Anna I
The wind whipped around her brutally, slicing through her would-be perfectly straight hair and knotting the strands together. Anna grit her teeth as she tightened her grip on her bag, the strap beginning to ache against her shoulder. The pinpricks of colour, the binding of her books, taunted her from within the leather carrier. She glared at them, I’m only out here because of you.
They didn’t answer, because they were books.
Anna resisted the urge to hiss through her teeth as she bore through the wind and rain. The weather had been miserable for the past week as summer began its slow transition to autumn. The water hit on her skin with a bite instead of the gentle irritation of summer rains, soaking through her heavy jacket.
She would have been back home, snuggled up with her elderly cat and watching the next season of Criminal Minds. In summer, Anna had brought Lilian with her on the short but necessary trips to the library. She had kept her cat within her bag when she made the quick returns every week and then stopped by the local bakery for a bun if she had the money.
But this time, her cat had taken one long look at the rain battering off the windows and very quickly levelled Anna with another that said, very clearly, you’re kidding yourself if you think I’m going out in that.
The message had been received, loud and clear, and so Anna had grimaced and left to battle the winds and rain by herself.
Wondering if it would flood, she peered across the road looking for incoming cars. The road was a busy one and Anna could only make out the headlights of cars as they approached. It rarely ever flooded so far above sea level and even then, it was so minor it was practically a puddle.
She stepped out onto the concrete of the road, the roar of engines rattling through the air. It smelled faintly of metal and something unknown. Anna bit her lip, trying to recall where she’d smelt it before as it grew steadily stronger.
If it did flood, the amused part of her mind rambled on, she’d be safe. Her apartment was high up enough that only a tsunami would have any real effect and well, in her location, that was an almost impossible occurrence. What was the worry, really?
Anna sniffed the air, pausing a moment. It was familiar. Too familiar. Her brows furrowed as she remembered, it’s just like a ho-
Bright lights shone in front of her, the screech of tires against the wet tarmac and the thud of metal against flesh and bone sent her spiralling against the concrete.
Her fingers scraped over the harsh, sodden surface when the world came into view. It was grey in the sunlight but it had turned black with water and cloudy skies. Water seeped into her clothes. Her body seemed to thud with every heartbeat and shudder with every breath as the world faded in and out of focus.
In the distance, Anna could hear concerned shouts in her direction. Shush, she hushed them, but her mouth refused to move beyond a far-away groan that seemed uncanny to her ears.
A sluggish, metallic liquid pooled around her head as her eyesight bubbled with black spots, unfocusing the world before her without care. Anna dipped her fingers into it, broken nails uneven upon the smooth surface, and came away with a dark maroon that slid down her fingertips like water. Would it taste like water too, if she tried it?
“You’ll be okay.” Said a voice, low and light at the same time, neither male nor female. “Don’t worry.”
Sirens sounded in the back of her head and she batted at them. Go away, Anna spat mentally. The sirens carried on cheerfully, unaware of Anna’s blight. She wanted to hiss and spit like Lilian when she finally got tired of Anna’s irritations or was spooked by a shadow. The thought of her cat, edgy about a mere shadow, brought a laugh to her lips.
Blood spilt from her lips, bubbling down her chin and painting her lips a dull red like a cheap lipstick.
Anna laughed until she cried. The thick fog over her consciousness, concealing the wider world to her eyes, began to ascend upon her like an avenging angel. It rose and revealed a crowd of whispering people, allowing her a thin sigh of relief. Her chest rattled like a cage of bones.
Then, with a suddenness that jolted her roughly, the fog consumed her.
When Anna woke - or, perhaps, woke was a very very heavy-handed word to use. It was more after she blinked. When the world stopped spinning like a vortex, she found her arms and legs pinned together tightly. She assumed it was some sort of hospital contraption to stop her causing more harm to herself.
She opened her mouth to speak but instead of words, a light wail spilt from her mouth.
“Oh, she is the quiet one, isn’t she?” A rich voice tipped with a giggly excitement. She whimpered - seriously, what the fuck- at the sound of it, something embedded within her rankling with the sound of it.
A clink of porcelain against porcelain and another, lighter voice replying. “When she wants to be. Bellatrix was quiet as a child, don’t you remember? Barely made a sound. Look at her now, running around the manor like a hooligan.”
“Perhaps it was a mistake to let Sirius befriend her.” The rich voice laughed.
“He’s besotted with her, isn’t he? Such a shame, we’re already sorting something out with the Lestranges. Good blood, that family.”
A dismissive sound from the rich voice - also a woman, Anna decided suddenly, shifting uncomfortably within the silk fabrics. “Too much of an age gap between them, I think. Perhaps if the Malfoy’s have a daughter, we could sort something out there. Isn’t Castillo pregnant again?”
A soft, mournful sound. “Three miscarriages already, poor woman. At least they have a son.”
The other woman agreed, but it was much more subdued. “Of course.”
Anna gritted her teeth as a strained warble escaped from her unwittingly. It was obvious that this wasn’t a hospital and the place where she was, well, she wasn’t quite sure. The walls were richly painted in silver with golden accents that… moved. So far, she determined she was in some sort of rectangle box that was lined with high wooden barriers.
“Oh, she is getting worked up. I better go check on her." The lighter voiced woman said. Was that a hint of worry?
The soft clicks of boots against wooden floorboards as, presumably, the woman approached her cage. Anna pressed her lips together as she squirmed inside the fabric. Her muscles felt lax as she tried to break free. She couldn't remember a time where she was ever like this, even when she had broken her arm. As an adult, she had regularly attended a gym and gained lean muscle. How long would it have been for all of that to disappear?
A face appeared above her.
She jolted, letting out a wordless cry at the large woman who stared down at her. Her long tussles of light, blonde hair fell into her enclosure, her lips pursed as she peered down at her with dark brown eyes. There was a cold beauty to her that was only partially melted by the soft-hearted look on her face. Anna stared back at her with large, unblinking eyes.
“Oh, Ursa.” A hand, decorated with fine bands of silver and entwined gold, caressed her cheek. It was warm. “Your Aunt Walburga and I are having tea. I cannot attend you at all times.”
“I don’t understand why you just won’t let the house-elves take care of her, Druella.” Said Walburga, not unkindly.
Her heart seemed to catch in her throat as she stilled. Anna reversed the conversation in her head silently, mulling over the frequent use of certain names as a sick sense of dread welled up over her. Oh no, she thought with the desperation of a dying (dead?) man.
The woman rolled her eyes out of sight of Walburga, turning back to the woman with an exasperated stare. “My grandmother hand-raised my mother, and my mother hand-raised me. It’s a tradition.”
“Your grandmother was a half-blood,” Walburga said airily, but there was a sneer in her voice that would have rattled steel.
Oh, fuck, Anna stared up in desolation.
“It’s tradition, sister.” Said Druella with hard steel in her voice that had been absent before.
Clenching her fists beneath the silken sheets, she opened her mouth as did what any sane person who had just died and then come back to life in the gods-forsaken fucking Black family would do. Anna cried.