Remus Lupin's house looked just like him: small, scarred but warm and kind at the same time. He had a saucepan in the hallway where a constant drip came from the ceiling, and the plaster was cracked in several places.

"It's not much, but its home," Remus said, leading us into the living room.

This room was more put together; bookshelves took up one side of the room and a sagging brown sofa and chairs surrounded an old-fashioned television. But there was artwork of animals and flowers which brightened the room; as well as wizard photographs hanging above the TV and covering the one dresser.

"I didn't think you'd still be living here, Remus, it was a total gamble." Mum confessed, as she placed her suitcase on the floor. "I thought you might have moved on."

Remus shrugged and looked embarrassed. "Well mum died... what was it, five years ago and I couldn't afford anything else. I also figured one day you'd come looking for me."

"Were you friends in school?" Sasha asked curiously. Mum didn't speak much about her past, so anything we did learn was always interesting.

"Yes," Remus' face brightened. "We were in the same year, I was a Gryffindor... They were good times."

Both he and mum sighed nostalgically. Then Remus clapped his hands together. "Right, I'll sort your rooms out—then I'll make us all a cup of tea."

He darted from the room, a new energy seeming to flow from him, entirely different to the tired man who greeted us at the door.

"Mum, did you and him ever date?" I asked curiously. It was the only reason I could think that mum had never brought us—that we could remember—to visit such a lovely man, who had obviously been a close friend.

Mum snorted. "Remus? Never, he's like a brother to me. James always used to say we should have when we were younger... I was much fonder of the rules than James and Peter..."

"James and Peter? Who are they?" I wondered.

"James Potter was one of my dearest friends," Mum said softly, and Sasha and I exchanged a look. "Yes, as in Harry Potter... James and Lily—Harry's mum—were so good to me over the years. The Potter's took me in after the hag threw me out."

Sasha and I always knew mum hated our grandparents. She'd gotten pregnant with Sasha when she was seventeen and had been thrown out when they found out. She hadn't finished Hogwarts as a result but told us she regretted nothing because she had us.

"Is that why you were upset when you saw Harry at the zoo today?" I asked quietly, thinking of how small he was, and how cruel his family was.

Mum nodded, tears coming to her eyes. "I was made godmother to him. He's your godbrother."

"Wicked," Sasha said. Then she frowned. "Why didn't he come and live with us after his parents were killed?"

Anger glinted in the corner of Mum's eyes. "Believe me, that's what I wanted to happen. I begged Dumbledore, begged him to let your father and I take him. But he said Harry needed to be with Lily's sister... For what reason, God knows why."

"They were horrible to him at the zoo!" I exclaimed, feeling the loss of a childhood with the soft, sweet boy I'd met. "His Uncle practically bruised his arm with how tight he was holding him!"

Anger flickered in Mum's eyes again. "I want you both to look out for him in school. Tell him about me, and that he can come and stay with us for however long he likes."

"In Remus' woodland getaway cottage for werewolves?" Sasha snorted. Mum and I both looked at her with surprise. "I'm not stupid—those were werewolf claws in the mud outside, and you called him moony?"

"It's true." A soft voice came from behind us, and we looked to see Remus holding a tray with three mugs of tea. "I'm a werewolf, and this is the perfect place for me to be when I change. My parents moved me out here, when I was first infected."

"I'm sorry," I said quietly. "It must be horrible."

Remus beamed in comparison to our solemn faces. "It makes a change; most people call me horrible!" then his smile faltered. "You girls... don't mind that, do you?"

I shook my head. I'd read about werewolves and vampires, and I knew that it wasn't their fault. They'd been infected with supernatural diseases that were out of their control. Nobody should be shut out from society for that reason.

"Werewolves are cool," Sasha said. "You don't reckon you could wolf out on Lucius Malfoy for mum, do you?"

We all laughed, and then Remus frowned. "That reminds me—what did you do to get fired, Cara?"

Mum flushed pink and began telling our story.

***

Life at Remus Lupin's house was so much better than the Malfoy's for so many reasons. Remus let Sasha and I decorate our guest room, and we spent a whole afternoon painting it sea blue and sticking luminous stars on the ceiling.

We didn't have to worry about where we could go in the house—Remus let us go wherever we wanted. We could curl up in one of the chairs reading a book or play our muggle music and dvd's as loud as we wanted (within reason).

The only person I missed from the Malfoy's was Cassie.

Mum was influencing Remus' home as well. She replaced Remus' sad sofa and chairs with our own, and spent a whole afternoon plugging leaks and painting over cracked plaster. She'd even found a new job as a tutor for a wealthy family with five (!) small wizard children under the age of ten.

"Right girls," Mum said to us, a month after we'd moved in to Remus' home. "I've got my first pay check from the Barrow family, so now we can go to Diagon Alley!"

I squealed in delight. I would finally get my wand, my robes and all my new books for Hogwarts! I was buzzing with excitement as I got dressed that morning, until...

"What's the matter, Lyra?" Sasha asked as she plaited her hair. "You look like a deflated balloon."

"Well..." I hesitated. "Diagon Alley is busy... people are going to see me, and my freaky golden eyes and get scared."

Sasha sighed, and sat me down on my creaky old bed. From instinct, she began brushing and plaiting my hair. It calmed her. "You've got to stop thinking about what people think of you. Some people suck and are judgmental, but that's life. And you're special, remember? Nobody else can do what you do."

I took a deep breath and nodded. I hadn't told mum that I knew about my powers, and I wanted to keep it that way for now. She was so happy being reunited with Remus, and in her new job that I didn't want to make things serious and sad again.

"Okay," I beamed as she finished plaiting my hair. "I'll be a new, fearless Lyra!"

"With her cat backpack and Disney t-shirt," Sasha said slyly.

"Shut up!" I shrieked, and the two of us moved away from serious conversation to throw socks at each other until mum screamed at us that it was time to leave.

***

In barely any time at all—Mum apparated—we arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, which was the entrance to Diagon Alley through the Muggle world. We squeezed through an unusually large crowd of people into the scrubby alleyway with the special brick wall.

Mum whipped her wand out of her handbag and tapped it in several places. Then the bricks wobbled and almost melted away like ice, to reveal—Diagon Alley.

Diagon Alley was one of my favourite places in the whole entire world. It was narrow and shops were squished into every crevice of the cobbled street. What I loved most about Diagon Alley was how there was always something interesting going on.

There were women gossiping about the newest Weird Sisters album over ice-creams by Fortescue's, customers whining about the spiraling price of dung beetles, owls hooting to each other over the constant hum of chatter, and young boys admiring the latest Nimbus broomstick.

Sasha eyed it up wistfully, until Mum tugged her along reminding her she'd only bought her a Cleansweep five broomstick for her last birthday. Sasha was really into her Quiddich, playing as a chaser for Hufflepuff. I liked Quiddich, but the thought of being that high up in the air was a terrifying thought to me.

"Mum, can we go to the bookstore?" Sasha asked, her eyes bright. My sister's moods might be temperamental at best, but she never failed to smile when books were mentioned. "I really want to see if the latest Ruby series book is in!"

"Sure, sweetheart," Mum smiled, and the three of us began to walk down the cobbled street.

"Hey, Lyra, why not you go get your robes?" Sasha said brightly. "I'm sure you don't want to be surrounded by stuffy books."

"But I like the Ruby series as well," I pouted.

"Why don't you go and me and mum will go to that shop," Sasha said slowly, raising her eyebrows.

"Ah," Mum and I both said together, understanding immediately.

It was my birthday on September 12th, and I imagined Sasha probably wanted to buy me a present. As prickly as she could be sometimes, Sasha cared about birthdays. A lot.

She was the one who bought me Sooty for my tenth birthday out of her pocket money and fed Lucius' peacocks for a month to get me a violin for my eighth birthday after we saw Swan Lake and I fell in love with classical music. She even paid extra to have a tiny Lyre constellation engraved near the neck, so I could see it every time I played.

"Okay," I grinned as mum gave me money for robes and the directions for the shop.

Excited at the prospect of getting my robes—and okay, my birthday present from my sister—I practically skipped into the shop, the bell tinkling as I pulled the door open.

"Oh hello, dear," the seamstress appeared, and looked startled for a moment. I flushed, knowing it was because of my eyes. "Hogwarts as well?"

"Yes please," my voice came out as a squeak. "First year,"

She smiled in a way that put me at ease. "Come to the back, I've just got two young men getting fitted. You can squeeze right in."

I followed the seamstress to the back of the shop, just to be greeted by a simultaneously wonderful and horrible sight. Harry Potter, my new godbrother with his lightning bolt scar stood next to Draco Malfoy, the boy who I despised the most in the world.

Okay, maybe not the most. But Draco was such an infuriating snob, the exact opposite of Cassie he made me want to scream every time I saw his smug face. He thought he was so much better than everybody, and always made a point of teasing me about my appearance. He was maddening.

"Harry!" I exclaimed as I stood in between the two boys, as the seamstress draped robes around my shoulder and set the magic needles and thread to work. Draco made a face, while Harry looked quite relieved. "Good to see you again!"

"Yeah," he smiled. "A lot has happened since we met last."

Not wanting to flaunt to Draco that I knew Harry Potter himself, I decided to keep Harry's identity a secret from the twerp. "Same! The last month has been so hectic!"

Draco snorted, "Yes, like traumatise my poor mute sister."

I turned on Draco so fast that the pins quivered in my robes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Your stupid half-blood mother gets herself sacked, and you don't even have the common decency to say goodbye to my sister," Draco sneers. "She cried everyday for a week, it was quite depressing actually."

"Well your father upset her enough, I didn't want her to lose her best friend that very same evening." I said, my cheeks flushed pink. "Cassie is my very best friend, Draco, you know that."

Draco rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "Maybe she doesn't feel the same anymore. Maybe she's going to forget all about you in Hogwarts..."

"Don't." I gritted my teeth together. That was one of my worst fears.

"And any sane person would rather be friends with a girl who didn't talk, compared to a freak with golden eyes whose mother was on drugs when she had her." Draco sneers, and my fists clench at my sides. I can feel my accidental magic burning inside me, itching to punish this horrible boy. "Say, you—what would you prefer?"

He turned to Harry, still smirking. "What?" Harry looks startled.

"Would you rather be friends with a mute girl, or this freak standing next to you?"

"Uhhh...."

"What house do you think you'll be in?" Draco asked Harry, ignoring me all together since I could tell he had me all hot and flustered.

"I don't know," Harry looks like a confused deer in headlights, bless him.

"Well I'll be in Slytherin, and so will my sister." Draco said proudly. "Imagine being in Hufflepuff, I'd rather leave, wouldn't you?"

Thinking of my mum and Sasha, I shove Draco off his pedestal and he goes flying face first onto the floor, robes and pins flying over his head like a cape. He squeals under the robes, and the seamstress runs from the front counter to help him up.

"Oops," I shrug, barely supressing a smile.

"Nice one," Harry grins, and we share a quick high-five, making our faces impassive when Draco climbs back onto his pedestal.

The three of us stand in silence for a few moments as our robes are adjusted, when Draco breaks the silence by exclaiming. "Oh wow! Look at that man!" then he turns to me. "Isn't that your mum with him, Lyra?"

I squint out of the window to see my mum, with a bulging bookshop bag talking to the man Draco pointed out. He's massively tall with a shaggy mane of curly hair and beard and would look scary—if it wasn't for his kind black eyes, and the two ice-creams he's holding in his hands.

"That's Hagrid," Harry said, looking pleased to know something stupid Draco didn't. "He works at Hogwarts."

"Oh," Draco frowns. "Isn't he a servant?"

"He's a gamekeeper," Harry said coldly, and I got the impression that he and I were equal now in our hatred for Draco.

"Oh yes," Draco rolls his eyes. "He lives in the forest like a savage. Every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic and sets fire to his bed!"

"I think he's brilliant." Harry has a scowl on his face and looks genuinely angry at Draco insulting this Hagrid man.

"Why is he with you? Where are your parents?" Draco sneers, and I'm sure that he has no idea who Harry is.

"They're dead," Harry says in a quiet voice, and I shoot him a sympathetic look.

"Oh, sorry," said Draco. But he didn't sound sorry. He said it in the way you would if you bumped into somebody in the street. Distant and far away. "Were they our kind?"

"Draco." I said sharply, getting closer and closer to hitting him than I had with anybody in my life.

"They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you meant." Harry sounded confused now.

"They shouldn't let the other sort in, I don't think. They haven't been brought up to know our ways. Some don't even hear about Hogwarts until they have a letter!"

"They have magic, why shouldn't they go to Hogwarts?" I snapped. "I bet a muggle-born could beat your sorry arse at magic any day!"

Draco was stopped from rebuking by the seamstress declaring him done. He gave one final scowl to me and told Harry he'd see him in school.

Harry and I were left alone, at last.

"He's a horrible boy, that one." I glared after Draco as he sauntered down the Alleyway.

"I can see that," Harry said. "So... you're magic as well!"

"I would have told you at the zoo," I apologised. "But I figured out pretty quick that you didn't know. I thought it wouldn't be nice for a stranger to tell you."

Harry nodded in agreement. "There's so much I don't know... I don't know how I'll ever catch up!"

"I'll help you," I said with a smile. "Lesson one: avoid the blood purists like Draco. They're a bad sort if I ever saw one."

The two of us quickly finished our robe fittings and ducked back out in the sunlit alleyway to meet mum and Hagrid. Mum quickly rearranged her expression from shocked to a normal friendly smile when she saw Harry with me.

"Hello, you must be Harry," Mum held her hand out to him. "Hagrid and Lyra have both told me lots of good things about you."

Harry flushed pink. He didn't look used to getting praise. "It's nice to meet you."

Mum looked at Harry again, her mouth slightly open in awe. Then she shut her mouth and smiled again. "I'm sorry, Harry. It's just... you look so much like your father."

"I do?" Harry's face brightened. "You knew my parents?"

"Yes, very well." Mum smiled. She paused. "Maybe you could visit over Christmas, and we could talk about them? Show you some pictures?"

Harry nodded enthusiastically, and I realised what mum had done. She hadn't been expecting to see Harry so soon and didn't want to drop the godmother bomb on him without gaining his trust and friendship first.

The four of us (Sasha was still supposedly getting me my birthday present) sat at the ice-cream parlour for a bit, eating and chatting. Mum was catching up with Hagrid, who as it turns out she was close with in school.

"Lyra?" Harry had been quiet for a bit, but I figured he'd been concentrating on his ice-cream. "What's Hufflepuff?"

"One of the Hogwarts houses," I told him around my massive strawberry ice-cream. "There's four—Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. You get sorted into the house according to traits."

"Is Hufflepuff bad?" he said gloomily. "That Draco boy acted like it's the worst."

"I was a Hufflepuff, and so is my other daughter, Sasha." Mum said, cutting into our conversation. "Hufflepuff is known as a... softer house. For those who are loyal and just."

"Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin," Hagrid said darkly. "There hasn't been a witch or wizard alive that didn't go bad that wasn't a Slytherin. You-Know-Who was a Slytherin."

My stomach twisted into a bundle of knots. Cassie wouldn't turn into a bad person if she did get into Slytherin? Right? Surely there could be an exception—there had to be some bad people in some of the other houses as well.

Mum and I went around with Harry and Hagrid, getting the rest of our supplies. Harry had to be persuaded not to get a solid gold cauldron, and then tried to convince me to get it, saying it matched my eyes.

I'd never had somebody lightly tease me about my eye colour before. I'd had insults, and love from my mum and sister—but never friendly banter. It warmed my heart to find my godbrother so lovely, and I didn't stop smiling for a whole twenty minutes.

"Right...." Hagrid examined Harry's supply list. "We only need to get you both wands... and I haven't gotten you a birthday present Harry."

Harry flushed pink. "You don't need to—"

"I know I don't have to. Tell you what, I'll get you an animal." Hagrid's face brightened. "How do you fancy an owl? They're dead useful, can carry your post and everything!"

"Why not you pick an owl, and I take the kids to get their wands?" Mum said brightly, putting a hand on each of our shoulders. "Then maybe we can find my other pesky daughter."

Excitement bubbled and fizzed inside my stomach like champagne begging to escape a wine bottle. I'd been waiting and waiting for my wand... It would make me feel like a proper witch.

Ollivander's shop was a very famous shop, but also a very dusty and shabby one. But having lived with Remus for a month, I knew not to just a book by its cover.

A bell rang in the deep abyss of the shop as we stepped inside. It was cramped place, with only one aging chair in front of the desk. Mum sat on it, smiling as she looked at all the hundreds of wands filling the shelves.

Magic seemed to grasp onto every particle in the airless room, hanging over us like a blanket, getting ready to be awakened. I'd never been so excited.

"Good afternoon," A soft voice whispered from behind the shadowy counter.

Harry and I both jumped as an old man appeared behind the counter. He was as pale as a ghost, his eyes milky orbs. But they lit up at the sight of us.

"I thought I'd be seeing you both soon—Lyra Black, and the famous Harry Potter."

Ollivander moved closer to us, and a shiver went up my spine. I'd been ill when Sasha got her wand, so I'd never met this strange man before. I wondered if he knew what personal space was.

"And that's where..." Ollivander touched the lightning scar on Harry's forehead lightly, as if he was afraid it would bite. "I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly. "Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands..."

"Hey," Mum said sharply. "They're just kids."

Ollivander's eyes lit up at the sight of my mum. "Ahh, Cara Black, a pleasure as always. Your wand—it was oak, yes—ten inches, with a phoenix feather."

"Yes," Mum said calmly. "I know, you told me this when I came with my other daughter two years ago."

Ollivander took to ignoring mum, by pulling out a tape measure and turning to me. "Miss Black let's find you a wand first. Which is your wand-arm?"

"I'm right handed," I said, mostly for Harry's benefit. I could see the panic leave his face as I answered the question.

Ollivander measured everywhere imaginable, explaining to us about how unique every single wand was, and how we could never find a wand as effective as our own.

"Right... hmm, yes!" Ollivander dug around in a pile of wand boxes twice as tall as him, before emerging with a dusty black box. "I have a hunch about you, Miss Black—let me see if I'm correct."

He placed the box on the counter, and I opened it. The wand was of average length, and the oak-brown—but apart from that it looked different to any other wand I'd ever seen. Wrapping around the wand like vine, were yellow and white streaks that looked as if it were dyed.

I picked it up in my hand, and it felt warm to touch. I waved it above my head, and small beads of light danced out like fireflies, illuminating the dusty room.

"Wow," Harry whispered, his face lighting up. Mum clapped, looking as proud as anything. Ollivander, however, looked troubled.

"I see.... How peculiar." He murmured, as I placed the wand back in the box and be began to wrap it up. "Do you know much about wand-cores, Miss Black?"

I shook my head.

"This wand is eight inches and has a joint core of phoenix feather and unicorn tail," Ollivander said gravely. Mum, who had come to the counter with her purse, looked equally puzzled. "Two opposite cores, working together. Phoenix tears heal, while unicorn blood curses.... This wand has been in my shop over fifty years without anybody being chosen. But you were."

There was a long pause, and my face suddenly felt very hot. I'd realised something, and I needed to find Sasha before the words exploded out of me.

"I... I'm not feeling well." I stammered and ran out of the shop before mum or Harry could call after me.

I ran the full length of Diagon Alley twice, until I finally caught sight of Sasha, who was ducking out of the bookstore, with two heavy-looking bags.

"Oh hey!" she exclaimed. "Where's mum—"

"Phoenix tears!" I burst out, feeling relief at voicing it at last.

"What?" Sasha looked puzzled, and grabbing my arm pulled me into a side-street by the bookstore by the rubbish bins.

"I have phoenix tears inside me, somehow," I said in a big rush. "I was connected to this wand, with a phoenix feather! And when Ollivander explained, it made sense... It explains my gold eyes, Sasha! It explains why I can heal people!"

Fear crossed Sasha's face. "But... Lyra. You've always had golden eyes, ever since you were born. Which means—"

"Somebody hurt mum," we whispered together.

I had a lot of ideas, and none of them made sense. I could deal with being lucky enough to be born with healing powers. But I don't think I could deal with being created, being engineered to heal. And mostly importantly—to heal who?

---

A/N The pieces are starting to come together with Lyra's powers... what do you think will happen in regards to them? I have some good plans regarding them, which we'll see hints of in the next chapters :)

I'm pretty busy this week, but I'll post chapter four probably Wednesday night or Thursday morning. 

:)