My eyes opened to see a blurry reflection of myself. Where was I? I couldn't think of a place with a mirrored ceiling.
As my surroundings came in focus, I realized that I was not, in fact, looking at myself. The woman staring down at me had lighter brown hair with gentler curls, hazel eyes instead of black, and a rounder face.
It all came back to me. I was at home. And my family must have arrived since, because the woman examining me was none other than my sister, Andromeda Tonks.
Her light pink lips curled into a warm smile. "How are you feeling, Bellatrix?"
I struggled to a sitting position and looked around. Andromeda was sitting at the end of the bed. Next to her, there was a beautiful, pale woman with golden hair. Narcissa Malfoy, my other little sister.
I opened my mouth to respond, but something didn't feel right. I tried to say, "I'm fine," but I only leaned over the edge of my bed and vomited.
I reconsidered my response. "Like crap," I said miserabley, as Narcissa whipped out her wand to clean the mess and Andromeda stared with shocked, wide eyes and a pitiful expression.
"I figured," said Narcissa, in a bored tone.
Andromeda continued to stare.
"Andy please," I coughed. "It looks bad, yes, and feels bad, yes... but it could be worse. I'm not dying." Andromeda looked horrified.
"She doesn't get it. All she can think is 'poor Bella.' Then again, she didn't see you vanish Dolohov's fingers last night." I smirked, and Narcissa giggled darkly in response. "Hello, Bella, dear."
"Hi, Cissy. Hi Andy." Andromeda did not look pleased.
"So THAT'S why he was screaming like a lady and clutching his hand? Bellatrix! I can't believe you did that! On your wedding night, too!"
Narcissa laughed. "I can. In fact, I would be surprised if she hadn't."
We were interrupted as Lupin and Tonks timidly entered the room. Lupin stood in the doorway, while Tonks hesitantly made her way to her mother's side.
"Hello, my Lady," she said nervously.
I laughed. "Darling, please, there's no need for that. I'm still Aunt Bella. Sit down, I don't bite. Though you may want to stay back, because anything I eat is always going to find it's way back up."
Andromeda smiled mischeiviously. "You may want to follow the same advice, sis, though for a different reason. Go on, Nymphadora, tell your aunt the happy news."
For the first time, Tonks' face lit up a bit. She smiled happily and said, "Remus and I are going to have a baby." Well, no wonder she seemed so happy. And no wonder he seemed so nervous. The werewolf was staring harsly at the ground. Although it was a joy for Tonks, he would probably be worrying the whole time that he would end up with a little cub. What a silly thought. The child would most likely have some werewolf personality traits at most. The kid would like raw meat, be rowdy and energetic, and have a bit of a temper. That wouldn't be too terrible.
"Congratulations, that's wonderful! Hey Remus, get over here. That officially makes you family," I said. He just shook his head and dashed out. Tonks sighed.
"He's just so worried. He thinks it'll be a werewolf, and he blames himself. I've told him that I won't care, that I'll love it anyways, but he doesn't want to hear it. It was an accident. We weren't planning on having a child, so now he thinks it's wrong." She sighed again.
I felt sorry for the young witch. I had taken a liking to my sister's only daughter. From the few occasions I had met her, I had determined that she was energetic, sarcastic, and full of spunk. She reminded me of myself, in a way. Her life even mirrored mine. Chasing after a man who loved her deep inside, but was too afraid to give his heart to her: sound familiar at all?
I told her my prediction about the child's werewolf-ness, and she seemed to relax a bit. "That might change his mind, if not just ease his worries a bit." She absentmindedly rested her hand on her still-flat stomach.
"I hope so," I said. "Besides, even if the kid is a werewolf, at least it's not mine and Voldy's. Think about that. That's a scary thought. It's times like these that I'm glad I can't have babies," I said thoughtfully.
I got a little giggle out of Tonks. Good, she was starting to warm up to me.
"So," I continued, "speaking of my husband, have you spoken to him yet?" This was directed towards Andromeda and Tonks.
"Only briefly," Tonks replied. "He greeted us, explained the situation, and led us to you. Since then, we haven't spoken a word."
"Well, make sure you do. I want him get used to the idea of having you around every now and them. It would be wonderful if you could get along. Where is he, anyways?"
"Right here," said a chilling voice from the hall. Voldemort stepped into the room, looking quite silly from holding a large carton of ice cream in his pale hands.
"Speak of the devil," I said. He gave me a death glare. "Literally."
"This is how you thank me? Do you know how many of these you've gone through? All I do is run up and down stairs!"
I rolled my eyes. "Then why not just bring the refrigerator up here?" I grabbed the spoon excitedly and flung the cover off. I was starving. But when I opened the lid, I crinkled my nose.
"Does this smell off to you at all?" Everyone shook their heads.
"It smells delicious," said Tonks.
I shrugged my shoulders and shoveled a spoonful into my mouth. I gagged.
"What IS this? It tastes like elf shit!"
"And you know what elf droppings taste like?" Narcissa questioned sarcastically.
"Well, thanks, glad I'm so useful," grumbled Voldemort.
"Let me taste some," said Andromeda. She ate it thoughtfully. "It seems fine to me. It's just regular strawberry ice cream."
I tried another bite, but I could barely swallow it. It wasn't absolutely disgusting, but the taste just wasn't right to me. "Weird, I usually love strawberry ice cream. Ugh, it must be this dumb dragon fever affecting my taste."
"Does that mean you require another flavor, your Highness?" Voldemort asked in an exasperated tone. It seemed that my easily annoyed attitude had caught on to him.
"Yes... how about... chocolate?"
He raised an eyebrown. "But you don't like chocolate ice cream."
"Yeah... but I thought I liked strawberry, didn't I?"
He grunted and sweeped out of the room. I laughed at his retreating form.
"Do you think we should catch him?"
"Nah, let's just let him figure it out for himself."
Apparently, he had forgotten that he was a wizard and could easily change the strawberry to chocolate in a heartbeat.
Okay, so... Happy Christmas! This is your present. I hope you liked it. Even though I've been working on this for a few months, it just seems like a good Christmas update. I like having a lighter, happier, more humorous chapter every now and then. :)