Everything about Hogwarts School of Wizardry blew Lyra away.
She wasn't entirely sure what to expect when she arrived in Scotland but the quaint village that surrounded the incredible grounds of the wizarding school set the tone for her introduction to her new life. She had read about life in the town of Hogsmeade in her books and tried to spot some of the landmarks from the platform but she was abruptly interrupted by the flustered female prefect that had been keeping a close watch on her since the food fight.
Lyra had discovered on the train that her name was Penelope and she only recently became a prefect, an achievement she boasted about loudly in the prefect's carriage. Lyra also discovered she had a very muted sense of humour.
"Aw! Were we your first victims?" She had asked Penelope enthusiastically, earning a befuddled stare from the prefect. Lyra couldn't hold back, her nerves had made it hard for her to shut up.
"Victims? You started a fight! You're culprits!" Penelope had shouted back, taken aback by the first year's confidence. It was safe to say that the prefects were wary of her.
Despite being saturated with food, Lyra knew that today was the best day of her life. She was dumbfounded when she was introduced to the huge groundskeeper of the school and he stared down at the four first years, tutting at the sight of the cake and pastries in their hair.
"Sorry, Hagrid," sighed Penelope, eyeing the group disapprovingly for the dozenth time that day, "but I'm afraid you will have to keep an eye on these four. I caught them having a food fight and they haven't stopped bickering since."
"Have they now?" chuckled Hagrid, his dark beard twitching hiding a smirk, "I didn' expect you to get into trouble on your first day, Harry!"
Lyra saw Harry hang his head in shame and rushed to defend him, still feeling guilty for dragging him into her mess. "It wasn't his fault... It was Draco's," she admitted, gazing at the blonde boy innocently.
Draco gasped and scowled at her, still trying to scrape dried chocolate out of his hair. "That's a lie! You were the one who started the food fight! Isn't that right, Goyle?"
Gregory nodded, reluctantly joining in. "That's ri-,"
"And besides," Draco cut him off with a whine, "I don't know why you would bother trusting the word of someone who only found out magic was real two days ago! She doesn't know what she's talking about."
"What does that have to do with anything?" asked Harry, getting defensive on Lyra's behalf, but Hagrid put a stop to the growing argument before the four first years started yelling at each other.
"Stop it! The four of yer!" barked the giant man loudly, catching the attention of the rest of the first years who were tentatively scurrying over to join them. "Firs' years, follow me ter the boats!" He called out before switching his gaze onto the cake covered quartet.
"I don' want ter have ter pull any of yer from the lake so you four will have ter split up," said Hagrid, and Lyra's stomach plummeted the moment she heard those dreaded words. She read about the lake but never for one second did she think she would have to go anywhere near it!
"L-Lake?" she stuttered, petrified. "Is there a second option? Plan B?"
"'Fraid not, but it will be worth it," said Hagrid softly, sensing her nerves.
"Scared of a little water, Black?" spat Draco, delighted that she sounded scared.
"No," she scoffed, trying to sound confident. "I was just wondering..."
Hagrid the groundskeeper led the first years down a steep rocky path to a fleet of old wooden boats, instructing them all to gather in groups of four. Butterflies filled her stomach as she looked around for a friendly face when she spotted Hermione waving at her.
"What happened?" asked the gawking girl as she inspected Lyra's school robes, clearly disapproving of her behaviour, and Lyra shook her head.
"You see that blonde boy over there?" she said, nodding towards Draco who was too busy moaning about the boat's sturdiness to notice his audience, "he is worse than Zacharius. He was asking for it."
Realisation trickled over Hermione's face as she climbed into one of the empty boats, and she rolled her eyes. "Was it worth getting into trouble straight away?"
Lyra frowned and stood to the side, not quite ready to step into the boat yet. "You didn't have to hunt down a prefect! Technically it's your fault that I got into trouble."
"I was trying to find someone who could help you with your clown face!" argued Hermione, crossing her arms in defence of her actions. "Ron wanted to find his brothers and they sounded rather unqualified so I actually saved you from looking worse."
Two other students had joined the bickering pair as the boats were starting to fill up, and an agitated cramp caged Lyra's stomach. She couldn't handle another encounter like the one with Draco and Gregory, she hoped these two were nicer. One of them caught the cake on Lyra's robes and snorted, entertained by her appearance.
"Were you the one who covered Malfoy in cake?" asked the smirking brunette boy, and Lyra was surprised at his tone. His dark eyes were friendly and his smirk showed off his large front teeth. She was expecting another cruel dig but he seemed pleased that Draco had been terrorised.
"Uh," Lyra looked down at her robes then smiled at the boy, "actually no, this is just a weird coincidence!"
"Yes, it was her," interrupted Hermione, ruining Lyra's fun.
"Nice!" exclaimed the boy, and he offered out his hand with a wide smile. "I'm Terry Boot, pleasure to meet you. I've heard he's quite a piece of work." He muttered, side eyeing the blonde nearby. The strawberry blonde girl beside Terry rolled her eyes and grimaced, her braids flying as she shook her head.
"My aunt told me some stories about the Malfoys, they sound awful," she added shyly, and turned to her new boatmates. "I'm Susan Bones. You're Lyra Black, aren't you?"
Lyra blushed but recovered quickly, smiling back at her fellow first years. They were a lot nicer than she had expected and her nervous stomach cramp started to dissipate. "Er, yeah - nice to meet you."
"Into the boats!" shouted Hagrid from the head of the fleet, taking up a whole boat to himself. Lyra hesitated and stared at her boat, shoving the horrible thoughts of drowning from her mind. She would be safe this time, the lake couldn't hurt her.
"Are you coming, Lyra?" asked Hermione, tapping the seat beside her, and Lyra eventually nodded. She scrambled onto the boat and slid into her seat, refusing to glance over the edge. It wobbled slightly from the added weight but she pretended not to notice, she couldn't focus on the fact she was on the lake. With another loud shout from the groundskeeper the boats began their slow journey towards the school.
Lyra wished she could say she took in everything she passed but she kept her eyes closed and her fists clenched the entire time. Vines of ivy tickled her face as they arrived at the school's boathouse and they all clambered out, whispering excitedly to each other as they were led up to the heart of the school - Hogwarts castle. Unfortunately for Lyra, however, she was immediately singled out the moment she stepped through the heavy castle doors so the magical aura entering Hogwarts for the first time was lost on her.
"You four - over here!" called Penelope the prefect, catching her eye from across the immense entrance hall. She was standing next to a tall, dark haired woman whose scowl sent shivers down Lyra's spine - she looked like she meant business. The three other cake-covered first years begrudgingly followed Lyra as they joined Penelope, all four of them trying to avoid the unimpressed professor's spectacled gaze. The eyes of their fellow first years were glued to their backs, everyone wanted to see what would happen to the four troublemakers.
"What do we have here?" asked the professor, her Scottish twang thick. Lyra deflated in shame when she felt her piercing dark eyes on her face, disappointment rolling like a heavy wave over her body. She knew Danielle would be visited by an owl tomorrow morning, she'd be so upset.
"I found them having a food fight," tutted Penelope, trying to replicate the professor's disgruntled tone, "the compartment was filthy, there was icing everywhere and it took a few of us to clean it. They're lucky the conductor didn't find out." The professor's eyebrows shot beyond the brim of her emerald pointed hat and she searched their guilty faces for some sort of explanation.
"What do you have to say for yourselves?" she snapped, crossing her arms. The three boys beside Lyra struggled to come up with a justification, they simply blushed and stared at their sullied shoes, cake crumbs surrounding them. Lyra smoothed her hair out of her eyes and tried to offer her new teacher a wholesome smile.
"We're really sorry for trashing the train carriage, we kinda got into a disagreement and things got out of hand," she squeaked, fluttering her eyelashes at the woman before her in an attempt to be charming. The professor remained unimpressed.
"That is no excuse," she snapped, deep anger lines appearing on her face. "Here at Hogwarts we expect you to behave like respectable young wizards and witches, not rampant wild animals. I cannot believe that four first years would ruin their first day at their new school by showering themselves in muck, this is not acceptable!" The scolding echoed in the entrance hall and Lyra heard the crowd behind them whisper amongst themselves, engrossed in the show. The heat left Lyra's cheeks and she decided to use her voice, the least she could do was explain to her teacher why they trashed the compartment - it wasn't fair.
"Just so you know, I threw the first pie because Draco made fun of Harry for being an orphan-," said Lyra bravely, looking at the blonde culprit who shot his head up and glared at her.
"Not true!" shouted Draco.
"Very true!" countered Harry, narrowing his eyes.
"That's not what happened-," Gregory tried to add, but the professor clapped her hands, cutting them off.
"Silence!" Her hands found her hips and she glared at them, gobsmacked. "Mr Malfoy, is this true?"
Draco's jaw dropped but Lyra could see the pink in his pale cheeks shine brighter. "No it's not true. Black is lying," he pleaded, daring to point a finger accusingly at her.
"I'm sorry, you're right," scoffed Lyra, fully invested in taking Draco down, "it was Ron's family you were mocking first, wasn't it?"
"Enough! We don't have time for this," interrupted the professor, taken aback at their outbursts. "You're incredibly lucky that you haven't been sorted yet or else I would be subtracting a lot of points tonight. I pray for all of your sakes that you are sorted into separate houses and I do not want to see you two," she pointed at the glowering Draco and Greg, "anywhere near you two," and she pointed at Harry and Lyra.
Lyra nodded in agreement. "I couldn't agree more, Professor, thank you," she said brightly.
The professor's eye twitched as she glanced back at Lyra and she swore she saw her lips fighting a smile - it must have been wishful thinking. In one swift motion the professor revealed her wand and muttered under her breath, waving it at the four before her. Tiny bubbles tickled Lyra's face and she watched in amazement as the disgusting sweet stains melted from the group, all four of them relieved that they didn't have to stay in their sticky clothes. They rushed to join the rest of their year and watched as the fierce professor took her spot in front of the grandiose hall doors, finally addressing the new students.
"My name is Professor McGonagall and I am deputy headmistress here at Hogwarts," she announced, and Lyra felt faint. Deputy headmistress?! She should have kept her mouth shut. She listened carefully as McGonagall explained the house rules that were essential to school life and soon ushered the group into the mesmerising great hall.
Lyra tried her hardest to keep her mouth shut but her jaw swung open when she took in the transcendent starry ceiling, taking in all the beauty of the room. At the front of the hall sat the staff and she caught the headmaster's eye immediately. One of his eyebrows rose knowingly and his silvery beard twitched causing Lyra's stomach to plummet down to her feet - he already knew about her shenanigans. Trying her hardest not to blush, Lyra's attention promptly shifted from the sorting as her eyes wandered around the room, too busy being enraptured by the décor to notice that the magical sorting hat had stopped singing. Names were being called and yet Lyra couldn't stop admiring the huge school banners above their heads as they flapped gently in the non-existent wind.
"Black, Lyra," announced Professor McGonagall in a firm voice, and Lyra jolted back to reality. Everyone was staring and she started to sweat. She wasn't expecting to hear her name so soon.
Lyra shuffled through the first years and took to the stage, bravely staring out at the gawking, gossiping student body as she flopped down onto the stool. The hat was much larger than she expected and it slipped down over her eyes, hiding her from the school. She welcomed the darkness and sighed in relief.
Ah! A challenge… a deep, gravelly voice whispered into Lyra's ear and the hairs stood up on the back of her neck. A real challenge… There's plenty to work with in here.
"Do you decide where I go?" wondered Lyra, curling her toes in her shoes nervously.
You didn't listen to my song, did you? asked the hat, and Lyra considered lying.
I know what you're thinking, Miss Black. I am inside your head, lies do not fool me. Very ambitious of you to try, however, and I can see that you are yearning to prove yourself to the wizarding world. Lyra wholeheartedly agreed, who wouldn't be excited to study magic?
"I hear I have a reputation to uphold," she told him, her mind drifting to the bodies that were beyond the safe confines of the old hat. "I want to make sure I'm prepared."
Is power and knowledge important to you? questioned the hat carefully.
"Of course," she thought, "but honestly I just want to have fun, my last school was horrible and I can't let that happen again, but I can't be stuck with the teacher's pets and do-gooders! I have priorities, you know."
The hat's sigh went on longer than Lyra expected and they sounded rather frustrated. It seems as though we have found another Black that has strayed far from the family tree. Many confuse bravery with stupidity but I believe you will make the right decisions. Be bold, Miss Black… although may I suggest no more spontaneous food fights?
"You may suggest it, sure," she thought cheekily, wiggling her eyebrows against the rough fabric of the hat. The hat groaned.
This will beinteresting...
"GRYFFINDOR!" cried the hat, and the third table to the left exploded in loud cheers and rapturous applause. Lyra hopped down from the stool and joined the vibrant scarlet and gold house that invited her over with open arms and wide smiles. She hadn't expected such a warm welcome and she graciously took a seat beside a boy with black dreadlocks who eagerly shook her hand.
"We heard that you pissed off the prefects on the train!" he spluttered, excited to meet the mischievous first year. "Such a bold move!"
Lyra noticed that the ginger haired prefect from the carriage was sitting a few seats down, blatantly disproving of their conversation. She remembered how angry he got when she accidentally smeared cake on his robes and shiny prefect badge, and decided not to bring it up again. He seemed a little touchy.
"But a food fight?" guffawed another freckled redhead as he leant across his friend, reaching a hand out towards her. "Genius! The name's George Weasley - I think you're going to like it here in Gryffindor."
Lyra gasped at the name and stared open-mouthed at him. "Are you the brother that gave Ron a dud spell?" There was another round of thunderous applause as Seamus Finnigan joined the red and gold table. George snorted and pointed to his identical twin who was grinning opposite them.
"Technically that was me. Fred Weasley, a pleasure," introduced Fred, stretching across the table to shake her hand. "How do you know about that?"
"Because he hit me!" she exclaimed, her grey eyes wide in surprise. "I've had quite the day."
"Yeah we've heard," said George, and Lyra noticed that the three boys were scowling at Draco, "our little brother told us what happened down in his carriage." Her skittish heart fluttered, they knew what Draco had said about their family. She dropped her gaze and went to apologise but yet another shout of celebration cut her off as Padma Patil joined the cheerful Ravenclaw table. As the clapping died down once more Lyra caught the twins' eyes and they grinned ear to ear.
"Thanks for defending our honour," said George, and Fred sent her a wink.
"You're alright, Black."