June rolled around and the mansion was hectic. The dog ran around nipping at people's heels, Harry and Draco bickered constantly, and Chandra wasn't happy that she was low on coffee. She sat on the counter with her knees to her chest, protecting her precious morning drink from the playfully dog. Bella stood across the room watching as the puppy tried frantically to reach Chandra. After the tiny creature let out a few sharp barks Bella had enough. She simply walked over and picked the dog up, earning a wet lick from the creature. Bella wiped her face off and glared at Chandra.
"Why did you get an animal? Don't you own an owl?"
"No, your sister basically stole him."
Bellatrix raised her brow and tilted her head a bit. Chandra rolled her eyes.
"Okay. Yes I own an owl. The dog is Luna's and she loves it. I just want to be able to drink my coffee. So can you...take her out of the kitchen...please...now…"
Bellatrix stared at her blankly as she replayed her words in her mind. She could have sworn that the Hufflepuff just ordered her to do something. As she heard Hermione talking in the other room she reminded herself that she can't do anything to Chandra. She gave the redhead a forced smile and left the room with the dog in hand.
As she entered the living room she handed the creature to Luna, who took it and kissed it on its nose. Bella then sat beside Hermione who was talking with Harry. The boy groaned in annoyance as when Hermione mentioned his birthday.
"Hermione, I don't know what I want to do. I know for a fact I'm going to sleep half the day. We have yours coming up too...and God yours are confusing to me."
"I gained a year because of using the time-turner so much in third year so I would be…"
"Sixteen."
"Seventeen. How hard is it to add a year, Harry?"
"That's not fair, so you get to lose the trace early?"
Bella perked up when she heard this, seventeen didn't just mean losing the trace. Just then Chandra walked in and chuckled.
"The one thing the wizarding world and Texas have in common...the age of consent is seventeen."
Bella grinned to herself as Hermione blushed and pushed the subject back at Chandra.
"Your birthday is in August. What will we be doing?"
"Nice try, Mione. I'm not gonna stop. If I know anything about pure blooded families you'll have a ring on your hand in no time."
"CHANDRA!"
Bellatrix looked away as she laughed, earning a sharp elbow in the ribs from the red faced girl.
"You two are horrible…"
"What, you gonna say no to her? Lots of people would say yes…"
"Oh like you?"
"Nope I got mine."
Chandra walked away, laughing. She kissed Luna before leaving the room. Hermione mumbled under her breath as she could hear Chandra loudly humming a bridal March tune, before ending with a loud laugh. Hermione turned her attention to Bella who was still laughing beside her.
"You couldn't help me?"
Bella forced herself to stop and looked at her with a smile. She went to talk but when she did her voice was laced with laughter.
"What? Do you not want to be married to me?"
"Honestly...must you act like a child?"
Bellatrix took a deep breath to stop the laughing and looked at her again.
"I mean it. That is your decision, me asking you would still only be a question, it's entirely up to you, pet."
Hermione smiled a bit before Harry spoke up.
"Exactly how long have you been together again?"
Bellatrix looked at him with a surprised expression and laughed again.
"I forgot you were even here."
Chandra's room
Chandra laid on her bed, stretching her arms over her head as she yawned. She drifted off to sleep for what felt like a few seconds when she woke to the feeling of being watched. As she felt something shifting on the mattress she opened her eyes to see Luna smiling at her. Chandra pulled her by her shirt, making her lay down next to her. Luna smiled and shifted to where she was laying on her stomach, half on top of the redhead with her chin propped up on her chest.
"You realize it's past noon, don't you?"
"Hmm… miss me did you?"
"Of course."
"Good, take a nap with me."
Luna looked at her with a smile and hummed lightly as she tapped her fingers. Chandra's eyes narrowed.
"Something happened didn't it…"
"Ron dropped a whole stack of plates, the pieces are everywhere."
Chandra groaned and got up , moving Luna in the process, earning a small sound of disappointment from the blonde.
"He can clean it…"
"No he will fuck more shit up trying to clean...you gotta actually come in here to sleep sometimes and not to tell me bad news…"
Luna looked a bit hurt but Chandra rolled her eyes and left the room and made her way to the kitchen.
When she entered the room Bella was standing in the only clean corner with her arms crossed, watching as Hermione helped Ron clean up the shards. Chandra's blood felt like it would melt her flesh as she screamed.
"What in the fuck happened to my dishes! I went to sleep for three hours! What the fuck is wrong with you!"
Ron looked at the angry Hufflepuff and scrambled to his feet.
"I uh… I was looking for a smaller dish and I dropped them. I-"
"Why didn't you take them down one by one!? Or better yet… if you were over burdened doing thing the muggle way...WHIP OUT YOUR FUCKING WAND AND NOT BREAK MY EXPENSIVE CHINA!"
Ron shook at the knees as Chandra glared at him. As she took a step toward him he ran, nearly missing her and bumping into Luna as he ran out of the room. Chandra turned toward the door, her chest heaving as she went to chase him, only stopping when she spotted Luna. Luna looked terrified and backed up a bit when Chandra looked at her. The redhead watched as Luna ran up the stairs. Bellatrix let aut an awkward sigh as she waved her wand, cleaning the floor just in time for Chandra to rush past her.
The shaking ginger ripped open cabinets, digging through them frantically until she pulled out a large orange bottle. Hermione tried to pull it away from her as Bella just stared at the scene, confused. As Chandra jerked it away from her she clenched her chest. Bella backed up as Chandra began to try to open the bottle with spanking hands. Hermione begged her cousin to stop.
"Chandra, there are other ways to calm down. Even potions are safer. You already said they don't work."
Chandra shoved her cousin away weakly as she spoke, finally getting the bottle open.
"No, my dosage doesn't work, I need more."
With that Chandra threw seven of the white tablets in her mouth and swallowed them. Hermione stared at her cousin with wide eyes and Bella could feel the familiar tinge of pain in her head as Hermione's emotions skyrocket. Bella pulled Hermione aside and wrapped her in her arms. Chandra tried to claim herself down but failed and decided to just let the pills take effect and staggered to her room slowly, slamming the door behind her.
Bella looked at Hermione who was on the verge of tears. She was confused; she's seen people with mental issues but never anything like that. She decided to ask Hermione what was going on.
"She is having an Anxiety attack.and she just effectively killed herself by taking that much medication."
"It didn't look like that much."
"Muggle medication is given according to your age and body weight for the most part. If you take too much it becomes lethal. She is only supposed to take one and a half of those tablets."
Bellatrix watched as tears fell from Hermione's eyes. She hated the sight in front of her. She would do anything to make her stop crying.
"What can I do?"
"I don't know, she basically just poisoned herself. Poor Luna…"
"Well why would she even take that much?"
"She says they feel like she's dying… I guess she just wants it to stop…"
They could hear Chandra kicking things out of her way in her room. The two women listened to the tantrum for a moment before it went quiet. Luna came down the stairs and into the kitchen. She looked a bit Shaken up but otherwise fine.
"Is she okay now?"
The couple gave her fake smiles as they thought of how to tell her. When Hermione opened her mouth to speak Chandra staggered into the room, rubbing her throat. Luna ran to her, hugging her tight. Hermione narrowed her gaze and studied the woman who was still rubbing her throat as she hugged Luna with her other arm.
"You shoved a bezoar down your own throat didn't you?"
"Well I was blacking out, was I supposed to just die?"
Luna looked up at her and to the other two women.
"What happened…"
They ignored Luna's question as Hermione hissed out her own.
"How often do you do that Chandra!?"
"It's the first time. Not like it's any of your business…"
"You could have went for a walk, took a potion, or took a shower..or..or"
"If I didn't do something then I would have ended up hurting someone I wasn't supposed to. It would have been you or Luna."
Luna tensed up and Hermione rolled her eyes as Chandra spoke.
"The only way I calm down is to actually get the shit out. Ron ran away leaving three people in my area. You, Bella, and Luna. And I'm not suicidal, I'm not hitting Bella."
Bellatrix glared at her while she leaned against the counter.
"One person. It is still suicide to hurt your cousin."
Chandra could feel Luna try to pull away from her and she shaped her arms tighter around her as she spoke.
"If we actually did things I wouldn't get like this. I have a lot of issues and I have to let things out. I can prove it… you wanted to see that damned room, here."
Chandra threw the key to Bella who caught it with a smile. Her and Hermione passed Chandra on the way out, who was busy trying to get Luna to listen to her. They went to the room between theirs and Chandra's and unlocked the door. When Bella opened the door she was actually surprised. The room was filled almost to the point of being completely unusable. Stacks of files and papers towered over her head and the room smelled of parchment and silverfish.
As Bella looked around the room she picked up random files labeled with names. There was Dolohov, Malfoy, even Tom. As she placed the files back down Hermione spoke from the other side of the room.
"She keeps the important things in this section. She wanted us to find her trophy case."
The brunette picked up a hefty stack of parchment and files and put them in front of Bella and repeated the process with two more stacks, the last one being quite shorter than the other ones. She finally uncovered a case filled with sparkling gold and silver belts.
"There it is. Still entirely filled with belts from kickboxing …"
Hermione didn't hear anything behind her and turned to see Bella staring at a file, sitting beside the shorter stack. Hermione went over to her and looked at the file and from the picture she could have thought Bella was looking at her own file, until she read the name.
"Is that Tonk's mom?"
"Yes…"
"Do you miss her?"
"I have no right to."
"You can't say that…"
"Me and Cissy were just as much a part of pushing her out as our parents. She wanted to be with a-"
"Mudblood. So are you bella."
Bella sighed and took the photo out of the file and placed it into her pocket. Before standing up and going to the trophy cabinet. She scanned them and gave Hermione a questioning look.
"What is kickboxing?"
Hermione rolled her eyes, annoyed that she just cut off the conversation.
"It's muggle fighting. Most of them are for self defense like karate, or tiquando...but some like Boxing or Mixed martial arts are a lot more violent and usually used offensively. The big difference between kickboxing and the others is that it's kinda like a high energy form of boxing… I think it's also why she killed your husband the muggle way. He fought dirty so she beat him senseless in a way he didn't expect."
"How do you know about different types of fighting?"
"Books."
"Of course…"
Hermione shifted a bit as she spoke to Bella.
"Bella im sorry, I should have told you she had files on your family."
"Its fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Besides...as of September she will be family, so…"
Bella flicks her want toward the three stacks of parchment and they quickly go up in flames leaving a large pile of ash.
"She won't be needing them."
Hermione looked at her with a shocked expression.
"You haven't even asked me."
"Do I need to?"
Before she could answer Chandra and Luna were at the door. Chandra looked at the empty space in front of the trophy case and to the pile of ashes. She met bellas gaze with an expression of shock and bewilderment.
"This is my life's work…"
"You won't need them."
"Excuse me."
"Your cousin has gotten me to think about something. Your going to be family soon enough. First hand research is the best kind...and I haven't faced my sister in years…"
Chandras eyes went wide with delight.
"Were going to see Andromeda?"
Bellatrix nodded slightly and Chandra smiled and disappeared. Luna walked into the room and looked at the case.
"So this is what she meant by she rewards."
Hermione turned to her.
"Are you two going to be okay?"
Luna lightly nodded.
"She told me about how your aunt put her in those classes because she was violent with other kids and it was the only way she could get her frustrations out. No that she doesn't have that luxury any more she gets really worked up and it messes with her mind and heart."
"Wow, never thought she would be able to explain anxiety in such a light way."
"No...she did say it feels like death. I just assume ill have to find ways to calm her down when it happens… it is my place after all."
"You are weirdly calm about what happened today."
Luna smiled lightly as she turned to look at her friend.
"Isnt that what she needs?"
Hermione smiled and laughed a bit as she responded.
"Yeah, just don't baby her...I still need my jack ass cousin."
Luna smiled and looked at the case again as Chandra reapeared and spoke in a rush.
"When are we going? I don't wanna miss this. I wonder if she'll try to fight you?"
The three of them just stared at the excited redhead who had seemed to be completely over her poisoning. She stared back for a moment before she ran off again. Shuffling sounds came from Chandra's room as she dug through things and Bella shrugged.
"Well she's excited…"