𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 | house of black

xiii

xiii | this is me trying

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❝they told me all of my cages were mental
so i got wasted like all my potential
and my words shoot to kill when i'm mad
i have a lot of regrets about that❞

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Bellatrix watched with a scowl as her 4 year old sister ran around the garden. Her legs, hands, and clothes were covered with mud from digging around in the grass, and her blonde hair was coming undone from the braided bun that Narcissa had put it in.

Lyra always makes a mess of everything, and she can't go outside without getting coated in filth.

"What kind of bug are you?" Lyra asked, her brows furrowing as she picked something off of one of the leaves. "Cissy!"

Narcissa looked up from that morning's Daily Prophet. She smiled at Lyra as she ran up to her. "What do you have there, sweetheart?"

"A hairy worm." Lyra held up her small hand to show Narcissa the bug. Bellatrix's scowl deepened, her hard brown eyes narrowing.

Narcissa chuckled softly. "I think that hairy worm is called a caterpillar."

Lyra's lightly freckled nose scrunched. "This caterpillar is an ugly bug."

"Well, pretty soon, it's going to turn into a beautiful butterfly."

"No way, Cissy!" Lyra gasped, her blue eyes lighting up.

"It's true, love." Narcissa smiled. She gently brushed some hair out of her baby sister's face. "It's like in your fairy tale books. The princess kisses the frog, and he turns into a handsome prince."

Lyra lifted the caterpillar up and looked at it with a serious look on her face, her brows scrunching. "You're gonna stay a caterpillar, because I'm not kissing you." She turned to walk back to the garden. "Especially if you're Draco. He's yucky."

A tiny smirk twitched on Bellatrix's lips at that last comment, but she covered it up by raising her tea cup to her lips, her face returning to its usual scowl when she lowered it.

Bellatrix closed her eyes and took a deep breath in through her nose. She focused on the odd feeling of Lyra's fingers in her hair as she French braided it to distract herself from her thoughts.

"So, uh...where- where did you learn how to braid hair?" Bellatrix asked.

"Narcissa," Lyra replied.

Bellatrix sighed and rolled her eyes. "Of course." Who else would've taught her?

"But it was Aliyah that taught me how to do the fancy braids, like fishtail, French, and Dutch."

"The filthy Mudblood?" Bellatrix scoffed.

Lyra punched Bellatrix's shoulder, her eyes narrowing. "Aliyah is muggle-born. Mudblood is an offensive term."

"Yes, yes, we all know how much of a Mudblood lover you are," Bellatrix grumbled, her jaw clenching when Lyra tugged roughly at her hair. She sent her a glare over her shoulder. "I'll still kill you."

Lyra took a deep breath in through her nose. She shook her head as she tied off the braid. "If you were gonna kill me, you would've done it already."

"Well, there's nothing stopping me now, is there?" Bellatrix muttered.

"Do it, then," Lyra challenged, raising a brow when Bellatrix turned around to look at her. The woman's eyes narrowed slightly, her jaw flexing. "That's what I thought. So, now that we have that out of the way..." Lyra's voice softened, the usual nervousness that she felt around her older sister returning, "I-I actually wanted to ask a favour of you."

Bellatrix raised a brow. "You think I'm gonna do something for you?"

"You will if you were serious about making things right," Lyra said, her voice hardening again. She needed to have some confidence if she wanted Bellatrix to agree. The older witch sat up straighter and stared down at Lyra with an annoyed look that told her she was listening. "I..." She took a deep breath. "I want to invite Andromeda, Remus, Teddy, Tonks, and Aliyah to stay with us."

Bellatrix's eyes flashed with rage at the mention of their other sister. "You want to invite those blood traitors, dangerous half-breed, and that filthy Mudblood to come here? No. Absolutely not. Andromeda made her choice. How many times do I have to tell you that she is not a part of this family anymore?!"

"She's just as much my sister as you and Narcissa are!" Lyra stood up when Bellatrix did too. "You said you wanted to make things right with me, but if you want to do that, then you have to make things right with Andromeda too! If you'd just get over yourself and this stupid pureblood mania! And for the millionth time, Aliyah is muggle-born. She was the brightest witch in our year next to Hermione Granger. She mastered wandless magic before anyone else, a-and she was the first to pass her Apparition test. It doesn't matter if her parents, who are some of the best people I've ever met, aren't magical."

"Her blood is contaminated. She and that Granger are a disgrace to the magical community."

Lyra pulled out her wand and pointed it at Bellatrix. "Take. It. Back."

Bellatrix crossed her arms, an amused smirk spreading across her lips. "Or what?" She cackled and pouted her lips mockingly. "Is the ickle baby gonna curse me?" She returned her voice to normal. "You don't have the guts. You're weak. Pathetic."

"Not as pathetic as you are holding onto this grudge after all these years," Lyra quipped. "If you would just give them a chance...Teddy is the cutest thing in the world. He and Tonks can both change their appearances on command. It's really cool. A-And Remus was the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Hogwarts ever had. He helped me with wandless spells when I was staying with them. And Andromeda...she...Bellatrix, she's amazing. She could've decided that she wanted nothing to do with me because of how you treated her when she married Ted, but she didn't. She believes in second chances, and so do I...And you should too...She's family. All of them are...B-Bella, please...It's not fair for you to keep me separated from them."

Bellatrix's gaze softened when she saw the tears glistening in Lyra's eyes. Sighing, she asked, "Is this really that important to you?"

"Yes." Lyra nodded. She blinked back the tears, refusing to let them fall. "And I already talked to Narcissa, and she agrees with me that they should come here."

"The Mudblood too?"

"Muggle-born."

"Yes, yes, whatever." Bellatrix sighed again. "Fine. I'll send an invitation out by owl in the morning."

Lyra gasped, her eyes lighting up. "Really?!" She jumped forward and hugged Bellatrix tightly, catching them both off guard. "Thank you! I-I promise, you won't regret it. You'll be thanking me later for wanting to reunite the family."

"That's likely," Bellatrix grumbled. She pushed Lyra off of her and nodded to the stairs. "Up to bed with you. It's getting late."

"Right. Uh...g-goodnight." Lyra walked towards the stairs, an excited smile spreading across her lips at the thought of her best friend and the rest of her family coming to the manor.