1987
Six years, Andromeda thinks to herself. Six years since the Dark Lord fell. Six years, and still there is huge diversity between Muggleborns and Purebloods. Still the Ministry has caught no more than a tenth of Death Eaters. Still there are horrors she had heard of from the time the Dark Lord was in power that play behind her shut eyes.
Five years since Bella was thrown into Azkaban, and five years since she last saw her.
She can not think of which one is worse.
)O(
1988
Though Narcissa has had no reason to step inside Hogwarts Castle for years, it does not mean she does not know what goes on behind the walls of the school.
She dreads to think of Draco going to a school that lets a Weasley be Head Boy. It's bad enough that Weasleys become Prefects! She often thinks about agreeing with Lucius – that Draco should go to Durmstrang. But not only would she miss him ridiculous amounts; she knows that the Ministry would become suspicious again. When the higher members of the Ministry have parties and she attends them, she can feel the stares of workers and their wives. Their disbelief of her and Lucius' story – Imperius Curse. They know how powerful the family are – doubt still remains as to whether they could really be held under an Imperius Curse for so long and not fight against the awful acts they committed.
But she is used to lying.
She has had to lie her whole life.
)O(
1989
Shivering at the sensation, Bellatrix scratches her nails into the filthy stone, ignoring the blood that drips from her fingers. She has almost complete her carving – a skull with the snake of a head exiting from its mouth. Her nails begin to snap, and she scowls. She will have to wait many more weeks until they grow long and sharp enough to finish the body of the snake and the whole of the Dark Mark.
)O(
1990
Patience is perhaps one of Narcissa's greatest virtues.
She knows all too well that these women aren't even pretending to be discreet about their insulting of her sister. Heather Parkinson sticks her pug-face in the air and laughs at the comments Emilia Crabbe makes about Bellatrix – "Almost a decade since she was locked up! I hear she's twice as loony as she was when she went in – screens in her sleep for Him apparently. I'm awfully surprised she still doesn't think herself above such human needs as sleep… tell me, Narcissa, was she always so proud as she was when You-Know-Who was in power?" – and Narcissa does not bite at the two – quite frankly – bitches – like she knows Bella would have, had they been talking like this about the blonde sister.
Instead, she smiles politely, sips from her cup of camomile tea and stays quiet.
Part of her says she is doing the right thing.
The rest of her tells her she's a coward.
Pathetic, she settles on.
Yes, she thinks, I am being incredibly pathetic.
)O(