Pieces of Black

Exordium:

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If you ever saw a picture of them together, you'd probably raise your eyebrows and whistle through your teeth. It was fascinating and yet it was all very tragic.

There were actually two still photographs that you would need to look at to grasp the story behind the infamous Black sisters.

In the first one, there were three little girls. Two of them sat in fancy chairs and one stood. One was skinny and golden-haired and wore a stiff smile with her pretty scarlet dress that had lost its colour because of the monochrome picture. The other was unsmiling and had a slightly round-face. She wore a black dress to match the thick dark tresses that fell around her pale face. The third girl, who seemed to be the oldest at no more than thirteen, stood behind her two sisters and had the most beautiful smile you'd see for a while.

Childhood was a sacred thing, even if you were born a Black. Andromeda had been a tomboy, Narcissa had been an angel, and Bellatrix had been a problem. Meda, Cissa, and Bella, they were called in their childhood to simplify the overly complex names given to them at birth. They were sisters so they were similar in their own little ways and yet, never in your life would you meet three people who grew up and turned out to be so different from one another.

The second photograph was taken many years later. There, they looked like mismatched pieces of a puzzle that simply could not fit. It was a while before Andromeda had left and Bellatrix had recently started school. All three looked solemn and although this picture was in colour, they all wore black and looked as if they had come from a funeral. Maybe it was growing up that had done that to them but if you looked at the photo long and hard you could see the little things that were so easy to miss. Narcissa's eyes were a little downcast, Andromeda's face was slightly turned away, her expression tight-lipped and concealed, and Bellatrix was sulking, looking as if she's rather swallow a snake than be where she was.

Regardless of which side of the story you heard, Narcissa was quite a decent girl by most standards. If you asked any other witch or wizard which one of the three had grown up to be the most villainous and notorious, they would tell you it was Bellatrix, and you would probably agree. If you asked the Blacks, however, they would tell you it was Andromeda. But Narcissa was always in the middle, not exactly loved or hated by everyone but generally not mentioned either.

Regardless of whom you talked to and listened to, they'd tell you that it really was one big enigma that could not really be explained and all you really could do was listen to and talk about it. Maybe you could blame it on the inconvenient timing and setting of it all but it probably wouldn't have changed a thing. Their lives were like fairytales that didn't have princes and very happy endings--not even Narcissa's--and ultimately, they shattered like shards of glass into darkness, into pieces of black.

You would say: it was fascinating and yet it was all very tragic.