Welcome to February everyone! I am so glad to get January behind us. It always seems to drag after the business of December. This month I plan to get back on track with some things and that will be a relief. My January kinda got lost with the wisdom tooth extraction but I'm fully better now and hope to be writing lots this month.

Stay safe.

Lots of love,

LM xx


Hidden Child-Part 88:

Lyra was having to play it carefully in class as her memories continued to return. She just kept her head down in class and wrote what she could remember and made sure to look uncertain and then begin to check her books for the information she either couldn't remember or had been unsure about.

Whilst her memories were returning; the 12-year-old knew the plan was to always try and keep Bellatrix on the back foot and that meant pretending her memories weren't coming back. Her memories of spells and hexes were coming back daily now but her memories of the war and some memories of Malfoy Manor remained locked away. Nobody saw this as a bad thing, however, as it was more the spells and hexes that Lyra needed to know anyway. They were the most important things that she had to remember in that time.

Now she was beginning to settle down, the Headmaster was beginning to notice that Lyra's shields were beginning to strengthened.

"Now, Lyra," Dumbledore said, "your shields are starting to strengthen by their own so what I want to do is work with you in getting you back in control of your shields," he said.

"How can you do that?" Lyra had asked.

"Because I will start altering the strength of my shield charms for you and yours will start increasing to make sure that the gap is covered," the Headmaster said, "it does work but we need start working on this because your shields, along with the spells and hexes, is what will help you to defeat Bellatrix," he said, "that and the most powerful magic of all… love. Your mother loves you very much and that is something Bellatrix has long lost."

Lyra nodded as she sat curled up in the chair opposite the Headmaster as she listened to him. Was she still slightly in awe of the wizard? Yes. She was, after all, only 12-years-old and still getting used to the aged wizard taking such an interest in her and wanting to help her.

"Why me?" she asked suddenly, "why is this task mine?"

"That I cannot answer Lyra. All I know is this is possibly the reason you were born in the first place," the Headmaster said as he looked at her, "but you are not alone in this and you have the support of everyone who knows about what you are facing," he said softly, "now we shall start the shield balancing tomorrow and that is where this conversation ends today," he said softly and Lyra nodded, thanked him and then left the Headmaster's office.

Knowing she still had a while before she was needed somewhere, she slipped silently along the corridors and was soon sat in the Room of Requirement sipping on a goblet of pumpkin juice that had appeared nearby where she'd settled.

"I know you are both there," she sighed and soon she saw the figures of Tonks and Helena Ravenclaw appear before her, "you two have to be cleverer than that if you're going to hide from me," she said as she looked at them.

"What's wrong?" Helena asked as she looked at the girl.

"I just feel like such an outsider," Lyra sighed, "like everyone else is having a normal life and yet here I am, facing a secret duel that nobody is allowed to know about."

"That is very relatable," Helena said as she looked down at Lyra, "I was the daughter of a Hogwarts Founder and that instantly singled me out. Nobody wanted to be my friend. The only friend I had was dear Helga and the House Elves, much like you only have Jasmine and Zenon," she said, remembering back.

"Yes but they are the only friends I have," Lyra said as she looked at the others.

"Technically she has us as well and we can help her too," Tonks said as she was now sat cross legged on the floor next to Lyra, "you have wisdom beyond any of us and have seen many things as well," she said, "you can advise and help, same as I can."

Lyra looked at Tonks confused,

"How can you help me? Why would you even help me?" she asked completely confused.

"Well I am an Auror and different spells and hexes have slightly different starting wand positions," Tonks explained, "which means that I can teach you how to recognise which spell or hex may be coming at you so you know which one is coming at you, just based on wand starts alone. The second question is simple Lyra. No matter what has happened in the past we are cousins and your mother reached out to mine for help in protecting you… and to make up with each other. At a time like this the one thing that matters is family. I am in charge of protecting you Lyra and that is what I will do. Protect and teach you what I can."

"But Bellatrix is family…?" Lyra asked, again with hints of confusion in her tone.

"Family doesn't set out to kill someone Lyra. You don't want to kill her but you do have to defeat her. She wants to kill you and that is the major difference between you and her. You are good and kind and don't want this fate but you are facing it with bravery beyond your years but you need help and Helena and I are willing to help you as much as we can. There's things that only we know and that is why we want to help you, but we can only do that if you'll let us."

Lyra sat in silence for a while as she began to ponder her options. Had she learnt something from the two? Yes she had, but was it enough for her to accept the offers of help? Helena had been around for thousands of years and no doubt knew things that would help her and Tonks was an Auror and must know the stances of hundreds of spells and hexes.

She could feel eyes on her and she looked at the two, sighing softly before coming back out of her thoughts.

"I said to Helena before that I needed all the help I could get and here I am with two more offers of help from people that may be able to help me in ways that others can't," Lyra said as she tried to explain what she was thinking, "I'd be a fool not to accept it. OK then… I'll accept the help that you're offering and I thank you for the offer," she said and smiled softly, feeling relieved that she had more help coming her way.