INSTEAD, james potter [1]

Chapter Sixteen

Lyra Black was never seen on by herself these days. Always surrounded by some sort of gang of different Slytherins, who all refused to leave her side once they were first together, as if they had been commanded to stay there. 

The one constant was Rabastan Lestrange. He was glued to her side, barely even letting her go out on her prefect patrols without him tagging along. He had taken it upon himself to sit next to her in every class, even though he hadn't been partner in any classes a few weeks before. 

People didn't think too much about it, just thinking they had grown quite close. Lyra knew he was only protective, which he had been for the month they had been friends, not wanting her to be under the bad influence of Sirius and his Gryffindor friends.

One boy didn't like this at all. James Potter had noticed the closeness between the pair and was annoyed that every time his eyes strayed to Lyra's direction, he would be met with Rabastan's harsh glare. 

"I don't like it," muttered James to his friends at the Gryffindor table. He was stabbing his breakfast, imagining Rabastan's face on his plate. "Look at that slimy git. He acts like owns her or something."

Sirius, Remus and Peter all looked to see what James was talking about when they saw Rabastan smiling down at a grinning Lyra, sitting a bit too close for any of their liking. 

"Oi, why do you care, Prongs?" asked Sirius, using their new nicknames they had come up with a few days before. He looked suspiciously at his best friend. "Please tell me this doesn't have anything to do with your snog."

Peter turned white as he remembered seeing them together. "It was so gross."

"You're just saying that because you can't get anyone to snog you, Wormtail." James scoffed, glaring at the two who sat across from him. He then turned to Remus at his side. "Moony, you get it, right? He's a jerk."

"Can't disagree with that," said Remus bitterly, not looking too happy himself with the friendship between Lyra and Rabastan. "I don't sit with her in any classes anymore, I only see her at patrol and then she's distant. The only difference is that she actually likes me, unlike you."

"She likes me," the bespectacled boy protested, pouting. "She just hasn't admitted it to you lot because she's embarrassed. I don't understand why. Everyone likes me."

"Well, she liked you enough to snog you, at least," Peter pointed out, happy to contribute to James's ego boost as the taller boy ruffled his hair thankfully. "But it was still really gross. Is it supposed to look like that?"

"Yes, it's always going to look gross from the outside. Bloody awesome when you're the one snogging though," Sirius smirked, before his expression turned sour as he looked at James. "But it's still disturbing knowing you've snogged Lyra."

James grinned at the memory. "That was awesome."

Sirius furrowed his brows, studying the look on James's face as he stared at his cousin. "Did that snog go to your head or something? Since when do you give a crap about how Lestrange acts around Lyra?"

"Merlin, James. Please don't," said Remus, rubbing his temples. The last thing he needed was for James to decide he liked Lyra just because she was willing to snog him once. 

"Don't read too much into it, alright," James rolled his eyes before focusing his gaze on the Black girl once again. "I just don't like him, he needs to be put in his place. And I've been so bored lately, I feel like we haven't done something fun in ages."

All worries faded from Sirius's face at the idea and he grinned widely. "What d'you have in mind?"

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