Disclaimer: I own nothing, though it'd be pretty freakin cool if I did.
AN: This chapter is definitely were the PG-13 part comes in. There's violence, and language. I told you I had to focus on it now for later, so don't worry, the next few chapters will have lots of fluff! **wink wink** Sorry this chapter toke a bit longer than the others, but no fear! my internet is back! Happy Dance! Yes, but I do hope you enjoy. Oh! and thanks to all my reviewers (all three of them. yay) from chp. 3:
SKULL: Thanks, I thought that's kinda what Bella would be like as a teenager…
SOCCERGIRL2004: I'm glad you like Narcissa. You'll find out why she marries Lucuis later.
JAS: Thank you thank you! Yeah, I feel bad for Charlotte too.
And for the rest of you…oh…lemme see, my tenth reviewer gets to get a cameo in my story! there you go! now REVIEW!
Chapter 4
"Hey Sirius." Andromeda said lightly as she sat thoughtfully in front of the fire.
Her black haired cousin grinned, "Move over, that's my favorite chair."
"No way. This is mine." She smirked, and his chubby friend watched amused from behind him.
"Do I have to sit on you?"
"As if it would make a difference." She said, sticking out her tounge, " You're so scrawny."
"Oh, you think so?" His smile was very broad now, and he got a mischieveous glint in his eye. He ran over to her, jumping on her, causing an "ooof!" from Andromeda, and he started tickling her, "Take it back! Go on!"
She was laughing so hard her side ached, and she yelled "All right! Sirius Black is not scrawny!"
He got up, clapping himself off. "Well now that that's over with, you have to surrender the chair."
"Fine. I'm going to go find Ted anyway."
"Oh that TED of yours. Just don't snog in the halls, darling, it's very unbecoming!" He called as the portrait hole swung open.
"Oh as if, we're just mates, you know. We're heading down to dinner. Are you all coming?"
The four boys laughed,
"We'll come, but I don't think Pete's up to it." Said Remus, chuckling.
"We dared him to eat ten sugarquills before. Whole." James said laughing.
She put her hands on her hips. "That is so bad for you! You're only supposed to suck on them. I'd head to the hospital wing if you don't feel better later. See you."
With that, and a bit of a stifled laugh, she headed down to the library where she said she'd meet Ted.
She was still angry. . . frogs, I mean come on. . .
But as she entered the library, but her expression softened as she saw her blond little sister sitting with a curly brown haired one and a puffy red head, who she was glad to say was Arthur's little sister.
"Hey, Cissie." She said, pulling up a chair, because Ted was not yet here.
"Hi."
"What are you all doing here, aren't you going to eat? I hear it's pretty substaintial."
Charlotte laughed, and the one girl groaned, " Well, Charlotte just insisted on looking something up first. I swear, if I don't eat soon, I could eat a hinkypunk or something!" The curly haired girl exclaimed. "I'm Petra, by the way." She added to Andromeda.
"Andie." She nodded.
"I'm almost done, hold your horses." Charlotte said from behind her book.
" I dunno, I might eat them first." Petra groaned, holding her stomach.
"Dinner hasn't even started yet, luv." Andromeda laughed, and Charlotte looked pleased. "So, how was your day? Learn anything good?"
" I learned…" Narcissa paused, pulling at her own hair playfully, "There are a lot of rules."
"Well, just made to be broken, I assure you. And they have been. They don't make rules unless someone's broke them."
Narcissa giggled into her hand, than said, "You mean that someone has actually once turned the teacher into a bird once to imply that they were blabbing too much?"
Andromeda smiled, "James Potter, second year. Pretty funny. McGonnagal threw a fit."
"I think she's still throwing one! She gave a very long lecture on it today." Narcissa said good naturedly. " But it's not as if we could! We can barely turn pins into quills let alone her into any type of animal. James Potter must be smart."
"Yeah. I think Sirius practically lives with him. They're best mates, and all that." She looked down at her watch, "Where's Ted?"
"Oooooh! Waiting for Ted, are you?" Narcissa teased.
"Done!" Charlotte declared, thumping the book down on the table and receiving a long glare from the old librarian.
"Contain yourself, please." He sneered.
"We'll help you look." Petra said, happily, "Then we can all go finalley eat."
"You have a one track mind, don't you?" Narcissa laughed, and Petra nodded quickly.
"I think with my stomach."
"You know, if that was true and you were a cow, you'd be quite intellegent. They have three stomachs!" Charlotte pipped, laughing loudly at her own joke as they exited the library.
"I'm not waiting for Ted anymore. Dinner's already started!"Andromeda complained, as they turned the corner.
But she felt her breath catch itself in her throat.
Ted was slumped against the wall, blood flowing down his temple, his eyes closed, one darkened.
On the wall, in red, it said:
Watch your back, HE rises, and no MUDBLOOD fucker will be safe
They had jumped him. They had fucking jumped him.
"I'm gonna kill them! You are DEAD BELLA!" She was sitting next to him, and the three girls behind her felt terror rising in them, as the strong Andromeda burst into tears.
*****
Bellatrix was walking down to dinner, glad to have the absence of clutching her books, so she could tie her dark hair out of her face as she strolled.
She wasn't really that hungry, and could be using her time for study. But she just needed to be surrounded by the chattering youth. It somehow gave her some kind of strength that was undescribable. Their energy was incredibly contagous, spreading like wildfire.
She also really wanted to talk to her youngest sister.
So she took a wide look around the great hall, searching for her sister.
But neither of her sisters were in sight.
"Shit." She mumbled, and toke a seat. She was not left alone for a second, as Henrietta approached her, out of breath, and smiling vicously, with a few girls and boys from her year behind her.
"Oh, Bellatrix, you'll be so pleased." Somehow, as Bellatrix toke her plate, she doubted she would be.
"I will, will I?" She smirked, and the girl nodded, and one boy could not contain himself behind her, and as he toke his seat he whispered excitedly.
"We jumped that mudblood Ted Tonks!"
"Oh it was so funny. We all crowded around and he started begging for mercy as we beat the crap out of him!"
Bellatrix felt her stomach squirm, "You did it the muggle way? Pathetic."
They ignored it, hoping to please her with the next part, "And Henrietta cut a bit of skin under his hair, and summoned all the blood up, so we could write 'watch your back, he rises, no mudblood fucker will be safe!'" He paused a moment, "We did it the muggle way so they had no evidence on us. So they couldn't trace back our wands."
They sat, smiling, waiting for her congratulations. "Good thinking." Was all she could say.
She knew the only reason they did things like this was to attempt to show their loyalty. They all knew her father had ties with the Dark Lord and wanted to snake their way in, like their parents instructed them to do. They were nosy, wanting to nose themselves in to her bussiness, so they could get their own.
Because they were nosy. . . her fathers words once again blared in her mind. . .
"Some people are so easy to manipulate, Bell. You have to take advantage of that, or you will be one of those pointless existences."
Look at them, groveling for her. She felt herself slowly smiling, realising she could use them like tools. They would do anything to please her.
They would fix things without be told. That annoyed her.
"Next time, tell me before you do things like that." She toke a small sip of her pumpkin juice, "Wouldn't want to miss anything."
They nodded vigourisly. Like tools, she laughed inside.
Something poked at her side, and she felt the letter she wrote to her father inside her pocket. She decided that Andromeda had good learned her lesson for now, and wouldn't send it.
That is, untill she really screwed up.
Because her father was the last step. Her father would rather see Andromeda dead then be a mudblood lover.
****
Narcissa was tired, and she sat next to Andromeda, who had her face in her hands.
"She's such a bitch, I swear, when I get my hands on her. . ." She heard Andromeda mumbling, "Sister my ass. . ."
She looked around, Petra was chewing on a muffin she had stolen from the infirmary's kitchen.
Charlotte was looking nervous, biting on her fingernails.
"Well, I think you all should go back to your towers. It's getting late. Ted will be fine, with rest. Muggle wounds are easiest to mend." The nurse assured softly, and they all stood, Andromeda the slowest.
"Will he be ready for classes tomorrow?" Andromeda asked, standing in the doorway.
"I promise, don't worry. Now, go on."
They began to walk down the halls, and Narcissa got an uneasy feeling from the silence.
Andromeda escorted them to the Ravenclaw tower, and told the others to go ahead, so she could talk to her for a moment.
"I'm really sorry, about what happened to Ted." Narcissa said quietly, and Andromeda leaned against the wall sadly.
"Why are you apologizing? You had no control over it. But Bella. . .God. I can't believe her."
"But, it couldn't have been her, could it? I mean, she didn't even know about Ted being a mud-" She stopped at the sharp look from Andie, "Muggleborn."
"But she did. Today at lunch, she told me."
"Oh." Narcissa sighed, knowing now why Andromeda knew it was Bellatrix.
"Yeah. you see what I mean. But, that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."
Narcissa raised her eyebrow curiously, "Oh?"
"Well, you're friends with the Weasley girl, right?"
Narcissa nodded, wincing, hoping not to be yelled at.
"Well, her brother, Arthur, asked me to tell you to keep an eye on her, since she's not in their house with them."
Narcissa felt herself melt with releif. Her parents were often monitoring who she was friends with, and she had always had to be picky growing up, to please her parents. But here, she supposed she was free.
"Sure. I will."
Andromeda smiled, "Great, Cissa. Knew I could count on you." She yawned, "Well, that's all. I know I had a very trying day. Go get some sleep, all right?"
Narcissa smiled, and nodded, and Andromeda ruffled her hair, "Night, Ciss."
"Night, Andie."
Once Andie had disapeared down the corridor, she mumbled Trooclepop to the centraur, and it opened gladly.
Narcissa could not believe how much had happened in one day. It was insane.
As she pulled her pajamas on, she felt strangely sad.
She really loved both her sisters. But it seemed they didn't really love eachother anymore.
Before, they used to fight, sure.
But now, their differences were getting so strung out, she wouldn't be surprised if the killed eachother.
She remembered, as she extinguished her light and crawled beneath the soft sheets of her bed, the last day the three of them had really gotten along. No fights had been shared, no insults remarked. It was just them, being sisters.
Bellatrix was visting for winter break, her second year, Andromeda was well past ten, and Narcissa had just turned eight.
The snow had blanketed the Black estate, and a fire had been lit in each of their rooms.
But they had all slept in the sitting room, Bellatrix answering the questions about school and such.
They had woke and opened presents, had a snowball fight, drank cocoa, went shopping with their mum, and got home in time for a well prepared dinner. Some friends of their fathers had visited, so they had to go to bed early.
They didn't mind. Their mother summoned all their beds next to eachother in the sunroom so they could watch the snow fall on the glass ceiling together.
"You know what I think?" Narcissa giggled as she snuggled into Bellatrix, whose left arm was being occupied by Andies head.
"What, Cissa?" Bella asked quietly, eyeing the sky.
"I think this was the best day of my life." Narcissa said, and the two girls smiled at their younger sister genuinely.
"You know what I think?" Bella said, looking at Andie.
"What's that Trixie?" Andromeda mumbled into her arm.
"Andie's stealing all the blankets, that's what I think."
"Yeah, you're right. You need the blanket to cover up your stinky feet. Right, Cissa?"
The all giggled, having a tugging war with the blankets. Finalley the hours became late, and their eyes heavy.
"Goodnight." Narcissa said shyly, "Love you."
"Love you too." She heard them say, before she fell asleep.