Chapter Text
1969
______
Andromeda POV
Finally, the summer break had arrived, Andromeda couldn’t believe that the next year would be her last year at Hogwarts.
“Andromeda, are you ready?” A female voice said taking her out of her thoughts. “Yes Bella” she answered going down the stairs.
“There you are! Have you seen Cissy?”
“No, she’s probably in her room packing”
“Well can you go and tell her to speed up, or we are gonna be late for the train.” Bella said in an annoyed tone.
“Yeah, I’ll go” Andromeda answered as she went up the stairs.
Sometimes being the middle child was difficult, she felt like she didn’t have enough power or control to spit out orders like Bella did, but also she didn’t have anymore the age to be carefree like Narcissa. Andromeda felt like she was simply not enough most of the time.
“Narcissa are you ready?” She asked after knocking on the door.
“Yeah, come in”
“You better hurry up, Bella is waiting for you and she’s pissed”
“I’m done” she said closing the door behind her.
“Finally! Now we can go” said Bella already leaving the Slytherin common room.
______
The train was filled with laughter and lighthearted conversation.
“Can you please close the door?” Bella said looking at Andromeda
“Yeah, of course, are you ok? You don’t look well” she said with a concerned tone
“Actually I have a thing to show you”
“What is it?” Her and Narcissa said at the same time
“Read this” said Bella handing them an envelope
“Dear Bellatrix.
I’m delighted to tell you that your wedding with Radolphus Lestrange will be on 15th of July, on Monday we are gonna have dinner with the Lestrange, tell your sister Andromeda that she’s gonna chaperone Narcissa to Walburga’s house before dinner. I also want to tell you that we have to discuss an important matter with you today after dinner.
Durella Black”
“That’s a lot of information, did you know about the wedding?” Andromeda asked concerned
“Some months ago mother talked about the Lestrange family and how they wanted to meet me, but I never imagined that I would marry Rodolphus.”
“I’m sure that everything is gonna be alright” Andromeda said holding her hand.
Bellatrix had always been there for her and all of a sudden she felt like she couldn’t do anything to really help her.
“At least you don’t have to spend the evening with Walburga.” Said Narcissa clearly annoyed
“I hate to say it but you’re right” said Bella before they both burst into laughter.
______
The train ride felt really short, even too short. Needless to say that she hated everything about that house, the green coloured walls, the dim light that made everything look darker, but mostly all the bad memories that she could feel running over her in the moment she stepped inside the house.
“Dears, you are finally back” said their mother
“Dinner will be at 8:00 pm.” She added already leaving
‘She always so social with us’ Andromeda thought sarcastically.
She didn’t realise that everyone had already left to go to their room, so she decided to follow their actions and get ready for dinner.
Andromeda had never wanted to decorate her bedroom, at least not like her sisters did, she always dreamed of leaving this house and this room behind, this is why she never put anything sentimental in there. Andromeda’s bedroom remained as she left it, the dark green and black walls somehow reminded her of her mother, probably because they were sad colours, and she could never connect something happy to their mother. She had never really had any happy memories about their mother, she was pretty sure that she never really cared about them, and her father wasn’t different either, sometimes she even felt sorry for him, he didn’t really have any possibility to speak up against their mother even if he wanted to.
______
Bellatrix POV
Bellatrix knew that when their mother wrote in a letter that she wanted to talk to one of them, she probably wanted to discuss something really serious.
‘She probably wants to talk about the wedding’ she thought trying to calm down.
‘Or maybe she wanna talk about my sister, what if she asks me to hurt them’ Bella thought scared.
She was the older out of them, and because of that she always felt like she was responsible for everything they did, even if they were both old enough to take care of themselves, but even if sometimes she felt like she was drowning in seas of responsibility and worries she still loved her sisters, and she would do anything that was needed to make sure that they were safe and happy.
Bella absentmindedly took a look at the clock, just to realise that it was already 7:55 pm, and she couldn’t risk being late for dinner.
The dining room hadn’t changed since they had left, it still has a big wooden table and chairs to match it.
At 8 o’clock, not a minute later, their mother arrived from the living room and seated herself right at the head of the table, then she gestured to her and her sisters to take a seat.
The dinner went by silently, not many words were spoken, if not some whispers about the food, no one was brave enough to speak, not when their mother looked so mad.
Bellatrix could feel the tension growing as the dinner went on, she could feel the eyes of everyone on her, the concerned looks from her sisters, the sad look of her father, and the proud look of her mother. After they finished eating the second course, their mother looked at her and said “Now that dinner has ended, Bellatrix would you follow me to the living room, we have an important matter to discuss.” Bella did as said and followed her mother into the living room.
“Your wedding will be on the 15th of July, as I said before, on the day after your wedding we decided, me and Rodolphus’s father, that you will get the dark mark, it should be an honour for you to get it, Rodolphus has already done it, after you get it you’ll have to respond to the dark lord, do you understand?” She said immovable.
Oh, shit
“Yes, mother.”
After she gave her response her mother left the room. Bella knew for sure that she didn’t want to do the black mark but at the same time, she knew that she had no other choice, if not to follow her mother's wants.
‘What can I do now ?’ She thought scared
‘I need to talk about it to someone’ she thought already leaving to go to Andromeda’s room.
______
Andromeda POV
Andromeda’s room was silent, when she heard a knock on her door.
“Come in” she said
‘Bella? What is she doing here?, And what did our mother tell her?’ Andromeda thought after the door was opened from the outside.
“Andy, do you have a minute?” Bella asked shyly
“Yeah, of course! What’s the problem?”
“You know the matter that I had to discuss with mother? Well, well she said that I have to get the dark mark on the day after my wedding.”
Oh.
Oh.
“And you're gonna do it?” Asked Andromeda almost scared of the answer.
“I have no other choice, if I don’t follow our mother's wants I would probably get disowned or worse killed.” Bella said raising her voice
“Well, but it’s not what you want!” Answered Andromeda
“Don’t you understand!? What I want doesn’t matter, at least not when I talk to her, and also I prefer being the first one between us to get it, because maybe there is a chance that I would be the only one.” Bella said almost screaming.
“You know what? I would be better if we talked about it another day now it’s too late.” Andromeda said before Bella left the room slamming the door.