A New Friend (Lyra)

[Ethan Drake]

Ethan hadn't seen Lyra or Rystain or Lani since the arguement in the common room the other night, though he had talked to Ryan, since they were in the same year. He didn't know any of them extremely well, but he had felt badly for Lyra. Still, it was her issue to deal with. It didn't mean he didn't understand that she was probably upset.

Not letting any of them linger of his mind for long, he set up the wizard's chess board, since Ryan was supposed to come later, and did a quick survey of the students in the common room.

[Lyra Newbury]

Lyra was slowly starting to feel back to normal after the whole Rystain ordeal. Well, she was feeling better anyway. She had managed to make it back to the Slytherin Dorms on a few occasions when she wasn't sleeping, and today she figured she ought to try sitting in the Common Room as well. She usually did her homework in the common room, but lately she'd stuck to corners of the library, trying to stay away from anyone who might want to discuss her humiliation.

She brought out a book, in case she became overwhelmed with trying to socialize with her housemates. There were quite a few students here and her heart raced as she imagined all the nasty things they could say to her that were probably all true. She swallowed hard and inhaled deeply. She could do this. She was Lyra Newbury. Instantly Lyra felt better, and reminded herself that confidence was the key to every social situation. She leaned against a wall and surveyed the group. Ethan caught her eye, sitting alone, and she approached him. "Have you charmed one set to play on their own or are you expecting someone?"

[Ethan Drake]

Ethan looked up, not startled by the voice, but just caught off guard by it. Her voice was definitely not that distinctly male voice he was expecting.

"That's actually quite a good idea, and I have charmed them before. But charmed boards cheat and always win." He smiled softly, his eyes kind and with no sign of pity in them. He imagined she'd been getting a lot of pity lately.

Without answering her question, he gestured to the seat across from him and asked, "Do you play?"

[Lyra Newbury]

"If you can't even beat a charmed set, you mustn't be very good," she teased, taking a seat across from him. She wasn't very good herself, but she knew the basics and was good enough at strategy that she could hold her own for the most part. But she still figured he would beat her two out of three times. She wasn't in it for the glory, she liked the tactic aspect of the game.

[Ethan Drake]

"Ouch, that hurts," Ethan said, watching her as she sat. "For that, I'm taking white, and the first move."

He made a simple move, more interested, at this point, in paying attention to the girl across from him.

"It's good to see you around again."

[Lyra Newbury]

She smiled apologetically, as if she really had hurt him, but laughed. "You've missed me then? I wouldn't have thought that of you. You're going soft on me Ethan." She moved her first piece carelessly, waiting to watch how he would respond. Like everything else, she tested things and observed before jumping in. Sometimes it worked to her advantage. Sometimes it didn't. But it wasn't as though a simple game of wizard chess was nothing to fret about.

[Ethan Drake]

Ethan shrugged. "Been spending too much time with my sister, I suppose," he said. "Give me a minute or two and I'll hard and uncaring again. Back to the Ethan you know and love. Fair enough?"

He moved his next piece, paying attention to the game more than she was, but he was still playing casually.

[Lyra Newbury]

"Alright. But anymore than two minutes and I'm gone," she teased. It was nice to be playful again and she began to wonder why she hadn't hung out with Ethan more. He was easy to talk to and certainly wasn't hard on the eyes. She glanced at the board and moved another pawn carelessly. "Who were you actually planning on playing? Unless you've gotten better at Divination than me, I doubt you knew I'd be down here today."

[Ethan Drake]

Ethan laughed. "All right. A minute a fifty nine seconds it is then," he said, and put on a mock frown like he was working himself into a nice and surly mood.

"No, I'm sh*te at Divination. Tea leaves never told me anything, I'm afraid. I actually thought Ryan might come join me, but don't be deterred. I like the current company."

[Lyra Newbury]

She mimicked the Divination Professor's airy voice when she said, "of course Tea Leaves do not speak to you. You lack the divine power, the inner eye." With her pointer finger she tapped the center of her forehead but there was no third eye there, just perfectly pale, soft skin. She had heard her professor claim that statement to a number of complaining students, many of whom dropped the class when given the chance. But Lyra enjoyed studying Divination, and found she was actually quite good at it. She should of had the forethought to divine her future with Rystain before it all ended so painfully, but she had to use other mediums than visions. She was not so well attuned with her inner eye that she did not need crystal balls or tea leaves. And she certainly would not have thought that she need bother with looking for signs of trouble. She should have been the easy choice over Lani.

She looked at the board, trying to ignore her thoughts. Ethan had yet to make a move, and if she were playing seriously yet it might have annoyed her. But she was still observing him and she took this time to do so.

[Ethan Drake]

Ethan laughed at her mimicking. "Yeah yeah. My inner eye is blind," he told her, finally reaching down and moving a bishop a few spaces.

Divination simply alluded him. And why would you want to know your future anyway? Didn't it take some of the excitement out of life?

"Can I ask... what it is you look for when you're reading tea leaves or whatever? I mean, what do you want to know?"

[Lyra Newbury]

She studied the board this time before moving a knight. So far the board was clear of any debris of taken pieces, she was sure Ethan wouldn't wait much longer to start picking off her pieces. "Well, mostly I look for other people. You know, whatever they want to know about. But when I look for myself? Sometimes I look into my family. It's rather hard being one of the few non-purebloods in Slytherin. Or sometimes I look for handsome boys who are sitting alone in the common room. Guess who I saw today." She raised an eyebrow and grinned at him. Honestly in the past week she hadn't even done her Divination homework, she had been so depressed. It was an easy class to fudge homework on. But if you didn't know your stuff during lessons, the professor jumped on you about it.

[Ethan Drake]

Ethan smiled at the compliment while he studied the board, and his eyes trailed up, catching her. "Well it obviously wasn't Ryan."

Everyone kept saying that Lyra was down and depressed and wouldn't even come out of her room, and while he hadn't seen her, he wasn't sure he believed it. She was here, engaging, bright, easy to talk to. She seemed fine. A little more mellow than he was used to, maybe, but she was holding herself together well. Rystain had lost a true treasure in letting go of Lyra. But, on the other hand, Lani was a gem in her own right. He sort of envied the older Slytherin boy.

He moved, taking one of her pawns.

[Lyra Newbury]

Her current comfort level was all thanks to Sam and Julian, who had made her feel alive again, after Rystain. Though she was still not completely herself. Her heart was mending, held together by spellotape and threatening to break apart at any given moment. But playing with Ethan was easy. Complimenting him was even easier. And she wondered how long she should keep her faux-fiancee around before completely moving on. She did enjoy Julian's company, but she was now enjoying Ethan's too. It could only get easier from here she reminded herself.

Ethan captured one of her pawns and she pretended to be upset by the move. "Cold, Drake. Taking first blood." She shook her head at him and smirked.

[Ethan Drake]

Ethan laughed and shrugged. "Not my fault that you left him wide open," he teased. "Besides, it's a pawn. They're useless anyway."

She actually seemed a lot more amiable now that she wasn't so wrapped up in RYstain anymore, and it served Rystain right at that. Playing two girls was just asking for heartbreak, and Slytherin though he was, he didn't agree with it. He was just sorry that anyone had gotten hurt by it.

[Lyra Newbury]

"That's just the sort of attitude that I would expect you to have. No appreciation for the little guys," she teased. She didn't really care if he took all her pieces, there was nothing riding on this game. And she wasn't foolish enough to wager on herself in a Wizard's Chess match. She might as well throw her money at him right there and save him the trouble. She chuckled lightly at this thought without letting Ethan in on the joke.

She moved another piece, this time taking one of his pawns. "Eye for an eye," she mused. Her bishop smashed the little white pawn into thin shards of marble, then flung the chunks off to the side of the board. Lyra swore it smiled a little before taking its place back on the square.

[Ethan Drake]

"Well now whose showing no appreciation for the little guys?" Ethan asked her, watching as his pawn was smashed to pieces. He half entertained the idea of telling her to picture Rystain on the board when she did that. That was supposed to help aggression, right? And Merlin knew the girl deserved it.

"So tell me why you were looking for lonely boys in the common room today. Did the crystal ball say fate would be in this chess game?"

[Lyra Newbury]

She grinned guiltily at his comment and gave a small laugh that was barely more than rapid breathing. "I couldn't just let you get away with taking my pawn. You're lucky I didn't go for anything more important. I'm very defensive about my pieces." She couldn't have taken anything else if she had tried. The little pawn was the only piece in attacking range.

She looked at the board for a moment after his question, and didn't bring her eyes to meet his as she answered. "Oh, you know. I like to have a few blokes in the wings just in case Julian has to leave again. And since Rystain is out of the picture, and I don't much care for Rabastan personally..." She paused as she finally looked up. "I figured you'd do," she said teasingly.

[Ethan Drake]

"Gee, thanks," Ethan said with a laugh, though he was busy mulling this over in his head.

Rystain had hurt her deeply, and he had thought Julian was a rebound. Someone she knew from outside of school that she could attach to, but he was hearing rumors that he might have been more. And if she was as in love with him as Ethan had heard, why all the drama with Rystain?

"So... Julian. He a recent development?"

[Lyra Newbury]

"Yes and no," she replied, trying to sound natural about it. "We've known each other for a very long time." Her lies, having been perfected on this particular story, were beginning to feel truthful in some way. Their made up history, Julian's and hers, was familiar now. She had explained it to many different people when cornered and questioned. She probably could convince an interrogator of her romance with Julian while under the influence of Veritaserum.

"We were together before but he had to leave. His father was dying and someone had to run their business, I hadn't seen him since. For a while we were owling each other but, well long distance relationships never really work out. And after a few years I believed it couldn't work, so I stopped responding to his letters." She stopped here to remind him it was his move.

"When he showed up at Hogwarts looking for me..." She smiled here as she always did. As if the memory of seeing Julian that night was the most thrilling, romantic memory she had ever recalled. "It was like he had never left. Only now that we're older-" She laughed and kicked Ethan under the table. "You know. It's different."

And here was the new part she had been practicing, a new edition to their little storytale. She frowned slightly to make it realistic. "I'm just worried that he's going to leave again. And I'll be alone. He's already talking about work again." She chewed her lower lip as if she really was worried he would leave. What she was worried about was if she could ever let him go, because that would mean she didn't need him anymore and her heart was mended. She doubted that would be possible.