AN: I noticed only after posting this new chapter: holy cow, 4k followers! And the story is not even halfway. You guys really seem to like my fic. I am overjoyed!
Chapter 22 - Sisters
As spectacular as it was that a 12-year-old boy had managed to cast a corporeal Patronus Charm, the fact was that it was the last week of December. It was freezing outside. After recovering from their initial shock, everyone rushed back inside.
However, when they got back into the kitchen, instead of finding it empty, there was a stranger inside. No, stranger is too harsh a word. It was someone that everyone there knew but someone that they had not spoken to in many years. It was a woman. She was dressed rather modestly, all in black, her blonde hair was caught in a simple bun, and she was not wearing jewellery nor any make-up at all despite the special occasion - it was Christmas after all, what lady would not doll herself up on such a day?
"What is she doing here?" Bellatrix was the first to speak, the tone of her voice very sharp.
The blonde woman's blue eyes became misty but she did not shed any tears. "I told you I shouldn't have come here!" she whispered and turned on her heels, making a beeline towards the fireplace.
Sirius quickly walked after her and caught her by the arm.
"Narcissa, stay. Please."
"I'm not welcome here-"
"This is my home. And you are family. As long as I am still alive, you will always be welcome here!" Sirius said and he made sure to glare at Bellatrix.
At his words, Narcissa burst into tears. Sirius took her in his arms and rubbed her back soothingly as she sobbed. He just let her vent out the pain and suffering that she had been bottling up ever since her husband and son died a year ago. It took a long time for her to calm down. By the time she finally got a semblance of control, Kreacher had already prepared a seat for her at the table, and a set of cutlery and plates too.
"It's good to have you back, Cissy," Andromeda said kindly and opened her arms to embrace her too. As the middle sister out of the three Black sisters, Andromeda had always been the more understanding towards the spoilt, younger one. She used to pamper her when they were children. The two had been rather close before Andromeda eloped with her husband and Narcissa married Lucius Malfoy - a moment from which they broke all contact.
Though hesitant at first, the blonde woman melted in her elder sister's embrace. She even started crying anew. The two sisters that had not spoken to each other in more than a decade were now hugging each other as if their lives depended on it. Everyone could not help but smile at the heart-warming scene. Everyone...except for Bellatrix. She was still looking at Narcissa with cold eyes and a stern expression on her face.
Narcissa avoided meeting her eyes and just took a seat next to Sirius, where Kreacher had prepared her seat.
"Harry. We're going." Bellatrix said curtly and she stood up before heading to the fireplace.
"Why, what's the hurry?" he asked, pretending to be oblivious to her feelings regarding Narcissa's presence there.
"I won't sit and eat at the same table with someone like her! Someone who cut all contact with her family for the sake of a fucking lapdog of Voldemort!" she snapped at him, speaking in a way he had rarely ever heard from her.
"Bella!" Sirius said sharply.
Harry walked next to her and said in a whisper for others to not hear his words.
"Like it or not, she is your family. Don't push her away just because of your pride."
Bellatrix threw him a scathing look. There were some sharp rebuttals on the tip of her tongue but she held them back because she remembered what he had told her yesterday - that before stepping into the Veil, he had had no family and no friends left alive either. He had been all alone. She remained silent.
"Don't push her away," Harry repeated himself, still whispering. "Would you rather have her go into Voldemort's camp again? To get killed by Aurors or thrown into Azkaban? Or worse, Kissed by a Dementor?"
"Of course NOT, she's my sister!" Bellatrix retorted, in a louder voice than she had intended.
Everyone else at the table turned to look at Bellatrix when they heard what she said. When Harry's face broke into a smile Bella had to hold herself back to not smack him upside the head. She realized that he had played her. Letting out a huff of exasperation, she went back to the table where she plopped herself on her chair in a rather unladylike manner. She crossed her arms to her chest and refused to look at anyone directly, staring a hole into her plate.
The rest of the family decided not to poke at a sleeping dragon and avoided rising Bellatrix's ire. They knew that impulsive as she was, especially at the moment, she would be looking for even the tiniest excuse to start an argument.
As for Narcissa, she was mostly silent but her face showed a content expression. She even smiled once in a while at one of Tonks' funny faces or at one of Sirius's shenanigans. The grieving woman was experiencing for the first time in the past year the warmth that came with being together with her family.
Eventually, the Christmas dinner ended and they started to leave. The Tonks family was the first to leave. Once Andy, Ted, and Nymphadora left, Sirius excused himself, saying that he needed to use the restroom. Harry also left the kitchen temporarily, claiming that he wanted to see the famous Black tapestry and followed Kreacher to the living room.
Bellatrix rolled her eyes at their poor disguise of giving her and Narcissa some alone time.
The two sisters stood silent for some time. Narcissa was too anxious to break the ice and Bellatrix was too proud to start the conversation herself.
Eventually, it was Narcissa who said in a quiet voice:
"The Dark Lord is back."
Bellatrix's eyes widened in surprise. That was totally not what she had expected to come out of her mouth.
"What?! How?" she blurted out before she could stop herself.
"He was never dead. Lucius... Lucius always believed that his master was not completely dead. He had always held hope that he would return one day, saying that the Dark Lord had taken steps to ensure his immortality."
The widow swallowed the node in her neck.
"I was never as good as you were with a wand... or at magic.. or with the Dark Arts. But I'm still a Black. How could I not recognize what this is?" she said and she took out a notebook from her purse.
Bellatrix took the notebook from her sister's hand and pointed her wand at it, muttering a few spells under her breath.
"It's a Horcrux," she said and Narcissa nodded in confirmation. "Did he come back to life using this?"
"No," Narcissa shook her head. "This Horcrux had been given to Lucius for safekeeping and the Dark Lord had not contacted me yet. But word goes in our circles that he had used Quirinus Quirrel, the DADA professor from last year, to steal the Philosopher's Stone from Hogwarts. Dumbledore had borrowed the Stone from the Flamels to lure the Dark Lord at Hogwarts..."
"I bet that overconfident old fool never expected Voldemort to actually succeed in stealing the stone... it looks like he wasn't lying about Quirrell having gone missing like he had been lying about Snape," Bellatrix said to herself. Turning her attention back towards Narcissa, she asked: "Is this why you've suddenly come to us now? Because he is back?"
Narcissa looked down in both shame and regret.
"Lucius is gone. Draco too. I have no one left... and I didn't want to get mixed up with another war once again. I've never wanted any of these. I've never cared about the Dark Lord's crusade - that's also why I've never taken the Mark. But I had to support Lucius."
Seeing the sneer on Bellatrix's face at the mention of Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa shook her head and said: "He was my husband! You... you wouldn't understand!"
"And whose fault do you think that is?" Bellatrix all of a sudden yelled, startling Narcissa. "Is it my fault that I can never get married? Where were you when aunt Walburga threw that Dark Curse at me? The curse that made me unable to ever bear children! What did you do to stop her? Nothing! That's right! You just watched indifferently from the side how she ruined my life! Even now, you've only come back to us for protection, because you're afraid of Voldemort! You've never cared about your own blood! You've only cared about your own skin!"
Her outburst, although short, left her breathing laboriously. Narcissa had unconsciously taken a step back. She was scared. She had always been afraid of her elder sister's temper. The fact that Bellatrix had only yesterday killed 10 Death Eaters, all by herself (Narcissa didn't believe in the rumours that the boy, Harry Potter, had taken out more than half of them) only served to heighten that feeling of trepidation.
A poignant silence followed - time in which Bellatrix managed to reign in her anger and recollect herself.
"I will accept that you are back for now. But keep in mind, Cissy: I'm not Sirius. I am not Andy either. I'm not as kind-hearted as they are. I swear to you now: if you ever betray us; if you sell us to Voldemort; if you did anything to harm any of us - the Tonks and my Harry included - nothing will save you from my wrath. Nothing. Not Voldemort, not even going under the Fidelius. I will find you and I will make you suffer."
In her anger, Bellatrix did not mince her words. However, once she made her point across, she blew out a long-drawn sigh, her anger mollified somewhat.
"I haven't hugged my little sister in more than a decade," she unexpectedly said and opened her arms. "C'mere."
Still unsure of Bellatrix's true feelings towards her - one moment she was threatening to make her suffer terribly and the next moment she was opening her arms to hug her - Narcissa came to her with baby steps, fearful and hesitant. But once the two sisters embraced each other, Narcissa heard soft sniffs coming from Bella.
"Harsh on the outside, a big softie on the inside... you haven't changed one bit, Bella," Narcissa said endearingly, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Don't get cheeky now, you!" Bellatrix jeered at her but she did not let go of her. She tightened her arms around her back instead.
The two sisters stood embraced for a long time. Outside the kitchen, Harry and Sirius were sporting soft smiles on their faces as they peeked at them through the cracked door.
AN: a shorter chapter this time because what comes next is a different major arc of the story. This chapter marks the end of Harry's period of acclimatizing himself to this new world. From now on, the plot will start moving forward again. Until next time!