It had really hurt Lyra to tell James that they couldn't be best friends right now, but she knew she had to do it. Besides, she was kind of glad it was in the middle of the night as it meant she could go back and have a private cry without anybody else knowing.
The next day she was thankful it was a Saturday as it meant that James would have been playing quidditch anyway and therefore she spent the time with the girls in the sun by the lake, the four of them enjoying the last of the summer sun. Both her and Rosie enjoyed having other people to hang out with and, as they were all Ravenclaws, they had a lot in common and she was very pleased with how well they all got on. They had wandered in for lunch and then afterwards decided to stroll around the grounds and were almost out the door when Lyra, surprisingly heard somebody call her name. Turning, she blushed when she saw that it was Jacob Richardson, Rosie nudging her, and she heard Polly and Alice whisper an 'oooo' behind her.
"Hey" he ruffled his hair as he came up to her, Lyra smiling but not sure what was going on.
"Oh, hi" it sounded quieter than she would have liked, less confident but she was suddenly unsure whether she looked alright, hoping she didn't have any remnants of her lunch on her face.
"I um, well I…you headed outside?" he asked her, looking…shit Jacob Richardson looked nervous. Oh Merlin, was he doing this to set her up for a fall? Was he going to do something that would make her embarrass herself? Polly coughed behind her, pulling her out of her thoughts; shit she must look like a right idiot just stood there.
"Oh, yeah we were going to make the most of the sun" she said quickly, blushing as he nodded.
"Mind if I join you?" Lyra blinked, totally surprised; she was only used to bumping into him randomly but now he was asking to hang out with her. Lyra turned to the girls who were all smiling widely.
"Why don't you two go? We realised we haven't started that essay Flitwick set" Alice supplied, Polly and Rosie nodding along even though Lyra knew they had; they'd all literally been doing it last night.
"Yeah, you two go, you've already started yours Ly so you need the break" Rosie suggested. Lyra just stared at them, Polly looking pointedly at Jacob as she turned back to him; she thought he looked quite pleased with how this had played out.
"Do you want to?" he asked her, still looking nervous. Lyra blushed as she nodded, seeing Jacob smile widely at her and felt herself a little nervous at the idea of being on her own with him.
"Enjoy you two. We'll see you later Ly" Rosie nudged her as she went past, Alice giving her a wink and Polly giving her the thumbs up which just made her blush more as Jacob moved closer to her.
"Shall we go?" he asked, and Lyra nodded, Jacob falling into step beside her as they made their way outside…alone.
James had been in the middle of piling his plate when he heard an upswing in the noise around them and realised something was happening.
"Would you look at that" he heard Sirius say and, looking at him, found his eyebrows raised, looking intrigued. James followed his line of sight as he spooned some peas onto his plate (Lyra always told him off for not eating properly and so he was making a conscious effort to do so) but then he froze. The cause of the commotion was Lyra because she was with Richardson. The two were smiling widely, stood talking in the entrance and not looking as though they noticed they were the object of much staring.
"Have they been hanging out?" James heard Remus ask but he was staring too much, until Remus kicked him, demanding his attention.
"I don't know" he told him before looking back over to them. James felt his eyes widen when Richardson leant down and very obviously kissed Lyra on the cheek and he could see her blush from his seat, but she looked…very happy. Her and Richardson evidently said their goodbyes and then parted ways; him to the Gryffindor table with a huge smile and Lyra, well, she looked like she floated over to the Ravenclaw table where the girls immediately pulled her into conversation.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Remus queried and James sighed, tearing his sight from his best friend (he refused to think of her as anything else). However, he didn't get a response in before Lily arrived, sitting very close to him.
"James we're having a guys night tonight" Sirius told him, not even giving James a chance to say hi to his girlfriend.
"James we're supposed to be hanging out" Lily pouted and at this Siris scoffed.
"You're always hanging out. Tonight, he's coming with us. No arguments so save it" James had to admit he was somewhat surprised by the tone in Sirius's voice and saw that mirrored in Lily's face. She pouted again but didn't argue, which again, was strange and as James looked at Sirius, his best friend just shrugged, making James curious as to what exactly he wanted to discuss with him.
"So, guna tell us what's been eating you all day?" Sirius asked when they were finally safely ensconced on the roof, the stars beginning to appear above them and the temperature dipping.
"What do you mean?" James asked with a slight frown, seeing all three of his fellow Marauders give each other a pointed look before turning back to him.
"You've been quiet and not in the best of moods. What's up?" Sirius asked plainly. James hadn't thought he'd let his mood seep out but apparently, he'd been wrong, and his friends had picked up on it. He sighed, shrugging and instead of looking at them, leant his head back against the wall and looked up at the sky.
"Nothing" he murmured, hearing a disbelieving laugh come from the other three.
"Save us the to'ing and fro'ing and just tell us, would you?" it was Sirius, obviously, and a moment later he was sure Remus kicked him as he heard a slight scuffle, tugging a reluctant smile to his face.
"Do you not want to talk about it?" this was Remus, confirming his thoughts that it had been him who had kicked Sirius, probably due to his lack of sensitivity about the issue.
"It's no big deal just…" but he trailed off because it was a big deal. James sighed, shrugging. "Lyra told me we couldn't be best friends right now" he admitted, surprised again by how much it hurt. He didn't think he'd processed it properly last night but when he had woken up, he felt like he had a piece of him missing almost.
"What? Why?" Peter sounded completely confused as James replayed her words.
"She said that I'd hurt her when I ditched her in Potions and that us being best friends, her expecting things from me and me not doing them because I was with Lily, was hurting the both of us" he said slowly, hearing a loud exhale of breath from Remus.
"Shit, I told you that you'd upset her" Remus told him quietly as James now looked up, finding the others all watching him carefully. "How are you feeling about her saying that?" Remus asked as once again, James shrugged.
"Hurts, obviously but…I think she's right" he admitted, seeing them now look surprised. "She is though, isn't she? I keep letting her down and feeling like a jerk and she keeps feeling upset because I'm a dick" he told them.
"Well, you're thinking with it hence the actions" Sirius said with a slight grin, James shaking his head at him.
"It's weird you know" Remus mused, head tilted slightly to the side like he was thinking things through.
"James's dick?" Sirius queried, making James kick him for that comment,
"Shut up. No, I just" Remus paused, figuring something out. "It's like you're in a physical relationship with Lily but a mental and emotional one with Lyra" James stared at him, letting his words sink in.
"Don't be weird. Lyra and James are best friends" Peter said, shaking his head.
"No seriously, think about it" James hated how his eyes had lit up as though he'd figured something out. "James and Lily are shagging sure and you like Lily, don't get me wrong" Remus hastened to add, evidently catching sight of James's scowl. "But whenever you achieve something, or whenever something happens, who do you immediately want to speak to?" James was starting to get at what Remus was saying now, leaving him feeling…muddled.
"Lyra" Sirius supplied for him, Remus nodding.
"Precisely. Physical relationship with Lily, mental and emotional with Lyra" Remus concluded, looking chuffed with himself.
"Lily and I have a mental and emotional relationship" James defended, seeing Remus grin and arch an eyebrow impressively.
"When was the last time the pair of you just talked instead of made out or shagged?" Remus questioned.
"In Potions on Thursday" James said instantly, Remus rolling his eyes at this.
"Precisely. Thursday, it's Saturday James" Remus pointed out, making him frown. "Just saying" Remus said simply with a shrug. James sat back, letting this new thought process; he liked Lily, like he really liked Lily and they were good together, everybody said so. But then…when was the last time him and Lily had a proper conversation that wasn't them talking about what they wanted to do to each other? Shit, no, this was normal. They were both just teenagers, this is what a relationship was supposed to look like at their age…right?