Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter series.
Beginning
The last rays of summer fell through the open window in Narcissa's room. She sat on her bed doing her best to concentrate on her dolls and her dolls alone. But somewhere in the back of her mind, she felt nervous.
It's stupid to be nervous, she scolded herself, you aren't even the one going to school.
But Bella was. For some reason, the idea of Bellatrix leaving for her first year at Hogwarts unsettled Narcissa. As though something existed outside her petite and precious world of privilege, Narcissa couldn't help but wonder what might happen if Bella wasn't around to watch over her.
She gave an emphatic sigh.
Narcissa abandoned her dolls to search for better company in her sisters. Bella's room, though scattered with schoolbooks and clothes around a half packed trunk, did not contain Bellatrix or Andromeda. Her investigation of Meda's room proved more successful. Following a lofty trail of giggles, Narcissa found her sisters sitting on the room's balcony.
"Cissy!" Bella chirped happily.
Narcissa smiled, her uneasiness dissolved, and sat next to Bella so that her older sister could hold her. Andromeda's brows furrowed in concentration as she sorted through a new set of stationary.
"Can I see your wand, Bella?" Narcissa asked.
With an unmistakable touch of pride, Bellatrix handed over the desired object.
Narcissa held it gently, examining the intricate patterns along the handle. Bella had paraded it around all summer, showing anybody and everybody who would pay her mind; which, Narcissa had realized somewhat enviously, was a surprising amount of people. Bella clung to it as though the wand was a part of her. But as she stared, Narcissa couldn't see anything extraordinary about the wand. She wondered if perhaps she'd feel differently once she had a wand of her own.
"Walnut and dragon heartstring, twelve-and-three quarter inches," Bella sighed fondly. "Unyielding…"
"Oh," Narcissa replied, nodding in agreement as though that cleared everything up; even though it didn't. Besides, she had heard the same mantra from Bella more than once before.
"What does unyielding mean?" Andromeda asked a minute later, looking up from her parchment.
Bella bit her lip as she worked on an explanation. "Father said it was something like being stubborn."
"That would make sense," Andromeda agreed, glancing slightly at Bellatrix.
"But I think he was sort of teasing," Bella laughed. "I think it's more to do with not giving up. Like sticking to and defending what you believe in."
Narcissa thought of all the things she believed in as she considered this. She wasn't sure if she believed in all the stories her sisters told her, but she knew she believed in her mother's ability to solve any catastrophe and the fact that one day she would marry handsomely. Nor did she ever once doubt Andromeda's quiet, soothing power or the protection Bella could and would always give them.
"What do you believe in then?" Narcissa wondered. An evening breeze caused her to shiver gently and she snuggled closer to Bella's chest.
"Lots of things," Bella replied. "Our family for starters, our motto, that I'll be sorted into Slytherin, that when I do go back to school you two won't miss me as much as you should…"
Bella was teasing, but Andromeda looked up suddenly.
"I'll write everyday, Bella!"
Narcissa pulled at a thread on Bella's robes that had snagged whilst tromping through the woods. Mother had told Bella not to, so of course Bella had.
"And I'll help Cissy write too," Andromeda added gently, as if she could sense Narcissa's quiet regret.
"Yeah, but I won't write back and then you guys will get mad at me," Bellatrix noted with a wry grin.
"Why wouldn't you write to us?" Narcissa asked with a twinge of rejection. She loved receiving post and it would be good to know that Bella missed them.
"I'll just be busy, that's all."
The concept of Bellatrix leaving for Hogwarts no longer sounded as exciting as it once had. If going to school would make Bella forget about her sisters, Narcissa didn't like the idea at all.
"You'll never be too busy for us," Andromeda remarked smugly, nodding at Bella's arm draped over Narcissa like a blanket.
Narcissa matched Andromeda's face of self-importance. Bella rolled her eyes.
"Let's go outside," she said as a means to change the subject.
"We are outside, Bella."
"I meant on the grass or something," she clarified.
Narcissa looked at her fingers as she mumbled, "Mother said we're supposed to get ready for bed."
"It's barely getting dark out! And who cares what Mother says?"
Narcissa cared, but she still found herself frolicking in the last light of summer on the cool grass with her sisters. She watched in amusement as Bellatrix chased Andromeda with peals of laughter. Then Andromeda turned and ran after Bellatrix. Then they conspired and targeted Narcissa. She ran as fast as her tiny legs would allow her, but it was to no avail. Bella caught Narcissa easily, latching her arms around her little sister's waist to swing Narcissa through the air.
"Bella, no!" she protested as Bellatrix held Narcissa as a peace offering to Andromeda who tickled her incessantly.
Narcissa feared, after enduring numerous moments similar to the one at hand, that her sisters might never end their joint efforts of tormenting her. Luckily, though, Andromeda became distracted as sunset fell into night.
"Look!" she cried excitedly.
As she pointed, Narcissa noticed the hundreds of lightning bugs sparkling across the lawn. Rather unceremoniously, Bella dropped Narcissa to the ground. Brushing herself off, Narcissa scampered up to catch the bugs with her sisters.
"They're like flying stars!" Andromeda giggled as the bug in front of her lit up golden.
"That's the silliest thing I've ever heard, Meda," Bella retorted, diving for a catch. "They aren't stars; we are!"
As her sisters shared grins in camaraderie, Narcissa felt as though she had been denied membership to an exclusive club.
"Well technically I'm my own galaxy," Andromeda bragged.
It was appropriate then that, of the three, Andromeda had the most luck in capturing the fireflies, though they slipped out of her hands the moment she did so. Bellatrix, meanwhile, had trouble sneaking up on them as she cried out in delight whenever she neared one. Narcissa didn't manage success until a lightning bug landed on her nose as if mocking her. Smacking her hand to her face, Narcissa cupped the firefly in her hand gingerly.
"Here, Bella," she said offering it as a present, "I don't want it."
She wrinkled her nose as the bug crawled from her finger to Bella's.
Holding the lightning bug carefully, Bellatrix sat on the ground. She cleared a patch of earth and pulled out her wand importantly. Andromeda stopped her own pursuits as various colored sparks emitted from Bella's wand.
"Doesn't that hurt him?"
Bella shrugged, poking the bug with her wand. "I don't know. Probably not too much."
But noticing that it seemed to bother Andromeda, Bella pocketed her wand. The firefly crawled away, though its tail now lit up in different colors.
With a contented sigh, Bellatrix fell backwards into the grass. Andromeda imitated this action. Narcissa crawled in between them. She held onto Bella's arm. Andromeda began to braid her hair. Bella stared up at the sky. Stars began to appear.
"The end of summer is really strange," she noted, picking pieces of grass and scattering them in Narcissa's hair.
"What do you mean?" Andromeda asked, her practiced fingers weaving quickly.
Bellatrix squinted in concentration. "Well, it's not exactly a bad thing… but it's not exactly a good thing either. It's something you can't touch, and you don't realize you're losing until it's too late. I don't know… summer just goes so quickly."
"You can't stop the seasons, Bella."
Andromeda always proved the voice of reason.
"I know, but…"
"But what?" Narcissa asked, though she had no inclination of what Bella meant in the first place.
"But… maybe you can."
Narcissa felt Andromeda's even breathing on the back of her neck as the braid was hung over her shoulder. Bella looked over at Narcissa and smiled, unraveling the end of the braid.
"What do you think?"
"I don't know…" Narcissa replied, feeling foolish. Bella rarely asked Narcissa's opinion.
"Not on your own, anyway," Andromeda said.
Something danced in Bella's eyes. "Well, then I guess that's why there's three of us."
Author's Note: Ah, the end of summer. I hope everyone's has been enjoyable! Another update will arrive very very soon... Your reading and reviewing makes me so happy!