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xxvii. Lyra
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CHRISTMAS SOON APPEARS around the corner, and Thea's glad to finally get the chance to relax and have a break from work and maybe, just maybe, take some time to herself to get her mess of a life together and figure out what she wants to do. She's realised she's not very good at balance.

The worst thing about almost finishing the term is that her biggest distraction from the horrors going on with the war is taken away. Soon, thoughts of Draco's tremor and Jude's dark circles and Eden's pasty skin start to trickle in, and she notices the terrible breakouts on her face she's getting and her habit of biting her nails down to the bone has come back in full force.

Today is the day of Slughorn's party, and she's so full of nerves that Polly has to literally drag her down to tea at five that evening.

"For God's sake, woman, you're going to a party, not a funeral!" Polly says as they make their way down to the common room, Polly's arm linked firmly in Thea's.

"I know that! I'm just...nervous." Thea looks down when the heat rushes to her cheeks.

She's going on a date with Harry! A date! At least, she thinks it's a date... maybe he doesn't want to go with her anymore? Thea frowns for a moment, before telling herself he would've told her if he'd changed his mind and found somebody else to go with, which he hasn't done, so...

"Earth to Thea!"

The girl jumps a mile in the air, turning to Polly with eyes as wide as an owl's.

"Sorry, I zoned out." Thea's response is short, her lips tightly pressed together in an effort to minimise the incessant nerves dancing through her whole body.

"Again," Polly replies curtly, before sighing. "Thea, if there's something going on –"

"I'm fine, Polly, I promise. I'm just really hungry." Thea tries to give the girl a convincing smile, one she's tired of trying to form.

An hour later, Thea trudges back up to her dorm to get ready, leaving Polly with Parvarti Patil in the Great Hall.

She starts sorting through her trunk and tries on all things from tailored trousers and satin blouses before her fingers land on a familiar material right at the bottom.

After a moment of debating, she pulls it out, ignoring the cascade of items flowing onto the already chaotic floor.

She smooths her fingers over the sleek green silk and the scent of sea salt and sandalwood fills her nose. Her mother's perfume seems to have been stitched into her old dress, along with the initials L.V sewn into the inside in silver.  Thea rolls her eyes; her mother wasn't even in Slytherin, but she would've fit in so well it hurts. Deciding it's the only appropriate outfit she has for the occasion, she slips into it and likes the coolness of the material that reaches before her knee and the straps that are tied in delicate bows of ribbon.

She fiddles in Polly's makeup bag for a moment, struggles with necklace clasps and earring backs before she's staring at herself in the mirror.

She shivers at the sight of her scarlet lips, long eyelashes and curls falling down her back, and then she can't look anymore. She turns around and pulls on a pair of black flats before rushing out, because she looks so much like the young Lyra that she saw in her father's memory that she could cry.

It's two minutes to eight when she reaches the Entrance Hall, where Harry told her to meet him. He's not here yet, but a flock of girls are, and she can hear them whispering about him.

Pathetic, she thinks, but her hands feel a little clammier than they did before, so she tangles them in the material of her dress and looks around impatiently, praying for him to hurry up so she can get away from the burning stares all around her.

"Hi."

Thea turns around and relief fills her body at the sight of Harry.

He's dressed smartly and his expression at the sight of her is similar to one that you would expect to see on someone who's been smacked in the head by a brick.

She smiles. "Hello. You look nice."

"So do you – I mean, not just nice. You look gorgeous."

"Thank you," she chuckles a little and runs a hand through her loose hair, feeling the tension from before dissolving from her skin as she takes his arm, despite the stares and glares from all around her turning even more frosty.

As they pass, Thea smiles widely at Romilda Vane, who is red in the face with fury, and although it's petty, she can't help but feel even more over the moon to have got under the younger girl's skin.

Thea feels her excitement swell as they step into the party, that's booming with wizard music that she doesn't much enjoy. Gold, red and emerald hangings are adorning the walls, and a huge, fancy lamp swinging ever so slightly due to the fairies using it as a climbing frame scatters rosy hues over the room.

"This is..." Thea is struggling to find a word to describe it, so she glances to Harry next to her.

"...fancy." He settles on, which she returns with a noise of agreement.

"Harry, m'boy!"

Thea's sure she hears him swear quietly, causing her to laugh and earn herself a glare.

"Come in, come in, so many people I'd like you to meet!" Slughorn booms over the chatter and music in the room.

"You can go if you want," Harry mutters into her ear.

"I'm not leaving your side," She says firmly, dropping his arm but taking his hand in hers.

When Slughorn has walked over to them, he seizes Harry's arm so enthusiastically that Thea wouldn't be surprised if it bruises, and drags him, and subsequently, her, after him.

"Harry, I'd like you to meet Eldred Worple, an old student of mine, author of Blood Brothers: My Life Amongst the Vampires, and of course his friend Sanguini."

Thea has to bite her tongue so as not to laugh, which earns her a curious look from Slughorn.

She tunes out from the conversation and notices the group of girls that have collected in the vicinity now Harry's there, and she shoots them a glare, not even because she's jealous, but because, didn't anyone ever tell them it was rude to stare?

After a while, Harry and Thea manage to leave Worple and his idea of him writing Harry's biography, another moment in which Thea had to restrain from laughing in the man's face, much to Slughorn's growing impatience with her. The pair are making their way over to Hermione, who they find flustered and a little dishevelled.

"What's happened to you?" Harry asks her.

"Oh, I've just escaped – I mean I've just left Cormac under the mistletoe," Hermione answers.

"I think you definitely meant escaped, Hermione," Thea says, earning a little smile from her friend.

"Serves you right for coming with him anyway," Harry says, with a look of disapproval.

"I thought he'd annoy Ron the most. I debated for a while about Zacharias Smith, but I thought, on the whole –"

"You considered Smith?" Harry exclaims, the disgust in his tone very apparent.

"Hermione, you do know that it would probably have been less painful to just tell Ron you fancy him than go out with either of those boys," Thea huffs, dropping Harry's hand to fold her arms across her chest.

Hermione's eyes turn ice cold, the look twisting her face to appear as though she'd just come across a rotten odour.

"I most certainly do not fancy Ron – oh no, here comes Cormac!"

Thea has never been more glad to see the girl disappear, because, if she's honest, she does find Hermione terribly intimidating, especially when she's angry.

Soon, Cormac makes his way up to the pair, a faint look of irritation tightening his face.

"Seen Hermione?"

"No, sorry," says Harry, as Thea offers the boy a fake look of apology, before they walk away quickly and disappear into the crowd.

"You take more pleasure in annoying her than anyone," Harry says through a laugh.

"I'm not annoying her, I'm pointing out the truth!"

"I know that, but hell will freeze over before she admits that to anyone, especially Ron himself, so it's pointless even suggesting it to her." Harry gives her an amused look.

Thea tilts her head. "So are you saying you agree with me?"

"I'm not saying anything," Harry says, but his amused expression tells her everything she needs to know.

"And you try to tell me I'm annoying!" Thea huffs, just as Slughorn locates them again and comes bustling over. "Oh, talk of annoying."

"Stop sulking in that corner and come and join us, Severus! I was just about to talk to Harry about his exceptional potion-making! Some credit must go to you, of course you taught him for five years!"

"Funny," Snape looks in distaste down at Harry. "I never had the impression that I managed to teach Potter anything at all."

Don't laugh, thinks Thea. Don't think about how funny Snape looks tucked under Slughorn's arm.

The awkward conversation continues for a moment, until there's a little commotion that draws Thea's fading attention. The sight of Filch dragging Draco by his ear into the middle of the room wipes the smirk clean off her face, turning it into a confused frown as she watches him.

For a moment, he glances at her, before looking away again quickly.

"Professor Slughorn. I discovered this boy lurking in an upstairs corridor. He claims to have been invited to your party and to have been delayed in setting out. Did you issue him with an invitation?"

Draco quivers with anger as he shakes Filch off him violently, before announcing, "All right, I wasn't invited! I was trying to gatecrash, happy?"

Not at all, Thea thinks. He's being so reckless. He's going to get himself hurt. He's going to get into trouble. He's going to get himself hurt. He's going to get others hurt. He's been up to something, I know it!

Thea feels a burning gaze into her head and looks to see Snape staring at her hardly, concentration evident on his face. She hears Lyra's voice. Wipe your mind clean. Forget your secrets. Even thinking about them spills them. Wipe. Your. Mind.

She gives Snape a nasty look, before turning back to Draco.

"Just this once, we'll forget any punishment; you may stay, Draco." Slughorn says, not in the slightest bothered by the interruption, but somehow merrier.

The crowd starts to dissolve into a mix of chatter and music, as though nothing had happened, but Harry and Thea share a frown.

What just happened?

The pair eye Draco talking to Slughorn, before he glances at Thea again, just for a second, but Thea knows Harry noticed it; she feels him tense up beside her.

"What is he up to?" Harry mutters right next to her ear, so quiet that it's barely audible.

Thea swallows. "He looks ill, doesn't he?" she mutters just as low, earning a tiny nod of agreement.

"I'd like a word with you, Draco," Snape says curtly.

Slughorn goes to stop him, but Snape doesn't budge, the anger in his tone clear.

"I'm his Head of House, and I shall decide how hard, or otherwise, to be. Follow me, Draco."

"Let's go," Harry mutters to her, leading her out of the party after a few moments.

They stand in the deserted corridor, and Harry starts pulling something that's silky and almost like water from his pocket. His Invisibility Cloak.

Once under the cloak, they begin to make their way through the castle, looking for any clue as to where Draco and Snape are.

Thea feels her heart push uncomfortably against her chest, glad for the background noise trailing from the party behind them as it masks it and their footsteps.

Eventually, Snape's cold tone drifts from the keyhole of a closed classroom door at the end of the corridor.

"... cannot afford mistakes Draco, because if you are expelled –"

"I didn't have anything to do with it, all right?"

"I hope you are telling the truth, because it was both clumsy and foolish. Already you are suspected of having a hand in it. The Cindercroft girl knows more than she's letting on, I looked into her mind."

Thea feels her heart plummet.

Draco's silent for a moment. "For the last time, I didn't do it, OK? That Bell girl must've had an enemy no one knows about – don't look at me like that! I know what you're doing, I'm not stupid, but it won't work – I can stop you!"

"Ah... Aunt Bellatrix has been teaching you Occlumency ... and Cindercroft, it appears, although I imagine that was her mother when she tried and failed to turn the girl into a perfect Death Eater..." Snape scoffs.

"Why do you keep going on about Thea? What does she have to do with anything?" Draco's voice is a little desperate and terribly defensive, so much so that it knocks her sick to her stomach.

"Because you know how serious her situation is – the girl is as good as dead!"

"That's funny," Draco starts through what sounds like gritted teeth. "Because she's still walking around holding Potter's hand, right in our faces, and nobody seems to be doing anything about it."

"Because of Lyra."

"What do you mean?" Draco's voice is now threaded with a little fear, which Thea picks up on when he falters.

"As soon as Lyra is taken care of, Thea – and Lestrange – will go exactly the same way. They're both as good as dead – the Dark Lord doesn't like liars, and he doesn't like traitors, and Lyra and her good-for-nothing daughter are both of those things. Anyone would be stupid to think that Thea is on our side, so I'm telling you not to fall for it like Lestrange did."

"Lestrange knows she's not on our side. Why is that relevant to this conversation and me, when I don't really care about either of them and Thea's situation with her mother is completely different to mine?"

"Don't lie to me; I know you are cordially acquainted with Thea, for whatever reason that may be, so I am just warning you. Do not fall for it. Thea is like her mother is more ways than anyone thinks; she is very talented at getting under people's skin."

Snape pauses for a moment, before continuing.

Thea can feel Harry's eyes scalding into her, but she's concentrating too hard on Snape's voice to look at him.

"It is relevant because Thea is dead because her mother disappointed the Dark Lord. Your father did the same. The Dark Lord shows no mercy, Draco."

"Why do you keep butting into my life?"

"Listen to me." Snape is so quiet, Thea doesn't hear everything clearly, except, "I made the Unbreakable Vow."

Draco's response is loud and clear. "Looks like you'll have to break it, then, because I don't need your protection! It's my job, he gave it to me and I'm doing it. I've got a plan and it's going to work, it's just taking a bit longer than I thought it would!" 

"What is your plan?"

"It's none of your business!"

"If you tell me what you are trying to do, I can assist you – "

"I've got all the assistance I need, thanks, I'm not alone."

"You were certainly alone tonight, which was foolish in the extreme, wandering the corridors without lookouts or backup. These are elementary mistakes – "

"I would've had Crabbe and Goyle with me if you hadn't put them in detention!"

"Keep your voice down!" Snape hisses, which causes Thea's blood to run cold.

She tugs on Harry's sleeve, in attempt to communicate that they need to go or risk being found out and most likely killed. Harry doesn't budge, until there's the muffled sound of footsteps on the other side of the door and they both leap away from it, only just concealed by the cloak still as Draco strides away, Snape soon after making his way in the direction of Slughorn's party that's still in full swing.

The corridor's only light is streaming from the classroom Draco and Snape were just in, illuminating Harry and Thea's faces under the cloak, only enough for them to mirror looks of complete horror at what they had just heard.

Thea's lungs are burning for a proper breath, her legs are aching to stretch out and her heart's pounding so hard that she swears it's going to leap out of her throat in a minute.

All she can think is, with a blood-curdling shiver, is that she'd best savour what it's like to be alive while she still can, and make a note of everything she loves about this castle because she can't come back next year.

It's confirmed. She already had an inkling, but now she knows for sure that the Death Eaters are out for blood. And not just anyone's.

They're after Cindercroft blood.

Or should she say, Lyra's blood.