Note: I will put as little author notes as I can, as I feel that it takes away from the imaginative feeling behind this- and any other- story to constantly have to revisit the real world. Here is a simple key for my style: italicized words symbolize thoughts, and are occasionally used for emphasis on a particular word- but only when the distinction is obvious; the """ in between some paragraphs indicates a break in the story flow or a skip in time, whether backward or forward, as the website would not allow me to use a triple asterisk.

Druella inhaled sharply as he rolled off of her with a grunt. She was beyond relieved to taste an air that of which was not flavored with his unclean and stale breath. Something in the back of her mind told her to look at him; to make the same glance she makes every day- the one that allows her a second to re-evaluate her decision. Why did she settle for that bastard? Cygnus Black was a pure-blooded wizard, and nothing much more than that- and that, of course, had been her sole reasoning, had it not? However, a much bigger influence held her head back, her eyes on the ceiling. She could hear him scratch his gut. She felt him pull the blankets roughly to slacken them to dry his sweaty face. Druella held in her disgust until she heard his growling snore, at which time she slipped quietly from their bed, into a nightgown and down the many steps of their household.

"Lumos" she whispered, igniting her rosewood wand. She jumped and screamed as a thick figure illuminated in the light. Quickly she was grabbed around her shoulders, a hand pressed too hard to her mouth. "Quiet," he exhaled next to her ear. "Alphard. I was on my way to-," he covered her mouth again, though, gentler than before, "I know."

The lights were off and the room's atmosphere was stagnate. Cygnus lay in his bed staring at the celling. There was clambering from the floors beneath him and he jumped. The fuck was that? he thought, heaving himself from the bed. The staircase proved as big a challenge as ever, and he had to stop to catch his breath. He left an oily stain on the wall where he rested his greasy forehead. As soon as he could hear anything over the sound of his own breathing, Cygnus became immediately aware of a thumping towards the back of the mansion. Confused, as he had only ventured beyond the sitting room and dining room on rare occasions (the kitchens where for the house elves, of course) he stumbled, drunk with sleep and nervousness, deeper into his own home.

Cygnus's fist shook violently, flinging a mist of blood in every direction. "You were always a whore." Druella did not respond. She sat on the kitchen floor, the only eye she could still open, glued to the tile. "Are you listening to me!" he screamed. Cygnus stepped over the unconscious body of his brother and grabbed Druella by her neck. She held in her panic and stared into his bloodshot eyes, until they became unfocused on her, as if he were looking through her- through her and at the cutlery block behind her. Cygnus dropped her and sped for the knives; he was back in under a second, one hand pinning Druella to the island and the other carving a hideous X into her chest over her heart.

Bellatrix swatted the air in the direction of her little sister, whom had just woken her. "Trixie! Trixie wake up! I hear yelling! Trixie!" She finally sat up in bed and hushed Andromeda, expecting to hear nothing, reassure her sister, and go back to sleep, as was per usual when Andromeda had a nightmare. Instead, however, Bellatrix heard it, too. Grasping her sister's hand, she got out of bed and followed the sound, only stopping to grab the pocketknife she kept in her dresser drawer. Down the stairs and to the kitchen they traveled quickly. "Trixie, we get mommy!" Andromeda finally blurted out, pulling back from Bellatrix. "Dromeda! Think how brave Mommy will say we were when she sees we killed the burglar! You do want Mommy to love you, right?" Andromeda's eyes fell to the ground. "Yes…" "Then come on!" Bellatrix drug her two-year-old sister into the hallway from the kitchen, instructed her to wait there, and peeked around the corner.

"…and that, right there, is you, Cissy!" Andromeda gently pushed her infant sister's tiny and delicate hand to the newest picture on the Black Family Tree. She garbled and drooled a little bit. Andromeda took no notice, as she was distracted by one of several charred spaces on the dark green walls. "Uncle…" she whispered. Her reminiscence was interrupted, though, by young Narcissa's nanny. "It's time for me to feed her. Run along to your mother, darling." Andromeda stood still for a moment, savoring the last seconds she had with her sister before paying her mother a visit. A visit with Druella Black was more of a chore than a visit- it's difficult to hold a conversation with ghost, after all. That's all that she was: a ghost; an echo; an empty vessel. Her heart, her soul, her everything? Gone with Alphard. Eventually, Andromeda forced herself to move.

There she was, sitting on the edge of her bed- seemingly: as far away from Cygnus's side as possible. Her physical eyes looked at the mirror perpendicular to the foot of their bed, but only that. Nothing stood behind the glassy stare. Every once in a while she was present within herself enough to speak a hello or even write some chores for her house elves; today was not one of those days. Bellatrix sat beside her mom, their hands together; Bellatrix's a desperate and tight clutch, Druella's just a limp hand.

This was the girls' ritual. This was their every day: watch over their mother's shell. Their every night: nightmares from what they saw in their kitchen almost a year ago. They've since slept in the same bed.