Not mine. Just having fun in J.K.R. world
"I'm a witch, burn me like a witch. None of those muggle coffins." Andromeda remembered that Bellatrix would often say that. It was as if she knew she would die young.
Andromeda decided to go to Bella's funeral at the last minute. She did not want to be seen, and stood behind a tree that was far enough away from where the few people that had come to watch Bella's body burn had gathered. They would not notice her.
The people that gathered were, of course, Narcissa and her family, and a few others who were there to make sure she was dead.
Besides hiding behind a tree, Andromeda wore a hat with a veil. A disillusionment charm would have worked better, but lately she had not been able to cast one. She believed it was because she already felt invisible to the wizarding world, who was not concerned about her being left alone, after the deaths of her husband and daughter.
As Andromeda watch the flames consume Bellatrix, she remembered how as children they use to do everything together, often leaving Cissy behind.
"Let's pretend we're twins." Bella would say, and Andromeda would darken her hair or Bella would lighten hers, but most of the time it would be Andromeda who would change her hair color to black.
But that was so many years ago, and so much had happened to separate the sisters. Andromeda noticed that she was crying and didn't even know for whom. Her child? Husband? Loss of her sisters? Or herself? She had Teddy, but he was still a baby who needed more attention than he could give. Others told Andromeda how helpful he would be to her to keep her mind off things. Fools. He was a constant reminder of what she had lost. She needed someone to be concerned with her loss and pain, not only Teddy's.
She wondered why she was at Bella's funeral. The body was burring fast and Andromeda only saw flames. The heat from the fire was causing her to perspire and the hat was becoming unbearable to wear. She was tempted to remove it, but she wanted to keep herself hidden. Not only from Cissy, but from anyone who would find out that she was attending Bella's funeral. It seemed that she always had to prove that she was not on the side of Voldermort. Having the name Black and looking like Bella always made people suspicious. Even The Boy-Who-Lived had given her that look of distrust when he first met her. Fool.
When Bella had first escaped from Azkaban, Andromeda had lightened her hair a touch more and made sure she smiled, which didn't work out well, because it was the same smile Bella wore in the picture that was in the Daily Prophet. That Sinister Smile.
As if getting mistaken for Bella wasn't bad enough, she also had the Ministry at her door asking if she had seen her sister.
"No!" Andromeda slammed the door on one of the Ministry's workers after the fifth visit. The Ministry didn't bother her after that, but Dumbledore did.
"Andromeda." He said her name and then paused a few seconds before he continued. "I was wondering if you might make a visit to your sister Narcissa for me," he said as he paced back and forth. "And find out if she knows where Bellatrix may be."
"I haven't spoken to my sister since I married Ted." Andromeda then took a deep breath.
"I see." Dumbledore nodded his head slowly.
"She would know why I was there and not tell me anything."
Dumbledore lifted his hand slowly as if he had an idea.
"I wonder if I could take your place."
"Polyjuice?"
"Correct."
Fool.
Andromeda had resisted at first, but finally gave in. She didn't hear from him, but knew that he had already gone to see Narcissa. Andromeda knew he wouldn't come to her, so she went to Hogwarts to see him.
"Please sit down." He gestured for her to sit in a chair by his desk.
She sat down and saw that Dumbledore was about to say something.
"No, thank you," she said.
"For what?"
"You were about to ask me if I would care for whatever you have in your sweet dish. I have no time for niceties. I came here to find out about my sisters, not to taste your flavor of the week."
Dumbledore sat down.
"Narcissa smiled when she saw me as you, and quickly put a sour expression on her face." Dumbledore put his elbows on the desk. "I think she misses you."
"She probably thought I was Bella."
"No, she thought I was you."
"How do you know?"
"I am a great legilimens."
For a moment she thought that maybe she should see her sister, but then she remembered there was a war going on, and they were on opposite sides.
"Did you learn anything useful?" she asked.
"Very…in fact something that involves your welfare."
"Tell me."
"I don't think it would be wise."
Before she could ask any more questions, Severus Snape walked into the room.
"Thank you for stopping by Andromeda," Dumbledore said as he got up from his chair.
Andromeda didn't move for a second, but she knew it was hopeless to try and get any more information at this time. Dumbledore would tell her when he wanted something else. She got up and turned to Severus giving him a look of disgust as she passed by him. She slammed the door to Dumbledore's office as she left. Fools.
That was around two years ago, when she had wondered what her sisters were up to. Now she watched as one sister burned and the other one cried. She felt so alone.
Andromeda saw that Narcissa was close to the fire, but the heat didn't seem to bother her: beautiful as always with no signs of perspiration. Even though Andromeda was farther away from the burning body, she could no longer take the heat, and finally had to remove her hat and wipe away the beads of sweat that had accumulated on her forehead.
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Narcissa's back had been toward Andromeda, but when she sought Lucius's chest for comfort she saw her sister over his shoulder, as she wiped her forehead with her hand.
What is she doing here? Fool of a sister, not marrying her own kind, and losing her family to the war. Had she stayed loyal to her family, she wouldn't be alone like she is now, raising an orphan cub.
But oh how she looked like Bella. Thoughts of their childhood came back to Narcissa.
The two older sisters would run and hide from her. Cissy would not be allowed to play their games. The two older sisters seemed to hold a special bond. When they were older, Bella and Andromeda would take off on their adventures and would come back whispering about what they had done. They would not tell Cissy a thing.
Then one day it had changed.
It was some celebration where the grownups were drinking and they had left the children to entertain themselves. The children consisted of Bella, Andromeda, Cissy, Sirius, and Regulus.
Bella and Andromeda decided to go on one of their adventures, and invited Sirius.
"But I'm older than him," Cissy protested.
"But you're not as fun," Bella replied and then smiled.
"Why don't you stay here with Regulus," Andromeda added.
"Why should I? I want…" But Bella and Andie never heard what else Cissy had to say. The two sisters were already out the door, with Sirius trailing after them. Cissy knew they would go into the muggle village, and come back with some adventure that they would keep from her.
As she waited for her sisters to return, she would answer Regulus' questions about Hogwarts, Slytherin and Quidditch.
"Mum says that Sirius is going to be in Slytherin when he goes to Hogwarts this year." Regulus looked at Cissy with sadness in his eyes.
Cissy turned to the golden grandfather clock and noticed that her sisters were taking longer than usual, and she started to worry.
"Am I going be in Slytherin?" Regulus asked.
"If you want to do the family proud, you will." Cissy wished the boy would shut up and let her worry in silence, but he kept on talking.
"Then I will be. So mum can like me, too."
Cissy nodded her head and mumbled something. She pretended she was listening to him as he continued to talk. She didn't have time to think of the brothers and who was the favorite son: the eldest of course. He was the one who would inherit everything and much was expected out of him. The young boy should be thankful that such a burden wasn't expected from him: only if the eldest died before him or was disinherited. Then he would have to be the eldest's replacement, but never first choice. Surely that wouldn't happen?
It was almost dark when the trio returned. Narcissa expected them to be laughing when they came in, but the only one laughing was Bella.
Andie ran upstairs and slammed the door to her room; Sirius's face was white and he did not speak. It seemed that time stood still. Sirius stood by the door and didn't move. Narcissa couldn't take her eyes off Bella, who laughed and laughed. Regulus looked at his brother and then to Bella. Back and forth.
Finally the golden grandfather clock chimed and the boys' parents entered the room, and announced that they were leaving. Bella said her good-byes and as she passed Sirius she put her finger to her lips.
The next day Cissy went with her father into the muggle village. Cissy had gone many times before, but today there was sadness in the air. Something was different. She could only get sound bites of people's conversations.
"The poor child."
"Nothing has ever happened like this in this village."
"Must be some type of evil magic."
"How are the parents doing?"
Cissy wanted to leave and not hear anymore. Deep down inside she knew that whatever had happened had to do with Bella, Andie and Sirius. Cissy decided then that she was not going to think about it or say anything about it, after all they were family. Yes family.
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Andromeda thought she better leave before everyone else.
Cissy thought that she should confront Andromeda before she left, and ask why she was here.
Andromeda saw Cissy coming toward her, pulling up her robes as she walked, so the hem would not get dirtied by mud.
"Andromeda," Cissy said. "What brings you here?" she asked as she wrinkled her nose.
Narcissa had more she wanted to tell her sister, but something kept her silent.
Andromeda also had a few choice words, but she also kept silent.
Finally, when the sisters were face to face, no words came out of their mouths, only tears from their eyes.
When Narcissa told the story, she would recount how Andromeda embraced her first.
When Andromeda told the story, she would say how Cissy embraced her first.
When Draco told the story, he recalled that they both embraced each other at the same time, and it was the first time he wished he had a brother.
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A/N Thanks for stopping by, reading and/or reviewing. And thanks to my beta fullmoon_dreams. Any mistakes are mine.