INSTEAD, james potter [1]

Chapter Five

The weeks passed, and Lyra kept her promise to do research on behalf of the four marauders known as James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. She didn't mind, though, always happy to keep herself occupied so she didn't have to feel like she was constantly scrutinized by the rest of her house. 

That didn't mean she didn't love her housemates. Being a Slytherin couldn't get any better, Lyra was well-liked and popular, mostly because she didn't really cause any trouble, was nice to all of them and had a rich, famed family history many of them would kill for. 

No Gryffindor could ever make her forget the happiness and belonging she felt with them, not even Sirius. So she treasured the time she had with them, knowing her time with them was limited. She had already breezed through half of her schooling at Hogwarts, and she believed in the power of good memories. 

Without good memories, there was nothing to hold on to when it all went away. Lyra was barely fifteen, and she had already experienced some devestating heartbreak. If she didn't have the memories she had with Andromeda, then there wouldn't be any proof that they were ever sisters. Lyra wouldn't ever dare forget it, even if she sometimes wished she could. 

And so she laughed and giggled with her friends when she felt like it, and she felt a comfort in knowing these were memories she would carry with her forever. 

As she sat in Slughorn's fourth year Potions class, she and her partner, fellow Slytherin Lucinda Talkalot, were whispering about how Bertram Aubrey from Ravenclaw had been looking at Lyra strangely at dinner the night before. They barely paid attention to Slughorn's lecture about the rarely used Herbicide potion. 

Psst, Lyra heard from behind her. Peter Pettigrew sat there with Remus Lupin. Peter was trying to stealthily pass her a note, but he was far too obvious as he stretched his arm out right in front of her face. 

Lyra scrunched her nose up in disgust at the way he was trying to catch her attention. She quickly grabbed the note from his hand and hoped Slughorn wouldn't notice. But she supposed she always underestimated the old man, and he knew more about what was going on in his classroom than any of his students thought. 

"What's that you've got there, Miss Black?" Professor Slughorn asked, smiling slightly at her as she looked down embarrassed. He held his hand out, asking for the note in her hand. She wasn't sure if she wanted to give it to him, not having read it herself yet. 

Lucinda elbowed her in the ribs, nodding towards their professor's hand. Lyra sighed and hesitantly put the note in his hand. She glanced back at Peter and Remus who looked like they were preparing for a storm coming.

"If you wanted to pass notes in class, you should be prepared for its contents to be seen by the whole class, my dear." Old Slughorn cleared his throat as he looked at the note, frowning as he read it. "Are you available to go over the secret project tonight? Meet me at the usual place, James Potter."

Lyra cringed in her seat as she felt several of the Slytherin/Gryffindor class' stares burning holes in her head. She glanced at Lucinda, who raised her eyebrows in shock at her before looking back at James.

James never really looked embarrassed, not matter what. But he didn't look quite like his smug self as a hoard of Slytherin's gave him death glares, them thinking he might be trying to corrupt their sweet, little Lyra. He leaned back in his chair and tried to seem casual, flashing the class his famous, arrogant grin. 

Lyra turned to look at the gang of Gryffindors who were trying to whisper quietly amongst themselves, not seeming to be the biggest fans of Lyra either. If anybody was going to go after the great chaser and overall fun guy known as James Potter, it wasn't going to be some stuck-up, probably prejudiced Slytherin.