Symphony | Andromeda Black

Aftermath

Druella went into the parlour and lit a cigarette. She stared out the window, and her hand shook as she took a drag.

"Mother?" Andromeda said tentatively.

"Why didn't you stop her, Andromeda? You're supposed to be the responsible one."

This was so unfair that it made tears spring to her eyes.

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵　　‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

She was sick of being the responsible one. She wished for once her mother would be the one to make sure that Narcissa had her school work done, or that she had had dinner, or that the cats had been fed. Andromeda locked herself in her room and took out her new paints. She spread newspaper on the cream carpet and carefully began to fill in her picture of Max lying in front of the fire of the common room and licking his paws. She missed him when he was banished outside at home. She tried not to think about Bellatrix, but she did anyway, her sister's name ringing around in her head like somebody was shouting it.

Eventually she gave up on painting and hid her things, going back downstairs. Druella and Narcissa were sitting together in the drawing room, but they weren't doing anything. It was the strangest sight to see, her mother and sister sitting in their chairs as stiff and as pretty as dolls, their blue eyes staring at nothing.

Andromeda asked Narcissa if she wanted to play chess, but her younger sister had never been much good, and anyway, neither of them were concentrating.

"Mother?" Narcissa said tentatively, after losing for the second time. "Couldn't....couldn't we go to  Lestrange manor and get her back?"

Druella shook her head. "There would be no point," she said. "She wouldn't come, and she is seventeen. The age I was when –"

She broke off, but Andromeda knew what she was going to say, the age I was when she was born.

"I warned her enough times. She has made her bed, and now she must lie in it."

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵　　‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

A letter came two weeks later, and it was not sealed with the Black family crest, but with the Lestrange raven crest, the wax as red as blood.

"She married him," Narcissa whispered. "She'll never come back now."

Andromeda broke the seal, but the letter was disappointedly short.

Dear Andromeda and Narcissa,

I hope you are well. I am writing to tell you that Rodolphus and I were married last Wednesday morning. You can tell Mother if you like.

Regards, Bellatrix Lestrange.

Andromeda stared at those little alien words, Bellatrix Lestrange, until it felt like the black ink was burning itself into her eyes, but looked up when Druella came into the parlour. Her gaze settled on the letter.

"Andromeda?" She said, her voice suddenly sharp. "Andromeda, who sent that letter?"

She reached across and snatched it up with her long fingers, her eyes scanning the words, and when she saw the signature at the bottom, she stared at it for a moment. Then she crumpled it into a ball and tossed it into the fireplace. Andromeda watched it blacken at the edges, curl in on itself, and burn.

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵　　‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

Their grandmother came to visit several weeks later, and she announced that she wanted Andromeda to stay with her for a week. Andromeda was confused, because she had never stayed with her before, but her grandmother seemed eager.

Druella was reluctant, but eventually relented, and Andromeda packed up her trunk in silence. Narcissa hung by the door, and she coughed.

"I'm sure you could come to stay as well," she said. "If you wanted."

"It's all right," she murmured. "I'll stay with Mother."

Andromeda hesitated. "Do you....do you actually like staying here with her?"

Narcissa bit the nail of her little finger. "Not really. But....I think she needs us to take care of her."

"You know Bellatrix was right," Andromeda said, closing the clasp of her trunk. "It should be her taking care of us."

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵　　‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

She didn't know how to say goodbye to her mother and Narcissa properly, but in the end she just nodded to them and followed her grandmother. She had asked, but she wasn't allowed to take Max. Grandmother said he would ruin the furniture. When they arrived in the front hall of her grandparent's house a few moments later, her grandmother sighed.

"Thank heavens," she said. "Do you know, I find that house so awfully depressing. I can't see why Druella keeps you girls inside like prisoners all the time. You're young. You should be starting at parties, not cooped up in your bedrooms. You're fifteen now, Andromeda, you should be thinking of better things."

Andromeda was of course fourteen, but she didn't want to correct her grandmother and just looked down. But then Roseanne reached out and tipped her chin up with her narrow fingers. They were cold on her skin. "Stand straight, Andromeda," she said. "Look me in the eye."

Andromeda looked into her blue eyes and swallowed. Roseanne brushed her shoulders down, and wrinkled her nose in distaste. "Why does your mother insist on dressing you up like a little girl? I know she's my daughter, but that woman is impossible to understand. I know just the thing. We will go shopping, my dear, and then we can find you a nice gown for the dinner party."

Andromeda almost gulped. "Dinner party?"

"The Bulstrodes are having one tonight. I thought it high time you go to your first dinner."

"But...." she hesitated, because she'd always been taught not to question her elders. "Mother says I can't go to dinner parties yet."

"Nonsense," she said airily. "Now, Kelsy will show you your room and I'll get ready for shopping."

Kelsy the house elf brought Andromeda up the wide oak stairs to the second floor, where her room was. It was very bare, decorated in heavy wood, with only a four poster bed, a mirror and a dresser. Andromeda put her trunk down on the floor and took a breath.