"A wizards duel?"
Lyra blinked at Ron and Harry who were standing before her in the Gryffindor common room. After the 'excitement' of the day Lyra had hidden herself in one of the cosy bay windows to avoid the disappointed faces of her housemates. Since her new loss of house points had shifted them from second place to third, most of the Gryffindors had been teased by the Ravenclaws for falling behind again so moods were low in the tower tonight. The salty scowls that followed her back to the common room were enough to shame her into sitting alone with her books.
Until Ron and Harry came flying through the portrait hole with the news that they had been challenged to a duel by Draco and his friends.
"We didn't mean to start a fight but, as I'm sure you've already guessed, Malfoy deserved it," justified Ron with a nod, and Lyra shrugged. She couldn't argue with his sound logic.
"But a duel? As in a fight to the death?" asked Lyra, needing to double check she had heard him right.
"It won't be that serious. Do you really think Malfoy could kill us?" laughed Harry.
"Draco couldn't kill a dandelion let alone you two," corrected Lyra confidently, but her face fell when the two boys shared a knowing look. There was more to their tale, she could feel it in her bones.
"Actually, it's you and Harry that he wants to duel. I'm your second," admitted Ron with a sheepish smile. Lyra blinked and closed the copy of Beginners Guide to Transfiguration in her lap with a sharp snap, giving the boys her full attention. Harry sensed her apprehension and hurried to assure her, the faintest of blushes clouding his cheeks.
"You don't have to come if you don't want to, Malfoy had no reason to drag you into this. He was sore that I beat him catching Neville's remembrall," he explained quickly, "and then we brought up the whole pumpkin juice fiasco—,"
"He's super touchy about that by the way," Ron interjected, making Lyra smile.
"—and then he vowed to duel both of us tonight on the third floor," finished Harry, wary of Lyra's reaction. She nodded slowly and glanced down at the book in her hands, wondering what she should do. She was grateful that Harry had given her the option to be a rule-abiding student and escape the chance of losing Gryffindor more points, but the creature inside her urged her to act on her gut instinct.
Draco wanted to fight her, he was begging for her to react to his taunts and the part of her that wanted to retaliate was vastly bigger than the part of her that wanted to go to bed. Draco needed to be taught a lesson and she happily nominated herself to be his teacher. Her sensible side lost the battle when she pictured Draco cowering on the floor, crying as he declared her the winner of the duel — it was too sweet to miss.
"When are we meeting him?" asked Lyra and the two boys' faces broke into identical broad grins.
"You're coming?" verified Harry, suddenly excited.
"Of course I'm coming! Do you really think I'm going to pass on the opportunity to hand Draco his own arse?" said Lyra with an eye roll, shoving her books into her bag and Ron nudged Harry in the ribs, his eyebrows wiggling.
"See? You didn't need to worry, I told you she'd be up for it," he muttered under his breath. Harry abruptly scowled and nudged him back, telling him to shut up with his eyes but when Lyra raised her eyebrows in curiosity he sighed.
"I just thought that you might want to lay low this evening, you've already handed Draco his arse today," said Harry, "let us have our turn."
Lyra scoffed, adjusting her bag on her shoulder as the added weight had made her feel slightly lopsided. "Yeah right! We won't get caught this time so I'm not bothered about losing respect from other Gryffindors and I can't let you steal my glory. Besides, we all know that Draco isn't going to show up alone so you need me there."
"He said Goyle was his second," sighed Ron, agreeing, "but they're always with their little gang so who knows how many of them are going to show up."
"And they've chosen to meet on the forbidden floor of all places, we need to be on guard in case they try to trick us," said Harry with a firm nod as though it were the final decision. Lyra pressed her lips together in thought, puzzled at his choice of words. She racked her brain for some sort of clarification but she came up empty-handed.
"There's a forbidden floor?" she asked innocently. Her confusion sparked another round of laughter.
"Did you not listen to Professor Dumbledore's announcement on our first night?" guffawed Ron.
Lyra pouted, crossing her arms. She remembered being too distracted by the ghosts floating above their heads to pay attention to what Dumbledore was talking about, she didn't understand how no one else was as blown away by the supernatural as she was. Their ethereal presence was enough to derail her concentration on the headmaster's words of welcome so naturally she missed everything he said.
"There was a ghost dripping with ghost blood above our heads, Ron! What did you expect me to do? Ignore it?" exclaimed Lyra dubiously and turned to Harry. "You must have been as shocked as I was that first night, right? Weren't you a little surprised to see real-life ghosts?!"
"Well, yeah," confessed Harry slowly, "but did you also see the robes Dumbledore was wearing? His choice in clothing is insane, his robes had moving birds on them! And then everyone started to sing..." He frowned, reminiscing about his own experience, "Now you mention it, there was a lot going on that night."
Having met Professor Dumbledore beforehand, Lyra wasn't as concerned with the famous headmaster as the other first years were. She remembered the glittering gold robes he wore the day she met him; they were far more extravagant than the flamingo fuchsia set he wore on the first day of term. The singing, however, she had no memory of. "I've seen better. But back to my original point, do we have a forbidden floor?"
"No one is allowed on the east side of the third floor. No one knows why either, even the prefects are clueless," explained Ron, jabbing his thumb at his older brother across the room. "We tried to ask Percy if he knew and he told us off for being nosy."
"It must be something very scary, maybe Snape's bedroom is in that part of the castle," mused Lyra, eyes twinkling as she pondered. Fanatical theories whizzed through her mind as she tried to imagine what horrors the third floor held. She thought of the old comics buried at the bottom of her trunk and began to wonder whether Hogwarts had any dark creatures lurking in its walls. That very thought sent shivers down her spin and she grimaced.
"I still can't believe you've not noticed that we're banned from the third floor," said Harry, smirking. "Have you already been there?"
Lyra hesitated. She had in fact wandered onto the third floor by accident during one of her many lost excursions but nothing happened. It looked like every other floor in the castle, she didn't find anything that looked particularly threatening on her travels but she did find it very odd that the corridors were deserted. "I got lost on my way to History of Magic one day and ended up on the third floor but I didn't see anything that looked dangerous or forbidden. They should really put up a sign or something," she said, satisfied with her own answer.
"At least we know we won't instantly drop dead when we meet Malfoy," said Ron.
"What time do we have to be there?" repeated Lyra, checking her watch. Dinner ended mere minutes ago and the rapid countdown to curfew had begun, she wanted to make sure she had enough time to double-check her offensive spell books. There was no way in hell she was walking into a duel unprepared.
"Midnight," answered Harry under his breath, "I think we should stay in our dorms until then, we don't want anyone getting suspicious." He glanced over to the laughing prefects nearby and pulled a face. "We can't lose any more points today."
The trio agreed to meet at the entrance to the Gryffindor Tower at ten minutes to midnight and parted ways, trying to act as inconspicuous as they could. Lyra rushed up to her dorm, fighting to hide her excited grin, and burst into the room with a loud yawn. She planned on faking an early night to throw her roommates off her scent and hopefully she could sneak out without waking anyone up.
Sally-Ann and Lavender had already drawn their curtains for the night, the glow of their candles shone through their dark scarlet curtains, and Parvati was lounging on her bed, flicking through one of Lavender's magazines. At Lyra's thumping entrance Parvati shot her a meek smile and hurriedly drew her curtains to shield her from view, and Lyra tried not to take her frosty greeting to heart since she was technically the one in the wrong. She knew she deserved the mild shunning. Unluckily the only other person in their dormitory that wanted to speak to her was the last person Lyra wanted to see.
Hermione climbed off her bed with a panicked expression, "Lyra—,"
"I don't want to hear it," Lyra grumbled, focusing entirely on the piles of books scattered around her section of the room. She was still tender from Hermione's public berating and the repetition of the hand slap in her head caused her blood to gently simmer. Hermione's scolds were something Lyra wanted to keep private, she saw it as an inside joke between them that she didn't want anyone else to know about and she almost found them endearing… until this morning. "I don't want to hear anything you have to say."
It took Hermione a few seconds to pull herself together and press on. "I didn't mean to embarrass you in front of Malfoy but I couldn't let you get yourself into trouble again. I earned us those house points in Herbology yesterday and they're already gone!"
Lyra scoffed and glared at her in disbelief. "You win us nearly thirty points a day! You'll probably earn them back tomorrow—,"
"And you'll probably lose them tomorrow too!" snapped Hermione without delay and Lyra pouted back.
"That's not the point," she said, throwing her guide to Charms onto her bed. "What you did really hurt me, Hermione. I know I can be very infuriating sometimes and you hold the school rules too close to your heart but I thought we really understood each other. You know how I feel about Draco, you know how badly I want to prove myself and you did that!" Lyra jumped back onto her feet and turned to face Hermione one last time. Her brown eyes drooped and her bottom lip wobbled, she was visibly hurt by her words and Lyra could see her trying to conjure the right thing to say.
"What are you trying to prove by getting into trouble every other day? How does getting into fights with Malfoy help you? If you want to prove yourself then you should be working hard in class instead of causing trouble. I thought you were smart! I don't know how many times I have to tell you!" exclaimed Hermione. The curtains of the girls around them twitched but Lyra vehemently ignored them to shout back.
"I work extremely hard in class, thank you very much! Just because I have other interests besides going to the library doesn't mean I'm not smart!" she snapped, feeling very defensive about her grades. The teachers at her primary school always assumed she was thick due to her rule-breaking tendencies and Hermione's comments had touched a nerve. "And for your information, Hermione - fighting Draco does help me prove myself because he is a bully and I never back down from bullies. He is a horrible person with extremely prejudiced opinions and he needs to learn that everything he stands for is not ok. If I have to be the one to tell him that then so be it. I guess now I know we're family, I have to do something to prove I'm not like him!"
Almost frothing with anger, Lyra scrambled onto her bed and forcefully shut the curtains, hiding herself from the others in the room. Her cheeks were sizzling from the hot wave of humiliation. She shoved her head into her pillow and listened to the hushed whispers from her roommates but she soon blocked them out, she'd rather not know if they disagreed with her point of view. Surprisingly Hermione stayed silent.
Lyra's feet knocked into her book and she jolted, suddenly remembering what she was supposed to be doing. Her attempt to concentrate on proper spell pronunciation became pretty pointless as she couldn't stop replaying Hermione's comments over and over again. As much as she didn't want to admit it, Lyra valued Hermione's opinion of her and to hear that she thought she was stupid hurt more than a punch to the stomach.
Eventually the candles extinguished themselves and Lyra watched as the hands on her watch crept towards the number twelve, biting her lip harder as the second hand twitched. She pulled on her scuffed black boots, slipped on a baggy sweater over her uniform, and carefully tiptoed across the room. The instant her hand touched the door, however, she heard a cough and her heart rattled in her ribcage. I can't catch a break!
"Lyra?" whispered Hermione.
Lyra groaned softly and turned around, glaring at Hermione through the darkness. Her head was sticking through her curtains, visibly worried and wide awake, and she rushed to join her. Lyra shook her head and continued to leave.
"Seriously, Hermione," she whispered back, "drop it."
"No, we need to talk," breathed Hermione, pulling her fluffy lilac dressing gown on. "I didn't mean what I said, let me explain myself."
Lyra yanked the door open and ran down the steps, rejecting her invitation for another argument. She didn't have time to waste and of all the people to catch her sneaking out it had to be her.
Hermione grabbed her shoulder as she reached the bottom step of the staircase. "Lyra, wait!" Her constant whining was shrill and it irked her to no end. She wasn't going to give up easily.
"We'll talk later, ok? Wait for me upstairs," huffed Lyra, scowling at Hermione. Moonlight shone through the window above them and she could see the evocative unease on her housemate's face. Her eyes darted to the door leading to the common room and she narrowed them in suspicion.
"Where are you going?"
"None of your business, please. Just go to bed, Hermione," mumbled Lyra, purposely blocking the door in case she caught a glimpse of Harry or Ron but her effort was futile when Hermione let out an exasperated sigh.
"Are you sneaking out again?! And with Harry and Ron too, I should have known! First Harry breaks the rules by flying this morning and now he's breaking curfew?"
"You shouldn't be hard on Harry for that, he broke records with his flying! You know first years aren't allowed on the team and yet he's their new seeker, you should be happy for him!" reminded Lyra, keeping her voice steady. She felt unusually proud of Harry making it onto the Gryffindor Quidditch team and she thought of his laughing twin celebrating with Giselle down in the trophy room; he was going to be amazing.
"Hm breaking more rules, I wonder where he got that idea from?" said Hermione, pursing her lips.
The scrutiny in her tone was a dagger to her lungs, Lyra deflated in defeat. Without another word, she stomped into the common room with a fierce snarl on her lips. She tried to remove it when she spotted her duelling partners hiding in the shadows near the Fat Lady, whispering to each other, but the sounds of Hermione following her made her clench her jaw even tighter. If she snitches on us I will have a mental breakdown, she thought resentfully. She heard Harry and Ron's scoffs and hung her head in shame.
"What are you doing here?!" spat Ron, glaring at Hermione.
"I could say the same thing!" she responded automatically, crossing her arms and returning his dissonance. "The prefects will catch you, you know."
"Whatever we're doing has nothing to do with you, go to bed," Ron retaliated, looking Hermione up and down. Lyra pinched the bridge of her nose to try and stop the building pressure in her head, hating herself for allowing this to happen. It was all her fault, she had caused nothing but grief for everyone around her and the wriggling snakes of guilt slithered back into her abdomen.
"We don't have time for this," interrupted Harry, gesturing to the portrait hole. "We need to go." They were wasting valuable sneaking-off time and the spells Lyra had memorised were starting to slip out of her head so she started to shove them all out of the Fat Lady's portrait. Hermione included. If she wants to shout at me then she's gonna have to do it while we run.
"Then let's go!" she proclaimed. They tumbled out of the Gryffindor Tower, falling over their feet from Lyra's exaggerated force, and the boys looked outraged that Hermione was still with them.
"There is no way she's coming with us, she's going to run and snitch to Professor McGonagall," scoffed Ron, blinking dramatically at Hermione. Lyra could tell that his hatred was festering beneath his freckled surface. She knew he had a problem with Hermione's way of thinking but his jabs towards her were usually nastier than they should have been, they made Lyra downright uncomfortable. Despite her current animosity towards the know-it-all, Lyra still saw herself within Hermione and felt a natural urge to defend her so she stepped in between them, attempting to prevent another argument. They tended to get a bit shouty when they got going and Lyra really didn't want to lose more house points. Proving Hermione right was not on her to-do list.
"Look," began Lyra, looking them both in the eye, "can we please continue this wonderful conversation at another time? Draco is most likely down there right now and we can't keep his majesty waiting."
"You're going to meet Malfoy?" rasped Hermione, slightly hoarse from shock. "Don't tell me you're going to fight him?"
"No, we're going to duel him," corrected Harry, awfully distracted by his watch. "And we're now two minutes late so drop it and come on!"
"But—," Ron pointed at Hermione, aghast at Harry's sudden decision to include a fourth member in their duelling party, but Lyra pushed them again to kickstart their run.
Being late to a duel felt like heresy, this was not the image she wanted to convey to Draco. Harry took the lead, constantly whispering at them to hurry up, and the four took off scuttling down the haunting moonlit corridors. Hermione's glare bore into the side of Lyra's face as they ran but she stayed silent, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of complaining again.
No one spoke until Hermione gasped at their final destination. "Are you kidding me?!" she shout-whispered, appalled. Her kinked curls looked like electricity in the darkness and it made her look slightly threatening but Lyra placed a finger to her lips and nodded towards the door that would lead them towards their opponents. They snuck onto the third floor and kept to the shadows, eyes peeled for any signs of the Slytherins.
"I can't see anyone," murmured Harry after a few minutes, sticking his head around the corner when they tried another route, and Lyra tried to pinpoint distant footsteps or stifled chatter but the corridors were barren. Not another soul in sight. She bit her lip and glanced back at her party, shrugged her shoulders, and beckoned them to join her in a nearby alcove.
"Are you sure he said the third floor?" she wondered, and Ron nodded in confidence.
"Positive."
"We're only ten minutes late," whispered Harry, pulling his wand out of his robes, "you don't think they're hiding, do you?"
"That would be the cowardly thing to do," deduced Lyra, mirroring his actions, "so yeah, they might be… I wouldn't be surprised if they were never here at all."
"Let's head back to the tower," suggested Hermione in a hiss, making sure she looked them all in the eye. "Clearly Malfoy chickened out and we don't have to be here anymore."
"You didn't have to be here in the first place!" pointed out Ron, side-eyeing her.
"Lyra didn't give me a choice! Do you really think I wanted to come?"
"I can tell you what I really think if you want to know!"
"Oh my God, shut up!" moaned Lyra.
"You two need to be quiet! You're going to get us caught!" snapped Harry.
"He started it!" said Hermione, pointing at Ron who was struggling to keep his voice down.
"And she continued it!"
"Meow."
The four first years froze and turned to see the luminous orange eyes of the caretaker's cat blinking up at them, her tiny fangs bared. Lyra hadn't had the pleasure of meeting Mrs Norris yet, she had been warned by the twins to watch out for the sneaky feline but the cat was a lot cuter than she expected her to be. Her hisses were adorably unthreatening and Lyra cooed, inching closer to see if she would allow her a stroke.
"Aw here kitty kitty!" purred Lyra, stretching her hand out towards the suspicious Mrs Norris.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," cautioned Harry, hesitant to pull Lyra away from the hissing cat.
"But she's cute!" pouted Lyra.
"We really should go!" panicked Hermione, almost jumping on the spot from urgency. "If she's here then that means—,"
Suddenly a nearby door creaked open, bringing with it a raspy cough and shuffling footsteps. Lyra's blood froze from the startling realisation that Mr Filch was metres away from their hidden spot and she stifled her gasp. The other three stopped in their tracks, each face eased with fear, and Ron pointed in the newcomer's direction.
"We can't go back the way we came!" He mouthed, exaggerating his movements in the darkness, "we're screwed!"
"Then let's go that way!" Lyra mouthed back, pointing in the opposite direction. Hermione immediately shook her head in defiance.
"No way! That's the forbidden wing!" she squeaked, giving their position away.
"Who's there?" spluttered Filch and his voice carried down the echoing corridor towards them. The boys slapped their hands to their foreheads, annoyed with their spontaneous fourth member, but Lyra frantically started to shove them out of the alcove as their feet were still rooted to the floor. Considering she was the only one with experience of running away from angry figures of authority she figured she needed to take the lead.
"Follow me!"
They bolted out of their hiding place and down the halls in a blind panic, taking no notice of their surroundings. They didn't know how long they were running for, Lyra couldn't risk taking it easy in case Filch magically appeared behind them, but soon they ran into a problem when a set of three doors blocked the way.
"Oooh," panted Lyra, clutching her knees for support as her lungs cramped. "Choices, choices…"
"Just choose one!" gasped Hermione, pinching the stitch in her side. "Let's go left."
"No, let's go right!" opposed Ron like a knee-jerk reaction. Lyra went to cut them off but Harry beat her to it with a flap of his arms.
"We're going through the middle door!" he said, taking charge of the situation. Sadly with one yank on the handle Harry winced and gave them a shy smile.
"It's locked."
"Then unlock it!" exclaimed Lyra, staring at him like he had asked her what two plus two was. She patted her pockets for her wand but Hermione rolled her eyes and pushed Harry to the side, her wand already in her hand.
"Honestly!" she huffed, "Alohomora!" The handle clicked and twisted, allowing the four to escape from the approaching footsteps that were heading their way. They tumbled through and Lyra latched onto the handle slamming the door shut.
"Colloportus!" She whispered at the door and it shivered as a soft squelching pop emitted from its hinges. Still breathing hard, Lyra wiped her brow and took a step back, guffawing as she noticed that all three doors would have led to the same corridor. She went to point this out to Ron and Hermione, wanting to tease them for their pointless bickering, but a shaky hand grabbed her shoulder.
"Don't...move…" breathed Harry behind her, and Lyra stood up straight as her spine tingled. She was still facing the door, she couldn't see the others. She heard Hermione start to hyperventilate and Ron stutter on his words and the hairs stood up on the back of her neck. Something else was in the corridor with them and the impulse to look was too powerful, she needed to move.
Lyra snuck a peek over her shoulder and her bottom jaw almost unhinged itself as she took in the appearance of a humongous three-headed dog sleeping on the floor a few feet from Ron and Hermione who were paralysed, staring wide-eyed at the beast. Lyra couldn't stop staring at the magnificent creature, in awe of its existence. It took up the entire width of the gloomy corridor. Its fur was silky and dark, the thin hairs catching the moonlight as it gently snoozed and its great paws were crossed over some sort of hatch but Lyra was more concerned with guessing whether the dog had soft toe beans. She was undecidedly torn between screaming in fright and squealing in fascination but before she could take a deep breath Ron finally found his words.
"R-R-Run!" he yelped, his voice cracking, and he instinctively shoved Hermione towards the left door. His yell scared the snoozing creature and Lyra watched its hazy eyes snap open, looking for the source of the rude interruption. It clambered to its feet, sizing up the small first years, and Harry dragged Lyra back to safety, shaking her out of her daydream. Shutting the door seemed like a breeze as adrenaline pumped through them and they fled the scene, disregarding the threat of Filch meeting them on their travels.
As though luck were on their side, their path back to the Gryffindor tower was swift with no interference and they barged through the Fat Lady's portrait, trying to catch their breath for what felt like the dozenth time this evening. Lyra's body cried out for sleep and she happily agreed with that decision for once, she wanted to simply lay down and process the fact that she had met a Cerberus. The mythological guardian of the gates to hell. Was the third floor corridor Hell? Why was it there? A tiny sliver of her worry grew into pride as she realised she had escaped without injury, something she would consider to be an amazing achievement. Regrettably it seemed as though her company didn't share her feelings of accomplishment.
"That was mad!" burst Ron, the remnants of shock still dripping from his white face. "I can't believe we're not dead!"
"I think we know why the third floor is forbidden now," croaked Harry, looking like he would rather have not known. "I wonder why it's there?"
"Why wouldn't it be there?" scoffed Lyra, "this is a magical school! We have ghosts, ghouls, and vampires here and yet a three-headed dog surprises you?"
"But keeping it right in the middle of the castle? Surely there are better places to keep a giant, man-eating dog," countered Harry, and Lyra eventually shrugged.
"Touche."
"It's obviously a deterrent," sighed Hermione, rubbing her tired eyes. "Did you not see the trapdoor it was standing on?"
Lyra furrowed her brows, working it out for herself before Hermione gushed. "That hatch would lead to the second floor, that's a lot of effort to guard a floor we all have access to."
"Yeah, but like you said, this is a magic school," said Ron quietly, "that trapdoor could take you anywhere."
"Interesting…" mused Lyra but her tone of voice brought Hermione's stuffy side back to life.
"Lyra, don't you dare go back there! You're going to get yourself killed!" she warned, pointing a finger at her face, and Lyra pouted. The care in her voice was warming, she sounded desperate. The yearning to find out where the hatch lead to was overpowered by her sense of adoration for Hermione as she looked into her worried brown eyes.
"I won't," promised Lyra sincerely, offering the girl her pinky finger. "I swear." The gesture caught Hermione off-guard and she stared in befuddlement at her hand for a moment.
"You're supposed to wrap your own finger around it," interjected Harry, smirking at her confusion, and Hermione scowled at him.
"I know what to do!" she snapped, copying Lyra's motion. Her smallest finger was clammy but smooth and Lyra grinned at her, moved by her trust.
"I never break a pinky promise," vowed Lyra, putting her hand on her heart and Hermione's eyes rolled but the corners of her lips curled upwards.
"I'll hold you to that," she mumbled.
"I don't know about you but I am knackered," yawned Ron, "running for your life is tiring work."
"Serves you right for getting involved in a duel, what did you expect?" Hermione couldn't help herself from retorting. It was like the pair had an unwavering contract that required them to shoot comebacks at each other at any chance they got and Ron's immediate snappy comment proved her theory right. Harry caught Lyra's eye and she could see he was struggling to keep a straight face, the arguing duo became more animated as their bickering got stronger and their hand movements were getting out of control. Lyra stifled her own smirk and rolled her eyes, silently agreeing with his sentiment.
"Shall we leave them here?" whispered Lyra, nudging Harry's arm.
"I don't think they'd notice if we went to bed," he murmured back.
"I hope so, I'm too tired to speak to Hermione about the whole breakfast situation," sighed Lyra into her hands as she massaged her heavy eyes. She had used up all of her energy already and didn't have the capacity to fight her corner for what felt like the hundredth time.
"I'll distract her if she tries to come after you?" suggested Harry helpfully, making Lyra smile.
"Appreciate it, Potter."
"—sounds like you're blaming me for all of this?!" shouted Ron, his sudden increase in volume snatched the whispering pair's attention. Hermione, her face now taunt with incredulity, spluttered and pointed at Lyra.
"No, Lyra's not off the hook either," she said matter-of-factly, but before Lyra could defend herself Harry took a step forward.
"Lyra had nothing to do with this, I provoked Malfoy and caused the duel, she wasn't even there when he challenged us and I was the one who got her involved," defended Harry hotly, "she's done nothing but defend us from that git and the house points don't even matter, you earn us loads of points every day! And, in case you didn't know, I was the one who started the food fight on the Express so you need to get off her back, Hermione. Give it a rest!"
Lyra didn't know what to say, she was speechless. Besides Danielle, no one had ever stood up for her before. This was a new, profound sensation and she wasn't too sure how to react to it. She looked to Harry and pressed her lips together, rolling them nervously as she rushed to think of something to say. Ron nodded proudly and slapped Harry on the shoulder.
"See? She's not a bad influence on Harry — he's just as bad!" said Ron and he sent Lyra a dazzling grin. "I'm on your side too."
Hermione couldn't take it anymore. With a stomp of her slipper, she spun around and stormed towards her dormitory. At the door she stopped and mustered her most fierce scowl, making sure they knew she was one hundred percent serious.
"You three are going to get yourself killed - or worse expelled - and I'm not going to stand around to watch!" In a flurry of brunette frizz Hermione vanished, finally leaving them alone.
Still flustered by Harry and Ron's loyalty, Lyra turned to them and grinned, letting out a guttural sigh of relief. Her happiness defused the tense silence and they beamed back, glad that she appreciated their help instead of jumping down their necks about getting involved.
"I told you I'd distract her," said Harry and Lyra laughed heartily, not caring about how loud she was being. Having them on her side felt validating and she hoped that this exciting feeling would last a long time.
"I owe you one."