December 18th, 1969
"That traitor!" Bellatrix's mother snarled, eyes wide as she stared at the letter in her hand. "Cygnus! Get your sister and Orion in here right this minute!"
Nine-year-old Bellatrix flinched at the vitriol in her mother's voice and tried not to draw attention to herself. If anyone remembered that she was here, she would probably be sent to her room, and this seemed important. In fact…
"Kreacher," she whispered, the House-Elf immediately appearing by her side. "Can you make sure nobody sees me?"
"As Mistress Bellatrix commands." Kreacher gave her a deep bow and snapped his fingers.
"Thanks." Bellatrix moved one of her waffles onto another plate and handed it down to the elf. "Here."
"Mistress Bellatrix is too kind." Kreacher gave her a watery smile and disappeared, plate grasped tightly in his hands.
Bellatrix returned to her breakfast, waiting for her father to return with her aunt and uncle. She didn't have to wait long.
"Has something happened, Druella?" Uncle Orion's tone was serious. "Cygnus made your summons sound quite urgent."
"Read this," Bellatrix's mother hissed, shoving the letter at him. Bellatrix really wondered what it said — it had been Andy's owl that delivered it. A rush of fear ran through her — her sister was okay, right? Her mother wasn't panicking as if Andy had been hurt…
"…I see." Uncle Orion's voice shook with rage.
"The traitorous child has gotten engaged to a mudblood?" Aunt Walburga demanded, voice shrill. She had been reading the letter over her husband's shoulder.
"So it appears." Bellatrix's father just looked tired.
Aunt Walburga snarled. "We will be disowning her, of course."
"Good," Bellatrix's mother sounded satisfied.
Bellatrix's appetite vanished, and she lowered her fork. She felt like the world was drifting away from her. This couldn't be real, right? Andy… Andy had gotten engaged? Andy had gotten engaged to a mudblood? Andy had gotten engaged to a mudblood without telling anyone? Andy had gotten engaged to a mudblood without telling anyone and was getting disowned?
How could her sister betray her like this? What was she going to do without Andy?
"Now, now." Bellatrix's father let out a heavy sigh. "Let's not rush into this. She's clearly not thinking straight — let's set up a meeting with her tomorrow to see how deep it runs." He gave a tight smile. "If we cannot persuade her to return to the fold, I will of course go along with your decision."
"That is acceptable, Cygnus." Uncle Orion put the letter down on the table. "I have no wish to see a Black lost if it can be avoided."
Bellatrix felt sick. She knew Andy — if their parents tried to force her to give up on a decision she'd made, she would just dig her heels in further. She was going to lose her sister tomorrow. She leapt to her feet.
"I'm going to my room," she announced loudly, feeling the threads of Kreacher's magic snap as she made her presence known. "Kreacher will bring me my meals."
Bellatrix rushed away and up the stairs before any of the adults had time to react to her words. As soon as she made it into her room she launched herself onto her bed and curled up around her pillow. "Kreacher," she mumbled, "seal my room. I don't want them bothering me."
"Yes, Mistress Bellatrix."
She heard a strange sucking noise and knew that her order had been carried out. Privacy assured, she began to cry.
Bellatrix wasn't sure how long she had cried, but she was finally out of tears. Now she was just angry. Some stupid mudblood thought he was good enough for her sister? Some stupid mudblood thought he was better than Bellatrix? More worthy of Andy than Bellatrix? Some stupid mudblood wanted to steal Andy away from her?
There was no way that Bellatrix was going to let that happen. All she had to do was convince Andy to give in to their parents tomorrow… but she knew her stubborn sister. As long as the stupid mudblood was around, she wouldn't give in.
So… all she had to do was get rid of the stupid mudblood, then.
Bellatrix shifted so that she was sitting up, a thoughtful expression on her face. How could she remove the stupid mudblood from her sister's life? The only way to be sure he would stay away was killing him… a smirk crawled onto her lips. That was it! She just had to kill him and make it look like it had been…
Like it had been what? An accident? Bellatrix didn't think she could pull that off without a wand, and she didn't have one.
An idea struck her.
"Kreacher!" She called.
"Yes, Mistress Bellatrix?"
"Give me really sharp teeth. Like a tiger's." As soon as she felt her teeth change, Bellatrix grinned. "Now send me to Andy's stupid mudblood. I'll call you when I'm done."
"Mistress?"
"Just do it! And if anyone asks, I'm sleeping."
"Yes, Mistress."
"Thanks, Kreacher. You're the best."
As she felt the world spin around her, Bellatrix could only stand in awe of her own genius — nobody would question why someone had died in a werewolf attack, and the trauma would be sure to drive Andy right back to her family for comfort.
Bellatrix recovered from the disorientation of being teleported a second before the ordinary-looking man in front of her recovered from his surprise at the sudden appearance of a nine-year-old-girl. She launched herself at him, mouth open, planning to bite into his throat, but he was able to get his arm up in time so that her teeth only sank into his forearm.
That was fine, she decided, gnawing on it and doing her best to ignore the metallic taste of his blood. She could start with the arms. A werewolf would leave no part of their victim intact, after all.
"What the hell?" The stupid mudblood yelped, shaking his arm. Bellatrix clung on with her teeth, batting away his one-handed attempts to pry her off. "Dromeda, a little help here?"
"Ted?" A familiar voice drifted into the room, confusion obvious in its tone. "Is something wrong?" Bellatrix's sister walked into the room, wand drawn, and froze. "…Bella?"
…Bellatrix hadn't planned for this. It was no good if she was seen. "'m a wrwf," she muttered around the arm in her mouth. "Grrr." Deception was worth a try.
Andy buried her face in her hands. "Bella, could you please stop trying to eat my fiancé."
"This is your sister?" The stupid mudblood sounded amused despite the obvious pain in his voice. "I should have known."
Bellatrix continued to cling on.
"Bella!" Andy was glaring now. That wasn't good.
Bellatrix reluctantly opened her mouth and dropped to the ground.
"You didn't tell me she was half-tiger, Dromeda," the stupid mudblood laughed, drawing his wand and running it over the holes in his arm. Bellatrix pouted as they disappeared.
"Last time I checked, she wasn't." Andy's voice was dry. "What in the world did you do to your teeth, Bella?"
"…asked Kreacher to make them sharp," Bellatrix mumbled.
"Why?"
"…so I could pretend to be a werewolf and kill the stupid mudblood and stop Mother and Father and Aunt Walburga and Uncle Orion from disowning you."
Andy and the stupid mudblood traded a look, then Bellatrix found herself wrapped in her sister's arms.
"Oh, Bella," Andy sighed. "I knew that was a risk when I sent that letter."
"Then why?" Bellatrix demanded, feeling her tears begin pouring out again as she tightly wrapped her arms around Andy. "Why did you abandon me?"
"It's not like that, Bella." Andy rubbed her back. "I just… I don't agree with the family's views, on a lot of things… and I love Ted."
"He's just some stupid mudblood," Bellatrix whimpered. "Why do you love him more than me?"
"I don't, Bella. I promise." Andy lifted Bellatix up into her arms and carried her over to the couch. "But… I never would have been happy if I went along with the family's plans for me. They wanted me to marry a vile man that I hated, all for the sake of 'blood purity' that I don't care about."
"But now I'll never see you again!" Bellatrix wailed. "You picked that stupid mudblood over me!"
"Stop using that word, Bella. Now." Andy looked genuinely angry.
"What word? Stupid?" Bellatrix was confused. The stupid mudblood was a stupid mudblood. Why was Andy upset that she was calling him that?
"No, Bella. 'Mudblood.'" Andy let out a sigh. "It's a slur, Bella. A cruel one. Muggleborns aren't any different than you or me."
"But they're born from filthy Muggles," Bellatrix pointed out.
"Muggles aren't filthy. They're… incredible." Andy stroked Bellatrix's hair. "Please, Bella. Stop using that word. For me?"
"Why?" Bellatrix forced down her instinct to agree, focusing on her sense of betrayal. "Why would I do that for you when you're betraying me?"
"Because even if the family disowns me, that doesn't mean I won't ever see you again."
"What…?" Bellatrix's brow furrowed. Of course that was what it meant.
"Think about it, Bella." Andy gave her a soft smile. "Does the family know you're here now?"
"…no," Bellatrix admitted. "Kreacher brought me here."
"You're definitely sneaky enough to be able to come over whenever you want, right?" Andy pressed a kiss to Bellatrix's forehead. "You're not going to let the family tell you what you can do."
"…yeah." A fire was burning in Bellatrix's eyes. "That's right. They can't stop me from seeing you!" She paused. "But…" She glared over at the stupid mudblood. "I don't want to see him."
"Bella, have you ever met a Muggleborn?"
"…no." Bellatrix didn't think biting Andy's fiancé counted.
"What about a Muggle?"
"…no." Bellatrix hadn't even so much as bitten a Muggle.
"Look at Ted." Bellatrix did, even though she didn't want to. "Does he really look any different from a pureblood?"
"…no." Bellatrix hated to admit it, but he didn't.
"Did his blood taste like mud?"
"…no." It had tasted just like her own blood.
"Can you give him a chance? For me?"
"…Fine." Bellatrix glared at the stupid mud— at the stupid sister thief. "But don't think this means I like you!" She jabbed her finger at him. "Stupid sister thief!"
"I understand." The stupid sister thief gave her a small smile. "I promise, Bella, I wasn't trying to take your sister from you."
"You don't get to call me that!" Bellatrix growled. "It's 'Lady Bellatrix' to you, you stupid sister thief!"
"Yes, Lady Bellatrix," the sister thief chuckled.
"Bella!" Andy admonished.
"No, no. It's okay, Andy," the stupid sister thief soothed. "I understand where she's coming from." He walked over to the couch and leaned over, presenting his hand to Bellatrix. "Lady Bellatrix, thank you for giving me the chance to prove myself."
"Hmph." Bellatrix thrust her nose into the air, but gave his hand a quick shake. "You should feel honored, you stupid sister thief. I'm only doing this because Andy asked me to."
"Believe me, Lady Bellatrix, I'm extremely grateful."
"Good," Bellatrix huffed. She looked around the room for the first time, really taking it in. "What is that?" There was a bizarre box across from the couch.
"That, Bella, is a television." Andy sounded smug. "It's a Muggle device that's…" She paused. "Imagine combining a radio and a photograph."
"What?" Bellatrix stared at the 'television', uncomprehending. "How does that work?"
"I don't really understand it myself," the stupid sister thief admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "Electricity and a lot of science?"
"What's 'science'?" Bellatrix asked suspiciously. There was no way this 'television' did what Andy said it did, was there? Muggles didn't have magic, after all. She'd heard their photographs didn't even move.
"It's what Muggles substitute for magic." Andy's eyes were sparkling. "It's so cool, Bella! They keep making all of these discoveries."
"Prove it," Bellatrix challenged. "Show me that this 'television' works."
"Sure." The stupid sister thief picked up a bizarre, rectangular object and pointed it at the television. A moment later, Bellatrix was watching as a nicely-dressed Muggle woman read off the morning news. It was exactly what Andy had said it was.
"W-What?" Bellatrix stared. "H-How? How did Muggles do this without magic?"
"They don't have magic, so they need to find workarounds." Andy shrugged. "They're really quite clever."
Bellatrix didn't know what to say. The existence of this 'television' flew in the face of everything she'd ever heard about Muggles. If they were capable of creating something like that… was anything she'd been told true?
"How long have Muggles had televisions?" She asked quietly.
"They were invented back in the 1920s," the stupid sister thief replied.
"…oh." Bellatrix slumped back against the couch. That long ago…? It wasn't just a sudden increase in Muggle ability, then — Muggles had probably always been that clever. "Why haven't I heard of this?"
"I doubt Mother and Father know," Andy admitted. "The magical world doesn't tend to pay much attention to Muggles."
"So tell them!" Bellatrix begged. "If you can show them that Muggles aren't just stupid filth, they won't disown you, right?"
"…they wouldn't listen, Bella." Andy rubbed at her eyes. "I've tried to tell them before."
Bellatrix clenched her fists. It wasn't fair!
"I'm sorry." Andy wrapped her in another hug. "How long do you have until our parents will get suspicious?"
"All day," Bellatrix mumbled. "I told them I would have Kreacher get me food. He's covering for me."
"I owe that elf something nice…" Andy laughed, shaking her head. "So we have the whole day to ourselves, do we? I—" She was cut off by a rapping on the window.
"I'll get it," the stupid sister thief called, moving to let in the large owl that was waiting outside. It took off the moment that he removed the letter from its leg. "…it says it's from Orion Black."
"Uncle Orion…" Andy sighed. "That'll be the letter disowning me, then."
"No," the stupid sister thief replied, shaking his head slowly as he read the letter. "Actually… he wants to meet with you tomorrow to determine your future in the House of Black."
"Father convinced him to give you a chance." Bellatrix buried her face in Andy's chest. "If you break off the marriage and return, they'll forgive you."
"That's not happening." Andy's mouth was a thin line. "I'll meet with him, but I'm not budging on my position."
"I know," Bellatrix whispered. "That's why I came."
"Oh, Bella." Andy stroked her hair. "I'm sorry." After a moment of silence, she spoke again. "Ted, do you think Bella would like that movie we saw the other day?"
"That animated one from the States?" The stupid sister thief stroked his chin. "Yeah, maybe."
"What's a 'movie'?" Bellatrix asked, eyes narrowed. "And what does animation have to do with anything?"
"You remember the television? A movie is an entire story that plays out on a television." Andy grinned. "It's incredible, Bella. As for animation, well…" Andy paused. "Think of portraits rather than photographs."
"Muggles made those, too?" Bellatrix demanded.
"They did," Andy replied.
"…show me."
Bellatrix glared distrustfully back at the car as they headed into the so-called 'movie theater'. She didn't trust the stupid contraption as far as she could throw it, but it had gotten them safely to their destination, just as Andy had promised.
That didn't change the fact that it was a horrible deathtrap, though. She had insisted that Andy be the one to 'drive' — there was no way she was trusting her safety to the Muggle device and the stupid sister thief.
"Two adults and one child for A Boy Named Charlie Brown, please," the stupid sister thief told the Muggle woman standing behind the odd window. There were Muggles everywhere. Bellatrix stared at them, trying to see the filth she was sure was all over them — but they looked just like anybody else she'd ever seen, even if their clothing was silly.
"Certainly, sir," the Muggle behind the counter replied, sliding the stupid sister thief three pieces of paper in exchange for some other paper that he pulled out of an odd little leather pocket that he took out of his actual pocket.
"What's that?" Bellatrix whispered to Andy. "Why is she taking that paper?" She could guess that the papers the stupid sister thief had received were some kind of tickets, but why hadn't he given her money for them?
"Muggle money," Andy whispered back. "It's much easier to carry around than wizarding money."
Bellatrix had to concede that paper was probably easy to carry than giant coins, at least if you didn't have extension charms, but how did it have any value? It was just paper! Muggles were weird.
"Here you go, Lady Bellatrix." The stupid sister thief presented Bellatrix with one of the three tickets. "The movie starts in twenty minutes, which should give us plenty of time to get some popcorn."
"What is 'popcorn'?" Bellatrix asked, not bothering to hide her frustration. She felt like an idiot, not knowing all of these things that Andy and the stupid sister thief seemed to think were obvious.
"It's a snack that you need to eat during movies." Andy smirked. "It's not exactly good for you, but that's fine for a treat."
Andy and Bellatrix stood behind the stupid sister thief as he ordered two large buckets of popcorn, both 'with extra butter', whatever that was supposed to mean in the context of 'popcorn'. One of the buckets was handed to Bellatrix.
"A large for her, Ted? Really?" Andy sounded amused.
"It's her first time, Andy. I remember yours."
"Ha!" Andy let out a loud bark of laughter. "I'm sure you do, dear."
"…yes. Well." The stupid sister thief's face was bright red for some reason. "That aside, we should go get some seats."
The room that they were apparently going to be watching the movie in was large and dark. An enormous screen made up one wall, while the rest of the room was full of chairs. Andy led them to a row near the middle of the room.
"You don't want to be too close," Andy explained. "That makes it too loud. But you don't want to be too far away, either."
"I see." She didn't, but Bellatrix wasn't about to admit that. She looked down at the bucket of popcorn in her lap. It didn't look anything like corn to her. "…how do I eat this?" It hadn't come with a fork or any other kind of utensil.
"With your fingers." Andy snagged a piece from the bucket she was sharing with the stupid sister thief and tossed it into her mouth.
"Is that… sanitary?" Bellatrix winced.
"It's fine." Andy waved her hand dismissively.
Bellatrix stared doubtfully down at her bucket of popcorn, then picked up a piece and carefully put it in her mouth. She chewed slowly and made a face.
"…it tastes like salted butter," she complained.
"If you don't want it, I'll eat it," the stupid sister thief offered, leaning over so that he could see her past Andy.
"No!" Bellatrix hugged the bucket to her chest and leaned back. "It's mine!"
Andy let out a snort. "You'd say that even if you hated it, wouldn't you."
Bellatrix sniffed haughtily and ate another piece of the popcorn. She didn't really like it much, but there was no way that she was going to let the stupid sister thief have it if it he liked it.
The few lights in the room went out, and the screen lit up.
"It's about to begin," Andy whispered. "There will probably be some commercials first. Keep quiet during the movie, okay? It's rude to talk when it's playing."
Bellatrix nodded. She could be quiet.
"That boy was an idiot," Bellatrix muttered as they left the theater, tossing her empty bucket in the can marked for garbage. "Good-for-nothing trash that will never amount to anything."
"Really?" Andy raised an eyebrow at her.
"Yes." Bellatrix ignored the part of her that had taken a rather different lesson from the movie.
"So you didn't like it, then?" The stupid sister thief asked.
"…I didn't say that." Bellatrix turned her head away so they couldn't see her expression.
Andy's hand ruffled her hair. "We'll have to take you to see some more movies in the future, then."
"…I guess I wouldn't mind that." Bellatrix did her best to maintain a stoic face.
"Great!" The stupid sister thief clapped his hands together, then checked his watch. "We should do something about lunch, I think." His eyes drifted around the area as they left the movie theater, and a smile grew on his face. "Hey, Andy. What do you think Lady Bellatrix would think of pizza?"
"I think introducing Bella to pizza will create a monster," Andy laughed. "Let's do it."
Bellatrix didn't like being the butt of a joke that was going right over her head, but she stayed silent and followed the two adults to a small restaurant on the other side of the 'parking lot'.
Andy and Bellatrix sat down at a table as the stupid sister thief got in line to order their food at the counter. Bellatrix wrinkled her nose in disgust at the state of the table — it wasn't filthy, but it certainly wasn't clean.
"Bella." Andy's shaking voice grabbed Bellatrix's attention — it sounded like she was holding back tears. "Thank you."
"…for what?"
"For… for all of this. For giving Ted a chance. For going to the movie, and coming here to try pizza." Andy wiped at her eyes. "For… not hating me."
"…I could never hate you, Andy," Bellatrix mumbled. "You're my sister."
"I bet Narcissa hates me," Andy muttered bitterly.
"…I don't think she even knows yet." Bellatrix shrugged. "She's still at Hogwarts. But…" She hesitated. "I'm… I'm sure she'll give you a chance." Admittedly, Bellatrix wasn't actually sure of that at all. Cissy was… judgmental, and proud, and maybe a little nasty sometimes. Bellatrix certainly didn't plan on endangering her trips to visit Andy by letting Cissy know that she was taking them, but she might encourage their sister to write to Andy.
"…right." Andy's voice held the same doubt as Bellatrix's thoughts. "I'm just glad that I'm not losing both of my sisters."
Bellatrix felt a burning in her eyes and did her best to blink it away. "All of this Muggle stuff… I really don't understand it." She swallowed. "But… it's not so bad. And… and that stupid sister thief… seems to make you happy, so…" She shook her head. "It might take me a little while to get used to it, but I will. I will! For you…"
"Thank you, Bella." Andy's smile made all of Bellatrix's reservations fly away.
"Here you are, my ladies." The stupid sister thief interrupted the moment — of course he did, he was stupid and a thief — and placed a box down on the table before taking a seat himself. "One pizza, fresh from the oven."
When Bellatrix took her first bite of the pizza, she learned that Andy had been right.
She loved it.
Author's Note
It's been a while since I've written anything, so hopefully I've still got something of the touch! This is silly oneshot for now, but I've got some ideas for other little snippets set in the same universe, and maybe even a longer story starting at Hogwarts.
In this AU, Andromeda was born in 1951 (when Bellatrix would have been born), and Ted's age was similarly bumped up. Narcissa was born at the same time as in canon, while Bellatrix was born in 1960, which puts her in the same age group as Lily, Severus, and the Marauders… so if that Hogwarts story ever gets written, she'll have some interesting contemporaries.
Hope you liked it!
