Closed We were just kids, babe

[Lyra Potter]

Lyra Potter sat at a table by the window in a muggle cafe not too far from where she lived with her husband, Ezra Cade. She had the day off from her temporary job as a professor, and there was something she wanted to do. For weeks now, Felix Urie had occupied her thoughts. Being back at the school, she saw the ghost of Felix everywhere including in his daughter, Tori, who had come to see her after the first week of classes. She could see Felix in Tori, and the girl had seemingly made friends with both of Lyra’s children. Somehow, that felt right. The conversation with Tori had pushed her to this meeting today.

Lyra had discussed her idea with Ezra, and even though he wasn’t in favor, he understood why she needed to do this. It was time Felix got a true apology from her. He deserved that after everything she’d put him through. So, for the first time in eleven years and seven months, Lyra had sent an owl to Felix. She’d asked him to meet her here to talk. Somewhere public, but off the beaten path so they could have an honest conversation away from any prying eyes. She was dressed very simply in a white, casual shirt and black pants. Her hair hung in loose waves just past her shoulders. Her green eyes glanced down at the open book on the table. It was really just a prop. She was too nervous about seeing Felix to read. Would he recognize her? Would he even come to see her?

 

[Felix Styx]

Felix couldn't say he completely understood why Lyra wanted to meet in a muggle place for merlin's sake, but then, he'd long left the muggle world behind. He'd made that decision upon graduation in favour of spending more time learning what he could about the magical side of things. Unfortunately for him he didn't have a magical heritage to look back on and whilst he'd spent all of his time in the magical world, a number of his schoolmates hadn't, that had included both Georgina, who had never been truly comfortable around magic (he kind of got it honestly) and then Lyra, who'd spent some time in the muggle world after everything that had happened after graduation and beyond. When he'd heard she'd married Ezra, he hadn't been truly surprised. What had surprised him was an owl from her, he'd forgiven her ages ago for anything and everything between them but he hadn't ever really thought to write to her, he'd had nothing much to really say to her, and he hadn't been sure she'd welcome it. His time was mostly either spent with Kaye, with Lanithro and the kids, with Tori, though he didn't actually spend all that much time with her (not as much as she seemed to indicate to others) or in his other forms of business with the Scitorari. He'd left that behind now though, things had stopped aligning. "Lyra?" he called as he walked up, trying to reconcile the woman before him with the girl he'd known once. It had been well over a decade since he'd last seen her after all.​

 

[Lyra Potter]

Lyra raised her face from the book on the table as she heard a familiar, though deeper, voice call her name. It was a voice she would recognize anywhere in any lifetime. He said her name like it was a question, but surely he recognized her, too. She didn’t think she had changed that much, had she? “Felix.” she breathed as he approached her. He was different. That was easy to see, and it was understandable considering how long ago it was that she last spoke to him. Lyra tried to merge the image of the man before her with the phantom of her Felix that had danced across her memories too often during the semester. Lyra thought she could still see the ghost of the person she had once known even if it would take some time to get used to this older Felix. “Thank you for coming.” she said, meaning it. “I wasn’t sure you would.” the brunette admitted with a small smile at the man before her.

 

[Felix Styx]

"Of course I came, you called me." despite everything Felix had always shown up whenever Lyra had called him. It had just been a very long time since she'd done so. He'd begun to think she never would again, and it had hurt for a while, she'd been his best friend for such a large part of their lives, when everything had gone south it had stung. He'd moved on, learned more about himself and built his life around Lanithro, Keye, Georgina - he'd reached a point where he hadn't needed Lyra, but that didn't mean he didn't still want her in his life. He just didn't know how to say in words how he felt, and he figured she didn't either. So, he'd kept himself occupied, occasionally wondering if she would call for him. "Felix and Lyra, right?" he grinned, taking a seat across from her and leaning back in his seat to look her over. "Your thirties suit you, you look good."​

 

[Lyra Potter]

Lyra forgot what it was like to be around Felix. It had been such a long time since she'd been around Felix without actively trying to push him away. Actually, she had forgotten what it was even like to have a best friend. There wasn't anyone else in the world that could take his place, and it didn't matter how much time and distance she had put between them. Felix answered Lyra so simply. Lyra should have known he would come if she called. A genuine grin appeared on her face as the tension vanished from her body. It was all too easy to slip back into old habits of their friendship. He had been her best friend from practically the moment she met him. "Thank you. You don't look too bad yourself, Urie." she teased him back. He definitely looked better than he had when she ran into him in Brightstone Village about a year after the twins were born. It was the last time she saw him until today, but it felt like such a short time ago.

"Look, Fee--" the brunette said, slipping into her childhood nickname for him. "I asked you here because being back at school--talking to Tori--made me realize that I miss you and us, and I should've apologized to you about ten years ago, but you know me, and I don't really apologize, but I need to tell you that I'm sorry... for everything that I did and how I acted after my mother died. I ran away, and you didn't deserve any of that. I really hope you can forgive me because I really do miss you." Lyra said, the words tumbled out of her mouth rather unexpectedly. She hadn't intended to just dump all of that on Felix as soon as he sat down, but she had never been able to keep her feelings from him.

 

[Felix Styx]

"Styx... actually," he corrected her, though it still did feel weird to think about. They'd been married for five years and sometimes Felix did in fact forget that his last name wasn't Urie anymore. He supposed in the grand scheme of things it was and there were just somethings that would always be true about him, but he'd distanced himself from his name a long time ago, immersing himself in the dark arts until it had become necessary to leave it behind him. The name Urie had kept his family safe, so he'd left it behind. These days it didn't matter so much anymore, but he did like the sound of the name Styx on his tongue, even if some people wouldn't get it. He and Lani were a packaged deal and the name was their promise to each other. He wasn't exactly accepted, but he was tolerated, and that was enough for him for now. "And I never look bad, I always look good." he grinned, hands behind his head as he stretched out and leaned back in his seat again.

As soon as she delved into whatever she had called him here to talk about, he frowned. Apologise? It took him a moment to connect the dots on what she was talking about and he frowned. He'd forgiven her for all of that a really long time ago, he hadn't realised quite that it had still weighed on her. He wondered if he maybe should have told her he'd forgiven her years ago, but things had never quite worked out that way and she would not have appreciated his time in the Scitorari anyway, she would never understand why he'd felt the need to join them, she wouldn't have accepted it. Lani didn't, but he'd stood by him when he'd needed him, part of him genuinely believed Lyra wouldn't have, and sometimes that was what made him realise why they would not have worked in the end. He still loved Lyra, and he always would, and honestly if given the right circumstances there were a lot of things he would do for her, he sometimes thought back to those shared, secret moments in the towers or the trophy room, and then wondered how he'd ended up in his life.

Would Felix have left the scitorari for Lyra? He left for Lani and the babies they were expecting together, but had he loved Lyra enough to leave for her? He'd had to come to his own decision and it had taken him nearly ten years to finally leave. He didn't actually know the answer to that. "Boots, I forgave you for everything years ago, you don't have to apologise to me, you've never had to," the mention of Tori made him sigh. He missed her, he'd written her a couple of letters but she hadn't written him back, he wasn't sure why, but she was sometimes a hit and miss with that. Maybe he'd see her over the Christmas break - he hoped at least, pop by Georgi's if he couldn't have her at the Manor. "I didn't realise you'd taken up a position at the school, I'm glad, you could do some good there," maybe if he'd had a Lyra as a professor, he wouldn't have hated the school so much, he often felt like it had destroyed his life, since he felt like it had destroyed his relationship with his siblings.​