is two and a half years old and Scarlet is nine months old. Liam is a writer now and has published a few books, they are quite interesting since we have had both a magical and non-magical upbringing. We just got an owl the other day from Madeline announcing that she and Fred are engaged. Matthew, he and Madeline are twins, is still home studying to be a healer like mum and dad. Even though we are all spread out now, we still try to keep in contact, especially these days.
"Don't worry, he'll be here in a minute." Ron reassured us as he stuffed his face with some dessert. Harry hasn't been seen since the train ride and Hermione was getting very anxious. I don't blame her.
"Will you stop eating!" Hermione scolded Ron and hit him with her book. Your best friend is missing!"
"Oi, turn around you lunatic!" Ron replied defensively.
"He's covered in blood again. Why is it that he is always covered in blood?" Ginny asked worriedly.
"Looks like it's his own this time." Ron said in between bites of food.
"I'm sure everything is fine. Luna is with him." I reassured.
After everything settled down, we all fell back into our normal way of life here at Hogwarts. Ron, Hermione, and Harry continued on with their whispers and such. Neville, Ginny, and Luna were all talking and laughing. I just sort of was included here and there with both groups. I didn't mind, I was lost in my own thoughts and not quite paying attention. I was forcing myself to eat the dessert in front of me. I had a really bad habit of not eating when things are on my mind. It got so bad last year with Umbridge being here that I passed out on two different occasions. I was with Madeline, Matt, and the Weasley twins. They were goofing around near the lake and I was sitting next to Madeline and when I stood up I got so light headed that I would hit my head if George did see me and catch me in time. He even carried me all the wa to the hospital wing. I smiled faintly at the memory of that. He was so sweet and sat next to my bedside nearly every chance he got. He always tried to make me laugh in a good effort to get me feeling better. It felt so weird this year without the twins and my other siblings. I was the only one of my family to be here at the school this year and it started to make me feel very lonely. To avoid the stinging feeling in my eyes, I started to look around the Great Hall and see all of the new faces that have joined us as well as the familiar faces. Among the faces one stood out to me. From across the table, on the other side of the room, Draco Malfoy was staring at me-but not in a menacing way...more of a gaze. Our eyes met and he didn't look away, I didn't either. There was something about the way he was looking at me that made me not want to unlock my blue eyes with his grey ones. Our eyes' path was only interrupted by Seamus sitting down right in front of me.
"Lyra are you ok?" He asked, his eyes filled with concern. I blinked a few times and looked at him. "Yes, why wouldn't I be?" I asked, a little unkinder than I meant. It showed when he looked down nervously. "I'm sorry Seamus, I was just lost in thought is all." I moved my hand towards him on the table and smiled apologetically.
"It's okay, I just saw you weren't eating...again and I wanted to make sure everything was okay." This boy was really kind, I sometimes regret letting our relationship fall apart. "Don't worry, I'm just a little stressed is all, you know with everything going on." He placed his hand over mine and smiled. "If you ever need to talk you know I'm here for you, right?" I nodded and he stood to walk over where he had been sitting with some other Gryffindors. When I looked back over at the Slytherin table I noticed Draco was gone and for some reason Pansy Parkinson was glaring at me. What a bizarre girl. Eh, what do you expect? Someone has to be bizarre for being hung up on Draco Malfoy the way she is.
"I really hope we don't have a class full of Slytherins." I moaned as Hermione and I walked into our potions class. "Dammit!" I said under my breath as I saw Draco, Pansy, and a few other Slytherins. "How Pleasant." Hermione sighed as we set our things on the table in front of us. I took note that we also had some Hufflepuffs and some Ravenclaws in the class as well.
"Are Harry and Ron not taking potions?" I asked Hermione. She shrugged.
"I believe they both had a free period and were trying to keep it that way." I just nodded. Those boys were trying to take it a little too easy this year. Sitting next to Hermione, waiting for class to begin, I felt like someone was watching me. I turned around and saw Draco sitting not to far away and turning averting his gaze to make it seem like he was staring at me again. What is going on?
"Come children, gather round here!" Professor Slughorn instructed to us all. We all stood and gathered around where he asked and waited for him to begin.
"Good afternoon everyone, I am Professor Slughorn." The older man greeted. "I am the new potions professor." Just then, Harry and Ron burst through the door and the whole class turned to stare at them. "They always have to make an entrance to situations like this don't they?" A dark haired Ravenclaw boy with a handsome face said to me with a smirk. "Always." I grinned as Professor Slughorn was talking to Harry and Ron about how they don't have books. "I don't think I have ever gotten your name out of all the years I have been here." He whispered, his eyes were an amber color and he had a head full of dark brown hair. He was quite handsome. "My name is Lyra St. Crow, and you are?" I asked with a flirty smile. "Caleb Greystone." He stuck out his hand and I shook it, blushing hard. I was so distracted by my handsome new friend that I forgot to pay attention to what was happening in class. Apparently, Hermione was describing the love potion on the table and how each person would smell what reminded them of the person they fancied. Hers reminded me of a certain ginger friend of ours, but I'll pry into that later. I noticed the other girls growing closer to the "love potion" and I couldn't help but grin a bit at it. I myself, have never been that infatuated with someone to where their smell drove me insane.
"Alright class, today we are going to be making Draught of Living Death." He said matter of factly walking behind his desk. "You will be doing this independently. You will need infusion of wormwood, water, powdered root of asphodel, valerian root, a sophophorous bean, and sloth brain. The directions are in your books. Good luck."
As we all got started and opened our books, we began to see how hard this was going to be. I was instructed to cut this bloody bean but it was slipping everywhere. I only minor relief when I noticed every one else was having the same issue.
"How the bloody hell am I supposed to do this?" I whined, frustrated with what seemed like a simple task at the time.
"How did you do that?" Hermione asked Harry frantically, I looked up to see that he was squeezing the content of the bean into his cauldron. How did he do that?!
"Crush it don't cut it." He stated simply.
"No, the instructions say to specifically to cut it." She restated.
"No, really." Harry assured. I did what Harry suggested and sure enough it worked! The rest of it got somewhat easier. Although we had a few laughs as Seamus blew his up, Hermione's made her so stressed her hair became a big bushy mess, and someone's potion even jumped out at them. All in all, not terrible. Harry ended up winning the liquid luck, of course. As our classroom stood around and watched Professor Slughorn present it to him, I noticed Draco was standing directly next to me. So close, I could even smell his cologne. It smelt very good actually. Like sheer musk, mossy, and like verbana and basil. I could smell it all day. Shocked by how much I enjoyed his scent, as soon as we were dismissed I hurried out of the class room far away from Draco Malfoy.
After classes were done with, I went to the library to take notes and study a little bit for potions. It was quiet and not a lot of students were in there except for me, a surprisingly small group of Ravenclaws, and Draco Malfoy was sitting off by himself reading. As I sat, it was my turn to stare at the Slytherin. He looked somehow older than last year, not in a good way. He looked edgy and somewhat nervous. I will admit, Draco is a very attractive guy. He looked even more attractive with his white button up shirt and loosened tie. If he were not such a prat I would consider dating him. But that is no where near the case. I continued to examine the blond boy until he finally looked up. I didn't know what to do, should I continue to meet his eyes or pretend to read my non-existent notes? I kept staring. Instead of giving me a strange look or even saying some insulting comment to me, he just nodded and went back to reading.
Later on when we were all leaving dinner I was walking with Luna and told her about what happened in the library and how it wasn't the first time I saw him doing it.
"Perhaps he finds you attractive." She said simply in her light voice causing me to laugh as we walked. We looked like ebony and ivory with our contrasting hair.
"As if, Luna I am not pure-blood therefore he thinks nothing of me." I shrugged and pushed back my long locks.
"It doesn't seem so, have you asked him about it?" Sometimes she reminded me of an innocent child. I liked that about her though.
"No, but don't worry I will make sure to do so next time." I said sarcastically. As we walked I bumped into someone.
"Watch where you're going half-blood!" The person said as they walked off irritably. "Well maybe I was wrong about him liking you." Luna noted.
"Just a little." I agreed as we watched Draco Malfoy disappear ahead of us.
