Scorpius was relaxed. His basket of soggy chips sitting in front of him was picked through for the ones that were actually crisp and did not resemble limp noodles. The food was always horrendous, but he didn't come for the overpriced pub food; he came to watch football and hang out with his mates. However, even his mates were making him question whether this was worth the sleep deprivation he felt the morning after.
"I swear on all things, she's my future wife," Jeremy said as another bird–their words, not his–walked past the bar, her hips swaying as she carried her logger back to the table she shared with her friends.
"500 pounds says she won't even acknowledge you if you tried talking to her," Noah said, leaning over Scorpius and spilling his drink into the old basket of chips to smack his friend in the back of the head.
They were so much worse than James. It was a fact.
"If she speaks to me, you owe me 500 pounds!" Jeremy retorted, turning his attention to Noah, leaning over Scorpius as if he'd just become part of the furniture in the pub and wasn't a living, breathing human trying to enjoy watching a game.
"And with that, I do believe I'll be taking my leave," Scorpius said, pushing away from the table, plucking his mobile off the table and shoving it in his pocket.
Neither boy moved to say goodbye, which didn't surprise Scorpius as the two bicker while he pulled his coat on. Looking over at the girl the two were currently arguing over, Scorpius could only shake his head. Tall with dark hair curled in perfect waves, she was beautiful and out of his friend's league. He wouldn't be surprised when neither boy returned to their dorm 500 pounds wealthier because neither had the nerve to speak to the cute twenty-something-year-old and her friends.
Shaking his head, Scorpius turned and headed for the exit, his nerves making him jittery as he pushed open the exit.
He'd been on edge since the incident with the practice field, waiting for something awful to happen. As it was, there were still no concrete answers as to why or how the poor animal had ended up on his practice field.
His father and Harry had been dispatched due to the apparent involvement of the magical community, but even the Auror's department hadn't been able to uncover any answers. It was even more frustrating for his father because despite wanting to cut out the muggle authorities, they couldn't. Because the story had been so large and leaked to the public before the police had become involved, they couldn't take total jurisdiction.
Social media and the speed at which information traveled in the muggle world now had been a significant complaint within the ministry, according to what Scorpius had overheard from his father and Theo. It didn't matter to Scorpius who got credit for what as long as whoever had done this was caught.
The nightmares that plagued him made Scorpius feel like he was becoming a shell of himself. He wasn't the only one on his team suffering, but unlike his teammates, none of them knew what was lurking out there was worse than anything they'd conjured in their minds.
Pulling a ski cap down over his ears and pulling up the collar of his peacoat, Scorpius braved the weather, stepping out into the dimly lit street, ready to go back to the safety of his room. With the holidays coming up quickly, he was looking forward to the break, getting home, and sleeping in bed away from his schoolmates.
There was some talk about Lyra and her mother returning for an extended stay. However, from Lyra's last message, there was a possibility that Scorpius, his father, and Theo might be traveling to France instead of bringing them back to London. Scorpius was excited about potentially staying with Lyra in her seaside cottage. The cottages he'd stayed in were most likely nothing like where Lyra lived, the villas coming with an entire staff and more rooms than they could ever possibly use, heated indoor pools, and theater rooms.
No, Scorpius imagined that Lyra and her mother lived much more modestly than the lavish styles his grandparents rented for him to stay in. Instead of eating under a crystal chandelier, they'd curl up in worn, comfortable chairs by a fire with mugs of coco as they talked and enjoyed each other's company.
The image he'd created carried Scorpius a few blocks until he heard a laugh that had become a distant memory these months apart. Looking around, Scorpius squinted through the dark until his eyes landed on the unmistakable white curls.
"Lyra?" He called out, but his sister didn't move to turn toward him but instead continued to walk toward the alleyway. "Lyra!" Scorpius called again, jogging toward her, trying to garner her attention, but his sister didn't turn, making Scorpius wonder if it was her.
He was about to give up on the idea, deciding that it must just be someone who resembled her, when the girl turned to look at a street sign, finally giving him his sister's profile. It was unmistakably her.
"Lyra, what the bloody hell are you doing?" Scorpius called, but still, there was no recognition from her, and his sister continued as if she couldn't hear him. "Lyra! For fucks sake, what are you doing here?"
The snow was slush under his boots, splashing onto his trousers as Scorpius ran, trying to catch up to his sister before she got herself thoroughly lost in the city. Having his sister wandering around where he went to school wouldn't do, especially when Lyra had a habit of finding trouble where there wasn't any.
Scorpius considered calling his dad to see if he knew why Lyra was in Eton but decided against it. His dad had just spoken to him earlier that evening about the holiday plans and had relayed the message from Lyra about visiting her family home in France. Since he hadn't mentioned Lyra coming to visit, Scorpius assumed he wouldn't know she was here, nor would he guess her mum knew either.
Lyra continued wandering, and it seemed no matter how hard Scorpius tried to catch up to her, she somehow managed to stay just far enough ahead of him that she couldn't hear his call.
With the sun fully set, the street lamps provided the only light for the street, so when Lyra turned off the main street and to an alley, Scorpius's stomach dropped.
"No, no, no, bad idea," Scorpius muttered, running, pumping his arms, pushing his body as he raced after his sister.
Coming to the mouth of the alley, Scorpius lifted his hands to his mouth to call out to his sister. The world went black before he could so much as form the 'L' of her name.
—
Lyra peaked her head around the greenhouse corner, looking to ensure no teachers were in sight. The moon cycle was still about a week from the full moon, and had it been closer or the night before, Lyra would not have been sneaking out of school grounds to go shopping. But with it being daylight and not the full moon, here she was, sneaking away from her school with Vivi in tow to find a gift for James, flipping, Potter of all people.
"And why can't we just do the easy thing and order a gift from a catalog?" Vivi asked, voicing her complaint for not the first time since Lyra had decided on this course of action.
"Because, if I'm going to send something airing on the side of illegal, I want to make sure that I take all precautions that it won't be tracked back to me. Honestly, Vivi, have you never sent something that could take off a bloke's hand before?"
"No, I can't say I haven't because, and this is important for you to remember, I'm not insane," Vivi answered while dutifully still following Lyra down the path and toward the rip in the wards.
It had been their third when the girls found it while exploring the forest surrounding the Chateau. Since then, it had come in handy a handful of times when they'd needed to leave school grounds without permission.
Lyra considered reporting the tear to the headmistress after the incident a few weeks prior when she'd been followed in the woods. However, given the size of the tear and how inconspicuous it was, Lyra decided against potentially getting herself in trouble for being the person who discovered it. Her school rarely believed Lyra to be an innocent bystander, which she typically wasn't until this point in her schooling career.
"I'm only sending him a book for the holidays. I'm just not exactly positive if it's allowed to cross international lines. So, I will have to put a fairly powerful glamour on it to pass the checkpoints, which shouldn't be too hard since it's just a book."
"A book that can take off his hand?"
"Exactly!" Lyra spun around to smile at her friend, but Vivi's pale blue eyes narrowed. Lyra couldn't help but laugh as she reached the large stone they used to mark where the rip was.
"What about not leaving school grounds because of the werewolves lurking? Hm? If you're caught, you'll be expelled." Vivi continued, though Lyra only rolled her eyes. The little village carved into the mountainside was only around seven kilometers away. "I'm not coming. I'm warning you right now, Lyra Granger, I won't risk trekking around the mountain where a werewolf might find us. I'm just not doing it."
"And that's your choice. I, however, will not be ruled by fear of a mere wizard who happens to be a werewolf. It's ridiculous to think that anyone who's ever been bitten is dangerous. The fact that they all have to be on a public registry only perpetuates the discrimination, making it easier to target them."
Shifting her weight to squeeze through the hole in the magic, much like one would pass through iron bars with no bending or turning, Lyra was nearly out of the slot when she looked back to see Vivi standing, arms crossed and shaking her head. Rolling her eyes at her friend's stubbornness, Lyra continued contorting her body until she stumbled out the other side.
When Lyra looked back at the wall of magic blocking her view from the school grounds, all she could see was an empty expanse of forest. When she reached her hand out, Lyra paused before she could touch where the magic lay. The overwhelming feeling of turning and heading in another direction was the only indicator she noticed of the wards. With how powerful the urge to step away was, had she not known it was magic, she wouldn't have been the wiser had she not just stepped out of them.
Her mother had personally seen their update, which made them nearly flawless.
Shaking her wrist, Lyra smirked at the gold strands that appeared, linking her to where the rip was now hidden. It was a nifty little trick her mother had created when Lyra was a small child and would wander off and lose her mother in crowds.
With it, Lyra could tether herself to the school grounds with a minor modification, rendering the ward's deterrent properties ineffective.
Lyra waited for a beat, but when it was clear that Vivi would be keeping to her word and not joining her, Lyra turned into the setting sunlight, whistling to herself as she pulled the little twig from her pocket. Tapping her wand to the stick, she smiled when the new broom Theo had sent her grew in her hand.
Swinging her leg over the broom, Lyra looked behind her again to ensure Vivi wasn't planning to join her. With the last of the day's warm rays of light shining through the thick woods, Lyra took off, weaving through the trees, not wanting to waste any more time.
Walking, the trek to the little village could take upwards of an hour or more, depending on the harsh weather from the mountain terrain. By broom? Lyra's smile broke over her face as she wove through the trees until she barrel-rolled onto the path that connected the school's front gates to the village.
Gripping the wood, Lyra let out a peal of laughter as she rocketed down the path clear of travelers, causing the snow to burst into a wall on either side of her from the force of her speed, blinding Lyra to anything in front of her.
Magic could be the most fantastic thing.
Using her thighs to control the broom, Lyra let go of the handle, throwing her hands in the air, her hair whipping behind her. The harsh wind was against her face, but Lyra didn't mind it. The freedom was worth any pain she had to endure.
The village was upon her before she knew it. The ten-minute broom ride was nowhere near enough, but if she was going to have time to find and mail James his gift for Yule, she couldn't waste time zipping around on a path being a menace to the locals.
Her winter cloak wrapped around her denim-clad thighs as she swung off the broom, and her dragon-hide boots crunched the well-compacted snow under her feet as she tapped her broom to shrink it and stuck it in her back pocket.
Shoving her wand in her hair, Lyra patted her pouch filled with coins, feeling relatively cheery as she took off toward the shop she'd always been warned to avoid.
After a half hour and two galleons and three sickles spent, Lyra stood smiling broadly at the postmaster, inspecting the parcel she was attempting to ship internationally.
"Anything with dark magic, exploitable, banned, or otherwise a risk to the magical ecosystem?" The elderly wizard asked, his dark skin raising the silver brow even more prominently against his wrinkled skin.
"No sir, just a book for my friend. He fancies reading," Lyra added, kicking herself for adding the last bit. Maybe she was laying it on a bit too thick because who in their right mind would believe a teenage boy enjoys reading?
Her mother, that's who.
"Mhmm," he said, his dark eyes narrowing as he looked at her over his spectacles.
Watching as he tapped his wand to the carefully wrapped and warded parcel, Lyra held her breath, hand twitching, though she made no move for it. Drawing her wand would only alert the auror department (and her mother) to her, and Lyra knew she'd undoubtedly end up in trouble over her semi-harmless prank.
To her utter shock, nothing was altered as the man completed his scans.
"That will be one galleon for the weight to ship this internationally," the man said, holding his hand out, clearly unwilling to send an owl until he'd received his payment.
"A galleon!?" Lyra exclaimed but still dutifully extracted the gold coin from her pouch.
"It's four kilos. This will take two owls. What were you expecting? Would you like a signature that the parcel has been delivered?" He asked, plucking the coin from her hand and dropping it into his open till.
Lyra opened her mouth to argue further but thought against it. James was getting his little gift that would cause nonpermanent disfiguration. Or, at least, she hoped it wasn't permanent. The shifty shopkeeper could have been trying to make a sale.
"Er, no, that's quite alright. I'm sure he'll ring."
Two owls fluttered down from the rafters, gripping the rather large 'book' between them before swooping into the emerald flames in the fireplace behind the counter.
A few more beats passed before Lyra realized there might be better ideas than standing around looking guilty of committing a possibly international crime. An awkward head nod with a wave of her hand that more resembled a fish flapping its fin, and Lyra was rushing out the door, the bell above the door making a clunking sound in place of the usual chime.
"Mission accomplished," Lyra murmured, rubbing her hands together and smiling as she walked back toward the path that would take her to the school and surrounding forest. Internally patting herself on the back for a job well done, Lyra whistled a holiday tune as she pulled her broom out and enlarged it.
Kicking off at a speed inappropriate for a populated area, Lyra knew she sounded slightly like a lunatic with her laughter as the snow kicked up around her again, creating a perfect cyclone. James Potter would be none the wiser, andmaybehe would finally admit who was the greatest.
Lost in her thoughts of revenge, Lyra didn't notice the shadowy figure standing in the center of the path as she approached in her snow cloud until she'd already run into the man. Her broom spiraled out of her grasp and into the forest as Lyra rolled in the snow.
Yellow glowing eyes were all Lyra saw before she heard the spell she had no chance of stopping.