Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter series.
Warnings: A few profanities from the dirty mouth of Bellatrix.
Listening
"Alecto Carrow is a dead woman," Bellatrix snarled, throwing her hands against the table, rattling the fine china.
Narcissa glanced at her sister and repressed a sigh. After countless incidents, similar to the one at hand, where Bellatrix would storm into the manor just to find Narcissa to rant to, Narcissa was far to used to her sister's explosions. From her seat at the end of the table, Narcissa watched Bellatrix stalk back and forth, her wand shaking in her hand. As fierce profanities became incoherent growls, Narcissa closed her eyes and said a little prayer in the hopes that her house might stay intact when Bellatrix finally blew her top.
"…a foul, whiny bitch… she can just go and-"
"-Bella," Narcissa interrupted impassively, "What do you want with a cow like Alecto Carrow?"
Bellatrix turned sharply to face her. Narcissa stared blankly into the face of her sister. Her already rebellious hair framed her face haphazardly in response to Bellatrix pulling at it in frustration. Her dark eyes danced with anger and her mouth was a ridiculous scowl.
"Hmm?" Narcissa questioned gently.
Bellatrix toppled from her stiff stature with an exasperated moan, slumping over a chair, gripping the sides tightly.
"I want her dead."
"That, my sister, is perfectly obvious."
Bellatrix made an odd hissing noise.
"But I'd think she'd be below you. After all, how often have you seen her since Hogwarts?" Narcissa said in reason she hoped her sister might understand.
Bellatrix looked up at her sister with a pathetic frown, angry tears welling up in her eyes.
"She's one of us now."
Narcissa didn't understand.
"A Death Eater."
"Alecto Carrow?"
"Yes!" Bellatrix snapped, pushing the chair to the floor as she marched over to the fireplace where she leaned on the mantle, her face staring into the flames. "The Dark Lord… gave her the mark… last night."
Narcissa watched her sister seethe against the pale stones.
She began slowly, timidly, "Bella, I just don't see-"
"I was supposed to be the only female," Bellatrix whined, banging her fists against the stones, "Why, why, why!?"
Narcissa looked warily at the mirror that hung over the fireplace, worried that her sister's angry fists might soon meet glass. "Is it so important?"
Bellatrix let out an almighty howl as she crumpled against the slabs of marble surrounding the fireplace. Moaning feebly, she slid down the stones to the floor with a soft thud. She took her head in her hands, looking far more vulnerable than she'd ever let anyone but Narcissa see.
"It was- I was someone special," Bellatrix mumbled, sounding like a timid school girl, "No one thought a girl could do it; but I did. They noticed me; henoticed me. Narcissa, I stood out from all of them."
Narcissa smiled sadly at her sister. Her dark hair and dark eyes wild and frantic, looking very eccentric, Narcissa guessed that there were plenty of reasons besides her gender that might have brought Bellatrix attention.
"Well, Bella, I don't think killing a new minion of the Dark Lord will grant you more favorable attention," Narcissa noted wisely.
Bellatrix jumped up with a start to begin her pacing again. "But Merlin's beard, Cissy; you should have heard the way she spoke to me! Acting as though we were to be the chummiest pals… how much we'd learn from each other," Bellatrix snorted, "Ha! The only thing I'll learn from her is how to speak troll."
Narcissa smiled, she had never liked the Carrows much, particularly not Alecto who did have a tendency to be a little brutish. And not in the exhilarating way her sister was.
"And then… she had the audacity to question my ability; to suggest that myskills with the Cruciatus Curse were not equivalent to hers," Bellatrix cackled, a boiling temper straining the laugh, it quickly became an spout of evil mutterings, "The things that woman could stand to learn. How dare she… someday, she will learn her lesson. I'll put her in her place… How. Dare. She."
Narcissa looked at her sister with muted curiosity. She continued to listen as Bellatrix listed all the reasons she detested every bit of Alecto. As Narcissa had suspected, the motivations were fueled mostly by the bitter jealousy that the Dark Lord was now paying attention to another female. The most clever of which included Alecto's ability to be condescending and ignorant at the same time, they way her robes smelled of ghoul, the odd attachment she seemed to have to her brother, her inability to marry, and the overbearing similarities to a choice group of hideous magical creatures; Narcissa thought that Bellatrix's reasons, were at least, warranted.
Narcissa summoned a bottle of wine and poured two glasses gracefully. She thought perhaps she could try to console or, at the very least, decrease the intensity of Bella's ravings.
"Well, at least you have the comfort that while you're still attractive, Alecto looks like, what did you say, "the backside of a hippogriff"?" Narcissa noted softly.
Bellatrix marched over to the table and snatched the glass of wine from Narcissa's hand. She swirled the liquid violently, clicking her long, scarlet nails against the glass. The dark red of the wine illuminated the color that was high in Bellatrix's cheeks as she sipped the drink through tightly pressed lips.
Narcissa watched her sister warily over the rim of her own glass. There was something comforting in listening to her older sister vent. It was like they were back in the Slytherin common room, or even distant memories from years before Hogwarts. Narcissa smirked. She had her sister's emotional tract down to a science. The initial spout of anger, the incoherent screaming, then a slight bout of hateful tears, and now, the calm before the storm. Her rigid statue, flushed complexion, and staggered breathing was by no means an end. The storm was brewing in her sister's dark eyes. Narcissa gripped the edge of the table as she prepared herself for the worst.
"Alecto Carrow," Bellatrix began smoothly, an odd giggle escaping her twisted mouth, "is so foolish… so stupid…"
Narcissa waited; knowing there was no turning back now.
"I don't even think she really gives a damn about the honor of being one of his. In fact, I think that her brother is the only reason she signed up…"
Bellatrix was gripping the crystal glass so tightly that Narcissa was surprised it wasn't shattering into a million glittering diamonds.
"SHE DOESN'T GIVE A DAMN COMPARED TO ME!" Bellatrix shrieked.
Narcissa saw the glass fly from her sister's hand at the mantle where it exploded, crystal flying everywhere, wincing slightly as the wine ran down the wall and onto the sleek white rug like blood.
"She doesn't-"
Bellatrix clutched her wand as books soared out from their slots on the bookcase.
"-never has-"
The books flew across the room with such speed that Narcissa ducked out of fear of being hit. The force with which they hit the walls broke the bindings; pages flew everywhere.
"-never will-"
The windows rattled fiercely as Bellatrix gripped her wand tightly, staring into the fire. She spun around once more and the windows shattered with an explosion of red light.
"-and never can-"
Narcissa watched her sister walk over to the open windows and claw at the curtains.
"-love the Dark Lord, and his cause, like I do," Bellatrix declared, a sneer etched in every line of her face.
Narcissa blinked, nodding slowly in agreement. She would be worried if there was someone who showed more dedication than her sister.
Flames erupted from the end of Bellatrix's wand as she adorned a wild grin of pride, her eyes gleaming. "I will always be the most faithful," she whispered.
Narcissa winced as the flames swallowed the surrounding curtains. When fire tickled the edge of Bellatrix's robe, however, it was swiftly distinguished. Bellatrix walked away from the window with an air of accomplishment.
Cautiously, Narcissa rose from her seat and stared at her sister. Bellatrix looked slightly abated as she glanced around at the practically demolished room. Finally, the wand was lowered, though Bellatrix did not stow it away in her pocket.
Narcissa inspected the room carefully. The bookshelf was completely bare. The pages of various books floated around the room in the breeze coming in from one of the shattered windows. The fine, alabaster rug was soaked with blood red wine, the shards of glass elsewhere. The mirror frame was empty, the glass having been hit by a poorly aimed book. Priceless china littered the floor like diamonds as the table had been stripped of its dinnerware. The flowers that had previously stood proudly and miraculously on that same table were now limp and worn.
Narcissa let out a soft moan.
Bellatrix heard the noise and a guilty smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.
The younger sister repressed a smile of her own. At least, Narcissa reasoned, she was alive and perfectly unharmed. No matter how much damage Bellatrix might cause in a violent rage, Narcissa never received a scratch.
"I guess I got a little carried away," Bella sighed, laughing happily as she flopped into a finely upholstered arm chair.
Narcissa put her hands on her hips. It was so like Bellatrix to demolish an entire room and then laugh as she reclined lazily.
"I still hate her, though," Bellatrix decided placidly, rubbing her wand with the hem of her robe.
Narcissa stood in the center of the wreckage of the room, running a weary hand through her silky blond hair. She gazed over at her sister who poked her head over the top of the arm chair to stare back at her, the dark eyes softer and child like.
Narcissa was reminded vaguely of the fierce tantrums from her childhood.
"Bella, fix my house."
With that she left the room.
Outside of the door, though, she laughed.
A part of her admired Bellatrix's hotheaded temper.
The other part wondered peevishly if elfish wine would come out of that rug.
Author's Note: Although that was a slight deviation from Narcissa being the main focus, I wrote this for three reasons. One, I am sure Narcissa had to listen to many of Bellatrix's incoherent scream fests, as Bellatrix has a tendency to do that and that's what sisters/friends are for! Two, I think Bellatrix would harbor angry feelings towards Alecto Carrow, however irrational they may be. Third, Bellatrix is so therapeutic to write when one is feeling a tad... angry, as this author was as of late. Hopefully, an update might appear rather quickly, if all goes as planned. Thanks for your continued reading and please continue to review!