A/N: Have some more Andromeda. And thank you for favourtiting/following/reviewing!

WC: 1,097

Warning: mentions child abuse

Bella comes back from wherever she was late, Very late. Well, that's what Mother says to Aunt and Uncle (we're so sorry we don't know where she is she's never like this) but truthfully, she's just missed dinner. Andromeda doesn't think it's worth the show they're making of it. But Bella has been getting on their nerves recently, so it's only natural they accuse her whenever they can.

Bella also comes back from wherever she was giddy. Absolutely giddy ad over-joyed, so much that it seems almost unnatural, and bordering on folly.

"And where were you?" Father hisses when the trembling house elf opens the door.

"Oh, just here and there," Bella dismisses.

"Bella," he seethes. "Your godmother and your Uncle are here."

Of course they are. They're in the drawing room, with Mother, Andromeda, Cissy and their cousins. They're supposed to be making small talk, discussing idle issues while Father goes to welcome whoever it is. But the door is open, and Andromeda, sat on a chair can see what's going on. They can all hear. And they know it is no random guest but Bella. Of course it is Bella.

"All the better, we can tell them the good news," Bella declares.

"The good news?" Father questions.

They've walked into the drawing room now, Aunt Walburga had stood up. Everything – everyone – is still, apart from Bella, who sashays in like she owns the place, reeking of confidence as usual. Andromeda picks up smoke too, and Bella's frazzled hair. That's Bella's perfume: confidence, smoke and something else she can't quite identify.

"What good news?" Aunt Walburga echoes.

It's just a series of echoes. All they ever say are echoes, echoes, echoes. Echoes of things people have said before them – a long time ago, or in the moment before them. What they say never changes. It's like they're incapable of saying something of their own, they always have to repeat.

"I'm engaged," she declares, a defiant look in her eye, "To Rodolphus Lestrange."

"So that's where you were," Narcissa says quietly.

"You're getting married!" exclaims Aunt Walburga, and she brings her god-daughter.

Bella stiffens. Andromeda knows she doesn't like physical contact, but she's decided to stay in a good mood, so she doesn't say anything. Instead, she hugs her godmother back. Andromeda doesn't say anything, but meets her sister's eye. Help me, her sister says dramatically, so Andromeda knows it's not an actual plea for help. She just rolls her eyes in response

"Who's Rodolphus Lestrange?" Sirius asks, he's got that defiant look in his eye again, like he's about to do something particularly risqué.

Don't, she tells him through eye contact. But he doesn't understand Andromeda's language, so he doesn't take her warning.

"Is he that evil, ugly wizard last Summer?" he asks.

Sirius is sent to bed after that, rather forcibly too if she might add. She wonders if Aunt Wlaburga is aware how her nails will probably leave little crescents in her cousin's pale skin. She figures she does. Sirius already has some blue moons on his arms. But his smirk shows that he's not afraid.

Andromeda thinks the same thing as Sirius. Well, perhaps not ugly; Rodolphus is not too bad looking, but she supposes it's one of his redeeming qualities. She's heard some rather nasty rumours about him, of the things he does, the people he meets. And he's got that cruel glint in his eye she sometimes sees in Bella. She hopes her sister knows what she's doing. But she doesn't say anything, not like Sirius. Sirius is always brash in his defiance. Andromeda knows that it's not the way to go. Rebelling in the shadows is more for her.

Regulus goes up soon, too and their parents retreat to wherever they go after dinner when it's supposed to be 'adult time', even though Bella and Andromeda are both adults too. It's no mystery in the Black family that parents don't like spending time with their children.

Meanwhile, Cissy is reading her book on the couch, her head on Bella's lap, in front of the fire. She looks peaceful. It's silent apart from the crackle of the fire and the turn of a page. Bella combs Cissy's hair with her fingers.

Bella nods Andromeda over, so she joins them on the sofa and puts her head on Bella's shoulder and Bella smiles. It's funny how safe she feels there, like she did when they were little. If she doesn't think too hard about it, it's almost like how they were before. Before Bella went a little madder and Andromeda realised that her upraising was a lie.

Cissy puts the book down. "So, you're getting married," she says.

"I am," Bella says with a smile.

"But you don't love him?" Cissy asks.

Andromeda doesn't say anything, but she does wonder. What does Cissy know about love? What does she care about it? She hasn't seen any examples of it, and her books don't tell the truth. She's still got that dream that some prince will come and sweep her off her feet, but Andromeda knows, as long as she marries another Pureblood, that dream probably won't come true.

"No," Bella says, "But there is more than love to a marriage. Like power, control, wealth."

Cissy wrinkles her nose. "That doesn't sound like much fun."

"You'll see," Bella tells her.

"What changed your mind?" Andromeda asks her. "You pouted all Sunday because of it."

"I didn't pout," Bella says, indignantly.

"Yes, you did," says Cissy, "You didn't even go shopping with us!"

Bella shoots Andromeda a look. You're so annoying, aren't you?

Andromeda just shrugs.

"I guess I decided that maybe it was worth it. After all, Bellatrix Lestrange has a nice ring to it."

"You mean you'd stop being a Black, betrayal!" laughs Andromeda. "Have you settled a date yet?"

"August, maybe? I think a summer wedding might be nice," Bella says.

"And we'll be your bridesmaids?" Cissy asks anxiously.

"Of course!" Bella exclaims, "Who else?"

Andromeda nestles against her sister's neck. The irony of her words is so apparent to her. After all, Andromeda Tonks has a nice ring to it, too. It's just that she knows that if that is the path she chooses – she is choosing – her sisters definitely won't be her bridesmaids at her wedding. She wonders who would be her bridesmaids. Probably no one. She doesn't have a lot of friends that would accept her. She wonders what Ted thinks.

But for the moment, it's just her and her sisters. So she cherishes them while she can.