𝕝𝕖𝕘𝕒𝕔𝕪 ⟡ ᴊᴀᴍᴇs ᴘᴏᴛᴛᴇʀ¹

twenty five: drunken words

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

WALBURGA BLACK TRIPPED over her own two feet, placing her hand on the wall as she tried to stabilize herself. Her husband was out of the house at the moment, and her breath smelt of alcohol. During Orion's absence she had allowed herself to fall back into old memories of hers. Memories that she has tried so hard to forget but knew she never could.

She pushed through the door of Lyra's room, the wood loudly slamming back against the wall. The young girl gasped, turning her head to look towards her mother in fear, not used to her just barging in without so much as a knock. She took in her distressed and wobbly state, frowning seeing as this has never happened before.

"It's y-you" Walburga slurred, pointing a shaky finger at the fifth year. Lyra gulped. "It's always you" The woman took a threatening step closer. "Reg-Regulus is a good boy. Good son. But he acts out because of you"

"W-What?" Lyra stuttered, her breath hitching in her throat. Neither of her parents have ever blamed her for the actions of her twin, although somewhere deep down she knew that it was true. "My life is ruined because of you!" Walburga shouted. "Your father didn't even want you!" she spat. "I-I'm sorry. I'll be good for dad, I-I promise" Lyra cried, growing scared as she realized her mother's hand was now gripping onto her wand.

"Not Orion, you idiot of a girl!" she boomed. Lyra felt her heart stop. "You're absolute filth. A no good daughter — I should have given you away! You have d-done nothing but tarnish our family name" She stumbled a bit, muttering a quick spell that sliced a cut on her Lyra's arm. She let out a small scream, her body beginning to shake uncontrollably as tears streamed down her face. Red began to seep down onto the bedsheets.

Regulus heard the commotion, feet pounding harshly against the floor boards as he ran into the room. His stomach dropped at the sight. "Mother!" he screamed, trying to get to his sister. "Don't move!" Walburga shouted, pointing her wand at him now. "Stop defending her" she hissed. "She's worthless to us. If you keep on trying to protect her all she'll do is drag y-you down as well"

Although her speech was a little rushed and slurred together, the words still resonated in Lyra's mind loudly. Worthless. She felt another cut dragging down her arm and she squeezed her eyes shut, tossing her head back as she bit down on her lip to hold in her cries. "Stop! Please!" Regulus pleaded, eyes darting between the two. Once he saw the amount of blood pooling beneath her, he knew he had to do something.

"It's always you" she repeated, but this time her voice came out in a harsh whisper. It almost appeared as if Walburga herself had tears forming in her eyes. Lyra let out a strangled sob as she saw her begin the hand movement for the same slicing spell, but she wasn't fast enough.

"Stupefy!" Regulus casted, her body colliding with the wall as she fell to the floor unconscious. The Black girl gasped, her twin wasting no time before running over to her. He began to inspect the two lines dragging across her wrist, blood getting all over his hands.

"R-Reg, you can't — you just-" Lyra couldn't even form a sentence, still completely stunned by the fact that he had used a spell against his own mother. "Kreacher" Regulus summoned, ignoring his sister's rambling. The house elf appeared within seconds.

"Do you think you could heal this? As much as possible?" he questioned, anxiety beginning to wear away at him. The only thing currently comforting him was the fact that Lyra's eyes were still open and he could clearly hear her sporadic breaths. The elf simply nodded his head, beginning to tend to the cuts on her arm as quickly as he could. Fortunately, they didn't run too deep.

"Thank you, Kreacher" Lyra whispered as soon as he was done. The scars were very faint seeing as they were healed almost as soon as they were given. He grunted in response, disapparating out of the room without another word. It was silent for a couple of seconds, Lyra's heart pounding exceedingly fast. She sucked in a breath, her chest tightening.