Disclaimer: Anything recognizable from any Harry Potter merchandise or anything else does not belong to me.

The Beginning of the End

Something just isn't right
I can feel it inside
The truth isn't far behind me
You can't deny

All stories have a beginning. All tragic tales start somewhere. They could start with "once upon a time in a kingdom by the sea" or "on a dark, cold evening on the streets of London."

…But my story starts in a manor half-way surrounded by a small forest in Scotland where my sisters and I were born.

Oh, I remember those days of innocence…when the world was defined in black and white terms, when we felt our family name could protect us from anything, when we could depend on each others' love and loyalty. But all childhood dreams and joys must come to an end.

Ours certainly did.

Narcissa was the oldest and the realist. She mystified and attracted people with her golden hair and sculptured face. Narcissa was Mother's favorite because she obeyed her without question. She was calm and collected' she was the one who stopped Bella and me from going too far in our adventures and fantasies.

I was the middle child with normal brown hair…not Mother's golden hair that Narcissa had inherited, nor Father's black hair that Bellatrix shared. I found it amusing that I shared my name, Andromeda, with a galaxy; although Mother would always claim that I was named after a character in a Greek myth. I knew better. Father had named me after the Andromeda galaxy. I was the bookworm of the family; I wanted knowledge more than anything else. My sisters found this amusing. They would always tell me, teasingly, "Knowledge is useless when you have power." …To which I would laughingly reply, "But knowledge is power." I was quiet, a follower. I could easily be persuaded to do anything. But my mind was different…I had a willful mind, and I questioned authority.

Bellatrix was the youngest. If Narcissa was a realist, then Bella most certainly was an idealist; if Narcissa was wind and ice, then Bella was fire and passion. She was as rebellious as Narcissa was conventional. Bella had a sadistic streak, visible when she was a child. Danger fascinated her; power she lusted after.

I suppose I was the balance between the two extremes, which were my sisters. Despite all of our differences, we were close. Our parents always called us Narcissa, Andromeda, and Bellatrix. But to each other, we were simply Cissa, Meda, and Bella.

We had wonderful times as children. We grew up playing in the forests and creek by our beautiful home. Bella led us most of the time. Even though she was more than a year younger than me, she could coax me into doing anything. For Bella, I would climb a tree and risk ruining my clothes or run through the forests and risk getting lost (though of course I never did get lost). Cissa would join us for some of our games, or she would sit nearby and watch…calling us back if we ran too far into the forest.

Mother hired a tutor for us. She was determined that her daughters should get the best education money could buy. We learned to speak French, Latin, and Greek fluently. We learned ancient history and analyzed famous literature (wizards' of course). We pored over mathematical equations to Bella's complaints and memorized magic theories. I excelled at these studies and our tutor, Mr. Castelgard, often told Mother that I was his best student.

There were other lessons too…lessons that only Mother could have taught us. She told us that as Blacks, we were the blue-blooded of the wizarding society. Muggles, muggleborns, and halfbloods were beneath us. When we were in the outside world, we must always remember that we represented the Black family. Failure in anything was intolerable. We were from one of the most ancient magical families, spanning back to the Medieval Ages. We were also taught how to talk, walk, eat, dress, and deal with society. We were taught how to manipulate and how to please when necessary.

Despite all of Bella's protests on having to act ladylike and my questions, we learned and obeyed.

There were other pureblood children whom our parents deemed "acceptable" to associate with. The Notts, Parkinson, Malfoys, Rookwoods among others were all family friends. Mother was a Zabini before she had married into the Black family. Other than at parties (of which there were numerous), balls, and dinners, we rarely saw these other children; we preferred each other's company.

We had two Black cousins, Sirius and Regulus. Sirius and Bella were extremely close…they were both pranksters and fiery. Bella and Sirius loved to pretend duel as children with fake wands, and it was humorous to watch them. They were about the same age and stuck together like peanut butter and jelly. Regulus was like me…shy and quiet. Three years younger than me, I was his favorite cousin.

Sirius and Regulus's mother, Aunt Regina, was a Black even before marriage. The Black Madness was an infamous rumor…that insanity ran through our family line due to generations of interbreeding.

"Interbreeding is just a nicer word for incest," Bella would whisper to me once when Mother was explaining our family bloodlines. Mother had overheard her and gave Bella such a look that Bellatrix Genevieve Black, who never faltered, winced. It was the first time I had seen my younger sister waver, and for some unexplainable reason, it made me feel insecure.

Mother and Father remained aloof to us most of the time, wrapped up in their own affairs. We didn't mind; we had each other.

…So the years went by…until the summer after Narcissa turned eleven. She had received her Hogwarts letter that summer. As the daughter of a pureblood wizarding family, she had expected the letter, but she was pleased nonetheless. Mother and Father made sure her supplies were of the best quality and lectured her on how to behave. She would be the first Black to attend Hogwarts in twenty years, since Aunt Regina had graduated.

Bella and I felt left out…and scared. Cissa, Bella, and I had never spent time away from each other before. How would we survive this year?

Mother had determined that Bellatrix and I would not accompany them to King's Cross because Bella would "make a scene."

The morning that Narcissa would leave for Hogwarts, before she left, we hugged each other for the longest time, determined to soak in every detail of her to last this year.

Little did we know it at the time, but that hug signified the beginning of the end.

When I turn the lights out
When I close my eyes
Reality overcomes me
I'm living a lie

-Avril Lavigne