Narcissa stretches out along Andromeda's bed, her head resting in her older sister's lap. Andromeda had been reading her a book of poetry from some old wizard which usually Narcissa would have hated, but it happened to be a book of love poetry and if she closed her eyes, she could imagine that it was Lucius making these proclamations to her.
"No magic spell nor sirens call," Andromeda reads, her voice light and playful, "could strike my heart so violently, as the lover's dagger in your fair eye."
"Oh, it's devastating," Narcissa says with a dramatic sigh. "How wonderful."
Andromeda laughs softly, stroking Narcissa's pretty blonde hair. "I can't say that it's accurate," she says. "Seems a bit much for my taste."
"Are you saying you wouldn't simple die if you lost Rab's love?" Narcissa says, aghast.
"Of course not," Andromeda says firmly. "And Rabastan doesn't love me. He's more… infatuated by the idea of love. Happy to have some sort of possession to claim as love. No, Cissa. Real love isn't like that. And real love isn't something to die over. It's something to live for, to fight for. When you're in love, really truly in love, you want to become the best person you can be so that you can be with the one you love, stronger together."
"I feel that way about Lucius," Narcissa says, nodding and looking up at Andromeda. "I want to be deserving of him. To be worth his love."
"Oh, my darling," Andromeda says and Narcissa scrunches her nose, seeing the look of 'elderly wisdom' cross her older sister's face. "You are worthy of the most noble and beautiful love imaginable. And you are more than deserving of love, that isn't something you should ever worry about. No… Love isn't wanting to be better so that you can deserve someone, it's realizing that you already deserve love and yet still wanting to be better because the one you love inspires you to be."
Narcissa rolls her eyes. "And what do you know about love if you don't love Rabs? Don't tell me you were in love with that weasley boy with the sad looking puppy face."
"Nick is a good man, Cissy," Andromeda says softly, her hands stopping their petting of Narcissa's hair. A thought seems to cross her face. "Cissy… what if we packed our bags right now and ran away? Just… disappeared from school for a little while. Spent some time abroad."
Narcissa sits up and looks at Andromeda. "Have you gone insane?" she asks bluntly.
"It could do you good to get away from here for a little bit," Andromeda says.
"You've gone senile," Narcissa notes, wondering where all this was coming from. "You're certifiably nutty. All my friends are here. Trixy's here. Lucius is here. Why on earth would I want to leave? I've waited so long to come to school and I love it here."
"I just think…" Andromeda says, trying to be delicate. "Well. Cissy, I worry about you. I worry about how much an effect what Trixy and all her friends has on you. I know you're still young and you don't always understand the implications of things. If we went away for a little while, maybe I could help you-"
"I'm not young," Narcissa says sharply, bristling at the comment. "And Trixy only has a good effect on me. So you shouldn't worry about me, because I'm fine. I have Lucius and I have school and my friends and I'm fine. I'm not some unsupervised baby that's always walking into trouble that you need to worry about. I'm perfectly happy taking care of myself." She folds her arms tightly, the anger bubbling at Andromeda's concerns.
"Oh, no, Cissy, that's not what I meant. I just… well, you are young and I just don't want you swallowing Trixy's propaganda without understanding the ramifications of her philosophy. And as for Lucius… Look, I know you think you love him, but he shares some of the same ideologies as Trixy and that's concerning to me. I don't want you to fall victim to their prejudices, Cissa. Not until you're old enough to form an educated understanding on your own."
"I am plenty old enough to form 'educated understandings'," Narcissa says hotly, getting off the bed. "And I don't know what you think you're talking about, Andi, but you're wrong. Lucius is perfect. Trixy is perfect, too. And if you can't see that, then maybe you're the one who's wrong in your philosophies or whatever."
"Oh, no," Andromeda says again. "Cissy, no, that's not what I meant. I'm sorry. It's coming out wrong, but I don't know quite how to say what I want to. I just… I love you, Cissa, and I don't want to see you being succored in by our family's corrupt views."
Narcissa looks at Andromeda incredulously, shaking her head. "You're insane," she says, gathering her things. "And I'm not having this conversation. You're just… You're wrong. And you're crazy. And I love Lucius, so don't you dare tell me that I don't or that I don't know what real love is, because you're just wrong. I know what love is. And it's Lucius. So there. You can keep your poetry and whatever because I don't want to talk to you anymore." She walks to the door and throws it open in a huff. She turns to Andromeda, her blood boiling. "I am officially mad at you. We're fighting now. This is a fight." She slams the door and storms off, agitated by the conversation with Andromeda.