So I hope I'm wrong in assuming this is riddled with grammatical errors and typos as I rush-typed some parts, but I just wanted to get something out there for you guys!

This is a bit of a filler chapter (or at least, that's how it feels to me – you can tell me if I'm wrong or not) but it'll all have relevance in the larger story.

Enjoy!

'I know you two were . . . close and I know you're hurting right now but –'

'No,' Sirius said quickly, cutting her off. 'That's just it, she was my friend and I don't feel anything.'

'Don't lie to me!'

'And how do you know I'm lying?' A stupid thing to say, but he wanted to spit something in her face and he didn't think about what he was saying.

'Because I can feel it!' She looked down at him, pain clearly filling her eyes. 'I can feel it. And don't you dare convince yourself that feeling nothing is better than feeling pain . . . or loss . . . She deserves more than nothing.'

Even days later the bizarre conversation that had taken place during her detention with Dumbledore, not to mention the even more odd encounter with his phoenix, was still causing her to lose focus. More than once in Ancient Runes, Professor Weatherby had to remind her to pay attention. But try as she might, she couldn't get those flaming eyes out of her mind.

That bird . . . it did something that night. It was a curious creature – it was testing her. Curiosity is a dangerous thing. Which meant that the bird was too. Lyra had survived this long by surrounding herself with people who didn't ask too many questions . . . Well the exception being Sirius and James but James was never stupid enough to let his curiosity lead to her. If it ever did, she trusted Sirius to put a stop to it. But Sirius couldn't protect her against a phoenix . . . Professor Dumbledore's phoenix no less.

And then there was the man himself. She hadn't missed the meaning behind his words, multiple as they had been. She replayed their conversation over and over in her mind, yet she still couldn't decide whether he was being genuinely curious about her or if he was threatening her. Either one could be possible, although she kept leaning towards the latter. She'd never trusted Dumbledore, and she didn't think she ever would. But if there was one thing she would never allow herself to do, it was to rise to someone else's threat – Dumbledore could goad her all he wanted, she would never let him know what she could do. The risk of word spreading was far too great, even if she had trusted him in the first place.

Even now, sitting in the Great Hall, she could feel his eyes on her. He was never at lunch. At least he was choosing not to insult her intelligence by trying to pretend he wasn't there to watch her. Well she wouldn't look . . . She'd continue ignoring him . . . He might be able to rope the others into his messes but –

A laugh jostled her. James and Sirius were howling with laughter – someone must've said something funny . . . she didn't bother smiling.

When they calmed down it didn't take her long to realise that they were discussing the upcoming Hogsmeade trip.

'Well I wasn't going to go . . . ' Lily said meekly trailing off.

'But then I convinced her that if she didn't get out of this place every once in a while, she may actually go completely stir crazy.' James looked awfully pleased that he'd managed to change her mind on the matter. 'Honestly, Lils it's called Nearly Exhausting tests, they don't actually expect you to collapse from study.'

Marlene's eye roll and muttering at this wasn't missed by Sirius who leaned back in his spot on the bench to look at her. 'What's that, McKinnon?'

Marlene leaned back. She looked at him steadily for a second, not saying anything before she faced the others again.

At least there are some things that have never change, Lyra thought, watching the exchange. 'How about you, Lyra?' Lily asked. 'You planning on going?'

The Hogsmeade weekend was set for tomorrow, and what with the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw on Tuesday night, it was safe to say the Marauders were going to be in fine form. Lyra could imagine the lot of them running a mock in Hogsmeade. Thankfully she's be out of firing range. Lyra nodded whilst she chewed. 'In the afternoon maybe, I have a bit of homework to get done,' she said. 'I have to admit, they've gotten better the last few trips.'

Marlene narrowed her eyes at Lyra. The blonde knew full well that Lyra had been keeping up to date with the heavy workload – unbeknownst to Marlene, Lyra was only doing this to distract herself from the pain coming from her stomach. Marlene's eyes flickered to Remus who sat a few seats away and then back to Lyra who simply answered the look with a small, baiting smile.

'Well I've got a free period and Hagrid's invited me to some tea. Lyra, would you like to join me?'

Lyra looked away from Marlene's accusatory eyes only to meet Lily's expectant ones. 'Uh – sure.' She stood, purposefully putting her back to the High Table where Dumbledore sat.

As they walked away from the group James called out after them, 'That's fine, we've got Quidditch practice anyways!'

Lily just shook her head, a small smile adorning her face.

Lily and Lyra walked down to Hagrid's in silence. Every now and then someone would call out a hello to Lily as they passed. Lily would answer hello back, always smiling. Lyra tried not to notice whenever their eyes slid to her. Some of them looked like they were going to acknowledge her as well, but they seemed to think better of it, something that she was overall very thankful for. Lily either didn't notice this or if she did, she didn't seem to care as they continued down the lawn to the hut that stood on the edge of the Forbidden Forrest.

Lily knocked on Hagrid's door when they arrived, they were immediately met with high-pitched barks coming from the other side – a sound that made Lyra smile instantly. A second later the door swung open, revealing Hagrid in all his monstrous height and hair. His beady black eyes crinkled in a smile as he beheld the two girls.

'Well 'ello Lyra. Wasn't expectin' you,' he said, ushering the girls inside.

Lyra always enjoyed spending time with Hagrid. She found him calming somehow, and there was always something new and wholly different in his hut whenever she visited. Last time she'd visited he'd introduced her to his new Boarhound puppy, Fang, who was now bounding towards her. For a moment, Lyra thought he'd skid right past her but he reared up at the last possible second and started to jump on his hind legs around her feet. She bent down and scooped him up, twisting her face away from his lapping tongue.

'I asked Lyra if she'd like to join me,' Lily told Hagrid as she took a seat. 'I hope that's alright?'

'O' course it is!' Hagrid boomed loudly. Too loudly.

Lyra looked at him and watched as he unhooked the kettle from it's place over the fire. Still watching him, Lyra took the seat next to Lily around the round dining table. Hagrid had already laid out some tea cups for himself and Lily, but as he moved to the cabinet to pull out another cup, Lyra could have sworn that she heard a sniff. A quick glance to Lily told her that she had noticed it too.

Fang yelped for Lyra's attention and she had no choice but to turn back to the puppy lest he squirmed right out of her arms straight onto the table. She was just about to tell the little thing to calm down when a loud tinkling crash made her jump.

Hagrid had dropped the third tea cup, it slid across the table, rolling over and over, heading straight for the edge. Thankfully, Lyra managed to get a hand free out from under Fang and grabbed the cup before it had a chance to slide right off the table and shatter on the floor.

'Hagrid!' Lily blurted. 'What's wrong?'

Hagrid fumbled after the cup for a moment before realising that it was now being held firmly by Lyra, who only frowned up at him. He set the kettle on the table before untying the half apron from around his waist.

'It's nothin'. Nothin',' he muttered, turning away from them. Another sniff sounded.

'If this is about what Renata Skeeter was saying the other day ––'

Lily looked aghast. 'Renata Skeeter? That idiot girl from Ravenclaw?' she asked.

Lyra gave her a look and a little shrug as if to say who else?

'What did she – oh.' Lily's face darkened as she remembered the horrible things they'd caught Renata saying the other day in the girl's bathroom. The next day, her not-so-secret opinions had spread throughout the school. 'Now, Hagrid you listen to me,' Lily said, watching Hagrid like a hawk as he took a seat across from them.

Lyra couldn't help but give Fang a pointed look. This is sure to be good, make sure you listen too. Fang barked happily and wagged his tail.

Lily waited until Hagrid had poured them all tea before she started. 'Hagrid, how many students say hello to you when you see them?' She didn't wait for an answer before continuing. 'How many students do you know by name? Or who come to you when they need someone to talk to?'

Lyra could see where she was going with this and by the way Hagrid's shoulders relaxed, he was starting to understand as well.

'Just because you don't have the title of Professor, doesn't mean you're not important. Just because you don't have a classroom, doesn't mean you don't teach.'

Hagrid's eyes were positively brimming with unshed tears.

'There's no Hogwarts without you, Hagrid.'

Lyra looked back to the puppy in her arms. Okay, that might have been a bit much. Fang nuzzled her palm in apparent agreement. She made sure to smile convincingly when Hagrid looked to her for confirmation, however.

Hagrid gave an odd sort of grunting huff. Lyra assumed that he was trying his best to regain his composure before he actually started to burst out crying. With one last sniff, he settled himself further into his enormous chair.

'Well enough about tha',' he said, waving a hand the size of a garbage bin lid. Lyra tried not to flinch out of its way. 'An' how're you two doin'? I heard about wha' happened over Christmas, Lyra. Nasty stuff tha'.'

Lyra opened her mouth but she didn't know what to say. The beauty about coming to Hagrid's was that he did most of the talking, whether about his animals, or the forest or things he'd caught Sirius and James doing about the castle. She'd never really felt a pressing need to contribute, and she especially wasn't used to being called on to comment about things of such a personal, and in her opinion, embarrassing, nature.

Thankfully she'd come with Lily this time.

'She's fine, Hagrid,' Lily said in a rather matter-of-fact tone although with the sideways glance she threw at Lyra, Lyra couldn't help but wonder if she was trying to convince herself of that as well as Hagrid. 'I'd say her and Sirius are quite glad to be at the Potter's now,' she turned to Lyra. 'Isn't that right?'

Lyra could only nod.

Liar.

Hagrid didn't look entirely convinced as he looked from Lily to Lyra. 'Hm. Well I don't like to –'

A series of low grunts and shouts, followed by the sounds of hooves on hard ground erupted from the tree line. All three turned to look out the hut's window. It was unlikely that Hagrid or Lily could see anything but Lyra could feel them out there.

'The centaurs have been a might restless these las' few days. Keep spoutin' on about dark ripples around the grounds an' all sorts – dark ripples pushing the boundaries of silver.' Hagrid scoffed. 'The one time they're not talkin' about moons and planets and they still make no sense.'

'Centaurs?' Lily was almost jumping out of her chair. 'You talk to them? What are they like?'

Hagrid's eyes positively lit up at someone else's enthusiasm and launched into a passionate speech about the centaur clan that called the Forbidden Forest their home. Lily listened with rapt attention but Lyra's hand, that had been busying itself with scratching Fang's small head, had stilled.

Something about Hagrid's words made her pause. Ripples? Surely it was just some nonsensical ramblings from the centaurs. They were always spurting on about the shifts in moon patterns and making outrageous prophecies. Not that Lyra believed in prophecies . . . to be honest, she found astronomy to be a bit of a stretch. But that word . . . ripple. It perfectly described what she experienced on a daily basis. Her world was composed of ripples.

Lyra shook her head. She was being outrageous. The centaurs scoff at the stupidity and arrogance of wizards. They wouldn't use such words deliberately if they thought she might pick up on some sort of hidden meaning.

But try as she might, she couldn't unhook her attention from the forest, even with Fang now chewing her fingers.

XXXXXXXXX

Marlene McKinnon was not normally perturbed, by anything. There were few things that jostled her. She didn't care how much Lyra deflected, there was something going on between Remus and that girl. Oh, they were both very good at not calling attention to themselves. She didn't think she'd ever seen them together much in public. But there'd been one too many coincidences for her not to notice.

Lyra knew she was suspicious of them, but annoyingly she'd remained characteristically aloof about it whenever Marlene tried to goad it out of her. Frustration was starting to get the better of her, but surprisingly hurt hadn't stepped in yet.

Thankfully, she was almost always able to maintain her calm. If she could survive growing up with four older brothers, she could surely get through a couple more months of school – annoying mysteries or no.

A simpering high-pitched giggle echoed through the corridor.

Yes, she'd survive . . . even if she was surrounded by idiots.

She purposefully avoided looking in the direction where Black was leaning against the wall, an arm propping him up, his hand splayed next to the head of a small red headed girl wearing a Ravenclaw uniform. Marlene might have considered recalling her name, if she cared at all.

When Marlene was a couple of meters away from passing them, she saw Black look up just in time to spot her.

Marlene supressed a grin as her lips started to curl.

'Out for a walk with all your friends, McKinnon?'

Marlene almost snorted at his predictability. She paused, sparing a glance in his direction before inspecting the Ravenclaw girl slowly, up and down. Clementine, she remembered, such a boring name, no doubt with a personality to match. She'd pity the girl for this unfortunate shortcoming if she wasn't already pitying her for something much worse . . . her poor taste.

'Out with all yours, Black?'

As expected, he looked as if he wanted to retort but he knew that that would mean she'd have won that point. That's how they worked, that's how they'd always worked she supposed. At first it was probably due to the fact that they'd both been close to James – she'd been close to him first, mind – but over the years it had grown deeper, and much more entertaining . . . on her part anyway, she didn't really concern herself with what he thought about their rivalry.

When Black had regained his cool composure, he slung an arm around Clementine, grinning as he did so. 'Finally found a woman with some class in this place.'

This time she wasn't sure that she didn't snort. She had a fair idea of what Black meant and it had nothing to do with how sharp-witted the Ravenclaw was. But instead of losing herself to laughter like she was so tempted to do, Marlene hoisted her bag's strap further onto her shoulder and walked steadily towards the pair, all the while looking at Clementine.

'Y'know,' she said in her most effortlessly factual voice once she'd reached them, 'five years from now you'll be sitting in your parents dining room, watching your infant child running around with yet another rejection letter clutched in your hands and you'll wonder, where did it all start sliding downhill? I mean, you were in Ravenclaw, you were intuitive, you were getting fairly good grades and even had some potential jobs lined up after you'd graduated. And then your child will turn to you wearing their usual one-sided grin and it'll all come rushing back to you – the reason you were forced to grow up and become a mother, two things you definitely weren't expecting nor wanted. And you'll come to another realisation, you'll realise that while you're sitting there, worrying about grown up things, he'll still be out there, acting no more mature than your child, and you'll probably ask yourself if it was worth it.' Marlene leaned in closer. 'I have a feeling the answer would probably be no.'

Marlene had to give herself some credit for a flawless performance. She was even more pleased when Clementine, after processing – of course – gave a long sideways glance at Sirius before stepping away from him, forcing his arm to drop from her shoulders.

'I have to go.'

'Wait, where are you going?' Sirius called out after her, but it was no use, the girl might as well have been escaping a werewolf from how fast she was walking.

Marlene only smirked at him when he finally faced her, shaking his head.

'No wonder your friends ditched you.'

'I didn't really expect her to reject you so obviously, but, I guess I can consider it an added bonus.'

Something over Sirius' shoulder had her smirk widen.

'Besides, who says that they ditched me?'

She smiled to the figure who'd been waving to her as he approached the pair.

When Bertram Aubrey spotted Sirius, however, the grin he'd been eagerly wearing slackened as he looked unsurely between the two.

'Uh, hey,' he said, turning to face Marlene directly, seemingly ignoring Sirius.

Ignoring him yes, but in an extremely polite way – that boy really did have everyone bedazzled.

'We're still good for Hogsmeade tomorrow?'

No, we've had this set up for weeks but I've waited until the last possible second to change my mind, because obviously I'm just as fickle as every other simpleminded bimbo in this school. Been speaking to Clementine, have we.

Marlene nodded.

'Great, I'll meet you in the Entrance Hall.'

Sirius felt both like laughing out loud and cursing the boy on the spot - his previous frustration still simmering uncomfortably in his chest. Wrestling with this he managed to push out a questioning, disbelieving smirk at him. 'Her? Really?' He said, pointing to Marlene, who simply raised an eyebrow, that insufferable smirk still firmly in place.

Aubrey spluttered for an answer for a moment, probably trying to figure out if the question was one he was expected to answer, the urge to laugh grew.

Fortunately for Aubrey, the warning bell for last period sounded.

'Well McKinnon, if you'd excuse me. And I do hope you have a lovely day tomorrow with your . . .' he looked to Aubrey, narrowing his eyes in thought. '. . . articulate friend.' His words were positively soaking in sarcasm and while Aubrey frowned, Marlene offered a crooked smile before walking away from him, apparently not caring if Aubrey was following her or not as he chased after her.

He watched her walk the rest of the way down the corridor, Aubrey still throwing suspicious looks over his shoulder as he followed in her wake. Once they were out of sight, Sirius picked his bag up from where he'd dumped it against the wall and turned in the opposite direction.

There were times when he just wanted to know exactly what that girl was thinking. It frustrated him to no end the way she always looked as if she had some sort of hidden agenda, and the way she smiled that little smile that warned that no matter what he did he was doing exactly what she wanted him to do. And there was a small part of him that curtly reminded him that he should be grateful, that she helped Lyra in a way not he, nor anyone else could do.

That small part though was easy to ignore. It made plenty of room for the much louder voice that told him that that smile could lead to nothing but trouble. Unfortunately, intrigue always seemed to have him coming back for more, and damn him, it was too entertaining to stop.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

From this view, he could see most of the grounds. He hadn't been up here in quite some time, but he needed to clear his head, to gather some composure, gain some perspective . . . to remind himself of his mission, and what was at stake.

The Hogwarts grounds were fairly unimpressive, he'd seen much grander views, but every now and then something interesting would stumble into his line of sight that warranted his attention. Like a certain someone who was at this very moment making their back up to the castle – the annoying Lily Evans, Head Girl and self-appointed saint in tow.

Lyra Black had been evading him, making it rather difficult to find out what she was hiding. He couldn't let that stop him though.

He couldn't fail.

Only once she'd wondered out of his line of sight did he look back down to the parchment in his hand. He'd read the letter a thousand times, he could probably recite it without so much as glancing at it, but even still, he read it one more time.

I appreciate you keeping me updated but it would seem that much more attention needs to be given to our cause. We cannot afford anything to go amiss. There appears to be many more interested parties devoted in claiming a stake in our investment. We must proceed with much more caution if we are to see our plan bear fruit.

You said in your last correspondence that there is some sort of recreational day this weekend. In Hogsmeade, if memory serves me correctly. It is there and then that I will meet you so that you can provide me with a more comprehensive update on your progress.

Maintain focus and do not succumb to any temptation. Remember why you are doing this.

Make your family proud.

I will see you soon.