nothing i wont do anymore

bravado

A Cottage on the side of a hill, England, October 1998

It was a windy October afternoon. The sun had already started its steady descent from the sky and the brown leaves which had already fallen from their trees whipped over the grass. A small cottage stood on its own, fenced in carefully with an abundance of plants spilling over them. It was apparent that although someone had once taken great pride and joy in this garden that they had not been here to tend to it for some time.

There was a faint 'pop' some distance away from the cottage and a figure covered in a dark cloak stood there, watching the house silently. She held a small piece of parchment in her pale hands before folding it over twice and tucking it away. Narcissa was as pale as ever, thin and tired looking. Her blonde hair fell about her shoulders and blew in the wind in an unusually untidy fashion. The thick cloak billowed around her ankles as she found herself second guessing her intentions in being here at all.

The letter had been delivered two weeks ago from a very unlikely ally.

' Your sisters coordinates.

H. P '

Narcissa could not say the correspondence was unexpected, although she herself had not initiated any form of contact with the boy after the battle but this was not the sort of thanks she expected. Would Andromeda know she was coming? Narcissa supposed that she could have written to her, but decided it would be more unlikely for her sister to turn her away if they were face to face.

She knew what this war had cost her. Her entire family, save her small grandson. She had heard it from Draco, who had been writing to the Lovegood girl. Narcissa had been keeping enough tabs on her sister to know exactly who the aura who died was. She had heard of Ted's death on the radio before the Battle of Hogwarts, and although she still harboured dislike for the man, it pained her to know how deeply destroyed her sister would be at his passing.

Narcissa began to walk forward towards the home. It did look like somewhere her sister would live. It was small, but in a quaint, familial sort of way. It looked lived in. Loved. Narcissa imagined Andromeda in her youth with Teddy frolicking outside, cooking, being happy here. She hoped that she had been.

And suddenly, she was at the door and the wave of regret and self doubt swept over her. She shouldn't be here. It wasn't her place. She would be the last person Andromeda would want to see. A physical representation of all she had lost, right there in the flesh. Oh god, this had been a terrible, terrible mistake. Narcissa swallowed the painful lump in her throat, burying her hands in her cloak as she turned to retreat back up the hill.

"Going so soon Narcissa?" Came Andromeda's voice from the doorway. "You've always been very good at getting away unscathed, haven't you?"

Suddenly Narcissa was a child again, being scolded by her elder sister. Her shoulders rose slightly as if she was expecting to receive a slap to her cheek and her breath hitched in her throat. Taking a moment to compose herself Narcissa steadied her breath before turning around to face her sister.

Andromeda looked older than Narcissa would have expected. Her hair still held its same curls as she remembered from when she was a child. Her cheeks were fuller than her own, but her eyes were now cold. For a moment Narcissa though she was looking at Bella and resisted the urge to flinch. Andromeda didn't miss this and her expression softened just slightly, enough for Narcissa to face her fully.

"Andromeda.." She said, meeting her gaze for the first time.

It had been decades since the two sisters had seen each other at all. Narcissa had only been a child when her older sister was banished from the family. She remembered being scolded by her mother for asking about when 'Dromeda was going to come home, and then being hit viciously by her father for attempting to talk to her when her star was in the sky. Perhaps, Narcissa thought, the fear had conditioned her enough so that she never reached out in her adult life. She shook the thought away quicker than it surfaced.