Midnight Memories
The first month back to school came and went, and with it brought a new term, this term Lyra was partnered with Sirius, a Gryffindor girl called Lily, and Peter for herbology. Lyra enjoyed working alongside Lily and the pair became quite friendly, enjoying discussing muggle books; she often thought Lily should’ve been Ravenclaw.
Lily and Lyra became fast friends, often studying together in the library for their other courses, together the two tied for top of the year, with Charlotte, Emmaline, and Remus following right behind them.
As Valentines day approached, the castle became filled with more and more couples, she often saw Lucius and Narcissa walking hand in hand, which was never a shock, but the Head boy and prefect seemed to be always together doing rounds.
What Lyra did not expect was the sight she found just before Valentines day, when Sirius came to get her under the cloak so they could go get some treats from the kitchens near Hufflepuff, as they approached the portrait of the fruit Lyra thought she could hear something, so the duo carefully approached the hallway.
Lyra heard a familiar voice “Oh Teddy! I can’t wait for Hogsmeade this weekend, it’ll be so special” her sister squealed
Andromeda squealing? What could this be, Lyra’s Dromeda was always calm, collected and level headed, she shared a look with Sirius and they came around the corner. Lyra found Andromeda and Ted from the library, kissing each other in the corridor.
At the site of the two she whipped off the cloak “Andromeda!” she shouted in shock
The brunettes broke apart and turned bright red “Lyra! What are you doing down here?”
“Getting cake! What are you doing” she gestured to Ted, who gave an embarrassed smile as he nodded at Sirius and Lyra.
Meanwhile Sirius was in hysterics laughing so hard “snogging a puff… A Slytherin….snogging….. A puff” he exclaimed between bouts of laughter, "My own cousin...snogging....a Hufflepuff!"
After glaring at Sirius, she turned to her baby sister “Well, Ted and I have been going out since last year, he’s my boyfriend, little star” she said softly.
“Why didn’t you tell me” she pouted, hurt over not being informed before now.
“Lyra, it was never intentional, only Narcissa knows because she caught us, and well, we’ve kept it quiet because Ted’s muggle born” she said looking between her beau and her sister with loving eyes
“Lyra, I only have best intentions with your sister, I promise you, I love her” he smiled at the blonde girl in front of him.
Lyra nodded, sullenly, “I understand, and I don’t care he’s muggleborn, I like him” she gave a small grin
“Me too,” Sirius smirked. “I’m basically Andromeda's so just know, if you hurt her, you better watch out” he chuckled.
“Well not to worry you two, I plan on keeping her around for a long time” he finished with a wink.
“Now you two better get going, it’s almost curfew!” Andromeda scolded.
The pair disappeared under the cloak again, and Andromeda gasped
“I like Ted, he gave me a muggle book once” Lyra informed Sirius as the pair went away.
“Seems like a decent bloke, but I hope nobody takes it too bad when they find out” he grimaced
The two tickled the fruit, stepping into the kitchen to retrieve the chocolate cake they were after to cheer Remus up who was once again feeling quite ill, which Lyra was starting to find a bit strange about how often her green eyed friend was unwell.
The bitter cold of the Scottish winter left Lyra with ample time to explore the castle; she found the more she explored the more in awe she was with her magical home. One Saturday, when the Gryffindor boys were serving detention and her ravenclaw friends were studying, she decided to take a walk, having already finished her essay. As she made her way down the third floor, she got distracted by an owl flying down the hall and tripped over the statue of the One Eyed Witch.
As Lyra took in her surroundings after picking herself up off the ground she found herself in a dark passageway. Ever curious, Lyra followed the passage, lighting a lumos to see ahead of her.
The arch shaped tunnel radiated a cold, damp, feeling, the floor was made of concrete and every step she took echoed. The blonde continued on unsure of what she would find at the end of it.
Lyra hummed to herself as she continued her seemingly never ending journey, wishing she had her father’s pocket watch to figure out how long it truly had been.
After what felt like ages, Lyra quite literally reached the light at the end of the tunnel, and found herself in a room filled with candy. The ravenclaw was in awe, at the colourful surroundings, sugar quills, fizzing whizbees, chocolate frogs and bars galore.
Lyra followed the stairs up to a cellar door, which had a pink and green sign that read ‘Honeydukes’
Lyra gasped in delight, she knew that name. She had just found a secret passage to Hogsmeade! At the realisation she immediately started back for the castle.
Lyra ran the entire way back to the castle without stopping until she reached the statue to ensure nobody saw her exiting. After she exited, she sprinted all the way up to Gryffindor tower, straight to the portrait.
“You must let me in, it’s urgent!” Lyra begged the fat lady.
“No entry without a password” the portrait responded with a high pitched huff and a snooty look.
“Please, it's important” Lyra whined, “Let me in at once” she shouted.
“No password, no entry little girl” the portrait retorted
“You know you’re quite pretty, and I hear you’re the best singer in the castle” spoke Lyra, attempting flattery on the painting to gain entry.
“Yes, I am quite good, would you like to hear” she spoke confidently.
“Oh yes, I’d love to hear it, perhaps after I could connect you with the portraits at the opera; my father is a season ticket holder” she smirked, sure this would gain her entry.
“Oh well that would be lovely” the fat lady grinned, beginning her vocal warmups.
“Yes, of course, only if you could let me into the common room” she suggested.
“You tried to trick me nasty girl!” the fat lady shrieked “No password, No Entry!”
Lyra grumbled, “Godric, red, gold, lion, quidditch, snitch, bludger, sword, courage, felicis, brave, carpe diem, grindylow, hippogriff, niffler, chocolate frogs, sugar quills” Lyra rambled, as many possible passwords she could think of.
The rambling continued on for several minutes “Scotland, McGonagall, Phoenix, Artemis, Apollo, merlin, Morgana…”
As the blonde rambled, a spectator appeared behind her. “Lyra?” the boy queried
“Seeker, albus, maroon, victory.” she continued as more spectators appeared behind her.
“What is she doing?” asked Sirius.
“No bloody idea, Black” James chuckled.
“I think she’s trying to get in,” Remus grinned, as Peter nodded.
The blonde’s guesses got louder, as she began to grow frustrated “pitch, prefect, zonkos, diagon alley, strength, brash!” she guessed.
“Oh come on and let me in you ridiculous bint!” Lyra yelled
“Watch this” Sirius whispered to his roommates “Fortuitous” he spoke as Lyra yelled “Stupid portrait”
The portrait swung open, and Lyra growled, running in and straight up the stairs. The boys followed her and found her at their door banging on it.
“Hello Lyra” James chuckled, her eyes opened wide as she saw her four friends behind her
“Finally! There you are!” she grinned as Remus let them all in the room.
“Did you enjoy your chat with the ridiculous bint, Lyra?” Sirius crooned.
“You saw me and said nothing!” she grumbled launching herself on her cousin and smacking him on the arm.
Lyra dusted her skirt off and stood up, pacing around the room, well since you’re all here, I have something important to tell you” she stated matter of fact
“ What is it ?”squeaked Peter
“C’mon Lyra tell us” whined Sirius
“Lyra, don’t leave us hanging!” James grinned
“Hush! Or she won’t tell us” Remus scolded the boys talking over each other.
“Well, I found a secret passage” she grinned coyly, pausing for suspense, the boys leaning forward, eagerly waiting, “to Honeydukes!”
The boys erupted into shock and cheer, “you genius!” exclaimed Remus
James lifted her off the ground spinning her in his arms “Oh Lyra! You’re bloody fantastic, this is why you’re the best!”
“Our little star is truly the best” cooed Sirius hugging Lyra from behind he beamed, using the family’s nickname for her.
“You always were my favourite, I knew there was a reason”
Peter cheered, giving Lyra a high five once the boys released her.
“The entrance is at the one eyed-witch, on the third floor” She informed them.
Sirius stood up and headed to the door “Shall we take a trip to hogsmeade lads?” he smirked.
“We shall” the boys replied, making there way down, Lyra trailing behind, stopping to think for a moment.
“Wait, Potter,” she shouted.
the hazel eyed boy turned around giving her his undivided attention, “Yes black?”
“Grab the cloak, just in case” she suggested to James
James smiled widely at his Ravenclaw friend “I like your thinking” he said as he grabbed the cloak from his trunk,
“Come on you two!” they heard Remus yell from the bottom of the stairs “Chocolate is waiting for me!” The two shared a knowing look, laughing as the pair joined the trio to journey to honeydukes.
That evening, as Lyra was dropped off at the base of the tower by Remus at the tip of the stairs, he thanked her for the nice surprise, and bid her goodnight, pockets full of sugar quills and chocolate frogs as the two headed their separate ways.
As Lyra walked up the spiral staircase leading to the place she called home, she couldn’t help but feel lucky for the four friends she’d left downstairs and the four friends she had waiting for her upstairs, no matter where she was, she knew she had somewhere to go and people who would accept her.
Lyra loved the spring, she loved the flowers, tulips were her favourite, the smell of rain, the sunshine and most of all it meant summer was coming.
However, now Lyra had two more reasons to love spring; James and Remus’ birthdays both were in the spring, and it gave more reason for celebration.
Remus’ birthday came first and the green eyed boy insisted he did not want to do anything; so the Black cousins, James and Peter, took matters into their own hands and did the exact opposite.
Everyone who was friends with Remus knew that he loved chocolate, whenever there was any present, Remus Lupin was liable to eat it. This knowledge led to Lyra and James walking down the one-eyed witch passage in the middle of the night, with a sizeable amount of galleons in their pockets to make an unsupervised purchase from Honeydukes for a birthday surprise.
“Lyra?” James spoke up to his companion for the night, “what’s it like having so many siblings?’ the only child questioned.
Lyra looked to her right, barely able to make out the young boy in the light of the lumos “It’s mostly alright, Andromeda and Narcissa are the ones i’m closest to, they usually read to me and spend time with me, and help me with things and give good advice, but It also kinda sucks because they’re older so I don't see them a lot.” She sighed
“What about your other sister?” he queried.
“Bellatrix, can be mean, she’s very set in her ways and doesn’t like when we disagree with her, I don’t see her as much anymore, only when she comes home, she lives on a Rosier property in France.”
“Sometimes I wish I had siblings” James responded
“Well, I know the boys see you as a brother, Sirius treats you just like Reg, and they’re so close” she smiled “and well, aside from Emmi, you and Remus are really my best mates”
“Me? Not Sirius?” he smirked shoving her playfully
“Sirius is practically my twin; we’ve been attached at the hip since he was born” she rolled her eyes and began rambling, but i’ve only known you a few months, so you are my best mate Jamie” she froze, realising she called him a nickname nobody called him.
noticing his surprise at the name she blushed harder “Sorry, I meant James”
He smiled, and if it hadn’t been for the low light, both would’ve been seen sporting a tinge of pink on their cheeks “No, I like it, nobody else calls me a nickname except for mum, you can call me Jamie, just you.”
She grinned back at the boy “Alright, Jamie”, giving him a wink.
As the pair reached honeydukes, arguing about their favourite quidditch teams, James supported Puddlemere and Lyra, Falmouth, they made quick work as they entered the store, taking a sac and grabbing what they came for; 350 chocolate frogs, from the storage and the actual store, Lyra and James left all their galleons and headed back, they had lots of work to do before they could retire for the night.
Once back at Hogwarts they grabbed the containers from the empty classroom and began to unpackage the frogs, placing them in the glass boxes. Once finished with the frogs, the duo made quick work with the rest of their task and headed to bed, knowing they would have to be up in a near few hours
“Thanks for helping, I know Remus will really appreciate the thought” the brunette thanked the blonde.
“He’s my best mate too, I’d do anything for you guys” she shook her head “See you soon Jamie” she nodded, headings towards her common room
Lyra was waiting outside the Gryffindor common room, glaring at the fat lady, once again, at 7:30 a.m. sharp, waiting for the boys to come down stairs.
The door opened and she saw Lily Evans come out “Hi Lyra, waiting for the boys”
“Hello Lily” she grinned at her ginger friend “I am, Remus’ birthday and all, figured I’d catch him early since we don’t have a class together this morning”
“How lovely” she smiled, freezing and eyes trailing behind Lyra and down the hall “Did you lose a chocolate frog Lyra?” she asked “I swear I just saw one bouncing down the hall”
“No, I didn’t” she grinned deviously “how strange” she giggled
“So strange, well, I’ll see you in potions, I have to go meet Sev” she waved as she walked away
Finally, the boys exited the common room “Happy Birthday Remus!” Lyra exclaimed wrapping the young boy in a hug
“Thanks Lyra” he smiled into her hair, hugging her back.
The group headed down to breakfast, Sirius and Lyra trailing behind. “Did it work” Sirius questioned.
“Yep, Lily saw one going by right before you came out, and I saw one on the stairs to Ravenclaw this morning, the first batch should all be out now, then another set after the second block, then another during lunch then so on” she smirked.
Looping arms with Sirius as they walked into the Great hall, they found Remus bursting with happiness, engulfing them in a hug “You lot didn’t need to do that, I already told you I didn’t need anything.”
Lyra smiled, as she took in the giant “HAPPY BIRTHDAY REMUS” sign hung across the staff table.
“Oh Remus, but we love you so much, you deserve it” she smiled.
Sitting with the Gryffindor’s eating breakfast, a chocolate frog jumped into Peter’s eggs and the group burst into laughter
“What did you do?” Remus shook his head “This is the fourth one I’ve seen today” all at once, several responses could be heard
“Nothing at all,” Lyra chimed.
“Not a clue” Peter shrugged
“Must be an infestation” grimaced Sirius, with a not so serious look on his face.
“Maybe they found the passage too?” suggested James, as he fixed his glasses, a tell tale sign of his lying.
The rest of the day passed with much of the same festivities for the first year crew, but discussion of the rogue chocolate frogs was all over the castle.
Supposedly a frog had landed in a potion in Slughorn’s class, and Lucius Malfoy had been struck in the face by a flying frog, Filch went mad chasing them all day long.
Remus and the group ended the day with a chocolate cake; topped with a chocolate frog, grateful they had not been caught as the culprits for the excess sugar around the castle.
James' birthday came next, and with it came what was deemed to be a new tradition; the banner on the staff table, this time reading “HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES!”This time however, there were no chocolate frogs.
For James’ present Lyra enlisted the help of the head girl, getting access to brooms and quidditch kit, and a midnight flight.
Lyra waited on the steps of the quidditch pitch sitting next to Andromeda and Ted,
“I swear to Salazar Lyra, nobody better get hurt, I am putting my title on the line for this, I love you but I need to not be expelled for allowing a 12 year old to be killed on my watch!” her big Sister informed her.
“Relax Andy” Ted laughed “They’re just kids and you know at least three of them can fly already, you taught two of them” he wrapped an arm around her in comfort “and the rest took the class”
Lyra smiled “who’s your team Ted” she crossed her arms in interrogation,
“Falmouth” he smiled “Hope that’s alright with you Miss.Black” he chuckled again.
“Good choice Ted, that’s our team” she heard Sirius say from behind before she had a chance to respond “Always knew you were good for our Andromeda” he said placing a kiss on both his cousins cheeks
“Thanks for setting this up for us,” Sirius said.
“Well between yours and Lyra’s pestering, it wasn’t like I had much choice” she shook her head, as the three other boys appeared.
“QUIDDITCH?!” James explained bounding over and staring down at the kit, as the others joined.
“Happy Birthday Potter, you have 45 minutes” Andromeda smiled, handing them each a broom.
“We have an uneven number Peter observed, “How can we play?”
Remus, who was looking awfully tired, spoke up, “I’ll sit out, I’m not feeling too great” he grimaced, looking up at the almost full moon in the sky.
The four other children took to the skies soaring around and passing the quaffle back and forth until their hearts were content, until the clock struck midnight.
&
As the school year finished up, studying for exams became a staple in Lyra’s routine often, she and her Ravenclaw friends were joined by the Gryffindor’s, however, mainly Remus and Peter, as James and Sirius spent much of their time watching the Gryffindor quidditch team practice, claiming they needed to be prepared for next year.
Lyra finished third in their year; coming top in charms and tying with Remus in defence against the dark arts for first.
The groups of friends bid their goodbyes as Lyra headed home to the manor, promising to see them all this summer, for a few weeks at Potter Manor.
The little blonde’s heart felt full, leaving the first year, with her and her sister’s closer than ever, all united by Little Women, which Andromeda had gifted her two little sisters, claiming she found the three of them reminiscent of Jo, Meg, and Amy, they read it together every evening. She was also grateful for her Ravenclaw roommates, who had become a second set of sisters, and the boys she met on the train so many months ago.