Author's Note: Written for Round 7 of the QLFC 6 — Movies That Killed Their Franchise

Team: Pride of Portree

Position: Chaser 1

Prompt: Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003)

Prompts Used:

2 (location) Knockturn Alley

7 (dialogue) "Well, that did not go according to plan."

14 (word) deplorable

Word Count (excluding Author's Note): 2989

A/N: Muggle!AU Mobster!AU

The Charlie's Angels movie franchise was short-lived — unlike it's TV serial predecessor. In particular, Full Throttle tackles the problem of when a former co-worker/ friend/ sister becomes a rival or even an enemy. Being a threesome, it was hard to pass up the opportunity to work with the Black sisters again. Considering that Sirius Black was a notorious "traitor" of his family's views on Muggles, it seemed a natural fit. And since we were keeping it about betrayal of family, I was inspired to make it all that much seedier with the gangster crossover.

A quick note on gravy: Gravy (not sauce or pasta sauce or marinara or Bolognese) is the common term for a tomato-based sauce — that may or may not have meat in it —that is usually cooked over the course of many hours or days according to some groups of Italians and Italian immigrants. There is much debate about the use of the term, but it is the term I have chosen to use here by way of asserting the differing linguistics between regular people and mafia-related characters.

A quick note on pagers: evidently pagers were a thing as early as the 1920's, but were still relatively limited until the 70's when tone and voice paging became more widely available. Although mostly for medical personnel, for the purposes of this story, Scotland Yard will be at the forefront of the new technology. For more information, blog/throwback-thursday-history-pagers

A quick note on timing: Since this is a Muggle!AU the more things change, the more they remain the same. I see this as being roughly the Summer of 1971; this would preserve the cannon ages of all the Black sisters as well as the timeline within which Andromeda might have met Ted Tonks.

Angel Baby

"I told you!" she hissed. "Dirty rat!" Bellatrix Black convulsed in alcove she shared with her sisters just beside the entrance to Msaw Aetare — it was something between a dance of joy and a self-stifled impulse to leap out at their prey. Narcissa place a hand on her arm, just in case.

"As you said, Bella," she tried to reassure her older sister, "Sirius has never been one to show much in the way of family loyalty, but I'm not sure his departure from the tattoo shop says much about what he is doing, except, perhaps, getting some ink."

"Have you seen any ink on him?" Bellatrix retorted.

"Oh, enough with your conspiracies, Bella. We don't see Sirius at all because of father. You don't know any more than I do about his activities." Narcissa spoke with confidence despite being the youngest. At the moment, she was hoping it was convincing enough to cover her own doubts. "Come on," she tugged at Bellatrix's sleeve and nodded to Andromeda. "Didn't you say you had a some 'protection money' to pick up from Potage's?" She flashed Andromeda a private, worried glance as she tried to turn their sister back to her initial task. Narcissa was more than a little concerned about what Bellatrix might to if she had any clue that her sisters were active working to keep her in check.

Thankfully —for tonight, at least — she only had eyes for Sirius Black. "I'm going to kill him," she whispered, as she took one last glance. "See if I don't."

"Sirius," she whispered, afraid to be heard. Andromeda Black kept in the shadows of the tangled, twisted buildings on the east end of Knockturn Alley. She wore a threadbare, overly-large trench, the belt wrapped twice around her tiny waist as the hemline dusted the ground. She had wrapped a thin rayon scarf around her head, keeping her hair well hidden and partially obscuring her face. She was taking no chances of being recognized. Her father had eyes everywhere.

The slip of a shadow moving away from Markus Scarr's doorway stopped, but did not turn towards where he heard her voice. He had already given the game away. Andromeda watched as Sirius tucked his hands into his pockets and prepared to talk himself out of yet another tight situation. "Oi! Who's that?" he shouted out into the alley, specifically directing his body away from where Andromeda was hiding. She was sure he knew where she was. "That you, Lupin? A long way from the soda shop, aren't you, you nancy boy…" He casually walked by, head forward, and allowed Andromeda to peel herself away from the wall and drop in behind him.

"I knew it," she said to his back. "How could you be so foolish?"

"I'm not the only one who's being foolish at the moment." She could almost hear his smile. So cavalier.

"I'm here to warn you!" She sped up, moving almost parallel to him, but Sirius prevented that by making a quick right turn into a short, narrow service corridor between the buildings. No sooner had they entered the deeper shadow then he turned on her and grabbed her by the shoulders, whipping her around so she was hidden by his own body. "Bella knows!" she squeaked out. She was terrified, but at the moment, she wasn't sure if she was more afraid of Sirius or her sister.

"Did you expect I hadn't planned on that?" he hissed. "How does you being here help me?"

"I — I — I ju—"

"Now what are we going to do?" he shook her again. "Think about it, Dromeda?! Do you think no one knows where you are right now?"

Andromeda Black has always been fair, she took after her mother; but pale would have been an understatement had there been light to see. She could feel the blood drain from her face with the realization. Her eyes were as large as saucers as they searched Sirius' face for a glimmer of hope that it was not as bad as she thought. She found no solace.

"There are no other choices for you now," he said, pulling Andromeda closer to him into a hug. "I'm sorry. I know you thought you were helping."

"What am I going to do?" she whispered into his chest. Her eyes were welling with tears, unbidden. Sirius hugged her tight, his cheek resting atop her own head. She stood there, wondering how she had ended up here — she had never been close with Sirius. She had been encouraged to stay away from him; Sirius wasn't what you would call a 'good soldier.' And yet here he was, offering her protection when he should have been more worried about himself. She couldn't reconcile it.

Sirius broke their embrace, his trademark crooked smile widening across his face. "Well, that did not go according to plan, huh?" He asked, gently wiping the tears off of Andromeda's cheeks. "Let's get out of here. We're gonna need some help." He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and then headed back out into the lane. "Fortunately, I know someone." He smiled, and turned them towards the White Wyvern pub.

"Where is she?!" Bellatrix threw her fork back into her plate of spaghetti and meatballs, splattering the white linen tablecloth, and her youngest sister, with gravy.

"Would you calm down!" Narcissa replied, pushing back from the table and dabbing at the red splatter all over her new pale pink leisure suit. "Thank God this is polyester," she mumbled, noting all the while how the red seemed to slowly bleed out from each and every spot like a small wound.

"Stop worrying about your clothes and listen to me, Cissy!" Bella growled angrily as she grabbed her sister's wrist pulling her closer. Narcissa was relieved that, at least for today, her older sister was going to choose to keep her voice down in public — even if they were in the safe space that was Mulpepper's. The "apothecary" made its reputation on poisonously heavy-handed libations, a healthy helping of lasagne and a haven for the seediest of the mafia underbelly. The Black Sisters had practically grown up here.

"I don't know who you think you're talking to." Narcissa spat back, wrenching her arm back. "Unlike 'Dromeda, I'm not yours to push around."

Bellatrix's eyes flashed wide in that way she had; it scared Narcissa. It was the sort of look that shook you to your core. Narcissa had always known that Bella was the most violent of them all; the most capable of what it took to be 'made'. Bella had only ever wanted to be part of the family business; the money, the crime, the violence. Especially the violence. It was not a desire they shared. Sure, Narcissa enjoyed the wealth her family had accrued; the deference that was shown to her because of who her father was...but she had never had aspirations of getting her hands dirty. Not like Bella had.

Sitting here alone with her eldest sister made all too plain the missing element of their trio: Andromeda. She was the fulcrum — the mediator and the diplomat. She was the one who had pressed her youngest sister into accompanying Bellatrix on her outings; to 'keep an eye on her'. It was Andromeda who had been the most worried about their sister's increasingly erratic behavior only a few weeks prior.

"She is interested in more than just laundering a little drug money through Cobb and Webb's," Andromeda had insisted. "The other day, I found her sporting a butterfly knife in her belt and razor blades hidden in her hair!"

Narcissa remembered her doubts. "Could she have been threatened? Does she think she needs — I don't know — protection?" Narcissa sitting at her vanity when they'd had that discussion — staring at her new, platinum blond 'do in the mirror, only half listening to her sister. "You know we've had some scuffles again with the Irish out near Msaw Aetare. Those Finnegan boys are especially vicious, from what I hear." She flipped her hair back over her shoulder and pouted at the mirror.

"Would it be so bad if we just went along?" Andromeda asked. "You know, 'Cissy — just to keep Bella safe?" Narcissa looked at her sister directly; she knew what she hadn't said. It was as much to keep everyone else safe as it was for Bella.

"No, not at all," Narcissa replied, turning back to her reflection. "It'll be fun. Like we're in a Nancy Drew mystery or something." She flipped her hair back again. Andromeda smiled and threw a musty overcoat at her.

"Well, come on then," she grinned. "No time like right now!"

'Bella has a point. Andromeda would not have missed this dinner voluntarally. Where was she?' Narcissa thought.

"Are you even listening to me?" Bella screeched between clenched teeth in Narcissa's direction.

Narcissa blinked. She hadn't been.

"Sorry, no — I was thinking," Narcissa replied, hurriedly.

"Well, the time for thinking is over!" Bellatrix pushed herself back from her half-eaten meal and made for the door. Narcissa had little choice but to follow, hoping against hope that somewhere along the way, she might figure out what had happened to Andromeda.

'Before Bella does.'

"'Dromeda, this is Ted," Sirius said by way of introduction as Andromeda Black scarfed down the last of her stew where she sat hunched over the bar at the Wyvern. "I gave him a page while you were eating. He might be able to help us."

The tall, lanky young man reached over to shake her hand — a courtesy Andromeda wasn't used to. In her family, and especially in the family business, women were seen and not heard. That is, unless they were talking amongst themselves in the kitchen. She found herself awkwardly wiping her hand down her thigh before she took it. Her hand was clammy and warm; and this undeniably attractive man who was staring at her intensely was not helping.

"I'm an agent with Scotland Yard," Ted said. He was polite, but assertive. It was clear now that he was speaking that he was most assuredly an officer of the law. "I work in the criminal enterprise division, and I have been working closely over the past few months with your cousin here, on infiltrating the Black family." He paused for a moment, perhaps for her benefit, but Andromeda wasn't sure. "Your family," he finally added. Ted looked back over his shoulder at Sirius and nodded.

Sirius moved a bit closer and picked up the thread. "C'mon 'Dromeda. You could be a big help."

Andromeda just stared at him as if he were speaking a foreign language. "But Sirius," she finally managed, "I don't understand. They're my family."

"They are. But they are also deplorable people."

"They are not…" She couldn't even finish the sentence in good conscience. "They're not always so awful," she finally managed.

Sirius persisted. "They do awful, horrible things though — and they do them to make money, no matter who gets hurt in the process." Andromeda found herself looking away from her cousin, her fingers all twisted up in a nervous knot on her lap.

'What do I do? What can I do? They are my family..I love them!' She felt Sirius wedge himself in closer to her, his arm reaching up and over her shoulder.

"I know," he whispered. "I know how hard it is." He squeezed her closer. "I love my family, too. But—"

Andromeda pushed hard into his chest. "No!" she slid off her barstool. "No, I won't! I can't!"

"Please, 'Dromeda. Think about it. Who is going to protect you from them now?"

"Protect me?" She asked, "I was protecting you!"

Sirius smiled in that crooked way of his. "Are you?" he asked as he leaned back across the bar towards a small window and pulled back the curtain. "Are you really?" He nodded his head at Andromeda and she peeked outside. There, huddled in the darkness just outside the pub were her sisters — lying in wait. Andromeda turned back to Sirius, her mouth open, but nothing came out.

Ted reached up behind Sirius to redraw the curtain. "The Yard can provide you with protection." Andromeda blinked at him and remained silent. It was all happening so fast.

Sirius seized her arms and gave her a good shake. "The minute you walk out that door, you are discovered — whether you've done anything or not! You can't just waltz back into the viper's nest!"

"All I wanted to do was warn you—" she squeaked, meekly. How had it all gone wrong?

"I know," he replied. "You have a good heart. I'm sorry it has gotten you into to all this trouble..."

"Well, then," Ted piped up, breaking the tension with his business-like demeanor, "I have an idea, but it'll take a bit of acting on your part, Andromeda. Are you game?" Sgt. Ted Tonks was deceiving. As an undercover agent, he looked like any other oversexed hippie: long brown hair hanging in his eyes, his bell bottoms just a bit too tight, with no shirt and a fringe suede vest. But when he opened his mouth, he gave the game away — he was a cop, through and through — even someone as innocent as Andromeda could see that. He flashed her a smile that was worthy of her cad of a cousin. She couldn't stop blushing.

"I—I guess?"

Ted traded places with Sirius, moving in to Andromeda's personal space. "I'll take it from here," he reassured him. "The kitchen door is guarded by one of my guys. Ask for 'Liam' and he'll get you to the safe house." The two men shook hands and Sirius disappeared behind the bar.

"Now," Ted said, as he pressed in even closer, "let's have a drink and loosen things up a bit."

The door to the White Wyvern opened, spilling light out into the darkened alley along with two occupants. Narcissa almost pissed herself when she heard their laughter.

"'Dromeda?"

"Shhhhhh…." Bellatrix muttered. "I told you she was up to something!" Narcissa could not believe her eyes, but she didn't have to. She was certain that was her sister's voice. She sat back with Bellatrix and watched as the two forms stopped in the street. She listened to the sound of her sister's nervous giggles and watched to see their shadows meet, close and tight. Andromeda was smiling and breathless. She practically floated down the narrow alleyway toward them.

"And just WHAT do you think you're doing?" Bellatrix jumped out of the gloom, grabbing Andromeda.

"Bella—" but there wasn't time for more, as her older sister pressed her back into a wall and produced the knife she was ever so fond of. She snapped the butterfly blade out in an instant, shoving the razor sharp tip up under Andromeda's chin.

"I'd ask what you were doing in there," Bellatrix started, "but I'm pretty sure all I'm going to get is a mouthful of lies." She pressed the blade, ever so slightly, into Andromeda's flesh. Narcissa watched as a large drop of blood welled up at the knifepoint, all while Andromeda tried not to move.

"'Let's not make hasty judgements about Sirius,' she said — 'Let's give him the benefit of the doubt,' she said." Bellatrix's anger grew as she spat Andromeda's own words back in her face; the knife clenched in her hand biting deeper into flesh. Narcissa saw the wild look in her sister's eyes and flinched. "Maybe I should cut that lying tongue out!"

"Bella, please! Stop!" Narcissa wasn't one for putting herself in danger, but she would not stand by and watch this. She pushed Bellatrix's hand away from Andromeda (she heard her squeal in pain as the blade sliced through her skin, but it beat the alternative) and placed herself in front on her injured sister so that by the time Bellatrix had gathered herself back together, she had to confront them both.

Bellatrix laughed, maniacally. "Oh! Lookey at what we have here? You true colors are showing, Cissy. "

"Don't you think this has gone far enough?"

"Do you think that's what Daddy would do?" Bellatrix sniped back, inching in towards Narcissa, her blade still extended. "Do you think that loyalty doesn't extend to family? Of all things?" Narcissa felt herself tense. She didn't know. She'd gone out of her way to shield herself in clothes and jewelry and manicures so as to not have to confront the dirty work her father and his henchmen did.

Bellatrix smiled. "Move, Cissy. Time to teach 'Dromeda what happens to snitches…"

Narcissa wasn't exactly sure what precisely happened next. By the time she pulled up a seat in the Wyvern and ordered her Harvey Wallbanger, she had some real blood next to those gravy stains. Some, she assumed, was her own. But as she let the alcohol and the soothing groove of Gloria Gaynor take the edge off, she could only think of Andromeda — and how she'd probably never see her again.

"Bartender? I'll take another. And make it a double."

Andromeda Black hid from the neon glare coming off of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream shop, waiting on the payphone that stood nearby. She ventured out only to pick up the ringing receiver, afraid that if she spent too much time in the ambient light, someone might stop to help her. Or worse yet, recognize her.

Timidly, she answered the call.

"Andromeda? Andromeda this is Ted. You paged me?"

She swallowed hard. "That offer still on the table?"

"You know it is," Ted answered. He listened in vain for an answer, only to hear her muffled sobs.

"Hold on, Andromeda," he said. "I'll be there soon." And Ted Tonks ran out into the night to meet his destiny.