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❝packed my bags at fourteen i hadn't planned on leaving❞
≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫
Lyra was fourteen when she ran away for the first time. She packed a bag and left to spend the summer with her best friend, Aliyah Coleman. She didn't tell anyone where she was going, not even Sirius or Draco. She couldn't risk Bellatrix finding out and making her only safe place besides Hogwarts unsafe by her showing up to drag her back "home".
The Colemans were a Muggle family, all except for their daughter, Aliyah. She and Lyra had met on the Hogwarts Express first year and have been inseparable ever since. Aliyah knew all about her family troubles. There had been many nights when they'd sneak out of Hogwarts to sit down by the Black Lake to talk about it. Lyra would tell her about the nightmares and flashbacks and the constant fear she felt around her oldest sister.
Lyra didn't have this support system now that she had completed her learning at Hogwarts. Yes, they kept in touch through letters and the occasional telephone call, but it wasn't the same as spending every minute of every school year together.
"Wingardium leviosa," Lyra whispered, flicking her wand at her trunk. It rose off the ground and into the air. She quietly opened her bedroom door and crept downstairs. Disappearing in the dead of night while everyone was asleep was her best bet if she wanted to make it out of the manor undetected.
She made it to the front door and reached out for the handle. She was just about to turn it when a light switched on. She froze.
"And just where exactly do you think you're going?"
"Where are you going?"
14 year old Lyra turned around when she heard Sirius' concerned voice. She didn't know he was still up. She thought everyone had gone to sleep. "I-I just, um...n-need some air," she stammered.
"With your packed trunk?" Sirius slowly approached his baby cousin. "You're running away, aren't you?"
Lyra pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded, lowering her gaze. "I can't stay here, Sirius," she whispered. "I...I don't feel safe. Surely you of all people understand what that's like."
Sirius sighed sadly. "I do." He wrapped her into a hug and kissed the top of her head. "You don't have to tell me where you're going, but just promise me you'll be safe, Lyra. I'll cover for you here."
"Thank you, Sirius." Lyra shut her eyes and hugged him tighter. "I'll be safe. I promise."
That summer was the best one of Lyra's life. Mr. and Mrs. Coleman welcomed her with open arms when she showed up outside their house after a bumpy ride on the Knight Bus. Her days were spent with Aliyah playing in the backyard on the trampoline or in the pool. They'd camp out once every week or so and roast marshmallows, tell ghost stories, and stay up until the very early hours of the morning, laughing under a sky full of stars. It was like a giant weight had been lifted off her chest, and she could finally breathe.
Everything was well until the winter holidays came. She had no choice but to return to Malfoy Manor. Bellatrix was furious, and if it hadn't been for Narcissa and Sirius, Lyra didn't think she would've lived to finish her fourth year at Hogwarts.
Lyra's concentration broke, and her trunk collapsed on the ground with a loud thud. She gulped and turned around. Bellatrix approached her, her wand outstretched. She placed the tip underneath Lyra's chin and tilted her head up, staring coldly into her aquamarine eyes. Her brows furrowed for a moment, a conflicting look crossing her features. It was almost like she was looking at a younger Narcissa.
Lyra sucked in a shaky breath. She cleared her mind and shut down her emotions so that Bellatrix wouldn't be able to read her thoughts. "I'm going away for a while," she truthfully said, her voice monotone and expression emotionless.
"Oh, you are, are you?" Bellatrix raised a brow. She gripped Lyra's chin between her thumb and forefinger, her eyes narrowing. "What makes you think you're entitled to do that?"
"I'm 18," Lyra stated, standing up taller. "I'm an adult. I'm allowed to make my own decisions now, and there's nothing you can do to stop me."
Bellatrix bunched up the collar of Lyra's shirt and shoved her back against the door, holding her roughly in place. "Listen here, you ungrateful little brat–"
"Bellatrix!" Narcissa rushed into the foyer and pulled the curly-haired woman away from Lyra. The younger blonde picked her trunk up, tightly gripping the handle as she reached behind her for the doorknob. "Have you ever for a moment stopped to think that maybe you're the reason why she doesn't want to stay here? You have to let her go! You'll only make things worse if you don't!"
Lyra turned the knob and ran out of the manor as her older sisters began shouting at each other. She was used to fights like these. They'd happen every time Narcissa or Sirius, sometimes even Draco, would jump to her defense.
She sprinted out the front gates and down the gravel pathway. She came to a stop when she reached the edge of the forest, which had two paths – one that led to town, and the other that led to a lake. She checked behind her to make sure that she wasn't being followed before heading down the path leading to town. From there, she'd be able to take the Knight Bus to Aliyah's home.
How long she'd be staying, she didn't know. But anywhere was better than here.
