DISCLAIMER: I don't own it.

SUMMARY: Six years after she leaves, she comes back, but forgiveness isn't that easy to receive. YEAR: 1977

Narcissa Malfoy didn't want a second child. She never wanted a child to go through the misery of having their heart broken by family.

Andromeda Tonks always made sure that her fights with Ted never went out of hand, because truthfully, she never had anywhere else to go.

"Relationships are like glass. Some times it's better to leave it broken rather than hurting yourself trying to put it back together."

"Ted, I can't take it anymore! She's just always here, telling me how to cook, and clean, and braid my hair and there's just no space in this house for six people. We've got to get a bigger house."

"We can't afford something bigger right now!"

"Then, work harder," she said annoyed.

"Why don't you work, then?" he asked equally ticked off.

"Well, who's gonna take care of Dora?"

"My mother will, she's good at it," he replied matter of factly.

"Oh, and I'm not?"

"I never said that."

"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST-"

"Stop yelling. And she's just tryina get close to you, it wouldn't be such a bad thing if you and my Mum could just talk once in a while."

"What do you want me to talk to her about? She's a muggle!"

"What? Are you serious right now?," asked Ted, fuming with rage.

"She doesn't know what I'm talking about. It's like we live in different worlds."

"Maybe you could just make an effort."

"And why can't she?"

"Because she didn't choose this, I did."

"Choose what, exactly, Ted?"

"You know you what you were marrying into, you knew from the very first moment, why didn't you think about then?"

"Well, maybe I should have! Then I wouldn't have to put with all your mud-muggle relatives."

"You're acting like a filthy Black!"

"How dare you," she spat.

"Gosh, I can't even look at you right now."

"Well, I'll make it easier for you. I'm leaving," she said with finality.

Andromeda grabbed her coat from the hanger, picked up her purse and stormed out, breaking into tears as she ran towards the road. She'd been having an awful lot of fights with Ted lately, and they never seemed to patch up like they used to. It felt like the world was going to come crashing down on her, and she exploded, causing a trash can near by to burst into flames. She shook her anger off, and put on the well known Black facade, as she made her way to the only place she wanted to be at that moment, with her sister.

Narcissa Malfoy sat by the fire in the grandly decorated living room of the Malfoy Manor, reading an old classic that her grandmother had given her as her 18th birthday gift. She had read it several times since then, and it had become sort of a ritual now, to read the book every month or two. Quite honestly, Narcissa Malfoy was extremely bored at home, but would never express this feeling of hers to her husband, in the fear that he might scoff at her. It bothered her, though, somehow, that she had absolutely nothing to do. The house elves took care of everything, even doing her hair. She no longer felt required at home, and she had hardly been married for 2 years. She had tried to bring it up in a conversation with her mother in law at some point, but had been laughed at and told that it was simply her duty to keep her husband happy. She sighed, as she flipped yet another page of her book, and asked one of the elves for a cup of tea.

There was a knock at the door, a solid knock and she looked up from her book, as she saw the grand door open just a tad bit. From where she was sitting on the couch, she could barely make out if the person was a woman or a man, and could definitely not hear any sort of voice.

"Mistress, there is someone her for you."

"Well, who is it?" she snapped.

"Mistress, she won't give her name, and requested that she speak to you and only you."

Narcissa let out a deep breath and pulled herself off the couch, wrapping a silk scarf around her shoulders as she approached the front door.

The scarf fell to the floor as she neared the door and locked eyes with the woman standing before her.

"What are you doing here?" she spat, as she looked around craning her neck at odd angles to make sure no one could see them.

She spotted an old lady with a broad hat and a yellow umbrella watching them from the street, and flustered, yanked her sister by the shoulder and led her to the back of the house, which was just as elegant as the rest of the house. There were little springs on either side of the garden, and small stone benches placed every few steps. She released the woman, and stepped back.

"What do you want? What more could you possibly ruin?"

"Cissy, I need your help."

Narcissa laughed, a hearty laugh. "My help?" Then, she laughed again. "I don't want you here, please leave."

"Cissy, please. I didn't know who else to go to."

"Who do you think you even are? You think you can just stroll in here six years late and make everything okay? Well, it's not okay, it never was and it never will be. I want you to leave right now. Get out of my life, just like you did before, and this time, stay out of it, forever."

Andromeda sobbed, as she pulled her hair back to keep it from sticking to her face. "Cissy, I don't know what to do," she croaked between sobs.

Narcissa pinched the bridge of her nose, inhaling deeply as she started walking away.

"I can't do it anymore, I can't live like that. It's suffocating. I can't even breathe. Cissy, I need you. My marriage is falling apart."

"I don't care what's happening in your life, and I don't care that you need me," Narcissa replied calmly.

Andromeda tried to hold her sister's hand, but Narcissa quickly pulled it out.

"Where were you when I needed you? Oh, that's right, nowhere to be seen. When I was nervous on my wedding day, you know who I had? Bella, who was so drunk she could hardly stand straight but kept telling me that marriage is the biggest mistake I'll ever make. That's what I had to hear one hour before I was to be married. And you know why? Because you were a selfish little bitch. It didn't hurt that Bella was like that. Because I never expected anything from her," she let out, in one go.

And then, it was Narcissa's voice that cracked. "But…but… you know what really the worst of it all was? That until….until that last moment, when I was walking down the aisle, I had this stupid sort of hope that you would show up. For some reason, I actually believed you cared enough to show up. But again, you let me down."

"No," said Andromeda, in her pleading voice, "I wanted to come, Cissy. I wanted to there for you. I cared, I still do. I know…"

"Don't you dare," spat Narcissa, her eyes shining with fury. "Don't you dare tell me you know what it's like to be abandoned by the one person you counted on. You just left me here, like I was nothing. I –"

"I didn't know you wanted to come. I would've taken you with me, I really didn't know."

"I don't know what I would have wanted, I still don't. You didn't give a thought to us, and that's what will always sting. You abandoned your family, I'll never forgive you for that."

"Cissy, you have to help me. I don't know what to do. Ted's been –"

"Stop. I don't care about the mudblood, and I no longer care about you. But I hope, that whatever you're going through right now gets resolved, because without him, you're all alone, and I wouldn't wish that even on my worst enemies. Lucius will be here soon. I want you to leave, and promise to never come back. Goodbye."

"But –"

Narcissa got up from the stone bench she had been sitting on, and walked away, into the Malfoy Manor, shutting the door behind her. She made her way to her room, and pushed aside the dark emerald curtains just slightly, and watched her sister disappear. Her heart turned to stone as she sat down on the bed, and tried not to cry. She knew Andromeda was too proud to ever come back. She knew that was the last time she would see her. And for some reason, that hurt her much more than she had imagined.

"Narcissa, how was your day?" asked Lucius as he entered the room.

"Well, it was actually quite terrible. Guess who came to see –"

"Honey, make sure you call the minister and his wife for dinner sometime this week," said Lucius as he entered the bathroom.

"Yes, of course, I'll send out an invitation right away. Anything else, dear?" she asked with a painful smile.

But Lucius was already taking a bath, and Narcissa was left alone with her thoughts once more.

"The worst kind of pain is when you're smiling just to keep the tears from falling."

A/N: Did you like it? Please do review, and tell me what you want to see next. Thanks for reading! Also, I think that since Andy was born Black, mudblood does lodge in her brain, and when she is really mad, and loses control, she forgets how horrible it is.