Effervescence | h.p.

i | v. when one becomes two

A letter written on a piece of yellowing parchment. It held the following message:

"Dear Ms. Lupin-Black,

     We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

     Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘢 𝘔𝘤𝘎𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘭,

𝗗𝗲𝗽𝘂𝘁𝘆 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀"

Looking at her dads excitedly, they just smiled back at Lyra, meaning her thoughts were correct. She would be going to Hogwarts, most likely with Harry by her side throughout the journey.

Ly ran forward, immediately engulfing everyone in her family into a large group hug. With a small right arm hung around her Dad and her other arm holding Harry, all the little Lupin-Black could do was breathlessly whisper, "I'm going to Hogwarts."

She was in a state of disbelief. Yes, Lyra had always had magic around her while growing up, having two wizards for fathers, but the reality of the situation hadn't seemed to set in until this moment.

Lyra had never imagined leaving her fathers' sides for nearly nine months straight to go to a school of magic. It had never occurred to the girl that she would be going to a school with kids she had likely never met or had ever seen in her eleven years of life. She would be able to make new friends and grow her family while getting to learn and practice magic.

After her proclamation, everyone laughed due to her tone of surprise. They had all expected her and Harry to go to Hogwarts together and be close friends just like the Marauders had been. They hoped the introduction of Hogwarts would bring the little shy girl out of her shell and allow her to extend her friend group.

While everyone laughed, Lyra couldn't help but notice Harry's reluctance to join in the festivities. She felt him tense a little under her arm that had been loosely wrapped around him. Noting his discomfort, she gave him a reassuring squeeze and a look to say 'We'll talk after this.'

Harry, being ten for only two more days, hadn't received his acceptance letter yet and had been disheartened to hear that his friend would be leaving him alone with only his parents and the group of followers from school. Yes, he had been excited and happy for his best friend, but he couldn't help the feeling of growing jealousy that had been initiated by her excitements to, practically, leave him.

'Maybe she won't go. Maybe she'll stay here and won't leave for a school she's never been to. She wouldn't leave her best friend, would she?' Harry couldn't stop himself from thinking negatively and feeling disappointed.

After the group disassembled and everyone broke off into their own conversations, Harry and Lyra had started to converse. After she had opened her letter and revealed to everyone that she would be going to Hogwarts, she couldn't help but notice that Harry began gazing off, obviously thinking deeply to himself. He hadn't thought that anyone would notice, especially his friend after her announcement, but she was the only one that had seemingly picked up on his off-behavior.

"Soooo... you excited to be going to Hogwarts for the year?" Harry asked, trying to strike a conversation while trying to conceal his jealous tone, but he didn't do a very good job and just sounded slightly snappy.

Lyra had tried seeing the situation from his point-of-view and tried to take a sympathetic and carefully thought-out approach to the situation while forming her response.

"I'm nervous. I might not even go. I mean, I wouldn't know anyone and you know better than anyone, I'm not the most open to making new friends and meeting people," she said quietly, looking to the floor the whole time while scraping her shoe against it.

To this, Harry was grateful, maybe she would stay with him. But, he also felt guilty for making her feel that she had to stay behind just for him.

"Are you sure? I think this would be a big opportunity, it might be a break-through for your social life. Maybe it would be easier to make friends when put in that situation," Harry shrugged.

Confused by his response, all Lyra could do was look at him with furrowed eyebrows. She thought her response would be good for him, reassure him that they could be together if she had turned down her invitation to Hogwarts from this McGonagall woman. Now, it sounded like he didn't want her to stay and he wanted her to leave for most of the year, almost never seeing him.

"I mean, I'm just saying, it would be stupid to deny the invite," Harry continued, reinforcing Lyra's horrid thoughts. "It would be cool to learn magic while also learning how to be more social. Leave everything, everyone, get a nice fresh start on it all, don't you think?" Harry ended, stupidly.

Now getting a little frustrated, Lyra responded to her best friend, irritated. "Well, I thought you would have wanted me to stay here. You do realize that if I accept this invite, I have to stay at the school for the whole year except holidays, right? I wouldn't be able to come see you everyday just because that's how it is now. You wouldn't be able to just stop by and visit because you miss me. You understand that, correct? Because it sounds like you don't want me to stay." At this point, she was a hurt and let her pain slip it's way into her voice, making her sound exasperated and pained.

"I wasn't saying that — " Harry tried, but the girl's angered and pained ramblings cut him off.

"Well it sure as hell sounded like you were to me!" Lyra exclaimed loudly, drawing the attention of her dads and her godparents.

"Hey, hey, what's going on over here?" Remus tried to ask both children, but Lyra had already started up the stairs angrily to her room. It was obvious the full moon from two nights before was still having it's way with the little Lupin-Black cub.

"Lyra!" Sirius tried yelling up to her before, suddenly, an upstairs door was heard slamming shut and the lock turning. "What happened, Har?" Sirius eventually asked Harry calmly, after letting some of his own shock wear off.

Harry just stared at the ceiling towards where Lyra's room was placed overhead, sadly. He didn't mean that he wanted her gone and to be rid of her, in fact he wanted quite the opposite. But he didn't want her to miss out and pass up this once in a lifetime opportunity just because of him.

"It's my fault. It's all my fault. I-I'm sorry," Harry whispered sadly. He regretted making her feel unwanted by him.

Lily and James decided to take Harry home, but not before he chose to go up to her door and whisper from outside "I really am, sorry." He didn't expect for her to hear him due to his quiet, gentle tone.

Unluckily for him, he was correct.

His apology fell upon deaf ears as she could be found sleeping in her room. All her anger and her outburst had caused her to immediately collapse onto her bed before breaking down, crying on her bed. She exhausted herself with this, on top of her growing need for sleep after this month's transformation, and had fallen asleep quickly after retreating to her room.