As the Rain Falls
Description: Bellatrix doesn't know how Andromeda does it. How could anyone stand the rain?
Disclaimer: Hey, guess what? I'm not J.K. Rowling. Are you surprised?
It is pouring outside. I don't actually have to look outside to know this; I can hear it. Hear the wind tearing at the shutters; hear the heavy raindrops as they pound on the roof. The thunder explodes in the distance, and I shudder. I've always hated the rain.
Cissy, ever the annoyance, knocks gently on my door. I know it's her because Andromeda never knocks. I don't answer. Our parents aren't home; they're wasting away at some Ministry benefit. As long as they aren't home, I'm not the older sister. I am just a girl, mind you, an extraordinarily talented girl, who does not want to deal with her youngest sister at the moment. Unfortunately, Narcissa is incapable of understanding this, and keeps knocking.
"Merlin, Cissy!" I shout through the door, without getting up. "I'm ignoring you for a reason! If you need someone to pester, go find Andromeda!"
In that irritatingly high-pitched voice of hers, Cissy answers. "I can't find her!"
I roll my eyes, still not budging from my comfortable place on the bed. "Look harder then! I'm busy!"
Silence comes from the other side of the door. Happy to be rid of the nuisance that is Narcissa, I allow my mind to drift back to the rain.
How I loathe the rain. It isn't just the gloom it brings on the world, though that is certainly part of it. It is just so pointless. It doesn't do anything for us, besides getting us wet and making us cold. And then there is rain's siblings, lightning and thunder, which are just as maddening. I cannot count the times I have broken something just because there was a thunderstorm at the time. The noise is just so…overpowering. Vengeful. And though I'd never mention it to anyone else, frightening.
The tapping returns and I want to curse my youngest sister into oblivion.
"Cissy, I've tried to be nice, but this is just too much. Go. Away."
Without my permission or endeavor, the door swings open. On the other side was Cissy, her dress ruined, absolutely dripping with water. Behind the exasperation I feel towards her, I'm rather impressed. I'd never known my sister to be bold enough to go outside without permission, especially when it was raining. However, I don't say this to her.
"Ew, Cissy! Don't drip water on the new carpet! Dry off first!"
She ignores me. "Bellatrix, come quickly! I can't find Andromeda anywhere!"
Narcissa does nothing about the dripping problem, so I have to send a jet of heat at her to stop my beautiful new carpet from being ruined. Hopefully, the Ministry would be too busy with its benefit to enforce the Restriction of Underage Wizardry. "Really, Narcissa? Don't worry about Andromeda. She's probably just in her room. Where else would she be on a day like this?"
"I've already checked her room!"
"Then she is in drawing room. Or the dining room. Or the kitchen. You can't have checked the entire house already."
Narcissa sighs, in that irksome way that says I'm right and you're wrong. "I've looked for her everywhere, she's not here. That's why I went outside; I thought she might be on the roof again."
I scoff at the idea. "Don't be silly, Narcissa. Not even Andromeda is…that…" I stop abruptly as I look out of my window. Through the buckets of water aimed at the glass, I can see two legs swinging back and forth. I growl in aggravation.
Andromeda.
"Stay here," I tell Cissy harshly. I then set off to the attic.
"Why?" she asks, trailing behind me.
"Stay here!"
"WHY?"
I glare at my younger sister. She was not as delicate as she likes to put off. She wants adventure, somewhere in the pit of her stomach. She wants to be in the loop. She will stop at nothing to make herself heard, which is not becoming of her in the slightest. She wants to be like me; me or Andromeda.
And we simply can't have that.
"Cissy, leave now. I can get Andromeda down quickly without you, you'll just be holding me back," I consider stopping there, but I feel I need to drive the point home. "That's all you'll ever be able to do. You're not talented, as I am. You're not intelligent, as Andy is. You're just a pretty face. You'll be able to snatch up a husband in a second, but nothing more."
Narcissa cringes like she's been burned. I take advantage of her moment of weakness to close the attic door on her. For a moment, I revel in the silence. Then I continue on to find Andromeda.
The downpour is even louder up here, if that's possible. While downstairs the rain meshed together in an indistinguishable blur of noises, now I can hear every individual drop as it crashes into our roof. The thunder booms overhead, accompanied by a flash of lightning. I tremble. Stupid Andromeda, on the roof during a freaking thunderstorm! I should just leave her up there. She deserves to be struck by lightning for her idiocy. However, I'd have Narcissa to contend with if I didn't bring her back with me, and there was no way I'd admit the rain scares the pants off of me. Getting Andy down was my only option.
Slowly, cautiously, I made my way over to the window. There is only one window in our attic, something for which I am thankful. I'd probably fall apart if I could see the storm from all sides. When I reached it, I fumbled with the latch. I curse my quivering fingers; it takes me three times as long to unlock it than it would under normal circumstances. When it's finally open, the force of the wind makes it swing open violently. The rain bombards my face, and I jump back in surprise.
I can barely see Andromeda's shadow through the water. She is far out on the roof, too far for me to reach without getting completely drenched. If she were to slip, she would plummet three stories down into the Muggle street. The fall probably wouldn't kill her, but it would be enough that my parents would kill me for not looking after her closely enough.
"Andy! What in the name of Merlin are you doing?" She doesn't hear me, or she pretends not to. She just sits there swinging her legs. I try again. "ANDROMEDA!"
No good. Andromeda doesn't budge. I once again think of leaving her up there. After all Andromeda is a big girl, she can take care of herself. I could leave her alone and go back to my room. I could carry on as I had before this whole mess, cursing the weather and willing the summer to end. Eventually, Merlin knows when, but eventually, Andromeda would come in herself.
Just as I convince myself of this, a huge bolt of lightning throws half the world into shadow. The thunder comes almost immediately afterward. I know little about thunderstorms, but I know enough that I can tell when the storm is getting closer. I rush back to the window, careful not to get wet, trying to gauge my sister's reaction. Surely she must have heard that. Surely she knows how dangerous it is to be out there right now. I peer into the grey, waiting for Andromeda to come back inside. She doesn't even turn around.
Andromeda is probably the worst sister anyone could ask for. She's a total neat-freak; one who does not hesitate to throw out your personal things, should they get in the way of cleanliness. She never knocks, because she knows I won't let her in, and she sets the standards for grades at a level that even I can't compete with. I can't count the times she came into my room crying, as if I was her mother and not her older sister. Sometimes, including now, I want to kill her. But I definitely am not going to let my baby sister get struck by lightning.
Getting in the way of the rain is a thousand times harder than last time, because the water is flying through the open space towards me. The wind whips my hair against my face, and I feel as if it is trying to tug it from my head all together. Now I know why Andromeda couldn't hear me; it's like trying to shout in the middle of the hurricane. Dreading what I was about to do next, I take the first step out of the window.
I slip the second I put my foot down. My knees grate against the roof's shingles, ripping my clothes and scratching my legs. As I slide, I take a second to think of how foolish it was of me to wear a skirt while rescuing my sister. Not only am I ruining the skirt, which I would certainly hear about later, but it also impairs my ability to effectively scale the roof. I end up stopping a few feet above Andromeda.
"ANDY!" I scream, over the roar of the storm. This time, she hears me. Turning sharply to face me, she loses her balance and slips. Slips from my reach, from the safety of the house. Andromeda slips over the edge of the roof.
I only have a second to react. Letting go of the roof I so recently acquired, I stop myself at the ledge, barely catching Andromeda by the ankle. I can't help but notice that she wore Muggle jeans instead of the usual skirt.
"BELLA!" she shrieks, finally aware of how dire the situation is. "HELP ME UP!"
For a moment, and only a moment, I think of letting her go. She has caused me enough suffering for the day, and the fall wouldn't do more than break a few bones. Mother would be angry, of course, but I could make it look like an accident. After all, it is pouring outside, and she has been sitting on the roof. I could deny that I was even up here, opting instead that I came up on the roof just as she fell.
"BELLA! PLEASE!" she sounds so pathetic. Usually, this pity would strike me with a feeling of disgust, but not this time. She is so helpless. She needs me. She'll always need me.
The feeling passes as quickly as it comes.
I grab Andromeda's ankle with both of my hands; I dig my feet into the roof. She's so heavy…almost the same size as I am. I tug with all my might, and my sister has hardly moves at all. Once again, I think of dropping her, but I push the thought away. My parents may forgive me, but I couldn't. Neither could Andromeda. I pull harder.
After fifteen exhausting minutes I can grab her waist to pull her the rest of the way up. We both collapse on the roof, when she is finally safe. Neither of us tries to move.
"What—were—you—thinking?" I ask between gasps.
"I just wanted to watch the rain. I just wanted to see the sky light on fire," Andromeda states firmly.
I roll my eyes, though she can't see it. "And you can't watch the rain from inside?"
She tries to sound confident; however, I can hear her voice waver. "It's not the same," she protests. "It's like learning to cast a spell by watching someone else do it. You don't really learn anything, except the incantation. You don't know what it takes to actually perform the spell."
"This," I gesture at the sky, "this is nothing like learning a spell. This is dumb and you know it." A crack of thunder fills the silence, proving my point.
"I was just fine until you tried to come up and get me," she snapped, unable to argue with my statement. "I wouldn't have slipped if you hadn't scared me like that."
"No, you wouldn't have slipped. Just been struck by lightning."
This makes her stop talking. We sit there for a minute, sharing a moment of relative peace. The storm clouds swirl above in a way that is more majestic than anything else. I feel her get up, no doubt going inside to do some cleaning. After a few minutes of simply lying there, I get up too. I clamber through the window and am just about to shut it when I realize something.
The rain has changed. It's still loud, and still completely unnecessary. But it no longer scares me. In fact, the wind now feels invigorating, playing across my skin. The rain feels soft, like a hot bath. And while the thunder still sounds in the distance, it's almost musical.
The next time there's a thunderstorm, I ask Andromeda if she would like to sit on the roof with me. She smiles, and follows me onto the roof.