A/N: Don't get accustomed to this onslaught of chapters... But it turned out putting a little work into this story helped me in more ways than one.
ALSO, quite a few people messaged me on FFNet asking if I meant to imply Blackcest in my previous chapter. Just to make it clear, the answer is uh... No. Sorry if that's what you're after, but I'm so not comfortable with writing anything in that vein.
Anyway, thank you for your continued readership and support!
~Naralanis
Narcissa could tell part of Molly desperately wanted to stay. Andromeda's gaze, however, was enough for the woman to slowly stand and make her way out with nary a glance to spare in her direction. Narcissa, for her part, could only stand and stare at the apparition that stood before her very eyes.
Seeing Andromeda hurt much more than she ever expected. The two oldest Black sisters had always looked incredibly alike – some even mistook them for twins early in life. But in living with Bellatrix post-Azkaban, Narcissa came to realize she had forgotten her oldest sister's cold, devastating beauty. Andromeda looked so much like her it was like seeing a long-forgotten memory of Bellatrix.
"Don't I deserve a greeting back? Where are your manners, Cissy?" Andromeda drawled, so much like Bellatrix her voice sent chills down Narcissa's spine.
"I shouldn't be here." She gasped. Her heart felt like it could burst at any moment; she couldn't stand hearing Andromeda's voice coming out of this body that looked so much like Bellatrix.
"Shouldn't you? I heard you were invited." Andromeda said with a quirk of her eyebrow. "In fact, I heard you've been invited for years. How interesting you decide to turn up when I'm away."
"I have overstepped. My apologies" Narcissa said coolly to mask her trepidation. She took a step in the opposite direction, decided on leaving the premises as soon as she could.
"Ah, I see leaving family isn't so hard after all. If we're still even family, that is."
Narcissa froze in her tracks, shocked at Andromeda's disappointed tone. Her voice was tremulous when she spoke again.
"Do not... do not even presume to understand..."
"Understand what, Narcissa? How difficult it is to lose your family? To be alone? Believe me, I understand perfectly well." Andromeda hissed. Her words sounded angry, yet her features revealed only deep sadness.
This wasn't how Narcissa ever imagined it would go. In fact, she had never dared imagine a reunion with Andromeda at all – this was all too much. She couldn't pick one feeling or emotion to go with; there were too many swirling at the surface: anger, sadness, and so, so much guilt.
"I lost everyone. My sisters. Mt husband. My darling daughter, my Nymphadora." Andromeda said, her tone getting sadder every word she spoke. "And then, my baby sister, my only family in this world, continuously avoided me like the dragon pox. I thought you needed space. Imagine my surprise when I finally do hear from you, it's through Gringotts." She now sounded accusatory. "After all these years, you were trying to buy my forgiveness? I don't want your bloody money!"
"Drommie..." Narcissa murmured through tears she felt ready to surface. Andromeda raised a hand to stop her speaking.
"I wanted to come see you; Merlin, how I wanted to. Every letter unanswered was like another stab in my heart, until I stopped trying. It just hurt too much." Her eyes were angry now. "But not as much as those blasted letters from Gringotts."
"It hurt me, too!" Narcissa defended, hating the way her voice cracked. "How could I see you, Drommie? After everything I've done – to you, to your family, your friends? How could I just come back into your life after being this cold-hearted monster for so long?"
Narcissa could see her statement had shocked Andromeda, but she had found some strength to keep going.
"How could I ever write you? How could I beg for your forgiveness when it is the very thing I least deserve in this world?" She practically sobbed. "I sent you away."
Andromeda didn't look sad or angry any longer; she looked puzzled.
"You what?"
"That night" Narcissa hissed in pain; her heart felt like it would give out. The memory carried by her nightmare was still too fresh in her mind. "When Bella found out about the letters. I sent you away."
Andromeda's expression took a turn to dumbfounded. "You saved me, Cissy." Andromeda pointed out, her voice suddenly gentle. "I can't imagine what Bellatrix would have done to me had you not expulsed me from your library – Merlin, I can't imagine what she did to you afterward."
Narcissa visibly shuddered at the memory of Bellatrix's Cruciatus, made fresh by her dream. Before she knew it, Andromeda had crossed the distance between them; her hands tentatively found Narcissa's shoulders. Though the touch was timid at best, Narcissa could not contain her shiver from the long-lost contact.
"You're all I have, Cissy." Andromeda whispered sadly.
"Don't say that." Narcissa bit back. "You have a grandson – whose parents are dead because of a madman I put myself and my family behind. I'm part of the reason why Ted's dead, Dromeda. Ted, Remus... Nymphadora."
Andromeda's grip suddenly tightened on her sister's shoulders; it hurt to the point of bruises.
"Bellatrix. Not you." She said resolutely.
"Andromeda..." Narcissa began to protest; surely her sister couldn't be so blind?
"Bellatrix killed my Nymphadora, Narcissa. Not you." Andromeda declared with strength to her tone.
"And I was on Bellatrix's side for most of my life."
"Not when it mattered." Andromeda argued.
"Especially when it mattered!" Narcissa cried. "When you ran away, when Bella married, when she lost Ophelia, when you came for me, when the War began again – every time except one, I was right there by her side! I stood by when she did all those terrible things, I stood by while she tortured an innocent girl in my home. How can I see you again when I can never be forgiven for any of it?" She gasped, her shoulders shaking from the force of her sobs.
Narcissa desperately tried to free herself from Andromeda's vise-like grip, only to be dismayed when the latter only tightened her hold, bringing her into an embrace. There was nothing the blonde could do but wait for her sobs to cease in her sister's arms.
"You're a bloody idiot, Cissy." Andromeda said out of the blue.
"Excuse me?" Narcissa babbled, confused.
"One letter, for Merlin's sake. One bloody letter and I could have told you I've already forgiven you!" Andromeda hissed in equal parts amusement and frustration.
"What?"
"Face it, Cissy. The only reason you haven't come see me is not because I can't forgive you – it's because you cannot forgive yourself." Andromeda said sagely. "I've forgiven you ages ago. You'd know it if you had opened even one of the letters I sent you."
Narcissa straightened herself in her sister's embrace, thinking she probably looked just as idiotic as she felt. "What do you mean?"
Andromeda rolled her eyes. "What's happened to you? You were never this slow." She laughed, brushing a rogue lock of blonde hair from Narcissa's pale face. "I've said it, and I shall repeat it. I've forgiven you, Cissy."
Narcissa shook her head. "I don't understand."
"There's nothing to understand" Andromeda declared emphatically. "I've been robbed of my sister for far too long. I want you in my life – you've been out of it long enough."
"I don't understand" Narcissa repeated. "How is it so easy for you? How can you forgive me when I myself cannot?"
"Cissy. Look around you – look at where you're standing, where you've been for the past hours. Look at where you work and with whom! We have all forgiven you. We cannot let this War tear us apart any longer – it has destroyed enough." Andromeda asserted, her eyes boring deep into Narcissa's blues.
"I don't deserve anybody's kindness, least of all yours." Narcissa said, her confusion still evident. "I don't understand how you give it so freely."
"Because I had no one to give it to." Andromeda said with a shoulder shrug. "I give it to you freely – no need to buy it from me with your gold" she quipped. Narcissa found it in herself to laugh.
"Your gold" she affirmed strongly. "All I've been sending you is what is rightfully yours as one of the last descendants of the House of Black" she pointed out. "You've rejected every one of my attempts to give it to you thus far, so I've set it aside on a separate account for... for your grandson."
Tears sprung from Andromeda's eyes. "Bloody hell, Cissy. With such kindness, why are you surprised we are so ready to forgive you? Why can you not forgive yourself?" She said with a tender smile.
"I've got too much to atone for." Narcissa said simply. It was the truth. There would never be enough atoning.
"Consider yourself atoned. Harry told me about Black Manor. He told me about your work in St. Mungos. He told me about your Potion's mastery. You've been forgiven, Narcissa – by all except yourself."
Narcissa couldn't help the fresh onslaught of tears. She returned Andromeda's embrace with a fervor she did not know she possessed, taking all the time in the world to get lost in her sister's warmth and comfort like she couldn't have since she was a little girl.
"Merlin, you haven't changed a bit. So emotional" Andromeda quipped with a laugh, though her own eyes were wet with tears. She leaned deeper into the tight embrace. "You even smell the same. Eucalyptus." She remarked, drawing a chuckle from her sister.
The tender reunion that had been so fraught with guilt and regret came to a close much the same way it had started: with an inebriated presence running into the room with a belated warning.
"Narcissa, we've got to scram! Andromeda's here; sorry I lost track of..." Hermione stopped dead on her tracks at the scene before her: Narcissa and Andromeda not only in the same room, but hugging.
"I think you're a little late, Hermione." Andromeda said with a wide grin. "But don't you worry, she's safe and sound."
Narcissa rolled her eyes at Andromeda's joking tone. "Very funny, Drommie."
"Look at her face, Cissy! She thought I'd kill you or something." Andromeda laughed. Hermione still looked like a deer caught in headlights.
"Cissy? Drommie? I take it things went, uh... well?" she asked, testing the waters.
"Yes, Ms. Granger" Narcissa said. Though her intervention had come too little, too late, Narcissa was glad.
"In any case, I must go" Andromeda quipped. "I've left Teddy home while I... sorted this out." she confessed.
"I'm glad we... sorted it." Narcissa added awkwardly. They had sorted one thing yes... but how to sort out decades of their lives, missed by choice and circumstance? She believed they would eventually find a way to navigate it – it would open old wounds, that much was certain, but it only took one look at an Andromeda happy with her presence to reassure Narcissa it would all be worth it in the end.
"So am I." Andromeda's gaze turned intense. "Don't be a stranger, Cissy. I couldn't bear it."
"I won't, I promise. And I shall read your letters." Narcissa vowed. Andromeda looked confused.
"I won't need to write you, I hope. You can Floo me anytime." She pointed out kindly.
"I mean the ones you've sent me." Narcissa said tenderly. "I've kept them all."
