Written for the International Wizarding Schools Championship Season Two
Round : Round Four—Hoggy Warty Hogwarts
School : Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry
Year : Year 5 - Deputy
Theme : The Headmaster's Office—Those in a position of power and authority and their relationships with those that are their subordinates or those within their care.
The theme has been used by showing Bellatrix and Andromeda's relationship with Narcissa, as a figure of authority and someone in their care respectively.
Prompts : 6. (Genre) Hurt/Comfort [Main]
12. (Emotion) Betrayal [Additional]
10. (Action) Skipping Stones [Additional]
Word Count : 1990
A/N: Although there is disparity about Andromeda's age, she and Bellatrix are twins here, and Narcissa is four years younger. Bellatrix is not insane in this. This is set right after Andromeda leaves.
The Edge Of Departure (Leaves Deep Wounds)
Cissy was their responsibility. Her older sisters were the only parental figures that she had truly had. Andy and Bella were the ones who loved her the most. Andy knew this. And yet she had thrown it all away—thrown away her family and her little sister whom she had sworn to love, cherish, and protect no matter what.
I.
It is inevitable for people to drift apart at some point. It can happen to anyone. Parents, siblings, friends, lovers … sometimes they just want different things from life. And they leave. Bella knows this. Bella has already experienced this estrangement once before. And even now … even now she had been expecting it. But that does not mean that it hurts any less—the pain of departure is sharp, and it brings with it hurt and anger. Anger not only her own but also Cissy's.
Cissy was their responsibility. Druella and Cygnus—although their parents by birth—had never cared for any of them. They were girls, after all. What use were girls? It has been years since they had last called them Mother and Father. They've lost that title. They used to wonder, her and Andy, if they ever realized this. Bella knew they didn't care. If it hadn't been for the houselves they wouldn't ever have been able to survive.
Her older sisters were the only parental figures that Cissy had truly had. Andy and Bella were the ones who loved her the most. They had raised her, truth be told. They were all she had. Andy knew this. And yet she had thrown it all away—thrown away her family and her little sister whom she had sworn to love, cherish, and protect no matter what.
All for that pathetic mudblood lover of hers. She chose him. She left.
Druella and Cygnus were enraged, of course, but they felt no other emotion towards their daughter leaving. No remorse, no regret. Just disappointment that Andy would not be earning them another alliance with some pureblood family. After all, that was the only purpose of her existence, wasn't it—she was a girl. They were all girls.
It was part of the reason she had left, and despite how bitter she feels about it, Bella understands. It doesn't elevate the stinging betrayal that has settled into her stomach, however, nor does it do away with the extreme envy that rises inside of her. Andy was burnt off the family tapestry the moment Druella and Cygnus had realized that she had left. She has no more ties to the Black family. She has someone to love immeasurably. Someone who would love her back. She has a new life. Bella could only ever hope to leave behind this life.
Every piece of fortune requires a sacrifice, though. Bella and Cissy were her sacrifice. She would never admit it, but that thought hurts Bella more than anything ever had. She doesn't know yet how she would ever tell Cissy. She is still in Hogwarts. It is too crude to tell someone in a letter that their sister, whom they had loved more than life itself, has abandoned them—left them for the wolves.
She doesn't even fully know how she herself is going to deal with it. Andy was—is—her twin sister. They were partners. That night Bella rages and screams at the walls of her bedroom. She pounds at the door that connects Andy's bedroom to hers with bare hands until there is a crack in it and her knuckles have split.
Finally, she turns her back to it, sliding down against the door until her eyes fall on the portrait of the three of them. She stares at it for what might have been hours. For the first time since she had realized that three of them were all alone in the world, that Druella and Cygnus were their parents only in name, Bella cries. Her nails are digging into her palms, her hands are bleeding, she is sitting stiffly against the door and staring at what now seems to be the memory of a different, happier life. Things have changed.
II.
Everything in the house reminds her of Andy. It's disgusting. Everywhere she looks she feels an ache in her heart—the acute pain of loss. She wonders if Andy feels any guilt, any shame, at what she has done, but she knows the answer already. They are, after all, twins. She did what she thought had to be done. Neither of them ever regretted their decisions, especially the ones they took for their good. Even if it meant abandoning their sisters. She takes a swig of the firewhiskey she had smuggled out of the kitchen and wanders towards her bedroom.
The portrait in her bedroom suffocates her more than anything. The three of them laughing and smiling at each other. They don't know, of course, of the tragedy that has occurred. If she keeps staring at the portrait long enough she can almost delude herself into thinking that all of this is some nightmare, and she would wake up and open Andy's door to find her sitting in bed reading.
Andy's room is empty however, just as empty as her soul feels right then. It doesn't particularly look as though its occupant has left it for good. Her things are spread about it still—some old textbooks, quills, robes—and her bed looks like a mess as if she has only just risen. It is cold, however, and Andy is gone. She left all of this here because she left this life here. Anger and resentment rise in her throat like bile and she washes it down with another swig of the whiskey, the burning sensation of the alcohol shaking her out of her stupor.
Andy left this life here. This devastating reminder of what their life had once been like. Happy. Lovely. But now it's just her life and she decides she doesn't need these reminders anymore. And so, slowly, methodically, she removes traces of Andromeda Black from the house, the firewhiskey her companion. When she is done there are four trunks in the bare room—four trunks which serve as a shrine of wood and metal to the remnants of happier times gone by. For the longest time, she stares at them and mourns. Later, in the dead of the night, when she is still awake and staring at the boxes far more sober than she'd like, she orders them all burnt. No trace of Andromeda Black shall remain in this house any longer. None apart from the portrait, which she doesn't have the heart to throw away, suffocating as it is.
III.
She cannot gather enough courage to tell Cissy about it even as days turn into weeks, and she knows that neither Druella nor Cygnus care enough to write to her themselves. It is high time now that Bella tells her the truth, but she finds that she simply cannot burst her happy bubble. Not like this. She is only fourteen. And anyhow, she will be back for Christmas break in another week. Until then, she will just have to swallow the tears that threaten to fall from her eyes every time she reads Cissy mention her twin.
IV.
She hadn't been sure how Cissy would react to the news. She would've been devastated, of course, but Bella had expected tears. She had expected screaming. She hadn't expected her to press her lips into a thin line and nod solemnly. But Cissy gets up from her place on Bella's bed calmly and shakes her head so that her blond hair falls gracefully against her back.
"I understand," she says softly, "excuse me."
She is trying to be brave, Bella realizes numbly, but the faint quiver of her lips is not missed. Bella had never thought that she would ever feel anything but love and familiarity for Andy, but the feeling that spreads through her watching Cissy's retreating form can only be called hatred.
V.
It would've been so much easier if they had felt anger instead of emptiness and sadness. It would've been so much easier if Cissy had felt anger instead of emptiness and sadness. But Cissy is not angry, only disappointed. And heartbroken. Because she understands how stifled Andy had felt here. How stifled all of them feel here. But she had still hoped, Bella thinks, that they would all have stuck together until they could leave. She hadn't expected Andy to move on before them. It hurts her. It hurts Bella too, but it angers her more. Cissy should not have to feel responsible for Andy leaving.
There is an uncanny silence in the house for days and it drives Bella mad. Cissy doesn't feel like talking to anyone, and Druella and Cygnus were never ones to make conversations. She hasn't ever felt this alone in the eighteen years of her life. She sighs quietly, making her way to their backyard. The backyard was a sanctuary untouched by anything and everything. It used to be their sanctuary, but it's just her now.
She had thought that she would be alone over here, but there is a flash of blue robes and blond hair amid the greenery of flutterby bushes, and Bella finds Cissy sitting near their extravagant fountain trying to skip rocks. She can't be sure due to the distance, but she thinks she is crying. Not for the first time, her heart constricts and she digs her nails into her palms. Cissy sobs quietly, the sound reverberating through the silent yard, then flicks another pebble into the fountain. It skips once then sinks.
Bella is quiet as she approaches, but not so quiet that Cissy doesn't hear her as she comes. She sits beside her on the fountain steps quietly, watching the softly tinkling water flowing down the numerous levels. Cissy wipes her eyes and picks up another pebble from the pile beside her and throws it again, this time with a vengeance, and it sinks without skipping. She sniffs. Bella picks up a smooth black pebble from beside her boot and wordlessly flicks it in, the pebble skipping twice before finally sinking. She sighs.
Skipping rocks had been the sisters' favourite pastime. Andy had been the best at it. Her rocks could skip the entire length of the fountain before sinking. They used to have so much fun doing it. Skipping rocks under the summer sun had been a happy memory. Now it feels tainted.
Cissy takes up another pebble from the pile, turning it over between her fingers again and again. "You don't have to stay, you know."
Bella looks at her with a frown and narrowed eyes. Cissy doesn't look up. "You don't have to stay for me. I don't want to stop you from leaving. Now that you're of age … you've always wanted to get out of their clutches same as Andy—" her voice breaks at the name, but she continues, "I'll be fine. I'm always going to be at Hogwarts anyway and I am already betrothed to Lucius. We'll marry right after Hogwarts and I'll be out too." She sniffs. "You don't have to hold back on my account."
Bella's eyes are stinging, she realizes, and her voice is heavy when she speaks, but softer than ever before, "Oh, Cissy how could you ever think—"
"Because Andy left!" Cissy cuts her off, voice bitter and laced with fury. She looks up at her sister for the first time during the conversation, eyes filled with unshed tears. "Andy left. I could never have thought that she would choose a mudblood over us either, but she did. You've always wanted to leave too. Don't hold back on my account."
Bella stares at the blue eyes looking at hers unblinkingly before she wraps an arm around her sister. Cissy does not return the gesture but she doesn't draw away either.
"You and I are going to stick together, Cissy. Through thick and thin. Throughout our lives and after it. I'm not Andy. I'd never abandon you." She swallows. "You're all I have, after all."
Cissy hesitates for a moment, not doing anything, and then her smaller hands snake around Bella's shoulders. For the first time in what feels like years, Bella smiles.
A/N : Hey everyone, I hope you liked this version of Andy's departure with Sane!Bella and Twins!Andy and Bella. Tell me how you like it :)