Symphony | Andromeda Black

The Dark Mark And Bad Luck

Anxiety wriggled deep in her stomach, and several weeks later at the end of June, she finally got the confirmation to what they suspected. Druella and Cygnus were at a dinner party, but as she passed her mother's bedroom, she could hear somebody inside, clearly a human because house elves made as much noise as air. Andromeda frowned, because they weren't allowed in either of their parent's bedrooms, and slowly pushed open the door, which was ajar

Bellatrix was standing in front of Druella's mirror, that impressively covered the whole wall. It wasn't one mirror, but a collection of three, so multiple Bellatrix's stared back at her. She had the sleeve of her dress pulled up to her forearm, where a vivid black tattoo wriggled under the skin, and she was smiling widely, admiring her reflection, flourishing her wand like she was facing an opponent. The door creaked, and she whirled, the smile slipping and the wand pointed right at her sister's heart in a dueling move that certainly wasn't taught at Hogwarts.

"Andromeda!" She said, relaxing her wand arm and quickly rolling down her sleeve so the Mark was covered. "What are you doing?"

"I could ask you the same," she said shakily, moving forward. "We're not allowed in here."

"Mother said I could borrow some jewellery," Bellatrix lied with such a fluidity that it might have fooled her.

"I saw it. The Mark. How could you be so stupid?"

"You don't know what you're talking about," Bellatrix said, giving up the pretence. "You sound like Mother."

"She wasn't happy?"

"Kept going on and on – but Father was proud. He said the Dark Lord wrote to him."

"You're not seventeen."

"I didn't have to be," Bellatrix preened in the mirror. "He said I'm a special case."

"But – but –"

"Oh, don't act so prissy, Andromeda! This is what I've been looking forward to for years. He says he might even consider letting you join too. I've told him about you – and anyway, he's been watching. He doesn't have much hope for Cissy but he thinks you'll be a good Death Eater."

Andromeda felt ill, but Bellatrix kept rattling on. "It took me a while to get around him, but he says maybe you can start attending meetings soon, and –"

"I don't want to," Andromeda said quietly.

"He may even consider – what?"

"I don't want to," she said, more loudly. "I don't want to go to meetings. Or be a Death Eater. Ever."

Bellatrix shook her head impatiently. "I don't think you understand. I had to practically beg him. This is a massive opportunity."

"I don't want to, Bellatrix."

Her face twisted. "This is because of that mudblood lover Viljoen, isn't it?"

Andromeda blinked. "What? No!"

"The Dark Lord knows her father. They're such blood traitors they may as well be Weasleys. You're lucky I don't tell Mother. The Dark Lord says –"

"Oh, the Dark Lord says!" Andromeda snapped. "Do you know how stupid you sound? The Dark Lord doesn't care about you!"

Bellatrix's eyes flashed. "Yes he does, you don't know anything. You're just a silly little girl!"

Andromeda saw red. She grabbed the first thing she could – Druella's silver backed hairbrush, and hurled it at Bellatrix, who ducked. The hairbrush hit the mirror instead, which shattered and cracked. The sisters froze, looking at it in shock.

"You broke Mother's mirror," Bellatrix whispered. "Seven year's bad luck."

Andromeda didn't care about seven years of bad luck. She cared about her mother's reaction when she saw her favourite mirror cracked, and the swift pain of Cygnus' cane.

"She can fix it," she said, her voice shaking. "With Reparo."

"She'll still know," Bellatrix was pale. "Here – I'll say it was me."

Andromeda stared at her. "Bellatrix?!"

"Father will stick up for me. He won't for you."

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Bellatrix was right. Druella was furious, but Cygnus said she was overreacting and fixed it easily, and Bellatrix got off without so much as a tap. Andromeda couldn't help but be a little jealous, because she knew that if it had been her she would have been caned. She couldn't help but be jealous of Bellatrix these days anyway, because she was Cygnus' new favourite. Andromeda had glowed with pride when he'd told her she was like him, but now he seemed to be telling Bellatrix the same thing, though she didn't care.

"He's sucking up," she said, helping Andromeda feed the cats. "He didn't care about me at all until the Dark Lord did. The Dark Lord is the only one who truly cares about me."

Andromeda flushed. "That's not true."

"Well, you and Narcissa do, I suppose," she said. "They don't, you know. I can't wait to go. Can you keep a secret, Andromeda?"

Andromeda nodded. Their family was full of secrets. "Yes."

"I might be getting married soon."

Andromeda stared. "What?! To who?"

"Keep your voice down," Bellatrix said irritably, as Max eyed her warily. "To Rodulphus Lestrange. He's proposed already."

"You're sixteen!"

"So? Grandmother was thirteen. And anyway, it won't be for a year or two."

Andromeda stroked Max's ears. "Do you love him, Bellatrix?"

Bellatrix paused. "No," she said at last. "But it's a means to an end. Mother isn't happy, but Father set it up already, with the Dark Lord. She can't do anything."

"You shouldn't marry him if you don't love him."

"Oh shut up, Andromeda," she said irritably. "I don't know why I tell you anything, you're so preachy. It won't be for long, it's just security until the Dark Lord –"

She shut her mouth quickly, but Andromeda knew, had suspected for a long time, a twisting dark worry in her gut.

"You love him," she said quietly. "The Dark Lord."

Bellatrix exhaled. "Yes," she whispered. "I do."

Andromeda didn't know what to say. "And will he marry you, then?"

"Yes," Bellatrix said, a little louder. "He's got this house, you see, this big manor, and we'll move there, and there'll be children."

She spoke like she was reciting a fairy tale, a nursery rhyme for children, a slight desperate edge to her voice. "And we'll fight side by side, and I won't be like her, I'll be a good mother."

Andromeda shook her head. "He's not like that, Bellatrix. He's lying."

"He is not. I love him, Andromeda. You have no idea what I've done for him!"

Her voice shook. "I love him, and he loves me, he said-"

Andromeda laughed in shock. It sounded like a joke, but her sister was deadly serious. "He doesn't love anything! He killed Lacrimosa's father!"

"Don't you dare!" Bellatrix half sobbed. "He didn't, he didn't-"

Understanding, horrible, cold understanding, dawned. "He didn't," Andromeda echoed in a whisper. "He got you to do it, didn't he?"

Bellatrix was crying now, proper shaking sobs. "I had to," she wept. "It's the only way he'll let you join – you have to prove your worth –"

"That's awful," Andromeda said in horror.

Bellatrix wiped her nose with her handkerchief. "It's necessary," she said, like it was a mantra. "Cleanse the world of the unworthy. Save the pure wizardkind. I had to, Andy."

She turned dark, mad eyes to her sister. "I had to," her voice broke. "He begged me, but so did the Dark Lord. I had to."