Those Were The Days...

Andromeda was always my favourite cousin; there was never a debate about that.

Sure, I had dippy conversations with Narcissa every once in a while--you see, me and Narcissa were near enough the same age; our birthdays were only two months apart. Mine was in August, hers was in October. But she was always a bit spacey, y'know, easily persuaded to do almost anything you asked her to do. I mean, if you told her joining Dumbledore's Order was the best thing for her, she'd believe you and dedicate every second of her time to that cause. But then, if somebody told her joining Voldemort would serve her better, then she'd probably believe them too. I suppose it just depended on which side had more to offer. On one end of the scale she had Lucius, a beautiful home, and an endless supply of money. On the other end she had...well nothing, I suppose, except the knowledge that she was doing the right thing. But that obviously didn't matter...no...Narcissa was always more of a materialistic gal', and so she lapped up every lie dear old Lucius fed her. She married him the week before my twentieth birthday, and after that they went on their honeymoon. Narcissa wasn't back in time for my birthday. I waited all day for a card or present from her. Nothing came.

I had a big party...it was great; I can remember it as it were yesterday...James was there with Lily, Remus was there with Lavinia Miller--that relationship didn't last long--and Peter was there with...well Peter was there with himself. My parents were out, my girlfriend was there, we had music, dancing, truth and dares and literally hundreds of spare bedrooms...it was one of the best nights of my life.

I had another cousin. Bellatrix. It was no secret that she was my least favourite relative, and I hers. There was something odd about that girl right from the start. Jet-black hair, porcelain white skin and penetrating ebony eyes. She had been interested in dark magic ever since I could remember and was three years older than Narcissa and me. Narcissa liked her to a certain extent, I suppose. But then again, if Bellatrix offered her a bag of cockroach-cluster, and I had a packet of Fizzing Whizbees, she would almost certainly hang around with me, and I'd be her favourite cousin for the whole day.

In my opinion, Bellatrix has always been, and always will be absolutely and completely insane. And I don't mean insane in a nice way either. One memory I have of her has stayed with me since the time of its occurrence and I can recall it as though it were yesterday...

I was sitting in my drawing room, (get this straight--I was in my house, not my cousins'. They just simply came to visit nearly every holiday.), minding my own business, trying to get my potions essay done, when Bellatrix's horrid black cat started to disturb me. I got fed up pretty quickly, and so I grabbed it and marched up the stairs to Bellatrix's room, (which was decorated in black...what a surprise) I knocked on the door, and she said 'come in' so I did. And I said "your bloody cat is annoying me, can you lock it in here with you?" and I threw the cat on the table Bellatrix was writing on. If I recall correctly, she was writing morbid poetry, a greatly-praised (except for me) talent she had acquired when she was about twelve.

Do you know what she did? She was out of her chair in seconds, and she had me pinned against the wall--bear in mind, I was fourteen, and not small--with her wand aligned with my heart, and she said "never touch my cat again, dogface, or I'll have your guts as garters and your eyeballs as earrings on my wedding day. Is that clear?"

But I didn't get to answer, because Narcissa came running in. Bellatrix released me, and I remember just standing there stupidly against the wall.

Narcissa said that she was dying because she was bleeding, and there was blood on her skirt. Of course, I knew enough about girls to know what was going on, and I would have rather had Narcissa talk to me rather than her, but Bellatrix was already answering, saying "yes. And you'll bleed and bleed and bleed until there's no blood left and you shrivel up like a prune, and your eyes pop out."

Narcissa's face was a picture, and my heart went out to her as I just stood there watching. She threw herself onto Bellatrix and begged her to find a cure. I was about to do something--about to go and find my mother, or my aunt (Andromeda would have been the best to explain something like this but she was away having a baby in St Mungo's and to be honest, the family didn't really want her around anymore) but Bellatrix finally relented and hauled a tearful Narcissa off the bathroom, yelling at me to get out of her room, or face having the cruciatus in the you-now-wheres.

And that's only one memory of her I can remember. There are plenty of others; horrible ones; like when she cast imperio on me when I was twelve and made me smash my pet rabbit into a tree. Embarrassing ones; like on her seventeenth birthday party, when I walked in on her and Lucius in her parents bedroom (unfortunately, and with the help of a few jinxes, I was sworn to secrecy, and so Narcissa never found out) and funny ones; like the time I put shrinking powder in her bra.

Ah yes...those were the days...