As soon as Lyn woke up and made her way down to the common room, the trio were asking her questions. It took Lyn over an hour to explain everything due to all their questions as well as the breaks needed when Ron and Hermione started bickering. She was glad when they finally were content with her answers and decided to do something else. After playing some rounds of wizard chess, no one could ignore the growling of their stomachs, so the four teens walked down to lunch together. Unfortunately, half way there, Ron and Hermiome started arguing over Ron's pet rat, Scabbers.
"He's just unhealthy because of your cat!" Ron yelled.
"That's not true! He was unhealthy before I got Chrookshanks!" Hermione retorted. The argument caused Harry and Lyn to stay a little bit back, not wanting to be forced to chose a side.
"So, are you excited for your first match?" Lyn asked Harry. Almost immediately, his face lit up like a Christmas tree.
"I'm so excited. I've really missed playing," Harry responded. "How did flying lessons with the hufflepuff go?"
"His name is Cedric. And they went okay. I'm definitely not a natural, but I can stay on the broom," Lyn said, shoving Harry slightly when he called Cedric 'the hufflepuff' instead of his name.
"Can't relate. I immediately was a pro at flying," Harry boasted as they entered the great hall. Lyn just rolled her eyes and sat down.
Over the next few days, tensions became high in the castle. The first quidditch match was between Slytherin and Gryffindor, so the tension between the Houses grew even more. Harry and the rest of the team were almost always at the pitch practicing for the game. Harry would come back late from practice to see few people in the common room. The day before the match, Oliver Wood came up to the quartet during breakfast.
"Hullo Harry. I've got real bad news. Slytherin backed out of the match. Something about the seekers arm being too messed up. We're going to be playing hufflepuff instead," Oliver stated before walking away to inform the rest of the team.
"That's crazy! His arm is fine!" Ron exclaimed, referring to Malfoy, who was the Slytherin seeker and was still faking his arm injury from a hippogriff.
"He's just an attention hog!" Harry said. The boys continued to complain about Malfoy and completely missed the conversation between Hermione and Lyn.
"You know, the boys talk about Malfoy so much you'd think they're dating," Lyn said and Hermione let out a humorless laugh.
"You're lucky. You've only had to deal with this for a few months. I've had to deal with this since first year!" Hermione said.
"That's one of the saddest things I've ever heard," Lyn responded. Hermione nodded and the two were silent for a few seconds before looking at each other and bursting into laughter. The boys stopped complaining and stared at them in confusion.
"This isn't really a laughing matter," Ron finally said. Lyn and Hermione continued to laugh for a few moments before slowly stopping. The other students stared at the two girls in confusion before continuing to eat, but Harry and Ron continued to look on in confusion.
"Malfoy is a real problem," Ron defended himself, his cheeks slightly red.
"Oh, yes, we agree. But you guys talk about him so much you'd think you were dating!" Lyn exclaimed and she was sent into another round of giggles with Hermione. The boys both turned red.
"Well, Lyn, you're with that hufflepuff so much you'd think you guys were dating," Ron retorted, not having anything better to say, and Harry nodded his head in agreement.
"His name is Cedric, Ron. And for your information, he's 16 and I'm only 12 so it'll never happen. Even if I were older, he's like a brother to me," Lyn responded, not even bothered. (Hi! I never do this, but I get so many comments about this that I'm going to. Please don't comment about her age. I have it right.)
"Wait, you're only 12?" Harry asked. Everyone else in 3rd year was already 13.
"Yep. Born on Christmas day," Lyn said.
"Then how are you in our year?" Hermione questioned. Lyn shrugged her shoulder.
"I don't know. I guess Moony just taught me enough that I could be in your year. Technically, I should be with Ginny because of my age, but Dumbledore let me be with you guys," Lyn responded.
"Interesting. Well, back to Cedric, I don't care how close you guys are. You're a Gryffindor, so make sure he knows you're not going to support him at all," Harry told Lyn seriously. She just stared at him incredulously before responding.
"No way! I'll support Gryffindor more, but I'm still going to support my friend," Lyn responded, a firmness to her voice. This caused the boys to exclaim in protest. Slowly, the conversation turned and continued and after a little bit the quartet left the great hall, once again with Ron and Hermione arguing. As they walked, Lyn was filled with a warmness as she realized that these were her best friends.
Suddenly, Lyn freezed, causing the trio to stop and look at her.
"What's wrong Lyn?" Ron asks.
"What time is it?" Lyn responds, worry clear in her voice.
"1:15. Why?" Hermiome responds.
"I had a lesson with Snape at 1! I gotta go!" Lyn yelled, running away from the trio.
When Lyn arrived at the door, she took a second to compose herself before knocking. Almost immediately, the door slammed open.
"You're late " Snape said in his familiar drawl, staring down at Lyn in disgust.
"I'm very sorry, sir. I was eating lunch and I didn't pay attention to the time."
"Obviously. Now do what is written on the board and don't speak," Snape drawled out before turning away and grading essays. Lyn quickly did as she was told, not wanting to make him upset. However, on the inside she was fuming. She was only 15 minutes late and it wasn't her fault that Snape moved the lesson up from after dinner to 1 in the afternoon. Lyn was so upset she misread the board and added the eye of newt before the chickens throat. As soon as she realized her mistake, the potion blew up.
"You idiot girl!" Snape exclaimed. Lyn couldn't even respond due to the ringing in her ears. She coughed up some of the potion. "Well?! What do you have to say for yourself?!"
"I didn't mean to," Lyn croaked out. She had swallowed a large amount of the failed potion and was struggling to breathe. "Can I please go to the hospital wing? I can't breathe."
"Yes. Get out of my sight. You have detention for the next two weeks and I'll make sure to let Dumbledore know that, despite your failures, I refuse to teach you any more private lessons. They obviously aren't working," Snape practically growled. Lyn barely acknowledged his words as she walked up to the hospital wing, gaining many looks. As she walked, she got more and more tired.
"Lyn? Are you ok?" A timid voice asked, causing Lyn to turn slightly.
"Oh, hey Neville. I accidentally blew up my potion and swallowed some. Would you mind helping me to the hospital wing?"
"I mean...I guess so," Neville responded, pink tinting his cheeks. All Lyn could do was nod gratefully. Neville and Lyn slowly made their way to the hospital wing, Lyn weighing Neville down by leaning on his shoulders. By the time they got there, Lyn was basically asleep.
"Oh my! What happened here?" Madame Pomfery asked as she guided Lyn to a bed. Lyn made some mumbles and mimicked blowing up with her hands before falling asleep, causing the nurse to turn to Neville with a confused look.
"Well, I wasn't there when it happened, but apparently she was making a potion and she messed up and it blew up and she swallowed some," Neville responded.
"Oh no. Could you please go ask Professor Snape what potion she was brewing and where she went wrong?" Madame Pomfrey asked Neville as she moved Lyn around so that she would be more comfortable. The boy gulped loudly but nodded.
"No need, Madame. I just spoke to him myself," Remus said as he walked in, heading straight to his goddaughter.
"Well, in that case, you can go Mr. Longbottom. Thank you for helping her up here," Madame Pomfrey said to the still red boy.
"Yes, thank you. Five points to Gryffindor," Remus said to the boy. Neville muttered a quick thank you and hurried out of the room.
"It seems she was making a simple sleeping draught. She was actually done, but was adding an extra step to make the drinker have good dreams. Severus said that she should wake up in the next 48 hours and there is no counter draught," Remus explained.
"Well, that's a pity," The nurse sighed as she finished moving around the pillows on the bed Lyn was laying on. "I guess there's nothing to do but wait."
"It seems so. Thank you, Poppy," Remus responded, a childish grin on his face at being able to finally call her Poppy without getting in trouble. He and his friends had tried many times, but she wouldn't let them, telling them to call her Poppy when they were no longer students at the school. She responded with an eyeroll before becoming very serious as she watched the young man who she cared deeply for watch the young girl sleep.
"You did a great job raising her, Remus. She loves you and from what I can tell, she's exceptionally intelligent and friendly," Madame Pomfrey said quietly, laying her hand on Remus' shoulder. He let out a deep sigh.
"Thank you Poppy," Remus responded, a small smile on his face. He was always scared that she would grow up to be a bad child and hearing the words from the woman who had become almost a 2nd or 3rd mother to him meant a lot. His smile fell as he thought back over the recent weeks.
"She hates me right now," He whispered. The nurse chuckled, causing Remus to look up at her in confusion.
"Oh honey, she's a teenager. She's just in that phase. Any small thing is huge in her world," Madame Pomfrey assured him.
"I guess you're right," Moony responded with a small chuckle, but he knew that what he was hiding was a huge thing.
"I always am. And I can't help but notice a similarity between her and two of your old friends," The nurse said as she walked away to check on her potions. However, she watched Remus out of the corner of her eye. His face barely changed.
"You'll have to be more specific, Madame. I had quite a few friends during my time here," Remus cheekily responded, although he knew exactly who she was talking about.
"A certain Marlene McKinnon and Sirius Black. I seem to remember them starting to date at Hogwarts and I don't know, but...Ms. Dylan looks remarkable like what I would imagine their child would look like," The nurse said. Remus seemed to tense up a little.
"Well, they never had a child. Lyn is simply the daughter of a muggle friend of mine," Remus said, trying to sound as casual as possible. The nurse pretended to buy it, but she knew the man in front of her well enough to know when he was lying.
"Well... you have to admit that she does look like them," Madam Pomfrey added, trying to get more out of the man.
"To an extent, I guess," Remus shrugged, trying not to look at the sleeping girl or the nurse.
"Well, I believe this has taken up too much of your time. I refuse to let you spend the rest of your day here. Go grade papers or something and I'll get you when she wakes up," Pomfrey told the man as she realized he wasn't going to say anything. Remus nodded and stood up, leaning over to give Lyn a small kiss on the forehead. Madame Pomfery smiled at the sight.
"Thank you Poppy."
"It's my job."
Lyn ended up staying asleep for the next 36 hours. When she woke up, Cedric and Harry were arguing across her about the best team at the school.
"Gryffindor is the best. They always have been," Harry reasoned. Lyn groaned due to the headache that began as soon as she opened her eyes and the fact that they were talking about Quidditch, but neither of the boys noticed.
"No way! I've been here a lot longer than you and you guys were struggling for a while. You guys might have won more recently, but half of the game is heart and Hufflepuff has more heart than Gryffindor ever will," Cedric retorted. Harry just scoffed and went to reply.
"Yes, both teams are great. Now shut up before I hex you until you can't play for the rest of your lives " Lyn croaked out before Harry could continue the argument. The boys realized she was awake and quickly sprung into action. Cedric quickly called Madame Pomfrey over and Harry handed her a glass of water.
"You really scared us. We didn't know where you were. We thought Snape had killed you or something " Harry told the girl who just scoffed.
"Sometimes I think he wishes," She responded causing both boys to laugh lightly.
"Oh good to see you're awake! Take this potion and you'll be good to go!" Madame Ponfrey assured Lyn before walking off. Lyn did as she was told and quickly jumped off the bed and practically ran out of the room, yelling a thank you over her shoulder. The boys shared looks before following her
"You good?" Cedric asked, watching as she was practically bouncing off the walls.
"Yep! I don't know what was in that potion, but I'm more awake than I've ever been!" Lyn replied, a bright smile on her face.
"Good! We have to do homework," Hermione said as she walked up to the group. The smile immediately fell off Lyn's face, but she was bouncing on the balls of her feet.
"Good to see you're awake. Now come on," Hermione said and pulled Lyn's wrist lightly, guiding her to the library. Lyn turned and waved goodbye to Cedric before letting herself be pulled away by Hermione. Harry quickly ran off to the common room, leaving Lyn to deal with a homework crazed Hermiome by herself.