Style // Sirius Black

Chapter XXI

It doesn't always take a lot for someone to lose themself. It can be a few unfortunate words from someone essential or missing an important due date. Academic validation is a significant factor in many young people's lives that leads to them losing control. Everyone has moments within their life where everything seems to be slipping from their fingertips like an arrow accidentally shot into the sky before everyone was ready.

Some people lose themselves at the hands of others or their expense. Sometimes, people who are too hell-bent on being the hero or having the last word push themselves past their limit and overextend their capabilities. Notoriety is something sought after by the masses, but not everyone is cut out for the life of it. Or perhaps they go about it the wrong way from time to time. Whatever the scenario, people tend to lose control when everything becomes too much for them to handle.

When this happens, not everyone can be saved. Some people are beyond reasoning when it comes to their own capabilities and cannot be persuaded that it is too much. In the most extreme cases, only one person can convince that person that they need to take a step back and evaluate what it is they're trying to achieve and if the sacrifice is worth it. Every person is different in the ways they need help. Sometimes, a family can save them or be their downfall. Love is something that people tend to over-extend themselves for, despite it being something that is claimed to come easy.

Knowing your limits is one thing; following them is another.

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Lyra stared at his mop of curls from across the Great Hall, watching him smile with the very same people who made her closest friends' lives miserable. He had a natural smile around them, not something forced that appeared whenever she and he were speaking with others together. Perhaps Regulus was aware of the act that Lyra forced whenever the two were together, or maybe he was happy she had been dodging him the last few days.

The darker thoughts in the blonde's mind reminded her that she was initially just a task given to the Slytherin from the Dark Lord. Sure, Regulus claimed that he was saving her from the horrid hands of Pierre Montagne. But he was still a Black and a Slytherin at that; he may have a different plan that included Lyra becoming a part of the cult of blood supremacists he belonged to. He had slowly begun to keep more secrets from the girl, despite their agreement. Maybe he believed she was too far in to run.

He didn't know Lyra as well as he thought he did.

"You alright?" James whispered from beside his twin, nudging her with his elbow gently, "You've barely touched your food."

Over the last few days, Lyra couldn't go anywhere without James attached to her hip or a few steps away from her. It was comforting, having him around constantly. She never felt at risk of slipping back into the state she felt when near Regulus. She had begun to snap back at the witty remarks people would throw her instead of simply offering a coy smile. Colour had restored itself within her cheeks, and her eyes were no longer threatening to fall from their sockets. James was the anchor that kept Lyra grounded, and she was glad he was back attached to her boat.

"Hm?" the blonde mused, turning her eyes away from her fictitious boyfriend, "Yeah, I'm alright. Just thinking."

Bullshit.

Recently, well, ever since the accident in the halls, Lyra had begun to pick up on phrases floating into her head. It happened whenever she let herself slip from the grasps of reality, as though her mind was wandering from one head to the next. She thought it was paranoia, but the way that Dumbledore seemed to have taken a keen interest in her led her to believe there was something else going on in her brain. She'd read that sometimes it took years for a legilimens power to manifest, and a part of her wondered if that was the case.