Author's Note: In the previous chapter I was hinting at something that materialises within this chapter. It is something that brings together some of the elements we have seen in both stories and provides some answers about the relationships between people. Also, this revelation is going to have some great impact in future chapters so there is plenty still to come.
Nemesis crossed the beautiful triple digits and I thank all of you for your kind and wonderful reviews. Whenever I open my inbox and see one, I smile. ~Cissy

Chapter 13

The Cold Eyes Of Fate

They reappeared outside the small cottage and the strong wind whipped around their faces as they attempted to drag their prisoner across the path to the front door. Rosmerta held Narcissa's left arm whilst Tonks pinned her right arm behind her back, forcing her to walk. Andromeda walked behind them, wand drawn. It wasn't quite poking in her sister's back but she could do it in the blink of an eye if she had to.

"Are you sure this is the best place?" Tonks questioned once again and looked at her mother.

Andromeda nodded. Her face was dark and twisted, like the presence of Narcissa brought out a whole new side of her. "This was the only place I could think of neither of them has ever been to before." She glanced at Rosmerta. The blonde witch's face was bloodied and covered in mud but Andromeda recognised the determination in her eyes. "We'll go back to the village by dawn and see what is salvageable but we'll have to sit the night out here."

Tonks pushed against the cottage door and stepped inside. It was dark and with a simple flick of her wand several candles in the small living room lit up. The cottage looked like it had been abandoned in a rush, with an old edition of the Daily Prophet lying on the living room table and a forgotten tea cup discarded on the floor.

"Do you think Molly and Arthur will ever come back here?" she asked her mother but Andromeda shook her head.

"After what happened tonight I doubt they'll ever go back to anywhere they knew." She swallowed. "They have lost almost all of their children in this war, Nymphadora. I can't imagine the pain and the grief they must be going through. I don't know if I could come back to a place where I lived with them, hearing the echo of their voices in every room."

"What are we going to do with her?" Rosmerta asked and pointed at Narcissa.

She was conscious and relatively unhurt. A single bloody smudge covered her face and thin strands of blonde hair had fallen into her eyes. She sat on her knees in the middle of the living room floor, staring up at her older sister defiantly but unable to make a move. Three wands were pointing at her and she knew that without her own she would be helpless. Hatred flickered in her blue eyes as her gaze locked with Andromeda and the corners of her mouth curled up into a demonic grin.

Andromeda thought about Rosmerta's question for a few moments. Yellow candle light illuminated the contorted features of her face. "Get me a chair from the kitchen."

Rosmerta disappeared into the kitchen to fetch a chair and reappeared only a minute later, balancing the chair in mid-air. It landed not far from where Narcissa was kneeling and Andromeda broke away from the two other witches and slowly walked over to her sister. Narcissa didn't move and merely stared up at Andromeda, disobedience written across her face. When Andromeda reached her she grabbed Narcissa's arm without warning and pulled her to her feet.

"Sit," she hissed as she threw her on the chair.

"All you had to do was ask," Narcissa replied disdainfully and readjusted herself.

It happened so quickly that Andromeda barely had time to register it herself. Her hand made contact with Narcissa's cheek and she watched in a mixture of horror and amusement how her sister's head jolted backwards under the impact. For a few seconds Narcissa's eyes were obscured by her blonde hair but then she brushed the golden locks out of her face and slowly lifted up her head to look at Andromeda.

"You disgust me," she hissed and fire burnt behind her eyes.

"The feeling's mutual," Andromeda said calmly and rolled her wand through her fingers. She then slowly turned to her daughter. "Nymphadora, go and set up the wards around the cottage. I know Hermione and Bellatrix have never been here before but I'd rather not take any chances. No one goes in or out unless we know about it. Once you've done that, you can go and get some sleep."

Tonks stared at Narcissa. "But…"

"I need to do this alone, Nymphadora," Andromeda said sternly and the cold tone of her mother's voice brought a shiver down Tonks' spine. "Get some sleep. Merlin only knows when the next opportunity for it will be."

"Come," Tonks said softly to Rosmerta and took the other witch by her arm. "We've done all that we can do here." They started leaving the living room but before closing the door behind her Tonks turned around one last time. She saw her mother staring at her sister. The look in her eyes was unlike anything she had ever seen before and it frightened her but she knew she could not let the fear control her. There was no place for fear in a time of war. "Goodnight, mum."

Andromeda didn't answer and never took her eyes off Narcissa. Once the living room door had closed, she summoned the candles that had stood spread around the room and organised them in a circle around Narcissa's chair. Now the rest of the room was so dark that the shadows could easily swallow her up. The flickering candle light didn't allow Narcissa to see beyond her small circle and Andromeda almost immediately recognised the change in her eyes when she withdrew from the blonde's sight.

"I could just kill you, you know," she whispered and Narcissa's eyes darted around, fixing on a spot not too far from where Andromeda was standing. "I could kill you and then Hermione and Bellatrix would be lost."

"You're not going to kill me," Narcissa smiled. "You can't kill your own blood, Andromeda. You have had plenty of chances and yet every time you choose to walk away." Blue eyes glistened mysteriously. "Does the thought of killing repulse you, sister dear? Does it make you hate yourself that you can even think those thoughts?"

Andromeda moved quickly and surrounded the candles with skill before jamming the tip of her wand in Narcissa's neck. Narcissa's head snapped up as the wand slipped under her chin and her blue orbs found Andromeda's dark. What she saw in them surprised her. "You could do it," she whispered, unable to hide her admiration. "You could do it and yet you don't."

"Who says I am not going to kill you once you tell me what I need to know?" Andromeda brought her lips close to Narcissa's ear. "They'll never find you, Cissy. They don't know where you are and they can't come for you. The Cores will be lost without you. How does it feel to know that your one weakness brought them down, destroyed everything you hold most dear?"

"How does it feel, Andy?" Narcissa didn't even flinch. "How does it feel to lose it all?"

"Where are Bellatrix and Hermione?" Andromeda demanded and pressed her wand a little harder against her sister's windpipe. She could see Narcissa's discomfort and the blonde's attempts not to let it show but the oxygen was only scarcely finding its way into her lungs. "Where are they and what are they going to do next? Did they find Gregorovitch in the village?"

"I don't know but even if I did, I wouldn't tell you." Narcissa spat. "I'd rather die."

"Don't tempt me." Andromeda stepped away from her sister and withdrew her wand before flicking it. Ropes began to wrap themselves around Narcissa's body, starting at her ankles and winding their way up around her waist and eventually her arms. She didn't move or flinch when the knots tied themselves and she merely looked at Andromeda, a bored look in her eyes.

"I'll deal with you tomorrow," Andromeda said softly and began making her way to the living room door. Before she could leave however Narcissa called her back.

"You do know that she has never given up on you, don't you?"

Andromeda slowly turned around and her eyes narrowed. In her heart a voice whispered a story, a memory from a long time ago that she kept hidden away from the eyes of the world. It was a story of desperation and of loss. "We both know that it is a lie."

"Is it?" Narcissa asked sweetly. "Do you really think all of this is just about the Cores, Andromeda?" She scoffed. "Come on, even you are cleverer than that. Of course it is not just about the magic she possesses. It is about something she used to possess. Something she wants back."

"You lie," Andromeda hissed and felt the anger stir inside of her once again. Its sheer power was overwhelming. "You know nothing!"

"I know everything," Narcissa giggled and turned her head so she could look at Andromeda. She was leaning against the doorframe, clinging on for support as the memories flooded back into her mind. The pain and horror in her eyes brought a wider smile to Narcissa's face. "Just like you knew about Bella and me, I knew about Bella and you."

"You couldn't have known," Andromeda gasped and covered her heart with her hand. It was pounding rapidly in her chest, so wildly that she believed it would burst out and explode. She had hidden these memories so deep that most days she believed they didn't exist and in a way they didn't. Not anymore. But they were real, it had happened and it was part of her tainted past. The back of her throat became dry as she fought the images in her head. Slowly she crossed the room until she reached Narcissa. The flames flickered in her wake. "You could not have known."

Narcissa's eyes hardened. "I knew because I wanted what you had. I wanted her to love me like she loved you." There was spite and resentment in her voice. "When she came to me I believed that my prayers had been answered only to find out that she had only come because you had pushed her away."

Andromeda's eyes briefly closed as she remembered. It felt like another lifetime, the memories of another person, but they were very much real. "I couldn't love her. Not like that." Her eyes snapped open and they suddenly swam with tears as the hidden feelings finally reached the surface. The tears were of anger, not of love. "She was my sister!"

"You broke her heart," Narcissa said venomously. "It is why she hates you so much, Andromeda. Because she always loved you more than she could ever love me."

"It should never have happened," Andromeda said softly and averted her eyes. "You know it too, Narcissa. You know that what happened between you and Bellatrix is wrong." She swallowed. "No matter how much I loved her, I couldn't love her like that anymore. I changed and she did too." The tip of her wand ghosted across Narcissa's hand. "So is this why she is so possessive of Hermione? Why she wants to keep her at all cost? Not because Hermione's soul belongs to another but that her soul belongs to me?"

Narcissa shook her head. "She loves her."

"The same way she loves you? Or the same way she still loves me?"

"What do you think?"

"You are still her second choice, aren't you?" Andromeda suddenly grinned and Narcissa's eyes were blazing. "You were her second choice all those years ago and now you're her second choice again. How does it feel, Cissy, to know you are never truly wanted, truly loved? Not even Hermione wants you. She chooses Bellatrix and me over you. How does it feel to always be second best? To see what you desire most but not being able to touch it, grasp it, and hold it?"

Narcissa suddenly spat in Andromeda's face and smirked. "At least I still have something left."

Andromeda took a deep breath and her arm shot up so fast that Narcissa didn't have time to blink. The wand landed harshly against the side of her head, making contact with her temple, and Narcissa's head jolted backwards then sideways. Her eyes closed almost immediately and a fine trickle of blood began to seep from a cut just above her eye.

Andromeda staggered backwards, staring in horror at her wand, and then hurried across the room to the door. When she closed it behind her and looked up she found Tonks standing in the dark corridor. Her daughter's eyes found hers and Andromeda realised that Tonks had heard everything. The pain and hurt in her eyes brought tears to her own and she felt her heart shatter in her chest.

"Is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"What she said about you and Bellatrix." Tonks studied her mother's face. "Is it true?"

Andromeda heaved a sigh. "It was a very long time ago, Nymphadora."

"Is it true?!" The anger in Tonks' voice was chilling.

"Yes," Andromeda admitted and averted her eyes. She stared into the dark shadows that surrounded them, wishing they would swallow her up. She couldn't look her daughter in the eye. She couldn't face the hurt and the pain and she didn't want to see the judgment. She was ashamed enough as it was without Tonks looking at her. "Yes, it's true."

"So all of this happened because you didn't want to sleep with her anymore?!" Tonks snapped and the sharpness of her voice made her mother look back up. "Bellatrix went on a fucking killing rampage because you decided you didn't want to climb into her bed anymore when you were teenagers?" She shook her head. "I thought Narcissa was sick, mum, but it seems you have managed to make me believe that you are too!"

"No!" Andromeda countered and tears laced her voice. "You do not get to judge me like that without knowing the truth about what happened." She took a step towards Tonks but stopped when her daughter moved away from her. "You don't know what happened and unless you do, you don't get to stand there and tell me what I did was wrong. I know it was wrong. I know that what happened between me and Bellatrix should never have happened but it did and I can't change that." She paused and her voice became softer. "Just like you can't change who you fall in love with."

Tonks snorted. "No one falls in love with their own sister, mum."

"Don't they?" Andromeda asked and her eyes pierced into her daughter's. "Then explain to me why in my family it happened twice?"

Tonks crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Ok. I'm listening."

"I was sixteen, Bellatrix was eighteen. I had come home for the Christmas holidays. Bellatrix had finished Hogwarts the year before and Mother and Father had set up her engagement to Rodolphus. Bellatrix was less than thrilled and she spent most of that holiday fighting with Father," Andromeda said softly and sank down on the bottom step of the stairs. "It was Christmas morning when she came into my room. She was furious. Father had given her an ultimatum. Either she married Rodolphus or he would disown her. She had no choice. We talked for a while."

"Spare me the details of what happened," Tonks said, looking warily at her mother. "I think I can fill in the blanks for myself."

Andromeda looked up. She was hurt by her daughter's rough dismissal. "It wasn't meant to happen, Nymphadora. Bellatrix claimed that she could never love Rodolphus because she had already lost her heart to someone else. By the time I understood what she meant it was already too late."

"What about Narcissa?" Tonks asked.

"I didn't realise Cissy was jealous at first. Not until we got back to Hogwarts and Bellatrix started writing me, telling me how much she missed me. Cissy must have intercepted one of the letters because one night she was waiting for me in the dormitory and she attacked me, screaming that I didn't deserve Bellatrix because I associated with Muggleborns. Bellatrix would despise me if she knew about my friends. I don't think Narcissa ever told her because Bellatrix was allowed to visit me at Hogwarts a few times." Andromeda took a deep breath. "When I went home for Easter, Bellatrix was desperate to see me. A wedding date had been set for her Rodolphus but she promised she would never leave me. I told her I couldn't do this anymore. We couldn't do what we did. She was my sister and I loved her…"

"Were you in love with her?" Tonks wanted to know. "Did you fall in love with your own sister?"

"I don't know," Andromeda admitted. "I don't know what I felt, Nymphadora, but I knew that it shouldn't be happening. Regardless of how I felt, it wasn't right. Bellatrix was furious and stormed out of my room. The next morning I walked in on her and Narcissa."

"She replaced you with her other sister?" Tonks could barely hide her disgust. "Out of all the women in the world she had to pick the two that were related to her?"

"I don't think it was about the women, Nymphadora. Bellatrix was desperate for someone to love her. I was there but when I walked away, she went to the next person who did. Narcissa has always loved her, in a way I cannot even begin to comprehend. Narcissa has always been more loyal to Bellatrix than she has ever been to Lucius or even Father but I think she may have been right." Andromeda looked down at her hands and remembered how they had once held Bellatrix's. "Bellatrix lost her heart to me when she eighteen, she fell in love. Narcissa was right when she said that Bella could never love her the way she loved me."

"You think she still does?" Tonks whispered. "You think that some of this is still about how she felt when she was eighteen?"

"She didn't set out that way. She didn't know that Hermione would be the one destined to be with both her and me but once she knew she realised that this was what she needed. She finally found a way to hurt me like I hurt her. The Cores gave her Hermione but fate gave her a way to get back at me. It is why she asked Hermione to be with me, why she set out to hurt me from the beginning. She wanted to destroy me the way I destroyed her."

"So this sin't just about the wands anymore?" Tonks asked and studied her mother's face. She could see the memories hurt her. "This isn't just about domination?"

"It started off that way, until Bellatrix realised what Hermione means to me," Andromeda whispered and covered her face in her hands. "Whatever comes next, she will use that against me."

"What are we going to do with Narcissa?"

"Leave her where she is for now. Tomorrow morning we'll go back to Hogsmeade and see what is left," Andromeda answered. "I don't know where else to go."

"What are we going to do with her?" Tonks asked carefully and took a tentative step in her mother's direction. "If we kill her we break the wands for good."

"And Bellatrix will hunt us down to every corner of this world until she has all our blood on her hands," Andromeda answered. "We need to destroy the Wands. Tomorrow morning we start the search for the Elder Wand. I don't know where to start but anywhere is better than here."

"Okay," Tonks said softly. "I think I'll go to bed now."

She filed past her mother who was still sitting on the bottom step and made her way up to the first floor. Andromeda looked over her shoulder to find her daughter looking at her from the landing. Hope flickered in her eyes.

"Nymphadora, do you hate me?" she whispered. Tears welled up in her eyes. "Now that you know the truth, do you hate me?"

"No," Tonks said softly. "No, I don't hate you, mum. I am just not sure if I still know you." She swallowed. "Good night."

"Goodnight, my child," Andromeda sighed. "And if it's any comfort to you, I am trying to work it out too." When Tonks frowned she bit her lip." I don't think I ever I knew myself at all."