Written for the five stages of grief competition.

"She can't be gone." Bellatrix snapped at her younger sister, glaring at her with those stony amethyst eyes of hers that made even poised, perfect Narcissa flinch.

"She left last night, Bella, I heard her go." The tall, seventeen year old, blonde insisted, leaning on the doorframe as she watched her darker sister yank her robes over her head. Yes, she had heard her, spoken to her... and so she knew her sister to be gone forever.

"You were dreaming. You must have been dreaming, that's all. She'd never."

"She's gone."

"She's not. Go bother somebody else, she's not gone, she's not gone, she's not gone, do you hear me, Narcissa?" She snarled, turning her back on her sister and the truth her sister held. The truth she knew in her heart to be true, not matter how much she denied it to herself. Narcissa was not the only one who had spoken to Andromeda last night.

"Bella - "

"No. You're lying to me." She said, at once the sulky child. "You're lying to me. I don't believe it, she can't be gone. She never would have left. Not without telling us."

"Bella...?" Narcissa began, remembering tears, pleading, the slam of the door still raw in her ears.

"Don't Say anything, Narcissa! She could never have run off with that...scum."

"Bella, we knew something would happen. It wasn't right, her being with that filthy mudblood. Something was bound to happen." Her voice was cool and devoid of all emotion, but anybody who knew her well would have noticed the faint frown on her perfect lips, the shadow in her ocean-blue eyes that would tell you she was upset.

"No, it wasn't. It was a passing fancy, nothing more. Just Andromeda being stupid."

"It was more then that."

"Are you defending her, Cissy? Because if you are…." She hissed, her eyes flashing dangerously.

"No! That's not what I meant. I meant that you are joking if you say you couldn't see this coming."

"Cissy…..Nothing happened last night. She's not gone, not with him. You must have made a mistake."

"She's going to marry him. She told me herself, the nerve of her!"

"She is nineteen, Cissa. You heard her, she speaks against marriage at such a young age – nonsense, of course, but that's what she said, you heard it as well as I."

" And I also heard her say – as did you – that she would marry anytime for love."

"Love! What of love? Who cares of love?"

" She did. As did he, I assume."

"That's filthy mudblood! How could she! That's a betrayal to us, to our family. It goes against everything, it ruins everything! He could never marry her. He's scum, and she's a pure-blood. A Black, the highest, the best, the purest."

"Don't play dumb with me Bellatrix, I'm not stupid. You knew this was going to happen."

"No."

"You saw it as well as I did."

"No."

"You've known she was seeing him, secretly."

"I never. If I had, I would have killed her and him both! He's the very thing we're fighting against, the very thing we strive to destroy!"

"We?"

"My Lord and I."

" Bella…" Narcissa stepped backward, wary of her wild haired older sister.

"Don't you 'Bella' me! You're lying, she's not gone, she can't be, it can't be true, it can't!" Her voice peaked on the last word, her eyes large and tinged with madness, her hands gripping her hairbrush like a dagger, as though she would use it to guard her against the truth she was trying so hard to deny.

"It is true. She left last night." Narcissa said gently. Bellatrix lunged toward her, her lips pulled back in a half snarl, half scream, hey eyes angry and hard as ice. Narcissa jumped back, catching her sisters hand in hers. "Bella, don't-"

"Don't tell me what to do, Narcissa! I am a thousand times better then you are, a thousand times more powerful. You are lying to me, and I command you to go!"

"Bella- "

"GO!" She half screamed, half sobbed, brandishing her hairbrush at her sister, who turned on her heel and fled. Bellatrix slammed the door after her, and with a cry of anger threw the hairbrush at the wall, where it exploded in a burst of purple fire. She walked over to the window, and took a deep breath. She isn't gone. She told herself harshly. She would never betray us like that. She would never betray her family and her birthright, never shame us that way. She is to good for filth like that, the very vermin we try to wipe out. She looked out the window, where the hot September sun was rising. She can't be gone. We were going to see Narcissa off to her last year at Hogwarts tomorrow. Together. She was going to go with us to Narcissa's engagement party this winter, even though it is a shame to us that she is not yet engaged. She was going to be a maid of honor at my wedding. She said she'd never talk to that mudblood again. She promised. She said she would be better. She said it was over between them. She would never break our promise. She can't be gone. Narcissa is lying to me. Because if she really betrayed us like that…No. When I open my eyes, she'll be knocking at the door, telling me that she and Narcissa were fighting again – about the Malfoy boy Narcissa is engaged to, probably. She's say that Narcissa was being mean. When I open my eyes she'll be there. But when at last her violet eyes opened, she saw nobody through the think haze of tears.