P A R A M O U R || George Weasley

02 || YOU'VE GOT MAIL

The Great Hall is filled with chatter and murmurs, Sirius Black's attack against the Fat Lady still on everyone's tongue. After that terrifying night, there have been no more sightings, and because of that, the Daily Prophet keeps having him on the front page, desperate to get a grip on Black.

Lyra scoffs, reading the newspaper. She's tired of all the nonsense that is written in it. Especially Rita Skeeter's poison-pen stories. Whoever believes her stories is an idiot with nothing better to do.

"For hating Skeeter so much, you do spend an awful amount of time reading her column," Adrian Pucey says from across the table.

"The Daily Prophet is going downhill with this trash, and I want to see when it crashes," Lyra tells him, folding the paper and slamming it on the table.

"No one will blame you if you like her stories," Patricia Stimpsom pipes up from beside her.

"Is that because you like them?" Lyra asks, raising a perfectly sculpted eyebrow.

"There is no need to attack me," Patricia scoffs, "And as a matter of fact, yes, I like them," she snaps, snatching the paper from the spot Lyra left it.

As they talk about their upcoming exams and calm Patricia down from stressing out, an Owl swoops down the Slytherin table and throws a small package in front of Lyra.

The blonde stares at it in question, but she opens the parcel with a shrug, only to find a chocolate frog with a note stuck to it.

'I'm still sorry. Forgive me now? -G'

Lyra rolls her eyes at the note but not before crushing it into a ball and muttering an incendio under her breath. She caught the redhead's eyes, who gave her an aggravated look from afar and threw him a sarcastic smile.

"If that's what you do when you're given a chocolate frog, I don't want to imagine what you'll do with a proper gift," Adrian snorts, promptly drinking from his goblet.

"You want it?" She offers the chocolate to her best friend.

George Wesley has not left Lyra completely alone. According to him, until she accepts his apology, he isn't leaving her alone. Lyra doesn't trust him. She doesn't trust them. For all she knows, they could be planning another prank for her. Especially since the other twin hasn't made an effort to apologize and rather glares at her when he sees her.

"Why? Is it poisoned?" Adrian stares at her hand in question, debating on whether he should take it or not.

"Maybe." Lyra shrugs in honesty. A Weasley coming for a Malfoy? It would not surprise her.

She's heard whispers of them experimenting with sweets and turning them into pranks. Lyra Malfoy is far from stupid, and falling for their little games is not on her plans.

"I'll take the risk," the boy says, tearing open the box. He takes a bite out of the chocolate frog's head and searches inside the box for the collector's card.

She discreetly watched over Adrian for the next hour, waiting for anything remotely strange to happen, but nothing did. She's not a bad friend who purposefully gave Adrian a tampered candy, she did note that it was sealed correctly, but she was cautious. You can never be too careful when it comes to the Weasley's. It's ironic because they think the same about the Malfoy's.

On her way to her second class of the morning, someone falls into step beside her. "Get away from me before I hex you," Lyra threatens without bothering to look at the person.

"Why didn't you eat the chocolate?" George asks her nonchalantly, ignoring her threat.

From his seat at the Gryffindor table, he saw it all. How Lyra burned the note, he wrote. How she gave away the chocolate frog he bought. And how she smirked at him, shaking her head, 'no.'

"Because I don't like you," she says bluntly.

Lyra has never been one to beat around the bush. If she doesn't like something, she says it. Although, she always thinks about when is the right or wrong time to say it. Knowing the perfect timing is the key to getting what you want.

"It's an apology!" He whines, "Even if you don't accept it, you could've eaten it."

Lyra lets her frustrations out as she lists the pranks the twins have pulled on her in the past. "First of all, who knows what that chocolate frog had. It could've turned my hair red or made me break out or made my voice incredibly high-pitched for hours!" Stopping in her tracks, she looks at his stunned face. "Second of all, I don't care for your apology."

As she rambles, George grimaces, suddenly realizing it is true. They've always targeted her. There's no rhyme or reason to it. Lyra has always been there to take the hit.

"I really do feel bad about that night," he mumbles, scratching the back of his neck, "We took it too far."

"Whatever. I'm over all of your apologies," Lyra says dryly, walking away from him and rushing to class.

Lyra should be smarter, though, because George will leave her alone if she accepts the apology. But at the moment, she is too angry still to be reasonable.

She gets to the Potions classroom just in time. As soon as she sits on the uncomfortable stool, Snape walks in and begins his lecture on the strengthening solution potion. It's a potion she knows well and has helped him brew many times, so she doesn't mind when Adrian talks to her.

"Why was Weasley talking to you?" Adrian whispers, leaning into her.

"I'm not sure," she lies, taking out her self-filling quill.

Lyra doesn't tell Adrian the truth. It's going to be a story he's heard many times before. Lyra Malfoy got pranked again by the infamous Weasley Twins.

"What did you talk about?" He asks again, ruffling through the pages of the book.

Adrian doesn't want Snape to catch him talking. He's trying to be sneaky about it. Although they are Slytherins, and points won't be deducted, Snape will still glare at them for breaking the rules.

"It's nothing. You know how they love to annoy me," Lyra shrugs him off, taking notes on everything Snape is spewing, regardless of whether she knows it already.

"Do you need me to do something about it?" He asks her, eyes shifting from Snape to her in concern.

Adrian and Lyra have been best friends since their first year and have known each other for longer. He will always be there to protect her, even if she doesn't need him 9 times out of ten.

"I appreciate it, but I can handle it, Dri," Lyra reassures him with a smile and a hand on his arm.

Adrian's words make tiny butterflies flutter in her stomach. Lately, things have been different between them. Lyra can't pinpoint when that happened precisely. It must've been between the visits to the Manor in the summer and the late-night talks in the common room after she patrolled the halls.

"Okay, but if you need me," Adrian repeats himself.

"I will tell you," she softly laughs, kissing his cheek.

Adrian is harmless. She appreciates his concern, but if he intervenes, things might just get crazier. Not to mention, the Twins will have no problem beating him in whatever Adrian does.

Lyra knows they are great duellers, and if things ever got physical- which no respectable pureblood would ever do- they are two, and Adrian is one. It doesn't matter how tall and muscular he is. There is no way he will win.

He's always been a great friend to her. She's glad to have him. Once people find out her last name, they either jeer at her in distaste or get too close to comfort to get something they want.

Patricia and Adrian are some of the few who truly know her inside and out. It's the reason she keeps her friends so close to her. In the end, she doesn't need a lot of people around her to be happy.