Deceptions

My life was full of deceptions. People would look at me and think 'Oh, it's the blonde Black'. I was the pretty one, the stupid one, the obedient one. My sister Bellatrix was always the ambitious one, destined to be evil, an equal with her husband. And Andromeda… Andromeda was the clever one. The Ravenclaw. My parents never forgave her for that. Despite our different houses, we were the Black Sisters. Our loyalty only to our family, our power shared between us. We each had a role to play: Bella, the zealous Ringleader, the powerful one of us; Andre, the studious Bookworm, our spy in Ravenclaw; and me. Pretty Narcissa. I was the Deceptive one. The one who seduced men into betraying their beliefs. We worked for the Purebloods, for the Dark Side. Then one day it changed.

At our weekly Black meeting one day, Andre told us shocking news. Blushing, she admitted to falling in love with Ted Tonks. A mudblood. What's more was that she expected us to be happy for her. Bella flew into a rage and sent her out with words of abuse, informing her that Mother and Father would hear of this news. Andre screamed right back, telling her she never intended to go back, to the miserable existence she had with us. As she was about to leave, she turned back around and asked pleadingly 'Cissa?' looking at me with her big brown eyes. Bella turned around and looked at me too, with those unnatural black eyes. They were both watching, waiting; waiting for me to react.  I slowly lifted my head, and looked at Andromeda in the eye. In my peripheral vision I saw Bella falter, thinking I was going to abandon her; and I saw happiness come in the eyes of Andromeda, thinking I supported her.

'Oh Cissa, I'm so happy,' she babbled. 'You'll love him!'

She stepped forward to hug me, but I moved back. Her smile faded and Bella looked apprehensive.

'Andromeda. Begone, Mudblood Lover.' I spoke the words without inflection, my face expressionless, but inwards I laughed at the tragic look on her face.

I saw a triumphal look cross Bella's face then she said, 'you heard her. Leave.'

Without a word, Andromeda turned and fled.

I faced Bella without trepidation and stared at her, like she was doing to me.

'Narcissa.' She said, holding face firmly with one hand, studying my face with her strange eyes. Finally she smiled. 'Narcissa, I'd like you to meet my friends.'

And so I met her friends, ending up marrying one of them, Lucius Malfoy. We carried on as if nothing had happened, each missing Andromeda in our own way. Bella became a Death Eater; I became the Wife of one, and the Mother of one. I was always the tag-along after that. Everyone wanted to be like her, my husband wanted to be with her. As for Andromeda, she married her Ted, and last I heard of her, she had a daughter. May they rot in hell.

One night, when Lucius and I were having sex, he cried out Her name in his orgasm. As he rolled of me, I was filled with anger. Bella had everything. She had always been my parents favourite. So I told him the thing I had never told anyone, the thing I had been sworn to secrecy.

Bellatrix and Andromeda Black had been lovers.

Laughing, I deceived Bella when she confronted me angrily. She believed me, because sweet and innocent Narcissa didn't lie.

She forgot my role.