Chapter Text
Andromeda wanted to crawl back into bed and wrap herself up in Hermione. She wanted to take in the woman’s woody scent and drift lazily back into her dreams but she was drawn toward a letter. The owl, which had delivered it so dutifully, sat perched on their kitchen windowsill. Andromeda pulled her robe closed and steadied her breathing. Maybe it's from the ministry. Maybe its just an inheritance.
But she knew the ministry wasn’t likely to reach out to her with Hermione in her bed—and any Black family inheritance was forfeit the moment she became the black sheep. This was something entirely different and it felt sinister in a way. The envelope sat haphazardly on the table, its black wax seal staring up at her. Mocking her. Beckoning her. She swallowed and took a step forward as she pulled her robe tighter around her. The owl watched cautiously as Andy stepped forward and picked up its package before it flew away.
She broke the seal and pulled out the parchment from within. The scent of her sister’s favorite perfume assaulted her senses and she rubbed at her nose as she tried to make sense of the almost illegible script. Her older sister’s writing had clearly gotten worse with time. Normally she’d make the quill work on its own with the use of magic, but apparently, Bellatrix deemed this letter so important she tried to write it with her own hand. The letter read:
Andromeda,
I want to see you again. I think it has been long enough since we last spoke that you could deem me the chance at forgiveness, don’t you? It's been ten years.
How very typical of her. She thought she was worth even an ounce of forgiveness after everything she'd done. Andromeda’s blood began to boil and she watched her shaky hands crush the letter. “Andy,” she heard a voice behind her. She whipped around, part of her expected to see Bellatrix standing there with her signature grin and wand-hair twirl. Her muscles relaxed when she realized Hermione was standing before her with worried eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing—I’m sorry I woke you.” Hermione crossed her arms and shook her head. “I’ll give you another chance to tell me the truth,” the younger witch said with a quirked brow. Andromeda sighed and held out the letter with one hand. She watched as Hermione snatched the ball and did her best to flatten it before she read it. Andromeda watched her lover’s brown eyes move rapidly across the paper a dozen or so times before she looked up in disbelief. “What are you going to do?” She asked.
“Nothing,” she said simply. “I don’t want to see her. She doesn’t deserve to try and weasel her way back into my life after everything she’s said and done. You should know that.” She didn’t mean for her last sentence to sound so malicious, but it did. She was grateful Hermione didn’t seem hurt in the slightest. She wished she had half as much strength as Hermione did, then maybe she could be more forgiving and not struggle so much under the world's weight.
“I know that deep down, you wish that you and your sisters never became estranged. And I know that you and Narcissa meet every Sunday for tea.” Andromeda stepped up to her counter and held the edge of it to keep herself upright. She was beginning to feel woozy. “If nothing else, maybe you can tell her you still want nothing to do with her.”
“If I give her any amount of attention, she’ll take it and run with it. Bellatrix is not worth the trouble. She’s a parasite.”
“In that case…help the ministry capture her and put her back in Azkaban.” Andy’s eyes shot open and she turned slightly to look at Hermione. The woman was stoic as ever. “You want me to help you capture my sister?”
“Why not? Maybe you’ll both get closure. If we don’t catch her, who knows what she’ll do next or who she’ll kill.” Hermione tossed the letter back onto the table and walked back into the bedroom, presumably to grab her clothes and get dressed for the trip back to her house. Andromeda swallowed at the thought of her sister wasting away in Azkaban again. It had clearly done nothing but make her worse the first time around, could she really sentence the woman to death in good consciousness? She hurt Hermione and killed your greatest gift to Tom. She deserves it, she told herself.