Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling

Hey guys! Hope you like my newest fanfiction. It will be a Harry Lyra in the end, so I hope you enjoy the first chapter. It starts in the bookshop scene right after Harry gets away from Lockhart. I want to thank Jonathyn and Camille, by betas, for checking for grammar, spelling, and general content errors.

"Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter?" said a voice Harry had no trouble recognizing. He straightened up and found himself face-to-face with Draco Malfoy, who was wearing his usual sneer.

"Famous Harry Potter," drawled Malfoy. "Can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page."

"Draco, why are you yelling at some random people?" a girl's voice said.

Harry looked around in confusion, and noticed a pretty blonde girl come next to Malfoy. She had curly blonde hair the same color as Malfoy's, grey eyes, and black streaks in her hair. Matching grey eyes told him that they were somehow related.

"Who are you?" Ginny asked.

"Lyra Malfoy." she replied with a curve to her lips.

"Oh, it's you," said Ron, looking at Malfoy as if he were something unpleasant on the sole of his shoe. "Bet you're surprised to see Harry here, eh?"

"Not as surprised as I am to see you in a shop, Weasley," retorted Malfoy. "I suppose your parents will go hungry for a month to pay for all those."

Ron went as red as Ginny. He dropped his books into the cauldron, and started toward Malfoy, but Harry and Hermione grabbed the back of his jacket. The other Malfoy smacked her brother on the back of the head lightly.

"That was uncalled for." the girl Malfoy snapped. Harry mentally called her Lyra so he didn't mess her up with Malfoy. "What did they ever do to you?"

"That's Potter." Malfoy told her.

She rolled her eyes.

"Indeed. What about it? I'm a Malfoy, and those are Weasleys. Stop holding grudges Draco Malfoy."

"Ron!" said Mr. Weasley, struggling over with Fred and George. "What are you doing? It's too crowded in here, let's go outside."

"Well, well, well - Arthur Weasley."

It was Mr. Malfoy. He stood with his hand on Draco's shoulder, sneering in just the same way. "Hello Lyra." he nodded.

"Father." she replied.

"Lucius," said Mr. Weasley, nodding coldly.

"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear," said Mr. Malfoy. "All those raids... I hope they're paying you overtime?"

He reached into Ginny's cauldron and extracted, from amid the glossy Lockhart books, a very old, very battered copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration .

"Obviously not," Mr. Malfoy said. "Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?"

Mr. Weasley flushed darker than either Ron or Ginny.

"We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy," he said.

"Clearly," said Mr. Malfoy, his pale eyes straying to Mr. and Mrs. Granger, who were watching apprehensively. "The company you keep, Weasley... and I thought your family could sink no lower."

There was a thud of metal as Ginny's cauldron went flying; Mr. Weasley had thrown himself at Mr. Malfoy, knocking him backward into a bookshelf. Dozens of heavy spellbooks came thundering down on all their heads; there was a yell of, "Get him, Dad!" from Fred or George; Mrs. Weasley was shrieking, "No, Arthur, no!"; the crowd stampeded backward, knocking more shelves over; "Gentlemen, please - please!" cried the assistant, and then, louder than all-

"Break it up, there, gents, break it up-"

Hagrid was wading toward them through the sea of books. In an instant he had pulled Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy apart. Mr. Weasley had a cut lip and Mr. Malfoy had been hit in the eye by an Encyclopedia of Toadstools . He was still holding Ginny's old Transfiguration book. He thrust it at her, his eyes glittering with malice.

"Here, girl - take your book - it's the best your father can give you -" Pulling himself out of Hagrid's grip he beckoned to Draco and Lyra and swept from the shop. She gave Harry an apologetic look before sweeping away in a flurry of light blue robes.

"Yeh should've ignored him, Arthur," said Hagrid, almost lifting Mr. Weasley off his feet as he straightened his robes. "Rotten ter the core, the whole family, everyone knows that - no Malfoy's worth listenin' ter - bad blood, that's what it is - come on now - let's get outta here."

The assistant looked as though he wanted to stop them leaving, but he barely came up to Hagrid's waist and seemed to think better of it. They hurried up the street, the Grangers shaking with fright and Mrs. Weasley beside herself with fury.

"A fine example to set for your children... brawling in public... what Gilderoy Lockhart must've thought-"

"He was pleased," said Fred. "Didn't you hear him as we were leaving? He was asking that bloke from the Daily Prophet if he'd be able to work the fight into his report - said it was all publicity-"

Harry gave a small laugh.

But it was a subdued group that headed back to the fireside in the Leaky Cauldron, where Harry, the Weasleys, and all their shopping would be traveling back to the Burrow using Floo powder. They said goodbye to the Grangers, who were leaving the pub for the Muggle street on the other side; Mr. Weasley started to ask them how bus stops worked, but stopped quickly at the look on Mrs. Weasley's face.

Harry took off his glasses and put them safely in his pocket before helping himself to Floo Powder. It definitely wasn't his favorite way to travel.

The end of the summer vacation came too quickly for Harry's liking. He was looking forward to getting back to Hogwarts, but his month at the Burrow had been the happiest of his life. It was difficult not to feel jealous of Ron when he thought of the Dursleys and the sort of welcome he could expect next time he turned up on Privet Drive.

On their last evening, Mrs. Weasley conjured up a sumptuous dinner that included all of Harry's favorite things, ending with a mouthwatering treacle pudding. Fred and George rounded off the evening with a display of Filibuster fireworks; they filled the kitchen with red and blue stars that bounced from ceiling to wall for at least half an hour. Then it was time for a last mug of hot chocolate and bed.

It took a long while to get started next morning. They were up at dawn, but somehow they still seemed to have a great deal to do. Mrs. Weasley dashed about in a bad mood looking for spare socks and quills; people kept colliding on the stairs, half-dressed with bits of toast in their hands; and Mr. Weasley nearly broke his neck, tripping over a stray chicken as he crossed the yard carrying Ginny's trunk to the car.

Harry couldn't see how eight people, six large trunks, two owls, and a rat were going to fit into one small Ford Anglia. He had reckoned, of course, without the special features that Mr. Weasley had added.

"Not a word to Molly," he whispered to Harry as he opened the trunk and showed him how it had been magically expanded so that the luggage fitted easily.

When at last they were all in the car, Mrs. Weasley glanced into the back seat, where Harry, Ron, Fred, George, and Percy were all sitting comfortably side by side, and said, "Muggles do know more than we give them credit for, don't they?" She and Ginny got into the front seat, which had been stretched so that it resembled a park bench. "I mean, you'd never know it was this roomy from the outside, would you?"

Mr. Weasley started up the engine and they trundled out of the yard, Harry turning back for a last look at the house. He barely had time to wonder when he'd see it again when they were back. George had forgotten his box of Filibuster fireworks. Five minutes after that, they skidded to a halt in the yard so that Fred could run in for his broomstick. They had almost reached the highway when Ginny shrieked that she'd left her diary. By the time she had clambered back into the car, they were running very late, and tempers were running high.

Mr. Weasley glanced at his watch and then at his wife.

"Molly, dear-"

"No , Arthur -"

"No one would see - this little button here is an Invisibility Booster I installed - that'd get us up in the air - then we fly above the clouds. We'd be there in ten minutes and no one would be any the wiser-"

Harry wondered at magic. An invisible flying car!

"I said no, Arthur, not in broad daylight-"

They reached King's Cross at a quarter to eleven. Mr. Weasley dashed across the road to get trolleys for their trunks and they all hurried into the station.

Harry had caught the Hogwarts Express the previous year. The tricky part was getting onto platform nine and three-quarters, which wasn't visible to the Muggle eye. What you had to do was walk through the solid barrier dividing platforms nine and ten. It didn't hurt, but it had to be done carefully so that none of the Muggles noticed you vanishing.

"Percy first," said Mrs. Weasley, looking nervously at the clock overhead, which showed they had only five minutes to disappear casually through the barrier.

Percy strode briskly forward and vanished. Mr. Weasley went next; Fred and George followed.

"I'll take Ginny and you two come right after us," Mrs. Weasley told Harry and Ron, grabbing Ginny's hand and setting off. In the blink of an eye they were gone.

"Let's go together, we've only got a minute," Ron said to Harry.

Harry made sure that Hedwig's cage was safely wedged on top of his trunk and wheeled his trolley around to face the barrier. He felt perfectly confident; this wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as using Floo powder. Both of them bent low over the handles of their trolleys and walked purposefully toward the barrier, gathering speed. A few feet away from it, they broke into a run and-

CRASH.

Both trolleys hit the barrier and bounced backward; Ron's trunk fell off with a loud thump, Harry was knocked off his feet, and Hedwig's cage bounced onto the shiny floor, and she rolled away, shrieking indignantly; people all around them stared and a guard nearby yelled, "What in blazes d'you think you're doing?"

"Lost control of the trolley," Harry gasped, clutching his ribs as he got up. Ron ran to pick up Hedwig, who was causing such a scene that there was a lot of muttering about cruelty to animals from the surrounding crowd.

"Why can't we get through?" Harry hissed to Ron.

"I dunno-"

Ron looked wildly around. A dozen curious people were still watching them.

"We're going to miss the train," Ron whispered. "I don't understand why the gateway's sealed itself-"

Harry looked up at the giant clock with a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach. Ten seconds... nine seconds...

He wheeled his trolley forward cautiously until it was right against the barrier and pushed with all his might. The metal remained solid.

Three seconds... two seconds... one second...

"It's gone," said Ron, sounding stunned. "The train's left. What if Mum and Dad can't get back through to us? Have you got any Muggle money?"

Harry gave a hollow laughed. "The Dursleys haven't given me pocket money for about six years."

Ron pressed his ear to the cold barrier.

"Can't hear a thing," he said tensely, "What're we going to do? I don't know how long it'll take Mum and Dad to get back to us."

They looked around. People were still watching them, mainly because of Hedwig's continuing screeches.

"I think we'd better go and wait by the car," said Harry. "We're attracting too much atten-

"Harry!" said Ron, his eyes gleaming. "The car!"

"What about it?"

"We can fly the car to Hogwarts!"

"Ron." Harry gave his best friend an odd look. "That's a very dumb idea, no offense. Do you even know how muggle cars work? It would run out of gas and we would crash somewhere."

"Well what other option do we have?" Ron scowled.

"We'll wait for your parents." Harry said. "They can't leave the car."

After about ten minutes Mr and Mrs Weasley appeared.

"Boys!" Mrs Weasley exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"We couldn't get through the barrier, mum." Ron told her.

"Well, we'll just have to apparate won't we." she said, fussing with their clothes.

"Now boys, hold onto us." Mr Weasley told them. "1-2-3!"

Harry felt a tugging sensation before he was whipped away. His vision spun before his eyes, and when he came to his surroundings, he found himself outside of Hogwarts on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

"What was that?" Harry asked, trying to keep himself from retching up his food.

"Apparition. Nasty experience for beginners." Mr Weasley told him.

"Come on boys!" Mrs Weasley called, and they followed the adults through the castle gates into the castle.

"Ah, Molly." Headmaster Dumbledore greeted them with twinkling eyes. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Harry and Ron weren't able to get through the barrier, so we brought them here." she said. "Thank god they didn't try anything foolish like flying the car here."

Harry gave Ron a hidden grin and Ron grinned back.

"Well, I suppose you boys can stay for lunch and get yourselves settled in the common room." he told them.

Harry and Ron got to eat lunch at the Heads Table with Mr and Mrs Weasley. It was a disconcerting experience to be looking out at the Great Hall from above instead of looking up at the teachers. He was glad that he didn't have to be next to Snape though. Ron was, and Snape glared at him the entire time. Harry had the good luck of being next to Dumbledore.

"Headmaster." Harry asked. "Why is the Forbidden Forest forbidden?"

"It used to be called the Darkling Woods Harry, but after an incident involving your father, three of his friends, a tea party, a group of centaurs, Giant Spiders, and the Whomping Willow, it was forbidden. Of course that never stopped them, but it did help."

"My dad is the reason it's forbidden?" Harry asked with wide eyes.

"Oh yes." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "He and his friends were called the Marauders, and were the worst pranksters to hit Hogwarts. They would give Mr and Mr Weasley a run for their money."

"What was their worst prank?" Harry asked curiously.

This was so cool! Maybe he could be like his dad and pull some pranks.

"I wish not to go into details, but it involved snakes, colored hair, and the teachers in very revealing muggle swimwear." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled.

Harry spewed pumpkin juice from his mouth at the image of Dumbledore in a Speedo.

"Come on." Harry laughed after lunch, as they trudged up to Gryffindor tower. "McGonagall told me the password. It's wattlebird."

"We get first pick at beds mate!" Ron said with vigour.

"I call the one near the window and away from the bathroom." Harry said immediately.

Everyone knew that at night, being near the bathroom or Seamus would mean death by stench. Ron grinned as they entered the common room, and set up their beds.

"Chess?" Ron asked him, and they set up to play chess.

As they played, the conversation turned to the incident in the bookshop.

"Can you believe Malfoy?" Ron asked as his knight took Harry's bishop. "Strutting in but a few words from his sister and he backs down. I bet she's just as bad as him."

"She didn't seem too bad." Harry said quietly.

Ron looked at him like he'd grown a second head. "She's a Malfoy Harry, and a Slytherin to boot! They're all bad!"

Harry stayed quiet and didn't argue, but the feeling in his gut told him that Ron was wrong. Soon it was time to go to the Great Hall. The boys stayed in a corner and joined the crowd of students entering so nobody noticed them.

"Where were you?" Hermione Granger, they're best friend, asked as soon as she found them.

Harry gave a grin at seeing her again.

"We got locked out of the platform so we were apparated here." Ron told her in a quiet voice. "Ate lunch with the teachers."

"Really?" Hermione asked, her brown eyes sparkling in fascination. "What was it like?"

"Amazing." Harry told her. "We were above the entire hall."

"They've started the sorting!" Hermione moaned. "Oh, we missed the song!"

"Forget that." Ron muttered.

Harry payed attention to only a few students. Luna Lovegood was put in Ravenclaw. Colin Creevy and Ginny Weasley in Gryffindor. Astoria Greengrass in Slytherin. Then, at the end of the Sorting Dumbledore stood up.

"Before we start our sumptuous feast, I have a last student to be sorted. She is a transfer students from Beauxbatons Academy for Magic. Please welcome Miss Lyra Malfoy!"

The pretty blonde entered the hall and sat on the stool. Harry saw her scan the hall with her grey eyes before they were blocked out by the hat. After a few minutes it called "SLYTHERIN!"

"Obviously." Ron muttered. "Where else would a Malfoy go?"

Harry stayed silent as she shot him a small smile and took a seat next to her brother. He saw Malfoy give her a smile, not a smirk or a mean grin, but a genuine smile. It was an abnormal expression to see on Malfoy's face.

"Let the feast, begin!" Dumbledore announced, and food piled up on the tables.

The mystery that was Lyra Malfoy flew from Harry's mind as he attacked the food with nearly as much vigour as Ron, albeit with more manners.

"Really, you boys eat like starved animals." Hermione rolled her eyes at them.

"Now that our feasts are done, let us all remember that the Forbidden Forest is, as it's name implies, Forbidden." Harry gave a grin as he remembered his dad.

"Now pip pip! Off to bed!"

Harry went to bed and closed his hangings. As he lay in bed, he fell asleep to dreams of pranks, green lights, flying cars, giant spiders, and Malfoys.