CHAPTER 27

SNAKE BITES

"Banned? All three of them?"

Lyra nodded as she sipped from her butterbeer. Her and Blaise began making it a regular thing to meet in the kitchen. It was comforting for Lyra, even more so than their daily notes.

"But one of them didn't even fight."

"Umbridge said that if Fred would have been let go by Katie and Angelina, he would have been fighting as well. Therefore, it's worth banning him."

"What about you, weren't you going to as well."

"Angelina and McGonagall managed to convince her that I was holding Fred back, apparently Umbridge wasn't paying enough attending to me to notice."

"Well thank god for them, you'd probably have already destroyed the whole kitchen if she had banned you."

Lyra chuckled, "I would have destroyed her office."

"Hmm, well Hagrid might, after that introduction today."

"Yeah, or she'll set fire to his cabin." Blaise chuckled again. "Did you see them, the thestrals?"

Blaise shook his head, "I've never seen anyone die. Did you?"

Lyra shook her head. "It's quite upsetting. Knowing that one day when we see them, it'll be because we watched someone die."

Blaise took a sip of his own butterbeer, washing down the knot in his throat at the thought. "Well let's hope we never do."

And he bumped his bottle against Lyra's. The girl nodded. "What are your plans for the break?"

Lyra could not be more relieved at the idea that break was just a few days away. While she had quite a few assignments, she couldn't wait to go home to her dad and Sirius and the rest of the familiar order members.

"Not much. My mother will probably be working on things for her wedding. They decided on doing it in the summer before 6th year. She'll be working on that and I'll be in my room most of the time."

Lyra felt a pang of sadness for Blaise, his break was nowhere near as exciting as hers, which would explain why he didn't seem to care much for leaving Hogwarts.

"Well what about Christmas, what will you do then?"

He shrugged again, "Mother and I will exchange gifts, her fiancé will probably be included as well, then I'll head to my room. We might visit the Malfoys, Greengrass', or Notts for a while."

"That sounds like a lonely holiday."

Blaise didn't say anything for a while and Lyra didn't exactly know how to comfort him. "Tell me about your holidays."

"Well, this year may be a little different, but usually I go home with my dad. Zara and her family will come over, Fay usually comes alone, her family isn't really close. We exchange gifts and listen to music by the fire. Dad likes to have a dance with one of these old songs he has. Zara's family and Fay leave early but Zara stays and we have a sleepover."

"Your house sounds nice." There's a faraway look in his eyes, like he's imagining Christmas at the Knight house and it makes Lyra say.

"You should come over some time." She freezes as the words leave her mouth because the explanations she would have to make to her family and to Blaise if he ever did decide to come over would be way too complicated.

But Blaise smiles back at her as he says, "Maybe I will."

Lyra smiled back, not feeling as worried anymore about the offer she had accidentally made. She wanted to say more, wanted to keep that smile on Blaise's face forever, but he looked down at his watch.

"We should probably head back up. We've been here an hour."

Lyra nodded, "Right." Before taking his empty bottle with hers to a garbage bag.

They began walking out, reaching the point where they went separate ways and turning to each other.

"Well, good night Blaise." She said, smiling again.

He got another far off look but smiled and said, "Night, Lyra."

She still wanted to say something else but found herself stuck again and turned. But before she could get too far a hand connected to her wrist, turning her back to look at Blaise who was much closer than before.

The moonlight from a nearby window made him look almost ethereal and his eyes shined so brightly it almost knocked Lyra back. Not for the first time, she was stunned by how attractive the Slytherin was. But before she could collect her thoughts he had pulled her impossibly close and pressed their lips together.

Lyra remembered their first kiss, and their almost kisses and every other moment with Blaise in between. But this one was definitely her favorite. It was slow and soft and one hand was resting on her cheek and the other was still holding to her wrist.

And Lyra could smell his damn cologne again, it's spiciness and elegance and Blaiseness. She had to lift herself up a bit to reach his lips, while he bent down to touch hers. And it was warm, much like their first one but this one was more comforting.

Lyra had read muggle literature, she knew about that feeling of butterflies in the stomachs. But to her it was false, it wasn't butterflies, it was thunder and lightning in her veins, fireworks in her head, it was warmth at her skin, and it was that feeling of comfort, like you could be in the person's arms and be safe there.

And there stood Lyra, pressed against Blaise Zabini, barely even standing, with lightning striking in her veins, setting a warmth in her body. She felt safe there, with Blaise caressing her cheek, she felt like she could stay there forever.

Eventually they had to pull apart, however, but neither got very far. Blaise rested his forehead against hers, there noses only millimeters away from each other.

Lyra, scared to destroy this comforting environment, whispered, "I just want to make sure, that wasn't an accident, right?"

Blair chuckled hoarsely, "Definitely not."

Lyra nodded, jostling both of their heads slightly, "Ok, good."

After a minute, or maybe an hour, Lyra really wasn't sure about anything anymore. Blaise pulled his away,

"We should really get going."

Lyra found herself unable to stop nodding, "Yeah, we should. Yeah."

Finally, Blaise smiled and took her job between his fingers to stop her head from moving anymore. He pressed another quick kiss and Lyra smiled when he pulled away.

"Ok, I'm going now." She said, beginning to turn away but turning back once more, leaning up for another chaste kiss before practically floating to Gryffindor tower, nothing in the world could ruin her mood. 

"Ms. Knight, Ms. Granger, it seems that Arthur Weasley was attacked last night." McGonagall had pulled the two girls from their dormitory that morning to break the news.

The blissful smile on Lyra's face faded so fast, "What happened."

"I can't explain much but it seems that Potter saw it happening in a dream and alerted Headmaster Dumbledore. The Weasleys and Potter have left for St. Mungos already. Ms. Granger since you are leaving with your parents I thought it best to let you know now. Ms. Knight, your father will be picking you up in an hour or so, I suggest you pack your things as you will not be returning until after break."

The girls nodded before heading back to their dorm, Hermione sat at Lyra's bed, helping her pack her things.

"Do you reckon it's because of his connection with you-know-who?" Lyra muttered.

Hermione nodded, "It seems like the only explanation. You'll write to me? Let me know what's happening?"

Lyra nodded, "Of course."

An hour later, Lyra had said goodbye to Hermione, Fay, and Zara, promising to write as this year's Christmas wouldn't be at her house.

McGonagall walked her to the end of the protection charms surrounding Hogwarts. At that moment, Lyra remembered she hadn't gotten a chance to say goodbye to Blaise. But it was too late, seeing as she could see her dad. She ran forward wrapping her arms around her dad.

"How is he? Have you seen him?" She asked, but Elliot shook his head.

"Not yet. They haven't allowed anyone in yet. The Weasleys are there with Sirius now, we're meeting them there."

Lyra nodded as McGonagall reached them and the two adults discussed the incident before saying goodbye. Lyra grabbed on to her dad's arm and they apperated, landing in St. Mungos Hospital after grabbing a few flowers at a nearby, muggle flower shop.

Lyra's dad dealt with the receptionists, making up a few white lies to get them through. Then they were up to the first floor. A few order members waited outside the door. Elliot and Lyra joined them before Mrs. Weasley came out,

"Lyra, dear. Come in, we're glad Elliot was able to get you."

"Hi, Mrs. Weasley. I'm so sorry." she said, side-hugging the woman as she pulled her into the room.

"Oh, don't you worry, dear. Arthur is alive and well, healing very nicely. Come along."

The Weasley siblings all stood in the room and Lyra went to stand with Ginny and Fred, wrapping the younger girl in her arms.

Ginny smiled at her, a bit tired but relieved. And the conversation continued as normal.

"Is it in the Prophet, you being attacked?" asked Fred, indicating the newspaper Mr. Weasley had cast aside.

"No, of course not," said Mr. Weasley, with a slightly bitter smile, "the Ministry wouldn't want everyone to know a dirty great serpent got - "

"Arthur!" Mrs Weasley warned him. " - got - er - me," Mr. Weasley said hastily, Lyra doubted that's what he had been planning on saying.

"So where were you when it happened, Dad?" asked George, just as aware of the omission his father had just made.

"That's my business," said Mr. Weasley, though with a small smile. He snatched up the Daily Prophet, shook it open again and said, "I was just reading about Willy Widdershins's arrest when you arrived. You know Willy turned out to be behind those regurgitating toilets back in the summer? One of his jinxes backfired, the toilet exploded and they found him lying unconscious in the wreckage covered from head to foot in -"

Lyra snorted at what she was sure Mr. Weasley had been about to say but Fred cut in with a low voice.

"When you say you were 'on duty' what were you doing?"

"You heard your father," whispered Mrs. Weasley, "we are not discussing this here! Go on about Willy Widdershins, Arthur."

"Well, don't ask me how, but he actually got off the toilet charge," said Mr. Weasley grimly. "I can only suppose gold changed hands -"

"You were guarding it, weren't you?" said George quietly. "The weapon? The thing You-Know-Who's after?"

"George, be quiet!" snapped Mrs. Weasley.

"Anyway," said Mr Weasley, in a raised voice, "this time Willy's been caught selling biting doorknobs to Muggles and I don't think he'll be able to worm his way out of it because, according to this article, two Muggles have lost fingers and are now in St. Mungo's for emergency bone re-growth and memory modification. Just think of it, Muggles in St. Mungo's! I wonder which ward they're in?" And he looked eagerly around as though hoping to see a signpost.

"Didn't you say You-Know-Who's got a snake, Harry?" asked Fred, looking at his father for a reaction. "A massive one? You saw it the night he returned, didn't you?"

"That's enough," said Mrs. Weasley crossly. "Mad-Eye, Elliot, and Tonks are outside, Arthur, they want to come and see you." She then turned to all of the children, "And you lot can go wait outside. You can say goodbye later."

Of course, the group grumbled on it's way out, believing it unfair of not being able to hear. But Lyra should have known better than to doubt the Weasley twins. Fred and George took out 6 Extendable Ears and placed them under the door, handing Lyra and the others an ear piece.

"Yes," said Mrs Weasley. She sounded rather uneasy. "You know, Dumbledore seems almost to have been waiting for Harry to see something like this."

"Yeah, well," said Moody, "there's something funny about the Potter kid, we all know that."

"Dumbledore seemed worried about Harry when I spoke to him this morning," whispered Mrs Weasley.

Elliot chimed in, "McGonagall as well, when I picked up Lyra."

"Course they're worried," growled Moody. "The boy's seeing things from inside You-Know-Who's snake. Obviously, Potter doesn't realize what that means, but if You-Know-Who's possessing him -"

Lyra immediately pulled the earpiece away, wishing she had done so earlier. She turned to Harry, who was very red faced and breathing hard, his eyes unseeing. She tried to keep her face impassive, knowing that the wrong expression could set him off the wrong way.

On the way back to Grimmauld Place everyone was very silent. Mrs. Weasley was fretting over Harry, who was pale and unspeaking. Lyra held to Ginny's hand but stayed silent as well, trying to collect her brain from the past twenty-four hours.

Harry, Fred, and George were banned from Quidditch, Hagrid was back, Umbridge was evil, Blaise Zabini had kissed her, Mr. Weasley was attacked, Voldemort's snake attacked Mr. Weasley, and Harry was possessed by Voldemort. Merlin.

Really her brain should have focused on something else, but only one thing seemed to stick from everything she had run through.

Blaise Zabini had kissed her. 

*****

guys! we reached over 100 votes and Blaise and Lyra kissed and didn't say it was a mistake this time YAYAYY