Chapter Fourteen

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Narcissa's legs were shaking as she walked the corridors of Hogwarts, to such an extent that she could feel her balance slipping further from her grasp with each step she took. She had been extraordinarily grateful when she had learnt that her sisters were not in the Slytherin Common Room when she had visited with Sirius, but now she had had longer to think about meeting them and consequently her nerves had increased tenfold. Now, her hands were shaking so violently that it was a wonder her fingers had not caught fire from the friction.

She had been told that, once again, a momentous occasion in her family would occur in the Quidditch stands, and so she had made her way at dusk to the grounds, knowing that she would find her new-found siblings there. It was strange to think that, while she had spent her life wondering what it would be like to have her own sister, she was so terrified at the concept of meeting two.

It would be less of a daunting prospect, she expected, had the two girls' reputations not preceded them by miles. Andromeda was a loose cannon, often being known to speak out on matters that were not appropriate for a Pureblood lady to support. She had many friends in other Houses, some of which Narcissa knew as exceptionally nice people with not a trace of the ideology the Slytherins lived by, although this won her few admirers within that circle. And as for Bellatrix... if rumours were to be believed, she had all the makings of a psychotic murderess.

But they were still her sisters, and beside Sirius and his brother, they were the only family she had left.

The crunch of the frosted grass beneath her feet alerted Narcissa to her arrival at the Quidditch pitch. The young girl took a deep breath, to try and calm her nerves. 'This is it.' she thought, moving into the darkness. 'No turning back now.'

The moon was hardly an effective light to walk by and so Narcissa withdrew her wand from her robes and lit it, lifting the strip of wood so that she had a clear view of the Quidditch stands and, more importantly, their occupants.

It took around half a minute before the young girl finally saw the two figures sat at the very top of the stands. They were half a bench apart, waiting silently, as if they could not bear to speak to one another. Narcissa hardly found this surprising, for everyone in the school knew of the kiss Andromeda had shared with a Muggle-born Hufflepuff boy named Ted Tonks. None of Slytherin House would be on speaking terms with her until she apologised for her reckless behaviour, as their unspoken law dictated. Narcissa decided at that moment that she would not be one to follow those laws, not if it meant having to abandon her sisters the way she had been abandoned.

Biting the inside of her lip invisibly, Narcissa ascended the steps towards the two, moving quickly so that she gave herself no chance to run away before they saw her. At first, they were so occupied with ignoring each other that they did not even notice her approach. 'I could run away.' she told herself. 'I still have time.'

And then they saw her.

It was as if the two women were suddenly lost in a dream, a memory of a time when they had last seen her, she assumed. She had hardly any memory of her early life and had no distinct recollection of the time before she had come to live at Hogwarts with Minerva. From the expressions on their faces, it was clear that they did not share this issue.

"Cissa?" It was the younger of the two, Andromeda, who spoke first. Her voice was small as a child's, as if in her memory, she had become the very age she had been when they had been separated. "Oh, Cissa, is that really you?"

She wanted to speak, to tell them all about her life after she had left them, how happy she had been and how little need there would have been for them to worry about her, but her voice had left her entirely, so she merely nodded in answer. That seemed to be enough for her sister, who smiled as widely as a child on Christmas morning.

"You look different." Bellatrix commented quietly, standing from where she was sat on the bench. Her voice had none of the usual ferocity she was famed for- if anything, she was quieter than her sister, something Narcissa imagined she would only see on the rarest of occasions.

"It's been years." Narcissa answered, her voice as light-hearted as she could make it when she was nervous as she was. That a great deal of time had passed was all she knew, although she did not know precisely how many years it had been since she had last worn the name Narcissa Black. "I would have to look different. I imagine you do as well."

Bellatrix chuckled a little under her breath, as if doing so out loud would taint her reputation somehow, even in the empty night's air. Andromeda laughed louder and moved forward. She only managed a step before she stopped herself, unsure of how to proceed.

Narcissa, noticing her hesitant step, made the decision for her sister. She took a step forward, then two, then three, until she was wrapped in Andromeda's embrace. She heard the young woman's quiet gasp, but quickly enough she relaxed and held her in return, laughing to herself once again, as if she could not quite believe her happiness was real. After a minute or two, Bellatrix moved forward to join their huddle, no longer caring for her reputation, such was her joy of having her family together again.

The youngest of the sisters had been terrified of meeting the elders, who she had known only as the girl who stood comfortably away from her family and the girl who fought tooth and nail to protect it from outsiders. But that was not who Bellatrix and Andromeda were at all. 'They are my sisters.' she thought gleefully. 'And that is all they are. Bellatrix and Andromeda Black- just as I am now Narcissa.'

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