Time to meet Narcissa I think… Quite a fun chapter to write I must say. Sorry it's not the most eventful!
Chapter 7 – A Rude Almost-Awakening
Bellatrix had been lucky. She wasn't so afraid of her parents – although her father could work himself into the most violent of rages – but she didn't want them to find out her motives for visiting the Lestrange residence at such an hour and returning just before seven. They would assume she had been sneaking out to sleep with Rodolphus and that was definitely not the case, especially if what she had learned from Mr. Lestrange about her betrothal to his son was true. She knew it was her duty to marry a wealthy pureblood and continue the family line but she wanted more. She wanted that mysteriously dark and dignified Lord Voldemort.
Bella blushed at the thought as soon as it crossed her mind.
After the duel and the leaving of Lord Voldemort, Bella had left a threat with Rodolphus that she would make him suffer if her parents found out and then managed to successfully apparate to her bedroom. She was very thankful her return had not been such a failure as her departure from the Black family manor. With furtive glances to the light attempting to shine through her curtains, she hastily removed the figure-hugging black dress she had clad herself in, her shoes and tights in exchange for a pretty nightdress with a little too much lace for her liking.
In her bed was where she found herself now. The adrenaline that had been coursing through her veins so forcefully was only just leaving her system and the warm embrace of sleep was gradually lulling her into its clutches. It was just as her lids were about to close that her door was thrown open and she sat bolt upright to glare at the intruder. Well, intruders.
Narcissa and Andromeda stood shoulder to shoulder in her doorway, identical indignant frowns on their faces and both still in their night clothes.
"What?" she demanded with much hostility, wishing they would leave and let her sleep. Bella wanted to catch at least an hour of sleep before breakfast, but it seemed her younger sisters were determined to ruin that for her much to her agitation.
"Dromeda says you went out last-" Narcissa had begun in a rather loud voice, there was something like childish teasing in it as though she were going to threaten to tell on her. However, she never finished her sentence as Andromeda swiftly clapped a hand over her mouth.
"Shhh! Cissy, we don't need the whole household hearing!" she hissed somewhat desperately, it seemed she remembered the threats made earlier on. Bella simply watched on in bleary-eyed incredulity – why was she staying awake for this when she could so easily sleep into a blissfully comatose state and ignore their existence? That's right, they wanted to make her life a living hell until she left home and got shot of them. That's what they had been put on the earth to do – make Bellatrix Black's life difficult and as painful as possible. Bella grunted and pulled the sheets over her head.
"Piss off!" she groaned in voice muffled by silk bedsheets. For a short while she thought they had actually obeyed her as she heard the sound of her door closing but she should've known better; since when did her sisters listen to her when she was defenseless and incapable of bullying them into doing so? Never. This all became quickly apparent when she felt her mattress suddenly shift and the sound of her sheets being invaded. Why hadn't she drawn the hangings around her four poster? Oh yeah, she hadn't slept in it yet.
Groaning again, she resigned herself to staying awake as she removed the sheet from her head and sat up to see her youngest sister perched happily beside her in bed and her other sister lounging on the chaise at the bottom of her bed, a haughty and disapproving look on her face.
"You went to see a boy, didn't you Bella?" Narcissa chirped, giggling as though it were the most delectable piece of gossip she had ever heard. Someone had clearly had a good night's sleep. How unfair – not that she would have traded her night for anything in the world but a nice long sleep was so tempting at that moment.
"No, Cissy, I did not go to see a boy!" Bella sighed exasperatedly and made no effort to correctly inform her of her late night (early morning) activities. A quick glance in Andromeda's direction made Bella smirk – she seemed to be having an inward battle with herself and Bella could hazard a pretty good guess at what. Andromeda must've felt her eldest sister's eyes on her because her own flicked across to meet them, her disapproving opinion very clear.
"Dromeda knows! Doesn't she? Tell me, Bella, please!" Narcissa's whines fell on deaf ears as the other two sisters held a silent battle of will between glares. "Tell me!" The frustration was evident in her little voice as she persisted. At twelve, almost thirteen years of age, Narcissa was still young and naïve – both of her older sisters took it upon themselves to protect her, almost competitively so and they both felt the need to hide the scrap of information they shared from her but for very different reasons. Bella was afraid her youngest sister would tell her parents or her classmates whereas Andromeda was more worried about her trying to follow in Bella's footsteps.
Narcissa's lip trembled as she looked again between her two sisters who hadn't stirred or blinked. "Fine! I don't want to know! Though I'll tell mother and father that you both went out last night and see how you like it!" she had started to disentangle herself from the sheets in an attempt to make her exit but a hand quickly reached out and grabbed her around the forearm.
"Cissy, don't you dare tell them. You hear me?" She finally broke eye contact with Andromeda to fix her stare on Narcissa who stared back with a look of confused hurt on her face. Why was her big sister taking it so seriously? What could she possibly have been up to that warranted such a harsh look? It only increased her already burning curiosity.
"But Bella, I-"
"NO!" Bella interjected with a furious hiss, her grip tightening around her sister's arm.
"OW! Bella you're hurting me!" Narcissa cried out as she attempted to break free of her grasp but to no avail. "BELLA STOP IT!" she yelled. Bella finally let go. The three girls were suddenly all silent and waited tensely until they finally heard the sound of footsteps pounding on floorboards, signaling the approach of their father – it was obvious from the heavy thuds that were the complete opposite of their mother's dainty and purposeful footsteps.
The door was thrown open for a second time since Bella's return and this time it was Cygnus Black who was staring in at the scene before him; a disheveled Bella sat up in bed next to an upset Narcissa and then Andromeda who seemed oddly disconnected from them both, as though she had despaired of them and was no longer in the room, mentally at least.
"What is going on? Would one of you like to inform me? Bellatrix? Andromeda?" Neither made any attempt to answer, not that he gave them much room to. "Narcissa?" The youngest seem to tremble under her father's gaze and for a split second; Bella panicked and thought she was going to be exposed. She put an arm roughly around her little sister and pulled her closer as though she was trying to hug her.
"Cissy and Dromeda just came in to wake me up, Father, and Cissy was taking my teasing too far. That is all."
"Sorry to wake you, Father." This addition came from Andromeda in a rather quiet voice that seemed to be hiding other emotions that Cygnus failed to pick up on.
"Yes, Father. We're awfully sorry to wake you," Narcissa chimed in, wriggling a little at Bella's hold on her which was becoming very uncomfortable.
Cygnus seemed to be deliberating whether to believe them or not, his eyes wandering between the three girls until he finally sighed and turned to leave. As soon as his footsteps were far enough away, there was a very audible sigh of relief from Narcissa as Bella finally released her.
"Thought you'd never let go, Bells!" she commented irritably.
"Don't call me that, Cissy," Bella replied grumpily, lying down again and covering her head with the sheets in a last attempt to get some sleep.
"Come on Dromeda, let's leave Bells to get her beauty sleep. After all she needs it more than we do!" After a growling noise from the Bella-shaped lump in the sheets, Narcissa quickly got out of bed and walked towards the door, Andromeda joined her and in a matter of seconds they were gone and there was a sigh of relief from Bella.
Just as she about to settle down and catch some shut eye, there was a pecking noise at the window and Bella almost lost her temper altogether. However, she managed to remain calm as she opened the curtains and the window to collect a letter from a very impatient owl which left the second it was relieved of its burden. Curious as to who it could be from, she closed the window and curtains before quickly ripping open the envelope and sitting down at the bureau in her room to read it – she might as well accept that she wouldn't be having any sleep now.
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