Lyra didn't want Christmas to end, because it had truly been such a great time. None of her usual gang of friends were there, so she found herself free to be with whoever she wanted and to do whatever she wanted. 

A surprising amount of that time had been spent with James Potter. Not doing anything in particular, especially as he spent most of his time with Sirius. After the Christmas party, Lyra wasn't sure where her and her cousin stood, and she was afraid she had ruined it by waiting too long to find out. 

But now the holidays were over and people were returning to the school. By people, Lyra mostly cared about Remus Lupin. In the weeks after they had made up, they did their best to get back to normal. It wasn't perfect yet, but she knew they would get there. Especially as she had asked Dumbledore to restore their prefect duties together. 

And the Slytherin girl had a plan. Because she had missed Sirius, even if what he had done wasn't far from unforgivable. But it had been over two months, and she didn't want to lose him forever. Nothing could make her want to lose him forever.

Remus and Sirius still hadn't spoken since that fateful October night, other than a few casual and necessary words. Wanting to prove herself, Lyra had decided that she wanted to bring the best friends back together. For both of their sakes, and her own. 

Lyra sat at the Slytherin table during the first day of classes. As she glanced at the Gryffindor table, she saw that James and Peter both sat with Remus, happy to be reunited. The one left out was still Sirius, who looked like he was quite sick of this.

Suddenly, the Black boy slammed his utensils on the table. He drew the attention of several of his housemates, but most others didn't bother to notice. Well, other than a concerned Lyra, of course.

To make sure, the blonde glanced around her, but was thankful that no Slytherins had paid attention to anybody but themselves. "I'm going to go to Madam Pomfrey for a quick second. I think I need a pepper-up potion."

Rabastan, who had just returned from his own eventful holiday, frowned. "You said you've taken two others already this week. You can't take three in a week. I don't think that's very good for you."

She sent him a blank look. "Come on, I've been having trouble sleeping for a month or so. If I don't take another pepper-up potion, I'm not going to be able to keep up with school work, and then I'll fail my exams. You don't want that, do you?"

She didn't stick around long enough for him to respond. Truthfully, she had been avoiding him since he returned. The last thing she wanted to do was hear about his meeting with the Dark Lord and how exciting it was to be on the path to becoming a Death Eater. 

The blonde hurried out of the Great Hall. Once she reached the hallway outside, she quickly saw her cousin walking in the direction of Gryffindor tower. She sighed sadly. "Hey, Sirius! Come on, wait up!"

The black-haired boy quickly turned around, furrowing his brows in confusion when he realized who it was who wanted to talk to him. "Lyra? Does this mean you can finally talk to me without having to drink spiked punch first?"

"Stop being so dramatic, Sirius," Lyra rolled her eyes, although she understood why he was a bit bitter. "I actually wanted to talk to you about something. I don't know if you've heard, but Remus and I are talking again. Have been for about a month now."

"That's great. I'm happy for the two of you." The strange part was that he didn't even have to fake his joy. One could say a lot about Sirius Black, but he truly cared about the people he loved, and he put them first at all times. 

But while she enjoyed how genuine his joy was, she couldn't help but hope she could bring some of that joy his way, as well. "It's been over two months now, Sirius. Have you talked to him yet?"

"He doesn't want me to," the Black boy responded shortly, turning his head away, hoping she couldn't see just how hard it was for him to be separated from his best friends for so long. 

"That's not true, and you know it," the blonde countered, rolling her eyes. "Remus just doesn't want to feel like he's just another part of a cruel prank. All he has ever wanted was friends who would always be there for him."

Sirius frowned, crossing his arms across his chest, a lot more dramatically than she thought was possible. "I am. He's my friend. But I don't know how I can be sure that he'll let me back in."

"Because I just did. And while I know Remus's secret was revealed to a few people, I could have actually been killed. Also, Remus is a much better person than I am," Lyra shrugged, smiling slightly. "So you need to take initiative and talk to him yourself. Good luck."

With that, she turned on her heel. He couldn't help but wonder when she had gotten so dramatic herself. Perhaps he had finally rubbed off on her after all these years. The most important thing she brought to mind was that she was right. He was going to a brave friend. He wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing. 

Lyra sat at the Slytherin table for a few minutes after that, having convinced Rabastan that she didn't actually need the potion. Turned out she just need a good pee, she said. The disgusted look on his face was one she would treasure. 

That's when Sirius opened the doors to the Great Hall. He headed towards the Gryffindor table like a man with a mission, making Lyra think he had spent the last few minutes giving himself a pep-talk. 

Lyra carefully watched as he walked right up to Remus, leaning close to say something to him that nobody around them could have heard. She couldn't help but be proud of Sirius trying, even if she wasn't sure Remus could forgive. Then again, he had quickly forgiven her. 

It didn't take more than a minute before the pair had stood up from their seats and wrapped their arms around each other in a tight embrace. It was a sight Lyra had missed, honestly. Them being happy, that is. 

Lyra only turned her head a bit to find someone looking at her. James was probably the only one who noticed that she had walked out right after Sirius, only for him to come back and make up with Remus right after. He raised an eyebrow at her, she winked. 

The blonde hid her smile as she turned back to Lucinda Talkalot, who was now babbling on about her potential candidates for Valentine's Day, even though it was more than a month away. 

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As usual, Lyra found herself sitting next to Rabastan during Defense Against the Dark Arts. She wasn't paying much attention to Professor Dowson's lecture on how to perform non-verbal spells, although it wasn't the best idea. She knew it could be useful at some point. 

Lyra glanced around in boredom. She found herself looking at the other side of the room, where the boys usually sat. She found them quickly. Peter and Remus sat together, right behind Sirius. But only Sirius. 

She frowned, as she hadn't seen James miss a single Defense Against the Dark Arts class all year. It was one of the only subjects he actually cared about, along with Transfiguration, of course. She supposed there could be a completely logical explanation for this. 

As she looked their way, Sirius met her gaze. She raised an eyebrow at him. He seemed to understand what she was asking about, yet he only shrugged. That didn't help with her worry. Then she started worrying about something else entirely. Why was she worried about him?

Lyra didn't even notice when Professor Dowson had told them to start working on some tasks with their partners, which meant that she would spend the rest of class talking to Rabastan, which was exactly what she had been avoiding. 

Rabastan glanced her way as he opened his textbook to the correct page. "Well, I know you haven't asked, but you don't have to worry, Lyra. My meeting with the Dark Lord was a great success."

The blonde closed her eyes for a moment, wishing she could smack him to make him shut up. She didn't go to class just to be told some Death Eater propaganda, which she was getting tired of hearing about. "Sounds good."

But he didn't know when to shut his mouth. "He asked us all these questions, seemed really invested in what we had to do. My Imperius curse was perfect, by the way. Thanks for the suggestion. He seemed impressed with Regulus too."

"Regulus? Did Regulus go the meeting?" Lyra whispered heatedly, suddenly on high alert. She got a nod in response. "What would the Dark Lord ever want with such a young boy? He's a only a child!"

"Don't be dramatic. He's only a year younger than us," the Lestrange boy reminded her. "And because you didn't show, we needed a Black to introduce to him. At least, Bellatrix really wanted one."

Lyra took a shaky breath, feeling a sudden, cold flash of guilt. If she could have just gotten it together and gone, then her baby cousin wouldn't have had to go to such a meeting, one that would lead to him being deprived of any innocence he had left. 

Rabastan read her reaction wrong, thinking she was disappointed that she hadn't gotten to meet him and her younger cousin got the opportunity first. He put a hand on her shoulder and sent her a quick smile. 

She turned her head to look at him, catching his smile. "Come on, chin up. We did mention you, you know. Told him all about your gifts, like the Occlumency. He's looking forward to meeting you."

This definitely didn't help with her mood. James being mysteriously missing, Regulus suddenly being on the Death Eater path and Rabastan having talked her up was not a good combination. "Right. Can't wait."

▹▹▹

After a while, Lyra still hadn't caught a glimpse of James running around. It was strange, because she felt like she always had him in her peripheral vision somewhere. It only made her worry more, along with making her beat herself up for worrying so much about him. 

But then she saw Remus, who looked quite stressed. She couldn't help but notice that he was heading in the direction of the Hospital Wing. She hoped she wasn't right. "Remus! Where are you going?"

While Remus usually would take any opportunity to talk to her, especially as they were still trying to rebuild their friendship, he didn't really look in the mood. "Lyra, this really isn't a good time."

"Oh, is it..." the Slytherin girl glanced around herself, making sure nobody could hear her before she whispered softly. "Nearing that time of the month?"

"What? No!" the teenage werewolf rolled his eyes, looking at her like it was an idiotic question. She raised her hands in surrender. "It's just that James is in the Hospital Wing, so I really need to get over there."

Suddenly, all of Lyra's worries came true. She didn't know why she had spent the whole day coming up with the worst-case scenario for what happened to him, but it was only getting worse. "What? Why? You better tell me what's going on right now, Remus!"

"He was hit with some kind of nasty hex," Remus answered quickly, glancing the direction he was supposed to go. "I don't know the details. I just found out myself. That's why I really need to get going."

"I'll go with you!" she suddenly exclaimed, surprising even herself. She could see the hesitation on Remus's face, but she felt this strange need to go see if James was alright. She didn't like it. "Please."

"I don't know, Lyra..." the sandy-haired boy shook his head, clearly not ready to just let go with him. Especially when he knew it could have consequences for her. "There may be people there asking why you've come to see him."

"Let me worry about that. Please." Again, the desperation she felt was so strange and she wasn't very fond of it. But Remus noticed it too, and for that reason he sent her a curt nod. Sighing, she followed him to the Hospital Wing. 

▹▹▹

Lyra was a bit scared as they reached the Hospital Wing. Getting hit by a nasty hex could mean a million different things, and each thing that came to mind was worse than the next. Although James could be annoying, she didn't want him to get hurt. 

So, imagine her surprise when she walked in to the sight of him looking perfectly okay as Madam Pomfrey fussed over him, like he was dying. He was just leaning back in his hospital bed, exchanging casual words with Sirius and Peter. 

Remus didn't seem to notice that everybody seemed to be alright, and looked just like a worried mother as he hurried towards his three best friends on the bed. "What happened? Prongs, are you alright? Who did this? What hex hit you?"

"It was Snivellus, of course. He's such a nasty git. I mean, just because we're more handsome than him doesn't mean he has to hex one of us." Sirius rolled his eyes. "It was the Conjunctivitis Curse, actually. Not a hex."

"He cursed you?" Lyra asked, making them finally realize she was there. James, Sirius and Peter all seemed surprised to see her there, especially as she looked like she was ready to give Snape a taste of his own medicine. 

Madam Pomfrey sighed as she looked at the five. "Thankfully, Professor Slughorn quickly whipped up a batch of the Oculus Potion so we've got him fixed up. Doesn't mean it's perfect, it could be a temporary fix, but most likely not."

As the older woman walked away, James could feel a very heated glare burning into the side of his head. Nervous, he turned to look at Lyra, who looked ready to murder someone. Probably him. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because I'm going to kill you!" she exclaimed, pointing a finger at him in a scolding manner. "How many times have I told you to leave Snape alone? He'll keep retaliating and you'll both just keep getting in trouble!"

James exchanged confused looks with Sirius, not understanding why she was exploding on him like that. "Uhm, none?"

Lyra quickly realized she was right. She hadn't ever actually told him that, just that he was an annoying git that needed to leave him alone just so he could stop being a git. "Well... Well, I thought it!"

"I'm not a mind reader," the Potter boy defended himself. Remus snorted from the side, mostly because he knew that even if he was a mind reader (or a Legilimens) he probably couldn't have gotten through Lyra's natural defenses anyway. 

The blonde sent her best friend a quick glance, realizing that it was a bit funny. But then again, Remus was the only one of the boys who knew, so she couldn't laugh alone. "You don't need to be a mind reader, just have some common sense!"

"Never really been his strong suit," Remus teased, getting an unamused look from James. "Snape probably just couldn't stand being in Prongs's debt. You know, after you saved his life that night."

None of them noticed the look of guilt that crossed Sirius's face at the mentioned, as James groaned in annoyance. "If he thinks the way to repay me is through cursing me then he's even dumber than I thought."

Madam Pomfrey returned, holding a note that he could give to all the teachers he was supposed to have had during the day. "You're free to go. But if your eye starts hurting again, then you get back here right away."

From behind his glasses, James sent the matron a jokingly flirtatious wink. Peter rolled his eyes and turned to Madam Pomfrey. "Don't worry. I'll make sure he does."

Lyra, on the other hand, turned right to the Potter boy, still annoyed. She slapped him over the head, making him yelp in surprise. "You idiot. Now I have to go and lie to Rabastan about actually taking my third pepper-up potion of the week because you and Snape can't get along!"

The bespectacled boy sent her a deadpan look accompanied by a funnily dramatic lift of the eyebrow that she didn't know he could do. "Well, I don't see you and Snape being very chummy-chummy either, love."

"I don't go around hexing him because of it!" Lyra retorted, glaring even fiercer than before. Angry, she quickly turned on her heel and stormed out. They vaguely heard her huff. "Ugh, boys."

Peter raised his eyebrows, shocked at the tantrum. "She's scary."

James leaned back, resting his head on the pillow. A strange mix between his usually sweet smile (the one that came upon his face when he thought about Lyra) and a smirk on his face. "She wants me."

"In your dreams," Sirius scoffed. Although he wouldn't mind Lyra and James as a couple, it was still disgusting to hear his best friend lust after his cousin (especially when he talked about her all the damn time.)

The Quidditch captain grinned to himself, recalling a very nice memory. "Now that you mention it, I did have a rather enjoyable one last week. It started with us in bed-"

All three of his best friends called out in unison, not wanting to hear any more. "Shut up, James!"

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AN: You guys are actually the best! Over 40k reads, 2k votes and 1k comments (actually 997 at this point but I have a feeling this chapter might help us beat that?). As a treat for you, I'll just tell you that you are going to LOVE next chapter. Valentine's Day is always a favorite.