It was a long week in London, having to deal with Walburga and her brood—no insult meant for Sirius—. No one was enjoying her presence, and neither Andromeda or Bellatrix would ever truly know how much Cygnus and Druella suffered having to deal with the extended family.
One morning, as Bellatrix emerged from her new room, a sharp pain hit her in the leg.
"Out of the way girl! Or move quicker" The scratchy voice of her aunt made her ears want to shrivel up.
'How about—no.' She stood her ground and purposely stepped slowly—and gracefully for humour's sake—directly in front of her aunt, despite the cane whacks her aunt was doing to her leg. She continued on through the badgering of insults until she reached the stairs, where she put one hand on each railing and whistled away, her aunt unable to pass her in the stairs. Her aunt's frustrated grunts and tries to pass her in the stairs only fuelled Bellatrix to continue on slower and she even began reciting one of the tales from Beedle The Bard: Babbity Rabbity and her Cackling Stump. 'One more set of stairs' she mused. And so she continued reciting out loudly to annoy her even more.
Once on the main floor, Walburga finally pushed by Bella, ignoring the grin and slight cackle from the young girl.
"You really seem to enjoy annoying Mother." she turned and saw Sirius a few steps up watching her, face avoid of any expression.
"What of it?" She turned and stepped up to be on the floor below him, yet she was still taller than the seven-year-old by a few inches. "Are you going to snitch on me?" She practically hissed it at him. "Or are you going to keep quiet like a good boy?" She watched the idea float in his eyes for a second before a small smile graced his young face.
Bellatrix swore that she saw amusement in his eyes, and perhaps the spark of something in the back of his head. "I want in—as long as I'm not caught." Bellatrix was now grinning.
"Of course, dearest cousin of mine. Let us go grab breakfast and converge elsewhere for planning, shall we?" She shifted her tone into an innocent one, coated in sweetness and innocence.
"Let's go." Sirius followed his cousin to the dining room, the excitement of planning brewing his appetite.
The two cousins joined the table for breakfast. Almost everyone was eating together today; they were only missing Narcissa and Freddie—the lazy ones—otherwise they'd all be there. The moment they sat together, Bellatrix's mother raised a brow as she sipped her coffee and looked between the two for a short second before turning her attention elsewhere.
That afternoon, after debriefing Fred and Narcissa, they all converged in his room on the fourth floor. Though it was dusty, no one seemed to mind at all. And being the troublemaker that he was, Fred easily supplied products to help in their task to thoroughly drive their aunt mad that she might consider leaving.
"We could do something to her wine," Bellatrix suggested. "she's always drinking that." she grinned. "How do you think having an itch inside your belly feels?"
Narcissa pursed her lips at the remark. "I don't think we should affect food or drinks... Let's start somewhere else."
Fred was quick to cut her off though. "It doesn't need to be harmful, just extremely inconveniencing."
"You sound like you have an idea." Sirius grinned, the spark shining in his eyes. "What do you need?" Fred thought for a moment if he should say something.
"Diagon Alley. Pick up a few things."
"What is this about Diagon Alley that you need?" The four kids turned around and saw Druella standing in the doorway, curiosity in her eyes. "What are you all doing up here? Where's Andromeda?" Fred, Narcissa, Bellatrix and Sirius all stayed quiet until Sirius eventually asked.
"Aunty, can we go to Diagon Alley?" She looked at them, her eyes silently questioning the four in front of her. The idea that Fred, Bellatrix and Sirius were all huddled away from everyone else was mildly concerning, knowing that Bellatrix wasn't too fond of Sirius to begin with, but she also noticed Narcissa was here, so they couldn't be planning something too horrible. Merlin bless the sweet girl.
"Tell me what it is you need, then I'll decide." She certainly didn't miss the malefic smirks on three of the four children. It made her wonder, that's for sure.
A few hundred kilometres away, Hermione had been enjoying the presence of her cousin Pandora and uncle Aldrich's presence in the manor. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy that of her grandfather's or the elves, but she needed more than that. She did enjoy playing chess with him and learning about tid-bits of manners and more about Occlumency, but she certainly needed some feminine presence as well.
It strongly reminded her of her mother.
She hadn't seen or heard of her mother since the winter holiday and she was worried. She couldn't ask her father, he most likely wouldn't help her or tell her anything. Lucius wouldn't have much of an idea either, she presumed. She didn't think her grandfather had very much information on her whereabouts. She distinctly remembered that he had said she might be able to see her during the summer, but that only told her he knew she was at least alive—a relief to say the least—and Hermione doubted he had her exact location.
She was enjoying a cup of tea in her room when she heard the door open. Through the mirror, she could see Pandora making her way in and come and join her on her small bench. "How is my favourite cousin?" She asked cheerfully. Her hair was tied simply, a strand taken from the sides of her face and tied neatly behind the head while the rest fell in cascades. "I wanted to know if you wanted to go explore?"
Hermione raised a brow and looked at the older girl suspiciously. "Explore where?"
She motioned out the window. "The town. I want to see what they have."
"The muggle town?" She asked, surprised at the suggestion. Pandora nodded excitedly.
"Oh yes. Father would never let me go, he says muggles are vile, but we could go together. Father and Uncle aren't home right now." She said, her expression full of hope.
Hermione couldn't help but sigh. "Have you ever even set foot in the muggle world?" She asked, and added on almost as fast. "What makes you think I have?"
Her expression went from excitement to regret. "Oh... I thought we could go explore together... Cousin quality time."
Hermione couldn't refuse the puppy dog eyes Pandora made. Curse those sparkly blue eyes.
It hadn't taken long for Hermione and Pandora to find something casual that wouldn't scream last century's fashion. Their casual, flowy, afternoon tea dresses were hardly considered part of the current trends of the decade. They seemed more Regency-Era-like than anything else and they would, therefore stick out like a sore thumb.
"Where did you get these?" Pandora asked, touching the soft blue material of the knee-length skirt. "I can't see Uncle Abraxas allowing you to wear something like this." She gave the skirt a tentative twirl and moved around in the short, transfigured heels. They were short, like ones you might give a 12-year-old for training in heels.
"I know a few muggle-born friends and they often show me magazines or pictures from home." Hermione mentioned. "Did you know their pictures don't move?"
Pandora gasped. "They don't!?" It seemed to have piqued her interest quite thoroughly.
"Yes, they just stay in place. They don't move or speak. Odd isn't it?" She said, further deepening her cousin's curiosity. Pandora continued to ask questions, some that Hermione legitimately had no answer for such as: "How did the camera work?" "What kind of parchment they used for the pictures?" and even "Can you show me how to build a camera?" It honestly made her wonder if Pandora believed her to be a genius in Muggle inventions or a photographer.
It took about an hour for Hermione to go through her's and Pandora's wardrobes to find something not too odd to wear out in public. Hermione knew she couldn't go out into the muggle town wearing one of her robes, that would just pull attention. Part of her wanted to go out in her current robe—it was so comfortable—but they just weren't close to current trends right now. Pandora kept picking her casual tea dresses saying they would work, only for Hermione to tell her it was a few decades late compared to muggle fashions, effectively shooting down Pandora's suggestions one by one.
"Could we perhaps just go buy some muggle clothes?" she suggested, watching Hermione pick a light blue coloured for herself and one white one for her. "This way, we can have a second set the next time we go out." Hermione stopped searching and stood up, thinking the idea over. "I don't know this town and where the boutiques are, we would have to search-"
"Leave it to me!" Pandora cut her off. "I will find us the boutiques quickly!" Hermione whistled silently at her excited cousin. While she had no doubt about her cousin's ability to find a store, she did have doubts on if Pandora would choose a good combination of the modern trends together.
Hermione, about to give the confirmation for Pandora to find the shops, she got an idea. "Do you own any fit and flares? That go about to... here?" She motioned to just below the knee.
"Of course! I have robes of every kind!" Pandora immediately dove into her closet and pulled off a few robes off her hangers and presented them to Hermione one at a time. "Which do you think would be good?" Hermione looked at each, examining the colour, length, sleeve and cleavage coverage, down to the pattern and flaryness of the dresses. "I like this one." She lifted the powder-blue with the white drops-pattern near the edge.
Hermione had to admit it, she really did like the appearance of the dress and the texture of the cloth used. It was thin like cotton, but to the touch, it felt more like a cashmere sweater or a comfortable woollen garment. Hermione knew that expensive robes were often charmed to be warmer than they appeared, thus allowing witches to go out in thin dresses in the middle of winter and not freeze. It was brilliant the types of charms one could use for different parts of their daily life. 'It'll look a bit off, but it's not too far from what I've seen.' "I think you'll be good with this." She said.
Pandora smiled and quickly set it aside so she could help Hermione pick hers from the batch she had pulled from the closet. Though from Pandora's perspective, it seemed Hermione was a bit shyer and she seemed uncomfortable picking from her cousin's clothes. "Oh cousin~" She said, adding a sweetness to her tone. "I think this one would be nice on you." She pointed out a cream coloured one with a petal design on the entirety of the dress.
So I'm not dead, I guess that's the good news and this story isn't dead either. It's just that im focusing on finishing the chapters for my shorter story, Better to be Informed. I'm glad to know you all haven't abandoned hope for this story. I received a review the other day for this and I remembered that I should have updated a long time ago!
My arm got better by the way. Have to do physiotherapy with it. All the muscle is gone from my arm and I can no longer lift my large soup-mug with my hand anymore... RIP XD
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the more daily summer snippets and comment down if you'd like more or if I should just skip further up to the next year. I for one, can't wait to start posting for second year, but I do also enjoy adding the casual snippets here and there.