The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition - Season 4, Round 12
Team: Pride of Portree
Position: Chaser 3
Individual Task:
1. Write a FLUFFY story about THE BLACK FAMILY
Optional Prompts:
6. (word) masquerade
12. (word) mystic
14. (creature) Acromantula
Wordcount: 942
A Day in the Life of the Blacks
"I am Lady Cissy, the finest of all the Ladies in the Pure Blood Society," four year old Narcissa proclaimed firmly, falling into a deep curtsy to an invisible suitor, while emulating her Aunt Walburga's patented sniff of 'you should be honoured to be acknowledged by a person of my standard, you lower beings'.
"And I am Lady Andy, the one the other Ladies always whisper about," five year old Andromeda announced severely with a similar curtsy, but with a good-natured smile instead of their aunt's air of disdain.
The girls were out in the vast garden of their family home, playing something they called 'Respectable Ladies'. The game mostly involved each of them simply pretending to be a respectable Lady, mimicking women they had seen at social gatherings they had either attended or snuck out of bed late at night to spy on for as long as they could remember.
This latest version of their game had been spurred on by the masquerade that everyone they encountered, whether it was relatives, family friends or lower bred workers, had been talking about for the last couple of months.
Their Aunt Walburga had arrived just a few hours earlier, with baby Sirius in tow, ready to continue the planning for the party, which was to be held at the Black Manor that very evening, with her sister in law, their mother.
Druella Black always threw the best parties, after all. Everyone knew that.
The young girls had cooed and practically buzzed with excitement when they caught sight of their little cousin, eager to dress up the tiny baby boy in some of the clothes they'd had especially tailored for their favourite dolls. How cute wouldn't he look in that lavender frock with the silver buttons? Or the purple one with the white bows? But then the adults had put an end to all their fun, and decided it was time to put him down for his noon time nap.
So they'd had no choice but to find something else to occupy their time, seeing as they had been banned from all the interesting parts of the manor while the preparations for that night were being taken care of.
And that was the point when the two girls had come to the mutual agreement that they would have their own masquerade party. Right there and then. If only they'd had the required masks to cover their faces, like the real party guests were going to have.
After a lot of thought, the two little girls had appealed to their older sister, Bellatrix, to help them in their quest to find proper masquerade masks.
And, as always, Bella knew exactly what to do.
She and Cissy had snuck into their father's study while he was out on important business - while Andy was standing guard, just in case anyone else came by that way – and had stolen a few sheets of his most expensive stationery, the one he only used for very special occations. The luxurious paper had then been cut and decorated by the girls, to resemble the masks the grown-ups would be using when the guests arrived later that night.
They had used anything they could find of materials. Everything from feathers off of their mother's new feathers boa, to hair ribbons, and even some jewellery from their mother's antique jewellery box for authenticity.
Bella, on her part, had found that part of the game extremely boring. Rather than staying with the other two, she had wandered off towards the woods at the edge of the property in search of that Acromantula she had heard one of the workers - hired to build another outside patio in time for the highly anticipated party - talking about among themselves the other day.
She had always liked the woods on the Black family's property. She secretly called it The Mystic Forest, because the trees were all really old and the place just had this aura of mystery about it.
The eight year old was deeply focused on a set of tracks leading straight into the thickest part of the forest, contemplating whether or not it could really be the elusive Acromantula she had been searching for or just something boring - like a lost niffler, or something - when she was interrupted in her musings by the cry of an angry baby. Apparently, baby Sirius was sick of lying in his stroller all alone under the big, old oak tree in a garden he was not really familiar with. And by the time one of the House Elves assigned the task of taking care of the baby showed up – out of thin air, as was their wont – to take care of the matter, the little boy was practically screaming his little lungs out.
Bella found herself feeling slightly irritated that when both her baby sisters had finally gotten past the stage where they were continuously crying about every little thing, their Aunt Walburga had to go and get one. And, unless she was very much mistaken, the way the woman seemed to be getting bigger and bigger around the waist every time she visited meant there was soon to be another little one around to drive Bella mad, with their faces red from screaming and constantly running noses. Really, why would anyone ever want one?
Ignoring the Elf trying to comfort the wailing baby and her sisters that had given up on the whole 'respectable' part of their game – they were now crawling around on their knees - Bella turned her attention back to her search for the big magical creature.
AN: Just wanted to mention that I have taken liberties with the age of Andromeda. On the HP Wikia it only said that she was born somewhere between 1951 and 1955, between Bellatrix and Narcissa. By the way, has anyone else noticed that Cygnus Black III, the girls' father, supposedly was only 13 years old when his first daughter was born...?!