Black's House for Little Witches

31

A/N: we're ignoring the fact it took two weeks for this chapter. Writing is hard.

Hopefully you read and enjoy. :)

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Bellatrix slowly came to consciousness at the sound of a soft whimper. She frowned, eyes still closed, as the sound occurred again. Movement to her side finally had her peeling her eyes open.

Hermione had fallen to the side in her sleep at one point. Her brows pinched together in distress as she curled up as small as possible and sucked on her thumb.

Bella moved over and carefully lifted the girl up and onto her front. Hermione quickly latched onto the front of her robe with the fist not in her mouth and nuzzled against the woman's neck. A soft sigh escaped as Hermione's features softened, and she went completely slack.

It appeared Bella was stuck in bed for the time being. That was alright. Hermione had very clearly dropped hard and fast; it would take some time for her to recover from such a drastic reaction to Bella's temporary absence.

Narcissa and Andromeda had gone somewhere else, evident by the fact neither were in bed, and the fire had died down to a glowing pile of coals. Bella knew they were still in the manor, she could feel their presence, but they moved too much to really pinpoint their location. Andy's magic in particular moved around constantly. Hermione seemed to not be distressed about the fact neither were there, so Bellatrix decided not to worry about it.

She did glance around the bed. Cissa would fret about Hermione sucking on her thumb. Fortunately, someone had the foresight to clip the girl's dummy to her shirt. She picked it up and gently nudged Hermione's thumb out of the way. She slipped the dummy into her mouth as the girl gave a soft whine, and then Hermione settled down again. Soft rhythmic clicks soon followed.

Footsteps approached the observatory. Andromeda hurried into the room but stopped as she noticed Bellatrix awake. She tilted her head curiously. "Mione?"

"Still asleep."

Andromeda frowned for a moment before it disappeared. She held up a simple black picture frame. She hadn't turned it to allow Bella to see whatever was inside the frame. "I drawed a picture for her. Want her to see it, but she's asleep."

Bella smiled softly. "I'm sure she'll love it, baby. Would it be alright to show me?"

Andromeda very seriously considered the question before she finally nodded. She ambled over to the bed and climbed up to sit beside Bellatrix, making sure to press herself as close as she could to the woman's side.

Bella smiled again and looped an arm around Andy's shoulder and pulled the girl closer. She lightly kissed the crown of Andy's head before saying, "What did you draw for Mione?"

Andy proudly turned the frame over and displayed her work. "Cissy showeded me the charm again, but I did it all myself!"

In the picture, hand drawn and colored so very carefully with the expensive colored pencils Andy used only for special works, two otters swam in a river holding hands. Then they would climb out of the river and onto the riverbank, up onto a cliff, and slide down the rock into the river, and then start all over again.

Bellatrix studiously inspected the painting for a while. "This is amazing work, Drommie," she praised, earning a wide, excited grin from her sister in return. "I think Hermione will love it. How long have you been working on this?"

"A while."

Bellatrix rolled her eyes as Andromeda refused to elaborate further. Her sister could have been working on it for a day, but more than likely it had been at least several days. Really, the more Bellatrix thought about it, it was probably close to a week. She'd noticed Andy sleeping in later than normal since their visit to St. Mungo's. She'd thought it was due to lingering anxiety her sister might have been experiencing, and it still might have been the case, but it was also entirely possible Andy was staying up late working on this particular drawing. So far it seemed that it hadn't been affecting Andy negatively, but Bella would keep a closer eye on her mood and nap times.