tribus.
Chapter 3
Lyra was surprised when Snape flooed in moments before Draco came through the fireplace.
Lyra blinks at the sudden appearance at the platinum blond boy as he greets his parents before his gaze falls on her.
“Is it true?” Draco questioned as he moved towards her until he was only a foot away from her. His eyes rake her body over before they closely inspect her face. “Are you really her?”
Lyra supposes that Snape had filled him in. “I am Lyra Selwyn,” Lyra confirms and she goes rigid as Draco flings his arms around her, pulling her tightly against him. Lyra hesitantly hugs him back.
She never thought that Draco Malfoy would be such a good hugger.
“I heard about you,” Draco whispered in her ear from where he had nestled his head against her shoulder. “How we should have grown up like siblings. I am sorry for treating you like I did before…”
“I forgive you,” Lyra melts into him, tightening her arms.
It was quiet for a few moments before Draco lets her go and pulls back.
“We need to return,” Snape informs the two children. “Aspen, you cannot miss more class.”
“Selwyn,” Lyra corrected and Snape turned his gaze to her. “When in private, call me Lyra Selwyn.”
Snape inclines his head in agreement and Lyra could see the corner of his lips twitch in a tiny smile.
“Come,” Without hesitation, Draco grabs Lyra’s hand and tugs her towards the fireplace. “You can sit with us Slytherin’s at lunch.”
Lyra laughs as Draco pushes her into the floo before squirming in next to her with a pinch of floo powder.
Lyra had never taken the floo with another person, mainly because the fireplace was tiny and two people couldn’t fit. But two twelve-year-old’s could squish together in them so Draco wrapped his arm around her before throwing the powder down and yelling out the address.
The pop out on the other side, Draco keeping her upright as they step out. “Sev will be occupied with my parents and will likely not be back before lunch ends,” Draco rolls his eyes and Lyra snickers.
“I need to go change and get my bag,” Lyra informs him, just now remembering that she was wearing one of his old shirts.
Draco nods, not mentioning his shirt as he follows her to the Hufflepuff common room.
“If you are not out in five minutes, I am coming in,” Draco declared. Lyra found it sweet at his protective nature and snickered to herself about how he would even get into the common room.
Lyra enters and heads to her room to change. Lunch had just started so everyone was gone and Lyra was left in peace to change and get her things. She heads out to see that Draco had folded his arms impatiently as he waited.
“Let’s go,” He perks up when he sees her, grabbing her hand again and tugging her to the great hall where he heads towards the Slytherin table.
Lyra could hear the whispers behind her back, the fingers pointing at her from poorly hidden hands. She shifts closer to Draco who stands taller, his head held high.
“Ignore them,” Draco murmured to her. “Stand tall. Don’t let them get you down. They know nothing.”
Lyra straightens up but finds it hard to keep her head high. They reach the Slytherin table where Draco usually sit and the kids part to make room for the extra person as Draco slides into his usual place. He pulls Lyra down into the spot next to him when she hesitates.
“Alright. Ly, this is Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, Theo Nott, Daphne Greengrass, Tracy Davis, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle.” Draco introduced his fellow second year classmates.
“So, is it true?” Blaise piped up from where he sat across from them. “The rumors?”
“Depends on the rumors,” Lyra smoothly replied, curling her fingers to keep her hands from shaking.
“You’re a Selwyn?” Pansy questioned from Lyra’s other side. “The missing Selwyn?”
Lyra looked at Draco, unsure if he trusted them. He gives a slight nod that she could tell them.
“I am,” Lyra confirms as Draco leaned forward.
“We can’t call her that, not where others could hear,” Draco reminded his classmates, tapping his fork against his plate.
“Well, we are not going to call you… Aspen,” Daphne shivered when she spoke of the last name that Lyra was given.
“I propose a nickname,” Tracy bounced from her spot next to Daphne.
“Any thoughts?” Blaise looked at Lyra. Each Slytherin around her looks at her as though to gauge a nickname.
Lyra doesn’t have any suggestions and glances at Draco, trusting him to lead her through the Slytherin’s.
“Cherry,” Theo suggests. “Like your hair.”
That leads to a round of redheaded related nicknames.
“Firecracker,” Tracy blurts.
“Firehead,” Crabbe shrugged.
“Weasley,” Blaise snickered and that sent a round of laughter around the Slytherin’s.
“Lobster,” Goyle laughed and that made them suggest ridiculous nicknames.
“Fox,” Daphne grins.
“St--” Theo wheezes from laughing so hard. “Strawberry jelly.”
“You’re not calling me strawberry jelly!” Lyra argued through giggles.
“Goldfish.” Pansy pipes up.
“Ketchup.” Blaise grins.
“Alright, that’s enough,” A prefect from higher up the table butts in. “Settle down.”
The giggles taper off and they compose themselves again.
“Alright. Seriously,” Draco takes control.
“You have yet to suggest anything,” Pansy points out. “You do one.”
“Alright,” Draco turns in his seat and sets his silverware down to look at Lyra. He inspects her closely.
“Ember,” Draco reaches out and tugs on one of her short red curls. “We will call you Ember.”
“Good name,” Theo nods and turns to Lyra. “Thoughts?”
Draco looked at Lyra and she could tell just how much it meant to him.
“I like it,” Lyra accepts it and Draco beams before he turns towards his friends.
“Now, there is the matter of us not being in any classes with her,” Draco pushes his plate away and the others quickly finish, doing the same.
“We need to set up a schedule so that she is never alone.”
“Wait, why?” Lyra interrupted.
“Because you would have grown up around us if you never went missing. You would have been my sister,” Draco answered without missing a beat. “So you’re one of us. Now…”
Lyra half pays attention as Draco goes through a very detailed schedule of who was going to walk her where, only pausing to ask what classes she had.
Lyra only shared classes with Ravenclaw’s while the Slytherin’s shared with Gryffindor’s. The only time she really saw the Slytherin’s was at meals or outside of class.
“There are a few decent Hufflepuff’s. We have alliances with a few. We can call in some favors to watch your back,” Blaise suggested
“Who?” Lyra can’t help but question.
“Sullivan Fawley,” Draco drawled. “Owes the Malfoy’s a favor. A pure-blood. Fifth year.”
“Matthew Kettletoft, kinda dim but a brilliant gobstone player,” Pansy grinned at Lyra. “Aligned with the Parkinson family.”
Lyra had never had anyone be as friendly to her as these Slytherin’s were.
“Farley has the morning free,” Daphne jerked her head towards the girl that had helped Lyra earlier. “And she’s prefect.”
Lyra ate and tuned out the endless chattering of the cunning Slytherin’s around her.
“Merlin, slow down. Nobody is gonna take the food away from ya,” Blaise comments and Lyra pauses, cheeks flushing.
For as long as she could remember, food was used as a tool for punishment. Her foster parents would withhold food from her whenever she did something bad such as accidental magic. She learned to eat quickly so that nobody could take it away.
“You’re not gonna go hungry,” Draco nudges her side with his elbow. “Just relax. It’s fine.”
Lyra forces herself to slow down, barely picking at her food now.
She could feel Draco’s stare at the side of her head.
When she left for class, she was pleasantly surprised when a Ravenclaw sat next to her in the back.
“Elijah Balle,” He introduces himself, nodding at her. This causes his brown hair to fall into his face. “I’m here on behalf of Theodore Knott.”
“Mia Aspen,” Lyra replied and Elijah raised his eyebrow skeptically but didn’t challenge her. They got along quite well and Elijah helped her with some of the harder problems.
Lyra ended up missing dinner as she read in the library. She had wanted to find everything she could about the Selwyn family.
She was distantly related to the Malfoy’s on her mother’s side and to the Black’s on her father’s. Her closely related relative was actually Bellatrix Lestrange.
Lyra heads to bed that night, locking her bed curtains with a charm that Narcissa taught her earlier in the day. She sleeps uninterrupted and wakes up well-rested.
