Summer
The morning had finally arrived, Lyra would get to see her friends again. She had missed her friends so much over the summer break. She couldn't wait, all of them would be spending the weekend together at Charlotte’s before she headed to the Potters for the remainder of the summer. The blonde packed her bags and waited patiently in the living room near the floo room reading her book all morning.
“My little star” her father spoke as she turned her head to discover if her mind was playing tricks on her “Father” Lyra smiled, before giving him a hug. “I’m so glad I caught you before I head to France for business” he told her kneeling down next to her.
“Bring me back macaroons” she asked, giving her best smile, she missed her favourite treats from a little bakery near their family home “ Of course” her father chuckled “Though I’ll have to mail them to hogwarts, I won’t be back home until mid September” she nodded.
“Do well in school, look out for your sister, and your cousins, family is important Lyra, never forget it” He said, kissing her cheek before heading to the floo room. “Je t’adore ma fille” her father spoke before he disappeared from her sight.
—-----
Finally, Narcissa arrived at 3:30, ready to take her to her friends. “did you say goodbye to mum?” Narcissa questioned her little sister. Lyra shrugged, “She went to see Mrs.Parkinson, wasn’t here when I came down stairs this morning, I guess she doesn’t care.” she spoke grabbing her bag and heading to the floo room.
“Actually” Narcissa spoke with a smile playing on her lips, “I thought we could go to Diagon first?” Lyra beamed, taking her sister’s hand, flooring together.
As the two reappeared in Diagon, dusting off their summer cloaks, they began to head in the direction of Flourish & Blotts. The elder sister bypassed the bookstore, surprising Lyra as it was typically her favourite store on the block. “Up for some ice cream” Narcissa winked at the young girl “Always” Lyra beamed, as the striking pairing crossed the road to Florean Fortescue’s.
When the Black sister’s approached the counter they were greeted by a witch who looked pixie-like in her dainty features, with a short hair cut. Lyra thought the woman looked familiar, Narcissa confirmed this in her greeting “Well done making head girl Fortescue '' she forced a smile.
“Thank you” the girl, Fortescue, smiled shyly, “ I was sure it was yours Black”. Narcissa’s gaze lowered “ you deserved it.I hope we can work well together as co-prefects”. Alice smiled “ Of course we can, I really hope I can promote inter house unity, gryffindors and slytherins don’t have to hate each other, it shouldn’t be that way.”
“Oh yes” Narcissa nodded, as Lyra tugged on her sleeve, signalling she was ready to order, Fortescue, Noticing, spoke up “ Oh I’m forgetting myself, what can I get you two?” “Strawberry for me,'' Lyra quickly replied before her sister could answer. “Absolutely”, the girl responded “Is this your sister?” she asked Narcissa “Yes, this is Lyra, Lyra this is Alice Fortescue, and I’ll have a green apple” she sighed, paying the amount and guiding Lyra to her seat “Perfect, I’ll bring those right over” the girl Lyra now knew as Alice responded.
“Is she your friend?” Lyra questioned her big sister, she didn’t recognize Alice from any of the get togethers, however, that didn’t mean much. “We’re…Cordial” Narcissa responded after a brief pause “ She’s a very nice girl, but we don’t interact much, Gryffindor, I suppose that will change now since she’s head girl” the taller blonde rambled, “I would like to be her friend, I need to branch out more, and like Alice said, inter house unity and all that!” Narcissa finished, somewhat flustered.
Lyra giggled at her sister, licking her ice cream cone in an attempt to hide the laughter, “ why don’t you ask her to hang out?” Lyra suggested, “ Gryffindors are great friends”. Narcissa shrugged and returned to her ice cream “Alright, time to get you to your friends, Ly.” The pair headed out the door towards the centre of diagon, where Lyra was meant to meet her friends.
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“Lyra!” shouted Mary Mcdonald from the top of Charlotte Fawcett’s driveway “You made it!” Maeve, Emmaline, and Charlotte joined Mary on the porch. As Lyra ran ahead of Mrs. Fawcett who picked up Lyra from Diagon to meet her friends on the porch, she launched in to all of them, spreading her arms as wide as possible, joining the others in a massive group hug.
“Oh, I’ve missed you all so much” squealed Lyra, grabbing Emmaline and Maeve’s hands, leaning her head on Mary’s shoulder, who then shouted “I’ve got muggle presents for you all.” As she took off into the house, the other witches all looked at eachother with excitement while waiting for the curly haired witches return.
20 minutes later, the pack of Ravenclaw’s were sat in the backyard with white shirts, elastic bands, and several bottles of dye, awaiting further instruction from Mary, “ This is called tie-dying” Mary explained, taking the elastics and putting them intricately around her folded t-shirt “you take the elastics, wrap them around the shirt, and then use the dye to colour it, it’ll make a cool pattern.”
Quickly, the girls got to work, Lyra and Emmaline sat next to each other under the shade of an oak tree “let's make our match!” Emmaline suggested to the blonde, on her right, “only if we can use purple and pink” Lyra insisted. “But we have to use navy too” Emmaline sparred back “Ravenclaw colours!”
“Speaking of Ravenclaw” Maeve spoke up “Let’s all make matching shirts we can wear to the games “we can make them bronze and Navy!” a series of agreements were met at that statement. A few hours later, all of the shirts were set out to dry as the girls cleaned off in the stream next to charlotte’s house, once again Mary was explaining muggle activities as she caught the girls up on her summer “and we went to the Cinema , it’s like a play but on a screen” the girls nodded, though Lyra and Charlotte, two purebloods, gave each other a puzzled look not understanding fully “and my brother snuck me in and we saw an R-Rated film ” she snickered “A what?” asked Emmaline “it’s an adults only movie, you have to be 18 for entrance.” Maeve, a half-blood, explained, “My cousin took me last summer, but not to an R-Rated one.” she sighed.
“I wish I could go to a film” sighed Lyra, met with nods from the other non-cinema goers, “Summer has been awful until I got to see you all, aside from Reg and Sirius everyone’s been fighting at home” she sighed. “You can always come to us Lyra, no matter what” Mary said grabbing her friends hand “That’s what we’re here for” Emmaline spoke up“You can’t get rid of us, ever, we’re family now” spoke Maeve, “family” Charlotte agreed grabbing the group in another group hug.
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Sunday Afternoon, all of the girls prepared to depart Charlotte’s, adorned in their brand new tie-dye shirts, as Emmaline prepared to floo home first, Mary spoke up “wait! Causing all the girls to freeze in place “we need a photo, I brought my polaroid from home, I found it in my bag when packing up!” Mary had explained a polaroid camera to the girls earlier this weekend, however she revealed she forgot it at home, unable to find it in her bag.
The girls gathered around, finding the perfect arrangement before Charlotte’s mother was able to convince them it was good enough for the photo “1,2,3, Smile!” said Mrs.Fawcett. The girls all watched in amazement as the photo developed.
“Well, not only one of you should have a copy of the photo” Mrs.Fawcett said as they looked at the finished product “Geminio” she spoke pointing her wand at the photo, repeating the process three more times, handing all the girls a copy “There we go!” she smiled, “It was lovely having you all, you’re welcome any time!” she grinned, bidding the girls goodbye.
At last, it was time for Lyra to go, after tucking the photo into her duffle bag, she got into the floo, waving goodbye to Charlotte, she clearly said, “Potter Manor”.
_______
Lyra grounded herself as she landed in the floo, hoping her new shirt wasn’t covered in soot, she stepped out of the floo, immediately greeted by a woman who had James’ Hazel eyes, but hair like her own. Her eyes were kind, and her smile was warm, “you must be Lyra” she beamed “I’m Euphemia Potter, but you may call me Effie” She said.
The woman, Effie, swept Lyra into a hug before Lyra could even respond, “I’ve heard so much about you, It’s lovely to finally meet you” Lyra hugged Effie back, enjoying the feeling of being hugged, her own mother rarely hugged her, if ever. “It’s so nice to meet you Effie” Lyra smiled back as she was released from the hug “I’m so grateful you’ll have me here”.
“Such a lovely girl” Effie responded “You’re always welcome here,” she continued, in a whisper “It’s going to be so lovely having a girl here, I’ve always wanted a daughter, but don’t tell our James that” she finished with a wink.
“My lips are sealed” Lyra promised, “The boys are out back playing quidditch” she explained, ushering Lyra towards the rest of the house “Remus and Peter are here as well, ready for the Quidditch game tomorrow!”
Lyra passed through the house which could resemble the Gryffindor common room, with the warm hues of red and gold. She felt a sense of home and belonging here, which she did not feel at her own home, dark, cold, and all green and black. “Well, here we are, if you follow the path past the orchard you’ll find the field, the four of them are out there” Effie grinned.
As Lyra made her way out through the orchard, consisting of a variety of fruit trees, she spotted a familiar figure reaching for a peach “Pete?” Lyra questioned, shouting at the person a few metres ahead.
“Lyra!” Peter responded “I’ve missed you” he smiled, taking a bite from a peach “I’ve missed you too!” Lyra grinned back at the boy, “How’s your summer been?” she questioned him, genuinely curious “Quite good, spent some time at home, hung out with James, and my cousins, off to the America’s for the rest of summer after the quidditch game”. He finished confidently.
“That sounds great!” Lyra grinned “I”d love to visit the America’s” Lyra shrugged “You know Newt Scamander went to the United States?” Lyra suggested conversation veering towards her news obsession; Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them, and the idea of becoming a magizoologist one day.
“I feel like I’ve heard that” Peter said through another bite of his peach, Juice dripping onto his shirt and face. Lyra took in the beautiful blue sky, green grass, and the sound of a stream running nearby, perhaps on the other side of the trees. Finally the pair reached an open clearing, which seemed to be a makeshift quidditch pitch. Looking up Lyra saw 3 wizards in the air, Remus noticed her first, waving, and gently coming down to the ground.
As Remus approached she noticed a new scar just at the top of his collar bone, looking like a much larger version of one she had from the time she tried to hold the family owl in her arms several years ago. “Remus” Lyra shrieked running toward the boy, he’d also grown taller, “Lyra” he responded back, catching the girl with a wince as she jumped into his arms, “I’ve missed you Lupin” she smiled into his shoulder “you don’t write enough!” Lyra scolded, “I’ve been away” Remus shrugged “but a quill works both ways Black.” her smile faltered, “very true, it’s been a long summer, I’ll fill you in later” she spoke to the blonde boy, he nodded in response.
Just as Lyra turned around, James caught her by surprise, hugging her from behind “I’ve got so much to tell you!” James exclaimed “James!” she responded, giving him a tight hug back once she turned around. “I can’t wait to show you the house, you’ll love the library, and the potions room, and you’ll love our new neighbours, they haven’t moved in yet but they’re so cool” she smiled, missing James rambling “ and mum’s pancakes, you’ll love those” she laughed “James, slow down” Lyra shook her head, “i’m here all summer, we’ve got a month”.
James nodded, wrapping his arms around Lyra and Remus he spoke “Look at us all together again, how it should be” he smiled, Lyra grinned too, locking eyes with Remus at their big hearted friends' insurmountable joy.
“Oi” Lyra heard her closest companion speak “aren’t you forgetting someone” The boy, who’s hair was wildly strewn across his face due the wind spoke, exasperated.
“We didn’t forget you Sirius” Peter snickered, as her cousin dismounted the broom, he walked up to her, eyes squinting as he took her in “What on earth are you wearing, dearest sister.”
Lyra sighed “It’s tie dye, I made it myself and its a muggle thing” she shook her head.
“Muggle?” Sirius spoke back in shock, taking in the shirt again, “Wicked!”