Style // Sirius Black

Chapter LI - Part One

"Well, seeing as you're twisting my arm," she taunted, bouncing her nephew a few times and sloping her head towards the house, "Last I saw him, he was in the nursery—ask him about names he wants to use. As if we're anywhere near having a child."

"Life comes at unexpected times, Ly," James teased, flicking Harry's nose, "Trust us."

Lyra chuckled and twisted away from the two, wandering back towards the shed where the rest of the decorations were for Halloween. She whispered sweet nothings to Harry while lifting the odd sign and string of garland, hauling it out towards the front yard as Lily and James disappeared into the house. A nagging feeling scratched at the back of Lyra's mind as she stared at the door, the whispers she heard from Snape and Trelawny still radiating through her head. Should she have told someone about what she heard? What was there to say? It wasn't as if there was any real information in it, and it would just put people back on edge with Lyra.

She'd been feeling it recently, the way everyone stared at her. They regarded her as if she was the one to watch out for—like her legilimency made her a threat of some kind. She'd told them all she wouldn't peek into their minds, wouldn't dare to even take a dip into their emotions without their permission. It was an invasion of privacy, and everyone was already so wary of one another that she didn't want to risk it. Lyra couldn't let people lose their faith in her—not after everything she'd done to push the resistance against Voldemort.

Honestly, she already hated herself for keeping the prophecy about her and James so secret, only ever alluding to it to Sirius. Regulus was the one person in the world who may have fully known about it—even so, she didn't go into details. People would be looking for her, and she didn't want to put the rest of her friends in danger. Not after Marlene—not when she had died so valiantly against the unknown Death Eater who had slaughtered her entire family. Dorcas was still distraught—Lyra couldn't blame her. Even the idea of losing Sirius was a thought that made Lyra's stomach churn, sending her into a frenzy of worry and trepidation.

She couldn't lose him; she'd lose a part of herself.

"Bloody Pettigrew!" Sirius's voice was frenzied as it rang from inside the quaint cottage.

Lyra perked her head up, dropped the plastic pumpkin she held and raced towards the front door. Pushing open the rickety white wood, the familiar sound of Sirius yelling put Lyra's nerves on end. It felt like she was running towards the end, a dark pool waiting and pushing her deep into a cave of no return. Whatever Lily and James had said had sent Sirius into an unconsolable hysteria—Lyra was the only one who could ever tug him back from them.

He had a red hot fury that seemed to blind him with white rage, leaving him to his own impulses and devices until someone pulled him back to the reality they were in. It was something that only Lyra and Remus knew how to do—how to bring Sirius back from that teetering edge that could end up destroying everything if not mended. Sirius was a boulder at the edge of a mountain, waiting for that fatal gust of wind to knock him over.

"Sirius, you have to understand that Dumbledore recommended this!" Lily reasoned as Lyra rounded the banister of the stairs. She waited outside of the room—gauging when it was best for her to intervene.

"And when has trusting that knob done us any good, hm?" Sirius seethed, "Last time we followed what he said, Lyra almost died. Unless you two have forgotten about that."

"Of course, we haven't forgotten that," James shot back, his voice guarded, "Do you think I would have done most of the things I have if it weren't for the betterment of her?"

"Lyra doesn't need you doing something for her betterment, James," Sirius's voice was filled with venom. The hairs on the back of Lyra's neck stood up as he continued, "She has been wary of Pettigrew for years now—Don't you get it? Your sister, who can read people's bloody minds, doesn't trust him. And now you're replacing me as secret keeper for him?"