THE RAVENCLAW PRINCESS

chapter 33 - it's casual

hi hi i know i've been gone for a very long time but life has been crazy! i just want everyone to know i'm not going to abandon this story! i wouldn't leave it unfinished unless something seriously awful happened which i hope it doesn't! 

also the ravenclaw princess has over 2.3 k people who have read it???!!!??! that is so crazy!! the idea for lyra and her story started out so small and i'm so thankful for everyone who's reading it now! anyway here's chapter 33, definitely one of my favs

The first week of classes went by rather uneventfully for Lyra and her friends. Their new professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts was weird. He wasn't as bad as Lockhart; Moody actually knew what he was talking about.

Lyra had written letters to both Remus and Sirius. Remus and her corresponded frequently over the summer and she was grateful to have his guidance even without having him as a professor this year. Sirius, though he wanted to, didn't write as often to avoid detection but Lyra tried to keep some of the fun banter they had last year by relaying the interesting parts of her life to the man.

To both Remus and Sirius, she described how she discreetly helped George and Fred with pranks and how Charlotte heavily disapproved. She talked about how adorable Iliana and Katya were and the most recent interesting conversation her and Mieko were having (Remus was curious about their conversation on how science and magic could work together and Sirius wanted to know more about the strange arson statistics Mieko had found {In the United States, only 1% of all arsonists are convicted}).

Ravenclaws had Charms with Gryffindors this year, the first time these two houses were grouped in Charms since their third year. Lyra had forgotten just how skilled George was at this subject. It shouldn't have been surprising given half their pranks required skill in Charms but still. He was the first in their class to successfully perform the Bubble-Head Charm. And much to Charlotte's annoyance she was the third to get it, right after Fred. Lyra got it right after Charlotte.

Transfiguration was held with Hufflepuff. Lyra spent most of Transfiguration reading her latest novel, recently it had been Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima. Lyra knew McGonagall would have been more irritated at her however it was difficult as Lyra had already successfully performed everything they needed to master till October in the first week.

Because it was NEWT levels and there were fewer students, Potions was held with all houses. So even though Lyra had to suffer being in the same stuffy room as Adrian, she also had Charlotte, Mia, Angelina, and Mieko to keep her company. Mieko was unnaturally talented at Potions and Lyra was convinced he was single handedly the reason Ravenclaw was currently leading in house points.

"What do a writing desk and a raven have in common?" The eagle knocker asked.

Lyra smirked, "They both have the letter 'r' in the word."

It was Tuesday after dinner and Lyra sighed as she trudged through the Ravenclaw common room and into her dorm. Mia and Mieko asked if she wanted to sit with them in the courtyard to take advantage of one of the last good weather days but Lyra declined. She didn't want to sit in wait, so she took the long way back to Ravenclaw Tower.

Now, she was stalling in her room, playing with Nyx, her gorgeous black cat. She had her first prefect round with Pucey today and she was reconsidering the Astronomy Tower idea.

"Nyx, do you think it would be faster to jump off the Astronomy Tower or fly my broom up to that height and jump?"

Lyra was lying back down on her bed, her head close to the ground and looked at Nyx upside down. Lyra's black cat blinked at her and meowed. "Fine, I'll go. But I will get there late. Want to play with the laser till then, hm?"

Lyra grabbed the small laser pointer she got at the convenience store next to Hadlee's and pointed it at the wall by her dresser. Nyx quickly caught on and pounced on the laser only for Lyra to move it quickly. The girl and cat entertained themselves for another fifteen minutes before Lyra left her dorm, Nyx followed her out to the common room and lingered behind Lyra as she walked to meet Pucey.

"Tonks," Pucey scowled at her.

"Pucey," Lyra sighed and started walking down the hall. She turned slightly after a few paces, "well, hurry up. I don't particularly fancy doing this any longer than I have to."

Pucey rolled his eyes but started walking. He almost tripped on the black cat that fell into step right in front of him. He frowned and tried walking around the creature to catch up with Lyra who was still a few steps ahead of him, but was met with hissing. He tried again but the black cat continued baring her teeth at him. Finally, he conceded to walking in step with the cat, as it refused to let her walk any closer to the Ravenclaw.

"Pucey, why are you walking behind me?" Lyra stopped abruptly and turned to face him, hands crossed over her chest.

He stopped too, glared at her and pointed at the cat accusingly, "Perhaps you should direct your anger to this bloody creature who won't let me walk any faster."

Lyra's frown turned into a smile of amusement as Nyx looked up at her. The gorgeous black cat was sitting licking her paw in between the two prefects.

"That creature is my cat, Nyx. And she will easily scratch you to death but my hexes will hurt more if you don't walk alongside me. I don't want to turn around every ten seconds to-"

"Fine, just stop bickering about the bloody cat," Pucey deliberately walked ten paces away from Nyx then forward to be in line with Lyra.

"Fine, let's just both not talk."

They walked in an uncomfortable silence for a while until they caught three friends attempting to hide in a classroom, took away points, sent them to their dorms, and continued the cycle. They were nearing the end of their round when they heard whispers and groans coming from a broom closet.

"Honestly, leave them to it and we can be done," Lyra said as they stopped.

"And miss seeing the pathetic scramble of clothes and fear in their eyes? Not a chance," he continued walking to the closet and Lyra sighed, following him.

Never in his life did Adrian Pucey think he would regret not listening to Lyra Tonks. Yet, as he opened the door to the broom closet and was met by his half naked best friend, he hated that Lyra Tonks was right.

"How were rounds tonight, Adrian?" Terence grinned cheekily. He lazily began pulling on his shirt.

Pucey moved to stand against the doorway to let the couple out. He pinched the bridge of his nose as Terence walked out slowly.

Lyra, who hadn't really looked inside the broom closet, raised her eyes at Terence as he walked out. She looked to the closet waiting for the other person to exit. "Mia?!"

Mia Hayworth, Lyra's roommate, offered the prefect a sheepish smile. "Hey, Lyra."

"Well, isn't this a fun get-together. Almost reminds me of another night with about as much awkwardness," Terence smirked, hands lazily shrugged into his pockets, his button up shirt left open. He nodded at Lyra and Adrian. "You both remember, right? What a fun night, the-"

"We're done with rounds. Come on, Terence." Pucey swiftly turned and began walking to the Slytherin dungeons.

"Tonks," he nodded at her. "Mia darling," Terence smirked and turned to follow Pucey.

Lyra looked at Mia, eyebrows raised.

"Oh, relax Lyra. It's casual, we're not dating," Mia rolled her eyes a laugh playing at her lips.

Lyra smiled at her friend incredulously. The girls laughed their way back to Ravenclaw Tower as Mia gave all the details Lyra definitely didn't ask for.