~*Seasons of Sisterhood*~
Written by: Cisselah
(Beater 1)
written for Cearphilly Catapults in The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition
Prompts: Bellatrix/Andromeda
~*-.-*~
They're sisters, and they protect each other - always. Andy said so, and Andy never lies.
When Cissy is six, Andy steps in front of a punch meant for Bella. The rest of the week, she carries a purplish bruise on her cheekbone. When Cissy sees it, she cries.
This is your fault, she accuses Bella. If you'd only shut your mouth, nothing like this would have happened.
When Andy hears that, she explodes. Cissy! Be quite! she orders in a sharp voice. It is not Bella's fault. I choose to protect her, and I'll do it again in a heartbeat. Now apologize to her - immediately!
It's almost as much of a shock to see her sweet, gentle sister be so loud and rude as it is to see her ill-tempered, rebellious one looks away as if in shame. It's maybe the first time Cissy realizes that Andy loves Bella too. Snarky, hostile, always-angry Bella, whose sharp tongue gets her in more trouble than it gets her out of. Of course, Cissy has always known that Andy loves her, but Andy is too loving not to. But then again, Andy would love a dog even after it bit her so hard she bled. She's the kind of person that loves everybody and everybody loves her, the exact opposite of Bella, who could intimidate even the bravest man with her razorsharp glares. Maybe it's their Father's frequent words that Bella is worthless and unlovable, or maybe it's their Mother's constant accusing and disdainful eyes, but Cissy has always thought that Andy loved Bella on principle alone.
But this... this is real.
Cissy... We're sisters. Andy says when she sees how hurt Cissy is. We're all we've got. She glances at their sister who stands a bit away from them, watching them with dark eyes. We're united. We look after each other. We protect each other - always - no matter the consequences.
Later that night, Cissy can hear them arguing through the paper-thin walls that connects their rooms.
Stop trying to protect me! Bella screams. I don't need you! I'll never need you!
I'll never stop trying to protect you! Andy screams back. We're sisters, Bella. It's what we do!
I never asked you to!
You didn't have to!
Their words hands heavily in the air.
I don't want you to get hurt. Please, Andy, if you stand up for me, he won't spare you just because you're his favorite. Bella's voice is softer and sadder than Cissy has ever heard it before.
I'm not afraid of Father. Andy says, but her voice trembles.
You should be. Look. Look at it! Is this what you want, Meda? Is it? Huh? Well, is it?!
Better me than you. I'd rather carry a thousand bruises then see a single on your skin, Belle.
Then you're a fool.
Maybe I am.
Silence.
I better go and put Cissy to sleep. Andy says tiredly. She can't sleep without someone there to hold her.
Some day you'll have to stop babying the little brat, Bella says, the edgy temper back in her voice.
Some day you'll have to accept that it's okay for someone to love you, Andy answers gently. And it's okay to love them back.
Cissy expected Bella to snort, to laugh at their gentle sister's kind words, deliver a sharp comeback that made Andy's heart sting, but Bella did nothing of that sort. Instead, she was quiet a long time before Cissy hears her loud, obnoxious footstep head towards the door.
That night, long after Andy has fallen asleep and Cissy lays awake staring at the ceiling, another body crawls under the covers and gently wraps it's cold arms around Andy.
When Cissy is eight she meets her fiancée for the first time. He's a year older than her, all blonde hair and haughty sneers. Sometimes when he looks at her, it's like he's inspecting a new house elf instead of a future wife. He's nothing like the prince from the stories Andy reads her at night when Mother and Father is asleep. When she tells Bella that, the older girl sneers and grips her arm tight.
Don't you dare tell that to Father, her sister hisses in her ear. She's gripping Cissy's arm so hard her nails bite into Cissy's skin and makes her bleed. He'll punish Andy for reading you those silly Muggle stories, and I won't have it. You better smile and pretend you like the little prince. You hear me, brat? You better make Father believe you like him, or I'll make sure you'll regret it.
The look in the older girl's eyes is cruel and Cissy knows that Bella won't have any qualms hurting her.
Bella doesn't have any qualms hurting anyone.
So Cissy nods with eyes full of tears, because even though she feels like biting her oldest sister, Cissy is a Lady of the House of Black and won't lower herself to such things. Also, Andy would be devastated if Cissy hurt Bella.
Satisfied, Bella releases her and turns away, chin raised and head held high, as if nothing ever happened.
But that night, when they think she's asleep in her bed, wrapped up in Andy's gentle arms and blissfully unaware of the world, Cissy is still awake enough that she can understand her sisters' whispered conversation.
Do you think she will be okay? Andy's worried voice whispers. I don't know if this is such a bright idea.
Don't worry, Bella says, not worried at all. It'll be fine. I don't know what you're worrying about. She smiled all day long, didn't she?
Bella, talk more quietly or you'll wake Cissy up. The disapproval in Andy's voice is mixed with exasperated fondness.
Bella, talk more quietly or you'll wake Cissy up, Bella mocks her in a childish voice, but she is noticeably quieter than before.
Andy laughs. She's the only one in the world that finds Bella's sharp tongue amusing. She's weird like that, their Andy. Always seeing the best in people, even when it doesn't exist.
Do you think Father will find us suitable matches soon? I mean, we're older than Cissy, aren't we? Andy asks Bella once the laughter fades away. She sounds so small and sad that Cissy unconsciously hugs her a little harder.
Perhaps, Bella says. She sounds like she doesn't care if that is the case.
I don't want to marry someone I don't love, Belle, Andy whispers.
You won't, Bella promises, her voice fierce and unyielding. When Bella sounds like this, so defiant and determined, Cissy knows that nothing will stand in her path of her goal. I'll make sure you won't, Meda. Don't you worry, little sister. I'll take care of everything.
A year later, when Cissy is nine, Andy eleven and Bella thirteen, their Father promises Andy away to the five years old Sirius Black. Andy, who's six years older than the Black Heir, locks herself away in her room and cries when she hears the news. In the absence of their sister, Bella screams at their father to break the engagement up, using foul words no purebred lady should ever use.
After that, their Father takes Bella away for a whole week. When she returns, she's wearing only a cloak and the bruises on her neck. She's marched into the manor in front of everyone, made to stand in the middle of the hall with a defiant expression and trembling body. When their father retrieves his cloak, Andy covers Cissy's eyes.
Later, after everyone left the room, Andy gathers the trembling girl in her arms and whispers to her in a low voice; Never again, Belle. I'd rather marry our cousin than let him do this to you. Find some other way.
So Bella does.
At the engagement party that is supposed to cement the betrothal, Bella grabs Cissy's hand and leads her up the stairs to a hallway they're definitely not supposed to be in. It's time I'll teach you what being sisters mean, Bella says.
What do you mean? Cissy asks her. Her hand is quivering in Bella's cold one. She doesn't like the steely glint in her older sister's dark eyes.
You want to protect Andy, don't you? Bella asks her. She smiles when Cissy nods. Andy is too gentle to protect herself, so we have to do it for her.
She opens a door to reveal a grand room designed in silver and green colors. In the biggest and fluffiest bed Cissy has ever seen, the Heir of their House lies sleeping. He's still wearing his finest robes, but his mouth is slightly open in a small 'o' and his eyes are closed. On the nightstand, a half-empty goblet of pumpkin juice stands.
What is this? Cissy asks her sister. Did you do this?
I put a potion in the little brat's pumpkin juice, Bella says proudly. She pulls out a dagger from underneath her dress. Here. She hands it to Cissy, who accepts it with wide eyes. This dagger is enchanted and will leave no wound or evidence behind, so when we kill him, nobody will know we did it. They will simply think he had a little too much to drink, fell asleep and then died when his heart tragically stopped. She sneers at the limb body on the bed. Nobody will suspect a thing. After all, pureblood sons are so fragile these days, aren't they?
We can't kill him! Cissy bursts out. Father will-
Father will never know. Bella's eyes shines with something dark and hungry. And Andy won't have to marry the little brat. That's the point, isn't it? To make Andy happy, to make sure she won't have to get married to a snot-nosed little boy?
Cissy hesitates. She looks down on the dagger, lying so innocently in her hands, and Bella's words echoes inside her head. Nobody would ever know. Andy won't have to marry the brat. Make Andy happy. As if she can sense the inner torment inside Cissy's heart, Bella reaches out and grips the hand that holds the dagger. She stand behind Cissy, her breathe tickling her hair, guiding the girl forward to the bed and showing her how to angle the dagger just right.
I promise I'll never let you marry someone else, Bella whispers to herself, and Cissy knows that if her sister knew she heard it, she would drive the dagger into Cissy's body instead of Sirius's. This is for you, Meda.
Together, they raise their arm, about to deliver the killing blow.
The doors open.
Stop this at once, Bellatrix! Andy's hard voice echoes through the room. Startled, Bellatrix jerks away and the dagger drops from Cissy's limp hand to impale the bed a mere inch from their sleeping cousin's face.
Meda? Bella breathes out.
I won't let you harm our cousin, Bellatrix, Andy says sternly. Her eyes are hard as flint as she stands before Cissy and Bella, disapproval and disgust evident in the hard line of her mouth.
You'd rather marry this little brat? Bellatrix's expression is inscrutable, but for a moment Cissy thinks that her eyes flash with jealousy and hurt.
I'd rather marry him then let you kill him, Andy says, unrelenting with her brutal truth. He's a child, Bella. Not some chess piece you can move around and then toss away. She gives her sister a cutting glare. If you love me, you'll stop.
I do love you, Bella says, desperate now that she realizes that she can lose her sister. I love you, Meda. I did this because I love you!
It's maybe the first time in her life that Bella says that she loves someone. It's maybe the first time she actually does. But Andy doesn't seem moved by the words she has so long awaited. Instead, she seems even more upset.
Then prove it, she says.
In that moment, there is only Bella and Andy, staring at each other over a great divide. Time stretches, seconds turns into minutes, minutes into lifetimes as the two sisters, always together, always united, wage their battle of wills in a silence that is so complete not even the muffled sounds of Sirius's breathing can disrupt it.
Finally, Bella turns away.
Okay, she says, and walks away.
Cissy is twelve when the other Slytherin girls in her dormitory trash-talks Andy. Andromeda is too much of a weakling, they say. Andromeda is too spineless, they say. Andromeda has no sense of pureblood etiquette. Andromeda is already half-way to being a bloodtraitor. Andromeda is too weak to be a Black.
Andromeda might as well have been born a muggle.
Furious with their disrespect, Cissy throws the hottest, brattiest, loudest and most dramatic fit she has had since she was seven and wanted a new dress for her doll. Twelve years with Bella has sharpened her tongue, and that combined with her finely tuned ears and ability to be at the right place at the right time makes her able to give the girls a lesson they will not soon forget. Family secrets spill from her lips, skeletons that no pureblood lady would ever want come dancing out of the family closet, and soon the girls are mightily pissed off.
At least my sister doesn't prefer witches as bedmates, a girl spits into Cissy's face. And her own sister at that!
It takes several seconds for that accusation to sink in, but when it does, Cissy is caught in a storm of emotions.
Her own sister at that!
Andy and Bella?
Andy... and Bella?
No. Not even Andy would cross such a line, of that Cissy is sure. But despite that, doubts brews in her stomach. All those nights lying curled up together, all those strange looks and cryptic words. That bond that only exist between Bella and Andy, that binds them together in ways Cissy can't even begin to understand. Sometimes it's like talking to one of them is talking to the other, like they're so close you can't figure out where one begins and the other ends. And Andy... gently, calm, kind Andy... who is the only one that can control their wild sister, the only one that can talk some sense into her and turn that constant sneer into a small smile.
Yes. There is something special between Andy and Bella. But to imagine them... like that?
Unthinkable (but such an epiphany).
Not possible (but probable).
It can't be (but she thinks it is).
What are you little brats whispering about, Bella sneers nastily from behind them. The girls stutters out an excuse and scatter, because even Slytherins are afraid of Bellatrix Black, whose tongue is as sharp as her dueling skills. Cissy turns and sees her sister standing there like an angry pit-bull, Andy by her side. At the look on Andy's face, Cissy knows that her sister has heard what the girls said, and she reaches out to her sister but hesitates.
Is it true? She has to ask.
Andy swallows.
No, she says.
So Cissy throws herself at her sister, hugging her hard as she buries her face in her robes and the safe scent of gardenias and tries to ignore how falsely the words rings in her ears.
When is thirteen she sees something she should see. It's late at night and she's wandering the halls, trying to get a break from her roommates insistent gossiping and snide looks. It's not the first time she's snuck out like this, and of all places the Astronomy tower is her absolute favorite. She loves sitting there watching the stars, seeking out Bellatrix, the third brightest star in the Orion constellation, and the Andromeda galaxy, the closest spiral galaxy to earth.
But this night, she's not alone in the tower.
When she sees them first, she thinks it's a couple of lovers that has snuck up to make out. She turns to leave the two of them alone when she notices the ring on one of their fingers. It's made of heavy gold, bearing the Black family crest and a black onyx carved the letter 'B' in the middle.
It's Andy's ring.
Dark hair. Heavy, hooded eyes. A beautiful face and sweetly gentle hands. Shocked, Cissy realizes that one of the lovers is her sister.
Dark hair. Heavy, hooded eyes. A beautiful face and violently passionate hands. Even more shocked, Cissy realizes that both lovers are her sisters, entwined in such a complicated knot that it's hard to see which limb belongs to which girl. From what Cissy can decipher, Bella has one hand tangled in Andy's hair, pressing their lips together in a hard kiss, and the other one holds Andy's hips in a bruising grip.
I love you, Bella breathes as Andy moans. We need to do this more often
We need to... ah... be more... Belle... Belle... We need to be more... ah... careful, Andy mumbles against her sister's lips. If someone sees... she trails off.
Nobody will see, Bella laughs against Andy's skin. And if they do, they won't say anything. They know I'll kill them if they do.
Andy looks like she wants to protest, but another kiss silences her. They're such a study of contrasts, one darkly passionate in an almost violent way and the other so gentle and loving it's impossible to misunderstand her feelings. Light and dark, coexisting in perfect harmony.
Bella starts to claw at Andy's robes and the latter's eyes flies open in a moment of passion that soon turns to horror as she sees their little sister standing there, eyes wide and arms hanging limply by her sides as Cissy watches her sisters' love with her own two eyes.
Cissy! Andy screams, but Cissy is already gone. Bella was right, she thinks as she runs down all the stairs in one go. She'll never say anything to anyone.
Because they're sisters. And they protect each other - always.
When Cissy is seventeen, Bella returns without their sister for the first time in the blonde witch's memory.
Where's Andy? Cissy asks the silent witch. Cissy holds her breath, because Andy never lies, and they're sisters, they protect each other - always. Where's our sister, Bella?! she demands to know.
In response, Bella holds up the arm with the black tattoo. She carefully uncurls her fingers and reveals the ring that lies in the middle of her palm. It's made of heavy gold, engraved with the Black family crest and with a black onyx 'B' in the middle.
It's (not) Andy's ring (anymore).
We don't have a sister, Bella says in a hard voice. Not anymore.