Author's Note: This chapter contains darker themes and harsher language. I think it still is within the "T" rating guidelines, but I wanted to warn you anyway.
Chapter Six
Cissy perched on the immense four-post bed, hands folded calmly in her lap, legs dangling precariously over the edge. She craned her neck as high as possible, trying to steal a glance in the mirror over Andy's shoulder. Her reflection stared back at her, and she smiled and shook her head, watching her neatly styled blonde curls dance around her face. She self-consciously smoothed out her cornflower blue taffeta robes and examined her immaculately polished nails. She sighed heavily and lay back against the fluffy comforter, bored.
"Well, Cissy, no one told you to get ready two hours early," Andy grumbled into the mirror as she leaned forward, brushing the caramel-colored powder onto her eyelids.
But Andy couldn't blame her younger sister's enthusiasm. She remembered the first time she was allowed to attend one of the famed Society of the Preservation of Purity parties. The official-sounding name aside, Andy knew it was really just an excuse for the wealthiest pureblood families in the Wizarding World to eat, drink, and flaunt their wealth. And now that Cissy was 13, she was allow to attend and see the spectacle for herself.
Andy wasn't particularly keen on these parties; they always seemed rather unnecessary to her with the puffed-up men and the venomous women who smiled and nodded then struck once a friend was out of earshot. But it was rather fun to see her cousins and the young men looking dashing in their dress robes. Andy smiled to herself. Yes, that part she could definitely manage.
The door to her bedroom burst open, and her older sister posed saucily, one hand at her hip, the other stretching up the door frame.
"How do I look?" she purred.
Andy gaped. Bella was wearing rather clingy satin black robes. "Bella!" She managed. "You can't get away with going like that."
Bella shrugged and winked a dusky-shaded eyelid. "Why not?"
"Because...because..." but Andy failed to find a reason. She looked down at her own modest scarlet chiffon robes and frowned.
"Good thing I've got enough brains for the both of us," Bella smirked as she flicked her wand. A gorgeous set of emerald dress robes - nearly identical to Bella's own - appeared out of thin air. "Happy early birthday, dear sister."
Andy studied the material with wide eyes then dashed into her closet, quickly shedding off her previous outfit and sliding into the smooth green silk. She stepped out, modeling her new look. Bella smiled, a smug look of self-satisfaction playing across her face. Cissy watched her two eldest sisters continue to pamper and preen in the mirror - resembling each other even more so with matching mischievous smiles and excited laughs.
...
Because Andy and Narcissa weren't old enough to Apparate (Bella had recently passed her test), the Black family set off in its grand Aethonan-driven pearl carriage. Narcissa stared dreamily out the window and into the clouds while Andy and Bella gossiped fervently.
"You two better get it all out now ," Druella snapped back from the front of the carriage. "I will not have you blithering like servants once we arrive at the Nott's."
Bella and Andy exchanged glances and snorted into their hands. Suddenly, Cissy piped up after an hour of silence. "We're here!"
The sisters pressed their faces against different windows, eager to drink in the visual feast. The Nott family estate was alive with floating fairy lanterns and bewitched glowing white lilies and dark red amaryllis. A massive banner that read "Society of the Preservation of Purity" in shimmering silver and green letters was draped on the wrought-iron fence. Dozens of grandiose carriages and enchanted Bentley Continentals lined the narrow pathway to the front gate.
"Wow," Cissy breathed.
But Druella clicked her tongue in disapproval. "Glittering dragonflies in the garden? How painfully mundane. Wouldn't you say our neon salamanders last year were more original?"
Cygnus nodded dutifully and stepped out of the carriage, extending a hand to his wife. They walked tall and proud through the gates and toward the back yard, where a group of witches and wizards bustled around an array of tables and chairs. An old but stately man in servant's robes greeted them at the gate.
"Good evening, Master and Madam Black," he said, bowing so low, his nose might have scraped the grass. "Allow me to assist you to your seats."
He extended his arm, Druella took it, and Cygnus and the girls followed.
As they passed other tables, other partygoers greeted the Black family. A thin woman in purple velvet robes waved. A dashing, dark-featured man in long black robes smiled oily and briskly bowed his head. A few people looked on in barely-suppressed awe. Druella and Cygnus acknowledged them all with a haughty nod and smile.
The servant stopped at the very front table, which had a touch more of decoration and elegance than the others. The goblets, plates, and silverware were lined in gold. The centerpiece was a bit bigger, a bit grander. The chairs looked a pinch more comfortable. And while most servants moved throughout the yard, stopping to service tables at random, a solitary man dressed in red stood rigid and unmoving next to the Black's table, waiting for their command and their command alone.
Bella smirked as she sat down.
"God, I love being us."
...
Evening turned to night, and the guests had drifted from their assigned seats and wandered around freely. While the children gawked at the colorful puffs of smoke springing from the band's pipes and flutes, the men gathered around the bar, gesturing grandly with drinks in hand, and the women toured Madam Nott's gardens, politely feigning interest in her exotic tales of how she came to acquire each plant. Andy danced playfully with her young cousins Sirius and Reggie while Cissy sat at a secluded table, an attractive blonde-haired boy whispering in her ear, her face turning pinker by the minute.
Andy whirled little Reggie around the dance floor, his pure, childish giggles echoing in the night air. A light tap on her back brought her to a stop. She turned. It was Rodolphus Lestrange.
"Have you seen your sister?" he asked.
Andy nodded and pointed over at Cissy, then turned back to Reggie. She heard an exasperated sigh behind her and felt another quick tap. Andy fought a smile and turned back around.
"Oh, it's you again!" she said in mock-surprise, biting her cheek to keep from grinning.
"I meant your other sister," Rodolphus said impatiently, missing the joke.
Andy shrugged and Rodolphus sulked away, and she felt a small pang of pity for the young man. Of course, she knew exactly where her sister was...or at least she had a general idea. Bella had promised herself to Rodolphus, but such ties didn't stop her from enjoying the company of other wizards at her leisure. Andy thought back to the late nights in the Slytherin Dungeons, pouring over stacks of books and scrolls of homework, and hearing the familiar footsteps echoing down the entrance corridor. She would glance up to see Bella, hair and clothes slightly askew and looking rather pleased with herself. She'd mumble something about being out with Rodolphus, and Andy would smile into the candlelight, knowing that Rodolphus retired to bed hours ago. Wonder which of tonight's picks she ran off to the bushes with. Andy rolled her eyes and shook her head. Oh, Bella.
...
After another half-hour of dancing, Andy excused herself from her cousins and their boundless energy. She craved solitude to walk through the gardens and think. She passed a still-seated Cissy, lightly squeezing her shoulder but otherwise not wanting to interrupt her dreamy fawning over the blonde...was it a Malfoy?
Andy entered the garden and sat on a cold, stone bench opposite a healthy growth of Flitterbloom. The night was quiet save the sound of a few chirping crickets and a distant rustling bush. She breathed in deeply, cherishing this small moment of calm on the outskirts of the party. She slipped off her shoes - grateful Druella wasn't around to scold - and ran her feet through the cool patches of clover beneath her. For a fleeting moment, her mind focused on him. Him. The reason she wasn't where Cissy was...or wherever Bella was. And Mother found her middle daughter's lack of interest in the boys at parties rather odd, but Andy knew, and she thought of him...
A faint wail shook her from her thoughts. Her head snapped to the right, and she peered down the dark garden path. Another distant yelp. "Lumos." Andy was on her feet, heart pounding. The small sliver of light poured over the greenery, illuminating the sage and Belladonna. Stillness. She took a few cautious steps, and her foot came down on something hard. She directed her steam of light toward the ground for a better look: a long, thin stick. Walnut.
Bella's wand.
Andy's heart lept to her throat. In an instant, she had grabbed the wand and was sprinting into the depths of the inky blackness of the garden. Her mind raced at a million thoughts a second, as her feet thudded hard on the cobbled stone. Bella's wand was like an extension of her arm. She never would have simply dropped it...not on purpose. As she ran, she pocketed her own wand and brandished Bella's; for some reason, she felt more powerful with her sister's. More prepared. Andy ignored the leaves and branches whipping against her face and arms. She ran until her lungs ached and that blood-like taste of iron filled her mouth. Bella.
She followed the inhuman noises to a clearing in the garden with benches and an enchanted babbling brook the center. Andy froze behind a neatly trimmed hedge and peered around the corner. Her eyes widened in shock and horror at the sight in front of her.
Bella lay doubled-over choking in the grass, her beautiful dress robes ripped and stretches of exposed skin covered in angry red scratches. She was glaring wildly at something out of Andy's line of vision - like a caged animal eyes its captor.
"Were you foolish enough to believe me one of your boyfriends back at school?" a deep male voice mocked. "Idiot girl."
Bella spat out a mouthful of blood. "F-fuck you," she gasped.
Andy remained planted on the spot. Any moment now, Bella's going to retaliate and make this man wish he was never born. Andy was sure of it.
"Excuse me? I didn't quite catch that," the voice said coldly. Out of the corner of her eye, Andy saw an orange jet of light erupt and strike Bella in the chest. She blasted backwards and landed on her hands and knees. She coughed up more blood.
Any moment, Bella will strike back and laugh, and he'll be sorry like the rest.
"Speak up, you proud bitch," the man growled, his voice drawing nearer.
Andy finally saw him as he walked toward her sister. His back was to Andy, but she could tell that it was the same dark-haired man that greeted the Black Family with a twisted smile earlier that evening. He squatted behind Bella, grabbed a handful of hair, and pulled her head backwards.
Any moment.
"The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black's finest whore," the man grinned in her ear, and Bella twisted to get away. "How proud your father will be when I tell him just how...close...his daughter and I became."
He slowly ran a single finger across Bella's collarbone, and she shuddered in revulsion. And for the first time in her nearly 15 years of life, Andy saw a stranger that shared her features. This wasn't her big sister, her loyal guardian, her ruthless protector. The facade was gone and replaced with something Andy had never seen her sister reveal:
Vulnerability.
And suddenly, Andy knew that moment wasn't coming. Bella wasn't striking back. The most foreign feeling awoke in the pit of Andy's stomach. An anger and passion she had never before felt coursed through every fiber of her being. This man needed to pay. To hurt. Before she knew what she was doing, Andy spun around the hedge and screamed.
"CRUCIO!"
The man released Bella, and crumpled on the ground in a heap of moans and screams. Andy strode over to him, pointing Bella's wand dangerously.
"Back the hell away from my sister," she said, every word dripping with contempt, kicking his wand out of reach while keeping her own level with his shocked face.
"You Blacks," he snarled. "Strutting around like you're the royalty of the Wizarding World when you're no better than any other Purebloods. Your sister needed to be put in her place."
"Stay away from my family," Andy said firmly, trying to ignore his comments and keep her voice steady. The man looked at Bella again, who was shaking in silent anger. He grinned maliciously at her, snatched his wand, and disappeared with a sudden crack.
Bella fell back onto a patch clover, uneven breathing peppered with fits of coughs. Andy's small ounce of composure melted, and she collapsed next to her and let out a small sob that contained scores of emotions.
"Bella," she said, cheeks shining wet. "Bella, are you alright?"
Bella said nothing but turned over and silently curled into a ball. Andy shadowed her sister's position mere inches away, wanting to reach out - to touch - but was quite the wary child uncertain if the dog will bite. Andy stared at Bella's pale shoulders, her tattered robes draped in ruins around her arms. She reached out and placed a warm hand on the cold skin. Bella went rigid at the contact but didn't snap or pull away as she usually did, and Andy scooted closer, pressing a cheek against her, letting hot tears wash down Bella's back. Andy wrapped an arm around her unyielding sister, and the silence remained. They lay there under the clear night sky; stars and constellations that served as namesakes for generations shined down upon them. Minutes of silence and stillness passed.
Suddenly, Bella breathed a deep, shuddering gasp, moved slightly, and Andy felt the wand be taken from her hand and back to its rightful owner. Andy heard a quiet murmur of words and opened her eyes a sliver to see a small blue light flash over the curve of Bella's shoulder. Bella reached back and grabbed her sister's hand, and Andy felt something small and hard press into her palm. Bella closed Andy's fingers around it and encompassed her hand, squeezed quickly before letting go. Andy pulled her hand back and looked at the object.
It was a silver three-leafed clover. Bella had transfigured one of the clovers in the thick patch below them into a small charm. Andy stared at the gleaming, heart-shaped leaves. The middle leaf was slightly bigger than the other two.
"You're the strong one, Andy," Bella muttered into the darkness. "You always have been."