All right so, despite having been a member of and an avid reader, this is the first time I've actually gotten around to posting something. I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter I would be rich and not be worrying about getting a job and paying for college. Sadly, I am worrying about both and am therefore not the owner of this beloved series.

I arrived home in an instant, my boot-clad feet hitting the solid wooden floor with thud that accompanied the loud crack of Apparation. I looked around the foyer. Dark-stained floors, lavish furniture that had been in the family for generations, and not a soul in sight.

I reach my hands up towards the clasp of my cloak and unhook it, removing my cloak and hanging it on a nearby hook with a flourish. "Andromeda?" I call, "Andromeda, I have good news!"

I hear a small thump upstairs and begin to ascend the marble steps, my hand gliding along the banister. "Andy," I call in a sing-song sort of voice. "Andromeda, darling, where are you?" I laugh with child-like glee. "Come out, come out wherever you are, Bellatrix needs to speak with you."

I reach the landing and glance down the hall. The light in Andromeda's room was on. I move towards it without hesitation and throw open the door, "Andromeda, guess what!"

My younger sister whirls around, her dark brown hair flying behind her like a halo, the sun from the open window turning it a more golden color. "Bellatrix," she says with a gasp, her hand flying to her beating heart, "I didn't hear you."

I laugh, "Andromeda darling, how could you not have heard me? I Apparated straight into the foyer and have been calling your name for quite some time," I say, taking a step forward.

She smiles, and I couldn't help but think it looked somewhat strained, "I guess I just wasn't paying enough attention," she offered. "Did you want something?"

"I did, and I do," I reply with barely-contained glee. "Rodolphus just gave me the best of news," I begin, "We're going to be sisters!"

"Trixie, we are sisters."

I laugh again, rolling my dark eyes at her naïveté, "I mean we're going to be sisters-in-law, Rabastan, Rodolphus's brother, wants to marry you," I announce happily.

Her face pales and her eyes widen in shock, "What?"

I smile at her, "Rabastan Lestrange wants to marry you! Isn't this marvelous?" Oh the look on her poor face, no doubt the idea that someone as handsome and well-placed as Rabastan would ask for her hand in marriage.

"I repeat, 'What?'"

"Honestly, Andy, how thick can you get? Rabastan. Brother of my boyfriend. He wants to marry you." I repeat slowly, making sure she understands.

Andromeda gave a small chuckle, "I'm not marrying Rabastan."

I sigh, "Yes you are, Andy, he's already agreed to it." Honestly, how thick could she get? If Rabastan Lestrange wanted to marry you, well, you didn't say "No" that's for sure.

"Bellatrix, I'm not marrying Rabastan, I'm marrying Ted Tonks," she says, fidgetting slightly.

"Who's Ted Tonks?" I ask.

"Oh, you know Ted, he was a Ravenclaw in my year - I think you cursed him once in your seventh year," she said, giving me a hard glare.

"You mean the mudblood?" I could feel my eyebrows rise in disbelief.

She snarled, "Don't call him that!"

I laugh until my sides begin to hurt and it turns into a hacking cough. I wipe the tears from my eyes, "Oh, Andy, don't be silly. You're a Black, we don't marry mudbloods. Seriously, don't joke about something like that."

There was a brief pause. Then, "I'm not joking, Trixie, I love Ted and I'm going to marry him."

"No, you're marrying Rabastan, it's already been arranged," I said, not quite sure why she insisted on upholding this charade.

"I don't love Rabastan, I love Ted."

"Do you think I'm in love with Rodolphus?" I asked, wondering why she seemed to think 'love' was important. "Andy, we're Blacks, one of the oldest line of pureblood families, we marry to keep our line pure, not because we fancy ourselves in love. We both know love doesn't exist in our world."

"You're wrong, and if being a Black means that I can't marry Ted, then I guess I just won't be a Black anymore," she said, standing tall with her arms crossed over her chest and shifting slightly to her right.

"Andromeda, drop the act, you're not marrying a mud - " I broke off when I caught sight of the half-filled trunk on her bed. "You've been home from Hogwarts for two weeks and you still haven't unpacked?" I asked curiously.

Andromeda's eyes flashed. "Bellatrix Black, I'm packing, not unpacking. I'm going to live with Ted and his family until the wedding."

I can feel the rage building up inside me and I look from her to the trunk, from the trunk to her bureau, from the bureau to the bookshelves lining her walls. Empty. The drawers had been pulled out and not even a lone sock had been left inside. The doors of her ancient armoire were open, empty hangers clinging to the wooden rod that stretched along the length of it. Her bookshelves were almost completely bare, only a few had been left. I noticed that her copy of Magiks Most Evile was still on the shelf along with several other books that had to do with the Dark Arts. The rage continues to build as I realize that she really is leaving - leaving home, leaving her family, leaving me.

"Has that mudblood fool filled your head with fantasies of happily ever afters? Has he blinded you so much that you've lost your common sense? You know who's gaining power, you've heard Mother and Father talk of the Dark Lord and his ideas of ridding the world of muggles and mudbloods alike. You stupid, idiotic bint! You and your precious mudblood Tonks will be the first family he targets, mark my words. You're going to die because you can't tell when you've been put under one of those silly love potions!" I scream hysterically, watching as her face pales further. She looks like she's about to burst into tears. Good for her.

"I know."

It takes me a moment to realize she's spoken, and another to fully understand her words. "You know? You know that you'll be at the top of the Dark Lord's Most Wanted List if you marry that stupid Tonks of yours and you're still willing to do it?"

She nods.

Confusion fills me. Why? Why would someone willingly make a choice that would lead them to their death. "I - I don't understand, Andy…" She opens her mouth to explain but I cut her off as the confusion turns into anger once more. "No, don't try to explain. You think you're in love with this stupid mudblood but just you wait, he'll leave you the second he finds out you're with his child, and don't think we'll take you back. You'll be used goods. If you come crawling back here, I'll take immense pleasure in slamming the door in your face."

"I won't come back."

I can tell it's a promise. The statement makes my right arm move instantly to draw my wand from my robe. I want to curse her, to yell at her, to break all the objects in her room. That statement, it's so simple, so matter-of-fact. How can she be so certain?

I can feel something inside me snap as I take in her defiant form. Her arms are crossed over her chest, her feet a shoulder-width apart. Her wand is clenched in her right fist - had she been expecting a fight? Her mouth is set in a grim line, her dark, heavy-lidded eyes - people always said we had the same eyes - suddenly seemed harder than before. She was really going to leave.

"Fine," I stated. "Fine. Fine. Just, leave then. Leave me, leave Cissy and our parents without saying goodbye." I can see her eyes have softened a little, and they seem to be sparkling with unshed tears. Tears. I hate it when people cry, especially my sisters. No Black should ever cry.

"Trixie - "

"I don't want to hear it!" I holler, "Go, get out of here! Take your filthy body and your filthy clothes and get out! I swear Andromeda if you ever come back here I will kill you! I will make you regret this decision to turn your back on your family! You filthy blood traitor! I hope your half-blood children die early, I hope they're deformed and I hope you never live through a day where you don't regret leaving this family for one filled with muggles!"

She uncrosses her arms and flicks her wand, folding the last of her clothes and sending them into her trunk. Her trunk closes. "Bellatrix, you're still my sister," she says, shrinking her trunk and placing it in her pocket. "I love you."

I raise my chin proudly and curl my lips back in a sneer. "Narcissa is my only sister, you're nothing more than a blood traitor." I spin on my heel and storm out of the room, the sound of the door slamming almost as loud as the pop that signifies Andromeda's Disapparation.

My dragon-hide boots thump loudly against the floorboards as I make my way down the hall, down the stairs and out the front door, summoning my cloak from where I'd hung it earlier. I grasp the collar and spin around in a whirlwind of black fabric. I clasp it tightly at my throat and spin on my heel once more. With a flick my wand, I too Disapparate. It is time to see this Dark Lord that everyone is talking about.

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