THE RAVENCLAW PRINCESS

chapter 20 - christmas

Katya was a tall, dark haired, fair girl with bright blue eyes. She wore a black turtleneck under a thick white sweater paired with black pants, a form fitting belt, and expensive looking black boots. Iliana contrasted her immensely with her blonde hair, rosy cheeks, periwinkle sweater under a pinafore dark blue jean dress, and old boots.

"Come, sit!" Charlotte exclaimed as she rose.

The Gryffindor moved to sit next to Lyra so Iliana squeezed in next to Mieko and Katya took the aisle. Iliana sported an impassive smile but she could easily deduce the nerves bundled beneath the surface. Lyra decided to shift tactics from attacking her immediately with questions and instead let Charlotte lead the conversation.

"Hi! I'm Charlotte Picquery, this is Mieko Chinen and Lyra Tonks! It is so nice to finally meet you!"

"I'm glad to meet you all-"

"So, tell us about yourself."

"Lyra!" Charlotte chided.

"What?" Lyra smiled innocently. "It's just a question. We'll all go... you first though."

To Lyra's surprise, Katya did not seem the least deterred. "My name is Katya Wojcik. My parents are from Poland and Germany and my brother currently works at Gringotts," she paused for a moment looking at Iliana who gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm a fourth year Slytherin-"

"Pureblood?" Lyra interrupted.

"Lyra Kalina Tonks! Honestly-"

Iliana looked nervously between her best friend and her girlfriend. Katya simply grabbed Iliana's hand under the table and squeezed it gently.

"No, it's fine." If Katya was deterred her face didn't show it. "I'm a halfblood, dad's pureblood and mum's halfblood. Also, I despise Pucey," she looked pointedly at Lyra, then addressed the others. "Malfoy and Flint as well. Blood status is a filthy concept that unnecessarily mimics the racism that muggles face and I despise it."

Katya had taken to looking between the fifth years' as she spoke but the moment she mentioned blood status, she noticed the shift in their expressions. She stopped abruptly and stared back at them, then turned to Iliana, concerned.

Iliana gave a short laugh and moved their hands above the table with glee. Before Iliana could speak though, Mieko smiled, "Your girlfriend's alright, Illie."

"She's more than alright!" Charlotte said.

"Let's stick with just alright, for now," Lyra tried to be more negative than Charlotte but she couldn't help the smile on her face.

To ease Katya's confusion, Iliana added, "we all despise the blood status obsession that other purebloods have-"

"Some," Mieko interrupted, frowning. "Some purebloods were raised to believe in the so-called supremacy of their blood status, but not all of us."

"Mieko's one of the good purebloods," Charlotte explained. "Lyra's a halfblood like you and Iliana and I are muggle borns."

"They keep calling me and Mieko blood traitors as if it'll scare us or something," Lyra smirked. "Quite the contrary. Makes us sound all special and dangerous!"

That comment earned eye rolls and laughs from the whole table.

The rest of their time in the Three Broomsticks was quite enjoyable. Iliana was thrilled to see her friends getting along with her girlfriend and surprisingly Lyra was beginning to bond with her more than she expected. Every few minutes, Iliana found herself looking down at her hand intertwined with Katya's and she couldn't help but smile.

As they stood from their table and began pulling on their coats, Lyra glanced around the now- less crowded building. She smiled at Neville who was sitting with Dean and Seamus before her eyes wandered to Adrian. He, instead of paying attention to the jokes Terence was clearly making, he was staring right back at her. Lyra blinked before Charlotte pulled her out the door and back to the warmths of the castle.

Two days after Christmas, Lyra sat in the corner on the couch holding a cup of coffee in one hand and Othello against the armrest with her other hand. It was seven in the morning and her family was all asleep. Usually, Lyra's dad would be up at this time but Andromeda had forced the family to stay up watching old home videos the night before so he wasn't likely to wake up anytime soon.

Lyra put the play down after finishing Act I. She held her mug in both hands and smiled softly as she looked around the sitting room.

Christmas at the Tonks' household was truly a sight to behold. Every nook and cranny was decorated with tinsel, garland, nutcrackers, or other holiday trinkets. The enormous decorated tree stood tall by the fireplace and wouldn't be moved till after New Year's. Dora had enchanted a mini cloud to snow just above the tree to give it a frosted look that reminded Lyra so much of the Forbidden Forest.

Before leaving for holiday, she had packed and left Snuffles a giant basket filled with blankets, food, and water which she hoped was enough for the two weeks she was gone. It was hard to leave him there. With her friends, she could send them mail (or just walk over to Iliana's cottage) and although she had told Snuffles she would be back for the new year, Lyra didn't know how much of that he actually understood.

Lyra had yet to write thank you notes to everyone. She had thanked Iliana in person after she gave her a cute new skirt and muggle mystery graphic novel. To Mieko, she expressed her love for the painting he made and the signed copy of Ella Drift, witch detective series. Then she thanked Charlotte for the quidditch gloves and notebook she received. She wrote her thanks to George for the stuffed cat which looked just like Nyx and the supplies from Zonko's Joke Shop. Lyra made sure to write that she would save his arse from detention if he helped her plant some of the dungbombs he gifted her as well. To Fred, she thanked him for the sweets from Honeydukes and the two novels by Emily Dickinson. Finally she wrote a letter to thank Molly for the navy sweater with an L stitched in.

She sent the Weasley's their letters first, the fastest delivery, then fed Marie, their family owl, when she returned to prepare her for the long flights to Kyoto, Japan for Mieko's letter and New York City for Charlotte's letter. Mieko and Charlotte had left England to visit extended family over the holiday.

Holidays were always celebrated with just the four members of Lyra's family. And she loved their time together truly, but it always seemed like they were missing something. She craved the large family dinners that Iliana, Charlotte, Mieko, and the Weasleys had. She desired being bombarded with questions about her life from relatives that she only met once a year. She wanted to ask for food to be passed by ten different people before it got to her. She wanted to sit at the table with the family she grew up with and the knowledge of who she really was.

Dora shuffled into the kitchen and grumbled a 'good morning' at Lyra before making herself tea. Lyra sighed and stared out the window after Marie for a moment before grabbing Othello and sitting down at the dining table.