This story is written for The House Competition by Moonlight Forgotten (Year 2).

Round 2

House: Gryffindor

Year: 4

Drabble

Prompt: Siblings

Words: 499

Narcissa Malfoy opened a leather box with a gold fastening and looked through its' contents. It was filled with old things from her childhood. She took out a pearl necklace and an old photograph. The photograph was a black and white photograph with three young girls in it. Standing in the middle of the photograph was an eleven year old Narcissa with her arms around the other two girls. She had the pearl necklace around her neck. On her right was her fifteen year old sister, Bellatrix with a smug smile. On her left was her thirteen year old sister, Andromeda with a kind smile. She resembled Bellatrix quite a bit, but she had lighter hair and a softer demeanor to her face. All three girls were dressed in extravagant robes.

Andromeda or Andie as Narcissa and Bellatrix used to call her was disowned by their family when she married muggle-born Ted Tonks. Narcissa tried not to show it and put on an exterior of gladly agreeing with her parents and Bellatrix that they should have nothing to do with Andromeda. Narcissa on her part did disagree with Andromeda's choice of a husband and had even unsuccessfully tried to persuade her to leave Ted Tonks. However, the thought of never speaking to her sister again did pain her. She held nothing but hatred for her brother-in-law who took her sister away.

Narcissa and Andromeda always had a close relationship and were even closer to each other than to Bellatrix. Andromeda often protected Narcissa from Bellatrix's wrath. There was that one time when Narcissa accidentally set Bellatrix's favorite dress on fire. Andromeda took the blame for her and faced whatever hexes their hot-headed sister threw at her. Andromeda also ended up being punished with waiting on Bellatrix for a week when Bellatrix complained to their parents. Narcissa looked reminiscently at the photograph and necklace as tear begin trickling down her cheeks. The pearl necklace was given to her as a gift by Andromeda. She couldn't openly keep anything of Andromeda's as it would show her family she still harbored a soft spot for Andromeda. Hence she kept the photograph and necklace in secret and would look at them whenever she thought about her sister.

Narcissa missed her sister, but she was afraid of being disowned herself if she had any contact with Andromeda. She remembered how her Uncle Alphard was disowned just for leaving money to Sirius. She wasn't going to risk being burnt off her family tree because she let sentiments get the best of her. Hence, she would never mention Andromeda's name in front of her family and would feign contempt for Andromeda in the rear occasion that she was brought up. She loved her sister, but unfortunately, the importance of social status, her standing in her family, lineage and prestige surpassed her love for her sister. She would always pine for her sister in secret, but would never risk everything she had to reach out to her.