firecracker ???

4-7

"I don't make a habit of it."

"So I'm a rare sighting."

"You're not that rare."

He glanced at her. "Should I be flattered?"

"Should you?"

He didn't answer. Not for a while.

The wind tugged at her sleeves. Somewhere far off, an owl called.

"I didn't put my name in," he said suddenly. Not defensively. Not pleading. Just quiet.

Lyra turned her head slightly, watching him.

"I know," she said.

His eyebrows lifted. "Just like that?"

"You looked confused."

"Bravery and stupidity often look the same."

"You didn't look brave. You looked betrayed."

He let out a breath that wasn't quite a laugh.

"I haven't really talked to anyone about it," he said, voice lower. "Not properly."

"Why not?"

He shrugged. "They all think I'm lying. Ron won't even look at me. Hermione's trying to act normal, but she's... tired. I can feel it. Like I'm something she's trying to solve."

"Sirius?"

Harry's mouth curved faintly. "He believes me. But he doesn't want me in this. Keeps saying to stay low, keep quiet, don't give them anything else to question."

"Has that ever worked for you?"

"Not once."

Lyra smiled, but only a little.

Harry looked at his hands, fingers loosely curled over the stone. "Sometimes it feels like no one knows what to do with me when I'm not being a symbol. When I'm just... a person."

She said nothing.

He went on. "Everything I do, it's either too much or not enough. I didn't ask to be in the tournament. I didn't want it. But I'm in it now, and everyone thinks that's exactly what I've been waiting for."

"They don't know you," she said quietly.

His head turned toward her.

"But you do?"

"No," she said. "But I'm not trying to fill in the blanks either."

He studied her face for a long time.

"I didn't think you'd believe me."

"I didn't think you'd care."

"I didn't think you'd be here."

She met his eyes. "Neither did I."

And then—for the first time—they were quiet together, not out of awkwardness, but something else. Something that hummed gently beneath the silence.

After a while, Harry shifted slightly, his shoulder brushing hers.

"I think I like you more when you're not threatening to hex me."

She gave him a sideways look. "Don't get used to it."

He grinned. "Too late."

"Don't mistake this for affection."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

She shook her head. "You're unbearable."

"You're still standing here."

"I must be losing my mind."

He leaned in—just a little, just enough to tilt the moment.

"Well," he said, eyes shining in the dark, "if I'm unbearable and you're losing your mind... we're practically made for each other."

She blinked at him.

And then—before she could stop it—her cheeks went pink.

It wasn't much.

Just a flicker.

Just enough.

Her mouth parted in outrage, but no words came out.

He tilted his head, impossibly smug.

"Oh no," he whispered. "Was that—was that a blush?"

"I have to go," she muttered, and turned on her heel, cloak snapping behind her.

"You blushed!" he called after her, absolutely delighted.

"Don't follow me."

"Wouldn't dare."

She disappeared into the shadows with her pride in tatters and her heart in knots.

Harry leaned back against the stone, watching the spot where she'd vanished, grinning so wide his cheeks hurt.

Merlin, she was brilliant.

-

The next morning, something was different.

Lyra sat through breakfast like usual—composed, indifferent, unreadable—but there was a new sharpness to the way she buttered her toast. Like her hands remembered something she was trying not to think about. She didn't look at Harry. Not once.

Harry, meanwhile, was humming.

It was barely audible, but unmistakable. He poured his pumpkin juice like someone who had won a private war and was being exceptionally graceful about it.

Theo noticed it first. Theo leaned into Draco during breakfast.

"Did she seem... different to you?"

Draco frowned. "Lyra?"

"Yeah."

"Did she come back late last night?" Theo whispered across the table to Daphne.

"She did," Daphne whispered back. "She came back last night looking like she'd just seen a ghost or like someone had complimented her and she didn't know what to do about it."

"That's suspicious," Theo muttered.

Draco, who had been quietly watching Lyra from behind his tea, frowned. "She's up to something."

Draco narrowed his eyes across the hall.

Across the Great Hall, Harry Potter was grinning into his mug like he knew a secret the rest of the world hadn't figured out yet.

Draco did not like it.

Not one bit.