I. social casualty | blaise zabini ✔️

SALVE

CHAPTER 24

SALVE

Lyra had never hated anyone more than that horrible toad of a woman, and she knew quite a few people that sucked. She had made her and Harry carve lines into their own skin and write it on paper in their blood. Why Dumbledore would allow a psychopath into this school to teach, Lyra had no idea.

Nevertheless, the phrase "I must not disrespect," was now etched in her palm, red and itching after a week of detention where she had missed the quidditch tryouts, Angelina still guaranteed her the spot after a weekend training, thankfully. Harry and her had decided on not telling anyone about the detentions they had served, not wanting to make a fuss. So, Lyra covered her hand at all times now, using fingerless gloves, long sleeves, or just sticking it in her robe pocket.

Worse than anything, she had forgotten her gloves during quidditch practice the week after and her hand felt more raw and itchy than before. Despite the scrap of wood on her cuts, she wouldn't back down from practice, fearful of losing her position, and played until her skin bleed, then wrapped it in some linen cloth from the first aid kit in the changing rooms.

It had not helped that she had dived at Parkinson during Gryffindors practice for teasing the entirety of the team, especially Angelina and Ron. She had been ready to punch the Slytherin girl, fist clenched, her nails digging into the already harmed skin. The only thing that stopped her was Katie and George, who had pulled her back from possibly earning herself another week of detention. Still, the Slytherins stayed through the majority of their practices that week and Lyra fought very hard to keep herself from further injuring her hand.

Now, Lyra was tired and had about 5 assignments to finish by Monday. And to top it off, here she was in Astronomy, her normally chipper attitude masked by the drooping of her eyes and constant yawning. Normally she liked Astronomy very much, the stars and moons and everything about it interested her very much, but today, she would rather jump off the tower than stay here for much longer.

"What happened to your hand?" Zara whispered, as Lyra charted a moon on her paper.

"Uhh, splinter from my broom during practice."

Zara didn't seem to believe her but before she could ask, Lyra stood to speak with Professor Sinistra. However, the Ravenclaw was quite perceptive and the way her friend would constantly rub the wrapped hand on her robes, as if relieving an itch, made her think this was more than just a splinter.

Still Lyra stayed silent about the injured hand until class was over and she waved her friend goodbye, heading up with the rest of the Gryffindors to her dorm. She tried doing homework for about an hour, finished her Ancient Runes and Magical Creatures homework before eventually giving up and falling asleep.

Lyra was glad that it was the weekend. Just a few weeks into the semester and she was already exhausted. Unfortunately, her pile of books waited by her bed stand, giving her enough to do for the entire weekend, instead of going on the first Hogsmeade trip.

So she, Lyra, and Zara spent the day at the library, hopefully finishing all of the assignments due next week. At least they would have been if Lyra and Fay didn't have a habit of procrastination and Zara didn't have a habit of complaining from the workload. Eventually, they had finished a good portion of the work, the only things left being History of Magic and Defense Against the Dark Arts, two classes that Lyra detested this year.

Lyra slammed her quill down, "Ok, I'm calling a break."

The other two groaned in relief, "Thank Merlin."

"Yes please. I say, we go to lunch. We still have about half an hour before it's over."

"Or..."