Sisters Three

It wasn’t her fault that she fell. Some muggle had thrown litter on the ground, not caring about how rude it was and she had just happened to step and slip on it. But that was clearly not the impression that her oldest sister had gotten.

“Narcissa, we are already late, it would help if you didn’t slow down and occasionally trip,” Bellatrix Black pointed out as she effortlessly pulled the little girl up on her feet. Once standing normally, Narcissa brushed dirt off her new, champagne coloured, and what used to be clean, dress as well as she could. But as usual, it didn’t help as the dress had already acquired ugly, brown marks.

“Oh, my dress...” Narcissa said quietly, frowning. Then she looked at Bellatrix, whose facial expression wasn’t too different from the stern tone that her voice had had. “I tripped, Bella! And…” she leaned slightly closer, “...with all these muggles here... It’s making me nervous.”

“Nervous about what? The muggles are harmless,” a third voice said gently. This one came from Andromeda Black, the middle sister in the family. She had turned around and walked back when she saw that both her sisters had stopped walking for some unknown reason.

“Andromeda, ever the muggle lover,” Bellatrix commented sarcastically as she gave a small nod to two men standing behind the sisters. They were currently pushing the trolleys, weighed down by the trunks and owl cages that belonged to all three sisters. Upon her nod, the men continued to walk and push the trolleys towards their destination.

"Not a muggle lover, just someone who doesn’t want to miss the train,” Andromeda replied defensively, even though she knew that Bellatrix was only teasing her. Glancing quickly at Narcissa, she began to walk down the platform, eyes looking for a familiar spot.

“You wouldn’t want to miss the train either, would you?” Bellatrix asked Narcissa with an almost evil smile on her face. “Imagine the thought of another year with Mrs Gable and her-”

“Oh, don’t even talk about her!” Narcissa exclaimed, her walking pace increasing rapidly shortly afterwards. “I couldn’t stand another year alone with her while you two were off at Hogwarts having all sorts of fun! Mrs Gable is the most evil, ugly, old...”

Her voice faded away as Bellatrix suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. Narcissa gave her a curious look and was just about to ask what was going on when she noticed that neither Andromeda nor the men with their trunks were to be seen. She whirled around, hoping that they were standing behind her for some reason even if they had walked ahead of her. But all she saw were lots of muggles, walking back and forth between platforms, getting on and off trains while looking at small mechanisms attached to a leather band tied to their wrist.

“Bella, where’s Andromeda?” Narcissa asked, panic in her usual cheery voice. “I can’t see them at a...!”

Her voice was muffled by Bellatrix’s gloved hand, which she had put over Narcissa’s mouth. Before she knew it, Bellatrix had quickly dragged her towards a cement pillar in the middle of her platform. She shut her eyes and put her hands over her head, for to her it seemed like Bellatrix was going to ram her head into the cement. But no contact with the hard, cold cement came, neither did sharp pain in her head. Bellatrix removed her hand from Narcissa’s mouth.

Opening her eyes, Narcissa saw that she was standing in a completely different place. She was still standing on a platform, but there was only one train waiting and by the looks of it, she could tell that it was the train that was going to take her to Hogwarts. Not that far away from them was Andromeda supervising the men while they loaded the trunks off the trolley. Realizing what had just happened, she slapped Bellatrix lightly on her arm.

“That was mean of you, I thought that you were going to ram my head into it!” Narcissa cried. Bellatrix just laughed amusedly at her sister’s outburst.

“I knew that if I told you to go through the barrier on your own you’d just take ages before you’d dare to try to just move your finger through it,” Bellatrix laughed and walked towards Andromeda. Still a little angry with her sister, Narcissa followed silently. By the time they reached Andromeda, all the luggage had already was already on the train, which was leaving in a few minutes.

“Should we get on then?” Andromeda suggested. She looked towards other pupils, some she recognized and some were unfamiliar. But most of them had someone that none of the sisters had. Someone to say goodbye to.

“No reason not to...” Bellatrix mumbled and got on the train. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure that her sisters were following her. Narcissa took a long look over the platform just like Andromeda had, realizing the same thing her sister had done.

“I think it’s very inconsiderate of father to not come and say goodbye to us,” Narcissa commented as she got on the train, followed by Andromeda.

“He said goodbye last night,” Andromeda reminded her and the subject ended right there.

It didn’t take long for them to find a compartment, they were lucky enough to find one that was empty. Running her hand through her black hair, Bellatrix took a deep breath before she took her seat. Andromeda, who was the last to enter, shut the compartment door and sat down right across from her and next to Narcissa.

The Hogwarts Express took off two minutes later, leaving King’s Cross and misty-eyed parents waving to their children from the platform behind. Soon, the only thing they could see when they looked out of the window was the green landscape and occasional building. Bellatrix had occupied herself with staring out the window, whether she was actually looking at something or thinking about something, they didn’t know.

“I wonder which house you’ll end up in,” Andromeda said after a while to break the silence. Bellatrix tore her gaze away from the window and looked at her.

“Let’s hope that the bloody Sorting Hat puts this sister in the best house,” she remarked, although there was a small hint of a smile on her lips. Andromeda smiled back.

Bellatrix could never forget the fact that she and Andromeda weren’t in the same house. Last year Andromeda had been sorted into Ravenclaw, breaking the long line of Slytherins that the Black family was so known for. Although Ravenclaw was a good house, second only to Slytherin in Bellatrix’s opinion, she would have preferred to have her sister with her in Slytherin.

“Ravenclaw doesn’t sound bad...” Narcissa said absentmindedly, playing with a lock of her dirty blonde hair. “But I think I’d like Slytherin better. May Chester said that everyone’s who is important and will be successful will be in Slytherin.”

“Then May Chester is saying something intelligent for once,” Bellatrix muttered.

The train ride was rather uneventful, once in a while friends of Bellatrix or Andromeda dropped by to say hi or for a small chat but most of the time the sisters were left alone in each other’s company. Not that they minded, this would be one of the few moments where they were all be together for a longer time, since Bellatrix and Andromeda were in different houses and there was no telling where Narcissa would end up. As the sky grew dark, they changed into their robes and prepared to leave.

Hours later, Bellatrix stepped off the train, followed by Andromeda, then Narcissa. They backed away from the train, allowing others to get off with some space. Just moments after they had stepped off, a loud voice called out for all the first years to gather up. Narcissa turned to her sisters, looking as if she was unsure of what to do and reluctant to go anywhere near that loud voice.

“Go on now,” Andromeda said gently. “You wouldn’t want to keep them waiting.” She gave Narcissa a light push towards the place where all the first years were starting to head towards. Narcissa gave her and Bellatrix a long look, then started to walk, following the crowd of first years. Every now and then she looked over her shoulder to see if Bellatrix and Andromeda were still standing there.

As the first years headed away from the train, Andromeda turned around to walk towards the carriages. However, she stopped when she discovered that Bellatrix was still standing on the same spot, watching Narcissa even though she could hardly see her anymore. Sighing, Andromeda hooked Bellatrix’s arm with hers and pulled her away and towards the carriages.

“You know… I don’t think that the Sorting Hat has to put Narcissa into Slytherin for people to notice that you’re related,” Andromeda joked.

“It had better do that anyway,” Bellatrix mumbled and followed Andromeda.

The Great Hall was buzzing with noise as all the pupils and the teachers at Hogwarts waited for the first years to arrive and enter. No one was waiting more eagerly than Bellatrix, who was drumming her fingers against her table, as she didn’t have anything else to do. Andromeda was sitting at the Ravenclaw table, chatting happily to her friends about what she had done all summer. Bellatrix glanced at her once in a while, but not more often than she glanced at the doors to the Great Hall, which she expected to fling open any time.

A small worry that had first shown up when she had watched Narcissa leave her and Andromeda had now grown into an annoying and constant thought in her mind. What if Narcissa fell into the lake during the boat ride? She was never a good swimmer and what if the giant squid grabbed her or something?

“A knut for your thoughts?”

Bellatrix blinked and turned her head to her right. The one who had spoken to her was Rodolphus Lestrange, or Rod as people called him, a dark haired boy in her year.

“What, my thoughts aren’t worth more than a knut?” Bellatrix replied, almost smiling. “I demand at least a couple of sickles, galleons if you want to know what was going on in my head this morning.”

“Galleon?” Rod repeated, his lips curving into a smile. “You’ve become greedy over the summer.”

“She wouldn’t be a Slytherin without ambitions,” a third voice said. Both Bellatrix and Rod looked forwards. Two empty seats right across theirs were filled as two Slytherins, also in their third years sat down. One was a freckled boy with glasses called Winston Noren, the other was a girl with large eyes called Jennie Dawkins.

“Did you two have a nice summer?” Winston went on, pushing his glasses up his nose while looking at Bellatrix and Rod.

“Nice enough,” Rod answered with a shrug. “Would have been better if I didn’t have to spend half the summer alone with my brothers and those ugly house elves at home.”

“Your parents ditched you for the Bermuda triangle?” Winston inquired lightly. The glare he received from Rod kept him quiet for the rest of the conversation.

“And you, Bellatrix?” Jennie asked curiously.

“I was at home with my sisters,” Bellatrix snapped, almost to the point of being of rude. She looked towards the door and frowned. “How long does it take for them to get here anyway?”

The three other Slytherins glanced towards the door and understood whom Bellatrix was referring too.

“Hungry?” Jennie guessed. Bellatrix shook her head.

“Anxious.”

Tearing her eyes away from the door, she picked up the knife that was set on the table in front of her. She let her index finger slide down the cool, metal surface of the knife. Her distorted reflection stared back at her.

“Did you hear about Alice Richney in Gryffindor?” Jennie asked, leaning forwards slightly so that only those close to her would hear what she was saying. “She’s in my sister Eliza’s year. During the summer, while Meg Davies was in France, she stole Meg’s boyfriend!”

Both Rod and Winston rolled their eyes at the gossip. Bellatrix cast a glance towards the far end of the Slytherin, where Meg Davies was sitting and looking much gloomier than her normal happy self. Sitting on the other side of the Great Hall and by the Gryffindor table, was Alice Richney and a boy who Bellatrix recognized as Meg’s boyfriend. Or to be correct, Alice’s boyfriend.

“What a cow,” Bellatrix muttered, unconsciously adjusting her hold on the knife to make it point towards Alice. Rod looked at her and snatched the knife away from her and put it down on the table where it belonged.

“Remember what we decided last year,” he reminded and spoke to Bellatrix as if she was three years old. “No throwing knives at Gryffindors when teachers can deduct points.”

“Fine, I’ll write it up on a list of things to do during the summer,” Bellatrix retorted sarcastically.

“Yeah, add that between kicking house elves and appearing in someone’s nightmare,” Rod responded, adjusting the tone of his voice to match Bellatrix’s.

Bellatrix glared, Rod grinned while both Jennie and Winston chuckled, but the laughter were cut short as the enormous doors of the Great Hall flung open with a loud, creaking noise. All the talking died out as Professor McGonagall hastily and confidently walked passed the pupil tables and up to the high table where all the teachers and the headmaster sat. Bellatrix sat up straight and stretched out her neck a little in order to see the first years better. She spotted Narcissa in the middle of the long train of first years that nervously followed Professor McGonagall.

No wet clothes, seaweed, sand in her hair or any signs of bite marks, Bellatrix observed quietly to herself. She relaxed and sunk back slightly in her seat. The giant squid behaved this year.

She paid little attention to the beginning of the ceremony. While the Sorting Hat merrily sang it’s song Bellatrix occupied herself with playing with her fork and spinning it around on the table. The words and the melody of the song passed her like a silent gust of wind. Out of the corner of her eyes she could see Rod, Jennie and Winston glaring at her because of the little noise the fork made when it spun around on the table. It wasn’t until Sarah Bennett had been sorted into Hufflepuff that Bellatrix slammed her hand over the fork to make it spin and started to pay attention to the ceremony.

“Narcissa Black,” Professor McGonagall called, lifting her gaze from the scroll she was reading from. Bellatrix watched Narcissa nervously step up and sit down at the stool. Even from where she sat, she could see that Narcissa was clutching the hem of her sleeves nervously. The Sorting Hat was lowered and put on top of Narcissa’s head. The hat was so big that it sunk over her small head, covering her entire forehead. McGonagall had just let go of the hat when it opened its mouth to announce the house Narcissa had been placed in. Bellatrix held her breath.

“Slytherin!”

Bellatrix exhaled with relief at the same time as the Slytherin table exploded with cries of joy and enthusiastic applauds. Narcissa, who shared the same relieved look as Bellatrix, jumped down from the stool and made her way to the Slytherin table, where she was greeted by handshakes, smiling faces and other friendly greeting gestures. Bellatrix smiled at herself, leaned forwards and reached out her hand over the table to Narcissa who had taken a seat not that far away from her. After a handshake with the head boy, Narcissa turned her head and spotted her sister. Returning a broad smile, Narcissa reached out her own hand and slipped it into Bellatrix’s bigger one.

Far away from them, in the middle of the Ravenclaw table, forgotten by everyone except those who sat near her, was Andromeda, who smiled vaguely at the sight of the two sisters holding each other’s hands.

The September morning air felt soothing and refreshing against Andromeda’s face. She was standing by the open window in her dorm in the Ravenclaw tower, inhaling deep breaths of fresh air while waiting for the others in the dorm to get ready and dressed for breakfast.

“I can’t say that I’m looking forwards to Potions this year,” Moira Brooke said sulkily as she ran a brush through her short hair. “I heard that Professor Jigger is going to give us twice as much homework.”

“Puh-lease,” Wendy Charleston said, rolling her eyes. She almost tripped doing that since she was running back and forth between her trunk and the bathroom while trying to get ready. “I wouldn’t worry about that if I were you. The day he actually remembers to collect our homework I’ll eat my wand.”

“How about we just eat breakfast instead?” Andromeda said, smiling as she turned to her best friends. “I’m starved, aren’t you two done yet?”

“Patience, we’re almost done…” Wendy murmured while Moira put her brush away.

It wasn’t until half an hour later that they left the Ravenclaw tower and entered the Great Hall. Like many mornings before and mornings to come the Great Hall was packed with pupils talking, comparing schedules and other things while eating breakfast. Andromeda was just about to sit down and grab something to eat when her eyes caught a familiar face in the crowd. Biting her lip, she decided to ignore her hunger for a couple more minutes.

“Hold on, I’ll be right back,” she said quickly to Wendy and Moira. Without waiting for an answer she got up and walked the short distance to the Slytherin table. She stopped at the far end of the tables, where Narcissa was sitting with a couple of girls in her year.

“Good morning,” Andromeda greeted merrily as she plopped down on an empty seat next to Narcissa. “Enjoying Hogwarts life so far?”

“Morning,” Narcissa answered, swallowing the last bite of her muffin. A wide grin appeared on her lips, one that Andromeda hadn’t seen in weeks. “We had so much fun last night, you should have been there!”

“We?” Andromeda questioned puzzled.

“Oh, I’ve forgot to introduce you!” Narcissa exclaimed, not remembering that she hadn’t had the chance to. She turned to the other girls that were sitting with her. “These are Fiona, Emily, Daphne and Helen. Girls, this is my other sister, Andromeda.”

“Hello!” four girls said to Andromeda in a chorus. Andromeda forced herself to smile and look friendly.

“Hi, nice to meet all of you,” she replied, trying not to show that she had already forgotten all the names of the girls.

“Anyway, all of us stayed up really late last night,” Narcissa went on, speaking quietly as if she had too much to say but too little time. “Nathan showed us this really funny thing he came up with when he was trying to transfigure a snail into a bottle of butterbeer! Winston tried to give us some chocolate, but then Bella and Jennie both sent him flying into the Slytherin statue, because the chocolate turned out to be something really disgusting that he had transfigured into chocolate. I think Bella said something scary to him, because he seemed kind of afraid to go near us the rest of the night. You should have been there, it was so much fun!”

“I’m sure it was,” Andromeda said smiling.

She had resisted the urge to say “Nathan?” “Winston?” “Jennie?” “Slytherin statue?” while Narcissa had talked since she basically had no idea was Narcissa was talking about.

I guess it’s the disadvantage of being a Ravenclaw, Andromeda thought almost bitterly, to her own surprise and dismay. Looking around, she expected to see Bellatrix sitting a few seats away with her usual group of friends but was surprised when she didn’t see her anywhere.

“Speaking of Bella, where is she?”

“Oh, she left already,” Narcissa told her. “I think she was in a hurry, because she said something about going off to stop Rod and Winston from trying to lift the protection charms around the girls’ dormitory.”

Andromeda’s eyes widened slightly at her words, but Narcissa had spoken as if it was perfectly normal. Deciding that she had had enough of hearing about things that she didn’t understand and that she didn’t want to hear “You should have been there again”, she rose from her seat and smiled vaguely towards Narcissa. Hiding disappointment or pain underneath a smile was something she often did.

“I think I need my breakfast now,” she said, her voice revealing no sign of being hurt. “I’ll catch you later, okay?”

She gave Narcissa a quick hug, then went straight back to Moira and Wendy at the Ravenclaw table. Without saying a word, she shed the smiling mask and sat down. Moira and Wendy exchanged a look, then both turned to her.

“What happened?” Moira asked, concerned and surprised at the same time. “You were all happiness and sunshine a minute ago.”

“It’s nothing,” Andromeda lied and buttered some toast with little enthusiasm. “I’m just hungry.”

The conversation about that ended there. Wendy and Moira switched topics and started to discuss the classes they were going to have later that day while Andromeda occasionally spoke while eating her toast. Andromeda didn’t see it, but her friends exchanged more looks and although they let her be, they were as much aware of the growing feeling of gloom as she was.

To Narcissa Black, Hogwarts was as fun and perfect as she had imagined it to be. During Andromeda’s first year and Bellatrix’s third, she had been left alone in a big house with no one but the horrible, old Mrs Gable to keep her company. Mrs Gable was never much company and Narcissa would rather spend her days writing long letters to her sisters than be with Mrs Gable. She had longed for Hogwarts, the place where her sisters were and where there were hundreds of people around her age and where one would never have to fear loneliness. In her admiration and dream of Hogwarts she had forgotten one thing about it.

It was still a school.

The day had started out nice. Breakfast with her new friends, both Bellatrix and Andromeda had dropped by briefly to check on her before heading off to their own classes. It was when the actual lessons started that Narcissa realized that everything had a bad side and that nothing was entirely perfect.

It all started out very innocently in her first Potions class. Professor Jigger, an aged, bony wizard who had a tendency to talk too much about trivial things had spent the first hour talking about the time when he accidentally wandered into a muggle camping area when Daphne politely reminded him that he was supposed to give them instructions on how to make their first potion. After scribbling down the instructions and ingredients and after another polite reminder from Daphne when Professor Jigger went off topic, the class had twenty minutes to finish their potions.

Perhaps it was the lack of time that stressed her, but Narcissa didn’t think that it was such a big deal if she added the crushed shells just a little earlier. However, the red colour that the mysterious liquid in her cauldron now had made her somewhat suspicious, not to mention alarmed. The liquid was boiling and with the red colour, it had a striking resemblance to lava. A feeling of dread started to form inside her and Narcissa reached her hand up slightly to finger at her favorite necklace, a heart shaped gold pendant that had belonged to her mother.

“Um… Helen…” Narcissa started. She backed away from her cauldron slightly, pulling Helen, who was sitting next to her with her.

“What is it?” Helen wondered.

Narcissa didn’t know quite why she was alarmed or why she was pulling Helen and herself away from the cauldron. But her fears where confirmed only moments later.

A large bubble had formed in the cauldron, rising and getting bigger each moment. With a loud “POP!” the bubble exploded, spraying red liquid over those who were closest to it. Instinctively, Narcissa put her hand over her face and the red liquid only stained her dark robes. She looked at the stains, wondering how she was going to get them off her robe when she felt Helen shaking her arm lightly. She looked up and forwards and her jaw dropped at the sight.

Standing in front of the desk was Maria Mannering, a brown haired Gryffindor. Formerly brown haired was a better description. Maria had been unfortunate enough to get most of Narcissa’s potion on her head. Normally someone’s first instinct would have been to get the disgusting potion out of one’s hair, but Narcissa had a feeling that it wasn’t going to be an issue in Maria’s case.

Where the potion had sprayed her head, there were bald spots instead of the long, wavy brown locks that Maria had had.

A scream pierced the ears of the pupils in the classroom as Maria had seen her own reflection in her cauldron and was screaming out of pure horror and fear. Both Narcissa and Helen covered their eyes, looking at each other while Maria’s friends were trying to calm her down.

Completely oblivious to what had happened and Maria’s horrified screams, Professor Jigger stopped near Narcissa and looked into her cauldron, where what the remains of her potion was still boiling. His eyes widened in surprise, then he flashed Narcissa a broad smile.

“Well done, miss Slack! You successfully made a hair removal potion!” he exclaimed, genuinely impressed.

“Um… thanks…” Narcissa mumbled insecurely, deciding not to correct Proffessor Jigger on the mistake he had made on her name.

“What’s with all the noise?” Professor Jigger said to no one in particular. He turned around and spotted the screaming and almost bald Maria Mannering. “Oh dear… children grow up and old so fast these days…”

“Professor Jigger, her potion did this!” Maria’s friend Antonia yelled, pointing accusingly at Narcissa while supporting Maria with both arms. Professor Jigger turned and looked at Narcissa again. She backed slightly from him while mentally going through all the punishments she could possibly get. Fifty points off Slytherin? A hundred? Two hundred points plus detention all the way to Christmas? Her fingers clutched her pendant tightly.

“Oh, what do you know?” Professor Jigger said smiling. “Your potion works!” He noticed that shocked looks he was getting from the class and looked at Maria. “Well, you best be off to Mrs Preston. She can regrow your hair in an hour. It was really nice and unselfish of you to offer to test the potion for your friends. Miss Wilkes, you can go with her if you like.”

Antonia supported Maria and helped her out of the dungeon, as Maria was too shocked and horrified to walk by herself. Professor Jigger watched them leave, then raised an eyebrow curiously when he saw that the entire class had stopped working with their potions.

“Well, carry on,” he said lightly and walked up to his desk.

Although the class continued working with the potions, they all exchanged shocked looks with each other, wondering if Professor Jigger was really that stupid or if he was just pretending.

Narcissa, however, was just relieved that Professor Jigger seemed to have forgotten (or never learned) reasons for why a pupil should be punished. She left Potions thinking that she was extremely lucky for getting off so easily.

She was beginning to have doubts about ten minutes after leaving Potions. On her way to Herbology a crowd of Gryffindors walked right past her on their way to the flying lesson with Professor Crowley when she had suddenly felt a forceful push her and her face landing in right in a pile of mud. By the time her friends had helped her up the Gryffindors were already gone as well as the chance to figure out who had pushed her. Narcissa had a strong feeling that it was someone who had been at the Potions class.

Arriving at Herbology with muddy clothes, face and hair, Narcissa had thought that it couldn’t get any worse. She was paired with a couple of boys from Hufflepuff during on an assignment. Normally, she would have no interest in talking or getting to know them but she thought that since they would be working together that class she ought to at least know their names.

“Hi, I’m Narcissa Black,” she introduced herself with a smile. The three boys merely looked at her before getting an almost hostile look on their faces. Narcissa flinched, not expecting that reaction from them.

“We know who you are,” one of the boys answered coldly. “We heard about what you did to Maria Mannering.”

With that, they ignored her for the rest of the lesson.

It was a tired and sad Narcissa who sat down in the Great Hall three hours later for dinner. Surrounded by friends and fellow Slytherins, it made her feel a little happier and more comfortable. She might have actually cheered up, if she hadn’t suddenly felt something hit against the back of her neck. Putting her hand lightly on her neck, she looked over her shoulder and saw a big potato lying on the floor. Biting her bottom lip, she looked over the long tables of the Great Hall, hoping that the one who had thrown the potato at her would at least admit to doing it. She found no one who met her eyes and no one except herself who seemed to be aware of the potato lying on the floor.

Later that night, behind pulled down curtains and in the safety of her bed in the Slytherin dungeon, Narcissa buried her face in the pillow and tried to drown out all sounds of her sobbing. She thought of Bellatrix and Andromeda, of how she had longed for Hogwarts ever since Bellatrix had enrolled.

And she thought that this part of the Hogwarts was the only one that she hadn’t longed for and one that she was unhappy to discover.