Lyra Black was running as fast as her legs could carry her. She had almost reached the exit of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, her shoes clicking loudly against the floor. She was sure she had woken a portrait or two, but she didn't stick around long enough to find out.
Because she was a young woman with a mission. She had made a promise to James, Sirius, Remus and Peter that Snape wouldn't get anywhere near them and their supposedly dangerous prank, making sure that nobody would get hurt.
Unfortunately, she had fallen asleep for a few minutes, which was, of course, the few minutes Snape had used to leave the safety of the common room to follow the four Gryffindors towards the Whomping Willow.
Thankfully, he hadn't been in a rush. He had been walking leisurely towards the large, terrifying tree. Like nothing could bother him. He looked arrogant, ready to find out the big secrets those four were hiding.
But Lyra was running like crazy, especially as he was getting dangerously close to the Willow. Lyra thought she was finally nearing him enough for him to hear her. "Snape! Snape, stop right now!"
He quickly stopped, turning around confused. He hadn't expected anyone to be out at this hour, except for his four archenemies that he would like nothing more than to ruin by finding out their secrets. "Black? What are you doing here?"
"Stopping you, of course!" she exclaimed, panting as she finally stopped, standing right in front of him. She had to take a moment to catch her breath, and she could see that he wasn't interested in waiting.
He started moving, taking a step as he rolled his eyes. As always, he didn't take her very seriously. "Hey, you stop right there, Snape! You need to get back to the castle and you need do to it now!"
"You don't get to tell me what to do," he spat, looking down on her like he always did. He seemed to believe he was so much above her, like she wasn't worthy to breathe same air he did. "I'm finally going to find out what those gits are up to."
Lyra narrowed her eyes, wondering why he was the way he was "Why are you so obsessed with them? Don't you have anything better to do with your life than going around and stalking other teenage boys?"
"Don't you start, Black. You know exactly what's going on, don't you? You've been helping them!" Snape accused her. He raised his hand, pointing a finger at her, only inches away from her face.
She tried very hard not to get angry. "You don't know what you're talking about, Snape. You think the world's against you, you always have. Can't you get it through your thick head that I'm actually trying to help you now?"
"You've never helped anyone but yourself," the greasy-haired boy hissed at her, glaring like it was personal. "All you care about it those Gryffindor gits. Are you even a Slytherin anymore, Black?"
"Stop trying to make this personal!" she exclaimed. She glanced around, knowing she had to keep him talking for as long as possible. That didn't mean she would accept being slandered in such a way.
"It's always personal," he spat. "Because you've got this silly idea that helping them is a good idea. It's not. And if you don't stop standing in my way, then you will face the consequences for your actions."
Lyra couldn't help but scoff, laughing bitterly at how he again thought himself so mighty, so mighty that he could do anything to her. "And what will you do, Snape? How could you possibly think to hurt me?"
He smirked widely. "I have quite powerful friends, Black. You know this. Friends like Lucius Malfoy who have connections in even higher places where I'm sure you don't want to make enemies."
"You really think I'm afraid of Lucius Malfoy?" It was as if Snape was telling joke and they kept getting even funnier and funnier. "He is nothing but a coward hiding behind greater men, just like yourself."
It was clear she had struck a nerve as he flinched, but then forced the cold mask on his face once again. "Doesn't mean we can't make life very difficult for you. I hear Bellatrix is making inquiries about you. Wouldn't want to disappoint her. That wouldn't be very pleasant, do you think?"
The blonde tried to contain herself, but she winced involuntarily. She didn't like that Snape knew about her sister's plans for her. "Is there no way that I can convince you to just get out of here?"
"Sure there is," he grinned expectantly. Lyra didn't like that grin, she wanted to punch it straight off his face. "Tell me exactly what's going and why you don't want me to find out. I'll be right back in bed then."
Lyra hesitated, and she did so quite obviously. Because she didn't know anything, all she knew was that they had lied to her about where they were going and if she let Snape get near them then somebody was going to get hurt.
And as much as she disliked Snape, she knew he was a smart boy. And he could read her reaction easily, so he laughed loudly as if he heard the funniest joke in the world. "You don't know either."
Lyra didn't really know what else to do to stop him, but she had one last option. She hurried to grip into her robes, to grab her wand. But Snape was too fast, he had quickly grabbed her wand-arm, keeping it in a tight grip. "Don't even think about it."
"Let go of me!" she demanded, trying to rip her arm away. Unfortunately, he was stronger than anybody would have guessed. Not that she was the strongest witch in the world either, but she thought he would have stood a chance.
For a moment, Snape stood still and studied the shorter blonde as he tried to figure out what the hell he was going to do with her. He couldn't let her go and run to a Professor to stop him, and it would also give her the opportunity to grab her wand and force him to come back to his dorm.
He knew there was only one option, no matter how much he hated having Lyra around him. He would have to bring her with him to discover the Marauders' secrets, she must have been dying to know as well.
So he kept his grin tight on her arm as he began pulling her along towards the nearby Whomping Willow. He didn't care how much she fought or struggled. Lyra Black was far from a priority of his. All he wanted was the truth, and hopefully to get the boys into trouble. Perhaps even expelled if he was lucky.
Lyra hadn't ever told anybody, but she was terrified of the Whomping Willow. It was dangerous and would probably end up killing her if she got too close. Especially since Davey Gudgeon almost lost an eye to it three years ago. The worst part was how he bragged about surviving.
They had all been banned from approaching it. Once she realized that Snape wanted to bring her to the tree, she started fighting even harder, which only made him more annoyed. "Let go off me! You're going to get us both killed!"
"Oh, shut up!" Snape groaned, annoyed. He was already regretting the fact that he didn't hex her and leave alone in the darkness in front of the castle. "You complain too much, you know that?"
"Oh, I can complain even more!" the blonde girl yelled, using her free hand to start hitting him, which didn't even hurt him. It just annoyed him even more. "What the hell? Dumbledore says we can't go near the Whomping Willow!"
Snape ignored her, as she kept saying reasons as to why they should go back. Quickly, they stood right in front of the tree. As if it could sense their presence, its branches started moving, preparing to take care of them.
Lyra started whimpering, wanting to get back into bed already. Even Snape's fierce glare wasn't enough to shut her up. And she knew that if a branch would come towards them, he would use her as a shield to protect himself.
She wanted to close her eyes so she didn't have to see her certain death, but instead she looked up. As Snape tightened his grip on her arm, pulling her towards a knot by the tree, Lyra kept her eyes on the full moon above.
Her whimpering was out of control at this point, believing she would in the very least break most of the bones in her body that night. She had already decided that if she surivived, she was never doing those boys a favor again.
Lyra shrieked as a large branch seemed to locate them, quickly swinging towards them. She was sure that was it and she would get his in the face and it would smash her brains in. She closed her eyes, preparing for the impact.
Slowly, she opened her eyes to make sure she truly wasn't dead. It had stopped. It was only an inch or so in front of her face. Another second and she would have been dead. "Snape, how'd you do that?"
"There's a knot here," he explained, looking at her as if she was dumb for not knowing. "I just pressed it. It's going to give us enough time to get through the secret passageway down here and see where it leads."
Lyra frowned as he pulled her towards the passage by the tree that she first now noticed. "How do you know all this? Have you been stalking them and figuring out what they've been doing before now, too?"
"Your cousin told me," he spat the word cousin like it was burning his tongue.
Lyra's eyes furrowed in confusion, hoping she could keep him talking for even longer, while finding out how he knew all these things. "Regulus?"
"No, not Regulus, you dolt!" Snape insulted her, glaring at her. He took a step through the passageway, forcing her along with him. "Sirius Black. He told me all about the Whomping Willow and how to get to them. He probably thought I wouldn't do it. He underestimated me."
Lyra took a deep breath as they ventured through a tunnel, one where she had no idea where would end. She was starting to wonder if they were even going to find their way back before morning when she heard them.
"We've got to start now, Padfoot."
"Live a little, Prongs. Let's give him a minute."
"I think Padfoot's right."
"Shut up, Wormtail!"
As Lyra wondered why Remus wasn't saying anything, she also noticed grunts and small howls coming from the end of the tunnel. She glanced to her side and realized Snape had heard them too. She needed to warn the boys. "You need to let me go!"
She kept yelling for him to release her, but he didn't say a thing. Only when she said some snide comment about him having a booger on his chin did he turn to her in anger. "If you don't start shutting up soon, I'll curse you into oblivion!"
"Oh, try me, Snivellus!" she yelled as loudly as possible, hearing them quiet down now that they were only a few feet from the entrance to an unfamiliar room. She smiled internally, knowing at least one of them must have heard her.
Suddenly, a face popped through the enterance. James's eyes were wide and his glasses were crooked. He caught her eye and looked horrifed, having hoped she wasn't really here. "What are you doing here? Let go of her!"
Finally, Snape let go of Lyra's arm reluctantly. She started rubbing it and walked closer to James to be further away from the other Slytherin. "I was trying to stop him, I swear. He dragged me with him."
James swore under his breath, glancing behind him. Lyra frowned at seeing his concerned expression, paired with the deep growling she heard from behind him, inside the mysterious room. "James, what's going on?"
He didn't respond, grabbing her arm to pull her away from there. She didn't really feel like being grabbed again, but she supposed James was better than Snape. She quickly hurried to stand on her tiptoes to finally see what was going on and what was so dangerous.
Lyra first recognized Sirius's Animagus form, a great black dog. Then she screamed, echoing through the whole secret passageway, through the whole room behind them. To the ears of the fully-grown, malicious werewolf.
Lyra felt its eyes turn to her, narrowing. Before she knew it, it was rushing towards the exit, to the hallway she was standing in with James and Snape. Luckily, Sirius tried to get the werewolf, jumping him and holding him down so he wouldn't get to touch Lyra.
James reached for his wand in his pocket, hoping to be able to protect himself and Lyra (Snape too, he supposed). He most wanted to transform into his Animagus form as a stag, but he couldn't risk that in front of Snape, who was now cursing wildly as Lyra hyperventilated.
"Stupefy!" he cast, pointing his wand at the werewolf, who was currently fighting Sirius to get to James, Lyra and Snape. She didn't want to know what the wolf would do if it got to them, or how the boys got caught up with it.
She knew she could have grabbed her own wand at this point to help, but she had no idea what was happening. She was in shock as James pulled her with him as Snape ran out, casting hexes and spells to keep the werewolf back so they could get out.
She wasn't sure how long it took for them to get out of there. Everything passed in a sort of blur as she tried her best to process what had just happened but it was like her brain was frozen, not allowing her to think anymore.
"How could you be so stupid?" James then asked, and it was only then she realized they had stopped walking and had gotten past the Whomping Willow and was almost by the castle. "You put your lives at risk!"
Lyra frowned, tears building up in her eyes in frustration at not understanding what was going on. "I- I..."
The Gryffindor barely had time to glance at her in concern before he stalked closer to Snape, who looked both shaken and smug. He gripped his wand tightly. "How did you know how to get through?"
Snape sneered at James, the boy he considered his worst enemy in the world. He wasn't sure if he was so angry just because he was there, or because he had the nerve to save their lives. "Your best mate Black told me."
Lyra let out a shaky breath as James processed this new information. This made him turn to her again, frowning in concern as he saw her white face, it looked like she had seen a ghost (and not the normal Hogwarts ones). "Lyra, are you okay?"
"I just- I don't..." the blonde took another shaky breath, closing her eyes so a tear fell. She started fidgeting, so James reached out to grab her hands to calm her. "I don't understand what's going on."
"What's happening is that Lupin's a werewolf and Black almost got both of us killed!" exclaimed Snape, not even looking at his fellow Slytherin because he was too busy glaring at James. "And I'm going tell Professor Dumbledore first thing tomorrow. He won't accept Lupin at his school."
James couldn't care less about him, focusing on the shaken girl in front of him. He rubbed her hands carefully, hoping she would look into his eyes. Instead, she stared straight forward, still not able to process that Remus, her friend, was a werewolf and nobody had told her.
"Lyra... Lyra, please look at me. Can you listen to me?" the hazel-eyed boy begged, as she sobbed. Another tear fell as she closed her eyes, turning her head away from him. "Please, Lyra. I'm begging you."
He realized he wasn't going to get a reaction out from her. He looked away from her and his gaze hardened the second he looked at Snape, who had gotten her in harm's way and was the reason she was crying in front of him. He had only seen her cry once before and he didn't like it.
He gripped Lyra's hands tighter. "Look, you can hate me as much as you want, Snape. Hell, you can even hate her. But right now, you owe me because I saved your life. And you owe her because you put hers in danger. So you're going to get her back to your common room and make sure she gets to bed safely or I swear you'll live to regret it."
Snape looked like he wanted to fight, to say he wasn't ever going to do anything for either James or Lyra, but he knew he was right. He owed both of them, and he was going to make up his debt to at least one of them that night.
He grabbed her by the same arm he had nearly bruised earlier that night, pulling her with him. For a moment she glanced back at James. When he saw her looking at him, he sent her a reassuring smile, telling her everything was going to be okay.
Lyra wasn't sure if anything would be okay again.
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Lyra hadn't wanted to believe the events of the previous night had happened, so when she woke up she tried to deny it. She had hoped everything was only a bad dream and Remus Lupin, one of her best friends, was not a werewolf who had kept this big secret from her for so long.
But as she sat outside of Dumbledore's office, having been told by Professor Slughorn that he wanted to speak with her, she knew exactly what it was about. Remembering it brought tears back to her eyes as she waited for him to finish talking to another student, for it to be her turn.
The door to the headmaster's office then swung open. Automatically, her eyes traveled to see who was leaving. More tears sprung to her eyes as she saw Remus, looking defeated and heartbroken. Worst of all, he was bleeding and in obvious pain. Several of his scars had opened. "Lyra..."
She didn't respond. She closed her eyes and tilted her head, trying to pretend he wasn't there and pretending she didn't want to cry at the sight of him. She heard his shoes clicking, knowing he was walking away.
She then opened her eyes, ready to walk into Dumbledore's office to discuss this with him. She entered the still-open door to find him smiling slightly at her from behind his desk. "Miss Black. Please, take a seat."
Lyra hesitated but sat down, facing her headmaster. "Is this about Remus?"
The older man's happy expression faded into a frown. "Yes. It is my understanding that yourself and Mr. Snape found out about Mr. Lupin's condition last night. And I must tell you that you need to keep it a secret."
"You knew..." the blonde girl realized, furrowing her brows. "You knew and you let him come to Hogwarts? You've allowed a werewolf, a monster, to be this close to your students! I can't be near him anymore, Professor. I can't do prefect duties with him, I can't see him. I won't."
Dumbledore saw how hard this was on her as she was already crying in front of him. "I can arrange it so you don't have to patrol with Mr. Lupin anymore. But this is still the same boy you used to know. Being a werewolf isn't all he is. He is still a talented, young wizard with a good heart."
Lyra only shook her head, making him frown even deeper. "Miss Black... I believe you have a good heart yourself. While this may take some time to process, you must try to find it within you to accept him for who is."
Yet another tear fell from her eyes as she made her final decision. "I don't want him anywhere near me, Professor. He's a monster."
He looked quite disappointed as he looked at her through his half-moon glasses. "Alright. If that is what you need to feel comfortable at this school, then I will make sure you no longer have to share duties with Mr. Lupin."
Another tear fell. And another. For the rest of the day, they just wouldn't stop falling as she grieved her friendship with Remus Lupin, especially as she felt like she had never truly known him at all.
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A/N: Soooo Lyra's reaction to finding out about Remus's furry little secret isn't perfect, but I feel like that's something very important to show you. Because she was raised in a house of prejudice and it's not something that's always easy to let go of. Please don't hate me or her for this!