Voice of Love

7 | Traitor

Narcissa hopped off the Hogwarts train to continue her year as a sixth year student. She couldn't believe after just a little more than one more year she would be graduating this school and begin a new phase of her life - with Lucius Malfoy. It didn't help that most people thought they were willingly courting each other. She constantly had to put up with glares, jealous comments, people openly staring at her, or saying they were the perfect couple.

She shook her head to get rid of her negative thoughts, instead walking with Alecto to their dormitory.

"Ugh, it sucks that Christmas break is over," Alecto complained.

"I'm glad Christmas break is over, I barely had time to myself," Narcissa replied.

"Well at least you got to stay with the Malfoys. I bet you got a luxurious room."

"Yeah yeah, whatever," Narcissa answered.

"Where's Giselle?" Alecto asked.

"She went to the library to check out some books on different topics she can cover in seventh year."

"So soon? She has like half a year left to go!" Alecto exclaimed.

Narcissa shrugged. As they walked closer to the Slytherin Common Room, they heard screaming. Narcissa and Alecto looked at each other as if asking the other for an answer to the screaming, but they both didn't know. Curious, they warily stepped into the common room.

Narcissa's eyes widened at the sight in front of her. It was none other then her sister Bellatrix towering over her other sister, Andromeda. Bellatrix, with a furious expression on her face, was currently screaming a string of profanities. There were a few other people watching, and all of them looked fearful.

"Bella, what's going on?" Narcissa tentatively asked.

Bellatrix whipped her head to face Narcissa, then snarled at Andromeda. "Tell Cissy what you did, traitor."

Andromeda turned her wide brown eyes to Narcissa. "Cissy, please don't be angry. I've been secretly dating Ted for the past 4 years, and we're planning on getting married as soon as we graduate because the Dark Lord is getting more powerful," she whispered.

"Ted...as in the Mudblood? Tonks, was it?" Narcissa slowly asked.

Andromeda nodded her head. "Please, I've been in love with him for a long time. You have to understand, you always wanted your perfect love story, and you were with Augustus. It's the same for me," she begged.

Narcissa's heart did a painful twist when she heard Augustus' name. Why did Andromeda of all people bring him in the conversation? She was supposed to be someone she could rely on and understood her, not someone who brought pain.

"Do not bring Augustus into this. You know you will get disowned if you marry him. Remember our vows we made as children? We were supposed to stick together forever. Family over anything else. Or are you going to choose the Mudblood over us?" Narcissa asked.

Andromeda had a guilty expression on her face, and shook her head sadly. "I love him, Cissy. I plan on running away, and I don't want to leave on a bad note. I can't convince Bella, but I want to convince you at the very least. I don't want to live with the knowledge that both of my sisters hate me."

Narcissa's heart did another painful twist. So her sister was really planning to leave the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black simply because she was in love with a boy? Her expression hardened.

"I'm not Cissy to you anymore. You're not family, and therefore you address me as 'Miss Black.' You're not worthy of 'Narcissa' either," she snarled.

She then turned her heel and walked away, catching Bellatrix's eye as she went, which held a proud glint. Narcissa heard footsteps behind her, and wasn't foolish enough to think it was Andromeda. No, Andromeda would walk away and never look back. She still had some Black in her, even though she was going to be a Tonks soon. Narcissa herself didn't look back either, although she was positive it was Alecto. Her suspicions were confirmed when she heard Alecto's worried voice.

"Narcissa, are you okay? Your sister just left you..."

"I have no idea what you are talking about. The only sister I have is Bellatrix and she did not leave me," Narcissa replied.

Alecto just nodded her head in understanding, and followed Narcissa back to the dormitory. 

"Do you want to start unpacking?" Alecto asked quietly.

"Sure," Narcissa replied.

The two girls started unpacking their belongings, and showed each other the Christmas presents they had chosen to bring with them. It seemed like Narcissa had forgotten about the incident, but they both knew that it was still fresh in her mind. Slowly the rest of their afternoon played out, and eventually they left to go to the Great Hall for dinner.

Andromeda had left the Slytherin table and had actually taken to eating with the Hufflepuffs, and she caught a glimpse of the sandy-haired Mudblood that had stolen her sister's heart. Narcissa braced herself when she saw Andromeda with a defiant but scared expression clutching a Howler. It seems Bellatrix already told their parents then.

"YOUNG LADY, YOU ARE DISOWNED! YOU ARE NO LONGER PART OF THE NOBLE AND MOST ANCIENT HOUSE OF BLACK, AND I WILL LET THE WHOLE OF THE WIZARDING WORLD KNOW JUST HOW MUCH OF A TRAITOR YOU ARE! PREPARE TO GET A LINE OF HATE COMING YOUR WAY, BECAUSE YOU DESERVE IT! YOU ARE TO NEVER ENTER OUR HOME AGAIN!"

Narcissa heard the angry voice of Druella Black, and only she and Bellatrix could recognize the well disguised hurt as well. All of the professors just sat there blinking, none of them giving away any emotion. Narcissa thought she could detect sympathy in Dumbledore's eyes when he looked at Andromeda through his half-moon spectacles. She saw Andromeda shiver, but lift her chin up defiantly and use a spell to burn the Howler.

All of Andromeda's new Hufflepuff friends were shooting glares at both her and Bellatrix, but Narcissa didn't care. Narcissa finished her dinner and headed out of the Great Hall without waiting for Alecto and Giselle. She needed time to herself to process what had just happened.

She didn't notice Lucius get up and follow her, and headed back to the empty Slytherin Common Room to sit by the fireplace.

"You sure you're okay?" Narcissa jumped when she heard Lucius Malfoy's quiet voice.

"I'm fine. If she doesn't care enough about our family, I won't care about her," Narcissa snapped.

"Fair point," Lucius replied.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Narcissa blurted out quite rudely.

"Just wanted to check up on you, as I am your future husband. I will be leaving now, as you're probably wishing to be alone," Lucius said.

He turned and walked out of the common room. Narcissa stared at his retreating back until he left the room. Sighing, she slumped in her seat. She did not allow herself to cry.

I wasn't even that close to her anyway, she just seemed to understand how I was feeling. That's it. Better her than Bella. All she ever did was secretly write to someone. Now that I think of it, I'm willing to bet that it was Tonks she had been talking to in the manor, Narcissa thought. 

She shook her head. For five years Andromeda had betrayed their family. She hoped the Blacks' reputations wouldn't be ruined too much, especially after Sirius Black being the first Gryffindor made headline news.