Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter in any way, shape or form.

Writing moods are the best, aren't they?


The bright sky seemed like a slap in the face to the grey spaces in Narcissa's heart, those that threatened to overtake her with each beat. Through the large windows lining the hall puffy clouds were visible, floating along on a trip of their own, whisking away wherever the wind should see fit to send them. Narcissa felt very like a cloud, the tempest that was her sister tearing her from her path and coercing her to join in with the storm brewing. She wished that the outside would darken and dull to match her mood, to match the atmosphere that clung to her skin like thick droplets of old wine.

Fabric on fabric swished a melody with no real rhythm as Bellatrix stepped lightly alongside her sister as they walked, almost skipping with each step. For all Bella knew, her sister was merely preserving her dignity by maintaining an easy pace, stiff. Appearances were Narcissa's specialty, and with her sister distracted by the illusion of victory, the blonde witch had managed to fool her.

"It's really very stupid to keep the apparition wards on the manor, Cissy." Bella spoke with the matter of fact tone of someone who believes they are right with all their being. "Walking is so boring." Merlin only knew the immensity of Bellatrix's hate for boredom. It was when one was bored that the little creatures in one's head started to whisper and make it nearly impossible to hear anything. Flinging a thick lock of hair over her shoulder disdainfully, the pout on her face didn't match the happy pace she kept up.

"Well, Bella, you know how I hate surprise guests." Tone steady, if thin, Narcissa responded. Seeming to accept the answer with a huff, Bellatrix trailed the end of her wand along the wall as they walked.

Narcissa worked hard to keep her breathing even, putting forth the extra effort that was absolutely required to keep her from collapsing under the pressure her sister had inadvertently placed on her shoulders.

Half-dressed and unprepared for her sister's mood, it wasn't something that was easily prepared for, Narcissa had surrendered to the reality that once again Bellatrix was going to get physical rather than react like the person the blonde had believed her to be. It had been her solid belief that the war had been damaging Bella for so long that once it was over, she would have her sister back. However, after the end, with her sister dead, little hope had been left. And still, employing magic that would surely leave her sentenced to Azkaban, she had brought the woman back and once more been able to feed the hope that she might take back some small part of the family of which she had often dreamed.

With Narcissa's surrender, a true surrender born of knowing there was no other constructive option, for the first time Bella had reacted in a manner not of violence. Something in the dark witch's eyes had been soothed by the sight of the blonde in such a state of exhaustion, and it had provided Bella with the ability to speak, rather than to act.

Creeping close to her sister, Bella trailed her fingers over the woman's face, as if learning It all over again, and said, "I can feel you, Cissy." Narcissa held her tongue, as the silence and surrender was the only thing she had seen thus far that pulled her sister out from the face of madness. "I feel your heart beat." Her hand moved to cover that point just over the mentioned organ, skin on skin affecting both witches. Bella flickered, frowning as she brought her fingers up to caress a spot just under Narcissa's chin. "Have you not noticed.." Her face lifted, expression changing. "I do not think you wish to know what I am planning, Narcissa." It was not a threat or a dismissive gesture, merely a fact stated by the woman with a knowing look.

"..yes, I do." Narcissa hesitated before answering with the knowledge that Bella was very likely correct.

And so she told her. The blonde was stunned into a dumbfounded silence much different than the silence accompanying her surrender, as her sister spoke with growing pride and an arrogance that only a pureblood could wear with grace.

"You can't." With her words, the spell was broken, and Bella shifted back into the woman she had become, tweaking her sister's nose just a bit too hard.

"Of course, I can, Cissy. You can't stop me, haven't you figured it out?" Narcissa flinched at the tweak and almost equally at the bright tone in Bella's voice. Brows drawing together, she made the threat that had lingered on the tip of her tongue from the moment the witch began to explain her demented plan.

"I won't let you. I brought you back, I could stop you." However empty the threat might be, as Narcissa had brought the woman back for the still very real reason that she was terrified to be alone, it was not received well. Bellatrix breathed deeply, growing an inch as she stood up to her full height, eyes wild with fury that her Cissy would dare to threaten her. A loud and wild laugh jumped from her mouth as she leaned into Narcissa face.

"Were you dropped on your head as a child and I missed it? Are you so foolish that you don't realize what you did when you brought me back to life by binding our souls? If I die, you die, Cissy." Spitting the words spitefully in the blonde witch's face, Bella bluffed like a champion. Sure, what she said made complete sense somehow, fairly easy sense, but she couldn't be certain. The threat affected the blonde though, working as if it were real and she knew it all along, just had chosen not to remember.

Shoulders slumping slightly again, Narcissa's eyes dropped away from her sister as her hands moved to complete buttoning her dress robes. Under Bella's critical and smug eye, Narcissa completed the process of dressing.

Now, though her back was ramrod straight, Narcissa could still feel the vestiges of surrender clinging to her. But not entirely.

There were a few minutes, minutes in which Narcissa's heart was pounding like a drum and she feared Bella would feel this as something strange, where she was left alone. She knew not what Bellatrix was doing, only that she had not much time in which to attempt to save their sister's life. It might turn out to be an enormous betrayal, and if something were to go wrong she would be dooming the both of them, but Narcissa could not sit idly by as Bellatrix attempted to commit an act more heinous than anything she had ever before accomplished.

Hand shaking as she penned the note, ink splattered over the words almost enough to make them unreadable, but it would suffice. Attaching the missive to a small owl that Narcissa prayed would escape Bella's notice, she watched the creature fly out of sight just as the dark woman returned.

Each step down the hall echoed in Narcissa's ears, her heartbeat slamming against her ribs as if they were drums of war. It was impossible for her to tell if this was her own heartbeat or that of her sister, but either way it kept her blood pumping quickly enough to leave her lightheaded. This giddiness was no doubt the explanation for Bella's joyful almost jumping as they walked, the dark witch speaking endlessly of how wonderful it would be when she no longer needed to hide.


The parchment was fine, evidence of the sender's identity, but the words themselves were sloppily written and hasty. Andromeda peered at the note with a skeptical eye, hesitant to believe the contents.

You are in danger. Leave immediately. Hide.

Cissy

Signed with the nickname she had not spoken in more years than she cared to acknowledge, it was tempting to believe that the note was sincere, and that Narcissa cared enough to warn her of impending danger. Andromeda dropped the slip of parchment onto her desk and wondered just what danger remained after the fall of the Dark Lord. The majority of his followers had fallen during the Battle of Hogwarts, and those who mistakenly tried to continue his mission after his demise had mostly been caught. There were always going to be fringe groups, she knew, that would try to make trouble and go on with the destruction of those they deemed impure, but to think of it as such a sincere danger as to do anything more than put up strong wards.. Andromeda sighed lightly and picked up the note again, hand clutching her wand tighter subconsciously.

There had to be a good reason for the note, it wasn't Cissy's kind of prank to do something such as this.

Taking a bag, Andromeda grabbed some essentials and thanked the gods that her grandson and husband were out. She would be sure to owl him and keep him from returning home.

As she gripped a thick pullover, planning to be prepared for anything, there was a loud bang and crash from the front door downstairs. Head shooting up, wand at the ready, Andromeda's regal features contorted into an expression of fury tinted by fear. The note, it would seem, was very legitimate, and she should have obeyed it.


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