Reasonably enough, Andromeda didn't expect anyone in the Black household to be wandering the corridors at 3 in the morning. She had chosen the time to make her escape carefully – early enough that the elves wouldn't be bustling about the rooms and – hopefully – late enough that even Bellatrix wouldn't be found returning from whatever hellish place she had disappeared to.
However, like about everything in her life, nothing that night went as Andromeda Black had planned.
A sleepy Narcissa stood before her, demanding an explanation that Andromeda wasn't sure she was willing to give.
"Are you going to see him again?" She asked and, as always, Andromeda couldn't miss the way the corner of her younger sister's mouth twitched at the simple mention of Ted. He has a name, she felt like saying, but suppressed the urge. At this point, going through another of the countless arguments about Andromeda's boyfriend would do nothing but harm.
"I'm going to tell Father." Narcissa continued.
What she was unprepared for, naturally, was her older sister confessing that she was leaving for good. Andromeda had just succeeded in turning the girl's world upside down.
"All right, I won't say anything…"
Narcissa had suddenly capitulated and Andromeda could almost hear her inner sigh as she understood just how far things had gone. In her eyes, Andromeda could see the emotional conflict that shook her – disappointment and resentment, but also hurt, and just, maybe, the fear of abandonment. But Narcissa said nothing. She never did.
The two of them had never been close and now that the moment to part had come, maybe forever, none of them could find the strength to say how they really felt – that, deep inside, they didn't really dislike each other and that, maybe, had life turned out differently, they could have been the best of friends, the most loving of sisters.
Instead, Andromeda merely nodded at her.
"I guess it is goodbye, then."
Then, she turned around and resumed her walk down, letting Narcissa standing in the middle of the grand staircase. Andromeda felt her heart clench, but she didn't look back, never even spared a last glance at the little blonde figure that clung at the banister and stared at her back while she fled the house of her childhood. With her bare feet and her flimsy nightdress, the young girl she was leaving behind looked more like a child than ever.
Theoretically, Andromeda should have been feeling happy. This was always how she had believed she would feel when she pictured the moment when she would finally be free. It had come somewhat quicker than she had anticipated, what with her relationship with Teddy really taking off. She loved Teddy, and it was thanks to him that she now had a place to go, to hide from the family that had progressively grown to reject her entirely – her mother's screams, her father's blows and her older sister's crazy antics… She would miss none of this, obviously. She hated each and every one of them.
So why was she feeling so empty?
She spun around on a sudden impulse, just in time to catch sight of Narcissa silently retreating up the stairs.
"Cissy…" She murmured, almost inaudibly.
The younger Black heard her anyway and, the next second, Andromeda found herself gazing up into her sister's interrogative eyes.
"Promise me you'll never become like her."
Then, without waiting for an answer, she rounded the corner of the corridor, with the irrational hope that when the moment would come, maybe, just maybe, the youngest of the Blacks would remember the parting words of the one person who wished her well.
Andromeda came out onto the porch and into the world of the unknown, her eyes focused on the darkness spread out in front of her. She didn't once notice the silhouette casually leaning against the wall near the door she had just walked through.
Andromeda began to cross the soaked lawn, neglecting the gravel path that was made for just this purpose. A secret last insult to her neurotic mother. After all, she had never done anything like the others in her life. Now was no time to start.
However, she stopped after only a few steps, pausing to look at the frontage of the gigantic house, which was plunged in darkness but for a flickering light in a first-floor window. Narcissa, who apparently didn't even try to go back to sleep…
"Isn't that moving?" said a voice by her left ear. "Did the little blood traitor forget to kiss her baby sister goodnight?"
She all but screamed in shock.
Bellatrix smirked at her as she struggled to regain a grip on herself, heart thumping wildly in her chest. Andromeda understood that she had been spying on her every move from the shadows, since God only knew how long. At this rate, she might have been following her since the beginning; she might even have heard every words of what Andromeda had said to Narcissa…
"What are you doing here?" She snapped, hiding her uneasiness behind anger. "Do you have nothing better to do than tailing me? No meeting with your little friends tonight?"
"That's none of your business, I reckon."
She raised an eyebrow at the bag on Andromeda's shoulder.
"Going somewhere, Andy?"
A look into Bellatrix's eyes was enough for Andromeda to know that her sister knew exactly what she was doing.
"None of your business." She replied through gritted teeth, but even as she stared back at her older sister, her stance equally proud and menacing, her fingers slipped inside of her pocket to rest on the handle of her wand. She perfectly knew that the reassurance was an illusion. She barely stood a chance if it came to dueling with her; none, if Bellatrix saw fit to hex her without warning.
Against all expectations, the dark-haired girl merely chuckled.
"You won't be needing this… Not for now, at least."
As Andromeda stared at her defiantly, she made her way to the front door, turning her back without hesitation to the sister who was also her enemy. Andromeda was incredulous.
"Wait, Bellatrix."
She began regretting the words as soon as they were uttered, but it was too late to take them back, and Bellatrix was already watching her expectantly, apparently wondering what it was that Andromeda, who was usually glad when she could avoid her, wanted from her.
Nothing? Andromeda could have left it at that, easily; she could have kept on running away, far away from that girl who was the embodiment of everything Andromeda despised. She didn't. Andromeda didn't know what she expected when she ran into her older sister that night – a word of farewell, of forgiveness, perhaps. She should have known better after all those years, knowing Bellatrix, knowing what she was capable of… She insisted anyway, against her better judgment.
"Is that it, then? Is that all that you have to say?" She asked haughtily, realizing the pointlessness of her question the moment it was out.
Bellatrix wasted no time in answering. In a few strides, she was on the other girl and Andromeda gasped in pain as she grasped her arm, her grip just a little too tight.
"Was I supposed to cry?" Bellatrix sneered. "Or did you think I would try to hold you back?"
Her face was near Andromeda's, her features distorted with hatred, her eyes mad.
"The truth is, this is your chance…" Bellatrix suddenly said much more softly and Andromeda froze as her sister pushed a strand of her hair back from her forehead in an almost affectionate gesture.
"As you know, Cissy is devastated by your nauseating betrayal," the elder Black whispered in her ear, "and she is watching us from her window, right now."
Andromeda thought she could hear a note of regret in Bellatrix's voice.
"Run, little Andy, run, and pray your big sis never finds out where you hide."
Andromeda stumbled back from the monster she used to call her sister, her face deathly pale. A second later, she was running as fast as her legs would allow her, Bellatrix's laugh chasing after her like a curse.