The Fourth Black Sister

The Healer Wrapped the newborn baby in a blanket, and set her in the cradle. It had been a long night. Not only had a few patients from spell damage escaped, wandering aimlessly around the hospital and scaring unsuspecting patient, old Mrs. Black had died, leaving behind an orphaned baby girl. Cassiopeia Arminta Elladora Black. Long name for such a small child, but she'll have to live up to it, the healer thought, with relatives like those.

This was true. The baby Cassiopeia's relatives were definitely the bad sort. Her parents, before their death, had been known to rant for ages about purity of blood and the need to overpower the muggles. That wasn't the worst of it. Her sister and current guardian was none other than Bellatrix Lestrange, the Dark Lords most brutal and powerful supporter. She, along with her husband Rodulphus, would be responsible for bringing this child up. She would have a hard life, to be certain.

The Healer was jolted out of her musings by her assistant. "There's someone here for the baby," he informed the healer. She sighed and walked slowly to the cradle, lifted the sleeping child out and walked into the waiting room, where she was greeted, not by Bellatrix as she had expected, but by Sirius Black, cousin of Cassiopeia, and well known supporter of Albus Dumbledore.

"I know it's not procedure to give the child to anyone other than its legal guardian," he said apologetically. "But I think you can understand that Bellatrix is not the type of person who would properly take care of a child. Is there any way you could change the rules a little bit?" He asked.

"I'm afraid that I cannot change guardianship, if that's what you're asking. However, I agree with you about Bellatrix. If you are willing, we could draw up a paper giving you the ability to have her live with you, so long as Bellatrix is allowed to visit at all times and remove her from your home, with your approval. Unfortunately, such a paper may take up to a week to write. Until then, Bellatrix has the complete Guardianship of Miss Cassiopeia," the Healer explained, looking fondly down at the infant she held in her arms.

"I understand. Bellatrix, if the news is correct, will be somewhat…preoccupied in the coming months, and hopefully will not feel the need to retrieve her little sister," Sirius responded with a winning smile.

In the next week, the paper was written, signed and filed in the St. Mungos archives. Little Cassiopeia Black was sent to her new home at Number 12 Grimmauld Place. She, Sirius noted, was a remarkably well-behaved baby, hardly ever crying or getting into mischief. He was often visited by Andromeda, with her own young daughter, Nymphadora. Both Sirius and Andromeda doted upon their young relative.

But on the fateful night, this brief happiness ended. Sirius had been taken into custody after Peter Pettigrew and the ministry caught up with him. Considering his sentence was lifelong, it was decided the paper which allowed him guardianship would be declared void. Cassiopeia was returned to the hospital until Bellatrix or some other relative came to claim her.

To the healer great dismay, since she had become very attached to Cassiopeia, Bellatrix did turn her attention to her youngest sister and before long, showed up at St. Mungos, grabbed the baby, blasted anyone in her way, and disappeared.

With Bellatrix, her main aim was to turn Cassiopeia into a Death Eater, taking no notice of the fact that her sister was not yet 1 year old. In Bellatrix's opinion, you were never too young to support the Dark Lord.

The Lestranges were on the run, attempting to gather up support and discover a way to return the Dark Lord to power. Nevertheless, Bellatrix still had the time to do what she called "toughing up" to Cassiopeia. This involved hitting Cassiopeia with a variety of Dark curses, hexes and jinxes, including the imperious and cruciatus curses. This did achieve what Bellatrix aimed; at the age of 1 Cassiopeia had developed Resilience to almost all Dark magic.

Around this same time, Cassiopeia's sister was taken into custody, and once again there was the problem of where a child, especially one, who showed signs of dark magic in wounds and scars on her arms, would find a home. To add to the problem was her relationship with several well known criminals, and the fact that as Cassiopeia grew older, her resemblance to Bellatrix grew more and more pronounced.

Andromeda stared at her husband. "What did you say?"

"All I said was that Nymphadora was asking about Cassiopeia, and would you consider taking her in?" ted Tonks responded.

"That's what I thought you said." Andromeda had to admit the thought had occurred to her. In fact, she felt incredibly guilty for not taking her sister in, and now Ted had to remind her of this guilt. But no matter how guilty she felt, she would not risk bringing a possible dark witch into her home, especially since it could result in the wrath of Bellatrix, which was not an endearing thought.

However, when she mentioned these worries to Ted, he merely shrugged and suggested that she talk to Narcissa about the possibility of sharing Cassiopeia between them.

"Doesn't she have a son a year older than Cassiopeia? "He reasoned. "And her husband is a Dark Wizard if there ever was one. I doubt Bellatrix would attack one of her own."

So Andromeda found herself on the doorstep of a sister she hardly spoke to, about ask a huge favor.

"Miss?" a voice asked from somewhere beneath her.

Andromeda looked down and found herself staring at a dirty creature, wherein only a pillowcase, with big floppy ears and huge eyes that stared at her. A house elf. She remembered the house elves from her youth, whose job had been to serve her family. Gathering her composure she announced" My name is Andromeda Black Tonks, and I am here to see my sister, the mistress of this house." She hoped the house elf didn't know about ongoing feud between herself and her sister.

"Ahh, Andromeda, said a cool voice from behind the house elf."How kind of you to visit."

Quickly Andromeda explained her situation, wishing herself as far away from the house as possible. To her surprise Narcissa agreed quickly, making Andromeda suspect that she, too, had felt guilty.

The next day, Cassiopeia Arminta Elladora Black was removed from the hospital, to the closest thing she would have to a home for the next 10 years.