XXIII

                                    

                                          


                          
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The weeks pass by quickly. Myra barely realized that one passed before the next started. She drowned herself in her studies and didn't pay attention to others.
                          
        Lily avoided her. She would go to breakfast earlier than Myra. Alice would sometimes go with her, sometimes with Frank, and sometimes with Myra and Marlene. Marlene didn't care that Lily wasn't talking to her. She said that Lily would learn the hard way that Slytherins weren't good people and that they destroy everything. Myra didn't say how Regulus was a good person.
                          
        The Slytherins started bullying her. They always caught her when Myra was by herself. They tore her bag and they ripped her books and spilled her ink. It was never anything creative. They never blatantly hurt her. She never said anything. She didn't want to bother anyone. She just went with it. She's dealt with more before.
                          
        Myra continued to talk to Regulus. He would try to leave his friends and hang out with her but often, they wouldn't let him go. Whenever they did hang out, they would go to the library and they would talk about books and authors. Myra would tell him about new muggle authors popping up and Regulus would tell her about new wizard authors. 
                          
        Sometimes, Regulus would tell her about the girl from Ravenclaw that he liked. He never told her her name but he talked about how she was smart but never bragged about it. She was very pretty (in his eyes) but she never put on makeup and that she had a lot of friends and that she was really nice. Myra was happy for him. She hoped that they got together. All she needed was a name.
                          
        Myra felt herself getting closer to Remus. They would talk on a daily basis. If they had the same class, she would sit with him and Marlene on alternating days. If they sat at the back, he would write down the notes and she would copy them. They talked about whatever came to mind. Occasionally, he would ask about the Lestranges and how it was like living there. She would steer the conversation away to how his parents were.
                          
        Remus' birthday had come and gone. She made him a charcoal drawing as well as chocolate from Honeydukes. It was a drawing of the Marauders. She took sections of their faces and drew them before combining them. For half of the drawing, she took James' hair, Sirius' eyes, and Peter's mouth. For the other half, she drew half of Remus' face. It ended up being a collage of their faces. He had loved it.
                          
        They started studying in the library together. Myra would call those moments the best. She loved them. She managed to forget about the situation with Lily and the Slytherins. Remus was always quiet and always read his books but his presence was always so loud in Myra's mind. She could never ignore him. She could never not notice him.
                          
        Myra wore herself thin studying. Exams were now only two weeks away and she was frantically trying to finish her notes. She stayed up late and woke up early. Sometimes she got only three hours of sleep. Sometimes, she never slept.
                          
        Myra knew that everyone noticed the bags under her eyes and the constant studying. She would always get at least three to four cups of coffee in the morning. She found that it was much stronger than tea. Especially a type of black coffee called espresso. She had to hand it to the Italians. They knew how to make coffee.
                          
        "Myra, that's your fifth cup!" Alice exclaimed. She reached out to take it but Myra moved it away, "It's not healthy to drink that much."
                          
        "Doesn't matter. I have to stay up the entire day." Even as she sipped the coffee she felt drowsiness creep into her, causing her to slump against the table, resting her elbows on it.