That June, the day after Bellatrix came home from Hogwarts, there was a surprise in wait. In the garden shed, curled up in some old overcoats, a cat had snuck in and had kittens.

They were tiny, curled up together and mewling. Five of them.

Bellatrix looked at them in distaste. "We should drown them," she said.

"What? No!" Andromeda said, shocked. "Why would you do that?"

"They're no use to anyone. That's what people do with kittens and puppies they don't want."

"We want them," Narcissa said.

Bellatrix snorted. "Good luck getting Mother to agree."

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They tried to keep it a secret, but Narcissa was caught trying to smuggle milk from the house, and Druella demanded to know why.

When she saw them, she stared.

"Oh Mother, can we keep them?" Narcissa begged. "Can we, please?"

Druella wrinkled her nose. "I'm not sure. How on earth did that cat get in anyway? Those wretched animals. Your father should put down poison."

Andromeda thought of the loose fence in the garden, but she didn't say anything. Thankfully Narcissa kept quiet too.

"Well," Druella sniffed. "They do keep mice away. Which one do you want?"

Andromeda hesitated. She knew which one she wanted more than anything, the tiny black and white one who was nudging against her shoes, but Narcissa wanted the white and grey one.

"Can we have one each, Mother?" She asked tremulously.

Surprisingly, Druella agreed. "They'll be good for Hogwarts too, I suppose. And Papa is always talking about the mice at the manor...."

Andromeda could hardly believe her luck.

They had to wait a few days, especially to ensure the mother cat or the owner didn't come looking. But nobody came, and in the end, Andromeda got the black and white one, which she named Max, but Narcissa said she wanted to call hers Tom. The other three went respectively to their grandfather and their mother's brother, and Walburga grudgingly took the last one, a pure black female cat.

Cygnus hated cats and wouldn't hear of having them in the house, so Narcissa and Andromeda set up little beds for them in the shed with old blankets, getting the house elves to cast warming charms in case they got cold.

Andromeda and Narcissa fed them with little droplets of warm milk from their fingers, though Bellatrix shook her head when she saw them.

"You're both barking mad," she said. "They're only cats."

"They're so cute, Bella, look," Narcissa said, gently lifting Tom's little pink paw.

"Mad."
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In August, they went to visit their aunt Persephone and their cousins Rupert and Evan.

None of them liked visiting, not even Druella, who said her sister was a few knuts short of a sickle. The children especially hated it because they were always stuck with the boys, especially since their sister Aurelia was a lot older. Rupert went to show Bellatrix his books, but Andromeda and Narcissa were stuck with Evan in the library, where there was nothing to do but play cards.

He's got to show her his things because the Dark Lord likes her now," Evan said, watching Bellatrix and his brother leave the room, his lip curling. "I can't think why. She's just a kid."

"So are you," Andromeda pointed out, but he looked at her in distaste.

"I'm fifteen. I'm going to join as soon as I turn seventeen. You wouldn't understand. What are you, eight?"

"Ten," she said irritably. "Narcissa is eight."

"Whatever," he said, and sniffed. "I wish I wasn't stuck with you lot all the time."

"How is Aurelia?" Andromeda asked, trying small talk. She hadn't seen her eldest cousin in years, but she certainly didn't mind that. She was eight years older than her and incredibly vain. In fact, when they were little, she had refused to play games with them in case her dresses got dirty.

"She's hoping she'll be engaged soon," he said loftily. "She's been stepping out with Augustus Fawley for a few months now."

The name hit her, and Narcissa opened her mouth in surprise, but Andromeda glared at her.

She shut it as Evan continued, oblivious. "He's only seven years older than her, and he's from a good family, so Mother is pleased."

"What does he do for a living?"

"Oh, he used to be an artist or something," he said dismissively. "But Father's looking into a proper job for him in the Ministry."

Andromeda wondered if Druella knew this. She wondered if they should tell her.

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In the end, Narcissa did. Druella blinked.

"Why Narcissa," she said. "I really don't care. The man's entitled to his own life."

"But –" Andromeda started. "But you and him were –"

"Were what?" She said, and her voice was icy.

"Nothing," she murmured.

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Narcissa and Andromeda were feeding their kittens that evening when the former spoke, scrunching up her nose.

"Andy, did you think the kittens miss their mother?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

"I wonder why she didn't come back for them. It wasn't nice," Narcissa picked up Tom and stroked his back. He gave a soft little purr and rubbed his head against her arm.

"Maybe we can be like their mothers," she said, then paused. "Andy?"

"Yes, Cissy?" Andromeda said. Max was licking the milk from her finger eagerly, and she sprinkled some more onto it.

"The Dark Lord....he's good, isn't he?"

"Of course he is," she frowned. "Father always says he'll save wizardkind. You'll understand when you start lessons with him."

"It's just....Bellatrix and Rupert were talking, and they were laughing about somebody dying."

Bile rose in her throat. "They wouldn't have been."

"They were," she insisted. "I heard them. They said The Dark Lord killed her because she was a filthy mudblood. But killing somebody's not good."

She swallowed, and remembered when she had asked Cygnus about something similar during a lesson. "Well....Father always says war is like chess. Pawns have to be sacrificed to win the game. Sometimes bad things need to happen for people to take notice. And sometimes those bad things are people dying. The life of a mudblood or muggle is worth a lot less than a pureblood wizard."

Narcissa looked confused, but she nodded her head.