[Cinema Competition: Black Swan - Write about angst; "You could be brilliant, but you're a coward."]

[Fanfiction Categories Competition: WIP - Write about something incomplete.]

[Legendary Gods & Goddesses Challenge: Hephaestus - write about someone who works hard]

[Interesting Words Challenge: Peripeteia (Greek) - a sudden or unexpected reversal of circumstances; the point of no return]

[The Number of your Pen Name Challenge: Narcissa Black/Lucius Malfoy]

[Star Light, Star Bright: Black Hole - write about the destruction of something.]

"You aren't trying, Cissy, that's your problem."

Eight-year-old Narcissa redoubled her grip on her wand and fought the urge to curse Bellatrix. "I am trying."

"You've got to mean it," Bellatrix explained, taking her younger sister by the shoulders and looking deep into her pale eyes. Pale. Every part of Cissy was pale, from her hair to her skin to her personality. "You've got to really enjoy it."

"Oh, but Bella, I can't - "

"You must," ordered the older girl.

Narcissa took a deep breath and lifted her wand again. "C-crucio," she whispered.

But the squirrel they'd trapped in an old crate didn't even flinch.

Bella sighed and threw her hands up, the way she'd all seen their mother do when she was at the end of her rope. "You'll never be prepared for Hogwarts if you can't even do magic, Cissy."

"Let her alone," Andromeda called. She was lounging in the giant oak tree from which they'd procured the squirrel, perched between two branches while she immersed herself in a novel. "Cissy will be ready for Hogwarts."

"Not is she can't even defend herself!" Bella yelled back. "Look at her! She doesn't even look like a Black. Nobody will know, they'll all tease her."

Doesn't even look like a Black. For some reason, those words bothered Narcissa. She knew she wasn't tall and dark like Bella, or elegant like Dromeda, but blonde girls were pretty, too, right?

"A lot of first-years can't defend themselves," Dromeda replied, dropping down to the ground and coming to join her sisters. "A lot of them are Muggleborns."

Bella let out a shout of laughter. "Do you really want our poor little sister to be no better off than the mudbloods?"

Narcissa shuddered. "Oh, no, please," she said, looking up at Bellatrix with wide eyes. "I'll work harder."

Dromeda sighed. "At least teach her spells we actually use at Hogwarts."

Bellatrix snorted. "What, so she can be just like everybody else? No. Our Cissy is going to blow them all away when she gets to Hogwarts. She's going to be extraordinary. She's going to burn brightly. Now, try again."

Narcissa bit down so hard on her lip that she drew blood. It hovered on her mouth for a moment, glittering like a jewel against her ivory skin. "Crucio."

The squirrel didn't notice.

"You're weak, Cissy," Bella said. "You could be brilliant, you know. Look at your family. Look at who's teaching you. But you're a coward, and cowards never go down in history."

Narcissa fought back tears. "Crucio. Crucio!"

"Not so loud," warned Dromeda. "Don't want Mum to hear."

"Crucio," Narcissa whispered.

The squirrel was unaffected.

"You're a failure, I suppose, Cissy," said Bellatrix with a shrug. "Have fun in Hufflepuff for the rest of your life. I'll be off in Slytherin, telling people I'm not related to you." She started back up toward the house.

Narcissa set her jaw and aimed her wand one last time. "Crucio."

The spell hit Bella in the back. She fell to the ground with a scream.

"Cissy," Dromeda chided, but she sounded like she was concealing laughter.

Without taking her eyes off her sister, Narcissa bent down to release the squirrel. "I'm not a failure," she said in a voice just loud enough for Bella to hear.

Bellatrix got to her feet, breathing hard. "That was good," she said. "That was really, really good."

"Where're you off to, Cissy?" asked Bellatrix.

Narcissa swept past her. "Library."

"Why?"

She didn't turn around. "Homework."

"Oh, homework is dull." Bella ran to catch up with her sister. Cissy may have been four years younger, but at thirteen years old she was already a head taller than her sister. "Don't you want to come to - the meeting?"

"No." Cissy clutched her books tightly, as if they were a shield.

"Why not? Cissy." Bella had caught up. She grabbed Narcissa's arm and pulled her to a stop. "We could go down in history. Like we always said we would."

Narcissa shook her head. "I want to study," she said shortly. "We're working on Patronus charms. I have to stay ahead of everyone else."

"Patronuses?" Bella repeated. "I can teach you a Patronus in five minutes flat."

Narcissa sighed. "Bella, your lessons always end with someone getting hurt."

"So?" Bellatrix didn't let go of her arm.

"It's usually you," Narcissa clarified.

"So?"

"Go ask Dromeda to come to your meeting," Narcissa said, untwisting herself from her sister's grip.

"I can't. She's dating a halfblood. They don't want people like that knowing about the meetings."

Narcissa thought for a second. "I'm dating a halfblood," she said suddenly, and then continued her walk to the library.

Bellatrix had to jog to keep up. "Fine, forget the meeting. At least let me teach you a Patronus."

Narcissa closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. "All right," she said. "Go on. Prove you can even do a Patronus."

Bellatrix raised her wand. "Expecto Patronum!" A few white wisps billow from the end of her wand.

Narcissa waited. "Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Where's the Patronus?"

"That was it," Bellatrix said, knitting her eyebrows together. "Didn't you see it?"

"That wasn't a full Patronus," Narcissa said. "It was incomplete. I want to do a full one."

Bellatrix rolled her eyes. "Always the perfectionist," she sighed, reaching up to ruffle her sister's blonde hair.

Narcissa leaned away. "You're the one who taught me I have to work hard or risk being ridiculed," she said. "If it's anyone's fault, it's yours."

"Not with Patronuses." Bella flipped her hand as if the whole subject disgusted her. "With the unusual things. The things they don't teach here. The Dark Arts. That's what makes people notice you."

"Well, maybe I'm not interested in being noticed."

"Everyone wants to be noticed."

"I don't. Not for the wrong reasons. Patronuses aren't dark. And I think I prefer them to Unforgivables." And she swept away into the library, leaving Bellatrix looking exasperated and maybe a little sad.

"Expecto patronum."

A fully-fledged swan shot from the end of Narcissa's wand. She smirked as it glided around her head. "That's how it's done," she said with a mock bow. Dromeda laughed and applauded.

"Lovely," she said, uncrossing her legs and standing up. "It's been so good to see you, Cissy. I've missed you."

"You see me every holiday," Narcissa pointed out.

"Yes, but it's not often enough!" Ever since Andromeda had finished Hogwarts, she'd been oddly distant from her sisters. Bellatrix had a theory about a terminal illness (it was always something dark with Bella), but Narcissa wasn't so sure. There was a new glow about Andromeda's face, and she looked happier.

"Well, I suppose I do spend a lot of time with Lucius," Narcissa said, and the swan over her head glowed a little brighter. "What about you? Is there anyone you're spending a lot of time with?"

Andromeda laughed. "Oh, you know me," she said, giving her sister a playful shove. "Always flitting from one boy to the next." She glanced at Cissy's closed bedroom door. "Actually," she said, her voice dropping to a whisper, "there is someone."

"Who?" Narcissa asked excitedly.

"His name is Ted. Theodore," she amended.

Narcissa began to wrack her brains for any Theodores she knew. "Theodore Nott?" she asked.

"No. Not him."

"Theodore . . . Parkinson?"

"Not him, either."

"Then who?"

Dromeda licked her lips and leaned forward. "He's a Muggle."

The swan above Narcissa's head vanished.

"Don't tell," Andromeda begged. "I don't know what I'd do if Mum found out."

"I won't," Cissy promised. "I just - wow, Dromeda. A Muggle." She stood. "I need some air."

Andromeda was grinning like a fool. "Okay. I'll be here when you get back."

As soon as Narcissa stepped outside the door, Bellatrix pounced. "A Muggle?" she whispered. "Did I hear that right? A bloody Muggle?"

"No, she said he's a Mulgore," Narcissa said, naming the first pure-blood family name that popped into her head.

"The Mulgores are all in Azkaban."

"Not Theodore."

"There is no Theodore Mulgore." Bella grabbed her sister by the shoulders. "Dromeda's dating a Muggle!"

"Keep quiet, Bella, someone will hear you."

"But our sister is dating - "

"Yes, she is, and you mustn't tell anyone."

Bella looked like she wanted to argue, but she let the subject drop and fell into step behind Narcissa. "Show me your Patronus again," she commanded.

Narcissa obeyed. The swan swam around her head in lazy circles.

Bellatrix sighed enviously. "I've never been able to do that," she said. "Even back in Hogwarts."

"It's easy," Narcissa said with a shrug. "Just take your happiest thought."

Bellatrix closed her eyes and smiled. "Expecto Patronum!"

Nothing happened.

"Which thought were you using?" Narcissa asked.

"My first Cruciatus Curse."

"That's not the kind of thing that works for this, Bella. That's a dark happy thought. You need a light one. Something genuine."

"What's your happy thought?"

"Lucius Malfoy."

Bella rolled her eyes. "Yes, well, my happiness doesn't depend on boys. It depends on nobody but myself."

"It doesn't have to be a boy. Pick a time when you felt extraordinary."

Bella thought for a moment. "It's still my first Cruciatus Curse."

Narcissa sighed. "Pick a time when, I don't know, you were praised for following rules?"

"Rules?" scoffed Bellatrix. "I don't follow rules."

"Well, maybe you should try in once in awhile. Maybe then you'd be able to produce a Patronus."

"I miss her," Narcissa said quietly.

Lucius Malfoy let her lean against his shoulder. "I know."

"It's my fault."

"It's not your fault."

"I should've told her off. I should've made her break up with him."

"Narcissa." Lucius held her chin carefully in his hand. "It was her choice to date a Muggle. She knew it was wrong, and she did it anyway. Now she must face the consequences. By rights, none of it is your responsibility."

"I know. I just - I wish she were still here." Narcissa bit her lip. "I'll never see her again."

"Cissy!"

Narcissa looked up to see Bellatrix running full-force down to the gardens. "Cissy! Look! I did it!" She raised her wand. "Expecto Patronum!"

A giant dog burst from the tip of her wand.

"Well done, Bella," Narcissa said with a genuine smile. "What was your happy thought?"

Bella didn't meet her eye. "Oh, you know. I just . . . Followed some rules. And helped some other people do the same."

Narcissa had an uneasy feeling that she knew exactly what that meant.

"Good," Lucius said with a smile. "Following rules is a good thing."

"Yes," Narcissa said, but her mind was a million miles away.

The subject of Patronuses didn't come up again until much later on.

"Show me your Patronus again," said Bellatrix suddenly, just before she left Cissy's house for the night.

Narcissa shook her head. "I can't do it anymore."

"What do you mean?"

Narcissa put a finger to her lips. "If you wake Draco, Bella, so help me - "

"Why can't you do one?"

Narcissa shrugged. "No happy thoughts."

"Not even Lucius?"

Narcissa shrugged.

"Not even your newborn son?"

She shook her head.

"Cissy, what happened? Did something bad happen?"

"No. Nothing recent. I just can't do it anymore. Not for years now. Not since - the war started."

"Try," ordered Bellatrix.

Narcissa humored her. "Expecto Patronum." A swan flew out of her wand, but it was only half-formed. "You see?" The swan landed on the edge of Draco's crib a moment later and dissolved into nothing. "It's incomplete."

Bellatrix put a hand on her sister's shoulder. "If you need anything, come to me," she said seriously. "Maybe I can help you get those happy memories back."

Narcissa smiled as her sister walked away, and then leaned against the door and let the tears fall. "How could you," she whispered, "when you're the one who took them away from me in the first place?"