I stared at the coffin which held the bodies of my parents as it was slowly lowered into the ground. It was a large one, built to fit both their forms as I'd seen earlier, gazing into the open coffin with bated breath expecting to see . . . what? I didn't know. They'd looked like they were sleeping but a deathly sleep that they would never awaken from. Momma's impossibly long blonde hair had wound its way around Papa's form and their hands had been clasped together in a sign of eternal love . . . at least, that's what Mialita had called it when she caught me looking. I on the other hand had taken one look at them and seen all I had lost in that one glance. I'd been keenly aware of what their deaths meant of course but their bodies resting there, deathly still, were just the exclamation point.

I'd made sure not to let dear Cissy or Andy get a looksee as well – I knew they wouldn't be able to handle it.

The black plastic chair that I sat on was extremely uncomfortable and it jutted into my back at all the wrong places but I suppose that was only to be expected – after all, how could anything be comfortable at a funeral?

Everything was black, everywhere I looked that's what I saw.

Except Narcissa, who had flat out refused to wear the silk black dress Mialita had set down on her blue bed and had instead insisted on wearing her white party dress that had always been Papa's favourite. Mialita hadn't protested much, how could she when she was preparing three young girls for their parents' funeral and this just happened to be the one desire of one of those girls' hearts?

Andromeda was wearing a plain black dress she'd worn to our uncle's funeral last year. When she'd first tried it on it had been too small but a quick magical adjustment by Mialita's wand and it had fit perfectly. But I'd seen the look on Andy's face after she'd tried it on for the final time and knew that she would have preferred it to have stayed small and tight because then at least she would've had the horrible discomfort to distract her from what was really happening today.

My dress on the other hand had fitted perfectly from the beginning, as it should when being the one I received for my birthday. It was funny, when tearing the wrapping paper open that morning I had had no idea I would be wearing the gift inside to my parents' funeral. I'd loved this dress, looked at it in the window like it was a treasure to behold . . . after today, I doubted I'd be able to ever spare it a another glance. Its satin lining was now filled with pain and memories, hardly something I would ever be able to wear again.

Mialita rose from her seat just as the coffin finished its decsent. I stayed where I was, starring and wondering half-heartedly whether there was any chance I could crawl into that coffin with them and be hidden away too. The prospect of going on without my parents was far too daunting to even conceive.

"Come on, it's time to go, girls," the governess said, smiling a kind watery smile back at us.

I avoided her gaze and tapped Cissy lightly on the back as a sign for her to move. She'd been sitting on my lap throughout the whole event, clutching at the fabric of my dress when the reality of things shimmered in and out of her gaze. Now, Narcissa hopped to the ground, white shoes hitting the grass with a squash as her platinum hair blew momentarily in front of her face. Almost immediately, she reached back for my hand, searching for guidance, and without pause I took it, rising to my feet as well.

It was then I reached back for Andy who was still sitting with her feet dangling carelessly back and forth just inches above the ground. She'd been staring fixedly down at the grass for the past five minutes but when she saw my hand she let out a reluctant sigh and hopped off the seat, latching onto it with hers.

We left that cemetery as a united front, hoping desperately that it was all we would need to get us through the years to come.

I don't think we've ever been more wrong in our lives.

I sat on the bed, watching as Mialita piled my clothes into a brand new trunk, bought especially for this occasion. Her long blonde hair, pulled back into a ponytail, had wisps of hair escaping that fell in her face and stuck to her lipstick as she worked. She was a pretty woman, no older than twenty, and a kind one at that. She was, of course, from a pureblood family – it would be the scandal of the century if she wasn't – but just over four years ago they'd been bankrupt. Mialita had taken up the job as our governess and teacher because it payed well and she needed to get her family back up on their feet. Now I needed to get mine back on theirs.

"Do we have to go?" I asked, hands folded in my lap as I watched her. Cissy and Andy were downstairs listening to the Wizarding Wireless, searching for an appropriate distraction to keep their minds off what exactly had happened that day.

"Yes, of course," she replied with a sympathetic smile. "You can't very well live here by yourselves, now can you?"

"But why can't the Rosiers come here?" I whined, loathing the idea of leaving my family home where'd I'd spent all my life. I knew this house, this land – I didn't know the Rosier's lot from Dumbledore's. "Why do we have to go to their house?"

Mialita chuckled lightly at my apparent ignorance. "Well, because that simply isn't done, Bella." Seeing my pout she continued. "Now, your aunt and uncle are being very generous in taking you in. You're lucky to be going to their house in the first place."

I sighed, knowing the truth in her words. An old friend of mine – a half-blood – had lost his parents two years ago. The only family had had left alive wouldn't take him in because his father had been disowned when he had decided to marry the boy's mother. The last I'd heard, he was rotting away in some bloody orphanage.

"You're coming though, aren't you?" I asked and Mialita paused in her packing.

She glanced over at me, regretful, and I watched with wide eyes as she gnawed nervously on her bottom lip. "No I'm afraid not, Bella. I'm afraid not."

"Why?" My voice sounded positively stricken, as it should. I had not been expecting this turn of events; how could the world do this to me – tear away my parents and now Mialita too?

"The Rosiers aren't willing to pay the required fee for employing a governess," she answered, deciding to continue on with the packing.

"But can't you work with us for free? I thought you liked spending time with us." I was feeling the seeds of betrayal starting to sink in and gazed at her with pleading eyes of charcoal.

"I do, Bella," she insisted, turning her head to look at me, "but I need to be payed. I need money."

"But who's going to look after us?"

I felt myself becoming suddenly small, like a mouse, and even as I kept my attention on the conversation at hand I couldn't help but look around for any possible cats that might swallow a little thing like me whole.

"Why, your aunt and uncle of course," Mialita chuckled as if it was obvious.

"Who's going to teach us our lessons?" I persisted, there had to be something, something to get her to stay on with us, anything . . .

"I expect they'll hire a tutor for you and your sisters; it's what most of the families do."

"But . . ." I stared at her wide eyed, pleading. Surely she must see that we still needed her, that she couldn't go.

"I'm sorry, Bella," she whispered, eyes sad.

I sat back, devastated, as she returned to packing. I felt a chilling coldness set over me, even though I could feel myself sweating through the sleeves of my black dress. How could all this be happening? How could someone suddenly decide that I was to lose everything, and in just a short span of each other?

"I'll right to you, though," she promised, not looking at me.

"I'd like that." The words escaped me in a whisper, barely registered as I sat dazed.

My eyes watched her fingers as they worked diligently on packing everything away. Somehow, I couldn't help but think that with every coat, every dress that piled in, just a little bit more of my old life was being packed away, never to be seen again.

"From where i'm standing

you're the quiet side of the road

you're looking so lonely

and i can't stop looking at you

your head is hanging

trying to beat those goodbye blues

i bet you'll be fine

i bet you'll be fine."

Schuyler Fisk : From Where I'm Standing Lyrics

Rodolphus Lestrange, a young boy of eight, pressed his hands to the glass of the bedroom window, as he watched a ministry ordered car park outside the Rosier's house. He'd heard from their son, Evan, that his cousins were coming to live with him and, as could be expected, his curiosity was peaked.

The car door swung open and a tall young woman dressed in black with long blonde hair stepped out. Rodolphus watched as she walked around the side of the car and opened the back door. Here, he pressed his face closer to the glass, aware that this was the moment he had been waiting for.

A girl, around about his own age, stepped out onto the gravel. Her hair was pure black and it hung down past her shoulders, matching her dress so well that you almost couldn't tell the difference between them. Although it was hard to tell from such a distance, Rodolphus could see that her eyes were also the strong colour of charcoal, mainly because they stuck out so much in contrast to her snow white skin.

She was the most delicate, darkest thing that Rodolphus Lestrange had ever laid eyes on.

Next out of the car was a younger girl with soft brown hair even longer than the first. She was an obvious beauty and in years to come he could just imagine the many hearts she would break at Hogwarts.

The two girls turned back to face the car and out jumped a little sprite dressed in white with matching hair that curled above her shoulders. She was the farthest thing in looks from her sisters that if not for the fact that she was also a terribly beautiful creature it would be almost impossible to tell that they were related at all.

Satisfied with what he'd seen, Rodolphus turned away from the window but not before catching a glimpse of the two older girls grabbing a hold of the younger's hands and heading off towards the house in a mournful march.

I stared at the opposite wall from my bed, counting the cracks and lines unseeable to the untrained eye. I couldn't get to sleep, it was a solid conclusion I'd come to about an hour ago and one that I wasn't wavering from. I was tired, very tired, but nothing could keep the holds of sleep on me. I'd even tried counting sheep – that was supposed to help, right? – but to no avail.

It was weird being in a new house and especially one that held a new family that I hadn't even met before. They were OK, I supposed, a little closed off but not unkind. My cousin, Evan, had already been in bed when we arrived so I hadn't met him yet. I just hoped to god he wasn't a spoilt brat like Lucius Malfoy who I had met and many times.

"Pss, Bella!" Cissy's voice hissed from somewhere on the other side of the room. We'd all been happy when we'd found out that we'd be sleeping in the same room. "Bella, are you awake?"

I didn't answer, instead continuing to gaze at the wall.

There was the sound of covers peeling back and footsteps travelling across carpeted floor. The next thing I knew, the doona was being pulled off my prone form and a tiny body was crawling into bed beside me, blocking my view of the wall. I sighed, breathing in the scent of Narcissa, a soft mix of Narcissus flowers kept in her room at home and peppermint (Andy smelt like honey).

Closing my eyes, I wrapped my arms around her waist and buried my face in her blonde hair. She didn't just smell like Narcissa – she smelt like home.

"Bella, when are Momma and Papa coming back?"

"They're not, Cissy," I said, voice growing thick.

"Why not?" she asked, voice small.

"I don't know." Why weren't they coming back? Why was it that my parents, of all people, had died?"

"Was it something we did?"

I opened my mouth to deny it, as I should, but after a hesitant pause closed it again. Was it our fault? Had we done something? Something bad? Was somebody punishing us?

"I don't know," I whispered finally.

There was the sound of shuffling and moments later the smell of honey and grass hit me and Andromeda was climbing into bed behind me. I closed my eyes again against Cissy's hair as I felt my other sister wrap her arms around my waist. Finally, I allowed sleep to take me, wedged tightly between the only two things I had left.