The Tale of Three Sisters

Chapter 1: Propositions

Selected Listening: Speeding Cars- Imogene Heap

December 1972, Wizarding World U.K.

Andromeda Black

Andromeda Black collapsed on the cold tile of the bathroom, brunette hair awry. She'd been sick every morning for the past week. At first, she thought it was a bad stomach bug, or something she ate, but as the days passed, and everything she smelled brought on a new wave of nausea, an additional bad feeling grew at the pit of her stomach, an answer she couldn't bring herself to deal with. Not now. Not the day before Bellatrix's engagement party. The two sisters, born not even a year apart, competed for everything. This would certainly be the last straw.

Before she could worry much more, her stomach bowled over again.

"What is taking so long? Get out of there. Bella?" It was Narcissa knocking at the door for her morning shower. The youngest Black sister had returned from Hogwarts for her last winter vacation. Of course, their father doted over her incessantly. She was the prettiest. Blonde, blue-eyed, looked most like their mother who passed away in recent years. Andromeda heaved once more into the basin and flushed it down, before coughing weakly.

"M'not Bella." She managed to say.

"I'm coming in."

The doorknob jiggled.

"No don't!" She said, but Narcissa had already entered the room and stared at her elder sister with wide, fearful eyes.

"An', I told you. This isn't normal. You need a healer." Cissa closed the door gently behind her and lowered her voice to a whisper.

Andromeda stared back, wondering if she should say something. It was risky with Cissa. She may run straight to Bella to tattle, but she was also the best occlumens of the family. She could lock her memories down like a Gringotts vault. It was her method of getting away with anything and everything. If their father went picking through their brains to see who knew first, Cissa could protect herself.

"I know...but promise you won't tell anyone?"

"Why not? We have to tell father so we can take you to St. Mungo's." That would be a problem. Although Bellatrix and Andromeda had their own jobs, their deposits went straight to the family vault. If she told her father about her illness, she wouldn't be allowed out for the rest of her life.

"No! Not father, not Bellatrix, not anyone. I have to go alone." She decided and pried herself up to a standing position. Narcissa puffed her cheeks up and placed her hands on her hips. A silly quirk she maintained from throwing tantrums as a child. It still worked.

"I don't understand. Did someone hex you? Were you stung by a blast-ended skrewt? What could be so wrong with you that you couldn't possibly tell your family?" Andromeda gave a long, exasperated look to her sister before telling her the truth.

"Cissa, I think I'm pregnant."

Narcissa froze.

"But you aren't seeing anyone...Are you seeing someone?" She asked with a glint of a smirk. "You didn't mention him in your owls."

Andromeda looked down at the floor. This would be the difficult part.

"Remember Ted Tonks? He and I had prefect duty together in school."

"He's a muggle-born! A mudblood! Even worse, a Hufflepuff, push-over mudblood." She emphasized. Andromeda sighed.

"You think I don't know that? Cissa, I know father wouldn't approve at first, but considering the situation—"