INSTEAD, james potter [1]

bonus: ALTERNATE ENDING

A/N: This alternate ending chapter is a thank you for getting Instead to 1 million reads! I finished this series almost a year ago and I'm still so proud of it, and I can't say how much I love the fact that you've all taken time out of your schedules to read my work <3 I love you guys so much, and if you're a new reader then do take the time to check out the sequel even if this ending may be preferable for most of you. 

So, a bit of info for you guys about this chapter. It starts in Chapter 59 (AKA when everything starts going downhill), and there is one major change that leads to the ending changing. I'm positive you guys will pick up on it quickly. 

The anxiousness was gnawing at every part of Lyra's body. She knew she was running out of time before she had to make a decision. Well, she already had made a decision in a way. Christmas was coming to an end, she was packing her suitcase and she still had not revealed the dangerous secret she had forced the whole of Hogwarts to keep for her. 

She told Regulus she would tell the family. She was going to tell them everything. She was going to tell them how much she loved that stupid boy. How she would die for him, how she would do anything to be with him. She was going to tell them that her future would always be intertwined with his in one way or another. James Potter was the love of her life, and nothing they could say would change it. 

But whenever the opportunity came, she found herself unable to speak. At Christmas dinner at Twelve Grimmauld Place they had outright asked about her love life, and she should've spoken up. But the whole night seemed to echo the night Sirius had left. She didn't want to be the next to be tortured by her Aunt Walburga by the dinner table. 

Lyra closed her suit case with a shaky breath. She ran her fingers through her blond locks, sitting down on her bed as she buried her face in her hands. It was a cruel, twisted and impossible situation. But what was she supposed to do? She couldn't keep the secret forever, and she only had a single term left at Hogwarts before it was all over. An internal clock kept ticking, reminding her of the passing of time. Tick tock, your time is almost up. 

A knock sounded on the door, and Lyra immediately straightened up. It could've been her oldest sister, the illusive Bellatrix Lestrange, looking to do her best to recruit her for some Death Eater business as always. 

Instead, she found her favorite sister (well, of the sisters that weren't disowned), the mythically beautiful Narcissa Malfoy. She was smiling gently. "Did you think I didn't notice that something's been off about you, Lyra? Come on, I'm your sister. You can tell me what's bothering you."

Lyra hesitated. Her survival instincts told her to lie, but she was so sick of lying. She had spent years lying to almost everyone and she wanted it to stop. "Is it that obvious?"

"We can talk about whatever," Narcissa assured her, quietly sitting next to her on the bed. "You might now think I could ever understand, but I was eighteen once, too."

The younger blonde frowned deeply, fiddling with the hem of her shirt in nervousness. "Can I trust you?"

"Of course. I promise you can." She reached out and grabbed her shaking hands, trying to hold them steady. 

"I- I've done something," Lyra stuttered, internally cursing herself for doing do, but her sister didn't seem to judge. "It's not bad. At least, I don't feel like it's bad. But... I don't think our family would accept it."

The Malfoy woman was getting more concerned by the moment. "I'm sure it's not as bad you make it out to be."

Against her will, tears sprung into Lyra's eyes as the fear of what could happen bubbled up in her, but she forced herself to stay strong. This had to happen sooner or later. "I'm, uh... I'm with someone. Like really with him. The kind of mushy I love him and would do anything for him love. I'm scared I'm gonna lose him. I'm scared our family's gonna take him away."