You Only Live Once

CHAPTER 7

 The summer air at Potter Manor usually felt like a warm embrace, but for Mira, it had started to feel a bit more like a drafty hallway. It wasn't that she lacked for anything. In fact, Mia and Monty—as she had affectionately come to call Euphemia and Fleamont—were the kind of parents children dreamed about. They were attentive, kind, and had welcomed her into their home with open arms and zero hesitation. Mira often felt a pang of guilt because she couldn't find a single thing to complain about regarding her new guardians. She had everything she needed and twice what she wanted.

The problem, unfortunately, wasn't the parents. It was the two other boys who lived under the same roof.

For the first week, Sirius Black had been perfectly charming. They had shared jokes over breakfast and he had even helped her navigate the sprawling, confusing hallways of the manor. Then, without warning, the atmosphere shifted. It was as if a switch had been flipped inside his head. One Tuesday morning, Sirius woke up, looked at Mira as if she were a smudge on a window, and decided he was done being nice. From that moment on, his silence was only broken by sharp, nasty comments that he carefully timed for when Mia and Monty were out of earshot.

What hurt more was James. He had always been the energetic heart of the house, but he had recently adopted a confusing, double-sided behavior. When it was just him and Mira, he was perfectly civil, even sweet. But the moment Sirius entered the room, James would mimic his friend's coldness. Mira hadn't told the Potters; she didn't want to be the reason for an argument in a house that had been so good to her. Instead, she poured her heart out to Remus. He had tried to talk sense into them, but even the studious, calm Remus Lupin couldn't break through the wall the two boys had built.

"She'll probably be in Slytherin" Sirius said suddenly.

The group was sitting in a wide circle on the grass behind the manor. The sun had long since set, leaving them bathed in the soft glow of a few floating lanterns Peter had managed to keep lit. Everyone's heads turned toward Sirius. He hadn't contributed a word to the conversation for over an hour, preferring to lean back on his elbows and stare at the stars with a bored expression.

"Why do you say that, Siri?" Marlene asked, her voice tight with annoyance. She was voicing the question everyone was thinking, but her tone suggested she was already prepared to hate the answer.

"Well, every loser in the book has been to Slytherin" Sirius replied with a casual shrug, as if he were stating a boring fact about the weather.

Marlene's face turned a shade of red that matched the Gryffindor banners. She scrambled to her feet, her hands balled into fists. "Okay, you listen to me, Black—"

"Let it go, Marlene" Mira said quickly, reaching out to catch the blonde girl's hand. She didn't want a fight, and she certainly didn't want to give Sirius the satisfaction of seeing her upset.

Sirius didn't even look at them. He stood up, brushed the grass off his trousers, and walked toward the house without a backward glance, leaving a heavy silence behind him. It was only two days before the start of the term, and the group—Marlene, Lily, Mary, Peter, and Remus—had gathered for one last night of summer freedom.

Dumbledore's decision for Mira to attend Hogwarts had been the talk of the summer. It was a strange arrangement; she was older than the first years, yet she would be starting from scratch. Because of her unique situation, Dumbledore had even found a way for her to practice a bit of magic within the school grounds without raising the suspicions of the Ministry. It wouldn't be powerful—just enough to pass her classes—but to Mira, it felt like being given the keys to a kingdom.

"Don't listen to him, Ro. You'll be in Gryffindor with us, I'm sure" Lily said, flashing a supportive smile. She reached over and squeezed Mira's arm.

"We'll be in different years, Lils, don't forget" Mira reminded her with a small, sad smile. That was the one downside. While her friends were moving into their later years of schooling, Mira would be starting at the beginning. She was excited to make new friends, but the idea of being separated from the people who had protected her all summer was daunting.