The Other Black Girl

In the shape of things to come.
Too much poison come undone.
Cuz there's nothing else to do,
Every me and every you.
Every me and every you,
Every Me...he

Sucker love is known to swing.
Prone to cling and waste these things.
Pucker up for heavens sake.
There's never been so much at stake.

Every me and every you- Placebo

Prefect Duties

'He's right, Meda: Nymphadora does sound like a venereal disease.' Sirius lounged back on the fur rug watching nonchalantly as the house elves packed his trunk.

'Remind me why I have now had this conversation with two people?' I put down my empty breakfast tray and ventured a toe gingerly towards the ground. The rain was pattering down on the window so that it had become a blur of grey and downstairs I could hear Aunt Eugenia holding forth about something. The endless summer seemed to have trickled away like the water pouring down the gutters.

'You started it,' he said with slightly less mirth then I would have expected. I scrutinised him for second before settling down on the bed back to my book.

'What are you reading?' he asked.

'Romeo and Juliet. I found it in the Library.'

'Shakespeare? Wasn't he a bit of a Muggle-lover?'

'Muggle Royalty. There's a difference, Sirius, just like there is between us and the...' I broke off, about to say the Potters and thinking better of it. 'Why, anyway?'

He shrugged. 'I just didn't expect to find it here.' He spat the word 'here' as if it were almost an obscenity, looking suddenly much older. I took a deep breath.

'Sirius, I know we don't usually talk about...'

'Spit it out.' The Muggle expression sounded slightly tentative on his lips, as though he was just getting used to its feel.

'...Emotions, but you've just been in a bad mood all summer...'

Sirius cut me off. 'I hate this house.' He rolled over so that he was gazing up bitterly at the ceiling.

'I know. We'll be at school by the evening.'

'It's not just that, it's this whole...' He paused and seemed to change tack. 'Lily beat me in the end of year Charms exam.'

'I know, I heard the screaming... at least your parents care about your grades.'

Sirius seemed to not hear the bitter note in my voice and instead threw a book into his trunk venomously. 'They don't care about my grades, all they care about is making a point about the bloody family honour. You know, sometimes I wish...' he stopped abruptly.

'Wish what? Sirius!' I could feel my heart racing as though I almost didn't want to hear what he had to say. 'What do you wish?'

Sirius suddenly flashed me with a trademark grin, which seemed a little forced and said, 'Nothing, it's nothing, I'm just naturally devastated to be leaving my wonderful family.'

'You, young man, could gain an echelon in sarcasm,' came a drawling voice from the usually empty portrait on the wall. I rolled my eyes. Phineas was a necessary evil and although he could never be completely trusted he had been the scathing oracle of truth on our parents' whereabouts on several occasions when we had been doing something illicit, which with Sirius and Bella was often.

'Shut up, Phineas,' Sirius snapped.

'My, my, aren't we touchy today this morning my young heir?' The portrait shook his head in a mock indulgent tone.

'Don't call me that,' Sirius growled. Downstairs there was a sudden burst of shouting and several screams of pain, followed by footsteps. Phineas raised an eyebrow but continued. Centuries of presiding in Grimmauld place had obviously made him immune to the brawls of his descendents. Sirius and I on the other hand exchanged a look and jumped up.

'Why not?' Phineas drawled. 'It's what you are. Dear Merlin, I know I say this about every generation but the way things are going I'm surprised the house of Black has lasted this long.'

'Yes, it's amazing, isn't it?' barked Sirius, making for the door just as Bella burst through it.

'You're wanted downstairs in the pit of vipers, Gryffindor.' She looked distracted and was biting her lip as though in pain. 'Oh and I'd get a move on, your Mother just found out that we're not taking the carriage and we might have to actually walk five metres through Muggle London. It's lucky Kreacher was on hand with the smelling salts.'

Sirius scowled and stood up. 'Great, just what I need: another fascinating lecture on family honour. Have you any idea why?'

'No, but they had Narcissa in there for half an hour. I tried to listen,' she said, reading his thoughts, 'but they caught me.' I glanced down at her arm and saw with a pang of pain that there were red slash marks running up them.

Sirius seemed to notice too and moved towards her. 'Your Mother has a good aim.' She groaned slightly with something that sounded halfway between pain and pleasure as he ran his fingers down her arm. 'You'd better behave yourself downstairs, darling.'

Sirius moved his fingers to run them through her dark hair, encircling them around the nape of her neck as his other hand, the one with the Gryffindor scarf wrapped around the fingers drifted to her waist.

'I suggest essence of Murtlap, there's some under my pillow.' He broke away from her suddenly as though waking from a spell and turned to hurry downstairs.

Bella frowned subconsciously as she watched him go, before twirling around and flashing me a sudden dazzling smile. 'So how is my beautiful, wonderful, perfect, prefect...?'

'Yes, I'll help you pack.' I smiled. 'Although you could just get the elves to do it'.

Bella shook her head enigmatically. 'You know what Kreacher's like, I don't want Father to find out about...' She broke off as though she'd said too much and, laughing, clutched a hand to her mouth.

'Find out about what?' I asked.

'Oh, nothing.' She grinned again as if sharing some joke with herself and took out her wand, waved it at a pile of clothes and chanted a packing spell.

There was a flash of light and the lamp on the bedside table fell off with a clatter as half a dozen robes hurtled towards us and fell in a heap a few feet from the trunk.

Bella wheeled around, frowned and surveyed the scene with a quizzical expression. 'Oops,' she whispered.

'Don't do that again.' I rolled my eyes and then said with a small teasing smile, 'You know household spells are sometimes a necessary evil.'

'Household spells.' She shuddered, sitting on the bed and swinging her legs impatiently. 'Andromeda, don't be disgusting, I can't think of anything more boring.'

I transferred a few now neatly balled socks into her trunk with a practised swish of my own wand. I had mastered the art of packing through sheer necessity, having spent the summer I learnt to read devouring every accessible book in the house, including those in the kitchen. Bella stretched out like a cat sharpening her claws and curled up to watch me. There was something about her, even then, which made it impossible to take your eyes off her and today her own eyes seemed to burn with that hot faraway look that was becoming increasingly common. There had been something too, about her the previous summer: she had been... not different, in fact she had been how she always was, just... more so. Wilder, more affectionate, more temperamental, more Bella. Her moods radiated throughout the dark house, bouncing off the walls and carrying away anyone who got in their way. And then, there was the way she had acted the night before.

******

When I had returned from Diagon Alley the night before I had found Vladimir Malfoy in Father's study and Lucius and Rabastan amusing Bella in the conservatory by hexing fairies that had unwittingly ventured in out of the rain. At that point in time they would have done anything for Bella's amusement: Bella just had to sigh melodramatically and announce 'I'm bored' and they would rearrange the world for her high laughter. It was a doomed situation from the beginning- Bella was hard to amuse.

Today however, they had brought Alexis Wilkes, who was the clown of the dungeons and part of Lucius's entourage, yet rarely mixed in our circles. Lower class purebloods were useful but as Narcissa said, 'Not quite our kind of people, darling.' Bella however, her attitude to blood back then as fickle as everything about her, seemed to be delighted by his presence.

'Meda! You've been ages, where did you go?' she choked through laughter.

'Diagon Alley. I ran into Mudblood Tonks,' I said distractedly.

'Poor darling,' she said, looping an arm around my waist as I sat down next to her. 'You know, Lucius, we must really do something about that one.'

Lucius smiled. 'I'm sure we can arrange something. You know I only live to protect the honour of beautiful ladies,' he said smoothly.

'Well that rules Bellatrix out then,' Rabastan said. 'She's hardly a lady.'

'Shocking, Lestrange! Malfoy, I think it's time to out get your wand,' Alexis laughed.

'Oh, very romantic, all of you,' Bella laughed with a wave of her hand. 'But he's right. I'm not a lady. I'm a Black girl.'

'And thank Merlin for that,' Lucius said softly and they exchanged an unreadable look.

'And so is Meda, we can look after ourselves.'

Rabastan looked rather dubiously at me as though he didn't quite believe this. 'Well, if that Mudblood gives you any trouble...' he said.

'I'll be fine, there's nothing Tonks could do to affect me,' I said dismissively, deciding it was a half-truth and suddenly feeling extremely glad Sirius wasn't present.

'Where are the others?' I asked, changing the subject.

'Cis is with Mother and Mrs Malfoy.' Bella rolled her eyes and tossed her hair before continuing with venom, 'Sirius is slumming it with his little Gryffindor boyfriends and Rodolphus is...'

'Bellatrix,' Lucius suddenly cut her off sharply, a hint of warning in his voice. There was a flash of lightning and it illuminated his face, a static spark passing between them.

'Oh, surely we can tell Meda,' she said. There was something in her eyes and her tone of voice that seemed familiar.

Lucius however, exchanged a glance with Rabastan and shook his head.

'Tell me what?' I demanded.

'I'm going for some air,' said Bella pointedly. She shot Lucius a significant look and he jumped up to follow her, opening the glass door with a crash and no word to us. I watched him stride to keep up with her along the garden path, her dark hair swaying determinedly in the wind. For a second I thought I saw him pull her towards him before they disappeared out of sight, leaving an ominous rumble of thunder in the distance as they were engulfed by the storm settling around them. Suddenly I realised what I had recognised in her eyes as she had argued with him. It was the same, hot, passionate, hungry look she got when she argued with Sirius.

*******

'And make sure you tell the house-elves to press your robes, Black girls do not go around with crumpled.... are you listening to me?' Mother tapped her foot impatiently and glanced up at the station clock. She did not seem to be best pleased at the idea of escorting the five of us to King's Cross, due to Sirius's Mother's refusal to venture near the Muggle world, and had only just acknowledged my presence.

'Yes, Mother,' I lied, taking my eyes off Sirius who was presiding over a crowd of laughing third years. At thirteen he seemed to have got over his original Gryffindor apathy and was the toast of the school. Everywhere Sirius went he was accompanied by crowds and laughter and girls, Slytherin and Gryffindor alike lined up to take a pitch at the Black heir. Today he looked in his element: his dark hair was shining and his face alive with laughter. I smiled in spite of myself.

'Andromeda,' Mother said dangerously. 'Please take that vulgar expression off your face. You will never make a good marriage if you do not learn to keep your head out of the clouds.'

'Sorry, Mother,' I said, watching Sirius break away from the crowd with a casual wave and move over to a redheaded figure sitting rather pensively on a battered trunk. Despite the prefect badge pinned proudly to my chest, making a good marriage seemed to be all Mother wanted to discuss. She turned around, evidently losing what little interest in me she had and began to talk to Mrs Avery. Next to her Odette gave me a very sweet 'I know something you don't' smile.

'What is it?' I asked, preparing to hear the latest round of gossip.

'Gilderoy Lockhart and Katherine Edgecombe split up.'

'Really?' Katherine Edgecome was a pretty vapid blond Ravenclaw halfblood in the year below me whom I was pretty sure I'd seen Sirius making eyes at.

'She's going out with Tonks now. Anyway the... what?' Obviously I had made a face. 'Lots of girls would like to. Merlin, if he wasn't a Mudblood...' She wrinkled up her nose at this as if it was a gross injustice.

'I wouldn't,' I said resolutely.

'Of course, you're a Black girl.... most men would kill to marry into that,' she said slightly jealously. 'Anyway the important thing is that Gilderoy is free!'

'Odette?' I asked. 'Is all you think about marriage?'

'Of course!' She looked confused. 'What else is there? Anyway, it's only three years away. Don't you?'

Luckily, I was saved from answering by Reggie.

'Meda?' He was pulling on my robes. 'Who's that girl?'

'Where?'

'With Sirius.' I glanced over but before I could answer Bellatrix arrived.

'Oh look, the little Mudblood's crying, how simply tragic,' she said casually joining us and laughing into the distance at Alexis. She was right: Lily Evans did look decidedly upset about something and Sirius seemed to be only too eager to comfort her. Bella's expression flickered from one of laughter to one of malice.

'Ugly little thing, isn't she,' she said demurely, kicking a stone rather viciously across the ground in a way that made me very glad Mother was occupied.

'Well, there's no accounting for taste,' said Narcissa, turning to us. 'Reggie darling, what is it?'

Regulus was looking awestruck. 'There are Mudbloods here?' he breathed, terrified.

'Yeah, big scary ones who like to pray on unsuspecting first years.' Sirius had appeared.

'And of course you'd know all about them, wouldn't you, dear?' Bella said nastily. 'I just hope you de-flea before coming home, I'd hate to catch anything.'

'My blood is as pure as yours,' Sirius said coolly, 'and at least my friends don't have to curse people into doing what they want. Tell me dear, does the Ministry know what your little minions get up to when you think you're pure enough to get away with it?'

'Take that back, Gryffindor or your little girlfriend might just find out'

'Bellatrix!' Mother snapped. 'Do not shout like a half-blood fishwife! What are you talking about?' Narcissa exhaled sharply and we exchanged panicked looks.

Bella narrowed her eyes and moved in for the kill. 'Oh, nothing Mother,' she said with the sweetest of smiles, 'just Sirius's Mudblood girlfriend.'

*********

'He'll be fine.' Bella didn't look convinced, despite the seemly casual note in her voice. She was biting her lip furiously and had dragged us into an empty carriage (except for a rather scared group of first years who scurried out) instead of finding the boys. Mother had stayed completely calm at her revelation about Sirius and Lily's supposed relationship and sent the rest of us off with strict instructions to keep Regulus out of trouble. 'Meda, don't give me that look. I didn't mean it.'

'Except you knew full well what you were doing,' Narcissa said coolly from the doorway. She sounded slightly less impassionate than usual, anger rising in her voice. 'I hope you plan to apologise.'

Bella made a small phut of annoyance. 'Don't be a bore, Cis,' she said with a laugh. 'He asked for it'.

'That's as may be, Bellatrix, but you know how the family will react!' Reggie made a small, scared murmur. Sirius and Bella was one thing, Bellatrix and Narcissa was a completely different Quidditch game. The unholy trinity didn't, couldn't fight; fighting each other would be like fighting oneself.

'Bella, Cis.... stop,' I said. Narcissa shrugged and flounced next to me, tension still surrounding her like a cloak. Bella moved her legs so they were either side of me on the seat and began to rhythmically plait my hair.

'What did Sirius mean about you getting up to something?' I asked before they could start again.

Behind me I felt Bella tense ever so slightly before she said, 'It was just some fun... we were bored and Rodolphus has all these books from... well anyway he was showing me how to do all these amazing things. Then that Gryffindor walked in on us and threw a ridiculous tantrum, no idea why!'

'Bella this isn't going to embarrass the Family is it?' asked Narcissa rather sharply.

Bella smiled and her voice regained the confidence that it had momentarily lost.

'The Family,' she said, 'will be better than fine.'

'What...' Narcissa stopped as Sirius crashed into the carriage.

'You bitch,' he said in a low, dangerous voice, closing the door behind him.

'Sirius,' Narcissa began warningly, 'call her that again and...'

'And what, she'll set her little boyfriends on me?' His wand was out now.

'Oh for Merlin's sakes, darling. I was just having a bit of fun,' Bella said, her wand meeting his, her eyes omitting sparks. 'You've been so boring recently!'

Sirius looked as though he had been slapped. 'So boring?' he whispered disbelievingly. 'Do you realise what your Mother is going to tell my parents?'

'They'll forget.' Bella didn't sound convinced but she held her ground.

'Perhaps, because you know what, dear? There are a surplus of things I could tell your Mother that would drive this out of her mind.'

'Like what?' she asked slowly, her voice rising slightly.

'Come on Bella, there are children here.' Sirius gestured at Reggie with a little laugh. I had never seen him like this before, and then he whispered, 'Whore'.

Bella went for him, but not before Narcissa did.

'Sirius Black! Don't you ever call my sister that again.' Her voice was glacial but her eyes had hardened into flint. For a second she had no resemblance to Mother, she looked every inch a Black and before I knew it her wand was pointing him square in the forehead. Although I hadn't moved I agreed with her sentiment: no one, not even family, not even Sirius, insulted my beautiful entrancing sister.

'Cissa - stay out of this.' Sirius looked as surprised as I felt. Behind her Bella had manoeuvred her own wand so that it was pointing at him as well.

'What does he mean?' I demanded at the same time as Narcissa, who had blanched visibly but was holding her ground.

'Traitor,' Bella spat, seemingly ignoring us and launching towards him with a hiss. It took all of my weight on her arm to restrain her. Narcissa instinctively grabbed Sirius's, her wand still pointing at him. Reggie looked like a crup caught in dragon fire.

At that point, however, the door crept open.

'This is against school rules!' said a voice, which trailed off slightly at the end, losing its bravado.

'This is a family argument, Longbottom.' Narcissa didn't skip a beat. 'I don't think you have the breeding to participate. Please leave us.'

Frank Longbottom's ears went extremely red and I suddenly realised how the situation must have looked. Narcissa and Bella were still pointing their wands at Sirius and I had one arm on both him and Bella, trying to keep them apart. 'I'm a prefect, you know,' Longbottom finally said very stiffly. 'You can't talk to me like that!'

'A prefect! Oh please' Bella smirked but she seemed more relaxed. 'What are you going to do, Frankie? Get Daddy to pass another protection act?' The ghost of a smile seemed to pass over Sirius's face and he stopped struggling on my arm, smirking with suppressed guilty laughter. I shared an inaudible sigh of relief with Narcissa.

'You can't just brawl up and down the train because you feel like it!'

'Blacks don't brawl!' exclaimed five voices. We were attracting quite a crowd now, including three rather impatient third years.

'Sirius! There you are! Have you got the recipe?!' exclaimed one of them, and another boy with light brown hair (Romulus, Reamus, Remus?) gave him an elbow in the ribs and muttered, 'Ummmm...James...'

James Potter scowled slightly, looking around at the scene. 'Er...if you've finished in here...?'

'Definitely,' Sirius said in a rather forced casual tone. He stood up and made his way to the door just as Frank threw us a dirty look and started to shoo people out of the way.

'Bye, Longbottom...have fun with your poxy little prefects!' Bella crowed mockingly.

'That's it Black. Detention,' he said slowly.

Bella coloured and a high flush settled itself on her cheeks. I heard an audible gasp. No student had ever given one of the Black girls a detention before. No student had ever dared.

'I'll get you for this,' she whispered.

Frank shrugged, evidently thinking she was bluffing, but he made a hasty exit. Bella watched him go for a second before flipping back to a smile again. 'This is boring, I'm off to find the boys.'

She looked at me. 'What is it?'

'Nothing,' I said slowly, trying to keep the hurt out of my voice. 'I just need to go to the prefects' carriage now.'

'Oh,' she said softly and for a second I saw a guilty frown pass over her face before she replaced it with a self-satisfied smile and said, 'now, where's Lucius?'

'Bella, you're not about to do anything stupid about Longbottom, are you?' I heard Narcissa say sharply as I closed the door.

'Don't be silly.' I heard her laughter: 'Revenge is a dish best served cold.'

Was she told when she was young the pain
Would lead to pleasure?
Did she understand it when they said
That a man must break his back to earn
His day of leisure?
Will she still believe it when he's dead?

Ah girl! Girl! Girl!

The Beatles- Girl