Blacks Go To The Beach
Druella walked through the house for what seemed like the umpteenth time today. Walburga and her boys would be arriving shortly and everything needed to be perfect. It was not Druella's responsibility to ready the house for Walburga, that was the job for a house elf and she was not a servant by any means. But, she was not going to bother arguing or even trying to argue out that particular point with Walburga. Walburga was a stickler and since this was a joint vacation, or rather one without their respective husbands, she was going to have to defer to the older woman. Damn her being twice a Black and therefore believing everything should be to her tastes.
It was easier to pretend that had Walburga gotten here first with her family, she would have readied the part of the house Druella and her girls were living in. Druella was doubtful of that, but she had cultivated a mantra of pretending. It was less stressful that way, and she knew she was not the only woman who did it. Centuries of woman before her pretended things and she would not be the last. One in a long line. Her daughters would probably pretend, no wait, she would pretend they would not have to pretend. Her daughters were at the top of the social standing, there was a chance they would not be pretending like she was. Of course, the Rosiers were of excellent social standing and here she was pretending…
Walburga's half of the house, or her wing rather, was ready for her and her sons arrival. Druella had been working all morning to make sure. The house elves had arranged her side, and she could not see why that was not good enough for Walburga. Walburga had sent a letter stating what needed to be done and while Druella could theoretically have handed the instructions to the house elves, the proper thing to do was to oversee the house elves and check everything personally for her guests. Even if the house was theirs as well. Society dictated it.
Narcissa had helped out earlier, before lunch time. Her youngest took the most intrest in things like that. After lunch all three girls had disappeared. She was fairly confident they were not at the beach. It had been drizzling earlier and since all were excited to see their cousins, they'd be sticking around the house until they were here.
Walburga had said she'd be here by three, but it was already an hour past. Dinner would need to be started soon but she did not want to give the house elves the instructions to make dinner for seven if there would only be four again. For all Druella knew, Walburga would not show up until tomorrow. It would be like her to make Druella run about all day preparing and then show up the day after. Then she would be able to complain about how the flowers weren't fresh. Druella swore that if Walburga did not show up, she was replacing all the flowers first thing tomorrow morning to head off any such complaints.
She put up with it though. This would be the last time all five children would be together until Christmas. Bellatrix would be starting her first year at Hogwarts in a few weeks. While the children usually saw each other frequently there would be over three months in which Bella would be unable to join the others in their play. Druella was looking forward to the vacation even if she had to share the house with Walburga. It would be good for the children to spend time together before the start of the school year. Once Walburga arrived there should be no more stress with her sister in law. The woman might be cold and demanding but she knew how to relax and enjoy a vacation. It was not as if the two women did not get along. They would never be best friends but they enjoyed each other's presence more than they enjoyed being around several other people.
There ended up no need to worry about the flowers. A moment after Druella finished her walk through there was a noise at the fireplace and out fell Sirius, covered in ash and laughing like a hyena. Seconds later there was another burst of flame and Walburga reached forward and grabbed her mischievous son by his collar before he could run off. It appeared Sirius had been trying to give his mother a run for her money before their arrival and Druella couldn't help but wonder if Sirius had been trying for somewhere else but ended up here instead.
"Here," Walburga instructed Druella, handing Regulus over to her. Upstairs, Druella could hear a slight bump of a trunk, indicating the house elves were unpacking for the other Black family. The trunks must have been unusually heavy or lopsided because normally the house elves were completely silent. It was their job after all. No one wanted to hear the creatures.
Walburga easily upended her son over the end of a nearby chaise, despite his struggling. She yanked his pants down and gave him a few short raps against his rump, the woman's hand leaving a red print. Druella did not say anything, it was only a spanking. She would not have cared if Cygnus spanked the girls, it was the beatings she worried about. But her mind was made up about those already and it was not her place to tell Walburga what to do with her son. He probably deserved it.
"KREACHER!" screamed Walburga, finished with spanking her son. She still had him by the shirt and Sirius was left to yank his own pants up, a scowl on his face.
The house elf in question appeared immediately, bowing low in front of it's mistress. Druella was surprised. All her house elves were under strict orders to not apparate in front of wizards or witches, or ever the children, unless it was an emergency. She had always thought that Walburga and Orion had the same rule. It was unlikely they wanted the things doing that in front of people. Sometimes it was unsettling, which was completely the opposite point of having house elves. They were there to make life easier, not pop out of corners. This did not appear to be anything urgent but it was possible that Walburga was not taking any chances with Sirius. He seemed to be a very rambunctious boy and it was quite possible that she did not want him to escape out from under the watch of someone if she sent him off by himself. It was not as if one could expect Walburga to drag her son off to his punishment. Druella could not blame her, making Bellatrix behave was a headache and a half, and it always seemed to her that Sirius took after his cousin.
"Mistress called Kreacher?" the elf asked. "What can Kreacher do for his Mistress?"
"Take Sirius upstairs. He may not come down for dinner. He may not be visited by his cousins. He may not leave for any reason. You will not take orders from him."
"Kreacher will not listen to Master Sirius at all. His Mistress's orders come first."
Kreacher latched himself onto Sirius and starting dragging the boy towards the stairs, Sirius kicking up a fuss the entire way. Walburga shook her head once with an air of annoyance before reaching over and taking Regulus from Druella.
"Siri?" the child asked.
"Your brother was bad today and so he has to serve punishment. You are a good boy so you don't have to," Walburga put him down, and took his hand. "Shall we go find your cousins?"
Sirius might not have been allowed to see anyone that evening but it was not long before he was hunting down his cousins, Bellatrix in particular. He found her sitting on the beach, watching her sisters and Regulus the next day.
"Did you bring your wand?" he asked, plopping down next to her. "I want to see more of what you can do."
"Of course I brought my wand," Bella retorted. "What else would I do with it, leave it lying around for one of the house elves to touch?"
"Show me something."
"No."
"Come on Bella. I'm bored."
"Do I look like I am supposed to be your entertainment? Go play with Reg."
"He's boring. He's a baby."
"Go play with Cissy and Andy then."
"They are playing with Reg."
"So?"
"He's always around. And boring. I want to play with you."
"No. You want me to use my wand. And I'm not going to."
"YOU'RE MEAN!"
Bella only laughed in response as Sirius headed towards his brother and other cousins. If she was not going to do anything cool it was not worth it to hang around her. Hopefully she would show off some other day. If she did, he was going to not be interested, to get her back for saying no.
After lunch, Bellatrix was feeling the need to use her wand. She carried it everywhere, but it was not a toy to entertain the other children. She liked it when they fawned over her new ability to control her magic, even if all she was doing was mimicking the adults around her and all the spells were consequently quite simple. Any of the more complicated spells, anything that involved more than basic wand waving, she would have to wait for until after she learned it at Hogwarts. Mostly she levitated things. There were lots of fun things you could do by levitating things. Like dump a bucket of sand on someone's head.
Which was how she got Sirius's attention once all five of them headed back to the beach, with Bellatrix under strict orders to watch the younger children. An order she rolled her eyes at, there were house elves, there was no reason for her to be in charge of their safety. But she was hardly going to argue, Bellatrix was not going to ignore her family. After all, family was everything. And her family was superior to most so something happening to one of them would be ten times worse than something happening to someone else. Plus it was her duty as the oldest and Bella set a great store by duty, even at her age.
It was not a lot of sand, a small cup size bucket's worth but Sirius shouted as he stood up and tried to get the sand off him. Noticing Bella's giggles, he headed over to her and threw a handful of sand at her. She kicked him and he fell into the sand.
"I thought you wanted to see me use my wand?"
"Not on me!"
"Too bad. Too late. Sand looks good on you Siri."
"I hate you." Sirius gave her a five-year-olds best imitation of a death glare.
"Changed your mind?" Bella taunted. "Don't want to see any magic?"
Sirius debated for a moment. The look on Bella's face would be priceless if he said he was not interested but he was interested. Especially if they dumped sand on Regulus. His mother kept promising his brother would get more interesting as he got older. So far, he hadn't. His brother was still boring.
"Maybe I don't think you can do magic."
"So your mother dropped the sand on you?"
"Kreacher."
"He's not even here you idiot."
"He dumped the sand and then ran away."
"I'll call him and ask him," Bella replied smugly. "I'll make him tell the truth."
Sirius made a face, but he could not figure out any way to refute that. There would be no reason Kreacher would lie for him unless he ordered it to and there would be no way to do that without Bella knowing. He was stuck.
"Fine," he grumbled. "You win. Show me some magic, yeah?"
"Okay," Bella replied, pointing her wand at one of the other children's toys. "Wingardium Leviosa." The toy lifted itself up off the ground and hovered.
Sirius' mouth fell open. "I want to do that."
"You have to show evidence of magical abilities first. Have you done any magic yet?"
"No," Sirius responded sullenly.
"You are probably a squib then. I had already done my first magic by the time I was your age."
"I'm not a squib!" Sirius yelled, launching himself at Bellatrix who scooted out of the way, causing the boy to fall into the sand.
Bella laughed at him again. "Do some magic then."
"I will!" Sirius exclaimed. "Just watch! I'm doing it right now."
Bella rolled her eyes but scooted back next to him. "What are you going to do?"
"Bury you in sand," he answered angrily.
"Here," she offered. "I'll make it easier for you." She lay down in the sand. "Now you don't have to move the sand as far."
"I don't need your help!"
"Too bad. I'm not moving.
Sirius growled at her but she only smirked. She was not going to move because her little cousin said to, or implied he would like it. She was the oldest so they had to listen to her anyway. All the time. They did not get to tell her what to do. He gave up trying to get her to move. It was not worth the hassle. He knitted his eyebrows together and squinted at the sand around Bellatrix, willing it to rise up and cover his cousin.
Nothing moved.
Sirius clenched his fists at his sides and continued to grimace at the sand.
"Looks like you're a squib Siri," Bella teased as she sat up and dusted sand off herself. "Don't worry. I'll still talk to you when you get blasted off the family tree for not being magical."
"You are… not funny."
"Who is getting blasted off the tree?" asked Andromeda, coming up behind them.
"Sirius is a squib," Bella replied, much to the embarrassment of the little boy, who flushed red.
"Am not!" he insisted.
"Haven't done any magic though," Bella retorted.
"Don't mind her Siri," Andromeda said soothingly. "Bella is just a freak when it comes to magic. I didn't do magic until I was six. Cissy didn't until she was seven. You have plenty of time. You only have to do some before your eleventh birthday."
"HA!" Sirius yelled. "Not a squib!"
Bella made a face and stuck out her tongue at Andromeda. "Why'd you go and do that?"
"Because he's five."
"I'm almost six."
"Whatever. Where are Cissy and Reg? I got a bucket for us."
Bella pointed towards Narcissa and Regulus and Andromeda headed towards them, bucket in hand. Once Andy was out of earshot and could not refute what she said, she attempted to bother Sirius some more. "You do realize that since I did my magic at a younger age, I'll always be more powerful than you."
Sirius stuck his tongue out at her, which she quickly returned. "You are the worst cousin ever," he groaned.
"No, I'm not," she retorted. "Plus I'm the only one with a wand and I thought you wanted to dump something on Reg."
"I'll just wait until Andy gets a wand."
"That's not until November. I have a wand now."
"Watch me wait." He crossed his arms over his chest.
"She won't do it anyway. She'd think it would be mean to play a trick on someone that young. You are stuck with me. Or," Bella gave him an evil smile, "you can wait until you are eleven."
"No!" he exclaimed, eleven being far too many years away to wait. "Dump sand on him."
"No. I want to try a bucket of water."
"Yes!" Sirius shouted happily. "Get Andy and Cissy too."
"Already was planning to. Pick a big enough bucket and fill it with water."
Sirius' eyed her for a moment, skeptical.
"I'm only eleven nimwit, magic is harder than it looks! If you want to get them wet, you have to help out."
"I can't carry a big enough bucket by myself."
Sirius grabbed the biggest bucket around and headed towards the ocean, followed closely by Bellatrix. The pair tipped the bucket over and filled it with the cold water, mixed with sand and seaweed, which thrilled both of them, Sirius thinking how Regulus would look like a tentacle covered sea creature and Bella inwardly giggling over Narcissa's guaranteed melodramatic reaction to getting sand and seaweed in her hair. After getting the bucket as full as they could carry, they both started dragging it towards their three unsuspecting victims. Bella was not going to try to levitate it over any sort of major distance. Maybe after she got home for Christmas and had been learning magic for a few months. Right now it made more sense to move the object closer to the person, or persons. It needed to be right by them, or she might lose concentration and the bucket would not get them wet at all.
"Distract them," she whispered to Sirius, who scampered towards his cousins. With the bucket in position she waved her wand and started the tedious process of moving it the last foot or so towards them and getting it above their heads.
"What are you up to?" Sirius asked. "Is that a castle thing?"
"Yes," answered Andy. "We are building a sand castle. Want to help?"
"Nah, I'll watch. What's that?" Sirius pointed at a part of the castle and Andy or Cissy explained. He continued to point at things and make them explain while he snuck glances at Bella. When he saw the bucket over Reg's head he took off running towards his cousin who promptly upended the bucket onto the other three, moving the bucket to the side to get both her sisters before it hit the ground with a thump. Bella and Sirius fell over in the sand, laughing uproariously.
Regulus looked very startled, his eyes wide , he had not gotten too much water before she'd had to move the bucket to make sure she got her sisters but there was always the chance of him crying which would spoil all the fun but right now he only looked shocked. It was Narcissa who shrieked, upset that her hair was hanging in strings down her face, with bits of seaweed attached. Andy sputtered, shaking the water out of her hair, when she noticed the two laughing.
"Cissa! Reg!" she yelled. "Grab one of the buckets! Get them!"
It took Narcissa and Regulus a second to realize what she was saying but they caught on quickly, grabbing buckets for payback, Narcissa also taking the hand of Regulus so he would not lag too far behind and get lost. Bellatrix and Sirius noticed them and took off running down the beach, all five of them shrieking and yelling.