Surprise

I'm sorry; I've gotten out of order. Please, let's rewind…

It was the year 1970 that my entire life began to crumble.

It was the year before Lucius, as I prefer to call it. Like B.C., before Christ, I suppose I could title it B.L.: before Lucius.

It was a very family-oriented Christmas that year, because Lucius had not yet invaded my life.

It is precisely my family I am interested in talking about.

Christmas morning was a bit hectic. I got a beautiful sparkling hair clip that I longed to wear that day, but it was vivid green. Mother would only have us wear black that day. Later, as the younger children played with their new toys, I learned something new about three people in my family.

Bella was first. We were sitting together, watching as Regulus tried out his newest broom--the fake kind, for kids.

"I have great hopes for that boy," Bella muttered, following Regulus's tracks intently.

"What?" I asked quizzically; great hopes weren't really my thing.

"I mean, he is so smart, so like a Black," she elaborated.

I laughed. "What do you mean by that? 'So like a Black'? Are you mad? Who isn't like a Black in our family?"

"Well, Sirius, for starters,"

"The pig. Did you see his walls? They're driving Aunt Walburga mad! Mum told Andy, who told me, that she was sure he was--" I lowered my voice, "not a Slytherin."

"We all could have guessed that! And Andy, too, is not acting particularly Black-like. She's acting odd, Cissy. And--ugh--I saw her speaking normally with that mudblood!"

"Which?" I asked. My world was beginning to break already. My role model sister, Andromeda, conversing with a--a--mudblood? No. No way. This was Andy. She turned up her nose at all mudbloods. I knew it; I'd seen her spit out words that were beyond my comprehension in their cruelty when speaking to any blood-traitor or non-blood-purist.

Bella looked grim. She whispered, with an air of sureness, "Ted Tonks."

No. No! "No!" I screamed aloud.

"Shh!" Bella chided, "I have something else to tell you."

"What?" I asked miserably. Andy was a seventh year. She was still considerably young in my eyes, though. She, unlike Bella, never told me to call her by her full name. Bella was eighteen, and Andy seventeen. They could terminate use of our nicknames, but Andy didn't.

I loved Andy.

Until now.

Bella was continuing, though. She looked to both sides of her. "I'd have told Andromeda, but--you know. Anyway, look," and she rolled up her sleeve.

I wanted to die.

The Dark Mark.

To tell the truth, I shouldn't have been so opposed. After all, we Blacks were not against anyone ready to rid the world of half-breeds and mudbloods.

But I was.

Maybe I'd begun to change.

Maybe, if I'd kept going, and there'd been no Lucius, I'd have turned into Andy.

But I didn't.

I just felt a sense of wrongness in my stomach.

And so I followed my instinct.

"Holy hell! Bellatrix, you can't do that! You went and--and--"

"It's in his service, Cissy," she spoke as if talking about a lover. "He is like some sort of God, I swear it. His power is so strong…"

Her words were dreamy.

"Bloody hell, Bellatrix. You--so you're--"

"Yes. I, Bellatrix Druella Black, am a Death Eater. And proud."

I fainted.

I mean, what is a girl to do?

The second was Sirius.

When I came to, Mother was glaring at me, Daddy was sitting with his head in his hands, Bella held ice to my head, and Andromeda looked worried.

"For Merlin's sake, Narcissa, why did you faint in the middle of a blasted family gathering?"

"Daddy, I'm sorry, I--"

"No, Cygnus , leave this to me. No Mr. Nice Guy around Narcissa. She needs discipline," Mother said sternly.

I looked sideways at Bella, who gave me a look of annoyance and urgency.

I didn't tell.

I glared at Andy, who responded with a look of disgust. I was sure she felt that her worry was too good for me, if I was to be like that.

I didn't complain as she stomped from the room.

Mother slapped me in the face. "Weaklings faint, Narcissa. We didn't bring you up as a weakling! Now get up, Walburga wants all of us. And don't you dare faint again, understood?"

I gasped with the impact of the blow. I held my red cheek tightly as Bella smirked. Her look said, What you deserve. After all, you almost gave me away, you little-- I didn't dare finish interpreting.

Daddy looked disappointed. His look said, For Merlin's sake, Druella, if you're going to give it to them finish the job!

I was glad the job went unfinished.

When we got back to the living room, Regulus asked if I was all right. He noticed the red of my cheek, I'm sure, but didn't comment as I nodded, tears in my eyes.

"Glad we've gathered. I have grave news."

Andy, I noticed, hovered in the doorway. I didn't understand the suitcase she was carrying.

Sirius was playing with his black tie, head down. He was smiling viciously.

"Sirius Orion Black is in--in--Gryffindor."

A collective gasp filled the room.

Andy was beaming.

Bella was looking grim, with her I told you so face on.

I wanted to scream "No!" again.

'Siri', as we'd nicknamed him as a child, had always been the oddest of us all. When I was very, very young, and too stupid to know better, we were the best of friends.

Now?

Not so much.

To this very moment, I regret what I did. I turned to him with a look of contempt and spat, "You little Gryffindor. How can you live with yourself? You're as bad as--as--Uncle Marius."

That was really very cruel. Uncle Marius, actually our great-uncle, was a Squib. All of us knew him to be a disgrace to the family.

Sirius opened his mouth, but all he got out was, "Better than you lot."

Andy advanced into the room.

"A lot better than you in particular, Narcissa," she glared at me with a ferocity she'd never used on me. Apparently my words had annoyed her to such a degree, she had snapped. She'd never called me Narcissa, always Cissy. It sounded strange to my ears. "You are a filthy little Slytherin, and you're dying to marry the richest pure-blood around. You all need to get a grip on the world!"

She grabbed the suitcase and walked out. She slammed the door as she left.

Needless to say, the last was Andromeda.

She came back the next day, bags under her eyes, smiling. I don't know why she ended up returning; perhaps her Mudblood friends didn't want her. I never could explain that smile.

We wouldn't speak to each other for a week.

We didn't look at each other when we passed in the hallways of Hogwarts.

She'd shed her usual band of Slytherins and was hanging around with mudbloods—Ted Tonks mostly.

I hated her now, while I still loved her.

I learned that she was no longer a purist.

And, for all we cared, she was no longer my sister.

The stark truth in that statement wouldn't show up until next year, when I was least ready for it…