Written for Cheeky Slytherin Lass's Fanfiction Tournament Competition on the Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges forum.
Theme 3: Childhood (Round Two).
Sanctuary
Three girls crept along the hallway, padding along the smooth wood floor on stocking-clad feet. The oldest and tallest girl pushed her wild black curls back from her face as she paused to listen for any signs of life around the corner. Determining that the coast was clear, she moved forward again with swift fluid movements, followed silently by her two faithful shadows.
That was until the last girl in the line, clearly the smallest of the trio, stumbled on an uneven floorboard and fell on her face with the muffled thud. The first girl whipped around, dark curls flying and slipping further from the tenuous hold of the dark green ribbon that bound her hair.
"I told you not to bring Cissy along!" she hissed to her brown-haired sister, black eyes flashing with annoyance. "She's a nuisance!"
Cissy's face puckered as the small blond girl struggled to reign back tears from both the shock of her fall and her sister's harsh words.
Andi made a face at Bella, exasperated at her older sister's theatrics. "She followed us on her own!" she whispered back fiercely. "And you know she would have made a fuss if we left her behind!"
"Well she's going to get us caught with all the noise she's making!"
"Bella's the noisiest," Cissy interjected mutinously from the floor.
"Why you-"
The faint pop that echoed in the long hallway cut off Bella's incensed tirade. The three girls turned as one to face the wizened disapproving face of Binnie, the old House Elf who had taken care of the girls since each of their births. As always, she somehow managed to look intimidating even though she was shorter than even Cissy. Old Binnie had swaddled and scolded all three of them from diapers, and even Bella, strong in her opinion of being all adult and grown-up at eight years of age, was wary of crossing the temper of their loving nanny. Perhaps even more so than towards Cygnus, who had never stirred himself in what he judged to be the womanly matter of child-rearing, or Druella, who favoured parties over spending time with her daughters.
Binnie narrowed her large expressive eyes at them. "Young Misses should not be sneaking around in this fashion," she squeaked, high-pitched voice firm and reproving.
Andi immediately put on her most imploring face, opening her mouth to plead their reasons, but was interrupted by a hitched sob that made her eyes widen and dart to look behind her.
Fat tears were rolling down Cissy's cheeks in rivulets, made even more pitiable by the small girl's half-sprawled position on the floor that she hadn't yet picked herself up from.
"Bu-But… we just w-wanted to see the baby," Cissy's voice quavered in her tears.
Never one to give up an opportunity, Andi quickly added her contributions to the cavalry. "Just for a little while, Binnie," she pleaded, eyes open wide in her most beseeching expression. "Please?"
The old House Elf sighed as she looked between the two of them, resistance clearly faltering. "I will discuss this with Kreacher," she finally acquiesced, tone resigned. She disappeared with a pop.
Left alone in the dim hallway, Bella and Andi traded an arched look before turning together towards Cissy. The four-year-old's tears had stemmed completely with Binnie's departure and her formerly tear-streaked face was now quite inexplicably dry. She returned their regard with a perfectly innocent look.
Andi chuckled at the sight, and even Bella looked impressed. The two older girls had pulled similar enough ploys in the past, but with Cissy's angelic blond hair and soulful blue eyes the effect was even more convincing. It had been a piece of acting worthy of a true Slytherin.
Kreacher popped into the hallway then, bowing low to them. "The Young Master has woken from his nap and can take visitors if the Young Misses would like."
In the nursery, the House-Elves had laid out a thick blanket on the ground, lifting the baby out of the cradle to lie on his back on the downy material. The three girls immediately crowded around the baby, delighted.
Grey eyes stared curiously back at them.
Bella's eyes glittered as she smiled at the baby. "Hello, Sirius," she cooed, voice lilting. "I'm your Cousin Bella."
"Ba," the baby babbled in response, reaching out stubby arms towards her. With a light laugh, Bella perceptively tucked her dark curls back behind her ear before he could catch a handful of them. She raised an eyebrow amusedly at the baby's confusion when his hand grasped nothing but air.
Andi giggled aloud at that, reaching out her hand for Sirius to curl his small fist around instead. She smiled warmly when the baby refocused his attention on her. "Hello Sirius, I'm Andi."
"Ah."
"He's so small," Cissy commented with wonder in her eyes.
Bella grinned as she leaned over, tickling baby Sirius under his chin. "You used to be this small too, you know. I still remember."
Andi shifted so that she was lying down on her side next to the baby, her shoulder-length brown hair splaying across the blanket. Her fingers still caught in Sirius' firm grasp, she turned her face up towards her older sister with a soft smile.
"Sing for us, Bella?"
Cissy's eyes lit up as well, bright and eager. It was not known to most but Bella had a rich soulful voice, and in the quiet of their playroom back home, when their parents had left the house as they so often did, she would often sing to them and them alone.
And so Bella sang; starting with vivid, lilting notes, chasing nameless tunes that wove themselves into a captivating melody of their own. Each song was different, unique in their freedom of verse; each song was bewitching, in a way that a pre-planned tune could never be.
Music danced around the nursery in 12 Grimmauld Place that afternoon, filling every crevice and corner. But none of it escaped out to the hallway, closed as the door was to the world outside.
A melody of the soul, pure and unsullied, unheard anywhere except within this secret, shrouded sanctuary of childhood.
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