ˏˋ°•*⁀➷
𝐈 𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐒𝐄𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔
- 𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒊
chapter ten

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LYRA FEELS LIKE A stupid teenage girl.

"This!" She groans and shuts her textbook. "Is why I should stay away from boys" She lays back into her comfortable bed, annoyed by her distracting thoughts of Erik.

He is just so handsome that Lyra is still shocked he'd ask her to the ball. They've talked a few times here and there when they've seen each other and Lyra did enjoy his company. She just can't think of any signs he showed before that would have told her Erik is interested in her. He just seemed friendly and happy to talk with her whenever - maybe that's it..

She pats her potions book she just closed apologetically. "I prefer you still, don't worry."

Silas meows at her from his spot by her head, catching on to her talking to her books. The sound vibrates through the large and empty dorm. It was just after classes so all her roomates were out, leaving Lyra to peacefullness and study time.

Well, if she can focus long enough.

Just as she sits up again to try and return to studying, the door bursts open and a tear-streaked Wren stands in her doorway. Lyra's eyes widen in and she instantly stands to her feet and shuffles to the distressed girl.

"Wren, what's wrong?" She asks, but Wren cries more, sinking into the blonde's arms and sobbing into her shoulder.

Wren never cries. She just doesn't, as long as Lyra has known her. Wren has always had a tough girl facade. So it takes a second for the situation to truly sink in for Lyra to comes to her senses.

She closes the door and gently guides the crying girl to her bed, pushing her books to the side and bringing Wren down to lie in her arms. The curly haired girl wraps her arms around Lyra's waist and stuffs her face into her clothed neck. Lyra hugs her own arms around Wren's body, heart hurting as she feels Wren cry more.

Lyra's mind races in thoughts of what has happened. Did someone hurt her? Did she hurt herself? What happened since she saw Wren in their last period only an hour ago? She wants to ask questions but decided against it, giving her best friend what she came to her for; comfort. She pushes down her worry and hugs Wren tighter.

She soothingly strokes Wren's back, humming a lullaby from her childhood to hopefully calm her breathing. It takes minutes, but eventually Wren stops crying and shaking and just holds Lyra like a child would their mom.

Silas jumps back onto the bed, after getting off at the erupt sound of Wren's entrance, and cuddles in between the girls. He rubs his head affectionately against Wren, and the girl slowy pets him.

"Wren?" Lyra asks softly, hearing the girl sigh shakily.

"I....don't want to talk about it. I'm being dramatic.." She mumbles, sniffing.

Lyra frowns."If it's making you cry then it's not dramatic, Wren."

Wren shakes her head. "I don't want to talk about it."

"That's okay." Lyra nods gently, a bit disapponited but she accepts Wren's choice. She lays her head on top of Wren's comfortingly, staring ahead at the closed door, worry swimming in her blue eyes. "I'm here, Wren. I'm here."

Wren whispers, closing her eyes and beginning to fall asleep. "Thanks, Ly. Can I sleep here tonight, please?"

"You don't even have to ask."

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The next day, Wren skipped classes and Lyra covered up for her, telling teachers she's not feeling very well and that she plans to visit Madam Pomfrey. She let Wren stay in her bed for the day, telling her roomates not to question it - which Lavender did and Lyra just told her to be nice.

The girl is sick with stress, her mind not fully present in classes. What made her cry like that? It must be bad because Wren hates crying, especially in front of people. She's felt worried all day, hoping Wren will open up when she returns to the dorm.

The Gryffindor walks through the corridors with a blank face, head filled with thoughts and heart set on understanding what happened to Wren.

As Lyra turns a corner, she spots a couple leaning against the wall opposite her. She immeadiately recognizes the tall figure and brown hair of Theodore, looking as bored as he always does as he stares ahead. A few buttons of his school shirt is loose and so his tie, no cloak on either, and his arms are crossed over his broad chest.

That doesn't suprise Lyra. What suprises her is the girl standing next to him, awfully close, and chatting his ear off. She wears the Slytherin cloak and has beautiful black hair, tied back into an elegant bun.

The unfamilar girl seems oblivious to the fact that Theodore is absolutely not listening to a word she says. It looks as if he's in his own world, seperate from this one and he doesn't plan on coming back if she's still talking. The way his lips press into a line, tells Lyra how annoyed he is at the moment. She knows that look too well.

It makes Lyra smirk slightly, amused by what she sees as she passes them. It drops, though, when Theodore suddenly locks eyes with her. They hold eye contact for what seems like years to her, but is seconds, before Lyra quickly looks ahead again and continues walking at a much faster pace.

Calm down Lyra. She tells herself internally, feeling her heart beat speed up from the small, meaningless interaction.

"Lovegood."

She ignores him and continues walking, hearing his footsteps begin to near her.

"Lovegood." His voice calls again, louder.

"Not in the mood, Nott." Lyra says dully, turning her head to give him a look saying 'go away'. She honestly doesn't have time to bicker with him, she needs to see Wren.

She hears him scoff and his footsteps cease. "Not in the mood to know why Quinn is hiding from Slytherin?"

Lyra falters in her steps. "What?"
She turns around and looks at him with suspicious eyes.

Theodore looks her stiff figure up and down, realizing she's more annoyed than normal. Even with him. Her blonde hair is tied into a long braid over her shoulder and a few pieces are loose from moving around all day. She wears the school's white shirt and red plaid skirt, belonging to Gryffindor and her satchel hangs across her body. She stares at him with a harsh look in her eyes and crosses her arms tightly over her chest.

The same funny feeling in her stomach Lyra got in Hogsmeade returns as she stares back at him, only a few feet apart but it feels like inches as they don't break eye contact. Her heart speeds up again and it seems like the organ betrays her everytime she gets into a staredown with the brunette boy.

Calm down, Lyra.

She lets out a breath, sternly looking at him. "Do you know what happened to Wren or not?" She snaps.

"I do, Smartass." He takes a step closer just to taunt her and say "But I'm not saying anything until you fix that tone of yours." Then he turns his back to her and begins to walk away.

Theodore hears her groan to herself and her foot stomp. Much like a tempermental toddler.

"Ugh! Wait."

He smirks to himself before walking right back to her. Theodore stares down at her with hard, expectant eyes.

"Go on, darling." He encounrages.

Lyra's eyes blaze in annoyance at the name. She has to bite her tongue to not snap at him again. She lets out a slow breath and briefly closes her eyes before opening them and willing a sweet smile to grace her lips.

At this, the boy does a double take.

"What is that?" He asks, looking baffled.

Her eyes narrow at his question, imagining him burning on the spot from the fire shooting from her glare, smile straining. "A smile, you daft prick."

Theodore rolls his eyes. "I know, Smartass." He says. "I've just never seen you smile at me before."

"I'd smile at you more if you didn't piss me off so much."

"I wouldn't piss you off so much if you weren't so easy to piss off."

She covers her face with her hands and groans loudly. "I'm going to kill you someday, but for now.." She removes her hands and Theodore truly sees how worried she is for her friend. Her frown is tired and he can see the stress lines on her forehead. "Please tell me what happened to Wren."

Theodore watches her for a second and, if Lyra didn't look down at her feet, she would have seen his pale green eyes soften at her.

"Take a walk with me."

She quickly looks back up at him and is shocked when he begins to walk ahead of her. He places his hand on her lower back with a feather touch, turning her body in the direction he is walking. He barely applied pressure. His hand is gone when Lyra looks down.

Her mouth goes dry.

"Nott." She gaps at him. "What was that?"

He looks down at her, eyebrow raised. "What was what, Lovegood?"

"You know bloody what!"

"No, I don't." He feigns innocence.

Lyra stares at him, not believing his act. She knows what she felt. She felt his large palm against her back and the exciting jump of her heart when he did it. The sparks she felt.

Why did she like it? Why did it feel intimate?

Lyra shakes her head, almost like she's shaking off the unknown feelings, and looks forward. "What happened to Wren yesterday?" She gives him a pointed look to start talking.

They walk next to each other at a slow pace, their deserted surroundings making it feel like time itself is paused and only their figures are in motion. Lyra takes note of the sky seen through the large windows, the orange hues telling her that it's becoming evening.

Theodore stuffs his hands in his pants pockets, rolling his jaw. "Technically, it didn't start yesterday. Ever since Quinn joined the team Flint as been on her about everything. Blames our losses on her or ridicules her at practices because she's a muggleborn. Some of the team pick on her because she likes girls and is.."

"What? Black?!" Lyra hisses, understanding what he was about to say. "Zabini is black too-"

"But he's straight and a boy." Theodore explains and looks down at her, seeing the rage in her eyes. He feels it too.

"They pick on her because she's all three and the only girl on the team. It's pathetic of them and I've told them to grow balls and knock it off but they don't care."

Lyra can not believe what's she's hearing. The quidditch team has been bullying her all this time? Her heart breaks as she remembers how many times Wren has put a smile on her face and tried to make others smile too. All while getting insulted and tormented by her own team behind the scenes.

Why has she never told her? How has Lyra not noticed her best friend was being bullied? What type of friend is she for not seeing that Wren was hurting? Her beautiful, radiant and kind Wren...

"What-" Lyra sighs, forcing her tears that blurred her vision for a second, down. She shouldn't be crying, she isn't the one too scared to leave her dorm. "What happened last night?" She dared to look at him.

Theodore felt the need to stop telling Lyra about what he knows about Wren, seeing how it hurts her. But he knows that if the situation was reversed, he'd be pissed if she doesn't give him the full answer. So he continues.

"After classes yesterday, everyone was in our common room. I thought it was odd but didn't question it until Quinn walked in." He kicked the air, face blank of any emotion. Theodore's hard eyes met her soft ones.

"Flint and some of his friends threw knickers at her with the words - i'm sorry for saying this, 'mudblood fag' written on them."

Lyra stops dead in her tracks, jaw dropping and eyes widening at the revalation. Her hands cover her mouth, completely shocked and disguisted.
"What?!"

Flashbacks from yesterday when Wren burst in her dorm in tears, sobbing and holding her like a scared little girl, come back. She didn't want to open up.....and Lyra understands why as she can't imagine the trauma produced from the humiliation.

How could people be so cruel?

Just then, loud and ugly sounding laughter echos through the corridor they stand in and both teenagers snap their heads in the direction of the laughter. None other than Marcus Flint and three of his friends turn the corner, engrossed in hilarious conversation.

Lyra feels her anger grow in her chest. It infects her heart and veins, pushing hot, loud rage through her entire body. Seeing their faces, knowing what they did, makes Lyra loose control of her moral compass. Her subconisous chucks it out her ear.

"Is that the friends?" She asks Theodore for confirmation, glaring sharp daggers at the group of boys. With what's she's about to do, she can't get the wrong people involved.

Theodore looks from Lyra to the group, then back at her, eyeing her. "Yes."

Lyra is small in comparison to himself and Marcus Flint. She doesn't stand a chance in theory. But Theodore does know how brillant she is - especially with magic.

That's why when the blonde took off in the direction of Flint and his friends with a new, muderous glint in her eyes - Theodore didn't hesitate to follow her, prepared to fuck up anyone who tries to touch her. She can do whatever she wants to them, she has the reasoning, but if any of them try anything on her....Theodore will just have to do to them what he wanted to do to Erin.

Picking up a small stone on the ground as she approaches them, Lyra flings it at Marcus and it hits him hard on the head.

"Fuck!" He curses and turns around, meeting the eyes of Lyra. "Wha-"

Her knuckles meet his jaw in a powerful blow, knocking Marcus to the cold floor. His hand reaches to move around his now dislocated jaw. Feeling the soaring pain, Marcus growls at her.

Lyra's eyes widen when he's up in an instant and heading straight for her. Theodore goes to push her out of the way, Lyra feeling his hands grip her
hip but she acts quicker. She raises her arm and punches him in the nose. A loud 'crack!' emits from the action.

Theodore whistles lowly from behind her, jaw threatening to drop at the girl's shocking show of strength.

Marcus moans in pain again, stumbling back into his friends. They just watched a girl younger than them punch their friend twice. His bleeding nose fountains so much blood, it covers his school shirt.

Breathing heavily, Lyra stares him down. "If you ever mess with Wren again, Flint, know that I will turn your insides out and your outsides in. As I'm sure you're aware, I know my potions and poisons."

Marcus's nostrils flare. His friends stalk towards her.

Lyra takes out her wand and thinks quick on her feet, ignoring the sudden throbbing pain in her hand, and points it at them. "Ventus Duo!" She yells.

The three guys are thrown five feet away by a strong gust of wind. They all groan as they hit the walls and tumble onto each other.

"That goes for all of you." She sneers, reminding them off her threat. "Go, right now."

The boys scurry away, hunched over from their fall but Marcus stands still - looking at Lyra with a glare. His eyes then lift to look above her head and his face falters.

Lyra wants to turn around to see what look Theodore is wearing to make Marcus halt but she keeps her eyes foreward and focused. But what happens next makes the urge harder to fight.

"Don't try anything stupider than you are, Flint. You heard her, go." Theodore's deadly calm voice says, the underlying promise of more violence heard clearly.

He's......defending her?

Marcus cradles his jaw, not bothering to stop his bleeding nose that has smeared over his mouth in the commotion of the fight. He gives the duo one last dirty look before following in his friends' footsteps and running away around the corner.

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MOONY SPEAKS!

Hey guys, rough chapter...but i want to know your thoughts please.

Thank you for reading, my loves!

Vote please 💐