The Animagi || Harry Potter fanfiction

The Willow and The Dragon

Lyra dipped her quill into her ink pot for what felt like the hundredth time. She wrote a few words on the parchment, before pushing her chair back in frustration. Its thin wooden legs scraped against the stone floor and made an unsettling shrill noise in the process.
Lyra stared at her homework in distaste. She didn't know anything about Felix Fecilis, and now she was supposed to write an entire roll of parchment explaining the effects of it, and the outcome of brewing it wrong or consuming too much. Everything she had written made no sense to her, mainly because she had plagiarised the unfamiliar information from the books in the library.
Pushing the few stray hairs from her face, Lyra stood up and walked towards the window, opening it a little and staring down at the grounds.
A small breeze played across her face and she sighed, loosening the uncomfortable green and silver tie around her neck.
She could see the quidditch pitch in the distance with its several towers, all sporting different house colours, and the seats for the enthusiastic student spectators. To the left of that, much closer to the castle, but far enough where it would require a little walk to reach it, stood the Whomping Willow, which had been planted the year Lyra arrived at Hogwarts.
Lyra stared at the tree, her eyes glazing over as she wondered whether she would actually find the answer to her homework or not, when a shift in movement caught her eye. At first, it looked like a few leaves being blown across the grounds, but after Lyra's full attention had been switched to it, it appeared to be a group of three students making their way hurriedly across the grass towards the violent Willow.
Curiosity filled her, and she opened the window even more to lean out slightly, and get a better view. The trio of students hurtled down to the base of the tree and vanished, just like that. Lyra blinked, and gave a confused little mutter. Her gaze swept from the edge of the lake to the quidditch pitch, but the students were well and truly gone. She returned her focus to the Willow, and took note of its branches.
They had been thrashing wildly around just moments ago, and now they were frozen and stiff. Lyra's eyes widened.
She drew her head back inside and flattened her now messy hair. She closed the window, walking back to the desk with her homework, and staring blankly down at the parchment. She had forgotten about her homework now, and hardly cared if it was finished or not. She packed away her quill and ink bottle, and slinked back over to the window for a final look. The tree was back in motion, and there wasn't a single student out in the grounds. Had her mind been playing tricks on her? Lyra checked her watch, and was surprised to find that it was now midnight.
There was nobody else in the library with her, and Lyra was sure that this time of night counted as a punishable offence to any teachers who happened to catch her walking through the halls. Detention worthy, even. So she was especially careful not to make any noise on her way along the passages and down several long flights of steps.
At every window she came to, Lyra would peer out momentarily into the darkness, for any kind of sign that students had been there. She couldn't find any, and before long, there were no windows, just a long corridor with its familiar cold atmosphere.
Lyra shivered and descended further into the dungeons, and all too soon she found herself in the Slytherin common room. There was no use looking out of the window here, since the only view was of the dark lake.
There were many Slytherins still awake and joking in their friend groups. Lyra spotted one of her own friends, Dean, in the corner, but didn't stop to talk with him. She vanished up the staircase that led to the girls' dormitories, and entered her room.
The five, four-poster beds with their silky black sheets were presented before her eyes, along with the other girls who she shared a room with. They were all supposedly asleep, except Bella.
"Where have you been? It's midnight!" Bella said exasperatedly, her head poking out of the curtains that surrounded her bed.
"Homework. Library." Lyra answered shortly, pulling a sort of grimace before climbing into her bed. She drew her own curtains, and switched from her Slytherin robes into her pajamas, yawning. She pulled the covers over herself, and placed her wand on to her bedside table beside her glass of water. Then she closed her eyes and let her mind explore the possibilities of what she had seen.