When Lyra woke up, she was confused. She never woke up on her own, always needing someone to wake her up for her. Usually, during the school year, that person was Lucinda because she was an early bird. 

It took her a moment to realize that waking up late wasn't only going to make her miss breakfast or ruin her morning routine. No, waking up late meant that she was extremely late for her classes. She was supposed to be in Transfiguration by now. 

She had to run to get to the classroom, even class was halfway over already. She opened the door in the middle of McGonagall's lecture, a bit too loudly. "I'm so sorry that I'm late, Professor. I overslept and nobody woke me up."

"No excuses, Miss Black. Five points from Slytherin," said McGonagall, sternly. "I'm being lenient now because this is your first strike, but this will not be tolerated a second time. I expected better from a prefect."

Part of Lyra really wanted to argue, because she had gone to sleep and expected for the next day to go like any other, even if she knew some people would be very angry with her for her now official relationship with James. 

But she only sighed in defeat, taking the empty seat next to James. He must have waited for her to show up, so he didn't sit next to Sirius, like he usually did. Her boyfriend grabbed her hand, smiling in support. "You alright?"

"Yeah. Lucinda just didn't wake me up this morning," Lyra muttered in response. James didn't let go of her hand for the rest of class, even though most of the Transfiguration class was glaring at them. 

▹▹▹

Lyra yawned as she walked through the hallways of Hogwarts, just having gotten out of the bathroom, on her way to lunch. Luckily, she hadn't run into many angry people yet, so she was starting to wonder if she had been worried for nothing. 

But she should have known her peace wouldn't last for long as her once fellow-prefect. Evan Rosier started calling out to her. "Hey, Black! I always knew you were a slut, but a blood traitor, too? How the mighty has fallen."

"Jealous, Rosier?" the blonde retorted, raising a challenging eyebrow at him. She didn't particularily like talking to him, but she wasn't going to let him get away with talking to her like that. "You've always been a scared little boy who can't get a girlfriend, so you try scaring people into liking you. 

Lyra sighed dramatically, tightening her messy ponytail. "The only issue is that you're about as frightening as a ferret. No wonder you don't have any friends... and that I didn't want to go out with you."

Evan seemed to think her new-found fire was only funny to see. She had once been so much more innocent and soft-spoken to her fellow Slytherins, he almost couldn't recognize her. "You act so high and mighty now. But we both know it's just an act."

"I know you like to think you're so cool and smart and that you're always right. You don't know crap about me, Rosier," she spat, hating the fact that he, along with all the others in her house, thought they had her all figured out, but she had proven there were secret sides to her.

"I know that there is a way to break anyone, even you, Black," Evan smirked widely, his chin raised in pride, though she didn't know if he had anything to be proud of. "I wonder what Bellatrix would say if she found out about your new boyfriend."

The image of what could happen to James if her family found out flashed before her eyes. Either him screaming in pain, hit with the Cruciatus curse or laying on the ground, his face pale and his heart no longer beating. Thoughts that should have saddened her, but it only infuriated her. 

It only took a second for Lyra to reach into the pockets of her robes, pulling out her wand. She could hear him loudly whimper for a second as she dug her wand into the crook of his neck, although he tried to hide it.

She didn't want to use the horrible things she had done against him or anybody else, but she needed him to respect her. If the only way for her to do so would be to fear her, then so be it. She wouldn't stand for him trying to bring harm to James.

"If you, or anyone else, tells any member of my family anything about James, then I can prove to you and everyone who may ask that even a blood traitor slut knows spells so dark you can't even imagine it," she hissed angrily. 

"You think can threaten me. That's cute," he tried to say condescendingly, but she could see him glance around for an escape route. "Have you forgotten that I'm well on my way to serving the Dark Lord. My father was one of his first followers, and I will be rewarded for it."

Lyra chuckled bitterly at this, speaking quietly so nobody could hear her words. "I don't know if you've heard what happened when I met the Dark Lord this summer, but unless you'd like to feel my Cruciatius curse then you better learn to keep your mouth shut."

Looking at the way his face went pale and how he shivered, she supposed somebody must have told him. She was sure she had seen his father at the Death Eater meeting that summer, and he probably used it against his son to tell him to start making moves in the Dark Lord's ranks.

He nodded quite rapidly, even if it made him feel her wand dig even deeper into his neck. She hesitated, part of her telling herself that she should either hex him or maybe even just punch him in the face. 

But she didn't want to hurt anyone, so she pulled her wand away and into her robes again. It didn't take long before he rushed in the direction of the Great Hall, ready to tell his friends what had just happened. She hoped he did. 

Lyra could then hear whispers around her. A few young Gryffindors, either fifth or fourth years according to her estimates, were looking at her disapproving at her anger. Though she was sure they didn't hear any of what she had said, she didn't like the idea of them spreading rumors about how she was a cruel and uncontrollable Slytherin who didn't deserve James Potter.

▹▹▹

Thankfully, lunchtime had come and Lyra couldn't be happier. Not only could she fill her empty breakfast-less stomach, but she could also walk over to the Slytherin table and get things straight with them. She was still one of them even if she was dating James.

But before she could even venture towards the Slytherin table, she cast a quick glance towards her boyfriend at the Gryffindor table, and didn't like what she saw. She hurried over to him, shocked. "James, what the hell happened to your eye?"

James, who had just been in the middle of a conversation with Sirius, Remus, Peter and Lily Evans, reached up to touch his black eye briefly. "I just got jumped by a few Slytherins. It's no big deal, love."

"Which Slytherins?" asked Lyra, squeezing herself between James and Peter, glaring towards her housemates, who all seemed to be smirking in their general direction. "I swear I'll punch them in the face."

James looked at her, smiling brightly. While some people would be scared at seeing the fire in her eyes, he wanted to grab her and snog her right then and there. "I've never been more attracted to you in my life."

"James," she said in warning, telling him that she wasn't in the mood for jokes now. People had been pissing her off all day and this was nearing the final straw. "Who did this to you?"

"Mulciber and Avery," the Gryffindor Quidditch Captiain sighed in defeat, knowing there was no way he could get out of telling her. "Snape was there, too. He just watched, but I wouldn't put it past him to be the one who suggested the whole thing."

Lily's head turned towards the couple suddenly at the mention of her former best friend, in the middle of her conversation with Remus. She almost looked guilty at what he might have done. "Did he really? I..."

James looked at his fellow Head sympathetically, knowing what was going through her mind. "Don't feel guilty just because you used to be friends. It's not your fault, Evans, far from it. Him and all his friends are future Death Eater gits."

Lyra didn't feel comfortable with trying to comfort Lily, as the two didn't know each other very well, so she turned her attention back to James. She carefully reached up to touch his black eye, watching as he winced in pain. "Come on, we need to get you to Madam Pomfrey."

"I'll be fine," the Potter boy waved her off, not wanting her to go around worrying about him. He then sent her a flirty smirk, leaning closer to his girlfriend. "Besides, don't you think it's a bit hot?"

"I refuse to answer that," she retorted, though part of her did want to grab him and pull him into a broom closet for a long, passionate snog. 

Remus snickered at the two. "I think that means she does, mate."

"Not as much as I do, though. Could shag you right here, Prongs," Sirius winked at his best friend, always wanting to change the subject away from his cousin finding James a bit hot. It was gross.

"Please don't," Peter cringed, though he was still able to shove a piece of toast into his mouth. "Those two gross enough on their own, Padfoot. You two would be even worse, especially when we share a dorm."

Lyra rolled her eyes, though a bit of a smirk appeared on her face as she found a great way to make her favorite cousin uncomfortable. "Sirius, you're not shagging James. I'm the only one who can do that."

"Let's compromise," said Sirius, smiling innocently (though nobody believed he even had the ability to be innocent anymore). "Nobody is shagging James."

"Or everybody shags James," the man in question suggested jokingly. 

"Shut up," the blonde girl said, thinking they were a bit dumb as usual. She then remembered what they had been discussing and perked up. "And stop trying to change the subject! We're going to Madam Pomfrey. Now!"

"Not even a pit-stop in a broom closet first?" James pleaded, thinking that if they were going to leave lunch, then they could do it for something he wanted as well.

"No. Come on."

He groaned as she grabbed his arm, pulling him out of his seat. He could barely shove a piece of bacon into his mouth before they were well on their way to the Hospital Wing."Why do you enjoy my suffering?"

"Why are you so bloody annoying?" Lyra quipped sarcastically. As they were leaving the Great Hall, a few people wolf-whistled, thinking they were going out to do something very different than what she was planning. She turned and glared at them. 

▹▹▹

Madam Pomfrey had healed James's black eye in a few seconds, though she scolded him for ending up in the Hospital Wing for the fourth time in two weeks, which would have been a record if it wasn't for all the other years he had spent at Hogwarts. 

Lyra was a bit angry that she hadn't gotten the opportunity to grab some food yet, as she left lunch for James, so she hadn't eaten the whole day. But she didn't have time to worry about that, as she had to grab her Artithmancy book to share some notes with Remus during their free period. 

"Salazar," Lyra tried to say the password to the Slytherin common room, thinking it was going to open and let her in without any second thoughts. But nothing happened and she frowned. "Salazar." 

Avery waltzed up next to her, looking strangely smug for a boy who was failing two of his classes and still took fifth-year level Transfiguration because he didn't pass his O.W.L. "There's a new password now, Black."

"Why wasn't I notified of this?" Lyra asked, feeling the fact that she was about to explode in anger soon. "I'm your fellow prefect, and one who has actually done this for the last few years. Not just the last choice."

Avery looked down on her, like she was the dirt beneath his shoes. "Because I felt like this particular piece of information should only be shared with actual, true Slytherins. Not silly, little, blonde blood traitors like you."

"You can't just lock me out of the common room, Avery," the blonde responded with. He couldn't walk around and do things like this without any consequenses. "The other Slytherins won't stand for it."

"You think I was the one who came up with the idea?" he grinned. "No, no. We've all discussed this. If you'd actually been at lunch with us, you might have even been able to make your case. But you were too busy snogging your pet Gryffindor."

"Why are you so bitter all the time?" she sighed, exasperated. She didn't really understand why they had to make such a big deal out of her situation. "Can't you act like an actual person for once?"

He glared at her. "I'm acting in the way I should. And if you care about him, and if you do't want your family finding out about your dumb relationship then you better suck it up and stop pretending to be one of us here at school. Who knows if Bellatrix will let him live for touching her sister?"

Lyra wanted to argue or hex him or punch him in the face. But she knew it wasn't going to help anything. They were only going to see her as even more of an outsider then, so she reached for her wand and cast a spell. "Accio my book bag."

Quickly, the bag appeared in her hand with the help of the summoning charm. Thankfully, she had kept all her books in it, so if they still wouldn't let her in in a few days time, then she would have all she needed for her school work. 

But there was somebody around who seemed to notice the tension between the two Slytherin prefects. Lily Evans stalked towards them, her fiery red hair flying behind her. "What's going on here?"

Avery looked disgusted at her even trying to meddle. He wanted to yell at her and call her a mudblood, but he knew he would get in trouble and he wasn't in the mood for it.  "What are you doing in the Dungeons, Evans? This isn't your territory."

"I'd say the whole school's my territory as I am Head Girl," the redhead retorted proudly. "But I was talking to Slughorn about our Potions essay, if you must know. Now what's going on here?"

Lyra wanted to tell her that he was acting like a git, but Avery raised an eyebrow at her, reminding her that if she did anything then her sister would find out about her and James. "It's nothing."

Lily wasn't dumb though, and she knew Avery was doing something mean as usual.  "Well, Avery, I'd say you better get your arse into your common room before I deduct points from Slytherin for disobeying the Head Girl."

He glared at the Gryffindor girl, but didn't argue. He walked towards the entrance to the Slytherin common room, carefully whispering the password so that Lyra wouldn't hear. He left the two girls behind. 

Lyra felt a bit awkward, standing there alone with Lily. She couldn't remember the last time those two had even had a conversation alone, but Lily didn't seem to think it was strange, looking sympathetic.  "Come on, Black. Follow me."

▹▹▹

It turned out that Lily was actually pretty cool. She had brought Lyra to the Gryffindor Common Room, revealing the password without second thought before leading her to sit in front of the fireplace with her. 

They had been sitting in silence for a few minutes, neither of them knowing what to say. But Lyra then decided to take charge, having some newfound respect for the other girl. "Is this how it feels to be you at Hogwarts?"

Lily shrugged, wrapping her blanket tighter around herself. It wasn't her favorite topic of conversation, but she figured the Black girl needed to talk about it. "When it comes to your gang of friends, yes."

"I'm so sorry, Evans," the blonde said sincerely, hoping she had never been apart of making her feel the way Lyra was feeling now. 

"Why?" the redhead asked. "You've never been cruel, to me at least. And you may not have any muggle heritage or anything like that, but I'd say you understand the feeling sometimes with how they're treating you."

Lyra couldn't see the comparison. "While we're at Hogwarts, yes. But I've never felt like this before, and I won't again. You've felt like this your whole life, and you will for the rest of it. People making assumptions, calling you names. Why aren't you furious?"

"What's the use?" said Lily, though she knew she had been close to yelling and screaming at people at different times. She could see Lyra was at that stage now. "It's not going to do any good. They'll just use that against me, too."

"So how do you cope?" she asked desperately, needing to find some peace in her situation. "I hate the looks I get in the hallways, and how people whisper about James and I behind our backs."

"By realizing you're not really angry. You're just hurt, Lyra," the Gryffindor girl said wisely. "And when you're hurt, the most important part is finding a safe space to land, and I'm guessing you have that with James."

Lily watched as Lyra smiled, a blush covering her cheeks that wasn't because of the heat of the fire. "You just need to rise above it. Because if you love James and if you like the person you're becoming then that's all the matters. Screw everyone else."

There was something about Lily Evans, how she still hadn't given up hope. She had walked through hell to prove she was more than just a muggleborn, to become Head Girl, and she was still able to hope that things would be better. She reminded Lyra of what it was like to believe in the world, to understand that if things were at their worst, they could only get better.

She wished she had realized how good she was before. "You're a good person, Evans. Thank you. If I was going to lose the Head Girl position to anyone, I'm glad it was you. You really do deserve it."

Lily smiled back. "Thank you, Black. And you're welcome, too. And if you find yourself staying in the Gryffindor dorms by any chance... let's just say I won't bat an eye and I'll make sure McGonagall doesn't either."

James then entered the Gryffindor common room on his own, thinking it would be almost empty, like it usually was that time of day. He was pretty surprised to see his Slytherin girlfriend and the Head Girl talking. "What's going on?"

Lyra hadn't expected to see him so quickly. She knew she had to ask the question, but the reality of what had happened seemed to finally hit her as she got teary eyed. "Could I stay with you and the boys for a while?"

Concerned, James frowned. "What happened?"

"Can you just hold me?"

"I can do that," he nodded, though still sort of wanting to pry. But he casually sat down next to her on the couch, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and pulling her close. Lily smiled slightly at the sight.