Lyra hadn't talked to James or Sirius for a week. Not that they hadn't tried to talk to her. James had been his usual annoying self, only he didn't get a single reaction from her. Not a glare or a rejection or an insult. It was like he didn't exist. It was extremely difficult for him to live with.
Sirius was heartbroken. While he was happy she hadn't gone out with Bertram Aubrey and eventually gotten her heart broken by him, he didn't like knowing he had caused her pain and that she was angry with them. Of course, he was angry with her too for hexing James, but he figured he would manage to make her apologize for it at some point and all would be well.
Remus was annoyed. Everybody were acting like babies and he had to hear everybody's complaining, and he couldn't even complain about the complaining to Peter, because he was always willing to sit and listen to James and Sirius talk about basically anything.
So, during his one patrol a week with Lyra, Remus had a few missions to fulfill. He already needed someone to look out for him and the boys the next evening, and he needed her to make up with his friends. He could kill two birds with one stone.
As they walked through their designated area, having just tried once more for Lyra to produce a Patronus (which didn't work at all), Remus changed the subject suddenly. "So, James told me he showed you the Marauder's Map."
"Yeah, he did," Lyra responded shortly, remembering the brilliance of the map he had shown her, which only made her more impressed with the group of boys. "But do we have to talk about him? I'm still pissed off beyond belief at him. And Sirius."
"Which you have every right to be." Remus tried to smile to calm her down before asking for a favor. "It's just that we all sort of need a favor from you. But mostly me, because you still love me, right?"
The blonde couldn't help but smile a bit at him in return, even if she didn't really want to do any favors for James and Sirius. It always seemed like those two together didn't end well, pissing her off. "Of course I do, you dolt."
"Good. Then I hope you may agree to help us," said the Gryffindor. "So, the thing is... Tomorrow night, the lads and I will have to run an errand in the Forbidden Forest. It's just very important that nobody sees us or are headed in that direction. Could you hold on to the map and make sure for us?"
"Remus, no." Lyra looked shocked at the idea, gaping. "You can't go into the forest. There is nothing that would excuse it, you'll just get hurt. There are horrible creatures there, like vampires or werewolves."
The sandy-haired boy looked down for a moment, swallowing a lump in his throat. She didn't understand why he would react like this, but she didn't ask. "Yeah, but we'll be fine. The other boys are Animagi, remember? And if any particularly dark creatures show up, I can cast a Patronus charm now."
"I suppose that makes it a bit better. But why? Is this for some sort of prank?" she asked, to which he quickly nodded in agreement. "So why now? You've never asked me to do this for any of your other pranks or dumb ideas?"
"First of all, they're not dumb," he defended, which made her giggle slightly. "And it's because this very annoying git has been going around and snooping in our business, which is so dumb but still... Need someone to watch out?"
"Very annoying git?" Lyra repeated, racking her brain for who he could be talking about. Then she realized that it could only be one person, who she also thought was so annoying. "Oh, so Snape then."
"Exactly," Remus grinned widely, happy they were on the same wave-length. "And as much as none of us like him, this prank could go really wrong if disturbed and we don't want anyone getting hurt. So, if you see him headed that way, could you stop him?"
"Fine," said Lyra reluctantly. She then smirked, wanting to get something out of this. "But on one condition. Sirius and Potter both need to apologize for hexing Bertram Aubrey, ruining my first date with a boy I was beginning to fancy."
"So it's Potter now, huh?" the Gryffindor asked, but getting no response as she kept looking straight-ahead. "Come on, Lyra. You can't be pissed at them forever. I want to be sometimes too, but they're good mates. And Sirius is your family."
The Slytherin pursed her lips, smiling bitterly. "Exactly. He's a part of my family. And my family is screwed up beyond belief, and he showed me that he's more like them than he wants to believe."
"You're not innocent in this either." Remus could see he was about to start and argument with her, which he didn't want as they had never fought before. "Come on, you did shrink James's head. And those things you said... you can't say those things."
Lyra knew this. She had gone way too far and said things, especially to her cousin, that she knew would crush his heart into a million tiny pieces. She wasn't exactly nice to James either. "I was angry."
Remus had never looked so displeased with her, with a stern look and a disappointed shake off his head. "That's no excuse and you know it. They deserve an apology as much as you do, so if I get them to apologize you better do the same."
"I'm already doing you a favor here," she defended herself, not wanting to admit she was wrong. "And they started the whole ting, I wouldn't have done a thing if they could have just minded their own business."
"Lyra. Please." She looked into his eyes, and saw how much it hurt him that she was fighting with two of his three best friends, talking badly about them and hurting them as well. She then nodded, promising she would help in any way she could. "Thank you."
▹▹▹
Lyra suddenly remembered being a fourth year as she stood in the boys' bathroom by the library. She remembered helping the four boys becoming Animagi, helping them so they wouldn't end up getting hurt. By them, she mostly meant Sirius.
It was where she used to meet James once in a while to exchange notes, only for them to probably get in some sort of fight because they truly disliked one another. He disliked her more than she disliked him. It was strange how different he seemed to feel about her now.
Still, she smiled slightly. She knew those were still going to be memories to treasure in less than two years when they would be out of Hogwarts. She wanted to look back and have them be good memories, which was one of the reasons she decided to agree to Remus's terms.
Because Lyra didn't have anything against any of the boys. Well, Sirius could be rash. James was pretty annoying more often than not. Peter was always awkward and she had caught him staring at her chest once or twice. At least Remus was perfect in her eyes.
So she waited for them to show up, trying to ignore the disgusting manly odor she felt surrounded by whenever she entered the bathroom. That was one thing she hadn't missed during the last two years.
Then the door opened, and the four Gryffindors carefully walked through to talk to her. Lyra quickly recognized the piece of parchment in Peter's hands as the map. "Hi there, lads. Ready to talk?"
James and Sirius both hesitated, exchanging unsure looks. Then Remus went up behind them and pushed them forward, glaring at them to make sure they followed through. Peter only smiled at Lyra.
"We are very, very, very, very, very sorry," said James but a bit too monotonously for Lyra to believe him, which he realized. "Which I mean. It didn't sound like I mean it, but I do. It wasn't very nice."
"What wasn't very nice?" the blonde asked, crossing her arms across her chest with a quirked eyebrow. "How am I supposed to believe you're sorry if you don't even seem like you know what you're sorry for."
James looked to Sirius for help, panicked. The Black boy rolled his eyes and turned to his cousin with a charming smile. "We know what we've done. It was very unnecessary to hex Bertram Aubrey. Shouldn't have done that."
Lyra wasn't happy yet. "And?"
James pursed his lips, not wanting to keep apologizing because he wasn't really sorry and he would have done it again. "And for ruining your first date. I knew you had been really excited for it and we shouldn't have sabotaged you."
"And?"
Sirius had to rack his brain for a moment before continuing. "And for trying to tell you what to do. You're almost seventeen, we're all the same age, I shouldn't have treated you like a child. You can make your own choices."
"And?"
Again, the two best friends exchanged confused glances. They hadn't prepared for this, and neither of them could come up with anything else. James messed up his hair before speaking. "I'm not really sure what else there is. I'm sorry about not knowing?"
"I just wanted to see how much I could get out of you," Lyra smiled innocently, shrugging slightly. She then saw the look on Remus's face and sighed. "And I wanted to apologize to you two as well."
James smirked. "For what? Do you even know what you're apologizing for, love?"
"Oh, shut up, Potter!" Lyra hissed, glaring at him in annoyance only for him to smile sweetly in return. She sighed and pulled herself together. "I'm sorry for hexing you. It can't have felt good to have your head shrink."
Sirius and James both exchanged their usual troublemaker looks and grinned, speaking together in perfect harmony. If they didn't look so different, some might have thought it was a twin thing. "And?"
"And for saying you were like our family, Sirius," she apologized, more sincerely this time because it had been what she had regretted the most. "It was uncalled for and totally unfounded. You deserve better than that."
"And?" they said, together once again.
"And that's it," she said shortly, raising an eyebrow as if daring them to challenge her. They only smiled in return. "There, we've all apologized. Remus will now finally love us all again, thank Merlin."
Lyra then caught James staring at her face, and she already knew some sort of sleazy comment was coming so she grimaced before he could even speak. "You know, you look so very pretty when you apologize, Lyra."
"Please don't make me regret this," she said, holding her hand up to stop him. He only laughed. "And by this, I mean both the apologizing and helping you and your mates with keeping your prank under wraps."
James's grin didn't fade a bit, he only raised his hands in surrender, not looking away from her for a moment. "Thank you. I am very, very grateful. And, you know, I wouldn't mind showing my gratefulness in a broom closet somewhere. Ow!"
Sirius had slapped James over his head, making him clutch the back of his head. The bespectacled boy sent his best friend a betrayed look, and he only smiled. "Don't be gross, dimwit."
"Thank you," said Lyra, smiling softly at her favorite cousin. She then straightened up, looking at Peter who had been standing quietly in the corner like always. "Peter? Could I have the map then, please?"
Peter jumped a bit at being acknowledged, like he wasn't expecting it. He quickly brightened up and grinned widely, fumbling a bit with the parchment. "Oh, right. Of course. You know how to work it then?"
Lyra frowned, trying to remember the codes James had taught her when he first showed her the map. "I think so. Potter showed me, at least. I put my wand on it, then I say I solemnly swear I am..."
As she found herself unable to remember, Remus completely her sentence, smiling in support. "Up to no good. I solemnly swear I am up to no good. And you have to remember to say Mischief Managed at the end, too. We can't have anyone else finding out about it. It's one of our most treasured secrets."
"You lot have too many secrets," she shook her head. "I probably know more than most and yet I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. At least now that I know about this map. Maybe I'll figure them all out one day."
James raised an eyebrow at her. "I'd like to see you try."
Lyra smirked in return. "Don't test me, Potter."
▹▹▹
"Lyra, can you turn off that bloody light already? Some of us are trying to sleep!" Lucinda Talkalot cried out in annoyance as she was in her bed in the sixth-year Slytherin girl dorms. She was one minute away from throwing a pillow at her friend.
"Sorry!" the blonde replied, sheepishly. She had been sitting on her bed, looking at the piece of parchment in fascination as her wand illuminated the otherwise dark room. She told her roommates she was reading.
So she quickly grabbed her covers and pulled them over her head, so the harsh light became more of a dim glow for the other Slytherin girls. Although none of the others complained as much Lucinda. To be fair, nobody complained as much as Lucinda.
It had become quite late, and the sun had set. She had been anxiously paying attention to the Marauder's Map ever since she had gone to bed, which was even earlier than usual. She just hadn't been able to wait to look at it and study it. It was simply brilliant.
The more she looked at it, the more impressed she became. She kept thinking about how they would be able to manage this. They were only sixteen, not even of age. Although Sirius was quickly approaching his seventeenth birthday.
But Lyra quickly reminded herself of how smart those boys truly were.
Remus could produce a corporeal Patronus at sixteen, which was a feat many wizards were never able to do. James was at the top of the Transfiguration class (next to herself, of course.) Sirius had always been a born genius, getting top marks without even having to study. Peter became an Animagus at fifteen.
Well, three out of four of them had become Animagi at fifteen, and while she had been a great help when it came to accomplishing this, they still did it. It was even more impressive when she remembered that McGonagall herself didn't come one until age seventeen, guided by Dumbledore himself.
Lyra broke out of her thoughts when she noticed the names of all four of the boys walking out of the castle, which meant her real work was beginning. It was time to truly pay attention, not just think about how great they were.
She frowned as she saw them approaching the Whomping Willow, the great, dangerous tree that would hit any students that tried to get past it. She had always tried to stay away from it, being afraid of getting killed.
It wasn't the fact that they were going to Whomping Willow in itself that was strange, it was just the fact that she had bene told they were going to the Forbidden Forest, which meant they lied to her. She wondered what else about the situation they had lied about.
She shook it off, forcing herself to focus. She could feel her eyes start to droop as the minutes passed and nothing happened. It was getting quite late, and they never told her how long she was supposed to do this for.
Twenty minutes had passed and she thought there was no harm in resting her eyes for just a couple of seconds. Nothing was going to happen in that little time. And she had seen that Snape was still in the common room on the map.
But then a couple of seconds became five minutes. She quickly shook awake as she realized she fell asleep. Intently, she quickly focused on the map. She checked the Slytherin common room to make sure Snape was still there. But he wasn't.
Her eyes now wide in panic, she looked at the outside, on the path to the Whomping Willow in hope he wasn't there. It was just her luck, she could see him leaving the castle in that exact direction.
Lyra felt like a failure, she had promised to stop him from leaving the castle, to make sure they weren't disturbed. So, she wasn't going to give up yet, not if somebody could get hurt from this stupid prank.
The Slytherin girl hurried and threw on the first pair of robes she could find, which she wasn't even sure if were her own. She made sure she had her wand in her hand, closing the map so nobody could see what it was. "Mischief Managed."
She saw one of her roommates shift at her whispering, but she thankfully didn't wake up. Lyra sighed in relief before tip-toeing out of the room, hoping to keep her promise to the four Gryffindor boys.