Lyra Black

Chapter 2

Lyra woke the next morning to quiet whispers as the other fourth-year girls in the dorm readied themselves for the first day of school. They had obviously known each other since the first year because they all fell silent as she sat up and yawned widely.

One of the four girls had brown hair, two a dirty blonde, and the last a startling fiery red. Oh, Lyra thought with a small smile. Lily. Sirius had regaled her with tales of James' attempts to woo the girl since third year, and every rebuke Lily had delivered left Lyra in fits of laughter.

She turned her attention to the other three. She knew that the brown-haired girl was Mary MacDonald. Her brother had told her about her when she had helped Lily to get out of an awkward situation with James. The final two were Alice and Dorcas, but she wasn't sure who was who.

Lyra quickly got out of bed. "Hi," she greeted the four girls who stared at her as if they had never seen a transfer student before. They're rare, according to Professor McGonagall, she reminded herself. "So, I'm Lyra. Who are you?" It would seem strange if she knew them all be name.

"I'm Lily," the famous red-head spoke up. "This is Alice, Mary, and Dorcas." She pointed to them each in turn. Dorcas was slightly smaller than Alice, with more petite features.

"Breakfast is soon," Mary put in, and Dorcas grinned.

"Oh, yes, food," she said sarcastically. "We'd better get ready." They all returned to their morning routine after giving her one last look over.

 Lyra changed into her robes and grabbed her wand, sticking it into her back pocket. She considered herself far too lazy for make-up that morning and a simply threw her hair up into a pony tail instead of designing something elaborate. She wasn't aiming to impress anyone.

When she came out of the bathroom, the other girls were preparing to leave.

"Would you like to sit with us for breakfast?" Dorcas offered. She seemed like the motherly type and Lyra smiled at her gratefully.

"Yes, thank you," she glanced around at Lily, Mary, and Alice too. "That would be lovely."

As they went down the stairs in a group, Lyra found myself looking around for Sirius as a reflex action. He wasn't in the common room, meaning that he was either eating breakfast or still getting ready. Probably still getting ready, she thought. If she knew my brother, he was styling his hair in the bathroom.

"So where did you transfer from?" Lily asked her, and she snapped around to face the other girl.

"Beauxbatons," Lyra replied, wondering whether to add more or if that would be considered inappropriate oversharing. "I didn't get expelled, don't worry." They laughed together, and Lyra noted with relief that it wasn't forced. Maybe I can make some friends here... she thought.

Then they entered the Great Hall and all other thoughts fled her mind. It was gorgeous. a table decorated in red and gold was where they were heading to and Lyra followed them. She glanced over at the Slytherin table before noticing that timetables were being handed out and resolved to go over there to see her younger brother once she had hers.

Lyra only forked a single slice of bread onto her plate once they had taken their seat, suddenly nervous. I'm going to see Reggie today. She wasn't sure why it was such a shock all of a sudden, but maybe it was finally settling in. I'm going to see Sirius today.

A roiling stew of excitement and nerves battled in her stomach, and she barely registered the people around her creating mountains of food or the chatter that arose as friends compared their timetables. Lyra certainly noticed when her timetables was placed in front of her but she only glanced at the first lesson for that day (Double History of Magic, sounded like a total snooze-fest) before turning to her new dorm mates.

"I'll probably be back," she said and they frowned. "If not, I'll see you in class. You guys have History of Magic, right?" It was a question, but she didn't wait for an answer, propelling herself out of her seat before she could lose her nerve.

Lyra felt like the entire school population was watching her as she stalked across the hall to the green and silver table. Of course, it wasn't, but the combined stares of Lily, Dorcas, Mary, and Alice drilled into her back.

But then all thoughts fled her mind as she saw her baby brother for the first time in over five years. She wanted to cry. He looked so grown up and he had matured so much. He was in third year now and Lyra subdued the tears that came with that thought. She had missed so much.

She crept up behind him and yelled "Boo!" next to his ear. It had the desired affect. He leapt about a foot in the air then turned, mortified and annoyed, to face her. She watched as he gave a start from her resemblance to Sirius, than watched tears well up in his eyes as her launched himself at her.

"Ly!" Lyra held onto her younger brother tightly, trying to retrain the tears that threatened to pour down her face. She set Regulus down to see him better and quickly blinked the droplets away.

"You're so big!" she exclaimed, looking him over properly with a smile. "So how have you been?"

"I'm ok," he said, a sudden frown on his face. "I've just missed you."

"Letters don't really cut it, do they," Lyra agreed, then pulled him into another hug. "And I'm your favourite."

Regulus shoved her away gently with a playful smile on his face. "Oh, really. And why is that?"

"Because I always snuck you chocolate cookies!" the girl cried, mock-hurt. She couldn't contain her grin.

Then he looked down at her robes, the Gryffindor crest on the front. "And you're in Gryffindor, too."

"I know," Lyra said carefully. "Please don't tell Mum and Dad?"

Regulus nodded slowly. Lyra hadn't been lying when she said that she was the favourite older sibling, and they had kept up a good relationship over the years with letters being sent back and forth.

That was when she heard Marlene say something loudly that sounded like, "I knew she reminded me of someone and it was you, Sirius."

Lyra stiffened, every muscle in her body tensing. Regulus noticed the change and looked over her shoulder, locking eyes with a grey-eyed boy who had just entered the hall, hair perfectly styled. "He cut off ties with you too?" he asked, but she didn't answer.

Lyra, a familiar voice whispered in her mind for the first time in a month. She turned to face her twin, seeing someone so familiar, yet so different.

Hey, arsehole, she replied with a small grin that se knew he would catch.