Name: Sab Butterflies765

House: Ravenclaw

Task/subject: Poisons- toxicology: task.3 write about being aware of something bad happening but not being able to stop it.

Word count: 1,589

Title: shimmering diamonds, stricking emeralds and cool opals

Summary: Narcissa watches as Andromeda withdraws from everything they ever built together.

Genres and characters: Family, Andromeda T., Narcissa M.

Narcissa knows something is wrong from the day Sirius is sorted into Gryffindor. The awkward pause in the Great Hall is followed by a loud cheer from the Gryffindors while Narcissa blushes under the disbelieving looks of her Slytherin housemates. She remembers Mother's warning: "Blacks are always sorted into Slytherin. The house of the pure."She looks up to meet Andy's eyes, so they can share the shame of their cousin's sorting but she doesn't meet her eye. She doesn't look fazed at all actually. At most, there is a ghost of a smile on her lips.
Narcissa recoils in shock. Whenever something scandalous happened at home, like Bella proclaiming she could explose an orange with one spell, they would share a look. This qualifies as a scandal. She has always been able to read her sister's face but this time she hopes she has seen incorrectly. And that's when Narcissa knows something is wrong.

The next time Narcissa has suspicions is when Andy removes points from Slytherin for calling someone a 'mudblood'. This time, she isn't the only one who notices. It's an unspoken rule between Slytherin prefects that calling someone a 'mudblood' at school only gets you a stern look of 'not while we're in public'. The house is abuzz by sun-down but Andromeda doesn't show up.
When she does next morning, Narcissa confronts her.
"Why'd you take points away?"
"It's school rules and I'm a prefect."
"But-"
"Leave me alone, Cissy." She dismisses her.
Narcissa hates that nickname. It's a child's one and she's had enough of being treated like one. Something is wrong with Andromeda but she can't tell what. It makes her think of the time Andy ate all of the sweets out of the sweet jar and looked guilty for days. Narcissa wants to find out more but Andy is neck-deep in Charms homework, humming to herself. She decides not to push it. "Good things come to those who wait." says Mother. She hopes she's right.

By Christmas, Narcissa knows something is terribly, terribly wrong. Andromeda comes in wearing a necklace. A cheap plastic necklace in the shape of a feather. Narcissa immediately knows what this means: giving someone jewelry is something your betrothed will do. Andy's got a fiancé? is Narcissa's first thought. But then she remembers: plastic. No self-respecting pure-blood would ever give their betrothed anything other than precious heirloom. Narcissa should know; she's long dreamed of shimmering diamonds, stricking emeralds and cool opals. Andy and her used to describe exactly what their necklaces and earrings would look like in the fairy-tales Andromeda told her. A feather plastic one was not part of the made-up fairy tales they told each other.
Andromeda notices Narcissa staring at the necklace and quickly tucks it away. Ha. As if that could stop Narcissa from seeing it.
"That's a pretty necklace you've got."
Andromeda tries a timid smile. "I bought it in Hogsmeade."
Narcissa can tell she's lying. "Oh, how nice. Suppose you could get me one?"
A pause. "Sorry, it was the last one."
Good save. Narcissa nods and lets her sister be. She hopes she knows what she's doing. She had better hide that necklace at Christmas. Mother's fury is not something one appreciates.

One time in the library, Narcissa overhears something. Something very worrying.
"Sorry but do you know where this book goes already?" She doesn't recognise the voice; it's deep male but who is unrecognisable. Nothing to worry about, just another library conversation.
But the reply has her peering round the bookshelf to see who the owner of the first voice is. "I'll show you. Come on." Narcissa can hear Andy smiling.
A quick look shows her the voice belongs to some tall, blond Hufflepuff. Narcissa recognises him as one of the prefects. He's Ted Tonks. A mudblood. A terrifying thought suddenly crosses Narcissa's mind: surely this couldn't be Andromeda's secret lover? No. The idea is ridiculous, preposterous. Andromeda and Narcissa have exactly the same upbringing, and Merlin knows how many times Mother has gone over the "Toujours pur" mantra and shown them the family tree's burnt circles of disappointment. Andy is not stupid. She knows where her place is. Hopefully. (But something is still wrong. Very wrong).
She pushes the absurd thought away from her mind. It was just a simple conversation in a library. And Andromeda is always kind, she's just helping. Narcissa wants to follow them, find out more, but at the same time is torn because she doesn't want to betray her sister's trust. Besides, Slughorn wants to see her in a minute or two about some assignment, so she decides that Andy is a grown girl. She can manage without her.

But bad turns to worse and now Narcissa can't do anything to stop it.
She walks into a Charms classroom, hoping to practice some spell work before the exams. She knows the empty classrooms are a favourite among the school's couples but she's never had any truly nasty surprises so she walks in without a moment of hesitation.
What she sees will scar her her whole life. Andromeda is kissing someone. But not just anyone. She's kissing Ted Tonks, a mudblood, what she's been forbidden to even think about her entire life. And here is her sister kissing one with such tenderness it breaks her heart.
Narcissa stares for about two seconds before slamming the door shut in front of her. Her face is burning as she slides down on the floor and onto the cool marble. Tears threaten to come but she holds them back. What is Andy thinking? What is Andy thinking! The rules were easy; stay away from the muggle-born and you could have any man you wanted!
She hears some muffled talking from inside the room and then Andromeda comes out, the door whining slightly, as if it hadn't been oiled in a long time.
Andromeda opens her mouth to speak, to explain but Narcissa doesn't let her.
"How could you!"
"Cissy-"
"Don't call me that!"
"Narcissa, I-"
"I don't want your explanations."
"I love him."
Narcissa gasps. Tears are now pouring down her cheeks, unrestrained. "But he's a mudblood, Andy! A mudblood!"
"So what?"
Narcissa shoots up and runs away. Hasn't Andy listened to any of Mother's talks? Doesn't she understand? And now she's in love with the stupid muggle-born. This was exactly what Mother had warned them about.
Narcissa breaks down on her bed and cries her sister's betrayal until her eyes are dry. Why hadn't she seen it before?

It's wrong. It's wrong. Narcissa wants to stop it, she truly does. It's not too late, she reasons. She can still get Father to marry Andy to some slightly less noble pure-blood and all will be forgotten.
She tries to write a letter to her parents.
Dear Mother and Father,
I'm sorry to inform you that your second eldest daughter Andromeda has-
Too formal.
Mummy,
Andy has done the stupidest thing ever and-
Not formal enough.
Mother, Father,
You'll never believe what Andy has done-
Too lightly phrased.
She stops after half an hour of self inflicted pain. She is physically incapable of writing this letter, it hurts to write the words and it seems so cruel . She had never seen her sister so happy, when she saw them kiss. The love was genuine and it would probably break her if Narcissa told.
But it's for her good! she wants to scream at herself when faced with her own incompetence.
Tell and her sister would be broken hearted, do not tell and her sister would suffer even worse consequences.
She brings her quill to the parchment once again but cries in frustration as the furthest she can get is Mother-
This was every kind of wrong, and there was no stopping it.

They're back in the Hogwarts Express now. Andromeda is never going to come back, and there's only two years left for Narcissa. The sisters meet in an almost empty corridor.
"So you didn't tell Mother and Father."
"I couldn't." Narcissa whispers.
"Well, I'm going to tell them now."
"What? You can't do that!"
"I love Ted and I'm going to marry him. Their blood prejudice is simply ridiculous now. I'm sure they'll get over it."
But they won't, Narcissa knows they won't. She tries to tell her, as she walks away but her mouth is dry. Why can't she say anything?
On the queue to the train, their parents are waiting. Bella is not here. All the better, thinks Narcissa. Her mother greets her with a nod and her father asks her bout her year. She answers and then retreats into a silent corner as they wait for Andy to come out.
She arrived with Ted on her arm, all smiles. Their parents' eyes narrow. The smile turns to a frown and then tears and then screams. They're making quite a scene, but Narcissa can't do anything as she watches her sister reject all her ties to her family.
"If you do that, I'll never speak to you again!" Andy cries.
Narcissa's eyes well but she forces them dry. Doesn't Andy get it? It's Narcissa who will never be allowed to speak to her again, not the other way around.

All that's left now is another circle of burnt disappointment. Narcissa lays in her bed that night with the thought of the girl who told her fairy-tales about the princes they would marry later. The girl Narcissa wasn't able to stop.