Toys tossed on the floor

Hand prints on the wall

Slamming of the door

And footsteps down the hall

Boxes made into towers

Covers turned into tents

Voices get a lil' louder

Guide lines get a lil' bent

Boxes now go untouched

Covers in a folded pile

Silence never was so much

Guide lines never been n' awhile

Did we waste our time a way

We once had back then

Never taking time to play

To 'oft we walked right past them

Now they're grown and gone

The house stands still and neat

Only memories left to carry on

Oh, how our hearts do often weep

Would we change time if we could

Would we play a bigger part

Did we get to wrapped up in the world

For now we're left with just

Memories of the heart.

Gloria Babb, MEMORIES OF THE HEART

Narcissa stared at the body of her sister, glorious even in death. Dark hair fanned out around her pale, hollowed face that at least some beauty had returned to in the past few months. It was hard to see her so still when in life she'd always been an energetic little thing, bouncing around with fizzing energy that would always be just near ready to burst out and explode; so hard to see Bellatrix so still.

She had seen the curse that had struck her sister's laughing form, sent by Molly Weasley's wand, and seen the shock that had overcome Bellatrix's face. That had been the expression that Narcissa had expected to find when she approached the brunette's corpse–shock, horror–but there was nothing there. Her face was simply blank, no emotion in sight, and yet she looked oddly peaceful.

She found it ironic that just like Sirius (the cousin Bella had killed) Bellatrix would die laughing. Cissy was both pleased and saddened that the two cousins had kept their word. Long ago, back when they were all still friends and silly wars had yet to touch their hearts, Sirius and Bella had been giggling in the corner. Curious, Narcissa had questioned them only to receive the strangest of responses. Apparently the two had made a pact to die laughing seeing as such signs of foolish happiness were what pissed Aunt Walburga off the most and that way they could anger her even in death; for every time she looked upon their cold corpses she would see an amused expression. At the end of their explanation the two had promptly burst into laughter and Cissy had walked off bemused. The youngest Black daughter found nothing funny about their pledge but then again Sirius and Bella always had a rather strange sense of humour.

Sad, that while the two had kept their promise there was no Walburga around to pull a fit at their indecency; that there was no body to find the body of Sirius and see the laughter in his face; and that Bellatrix's own amusement had been washed away first by shock and then by nothingness. But they had died laughing, just like they had promised.

Narcissa bit back a sob and knelt down beside her sister's form. Death didn't suit Bellatrix, despite the peacefulness and how glorious she looked, it didn't suit her. She was too energetic and unsettled for something so final and still to suit her.

She brushed a curl away from her sister's face and bit her lip, fighting back a cry.

Bellatrix may have changed drastically over the years and perhaps not for the better but she was still her sister. Just like Andromeda, despite what the family tree said, was sill her sister too. Narcissa loved them both, Bellatrix a little more granted, but she loved them both. And she had lost both; Andromeda to a silly mubblood who now lay in a grave and Bellatrix first to Lord Voldemort, then Azkaban and now, much more final, death.

She sighed; there was no use sulking over things that couldn't be changed.

Still, she couldn't help but do so. Narcissa hated the war, hated everything about it. She did not believe there was a good enough point in which to fight for. She did not hate mudbloods enough in which to permanently dispose of them and she certainly didn't hate them enough to sacrifice her family. She despised them certainly, for that was how she'd been brought up, that was how she'd been made to think but she was also very much indifferent to them as well. They weren't worth it, none of it was worth it, and that's what Narcissa had thought many a times whilst lying awake in bed each night; not worth it.

This war had torn her family apart; the most important thing in the world to her had been destroyed all because of some pointless war that had changed nothing.

The witch grasped Bellatrix's cold hand, ignoring its limpness as she prayed for some sort of closure for her loss. All she had left were her husband and son and she feared that wasn't enough. It wasn't enough to lose every other member of her family and be left with only broken remnants of the one she'd made by herself.

She grasped Bella's hand tighter.

They'd been young once, Narcissa realized, young and foolish with little idea of what the future held.

Bellatrix had been beautiful and lively, flirting with whomever she cared and smiling for anyone who wished it (or didn't); she had been young and dangerously carefree but still innocent.

Andromeda had also been quite beautiful, the spitting image of Bellatrix herself but with chestnut curls instead of black. She was wiser and more caring but with a temper that scared Narcissa half to death most of the time and just amused Bellatrix who back then had loved Andromeda dearly. She had been young and innocent once.

Narcissa just like the other Black sisters had been beautiful too but in a delicate, light way just like the flower she'd gotten her name from. Once upon a time the blonde had followed her two older sisters around like a puppy dog, smiling at what they'd said and paying close attention to everything they did. She'd learnt a lot from watching her sisters but she'd learnt even more from the sweet, meaningful words they'd given her in-between hugs and kisses. Once, she'd been young too and innocent, foolish but innocent.

Sirius had been handsome, filled with enough arrogance to make his head topple over. He'd been Bella's best friend, before that Potter boy had taken that title in third year, Bella had been his best friend. He'd laughed a lot and fed Bellatrix's energy with fervour every chance he'd got. He'd been young once, troublesome and arrogant but nonetheless young and innocent just like the rest of them.

Rodolphus had been proud and gentle. Bellatrix's best friend after Sirius, Andromeda's lover before Tonks and Narcissa's haven in times of need. He'd been arrogant just like Sirius and perhaps that was what had drawn Bella to him, though he hid his a lot more carefully than Sirius. He'd been young and innocent once too, arrogant like Sirius and with a fondness for picking on first years, but young and innocent still.

They were all young once.

Crouched by the body of her dead sister, Narcissa wondered what it would feel like to be young again.