II. roman holiday | blaise zabini

chapter 25

chapter 25

"you say that i'm paranoid
but i'm pretty sure the world is out to get me
it's not like i make the choice
to let my mind stay so fucking messy"

-Linkin Park, Kiiara

With her head between her hands, resting against her knees, Lyra still struggled to breathe in properly hours after James and Laura had been saved from the Carrows. Only it wasn't from her rescue and run from the Carrows.

Once her lungs stopped burning and the ache in her calves and thighs lessened, a much worse feeling swept over her body, knocking her hard on her ass. The burning in her was replaced by the sticky feeling of her insides slowly melting, it was like ice cream on a summer day and Lyra desperately wished it would stop.

She could hear as Neville concluded the mission just as curfew began. Slowly, the other houses left, some patting at her back as they filed out, hushed voices echoing back into the common room as the door finally swung shut.

Only Susan, Ernie, Luna, and Zara remained from the other houses and soon after, Neville sent the Gryffindors up to bed as well.

In the end, it was the two Hufflepuffs, the two Ravenclaws, Ginny, Seamus, Fay, Lyra, and Neville that remained.

"Right," Neville said, sounding nervous for the first time since the beginning of this year. Lyra felt a pounding in her skull, squeezing her eyes tighter at the sudden pain.

That was just two weeks ago, Lyra thought, another pang against her head and an additional one in her chest.

"Seamus, Ginny, take Ernie and Susan to get James and Laura, take them to the Hufflepuff common room to grab necessities only."

The two nodded before leading Ernie and Susan up. They all waited until the group walked back down and left in silence, the two younger students still shaking horribly.

"Luna, Zara, you should both head back to your common room. The Carrows will be looking for anyone to blame or hurt and you two are already pretty high on the list."

While the Carrows hadn't asked again, it was extremely obvious that they were waiting for Zara to slip up again, in hopes of getting her blood status. Since that day in Muggle Studies, Zara kept as tight-lipped as possible.

As for Luna, her father had begun speaking out very brashly in The Quibbler. Discussing the corruption of the Ministry and the evil lurking in Hogwarts. Snape had already placed a ban on the Quiddler at Hogwarts and the Carrows were looming dangerously over Luna.

"Fay, you'll stay here when Seamus and Ginny get back and look after the common room. They'll be looking here after checking Hufflepuff, no doubt."

Neville paused, looking down at Lyra's hunched figure before continuing, "Lyra and I will take care of James and Laura when they get here. Everyone got it?"

The others nodded and Zara and Luna took their leave. Zara placed a kiss on the crown of Lyra's head and Luna squeezed at her wrist. Fay walked them out, staying there to wait for the others to return.

Neville took a seat next to Lyra, "You alright?"

Lyra didn't speak for several seconds, head still buried in her hands and eyes staring blankly at her shoes.

"I fucked up." Her voice was low, barely audible behind the buzz of adrenaline in her ears.

Neville inhaled deeply before responding solemnly, "Yeah. You did."