The weeks passed, and Lyra kept her promise to do research on behalf of the four marauders known as James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. She didn't mind, though, always happy to keep herself occupied so she didn't have to feel like she was constantly scrutinized by the rest of her house. 

That didn't mean she didn't love her housemates. Being a Slytherin couldn't get any better, Lyra was well-liked and popular, mostly because she didn't really cause any trouble, was nice to all of them and had a rich, famed family history many of them would kill for. 

No Gryffindor could ever make her forget the happiness and belonging she felt with them, not even Sirius. So she treasured the time she had with them, knowing her time with them was limited. She had already breezed through half of her schooling at Hogwarts, and she believed in the power of good memories. 

Without good memories, there was nothing to hold on to when it all went away. Lyra was barely fifteen, and she had already experienced some devestating heartbreak. If she didn't have the memories she had with Andromeda, then there wouldn't be any proof that they were ever sisters. Lyra wouldn't ever dare forget it, even if she sometimes wished she could. 

And so she laughed and giggled with her friends when she felt like it, and she felt a comfort in knowing these were memories she would carry with her forever. 

As she sat in Slughorn's fourth year Potions class, she and her partner, fellow Slytherin Lucinda Talkalot, were whispering about how Bertram Aubrey from Ravenclaw had been looking at Lyra strangely at dinner the night before. They barely paid attention to Slughorn's lecture about the rarely used Herbicide potion. 

Psst, Lyra heard from behind her. Peter Pettigrew sat there with Remus Lupin. Peter was trying to stealthily pass her a note, but he was far too obvious as he stretched his arm out right in front of her face. 

Lyra scrunched her nose up in disgust at the way he was trying to catch her attention. She quickly grabbed the note from his hand and hoped Slughorn wouldn't notice. But she supposed she always underestimated the old man, and he knew more about what was going on in his classroom than any of his students thought. 

"What's that you've got there, Miss Black?" Professor Slughorn asked, smiling slightly at her as she looked down embarrassed. He held his hand out, asking for the note in her hand. She wasn't sure if she wanted to give it to him, not having read it herself yet. 

Lucinda elbowed her in the ribs, nodding towards their professor's hand. Lyra sighed and hesitantly put the note in his hand. She glanced back at Peter and Remus who looked like they were preparing for a storm coming.

"If you wanted to pass notes in class, you should be prepared for its contents to be seen by the whole class, my dear." Old Slughorn cleared his throat as he looked at the note, frowning as he read it. "Are you available to go over the secret project tonight? Meet me at the usual place, James Potter."

Lyra cringed in her seat as she felt several of the Slytherin/Gryffindor class' stares burning holes in her head. She glanced at Lucinda, who raised her eyebrows in shock at her before looking back at James.

James never really looked embarrassed, not matter what. But he didn't look quite like his smug self as a hoard of Slytherin's gave him death glares, them thinking he might be trying to corrupt their sweet, little Lyra. He leaned back in his chair and tried to seem casual, flashing the class his famous, arrogant grin. 

Lyra turned to look at the gang of Gryffindors who were trying to whisper quietly amongst themselves, not seeming to be the biggest fans of Lyra either. If anybody was going to go after the great chaser and overall fun guy known as James Potter, it wasn't going to be some stuck-up, probably prejudiced Slytherin. 

After reading the note and noticing the class's reactions, Slughorn blushed bright red, the color of the Gryffindor ties sloppily tied around half the class' necks. He threw the note on her desk carefully. "Well, Mr. Potter, Miss Black... what you two do on your own time is your own business, but please try to keep it out of the classroom next time or I'll have to take points from your houses." 

"Yes, sir." Lyra looked down, trying to be as invisible as possible. She knew this would cause consequences and she was trying to create a believable excuse that wouldn't reveal what the boys were doing, or that she was helping them. 

"Aye, aye, Captain," James saluted, still trying to keep his high and mighty reputation, while Lyra was slowly dying in her seat, her face almost as red as Slughorn's.

Lucinda leaned over, her eyes wide. "Lyra? What was that about?"

Perhaps she didn't have all the time in the world to think of a good excuse after all. Lyra pursed her lips and leaned over to her, whispering softly. "McGonagall gave us an extra project in Transfiguration. She didn't want us to tell anyone else because then everybody would want one to get their grade up."

Lucinda seemed the accept the explanation, but still scrunched her nose up in disgust as she glanced back at the Potter boy, who seemed to be telling Sirius another one of his awful jokes. "But, why Potter of all people?"

Lyra turned to look at him and frowned, looking at him and Sirius being their goofy selves. "I have no idea."

▹▹▹

After giving her hopefully believable explanation to Lucinda, Lyra felt a bit free to go to the same old, smelly boys' bathroom by the library. She had tried to ask James for a better meeting place, but she suspected he enjoyed how uncomfortable it made her, which made her want to abandon their Animagus campaign once in a while. 

After their first meeting, Lyra and the Gryffindor boys made a deal to only have her and James meet up to discuss it, knowing it would be too risky for all the boys to meet her. And seeing as they were two naturals in Transfiguration, it only made sense for it to be those two meeting. 

Of course, neither of them were quite happy with it. James had made his dislike for Lyra well-known, and he was definitely her least favorite of Sirius's friends. But, still, if she wanted to make sure this was done right for Sirius, she had to help. If the way to do that was through talking to James Potter, she had to suck it up. 

He was late, just like he had been last time. Which was annoying, as this time Lyra had more important information than she had the previous two times they had to meet. If he didn't show up within the next five minutes, she would walk away. 

Just as she made that choice, he walked through the door, grinning. Drops of water ran down his face from his wet hair, making it obvious he had just showered. "Sorry, I'm late. Quidditch practice was awesome, so I had to stay behind a little longer and get some more quaffles through the hoop."

"Oh, great. I don't care," Lyra deadpanned, not returning his grin. As he walked closer to look at her notes, she reached up and slapped the top of his head, making him grab it in pain. "That was for being so painfully open today. How much stupidity can one scrawny body hold?"

"First of all, I'm not scrawny. Look at these." James raised his arms and flexed his muscles, only to see her raise an eyebrow, unimpressed. "Also, I'm not stupid. I was trying to be discreet and not make a big deal out of it. It was Peter who was way too obvious."

Annoyed, Lyra sighed. "Still, we got caught. And I managed to tell Lucinda that we were working on a secret Transfiguration project, and we couldn't tell anyone because then everybody would want to do one to get their grade up."

James snickered to himself, leaning against the wall between two sinks. He ran his fingers through his always-messy hair. "Of course Talkalot was dumb enough to buy into that. I guess that's the story now, then?"

Lyra decided to ignore the comment about her friend, as she wasn't in the mood for a fight. "Yeah. But I'm still going to have to convince my housemates not to hex you. Because I think a lot of them want to, especially Snape."

"Snivellous can't do anything to me. What's he going to do to me? Dump a bucket of the grease from his hair on me?" Like usual, James treated life like a joke and laughed to himself. "I can handle him."

Lyra fought a smile, but he could still see the corners of her lips quirk up involuntarily. "Can you handle all of Slytherin house wanting to hex you and telling you to keep away from anyone from our house, especially me? I don't think so. I'm only trying to help you here."

He nodded curtly. "Fine, thanks. I'll do the same for you."

"Yeah, I noticed the Gryffindors weren't really too happy with me either," Lyra chuckled, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "So it would be nice if you stopped them from hexing me, so the other Slytherins won't hex them and we won't be starting some great war between the houses."

James chuckled in return. "I think that war started about a thousand years ago. All we would be doing is making things worse."

"I bet you're really good at making things worse than they have to be," Lyra teased, making him roll his eyes but smile slightly in response. "But anyway, back to the reason we are here in this smelly bathroom..."

Smirking, he shrugged. "It's a manly odor, Black. You just don't get it."

"Oh, please. You're far from a man. You're barely a boy." Before he was able to gasp in offense and try to argue with her again, she started getting  back on track, not liking the feeling of getting along with James Potter. "Anyway, I found the spell. It was hidden deep in the magical creatures section, not in the Transfiguration one, for some reason."

"Good," James said. "What is it then?"

"Amato Animo Animato Animagus," Lyra read from her notes. "I can't remember off the top of my head when and how it was supposed to be used, but I've  got notes back at my dorm. I'll drop them off soon, they just need a few finishing touches before I trust you lot with it."

"Yeah, just give it." James grabbed the notes from her hands, and the good vibes they had just shared disappeared as if they had never been there. Somehow, Lyra was more comfortable with that. "I'll get this to the blokes. Just make sure we get the other notes. You haven't found anything on the personalization of the potion, right? Because I've been looking and I haven't found anything."

Lyra shook her head, disappointed in herself for not being able to find it. "No, unfortunately not. I'm wondering if it's classified information of some sort. But I have faith I'll be able to figure it out at one point."

James skimmed the pages of notes, not even looking at her as he spoke. "Let me know when you do. And I know you're not doing this for me or Peter. But I think it's good you're doing this for Sirius. I've never been particularly fond of you, but I can appreciate it."

"Likewise. If that's all, I'll be going." Lyra barely glanced at him as she walked past him, leaving him alone in that smelly bathroom filled with manly odor. 

▹▹▹

When she finally returned to the Slytherin common room, Lyra was met with the stares of the whole Slytherin common room. She avoided most of them, knowing Lucinda must have spread the gossip. But if she had told everyone about the note she got from James, she must have shared Lyra's excuse, as well. 

She turned her head down, trying to get to the girls' dorms without getting too much attention. Of course, that could never happen. As she had gotten halfway past them, someone grabbed her arm with a painfully harsh grip. 

"Ow!" She ripped her arm out of the person's grip and turned to face them. She quickly recognized her fellow fourth-year Slytherin, Severus Snape with a condesending look on her face. "Snape, what the hell?"

"I should be asking you that," he drawled slowly, narrowing his eyes. "What was that scene with you in Potions? What are you doing with James Potter, a well-known Gryffindor, blood-traitor bully!"

"Calm down for Merlin's sake!" she scolded softly as more eyes were on them after Snape couldn't keep his voice down. "It's just a project for Transifiguration that I'm not even supposed to talk about."

While Lucinda had been easily convinced, Snape wasn't. He was many things, many of them not too positive, but the one thing he had never been was naive. In fact, some called him paranoid and cynical. "What's this so-called project about then, huh, Black?"

"What part of I'm not supposed to talk about it don't you understand?" Lyra was glaring, and controlling her volume was becoming harder as she became more frustrated. "Can't you just leave it alone, Snape? As soon as the project is over I'm not even going to talk to him, not that it's any of your business."

Snape frowned, crossing his arms across his chest. "It's my business if you're going to defile the name of Salazar Slytherin by affiliating yourself with bloody Gryffindors!"

Lyra couldn't believe how much of a hypocrite he was. "I thought your best, or only, friend was a Gryffindor? Isn't she a muggleborn, too? What's her name again? Oh, right. Lily Evans. You should watch your tongue, Severus, before you start throwing around false accusations when I could accuse you of much worse."

Mentioning his muggleborn friend in front of the whole of Slytherin house was really pushing some buttons. "The difference is that Lily is a talented witch, who isn't cruel to those who aren't just like her. Unlike Potter."

"Yeah, but the difference is that I don't even like Potter," Lyra pointed out, her glare becoming harsher and harsher with every word spoken. "It's literally a project for McGonagall! I'm not going to let your personal hatred for him ruin my education."

"Could you two quiet down? It's getting hard to study when you're arguing like children," a voice asked from behind Lyra's back. She turned and saw her younger cousin, Regulus, a third year. He was looking quite unimpressed with the two. 

"Just heed my warning, Black," Snape told Lyra. "Stay away from them or you'll end up hurt, too."

"Is that a threat?" she hissed, reaching for her wand in her pocket. Regulus grabbed her arm, and stopped her with a stern look. Snape turned on his heel and walked away, fuming. Lyra was glaring after him, but didn't do anything as Regulus held onto her arm. 

"He's right, you know," Regulus pointed out. Lyra turned to look at him, her anger pointed towards him now. "Don't give me that look. Don't go around talking to blood traitors and working with them if you can help it. People are always going to assume the worst."

She groaned, tired of having to explain the situation a thousand times (even if none of them had been honest). "I don't get why it's so important that I'm doing a project with him. I'm just securing my future, that's honorable, right?"

"You just have to be careful after the last... situation. Nobody wants a repeat of that." Regulus's words made Lyra look away, as she always did when someone mentioned Andromeda's leaving. "So, I'm sorry. But if this is anything more than a project, I'll have to write to Uncle Cygnus and Aunt Druella, or even to Bellatrix."

"No, don't do that!" Lyra scolded him sharply, looking at her younger cousin distastefully. He was a good kid, and she loved him. But he could really get on her nerves sometimes. "Look, I'll do anything, just don't say anything. I don't want the same reaction from them that I've gotten from the rest of Slytherin today."

Regulus sighed. "Can't you just abandon the project? Talk to McGonagall and say you're too busy to do it? It would save us all a lot of trouble. It's still a bit too soon to do something like this. You know... Narcissa caught a glimpse of her in town the other day. It really didn't help. Maybe one day, not now."

Lyra hesitated. She supposed she could just leave the Gryffindor boys to do it themselves, but she felt so much less worried knowing she could help make sure Sirius didn't do anything wrong with his transformation. 

She had no idea what to do. She couldn't go on living like she had since Potions that day, with eyes on her and people whispering behind her back. If she left them alone, she knew the rumors would go away quickly, there was always something new to gossip about. 

But Regulus mentioning Andromeda struck a chord with her. She could still see the tears in her sister's eyes as she left the house in the middle of the night, and hear the blood-curdling screams that haunted her home and her dreams. She didn't ever want to experience that, and she never wanted her family to feel the pain after Andromeda again. 

In the end, Lyra sighed. She decided that the best she could do was sleep on it. "I'll see what I can do. I'll talk to her tomorrow. Don't worry, but don't do anything rash either. I definitely haven't forgotten what happened."

Regulus nodded curtly, without emotion. Lyra couldn't help but notice that he was looking more and more like his strict father every day. It wasn't something she noted with pleasure. "Good night, Lyra."

She nodded in return as she turned to face the stairs to girls' dorms. "Good night, Regulus."

▹▹▹

The next day, Lyra walked to the library, holding an armful of notes. She had debated what to do that whole night, but she knew there was only one solution that would make sense. She couldn't potentially give up everything just because people would misunderstand the situation, even if it was for Sirius. 

She found her cousin the library and walked towards. He hadn't even seen her as she plopped the notes on the table. He glanced up and smiled. "I see you've been, huh."

Lyra didn't see any reason to beat around the bush. "I'm sorry, Sirius. I can't do this anymore. I can't be seen with you or your friends anymore. I've seen the reactions I've gotten, and after what happened... with Andy... I don't want to cause any misunderstandings."

Sirius's smile faded. "Wait, where is all this coming from? None of the Slytherins hurt you, did they? Because if they did I will hex every single one of them until they transfer to Durmstrang where they belong."

"No, it's not that." She shook her head, her blonde curls bouncing. "It's just... I don't know. I love you, I do. And I want to help you. Everything I've found, you'll find here. But until things cool off a bit more, I just have to concentrate on trying to keep the peace. And helping you four is the last thing that would help."

"Lyra..."

She turned away, not wanting to see the disappointment on his face anymore. "I'm sorry, Sirius. I'll, uh, see you around. Good luck."

And for the rest of her fourth year, she kept away. Of course, there were times she still talked to Sirius. They were still family, and it wasn't as if he had been disowned so it wasn't a strange sight. But she never exchanged another word with Remus, Peter or James for the rest of the year.

And the whole situation faded from people's minds, although Snape still kept an annoyingly close eye on her from time to time when he saw her talking to Sirius or when she was close to any of the boys. She didn't care. The most important thing was that nobody else cared anymore, and that was just the way she liked it.