Who exactly won the bet between Lyra and Charity would forever be a point of contention between the two. When Lyra, finishing up her evening patrols, passed a very tired looking Minerva heading to the Gryffindor common room for a second time, she was certain she'd won. She paused outside the portrait hole to listen to the telling off.
"Sirius Black, Professor," someone was saying, "Slashed the curtains, woke me up."
A buzzing filled her ears as her heart dropped to her stomach. Would he really be so stupid as to try again? Even after last time - even after what Lupin said?
A small voice in her head, unwilling to believe it, thought, "Does that mean Charity won the bet?"
Lyra made eye contact with a pale Percy Weasley, and nodded at him, hoping he'd get the message, before turning and running down the hall. A sense of deja vu filled her, as the events from Halloween seemed to be repeating themselves. She didn't bother going by Lupin's offices, it was too out of the way and would take too much time, instead opting to cast a patronus to carry a message. The crow burst from her wand and took off, flying in the opposite direction at a breakneck speed.
A fifteen year old Lyra strode across the grounds to the tree by the lake where her brother sat with his friends. Her robes fluttered around her ankles as she stopped, arms crossed.
"Sirius," she said.
Sirius ignored her, continuing with his conversation.
"I can't believe she gave me detention for that," he was saying. Beside him, Lupin and Potter nodded.
"Sirius," Lyra said again.
He continued to ignore her.
"I mean, it's a nifty bit of transfiguration after all, she should have given me points instead."
"Well, you know McGonagall," Potter said, while looking curiously at Lyra, "Never does what's fair when it comes to us."
"Exactly! Why is that, I wonder? Is it-"
"Sirius Black if you don't stop ignoring me I will tell your entire house how you wet the bed until you were ten," Lyra said, cutting him off.
The group fell silent, and her brother looked up at her for the first time.
"You wouldn't dare," he said, narrowing his eyes at her.
She raised an eyebrow back at him, "Wouldn't I? In fact, was it ten, or was it fourteen? Maybe it was fourteen."
Beside Sirius, Potter stifled a laugh, and Pettigrew's eyes grew wide.
Sirius sighed, "Fine, you probably would. What do you want? Come to tell me I need to move back home? It's not happening, you'll just have to tell Mother and Father -'
"That's not why I'm here," Lyra said, "Merlin knows it's been quieter without you starting an argument with Mother every five minutes anyways. No, I know you aren't coming back. But Regulus…" she trailed off.
Sirius frowned, and a look of guilt flashed across his face, "He's not taking it well?"
She shook her head, "He's blaming himself."
"Well tell him it's not his fault."
Lyra rolled her eyes, "I have, you idiot, but he doesn't believe me. It needs to come from you."
"It's not like I could stay there, between the the blood purity shit and -"
"Sirius, you don't need to justify it to me, I get it. I get why you left and I may even agree it was the right thing. But this isn't about me. This is about Reg, and what he needs, and right now he needs to be told - by you - that you didn't leave because Mother and Father kept comparing you two," she jabbed her finger in his direction.
"But they did, and it's not like that's his fault - "
"I understand that, for Merlin's sake," her voice had grown in volume, and she took a breath, running a hand through her hair, "Fine. Don't talk to Reg, let him go on thinking he somehow wronged you enough to make you leave him," she turned to leave.
The sound of someone scrambling to their feet gave her pause.
"Wait, Lyra," Sirius said, and caught her arm, "How are - how was -" he swallowed, his voice dropping "Was it bad?"
Lyra met his gaze, which was searching for… something, she wasn't sure what, exactly.
"It was bad," she said quietly, "I've never heard - well, I hope you didn't like being on that tapestry, because you're off it now."
He shook his head, "I'm not worried about the tapestry, I'm worried about you and Reg."
She studied him for a moment. He looked healthier than he had the last time she saw him, his hair shiny, his face no longer tense with quiet fury. It made him look younger, and, not that she would ever tell him, quite a bit like their father.
"I spent most of the summer sleeping in Reg's room, when I wasn't working with Father," Lyra said, "I avoided her as much as possible, but," her fingers drifted unconsciously to her ribcage, "it wasn't always possible."
A muscle twitched in Sirius' jaw, "You can always come stay at the Potter's,'' he started, but Lyra shook her head.
"I'm not leaving Reg, and he won't leave Mother. Just… talk to him, okay? Please?"
Sirius sighed, and nodded, "Okay. I'll talk to him."
"Make it soon," Lyra said.
"Tonight. Tell him I'll meet him outside the Slytherin common room at eight."
"Good. Now go back to your friends before they think the evil Slytherin hexed you."
He snorted, "As if you could."
"Willing to bet on that?"
Sirius opened his mouth to reply, and blinked in surprise as a bubble burst out.
Lyra grinned, tucking her wand into her robe sleeve, "Father and I worked on non-verbal spells this summer. Don't worry, it'll wear off in a few minutes," she waved at her brother, and strode off, laughter from the other boys drifting across the wind.
Later, Lyra wouldn't be sure what led her out the front doors and down towards the forest. As she turned off the path and onto the grass she caught a glimpse of a large black something almost to the treeline.
Without thinking, she drew her wand again and fired a silent body bind curse. It made its mark, the figure falling still. She kept running, watching as the shadowy lump slowly came into focus.
It was a dog. Not just any dog, but the dog she'd seen on Halloween, the dog she'd assumed was a spell, the dog she realized, with the jolt of being hit by a train, was Sirius Black.
Eyes wide, she stared at the dog - man - in front of her. A freezing wind blew her hair free from its ponytail, and she looked up, to find several black shapes drifting towards her.
"Shit," Lyra said out loud, and then repeated it, when she glanced behind her to see the doors to the castle open, and another figure hurried out. Lupin, almost certainly.
Several things became obvious at once. First, Lupin likely already knew about Sirius being an animagus. Secondly, she wasn't sure if dementors could feed on animal souls, but she didn't particularly want to find out. Finally, she had exactly three seconds to make a decision as to what to do.
Bending over, she bodily picked up the dog, and threw it over her shoulders fireman-style. Then she turned and ran.
Aberforth Dumbledore didn't normally drink alone, particularly in his own pub. He didn't like that he tended to drink too much when he drank alone, and he didn't like wasting drinks he could otherwise get paid for, but every now and then Abe decided he could spare a few glasses.
On these special occasions, he would throw a record on the old gramophone, grab a bottle of something peatier than a rail iron, and sit down in his chair with a stack of books a foot high. He would read a few pages here and there, skipping between books, until the words started to blur together, and he'd end up staring into the fireplace, thinking about whatever was driving him to drink that night.
Tonight, it was the Black case. Abe idly scratched Halloumi's head, the goat letting out a contented sigh. He'd drafted and tossed four imaginary letters protesting the unfair treatment of his client, when someone knocked on his door.
Correction. Someone slammed his door open.
Abe leapt to his feet, wand drawn, "Whozat?" he said, the ground swaying slightly beneath his feet.
"Abe," gasped a familiar voice, "You might murder me, but I didn't know what else… Are you drunk?"
Blearily, Abe blinked at Lyra, her face coming into slow focus. She looked out of breath, as if she'd run all the way from the castle, and over her shoulders was a frozen dog.
"It's drinkin' night. Why d'you have a dog?"
"Because I'm an idiot, now go grab some pepperup or something; as much as I think you'd rather have this conversation drunk, I need you stone cold sober."
Grumbling, Abe stumbled to his bathroom, where he retrieved a bottle from under the sink.
Ogden's Hangover Relief, expires-
The label was torn off on the expiration date, but judging by the yellow color it was at least six months out of date. Abe shrugged, and took a sip, the potion having a bitter aftertaste he couldn't remember if it usually had. Feeling more alert, he went back out to his living room, where Lyra was still standing, holding a dog like a sack of potatoes.
"Now, you'd better have a damn good excuse for barging in here at who knows what time in the morning," Abe said.
"I'm invoking solicitor-client privilege," she said, "Nothing I'm about to say or do leaves this company; would you set up the spell?"
Abe raised an eyebrow, but pulled out his wand, and cast an anti-eavesdropping spell. He then held his hand out, and took Lyra's as if to shake it.
"By word or deed I solemnly swear to uphold the tradition of solicitor-client privilege, and shall not communicate a word of what I've seen this night to another being until such a time as I am released of my bond."
The words weren't quite right, but the intent was the important part. Wisps of red light flowed between their hands, and wrapped its way up his arm, where it tightened and sank into his skin.
Lyra was nodding, "Thank you," she said, "I just… you'll understand, I think, when I explain…"
She paused, and shuffled the dog off her shoulder. It hit the carpet, and if Abe were a betting man - which he was, on occasion - he'd bet the dog was silently glaring at her.
"Sirius broke into Hogwarts again," Lyra said.
"Okay," he said.
"Sirius is, very likely, an unregistered animagus."
"Okay," Abe said again.
Lyra looked at him.
Abe looked at Lyra, then down at the dog.
"Okay," he said, realization finally dawning, "Shit."
Looking up from her place next to the chair, Halloumi the goat let out a plaintive 'maa'.
Another knock came at the door.
Lyra's hand flew to her wand as the knock came a second time. Abe looked at her, frowning.
"Are you expecting anyone?" He asked.
She started to shake her head, then paused, "Might be Lupin."
"And where does he fall in tonight's revelations?"
Lyra shrugged, "I suspect he knows about Sir- the dog situation. I also suspect he let him go on Halloween."
The knock sounded again, and this time a faint voice could be heard.
"Lyra, I know you're in there, open up."
"Definitely Lupin," Lyra said, "You're the solicitor here, you tell me what we should do," her words came out sharper than she intended, panic igniting in her chest.
Abe held up a hand, "Do you trust him?"
"Sirius did."
"Lyra, come on," Lupin's voice came from the door again.
"Do you?" Abe's voice was quiet, but insistent.
"I… I don't want…"
Three things happened in quick succession.
The first was that a burst of light exploded in Abe's living room, momentarily blinding everyone.
The second was that something furry brushed Lyra's legs.
The final thing was that the front door banged open, and the room was suddenly much, much colder.