Prologue
The dark aroma of black roses, dark lilies, crimson dahlias and other flowers filled the end of summer atmosphere and huge expectations hung in the air for the three sisters of The Ancient House Of Black:
Bellatrix, the wild, eldest daughter, (though each of them were wild in their own way)
Andromeda the sweet middle child, responsible for balance between the sisters and,
the baby of their household: Narcissa, though she was only a year younger than Andromeda and Bellatrix was only two years older than them both. Their bond was once extremely strong, they came as a set, completely inseparable most of the time, this was the way it had to be for their survival in The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black
Druella and Cygnus Black, their mother and father, were to host the final dinner party before all the Pureblood families sent their children back to Hogwarts. Their cold home was brought to life for this. All the fires lit, the musty smell of the library aired out and there was a heavy amount of decoration everywhere, it was a picturesque household, ready for the mass of guests expected.
It was six o’clock, the guests were to arrive at seven.
The sisters took turn changing behind Narcissa's vintage white room divider which had dewdrop pearls incorporated in with the pattern. Narcissa wore a sleek, black silky ballgown, Bellatrix a deep green, velvet one and Andromeda a lacey, periwinkle purple one. They danced about their room, twirling their puffy skirts and sharing childlike laughter
“Who are you to be paired with this time Bella?” Andy asked,
“Some fellow called- his name gives me the impression that he’s a bloody idiot.” laughed Bella, her sisters joining in.
“What is it?” Cissy asked, “Surely it can’t be that bad,”
Bellatrix spoke his name through contagious laughter: “Rodolphus Lestrange!”
“No it isn’t-” Andromeda spoke seriously, then also burst into laughter, looking at her sisters.
The laughter died down, “Wait, isn’t he in your potions class?, well, I’m to dance with Malfoy all night long.” Cissy said, laying back on her canopy bed and staring up at the floral Edwardian coving and her ceiling.
"You do know he isn't your only option Cissy." said Andromeda,
"Of course... but he's nice enough, so."
"I'm just saying- I know Mum and Dad like him, but that doesn't mean you have to."
"That isn't why I like him."
"Why do you then?" Bella asked now,
"Well- you know... he's got a good form in conversations, he's very polite and smart too." She listed, not looking at her sisters.
They continued to speak until they were called downstairs, with the dinging of four rings of a bell, and the thunder of their mother’s voice.
The siblings greeted guests as they came in from the hallway at the front door. Most of them they had known since birth, Bellatrix went off with her suitor when he arrived, Narcissa and Andromeda whispered about them before they were forcibly separated as well, whenever the Malfoy family arrived and Narcissa stood with Lucious. Andromeda watched them for a while, she didn't like him very much, she twirled her chocolate coloured hair as she thought about them both, the idea that they would marry one day was sickening to her due to the bad feeling that she often got when he was around. However, she had nothing to go off of, so she couldn't tell her smitten sister how much she disliked the guy.
Andromeda stood on the balcony with her cousin: Sirius Black, they had slipped away together halfway through the party and were overlooking everyone and drinking red wine together that the house elves brought them.
“I hate this.” Sirius said with a laugh, “look at them all, they look fucking ridiculous.”
“Yeah, I suppose so, though I’d say we look alright.” She joked,
“Oh for sure, we're definitely an exception.” They laughed together, Sirius nearly spilled wine over the balcony.
Classical music played in the background, musicians playing French music below them, they spoke rather loudly because of this.
“I think it’s all a load of bollocks.” Sirius remarked.
“How do you mean?” Andy asked, taking a sip of her wine, leaning on the railing which was lined with dozens of flowers, she rested her arms on it.
“I mean.” Sirius began,, he suddenly became very earnest. “Their supremacist- egos, amour propre- pride, whatever you want to call it is just so- so fucking apparent, look at the bastards... I mean it, just listen- I can’t stand it, I mean, we’re not supposed to but- and, I have friends who aren’t purebloods. They’re no different, this shit is so brainwashy, I really hate this bloody atmosphere, you know, the Potters are a much better family- My mate James, his family never partake in any of this shit- not any of it at all.”
“well- you could be right, but-” Andromeda caught onto an old man, probably related to both of them staring right at them. Sirius swished his wine in his cup before finishing it off.
“These dinner parties are all simply for all these geezers to rant about their blood status, they’re hypocrites, all of them, they’re… delusional swine." He'd let out a snicker, '"Their blood is no more pure than anyone else outside of this bloody cult.” he hiccuped.
“You should lay off that wine Sirius.” She commented, touching her collarbone as she thought about what he was saying.
“I know, I know, I will, but let me finish talking. I feel- you’re the only person I can talk about this with Andy.” She payed full attention to him now, they each had another glass of wine, this time white wine. Their conversation went on for another ten minutes before the balcony started to get busy. Sirius went outside for a smoke, the last thing her cousin had told her was that sometimes he wished that he could get away from it all, she was going to join him outside though she knew that she shouldn't because she was a host of the party. Later she spotted him again with his little brother Regulus who was having a go on the violin, he was very good at it so it served as great entertainment for their family, Sirius watched, his mothers hand on his shoulder, doing a terrible impression of being sober.
Rodolphus Lestrange was extremely talkative for somebody who claimed to be an introvert, Bellatrix put in zero effort, yet relatives spoke about how sweet their pairing was, this view was spread across the party despite Bellatrix’s monotone voice and repeated eyerolling throughout the whole evening. The only person dissatisfied was her mother. Druella Black glared at her from across the room, her eyebrows furrowed, though she would relax them whenever somebody spoke to her. Both Andromeda and Narcissa could see what a tragic pairing this was for Bella. Bellatrix and Rodolphus sat opposite one another during dinner, so did Narcissa and Lucious. She and Andromeda were not required to be betrothed yet, but Narcissa wanted to be. She had a dream, she was ambitious to have the perfect family, perfect, she defined by her own families standards. She was rather eager to marry and this pleased her parents, especially due to the high status of the Malfoy family. They were acceptable.The dining room was lively, it was so loud that people had to yell to hear each other.
Andromeda went up to Bella, tapping her shoulder from behind.
"Will you come with me to the bathroom to- powder our noses?" she asked, giving Rodolphus a short superficial smile whenever she felt his stare on her.
"Yes." Bella answered, a little too quickly and with relief too.
They walked off to the bathroom together, it was a grand bathroom, on the floor and the lower half of the wall were black and white marble tiles, it looked like a chess board. The upper half of the wall was just white, and in front of the old windows there were two small vintage shutters with black iron frames and cloth in the middle of them. They locked the dark oak door.
"Have you got cigarettes?"
"Yeah." Bellatrix said, going into he toiletry bag, she took out the packet,
"Why are they in there?" Andy laughed,
"No pockets," she replied, smiling, she handed Andromeda hers and put her own in her mouth, flicking the lighter.
Andromeda leaned over the shutters and opened the window, Bella handed her the lighter, they both stood there, flicking their ashes outside, Bella complained to her for a few minutes before they started talking about completely unrelated subjects and joking together, then they realized that they had been gone for at least twenty minutes so were forced to return to the dinner table. Narcissa gave them a look and they knew that she was mad at them for going without her, but Bella and Andy never allowed Narcissa to join in when smoking, they'd tell her off if they caught her with a cigarette and it did her head in, but they both did so because of their protective nature towards her.
The rest of the evening consisted of more wine, more classical music and more talk. The house elves weren’t allowed to clean until every guest had went, Lucious kissed Narcissa’s hand when saying goodbye and Rodolphus tried to do the same with Bellatrix but she pulled her hand away swiftly, looking away from him.
“I’m so tired,” Cissy groaned, undoing the bow in her hair, letting her curled blonde hair fall on her shoulders. Bellatrix shut the front door and pulled the latch. “That was an absolute nightmare. He’s so dull.” Bella complained.
Andromeda opened her mouth to say something, when the sound of their mother's heels clicking, and the dark wood floor creaking as she came towards them, they all looked at her. Andy feared that her conversation with Sirius had gotten back to her, that somebody, perhaps that old man had told on them, but it was clear that she was adressing Bella:“I don’t like that attitude of young lady.” She snapped. “You should be grateful, for a gentleman like him. He’s very much like your father you know, he can provide f-" “Oh my God, give it a rest- I don’t want to marry my fucking father.”
“Watch your language!”
“He didn’t give me a moment to speak, he spoke about himself the whole time!," She yelled,
"I refuse to marry any man like him, if you can even call him a man, nevermind a gentleman.” Bellatrix said, accidentilly slipping into laughter,
Her sisters watched, standing on the stairs, worry painted across their faces.
“Perhaps you’re the problem. Maybe you should not speak, given you have lost multiple suitors, and you think this is funny?” She asked, tutting at her, "You're a disgrace little Raven." She said, belittling her, she took a step forwards and slapped Bella straight across the face, leaving an ugly crimson mark.
Bella flinched, taking the hit, there was a pause of silence... she snickered.
"Do that again. I dare you." She said, glaring at her mother, her eyes and voice full of unrestrained anger.
Druella lunged forwards, grabbing Bella by her ear, muttering something.
Narcissa flinched, she took a step forwards. “No Mama- please don’t-”
Druella gasped letting go as Bellatrix pulled her hair, so hard that she stood there with a fist full of her mothers hair.
“You little bitch!, spoiled brat!-”
Bellatrix made a run for it, even though she was in heels.
“Cygnus!, CYGNUS!- open the cellar!, open the cellar door! RIGHT NOW!!”, their mother's crude voice echoed throughout the house.
Narcissa was shaking, she went up to their mother and begged: “Please don’t hurt her- please- she didn’t mean that- we- we can convince her to marry hi-”
She placed her hands onto Druella’s tense shoulders, her pleading didn’t help at all.
Andromeda went and took her hand,
"Come on Cissy," she whispered, looking down,
she lead her away from all the violence, bringing her to the top of the house where their bedrooms were.
Their father had went and unlocked the cellar, the cellar which was devoid of any light, it was also completely barren, there was no furniture or anything. Whenever Bellatrix was caught, as she always was, her mother had Cygnus drag her into it. She was powerless against his strength. “No-no-no- I’m sorry- I’m really sorry!- please- dad-”
She tried to resist by tugging against his strong grip that went around her wrist, in response, he grunted.
“I’m scared- please… I’m sorry- you’re hurting me!” she’d shriek the whole way outside to the cellar, Druella stood in the doorframe, her arms crossed, a slight smile on her face.
Narcissa and Andromeda sat together in grim silence as they heard Bella’s screams, muffled from the distance. “She’s going to freeze-” Andromeda said quietly, Narcissa nodded. "I'm so worried for her-"
"me too..." Andromeda said, rubbing her arm in discomfort.
The door to the cellar slammed shut, with a bang which sounded like a gun shot.
“If you aren’t punished, you’ll never learn.” Cygnus spoke coldly, turning away from the sound of Bella rapping on the iron doors, he followed his wife as they retreated into their home again.