𝐎𝐅 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒 & 𝐌𝐄𝐍 ━ newt scamander [ ON HOLD ]

𝗉𝗋𝗈𝗅𝗈𝗀𝗎𝖾

The answer came to her in the next year when Newt met a girl called Leta Lestrange. They seemed to click instantly in a way that Lyra and Newt never had, and the curly-haired boy could now be found wherever the Slytherin girl was. The sight of them together made Lyra's blood boil and she found that she couldn't stand the thought of them alone together. At first she chalked it up to the fact that Leta was in her rival House and what everyone said was true: a Slytherin and Gryffindor may never agree; where one saw two the other would say three.

As the year wore on, however, the truth revealed itself by the way of her sort-of friend, Stella Ventress. "Hello? Yeoh, I'm talking to you!"

Lyra jumped slightly on the bench where they were sitting in the Great Hall and turned to face the brunette. "Sorry, what?"

"I said you've been zoned out for the last five years. What's so interesting?"

The Asian girl huffed. "If it had been five years we would've graduated by now. Anyway, nothing important. Did you want something?"

The dark-haired girl leaned in close and tried to copy the direction in which Lyra had been staring in. Now behind her, Lyra batted the girl's curly strands out of her face. "Ventress, sit in your own seat! This one's already taken!"

Thankfully Stella sat up properly again. "Were you staring at the Scamander boy again?"

She glowered at the other girl. "What do you mean again? I've never stared at him even once!"

"Sure," Stella scoffed. "You've been friends with him since first year but you've gotten worse ever since he met Lestrange. Do you have a crush on him or something?"

Lyra's eyes widened with indignation. "What? No way! I mean, I couldn't! He's just-he's just Newt!"

"Keep telling yourself that."

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

As much as she hated to admit it, Lyra knew that Stella was right, but it was so painfully, obviously unrequited that she tried not to think about her feelings for him too much. What was painfully obvious was how enamored Newt was with Leta. It only made something else become awfully clear: Lyra liked Newt a whole lot more than Newt liked Lyra, even in just the friendship sense.

It was this realization that was the first chink in an otherwise solid bond. After that, the Asian girl didn't write to her best friend all summer and on September first, she sat with Stella rather than insert herself in what she now called Newta. Still, thoughts of the Hufflepuff boy continued to plague her even as Stella droned on about her exciting summer in France.

Lyra couldn't help but picture Newt and Leta in a train compartment, alone, with the Lestrange girl giggling over all of Newt's interesting animal facts, her obliviousness to the puppy-dog eyes that he gave her. . . the brunette's knee bounced anxiously as she tapped her fingers relentlessly against her leg while she thought. Eventually, Stella broke off her story about the cute Muggle boy she'd met. "Merlin's beard, could you stop?"

She gave the dark-haired girl a suitably apologetic look. "Sorry." (She couldn't help but think that if Newt had been there instead, he'd only reach over and place his hand on top of hers as a signal to still her movements.)

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

Fifth year was finally when things got back to how they used to be but not exactly how she would've preferred it to happen. It was near Christmas time when Newt had suddenly run up to her, breathless (she tried not to think about what could be implied by that.) "Ly, I need your help."

She did her best to not feel too pleased by his words since they'd barely spoken the last two years but she was still willing to listen. So in a quiet, rushed voice he told her about the Jarvey that Leta had found near the kitchens. Apparently it had gotten inside to get out of the cold and the Lestrange girl had caught sight of it on her way to visit Newt. Once she'd brought him to the Jarvey, she tried to convince him that it would be funny to let other students see it and the magical creature could make fun of them. Newt didn't think that would be funny at all and he now wanted to get the creature out of the castle while Leta was preoccupied with finding some of her Housemates.

Lyra frowned. "A Jarvey? Shouldn't we tell Professor Dippet so he can take care of it?"

"You've taken Care of Magical creatures haven't you?" Newt prompted her, almost desperately. "Please, Ly. I can't do it alone and you're the only one who can help. I don't want him to get hurt."

She didn't think that their Headmaster would necessarily harm the animal, but she also knew that there was no changing Newt's mind on this sort of thing. She sighed. "Oh, alright. But I swear, if we get expelled because of that git—"

"We won't," he promised her hastily. "And don't talk about Leta like that. She's not as bad as you think she is, you know."

(Unfortunately, Newt had the terrible habit of being wrong.)