DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter isn't mine. Sigh.

I coudn't wait till it was finished to upload it, so i decided to split it into two parts: "Young" Meda and Cissy and older Meda and Cissy. Also, just to clear up any possible confusion, I had this random idea that Bella would call Andromeda "Andie" because it doesn't sound proper.

BOOM!

Andromeda stirred slightly from her sleep and rolled over. She wasn't about to be woken by a simple thunderstorm. However, in the next instant her bedroom door banged open and a young girl with curly blonde hair shot under the covers and curled against Andromeda, whimpering like a puppy.

Andromeda woke with a start. "Oi, what the—?" She sat bolt upright and grabbed her wand. Lighting its tip with a quick spell, she prepared for a battle only to find herself face-to-face with her sister. "Cissy! What are you doing here?"

Her question was answered as a monstrous thunderclap shook the house. Narcissa Black yelped and threw her arms around Andromeda, face buried in the brunette's neck. "Meda, make it stop!"

"You're almost nine, Narcissa," Andromeda sighed. "Too old for this nonsense." Even as she spoke, the young witch slid her arms around Narcissa and held her tight. "Shh. It's okay." Andromeda gently stroked the younger Black's hair. "You're safe."

A few minutes passed, but Narcissa couldn't cease her shivering as the house continued to quake, thunder splitting the skies. Andromeda drew her little sister closer. "Shush, Cissy." Her voice took on a lilting, almost song-like quality. "Don't be afraid, Cissy, I'm right here. Everything's fine, you're all right."

Narcissa snuggled as near to Andromeda as she could. "Don't leave me, Meda."

The brunette's lips gently brushed her sister's forehead. "Never."

"Cissy, have you seen my hair clip?" exclaimed twelve-year-old Andromeda as she dug through the drawers of her dresser. "It's that green and black one shaped like a rose, and I can't find it anywhere! I want to take it to Hogwarts with me."

"No," mumbled Narcissa from her position on the bed. She was lying on her side facing away from Andromeda, lips pursed into a pout. "What d'you need it for anyways? I don't think it's that pretty."

Andromeda stopped her searching and turned to raise an eyebrow at her little sister. "Merlin, Cissa, what's gotten into you? You're in a worse mood than Bella."

"I heard that!" Bella snapped from across the hall, and a second later one of Bella's shoes came flying at Andromeda's head. Andromeda ducked, yelping with laughter.

"Sorry, Bella, but it's true."

"Eff you, Andie," Bella grumbled, but from the tone of her voice it was clear she was smiling. Andromeda stuck her head out the door and made a very un-ladylike gesture at her older sister, which caused Bella to break into laughter.

Giggling along with the eldest Black sister, Andromeda turned back to Narcissa. "Oh, cheer up, Cissy! One more year and you'll be able to come to Hogwarts with us."

"That's just the problem," Narcissa whined, finally sitting up and facing Andromeda with a petulant expression on her face. "There's another whole year of me staying here in this big old house with Mother and Father and nobody to play with unless Auntie Walburga brings Siri and Reg over. Waiting for you and Bella to write and wishing I could be there with you and only getting to see you on holiday." She blinked back tears, lips quivering. "And sometimes I think that you and Bella have more fun on your own and you don't need me."

"Narcissa Chastity Black." Andromeda sat on the edge of the bed and smiled softly, running a hand through her little sister's golden mane. "We love you, and that's the truth. You're part of the Black sisters, Cissy; the power of three, remember? We can't have three without you." She grinned. "Besides, who could stand to be around just Bella all the time?"

A watery giggle escaped Narcissa's mouth; because Andromeda had said so, certainly it must be true. She leaned forward and threw her arms around Andromeda, burying her face into her sister's soft brown hair. Andromeda held her, soothingly massaging Narcissa's scalp with the tips of her fingernails. "Meda, will you write to me just like last year?"

"Of course, and Bella will too. I'll Stupefy her and put her in a chair if need be," Andromeda said with mock ferocity. "We'll tell you everything just like before. It'll be fine, you'll see." A low hum vibrated in her throat, and Narcissa relaxed as the now-familiar mantra washed over her eardrums, more comforting than any lullaby that had ever come from her own mother's lips:

"Shush, Cissy, it's all right. I'm here, everything's fine." Andromeda pressed a gentle kiss to Narcissa's temple. "And I promise I won't ever leave you."

"Andromeda!"

Narcissa tore up the stairs, Bellatrix's fury-soaked words still pounding in her skull. It couldn't be true; Meda knew better than that, she would never fall in love with a Mudblood! Bella was lying, or delusional, or someone had decided it would be a good romp to spread rumors about a member of the House of Black and some filthy Hufflepuff boy. No, surely, surely—

"What," Andromeda said coldly as she stood in the doorway of her room, trunk in one hand and wand in the other. Her eyes were twin mirrors of polished slate, hard and flat and unyielding. Narcissa skidded to a halt, all the air crushed from her lungs. No. NO.

"What, Cissy? You wanted me to tell you it was a lie? You wanted me to agree to marry whatever piece of scum Mother and Father picked out for me, to behave like a good little girl?" Her words were no longer sound but instead flakes of flint that lashed at Narcissa's skin, cutting her with their viciousness and sharp edges. "No. I would rather die."

Narcissa shook her head, blindly groping for words, frantic to make this nightmare somehow go away. "How? How could you do this?"

"Love knows no blood," Andromeda said quietly, softening just a bit because it was Cissy and she loved her little sister, naïve and innocent as the youngest Black sister still was even at fifteen. "It's something Bella could never understand and something I know you won't because you haven't seen enough to know better."

"I didn't mean that," she shrieked, half-crazed with fear and desperation. "I meant how could you do this to us?"

Us. The power of three; Us. Bellatrix and Andromeda and Narcissa; Us. Three girls who swore to never leave each other's side, to be there no matter what because a bond more powerful than any other linked them, a bond of blood and love. Us.

A shiver ran the length of Andromeda's spine, and in another lifetime Narcissa might have felt guilty. "I'm not choosing him over you. You're deciding to view it that way. I am leaving my life, my house and my parents. But not you, Cissy, never you."

Narcissa frowned, perplexed for a second because the tone of her older sister's voice had sounded like she was only speaking to her. "And Bella."

Andromeda literally flinched as if the name of her other half pained her. "No. I am leaving Bella…because Bella has left me." She breathed deeply; if it had been anyone else Narcissa would have thought that Meda was trying to get herself under control, but of course that was impossible. Meda never cried. "She's changing, Cissy, and I know you don't see it. But you know what, it's okay." She managed a smile. "Because one day you'll find yourself and you'll escape. I don't know when, whether tomorrow or fifty years from now, but someday, Cissy, I promise you that you'll find a way out too."

"You're not making any sense!" Narcissa shut her eyes, trying to block out the world, wishing with all her might and even trying to channel the magic in her blood to put things back to the way they were supposed to be. Back to before Mudbloods and Hogwarts and marriages when there were just three little girls whose love for one another was more than enough. "Stop, Andromeda! Just…just stop." Her knees buckled and she collapsed against the floor, fighting the urge to be violently sick. "Stop."

There was a rustle as Andromeda set down her trunk and knelt, taking Narcissa in her arms. All the love in the world flowed through her hands as she stroked her little sister's hair, exceedingly gentle as if the blonde were a fragile glass doll that would break at the slightest jostle. "I love you, Narcissa Black," she whispered. "Don't ever forget that. I love you so much."

"Don't leave." Narcissa clutched the sleeve of Andromeda's dress so tightly her fingers ached. "Please, Meda, I need you. Bella does too; I don't know what you're thinking, but she does. She'd die if you ever left her."

"I can't let Bella control me anymore." Her voice was strained, keeping a tight rein on all the emotions swimming within it. "I have to live my life, Cissy. Bella tolerates this world because she believes in it. You actually enjoy it. But it's killing me."

"You promised," Narcissa sobbed, her entire body shaking with betrayal. "You promised you wouldn't leave me."

"I told you, I'm not. You're deciding to see it that way." Andromeda released a wobbly sigh and buried her face into Narcissa's hair. "Shh, Cissy, shh. It's okay." A moment passed before she added, almost too quietly to be heard, "I'm sorry."