Lyra was overwhelmed by profound humiliation that threatened to completely crush her spirit, and her pride flared and exploded into white hot anger. This ends now.

“Harry Potter, get back here this instant”, she said with only slightly raised voice, but so imperiously that he, Ron and Hermione froze in place, a few steps away from her, and turned.

“Here. Now”, she commanded, and Harry automatically obeyed, standing in front of her.

“Take out your wand”

He looked at her incredulously, not understanding what’s going on.

“NOW!!!”, she barked command, and he instantly obeyed.

“Point it at my heart. Here”, she guided his wand to the centre of her chest.

“The curse you need to use is Reducto. You need to focus on my heart and visualise disintegration and destruction. You are weak and didn’t practice, but it should still suffice to stop an enemy girl’s heart. It should be easy for you; just channel the hatred and contempt you have been using to greet me in the hallways and in class each time we encountered. Channel it into the spell, and I will be dead. You can then feel proud of killing an enemy, and I will be relieved of the humiliation of being treated worse than a lousy dog”, she bored a hole through his head with her silver eyes, as he looked at her in complete consternation.

“What is this commotion? Move along”, an adult voice could be heard behind Harry.

“Professor McGonagall, a moment please”, Lyra said commandingly. “This is a matter of family honour, that cannot be delayed or interfered with. We can discuss disciplinary matters or removal of my dead body later, but this has precedence”. She looked at the Professor with such adult dignity and focus, that the old woman froze, and took a step back, to the absolute amazement of the students gathered.

“Now, Potter. This should be easy for you. You decided that I’m an enemy. You treat me with hatred and contempt. You act as if we are at war. So, act accordingly. I will not lift a finger to stop you, and you have multiple witnesses, including the head of your House, that I challenged you and that you merely did what I asked. Pour your hatred into a curse and kill me”.

Harry started coming out of shock, and lowered his wand. “No.”

“Why not?”, she insisted.

“You didn’t do anything”, he whispered.

“I must have done something. You hate me, you treat me with contempt, and you deny me every common curtesy. You degrade me, trample on my dignity and I am done with it. So, either kill me now, or start treating me like a dignified person. I am aware that you were brought up by low class muggles who didn’t train you in proper courtesy which is due to a lady, but I refuse to be treated like vermin. So, make up your mind. Either you will kill me if I’m an enemy and vermin, or we shall now agree the terms of civilized conduct between us, which we shall uphold from now on”, she finished.

“I will definitely not kill you, or hurt you in any way. I never wanted to do that”, Harry was honest. “But your parents serve Voldemort who killed my parents, and you defend them and espouse their beliefs. You offended my friend on multiple occasions, denying her human dignity and dignity as a witch. You’re not the only one who has the right to feel offended”, he argued.

“That is true. I did offend your friend. However, since I am not certain that I did anything wrong, I will not offer my apology at this time. If you convince me of my error, or if I come to change my mind on my own, I will offer apology and restitution. As for my parents, I refuse to apologize for being born, or for loving them dearly. If you want to attempt to convince me that their ideology is wrong, you are free to do that, and I will offer whatever arguments to the contrary that I see as valid. We will conduct our discussion in a civilized manner, without violence or insults, and I will henceforth cease to make statements that your friends might find offensive. You will stop making statements that offend my parents, because I love them and hearing those statements hurts my feelings, and since I cannot undo the fact of my birth, or change my parents, and I adamantly refuse to stop loving them, you will either agree to those terms, or you can raise your wand and kill me”, she finished.

Harry looked at her in awe, and for the first time it struck him that this girl actually has feelings that could be hurt, that she loves her parents like any other decent person, and that he’s been treating her in a hurtful manner. He felt ashamed. “I agree to your terms”, he nodded.

“Excellent. Now, put away your wand and let’s do this properly. My name is Lyra Malfoy. I would be honoured to invite you to an open-ended series of discussions where we can establish our differences in belief, argue on their respective merit, and try to change each other’s minds in a mutually acceptable and possibly pleasant manner, rather than treating each other despicably”. She offered him her hand.

“Hello, my name is Harry Potter. I apologize for my rudeness”, he nodded and shook her hand. Her palm was sweaty and cold. This wasn’t easy for her, he thought. She actually counted on the possibility that I will want to kill her. His heart filled with empathy. She’s an incredibly brave girl. I was really an ass with her.

“Twenty points to Slytherin for extreme dignity and courage displayed. Ten points to Gryffindor for changing offensive and stupid conduct and thus showing personal merit. Now move along from the hallway before I change my mind”, Professor McGonagall looked at them sternly and waited for them to disappear.

“She’s absolutely mental”, Ron mumbled as they hurried along. “But I like her. She should be in Gryffindor with that nerve.”

“Or in Ravenclaw with her mind”, Hermione voiced. “Honestly, that was impressive”.

“I feel like a jerk”, Harry replied. “Have I actually been that bad?”

“Try to put yourself in her situation, Harry”, Hermione turned his way. “You got on the wrong foot with her from the first day, and you treated her dismissively and, frankly, horribly, ever since, which was about two years. If somebody treated you like that, what would you have done?”

“Probably challenged them. However, what she did, not just inviting me to kill her, but also giving me instructions on how to do it properly, that took more nerve than I have”, Harry admitted. “Honestly, I’m changing my opinion of her. I thought she’s just a spoiled brat and a bully based on how she treated Hermione. But bullies are always cowards. This was incredibly brave. I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt and really talk to her. I can’t feel good about myself dismissing her after this. And how she ordered McGonagall to stand down, I still can’t believe it”.

“Harry, you offended her honour. Her family aside, she’s a dignified, proud girl who can stand up for herself and obviously has self-confidence of steel. This was also important to her, and I don’t think she was bluffing. She was literally willing to die rather than suffer continued humiliations from you. I know you feel the need to defend me from her insults, and I am grateful, but please don’t treat this girl poorly”, Hermione pleaded.

“Mental”, Ron repeated. “Does that spell actually do what she said?”

“Reducto?”, Hermione answered. “Oh yes. Quite deadly if used as she instructed. It would have shattered her heart, irreversibly”.

“Bloody hell”, Ron whistled.