Mudblood

The Feast

When the group broke apart Lyssa followed Malfoy to where the rest of the second-years were sitting. Milicent lept up at once and engulfed Lyssa in a tight hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay," she said as she pulled away and they sat down at the table.

"Thanks," Lyssa said quietly.

Her housemates were a lot nicer during the late night feast, whether this was due to their obvious lack of sleep or the pity they had for her being petrified Lyssa didn't know, but, she found herself not caring either way. The feast was like none Hogwarts had seen in years. The celebrations lasted till dawn and everyone was wearing their pyjamas. It felt to Lyssa kind of like a very big slumber party.

When the students finally did retire to their chambers that morning and tucked themselves into their beds, Lyssa found that while the weight of her anxiety on her chest was significantly lighter than she remembered, however, it had not vanished completely.

This year had given her new insight into her place not just at Hogwarts but in the whole wizarding world. Though last year she was bothered by the pureblood sentiment carried by her housemates it was more of a minor inconvenience than an actual threat. Now she saw that even if her housemates warmed to her there would always be wizards who saw her as a target, a blight on the perfect pureblood society they strived for. Someone had actually plotted to murder muggle-born children this year.

So the anxiety Lyssa felt didn't cease, instead it morphed from a fear of a tangible enemy to a sense of vigilance for the danger held by the idea that she was less than. The wizarding war may have ended over ten years ago but her battle against it's survivors was nowhere near complete.

𝀈𝀈𝀈

The end of the school year came quickly. Exams had been cancelled and the term had let out prematurely as a result. The only thing Lyssa had on her schedule was physically therapy with the healers, luckily enough she was okay after only one additional session given she was only briefly petrified.

Lyssa's trunk was packed with all of her belonging, including a slip of parchment with Milicent's address. The caveat to this was Lyssa had to send any letter by owl because while Milicent wasn't sure if her family even had a mailbox she was sure that if anyone tried to deliver any muggle mail her parents would hex the poor soul who had the misfortune of delivering it.

Lyssa had also been given a review guide for the summer so she would not start the next year behind on what she had missed. She counted herself lucky though after seeing the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff boys' review packets. They had been left so far behind the ministry had given them special permits to practice underage magic in order to catch up.

On the train ride home Lyssa sat with Milicent, and a collection of other Slytherins in her year. All of the girls from her dormitory were there and Theo and Blaise had joined them because Malfoy was off terrorizing first years with Crabbe and Goyle, an activity in which they had little interest.

The train ride was one of the least unpleasant Lyssa had experienced since starting Hogwarts. Yes, Pansy had taken every opportunity to make digs at Lyssa, and yes, Daphne and Isobel laughed and played along every time, but Milicent also always stood up for her. On occasion, so did Theo.

The whole trip was spent exchanging rumours about what really happened the night Harry went into the chamber. Everyone knew the basics at this point but it was fun to theorize about how it could have went down. Theo was positive that Harry had gotten lucky with finding the chamber and Pansy was sure that Weasley must have wet himself at some point. All in all the only thing everyone could agree on is that they were glad that no Slytherins had been involved after all.

"We get enough bad press as it is," Blaise had said with a chorus of agreement as the response.

Soon enough they arrived at platform 9¾ in London and everyone parted ways. Millicent made Lyssa promise she would write and Theo clapped her on the shoulder and wished her a fun summer, a sentiment she whole heartedly returned. She hoped being home for the anniversary of his mother's passing wouldn't be too hard on him.

Lyssa put all of her concerns out of her mind, however, as she collected her trunk and levitated it onto a luggage cart. Mentally, she braced herself for what came next. Lyssa casually waited in the line to exit the platform, there was a small portly witch directing people through a few at a time so as to not arouse suspition from the muggles. Lyssa quickly consulted the letter she had received a few days prior as to where she was to go. The portly witch gave her a small smile and waved Lyssa forward when she reached the front of the line. She calmly walked through the barrier and let out a deep breath as she emerged back into muggle London.

She pushed the cart away from platforms nine and ten and made her way towards a busy little cafe near the entrance. She slowed the cart to a stop next to a small metal table and sat down across from the woman sitting at it.

"Hello, mum," Lyssa smiled tentatively.