SLF: Woot! I got this typed and finished for ya'll finally. I hope you enjoy it; it exceeds my normal word minimun of 1,000 by about 300 so that's good. I hope you guys liked my little Theory of Evolution drabble as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you haven't read it do so! It's cute and silly and I posted it to make up for getting this out so late. It's a present. Um, so Blaise is in this and he doesn't have a distinctive or consistent personality or physical appearance (black to Italian- wha?) I just made him the way I wanted. So I hope you guys are forgiving on that front. Read on loyal friends!

Chapter 11:

You're a Tart!

Lyra was having an unusually good day. She ate breakfast with relatively no incident. Malfoy gave her a glance and they exchanged a few sharp words but after that he pretty much left her alone. She talked with the trio and even passed her Transfiguration quiz with high marks. The one low point of her day was that Harry and Ron both had practice for the Quidditch match the next day. She and Hermione had plans to go to the library to catch up on homework as the practice was closed. She shrugged this off and headed to the rest of her classes.

She was yawning through her last class of the day, Herbology, when Professor Sprout dismissed the class. Ever since her outburst he previous day in Care of Magical Creatures, the Slytherins seemed to be giving her a wider berth than usual. She had given up hope that she would make any friends within her own house at all. Packing up her books, she walked out of the greenhouse. Hermione greeted her with a red and gold scarf wrapped tightly around her neck. Surprised, Lyra jogged swiftly up to meet her.

"Hey Hermione, what are you doing here?"

Hermione shrugged,

"Arithmancy was let out early so I thought we could eat some dinner before we head to the library."

"Sounds fantastic. I'm starving."

The two girls jogged back to the castle in the frigid November air. Walking into the heat of the castle, the laughing girls unwrapped their scarves.

"So, while trying to transfigure the goblet, Seamus manages to blow it up!"

Hermione laughed at the memory.

"That rascal does like-oof!" Lyra stopped mid-sentence as she hit someone very solidly.

"Oh, I am really sorry-" she started getting up.

"No, no, it's my fault -hey," the raven-haired boy paused, "Are you new? You're wearing Slytherin robes yet I've never seen you before."

"I'm Lyra," Lyra furrowed her eyebrows, "I transferred at the beginning of this year. How can you be in Slytherin and not know me?"

The boy cocked an eyebrow amused,

"Rather self-assured are we? I like that," he winked, "I just got back from my holiday. I'm Blaise."

"How did Dumbledore let you off on a holiday?" Hermione withdrew her silence. Blaise shot her a disdainful look,

"What's it to you Granger? I'm not talking to you," He turned his coy smirk back on and faced Lyra, "Look me up later, I love the accent."

Lyra was slightly flattered and abashed. Sure she had experienced guys hit on her but this guy was ultra-suave. Still, he had been rude to Hermione. As Blaise was walking away she called after him,

"In your dreams and my nightmares!"

He turned back around and smirked,

"Then I'll never stop sleeping."

That cheesy comment made her roll her eyes,

"Is he always like that?"

"Pretty much. Any Slytherin with a chest is a viable target."

Lyra rolled her eyes once again,

"Is he friends with Draco?"

Hermione nodded.

"Wait till he hears about me from his pal."

The pair laughed as they split up in the dining hall.

After she and Hermione split up, Lyra headed to her usual lonely end of the Slytherin table. Grabbing a roll she ignored the looks and whispers she had become so accustomed to. After around three minutes, she heard a burst of giggles and looked up to see all the girls fluttering their eyelashes furiously while turning bright shades of red. From behind her she recognized the same suave voice from earlier,

"May I join you Miss Lyra?"

The girls around her scowled and returned to their conversations. Amused, Lyra replied,

"Go ahead. It's your reputation."

Blaise complied and sat next to her grinning like a Cheshire cat,

"I don't mind staking my reputation on a pretty girl like you."

"Come off it," Lyra laughed, "I henceforth label you a dork!"
"What?" Blaise looked shocked, "But I'm sexy!"

After having a good snort at this response she turned to him,

"You may very well be the first decent Slytherin I've met," Lyra leaned her head on one hand.

"Let's hope you still think that after you hear my list of conquests," Blaise winked unabashed, "Then maybe I can add you to it."

Lyra gaped at him and threw a napkin at his head. Inside, however, she was highly contented. Blaise may very well be her first Slytherin friend. She felt close to him despite the length of their friendship. She smiled; she had missed her perverted guy friends at Avarlein. Now perhaps, she had gained another. She was about to say something when a shocked voice interrupted her,

"Blaise?"

Blaise turned around,

"Ah! Draco, how've you been?"

Draco was standing open-mouthed looking incredulously at the two of them,

"Why the hell are you sitting next to her?"

"Well, my parents met at a rock concert-"

"That's not what I meant!" Draco snapped, "Why are you sitting next to that American tart?"

Blaise's mouth fell open and with a straight face he turned to Lyra,

"You're a tart? Why haven't you slept with me yet!"

Lyra spit out her pumpkin juice from laughter.

"Blaise," Draco growled, "Get. Up."

"Ohhh," Blaise nodded his head knowingly before turning to Lyra, "He must fancy you." She could barely restrain her giggles.

"Blaise," Draco warned coming closer and looking as if he was going to throttle Blaise.

"He must fancy you loads!" Blaise said hopping up and out of the bench and sprinting out of the Great Hall with Draco hot on his heels. Lyra blinked a moment before bursting out in raucous laughter.

"Well," she breathed calming down, "That was fun."

She happily turned her attention back on her dinner.

Draco and Blaise, however, were still running down corridors shouting swear words at one another. By the time they had reached the Slytherin common room, they were both completely exhausted and collapsed in a pair of chairs.

"So," Blaise breathed heavily, "Now that I have thoroughly embarrassed you, who is this Lyra girl?"

"She's an annoying, American, Gryffindor-loving twit," Draco replied bitterly.

"Gryffindor-loving?" Blaise questioned.

"She's dating Potter."

"So much for adding her to my list then," Blaise shrugged, "Oh well, I still like her. What's she done that's so horrible?"

"She goes out of her way to make me look like an idiotic prat. I've suffered more embarrassment from her than anyone I've ever met," Draco seethed.

"Well, I was gone," Blaise interjected, "Someone had to make sure your head stayed at a reasonable size."

"You'll see," Draco glared at him, "She'll get what's coming to her."

Blaise was no longer listening,

"I still don't get how wonder boy scored her."

"She's not that pretty Blaise! Shut-up!" Draco rolled his eyes.

"Aww, you know you missed me," Blaise leaned over to Draco, "I'm your bestest friend."

Draco punched him in the stomach as Blaise tried to rub their cheeks together.

"What was that for?" Blaise scowled from the floor.

"I never properly welcomed you home," Draco smirked.

"Your really going to get it now!"

The two boys happily wrestled in the common room, glad to be together again.

SLF: Well, I hope you like this, Blaise is going to be an important catalyst in the future. Once again, please point out any thing you loved or hated and major screw-ups. I know this took forever but I've had about 12 panic attacks in the past two months so I have a bit of an excuse. I love you all, it may take me a while but I haven't forgotten this by ANY means.