My first HDM fic so I hope you like
Disclaimer: None of this is mine.
"That's him" a girl whispered looking at a teenage boy walking down the street.
"You like him" asked another girl.
"He's so dark and mysterious" the first one said "He looks as if he has the world on his shoulders all the time too. He needs someone to take the wait off"
The other one sighed. She was tired of her friend being like this, she knew the boy he wouldn't let anyone in let alone go out with them, even her stunning brunette of a friend.
"You can try he's still hung up on someone else"
"Well he'll just have to forget them"
"I doubt that" she muttered.
She had heard him talk about something that he called Everything, she guessed it was a girl, they had religion and philosophy together. It was the only time she heard him talk at all. He had some amazing ideas about the nature of things but you could see that what he was saying sometimes hurt him more than he cared to admit, his eyes would become cloudy and then he would just stop and not talk for the rest of the lesson.
They had the lesson next and as her friend wasn't in it she decided to tell him. He seemed the type of boy who wouldn't know what to do if a girl came on strongly to him. She walked quickly back up from town to their school keeping the tall dark haired boy in her sight.
She walked into class and sat on the same table as him, he looked up and nodded in greeting.
"Hello Helen"
"Hey Will"
"You're going to brave the table of the religion freak are you?" he said smiling slightly though the sadness was still there.
"You aren't that bad and no one calls you that" she said and he smiled again
"Yeah right" he said "This is the only lesson I actually speak in, willingly"
"I've noticed" she said happy to actually be having a conversation with him "I need to tell you something by the way"
"You did have ulterior motives" he said "Tell me then"
"Do you know Philippa who I hang out with?"
"Uh, brunette"
"Yeah" she said and she nodded "She wants to 'take the wait of the world off you shoulders'"
"Oh right" he said tiredly "Could you tell her I'm really not interested in that sort of thing now?"
"I know. I told her that. She doesn't listen a lot so that was just a warning"
"Thanks" he said sincerely "I'll keep out of her way"
They fell silent and Will did not speak for the rest of the lesson he seemed to be thinking hard. The teacher went over and talked to him quietly as they were doing some written work. Will just became uninteresting and he left the boy alone, sighing slightly.
Will was thinking about her as he often did, remembering her grinning at him in the streets of Oxford with her little blue rucksack and somewhat dirty clothes. His favourite memory of her was looking at her in the dappled light of their grove, her with a soft loving smile on her face or just before they had realised what they were feeling when her eyes were wide sneaking shy looks at him as he was her.
He could still taste her and that fruit, he found that his fingers were on his lips again they ended up there every time he thought of those moments they had stolen from time, just for them. He looked up as the window moved and Kirjava slid in through the window and into his lap. He put his hand on the spot that Lyra had touched over five years ago.
Only a few hundred meters away in distance but in a place untouchable from his world the objects of Will and Kirjava's thoughts were sitting getting bored in a classroom, as usual.
Lyra was always bored in experimental theology. She knew more than her teachers yet she still had to go to the class, Dame Hannah had said that she had to, it was a requirement.
Lyra sighed and looked out of the window at the skyline of Oxford one that had not changed in many years. She could almost see a very different one if she thought hard enough, one filled with tall buildings and concrete. She had thought it horrible and terrifying at the time but she missed it now, if she could see that it would mean that she was in his world, with him.
She had tried to explain to her friends about Will but they didn't understand and thought she was making it all up. She had given up trying to tell them why she cried out is name at night or woke up sobbing screaming from the memories of the battles or seeing things that could have happened to him.
She did not have that many friends now, she still attracted admirers from her exploits at Bolvangar. She was famous for that in England. Instead of welcoming it like she would have done once she shied away from it as much as she could. It reminded her too much of the pain and the joy it had led to.
She had two particular friends, Jenna, the girl sitting next to her now and Katherine who was out and about somewhere at the moment. Pan was sitting with his eyes closed on the desk and she rubbed his head lightly where Will had touched him. Whenever she missed him she rubbed that place and Pan was more than happy to let her.
"Lyra, you ok?" Jenna asked.
She was an orphan like Lyra and believed her stories. She admired the other girl's strength but liked her wild and somewhat quirky nature too.
"Yeah" said Lyra not looking up "It's experimental, you know"
"Oh yeah" said Jenna "You're the wiz kid at this aren't you?"
"Not through choice" she said sighing and putting her head on the desk.
Pan moved to the space beneath her chin and curled up in it. Jenna's dæmon was sitting on her shoulder, a blackbird except for the two white feathers in each of his wings. They sat like that until the teacher dismissed them about a quarter of an hour later. Lyra ran up to her dorm room which she shared with five other girls, Jenna and Katherine on either side of her. Pan slipped in front of her trying to beat her there but she always won, she had to really in case anyone was in the room. They still kept that ability a secret except for Dame Hannah who knew everything.
"Pan we're going to be late if we don't hurry" she shouted to her dæmon who was dawdling.
She saw a blur of red fur above her head and laughed slightly he was in the rafters again it was his favourite hiding place. She reached out behind her and scooped him up as he dropped onto the bed. He let out a mewl of protest before curling round her neck.
"Do we have to go to this one?" her dæmon whined
"Yes" she said "We can't skip classes Dame Hannah would kill us"
"It's so boring though"
"We'll go out later to the gardens" she said
"You can't bribe me to make me go"
"Yes well you could stay here if you wanted everyone to know"
"You could say I was in your bag"
"Not when I have to put it on the other side of the room Pan"
"Please Lyra" he whined
"No" she said firmly "We'll go out later I swear Pan"
"Alright" he huffed and slithered into her bag
He was going to sulk all lesson now and Lyra sighed swinging her already heavy bag over her shoulder with the added weight of Pan.
TBC
Hope you like