lyra | harry potter

nineteen | runaway burke

THE NEXT MORNING, WHILE EVERYONE ELSE PACKED their things for winter break, Harry and Lyra were practicing defensive spells in the Room of Requirement. Harry hadn't forgotten his promise to teach her what she'd missed in the DA lessons last year; the guilt he felt prevented that from happening.

She was a fast learner, though. He supposed that was because she already knew the incantations and wand movements from how much she read about them. Lyra just hadn't had the chance to really practice them before,which was where his lessons came in.

"No. No way."

"Oh, come off it, Lyra." Harry rolled his eyes. "Just do it already!"

"Harry, I am not stupefying you," she said stubbornly. "You could get hurt!"

"Ah." He smirked. "Who said you'd be successful?"

Lyra scoffed. "Are you antagonizing me, or just being cocky?" Harry simply wiggled his eyebrows and twirled his wand. "Definitely cocky," Lyra decided in annoyance. In the blink of an eye, she flourished her wand. "Stupefy!"

Harry, caught off guard, flung back at the spell and slammed against one of the dummies set up. The Room of Requirement had provided them a room just like the DA had used last year. "Ow," he groaned as he sat up. "No fair, I wasn't ready."

"Well, with all that confidence, I just assumed you were," Lyra teased. "Okay, let's try another one."

"Actually, I think we've run out of time," Harry said, glancing at the watch on his wrist. "You did really good, though. I think next time we can work on the Patronus charm."

"Really?" This was only their third time doing this. Although Lyra would admit she'd been doing okay, she didn't feel ready for something as advanced as the Patronus charm.

"Really. You shouldn't doubt yourself so much." He shook his head as they left the Room of Requirement. "Don't you know how bloody amazing you are?" Lyra didn't respond, but it was clear from the look on her face that she didn't agree with him. "You should give yourself more credit, Lyra." He paused. "So how is the research on your... er, ability coming along?"

"There isn't much information out there. At least, not from what Hermione and I have found. And I can't exactly practice it on people, so..." Lyra shrugged.

"Maybe you can use the dummies," Harry suggested.

"Yeah, maybe."

"There you are!" Hermione exclaimed when she finally caught sight of the two of them approaching. She had been waiting outside the train impatiently, while everyone else had already boarded the train. "I thought you were going to miss the train for a moment."

"Sorry," Lyra apologized. "Harry was helping me practice dueling. We almost lost track of time."

"It's fine. How's that coming along?"

"She's doing great, although she doesn't think so," Harry answered Hermione for her. Lyra looked at him and he smiled with a small shrug. "What? It's true." To Hermione he said, "You should have seen her stupefy me earlier. Lucky I didn't smack my head off something and get a concussion."

Hermione laughed. "That's wonderful, Lyra. And after only three sessions? You're doing better than most of the DA members did last year."

They boarded the train and made their way down to the compartment Harry, Ron and Hermione had always used. Ron was already inside, surprisingly without Lavender, who had practically became his second shadow once they started dating. It was all rather nauseating, really. All they seemed to do was eat each other's faces whenever they were together— which was basically always.