Black's House for Little Witches

37

A/N: Quick little continuation from last chapter. I hope you enjoy. :)

--------------------------------------

Bellatrix needed a nap. Or a drink. Anything, really, that would settle the swirling thoughts. She had a list of things to do. Andy and Hermione were both clearly Little, and the next few days would be spent focused on them.

After that, however, Bella had some investigating to do. Why were letters between Hermione and her parents blocked? A letter getting lost here or there was normal, if a little unheard of, but not entirely cause for concern.

More than a dozen letters over the span of several years? Enough so that Hermione thought her parents didn't care about her, and her parents thought she would never come home. That was not normal.

Molly Weasley was to blame, she was sure. There was no mistake about that. She would just have to find out what exactly happened.

Then there was applying for a license to build a Floo network in the Grangers' residence. She was not opposed to Hermione being in contact with her parents; truly, it relieved her to know that the Grangers were not actually terrible parents. Misguided and ill-informed, yes, but that was more a failure on the wizarding world's exclusion of muggleborn parents than entirely their fault.

Honestly, her only reluctance was having to apply for the license. She just didn't want the headache that talking to that particular part of the Ministry caused. But, for Hermione's sake, she would do it.

A soft whimper broke her out of her thoughts. Sirius had disappeared to who knew where, but she was sure he was still in the manor. She glanced down to the mat where the kids napped. Andromeda's face was pinched slightly, and she tossed and turned lightly.

"Come here, baby girl," she called quietly. She held a hand out, and a small golden light extended out toward the girl.

"Grande Sœur," Andromeda croaked. She peeled her eyes open, and then she stood, Pinkie in tow, and followed the trail of magic back to the couch. She climbed up into Bella's lap, settling half propped against Bella's chest, with her head lying on Bella's shoulder. "Came back."

"Of course I did, petite etóile." Bella placed a soft kiss on top of the girl's head. She idly stroked her finger along Andy's scarred cheek. "Sœur and I will always come back for you. Always."

She knew it had been a mistake to leave Andy on her in the manor. Things might have been okay if they were only gone for a short time, but there was no guarantee that they could have been. She should have stayed with Andromeda and allowed Narcissa to take Hermione.

Andy nuzzled against her neck, curling her shirt in a fist. "Be normal," she murmured against Bella's shoulder. "Can be. Stay, stay by self."

Bellatrix's chest tightened, and she feared her heart may have shattered a bit at the statement. Her sister pushed herself way too hard given the unfortunate experiences she'd lived through. "Baby girl, you don't have to push yourself past your limits for my and Cissy's sakes."

"Mione-"

Bellatrix shook her head slowly. She patted Andy's back in a soft, rhythmic pattern. "You suffered great trauma, Drommie. There's no time limit in your recovery."

She and Narcissa would need to have a greater conversation with Andromeda at some point, but her baby girl was too Little to really listen at the moment.

Another thought occurred to her. "Drommie, are you in any pain?" The strangled whine followed by a shake of Andromeda's head told her all she needed to know. "You have to tell me or Sœur these things, petite agneau. It's okay to ask for medicine when things hurt. You don't need to suffer."

She summoned Andy's blanket and cocooned it around the girl. Squeaky appeared with a pain reliever and a bottle before she could call for the elf. Squeaky or Ruby must have noticed, then. She helped Andy take the pain relief then held the bottle out in offering. Andromeda shook her head and slouched down to lay her head against Bella's chest. She opened her mouth and made a small noise of demand.

"Ah, yes, you are my baby girl today," Bella cooed softly as she slipped the tip of the bottle into Andy's mouth. Andy was quick to latch on and start suckling. "I'm thinking you're not going to want to eat much for dinner, so let's be sure to take a bit of a protein drink before bed, alright?"

Andromeda only gave a quiet hum and continued drinking. She was clearly content to let her sister hold the bottle.

Really, that was perfectly fine with Bella. Meda didn't have many moment these days of being completely Little; it was nice to have this time.

She glanced down to the mat again. Hermione and Harry were still dozing peacefully. Harry's suddenly young headspace was a shock, but also not entirely surprising. If his core was anything like Hermione's, it would have wanted him to drop once he felt safe enough.

Hermione had already dropped far into headspace. While that had happened due to Bellatrix leaving, she suspected it would have happened eventually. Her temporary absence had just prompted it sooner.

Narcissa suddenly entered the room. She did a quick scan, smiling softly at the sight of Hermione and Harry napping, but her expression morphed into a concerned frown as she took in Andy curled up in Bella's lap.

"I think we need to have another talk with Drommie." Bellatrix lightly pet the top of Andy's hand, eliciting a soft little mewl of content. "She didn't want to mention being in pain, and she stayed by herself to prove she could be normal."

Narcissa sighed as she sat down beside the two on the couch. "Yes, we'll talk with her," she concurred. "Not tonight, but soon."

Bella nodded her agreement. "Where is Sirius?"

"Arguing with Ruby about what snacks to give the girls. Apparently, we don't provide enough fun snacks." Narcissa rolled her eyes. "Whatever that means. I had to leave him with his nonsense."

Bellatrix snorted in amusement. "Junk food, undoubtedly. Did you tell him that we do have some occasionally?"

Neither herself nor Narcissa were much for snacking, but they kept things on hand for Andy. They didn't keep much junk food in the manor anymore, instead opting to use it as a special treat for Andy. They had to be careful, though, because Andy would make herself sick, or the food itself would cause her stomach to be upset even in small amounts, which was why they didn't keep much at any one time.

Hermione hadn't said anything about the types of snacks they kept, but maybe she was afraid to. It would probably be worth venturing and asking the girl if she preferred certain types of snacks. A bit of junk food in small amounts would be okay; they would just have to keep a close eye on Andromeda.

Hermione quietly stirred below them. She turned over, facing away from Harry, and stretched her limbs as far out as she could. She released an odd sound as she did so, somewhere between a groan and a sigh. She turned onto her back before tilting her head back and looking toward the couch.

"Hello, chérie," Narcissa greeted with a soft smile. "Did you have a good nap?"

Hermione nodded mutely. She stood suddenly and moved to the couch, crawling into Narcissa's lap.

"Ah, is my little one making an appearance then?" Narcissa carded a hand through the girl's hair gently. Hermione ducked her head against the woman's shoulder. "That's okay, love. I let Sirius talk me into ordering pizza for dinner tonight. Why don't we go read a book or two before then, hm?"

Hermione nodded and allowed Narcissa to lift her up from the couch. Narcissa summoned the girl's otter and teddy, along with her blanket, and made her way out of the parlor. Hermione had her paci clipped to her onesie, so she was able to slip it into her mouth on her own as Narcissa carried her off.

Bellatrix glanced down at Andromeda. Her little sister had drifted off to sleep again. With Harry still sleeping, it might have explained why Narcissa took Hermione somewhere else. That was fine. She could let the two nap a bit longer yet. She would just use the quiet to plan the destruction of one Molly Weasley.

------------------------------

A/N: If you made it this far, consider dropping a comment to let me know what you think. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it. :)