CHAPTER 2: Decisions Made

I want you to know how difficult this is for me to write, and I apologise in advance because I know I might become quite incoherent. Andromeda paused, quill raised. She wasn't quite sure how to go on, where to begin. Nymphadora... well, Dora to her father, and Tonks to her friends. She always said she hated her name. That always hurt a little, but I know she didn't mean to upset me. People hate names... but I'm getting off track already.

Andromeda sighed and put down the quill. See, Narcissa had, in recent letters, given her a great deal of information about her own son, Draco. She felt as if she knew her nephew, although the two had never met. Narcissa had gently suggested in her latest essay-length letter that Andy tell her about her daughter. She felt it was a shame and proof of her failure as an aunt that she had never met the girl and that she had been a member of the force, and the family, that had killed her.

Of course, Andy wanted to tell her everything about her beautiful daughter. She wanted to tell the whole world, but she would never be able to, because the pain and grief consumed her whenever she tried. Narcissa deserved to know her, though, so Andy would have to bear it this time.

Taking a deep breath, and blinking back tears, she picked up her quill. She supposed it would be easiest to start from the beginning.

An hour later and weeping openly now, Andromeda rolled up the parchment and tucked it away in her robes, to send away later when the owl returned.

"I need a cup of tea," she muttered to herself. Wiping her eyes on her sleeve, she reached up to the top shelf to grab herself a teacup.

"GRANNY!" came a joyous shriek from the next room. "Granny, granny! Look what I've FOUND!"

"Darling... can you give me a minute?" Andromeda called, eyes squeezed shut and hand still raised in the air by the shelf.

"No, no, no! Come now, you have to SEE!" demanded the little boy.

She couldn't help but smile. He was just as stubborn as her little girl used to be, and always was. Checking her eyes in the mirror on the way out, Andromeda made her way towards the room her grandson occupied.

It was times like this she wished she had someone around to talk to.

Narcissa sat in the kitchen, calmly sipping a cup of tea and reading the Daily Prophet. She knew a good deal of it was utter trash, and there never was much going on in the wizarding world these days. There was, however, the occasional news of the capture of elusive Death Eaters who escaped at the final Battle. Narcissa couldn't help but check, every day, just in case she saw her older sister's name plastered across the headlines...

She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. It was ridiculous to believe that a witch as skilled as Bellatrix could be captured by the buffoons working for the Ministry. Besides, even if she was caught, Narcissa doubted that there was anything left of her sister's mind for the dementors to feed on if the Ministry locked her away. She had been in hiding ever since the end of the War, and without her Lord to follow, she no longer would have anything keeping her together. Bellatrix had become unhinged even before her first trip to Azkaban, and she would only be worse now.

She could be dead, for all Narcissa knew.

Slamming the paper shut and tossing it aside, Narcissa carried her cup of tea upstairs and into her bedroom. Resting the cup on the floor, she removed a small, rusty key from an inside pocket in her robes. She forced the key into a lock on the lowest drawer and shuffled it open. The drawer was stiff from lack of use over many years. Narcissa sifted through the musty content until she found what she was looking for – a leather-bound album with her name inscribed in gold lettering on the front. It had been a gift for her fourteenth birthday, and she had taken great care in filling it with photographs and other memorabilia from her early years. When her parents destroyed many family memories containing her disowned sister's image, Narcissa had kept this album close to her side, day and night.

The glue in the spine crackled as she opened the album. Narcissa was surprised at the good condition of the photographs. Three pretty young smiles greeted her on the first page. The youngest girl, petite and blonde, had such a sparkle in her bright eyes, which would have been a piercing blue if the image was coloured. In the centre of the photograph stood Andromeda, her brunette curls falling softly to her shoulders, smiling shyly at the photographer. The eldest of the young witches, and the most striking, was Bellatrix. Her dark curls tumbled down to her navel, and her eyes - dark and deep, framed by thick lashes, were mesmerising even in print. The wind gently blew through their hair, and all three girls giggled, looking utterly carefree and innocent. Underneath the photograph, the young Narcissa had neatly printed "Andy, Bella and I."

Narcissa smiled, and gently stroked her eldest sister's face in the image. Bellatrix had always been her favourite, and although she had known it was wrong to have favourites in your family, she couldn't have helped it if she tried. The young girl had worshipped the ground Bella walked on, or in her opinion, floated over. She sought nothing but her approval, and to her joy, Bella was impressed by her baby sister and took her under her wing. She was the one who gave her the nickname she so loved to hear. Cissy.

Oh, Bella.

Narcissa closed the album. It was no use dwelling on the past. The Bella captured in that album and the witch, Bellatrix, on the run from the Ministry were no longer the same person. It was simply naive of her; really, to think that if only she could find her again, that maybe... maybe she could bring her Bella back...

Her heart raced. Now that the Dark Lord was gone, her sister's fragile mind could be hers to shape. Maybe there was something left, something crushed by the years of indoctrination by the Dark side, but something that could be nurtured and restored...

Now that she had thought it once, there was no going back. She had rebuilt a relationship of some sorts with Andromeda again; it was only right that she should try to rescue her older sister, too. That's what she convinced herself, anyway. For a moment, a glimmer of hope passed through her – the three Black sisters, reunited! It faded quickly, once she remembered exactly who it was who had murdered Nymphadora Tonks...

This would have to be a secret from Andromeda. Narcissa felt uncomfortable, like she was betraying the sister she only just recovered, but she pushed that thought aside quickly. It would be worth it to get her Bella back.

Things will get a little more exciting next chapter - much more Bellatrix! Hope you enjoy, and please review.