As the weekend ended and a new week began, Lyra was glad to see that Fred had kept his word about not telling George. The pressure of taking her N.E.W.T.'s at the end of this year combined with the fact she was starting her defense lessons with Professor Snape this week, she had enough on her plate.
She felt something pelt her in the face and she looked up to see Fred ripping off another chunk of bread to throw at her.
"Earth to Stone."
"S-Sorry, I spaced out what did you say?"
"I asked if you were coming to our practice again tonight."
"No, I can't I've got potion lessons with Professor Snape."
He raised his eyebrows, "Like, those lessons?"
She rolled her eyes. "Yes, those lessons."
"Well, that explains why you've been so jumpy today," George said filling his plate again.
she blushed, "sorry, I didn't mean to worry you."
"Cut that out. It's my job to worry about you."
"Right," Fred added "That way he doesn't have to care about anyone else. "
"Exactly."
"Haha," she retorted back, "Kid all you want, I know deep down you two have hearts of gold."
"Speaking of gold, We need to borrow your owl."
"Why?"
"Just stuff for the joke shop." He answered vaguely. "We're thinking of putting the puking pustils on the market soon."
"Right, well, unfortunately, you'll have to wait if you want to use mine, why not just use the schools?"
George leaned in, "Because the channels of communication are unsafe."
she snorted "Using my owl isn't going to make them any safer, if anything it'll be less safe because they'll know to look for that one."
"You've got a point there Stone."
"Where's your owl anyway?" George asked curiously.
"I wrote to our friend in London, and to Victor too. Though I sent a school owl to deliver Victors, bit unfair to send him that far while having to go all the way to London too."
"What did you write them about?" he asked, and she could feel that he asked out of a place of curiosity and not jealousy.
"Well, I wrote about you two, and about school, and I checked in on how they were doing."
"You gossiping about us Stone?" Fred teased.
"Always Weasley, not like you make it hard."
He feigned a look of outrage "How dare you, George, you really must get a handle on this one."
"I don't know," he joked back "I kinda like her when she's full of it."
Their joking was interrupted by a shadow looming by them. Lyra looked up as Professor Snape swept by and their gaze locked. He glared impatiently, but besides that made no move to stop or say anything. Once he was out of the great hall Lyra sighed.
"Well, that's my cue."
George scowled at the door, "You sure you'll be okay?"
"Oh yeah, believe it or not, Professor Snape used to really like me before I started hanging around with you lot."
Fred looked at her disgusted "Well then we did you a favor, the only people Snape likes are slimy Slytherin like him."
"No," she corrected "He likes Smart students who keep their mouths shut too. Though I do think he did use to wish I was in his house. I bet he felt a bit betrayed when I started hanging around with Griffendores."
"What does Snape liking a student even look like?" Fred asked, still completely disgusted.
Lyra shrugged, "He mostly ignores you and doesn't make rude remarks hardly as much."
"A real delight that one is," George added. "Let us know if he gives you any trouble alright? We promised Serious that we'd hex him if he did."
She stood rolling her eyes, "I'll be fine, have fun at practice alright? Don't get hit in the head by any more balls."
"Bludgers Lyra," He corrected "and Fred and I are beaters, so we do the hitting instead of getting hit."
"Right, I'll make a note of that." she went to walk away but a hand gently grabbed hers and tugged her back over.
She turned to meet Georges's eyes, an eyebrow raised. He smirked devilishly and raised her hand up to his mouth kissing it gently.
As he suspected, this caught her completely off guard. She looked at him like a fish out of water, and quickly pulled her hand away.
"Have fun!" He yelled loudly after her. Revealing how she was always so easy to fluster.
Lyra stopped in the hall a few doors down from Professor Snape's classroom. Damn that Weasely, always catching her off guard.
She knew if she showed up to the Professor's office without a focused and cleared head he'd turn her away for wasting his time. So she took the extra moments to calm down, and push the world out, so only herself was left.
Then she breathed slowly, paying attention to each breath and letting go of the emotions that ruled her. She let go of her fears, she let go of her love, she let her mind go blank until all that remained was her breathing and a sense of peaceful existence.
Professor Snape glared at her when she entered his office. "You're late."
"My apologies Professor."
He scowled, "Take a seat."
Lyra slid into the seat across from him and gave him her full attention.
"Do you know why you are here?"
The question caught her off guard. "B-because I need to learn to protect myself."
"Wrong. You are here because you need to learn how to have full control of your power. Not having control makes you weak." He sneered.
She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, and wanted to ask questions but held her tongue.
"Before now I've worked to teach you Occlumency, by closing off your mind you have been able to also close off other's emotions as well. But this is not Occlumency's true purpose. Do you know what that is?"
"It's to protect your mind from Legillimens, or people who are masters in the art of Legilimency."
"Correct," he and she ignored his patronizing tone "Learning the basics Occlumency has allowed you to protect yourself from novel Legillimens, but you will still be quite susceptible during a duel or under immense pressure. Moving forward we are going to strengthen your use of Occlumency and begin to learn Legilimency. This is no longer simply interpreting people's emotions, or blocking them out. This is to do with the complicated deeper workings of the mind."
"Legilimency," She started slowly and with caution, "Is it similar to what happens sometimes when I accidentally make skin to skin contact. Like last year, someone grabbed my wrist and I could..."
"You're referring to what happened with Mr. Weasley?" he interrupted "I've seen the memory in your mind."
She flushed from embarrassment. "Y-yes"
"It's true that your ability may have allowed you to accidentally stumble into other's minds, but it has been without any control and it often overwhelms you. A true Legillimens is able to navigate the mind and find what they are looking for. They do not become drowned in unrelated memories and thoughts."
She was very red now, and that calm control she had when she first entered completely diminished. "What will learning Legilemecy entail? How will I practice?"
She expected Professor Snape to glare and have some rude remark for speaking out of turn, but instead, his face curled into a smile that made her skin crawl. "It will not be easy, you will have to attempt to enter people's minds without their permission." He could tell how uncomfortable this made her "I'm sure that red-headed buffoons would let you."
"Still-"
"Don't act so hypocritical Mrs. Stone, you already use your abilities to control people."
"What?" she was irritated now.
"From what I hear you used your ability to change people's emotions all the time." The accusation hit her like a rock.
"Not like that, I mean I've calmed people down but-"
"Do not take that tone with me Mrs. Stone or I shall put you in detention!"
Lyra stopped, her cheeks bright red and her eyes wet.
"Regardless if you think your intentions are good you are still controlling someone against their will, so don't act like legitimacy is beneath you. That all said if you're not serious about learning I won't waste my time teaching you."
"N-no I'm sorry Professor, I want to learn-"
"Good. We will start next week then. Don't be late again."
Their conversation sat like a rock in her stomach refusing to digest. She went straight up to bed after, instead of going to find George and Fred. There was no getting past George when she was upset, so the best thing to do was avoid him until she calmed down. Knowing him, he'd probably try to Hex the Potions teacher next time he was in range if he knew.
She went up to her room and tried to get some homework done, but her mind kept drifting back to his words. She thought of all the times she had tried to calm down her friends. How she had invaded their emotions and tried to change them... she thought she was helping... but maybe, maybe she should just let them feel what they are meant to feel... maybe it was wrong to intervene...
a loud tapping brought her from her thoughts. She looked up at her window to see a familiar owl sitting there. With a sigh, Lyra rose and walked over to the window letting the large bird in.
He hopped into her room and looked up at her with his large eyes. She smiled softly and gently reached up to stroke his feathers.
"What brings you to my window so late at night weary traveler?"
He hooted softly, almost so it sounded like a coo. She could feel he was tired from his journey, and also that he was grateful for the warmth of her room.
Lyra reached down to his leg and began to unfasten the scroll. "You can stay here tonight if you like."
She wasn't sure if he would understand her, but he seemed too as once she had removed the scroll he flew up to the top of her window where the crowning formed a small ledge and made himself comfortable.
Thankful for the distraction, Lyra turned to her letter. She unraveled it and began to read.
Dear Penpal,
You were correct in that your letter caught me by surprise, but I enjoyed it all the same. As far as your concerns go I talked to our mutual friend recently, they are struggling but are doing alright. Try not to worry about them too much. I offered my help further and they refused quite determinedly. It seems you are not the only one being told not to mettle
As far as what we talked about a while ago, I've got some bad news. I asked, and received a definite no, they want things to remain as they are now. Thank you for trying though, it was very thoughtful.
How have you been adjusting? Do you like your new teacher as much as everyone else is enjoying her? I've heard she's got a real knack for defense against the dark arts. How are your other lesson's going? I hope tweedle dee and tweedle dumb aren't giving you to much of a run for your money.
Also, no need to apologize, I could tell you didn't know it was me. To be honest, it was a bit funny, you would have thought I was a bear. Mooney filled me in a bit anyways, he overheard your story about when you were little. Heard you've got a pretty nasty scar from it, which explains why you were so afraid. He's got some pretty interesting theories about it, but I tried to tell him not to dwell on it.
Feel free to write me anytime, it's nice that someone still wants to talk to me.
Your's truly,
Snuffles
ps. You can call me Snuffles if you like.
Her hand gently reached up and touched where her scar lay hidden. It had been a part of her for so long, she hardly ever thought about it. It was something so guarded even in her own mind it felt strange to have so many people around her know about it now.
Sighing again, she grabbed a fresh scroll and quill deciding to write him back before falling asleep.
Dear Snuffles,
It's a bummer that they said no, and a bit over-cautious if you ask me. I'm also sorry to hear that your help was refused, I know how much they look up to you though and it was probably with your best interest in mind.
As for adjusting, I'm doing okay. My peer's descriptions of our new teacher seem to be right on the nose. I enjoy her almost as much as you enjoy potions. The Tweedles are doing fine, though I really do worry about them pushing things too far and getting into serious trouble.
I'm glad you found what happened humorous instead of hurtful, though in honestly I would have rather a bear. Try to keep Moony, (does he know you call him that?), from looking too much into it. As interesting as his theories are, I'm sure they're nothing that I haven't already looked into. It's in the past, and I can't go back and change it. Knowing if it was a wolf, a bear, or something else doesn't matter. It doesn't change who I am.
Hope to hear from you soon,
Sincerely,
Book Worm
Lyra read through her letter once, before abandoning it at her desk and heading to bed. Though tired, sleep did not come to her for a long time. When it finally did, it did not grant her rest.