Life, As We Know it
Ted Tonks did not like to watch Andromeda cry.
He offers a pen and parchment and his owl to her, insisting that she must write an explanation to her family as to why she had left the Manor. She shrugs his comforting hand off her shoulder. She pushes him away, like she always does. Andromeda's hands cover her face, her mascara that she does not need running down her perfectly-sculpted face, her body shaking in tremors that is foreign to her. Ted sits next to her, not speaking, but he knows the silence from both of them says it all. She doesn't make a noise; instead, she cries soft tears. Ted says things she can't understand, things she refuses to listen to. On the carpeted staircase of the Tonks home in Sheffield, Andromeda cries. She knows that she must explain why, even though her family will never understand. Yet she knows she must give a chance to her family that never gave her one.
She finishes the letter, seals it, and gives it to the owl, who she knows will never come back with a response. It is addressed to not her parents, but to her eldest sister.
"Do you regret leaving?" Ted asks the next day as his parents feed them a breakfast that tastes like she has never tasted before. Even though Ted insists its nothing special, she praises it. She knows its better than the house-elf's cooking. Not in taste, but in other ways. Ted's mother had blushed at this. The father had snickered in the background. They read a newspaper that did not have moving pictures, and Andromeda finds this strange. They hug each other in the morning, and the father kisses them good-bye before leaving, something she never had seen her own parents do. "Because you know this changes everything," he adds as he bites into his waffle.
"No," she replies, eating with the same grace and caution she was taught to eat with. She smiles at the muggle family in front of her, then adds, "Never. No regrets."
And she means it.
-:-
Rodolphus Lestrange did not like to watch Bellatrix destroy.
He sits at the end of their bed, holding the tattered letter that arrived at their home that night. Bellatrix had skimmed through it, her soft eyes growing hard and black in fury. She kills the owl that sent it, then, crumples the letter into a ball. She throws it at her husband, who had walked in just then. He screams at her for doing so, but ceases when she threw a Black family heirloom, the porcelain vase, at his face. He reads the letter in silence as his wife destroys their room in anger and betrayal. She throws things across the room, everything shattering and burning. As she destroys, he reads the words his sister-in-law wrote.
It is only when Bellatrix slumps down to the floor and cries in complete frustration that he looks up. He picks her up from the floor. She mumbles, "Fucking blood traitor." He says nothing in response, but, "I assume we must sleep in another room?"
She nods. He smiles, closing the door behind him. He kisses her cheek, his arm slung over her shoulder. He tucks away the letter in his pocket, away from Bellatrix's wrath. He will give it to Narcissa later, but for now he would calm his wife down.
"Rodolphus," Bellatrix says, drawling out every syllable. He stops walking, as does she. They face each other, and in silence, she backs away, her eyes growing softer. Her lips curl into a wicked smirk. Her eyes leads him towards her. He pushes her to the wall, and she laughs.
"Bella." He says her name in a platonic tone, and he laughs as well.
"You know what we must do." Bellatrix says this in a transcendent tone, pain evident in her voice. She blinks quickly, before turning her head to the window. It was night. Its always night in Bellatrix's eyes.
"Yes," he whispered. He didn't try to hide the despondency on his face, and Bellatrix knew he expected something else.
"We're alike, you know. We're beautiful, destructive, cataclysmic. Both of us." She leads him out of the manor, clutching his hand in excitement. Her wand burns a fire meant for the tapestry, for her sister's beautiful face on the family tree.
They are in the Black Manor, and as fire conceals Andromeda's face on the tapestry, Rodolphus couldn't help but ask, "Who?"
Bellatrix wipes away stray ashes of her once-loved, once-beloved sister, disgust visible on her face. She pushes Rodolphus into the wall this time, both breathing heavily and smiles etched into their lips. She wraps her fingers around his shoulder, her nails breaking flesh. She leans in, so that their foreheads touches and her lips almost brush. She says in something of a whisper, "It depends. 'Cause everything changes." Rodolphus closes the space between them, and in the midst of their embrace, Bellatrix reaches into his pocket and seizes the letter. She drops it onto the floor, and stomps on it.
She digs her stiletto heel into the parchment, ruining - no, destroying - the last words Andromeda would ever write to her.
-:-
Lucius did not like to hear Narcissa's silence.
He sits on the opposite end of the couch in the common room, the pillow being the only obstacle between he and Narcissa. She is not her usual chatty self, Lucius noted. He says nothing, the silence deafening his ears. It was night, and Lucius was tired. But she was quiet, and that was his concern.
The words of her mother repeats in her mind. Your sister is not your sister anymore. She echoes this to herself, but though she knows, she doesn't understand.
"Cissy?" Lucius says. He doesn't look at her, but he doesn't have to to know she's crying. Her silence answers for him, and he says nothing else.
She cries because she knows nothing will ever be the same again.
"Where's your sister?" Lucius tries to speak once more, baiting Narcissa to actually speak to him. She looks at him, then back to the verdigris wallpaper that covered the dungeon's walls.
"Don't be silly, Lucius," Narcissa says in a calm voice, tears running down her face. She finishes her sentence in verbatim to her mother's letters, "Andromeda Tonks is not my sister." Not anymore, she adds mentally.
She reverts back to her state of repose. He glances at his soon-to-be-bride, the teen breathing slowly as she tries to stop her tears. He leans over and takes her hand into his. He knows that life as they knew it was about to change. He brushes his lips against her cheek to comfort her, and lets her cry against his chest. She needs it.
-:-
Kreacher closes Andromeda's door. He misses her. Her absence changed the family. Everyone became horrid. Everyone changed. Bellatrix was never this nasty, and he suspects it was due to the disgusting new tattoo she got on her left arm. Narcissa was never this vain, and he guesses its because she thinks she has to make up for Andromeda's absence.
No one was this terrible.
Kreacher must live with this, the house-elf chides himself, Kreacher must understand.
Because life as the Blacks knew it has changed. Forever.
A/N: Reviews are love. I really love this piece:)