Feathers: The tale of the forgotten Marauder

Chapter 7

Remus was quite serious with his request, even if he might get murdered by Regulus. None of the marauders knew why, but Regulus was overly protective of Lyra.

Sirius hesitated slightly, his brother could be...not so understanding. However, he agreed nonetheless. Quickly making his way to Slytherin common room, he found his cousin outside.

"Narcissa, can you get Regulus for me. It's a dire matter." He asked as diplomatically as possible. Narcissa was more likely to comply, if he had found Bellatrix, well he might as well be dead on the spot.

Narcissa gave him a swift nod and entered the common room. Not more than five minutes later, Regulus came out with a look of confusion on his face.

"What do you want brother? I'm busy studying for my exams." Regulus groans. Sirius just grabs his brother's wrist and practically drags him out of the dungeons.

"Promise me you won't murder Remus when I tell you this." Sirius pleads before explaining the events of tonight to his brother.

By the time he had finished explaining, they stood outside the oak doors to the Hospital Wing. Regulus looked furious, one glance at his hands showed that his knuckles had gone white from balling his hands into fists.

"It was Remus' idea to bring you up, I don't know why but...he wanted you to know." Sirius says slowly before opening the doors. He practically got shoved out of the way as Regulus stormed over to Lyra's hospital bed.

He ignored everyone apart from Remus. Grabbing him by the collar of his robes, Regulus pulled Remus to his feet. Dashing over, Sirius had to fight to get Regulus' grip off of Remus.

"You are lucky I hadn't found you sooner Mongrel. I'm warning you Lupin." Regulus growled through his teeth. James stood up and almost got square in front of Regulus.

"You need to back down mate. If I don't blame Remus for my sister's current position, no one can. And if you try to even touch Lupin, you'll have to go through the rest of us." James stands his ground, blocking Regulus from Remus and his view of Lyra.

Regulus wasn't expecting James to pull that stunt. He was always certain that James was quiet when it came to confrontation. Regulus backed down and sat on the end of the opposite hospital bed.

"So, what now?" He asked slightly defeated.

"Now you explain to us why you're so protective of my sister." James sighs as he sits next to Lyra on her bed.

That shocked everyone. It was a question they all wanted to know the answer to but they were too scared to ask it. Regulus looked at his hands and closed his eyes in resignation.

"James is probably going to murder me..." He mutters under his breath. Everyone watched him in anticipation.

"I like Lyra, okay. That's why I'm protective of her. Our families have been friends since your guy's first year, and honestly, she's made things in this group a lot more interesting." He explains quietly, it's almost as if he was afraid to admit it.

The entire room was silent. Regulus never admitted to any emotion other than disgust and disappointment, so the fact he's admitting that he has real feelings for someone...it's weird.

"I'm not going to murder you mate, if you genuinely like her...I trust you." James replies back giving him a small smirk.

The doors to the Hospital Wing open and a familiar emerald green gown swishes through. Professor McGonagall immediately makes her way over to the marauders.

"Boys, I do believe you have a common room to go back to and classes to attend in a few hours. Please return to your dormitories." She said with authority. The boys all shared a glance and sighed, making their way back to their dormitories.

The next day, McGonagall made sure that they were all at class. During lunch however and free sessions, the boys would try and see Lyra in the hospital wing. This continued for a few days.

Each day was the same but what intrigued McGonagall was that Regulus was going with the others to visit Lyra. She didn't think much of it though as both Black brothers were friends with the Potter twins.

Once Lily, Marlene and Dorcas had found out what happened to Lyra, they were very concerned. Lily was fuming, she kept going on about how 'she said it was dangerous' and 'how they never listen'.

It was a weekend the next time the Marauders were in the Hospital Wing to see Lyra. At this point Madame Pomfrey was sick and tired of seeing them all the time. Lyra's arm had healed but she was going to have a large scar for the rest of her life.

The group had been there for a few hours already but it was around noon when what they'd been hoping for had happened. Lyra had stirred a bit and she'd eventually opened her eyes.

"Woah okay, that is bright. And my arm aches so badly." She murmurs slightly, her throat is sore and she has to blink a few times to adjust to the lighting. A pair of arms suddenly wrap around her and she can feel the wire frame of her brother's glasses against her shoulder.

"I'm okay James, I'm okay." She says with a small laugh. It was good to be back.