"Explain yourself, girlie," Bellatrix's demanding voice comes from Narcissa's room as she enters, hours after her date with Lucius.
Narcissa sighs, taking off her cloak and setting it on her chair. "Oh, hello, Bella," she says lightly. "Have fun at Hogsmeade?" Surely she had spent it with those wild friends of hers. And Rodolphus, of course. They were always skipping class and getting into trouble.
"Necking Malfoy? Disgusting, Cissa. Disgusting."
Narcissa lets out a slow breath. "I did no such thing. It's unbecoming to listen to rumors, Bella. If I were to listen to the rumors about you…"
Bellatrix Black had an impressive scowl. Her unusually dark eyes seemed to darken even further and her lips twisted into something unnaturally cruel. It was a stark look against her beautifully fine features. It somehow fit her, however. Much more so than a smile would have. Bellatrix and Andromeda had often been compared to each other, but it was an unfair assessment. They both had long dark hair and nearly translucent skin, but Andromeda was light where Bellatrix was stark and black; the edges of Andromeda's face were soft and gently curving, where Bellatrix's features were sharp and angular. The most telling difference, however, was how at home a smile seemed on Andromeda's face, and how Bellatrix's face seemed at its most natural when twisted into an entitled scowl. "Don't distract," she says sharply. "I thought you said you weren't interested in boys. Now, how am I supposed to take it when I hear you're tramping around with the notorious Lucius Malfoy."
Narcissa lets out a long slow breath. "I spent the Hogsmeade trip with Lucius and that is all," she explains carefully. "I did not kiss him, much less "tramp around" with him. And I told you that I was interested in him… He's better than his reputation."
A scoff escapes Bellatrix's lips. "Yeah. Right. Lucius Malfoy is like every other boy his age, Cissa. Evil little creeps trying to stick their little prick's between your legs. No, Lucius Malfoy is worse than the other boys. I tried to shelter you from his terrible reputation because you had a sweet little crush on him, but now that I see he's got his eyes on you, I'm afraid I can't protect you from it any longer. He's a scoundrel, Cissa. A mongrel. He chews little girls like you up and spits them out, husks of what they once were. You may feel like you're special to him, but you're far from the first sweet little blonde that he's laid his eyes on. He's just trying to get you into bed and then he'll be done with you. You don't understand boys like him. He'll hurt you."
Narcissa feels herself growing flushed as Bellatrix talks. She shakes her head, picking her cloak back up. "I don't want to hear this."
Bellatrix reaches out and takes her hand, stopping her. "You need to hear this before you make a big mistake, Cissa. He's going to hurt you." She was holding Naricissa's hand too tight, her nails digging into her skin.
"You're hurting me," she says, shaking her hand free and turning to her older sister. "Look. I know you mean well, but I know what I'm doing with Lucius."
Bellatrix snorts. "You don't have experience with the craftiness of teenage boys, little Cissa. They're more devious than you could ever imagine."
"I can handle myself," Narcissa says sharply.
"I'm afraid that I can't allow this to continue," Bellatrix says sharply. She had a look in her eye and Narcissa knew that if she didn't do something to calm down her sister, Bellatrix would do whatever she had to to dissuade the two from dating, even if it meant using violence against Lucius.
"It isn't going to continue, anyways," Narcissa says, folding her cloak and keeping her voice nonchalant. "Lucius wasn't interesting to me. Quite the disappointment, actually. It was one date, Bella. That's the end of it. I have no interest in seeing him again."
Bellatrix lets out a relieved breath. "You're too young for boys, anyways, Cissa. Too young for their trouble."
Narcissa turns her head so that she can roll her eyes without Bellatrix seeing. "Are we finished? I have homework to do."
"Fine. If you're done with Lucius, then I suppose we can be done here, too. Just tell me you're not going to go on anymore dates, especially with Malfoy."
"I'm done with him," Naricissa says with a lazy yawn. "He wasn't even entertaining enough for the afternoon at Hogsmeade. Now may I please go do my work?"
"Go, go," Bellatrix shoos her off. "Bah, you're such a bore. No drama with you."
Narcissa rolls her eyes at her sister's shifting moods, but decides not to push it. She grabs her bag of schoolwork and heads downstairs to study in the commons room.