The starry night seen from the astronomy tower was beautiful, Lyra Malfoy knew it better than anyone.
With her loose blonde hair falling on her pale and perfect skin, and her gray eyes fixed on the beautiful constellations adorning the night sky, Lyra let her thoughts consume her little by little.
Thoughts about that night, that cursed dance.
The Yule Ball had come along with the Triwizard Tournament (or rather, four this year, thanks to Saint Potter). Most of the students were happy and spent days talking about their outfits, hairstyles, and dance partners. Lyra was no exception. Her mother sent her a beautiful emerald green dress and her hair was braided in the most elegant way possible. Blaise Zabini had been her partner, he was the best option she had, and besides, she knew that he didn't see her with any other eyes than friendship (she also knew about Zabini's feelings for Nott, but that was another story). So Lyra prepared herself for the dance, but nothing prepared her for what would happen that night.
And memories flooded her.
She had lost count of how many times she rolled her eyes that night, from when she saw Potter enter with one of the Patils (Parvati? Padma? she didn't care) to when she saw the Mudblood sitting on one of the steps, tears embracing her dark eyes.
Lyra didn't know if it was those teary eyes or her own stupidity that led her to commit that madness, but before she knew it, she found herself sitting next to Granger, who, upon noticing her presence, began to wipe her eyes, perhaps trying to pretend annoyance.
"What the hell do you want, Malfoy? Are you here to mock me?" she commented angrily as she angrily threw her shoe, her hair still neatly arranged while one of her curls fell freely over her shoulder, ending in her violet dress. Lyra looked at her and Hermione felt more judged than ever. More tears began to fall, and she began to feel humiliated.
"No." simple and direct, without any additional comments. The absence of sarcasm was noticeable and for some reason, it made Hermione even angrier.
"If you're not here to mock me, then what do you want?!" she shouted. Hermione felt so frustrated and was taking it out on the wrong person, she knew it, but she couldn't help it. Lyra remained silent, and that seemed to frustrate Granger even more, who muffled a scream in her hands. Both of them fell into silence, Malfoy just watched her, for the first time not knowing what to say, and Granger simply stifled her sobs in her hands.
When she finally calmed down, Granger pulled her face out of her hands and looked ahead, her eyes fixed on nothing. The silence was broken by Hermione's words.
"I argued with Ron, it seems he was bothered that Krum had the courage to invite me to the dance while he left me as his last option," Granger explained, without knowing why. They fell into silence again, Hermione waiting for a comment like 'I didn't ask' or 'why are you telling me this?' with the typical sarcasm and mockery from Malfoy, but instead she received an unusual silence. When her face turned and her eyes met Lyra's, the last thing Hermione expected was to see tenderness in them. And she definitely didn't expect foreign lips gently brushing against hers.
Hermione froze as she realized that Lyra, prejudiced Lyra Malfoy, was kissing her. She didn't even realize when the contact ended and Lyra uttered:
"Weasley is an idiot, Granger," and with that, she got up and left, leaving Hermione completely flushed and her mind in chaos.
And there she was, with that kiss replaying over and over in her mind, like a scratched record. Lyra didn't know why she had done it, but by the time she realized it, she found herself in the midst of a panic attack in her room.
The reality hit her hard - Lyra had kissed Granger. She, the descendant of one of the oldest and noblest Pureblood families in the magical world, had kissed a Mudblood, had kissed a girl. She felt disgusted and disappointed with herself. The air wouldn't enter her lungs, her thoughts suffocated her. She needed air, she needed to breathe.
She didn't know how or when, but somehow she ended up in the astronomy tower. Her makeup was smudged, her braid had come undone, her dress felt uncomfortable. She was a mess, she knew it, but all she could think about in that moment was how soft the brunette's lips had been, and how much she longed to repeat it.
Lyra hated herself for that.
Since then, finding solace in the beautiful constellations had become a habit for Malfoy. She enjoyed identifying the constellations and finding the names of her ancestors in them. The Black family's peculiar tradition was one of the things she adored most about her mother's family.
Obviously, things weren't so simple. Granger tried to talk to her several times, but Malfoy resorted to her favorite emotional defense mechanism: the usual arrogant and mocking attitude. But Granger wouldn't give up easily, she made that clear.
Lyra used to sneak out every night since then, up there, she could let her thoughts consume her while finding solace in the bright stars. But that night was different.
As usual, Malfoy had climbed up to the astronomy tower, it was a cold night and she hadn't brought a coat, but she didn't care one bit. Her thoughts were once again directed towards the same situation as always, the situation that brought her there, only this time, things were different.
"It's too cold, don't you think?"
She would recognize that voice anywhere. Granger was there.
Lyra tensed up, but her gaze never left the night sky. She approached the railing and remained silent. Granger seemed to interpret that as an invitation or something of the sort because Malfoy could hear her footsteps approaching. It irritated her more than it should.
"What do you want, Granger?" No insults, no sarcasm, just exhaustion. Because that's what Lyra felt, exhaustion. She was tired of this whole situation.
"I just want to know," said Granger, there was no need to ask what about, Lyra already knew what she was talking about. She sighed, she would let it all out, maybe with luck Hermione would just look at her with disgust and not ruin her reputation, after all, if she said a word, Hermione would also be dragged down, right?
"I don't know. I just thought you're too beautiful to cry over an idiot," she blurted out without enthusiasm, it was a half-truth, but Lyra would never admit that she wanted to kiss Granger since their second year when she realized her interests didn't lie with boys. Hermione didn't speak, Lyra neither. But after a few minutes, the silence became unbearable.
"Look, I understand if you're disgusted and hate me even more, I'm sorry, okay? There's no need to go around telling everyone what I did because it will ruin not only my reputation but yours as well, so better keep your mouth shut and let's pretend this never happ-" her monologue was interrupted, lips were silencing her.
Hermione was kissing her.
Lyra felt her legs tremble.
Yielding to her impulses, Lyra placed her hands on the other girl's waist and kissed her back. In that moment, she didn't care what her parents or the magical world thought of her, all that mattered was the sensation of those lips on hers, moving together as if in a dance. Lyra wanted to stay in that moment forever, but Hermione had other plans. Their lips parted, but they didn't pull away. Lyra could feel Hermione's warm breath on her lips as she said:
"Now we're even."