Lyra Black was never seen on by herself these days. Always surrounded by some sort of gang of different Slytherins, who all refused to leave her side once they were first together, as if they had been commanded to stay there.
The one constant was Rabastan Lestrange. He was glued to her side, barely even letting her go out on her prefect patrols without him tagging along. He had taken it upon himself to sit next to her in every class, even though he hadn't been partner in any classes a few weeks before.
People didn't think too much about it, just thinking they had grown quite close. Lyra knew he was only protective, which he had been for the month they had been friends, not wanting her to be under the bad influence of Sirius and his Gryffindor friends.
One boy didn't like this at all. James Potter had noticed the closeness between the pair and was annoyed that every time his eyes strayed to Lyra's direction, he would be met with Rabastan's harsh glare.
"I don't like it," muttered James to his friends at the Gryffindor table. He was stabbing his breakfast, imagining Rabastan's face on his plate. "Look at that slimy git. He acts like owns her or something."
Sirius, Remus and Peter all looked to see what James was talking about when they saw Rabastan smiling down at a grinning Lyra, sitting a bit too close for any of their liking.
"Oi, why do you care, Prongs?" asked Sirius, using their new nicknames they had come up with a few days before. He looked suspiciously at his best friend. "Please tell me this doesn't have anything to do with your snog."
Peter turned white as he remembered seeing them together. "It was so gross."
"You're just saying that because you can't get anyone to snog you, Wormtail." James scoffed, glaring at the two who sat across from him. He then turned to Remus at his side. "Moony, you get it, right? He's a jerk."
"Can't disagree with that," said Remus bitterly, not looking too happy himself with the friendship between Lyra and Rabastan. "I don't sit with her in any classes anymore, I only see her at patrol and then she's distant. The only difference is that she actually likes me, unlike you."
"She likes me," the bespectacled boy protested, pouting. "She just hasn't admitted it to you lot because she's embarrassed. I don't understand why. Everyone likes me."
"Well, she liked you enough to snog you, at least," Peter pointed out, happy to contribute to James's ego boost as the taller boy ruffled his hair thankfully. "But it was still really gross. Is it supposed to look like that?"
"Yes, it's always going to look gross from the outside. Bloody awesome when you're the one snogging though," Sirius smirked, before his expression turned sour as he looked at James. "But it's still disturbing knowing you've snogged Lyra."
James grinned at the memory. "That was awesome."
Sirius furrowed his brows, studying the look on James's face as he stared at his cousin. "Did that snog go to your head or something? Since when do you give a crap about how Lestrange acts around Lyra?"
"Merlin, James. Please don't," said Remus, rubbing his temples. The last thing he needed was for James to decide he liked Lyra just because she was willing to snog him once.
"Don't read too much into it, alright," James rolled his eyes before focusing his gaze on the Black girl once again. "I just don't like him, he needs to be put in his place. And I've been so bored lately, I feel like we haven't done something fun in ages."
All worries faded from Sirius's face at the idea and he grinned widely. "What d'you have in mind?"
▹▹▹
Rabastan Lestrange was fuming as he stomped down the hallways of Hogwarts, on his way to the Great Hall. Everytime he passed another group of people, he heard them laughing and giggling, only making him angrier.
He clutched his wand tightly in his hand, ready to curse anyone who dared approach him, or if he found out who had the nerve to humiliate him as they did. Rabastan Lestrange did not like being humiliated.
Loudly, the door to the Great Hall opened. People turned their heads to him at the commotion. For a few seconds, people were silent, processing. Then the whole hall erupted into laughter, even a few of the teachers.
He was covered in bright colors, shifting between red and gold, Gryffindor colors. His robes seemed like he was in that house while his hair switched between the two colors every second. On his forehead, pimples had erupted to spell out DUNCE.
Lyra sat at the Slytherin table, eyes wide. She tried to force her smile away, but she couldn't help but snicker as she first saw him. She didn't notice a few eyes from the Gryffindor table on her, pleased at her reaction.
As Rabastan glared at the crowd, Lyra hurried to her feet and to the entrance of the Hall, to meet him. "Rabastan! Merlin, what's going on? Are you okay? Stupid question, you're not okay. How are you feeling?"
Now shaking with rage, he didn't even meet her gaze as his eyes searched the four different tables, looking for who could have done this to him. "I'm feeling murderous."
"Rabastan, calm down." Lyra looked to the Slytherin table, hoping to catch someone's eye and get help with him. Everyone looked away when they realized what she was trying to do. No one dared fight Rabastan.
He still scoured the expression of every single face in the Great Hall, hoping to catch someone slipping. Lyra finally reached up and grabbed the side of his face, forcing him to look at her. "Hey, Rabastan. Look at me. It's fine."
"It's not fine, Lyra!" he hissed, looking down at his robes and using his hands to gesture to his whole body. "Look at me! This isn't fine. I'm going to kill whoever did this and they're going to suffer when I do."
"Don't be ridiculous, you're not going to kill anybody." Lyra had a feeling about who was responsible. She glanced at the Gryffindor table worriedly, seeing four boys still laughing, looking a bit too smug.
Rabastan followed her gaze, and narrowed his eyes dangerously when he made eye contact with Sirius, who only raised an eyebrow in challenge while smirking. "I should have known. This time he went too far, he can't get away with this!"
"No, no. Stop!" The blonde tried to stop him as he raged towards the four. Most people dismissed the prank on Rabastan as old news already, but the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables all seemed excited to see what was going to happen.
"Black, Potter." Rabastan glared heatedly, ignoring Remus and Peter, who didn't really mind. "I know you did this. I've had enough with your tomfoolery. This time, you're going to pay for meddling with me."
James glanced at Lyra, who was rushing towards them. He smirked, ready for her to see how strong he could be, and not just a bully, like she thought. "We haven't done anything, mate."
Sirius leaned back in his chair, as if Rabastan's anger was nothing to worry about, as if he didn't know about his not-too-kind reputation. "And even if we did, you'd have no way to prove it. Dunce."
That was the tipping point for him. He raised his wand and put it right in Sirius's face, who still looked unbothered. "Don't test me, Black. You're only making things worse for yourself, and it's already pretty bad already."
"Oh, I'm so scared," mocked Sirius, raising his hand in mock surrender, waving them around. A few people around laughed, and a crowd had gathered, making sure the professors couldn't see what was going on.
Rabastan was about to say something more when Lyra finally broke through the crowd that kept her away from them. She was panting heavily and put her hand on Rabastan's arm to calm him down. "Rabastan, put your wand down."
"Shut up, Lyra!" he snapped, turning to her harshly. She jumped in shock. He had never been so angry with her, and he had only been courteous while they had been friends. "This is none of your business."
"Of course it's my business!" she hissed back, slapping his wand-arm. "You're my friend and I don't want you to get into trouble just because these twats pulled a stupid prank on you."
James smirked, loving that he was getting under the Slytherin boy's skin, and the fight he was causing between him and Lyra. "I thought it was pretty brilliant myself."
"Oi, don't you take credit here. You know I did most of the work," Sirius exclaimed. He looked at his best friend, mockingly offended as he put his hand over his heart.
"As I suspected," said Rabastan, tightening the grip on his wand, pushing it closer to Sirius's unbothered, smug face.
"Stop pointing that twig in my face," the Gryffindor boy rolled his eyes, raising his eyebrows in challenge before glancing at Lyra. "Just hex me already, unless you're just a coward, like I've always known."
Frustrated, Lyra squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. "No, don't hex him!"
Rabastan wasn't the type of boy who liked being told what to do, especially as his clothes and hair were flickering in Gryffindor colors and his usually clear skin was pimpled, writing an insult on his face.
"Anteoculatia!" But just as Rabastan was about to cast the spell, Lyra took his arm and pulled it away from Sirius's face. The blonde also tried to move to stand in front of her cousin, to shield him if Rabastan would do anything rash.
Lyra was perfectly in place for the hex to hit her. They realized the mistake the minute she started crying out in pain, clutching her head while she fell to her knees. Once they noticed, everyone flew at her to help.
"It hurts, make it stop." She groaned, but Remus grabbed her hands away from her head to see what was happening. Slowly, horns were growing out of her head, protruding painfully, making her feel every growing inch.
But Rabastan hadn't stopped fighting, still angry. And he knew that if it wasn't for them, she wouldn't have thrown herself in harm's way, and ended up whimpering on the ground. "Get off her, Lupin!"
"You're one to talk! You did this to her, Lestrange!" Sirius yelled, but it wasn't heard by the rest of the hall over the worried chatter of the crowd and Lyra's loud, painful sounds. "You better leave her alone!"
"Me?" the Slytherin scoffed, as if the thought was absurd. "You and your group are immature, insane, and pushing yourself on Lyra, trying to ruin every pure, good quality she has. And for why? To have some fun?"
"Shut up, Lestrange!" snapped James, glaring heatedly. It was only then they noticed that he had raised his wand at Rabastan, who stared back. "This is your fault! Don't try to pin this on anyone but yourself. This was your hex. You're the one that hurt her!"
The pain kept building up in Lyra, until she couldn't do anything but scream loudly. A few people plugged their ears at the loud shrillness. The teachers finally seemed to notice something was happening.
Professors McGonagall and Slughorn forced themselves through the crowd, worried about the safety of their students. They were in for quite a shock when they saw Lyra Black crying out in pain as James Potter held his wand out.
"Mr. Potter!" McGonagall cried out in shock, making him turn to her and realize how bad this looked. He quickly hurried to put his wand away, but he knew it was too late and she had made up her own conclusions.
James started panicking, reaching to fix up his glasses, as he had done many times when he was nervous and didn't know what to do with his hands. "This isn't what it looks like. I just- Lestrange, he..."
Rabastan suppressed a smirk once he realized what he could do with this situation. He hurried to Lyra's side, pushing an angry Remus away. He wrapped his arms comfortingly around her shoulders as Slughorn approached them.
"It was awful, Professors. Simply awful," Rabastan sniffed, as if he was close to tears. That's when the teachers saw the prank that had been played on him as well, which was only making things worse.
Slughorn put his hand on Rabastan's shoulder, comfortingly. The Lestrange boy just kept talking. "It was Potter. First he did this to me this morning, but then he did this to Lyra for no reason but to have some fun. It's awful, she's in so much pain."
"You must punish him, Minerva!" said Slughorn, looking flabbergasted at the situation. Rabastan and Lyra were favored fifth-years of his, and he would not let this attack on them slide with no consequenses.
"A month's detention, Mr. Potter! With Filch," spat McGonagall, her face red in anger. She sighed deeply as they began protesting, as the crowd knew the truth. "And twenty points from Gryffindor. I expected better from you."
Slughorn helped Rabastan in picking Lyra off the ground, to take her to the Hospital Wing. Once None of the teachers could see Rabastan's face, he smirked at the gang of boys, all of whom hated him more than they ever had before.
▹▹▹
Lyra was sitting on a bed in the Hospital Wing, bored of out her mind. The horns were thankfully gone, and so was any residue of the boys' prank on Rabastan. The only issue was that Lyra would have to stay behind for a few hours, because the horns could suddenly grow back.
Thankfully, Remus decided to come visit her during her time there, paying her back for the time she came to see him after he was hexed by Evan Rosier. "Hi there, Lyra. You feeling better? You looked awful."
The blonde sent him a deadpan look, grimacing teasingly. "Thanks, Remus. You're such a good mate. And you're so good at compliments. I have no idea why you've never had a girlfriend when you have such charm."
"Alright, shut up," the sandy-haired boy rolled his eyes, but smiling. He had missed just sitting and talking to her when she had been around Rabastan so much. "I've really missed you, you know. I feel like I've barely seen you."
The blonde looked away, knowing it was true. But she didn't want to admit it. "We're still patrolling together every week."
"Still..." Remus trailed off, sitting down next to her on the bed. "I liked working with you in class. We ruled Potions for a while there. Then Lestrange came around and ruined it, and I really miss it. And you."
She sighed deeply. "Why does everybody think they have something to say on my friendship with Rabastan? He's a friend. Just like you are. And he's good to me, and I really like having him around."
"He hexed you."
"He didn't mean to," she defended.
"He still hexed you," said Remus, but she only avoided his gaze and stayed silent. He studied her face until his eyes widened in realization. "Merlin, no. Lyra... Please tell me you don't fancy Rabastan Lestrange."
Her cheeks quickly went red, gaping. Her voice became an octave higher than usual. "What? No. That's so gross. A boy and a girl can just be friends. Like us. And he's basically my brother-in-law. He's my brother-in-law's brother. Gross."
Remus only chuckled and patted her shoulder reassuringly. "Your secret's safe with me."
"There's no secret," she pouted, making him laugh even more. She didn't want anyone to know that she had a bit of a crush on Rabastan, but she would never act on it. She had decided to suffer in silence.
Suddenly, the door to the Hospital Wing opened. James Potter stuck his head through and searched for Lyra's face. When he found her, he smiled brightly and started approaching her and Remus.
Lyra frowned, wondering why he had come to the Hospital Wing, and why he reacted so happily to seeing her. Remus only looked away awkwardly, the imagine of watching the two snog coming back to his brain.
"Lyra," James started, confusing her even more. He had never called her by her first name before, it had always just been Black. "Are you alright? I'm so sorry about what happened, even if it wasn't my fault."
"I'm..." the blonde found herself unable to complete the sentence for a couple of seconds, glancing at Remus for an explanation for his strange behavior. "I'm fine, Potter. If you're here for Remus, then you can take him. It's fine."
James frowned, running his fingers through his hair. "Why would I be here for Remus? I didn't even know he was here. Why are you here, mate?"
"I don't even know." Remus got up from the bed, awkwardly. He glanced between the pair, one who was acting strange and one who was confused out of her mind. "I shouldn't be here. I'm going to go."
"Remus!" Lyra hissed, not wanting him to go. He only opened the door as quickly as possible, rushing out of there. "Merlin, I hate you."
James ignored her calling out for their shared friend. "You know, I could take revenge on Lestrange for hexing you. He already knows what he gets when he messes with me, but I could do worse."
"I'm sure you could, Potter." Lyra tapped her fingers on the bed awkwardly, wanting to get out of that situation as quickly as possible. "But please don't. He didn't mean to hurt me. And why do you even care?"
James didn't look like he was prepared for that question, only opening and closing his mouth like a fish, trying to come up with a smart response. "You know, I don't... Eh, I don't like him. I'll take any chance to torture him."
Lyra couldn't help but notice the faint blush on his cheeks, and grimaced. She sincerely hoped it didn't have anything to do with their snog, which she had been trying to forget ever happened, because it was such a weird thing for her to do.
But she didn't want to overthink it, and only hoped he was trying to be her friend for Remus and Sirius's sakes, like he had been talking about before that fateful party where Sirius got her drunk and she became a bit desperate.
"I'm tired..." she trailed off, hoping he would take the hint. She lied down on the bed, instead of only sitting on it, placing her head comfortably on her pillow.
"I totally get it. I'll see you around. I hope you'll be back for some classes later." He grinned at her a final time, and she only smiled awkwardly back before he walked away. Lyra had no idea what was happening with him, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to know.