It had been awkward arriving to The Leaky Cauldron at first for Lyra. After all, she had forgiven Harry for everything after second year, but she hadn't forgotten it was Ron that was the one to suggest she had been the heir of Slytherin to begin with.
She had no quarrel with Hermione, as she felt that had she not been petrified, she would've set the boys straight right away. Which is why she hadn't been surprised when she watched Hermione shove Ron her way, his ears immediately turning pink in embarrassment when he made eye contact with Lyra.
"Hi..." He mumbled, looking away from her for a moment, rubbing at the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Hi." She replied, taking a step back as Scabbers scuttled past her feet in a desperate attempt to get away from Crookshanks.
"I just wanted to come over and say sorry, you know for everything...Harry told me what you went through...I didn't even realise" His ears were growing increasingly red by the second.
"Well then you must've have been very busy because it was hard to miss." She folded her arms.
"I just assumed it was normal Slytherin stuff, you know no one likes yous. I mean- I like you...well not like you like that- I don't mean that you're not nice but you're my best mate's sister-I just mean that no one likes Slytherin and it's not your fault-"
"Ron!" Lyra snapped him out of his rambling. "Get to the sorry part and we'll agree to never speak about this shambles of an apology again." She was astonished at how much worse one person could make an apology.
"Right. Yeah, okay. Sorry." He mumbled sheepishly.
"I forgive you. For last year I mean, I don't think I'll ever forgive you for whatever that just was.." She gestured her hand at the whole of him in amusement.
Ron breathed a sigh of relief and looked back at Hermione as if to ask if he had done okay. Hermione just stared back at him with the same astonished look Lyra had given him before sending him a sarcastic thumbs up.
Despite only having met Mrs Weasley once before at the end of first year, Lyra found herself being engulfed in a bone crushing hug from the woman the moment Ron wandered off. "Lyra dear, how wonderful to see you again!"
She continued to chat Lyra's ear off most of the twenty minute walk to Kings Cross Station from The Leaky Cauldron. She could see why Harry had been so fond of the Weasley family, even without the flaming red hair and freckles, she made you feel like you were part of the family.
Harry and Lyra went their separate ways once they emerged onto Platform 9 and 3/4, agreeing that they would catch up at some point later. She weaved through the crowd on the platform, heading for the far end of the train where Slytherin usually took over the compartments.
She had preferred when Remus and Estrella used to accompany her to the station, she was exhausted from pushing the trolley around by herself. She yanked her trunk off the trolley as hard as she she could, stumbling back slightly as the trolley went flying into a group of squealing second years.
"Sorry!" She called over, steadying herself before she took a deep breath to prepare for lifting it up onto the train.
"Well dont just stand there, help the young lady, Draco." Lyra felt herself still at the sound of the voice, it was oddly chilling.
Lyra spun back around to face the direction of the voice. She really had to look up to meet the eyes of Lucius Malfoy, he was a lot taller and a lot more menacing when he was close up. Narcissa Malfoy stood on the opposite side of Draco, looking Lyra up and down in interest.
"Oh no, honestly I'm fine!" She insisted, reaching to take a hold of the trunk again. Lyra blinked as Lucius' cane snapped against the side of it with a loud crack, making her hand withdraw immediately.
"Nonsense." He drawled, shooting her a sinister looking grin. "Draco will do it, won't you?"
Lyra got the feeling that Draco didn't really have a choice about it. She stood to one side as he shot her a dangerous look when his parents couldn't see his face, grabbing the handle of her trunk and hoisting it up into the doorway. He shoved it to the side so that people were still able to get past it and stepped back to stand next to Lyra.
Lyra knew that the look he had sent her meant; Dont even think about bringing this up with me again. She made a mental note to bring it up at least once a day for the next week. Especially in front of Pansy, Daphne would love that one.
"So very kind of you, Draco." She looked over at Draco with an impish look on her face.
He didn't even look back at her, he just stood with his jaw clenched as he waited in anticipation for his parents to leave.
"Dont be rude Draco, introduce us to your little friend." Narcissa gave a tight lipped smile. Lyra wasn't sure why, but she had the feeling that Draco's parents already had an idea of who she was.
"It's Lyra, Mrs Malfoy." Lyra answered before Draco could even open his mouth. "Lyra Potter."
The couple's eyes seemed to light up considerably, the reason for which was unbeknownst to Lyra. Lucius extended his hand out to her, the hint of a devious smile pulling at one corner of his mouth.
"What a pleasure it is to finally meet you, Miss Potter. I understand you're tied for top of the class in your year?"
Lyra debated for a minute if Lucius Malfoy was someone she wanted to shake hands with. He was almost definitely not, but she wasn't brave enough to let him know that. Her hand looked tiny in his as she shook it, making sure to grip it as tight as she could. Not that he could tell.
"I try my best." She smiled politely at him, pulling her hand back.
"Perhaps you could teach Draco a thing or two?" He shot a pointed look at Draco. Lyra could practically feel his whole body tense up beside her.
Lyra just let out a little awkward laugh before taking a step back. "Well it was nice to meet you both. Thanks again, Draco." She nodded to him before climbing up onto the the carriage, watching Lucius mutter something into Draco's ear.
Now that Draco had lifted it onto the train, it was a lot easier to just drag the trunk along behind her as she continued in her search for Blaise and Daphne. Eventually she found them in a compartment to themselves, bickering at each other.
"You'll never guess who I've just had the pleasure of meeting!" She announced in an attempt the break up the fight.
"About time you showed up..." Blaise drawled, his tone seemingly uninterested but the look on his face let Lyra know that he was secretly glad to see her. She rolled her eyes inwardly, heaven forbid Blaise be openly kind to anyone.
"Another moment and I'd have had leave the compartment before we'd even left the station. A new record I would've thought" Daphne glared at Blaise, flicking her blonde hair over her shoulder as she went to greet Lyra with a one armed hug.
"Make yourself useful Blaise." Lyra told him, kicking her trunk as a sign for him to move it before she flopped down onto the seat next to Daphne.
He threw his arms up in frustration. "That's exactly what she bloody said to me not two minutes ago. No, Hello Blaise, how was your summer?"
"Hello Blaise, how was your summer?" Lyra replied, smiling at him sweetly. "Any new step fathers to report mysteriously missing with a large fortune in their place?"
"Watch it." He growled at her. He rose to his feet anyway and picked up her trunk. "What the hell is in here?" He managed to groan as he lifted it onto the rails above them.
"Books." She replied shortly. "Now do you want to hear who I've just met or not?" She asked impatiently.
*
Two hours into the train journey and a visit from the trolley witch later, Lyra was laid stretched out onto one of the seats, throwing Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans up toward her face in an attempt to catch them in her mouth. Sat next to her by the window, Blaise was picking up the ones that she would miss her mouth, bounce off her forehead and land into his lap.
Daphne was nose deep into Witch Weekly, currently reading out aloud a quiz that would tell Lyra all she needed to know about her Perfect Wizard.
"Alright, we have your results, would you like to hear them?" She asked once she had finished circling all of the answers Lyra had given her.
"I have a feeling you're going to tell us anyway..." Blaise muttered, catching another bean as Lyra threw it toward her mouth. Lyra snorted in amusement at him and turned her head to look at Daphne.
"Go on then, then we'll start the search for Mr Right on the train as soon as I know who to look for." She teased.
"Shut up. Okay..." She cleared her throat, sitting up straight as she prepared to read.
"We knew it! You're the girl that goes for the strong and silent type. You're forever chasing after that guy who just won't give you the time of day. Well we say, enough of that girl! It's time to stop wasting your charms on a Wizard who refuses to admit you enchant him. You need someone who worships the ground you walk on. Your ideal wizard is strong, yes, but silent he is not. He demands the centre of the room, he's a friend to everyone and he's just that right amount of cocky that makes him irresistible. You may be thinking, but how will someone like that ever notice me? Well we have the answer to that too. The perfect hairstyle will get his attention and with Bimble Lillie's new formula..." Daphne trailed away, frowning slightly.
"Hang on! They all end the same way, it's just an advert for a bloody hair tonic!" She exclaimed. "This one says to stop going for the guy who demands the centre of attention and pay attention to the strong and silent type in the corner of the room. Apparently the secret to getting him to speak up is a fabulous new hair style!" She flicked through the pages angrily. "There's an advert for it in every article!"
"You don't say?" Blaise replied in a mocking tone.
"Well unfortunately Blaise, as much fun as I had chasing after you, the strong and silent type, Witch Weekly has spoken. I must find my soulmate, who by the sounds of it, is probably demanding the attention of a crowd as we speak." Lyra sighed dramatically, pushing herself back up into a sitting position.
"What a load of old rubbish, I'm cancelling my subscrip- Hey a free sample!" Daphne grinned as a small, bright green packet fell from the pages of the magazine. "Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt to give it a try..." She shrugged, shoving it into her pocket.
"Give me that." Lyra reached forward, grabbing the magazine from Daphne's grasp. She flicked through it, reading through the horoscope section.
"Not a single thing in this is right you know?" She raised an eyebrow over at her. "Mercury isn't even in retrograde until 13 days from now?"
"Shut up, you nerd." Daphne grabbed it back. "Does it matter? You get free stuff."
"You pay for the magazine weekly!" Blaise and Lyra replied in unison as they shot each other a look.
"How can it be free if your paying over the odds to get it delivered every week?" Blaise continued.
"Well I don't pay for it, do I? My parents do. So technically, it is free." She countered, picking up her quill to take another quiz. "Lyra, would you like to know which quidditch player from The Montrose Magpies is your perfect match?"
"I can't think of anything worse. I'm going to the loo. I hope this over by the time I return." Lyra stood up and left the compartment, scoffing as she caught the last interaction between the two.
"Blaise?"
"Not a chance. Piss off."
On Lyra's way to the toilet, she yelped as someone grabbed her arm and yanked her into the cramped space where the train door was, between the carriages and out of sight from anyone who wasn't passing by.
"Potter." Malfoy scowled at her.
"What the hell are you doing!" Lyra hissed, smoothing her jumper out where Malfoy had grabbed her.
"I wanted to have a little word with you." He said, folding his arms.
"Oh, but you thought it was too hard to say; 'Excuse me Lyra, can I have a word?' You thought it best to rip my arm from its socket did you?" She asked, looking at him as though he were insane.
"Shut up." He told her dismissively. "About the other week-"
"What happened the other week?" She asked him.
"When you practically begged me to join you in Florean's."
Lyra's mouth fell open in disbelief. "I did not beg you. You practically demanded I go with you!" She folded her arms and raised an eyebrow at him expectantly.
"Well I definitely didn't. It's besides the point anyway. I wanted to say, keep it to yourself."
"Keep it to myself? Keep it to myself that you bought me an ice cream in Diagon Alley?" Lyra looked at him, confusion soon being replaced by amusement on her face.
"I don't want people thinking we're something. I don't want to be associated with a Potter." He practically spat, looking up and down at her with disgust.
"Me and you?" Lyra asked incredulously before she began to laugh. "A thing? Merlin, I'd like to think I could do a lot better than you Draco. Even if I am a Potter."
Draco glowered at her, seemingly insulted by her lack of interest in him despite the fact he didn't want her to. "You'd be lucky for someone like me to even look at you like that!" He quipped. "You pathetic little half blood."
Lyra quite liked seeing the reaction that Draco had to people laughing at him. It seemed to annoy him even more than insulting him did. "Now Draco, this pathetic little half blood is good enough for your father to ask to teach you a lesson or two." She smirked at him.
He opened his mouth to reply but as he did, the train slammed its brakes on quickly, sending Lyra tumbling into Draco and the pair of them back against the wall.
"Get off!" He snapped, shoving her off him.
"Well it's not like I bloody asked the driver to do that was it?" Lyra shot back, scowling at him. "You're such an idiot, you know that?" She was beginning to get annoyed now. The two began to bicker back and forth between themselves for another thirty seconds before Lyra suddenly realised the train had come to a complete stop.
"The train had stopped." She said, cutting Draco off mid sentence.
"Hardly surprising, this thing was a wreck to begin with." He replied, rolling his eyes.
"If it's not good enough for you then why don't..." She trailed away, the pair watching in confusion as her breath became visible in front of them.
Lyra shivered, pulling her jumper over her hands. "What on Earth?" She murmured as the glass in the door began to frost over.
Draco shoved her out of the way to look out the window, his nose practically pressed to the glass. He jumped back as a black figure floated past the door, stepping on Lyra's foot in the process.
"Ow!" She yelped, pushing him off her. "You stupid prat!" Lyra hadn't seen the figure at the window due to him shoving her completely out of the way. "Well?" She demanded. "What is it?"
A small noise sounded from the back of Draco's throat as the latch on the door clicked and the handle began to turn. Lyra peeked around him from behind and stared in horror as her eyes landed on the cloaked figure outside of the train door. She fell back a step before tugging on Draco's arm who seemed frozen in place.
"Malfoy, move!" She tugged him harder as the door began to slowly open and he seemed to come to his senses, realising that whatever was outside, it was planning on entering the train.
As they ran down the carriage, Lyra inhaled sharply upon seeing another cloaked figure floating toward them further down the train and she skidded to a halt. She attempted to enter one of the compartments but the ice had frozen the lock completely.
Before she knew it, she felt Draco yank her back sharply and she found herself in the bathroom, him frantically trying to lock the door behind them. Without the panic of having the creature in front of her anymore, Lyra fumbled around for her wand, pulling it out and casting a spell to rid the lock of ice so Draco could successfully lock them in.
"What the bloody hell is that?" She hissed quietly, she glanced over to Draco who looked considerably paler than usual. She turned to look at herself in the mirror, she didn't look much different either.
He just shook his head, back pressed flat against the wall as he tried to steady his breathing. Lyra's hands were numb from the cold, the mirror in the bathroom completely frosted over. She had a feeling that whatever they were, one of them was outside the door. She held her breath, terrified that it would be able to hear her.
The pair didn't even notice that they gripped each other's hand when the lock began to turn, both of them backing as far into the corner of the bathroom as they could.
The door slid open and they both stared in complete horror as the cloaked figure faced them, lifting up a scabby, grey and skeletal looking hand to point at them both.
It stayed where it was, facing the two terrified teens. Lyra's body was involuntary shivering from the cold, her grip tight on Draco's hand.
Then as it began to float closer to them, she felt everything within her become ice cold as well. Her lungs felt so cold it became painful to even breathe. A low rattle sounded from the creature and Lyra dropped Draco's hand, covering both ears as she began to hear a scream in the distance. She supposed that one of them had gotten to some poor girl further down the train.
Then everything seemed to go quite dark and Lyra couldn't feel her legs anymore. The last thing she felt before everything went black was Draco catching her underneath her arms as she fell.
"Lyra...come on love, open your eyes for me. That's it. There we are..."
Lyra blinked slowly, immediately squinting at the bright sun streaming in through the compartment window. She closed her eyes shut quickly again, groaning quietly before she suddenly remembered where she had been and she sat up with a start, gasping sharply as she looked around her wildly.
"Hey! You're alright...it's fine."
Her eyes focused in on the voice and she squinted at Remus. "What was that?" She asked after a moment, taking in her surroundings. She was back in her compartment, sitting on one side of the seats while Remus was crouching in front of her with a worried look on his face. Daphne and Blaise were stood behind him on either side, the same worried and scared look on their faces.
"A Dementor. One of the guards from Azkaban. Searching the train for Sirius Black." He told her, passing her a square of dark chocolate.
"What did it do to me?" She asked, taking it from him with a bewildered look.
"Nothing, but both you and Harry seemed to have quite a bad experience with them. Eat that, it'll make you feel better."
Lyra nodded but still didn't eat it, she was far too busy thinking about the girl she had heard scream. When she asked about it, Remus had looked rather concerned and told her that Harry had mentioned he heard the same thing but that no one else heard a thing.
"I'm going to go speak to the driver." He said, pushing himself back up and reaching out to ruffle her hair slightly. "Eat up, it helps I promise. I'll leave you in nurse Greengrass' capable hands." He nodded his head at Daphne and Blaise before he took his leave.
"Are you okay?" Blaise asked, showing concern for the first time Lyra had ever seen. While she had been going through her rough patch in second year, the most concern he had ever shown for Lyra before was when he used to jinx anyone whom he heard make a comment about her.
"Yeah, Lyra. I nearly had a heart attack when Draco brought you back here." Daphne told her , her eyes still wide. "I thought one of them things had killed you. I've never known Draco to be quiet for that long, ever!"
"Draco brought me back?" Lyra was taken aback. She had assumed he'd have been the type to run and leave her behind.
"Yeah, once the Dementors left the train he just appeared with you slung over his shoulder and he kind of just dumped you onto the seat." Daphne told her. "He stood around for a bit, said you'd fainted and then he just took off. It was very odd. He did look like he was going to be sick though."
"Mm." She mumbled, nodding her head as she bit off a piece of the dark chocolate. She felt a tad warmer, but she still felt as though there was a gaping hole in the pit of her stomach. Not to mention, if Draco didn't want her to bring up ice cream in Diagon Alley, he wasn't going to be happy about holding her hand in the bathroom on the Hogwarts Express was he?