The Half-Blood Black

Chapter Thirteen✨

I wake up to someone's foot lightly kicking my ribs. I open my eyes and see two red haired twins looking down at me with a younger red haired girl next to them. They must be Weasley's. My back aches from sleeping on the floor and I rub my eyes, pushing my matted curls away from my face.

"Hello!" One of the twins says. "I'm Fred Weasley, and this is my brother George."

"I'm Ginny." The girl says. "Their younger sister."

"Hi." I say, massaging the back of my neck. The twin Fred reaches his hand down to me and helps me up off the floor. "Can I help you guys?"

"Actually we are here to help YOU." George says. "Come on, you're one of us. Ginny said your bed was empty so here we are, coming to your rescue."

"The portrait wouldn't let me in." I say gesturing up.

"Jeez, what did you do to piss her off?" Fred asks.

"I-- nothing!" The hall is spinning as I rub sleep from my eyes, stretching my arms over my head. 

"I'm just kidding with you, luv."  Fred says, winking at me.

Englishmen, I swear. 

"Pudding pie." Ginny says as he pushes past her brothers. The portrait swings open the same way that the Slytherin door did, only this time the room is a different scene.

"Come on in to your new home." Fred says, leaning down to the ground. When he comes up, he has his hand out with the Book of Black in it. I snatch it away quickly, then offer him a sheepish smile as an apology. He raises one arm out in a grand arc and places the other one behind me to guide me in before him. 

The few students that are milling and they all stop what they are doing to look at me. As usual, silence fills the room and I wish to be anywhere but here. Why does everything have to be so embarrassing? I guess it won't matter in a few weeks time, when Sirius finally gets the justice he deserves.

One lanky boy sticks out of the crowd to me, and I have to fight back a gasp. 

"Harry Potter." I say, locking eyes with him.

Harry Potter stares at me before grabbing the books in front of him and speeding out of the room. The people around me turn their attention from Harry's back to me and then turn to their friends whispering.

"Don't worry about them," Ginny says. "Come, let me show you your room. Your bed is near my friend Hermione's."

I say thank you to the twins Fred and George and tell them I'd like to see them again. As Ginny leads me up a staircase I pass the Gryffindor twin from last night. She has the nerve to scuff at me, but I only offer her a sweet smile and keep moving. We move down a hall into a room with large four poster beds. My familiar trunk from Regulus' room is at the end of one of the beds and Ginny points out a girl named Hermione Granger.

"Hermione, this is Lyra." Ginny says.

"Lyra ..." Hermione says. She stands from her bed, setting down a book, almost amazed by me. I nod and smile. This is apparently one of Harry's best friends, alongside another older brother of Ginny.

"I have to be going but if you need anything let me know." Ginny says walking out.

I make my way over to my things and stare at my trunk, setting the Book of Black onto the edge of my bed. I grip the edges and take a few deep breaths.

"You've lived with him, haven't you?"

My jaw grinds as I stare at the whites of my knuckles. I give myself a few moments before I stand and push my shoulders back, turning to face Hermione. I stare into her face and she stares back, not giving me any clues as to what she's asking for. She'll have to work harder than that. I take a step back towards the oversized window, looking out at the howling wind and pelting rain.

"You can't seriously be asking me what I think you're asking?" I whisper.

"You can trust me."

-

Hermione says she'll find me later but she has to go talk to Harry and Ron for now. I am determined to find the bathroom, so I grab some clothes along with my black robes from yesterday. The Gryffindor patch has appeared on the front along with red lining. A bit outdated if you ask me but the Hogwarts loves their traditions don't they.

I make my way down the hallway and into the still busy common room to find a few students reading or talking, some boys passing around a football with their wands, causing it to float in the air. The rain still pounds and even though we are well into the morning a darkness covers the windows. 

I don't bother asking anyone where the bathroom is, I know what the answer will be. Nobody likes me here, and even though I want to act like it doesn't bother me, deep down it does.

Well. I think. If I was a bathroom where would I be?

I'm walking out the common room door while I feel everyones eyes on me. I can find the damn bathroom by myself. Two girls in the yellow lined Hufflepuff robes pass by me as I try to ask them where the bathroom is, but they just ignore me.

"Hey." a girl says coming up behind me. She wears the green Slytherin crest.

"Hey? I say back.

"Bathrooms?Let me show you, you look like you've had quite the night."

-

Once out of the shower I put my hair up in a towel, hoping to save the mess I made. I put on some makeup and fix my hair into a half-up half-down style. I slip on some leggings and a black turtleneck, putting on the Gryffindor robes, laughing to myself at how ridiculous this looks.

As soon as I'm out of the bathroom I bump into a very familiar, very annoying, blonde boy.

"Why are you outside of the girls bathroom?" I ask suspiciously, hugging my belongings close to me.

"Does being half a mudblood mean you don't listen to anything? Professor Snape told me I had to look after you. He even threatened the House he would deduct points if he saw you alone." Draco says, rolling his eyes.

"On a Saturday?"

"Well I figured that I would help you out, no matter how painful it might be. I can't imagine you know much."

"It would be a shame for him to find out you left me sleeping alone in the hallway then, vulnerable and in a strange new place?"

Malfoy just lets out a long sigh. "Do you want help or not?"

He holds out his hand, and that cold feeling comes back as I take it, letting him lead me. To who, to where, I don't know. But if I am to survive here, I have to take some risks.