How to be a Pureblood

Chapter 9

The following days, Lyra isolated herself in her room. Her family had no clue as to why the youngest Rosier would not leave her room. Only the house-elves came into her room to bring her food. Lyra had started stress-reading. She started with her schoolbooks. Because she had scored perfect grades for her O.W.L.S. she had enrolled for all N.E.W.T. classes she could possibly enter.  By the end of the week, Lyra felt like she knew all of the required spells of the coming school year. She barely slept and fuelled herself with coffee. 

On the second day of her self-isolation, Evan had tried to talk to her. Lyra had told him that she was not comfortable discussing her problem and Evan graciously retreated. 

Lyra had received letter after letter from Remus and James, which she had all read, but did not respond to them. Multiple times during the day, Sirius tried to reach her on the mirror he had gifted her. She ignored him every time. 

Lyra wanted to feel sad or angry but actually felt nothing. She was numb. The Hogwarts Express would be taking her back to school the next day and she was not ready to face her friends again. 

She did not want to be pitied by Remus.

She did not want James to be overprotective of her and treat her like a child.

She did not want to see Peter, afraid she would burst out in tears if she saw him.

As for Sirius, she did not know why she did not want to see him.

No matter how hard she tried, she could not come up with a reason to keep ignoring Sirius. He was her lifebuoy. He prevented her from drowning in an endless sea of self-hatred.

Her mother had forced her to pack her trunk, but she struggled with deciding on what to bring. When she was about ready to give up and accept her defeat, her window flew open. She shrugged her shoulders and stood up and walked towards it to close it. When she stood in front of the open window, she looked outside. She admired the gorgeous night sky with its stunning stars and visible constellations. It was vast and endless and Lyra dreamed she could just let it swallow her, never to resurface again. That's when something, or rather someone interrupted her thoughts.

"Aren't they beautiful?" Someone sighed above her.

Lyra shrieked and pulled her wand from her sleeve. She looked up and was surprised to see Sirius' goofy grin right above her. 

Without giving Lyra any time to respond, Sirius grabbed her extended arm and lifted her up. He hoisted her out of the window and planted her butt on the roof. 

Sirius expected some sort of reaction from his best friend, but she remained awfully quiet.  He got to work and cast an array of spells. When he finished, their sounds were silenced, heat seemed to wrap around them like a cosy blanket and there was a soft place for them to sit on. Sirius guided her to her place and sat down close to her.

That's how they remained for what seemed like hours. They sat on the roof, looked at the sky, or stole glances at the other and just enjoyed each other's company. 

"Fancy a smoke?" Sirius broke the comfortable silence between them.

Lyra nodded her head.

Sirius took a little tin from the pocket of his leather jacket. Inside were some pre-rolled joints. Sirius liked to smoke and was often joined by the rest of the Marauders. He was, however, the only one of them who also smoked when he was alone. The others only smoked when they were with their friends.

Without the use of his wand, Sirius ignited the tip of the joint. He did not know much wandless magic but had practised igniting things so often that he had mastered it. He took a deep breath from it and held it. He kept the smoke inside for a couple of seconds before forcefully letting it out.