The Boy in the Broomshed ~ 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘗𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳

6

                    Lyra made the brisk walk to transfiguration and her anxiety quickly made itself known. The castle was always hard to navigate, luckily for her the patch to McGonagall's classroom was short. She turned the corner to the wooden door that led into the classroom. As she tried to compose herself, Draco and his classmates of bullies, whisked past her in a flurry of green and black. She watched them, as they laughed and chanted about, happy as ever. Lyra knew Draco's facade was thin, but it was still there. She envied the comfort of people around her, she always had V, and she supposed that would have to be enough.

                  She walked into the classroom and quickly placed her books and quill in the closest empty desk she could find. Draco and Pansy Parkinson sat directly in front of her, in her line of sight as they whispered and giggled together. As Lyra observed the rest of the room she saw the Weasley boy and the mudblood girl that Potter always had hanging around. However the boy with the lightning shaped scar was no where to be found, and Lyra found comfort in that.

                Pansy and Draco kept whispering back and forth with their usual banter. The quiet murmurs of the classroom were quickly put to a stop when the wise witch stepped into the classroom. Transfiguration was always one of Lyra's strong suites so, the class passed by quickly enough. Halfway through, the boy with the lightning shaped scar that she had been dreading, made his way in. McGonagall told him to find a seat and he did. 'No points taken for being late?' Lyra said under her breath. Once again the gryffindors received special treatment  from the professors, and it made her blood boil.

              Harry took a seat by his two companions and turned around to collect his things. The boy and the girl caught a quick glance at eachother for only a moment. Well it was a moment to those around them, but in their eyes the moment lasted for years. Lyra's cool graphite colored eyes met with his soft aventurine ones. When their eyes met it seemed as though the world had gone silent, they glared as eachother with a distain meant for true enemies.

             Lyra was the first one to break their silent agony, she shifted her head to look at McGonagall, who was showing them how to turn cups into teaspoons. Lyra had completed this task with ease and took pride in her ability over Draco, who was growing frustrated and spitting profanities left and right.

             When the lesson was over Lyra made a dash for the door, her palms grew damp and she realized her need to get away from her new rival was greater than her want to stay and scan for Pucey. She turned the corner out of the classroom, leaving her anxiety's and that boy behind.

           She made her way down to the potions classroom, she was exited for this class, mainly because Snape openly favored her and her older counterpart. As soon and Lyra saw V she skipped over to her and explained the events of the previous class, and her brief gaze at the boy she despised. "Well it sounds like all the Malfoy's truly despise Potter then." V said this was a hint of sarcasm, but Lyra knew it was the truth. Ever since Harry showed his face in the wizarding world, Lucius made it a point to teach his children that Potter was scum of the earth. Lyra had wondered why a few times, but decided against that and obeyed her father.  
Potions was difficult as always for Lyra but her partner in crime was always there to remind her, "It's counterclockwise" or "Use the wolfsbane, not the eggshells." Lyra and V made their potion and when it received a passing mark they celebrated with a glass of pumpkin juice in the great hall.

At the second meal of the day, Lyra couldn't help her eyes from wondering to the table decorated in red and gold. She needed to stop taking Potter so seriously, he was beneath her and beneath her family. She would never admit is, but seeing the boy with his two friends pricked at her heart strings in an uncomfortable way. She pushed this feeling down however and made her way through the rest of her classes.

The boy with the broken glasses took up more space in her thoughts than she cared to admit. She was determined to not let this fact take control of her though. She walked back to her common room and it appeared she was the first one back. The lights were dim and we took a place on the ember couch. As she flipped through her notes from that day, a boy with dark skin and beautiful brown eyes sat next to her. Lyra jumped, but when she saw who it was, her worries instantly, melted away.

"BLAISE ZABINI! YOU NEARLY MADE ME HEX YOU." Lyra said this jokingly of course and Blaise wrapped her in a warm embrace and asked, "How was Transfiguration with the gryffindors and your brother?" Blaise knew Draco and the gryffindors had a rough history. "It was quite normal, nothing out of the ordinary." Lyra lied right through her teeth. "Glad to hear it." Blaise said this with a warm smile that could warm anyone, even in the coldest of winters. The two sat for a while exchanging sentiments about their day and told eachother about the summer they had spent apart. "Well as always Mother has found another man to latch into, hopefully she'll be happy with this one." Blaise sighed with a failed attempt to hide his sadness. "Me too Blaise, I love your mother, she should be happy." This was true, Lyra was just as close to Mrs Zabini as she was her own mother.

However when Blaise asked about her summer, Lyra grew weary and simply stated, that the manor was quiet and dull as always. Lyra hated lying to her brotherly figure like this, but she felt if she told him the truth, it would spark an unhealthy train of events. The real truth was that the manor was anything but quiet, Ministry officials came in and out as often as her fathers "friends" did. Lyra had never seen these men before, she and Draco were instructed by Narcissa to keep themselves locked away upstairs till it was quiet enough to come downstairs.

Lyra was still uncertain of the cause or meaning of these events, but she decided it was best to simply stay quiet. That's how it was all summer, tucked away in her bedroom waiting for the safety of her mothers embrace. Her room was quite extravagant, being a Malfoy did come with some special privileges. What hurt the most though, was the fact that she could not go into her garden. Narcissa and Lyra had been cultivating a wonderful garden right outside Lyra's window. She dreamed of being able to lie in the grass and feel the warmth of summer on her face again. But no. All summer, trapped inside her room with only ember to keep her company, and that began at the end of August when Ember was gifted to her for a birthday gift. Summer had been dreary and darker than she had been accustomed to, over the years.

She saved Blaise the details though and said a quiet, "goodnight" to him before heading to her dormitory. She climbed up the granite spiral staircase that led up to her place of isolation and made her way in. Noticing V wasn't in the room yet, and breathed a sigh of relief, assuming she was off at dinner, an event Lyra had decided to skip that evening.

Lyra made her way to her favorite seat in the room, the window. This window was special to her, in a way she could not begin to describe. Her tower was one of the highest in Hogwarts and Lyra thanked Merlin for it. She stared over the mountains surrounding her home, and without realizing it, a tear started to fall.

Then more tears, one by one growing cold on her face. She didn't know exactly why she cried that night. Maybe it was the stress of her classes, the pang of loneliness that she felt when she saw the rest of the slytherin's and maybe, just maybe it had to do with the boy in the broomshed.

She sat there for what felt like an hour or so, silently crying, silently wishing the world was more clear. When V didn't return Lyra assumed she had gone to Hogrid's or to the lake for some late night thinking, as she was doing now. She climbed into bed with the tears still fresh on her cheeks and she slowly but surely drifted to sleep.