A/N: Hello everyone! Since I've been having some sort of writer's block with ItSoEN, I've decided on submitting this little one-shot to pass the time.
I originally wrote this for a RP audition as Bellatrix Lestrange, in about an hour or so, and after waiting for the results, I had found out that I did infact, win the part of the role :D. I decided to submit the winning audition as a fic, after fixing it up a bit and adding a few things.
Anyway, this is a short one-shot about how Bellatrix react's to her sister, Andromeda's decision of marrying a muggle. Please let me know what you think by sending me a review! I love to hear from you!
Much love,
Felicia
Deceit and Betrayal
"Andy, where have you been?" Bellatrix has been waiting for her sister to come home. Alone she sat for many hours in their family's living quarters, the only comfort being that of a slowly dying fire. She is disturbed; her sister has been coming home later and later with each night that passes by and with each day that passes.
Andromeda shrugs her question off and just keeps walking past the room. She's far too giddy to pay attention to her eldest sister's worries tonight. She has better things to attend to.
"I said, 'where have you been?!'" Bellatrix is growing frustrated at her sister's lack of communication. Andromeda stops, and approaches her from a distance.
She finally answers, the distaste evident in her voice, "Nowhere that should be any of your concern."
"And why is that?" Her voice is forceful, almost threatening. Bellatrix gets up from the chair, hopeful that Andromeda will notice her movement and stop to consider her motives.
Andromeda hesitates a bit before answering, "Because you don't need to be constantly budding into my business. Where I go and who I see is none of your concern!"
Bella's eyes furrow deeply, almost in shock at her sister's bold reply, "Oh really now? Does being your sister, qualify for anything these days? I'm your blood; I should very well know where you go, especially when you come home so late! Have you any idea how worried Cissy and I have been?!" Her voice is growing in volume with each step she takes towards Andromeda, who's now cornered between two walls.
"No, I haven't…I-I-I-…"" Andromeda stutters, trying to find the right words to say before her sister just might launch in anger at her face.
But before she can say what she wants to say, her sister grabs her wrist and cuts off any reply she had intended, "You see this?" Bella says, referring to her sister's hands, "Your blood flows through my veins as much as mine flows through yours. If you don't tell me what you're doing, how could I ever trust y-," Bellatrix eyes her sister's fingers. Her fourth finger bears a ring. But not just any ring; its silver band is topped with a single diamond rock, no bigger than a quarter of her fingernail. It's not made of any magic stone or element she's ever seen. This ring is bland; it does not sparkle or glisten in the reflection of the firelight. It's only glint is that of a foreign offer, one Bellatrix hoped to be wrong.
Bella's eyes grow wide, at first with fear: fear that her assumptions may be correct, and then with shock. Her face then contorts into disgust, but not before indicating her disappointment with her sister. Andromeda looks down to the floor, trying to find answers in the different patterns of the woven carpet she studies, but she cannot. She knows Bella, she can already see the answers in her face.
Bella drops her sister's hand effortlessly back to her sister's side, and turns on her heel, walking towards the fire. "How long?"
"How long what, Bella?" Andromeda furrows in confusion for a moment before realizing what she was talking about.
"How long have you kept this from us?!" Bella shrieks, sending Andromeda, shocked and a few steps backwards. She turns around to face the fire again, unable to look at her sister.
"I knew it! I knew you'd turn on us. How could I have been so foolish not to see it sooner?!"
"See what sooner?" Andromeda asks, playing with the hope that Bella may be wrong.
"Oh don't play coy with me Andy, you know exactly what I'm talking about!" Bella yells at Andromeda.
"No I –"
"HE'S A MUGGLE!" She screams, her voice echoing around the two of them.
Andromeda drops her head in shame. She plays with the ring on her finger in the silence that engulfs them for several minutes. Bella can only concentrate on the flames that swish back and forth in the fireplace. If she could picture the way in which her heart was constricting at this moment, she imagines it would be as violent as the inferno in front of her. Many times she shakes her head in disgust, her chest rising and falling dramatically. It's not until she speaks again, that the awkward tension between them is broken, "How could you chose filth over family?" Her voice is breaking not out of shame, but out of pure loathing.
"Bella, I didn't chose. I still am family, regardless of my choices." Andromeda turns her head up, talking into the back of her sister's head.
"You're family no longer, if you chose his love over mine or Cissy's or any of ours."
Andromeda is appalled. She has suffered long enough, "Why should it matter who I love when I can love Ted as equally as I do you?!"
"Because a muggle is a disgusting excuse of a life!" Bella exclaims.
"He's not disgusting! He's –"
"And don't you DARE put me on that low a level, Andromeda." Bella snaps, continuing from her last train of thought. "You've been warned before, by all of us! You're fully aware you would be betraying all that our family stands by, if you choose to accept his proposal."
Bella paces in between the fireplace and her sister. She continues, "Why do you put yourself in such a position? Don't you know what you're risking in doing so?!" Bellatrix turns to face her again. Half of Andromeda's face is illuminated by the light of the fire, the other overcome in darkness.
"I know what I'm doing, Bella, and if you cannot accept it than I can't stay here any longer!"
For once during their argument, Bellatrix falls ill at words. She considers what her sister has said. Her eyes narrow, glaring into Andromeda's eyes, but she does not waver from where she stands. Bellatrix grows furious, furious at whomever this Ted fellow was that would try to ever take her dear sister from her, furious at Andy for betraying their bond in such a horrific, shameful way, and furious at herself, for denying what she has known was true since she first learned of Andromeda's interactions with muggles. It pains her for a moment, knowing that what she would say would have to be said, regardless of what she feels for Andromeda.
Bella's voice drops to a dangerously low and threatening growl, one that can only be heard in absolute silence, "You were never any sister of mine." She spits at Andromeda's feet, and storms out of the room, not caring to look behind her.
Thanks for reading! And please let me know what you think :).
