Title: Not the Man She Was Marrying

Characters: Narcissa Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange and Andromeda Tonks.

Prompts: Atalanta – write about a bachelor/ bachelorette who finally settles down.

AN: I guess you could assume that the man I was talking about is Voldemort but truth be told I haven't given it much thought.

Word Count: 678

Bellatrix Black was a lot of things but no one would ever dream of accusing her of being soft. Because she was anything but that. In that way, she was very different from her two sisters. She was a stubborn woman with principles that guided her through her entire life. Most principles she had was fed to her by her parents from the moment she appeared in the world but that didn't stop her from believing in them. She was like a thunder storm. Bellatrix Black was darkness, thunder, rain and lightning at the same time. Bellatrix was a sculpture perfectly moulded to fit the pureblood norm.

"You're doing it wrong!"

Narcissa heard the shrill sound of her sister's voice before she had even reached the door at the end of the hallway which led into her sister's room. Her blond hair was pushed back into a formal hairdo. Not one single hair was out of place and the dress hugged her body in all the right places. She wore a small amount of make-up and even if she was wearing heels Narcissa walked silently with a certain grace that she had been taught at an early age.

She pushed the door open, not sure what she would see in there, and couldn't help but smile at the scene. Bellatrix was breathing deeply as she looked at herself in the mirror with her tongue sticking out of her mouth. She looked intensely at the black curls that, no matter what she did to them, didn't obey her. Narcissa could see the frustration growing in her eyes. She was, after all, the observant one.

"Do you need a hand?" she asked.

Bellatrix looked away from her own reflection and let out a deep breath. "Yes, please come and help me fix the mess that these two baboons created."

Narcissa looked at the two women who stood at least one meter from Bellatrix. Both looked terrified in ways that most people seemed to do when they came in contact with a distressed Bella. Sometimes Narcissa would feel bad on the behalf of her sister. But those two, they had been bought by her mother. Narcissa pouted her lips as she watched them and lazily shooed them with one hand gesture. They quickly left. She wasn't a fan of the people their mother hired.

"I'll fix it Bella. You just sit back and relax," the moment Narcissa touched her sister's hair the older woman relaxed visibly.

She leaned back and rested her hand against her cheek while looking at herself in the mirror. She was beautiful. She was always beautiful but now more than ever. She looked edgier and more intense than ever before. But she also looked deep in thought and Narcissa knew why.

"Are you excited?"

Bellatrix looked at her reflection and for once she didn't look like the perfectly moulded sculpture. Her lower lip vibrated as she looked at Narcissa with a fiery intensity in her eyes. "Is he okay?"

Narcissa knew who Bella was talking about. So, while her fingers kept busy with trying to fix Bella's hair she nodded. "Yes, he's fine."

"You're not a good liar," Bella said with a laugh.

"I don't know about that," Narcissa replied but this time chose to focus on the messy status that her sister's hair was in. "I've managed to keep some secrets hidden for a very long time."

She glanced at Bella when Narcissa felt her sister tilt her head to the side. "Is he okay?"

She asked again, this time with an almost soft voice. That tone scared Narcissa more than Bellatrix had ever done when she was angry. It took a certain kind of person, a certain kind of man, to bring out that softness in her sister. Narcissa knew that better than anyone. Maybe she was the only one who knew. She was definitely the only one who knew that when Bellatrix spoke about him, the man who brought out the softness in her, she wasn't talking about the man that she was marrying.

The end