Author's Note: Special thanks to Lilia-Rose and Miss-Fleur-Riddle for their help with British slang for this chapter. My hopeless American self couldn't have done it without them.
Chapter Four
"And wait 'til you see the common room, Andy. There's leather couches and sofas and everything's green! And it's under the lake, Andy! Under the lake!"
Bella was twittering excitedly as the Black family strolled through Diagon Alley amidst the hustle and bustle of back-to-school shoppers. Parents darted after their awe-struck children, who were enamored with the displayed broomsticks and exotic animals.
"Now, now, Bellatrix," Cygnus Black said coolly. "Don't give away too much about the Slytherin Dungeon. Andromeda may get sorted somewhere else."
Bella stopped in her tracks, scandalized, but Andy caught her father's eye, and he winked slyly.
"B-but every Black has been sorted into Slytherin!" Bella scoffed, as if anything otherwise was impossible. "Oh, Andy, I can't wait to show you around. We'll have so much fun."
A quiet sound of misery escaped from the youngest Black sister. Bella looked down at her.
"Don't worry, Cissy," Bella smiled, taking the blonde's hand in hers. "Two more years, right? By then, I might be a prefect and get all the nasty Gryffindors out of your way."
Cissy giggled, and they passed Madam Malkin's without a second glance. Andy paused, confused, and looked down at her parchment. "It says I need three standard work robes..." she said uncertainly.
"Andromeda, surely you know by now that the Black family does not intermix with mere commoners," Druella Black said airily, turning her head to glance in one of the robe shop's windows. Her lip curled in disgust.
Andy nodded, half-listening. The sight and sound were dizzying. Students of all ages filed in and out of shops, arms full of supplies, some not unlike Andy's own and some completely foreign-looking. Everything was exciting and scary and new. After a few blocks of walking in a enchanted daze, Andy noticed her parents walking into a place called Twilfitt & Tatting's.
The shop was large and bright, dozens of elaborate chandeliers draped from the ceiling. Beautiful witches and handsome wizards in crisp green uniforms serviced patrons among the hundreds of rows of robes of all colors and fabrics. Proud Corinthian columns encompassed plush cream-colored armchairs in the center of the store. An attractive blonde wizard approached the family, a tray of beverages perched on his hand.
"Master and Madam Black," he said, bowing slightly. "Can I fancy you some of our finest Goblin mead or Moly leaf tea?"
Cygnus took a goblet and sipped it lightly as Druella dismissed the offer with an impatient wave.
The employee leaned towards the Black sisters. "And for these charming young ladies?" He grinned, showing a set of gleaming white teeth. "An iced pumpkin juice? A glass of McSpratts?"
Andy and Cissy giggled and blushed, but Bella boldly grabbed a mug off the tray, holding the gaze of the handsome wizard and cocking a suggestive eyebrow. The man reddened, straightened, and hurried away without another word.
"Cygnus, darling, the Lestranges are here," Druella was saying as a woman and two young boys approached. "Hello, Regina."
"Isn't that your boyfriend, Bella?" Cissy sang in her sister's ear.
A good-looking, dark-featured boy of about 14 took one of Bella's hands into his own and kissed it. "Good afternoon, Miss Black," he said silkily.
Bella smirked in response, receiving a subtle yet painful pinch from her mother. She submitted the smallest of curtsies. "Mister Lestrange."
While Bella and her friend flirted shamelessly and her parents conversed with Mrs. Lestrange, Andy and Cissy took to an improvised game of hide-and-seek between the rows of robes. Andy was hidden in the center of a circular rack of dress robes, trying to keep from giggling nervously. Suddenly, a pair of hands wrenched opened the curtain of satin and chiffon. Bella's face appeared soon after, clamping fingers over Andy's mouth to stifle the scream of shock.
"Father said he had to run an errand to Borgin & Burke's," Bella whispered frantically. "Let's go!"
"Oh, does he want us to join him?" Andy asked, perplexed.
"No, silly, he'd never allow us to go there," Bella rolled her eyes. "That's why we have to be sneaky!"
"But what about our robes?" Andy asked cautiously, looking under the line of cloaks to see her mother and Mrs. Lestrange's feet close together, evidence that they were still lost in conversation.
Bella clicked her tongue impatiently. "Mother knows our sizes. Come on!"
Seeing that her sister still wasn't convinced, Bella opted for a different route.
"You'll probably be the only Firsty to have ever been to Knockturn Alley," Bella said with an dramatic sigh. "Wouldn't that make for quite a story for the upper crust Hogwarts students..."
Eager for the acceptance of Bella's group of friends (all older than Andy and therefore more impressive), the younger Black sister scrambled out of the cocoon of cloaks. Bella beamed triumphantly, and the two snuck past their mother and Cissy and out the door.
"Bella, do you love your boyfriend?" Andy asked as they made their way down the street.
Bella's dark eyebrows narrowed. "Love?"
Andy didn't expect this response. She thought all older kids knew what love was. She certainly did not. She remembered seeing the word in Beedle the Bard stories and knew it was a very powerful feeling.
"Y'know," Andy said. "I thought you were supposed to love your boyfriend."
Bella shrugged, staring straight ahead, unconcerned.
"Well," Andy said slowly, not wanting to cross the line. "Why are you with him if you don't love him?"
Bella stopped and turned to face her sister. She looked affronted. "What's gotten into you, Andy?"
Andy shifted uncomfortably. Her sister's piercing gaze always intimidated her. "I just didn't know why two people would be together if they didn't love each other."
"He's a Pureblood," she said with a hint of annoyance, as though this was the most obvious thing in the world. "Blacks marry Purebloods."
Andy could tell by the tone of her sister's voice that that was the final word on the matter. They started walking again.
"Do you even know where we're going?" she asked after a few minutes of silence.
"I think so," Bella said with conviction, climbing the stone steps leading to Flourish & Blotts to get a better view. "I remember Travers describing its general location - Oh look, there's Father!"
Sure enough, nearly a block ahead, a tall man with an unmistakable dragonhide D'orsay pressed through the crowd. They watched him turn left at the end of the street, disappearing from view. Bella hopped off the steps and bounded after him, Andy hot on her trail.
The girls turned the corner where their father had, and gazed upon an area that could not have been more different from the lively and welcoming vibe of Diagon Alley. Crooked signs swung ominously from the doors of dark shops. Dozens of shadowed figures lined the dirty stone walls. A hag grinned toothlessly at them. A emaciated man rocked back and forth on the ground, muttering incoherently.
Andy shivered and clutched her robe clasp around her neck, a nervous tick of hers. "Bella, this place gives me the creeps," she said quietly.
But Bella's face was alive with fascination. Her eyes greedily scanned the store windows, each filled with a different array of magical and oftentimes scary devices. They finally reached Borgin & Burkes midway down the cobbled street. Bella pressed her face against the front window. Cygnus was sauntering up an aisle full of wicked-looking objects, the shop's owner tailing him like a sleazy shadow.
"Wonder what he's looking at..." Bella muttered to herself.
"Well, well, well," a gruff voice said behind her. "Take a butchers at these skirts."
Bella whirred around to see two rugged men and a pockmarked woman walking towards the sisters. The lead wizard had a nasty smile pasted across his scarred face. Bella grabbed Andy's arm and stepped in front of her.
"What are such loaded nipp'rs doin' 'round these parts?" The man said menacingly to his chuckling friends. "Reckon they're butcherin' fer trouble?"
"Yer, I reckon'," the other man said, staring hungrily at the girls' leather shoes. "Those buckles migh' be worth a bob or two. You fink they's real silver, Cook?"
"Get the hell away," Bella growled dangerously.
The woman bared jagged, yellow cuspids. "This one's got spunk," she laughed wheezily. "Come off it, love. Give 'em to old auntie...and your sissy's pretty Gawdon Bennets, too."
Bella brandished her wand in a flash, her face taut and concentrated. "Speak English, you git," she warned. The trio laughed.
"What she gon'a do?" The man called Cook crowed. "Give us a Curse of the Bogeys?"
The other two howled with laughter. Bella didn't move.
"Hey girlie, what do you go by?" the second man asked, looking amused.
Bella stood tall. "Bellatrix Black," she said proudly.
The three exchanged meaningful looks.
"Oooh the 'Noble 'Ouse of Black,' are we? Looks like they've sunk a peg or two," Cook said, a small amount of spittle forming on his bottom lip. "Think yer summit special then? Above us?"
"I know I'm above you lot of filthy trolls," Bella snarled.
"You little trollop, wot you want is a good 'idin'. Bet your royal tushy's never felt a buckle, 'as it?" the woman cackled. "Wot say we teach 'em a lesson o'life?"
The gang closed in on the two sisters, and in an instant, Cook was lunging at Andy, grabbing at her rings. A split-second later, Bella yelled, "Locomotor Mortis!"
Cook's knees went rigid, and he toppled forward from lack of balance. Andy gasped.
"Why you bloody little bint..." the other man started, hand plunging into his robes. But Bella beat him to it.
"Bombarda!" she screamed, causing the wall behind him to blast apart and bury him in a pile of stony rubble.
Meanwhile, the old witch had found her own wand and yelled a curse out at Bella, who ducked the jet of white light a split-second before it would have hit her square in the face. The witch turned her wand on Andy.
"Ruptispectis!" Bella said quickly.
The witch clutched her swelling eyes, stumbling around in agony before collapsing to the ground. Bella stood in the center of the destruction, breathing heavily and tucking loose strands of black hair behind her ears. She looked down her nose at them haughtily, sneering. Then she looked to her sister.
"Are you alright, Andy?"
Andy nodded, speechless. She was terrified.
It wasn't because her 13 year-old sister just defeated three full-grown wizards. It wasn't because she had done it in less than a minute. It wasn't because Andy herself was almost attacked twice.
What frightened Andy more than any of these things was the savage look of dominance gleaming in her sister's eyes.