"Andie? Andie? Are you in here?" Bella's voice rings out in the empty room, where the fire has gone out a long time ago.
Andromeda barely makes any noise. She is hidden underneath the bed, shivering, as thunder crashes outside and lightning flashes. She hates thunderstorms. She hugs her teddy bear close to her as another strike lashes out, illuminating her room through the bedsheets that fall off the edge of her bed.
"Andie! There you are!" Bella's face, and headful of sleep-tangled curls, suddenly appears as she pulls up the bedsheet and sees her little sister in a little ball underneath the bed. "Are you okay?"
Andie shakes her head.
"You scared?"
A little nod.
"Don't worry." Her four-year-old sister gives her a toothy grin. She's only a year older than Andie, and yet she is already so brave, if you ask Andie. She isn't scared of anything. "Here, why don't you come with me?"
Andie lets her sister lead her out from underneath the bed, out of the big lonely room and into to cold corridor, their bare little feet making almost no noise against the icy marble floors. Bella quickly ushers them into her bed.
"Here you go, we can both stay together!" Bella exclaims, tucking her sister into bed.
"Can Mr Teddy come to?" Andie asks, clutching her teddy bear closer to her.
Suddenly, lightning strikes again, and Andie gives a little yelp. The roll of the thunder shakes the house, and in another room, Cissy, their baby sister starts crying.
"Of course Mr Teddy can come," Bella says in a reassuring tone and hops into bed next to her sister, giving her a big cuddle. Andie knows she is safe, because Bellatrix is there to protect her, and Bella isn't scared of anything.
.…
Many years later, Andromeda still thinks about that night, or really, any other night when there was a thunderstorm. Without fail, her sister would always be there for her, and then Cissy, when she was scared of the bright lightning and loud thunder. As the lightning flashes around her, more than forty years later, she wonders if her sister remembers this too, or if that part of Bella that she loved has gone too…
WC: 373