Narcissia, Christmas Break, 1970.
Narcissia loved it at Hogwarts. For five years now she had been forced to accompany someone else to King's Cross, to stare longingly at that scarlet train. The absolute killer was that she turned eleven last October! Her birthday was a lousy two and a half months after the deadline! But this September, her year had finally come.
She was the oldest girl in Slytherin, which would have made her important enough, even if she didn't happen to also be Bella and Andromeda's sister. She was lucky because her parents and the parents of other respectable families had been getting all their same-aged children together for years, so she knew all the girls in her dormitory already except one. A few of her friends had ended up in other houses, but it wasn't like she couldn't ever see them again. They just couldn't ever be best friends like she was with her roommates.
She really hadn't wanted to come home for the Christmas Holidays, but she knew it wasn't optional. It was tradition for the whole Black family to eat dinner together right after each term ended and she was absolutely dying of excitement over seeing Sirius and Reg and lording their youthful ignorance over them.
Uncle Orion had, once again, been regrettably delayed at the Ministry and would be unable to make an appearance. Narcissia had the distinct impression that Orion might live somewhere in the Ministry – he certainly never seemed to be home when they went to visit Grimmauld Place.
She had once mentioned her theory to her sisters and Bella had joked that if she had Aunt Walburga waiting for her every night, she'd certainly never go home either!
Narcissia knew it was impolite of her to think it, but Aunt Walburga really was the worst.
{ - }
Dinner was going quite badly. Most notably, Bella had initially refused to come down at all. Their Father actually had to go up and get her. Then, when Walburga had congratulated Bella on such a fine engagement, Bella had the audacity to insist that Walburga was mistaken and that she was in fact not engaged at all.
"Of course you are, Bellatrix," said their Mother forcefully, before inviting Narcissia to tell the group about her first term at Hogwarts.
Narcissia was more than happy to oblige, though she could tell she wasn't holding their complete attention.
Talk soon turned to their Father's Defense of Bloodlines Act. The adults talked about how shameful it was for Dumbledore, an educator, to take such a public political stance on the issue.
"As if having Mudbloods at Hogwarts wasn't bad enough!" Said Walburga, no less angry now than she had been any of the other times Narcissia had heard her say the exact same thing.
"They're not so bad, really," offered Narcissia, happy to be able to put some of their fears to rest.
Every eyebrow shot up in unison. Narcissia was unnerved to realize she'd even managed to capture Bella's attention.
"Oh?" said her Father from the end of the table.
"No, I just mean that while obviously they're annoying because they don't know anything in the beginning, and I'm glad there aren't any in Slytherin, they do try quite hard." Her defense of Muggles did not garner much of a response. Uncomfortable with the silence, Narcissia plowed on,
"Imagine if you were a Muggle-"
"Imagine if I were a Muggle?!" said her Mother incredulously. Narcissia dropped her eyes to her pile of broccoli, suddenly aware she was in trouble. They were all staring t her, open mouthed in some cases, all except Andromeda who was facing forwards, eyes closed.
"Now now Druella, they must be properly educated or that school will fill them with all sorts of nonsense," said Walburga, turning back to Narcissia and continuing in a scary soft voice, "As you were saying Narcissia."
Incredibly unsure of herself now, Narcissia continued, talking solely to her broccoli, "Well, it's just if you were a Muggle your whole life, then all of a sudden you found out you were a Wizard, you'd be so excited because being a Wizard is obviously better. So they don't know anything at the beginning because it's all new, but they try hard to learn because they're so grateful to be at Hogwarts at all. That's what Andromeda says anyway, That they can't help having Muggles for parents."
Her parents and Bella shifted their disbelieving gazes over to Andromeda, but it was Walburga who spoke first.
"Narcissia,, your sister is quite wrong. Mudbloods steal their magic from real witches and wizards. Your Uncle has actually written several books on the subject which-"
"How?"
Narcissia heard both her parents exclaim, "Andromeda!" in unison, at the same time as Walburga cocked her head and breathed, "excuse me?"
Looking her Aunt right in the face, Andromeda asked, "How do Muggles steal magic when they haven't got wands of their own? Most of them don't even know magic exists until they get their letters."
Narcissia's Father was turning very red in the face, whereas her Mother had gone quite pale.
"Sirius and Regulus, you had both better leave the table since your cousins insist on setting rather an appalling example for you today," ordered Walburga, without taking her eyes off Andromeda.
What would have undoubtedly have been the opening statement to Sirius's impassioned argument was cut off by Bella's indignant screech, "Cousins?! I'm no Muggle rights activist!"
"Clearly you have been failing to set an appropriate example for your sisters at Hogwarts!" Said their Father, furious and embarrassed.
Bella, who had been teetering on the absolute edge for all of her nine hour engagement, jumped to her feet.
"I'm not the one with the Muggle boyfriend!" She cried, thrusting an accusing finger at Andromeda.
The whole room froze.
Their Father rounded on Andromeda with such an expression on his face that Narcissia flinched.
Andromeda too had risen to her feet in what Narcissia assumed was righteous anger at Bella's wild and degrading accusation, but she was now backing away from her father with both hands up, placating.
"It's not true Father, I swear it. I wouldn't. That's – That's disgusting!"
It was only at her affirmation of disgust that their Father stopped his advance.
Narcissia shot a glance at her Aunt who, having forcibly ushered her sons from the room, had returned to her seat and now appeared content to watch the dramatics unfold, all pretense at dinner forgotten.
"To whom is Bellatrix referring then?" Their Mother asked Andromeda.
Andromeda suddenly lost the ability to look anyone in the eye, interest caught by the intricate wooden carvings along the back of her chair.
"Andromeda," warned their Father.
Andromeda send one last withering glare at Bella.
"I signed up for Arithmacy without telling you, and," she did not pause to let the weight of that mortal sin sink in, "there was a Muggle boy in the class and I got him to help me a couple of times because I guess Muggles teach children a lot of Arithmacy in school – which I did not know when I signed up!" She hastened to add.
Narcissia had known about Arithmacy, and honestly she'd thought it rather bold of her sister, but she didn't know about the Muggle. She wondered how Bella had come to know, and hoped it hadn't been Andromeda to share the secret.
Both their parents were speechless, a feat the sisters had never before managed in Narcissia's lifetime.
Aunt Walburga, however, was never long silent.
"Well, well Cyngus, I must say your household is seeming a little outside your control these days."
Pushed beyond all limits by his sister's gleeful tone, Cyngus slapped his hand down on the mahogany table with enough force to make all the silverware, and his daughters, jump.
"Andromeda! You will not be returning to Arithmacy, and I will hear no more tales of you cavorting with Mudbloods. And Bellatrix, you will marry the Malfoy boy!"
Andromeda had ducked her head, but Bella stared right back into their father's face and declared, "I promise you I won't."
He was in front of Bella in three great strides. He grasped her chin in one hand and dragged her close. Narcissia could see Bella was on her tip-toes, supporting herself on the chair back to keep her balance.
"I promise you, you will," he held her for another second, then released her. Bella staggered back slightly, but was saved from having to respond by the appearance of Dotty, one of their head house-elves. The sight of a house-elf in the formal dining room was rare enough to capture all their attention.
"Master and Mistresses, please excuse Dotty, but-" she hesitated, wringing her hands nervously.
"Well? Out with it!"
"The little Masters, they is bringing a Niffler into Mistresses best sitting room!" The elf's tone was one of confusion and despair.
Cyngus gave a final roar of frustration and kicked out at the elf before striding from the room.
Walburga was not far behind, furious at having been shown up at her moment of crowning glory, she charged from the room with a resounding battle cry of, "SIRIUS ORION BLACK!"
All three sisters shifted their gaze to their mother, who would make her likely displeasure known only now that their father had departed.
They waited to see who had most angered her while she folded her napkin and set it atop her plate.
"Andromeda," she finally said. Narcissia felt the muscles in her neck relax, and she saw Bella briefly close her eyes in relief. "I had no idea you felt such sympathies towards your Muggle classmates," Their mother continued. Andromeda wisely kept her mouth shut and her eyes down.
"All three of you will go straight to your rooms. I am thoroughly shocked and disappointed by your conduct this evening!"
{ - }
Later than night Narcissia lay on her bed with her journal open, waiting. The journals had been Bella's idea originally. Andromeda and Narcissia had been devastated when their sister got to go off to Hogwarts without them, so Bella had come up with the three-way journals so they could keep in touch. Anything Narcissia wrote in her journal would automatically show up in both of her sisters'.
After a silent trek through the house to their respective rooms, Narcissia had quickly pulled out her journal and written;
I'm sorry for getting you in trouble, Andy.
They didn't use the journals much anymore, except when one of them was on punishment. Narcissia knew she wouldn't be seeing much of either of her sisters until school started up again, and she felt terribly guilty about it.
After a while Andromeda replied;
I know you didn't mean it.
Bella didn't write anything.
{ - }
A/N - I don't own HP. Any feedback is greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!