Paregmenon: the juxtaposition of words that have a common derivation, as in "sense and sensibility."

January 10, 1963

The landscape was dead. The apple trees stood white as bone, their bare, twisted branches stabbing the iron gray sky as if frozen in battle. The ground was hard with frost, but the snow had long been washed away by driving rain. Through the orchard, a great stone manor house loomed.

A little girl sat primly on a stump in the middle of the apple trees as if it were a throne. Her platinum hair was wound into a wreath of plates around her head and she wore a disdainful expression as she gazed out at her realm.

"Why must we sit out here in the woods while Mother's inside?" she demanded in a whine.

"Because, Narcissa," her older sister said quietly, not taking her eyes from the lit drawing room window of the manor. "Father's business with Mr. Lestrange is very important, and we're not to get in his way."

"Then why did he bring us?" Narcissa pouted.

"To look pretty," another girl supplied, standing up from the brush and pushing her messy brown braid out of her face only to have the wind whip it back against her cheek.

"Andromeda," the oldest girl snapped. She stood with her back to her sisters, long black hair streaming down her back and her black cape billowing. She couldn't have been more than eleven years old, but she stood statuesque, as if she'd witnessed a thousand winters here in this orchard. Her expression was as cold as marble.

"Well, it's true," Andromeda defended, picking her way over to her sisters. She nudged Narcissa to make room on the stump for her, but Narcissa crossed her legs and gave her a sour look.

"It is not," Bellatrix said calmly. Something at the base of a tree a few meters away had finally caught her attention. She paced over to it. "We are here to demonstrate the nobility of the Ancient House. If you ever wish to have a future in this world, you'll do as Father instructs and act properly."

"What are you looking at?" Narcissa quarried. She made to slip off her throne, glanced at Andromeda, and planted herself more firmly in the middle of it, craning her neck to see what Bellatrix was crouching over.

"A cardinal," Bellatrix reported.

Forgetting about the stump, her sisters flocked to either side of her.

"It's lovely," Narcissa exclaimed delightedly, reaching for the bird's ruby plumage.

"It's hurt," Andromeda noted, grabbing Narcissa's hand sharply. Narcissa snatched her wrist away, looking reproachful. Andromeda leaned forward to get a closer look at the bird's bent wing. "We should bring it to the house to see if Father will mend it."

Bellatrix had picked up a stick and was turning it over in her fingers. "Father's busy," she said, watching the bird trying to hop away from , as if she were trying to lure it toward her, she reached out with her stick. But instead of offering it to the bird, she jabbed it into the cardinal's injured wing. The bird gave a shrill cry and Bellatrix's lips twitched up.

"What are you doing?" Andromeda demanded, outraged. She tried to push her sister out of the way, but Bellatrix shouldered her aside, poking the bird again.

"Bella, you're hurting it!" Narcissa wailed.

Bellatrix ignored her, too. She snapped her stick in two, running the pad of her thumb against the jagged end she'd created, and poked again. The bird flapped its wing uselessly. It was cornered between them and the tree.

"Bellatrix, stop!" Andromeda begged, trying to get the stick from her.

"It's just a bird, Andy, what do you care?" she drawled, pressing the jagged piece of wood into the bird's side.

"Why do you have to hurt it?" Narcissa whispered tearfully, but she couldn't tear her horrified gaze away.

"It deserves it. It was stupid enough to get itself injured and to be spotted by something more powerful than it. It will be dead soon enough. Besides, what else are we to do while we wait?"

She reached for the quivering scarlet creature, but before she could touch it a heavy rock sailed over her shoulder. It landed on the bird with a sickening, crunching thud.

Narcissa made a choking sound and burst into tears. Bellatrix turned on her heal to gaze steadily at Andromeda, who stood a few feet behind her, brushing her hands off on her cloak, jaw set.

"Hush, Narcissa," Andromeda said, her voice quavering slightly. "It can't be hurt anymore. Bellatrix is right, sometimes there are things you can't mend."

She looked up into her sister's dark eyes. Bellatrix appraised her stoically.

"We may yet share roots," she said.

A/N: Um… hi. So, I'm back. First year of college done, woohoo! Finally getting round to filling in January. Right, well, this is for alohamora080 who asked for a little of the sisters' Black way back around the actual January 10. Hope she's still keeping an eye on this story to read it. Well, anyway, I'm going to attempt to update daily again now that school's out. We'll see how that goes. If you're still reading, thank you so very much for your patience. While you're here, maybe you could leave me a review? Oh, and I put up a new poll on my profile. Check out my stories to come section and vote for which one you'd like to see first!

Love you all and hopefully I'll be back soon!