AN: This was originally going to be all one piece, but then I realised that it worked better as a series of drabbles. All drabbles are between 40 and 140 words long (roughly). Enjoy!
I
I am cutting through the mass of heaving, panicking, screaming bodies and flying curses almost effortlessly. Ducking, diving, shooting off my own spells "Sectumsempra! Crucio! Avada Kedavra!" whenever the need arises. As yet another opponent crumples to the ground, gasping, I throw back my head and laugh. This is almost too easy.
And then the words, softly spoken though they are, reach my ears. "Hello, Bellatrix."
II
I spin round to see the hooded figure stepping over one of the prone bodies to get to me. I bring my wand up sharply, instinctively. How dare this - this stranger call me by name? My name, my famous pureblood name? They are not worthy to even mouth it; they besmirch it with their tainted, worthless lips.
I am halfway to casting another spell – Conjunctivita this time, which will be followed by Sectumsempra or Avada Kedavra, depending on the circumstances, when she suddenly lets her hood fall – not much, but enough to reveal her eyes.
I freeze. The words, ones I have cried so often, lodge in my throat. Looking into her eyes is like peering into a mirror. They are my eyes, looking back at me from someone else's face. They always were.
III
"Andromeda." I whisper her name before I can stop myself. Her eyes flicker, just for a second, before she catches herself. "Sister. How nice to see you."
Her tone is calm and neutral, as if we're in an elaborate drawing room and not in the midst of a battle zone and yet, at her words, anger surges up inside me.
IV
"You don't call me sister! You are no sister to me! You're a filthy blood traitor. Why, I could strike you down here and now! By rights, I should!"
"Then why don't you? Go on, do it!" Andromeda taunts me and, for a moment, it is as if we have stepped back in time, back to our childhood, back to the days when we two were the closest sisters on Earth.
I raise my wand again, try to bring it down in a sharp striking movement, as I have done a thousand times before, but I can't. To my horror, I can't.
V
"Bellatrix! Finish her!" Rodolphus's voice breaks into my reverie. "We've got the Order on the way! And the Ministry! Finish her and move!"
I scowl at his retreating back – who does he think he is, ordering me around? I serve the Dark Lord and no other, least of all the fool I am forced to call my husband.
But he is right. Even through the melee of the battle, I can hear the "crack" as fresh opponents Apparate to the scene. I glance after him, then back at Andromeda. For once in my life, I don't know what to do.
VI
"Go, Bella." Andromeda's voice is soft; softer, gentler, more maternal, than any I have ever heard before.
I look at her once more, take in her eyes. Her eyes that are a mirror image of my own. Then I obey. I turn and run.
VII
I run and fight at the same time. I slay as many Aurors as I can manage on the way. I am the Dark Lord's protégé; his most skilled duelist and, Merlin, I put those skills to use now. Adversaries tumble all around me as I cut a swathe through them, trying to get away and still commend myself to my master. Trying to make those around me forget that I failed to finish one lone woman. I even save Rodolphus's sorry skin when he backs himself into a corner by shooting a full body bind at his would be assailant. I am a force to be reckoned with.
VIII
All the time, however, Andromeda's pale face haunts me. I know I was a fool to let her escape unscathed. She's an Order member, for Merlin's sake. If my master ever finds out, I'll be severely punished. But I still can't bring myself to care. I tell myself it's because, blood traitor or not, she's still pure. She could still be made to see sense. But, in my heart of hearts, I know that's not the real reason. The real reason is, she's my sister and, though I'm ruthless – some would say the most ruthless of all the Death Eaters – there are some things that even I, Bellatrix Zealous Lestrange nee Black, will not do.