Only People Like Us [ANDROMEDA]

[bella]

The deserted classroom was slightly colder than the rest of the corridor, and this did not escape Bella’s awareness as she walked through the door. But Bella was a Slytherin through and through, and spending seven years living in the dungeons meant she had certain resilience when it came to temperature. But there was no need to suffer unnecessarily. A quick warming spell on the room would do the job, and a few seconds after she waved her wand the temperature began to rise slightly. She moved to the centre of the room and sat down on a desk, eyeing the room with distaste. From the looks of it, the classroom hadn’t been dusted in a while.

With another wave of her wand, a piece of parchment and a quill appeared on the desk beside her. She scribbled a quick note and signed it, not that it needed a signature. Her almost unreadable scrawl was recognisable anywhere. Her mother despaired at her daughter’s appalling handwriting; after all, it was hardly the correct penmanship for a young Pureblood lady. But habits were hard to break.

The empty classroom on the second floor. Ten minutes.
- Bella.

Within seconds the note was out of the door, on its way to Andromeda. Enchanting notes was not often the best way to communicate with people, they did tend to get lost, but it was preferable to having to find them yourself. It didn’t occur to Bella that Andromeda might not get the note though. She expected her to be here in ten minutes, no questions asked.

A talk between the eldest Black sisters was desperately needed. The events of the Halloween Ball had hung over them for several days, without either one of them bringing it up. But Bella was tired of waiting, the subject needed to be discussed. She needed to be certain her younger sister had been telling the truth when she had declared there was nothing going on between herself and Ted Tonks. Under normal circumstances, Bella would have laughed the idea off, the idea of her Pureblood sister and a mudblood was almost ludicrous. But with Andromeda, she could never be certain. There were times when she could be as deceptive as Bella herself.

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[quof]

Andromeda found herself watching the clock with avid anticipation. Class was supposed to be let out two minutes ago, but Professor McGonnagal had had some last minute instructions to give them about their homework assignment. Finally, she dismissed them. Andromeda was one of the first to gather up her things and leave the classroom. Normally she was not so anxious to get out of class, especially when reviving important instruction. But it was the last class of a long day, a very long day. Actually, life seemed to have been creeping along at an agonizing pace ever since the Halloween Ball, the one she was trying to stop thinking about.

She took a deep breath as she leaned against the wall. Her urgency was forgotten in the wake of exhaustion that had replaced it. She just wanted to get up to her dorm, and find some way to pass the time until bed.

Then she felt something hit her arm. She looked down to see a note just above her elbow, which she snatched and held open in front of her. Her heart sank. What did she want? Andromeda hadn't spoken to her sister since that night, and now she wanted to meet in private. Perhaps she hadn't been satisfied with Andromeda's excuse, but she had seemed to believe her then. had she changed her mind? Her stomach flipped, perhaps she had learned about the meetings that had happened prior to the Ball, it would certainly make her excuses seem feeble.

Her stomach tightened, but she forced herself to relax. Maybe it was nothing, and Bellatrix was just feeling estranged form her sister and was trying to make up for it, just the way she and Narcissa were. But somehow, she doubted it. But it didn't matter anyway, because she really didn't have a choice. Bellatrix's letter had said ten minutes, and it probably wouldn't take her that long since it was only two levels down, but she didn't have anything else to do in the meantime.

As she made her way down she mentally prepared her excuse for every situation she could think off, while working to make her emotions were completely under control. She opened to door to the empty classroom with perfect calmness, though dread and anxiety of what might happen inside seemed to be weighing her down.

"Bella?" She called out tentatively, seeing her sister perched on a desk in the middle of the room, she said, "I'm here, is there something you need to speak with me about?"

[bella]

It appeared that patience was one of the skills that Bellatrix severely lacked. Ten minutes had seemed like a reasonable amount of time when she had sent the note, just about enough time to get to the classroom from any part of the castle. But having to wait even ten minutes, with nothing to do was really a struggle for the young Death Eater. It felt more like half an hour, and so when footsteps were heard in the corridor outside, it was with great relief that she turned her attention to the door.

Of course, the question now was how to approach this conversation. Andromeda and Bellatrix hadn’t spoken since the Halloween ball, and to bring it up now would be a lot more difficult than if she had of confronted her sister the day after. And there was always the volatile relationship between the two sisters to consider. The two eldest Black sisters weren’t as close as they once had been, and although it had never been mentioned, both of them were fully aware of it.

And other Slytherins were slowly picking it up as well. Bella herself had been asked multiple times in the past few weeks what was happening between herself and Andromeda. And in all honesty, she could not give them a truthful answer. She didn’t even know herself. With a sigh, she turned to face Andromeda as she walked in the room. Her face was a picture of calmness, under control and expressions turned down to a minimum. The perfect Black daughter. “Andromeda.” She replied pleasantly. She hesitated slightly, wondering whether she should fill a few moments with pointless small talk or get straight down to it. To Bella’s ears, the latter idea was the most appealing.

“I suppose there is. There’s been a few . . . rumours spread around in the common room over the last few days. Primarily involving your time at the Halloween ball. I’ve been denying them Andromeda, but it seems to me like a lot of them are completely true.” She finished, trying to ensure her voice sounded casual throughout. The last thing she needed was Andromeda to become defensive. Bella was well aware she would get nothing out of her sister if that happened. And so she kept the conversation vague, knowing full well Andromeda would know exactly what she was talking about.

[quof]

This was exactly what Andromeda had been afraid of. Her composed mask faltered for a split second, a time so short it would have been impossible for Bellatrix to be sure of what she was seeing before her face was set. Perhaps she would ride it off as surpised, for Andromeda certainly was that.She jerked a little bit, and then shifted her position and her eyes narrowed, almost as if she were becoming defensive but not quite. "Oh?" she said with an air that said the had neither expected this nor heard anything about it, even though only the latter was true. She also said it in a way that made it almost sound like she was offended that rumors about her even existed.

"And what do these rumors say, exactly?" The voice that said this was not Andromeda but someone that was confident, and even haughty. Though she felt none of things. What she had dreaded happening was now reality. She wasn't sure what she had heard exactly, but some of things that might have been circulating could mean a lot of trouble for her should any of her family members find out. Especially Bellatrix.

She had to keep all of this off her face though, she couldn't break it, which meant that she couldn't break her sisters gaze. She had denied everything at the Halloween ball and she could do it again. She had too. But she wasn't sure how much longer she could keep lying, eventually something was going to slip out or she was going to give herself away some how, and she wasn't sure she'd be able to get out that if it did.