The Unforgivable
Andromeda remembers the first time she learned about the unforgivable curses. Until her first year at Hogwarts, she never knew them as unforgivable just familiar. She once asked Professor Mccgonall, “What makes them unforgivable?”
“The caster's intention of harm,” she replied solemnly. At the time Andromeda didn’t understand because how could her parents want to harm their children? Now that she’s older the less forgiveness she’s given to them and after the first few times, Andy learned to remain obedient. Bellatrix on the other hand has given up.
Once all the guests left and the children were sent to bed, the only sound remaining in the manor was Bella’s quiet whimpers. When they were younger her screams would reverberate through the halls, there was no hiding from the noise. Back then the crying would have brought her to tears, but now she lays in bed numb waiting for it to end. She stopped trying to help after they punished her for begging them to let her go. Bella made her promise never to do that again.
A dim light shone through the crack under her door. If she had to guess her sister was on the other side of the door scared to walk in. On nights like these, Narcissa found it hard to be alone. Some nights she slept in Andromeda’s bed, so when she crept into her room holding a candlestick Andy welcomed her.
She was a small girl, the shortest of the three, but what she lacked in height she made up with empathy. Everything about her radiated goodness. Her silver blonde hair, fair skin, and kind smile. Andromeda hated seeing her upset, it drained her of her brilliance. The girl who’s laid next to her tonight was only a fraction of who she was every day.
“What is it she’s done this time?” Narcissa asked.
“I don’t think she’s ever done anything,” Andromeda said.
“There has to be something,” her voice hushed like someone outside would hear, “No one does this without reason.”
“It’s better not to think about it, you’ll make yourself mad.” Andromeda turned over, her eyes tired of staring at the ceiling, “You want to stay here tonight?”
“Please?” Narcissa whispered.
The next morning Bellatrix never left her room. Grimmauld Place was oddly quiet, no one ran the halls or yelled at each other, only silence filled the corridors. Not even Sirius could find a joke to tell. It was a full house with a sullen shell of a family.
***
Today was the last morning they’d spend at home. Now that summer was over, they could finally head back to school, unfortunately, this meant leaving Bellatrix, Sirius, and Regulus behind. Bella graduated last year, and Sirius and Regulus were still too young to attend. She didn’t always live with her younger cousins; Andromeda barely saw them at all but still hated to leave them behind. After last night all she wanted to do was stay.
She rubbed her eyes, itched her arms, then, again, rubbed her eyes that kept watering. Magic can heal many ailments, but apparently not allergies. The dust collected around the house was rarely touched, only the main sitting rooms looked polished. She guessed they wanted to keep the manor in the same condition it had been for centuries; old and musty. Another positive reason as to why she needs to leave.
Her family's manor was far different. They lived in the countryside of Cobham, England on a large estate just outside of London. Inside the walls were much brighter and the rooms were cleaner. In her opinion, their home had more emotion and homeliness attached to it. She’d rather stay at the Black estate if it were her choice. But it wasn’t, and at the end of every summer, she and her sisters would stay with her cousins the night before leaving for Hogwarts.
Andromeda made her way down the hall to Narcissa’s room. The house atmosphere adjusted to Cissy’s benevolence the closer she got. Her door was already open, Andromeda glanced across the room watching as Narcissa neatly tucked away clothes into her trunks. She was humming under her breath to the tune of a record. Narcissa was excited to leave; Andy could tell by the way she hadn't noticed her standing in the doorway too distracted by packing. To her, it appeared nothing had happened last night, all she cared about was neatly folding her clothes.
“Do you need help bringing them down to the foyer?” Andromeda asked.
Narcissa’s head shot up, obviously startled by her sister at the door, “No, I believe Walburga already sent for Kreacher to grab our stuff.”
“Well, he’s just one elf.” Andromeda insisted.
“Well, he’s got magic.” Cissy sassed, “But you can help me pack.”
“What? You don’t have an elf for that too?” she joked as she walked into the room and grabbed from Narcissa's dresser. Her dresser was filled with everything from dresses to socks to scarves. The last time they stayed here was over Christmas, surely, she missed them. “Why do you have all these clothes here?”
“They’re what I have left over from the last two holidays, I always forget to bring them home when we leave,” Narcissa said. There were four trunks in the room, two of which were still open waiting to get packed, “The rest is stuff I’m repacking, Sirius that mental cousin of ours snuck crickets in all my trunks. Took me a good 30 minutes to get rid of all of them, I almost went mad doing so.”
She must have seen Andromeda snicker because she snapped back, fighting a giggle, “It’s not funny Andy. Just wait until he does it to you, we’ll see who's laughing then.”
“We’ve still got an hour before we leave.” Andromeda starts but suddenly lowers her voice playfully, “Do you want payback?”
Narcissa grins, “Absolutely. What do you have in mind?”
“First we need some backup,” Andromeda said.
***
Opposite of Narcissa’s room, Bellatrix’s was as dark as the house, arguably darker. Neither of the sisters had seen her all morning, but she was the only one old enough to cast a spell besides their parents. Both girls stood outside her door hesitant to knock. There was a good chance the door was locked and if they knocked, she might not answer. There was only one way to lure her out.
“Bella?” Narcissa whispered loudly, “We need your help. We’d like you to cast a charm for us.”
Still nothing. Of course, they didn’t expect that to work, it wasn’t their strongest attempt. At this point, Andromeda was worried she wouldn't make an appearance at the train platform. Without Bella, the prank wouldn’t work.
Back at the estate, the sisters would play small pranks on each other, and occasionally their parents. It wasn’t often, but sometimes they’d find time to do it. Bellatrix was at the top of the list for best pranks, she had even gotten away with a few solo ones on their parents. The older they got, the more fun that started to fade, but some things never changed.
Thinking about their old pranks, Andromeda remembered one specific one. It wasn’t one any of them played, but one Sirius did. Two Christmases ago, the girls had just settled into the manor and Sirius had just discovered how fun magic could be. He also discovered magic wasn’t perfect or precise and used that to his advantage. Walburga had called them down to dinner, where they sat in the same spots since childhood. Bellatrix didn’t know but Sirius had slipped a teacup under her chair, so as the bewitched teapot made it to her, it must have identified the cup beneath her and poured tea all over her lap. Sirius was hysterical.
“We want to prank Sirius.” Andy finally chimed in.
The door swung open revealing a heavily disheveled Bella. “Tell me.”
The plan was set. All they had to do now was get Sirius in the library. Andromeda’s job was to track him down and lure him in there. She went to his room, too excited to worry about anything else. Embarrassingly, a group of teenage girls were about to prank their almost nine-year-old cousin and get a good laugh out of it. Perhaps if it were murder they were about to commit she’d be more concerned about the ethics of their prank.
When she got there Sirius was tossing around a small quaffle with Regulus. Watching the two boys felt like watching her childhood, something was innocent, almost infant. They were so oblivious to what was happening around them, they knew of the dangers, but they didn’t understand- at least not yet. If anything, the prank is about to be another extension of his good childhood memories to hold onto during the bad.
She leaned against the door frame and lightly knocked, “Am I interrupting?”
The quaffle was mid-throw, hitting poor Regulus in the head as they both turned to look. “Ouch.”
“No, why” Sirius said ignoring his brother. The quaffle that hit Regulus’s head had rolled to Sirius’s feet once it hit the ground.
“I was hoping you could help me find my book. Kreacher must have mistaken it for one of yours.” A smile crept onto Andromeda's face as she remembered what was waiting for him.
His face flashed between frustration and confusion, “Why don’t you get your sisters to help you?”
“You live here and probably know the library better than me.” she convinced.
“You think Sirius reads?” Regulus giggled. Sirius picked up the quaffle and threw it at Regulus, this time hitting his stomach.
“Sure, I guess.” Sirius agreed.
All the candles were blown out in the library, and the curtains were pulled shut. They needed it as dark as possible so Sirius wouldn’t see the others. Andromeda grabbed two candle sticks and handed one to Sirius. She used her flame to light his candle and pointed to a bookshelf that was slightly off the wall, “Why don’t you start over there.”
“Wait what does the book look like?” Sirius questioned.
“It’s a purple leatherbound, it’ll say household charms on it,” she responded. Sirius didn’t know, but once he pulled the book from the shelf, Bella would be waiting with her wand behind the book. Narcissa hid beside her waiting for the results.
Andromeda glanced over and saw him finishing up with the bottom shelf. He stood up to begin his search on the next shelf when he came across a purple leatherbound book, “Andy I found-”
“CANTIS!” Bellatrix shouted and in a matter of seconds, Sirius began belting an old opera song. Both girls came out of hiding and Bella flicked her wand to turn on the lights. All three girls uncontrollably laughed as they watched Sirius try to cover his mouth, but his left arm shot into the air. He tried to use his right hand this time, but again it quickly avoided by going behind his back. The poor boy looked on the verge of tears.
His singing must have been loud enough to alert their parents because the four of them walked in, Regulus trailing behind. The laughter died immediately. Walburga asked, “What is going on here?”
Sirius kept singing over her in loud, long intervals. His arms were still everywhere but at his sides. The song he was singing finally died down and he stopped. Orion looked relieved getting ready to open his mouth when Sirius blurted into another song, this time it was a variant of wizarding jazz.
“Sirius Orion Black, stop that singing this instance!” Orion yelled, but to no relief. Walburga realized what had been done to her son because she gave a flick of her wand and huffed out of the room. Mischief must be getting frequent in their home. Sirius’s arms fell slack, and the singing stopped instantly. Orion's face remained steady, “Go to your room.”
“Girls get the rest of your things, we’re leaving.” Their father directed unamused by their shenanigans.
If that were the last time she’d see her cousins, she’d be happy with that last memory. A memory filled with laughter, joy, and innocence. She wished every moment could be sealed this way.