Fifth year was passing too quickly for Lyra. O.W.L.s were closing in, and she felt very unprepared. The Easter holidays had already passed, and while she appreciated seeing her family again, she felt like she had lost precious time for studying. 

Still, the holidays had been pretty good. Sirius had stayed back at school, though, so she was sad she didn't get to spend more time with him. The best part was being able to see Narcissa, and her very pregnant belly. She couldn't wait to be an aunt. 

The stress was still giving her quite the headache and she appreciated being back at school. She really wanted to do well on her O.W.L.s so she could do well on her N.E.W.T.s and do well in life in general. 

So she got up bright and early to prepare for her first class after the break. She ate a good, healthy breakfast and made sure she was in dungeons for Potions five minutes early so she had time to prepare and get her things ready. 

As her fellow students started streaming in the door, she found herself searching for Rabastan, who was her partner in basically ever subject nowadays. She couldn't help but feel concerned when she didn't see him, especially as he wasn't at breakfast. She wondered if he was sick.

People sat in their usual seats, everyone having their usual partners. Lyra brightened up as she realized Rabastan's absence meant that she could work with her old partner, who she missed working with. 

The Slytherin girl was about to wave Remus over, but then another person plopped down next to her. She quickly turned to see who it was, only seeing the red signalizing Gryffindor robes first. 

James Potter grinned at her, messing up his hair as they made eye contact. He ignored the disappointed look on her face and kept up his happiness. "Hello there, love. Ready to do some potions?"

"Please don't be annoying, Potter," Lyra groaned, resting her chin in her hand. She glanced at Sirius, who didn't seem happy about now sitting alone. "And besides, you shouldn't leave Sirius alone. Who knows what he'll do when left unsupervised."

He raised an eyebrow. "You and I both know Sirius is actually pretty good at Potions. And I believe you and I could be a pretty good team. My dad has taught me so much, you may have heard of him. Fleamont Potter, the maker of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion."

"I know. You've only told everyone at school a million times. We get it." The blonde smiled tightly, hoping he would realize she didn't want to partner with him but he didn't take the hint. "Besides, I was hoping to work with Remus today since I haven't seen Rabastan anywhere."

He adjusted his glasses, watching as she looked at Remus, who looked like he was trying to explain something difficult to Peter. "And I gave you even more than you wanted. You're very welcome."

Lyra opened her mouth to argue even more, but he raised his finger over his mouth to tell her to be quiet. She then realized Slughorn had started his lecture, and the last thing she needed was for him to remove points from Slytherin for disrupting class. She leaned back in her chair, hoping to ignore James. 

▹▹▹

Unfortunately, this was a class when they had to work in pairs on a Potion instead of doing them individually. This meant Lyra and James were doomed to create a Draught of Peace, when Lyra just wanted to work with either Rabastan or Remus. 

She was instructing him on some things. He thought he knew a lot about Potions because of his father, but he didn't realize how much Lyra had already studied up on the potion, and was quite knowledgeable. 

For a while, she believed this teamwork would be alright, and she would be able to survive this one class with him deciding to sit next to her. He hadn't tried to woo her or ask her to be his girlfriend yet, at least.

Until James got really annoying really fast. As he was cutting ingredients, he started humming a pretty well-known song. But it wasn't just any song. Of course it wasn't. It was Lyra's old favorite You Charmed the Heart Right Out of Me.

Lyra was trying very hard not to murder him, because she had a feeling that spending time in Azkaban for murder wasn't the best way to kickstart her future. "Will you stop that? It's super annoying."

He smirked and did not want to stop. Instead, he started straight out singing the lyrics to her. "You charmed the heart right out of me. Don't need no broom, I'm flying free. I think by now it's plain to see. I'm nothing without you!"

The Slytherin girl did her best to shush him, but he simply wouldn't stop. She tried her best to suppress her smile, because it was a bit sweet even if it was embarrassing. He didn't sing very loudly, so only a few people heard his singing.

Thankfully, nobody seemed to connect the song he was singing with Lyra's very public singing Valentine's card. Probably because it had been about two months ago and it was old gossip. Lyra could not forget it, though. 

He only stopped singing when the door to the Potions classroom was smashed open, an out-of-breath Rabastan running through. His robes where disheveled, and he seemed very uncomfortable as everyone turned to look at him. 

The Lestrange boy ignored everyone's suspicious looks and instead made eye contact with Professor Slughorn, who seemed very disappointed in him coming so late. "I'm so sorry for being late, Professor."

"You are extremely late, Mr. Lestrange. I can't overlook this," the Potions Master shook his head, and everyone was whispering about how embarrassing this was for Rabastan. "Unless you have a good reason why."

He glanced around the room, speaking through his teeth. "I've spent all morning chasing my robes. They seemed to have been charmed to fly away everytime I got near them, sir. I apologize."

Several students burts into laughter, ignoring the cruel glares every one of them got from Rabastan. Lyra had to purse her lips to suppress her own laugh, which James joyfully noticed. "You're welcome."

It wasn't until that moment Lyra realized he was behind this. She tried to hide her amusement, knowing it wasn't fair to Rabastan to laugh at his misfortune. "Potter, you've got to be kidding me. Please tell me you didn't do this."

Tired of students shenanigans and not sure if he believed in what the Slytherin boy's claim, Slughorn sighed in defeat. "Alright. There is an available seat next to Mr. Black. Don't let this happen again."

Lyra could feel Rabastan staring holes into her head, wondering why the seat next to her was occupied by James Potter of all people, leaving Sirius on his own. But he begrudgingly sat next to the Black boy. 

Lyra decided to try to focus on the ingredients that still needed to be added to the Potion when James leaned closer to her and whispered in her ear. "Look at how miserable they look together."

She turned her head slightly and saw Sirius and Rabastan both looking like they would rather die than to sit next to each other for the remainder of class. She couldn't help but giggle, glancing amused at James.

"You ready to thank me yet?" he asked, smiling brightly down at her. She couldn't keep her smile away, but she did elbow him in the side. She kept sneaking glances at Sirius and Rabastan throughout class, and knew the image of would stick in her head for the rest of the day.

Maybe James was a little funny, but she wouldn't ever tell him that. Not in a million years.

▹▹▹

One of the things Lyra missed the most while being on break was her prefect patrols with Remus. She didn't even want to think about what life would be like if she hadn't been made prefect and could hang out with Remus and become his friend. 

So getting to walk around and laugh with him on their first full day back was a blessing. Especially as he was telling her funny stories about his time back home, which was so different from hers. 

"So, the goat just walked through the door, but my mum didn't even know about him," Remus continued his story. "And it just jumped right into the pudding on the floor and started running around, leaving goat-pudding footsteps everywhere!"

"Merlin!" Lyra had to put her hand over her mouth because she was laughing so hard. "I can't imagine your mother was too happy with your dad after that."

"No, she wasn't," he laughed. "He had to sleep out in the literal old dog house for three days and we had to give away the goat. Which was so sad because he had been pooping in the dog house for a week before dad had to sleep there."

Lyra smiled brightly, forgetting all sorrows when she was with Remus. "Your family sounds amazing! I love your parents and I've never even met them. I should totally meet your parents one day."

"Definitely!" Remus grinned, brushing a piece of fluff off his robes. He then checked the clock in the hallway, seeing how late it was. "Well, patrol's over. I'm a bit peckish. How would you feel about going to the kitchens?"

The blonde gaped, her eyes wide. She had always wanted to uncover the secrets of where the food came from, only knowing it was prepared by house elves. "You know where the kitchens are?"

"You think the boys and I would be able to live without knowing?" the Gryffindor scoffed, raising his eyebrows. "It's actually right around here. Thank Merlin we were patrolling by the Entrance Hall."

Excited, Lyra followed closely behind as Remus led her through a door by the Entrance Hall, finding a stairway down. They walked down carefully, as it was even steeper than it looked. And it did look quite steep.

The Slytherin girl had never seen this part of the castle before, knowing it was usually filled with Hufflepuffs, who she had never found herself very close to. So it was strange to find herself in this broad stone basement corridor. 

Even though it was late at night, it was still brightly lit, like daylight was shining through nonexistent windows. The walls were covered with food-related paintings, each of them making Lyra hungrier and wanting a midnight snack.

She turned to her friend, confused. There were no doors appearing to lead to the kitchens. If Lyra didn't know any better, she would have thought Remus brought her there to kill her. "Now what? There are only paintings here."

"I'm going to show you a little trick," said Remus. He went towards a painting of a bowl of different fruits. He reached up to touch it and Lyra was about to scold him for touching art, until he started tickling a pear. 

It started giggling, and she jumped where she stood. He laughed, but she sent him an annoyed look at his teasing. The pear suddenly turned into a large, green door handle, which Remus grabbed. "Ladies first."

"Thank you, kind sir," the blonde girl teased, grinning up at him, realizing just how tall he was. She approached the door handle cautiously, afraid that it was some sort of prank and it would bite her or something. 

Just as she opened the door, Remus pushed her through and called out to her. "Sorry, Lyra! I'll make it up to you some time!"

Lyra turned around, confused. She looked at the door which was slammed shut behind her. She wasn't sure what was going on until she turned to look at the house elves working, and saw a very familiar wizard there.

James was standing nervously on the floor, dressed smartly in his favorite everyday robes. Next to him, there was a table with two chairs Lyra was sure wasn't there before he came to the room. On it there were biscuits and two hot cocoas. 

Lyra groaned in annoyance. She already had to suffer through potions class with him that day, she didn't want this, too. Even if she did enjoy working with him in class, even if he would never know. "No. Not tonight."

She turned around and reached for the door handle when James frantically spoke up. "No, please, don't. Lyra, could you just... Can't you try to hear me out?"

"Potter, please stop." This had been going on for two months already and she was wondering when he would finally move on and realize she wasn't the girl for him. "No. I don't want to go out with you, or snog you."

"You've already snogged me though," the speckled boy reminded her, grinning brightly. She wondered if he was only smiling so much because he was nervous. Which was very strange, because he usually seemed so collected and confident, bordering on arrogant. 

Lyra clutched the side of her head, not wanting to think about that fateful night that had given her headaches ever since. "You don't have to remind me. I have nightmares to this day."

Smugly, James smirked. "I always knew you dreamed about me at night."

"It's a nightmare, Potter. There is a pretty significant difference." The Slytherin laughed a bit to herself at the ridiculousness of his never-ending battle of thinking he liked her, instead of just wanting someone to snog him again. 

The black-haired boy only shrugged casually, not seeming nearly as nervous anymore, like had had a mental pep-talk with himself. "All I'm hearing is that I'm in your head, you think about me. At least subconsciously."

She sighed. "Can't you just stop with this? You know, before all this, before that stupid snog... I thought we might have been on a journey to one day becoming friends. A very slow journey, but a journey nonetheless."

"I can't help it," he replied honestly, fiddling with his glasses as he tried to get them perfectly adjusted, but they always ended up a little off. "I don't think we were ever meant to be friends. We were meant to be something more."

"Enemies?" she suggested, smiling awkwardly.

The look on her face, accompanied with the words that he found really stupid, made James laugh wholeheartedly. The kind of laugh that was reserved for one person, that nobody else was allowed to hear. "No, no. Definitely not that."

Once again, Lyra had to fight her smile when talking to James. She didn't want him to get the wrong idea just because he made her smile. "Don't, please. Can't you just get out of my hair, Potter?"

Already, just by looking at the stupid smirk on his face, Lyra could see she had set him up for some cheesy comment she would probably want to forget. "Ah, but your hair is way too pretty for that."

"Well, your hair isn't too pretty for this." Lyra noticed a house elf walking past her while carrying an egg. She would have asked for it, but she felt like it would have ruined the dramatic effect she was going for. 

She grabbed it out of the elf's hand and cracked it on top of James's head before he could react, even with his incredible reflexes. He gaped as she smiled widely, biting her lip as she waited for his reaction.

Once he had time to properly process what had just happened, James couldn't help but laugh. It wasn't the night he had hoped to have with Lyra, but it was going to be fun anyway. "Oh, you little... It's on."

He reached out and grabbed a handful of flours from a pack sitting on a nearby counter. She grimaced as she saw it and was about to run when he threw it at her. She didn't want to, but she couldn't stop laughing. 

By the flour, Lyra saw a packet of sugar and grabbed the whole thing. She grabbed the collar of his robes and poured as much of the packet down as possible. He gasped and hit the packet out of her hands. 

He grabbed cocoa powder from very close to them, and was about to throw it at her when she squealed and was prepared to run away from him, but he grabbed her with both arms, holding her back from behind. 

To do this, he had to release the powder, which seemed to almost explode all of over them. And they both couldn't stop laughing. They laughed together in what seemed like a perfect harmony, both of them enjoying the moment as much as they could. 

"Truce! Truce!" Lyra laughed, struggling to get out of his tight grip. He had always looked a bit scrawny, but he was surprisingly strong. Not that one would need a lot of strength to hold Lyra back. 

He released her, although reluctantly. He wouldn't have minded holding her in his arms for the rest of the night. Still, she was giggling and looking up at him, as he smiled. He couldn't believe she hadn't stopped looking into his eyes. James didn't ever want to stop looking into her eyes.

The blonde quickly seemed to realize what the look in James's eyes meant, the hope she couldn't help but notice. She then looked away, realizing this may have been some sort of flirting, some way of getting his hopes up. It was the last thing she had wanted. 

"I, eh, I..." the Slytherin girl wasn't completely sure of how to compose herself. The whole situation was so strange, and she couldn't remember how they ended up standing like they did "I have to go clean myself up."

Just as she began turning to walk away, James stopped her. "Wait!"

The blonde was almost scared he wanted try to kiss her. She already regretted making him fancy her in the first place and she knew she hadn't helped that night. So her voice ended up coming out a bit sharp. "For what?"

The Potter boy wasn't bothered. He only grinned. He had a hand behind his back, but he hurried to pull it forth and cracked and egg on top of her head while laughing hysterically. "For this."

Fine, Lyra didn't really regret that night. She had fun, and she knew she deserved to get an egg cracked on her head, because she did it first. But she still had to fight her smile, but it came through anyway. 

She shoved him playfully, giggling slightly. She then composed herself, standing up straight and pursed her lips to avoid showing off her still-obvious smile. "Goodnight then, James."

And as she walked away, she didn't realize what she'd said. But he did. He was quite happy that he had finally gotten her to call him by his first name, and it meant they were moving in the right direction. Everything was coming up James.