I woke the next morning to find Sooty digging his claws into the duvet cover like the cute annoyance he was, and Katherine already in her school uniform, brushing her masses of curly hair.

"There's still hot water left if you want a shower." She said as a greeting.

"Thanks," I smiled. I remembered the warmth in her words when I played violin, so I knew she wasn't a bitch—she was just a bit guarded.

Taking a quick shower in the amazing bathroom (there was a claw-foot bathtub/shower and the taps and handles were badger heads!) I managed to do my hair into two half-decent plaits and get my uniform on quickly.

My robes were now adorned with the yellow fringing of Hufflepuff, and the cute logo of the badger. I touched the badger, pleased that this was my house.

"Took you long enough," Katherine said when I emerged from the bathroom. It wasn't unkind, but she looked unsettled. "We need to have breakfast before lessons—which we actually have to find."

I understood now. Under that intimidating façade she was just as nervous as I was. Maybe even more so.

"It's okay, we'll have time." I smiled, grabbing my trusty cat backpack. I put some food and water down for Sooty, giving him a quick stroke before we headed off.

True to her word, Sasha was waiting in the common room for us. She was sat on the arm of a sofa, swinging her legs obnoxiously, judging people's hairstyles as they went past.

"Hey, Lyra!" Sasha said brightly, leaping off the sofa. "Who's your friend?"

"I'm her roommate, Katherine Moran," Katherine sounded professional, like she was at an interview.

Sasha looked amused. "Nice to meet you. Can I call you Kat?"

"No." Katherine gave her deadpan expression, which I was starting to realise was her favourite one to use.

Sasha raised an eyebrow to me and led the both of us to the Great Hall. It was easy to find—Sasha told us that people in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had more trouble considering their houses were in the depths of the castle.

Breakfast was a nice—but busy—affair. I feasted on buttered crumpets and a lovely cup of tea as our timetables were handed out. I discovered we had Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts with Gryffindor and Transfiguration and Herbology with Slytherin. I brightened, seeing that I would see Harry and Cassie more often than I thought.

Before I forgot, I quickly wrote a letter to Mum.

Shyly I asked Cedric, one of Sasha's friends if I could borrow his owl. He gave me a big smile and said: 'Of course!' He even tied the letter around his owl's leg and said I could use his owl to send letters any time I wanted. Sasha had a good taste in friends.

I'd only just thanked Cedric before he hurried off to his lesson with Sasha (who gave me a quick kiss on the head) when I heard a little squeal from behind, and almost choked on my crumpet as I was attacked by a hug from behind. Managing to swallow my crumpet without dying I turned to see Cassie latched onto my back.

She had a massive toothy grin on her face, and had her hair in a high ponytail, secured with a green ribbon. Cassie had to be one of the cutest humans alive.

"Cassie!" I exclaimed, hugging her back as she sat next to me. "How's Slytherin treating you?"

Cassie scribbled in her notebook: Pansy and Millicent are there, which sucks. But there's a couple of nice girls in my dorm. It's not as bad as I thought it'd be! How's Hufflepuff?

"Great," I replied with a smile. "We have Transfiguration together first lesson as well!"

Katherine coughed next to me, reminding me she was there. "Oh yeah—Cassie, this is Katherine. She's my roommate. There's only four of us, so they paired us off."

Cassie gave her a bright smile and wrote in her notebook: It's nice to meet you, Kat! She even put a smiley face.

I waited for Katherine's dead pan expression and refusal for a nickname. But instead she gave the tiniest of smiles—the first one I'd seen—and nodded. "Cassie is a star as well. Cassiopeia. It has an alpha, beta and delta star."

You're so smart! Cassie smiled, and then gave a small frown. If you didn't get it already, I don't talk. Hope that's okay.

Katherine nodded. "You seem to do enough talking for the both of us with that nifty notebook of yours anyways. If you talked, you'd be dangerous."

I couldn't help smiling into my cup of tea. Katherine was a good person—I'd got a glimpse of her vulnerability the night before, and she was kind to Cassie. That was enough for me to work double-time to get her to be my friend.

**

My first four days at Hogwarts went past in the blink of an eye. It was so much more different than I thought it would be, but just as exciting.

There were one-hundred-and-forty-two staircases in Hogwarts (which Hermione told me reverently as we walked to charms class together) and they all moved in different directions. This made finding classrooms confusing, but our Hufflepuff ghost, the Friar was always willing to point us first years in the right direction. Sasha would begrudgingly help, but I could tell she didn't mind really.

I flitted between people I talked to depending on the lesson: I would chat with Harry and Ron in Defence, discussed magic with Hermione in charms class and Cassie and I were ourselves in all the lessons in-between.

Katherine was a constant, which surprised me.

She didn't speak much unless it was 'could you pass me the homework sheet?' or 'Can I borrow a quill, mine snapped?' but I could tell she did secretly like the company. We had a better relationship in our dormitory. I would practice my violin and she would intently listen as she played with Sooty, who was thrilled with extra attention.

The lessons themselves were harder than I thought they would be. In Herbology we learned about different types of healing plants used in potions, burying seeds in dirt and watering our projects intensely. On Wednesday's at Midnight we did astronomy—Katherine was already top of the class, the Professor impressed with her knowledge.

Transfiguration was by far the most interesting, a contrast to how un-interesting Professor Quirrell made Defence Against the Dark Arts. He wore a large purple turban which stank of garlic, which made me grimace if he stood in front of our desk.

But possibly the most interesting thing about Hogwarts, was how little people stared at me. I'd been expecting cruel taunts and bullying, but the most I'd gotten was a few raised eyebrows and looks between friends on the first couple of days.

People were much more interested in Harry, and secretly I was very pleased he was getting all the attention.

But Friday was different, as it was our first lesson of potions class. Katherine had been looking forward to it, all of Thursday evening she read her text book in bed while I played.

"Potions is one of the most important lessons we'll have," Katherine said as the two of us exited the hall after breakfast. "Everybody should carry an antidote with them, just in case they get poisoned."

"Ah yes, all of those poisoners around Hogwarts," I said dryly. I pointed at a very short Ravenclaw girl walking past us with huge glasses. "I bet she'll poison your pumpkin juice at lunch."

Katherine rolled her eyes. She didn't nudge me playfully like Cassie would have. Katherine never shook anybody's hand or gave a hug. I didn't question it. "Don't come crying to me for an antidote if you get poisoned."

Well, I thought to myself, I would just heal myself, so that wouldn't be a problem.

"I'll remember that," I replied instead.

We were just crossing the entrance hall to head towards the dungeons, when we ran into Harry and Ron who were coming down the main flight of stairs.

"Hey!" I exclaimed, waving at the two of them.

"Hi!" Harry said brightly. "Today's the first day we found the Hall all by ourselves!"

"Big achievement," Katherine muttered under her breath, and Ron frowned at her.

Trying to stop a potentional argument, I began speaking. "You'd better rush for breakfast—lessons start in ten minutes."

Harry shrugged. "It's fine, we've got History of Magic. Binns won't notice if we're late. Don't think he's even noticed he's dead."

"Yeah, Sasha said that," I chuckled. "We've got potions this morning. We haven't had it before."

Ron and Harry exchanged a look. "What?" Katherine said sharply. "What's wrong with potions?"

"Professor Snape is horrible," Harry pulled a face. "He asked me these really hard questions, then embarrassed me in front of the class when I didn't know them. He was horrible to all of the Gryffindors."

"That's horrible—" I began, but Katherine interrupted me.

"What questions did he ask you?"

"Something about a root of asphodel and wormwood?" Ron screwed up his face and tried to remember. "Whatever it was, it wasn't interesting."

Katherine frowned. "That creates a drought of living death. That's sixth year material, he shouldn't have been asking you that."

"Great," Harry said glumly. "I'll see you both later, I don't want to make you late."

We said goodbye to the boys, and darted off down towards the dungeons. Luckily we were early, only four people were there. Hannah and Susan were talking quietly, while a blonde Ranvenclaw girl I recognised from the sorting stood as far away from a Ravenclaw boy as she could.

He was quite a bit taller than us—and looked a bit older. Katherine and I exchanged a glance. What was an older boy doing here?

"Stop staring at me," the Ravenclaw girl muttered at the boy.

"I'm looking at the wall, you idiot." The boy snapped. "I don't want to be here."

The girl snorted with laughter, and Hannah frowned. "What's so funny?"

"Elijah failed his first-year potions exams. Professor Snape has made him retake the entire potions year!" the girl seemed to find this extremely funny, and Elijah glowered at her with a dark look.

He looked like he wanted to say something, but kept quiet, clenching his fists. Katherine grabbed the back of my robes and pulled us away from the boy. Good to know I wasn't the only one who felt uneasy about this second-year boy.

Soon enough the other Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs turned up, and at exactly nine am the classroom door opened. Snape glided around the room like an over-sized bat, his shoulder length black hair like curtains around his face.

The dungeon was very cold and lifeless, jars of odd pickled items filling over-stuffed shelves. There were desks of four, so Katherine and I headed for the back right desk, closest to the door. Just to our bad luck there was uneven number of students and Elijah ended up opposite us.

Snape took the register, and paused at my name. "Lyra Black?"

"Yes, Sir," I raised my hand politely.

Snape looked at me with a scowl and raised an eyebrow. "Well you look different from your father. Let's see if you act differently from him."

Tiny fires of whispers sprang up in the room, people turning around on their stools to look at me. I felt my face flush pink. My dad was a muggle, why did Snape mention him? Had he met him before he had to leave? But then, why would my classmates be looking at me like that?

"Ignore them," Katherine said under her breath, her voice sharp. She glared at anybody looking my way, and gave an especially icy look towards Elijah, who was smirking opposite us.

Once the register was finished, Snape got to his feet and looked at us all with a sweeping gaze. "There is little foolish wand-waving in the class, so I doubt you will all believe this is magic. I don't really expect you to understand the shimmering of potions, the delicate power these liquids hold. I can teach you to bottle fame, brew glory.... Even put a stopper to death. If you aren't a bunch of idiots like I usually have to teach."

Katherine sat up straighter, her chin pointed in the air. She didn't want Snape to think of her as an idiot.

"Right, today we're making a potion to cure boils. It's fairly simple—even the slowest of you could grasp this." Snape sounded very bored as he wrote on the chalkboard. "I want you to follow this recipe exactly how it is written. I will be watching to make sure you don't blow up my classroom."

We all set to work, weighing our ingredients and chopping up horned slugs and crushing small herbal leaves to go into the potion. Nobody was staring at me anymore, but I could feel Elijah's eyes on me.

"What? Is there something on my face?" I tried to sound brave, but it came out as a squeak.

"Just first-year mousiness," Elijah smirked.

He wasn't bad looking. He was bi-racial like Katherine, though his black hair was in a buzz cut that boys thought looked good but looked dumb. He was quite slender for a second year, built like a swimmer. His eyes were an unusual hazel-amber. If it wasn't for the cruel smirk on his face, I would have thought he looked nice.

"You're only a second year," I pointed out, hoping he'd stop talking to me.

"You know, I just thought you looked weird, but now I get it." Elijah said rudely. "Black... Wow, your dad really fucked you up. Did he experiment on you or some weird shit?"

My cheeks darkened, and the room suddenly felt very small. "My dad is a muggle, so I don't know what on earth you're talking about."

"Oh wow!" Elijah cackled as he brutally chopped the head off a slug. "You have no idea, do you? Did mummy want to pretend daddy was a nice man?"

"Elijah," Katherine said sharply. Her dark eyes were furious, and her hands shook so much she slammed her knife down on the desk. "Don't be a complete twat."

I ignored Katherine for once and put down my own knife, gently stirring my potion. "What are you talking about? He is a nice man. A nice muggle man."

Elijah laughed again. "So your dad isn't Sirius Black, the worst wizard mass-murderer in recent time? Murdered twelve muggles and a wizard all at the same time?"

Everything seemed to freeze. Suddenly I was remembering finding Mum and Dad's wedding photo in mum's bedroom when I was little—like four or five when looking for my hair brush. I remember the caption: Cara and Sirius Black, February 9th 1980. Mum had come in and dragged me out, telling me to never go into her bedroom again. When I did many years later, the photo was gone.

Sirius Black.

I remember reading an article in the Daily Prophet a few years ago, about a woman called Holly Pettigrew who wanted more compensation from the Ministry. Only the finger of her son had been found after his brutal murder by Sirius Black. Mum had taken that newspaper from me as well.

Why hadn't I made the connection sooner? Was I really that stupid?

I thought about fighting with Sasha in the summer, how angry she got when I told her dad didn't want to leave us. He obviously did... he killed innocent people....

"Does that mean you're going to be the next mass murderer?" Elijah was still taunting me as I had an internal breakdown. "Are you going to try and beat his record?"

My chest felt very tight very quickly, and my hands shook. The room was beginning to shut in, everything was very close. Everything was too loud—the knifes hitting the slug's heads, the steam curling up to the ceiling, the chattering of students.

I couldn't breathe.

Toppling off my stool as my chest tightened and hot tears fell down my face, I heard shouting. As I crawled my way into a standing position, grabbing my rucksack I was vaguely aware of Katherine lunging at Elijah, tackling him to the floor.

I had to get out of here.

Faintly hearing the ruckus behind me I stumbled up the dungeon steps, my breathing getting shallower. My dad was a murderer. He had left us to kill innocent people. He didn't love us.

Through my tear coated eyes I stumbled into the girl's bathroom, and collapsed onto the floor. I still couldn't breathe, I couldn't see anything more than a couple feet in front of me. From a distance, I could hear somebody sobbing. Heartbreaking, loud sobs.

Every part of me was shaking, and I still couldn't breathe. Was I going to die?

Shutting my eyes, I could only faintly hear my name being called, soft hands on my arms. Prising my eyes open into this air-less world, I could just about make out Fred Weasley, concern written over his face.

"F—F—Fred," I choked out. I couldn't speak either.

"Lyra, shh, it's okay," Fred knelt in front of me, and grabbed onto my face. His hands were cool and gentle, a balm to my boiling limbs and aching chest. "You're having a panic attack. I'm here, I'm here."

My head leant into his touch, and I let out another guttural sob. My life was a lie. Why hadn't they told me?

"Take deep breaths with me, okay?" Fred's voice was far away, but it was the only thing I was aware of. "Very slowly, in... and out..."

I copied him slowly, letting a squeak of pain out as I struggled to control my breathing. I might have been minutes, it could have been hours, but slowly my breathing began to return to normal. The weight lifted off my chest, and I wasn't shaking anymore.

"Thanks," I murmured, exhausted.

Fred sat next to me on the filthy bathroom floor and put an arm around me. I settled into his touch, shutting my eyes. I felt him wrap his hand around mine. What had been a very loud world was now silent.

"How did you find me?" my voice was a croak.

"I was going to the toilet, and I saw you run in here," Fred said quietly. "I could recognise you anywhere, Lyra. What's the matter?"

"My... My father, he's—"

"I know." Fred said gently. "Sasha had a lot of shit in her first year as well."

Now that I could breathe again, I felt a prick of anger in my heart. "You all knew—why didn't anybody tell me?"

"You were only a kid," Fred said gently. "How could anybody break that to you easily? Sasha was terrified about you coming to Hogwarts, about you finding out. I know she was going to tell you this weekend if nobody had been horrible about it."

"He was really horrible about it," I mumbled, unable to be angry at Sasha. She'd always been trying to protect me from the truth. How had it felt for her, listening to me prattle on about how much I loved dad, how he didn't want to leave us. "He said I'd try to break his record."

Fred's grip tightened on me from anger. "Who was it?"

"Elijah something..." I shrugged. "He's re-sitting first year potions. He wasn't very nice."

Fred swore under his breath. "That's Elijah Carrow. Horrible little shit he is. Last year he was almost suspended for setting his Ravenclaw dorm on fire. Don't know why Dumbledore let him stay, he's a nutter."

I shuddered. "Fred... thank you. That's never happened before. I've been anxious before, but... nothing like that."

Fred gave me a small smile. "You've got a stressful life, golden girl." He lowered his voice. "I remember last year you healed my broken wrist after our Quidditch match. Sasha broke it, see. She didn't want to get us all in trouble—she swore George and me to secrecy."

I felt a bit better that Fred knew about my power. "I don't remember."

"I think Sasha told you to shake everybody's hands after the match," Fred shrugged. "I think it's really cool, at any rate. I think you're really cool."

Any awkwardness we'd had on the train was gone. I felt safe sat nestled in Fred's grasp. Even safer knowing that my dangerous Father was somewhere very far away.

"He's in Azkaban, isn't he?" I said quietly.

Fred nodded, and tightened the grip on my hand. "Don't worry too much about it, Lyra. He'll be in there forever. You never have to see him. Parents don't define who we are."

A bell rang overheard—the next lesson was starting. "Shit!" Fred exclaimed, and pulled me to my feet. "We'd best go—I imagine we're both in enough trouble!"

We started walking out of the toilets, when I realised we were still holding hands. It felt so natural, I hadn't noticed. Fred and I looked at each other, and I felt a warm feeling inside me—like the golden glow of my power, but much warmer.

"Yeah, I'd best go." Fred gave my hand a final squeeze before dropping it. "Come straight to me if anybody gives you trouble. Okay?"

"I will," I promised. "Bye, Fred."

He grinned. "Bye, golden girl."

I watched as he disappeared into the throng of students, before I joined the crowds myself. I was meant to be in Charms next, and I knew the way thankfully. I'd barely made it into the entrance hall when I saw Katherine dash up to me.

"Hey, are you alright?" concern laced her tone, she sounded so different, so full of emotion. "I was worried when you didn't come back."

I shrugged. "I had a panic attack. I'd always... I'd always believed what mum told me. That he was a muggle, in prison for a crime he didn't commit."

Katherine gave me a sympathetic smile. "If it makes you feel better, I punched Elijah a few times in the face. He didn't even fight back. What a wimp."

I smiled. "Thank you."

Katherine looked very serious. "I got detention, but it was worth it."

I nudged her with my shoulder. "Does that mean we're friends?"

Katherine rolled her eyes. "I punched a bully in the face for you. Of course, we're friends, you complete idiot."

The two of us headed off to charms together. As we walked I thought of Fred's hand in mine, and Katherine defending me with her fists. I had good people in my life.

**

This point was proven further when that evening Sasha burst into the dormitory, after Fred told her what happened. She was out for blood, her hair crackling with energy and grey eyes full of steel.

Katherine and I looked up. I was lying on my bed, almost paralyzed by my over-thinking. Katherine had sat next to me playing with Sooty, not speaking. Just her quiet energy was enough to ease the pain in my heart.

"Don't mind Lyra, she's have a well-deserved existential crisis," Katherine said. She'd been so affectionate this evening—asking if I needed a tissue and patting me slightly on the shoulder.

"I can't believe that piece of shit—" Sasha was bright red in the face, she looked furious. "I'm going to curse him so hard that he can't see straight—"

"Don't bother, I think Fred and George will have it covered." I said in a flat voice. "I was going to find out at some point anyway, wasn't I?"

Sasha sighed, and her anger seemed to ebb away. Katherine looked between the two of us and placed Sooty on my bed. "Yeah, I think I have homework to do." We had no homework.

She disappeared shortly, leaving just the two of us. Sasha crawled on the bed next to me, looking nervous. "You can shout at me if you want. I would shout at me."

I didn't have enough energy in me to shout, or cry anymore. The panic attack had drained me entirely. Dinner had helped, but I hadn't tasted the food. I just felt empty.

"I'm not going to shout." I sighed. "I just feel stupid for not realising it sooner."

Sasha began unplaiting my hair and brushing it out into waves. "Don't feel stupid, Lyra. Mum did a good job at making sure we didn't find out. I only found out because Snape made some snide comment about me looking like dad. I did some research and found the truth."

"He made a sly comment to me as well," I replied. "I probably would have asked you if Elijah hadn't been such a dickhead."

Sasha was silent, and I twisted my head to look at her. She looked concerned and was worrying her bottom lip. "I talked to mum about all of this, in my first year. She wants to believe dad is innocent... but I think that's more as a comfort for her. Thinking she didn't love a complete psycho."

"You think he did it."

Sasha hesitated. "There's too much evidence against him, Lyra. I wish it was true. I remember him a bit. He was.... The best dad."

I laid down on the bed, even though only one plait was un-done, and I was fully dressed, shoes and all. I stared at the ceiling, my eyes watering but no tears would come.

"All I remember is him calling me his little stardust."

Sasha's arms came around me, and we lay there for a while. I thought about my father in a cell in Azkaban, his mind rotting with the dementors keeping guard. Did he ever think about us or mum? Did he wonder what we were like, the people we'd become?

Or was he just wishing that he hadn't been caught, so he could have done worse?

—-
A/N  Sorry it was quite a long chapter, but I feel like it needed room for Lyra to find out about her dad. (Poor Lyra, it'll be a while before she realises he's innocent)

Thoughts on Lyra and Fred? On Elijah? (he will return throughout the story)

I'll post the next chapter towards the end of the week :)