"Children behave
That's what they say when we're together"
-"I Think We're Alone Now"
Tiffany
"I'm bored," whined four-year-old Sirius Black, who had draped himself dramatically over his father's armchair. "Let's go do something interesting."
"You don't think anything is interesting," four-year-old Bellatrix pointed out, never looking up from her unicorn coloring page.
"Yes I do!" said Sirius defensively, standing up. "I wish Andromeda wasn't napping. She isn't scared to do all the fun stuff-"
"I am not scared!" Bellatrix shrieked, dropping her crayons immediately. "Andie's just a baby, anyway! And I'm not scared!"
"Then let's gooooo," Sirius said dramatically. "Stop coloring like a baby, and let's go play Quidditch!"
"We can't play Quidditch," Bellatrix said uncertainly. "It's raining outside."
"Well then what do you think we should do!" he said, obviously upset with his cousin's lack of ambition.
"Shh, you'll wake up Tippy!" Bellatrix scolded, glancing towards the elderly drunken house elf sleeping in the corner. "Then we won't be able to do anything!"
"Let's go in your mom's room and play with her stuff," said Sirius deviously. This was about the most devilish thing that Bellatrix had ever heard, and it caused her mouth to fall open.
"Sirius, my Mummy will kill us if she finds -"
"But Auntie Druella is downstairs with my Mother and Mrs. Malfoy and Ms. Prince, anyway," Sirius said. "She won't go up to her bedroom while she's having company."
Bellatrix bit her lip. "I don't know, Siri..."
"Bella's a scaredy-cat, Bella's a scaredy-cat!" Sirius chanted tauntingly, doing some type of strange dance.
"I am not! Let's go!" She grabbed her cousin's wrist and dragged him towards the staircase leading up to Druella's bedroom.
After climbing up several flights of stairs and making their way through the maze-like halls of Ebony Manor, Sirius and Bellatrix arrived at the tall mahogany door that suddenly seemed larger and more frightening than it had in the past.
"We really shouldn't be here, Sirius," Bellatrix said, wide-eyed as she looked up at the door knob.
"That's what makes it fun!" said Sirius, swinging the door open and walking into his aunt's bedroom, causing the candle chandelier to light up.
Druella's room was one of the many that the children were not allowed to enter, and for good reason. The floor and walls were so white that they almost hurt the children's eyes. There was an expensive Persian rug lying next to the bed, which looked very old and probably belonged to the Rosier family for many generations. The bed was a pastel, icy blue color with about twenty large, fluffy pillows. An expensive looking vase and a candle were the only things on Druella's night table. There were no personal items in the room whatsoever, no books or jewelry or knick knacks. Two pure white quills sat on Druella's desk beside a bottle of ink, and a small locked chest.
"This room is boring," Sirius declared. "Let's play Gryffindor vs. Slytherin again, Bella."
"Okay, but it's my turn to be Slytherin, Siri, you got to be him last time," Bellatrix reminded him.
Sirius sulked. "Fiiiine. We need wands! And capes!" He pulled Druella's closet opened and stepped inside, jerking a red skirt and a green skirt off of their hangers. He tossed the green one to Bella and put the red one around his shoulders, using the drawstring to tie it around his neck. Bellatrix did the same.
"What about wands?" Bellatrix asked, wishing she had never agreed to this. There were already four skirts crumpled on the floor in Druella's closet, and her mother was so concerned with keeping everything neat.
"Let's use these," he said, handing her one of the pure white quills from the desk. "Ready?"
"I guess so," said Bellatrix reluctantly.
Sirius leaped onto the bed, waving the feathered quill furiously, and screamed, "Die you slimy-Slytherin snake, die! Avada kedavra!"
Bellatrix dodged the fake spell, somersaulting out of the way, where she hit the desk, causing the bottle of ink to tip over.
"Never!" she shrieked. "You die, mudblood filth lover!"
Sirius began throwing pillows at her furiously, causing the bottle of ink on the desk to fall to the ground and shatter. The black ink slowly seeped into the Persian rug, but neither child took notice.
"Crucio!" Bellatrix shrieked, aiming the feather at Sirius.
Her cousin fell to the ground, writhing convincingly and clutching his stomach, laughing uncontrollably. He screamed, "Please have mercy on me, oh pure and noble Slytherin! I beg of you!"
"Never!" Bellatrix said. "I don't have mercy for you filth!" she kicked him in the leg.
"Ow, Bella, that hurt," Sirius whined, rubbing his leg.
"Don't be a baby," Bellatrix said, folding her arms.
Sirius began to cry and Bellatrix immediately felt horrible. She knelt down beside him. "I'm sorry, Siri, we were just playing! Do you want me to go get something from the ice-box-"
"I fooled you again, you stupid snake!" Sirius roared suddenly, the tears disappearing from his face as his mischievous smile returned. He grabbed a pillow from behind him and smacked it onto Bellatrix's head, knocking the bow out of her hair.
"Hey!" Bellatrix shouted. "No fair!" She grabbed another pillow and began to attack him with it.
"You'd better hope it isn't another girl," nineteen-year-old Walburga Black was saying to her sister-in-law, "I think Cygnus really will murder you."
"Thanks for those comforting words, Burga," said Druella sarcastically as she ran a finger over her growing baby bump.
"I don't have to worry," said Walburga, tying her long dark hair back with a purple ribbon, "I already have Sirius."
"How fortunate for you," said Druella. She shot a murderous glare at Walburga's swollen abdomen, praying that the child wouldn't be another boy. Walburga with one son was bad enough, but with two she would be downright unbearable.
"Are you and Abraxus going to have any more children, Emmalia?" Druella asked, trying to shift the conversation away from herself.
"No," said Emmalia Malfoy, one of Druella's best friends, "We're very pleased with Lucius. I don't want to go through all of that again," she said, waving her hand toward the two pregnant women.
"How old is Lucius now, Em?" asked Walburga. "He's a year older than Sirius and Bella, isn't he?"
"Yes, he's five now. I expect he'll be doing magic one of these days. He's going to be very talented; I can tell. We bought him a broom just recently, and he's already doing all sorts of tricks and things. I think he's going to be on the Slytherin Quidditch team eventually, probably captain, if he has time when he's a prefect and Head Boy and all," she said casually.
Walburga looked rather impressed, but Druella and Eileen glanced at one another and rolled their eyes.
"Lucius is very well behaved, as well," said Emmalia. "He's such a polite little thing! He and the Lestrange boy, and your nephew Evan, Druella, they all get along just wonderfully. He's very social. He wants to be Minister for Magic someday, and I'd bet that he will be!"
Druella smiled. "Bella's told me that she's going to be Minister for Magic when she grows up."
"Yes but Bella's a girl," said Emmalia. "A pureblood girl. She'll never be anything more than what we are now."
Druella frowned slightly. Walburga smiled, hanging onto every word that Emmalia said. Eileen looked depressed.
"You've been awfully quiet today, Eileen," said Walburga, turning to face the pale, dark haired woman, "How is your little halfblood?"
"He's fine," said Eileen softly.
Druella shot Walburga a hostile look which was ignored.
"Are you and the muggle going to have more children?" asked Emmalia.
"Oh, erm... I don't know, probably not," she said, avoiding eye contact with everyone. The look on her face clearly showed that she desperately wanted the conversation to drift away from herself.
"What's the child's name again?" asked Walburga.
"Severus," Eileen said softly.
"How old?"
"He's four and a half."
"I still can't understand why you threw your whole life away," said Emmalia nonchalantly. "A Prince! You could've been so respected! As much as Walburga, even!"
Walburga smiled. Born as a Black and married as a Black, she was possibly the most important female in the entire pureblood population. She had hated Eileen when they were at school together because of the equality between them, and she couldn't have been happier when Eileen ran away with the Muggle. Why Druella still insisted upon inviting the blood traitor over was unknown to Walburga.
"Hmm, yes," said Eileen, staring at her shoes, which were slightly scuffed up. She glanced at the clock, which had just chimed. "Oh! I think I'd better be going... I'll see you soon, ladies," she said, hastily grabbing her cloak and disapparating.
"Was it something I said?" asked Emmalia, eyebrows raised.
Druella glared at her, but the arrogant woman did not notice.
"Oh!" said Emmalia suddenly. "I've just gotten Lucius's picture taken, look," she said, pulling a wallet sized photo out of her purse. She slid it across the table to Walburga and Druella.
"Oh, he's simply precious!" said Walburga. Druella studied the photo. The boy had chin-length pale blonde hair and the iciest eyes she had ever seen, and although he was smiling, he looked angry and arrogant as he flipped his hair and gave someone behind the camera a dirty look.
"Lovely," said Druella, suddenly feeling the urge to run away from the two women she was with. "I have a photograph of the baby from my Healer, I'll go get it. One moment, it's in my bedroom."
"So, for Orion's graduation party, I'm thinking that we'll..." The voices faded away as Druella walked quickly up the stairs and opened the door to her bedroom.
"BELLATRIX DRUELLA, SIRIUS ORION, WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING?" Druella screeched at the children, who sat on her bedroom floor in a pile of feathers and pillow cases. Her bottle of ink was soaked into her family heirloom rug, her skirts were strewn about the room and the ones the children had on were smudged with makeup. They were both covered in lipstick (which was supposed to be blood from their battle), and her two favorite quills were broken on the floor. The blankets had been yanked off of the bed, the closet was opened, and there was a large mess of spilled makeup staining the white rug and part of the wall. The only thing that had managed to survive, it seemed, was the vase that was knocked over on the nightstand but didn't appear to be damaged.
Druella marched over to her daughter, jerked her up by the wrist, and smacked her, repeating the action on her nephew. Sirius scowled deeply at her, and Bellatrix began to cry.
"I'm sorry, Mummy, I'll clean it all up!" Bellatrix bawled.
"You're damn right you'll clean it all up," Druella snapped at her daughter, who cringed and leaned towards Sirius, thinking she would be slapped again. "What were you two thinking! Honestly, is there anything you didn't ruin?! Look at this rug, Bella, this was my great-great-great-great-great grandmother's! That vase belonged to Salazar Slytherin's wife! Those quills are from Persia! And oh, my God, what did you do to the cats?"
Druella's white, fluffy Persian cat and her two kittens were slowly emerging from a pile of feathers, hissing and spitting. All three were pink, and it looked like two of them were wearing mascara.
Druella marched into her closet to see what damage had been done there and she hastily picked up the skirts that Sirius had knocked down, dropping them into the laundry chute. She went back into the bedroom, ready to begin telling Bellatrix and Sirius what their punishment would be.
She stepped back into the bedroom and her jaw dropped.
The carpet and walls were clean, the rug was ink-free, the ink was back in the bottle on her desk with the two unbroken quills, the vase was right-side up, the bed was made, the makeup was put away, the cats were white and fluffy again, and Bellatrix and Sirius looked as tidy as ever. The last of the pillows was settling on the bed when she returned.
"How...?" she began, staring at the two four-year-olds, who both stared back at her with their hands behind their backs.
"Did you do this?" she asked.
They glanced at one another and nodded.
"How?"
"I'm sorry, Mummy-" Bellatrix began, her eyes filling with tears again.
"No, no, baby, you're not in trouble anymore," she said, kneeling down in front of the children and pulling them into a hug, laughing. "How long have you two been able to do this?"
"A month?" Sirius asked Bellatrix. She nodded.
"I'm so proud of you!" Druella said, beaming at them. She stood up, brushing off her skirts, and took each child's hand, leading them down the stairs.
Druella poked her head into the drawing room, where she found Walburga alone.
"Where have you been?" Walburga asked angrily. "Emmalia decided you were avoiding her and left!"
"Sirius and Bella just did magic," Druella explained. "Are you coming? I'm taking them to Diagon Alley for ice cream."
Walburga looked shocked and amazed and happy, and she pulled the kids into a hug, one of her rare expressions of emotion. "I'm going to write a letter to your Father, Sirius, he'll be so proud of you! I'll bet he can't wait to tell everyone! I'll meet you there!"
"I'll go get my coat, darlings, I'll be right back," Druella said, kissing each of them on the top of their heads and exiting the room.
"Well that's unusual," Sirius said.
"I've never seen them so happy," said Bellatrix.
"Your Mum was going to kill us. You were right."
"I told you so. I'm always right," said Bellatrix. "It's a good thing she's all mood-swingy 'cause of my new brother, or we'd both be dead."
A smile crept onto Sirius's face. "I think your new baby brother deserves some reward for saving our lives."
"Like what?" Bellatrix asked, confused.
The mischievous smile on Sirius's face both terrified Bellatrix and made her very excited.