Chapter Seven. Fair warning, this is yet another particularly emotional one.

I'm only going to put this disclaimer on every 3 chapters or so from now on, as it seems redundant. I own zero. Zip. Zilch.

Just my smut.

And of course, a thank you to my darling beta, The-Missing-Paige :3

"Narcissa, did you know about Andromeda and Artemis?" I ask her from across the room. She has agreed to see me, but her distance is apparent. She does not forgive what occurred the last time I was here. The letter and photograph are in her hand. She is done reading but silent.

"I suppose I knew a lot of things about Andromeda." She pauses. "I knew what Druella allowed Artemis to do. But no, I did not know that he was the one who fathered her child."

There is a silence that follows.

"There were a lot of things you didn't know, Bella. A lot happened right under your nose… Artemis came over frequently. He tried to touch me once or twice but Andromeda quickly became his favorite." She says, crossing her legs. There is something different about her. Something…foreign. Something grown up.

"Often Druella would watch him abuse her. Sometimes pleasuring herself during. Sometimes touching me during." Narcissa rubs her arms as she speaks. Comforting the goosebumps rising on her porcelain skin. We don't revisit the past often, she and I. It's better left where it is.

"She would never let him enter her though. Never. She said that he may do to Andromeda as he so pleased, but the second he penetrated her, she would have the authorities on him. The whole ministry would know. His family would be shamed. He would rot in Azkaban." Her eyes drift over to mine, briefly.

"And so he never did. Until whenever this was, I suppose. Until whenever she got pregnant. Just a lot of things with her hands and mouth. And a lot of things with his hands and mouth."

My mouth is dry but I leave my tea where it is on the table. My voice is scratchy when I speak. "Where was Cygnus? He hated those damned Lasko's," I ask, knowing full well that it is a ridiculous question.

"Does it matter where he was? He was useless. He hit Druella, and drank himself mad. I'm almost glad Druella took a fancy to us over him. At least she, in most people's eyes, was a respectable person. Cygnus was a rubbish father, Bella. A rubbish person. While Artemis fondled Andromeda, and Druella fondled all of us, and we fondled each other and Andromeda snuck off, and I burned myself and you broke down into fits Cygnus just IGNORED us Bella!" She yells, and her words echo off the marble.

The forgotten Black sisters. The ignored Black sisters.

"But what does it matter, Bella? Why does this interest you now? Why do you care about Andromeda's story now? What about the other blood traitors, or the muggle borns- th-the Mudbloods as you call them. They had stories too. So why take interest in Andromeda's while all those slain at your hand remain dead with their stories untold?"

I stare at her for a second before the rage over takes me. Why does she constantly bring that up? Why does she see me as a monster? I feel myself losing it. They always said I had fits. Like some sort of mental patient. I do not have fits. I am angry. I have always been angry. How dare she.

"Watch your goddamned mouth, Narcissa. What of your husband? Am I more a monster than he? You lie with him still, don't you? You lie with a monster. So are you any better? You haven't killed but you're married to a killer. You haven't killed but you carried a killer's child. Your son was conceived in pure sin, Narcissa. Not unlike you and Andromeda and I… you are no saint,Narcissa. And you best watch your tongue. Things are changing. Sides are being decided. And I assure you, your ignorant spouse and I are on the right side. Do you like being powerless? Insignificant? Do you like fading into your own empty head? The Dark Lord will return, Narcissa, and you best watch your tongue lest you lose Lucius and the life you've cultivated for yourself and your brat!" I scream at her.

My anger ricochets off me and bounces recklessly off the walls. But Narcissa does not respond with any anger of her own. Instead, in an unnervingly calming voice she says, "And what of you Bellatrix? Will I lose you too?"

I don't know what answer she is looking for, so I give her the most honest one I can muster.

"I love you,Narcissa. I know this because I have never loved anything else in my life. Just you, and you alone. Which is well enough because I operate best on hate, and loving you has literally shattered me inside…" I pause.

"And had this been before Lucius. Before you gave your allegiance to someone other than myself, I would have followed you…protected you even, until the end of time. But you have changed, Narcissa. You have changed and like you, my allegiance has shifted as well. I belong to no one but the Dark Lord. He will return one day. And I will assist him as he redeems this mudblood loving world. We will be omnipotent, Narcissa, and I hope you will join us. If not, we will crush you along with all other sympathizers. And that is the way it goes. That is how you will lose me. Bellatrix, your sister. Bellatrix, the monster."

Narcissa stares at me with such intensity. And the finality of my words are apparent. I am, in so many words, breaking up with my sister. The notion is so strange, and so immense. I don't see relief in her eyes. But I also see no regret.

"You will never be omnipotent,Bellatrix. Never. You have no power of your own. You are weak. I am too, but you are the weakest. You are not Druella, really Bellatrix, you are Cygnus. An utter waste of space."

And my wand is out.

The sitting room is no more than a flash of red and green. Her spells are meant to hurt, mine are meant to kill.

"AVADA KEDAV-"

Before I can finish my spell I have fallen frozen to the floor. I cannot move at all although I am conscious and can see. Narcissa…beat me? I hear her breathing raggedly. I test my voice by emitting a low humming sound. Then I speak.

"You might as well join us Narcissa. Us monsters. If the shoes were on the other foot, I'd probably kill you…make an example of me. I deserve it." The words come out my mouth like vomit. I try to swallow it down but it only produces tears.

"Sometimes Bella…I wonder when you got so pathetic. I won't kill you. I will never open the door for you to waltz out of this life so easily. Not with a spell. Not unscathed." She stands above me, and then steps on either side of me. She leans down. Her face inches above mine.

"You were always so dominant Bella. Always the one in charge." She plants a lingering kiss on my lips. "And when it wasn't you it was Andromeda or Druella. And when it stopped being them it was Lucius." Her hand squeezes my breast. I am more scared of her now than I was with her wand in hand. "When is it my fucking turn to be powerful Bella?" Her voice cracks at my name. "Is it now?" She is squeezing my breast harder with each word.

Each breath.

Our eyes meet for one long moment, and then she is off of me.

There is nothing I want to say to her. But her question hangs in the air. Demanding a response.

"Is it ever Narcissa? …Will you ever be more than that weak, skinny, stringy haired little girl?"

She does not answer me.

"Where is your kid?" I question.

Without taking her eyes off of me she snaps her fingers two times. Immediately there are three house elves in front of me.

"Grit, Grain, and Pebble could you please see Miss. Lestrange to the door? She is temporarily paralyzed so you may need to drag her a bit."

She walks over to the side of the room where my wand lies, seemingly small in the grandness of the room. She holds it in both of her hands as though she might break it, but then she throws it to me and it falls on my torso.

"Watch her until she can move again, and then stay with her until she Apparates away. If she does anything other than that, Grit, you will come fetch me immediately, understood?"

All three house elves nod their heads.

"Miss Cissy, the child's fever isn't going down," one of the house elves says with their head bowed. "If Pebble may offer suggestion, maybe St. Mungos can help him."

Narcissa does not speak another word, and I am dragged, useless, out to the cold porch by three slaves.

I am silent but my body is screaming bloody murder. I am angry. I am sad. I am broken, forever hurting. I am dead. I am alive. I am nothing. I feel everything. I crave emptiness. I am empty.

And the night…

The night is moonless.