HIDDEN BLACK

✧ACTUALLY, NO, I'M A MUGGLEBORN✧

LYRA PECKED HER MUM'S cheek as she waved good-bye, following the instructions to get onto Platform 9 3/4. Her dad had made up an excuse of work that he couldn't see her off, which Lyra hoped wasn't a lie. Ever since the conversation she had overheard, she was slightly suspicious of him. She saw a group of red-heads along with a bushy-haired girl and messy, black-haired boy at the entrance, but none of them looked her age.

She was about to tap the red-head girl who looked the youngest, but Nova had jumped down, running across the station. Lyra yelped, and pushed her trolley trying to find her cat, but it was nowhere to be seen.

She sighed, and decided to put her stuff in a compartment, as she was already almost late, and the train would leave any moment.

Looking around in every compartment, she saw groups of friends in all of them, and wondered where any of the other first-years were. Somehow, she had opened the door to an open compartment, filled with students in green robes, most of them looking at least two years older than her.

She quickly turned around, hoping to get out of there and maybe asking the kind-looking redhead to let her sit in her compartment, when a voice came from behind her.

"Is this your cat?"

There was a pretty blonde girl, also in green robes who seemingly had just gotten up, leaving the conversation of the other ones, but she was holding a black kitten.

"Nova!" Lyra gasped, quickly taking her into her arms, trying to balance her trunk as well. "Thank you!"

"No problem," the blonde girl giggled, and asked, "Are you a first year?"

Lyra shyly nodded, glancing at the older students who were talking about something amongst each other.

"Awesome! I have a little sister entering first year, you can sit with her," she said, grabbing Lyra's trunk and leading her down the compartment. Lyra sighed in relief, glad that she wouldn't have to spend the entire day wandering around the train.

"I'm Daphne Greengrass by the way, third year Slytherin. What's your name?" 'Daphne' asked kindly.

"Oh! Lyra Rogers," she answered.

Daphne nodded, flashing Lyra a smile, "That's a pretty name. After the constellation?" Lyra nodded. "Here we are. Astoria?" She said, opening the compartment they had just come to and placing Lyra's trunk inside.

'Astoria' was a girl with dark brown hair, unlike Daphne, but the same crystal blue eyes. She had been reading, but smiled when seeing her sister.

"This is Lyra Rogers, she's a first year as well. Maybe you can become friends," she gave them both a warm smile and left with a flick of her hair.

"Um... hi?" said Lyra shyly, but Astoria was quick to make her feel welcome.

"Astoria Greengrass," she held out her hand, putting her book to the side. Lyra shook it, introducing herself again.

"So, what house do you want to get in?"

"Um, I'm not really sure. Maybe Ravenclaw? Or Slytherin." It came out as more of a question, as Lyra didn't actually know that much about the houses. She had read quite a bit ever since her birthday, and thought that a 'smart' house sounded good, or at least much better than a 'brave' house, which just seemed a bit stereotypical. Being ambitious was also something that felt like her, even with the prejudices that she read about. However, Daphne seemed relatively nice, so it couldn't be that bad. "You?"

"Slytherin," Astoria answered immediately. "My whole family's gone there for ages, but it's also the best house," she said proudly.

"I don't recognize the name 'Rogers', are you a half-blood?" she asked next, and Lyra slightly panicked. Astoria might hate a muggleborn, and then send her off to sit somewhere else. She doubted the red-head girl would let her sit with her so late into the train ride.

"Actually, no, I'm a muggleborn." 

Apparently, this wasn't the right thing to say.

"Oh," Astoria said simply, and nothing more. She tried to give a weak smile, but it didn't help Lyra feel comfortable at all.

"Well, then you probably won't get into Slytherin," she stated as she grabbed her book again and didn't speak to Lyra anymore.

Of course, Lyra felt just as uncomfortable, as she didn't have a book to hold, so she simply pet Nova and glanced out the window.

That is until the train started to rattle and the lights flickered out.

"Are we already there?" Lyra asked cautiously, wondering if this was usual, but it didn't seem like it as the train seemed to drop in temperature.

"I-I don't think so..." came Astoria's voice, still slightly distant and clearly not wanting to talk to her anymore. The compartment so dark that Lyra couldn't see her. 

She suddenly felt sad, upset that her dad didn't come to see her off, or thinking about the times kids in her school bullied her because of what she now knew was magic, or how this was probably going to be how all of the students would treat her, inferior because of her muggle parents.

It stayed like that for a few minutes, Lyra cuddling Nova for some warmth as the rattling came closer.

Suddenly, there was a hooded creature, looking as if it was decomposing, feeling as if it was taking all of the happiness out of the compartment. 

It faced Lyra, if it even had a face, coming closer. Lyra could barely breathe; she was shaking. It moved closer and closer until a bright light, taking a sort of form though mostly mist, came in front of her, making the creature glide away.

Lyra slowly remembered to breathe as a man came in with graying hairs and scars over his face.

"Here, eat this, it'll help," he said in a raspy voice, breaking off a piece of chocolate for both of them.

Lyra was a bit reluctant, but the man was already out of the compartment.

She slowly bit into the chocolate, quickly eating the rest as a feeling of warmth spread through her body.

Both girls were still in shock until Daphne burst into the compartment.

"Are you alright? I was so worried!" she said, tackling Astoria into a hug.

Astoria smiled, "Yeah, we're fine. But w-what happened?" Daphne frowned. "Dementors. They're guarding the school searching for Sirius Black."

"Sirius Black?" Lyra interrupted. "As in the murderer? He was in the newspaper." She was confused about this Sirius Black, first knowing she looked similar to him and now that these 'dementors' were looking for him.

Astoria whispered something in Daphne's ear, Lyra only making out the word muggleborn. Daphne's mouth formed an 'o' and gave a slight sneer, but still explained.

"Sirius Black is a wizard. He comes from a long line of dark wizards and murdered thirteen muggles and a wizard with a single curse. Come to think of it, you sort of look like the picture in the newspaper."

Lyra gasped; she had no idea that Black was a wizard, but quickly focused on the second part of what Daphne said. "I know, it's strange. You should see my dad, they look like they could be brothers!" She meant for it to be a joke, but Daphne moved close and inspected Lyra's face.

"Strange," she murmured.

"Um... what?" Lyra asked quietly, wondering what Daphne was doing. However, the blonde girl shook her head and waved goodbye, saying "See you at the sorting."

This lead to another uncomfortable silence, as Astoria returned to her book and Lyra lost herself in her thoughts.

✧✧✧

Author's Note: 

Hello again! I wanted to say that I know the Greengrasses aren't Death Eaters, but they do believe in pureblood supremacy, which means they probably wouldn't be too welcoming to Lyra. Also, I changed my mind... I'm going to make this another HarryxOc. I know I already have two but I just feel like it would be best for this, and I'm really terrible at writing Ron, so yeah. Anyway, thanks for reading!