Cissy sat obediently on the wide front porch steps, picking idly at her shoe while her mother's shrieks filled the rain-soaked yard.
"Behave yourself Bella, we'll be late!"
She lunged for her daughter's mud-spattered sleeve and almost lost her balance, her soles squishing in the muck. The dark-haired girl danced easily out of reach, waggling her tongue at her mother and taking great care to soil her starched dress and polished shoes.
"I'm warning you Bellatrix!"
Cissy looked up from her own scuffed heels to watch as her mother caught hold of Bella's flailing wrist and twisted, releasing it almost immediately with a gasp of pain. She screeched, nursing a burned palm, and for a moment Cissy wondered if she would turn her wand on her daughter; her eyes narrowed dangerously, and her upper lip curled in rage. Her words came in a voice deathly low, husky and breathless with stifled anger.
"I am going upstairs to get Andromeda and so help you if you are not sitting right here when I get back." Cissy shuffled a little to the left as her mother whipped past her and stormed into the house.
Bella, observing her own position, plopped purposefully into a puddle and grinned wickedly.