𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐥𝐞 | h. granger

ii | the black sheep

Malfoy Manor

── •✧• ──

𝐋𝐘𝐑𝐀 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐎𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐍 felt like she was the black sheep of the family. Having the surname Black didn't help much, either, nor did being the youngest – the baby – in one of the oldest and most ancient pureblood families.

Her sisters were a good 30 years older than her. How her parents managed to give birth to her at their age, she had no idea. She could only guess. Maybe they were really young when her oldest sister, Bellatrix, was born, making them not as old as she thought when they got pregnant with her.

She'd never know for sure. Her mum and dad had died when she was barely a year old. She had no memory of them at all.

Being raised by your older sisters isn't as nice as it sounds. There are times when you need them to actually be your sister instead of a mother. Narcissa had given birth to her son, and Lyra's nephew, Draco, a couple weeks before she had been born. The two were raised practically as twins, and Lyra had gone the first couple years of her life thinking that they were, and that Narcissa was her mum.

She didn't remember when she found out that she wasn't. She had a vague memory of Bellatrix getting fed up and shouting something along the lines of, "Your parents are dead! That's your sister, for Salazar's sake!"

Bellatrix had never liked Lyra. She couldn't think of a time when the dark-haired witch had ever been kind to her. Maybe once when she scraped her knee falling off of a toy broomstick, but that had been years ago.

Lucius, her brother-in-law, was a lot like Bellatrix in that way. He didn't like her either. It was the only thing that he and Bellatrix could agree on; that Lyra was a beastly little creature that would've been dumped at an orphanage if it weren't for Narcissa.

Lyra loved Narcissa. She was her favourite.

All of the chaos in their family was bearable thanks to Draco. They were the closest in age with him only being a couple weeks older than her. They were inseparable.

"Lyra! Lyra! Blondie, wake up!"

Lyra groaned as Draco shook her shoulder, waking her up from the most interesting dream she's had in a long time. "Wadda you want?" she murmured, yawning as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

"They're here!" Draco exclaimed, pulling on her arm and yanking her out of bed. "Our Hogwarts letters! They're here!"

Hogwarts.

Lyra had been fantasizing about the day when she'd finally get to go and learn magic ever since Narcissa told her about the wizarding school. Her eyes lit up, an excited gasp falling from her lips.

"Come on!" Draco grabbed her hand, and the two ran downstairs together.

Bellatrix scowled when she saw Lyra enter the dining room still in her pajamas – a baggy shirt that was once Narcissa's and flannel pajama pants. She hated it when her baby sister wasn't dressed properly for the day before breakfast.

"Here, this one's yours," Draco said excitedly as he handed Lyra the letter. "I've already opened mine. Father's arranging to get time off so that he can take me to Diagon Alley for my supplies."

Lyra eagerly snatched the letter from Draco's hand. She rubbed her lips together, taking a deep breath as she opened the scarlet wax seal and pulled out the letter. "'Dear, Miss Black'," she read, unable to stop herself from smiling. "'We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry'!"

"We're going to Hogwarts!" Draco cheered. Lyra threw her arms around him in a tight hug, the two of them jumping up and down.

"I'm so excited!" Lyra beamed.

"You better be in Slytherin," Bellatrix said threateningly, a cold chill falling over the dining room. The smiles fell from their faces. Lyra's stomach twisted with dread. Draco gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

Every member of the Black family had been in Slytherin, except for Lyra's cousin, Sirius Black. He had been in Gryffindor. She'd never met him; he had been sent to Azkaban for murder when she was very young.

There was no debate about what house Lyra was going to be in. She was expected to be sorted into Slytherin, and that's what worried her the most. Whenever she'd overhear the adults talking about Hogwarts, Lucius would always say that she'd end up in Hufflepuff. This ticked off Bellatrix more than that time Lyra tried to hug her when she was 5 years old.

"Not now, Bella," Narcissa hissed, sending her older sister a sharp look. She smiled warmly at the two children in an attempt to ease their nerves. "Congratulations, my loves. I'm excited to see what you will accomplish. Lyra, why don't you go upstairs and dress for breakfast? I'll have the house elves prepare something extra special to celebrate."

"Yes, Cissy." Lyra hurried out of the dining room and back upstairs to her room. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and counted to ten. She just had to get through a few more weeks, and then she'd be off to Hogwarts, but most importantly, away from Bellatrix.