Grace

Chapter 3 - A Letter From Home

"No one can know."

Niobe looked up as the owls delivered the morning post, a smile breaking out on her face when she saw the familiar tawny feathers of her mother's owl among those of the school owls.

"What do you think she's sent you?" Andromeda Black lifted an arm for the small barn owl she owned to land on, feeding it a bit of her bacon after taking the Daily Prophet from its beak.

"It looks to be a letter. Oh, I do hope Grace hasn't thrown another tantrum." Niobe took the creamy envelope from the owl, mimicking Andromeda in her choice of treat. "It's really not mother's fault she's not allowed to go to Hogwarts."

"Strange, though, that your twin is a squib." Andromeda leaned in as Niobe broke the heavy red seal on the back. "And doesn't your mother usually use blue for her seal?"

"Red's for the family," Niobe murmured as she scanned the short letter, her face going pale. "I'm sorry, Andromeda, but I really must go." She folded the letter quickly before the older girl could see it, scrambling from the bench. Ignoring the calls from her friends, she fled the hall, tears blurring her sight.

"Salazar's promise," she choked out when she reached the door to the Slytherin common room, hurrying past the startled faces of some of her house-mates in favor of the silence of the sloping corridors and empty dorms. She bit back an angry sob as she closed the door to the room she shared with three other girls.

"How could you, Grace!" Niobe threw the letter onto her bed, clenching her fists as she struggled to rein her temper in. "How could you do this to us? Could you not for a moment think what running away from home would do to mother, or to me?"

She shook her head, her hands curling tighter, nails biting into her palms. "Who else was there, Grace? Who lured you away from the only home you know? Away from your family, away from the safety of our home?"

"Niobe?" A tentative knock on the door accompanied Andromeda's voice. "Niobe, what happened? What did your mother write that has you so upset?"

"Nothing!" Niobe bit her lip, hurrying to hide the letter in the bottom of her trunk.

"It's not nothing, Niobe!" The handle turned, Andromeda sticking her head in. "What happened?"

"Nothing." Niobe met Andromeda's eyes with a steady gaze. "It's none of your business what mother wrote to me."

"NiobeÉ" Andromeda gave her a pained look. "You're my friend, and if there's anything I can do to help.."

"No." Niobe shook her head. "There's nothing you can do. It's a family matter."

Andromeda sighed, the fourth year sitting on one of the other beds. She knew well enough what those words meant, but she couldn't just leave the younger girl to work herself into a state. "So you need someone to cover for you for a couple of days? Go home, find out what's going on?"

Niobe shook her head violently. "No. I can't. Not now. It's too dangerous. Tomorrow's the full moon, and there have been werewolves spotted on the moors. I'd never get home." She sighed, sitting on her bed, her shoulders slumping. "I can't do anything, and I hate feeling like this."

Andromeda shifted, resting a hand on Niobe's shoulder. "There are some things money and family can't change, no matter how much you wish they could."

"They can get you anywhere, if you know how to use them. And they can destroy you if you don't." Niobe shifted away from the comforting hand, trying to think of a change in subject she could attribute her sour mood to. "I wish my sister was here," she murmured softly, turning her head to look over at Andromeda. "Nothing kept us apart until I got my Hogwarts letter, and she didn't."

Until father told mother he'd divorce her if she tried to send Grace to Hogwarts. And every full moon since we were six, because mother couldn't bear the thought of both her precious daughters being werewolves, no matter how much I begged her to let me go to Grace.

"She's a Squib. There's nothing you can do to change that, Niobe. And she can't come to Hogwarts without magic." Andromeda gave her a small smile. "At least your parents didn't kill her when they found out she had no magic. Mine would have."

"Because they're uncouth upstarts." Niobe bit her lip, looking down at her hands, feeling the heat rising in her face at her rudeness. "Sorry."

"You're right." Andromeda shrugged. "Even though they're pure-bloods, even they know they don't have the clout to hack it in the sort of circles your parents do. Which technically means you and I probably shouldn't be friends, should we?" She smiled, and Niobe giggled, a wave of relief rushing over her at the successful change of subject.

"Probably not. But if I had to associate with only those in my social circle, I'll be forced to talk to people like Lucius Malfoy and Rodolphus Lestrange!" She wrinkled her nose, shaking her head. "I don't like Cousin Rodolphus. He's irritating at the best of times."

"My sister would disagree with you." Andromeda shrugged, chewing on her lower lip. "If you want to talk later, you know I won't betray a confidence."

"Really, Andromeda, there is nothing you can do, and I don't want to speak of that letter again." Niobe stood, moving away from the other witch, keeping her back turned so she didn't have to keep the pain and anger that wouldn't subside out of her expression. "Leave it be, and let me deal with it on my own."

"Niobe..." Andromeda paused, a soft sigh escaping her. "Talk to someone, at least. To Professor Jemsen, if no one else." Her robes rustled as she stood, and Niobe felt Andromeda's hand touch her shoulder briefly before she left.

"I can't," Niobe murmured to herself, shaking her head as she curled up on her bed once more. "No one can know."

~ ~~ ~

Andromeda looked over her shoulder a moment as she paused near the entrance to the common room, a frown creasing her face. She knew Niobe didn't like to talk about her family, and their internal dynamics, like any other aristocrat she'd met, but she didn't like this. Something felt very off.

"Andromeda, whatever are you doing?" Bellatrix interrupted her thoughts, black eyes meeting the grey of her sister's with a glint of curiosity in them. "You look worried about something."

"Nothing that would concern you, Bellatrix." Andromeda narrowed her eyes as her sister opened her mouth to speak. "Nor would I recommend pressing the issue, unless you have a desire for mother and father to know what you and Rodolphus Lestrange make use of his dorm room for."

Bellatrix paled for a moment, before her expression twisted into a snarl. "Watch yourself, little sister. You may enjoy their favor now, but one of these days, you will be the one in disgrace, and I will have their regard."

"Think as you wish." Andromeda pushed past her sister, heading for the office of her head of house. She had to let someone know to keep an eye on Niobe. No matter what it was in that letter that bothered her.