1. Kill no Birds with One Stone by Phoenixsong7611
Andromeda sat alone in her living room, trying not to think about past and current events. Nymphadora had left swiftly for Hogwarts to participate in the approaching fight, despite Remus’s clear order to stay behind. Teddy was asleep in his bedroom. She wanted to do something productive- dishes, laundry, anything- but she couldn’t. The emotions churning inside her were too powerful- especially the worry, and the intense, burning anger she felt towards the Death Eaters who had murdered her husband. Death Eaters. Now there was a subject. Andromeda loathed them, but there was sorrow attached to that name as well.
Sisters were supposed to stay together and always stand by you. Sisters were not supposed to ever truly hate you, at least not for long. Sisters were not supposed to be fight on separate sides of a war, and certainly not supposed to attempt to kill each other. But here they were, with wands at each other’s throats, like complete strangers! She still found it hard to believe that her sisters were truly as horrible as they were, and that they actually were evil and wanted her dead.
Well, at least one of them did.
Andromeda knew quite well that Bellatrix had no love for her whatsoever. That fact was fairly obvious, and it had certainly been proved the past July, when a group of Death Eaters had paid a visit to wriggle Harry’s whereabouts out of her and Ted. Bellatrix had made sure that she tortured Andromeda personally. Without the slightest hint of mercy Bellatrix had thoroughly enjoyed making her blood traitor of a sister twist and writhe in pain. No remorse showed in her eyes, just pleasure and revenge. Andromeda had known quite well earlier what her elder sister had become, but seeing it with her own eyes was a different matter entirely. Nymphadora said that Bellatrix had tried very hard to kill her when the Order transported Harry to the Burrow. Andromeda didn’t doubt that at all.
She glanced at the clock over the mantle. Over half an hour had passed since her daughter’s departure.
Merlin, she hoped everyone was alright.
Her thoughts turned again to her sisters. Bellatrix was certainly a monster, but what of Narcissa? As far as Andromeda could tell, Narcissa didn’t want Voldemort to win this war. Not really. Narcissa wasn’t good at making decisions. She usually let others decide for her. Their mother and father were prejudiced against Muggleborns and other non-purebloods, so Narcissa was as well. When the time came to choose a side in the war, Lucius chose to become a member of the Death Eaters, therefore, Narcissa became a Voldemort supporter, too.
All of this dwelling on the traits of her sisters brought back a memory of an event that showed their natures perfectly.
They were playing a game of hide-and-seek in the backyard, a game that was sure to end in tears, for one reason or another. Andromeda, no older than seven, spotted something struggling on the ground. She found it to be a small bird that seemed to have broken its wing. She called out to her sisters, “Oh, look!”
Narcissa hurried over while Bellatrix lazily walked over, complaining.
“Andromeda, you idiot, you just spoiled the whole game!”
“No, Bella, Cissy, look! This poor bird can’t fly!”
Narcissa simply stared at the thing with a look filled with confusion and pity in equal parts. Bellatrix looked irritated.
“Well, what do you want me to do? Kill the thing?” She picked up a stone to throw at the bird.
“No!”
Andromeda grabbed Bellatrix’s arm, preventing her from hurling the stone.
“We should take it inside to Mother, she can fix its wing with her wand and then it can fly again! I know she can do it, remember when she mended your wrist last week? This is just a tiny bird’s wing!”
Bellatrix freed herself from her little sister’s grip and placed her hands on her hips, stone still in hand. “It will be much faster just to kill it.”
Andromeda stared at her sister furiously. “No it won’t! Mum can fix it in a second! I won’t let you kill it!”
Bellatrix rolled her eyes. “Well, why don’t we get a majority vote then. What do you think we should do, Cissy?”
Narcissa’s eyes darted from the bird, to Bellatrix, and then to Andromeda. “I…I don’t…I don’t know…”
“Fine, then,” said Bellatrix indignantly. “I’ll just have to settle this matter myself.”
Andromeda realized just in time what Bellatrix was about to do, and snatched the thrashing bird off the ground just seconds before the stone hit the spot where the bird had been thrashing just a moment before.
Andromeda screamed angrily at her elder sister. “I told you not to kill it!”
“Why do you have to be so difficult! This could have been over and done with already, but you had to make a fuss as usual!” Bellatrix retorted.
Andromeda was fuming. “Well excuse me for trying to save a life!”
“It’s just a dumb bird!”
Andromeda turned towards Narcissa. “Don’t you agree with me? I know you do, I know you don’t want to see it die! Why don’t you ever take my side? You want to, but you don’t! Is it just because she’s older?”
Bellatrix also faced Narcissa. “You never even take a side. Just choose, it’s not a big deal, and we can end this!”
Andromeda and Bellatrix said in unison, “So?”
Narcissa finally spoke up. “You know what? I don’t really care about this stupid creature! Just take it to Mother, she can decide! Just stop yelling at me!”
Andromeda’s feelings towards Narcissa softened somewhat. “Okay, I will.” As she walked toward the house she shot Bellatrix an annoyed look, and Bellatrix stuck her tongue at her in response.
Andromeda couldn’t help but smile slightly at that memory. Funny, how such a small disagreement when they were children could be so closely relevant to their current, and much more serious situation. The bird was fine- her mother had mended its wing in under a second. Andromeda had enjoyed watching it fly away, but the event had created a lot of tension between the sisters for about a week. Well, more tension than usual. They had never completely agreed on anything, and this had only become more pronounced as the years went by.
Marrying Ted meant losing her family- Andromeda had known that, known her family would disown her, hate her. Her mother would barely even send her a Christmas card. However, Andromeda never expected her sisters to follow suit, at least not completely. Bellatrix had hated her for quite a long time even then, and Andromeda didn’t really regret not seeing her for all these years. She certainly did not miss her now. After all, Bellatrix had nearly killed Nymphadora. However, she did miss having a relationship with Narcissa. Cissy was never exactly kind to her, but she was never mean either. Maybe when this was all over Andromeda would be able to talk to her sister again.
Andromeda looked up and checked the clock again. It had now been an hour since her daughter and son-in-law had left her with their son.
A bright, silver streak of light entered the room and materialized into a wolf- her daughter’s Patronus. The wolf’s mouth opened and spoke in Nymphadora’s voice.
“Harry’s here. Don’t reply, we are fighting. Take care of Teddy.”
The silver wolf dispersed.Teddy started up a fuss in the nursery, and Andromeda rose to her feet.
“Don’t worry, Nymphadora. I will.”