"Let's play a game!" Andromeda said eagerly. Bellatrix nodded, then placed her hands on her hips.
"What game?"
"You decide." The brunette replied, knowing full well that her sister would accept no other answer. Bellatrix grinned.
"Let's play stuck-in-the-mud."
"But you'll be 'it' and there won't be anyone to free me!"
"Okay, umm..." Bella fiddled with a lock of raven hair, "Simon Says."
"Yes, but we have to swap Simons, cus otherwise it's not fair."
Bellatrix frowned, and for a moment, Andromeda was afraid that her older sister was going to throw an I-don't-want-to-share tantrum, and Bella was no fun when she was in a mood.
Then it passed and look of nonchalance was on her face.
"Alright then, I suppose that's fair."
Just then, Narcissa sidled over. The girl was in a most irritating clingy stage. If she couldn't get affection from her parents, she would follow her sisters around everywhere.
"Can I play?"
"No." Both Bella and Andromeda said at once. Cissy's bottom lip wobbled.
"Why?" she demanded. Bella snickered and 'Dromeda took lead.
"'Cuz you're annoying and small."
"And you're rubbish at Simon Says, anyway." Bellatrix added.
The little girl's eyes welled up and she huffed, "Am not!"
"Are too!" the other two yelled together, laughing. Cissy narrowed her eyes.
"I'll tell mummy."
Bella and Andromeda both froze. Little Cissy was mummy's favourite, upsetting her meant evoking mother's wrath. They exchanged looks.
"Alright then. But you don't get to be Simon, you're too small."
"Okay," Cissy smiled happily. If any six year old could look smug, it would be Cissy. They all set off for the playroom in the West Wing. If father caught them playing in the drawing room, they would be for it.
Andromeda and Bellatrix walked ahead, arms folded and scowling.
"Merlin," Bella grumbled, "She's so annoying!"
My eyes snapped open at the sound. I lay there, frozen, for a few seconds, before I realised what it was;
It was the sound of breaking wood.
In a split second I was on my feet and running, wand in hand. I reached my daughter and son-in-law's room moments later, and was horrified to find that the broken wood in question happened to be the door. Not the sign of a friendly visitor then.
Heart hammering, I crept into the room. There was Dora, in the corner, and Remus before her, wand outstretched.
It was only then that I saw the intruder; a tall, imposing figure. Light was coming from Remus's wand, which was pointed at it.
I saw Remus's gaze flicker to me for a split second, eyes widen, before going straight back to the person. He was trying not to give me away, which meant that he was expecting me to make some kind of move.
I did. I pressed my wand into the small of the person's back and said clearly,
"Don't move."
This order was disobeyed completely, as in one fluid motion, the intruder spun around.
"Avada-"
"Protego!"
"Lumos!"
Three voices rung out in the space of two seconds. The second and third were Remus and I respectively. The room flooded with light, and now I could see who it was that was facing me.
It was a woman. She was tall, a regal air about her. Her hair swung round her shoulders: it was an unruly jet mane that framed her gaunt alabaster face. A pair of dark eyes twinkled in deep-set sockets; a lipsticked mouth was pulled back into a maddened smirk.
The cloak she was clad in was plain and black, but beneath it she was wearing a low-cut dress. The top, short-sleeved, was a shade of poisonous green, with blood-red trimming and detached sleeves that fastened around her middle fingers. The skirt was coal-black, and beneath it she wore a pair of dark-coloured leather boots.
My insides gave an unpleasant squirm. I recognised that smirk, those eyes, that hair. I would know them anywhere. I saw the same facial structure in the mirror every day. I cursed that pasty complexion every time I wanted a suntan.
She was my sister. My elder sister, my best friend, and later on, my arch-enemy.
I can't do this. I can't do this. She's my sister.
"Long time no see, Andy." She purred.
"Don't call me Andy." I replied simply, hoping my voice wasn't shaking too much.
I can't kill my own sister. I can't kill Bella. I can't do this.
She let out a bark of laughter that reminded me ironically of Sirius. They had been the best of friends when they were younger. Young and naive. I missed those days.
"Andromeda, darling, how have you been? I haven't got a single letter from you in over twenty years."
I stared her in the face, equalling her dark gaze.
"If I sent you letters, Bella, you would have burnt them. I decided to save the trees."
Bellatrix laughed again, throwing back her head and tossing her tresses dramatically. That was Bella; always the centre of attention.
I kept my glare on my sister, but in my peripheral vision I could see Dora inching towards the cot in the corner. I prayed that she would make it and tried to keep the attention on myself.
"Why are you here?" I hissed. She stopped laughing and merely smirked.
"I've come to visit my grand-nephew." She pouted, "I was very upset when I didn't receive an invitation."
My heart beat faster – I know Bella was bound to turn around, and Dora was just at the cot, hands scooping in to grab Teddy. I had to distract her.
"I always loved you, Bella, even after what you said."
Bellatrix gave me an odd look, and, for a moment, there might have been regret in her eyes. Then it was replaced by scorn.
"Oh, that's such a – such a you thing to say, Andy! You were always the sentimental one, even worse than Cissy." She raised her eyebrows and casually pointed her wand over her shoulder, "Avada Kedavra."
The unforgivable curse flew past Dora's shoulder, missing her head by inches. Her mouth dropped open and she scurried back over to Remus, baby clutched to her chest.
"Yes, I knew that you were just distracting me, Andromeda," her voice was soft and menacing, "I would like you all to understand this," her mouth curled into what could have been, if you didn't know better, a warm smile. "If you try to cross me or escape, or alert someone outside – I will kill you." Her eyebrows quirked in a way that made her look curiously like Dolores Umbridge. "Understand?"
She placed one hand on her hip and twirled her wand between the fingers of her other hand. I stared at my daughter and son-in-law, trying to communicate with my eyes that they should get away as soon as possible.
"Now," Bellatrix pressed the tips of her fingers together, "Who will go first? Andy, will you sacrifice yourself for your family? Or how about you, Remus – you're the man. Or even you, Nymphadora, will you do a Potter and demand that I save your baby?"
My gaze met Remus's, and, for once, he didn't argue. I think after months and months of trying, he finally understood that it was hopeless trying to quarrel with a Tonks woman. He merely nodded.
"So," Bella grinned delightedly, "Who will it be?"
"You!" I yelled, "Levicorpus!"
Bellatrix howled in fury as she was swept up into the air by her ankle, skirt billowing out around her waist, feet kicking. Her indignant screams echoed through the room, as she thrashed her arms and legs, trying to push her dress from her face.
"Let – Let me DOWN!"
I used her distraction to scan the room. My heart lifted; Remus had obviously caught my hint and disapperated with Dora. Now it was just me and Bella, and a big score to settle.
"ANDY! LET ME DOWN NOW, OR SO HELP ME-"
"Don't call me Andy!"
Bellatrix came crashing to floor, where she shrieked and huffed, then jumped up to face me again.
"I always wanted to do that." I said cheerfully, eyebrows bouncing. "Never got the chance."
"You...You..." her mouth opening and closing, unable to convey words that would describe her hatred for me. Then she noticed.
"WHERE ARE THEY?"
I shrugged, grinning in a way that I knew she would find infuriating. "I have no idea. They've disapperated, so don't bother trying to torture it out of me, cus I don't know!"
Her skeletal face grew red with anger; her wand arm shook with longing to blast me off the face of the earth. But she couldn't, because if she did, she would never find Remus and Dora. And she would fail her mission. And the Dark Lord would kill her.
This simple revelation made me laugh out loud, and I did, pointing a finger at her.
"You can't kill me!"
"I...I can!" she spat.
"You can't and you won't Bella! If you kill me, you will have no idea where the other tainted members of our family are. Plus, I don't think you have it in you to kill your own sister."
"I killed your mudblood scum, Andromeda, and now I'll kill you!" She pointed her wand at me, but she was shaking. My head began to reel.
She killed Ted she killed Ted she killed Ted SHE KILLED TED!
"Arrghh!" I screamed, lunging at her.
Fury and grief were my ammo as I swiped and parried, sending every spell I could think of her way. She was doing the same, though I noticed with muted triumph that she didn't use a single killing curse.
Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain across my legs. They crumpled and I hit the floor gasping in pain. The tidal wave of agony spread up my body and I began to shake. Dimly, I recognised it as crucio, Bella's trademark 'unforgivable', the same curse she had used a few months ago to try and torture the whereabouts of Harry Potter out of Ted and I. She was standing over me, leering.
"Not so strong now are you, ickle bwud twaitor? Tell me where the others are and I shall kill you mercifully!"
"Ne – never!" I croaked, "I – I don't...I don't know!"
"Humm..." she raised her eyebrows, "I don't think I believe that, Andy dear. Tell big sister Bella what you know."
"I don't know anything...and if I did...I wouldn't tell you anyway!" I groaned between howls of pain.
Bellatrix stared at me for a few seconds, mouth twitching in thought, before ending the spell. I wasn't sure whether it was out of mercy for a once-beloved sister or whether she had finally realised that it wasn't going to get her anywhere. I lay, gasping, on the floor, whilst she sat quite casually on what I realised with a jolt was Teddy's upturned cot.
She smiled at me as I sat up. I pushed my hair from my face; I needed to settle something and now was as good a time as ever. But she beat me to it.
"I always preferred you to Cissy," she said softly, "Narcissa was so annoying and always trying to suck up to father...whereas you didn't care what anyone thought. I admired that about you, until you stopped caring about what I thought. What I felt..."
The sentence was left awkwardly, the mighty Bellatrix Lestrange not used to being sensitive. I figured that she'd got rid of all those feelings in Azkaban. Or perhaps earlier. Now my turn.
"I loved...love you, Bella. But I don't love what you do. You're on the wrong side. We will keep fighting, whatever happens, but what will you do if the Dark Lord is overthrown?"
"I will keep fighting!" she hissed, "And so will Rodolphus!"
I snorted, "What, with all those oh-so-loyal Death Eaters would sell you off so much as look at you? And Cissy, who'll just hop sides to protect her darling Lucius and Draco?"
"You're...you're wrong, Andromeda!" she yelled, eyes wide. I shook my head.
"No, Bella, you're wrong. You're on the losing side."
"You dare insult the Dark Lord!" she hissed. I laughed.
"Oh, I dare." I grinned, "He's a complete maniac asshole. And so are all those who follow him which means – oh yeah, that's you, isn't it Bella?"
Bellatrix looked like she was about to have a hissy fit, and she probably wanted to. But I had one more thing to say.
"I love you, Bella. I always have done. Goodbye." I stepped forwards and kissed her on the forehead. She stared at me incredulously, shaking. Slowly, she raised her wand.
"Avada Ked-"
"Pertrificus Totalus!"
I stared at my immobile sister for a few seconds, the only thing she could move being her eyes, and they were swivelling furiously like two trapped wasps.
"Thanks for coming back." I said, smiling at Remus. He shrugged.
"We couldn't leave you on your own."
"'We'?"
"You know what Dora's like," he grinned, "We dropped Teddy off at-" he stopped quickly as he remembered that Bellatrix was still able to hear, "-A...safe place, then rushed back here. I made her promise to stay downstairs."
His gaze flickered back to Bellatrix again, and he frowned.
"I doubt anyone will find her until tomorrow, but just in case..." he waved his wand and a length of magical ropes wound around her. She let out a kind of strangled howl and glared angrily at him.
"Now," He opened what was left of the bedroom door, "Shall we go?"
I took one last glance at my eldest sister, lying trapped on the floor, looking rather strange trying to give me evils without using her eyebrows, before I turned away.