INSTEAD, james potter [1]

Chapter Ten

Lyra hated Evan Rosier. It was official. The boy couldn't stay out of her business, just because he had decided he thought she was pretty enough to be his obedient pretty, little wife. They were only fifteen, for Merlin's sake, she wasn't thinking about marrying anyone. And if she was, it definitely wouldn't be to him. 

But he didn't handle rejection very well, and glared at Lyra and whispered about her to Snape, Avery, Wilkes and Mulciber, who all looked at her strangely and in disgust. She could only imagine what lies he was spreading about her. 

She thought it was fine, nobody really cared about what he said. It was well-known that Evan Rosier was a bit of a creep, and the only reason he hung around Lyra's Slytherin friends was because of his bloodline, but if he stepped a toe out of line he would be doomed to only hang around his equally creepy gang of friends. 

The only thing Lyra was grateful for was that he hadn't done anything to hurt Remus Lupin, at least not yet. He spoke like he would, but last time she had seen him he had been safe and sound. But at breakfast around a week later, he was nowhere to be seen. 

She watched Sirius, James and Peter quietly whisper among themselves, trying to make sure nobody could hear them or see the mandrake leaves in their mouths. They glanced towards the Slytherin table, both at herself and Evan. 

Confused, she scribbled a note. What's going on? Where's Remus? She cast a quick spell to make it go up in flames, before appearing in Sirius's hand. He looked at it, reading it carefully before writing, sending a message back with the same spell. 

He's in the Hospital Wing. We just came from there. Her eyes widened, looking at him in question, as if she was trying to ask him what happened. He only shook his head before signaling to Evan. 

Lyra glared at him, before quickly turning to Lucinda and her friends. The girls were chatting and giggling to each other. The blonde smiled politely. "I'm going to the loo before class. I'll see you in Defense."

The girls called out goodbyes to her absentmindedly as she walked away. She thought it was quite obvious she wasn't really going to the loo, and Sirius seemed to realize where she was going, yet he didn't run after. 

▹▹▹

Lyra walked quietly into the hospital wing, not wanting to be noticed by the people sleeping in the beds. She was only there for one person. Everybody else was irrelevant, and they shouldn't know what she was doing there.

Remus was the only one awake in the Hospital Wing, thankfully. He was separated from the rest by a curtain, as if Madam Pomfrey wanted to hide him from the others. Lyra poked her head through, smiling brightly at the boy. 

"Lyra? Hi!" he smiled, his tired face brightening. Her face fell in worry when she saw how bad his condition really was. Whatever Evan did must have been bad, as he was pale and scrunching his face up in pain every few seconds.

"What did Rosier do to you? Merlin, Remus. I'm sorry." She rushed to his bedside, apologetic. She knew the only reason he had been hurt was because of her, and the fact that Evan believed they had a secret relationship, which would be the only reason she'd reject him. 

He shrugged, sitting up in the bed. He groaned as he pulled himself up, making Lyra reach for him, in case he needed a bit support. "Just a knee-reversal hex. Nothing I can't handle."

Lyra sat next to him on the bed, plopping on the other side of the surprisingly large hospital bed. "I'm so sorry. This would never have happened if it wasn't for me. He asked me out, or tried to demand that I would go out with him. I rejected him, of course. He thought that, for some reason, the two of us have a secret relationship."