Ted had just apparated and Bella was sitting in the leather chair near the fireplace, she was shaking and when Andy got a good look at her she realized that she was dangerously thin and had cuts and bruises all over her body. She went and got them both some tea and then sat opposite her older sister, something she hadn't done in over twenty years. For a while they just sat there until Bella broke the silence. "I'm sorry about what happened, I tried to stop Lucius but he wouldn't listen."
"Thank you, I know you didn't have to help her. I want you to stay here, you can't go back now, they'll kill you." Andromeda knew the Death Eaters almost as well as they knew themselves. After all, she had grown up hearing the rhetoric of pureblood fanatics and also hearing the stories of what happened to the blood traitors. Even though she was one herself and did not feel threatened, they would make an example of Bella because she was such a high ranking Death Eater.
"She's blood, isn't she," Bella loved to point out the irony in situations, but it was true, Nymphadora was her niece, her blood, much more than any other Death Eater was. "I hate Lucius anyways, he's fucked up all of us and he knows it. But I can't stay here; the Aurors are looking for me just as much as anyone. I'll have to go into hiding but Lord Voldemort will find me sooner or later, there's no hiding from him."
"No, that's not true, I'll contact Dumbledore, and he can protect you." Andromeda wanted to help her sister more than anything, she was one of the people she loved most in the world, even all the years she spent in Azkaban and all the wrong that she had done couldn't change the way she felt about her. "I won't take no for an answer, if you go back there they will torture and eventually kill you, and you know that it will be Lucius holding the wand."
"What do you think is going to happen to me if I try to join the light though; even Siri is a wanted criminal when everyone knows that it was Peter Pettigrew that did the crime. I am not innocent, I have tortured people and witnessed countless crimes, and I don't even think I should be pardoned."
Andromeda was not giving in, "you are worthy of redemption, at least you are to me. And look at Siri, I've seen him, he's in hiding but he at least he's okay and Dumbledore will help you, he helped Severus and he was not an innocent either."
"I don't know, Andy, a lot of things have happened – I don't know – why can't we have come from a normal family, look at us, you are doing the best and that's only because you distanced yourself as much as you could from all our fucked up family and blood duties. Reggie's dead, Siri's a fugitive, Cissa's trapped by Lucius and I have no where to go but six feet under. I'm sorry I couldn't save Nymphadora from those bastards, I really am." Bella was telling the truth, this was the first time in a long time that she let her guard down.
"Bella, I want to know what happened to her, I don't know if she'll want to tell me but I need to know."
"Well, when the Aurors raided the headquarters Rabastan hit her with a curse and immediately apparated with her. I didn't know that she was even there until we were summoned by the Dark Lord. Then he started to talk to her and I realized who she was. I think that he was thinking of making her a Death Eater. He then tortured her until she passed out." Andromeda was clearly upset. "I, along with Severus, convinced Lucius that it would be best to let her wake up on her own. I waited and after a day had passed she woke up. Lucius must have been monitoring the room because he came in shortly afterwards. I tried to get him to let me take her punishment but that just made him angry and he forced me out of the room. The Dark Lord disliked my signs of loyalty and decided to punish me. Just when I returned to my rooms Lucius came in from the dungeons and sent Roddie to Nymphadora. After Lucius was done with me he fell asleep and I made my way quickly to the dungeons, attacked Roddie and got Nymphadora here as quickly as possible."
Andromeda was taking in all that her older sister was saying. She had sacrificed herself and all that she knew. Andromeda was taken back to when they were teenagers and Bella would protect her. She, in that moment, saw how selfless the woman in front of her really was. She always looked after her family even when it cost her entire existence. Bella was drifting off to sleep so Andromeda covered her with an blanket and let her rest for the first time since she was a little girl.