Sky full of stars {Harry Potter Fanfiction}

20. Delicate (isn't it)

Nobody said a word the whole journey back through the choppy sea, or on the Knight bus. When we got home, Mum went straight to bed and slammed her door a little bit too hard. Feeling the awkwardness in the house, Sasha and I decided to call it a night as well.

"Well that was a train wreck, like I was expecting," Sasha scoffed as she began to undress with her back to me. She threw her blouse a bit too aggressively on the floor, which told me otherwise.

"You wanted it to go well," I said quietly. "You wore your favourite blouse."

Sasha gave me a look as she pulled a long-sleeved shirt over her head. "Okay, maybe I did. But I just wanted him to ask us about our lives, be proud that we became good people! But all he cared about was trying to prove his innocence, with a ridiculous idea as well..."

My agreement to research Peter Pettigrew flipped around inside my stomach. "I agreed to look into Peter Pettigrew for Dad," I said so quietly that I hoped Sasha wouldn't hear me. "To see if he's innocent."

But Sasha has the ears of a hawk, and she snapped her head fast in my direction. "You agreed to what now?"

"I agreed to look into Peter Pettigrew for Dad," I said louder as I threw back my bed covers harshly, my pillows going flying, and Sooty letting out an indignant meow as he curled around my pillow. "Did you see how sad he was when Mum didn't believe him? A guilty man would never look that defeated."

Sasha was silent as we climbed into our separate beds and turned on our night-light. She only ever kept it on when she wanted to talk to me, so I knew the conversation wasn't dead in the water.

"You're so trusting, Lyra. It scares me."

Well I wasn't expecting that. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

Sasha made an annoyed noise. "Well it's not. But Lyra... look, I want him to be innocent as well. But Mum was right, he's blaming a dead man for something he most likely did... He's just trying to play you."

Not wanting to look at her, I dove beneath the covers until all I could see was darkness and feel Sooty's tail tickling my cheek. "Well you'll be sorry when I prove he's innocent."

Through the darkness, I heard Sasha swear loudly and perch on the end of my bed. Her hand patted my head through the covers. "Look, it's sweet you want to believe him. I'm sorry I'm being such a bitch."

Tears sprang to my eyes, and there was only one person in the world I wanted to talk to about this, one who I thought might believe me. Slowly, I crawled out of the cocoon of bed covers.

"I want to see Fred," instinctively my hand went towards the pendant Fred got me for Christmas before he confessed his feelings for me. I'd never taken it off in all the time I'd had it.

All of Sasha's anger seemed to evaporate, and she climbed into bed beside me. She wrapped her arms around me. "Well I wanted to keep it a surprise, but I might have been working on something... A way for us to both have an amazing summer, and for you to see Fred..."

"You're the best sister in the world."

Sasha, being Sasha, wasn't humble. She just beamed, proud. "I know I am."

**

Sasha's plan became evident in the morning. Remus had gone out for a morning run without a word to any of us, and Mum was mulling over her second cup of coffee when we came downstairs. She slapped a fake smile on her face when she saw us.

"Girls, I have a surprise for you both! Well, it's more of a surprise for you, Lyra because Sasha has been begging me for the last week about this..." she trailed off, trying to sound upbeat.