1970

Andromeda, Rabastan and Bellatrix sat on the wall to watch the world go by. They were a perfect trio when they were together and throughout their childhood, they had been inseparable.

They were not children any longer – Bellatrix being nineteen years old, and Rabastan and Andromeda both seventeen – but it did not matter. They were as close as they had ever been.

The wall – their stronghold, their special place, a fortress against the invading forces of their families' domination – was the perfect place for the three of them to sit, to share food or stories or games, or just each others company. When they sat there, they were above mankind, looking down on it like a trio of gods instead of what they were – three teenagers who could not take another day of good, Pureblood life. They watched the world pass them by from that wall, and laughed at their families and their pretence. When Bellatrix, Andromeda and Rabastan were out together, they left everything else far behind.

On this particular day – late in summer, when the air was thick and hot, the sun almost unbearably bright – there was a giddy feeling amongst the three of them. Andromeda had put a name to it when they had all met there, early that morning.

"It's like- summer is going to end soon," she had said as she lifted herself onto the wall and kicked her heels against it, "and we all know it is, but we're going to enjoy it as much as we can in the last few days."

"That's stupid, Andi," Bellatrix had told her, laughing. "It's not as though any of us have to go back to school, seeing as how you two finally finished last year," she added, giving her sister a little shove as Rabastan joined them on the wall.

"Andromeda's right, though," he said with more seriousness than either of them. Rabastan was always the serious one, after all. "It does feel like summer's ending and we just have to enjoy it while it lasts."

"Oh, you two and your profound metaphors," Bellatrix said, rolling her eyes. "Honestly…" She pulled her legs up under her as she gazed out over the moors. "So… what shall we do on this 'one of the last days of summer' days?"

Neither Andromeda nor Rabastan had had an answer. After several moments of anticipatory silence, Bellatrix shook her head again. "Well, all right…" She stood up on the wall, and started to walk along it.

"Bella, what are you doing?" Andromeda asked, equal parts nervous and exasperated. The wall was perilously narrow for walking on, but Bellatrix seemed to be having no difficulty.

"I'm going to go see where the end of the wall is," Bellatrix told them. "We've never gone along the wall to see where it leads."

Andromeda and Rabastan exchanged glances, and Rabastan shrugged his shoulders. It was true, they never had. They had never thought they needed too.

"Come on!" Bellatrix called. She was walking easily along the narrow ridge now, arms out to the sides for balance but not seeming to need it. "If – I don't know – the world ends tomorrow and that's what your 'summer ending soon' bit means, I want to know where this wall goes!"

Andromeda shook her head with a smile, and then she slid off the wall and hurried after her sister on the ground.

Rabastan followed, but his mind was not on Bellatrix. He was watching Andromeda – beautiful, sweet Andromeda – almost dancing along the ground. She looked like some sort of angel, he thought, with her brown curls flowing loose, and her dress flicking around her bare calves.

Andromeda's skirt, soft, sea-green silk when she had bought it, had been torn and stained so many times it was unrecognizable, but she wore it anyway, because, she said, it was still the prettiest thing she owned. Rabastan agreed – there was no garment that Andromeda looked so beautiful in as that skirt.

"Oh damn!" came Bellatrix's voice, sounding both put out and amused. "The wall just ends here. Nothing interesting at all! Well, I suppose I should have expected that…"

Rabastan was panting as he ran up to where the girls had stopped. He was physically weak, and even this brief little jog winded him. Andromeda smiled and took his hand, squeezing it as the blood thumped so loudly in his ears he thought he was going to pass out. He smiled at her, though, signalling he was going to be all right in a moment.

Bellatrix had scarcely even spared Rabastan a glance. She was standing on the edge of the wall, arms outstretched as wind whipped around her. Her black hair swirled in the air, her long skirt fluttering up around her knees. She looked captivated by the winds, as though they were going to lift her up and carry her away any second.

Rabastan glanced at Andromeda, who shrugged slightly.

At last, Bellatrix's arms dropped and the winds stilled as she leapt off the wall and pulled both Andromeda and Rabastan into tight embraces. Rabastan stiffened – physical shows of affection were all but unheard of from Bellatrix.

"Listen here, you two," Bellatrix said, pulling back and looking at Rabastan and Andromeda with an almost uncharacteristically earnest expression in her eyes. "Maybe… maybe you two are right about… 'summer ending'. Maybe things are going to start to look bleak soon… but I swear to you both," she added, drawing herself up to her full – quite impressive – height, "summer might end for the rest of the world, but not for us."

"What are you talking about, Bella?" Andromeda said, rolling her eyes slightly at her older sister.

"You know what summer is, Andi?" Bellatrix asked. "Summer is freedom. Anyone can tell you that. It's always going to be summer out here, when the three of us are together, because, out here, when the three of us are together…" She spread her arms again, like wings. "Freedom reigns."