"I will ask you again. Who are you?"

"I told you. I am Lucius Malfoy. I… I know this will probably sound like total nonsense, but I have lost my memory. The only reason I even know my name is because of her." He pointed at Bella, and then looked curiously at Andromeda. "Are you… related to her?"

"She's my sister."

Lucius looked taken aback.

"She… she said her sister was dead…"

Andromeda nodded.

"She had more than one. She hates me though, so I'm not surprised she didn't mention me. Opposite sides of the war and all."

Lucius looked nervous.

"I… will you have us arrested?"

"No. I'm not even sure you are who you say you are. I have known Lucius Malfoy, and he was nothing like you. Why are you even here?"

"Bella got cursed, a bad curse to the leg about a year ago in the war. She thought it had healed, but lately it started hurting again, and today she came back home in terrible pain. Her leg is all swollen and purple-red, I… I feared she would die if I didn't find help."

Andromeda couldn't believe her ears.

"Are you saying you two live together?"

He nodded, and looked up with a deeply desperate look in his eyes.

"She is all I have left. Please… help her."

Twice please on a timespan of less than an hour! If it was really Lucius Malfoy, then losing his memory was probably the best thing that ever happened to him, Andromeda mused. She had cast several identification spells, and they had all told her the same, namely that this man was actually who he said he was, unbelievable as it might be. The only thing more accurate would require blood magic, for which she didn't have the materials. She didn't know what to make of it.

"Let me see it."

He definitely hadn't lied about the injury; it was quickly becoming deadly. Andromeda had been a healer during the war, and she was familiar with lots of sinister magical injuries. She immediately recognized the curse as a slow-working dark curse that first infected muscle tissue, resulting in stiffness, aches and coordination trouble, then the joints, resulting in arthritic symptoms, and finally the nervous system, causing agonizing pains. The treatment in the first phases of the curse was easy, but Bella's injury was far into the last phase of nervous deterioration.

"How long ago did this happen?"

"Approximately a year ago… maybe longer, I'm not sure, I've been unconscious for a while."

"The usual time over which this curse's effects manifests is three weeks, Mr Malfoy."

"Please, call me Lucius. And honestly, she has had that limp forever!"

Three times please. Incredible. Could she make a wish now?

"I'm Andromeda. Have you changed something in your food, lately? Did she take potions to alleviate the pain, healing charms, anything?"

Lucius shook his head.

"I don't know… she cast a numbing charm over her leg, I've never seen her do anything else."

Andromeda suddenly had new respect for her sister, no matter how much she still hated the woman. The curse she had been hit with was incredibly painful, even in the first stages it hurt pretty bad; to cope with nothing but a numbing charm was testimony of a tough character… or of insanity, perhaps more likely in Bellatrix' case.

"Are you certain?"

"The only thing she changed was the morning tea… She used to make tea of birch leaves and bark, but lately she started making tea of Linden flowers because the former tasted so bad."

When hearing that, Andromeda understood.

"Birch bark is a highly potent herbal medicine, Lucius. She was unconsciously self-medicating; the tea slowed down the progression of the curse. When she stopped drinking it the process sped up again."

"Is that even possible? I mean, for birch to do something like that. It's a muggle kind of thing, isn't it?"

There was a glimpse of the old Lucius… if you squinted. Andromeda shook her head dismissively.

"Herbal medicine works on magical as well as muggle ailments, in many cases. It's not because muggles use it too that it's worthless. It probably saved her life."

"Is there anything you can do?"

"I'll try my best, but I'll warn you, in the worst case she may lose the leg."

Lucius bit his lip and nodded.

"Just… don't let her die."

It was a plea, and Andromeda knew it.

"I won't. She's still my sister."

(Pagebreak)

Bellatrix woke up in terrible pain. Everything was hazy and blurred, and it felt as if someone was sticking burning knives in her leg. She jolted up with a pained scream, but someone pushed her back down. A comforting, familiar voice said,

"Sssh. Calm down. It'll be over soon now. Sssh."

The pain made it impossible to think, all she wanted to do was cry in agony. The voice said something else, but she didn't hear it, and then they made her drink something. The cool liquid felt nice to her hoarse throat, and as soon as she had swallowed it the all-encompassing torment subsided to a more bearable level. She calmed down, feeling oddly detached, a little floaty. Vaguely she discerned a man bending over her.

"You're going to be fine Bella… Don't worry…"

She felt a hand rake through her curls, and the soft, repetitive gesture made her relax until she drifted away again.

(Pagebreak)

Andromeda had been concentrating on her sister's injury, trying to save as much of the leg as possible after stopping the progression of the curse with a very effective counterspell… yet when Bellatrix suddenly woke up during the painful procedure of re-growing the deteriorated muscle tissue, she observed her sister's interaction with Lucius. The man cared for her sister; she could clearly see it. His pleas to save Bellatrix could have been made out of egoistical self-interest, but there was no way to fake the look of worried affection she saw in his eyes when he comforted her sister and administered her a pain-relieving potion. That Bellatrix relaxed when he held her was very telling as well, Andromeda thought, remembering her sister's aversion of being touched as a child. It was clear that since the war, quite a lot had happened to them… She wondered if perhaps her sister had changed. She didn't get her hopes up though; when it came to Bellatrix those hopes had been let down a few times too often. After the operation, she talked to Lucius, trying to coax more information from him. He was reluctant to describe their "home", for security reasons, but from what he told her Andromeda thought it was a small miracle he and her sister hadn't killed each other. One bed, one bathroom? That wasn't even a small miracle anymore… In return, she told Lucius about life after the war.

"Most of the key people were dead, so it was starting over with a clean slate. The ministry, the Hogwarts staff… all new faces. They asked me to become a professor, but I declined. Teddy has to miss so much already with his parents gone… I couldn't disappear from his life as well."

"Teddy?"

"The child you saw at the door. My grandchild."

"And his parents?"

"Father was killed by Antonin Dolohov, one of your colleagues... and his mother… my daughter… was killed by her."

She pointed at Bellatrix with a cold, hard look in her eyes. Lucius looked… could it be… ashamed?

"I don't know much about the war… Bella doesn't speak about it. I don't even know what we were actually fighting for. But… to kill family is wrong, no political cause is worth that much. I am sorry for your loss."

Andromeda was dumbstruck, at loss of what to say. Lucius continued.

"It speaks for you that you still helped your sister, despite the pain she caused you and your family."

"She always was and always will be my sister, Lucius. I may hate her, but that doesn't take away our bond."

He slowly nodded, still looking troubled.

"Is it true, that you are allowed to kill us without danger of prosecution?"

Andromeda nodded.

"It's sad, but true. Half a year after the battle the aurors had caught most of the death eaters, and the DMLE needed their forces elsewhere. All the remaining death eaters were outlawed. Killing on sight is permitted and will automatically be deemed self defence even if the other party was unarmed. As far as I know you two are the only ones still alive."

Lucius looked taken aback.

"That's…"

"Despicable, I know. The new regime is all but perfect. But it's better than what you strived for, at least."

"What did we strive for then?"

"All the power to pureblood families, eradication or enslaving of muggleborn witches and wizards… things like that. Megalomaniac, racist ideas."

If possible, Lucius looked even more ashamed now.

"I have no way of telling whether you speak the truth or not, but that sounds so daft and idiotic I can hardly believe I fought for such a cause."

"Trust me, it was idiotic, and yes you fought for it. You were one of Voldemort's most important lieutenants."

"What a fool I must have been."

He sounded positively disgusted. Andromeda decided, for reasons she didn't understand herself, to have a little mercy on the blonde.

"Perhaps you had other reasons, reasons you no longer understand or know now because you have lost your memory."

"Perhaps."

Lucius looked unconvinced. It was that moment that Bellatrix started to wake up. Moaning sounded from the sofa, and immediately Lucius got up to sit at her side.

"Bella?"

Her eyes were hazy, but she appeared to see him. Weakly she asked,

"Lucius? W-what…"

"I'm here. You're safe now."

"It h-hurt…"

"I know. You've been healed, it won't hurt anymore now."

"Oh… Okay…"

"How are you feeling?"

"T-Tired… W-want to s-sleep."

"Just close your eyes. I'll stay here."

Bella fell asleep quickly again, still under the influence of the strong pain reliever. Lucius caringly stroked her hair.

"Sweet dreams, Bella."

Andromeda couldn't help but smile at the exchange, bitterly and with a heavy feeling in her heart. It was moments like this that she missed Ted most… The thought startled her. Did she really just compare her crazy sister and the pureblood supremacist Lucius Malfoy to herself and Ted Tonks? She did.

"You love her, no?"

Lucius' eyes widened.

"Love her? I… That… No, absolutely not. That's ridiculous. We simply live together. Nothing of sorts."

It was too hasty an excuse, and Andromeda knew what she had seen. She didn't continue to push the issue though. If he wanted to deny the obvious, very well.

(Pagebreak)

Bellatrix was moved from the sofa to an empty bedroom. Lucius slept in the chair next to the bed, declining the offer to sleep on the sofa downstairs. Andromeda watched it all wondering if she had been sucked into a parallel universe the moment she had opened her front door. She was pretty sure that if she told anyone about this they wouldn't believe her. In fact, she had been expecting someone to tell her she got pranked big time any moment, until night fell and she had to realize that she voluntarily allowed two wanted criminals to spend the night in her spare bedroom. It was a strange thought and Andromeda tried not to think too deep about it. Part of her wanted to call the aurors, had wanted to mess up the countercurse on Bella's leg… anything to take revenge for the harm done to her family. But there was that other voice too, that told her she was better than that. She had always tried not to stoop to the level of the family that had disowned her… There was no reason she should stop trying now.

(Author's Notes)

Yeah, Andromeda is incredible. She is totally a better person than virtually everyone. And Lucius is cute, no? I think Lucius Malfoy apologizing is enough to make anyone think they've landed in a parallel universe...

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