Shreds of moonlight seeped through the curtains of the living room, as Lyra sat in front of the crackling fire lost deep in her own thoughts. Ever since Lily and James had been hidden away things had gotten worse. Sirius was lying to Remus, telling him he had been named secret-keeper. And Lyra felt awful for not saying the truth. She was absolutely sure that Remus was innocent, never not in a million years she would believe that he, Moony, would betray them.

"Why would you think that? He's Moony, our Moony, not a spy.", Lyra had said but Sirius had given her nothing. No explanation, not even a sassy or angry reply. He had stopped talking to her and Remus and spent most of his time out, riding his flying motorcycle. And poor Remus had been so confused, not understanding why Sirius wouldn't even look at him anymore. Lyra felt so useless, there was nothing she could do to heal the cracks that had ripped themselves through their life.

They had become strangers living in a house that didn't feel like home anymore. Lyra didn't even know why Sirius hadn't left already, he was barely there anymore. There was no point in trying, love had failed them. What was left was a feeling...a shadow of the thing they had once shared. And after crying for hours there were no more tears and a dull, hollow emptiness spread through Lyra, making room for the voice inside her head to become louder and louder.

Desperate to feel something else than sadness and regret Lyra had taken out her wand, muttering the spell her mother had used to punish her, all those years ago. The pain helped to drown out the suffocating misery for a few minutes until it returned, heavier than before. Lyra pulled down the sleeve of her dress, resting her chin on her knees. When did it all go wrong? Was there anything she could have done to prevent those things from happening? Or was she just destined to suffer because she didn't deserve better?

Suddenly there was a quiet creaking sound and Lyra looked up. Remus stood in the open door, looking pale and thin, a book in his hands. "Oh...I didn't know you were here.", he said, not sounding surprised in the slightest bit. "I'm always here, Moony. You just don't see me anymore.", Lyra replied tiredly, facing the flames again. Remus pressed his lips together, his grip on the book tightening as his knuckles turned white. "Lyra, I..." The howling of an engine outside made them both jump and a second later Sirius' footsteps echoed through the hallway.

Lyra gulped. She couldn't remember the last time they had all been in the same room. Sirius walked towards the small staircase that led up to the bedroom but stopped in his tracks. He looked like he wanted to say something, like so many words were just about to tumble out of his mouth but just as he took a deep breath a Patronus manifested itself in the middle of the room. And Lyra's heart missed a beat as she recognized the animal. It was a doe.

"Lily...", Remus whispered and then a terrified sounding voice started to scream. "He's here! He killed James! Help! Please, someone save Harry!" And then the Patronus dissolved into silvery bits of magic until it was gone. Lyra knew what that meant. Lily was gone too, she was dead.

The book Remus had been holding fell to the ground and he grabbed the door frame to stop himself from collapsing. His knees were shaking. "No..." It was only a faint whisper suffocated by tears. "No, no, no!", was all he could say, hoping that it would somehow undo the horrible thing that had just happened. But nothing could change the fact that Lily and James Potter had been murdered.

Lyra still sat by the fire, paralyzed by an overwhelming amount of grief. She couldn't think, she couldn't even cry, her head was spinning with way too many thoughts. But beneath all that pain was a question that got louder and louder with every second that passed. A question whose answer made her guts hot with rage. "He betrayed them...", Sirius said in a dangerously neutral tone. There was no sign of any emotion in his stern face but his hands were trembling.

"He was the only one who knew where they were hiding and he betrayed them." It was a simple ascertainment and a horrifying truth. Peter Pettigrew had been the spy all along, he had been passing information to Voldemort and he was the reason why Lily and James were dead now. Without another word, Sirius drew his wand and stormed towards the front door. For some reason, that was all that Lyra needed and she got up, quickly following him, heart racing.

"Sirius, no! Wait!" Sirius turned around. "He deserves to die! He's a traitor, he killed my best friends and now I'm going to kill him!" "And you think that's was James would've wanted? Revenge?" Lyra's breath was going fast now. She knew that if she didn't get Sirius to stay she would lose him. Forever. "I'm sorry Lyra...but I have to do this.", Sirius said, speaking the last words she would hear from him for a very long time. For a brief moment, he grabbed her hand, squeezing it as if he wanted to apologize and then he disapparated.

Lyra felt as if someone had ripped her world apart, everything was falling into bits and pieces until nothing would be left. "Remus..." She hastily turned around and ran back to the living room. Remus was still curled up on the floor, sobbing. It broke her heart even more seeing him like this and she carefully reached out to him. "Moony..." Lyra placed her hand on his back, gently fondling with his curls as she had done it many times before. "We...we have to go." "Where?", Remus asked and Lyra frowned. "Lily and James. We...we can't just sit here and do nothing."

"And what do you want to do when you find them? Bury them? Along with their baby?" Remus raised his head, facing her. His eyes were red and he looked very, very tired. She could see that he already knew that Sirius had been lying to him. That he hadn't trusted him enough to tell the truth. "Remus..." "It's over, Lyra. And I'm sorry but I can't stay here." "What? What do you mean? You can't just leave, we have to do something! We have to find Sirius because I know that he's going to do something extremely stupid and I can't lose him too!" Lyra felt tears running down her face all of a sudden.

"We already lost him, Lyra! He's gone and he won't come back and I don't want to be here when..." Remus pressed his lips together and got up. "I'm really sorry, Lyra. Please forgive me." And then he was gone too and Lyra was alone. It took her a few minutes to realize what had just happened and then the panic took over. Everything came crashing down and a loud scream of pure agony erupted from her body, the fire was blown out and the windows burst.

Lyra kept screaming until her throat felt raw and her voice was gone. Then, as soon as she had taken a deep breath, Lyra grabbed her wand and apparated. Now that the charm had been lifted because the secret had been betrayed it was easy to track down the origin of the Patronus and Lyra arrived in Godric's Hollow. It was a rather cold evening but Lyra didn't care, she could only stare at the house whose second floor had apparently been blown apart, covering the lawn in rubble and dust.

Her heart twisted in another rush of pain as she imagined the lifeless bodies of Lily and James when suddenly a big figure emerged from the darkness ahead. Ready to fight Lyra raised her wand but then the person stepped into the light of a streetlamp illuminating their face. "Oh my god, Hagrid..." Lyra put her wand away as the half-giant came closer. "What are you..." But then she saw that Hagrid carried a small bundle in his arms and... "Harry!"

Lyra almost ripped the baby away from Hagrid, gently pressing the little thing against her chest. "He's alive, he's alive...", she muttered and Hagrid put his big hands on her shoulders in a comforting manner. "He's unharmed, I found him upstairs in his crib.", he said and Lyra placed a kiss on Harry's forehead. That was when she noticed the scar, shaped like a lightning bolt. "What's that?" "Uhm...I think Dumbledore should explain that to you.", Hagrid replied. "Dumbledore?" Lyra looked up at him. "He sent me here to get Harry, he's waiting in Little Whining, Privet Drive."

"Okay, I'll meet you there. You...keep him save, will you?" Hesitantly Lyra handed over Harry, running her fingers through his black hair. "I will, don't worry.", Hagrid nodded and with a last look at the destroyed house, Lyra disappeared. She had considered going in there but she knew that seeing James and Lily would've killed her and Harry was alive so being there for him was all that mattered now.

Upon her arrival in Little Whining Lyra looked around confused. Why for Merlin's sake did Dumbledore choose a place like this? It was clearly far away from even the smallest whiff of magic. "Miss Avery, I had a feeling you would come." The old headmaster stood next to McGonagall who let out a quiet sigh and enveloped Lyra in a very unsuspected hug. "I'm so sorry my dear. I know they were your friends.", she said and Lyra fought against the tears. She didn't want to cry in front of Dumbledore.

"I saw Harry, he's unharmed apart from a scar. But I...I don't know why. How's that possible?", she asked as McGonagall let go of her. "Very old and very strong magic, Miss Avery. Lily sacrificed her life to save her son which created the ultimate protection.", Dumbeldore explained and Lyra tried to understand. "You mean...Lily's love prevented the curse from fully functioning? Does that mean that...?" "No, Voldemort is not dead but he lost his body and cannot return, he's too weak for that.", Dumbledore said, sounding incredibly calm.

"But that means that Harry will never be safe. Not until he's dead.", Lyra retorted. "He's safe for now and when the time comes he will be ready." Dumbledore looked at one of the houses, all lined up in neat perfect rows. It looked terribly boring. "He should stay with me, I'm his godmother.", Lyra said resolved, straightening her back. "I'm sorry Miss Avery but that won't happen.", Dumbeldore countered. "What?!" Lyra felt her temper rise, the pain over the losses she had to suffer this night mixed with anger. "Harry should grow up far away from all of this, it's safer that way.", Dumbledore explained.

"Far away from what? The world he belongs to? That's nonsense.", Lyra spat and McGonagall laid a hand on her arm, trying to calm her down but Lyra refused to do so. "Dearest please, we're trying to do what's best for him." "I'm what's best for him. I'm the one who should be taking care of him!" "He will be living with his relatives, Miss Avery.", Dumbeldore said decisively and though he didn't raise his voice Lyra knew that there wouldn't be any more bargaining.

"Then let me say goodbye. He's all I have left.", Lyra begged, the anger slowly vanishing. "Of course, Hagrid should arrive any minute now.", Dumbledore said. As always the old man was right and shortly after their discussion had ended Hagrid came flying along, his face mostly covered by safety goggles and Lyra tried not to gasp when she realized that it was Sirius' flying motorcycle that Hagrid had used. Sirius who was out there, hunting Peter. Lyra could only hope that he was doing okay.

"Sound asleep.", Hagrid declared smiling, handing Harry over to Lyra who had spread her arms. She could feel Harry moving slightly, his little face peacefully nuzzled into the blanket he was wrapped up in. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect them...", Lyra whispered, kissing him on the forehead again. "It's time.", Dumbledore said, slowly taking Harry away from her and Lyra felt her knees weaken. Just as Dumbeldore was about to place the little boy on the doorstep Lyra closed her eyes and vanished.

Never, not once in her life, she had felt so alone. Abandoned by everyone she loved. Her best friends were dead, Remus and Sirius had left her and Harry would have to grow up with muggles, not knowing who he was. It was unfair and Lyra was reminded of something her mother used to say. 'The world is cold and unjust, don't ever expect it to give something to you. The world only takes.' A twisted smile hushed over Lyra's lips as she slumped to the floor of her empty living room. "Fuck you, mom.", she muttered and curled up, waiting for the exhaustion to take over her body.