As she expected, Andromeda found the two women in the veranda, drinking tea. Narcissa was turning her spoon in her cup with a rather vacant air. She was even paler than she usually was. When she saw her sister she looked slightly relieved. Andromeda couldn't imagine why : Narcissa usually quite enjoyed listening to their aunt's gossips, especially now that she was not in speaking terms with most of the remaining members of the family. Something was definitively off with her sister, but it was not the right time to question her, not with Lavinia here, and not with the mission she had to fulfill for Sirius and Hermione.
"Andromeda", Narcissa said with a wan smile. "I didn't expect you before next Monday. Why have you come ?"
Lavinia looked at Andromeda with interest. "You're little Andy, aren't you ? It's been years since we saw each other, my dear", she said. Then she added, trying to look sad : "I'd heard about your loss, but I didn't have much news about you since then. What did you do these past years ? I wanted to call on you, but Druella never let me do it".
Andromeda smiled politely. "Good to see you, aunt Lavinia. As for my story during the last years, I will tell it to you if you want. But first, I have something to ask to my sister".
"Narcissa", she added, "Lucius's lawyer says that one of the pages is missing in his copy of the inventory concerning the properties you inherited from aunt Caaiopeia", said Andromeda, using the pretext she had prepared. "Could you fetch the original so we can magicopy that page ?"
Again, that somehow relieved air. Narcissa nodded and rose immediately. "I I'll bring it to you right away".
"Yes, go find that paper", said Lavinia brightly. "In the meantime I will have a little chat a little with Andromeda".
This was going just fine. The two women were really obligingly doing exactly what Andromeda wanted them to you. And given Lavinia's reaction on seeing her, it would probably not be very hard to convince her to talk to Sirius, especially if she hinted at the possibility of causing trouble for Druella. She watched her sister walk to the door, her shoulders slightly slumped, as in under some invisible burden
Narcissa slowly ascended the steps that led to her room. Once inside it, she leaned on the door, sighing..She usually enjoyed her afternoon tea with Lavinia, but this time, staying on her chair and trying to look normal while exchanging insignificant news had been a true ordeal. Now she could have one of two or three sips from the firewhisky bottle she kept in her nightstand. Maybe it would help her to go back to the veranda and pretend that everything was fine.
For one moment, she considered talking to Andromeda about the horror hidden in her cellar. But she didn't dare. Once again, she felt trapped, and she couldn't see any kind of way out.