Black's House for Little Witches

26

A/N: A short interlude from Andy's POV because I am still recovering from being sick on Christmas and this is what I could come up with while planning out more of the story.

Hope you still read and enjoy. :)

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Andromeda woke up to a furry head nudging her belly. "Stop it. Tickles," she said through giggling.

A very serious sounding meow made her freeze. She opened her eyes to find the bed empty, and Zenith standing over her.

It was still dark inside the room. It was just turning light in the room, but it was still kind of dark. It had to be early.

Andromeda frowned. "Mione? Where did you go?"

She didn't really expect an answer, but Zenith jumped off the bed and trotted over to the door. The kitten sat in the open entry and looked at Andy as if beckoning her forward. Andy climbed out of bed and followed, and she continued to as Zenith led her downstairs.

As they ventured through the manor, Zenith determinedly leading, Crookshanks passed them.

"Where are you going?" Andy asked, but she didn't try to follow. A bad feeling churned in her tummy.

Crookshanks had just come out of the kitchen.

Andy picked up her pace. She barreled into the kitchen just as Hermione, still in her clothes from yesterday and suckling on a dummy, reached for the stove. "No!"

Her scream startled Hermione, and the girl scrambled away from the stove. She tripped over herself and crashed to the floor, landing on her side, right on her hip. Hermione brought her hands to her leg and curled in on herself. Her eyes welled with tears, and her lower lip quivered. Her dummy hung off her shirt from the clip Bella had her given.

"Oh, no," Andy whispered. "No, no, no." She moved forward to try and see how hurt Hermione was, but Hermione just whined and shook her head, scooting away from her as a loud cry finally worked its way from her chest. Andy stopped short.

She hurt her Mione. Now she was scared of her.

But she didn't mean to. She just didn't want Hermione touching the stove. Baby sisters weren't supposed to use the stove or the oven without supervision. Bella told her that. Even before Andy's classification, baby sisters weren't supposed to use the stove or oven, and that was still true now.

Andy put her hands to her head and pulled at her hair as Hermione's cries grew louder. Just as she felt the overwhelming urge to cry herself, Crookshanks charged into the kitchen, followed by Bella and Cissy.

Cissy went to Hermione as Bella gently took hold of Andromeda. "What happened, Drommie?" the older woman asked softly, pulling the girl's hands away from her head.

Andromeda sniffled and turned into Bella's shoulder. Her sister didn't sound upset, but she would be when she found out Andy hurt Mione.

"Drommie, baby girl, I can see you and Hermione are both upset, but I think you can tell me more than Mione can at the moment." Bellatrix moved them into the dining room and sat down on a chair, gently pulling Andy into her lap. "Let's take a moment to calm down, and then you can try telling me what happened."

Andromeda nodded. She sniffled and wiped her face with her arm. Bella summoned a handkerchief to use instead. "Hurt Mione," she finally whispered. She whimpered and turned away from the woman, trying to move away from her completely because her sister was definitely going to be mad, but Bella just held her a little more tightly. "Didn't mean to!"

"It's okay, Drommie," Bella assured. She hugged Andromeda tighter. "I didn't think you hurt her on purpose. I would like to understand what happened so Cissa and I know how to help."