Disclaimer: I own none of these characters. The two quotes at the end of the chapter are taken from J.K. Rowling's Deathly Hallows, Chapter 23.
Chapter Seven
She never understood why cemeteries allowed sunshine.
The bright flowers and happily chirping birds and rustling green trees make a bitter mockery of the gray tombstones that peppered the landscape. No one is happy when they come to a cemetery. No one wants to look around and see overwhelming proof of life when the one she loves is lying dead in the cold earth. Couldn't the owner charm the graveyard to reflect visitors' feelings? Couldn't he make the grounds dry and saturated and the trees twisted and barren and the birds silent and black? Couldn't there be a perpetual rain cloud?
She felt a hand gently squeeze hers, and her thoughts dispersed like a puff of smoke.
"Are you ready, Mum?" her daughter asked softly.
She studied Nymphadora's face and searched for traces of Ted, for proof that he really once lived. She found it in her daughter's kind smile, in her slender nose. Andromeda squeezed her hand back and nodded. It was time to go.
They walked in silence down the gravel path to the gated entrance where Remus waited with the carriage. Both he and Andromeda agreed that Dora was too pregnant to Apparate or use Floo Powder. Since none of them could operate a Muggle car with any sort of confidence, Remus managed to rent an old coach and horse from an aging Muggle farmer in a nearby village.
Andromeda could not help but wrinkle her nose slightly as she climbed through the door. The faded velvet walls were fraying and torn in places and the cramped interior smelled like the farm from which it came.
Remus looked at her apologetically as he climbed onto the driver's seat but Dora laughed. Ted's laugh.
"Mother must be reliving her days as a Noble and Most Ancient Black," she said with an air of faux-snobbery. "I'm sorry the Muggle was fresh out of white Aethonans and could only spare us this old nag."
Andromeda just shook her head and rolled her eyes. She was too ashamed to admit that, for a brief second, she had been doing just that. Eager to change the subject, she turned to her son-in-law.
"Is there any news on the whereabouts of Harry Potter?" she called to him.
"Not since you last asked," he said over his shoulder as he directed the horse. "The Order continues to make occasional trips to Grimmauld Place on the off-chance Harry returns. But since Death Eaters have swarmed the house, we have to keep our distance. I'd like to somehow get to Kreacher and ask him if he's overheard anything the three of them mentioned before they left - or even visiting Death Eaters have let slip."
"That's unlikely, considering he worships the ground Bellatrix and Narcissa walk on," Dora said, clutching her round belly with every bump of the rickety coach. "He wouldn't betray their information, especially to you, sweetheart. No offense."
"I never liked him much," Andromeda said distantly, staring out the window while Remus and Dora continued their discussion about Harry Potter's hiding places.
Her mind wandered again, leaping from thought to related thought, as minds sometimes do. It had been months since her encounter with Bellatrix and weeks since she had paid it any sort of attention. Since Ted's death, Andromeda had completely and conciously pushed her sisters from her mind. She knew the more she thought about it, the more she'd convince herself that Bellatrix wouldn't have forgiven herself for letting Andromeda - Blood Traitor Number One in her twisted book - escape that night. She would have wanted revenge...
She didn't kill Ted. She isn't the only Death Eater at You-Know-Who's disposal, a calm voice in her head said.
She very well could have, another voice said. You know Bella, even now. She would want to make it clear that sparing you that night was an awful mistake. She would have wanted to send a message.
She's my sister.
She's a murderer.
She spared me.
She killed Sirius. She nearly killed your daughter.
It could have been any of those thug Snatchers.
It could have been Bella.
An awful, sick feeling crept up her throat, and she was relieved to realized the carriage had stopped outside of her house. Dora hugged her goodbye as Andromeda climbed out of the coach.
"You're sure you won't stay for dinner?" she asked, although she already knew the answer. "I'm making a roast tonight. And rhubarb crumble, I know that's your favorite."
"You know we would love to, Mum," Dora said. "But we have to do some last-minute preperations for the baby."
"Of course," Andromeda said, forcing a smile to hide the disappointment as Remus jerked the reigns. "Be careful."
Dora leaned out the carriage window as it pulled away. "Take care of yourself, Mum. Relax! I don't want to hear any news from the neighbors of you renovating the house or anything ridiculous."
Andromeda waved and continued to watch the spot the carriage had been long after it disappeared over the horizon. After a while, she sighed and turned towards the front door. Back to the deafening silence. Back to the peace and stillness while a battle raged in her heart.
She ate dinner and read the Daily Prophet, more out of habit than anything; she no longer believed a word in it.
"Now they're saying Muggleborns Confounded pure-blooded wizards into marrying them, Ted," she said dryly to his picture frame at the other end of the table. "They're questioning half-bloods about their parents' relationship, if it seemed 'normal.' Well how would the children know? They've only ever had one set of parents."
She allowed herself a short laugh. "Did you Confound me, Ted? What would Dora say about us? A member of Wizarding Royalty abandons her pureblood-obssesed family to live a common life with a Muggleborn Hufflepuff. What's not normal about that?"
She watched Ted's beaming smile flash again and again in the photograph, occasionally breaking into a silent belly laugh. She didn't cry when the stony-faced Order members appeared at her door, bearing the news of his death. She didn't cry at his funeral. Everyone had watched her like some unmarked time bomb, unsure of when she would finally succumb to her grief. She had hugged and comforted crying friends and family. She had assured them it was going to be alright. "You're so strong" and "I don't know how you do it" and "Ted wouldn't have wanted you to be upset." They didn't understand: She wanted to cry. She willed tears to come. But she knew it had been trained out of her at an early age. Stiff upper lip, Andromeda. Never let them see you at your weakest. And if they do, never let them know with tears or complaints or self-pity. Druella's words at her own father's funeral, wiping away her middle daughter's tears.
So she didn't cry for Ted.
...
"Excellent pudding, Narcissa," Macnair said, shoveling another hearty spoonful in his mouth and dribbling even more onto the once-pristine tablecloth.
She nodded stiffly, mouth in a tight line. On the right, she saw Bellatrix's eyebrows fly up, and Narcissa braced for confrontation.
"Yes, your flawless etiquette makes it so appetizing to the rest of us," she sneered, setting down her fork in disgust.
"Forgive me. Perhaps the half-breed's brat will inherit the Black family manners. The child is due any day now, isn't it?" Macnair shot back, wiping a smear of pudding from the corner of his mouth.
"You dare insult the hostess's family in her own home?" Bellatrix shrieked, reaching for her wand as the other Death Eaters laughed at her embarrassment.
"Bella!" Narcissa warned, trying to ignore the ice coursing through her veins that always manifested at the mention of that painfully severed part of the family. "That isn't necessary."
She turned to Macnair, "If you continue to drag my family's name down to where it no longer holds stake, you can find alternative lodgings to invade."
Macnair shot Bellatrix another scathing look but said nothing more. The rest of dinner carried on without discussion, Macnair and the other Death Eaters shamed into silence by Narcissa. After a flick of her wand cleared the table, Narcissa turned to Lucius, who had returned to the head of the table in the Dark Lord's absence.
"Bella and I are going to take a walk on the grounds," she said to him.
Bellatrix opened her mouth in protest, but Narcissa cut her off. "I need your opinion on the trumpeting jasmine."
She swept out of room and through the French doors to the garden, a confused Bellatrix in her wake.
"Trumpeting jasmine, Cissy. What is this? Since when have I ever cared about flowers?"
Narcissa took a deep breath and summoned the small part of her that knew her sister would never harm her.
"Bella, I need to know what happened the night you saw Andromeda."
The color drained from her sister's face, and she looked slightly panicked. For the first time Narcissa could ever recall, Bellatrix was at a loss for words. They had not spoken about the Andromeda incident since the night Bellatrix burst into the drawing room and confessed her momentary weakness. In fact, Narcissa was almost certain that her sister had convinced herself that it had never happened, that it had instead been some sort of awful nightmare. She used Bellatrix's uncharacteristic stunned silence as an opportunity to explain herself further.
"Bella, I am your sister, for Merlin's sake," she hissed. "I am not going to submit you to questioning by the Dark Lord. I just...wanted to know."
At the mention of her Master, Bellatrix seemed to recover full-force.
"I know what you meant, Narcissa," she snapped, and her expression darkened. "However, I cannot imagine how recounting the night's events could serve any sort of purpose."
"It would serve personal purposes! I want to know, Bellatrix!" Narcissa said heatedly, fighting to keep her voice low, although that tact was lost on her sister.
"What happened that night was largely a success despite a minor encounter! Shall I detail how I captured a hoard of Mudbloods and executed a half-dozen more? Shall I explain the look in a mother's eyes as I performed the Cruciatus Curse on her son? Shall I demonstrate the worms' pathetic screams as the flames danced around the room?" Bellatrix's eyes flashed wildly.
"Enough," Narcissa whispered, her face slightly green. She turned away from her sister and blinked back tears of frustration. Gone were the days of using well-timed crying fits and pouty looks to get her way as the youngest sister.
Bellatrix grabbed Narcissa's forearm and pushed up her sleeve, revealing pale, unblemished skin.
"You did not take the Mark, Cissy," Bellatrix growled into her sister's ear. "You chose to live reaping the rewards of the Dark Lord's servants without actually serving him yourself. Therefore, our victories are not your victories. And our missteps are not your missteps."
She dropped Narcissa's arm and walked away. Narcissa could tell by the slamming door and the rattling glass that Bellatrix had gone back inside in a fury. She stood planted on the spot, knowing better than to pursue an enraged Bellatrix Lestrange.
She stared out onto the perfectly manicured landscape, Bellatrix's words continuing to bite away at her, as they always did in her explosive anger. Our missteps are not your missteps. She knew Bellatrix was not angry about Narcissa's sudden and unearned interest in Death Eater missions. She knew the rage came from Bellatrix admitting she ever cared about Andromeda. "No sister of ours."
Suddenly, there was a commotion at the front gate. She drew herself to full height as six cloaked figures led a bound and chained group down the path towards the manor.
"What is this?" she demanded at the approaching caravan.
"We're here to see He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," the tallest and grisliest of the Snatchers announced, thrusting a disfigured, dark-haired and bespectacled boy forward.
Harry Potter had arrived at Malfoy Manor.
Author's Note: Yes, this is the "behind the scenes" of the moments before the Malfoy Manor chapter in Deathly Hallows. I just re-read the chapter and thought the interaction between Bellatrix and Narcissa was more strained than usual, so I wanted to work it into the story. At first, I planned on ending the story with the last chapter; it seemed like a good stopping point. But I mapped out six more chapters (including this one), so it looks like the story lives! Thanks for all reads and reviews. I hope to have the next installation up soon.