Symphony | Andromeda Black

The Visitor

The usual guests came that Christmas. Walburga and Orion came every year now, though Druella didn't like it. This also meant that Sirius sat with the girls at the children's table, one year old Regulus being left at home. Rupert and Evan had joined the adults, and Andromeda certainly wasn't sorry to see him go. Bellatrix was still depressed that she had to sit with the children, especially now three year old Sirius was enthusiastically splattering food around the table. Narcissa and Andromeda made him worse by playing with him, turning his mashed potatoes into a mountain and his peas into soldiers marching up it.

"Oh for Merlin's sake," Bellatrix snapped. "Do you two have to be so childish?"

Andromeda blushed and stopped, but Narcissa stuck out her tongue at her sister and continued. Bellatrix rolled her eyes, scowling into her goblet of pumpkin juice.

As Sirius mushed peas underneath his fork and chuckled in delight, there calm a heavy knock at the door. The children stared at each other in surprise, even Narcissa, distracted from her game. There were never any late guests to their parent's dinner parties, and certainly never uninvited ones. The adults in the dining room were oblivious, but a house elf scurried to the front door, which the children could see from their table, and opened it. It was a stormy night, and rain raged behind the visitor. The figure stood tall and straight against the bright light outside casting a long and immense shadow. They couldn't see the face from where they were sitting bur they could hear the voice, and it was enough to make Andromeda shiver and even Sirius to look scared. It was a cold, slithering sort of voice, but one that at the same time was exceptionally polite and calm.

"Good evening," he said. "I hope I'm not terribly late."

The house elf led him inside and shut the door, and the food in Andromeda's mouth turned sour. He had handsome dark eyes, and dark hair spilled out under the brim of his hat, but there was something off about his face. It was pale and almost indistinct, like an unfinished wax model made by somebody with only the vaguest idea of what human features were supposed to look like.

She could not help but stare. Bellatrix was staring too, her mouth open, but Narcissa's face was the one she wore when she was trying very hard not to cry, and Sirius looked terrified. The man's cloak was taken by the elf, and as he took off his hat, his eyes passed directly to the children. Andromeda tried very hard not to run away from the table. They weren't so handsome when they were staring at you. They were cruel, and seemed to impossibly shine red.

"If Sir will come this way," the house elf squeaked. He followed it into the dining room, where there was sudden silence, and then through the open door they could see Cygnus standing quickly from his chair at the head of the table.

"Please, my lord," he said, in a shaking voice. Andromeda had never heard her father's voice shake like that. He was never frightened of anything. And he never, ever allowed anybody else to sit at the head of the table.

"You are too kind, Cygnus," said the visitor, and the house elf scurried back out, closing the heavy doors so silence met the children's ears. It was Bellatrix who first spoke.

"Who was that?" She asked the elf. "Who was that man?"

The house elf shivered. "Miss Bella doesn't need to know," it said, and practically ran back to the kitchens.

When they were finished eating, they lingered. Usually the adults would be finished by now and would either be leaving or going to another room. But nobody was leaving the dining room. The children sat and looked at the dining room doors, and then Bellatrix said, "I wonder what they're talking about?"

Andromeda was sure she didn't want to know. Uneasiness was making her feel sick. She wished she hadn't eaten so much. Inside her head was a small voice that sounded very much like her mother, needling at her that she was greedy and disgusting, that she would end up fat and ugly like Aunt Walburga.

Bellatrix got up from the table and walked over to the wooden doors.

"Bellatrix!" Narcissa said, scandalised. "You musn't! We aren't allowed."

It was one of the strictest rules: when Cygnus and Druella had visitors, the girls weren't allowed to eavesdrop or interrupt. None of them had ever broken the rule, and thus they didn't know the punishment for doing so.

Bellatrix waved her away. Sirius wasn't playing anymore. He climbed up in Andromeda's lap instead and nestled his head against her, frightened.

"It's no good," Bellatrix hissed. "They've got a charm –"

The doors swung slowly open, and Andromeda tensed. The long dining table stretched on, at the head of it, the visitor looked right at her sister.

"We have a little eavesdropper," he said.

"My lord, she is a child," Druella said quickly. "Forget her. We will punish her later."

He held up a hand, a signal for silence. The light from the flames of the candleabra danced over his waxy face, emphasising the odd gleam in those dark eyes.

"No," he said. "Come, girl."

Bellatrix hesitated.

"Are you frightened of me, child?" He asked, with something like amusement.

Bellatrix straightened her shoulders, licking her lips nervously. "No," she said. "Not at all."

He smiled. The change was staggering, like the wax melting and forming an entirely new shape. "Then come," he said. "Close the doors behind you."

Andromeda silently pleaded with her not to. She had no good feelings about this man. All she wanted was for him to leave this house, for everything to be normal again. But Bellatrix stepped into the dining room, reaching out and pulling the doors closed.

She didn't come out again for a very long time. It was late, far later than their usual bedtime, but there was nobody to put them to bed anymore. They sat on the heavy red carpet, backs against the wall. Sirius fell asleep against Andromeda, and Narcissa's eyes were sliding closed too, though she tried to stay awake.

"I hope Bella is all right," she murmured sleepily. "He wouldn't do anything to her, would he, Andy?"

Andromeda hesitated, but she couldn't say all the swirling fears and worries inside of her, and eventually managed, "Of course not."

Narcissa, seemingly reassured, fell asleep, her head against Andromeda's shoulder. She too was tired, but she couldn't sleep. She was too worried, too old to be reassured like Narcissa, too young to know what was happening inside the dining room.

Eventually, after what felt like hours, the doors opened, and people began to pour out. House elves fetched their cloaks and hats and they left. Orion Black retrieved Sirius like he was a parcel, grimacing at his sticky fist against his suit. Finally came the visitor, who slipped out of the door like a shadow, and at last came her parents and Bellatrix.

"What on earth are you doing, lying out here on the floor?" Druella said to them. "What do you look like!"

But she was too happy to be properly irritated. Her eyes were shining. "Oh Bellatrix," she clasped her hands together, her rings glittering in the light. "You have done us proud."

Bellatrix wasn't listening. She was too busy staring at the door the visitor had just walked through. Her cheeks were flushed pink, and she smiled slowly, like he was still there.