Anna II
Anna found being a newborn, second time over and first time remembering it, was not a pleasant experience. This was most likely why all people had little or no memory of being a toddler.
Being birthed to a high-status, magical family seemed to take off the edge and each and every need she had was attended for by house-elves with wrinkly fingers and bulging eyes or Druella herself, when she was available but it didn’t stop the humiliation that swelled when anybody so much as looked at her. Anna prided herself on her independence, on her ability to function by herself without help, even before she had been hit by a bus… or a car.
The memories of that night - or day, Anna couldn’t tell or remember - blurred with every passing second. Memories fell like water through her fingers and sunk into the sand leaving her with only the vague and unhelpful recollection of pain and agony and a hoarse, groaning sound that ached to replay. She grappled for the vague memories of her childhood that faded away and her teenage life, that wavered precariously between being lost and roaring in her head.
Light giggles sounded through the door which was almost soundproof - almost because Druella was ridiculously overprotective even when there were spells for monitoring. Spells can be fooled, she had ranted to Anna in one of her moments. There was a lethargic feeling to every movement, every blink of her eye, that reminded her of recovering from a terrible illness.
“Shush, Bella.” A high-pitched voice whispered being the door.
A light scuffle outside, shoes scratching against wood as the door began to creak open. “I’m the oldest, I can be as loud as I want!”
“Mother doesn’t want us to disturb the baby, Bella, which means we can’t get caught.” An exceptionally well-spoken voice broke through the murmured bickering. It reminded her of the pureblood ladies that Druella talked to.
“Well, I know that!” The oldest said, but significantly quieter. “Andy just needs to relax a bit. Mother’s having tea downstairs and Fathers went out again, nobody’s going to find us. Come on.”
The door opened without the creak that was uncharacteristic of such a heavy door. Anna could barely get a peek out of her crib but Druella took her out of it to show her off to other women when they came over, giving her a generous glance of the richly decorated room. Magic, you idiot, her common sense hissed within her and Anna felt fresh embarrassment sweep over her.
Soft pattering - because while the door might not creek but the floorboards did - against the carpet was her first warning that Anna was receiving unwelcome visitors. It wasn’t that she was adverse to them but sometimes, you just want a bit of peace to yourself.
The first head the leaned over was a young girl who was remarkably beautiful for such a young age. Anna was reminded of the perfect, antique dolls that used to sit on her grandma’s shelf. They had been treated with an almost-religious reverence from her grandma and polished regularly with the high-quality stuff that Anna couldn’t afford. Dark curls in perfect order hung over the crib and silver eyes that shone with mischief darted down to look at her.
Bellatrix, Anna thought faintly.
“Oh, she looks just like me!” Bellatrix smirked, smug, beckoning one of her other sisters over with a spare hand. “Come see, Andy!”
Another girl appeared. Where Bellatrix was the sun, she was the moon. A version of less renown, but no less beautiful, with brown hair falling in waves instead of wild curls and brown eyes that seemed almost grey. What was most unsettling was a warmness to her face that Anna knew would lead to her disownment. Andromeda gave her a slight smile.
A humorous glint appeared in her eyes. “You know, you said the same thing about Cissa and look how she turned out.”
Bellatrix sniffed indignantly. “Might I remind you that even Father agreed with me. And, anyway, Cissy’s hair wasn’t as dark as this, remember?” She pulled at a curl on Anna’s head, watching it spring back. “It’s practically black.”
There was a silence throughout the room as a smile stretched across Bellatrix’s face. Anna felt her lips twisting with an unwitting smile as she gazed up at the two sisters. Andromeda levelled her sister with a flat stare but the twitch of her lips showed she wasn’t at all upset. “Funny.”
“I know.” The oldest girl puffed up proudly before turning behind her with a swish of fabric. “C’mon Cissy, see the new baby. You were the one who wanted to come here, after all.”
A haughty huff that seemed to be ripped straight from Druella sounded throughout the room. Anna turned her gaze back to Andromeda who was still peering at her with an inquisitive gaze and unhidden adoration.
“I can’t see her when you’re both standing in my way,” Narcissa stated bluntly. Ah, that was Walburga’s tone. Anna had become intimately familiar with the pureblood supremacist in her brief tea visits but neither her nor Druella were fond of each other beyond a shared interest in Anna. Or Ursa, technically.
Andromeda gave her one last look before stepping to the side, giving the younger girl an apologetic smile. “Sorry, Cissa.”
A humph as the younger girl trotted forward, leaning over the high rail of the crib. Large, silver eyes that were almost too big for her face and blonde hair that curled at the ends, Narcissa’s mouth formed an ‘o’ shape as she peered at Anna. If Bellatrix was a doll, Narcissa was a painting, flawless in all ways with her slight, delicate features. A hand reached into her crib, and it looked almost proportional compared to the adults.
Her fingers were cool and sudden against her cheek and Narcissa flinched back abruptly but didn’t move her hand beyond a light shifting. Anna frowned at the tingling sensation against her skin that was neither sore nor pleasant. It felt like the hum of magic when Druella did a small spell to warm the room or stir tea except it was right beside her.
“Oh, she shocked you,” Andromeda noted calmly as if this wasn’t unusual occurrence. Anna almost jumped, being briefly reminded that the subdued girl was there.
Narcissa frowned as she pulled back, rubbing a finger over unblemished skin. “Mother says that could happen, didn’t she? It’s why we weren’t allowed to touch Sirius.”
“Ursa’s full of forming magic.” The middle girl explained kindly. “Yours is almost as young and just as wild, Cissa. Two fires don’t put each other out and the smoke needs somewhere to go.”
“It’s just a release of magical buildup between the two of you, is what she’s saying.” Bellatrix interrupted, staring down at Anna to hide a smirk that was far too interested to be cruel. “It happened with Andromeda too.”
Anna furrowed her brow. Nothing had been said about that little quirk in the original books and she hadn’t gotten past the first chapter of Cursed Child before wanting to fling it out the window. In fact, the whole magic system had been fairly rudimentary. Harry had been the gateway into the world as the protagonist, but he had only ever skimmed the surface on magical subjects with the readers. It had been great from an outsiders perspective, allowing anyone who could write to form a political and magical system that could fit perfectly and not disrupt canon but looking from the inside, it was becoming less of creating and more of learning.
“Oh, be quiet Bella.”
“Told you,” Bellatrix said in a sing-song voice before settling down into a tone that resembled serious. Anna decided that the older girl just wasn’t made for solemnity. “But its why muggles and magical shouldn’t mix. If they burn fully-trained adults in fear, imagine what would happen if they have a child.”
A mournful sound erupted from Andromeda’s mouth but Anna couldn’t see her expression for more feedback. “I feel sorry for them. Poor things.”
But neither of them noticed Narcissa’s horrified expression. Anna felt a surge of pity as she stared at the shell-shocked child. A hand came to rest on her shoulder but it was half-hearted at best and barely a comfort to somebody who had just found out their kind was burned.
Anna knew, of course, that being burnt as a witch in this day and age was highly unlikely but the wizarding world had lost contact centuries ago. The major pureblood families had likely lost contact years earlier. Maybe some of them knew the truth but most of them were sheltered beneath their families suffocating hold, never really seeing what it was like and only ever viewing the world throw the tinted glasses of prejudice.
Bellatrix gave Narcissa a sympathetic look that didn’t look genuine in the slightest and formed more of a sneer. “And that’s why we never go to the muggles world and why we shouldn’t take anything from it either. Muggleborns bring their own poison, Cissy. Father says its best to cut off the infection before it gets the rest of us.”
“But aren’t they magical too?” Narcissa said in a strained voice. Anna would have made a face if she was in her old body. For a child, she held it together remarkably well.
“Heartsbane is magical, but we still shouldn’t drink it,” Bellatrix said in a deceptively soft tone. It felt like the silk of Anna’s blanket but waiting to strangle her if she got too close. “They don’t mean to be bad, they just are.”
“Oh,” Narcissa said in a heavy voice. The mood of the room had dropped considerably since Anna had first heard them whispering outside the door. A secret trip to visit the new ‘baby’ had turned into an indoctrination into blood supremacy.
It wasn’t the first she had heard of it; Walburga was an open supporter of the stuff, spouting off into rambles every time the word muggle was so much as mentioned. Druella wasn’t her opposite, giving agreeing hums with blank eyes. Uninterested, not because she disagreed with her resident pureblood but because Walburga’s speeches were drier than the Sahara in the summer.
A sullen silence encompassed the trio of girls as they stood beside the crib. Anna could see Bellatrix passing looks with someone above the younger girl’s head, Andromeda probably. It was neither awkward nor uncomfortable but it was certainly strange. She had never thought in a million years she’d end up here, watching the two to-be-estranged Black sisters peer over the mother of Draco Malfoy’s head.
A slight laugh spilt from her lips unwillingly and Anna inwardly cursed the part of her that got hysterically entertained whenever anything bad happened. A wicked smirk formed on Bellatrix’s lips and there was something in her eyes that resembled desperation-
“Wonder what she finds so-”
The door opened and the smirk fell off the oldest sisters face.
The only reason Anna knew that the door opened was because of the light that flooded in and the way all of the sisters (well, she couldn’t see Andromeda anymore, but she assumed she did the same) turned around with faces of badly-hidden shock. The trio stared on with equal amounts of trepidation and expectation.
Anna made a sound that she hoped sounded like, ‘who’s there?’ but nobody paid attention to her as she lay in her crib.
“What are you doing here?” A sharp voice rang out.
Shoes shuffled against the soft carpet before stopping very abruptly. She couldn’t see past the long hair of the sisters that blocked her meagre view. Anna tried to peer past the thick locks but even through the gaps, she could only make out the vague figure of a woman before her weak muscles forced her to lie back down.
“We only wanted to see Ursa, Aunt Rosetta,” Narcissa said quietly. She felt the disapproval that was radiating off the woman in waves halt at the little at the girl’s words. Anna would have smirked.
Andromeda chimed in. “Mother won’t let us see her and well, Cissa’s never had a younger sister before-”
“She was very right not to,” Rosetta reprimanded gently. “Your sister was very sick for a short while. The mediwitches advised as little contact as possible until she passed her first month.”
That… explained a lot. The weariness that covered her like her blanket, the strained movements and the way her body shuddered with sudden fever in the dark of the morning and the shallow shadow of the night.
“Mother never told us that,” Bellatrix said, almost mournfully.
Rosetta hummed. “Yes, well, not much to be done about it now. Ursa’s almost in the clear now and I’m sure it will do little harm for a bit more company, but your mother won’t be happy to see you in the nursery. Come on, you lot.”
Anna could smell the glee fall in rivets off her blood-siblings as they stumbled out, cheerful in their easy escape. Bellatrix turned quickly on her heel, almost aware of the trouble that she’d get into and Andromeda followed her lead eagerly like a little duckling. It was only Narcissa, who looked nearly regretful, that had to be dragged along. Anna considered babbling a goodbye.
When they left as they came - not at all discreetly - Rosetta wandered over to her crib. Anna didn’t need to know her surname or canon information to know who she was. The blonde hair that was curled into a tight bun, the cold planes of her face and the dark eyes were almost a carbon-copy of Druella. For a brief moment, if she hadn’t known the woman herself, she would’ve taken her for Druella.
There was a difference though - where Druella was beautiful, Rosetta was plain with her thin lips and nose that was just a bit too large to fit comfortably. Where Druella’s hair shone in the light, becoming almost white, Rosetta carried a more dull gold sheen that only ever glinted blonde. Their eyes seemed to be the only similarity between them.
“Dru was right.” Rosetta raised her eyebrows. “You do look like Bellatrix. Although, I’d place more of a wager on Lucretia, with those eyes. I bet they think you’ll turn grey with time but I say you’ll have the dark eyes of your mother.”
A hand drifted along the edge of the crib and her wand dangled into Anna’s crib. It was a tantalizing taste of what was to come and it was all of her self-restraint not to grab at it. The woman seemed amused as she traced Anna’s eyesight back to the wand, flicking it between her fingers like it was a cheap card trick. Anna watched it disappear between her fingers with wide eyes.
“Curious too.” She was levelled with a contemplative look. “Ah, well, I’ve got my look. Dru is wondering where I am by now. This is my last time home until I leave, I suppose I better make the best of it.”
It struck her suddenly, that perhaps this woman wasn’t supposed to be here either. As little contact as possible, rung in her mind like a warning siren. It brought the topic back to the fact that Anna had been ill when she was born, which made her frown. Magic was good as curing ails but maybe this was just a special case of something nasty.
The woman left as swiftly as she came, the door closing silently behind her leaving Anna to her numerous thoughts, theories and hollowed mind.