A/N: Chapter 9 is finally here I’m sooo sorry for making you wait so long for it, so I wont keep you any longer I hope you like =]
“Lyla, you need to relax.” Frank Longbottom tried to calm his potions partner. It wasn’t going very well, to say the least.
Lyla turned on him, looking frazzled. Frank would have laughed if she didn’t scare him so much; she was little, but Merlin she was feisty. “Frank, if you tell me to calm down one more time I swear-“
“How is everything going over here?” Professor Slughorn interrupted Lyla’s threats.
“Fine, sir. Frank was just helping me rectify my potion, he’s an amazing potion maker, which really is due to you I suppose, sir. You’re an excellent teacher, I must say.” Lyla smiled sweetly at the professor who she had quickly learned responded well to flattery, thus making it easy to get rid of him.
Slughorn chuckled heartily. “Mr Longbottom always had a knack for potions; I just chipped away the rough edges. Carry on, carry on.” He wandered away to check up on his other students.
Frank nudged her, “Have you calmed down? Because getting worked up will only make it harder for you.”
“I’m fine. Sorry Frank, I didn’t mean to take it out on you. I’m just used to getting things right the first time.”
“No worries,” Frank smiled at her as he began to try and rescue her potion. He knew she wanted to be a healer, and she had to have potions to do that. Though they both knew she would be lucky to be taken on because of her blindness. “Done.”
Lyla smiled at him. “Thanks Frank, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Probably blow up the classroom.” He laughed as he began to pack up their things; there was only fifteen minutes left until the end of class.
“I don’t think Alice would be very happy if I blew up her boyfriend,” Lyla said slyly.
“How did you know?-“
Lyla placed her book into her bag, which lay on the floor beside Indie, “I have my ways. How’s it goin’?”
Frank sighed happily; he couldn’t remember ever being this happy before he started going out with Alice. She was in the year above him, but that didn’t matter, especially since she acted more like a little kid than a seventeen year old girl -- they always had fun whenever they went out. “It’s going great.”
“Good to know.” Lyla laughed at him, picking up the last ingredient from the workbench and throwing it into the bubbling cauldron.
“I’m going to put away the spare ingredients, I’ll be back in a second and then it should be finished brewing.” Sweeping the remaining ingredients into his arms Frank made his way over to the supply cupboard. While he was putting everything away he realised that there should have been four extra Erumpent horns but there were only two. He spun on the spot and out of the cupboard, sprinting towards Lyla who sat waiting for his return, but before he reached her…
*******************************
“Frank?”
“Oh, hi Sirius. What’s up?”
Sirius looked the sixth year up and down; he had scorch marks all over his school robes and a bandage was visibly sticking out from underneath the collar of his shirt.
“I could ask you the same thing.” He pointed to the bandage under Frank’s shirt and to another that was covering the top of his hand.
Frank waved his injured hand around dismissively, “This is nothing. Madame Pomfrey has already healed it, I just need to keep it covered up.”
James looked at Frank suspiciously. Alice was sitting on his other side, looking as though she was either in pain or trying to keep herself from laughing. “What happened?”
“There was an accident in potions.” He answered quietly, not meeting any of the Marauder’s eyes.
“What kind of accident?” Remus asked as he looked up and down the Gryffindor table to try and find Lyla. Normally she sat with Frank and Alice for lunch on a Monday.
Frank shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “There may have been a small explosion.”
“Small?” Sirius asked, suddenly realising that Lyla didn’t seem to be anywhere in the Great Hall. He looked around and saw that quite a lot of the sixth years where in fact smouldering with small spirals of blue smoke floating above them.
“Hey guys,” Peter came running up behind them, picked up a bread roll and stuffed it into his mouth. “Where’s Lyla?” He asked, spraying everyone around him with bread.
“Hospital Wing.” Alice answered for Frank, trying to keep the smile off her face at her boyfriend’s discomfort but failing miserably.
“She’s okay,” Frank hurried to reassure them. “Madame P just wanted to keep her in because she got a face full.” He paused for a second before bursting into a hurried apology. “I’m sorry, I was supposed to be watching out for her to make sure nothing like this happened and I didn’t notice when she picked up the wrong ingredient.”
“Frank, don’t worry about it. Besides, with someone as clumsy as Lyla this was bound to happen sooner or later,” Sirius smiled to himself. “Honestly I’m surprised she lasted this long. Well come on, we better go see her.” Sirius went to leave before turning back and saying, “Someone grab some food. I’m starving.”
The Marauders made their way down to the Hospital Wing, it was the first time in five years that they were visiting someone outside their own little group.
“You don’t seem very worried, Padfoot.” Remus said, watching his friend’s attempts at eating a chocolate muffin in one bite.
Sirius choked and coughed half of the muffin back into his hand, swallowing the rest. “Why would I be? Frank said she was okay.” He then proceeded to re-eat the remainder of the chocolate mush in his hand before wiping it on his pants.
Remus rolled his eyes, his friends eating habits never ceased to amaze him. “Yeah, but you don’t know what the side effects could be, she got it full in the face! And besides, did you see the back of Zabini’s robes where he’d got hit with it?”
Both James’ and Sirius’ faces spilt into huge evil grins. “Yeah, we saw that.”
“That could’ve happened to her face.” Peter said with a mouthful of corned beef sandwich.
“Frank said she was fine!” James came to Sirius’ aid. “Merchants of fuckin’ doom, you two.”
On their way to the hospital wing they came across Mrs Norris, to whom Peter gave a swift kick up the rear.
“I’ve wanted to do that for so long.” He was so happy he practically floated the rest of the way to the infirmary.
They arrived to find a harassed looking Madame Pomfrey, who bustled over as soon as she saw them. “What have you done to yourselves now?” She blew her wispy hair out of her face.
“Nothing. We’re fine Mrs P.” James said cheerfully. “It’s visiting duties today.”
“In that case I suppose it is Miss Capulet you are here to see?
“Yes indeedies.” They followed Madame Pomfrey over to an enclosed bed.
“Yoohoo, Lyle.” Sirius poked his head through the curtains before collapsing in a fit of laughter.
“What? Sirius, what?” James was jumping up and down behind Sirius who was blocking the rest of the Marauders’ view. Quickly getting bored, James pushed Sirius out of the way so he fell into a trolley of (thankfully clean) bedpans.
“Alright Lyla? Nice birds.” James poked his own head through the curtains, smiling, his smile faltered slightly when he saw her conjure several birds with her wand.
Remus and Peter heard Lyla’s voice mutter “Oppugno” before James fell over backwards surrounded by crazed birds.
“AAAAARGH! Lyla I didn’t even laugh at you.” James flapped his arms around his head trying to get rid of the birds that had started to pull out his hair.
“No, but you were going to.” A muffled voice said from inside the curtains.
“I swear I won’t laugh. Please make them stop!” James was now running around flapping his arms, doing an extremely good impersonation of the birds he was trying to escape.
“Lyla?” Remus stuck his head into the curtain; he smiled but knew better than to laugh. “As much as I enjoy seeing James chased by a flock of birds Madame P will boot us out if he doesn’t stop.”
“Fine.” The birds disappeared and now the only sound in the hospital was Sirius who kept breaking out in fits of giggles.
Remus pulled the curtains from around Lyla’s bed, which set Sirius off laughing again.
“Sirius I-will-kill-you,” Lyla snarled at him, her patience beginning to wear thin.
“Okay, okay I’m sor-” He burst out in another fit of laughter before he could finish, and quickly found himself under a silencing spell, sent from one of his supposed best friends. He glared at Remus, knowing that Peter wouldn’t dare put a silencing spell on him.
“Thanks Remus.” The bandages that were surrounding Lyla’s face twitched.
“Are you trying to smile?” Remus asked, failing to keep the amusement out of his voice.
“I may have been.” She folded her arms across her chest to signify she was sulking.
Remus started laughing. “You know you look like a complete pillock right? And I mean that in the nicest way possible.” He started chuckling again; her face was completely covered in bandages, but that wasn’t what the four boys found so funny. No, she had put her sunglasses over her bandages to cover her eyes.
“Oh, because without the glasses I wouldn’t?”
“Yeah, but not as much of one.” Peter answered for Remus. Lyla’s bandaged face turned towards Peter who immediately went to stand behind James, who was struggling to repair what the birds had done to his hair.
“Take the glasses off Lyla.” Remus sat on the bed beside her, ignoring Sirius who was silently flailing about behind him.
“No.”
Remus took the spell off Sirius so he could join in. “Lyle, take the glasses off.”
“No.”
James joined in as well. “Take off the glasses Lyle.”
“No.”
“Take them off!” Sirius was clearly enjoying the fact that Lyla was getting annoyed and also that Remus was in the firing line, sitting next to her on the bed instead of him.
“If you tell me-“
“Take them off!” All four of the Marauders shouted at the same time, earning a reproving look from Madame Pomfrey.
“Fine.” She snatched the glasses off her face, but had her eyes closed.
Remus let out a frustrated sigh. “For Merlin’s sake Lyla, open your eyes before I pry them open.”
“Ooooo, okay then Moon-dy.”
“What did you just call me?”
“Moody.”
Remus looked at her suspiciously for a second. “Right, whatever. Just open your eyes.”
Lyla opened her eyes slowly. It had been Madame Pomfrey who had said that they may intimidate people; otherwise Lyla would never have known there was anything wrong with them.
“What the fudge!” Peter let out a cry of surprise.
“Bugger me, Lyle.”
“No thanks.”
“I see your wit hasn’t left you.” James said smirking. He leaned over her to get a better look at her eyes. “That’s just creepy.”
Her eyes - which had been two different colours, one a vibrant blue and the other hazel - were now two milky white orbs.
“Apparently I’d be blind right now, you know, if I wasn’t already. Irony.” She let out a halfhearted laugh.
“How long will it last?” Remus cupped Lyla’s chin in his hand, moving her head so he could get a better look at her eyes; there was nothing there. Before her eyes would to react to sounds she heard, rather than the things she saw, and most of time her eyes appeared empty, but occasionally they would sparkle with pleasure or flash with fury. Now though? Now there was nothing, they were just white pearlescent orbs.
“She didn’t know, it could be a couple of hours, could be a couple of days, could be forever.” She shrugged her shoulders; not seeming too bothered by it. “Did you bring any food with you?”
“Here.” Sirius placed a sandwich into her hand. “We’ve got to go, lunch finishes in ten minutes and our next class is on the other side of school. I’ll come back later.”
“But we’ve got that thing later.” James butted in.
“Prongs, what are you goin’ on about?.” Peter started, but Lyla interrupted him.
“No it’s fine, you four go and practice, you need it from what I heard last time and there’s only a couple of weeks until Halloween. You can come and get me in the morning.” She patted the bed and Indie jumped up, pushing Remus off.
“What are you-?” Sirius left the sentence unfinished, tonight was a full moon, that was why he couldn’t come back to visit her. Lyla knew this - and since the other Marauders didn’t know that she knew, - had given them an excuse to use on a silver platter.
As the four boys made their way out she heard Peter say, “I thought we were quite good.” Then what she assumed to be Remus smacking him across the back of the head.
That night after Lily and the rest of the girls had been to visit Lyla and Frank and Alice had been to drop off her homework, Lyla settled down to read the rest of Pride and Prejudice, it normally didn’t take her this long to read a book but she found that she had less time for reading because there were people other than her parents to talk to at Hogwarts. She found it quite difficult to sleep as the skin underneath the bandages was quite painful, so when she awoke for the sixth time that night she decided to stay awake and read some more, thinking that there was a good chance of not being interrupted in the middle of the night. Lyla unlike most people did not need a light on to read, so when someone was brought into the Infirmary at half past five in the morning Madame Pomfrey assumed that she was asleep.
She lay her book down on her lap and listened; whomever it was who had just been brought in obviously didn’t think they needed to be there.
“Really I feel fine, just tired, I could go back up to my dormitory and sleep there.” It was Remus. Lyla smiled to herself, picking the book back up.
“Mr Lupin, I am the nurse here and you will stay here for at least twenty four hours.”
Madame Pomfrey walked away, leaving a bruised and battered Remus on the bed next to Lyla’s. He had laid back against the fluffy pillows and closed his eyes when he heard something.
Slowly he managed to pull himself out of bed, although he wasn’t as ill as he would have been only a few months before, he had still sustained a fair few cuts and bruises while out on his escapades with the other Marauders. He made his way over to Lyla’s bed and pulled the curtain away, she was asleep. A smile came to his face at the sight of her, she looked like a mummy out of one of the Muggle films his mum enjoyed watching.
When he had replaced the curtains Lyla opened her eyes, thinking that she probably should try to go to sleep. She put her book (that she had hidden under the sheets) onto the bedside table, before laying back to fall into yet another uneasy sleep.
The next morning Madame Pomfrey removed the bandages from her face, tutting disapprovingly when she saw that the skin hadn’t fully healed.
“There still some damage to you face so you’re going to have to stay in for at least the rest of the day.”
“But you said I’d be able to go in the morning.”
“I said that you would be able to go if your skin had fully healed. It hasn’t so you are staying put, end of discussion. Now I’m going to let some air get to the new skin for a couple of hours and then I will cover it back up, do not touch your face, or let that thing lick you.”
“That’s not a very nice thing to say about Remus.” She laughed and immediately regretted it because it hurt, a lot.
“What did I just say?”
“You said don’t touch, not don’t laugh.”
“Well don’t touch, don’t laugh, don’t make inappropriate jokes about your fellow classmates and don’t let that dog lick you.” She turned on her heel before heading to Remus, who was sitting up in his bed, laughing.
“Yes ma’am.” Lyla said to herself, before turning to Remus, “and you can shut up, if I’m not allowed to laugh neither are you.”
“You’re the one who made me laugh, OUCH!” Madame Pomfrey had just jabbed him in the ribs where he had a very nasty bruise.
“You see,” she said in her annoying all knowing voice. “And you wanted me to let you go straight up to your dormitory.”
“What happened Remus?”
Madame Pomfrey answered for him, “A suit of armour fell on him while he was doing his prefect duties. Knocked him clean out! It was lucky one of the ghosts found him when they did.”
Remus started at the matron with a look of disgust on his face, as if a mere suit of armour could knock a Marauder out. “Yeah, that’s what happened.” He said slowly and more than a bit disgruntled. The last thing he wanted was for Lyla to think that he couldn’t even avoid a falling suit of armour. He decided that when Madame Pomfrey was gone he would tell her that he had been ambushed by a group of Slytherins who had made it look like an accident. “Yes” he thought to himself, that sounded much better.
Remus waited for Madame Pomfrey to return to her office, she was currently fussing over a small second year who seemed to have sprouted a tail.
“A suit of armour didn’t fall on me.” He said, hopping out of his own bed and coming to sit in the chair beside Lyla who turned her head to face him. Her skin looked red and painful (which, Remus thought to himself, it probably was) and her milky eyes looked startling next to the new skin.
“Oh no?” She raised an eyebrow and flinched.
“I was ambushed, by Slytherins…” He began on his tale of bravery and deceit which he had quickly thought up.
“Ambushed by Slytherins?”
Remus could tell she was trying not to laugh or smile by the pained look on her face.
“I was!” He gave a cry of frustration, stood up off the chair he was sitting on and plonked himself down next to her on the bed.
“Don’t you normally patrol with Lily?” Lyla asked shrewdly, poking a huge hole in his story.
“Well yes, but she’d gone back early to catch up on some homework.” Even as he said it he knew it sounded fake. Lily never left homework until the last minute; she always got it done straight away so she had the weekends free.
“Oh, right, okay.” Lyla had decided that while she could torture him with this for a good couple of hours, she really didn’t have to energy, especially when she knew where he really was.
Remus continued to babble for a couple of seconds before he realised what she said. “So yeah, that’s what happened.” He let out a sigh of relief.
“Ewww, Remus.” Lyla wafted her hand around her head because she couldn’t hold her nose.
“What?”
“Go and brush your teeth.” She started laughing and immediately regretted it, “ouch.”
“Ha, serves you right.” He got up and went to brush his teeth, before coming back and sitting beside her on the bed again. “So what happened yesterday?”
“I blew up the potions classroom.” Lyla didn’t really want to talk about it, she was so used to doing things right – mostly because if she got things wrong her parents had punished her in some way or another – that now she felt like an idiot. It was probably (she thought) a good idea that her parents had never done potions with her; she would probably have blown up the house and killed them all long before now. She sat frowning; ignoring the pain it caused her partially healed skin.
Looking at her now, she seemed to have shrunk into herself, as though she wanted to disappear. She definitely didn’t seem like the confident and out spoken girl he had come to know over the last month and a half. Remus placed a hand on hers.
Slowly she removed her hand from under his, running a finger along the top of it feeling a scar that ran down the back of his hand and along his little finger. Her fingers continued to trace the scar up his arm, changing course when a newer scar cut through the other. This one ran around the circumference of his forearm; it was a couple of months old but had yet to heal properly.
Remus had frozen when she had taken hold of his hand, her fingers dancing lightly across his skin so he could barely feel her touching him besides a slight tingle that ran up his arm, giving him goose bumps. He saw her forehead crease in concentration and then release because, he assumed, it had hurt her. Suddenly a thought occurred to him; what if someone saw them? If someone walked into the hospital now it could look like something else, something almost intimate. He looked at Lyla’s face and for the first time became fully aware of everything she had missed by not coming to school. Not just friends and lessons and Quidditch and detentions but feelings, like your first crush, or your first kiss or girlfriend. Remus remembered all of these vividly because they interlinked with one another; it had been at the end of their second year and it had been with Sophie under the Quidditch stands. He smiled at the memory; they had gone out all that summer and the first half of their third year until they both decided that they didn’t like each other anymore. Fortunately for them they were still at the age where there were no mind games and manipulation involved and they were still able to be friends without any awkwardness. But Lyla had never had a first kiss or anything like that. Another emotion overtook him: pity. No one should be isolated from growing and feeling and even though it hurts sometimes and it can feel like your heart and your head are two completely separate entities, you learn from them both; but she had never been given the chance to learn. And in that sense she was completely innocent.
While Remus had been lost in his thoughts and sympathy for her, Lyla had turned his hand over and ran her fingers over the palm. She was shocked at how rough they were and resting her whole hand on top of his how much bigger they were compared to her own.
Remus flashed a look at the door to make sure no one was there or was approaching, and the second year who was sharing the ward with them had pulled the curtains around his bed so no one could see him. He didn’t know how long they sat there in silence, but the redness of Lyla’s skin on her face had started to subside.
“You’ve got big hands.”
He jumped at the sound of her voice breaking through his thought process, startling him so much that he almost fell off the bed, he felt her hand close around his arm and hold him steady. And then, not for the first time that day, she was laughing at him.
“Madame Pomfrey told you not to do that.”
She shrugged her shoulders, causing the hospital gown she was wearing to reveal the one closest to him.
“It doesn’t hurt so much anymore.”
But Remus wasn’t listening to her; he was staring at the spot of bare skin that had been revealed when her gown slipped.
“It’s a shoulder for Merlin’s sake. You’re acting as though she just flashed her boobs at you!” A voice inside his head reprimanded him for staring. But before it could continue another joined the fray.
“But it’s a very nice shoulder, it’s all tanned and pretty; she must have been away.”
“God you’re pathetic.”
“I know.”
“Remus?”
He jumped again, making her laugh, “sorry I-er drifted off.”
“Why don’t you go back to bed for a couple of hours before that lot turns up to “make you feel better”.”
He knew precisely who she was talking about and took the opportunity to move away from her because he was starting to feel quite confused. “I think you’re right, I will go and have a kip.” He slid from where he was on the bed, made his way over to his own and climbed in.
“Enjoy your nap.” Lyla said, a sadistic smile on her face.
“It’s not a nap, it’s a kip.”
“Same thing.”
“No it’s not, babies have naps, oh shut up.” He yawned at her as she had started laughing at him again. He cast one more quick look at her before turning over to face the opposite direction; he heard her rustling around with paper before falling asleep.
Lyla was released from Madame Pomfrey’s care the next morning in time for breakfast; Remus had been released the night before after throwing what could only be described as a hissy fit. She made her way down to breakfast with Lily, Sophie, Amelia and Nina who had been sent by the Marauders because they had some emergency work to do.
“They’re being very weird lately, have you noticed that?”
“It’s the Marauders. They’re always weird.” Lily sighed. It was true, there hadn’t been a quiet moment in the castle for the five years she had been here. And Lily had a feeling that was because of the four fifth year Gryffindor boys, who had recently disappeared, which was always a cause for concern.
Just as the girls were getting ready to leave all four Marauders ran into the Great Hall and grabbed handfuls of toast before it disappeared off the gold plates.
“See. Weird.” Amelia whispered to Sophie and Lyla, both of whom started laughing.
“Sophie, I need to talk to you about Quidditch practice tonight.” James took hold of Sophie’s arm and dragged her away; talking about some new beating tactics he had dreamt about the night before and wanted to try out.
******************************
Sirius sat behind the drum kit bouncing up and down with excitement, “so what did you think?” I thought we sounded a lot better than last time.”
Lyla was lay on her bed scratching Indie behind the ears, contemplating her answer. While it was true they had sounded a lot better than the last time she had heard them, that wasn’t saying much.
“Well-,”
“Come on Lyle it’s not hard.” A small frown appeared on his face and he began to wrap his hair and his fingers, a gesture which his friends constantly tell him makes him look like a little girl, but since Lyla can’t see she wouldn’t be able to have a go at him for it.
“Honestly?”
“Yes honestly, why would I want a non-honest answer?”
Lyla looked at him a bemused expression on her face ““Non-honest?” You just made that word up.” she had begun to laugh at him.
“No I didn’t it’s a word, anyway,” he picked up a pair of drumsticks spinning them round with his fingers, “enough stalling, what did you think?”
“You’re crap.”
He dropped the drumsticks, “what?”
She flinched, not meaning it to come out as harsh as it sounded, well not sounded, was. “Well you’re not, surprisingly enough for someone who‘s had to wait six years between practices –In fact, no, you weren’t crap I was joking I thought you were really good-“ She continued to ramble on like this until Sirius stopped her.
“Lyla.”
The use of her proper name stopped her rambling instantly and had she been able to see the look Sirius was giving her would have sent a shiver down her spine. Thankfully she couldn’t see him, but she was getting an “I am really pissed off with you” vibe coming from him. “You said be honest.” She said, finally deciding on the tough love approach.
“Yeah, but not brutal. Why didn’t you just rip my heart out and jump up and down on it.” He sat tapping lightly on the snare drum feeling extremely down-hearted; the Marauders didn’t fail, it was unheard of that there was a chance that they would not emerge victorious. An accusatory voice sounded inside his head, “this is all James’ fault.”
Lyla couldn’t help it, she had started to laugh at him before she even realised what she was doing, “drama queen much?”
“I AM NOT A DRAMA QUEEN!”
“Did I hit a nerve then?” She was grinning evilly at him, her eyes still hadn’t reverted back to their original colours and gave the impression that her eyes had rolled into the back of her head so only the whites of her eyes were visible. She had taken to wearing her sunglasses again when walking around the corridors and in her lessons, but when she was with Sirius and the others she didn’t bother to wear them because she enjoyed creeping them out.
“Don’t stare at me like that, you’re creeping me out, and don’t try and change the subject.”
“Ah yes, where was I?”
“I believe you were insulting me.” He gave a cymbal a huge beat.
“I was not insulting you, I was insulting Remus, James, Peter and you. Okay, you’ve got two weeks until D-Day- “
“-D-Day? What are you going on about?” He looked at her as though she had suddenly started speaking gobbledygook.
“Ask Lily, anyway as I was saying you have two weeks-“
“-I know how long we have, what are we going to do?!” He interrupted her again, this time throwing his arms up into the air sending his drumsticks crashing down around him.
“Careful! I’ve not got an unlimited supply.”
He cast her a look that said “are you a witch or not?”
“Yes I am a witch, thank you.” She started laughing at his shocked silence.
“Get out of my head, and help me.” He started to wrap his hair around his fingers again.
“And you do look like a girl when you do that.”
His eyes widened in fury and he stood up, proceeding to jump up and down on the spot “Stop it stop it stop it.”
“Okay okay, unbunch your undies. You want to know what you should do?”
He sat down again “yes please.”
“Practice, whenever you’re not at Quidditch practice, obviously.”
“Yeah but-“
It was Lyla’s turn to interrupt Sirius, and pretending as though she hadn’t heard him continued speaking, “-especially James.”
He stood up from behind the drums and made his way over to her, slumping down next to her on the bed, he turned his head so his nose was inches away from her face, “Couldn’t you help?”
Her eyes narrowed at the question “No.” And he knew perfectly well why.
The tone of her voice told him that the subject was closed, he made a mental note to curse James the next time he saw him.
“So, since we’re being honest…”
Lyla let out a large sigh, she knew what was going to follow, he had been badgering her for the past six weeks about telling Remus that she knew about him, and her answer had remained the same, “NO WAY JOSE!”
“Don’t take that tone with me. When are you going to tell him?”
“I’m not, he’s got enough on his mind without me adding to it. Now do one, I want to finish my book before the end of the century.” She picked up Pride and Prejudice from her bedside cabinet and opened it around three quarters of the way through.
“Fine.” Giving a parting pat on the head to Indie he made his way out of the dormitory.
Lyla put her book down, her eyes seemingly staring at the spot in the wall he had disappeared through, it wasn’t very often that Sirius gave in that easily, and naturally she was suspicious because this was Sirius Black, and he was undoubtedly up to something.
******************************
Lyla sat in the back corner of the library on a large squishy settee; Indie next to her on the floor. He had been on the chair but Mr Craig, the librarian, had seen him and gone off his tiny little rocker. It had been one of the most difficult moments of Lyla’s life, trying not to laugh at someone who was attempting to discipline you in a whisper. So now Lyla was sitting on the settee on her own, Indie sulking next to her. This was the first time she had been in a library and she decided she did not like it at all. It was far too quiet for her liking. She used sound in the same way most people would use sight; she was pretty much able to figure out where anyone was just from hearing them speak or make a noise, but in this pit of silence all she could hear was the scratching of a dozen or so quills and, because they all sounded the same, it made it difficult to pinpoint where anything was.
“You look pissed.”
“That’s because you are late.” Lyla put the book down that she had been reading next to her and looked in the direction of where Remus’ voice had come from.
“Sorry, James wouldn’t shut up. He’s had another idea for Marauder bonding.” He shrugged apologetically.
“You know, that excuse gets old when you use it all the time.” She smiled up at him, patting the settee next to her to indicate that he should sit.
“I use it all the time because he never shuts up.” He laughed as he sat down in the offered chair. He was slightly nervous about meeting her as he had no idea what it was about. All Sirius had told him was that Lyla needed to speak to him about something and then James had come barging into their room shouting about his amazing idea and how it would bring the Marauders closer together. Remus had tried to block him out and ask Sirius what Lyla had wanted, but James was resilient and forced them to pay him attention.
“So, Sirius told me you wanted to talk to me about something.”
A puzzled look crossed Lyla’s features. “No, I believe it was you who wanted to talk to me.”
It was now Remus’ turn to be confused and he thought back to the conversation he had just had with his friend. “I’ve just spoken to Sirius and he said that you wanted to talk to me and you’d be in the library.”
“Oooof course he did.” Lyla shook her head and ran her fingers though her hair. She had thought that she had convinced Sirius that it would be better not to let Remus know that she was aware of his ‘furry little problem’ as it would just give him something else to worry about. He had finally agreed with her, but now it seems he didn’t agree and only pretended to in order prevent her from hexing him.
“So,” Remus broke her reverie; he’d been so quiet that she’d forgotten he was there. “What is he up to this time?”
Lyla sighed; she may as well get this out of the way with as quickly and painlessly as possible. “Well, the thing is, I know.”
Remus didn’t know what to make of this little revelation. “You know what?”
“Iknowaboutyourfurrylittleproblem.” She had spoken that quickly it had all just joined together into one long and completely unfathomable word.
Remus was stumped yet again. “Come again?”
“Eugh, right.” Lyla decided to take a different tact. “You know how girls have their ‘time of the month?”
“Ew, and yes.” Remus grimaced at the thought, and then the realisation of what she was trying to say dawned on him.
“You know?” He hissed at her, panicking. “Since when? Have you told anyone?” He took hold of her by the shoulders, staring into her white unseeing eyes.
“First of all, get off me.” She pushed him away. “Second of all, since I met you, so that’s nearly two months. And finally, no I haven’t told anyone, bar Sirius, but he already knew.”
“How could you be sure he already knew? You have no right to go telling-“
“Remus,” Lyla was starting to get annoyed; she hadn’t wanted to tell Remus in the first place, but the almighty Sirius Black had ignored her. He would definitely have to pay. “Can you calm down please? For Merlin’s sake, what the hell is wrong with you? Of course Sirius knew and so do James, Peter and Lily.”
“How the fuck-“
“Do not speak to me like that.” She warned him her voice turning dangerously cold. She had always had a problem with her temper; getting irritated by the smallest things, and people not listening to her when she was trying to explain something was one of her biggest pet peeves. ”I will explain if you shut the hell up for two seconds.” Her eyes flashed dangerously (which Remus noticed was the first time they had since the potions accident), scaring any fight out of Remus and effectively shutting him up.
“First of all, Indie doesn’t like you, and Indie likes everyone. Secondly you disappeared the second night back to school and you disappeared again two weeks ago, which both just happened to be full moons.”
“You can’t have known just from that. Sirius, James and Peter didn’t figure it out until our second year.”
Lyla snorted, “I’m a lot smarter than Sirius, Remus.” Casually she ran a hand through her hair.
“Now who’s keeping secrets? Tell me the truth. How do you know?”
Lyla snapped. “Why the hell should I? Give me one good reason why I should trust you?” Her voice was ice cold, and her hands were balled into fists.
“Because I have to trust you.”
The simplicity of that statement alone checked Lyla’s temper; that was true. Remus hardly knew her. And while they had become friends over the past two months, that didn’t give her the right to expect absolute trust off him and give him nothing in return.
“Fine.” She explained to him what she could do, really it was just Legilimency, but she had been born with the ability rather than having to learn it. That wasn’t all, but she wasn’t going to tell him everything, especially when she hadn’t told Sirius. In fact, there was only two other people alive who knew what other ability she possessed.
Remus had sat listening to her explain, it certainly cleared a lot of things up.
“There, you have to trust me and now I have to trust you.” Lyla finished, she hoped she wouldn’t regret telling him.
“Sirius knows?”
She nodded.
“Okay, I’ve got to go. James has called another practice, and you heard us earlier, we stink, still.”
“Not as much as you did last week, you should be proud of yourselves.” She smiled at him as she picked her book up again. She does that a lot, he thought to himself, and if she wasn’t smiling she was generally shouting at someone, it really was one extreme or the other with Lyla. It then occurred to him that she might know exactly what he was thinking. He cast a quick glance at her, she had gone back to reading her book and didn’t look like she was taking the slightest interest in what he was thinking, but then, what did she look like when she knew? His head started to hurt.
He stood up, deciding to leave before his head exploded “Right, I’m off.”
“See you later, and Remus?”
“Yeah?”
“If I were you I’d work on the solos and bass.” She didn’t look up but continued to run her fingers along the pages.
“Am I that bad?.” His brow furrowed with worry.
“No, you’re not too bad, you just lack confidence. And James needs to practice more because it’s blatantly obvious that he’s never picked an instrument up in his life until six weeks ago.” She still wasn’t looking at him. “I’ll see you at dinner Remus.”
“Yeah, bye Lyla.” As he made his way out of the library he thought about his friends waiting upstairs, and despite what Lyla said, they did in fact suck. This is all James’ fault.
A/N: Ok so it’s not my favourite chapter I’ve ever written but it’s taken me that long to get this far I thought I should put it out and then carry on working on it. As usual let me know what you think, I love hearing everyone’s thoughts, Good or bad.
REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!
***Thanks again to Jill for putting up with me and my awful grammar***
A/N - 5/10/2009: Ok guys I'm soooo sorry chapter 10 is taking this long to get up, i've had some MAJOR writers block. Ive finally got going again but i've had to resort to drastic measures like pen and paper!!! Shocking I know. But now i seem to have got my flow back so i'm hoping that i should have it up in the next week or so, once I've had it beta'd. Thanks for reading guys and dont forget REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW because it makes me smile and encourages me to write more =]
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