Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter series.
Camping
Leaves crunched under her feet as Narcissa tromped through the forest behind her sisters. The air felt crisp and smelled sweetly of fall. The day was pleasant and, as Bella had pointed out, perfect for adventure. But the hike had lost its novelty after several hours and Narcissa grew weary for the time when it would be over. Of course, she voiced none of her displeasure as she knew it would receive nothing but teasing from her sisters.
In any case, however, Bellatrix and Andromeda seemed to pay little attention to their youngest sister as they were bickering themselves.
"This has to be the right way!" Bellatrix said, her words more hopeful than her voice.
"We passed that tree before," Andromeda sighed in frustration.
Bellatrix shook her head fiercely.
Narcissa chirped worriedly, "We're lost, aren't we, Bella."
"Don't be stupid," Bellatrix shot back angrily, "We wouldn't get lost in our own woods."
But as the shadows grew longer, the terrain more covered, and the foliage thicker it became all too apparent that they were indeed lost. Andromeda laughed as Bellatrix tripped over a fallen tree, muttering under her breath.
"Shut up, Meda."
"We are so lost, Bella," Andromeda taunted, "Whatever happened to your 'amazing' sense of direction?"
Bellatrix frowned, peering around the woods. She met Narcissa's gaze and softened a bit.
"You're scaring, Cissy. Come on, I think there's a clearing up ahead," Bella decided, stepping over the log she had just stumbled over, pushing some braches aside to trek forward.
Andromeda smiled back at Narcissa, holing out her hand. Grumbling about Bella's keen ability to make her life miserable, Narcissa took the helping hand and climbed through the forest. She winced as her robes caught on a tangle of thorn bushes. Pulling on the fabric, she yanked it free, moaning as the material ripped. Finally she fell into a clearing, circled by tall evergreens.
Bella was walking around the area as if checking for dangers. With a yawn, Andromeda sat down on a patch of moss. Wrinkling her nose, Narcissa folded her arms across her chest. She scowled in confusion as Bella started gathering small twigs and leaves, placing them in a small pile in the center of the clearing. Apparently Andromeda understood, because she hopped up and collected more tinder for the pile.
"What are you guys doing? You look like a pair of muggles," Narcissa sneered. She wasn't usually so short with them. But she had had her fill of adventure for one day.
Bellatrix spun around to glare at her sister.
"Go ahead and mock us, my fair little princess. But see if we let you sit near our fire," Bella retorted with an equally effective sneer.
"What do we need a fire for?" Narcissa sighed in exasperation, "What, are you going to burn the woods down so we can see our way out?"
Andromeda rolled her eyes. "Of all people, Cissy, I'd think you'd appreciate the warmth of a fire on a chilly autumn night."
"Night?" Narcissa demanded in sudden worry, "Like camp out?"
"You catch on quick…" Bellatrix mumbled as she bent over the twigs, staring at them in deep concentration.
Narcissa stifled her fear as she watched her oldest sister try to produce flames without a wand. Not that a wand would have helped a ten year old witch very much, but Bella seemed to have an unusual knack for producing dangerous things like flames. However, the only evidence of successful underage magic was a series of small flickering sparks underneath the leaves.
"Come on, Bella," Cissy urged, the idea of a fire suddenly welcome as a cold breeze blew through her robes.
Bellatrix growled in frustration as the sparks did nothing but smolder with the leaves. From behind, Andromeda whacked Bella on the head swiftly. Flames roared up to consume the scattered twigs easily. Rubbing her head, Bellatrix stood up to glare at Andromeda who wore a satisfied smirk.
"Your magic is stronger when you're angry," she explained with a shrug.
Bellatrix laughed appreciatively. As Narcissa sat down by the magically produced flames, she thought that Andromeda might be one of the few people who could get away with striking Bellatrix Black without sustaining injury.
"I'm hungry," Narcissa whined, resting her head in her hands, gazing at the dancing tongues of red and orange.
Andromeda's stomach growled in agreement. "I'll go look for something," she decided wearily. Narcissa had no idea what her sister could possibly look for in a rapidly darkening forest, but she didn't argue because she had little desire to search for food herself.
As Andromeda walked off into the trees, Bellatrix began collecting larger pieces of firewood and stacked them neatly next to the fire. Narcissa yawned as she looked up through the trees to the purpling sky.
"Don't work yourself too hard, Cissy," Bella teased as she dropped an armful of wood next to her little sister.
Narcissa frowned at such impertinence, "That's what house elves are for, Bella."
"Well, I don't see any house elves wandering through the woods, do you?"
Sitting down next to her, Bella laughed. Narcissa hardly saw the humor. They were lost in the middle of the woods with no food, shelter, or protection. Their parents would be either worried sick or furious; well, they'd probably be worried sick for Narcissa and furious at Bella and Meda for being such bad influences. If they managed to find their way out of the forest come morning, they'll have probably caught cold. And all of this because Bella had decided that exploring the woods was more fun than attending a "stuffy old tea party" of their mother's. Well, Narcissa supposed, it was exactly the sort of thing Bellatrix found hilarious. Suffering and rebellion.
"Bellatrix. I do not want to sleep on the ground," Narcissa decided in her most authoritative voice.
"Ok… let me see if I can find a nice tree for you to sleep in," Bella answered tiredly.
With a huff of annoyance, Narcissa scooted closer to her older sister until she was close enough to lean her head on Bella's shoulder. Bellatrix shifted at first but then resigned to serve her purpose as a pillow. The bit of sky that was visible between the trees and clouds had slowly turned from purple to night black, and glistening stars shined brightly.
"Bella," Narcissa mumbled into her sister's shoulder, "Where did Andromeda go?"
She felt Bellatrix shake with laughter. "She probably got lost. Meda's sense of direction is absolutely terrible."
Lifting her head off of Bella's shoulder, Narcissa looked up just in time to see Andromeda yank Bellatrix's hair peevishly.
"That's not true. Besides, you're the reason we're camping out in the first place," Andromeda reasoned, wincing as Bellatrix punched her arm in retaliation.
Narcissa ignored her sisters but instead analyzed the berries that were staining Andromeda's hand.
"Oh," she said as she caught her little sister's stare, "That's all I could find. But they don't taste too good."
Bella rolled her eyes. "Did you ever think they might be poisonous?"
Andromeda looked nervous for a moment then shot back, "Oh yeah, well I'm not dead, am I?"
"Just because something doesn't kill you doesn't mean it's not poisonous, Andy," Bellatrix noted, as always the expert on physical pain.
Andromeda looked worried. As Bella picked one of the berries from her sister's hand and threw it in the fire, the flames turned a light green color. The three girls looked at the fire in concern before Bella and Narcissa turned to look at Andromeda in concern.
"Just because the flames turned a different color doesn't mean they were poisonous," Narcissa said carefully. She felt like yelling at Bellatrix for getting them in the situation in the first place. However, an angry Bella would hardly help their predicament.
Andromeda nodded swiftly, not about to look weak in the eyes of her sisters. As if on cue, the sisters sat on the ground, huddling around the campfire. In the distance a branch snapped and they gave a start, jumping closer together. Bella snatched up the closest piece of wood and clutched it like a weapon.
"Bella," Narcissa whimpered, practically hanging off of her sister's arm in search of protection. "What if it's a werewolf?"
"Narcissa, there's not even a full moon tonight," Andromeda sighed.
She frowned for a moment before replying, "Yeah… but, aren't you at least a little bit scared of…"
"Scared of the dark?" Bellatrix laughed as she peered swiftly around the forest.
Narcissa swallowed, shaking her head in disagreement. But a small "no" was all she managed to say.
Finally, Bellatrix relaxed and sat down once more. "It was nothing, see. Relax, Cissy; nothing's going to hurt you because they'll have to get through me first."
Narcissa sighed loudly, still a bit worried at the darkness closing around them. She poked her toe at the ground, silently lamenting their predicament. If Bella and Meda were having fun, they seriously needed to reorganize their priorities.
Bellatrix was smiling into the fire while Andromeda looked as though she was concentrating deeply on something.
"This is really cool," Bella eventually whispered, "I feel… free."
Narcissa snorted. "I feel like a common muggle."
They turned expectantly to Andromeda, waiting for her comment. But Andromeda's face was twisted with pain, her skin pale and clammy as she managed, "I feel sick." She jumped off the log but didn't make it more than ten feet from the sitting area before she doubled over, hacking up vomit.
Narcissa wrinkled her nose at the unpleasant scene just barely outlined in the darkness. Bellatrix, on the other hand, ran over to Andromeda and pulled her hair away from her face. As Meda continued to throw up, Bella rubbed her back worriedly. Narcissa thought Bellatrix's display of care was rather hypocritical because Narcissa just knew that if shewas the one getting sick, Bella and Meda would just be standing around, not even noticing her.
With ragged breaths, Andromeda pushed herself away from the ground, wiping her mouth on her sleeve. Bella helped her stand up on shaky feet, walking back to the fire.
"Are you ok, Meda?" Narcissa asked tentatively, hoping that her sister wouldn't get too close because there were visible flecks of vomit on her robes.
Andromeda shrugged wearily. Bellatrix smiled as though this was something to be very proud of. "Andromeda's tough."
Narcissa thought, rather than said, that if being tough meant possessing the ability to hurl up poisonous berries and then not even blame Bellatrix for it, she had no desire to be so. They huddled together, with Bellatrix in the middle. She didn't care how much she loved her sister, Narcissa wasn't about to lean on someone dirtied by their own vomit.
Narcissa didn't exactly recall falling asleep. The night had turned damp and cold, even with the warmth of the fire and her sisters. It was more difficult to sleep leaning against somebody than she would have thought. The sleep she did manage was restless and disturbed by howling wind and frightening noises throughout the wood.
She opened her eyes just enough to see the trickling rays of morning sun float through the tree branches.
"Wake up, Cissy," Andromeda said gently.
Narcissa mumbled an indistinct sound of disparity, her head clouded with tiredness, her body vaguely sore. Bellatrix shaking her shoulders violently did not help the soreness.
"Come on!" Bellatrix said, as always, much less empathetic than Meda. "Don't you want to eat breakfast?"
"What? More poisonous berries so we can all vomit? No thank you, Bella," Narcissa grumbled, remembering to be angry at her eldest sister since the entire camping fiasco was, after all, her fault.
"No," Bellatrix laughed, "Like something prepared by those house elves you just can't live without."
Yawning, Narcissa stood up to stretch. "Bella, you told me last night we didn't have any house elves in the woods."
"But we have some in our house, don't we?" Bellatrix suggested as though Narcissa was the dumb one.
Narcissa thought the teasing was entirely unwarranted and unfair. "Um, thanks to you, Bella, we're lost and we don't even know where our house is and-"
Narcissa stopped midsentence. Suddenly, all lit with sunlight, this part of the woods was much more recognizable. If she squinted, she could just make out the shape of their house. The yard of which was only one hundred or so from the place they had camped. Bellatrix was snickering at Narcissa's incredulity.
"You knew where we were this entire time?!" Narcissa screeched, turning to face Bellatrix, her fists clenched. "You knew that we were this close to our house and didn't say anything? Meda got sick and my hair got messed up but you still didn't lead us home?!"
Bellatrix could not respond for laughter. Narcissa gazed at Andromeda imploringly, needing her support in scolding Bella properly. But Andromeda started giggling too as though there was something funny about Narcissa's face.
Irritated beyond belief, Narcissa smacked Bellatrix as she shouted, "You know I'm terrified of the dark, I hate the cold, I can't sleep unless I'm comfortable, and camping is not comfortable, and now my hair is full of twigs!"
Bellatrix stopped laughing and asked in mock concern, "So, in other words… you're a sissy?"
"BELLA BLACK YOU ARE SO MEAN!" Narcissa finally screamed, collapsing to the ground in a fit of tears.
"Stop being such a crybaby, Cissy," Andromeda sighed. "I'm the one who got sick and I'm not complaining. It was… kind of fun. Like an adventure."
Narcissa sobbed loudly, "I d-don't like adventures!"
Chuckling, Bella picked up Narcissa from the ground and cradled her like a one-year-old. "You don't like much of anything, Cissy."
"Well I don't like you," she grumbled into Bellatrix's shoulder.
"That's ok, Meda still does, so I think I'll live," Bella replied, carrying her sister out of the woods with Andromeda following closely behind.
Narcissa was about to reply but then she heard something that made her infinitely happier; her mother, stalking across the lawn, clearly livid as she shouted at Bellatrix and occasionally Andromeda.
"What have you done to my daughter?!" Druella demanded, noticing the waterworks Narcissa had started again in attempts to get Bella into more trouble. Druella pulled Narcissa away from Bellatrix and held her protectively.
"We're your daughters too!" Bellatrix shouted back, clearly not happy at how her little camping trip was going to end.
"If you behave like sons you will be treated and punished as such," Druella snapped. "Look at the state of you, absolutely filthy! I thought you would know better than to run around like common muggle children but apparently you don't."
"Mother," Andromeda spoke up in Bella's defense, "Bella made a fire without a wand; I don't think muggle children can do that."
"Ha! I'm more impressed that she managed to contain the fire rather than set the entire woods ablaze. Bellatrix has absolutely no self-control, and you are little better Andromeda; so do not congratulate her."
As if to prove the point that she had no self-control, Bellatrix spoke up again, "Yeah, well you'll be happy that I have abundant magical powers when Narcissa turns out to be a squib."
Druella slapped Bella for her impudence and then ordered, "Go to your father now and he can deal with you two."
With much grumbling and feet stomping, Bella and Meda walked away. Druella gently picked twigs from Narcissa's oh-so-Rosier blond hair, murmuring words of comfort. She was tired and hungry, though considerably less cranky in the arms of the mother who'd promised significant punishment for making those who had made her, Druella's precious princess, suffer. She yawned delicately as she watched Meda and Bella bicker in the distance, probably deciding too whom the blame should be put. In spite of herself, Narcissa smiled. She just reveled in Druella's well-placed favoritism.
Author's Note: So that was sort of random, but it's been in the making ever since I went hiking last fall. Again, I'm really sorry updates have been late recently... I would like nothing more than to write fanfiction all day, but sadly life says that just can't happen. :( Also, I know I haven't done a Sirius and/or Regulus chapter since... chapter five (eek). If you guys have any ideas for chapters involving those two cousins, let me know! Your reviews are so appreciated...