Fourteen Years Earlier

"There's yours, Bella, and finally … Cissy's," Druella Black said, handing a blue dress to her youngest daughter. The girl is question sighed, and looked up at her mother.

"Why do I always wear blue?" Narcissa asked.

"Because it matches your eyes," she answered. "Remember, we need you dressed and presentable for dinner. Tibby and Nettie will be up to help you. Remember, this is a big day for your father." Druella stood up, her head held high and face imperturbable.

The minute she was gone, the eldest flopped down on her bed, throwing her red dress onto the footboard.

"I hate this," she drawled.

"It's not so bad, Bella," Narcissa said, folding her hands on her lap.

"Yeah, for you," Bella said. "You like being fussed about, looking all pretty and having the adults complimenting your pretty hair and your perfect manners—"

"If you just tried a bit harder, you could too, Bella —"

"I don't want that, Cissy. I want to do something, not sit still and pretend like exchanging ideas over dinner is going to change a damn thing." Narcissa looked at Andromeda for help, but she just shrugged.

"Bella has a point." Narcissa rolled her eyes, and got up in a huff.

"Are we going to explore the attic, or not?" she asked. Bella looked up from under hooded eyes and smirked at her little sister.

"You're the leader now?"

"Well you two are just lying about so I guess I'll have to be!" Narcissa said, standing up and imitating their mother's exit. Andromeda smiled, and followed her out, ignoring Bella's huff as she pulled herself off her bed. Narcissa hadn't gone far, just to the edge of the staircase, then stood waiting for her elder sisters.

"Let's try the North wing," Andromeda said, passing Narcissa and running up the stairs.

"Yeah, we'll get in this time," Bella muttered.

"Don't be a poop," Andromeda said. "I'm pretty sure that Nettie was cleaning up here today, and she's so forgetful maybe she didn't lock it."

"Why do you think they lock it?" Narcissa asked, a step behind Andromeda.

"That's the point of exploring it, Cissy," Bella said. "You know, if we don't crack it this summer, I'll be able to open it once I get my wand."

"That's underage magic," Narcissa said.

"Oh come on, like they'd enforce that with us," Bellatrix said, giving Narcissa a condescending look. Andromeda, who normally ignored Bella's bribing, gave her a cautious look. "Oh, don't play dumb. We're Blacks. Toujous pur. They can't hurt us."

"But that's against the law," Narcissa pointed out.

"Blacks live above the law," Bellatrix said hastily.

"See how well that works in front of the Wizengamont," Andromeda said shortly. "Come on, or we'll get caught."

Narcissa scurried after Andromeda, and Bellatrix followed them, chin raised high. They turned a corner, and all squeezed through a hallway barely the width of their shoulders. The hallway was short, and widened out to face a foreboding wood door set in a plain wall. Normally they'd all crowd around and try to move the door any way they could (Andromeda once tried to lift the doors off the hinges, and they'd been very impressed by one of Narcissa's feats of underage magic, which sadly only caused the window to break).

"Alright, Andy, is it unlocked?" Bella asked, sounding almost bored. Andromeda grabbed the silver handle, and turned it firmly. There was a small click and the door slowly creaked open. Inside was pitch black.

"Merlin," Bella whispered. "Here," she said, going back through the hallway, and grabbing a candle from the other hall. She pushed past her sisters, and slowly crept into the room. She'd only gone a few steps when a wall appeared in front of her.

"That can't be the end," Bella muttered.

"Turn," Andromeda suggested, but that also led to a wall.

"Maybe it's like Platform Nine and Three Quarters," Narcissa suggested.

"That's not bad, Cissy," Andromeda said, walking forward to the wall, and pressing her back against it. There was a loud groan. "Bella, help me!"

Bella gave the candle to Narcissa, and joined Andromeda against the wall. The two girls pushed, and the wall gave way with a poof of dust, swinging to the side.

"Did you say that Nettie cleaned this?" Bella said in destain, brushing dust off her dress. "That house elf is loosing it."

Narcissa cautiously passed her older sisters, candle held in front of her, casting a flickering yellow light on the room. The floorboards were bending, the window covered in a thick film of dirt so it barely let in any light at all. The walls were lined with random items.

"It's a storage area," Bella said, annoyed. "We waisted all this time on a storage area."

"Why would you put a storage area behind a fake wall, a wall which obviously hasn't been moved in years, and a locked door?" Andromeda asked, looking at a large dollhouse. She reach out and wiped off a layer of dust.

This appeared to be a bad decision. At her touch, the dollhouse began to move, front of the house sliding open, and moving toward the girls.

"What's it doing?" Narcissa asked in a small voice, moving closer to Andromeda and Bellatrix. Neither replied, watching as the house expanded, and the old, brown furniture arranged itself in the rooms, and the little dolls, moth-eaten and faded, took their places.

"It's … it's our house," Bella muttered after a moment. They looked, and realized she was right. The couches in the living room were in the same positions, the bedrooms arranged with the same dressers and tables, the kitchen filled with house-elves.

"Look at the attic," Andromeda said slowly. In the hollows of the roof, there were three dolls all in a group, looking at a smaller dollhouse.

"That's creepy," Narcissa said.

"What do you think it does?" Bella asked curiously. She took a step closer. A loud echoing laugh erupted from the dollhouse and it started to collapse again, the roof collapsing into the third floor, the wings folding into the living room, and finally the front panel slamming into place. Bella frowned, and walked toward it, imitating Andromeda's earlier movement. Nothing budged.

"Weird," Andromeda finally said. "Maybe it's broken?"

"Maybe we should just go back downstairs," Narcissa said.

"Don't be a baby," Bella said. "We might never find the door unlocked again." She moved around, and picked up a hairbrush.

"Don't use it, Bella. It might make all your hair fall off," Andromeda said. Bella laughed.

"Don't be dumb, Andy. Who would curse a brush to make someones hair fall off?"

"I don't know, someone with a sick sense of humor, someone who didn't have any hair and wanted to inflict pain on other people. Don't tempt fate, Bella."

"Fate has nothing to do with anything," Bella muttered, but she put the hairbrush down.

Andromeda shifted a chair, which clattered to the floor. The three girls looked at it in silence, before Bellatrix glared at her sister.

"You better hope no one downstairs heard that."

"Maybe they think a Poltergeist lives up here," Andromeda said off-handedly. "Look." She pulled something out from behind the rubble, and showed her sisters the long, emerald gilded sword. Bella was immediately at her side, looking greedily at the sword with big eyes. Slowly, Andromeda pulled the sword out of the hilt, reveling a long, glistening blade that looked to be as sharp as the day it was forged.

"Something is inscribed on it," Narcissa said, tilting her head.

"Salazar Slytherin," Bellatrix read. "Makes sense the best founder would have a sword."

"Yeah, but why is it here, in our house?" Andromeda asked.

"We've been an important family for a while," Bella said. "Maybe one of our forefathers was friends with Salazar, and gave it to him."

"Wow, you and Salazar are on first name basis now?"

"Shut up and put it back before you hurt yourself," Bella commanded, turning her back. Narcissa had already turned away, and was looking at the long dead flowers sitting on top of an ancient pair of drawers in front of the window. She pulled open the drawers, and retreated with a scream. Andromeda and Bellatrix turned to see the looming figure of their mother, glaring down at them.

"HOW DARE YOU DISGRACE THE BLACK FAMILY NAME! I GAVE YOU EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING A GIRL COULD ASK FOR, AND HOW DO YOU REPAY MY EFFORTS? WITH BETRAYAL. YOUR FAMILY IS YOUR HONOR, HOW DARE YOU DEFILE US IN SUCH A WAY!" She was screaming at the top of her voice, and Narcissa had collapsed into tears. In a moment of maternal protection, Andromeda walked forward and put herself between their mother and Narcissa. Their mother stopped, regarding Andromeda with appraising eyes.

There was a loud CRACK, and it shifted, taking shape after shape until Andromeda was looking at Narcissa. She turned, and looked at the sniveling girl behind her, then back at the image. She was bleeding, the dark red blood trickling down her pale face, her blue eyes still open and looking into nothingness. There was another CRACK, and then Bella was lying before her, her haughty eyes dead, her beautiful face plastered in mud and blood.

Bella screamed. Andromeda stumbled back, grabbing Narcissa's hand, and pulling her away from the window, where the image of Bella dead was illuminated in the pale light. Bella was still screaming, looking down at herself.

"BELLA!" Andromeda yelled, still pulling Narcissa back toward the fake wall. The sound of pounding feet reached their ears as Bella finally snapped out of it, and hurried after Andromeda, pushing past them to get out of the attic room. They were just out of the small passageway when they came face to face with their father, white faced.

"What's happening? We heard screaming—"

"There's a t-t-thing in there," Narcissa said. "It was Mother then it was m-m-me then B-B-Bella—"

"We were dead," Bella said shortly. Their father looked quickly from one girl to the next, then pushed past them.

"Stay here," he ordered, as he got down on hands and knees to crawl through the passageway. In different circumstances, it might have been funny to watch Cygnus Black, a tall, stately man who was never seen in a compromising light, crawling through a small passageway.

They waited in silence. Narcissa was holding onto Andromeda, who was looking blankly toward the North Wing. Bellatrix was standing slightly aloof from the others, panting lightly. After a minute or two, their father reappeared. His expression was stern.

"I'm not happy with you three. You knew the North Wing was locked, we told you to stay away from it, yet you went in anyway. I'm very disappointed. It was just a bogart. And furthermore, you interrupted my business meeting."

Bella, Andromeda, and Narcissa looked at their feet in unison.

"Now, go to your room until I decide what to do with you."

The girls nodded, and hurried away from their father, and out of the attic. When he was sure they were gone, Cygnus crawled back through the passageway to the North Wing.

"And you'll have to write us all about Hogwarts, and what the common room is like, and how the sorting is, and —"

"Merlin, Narcissa, the way you go on, it's like you don't expect me to have a social life," Bellatrix said, cutting off her sister. The seven year old looked hurt, and Andromeda put an arm over her little sister. They were about to apparate to Kings Cross to drop Bella off at the Hogwarts express. Andromeda glared at Bella, who in turned glared back. There was a tense silence, and Druella watched silently as her daughters faced off. Finally—

"I'm sorry, Cissy. Of course I'll write to you," Bella said grudgingly, and Andromeda straightened up in victory.

"Alright, girls, are you ready?" Cygnus said, walking in from the office.

"Yes, father," Bella said, straightening.

"Alright, Bella with me, Cissy and Andy with Druella … on three," Cygnus commanded, and three seconds later the girls were looking out on Kings Cross Station.

"Are these people all going to Hogwarts?" Narcissa asked.

"No, Narcissa. These are Muggles. Ignore them," Cygnus said. "Come on." The family followed Mr. Black along the station, and then through the wall that separated Platform 9 and 3/4 from the Muggle World.

"You can almost smell the stink of Mudbloods," Druella said dispassionately, glaring out at the platform, where parents were saying goodbye to their children. "You're lucky Slytherin doesn't allow any Mudbloods, Bella, I'd hate to think of you having to share anything with those fiends."

"Now now, Ella, this isn't the place," Cgynus said softly, taking his wife's arm. "Come along, girls." They followed like ducklings, carving a path out of the parents and children. One or two parents recognized the Blacks, and eagerly came up to say hello and introduce their children.

Cgynus helped Bella put her trunk on the train, both parents offered her a handshake. Lastly, Bella turned to her sisters. They both looked up at her solemnly.

"We'll miss you, Bella," Andromeda said.

"I'll miss you, too," Bella replied, then turned up her nose, turned on the spot, and took a spot on the train. She refused to wave, keeping her face completely even, but she didn't leave her family's sight until the train had lurched to a start, and she was pulled away.