KNEEL OR BLEED

He never meant to stay at these places as late as he often wound up staying. There hit a certain point in the evening that places like The Leaky Cauldron ceased being restaurants and became much more like a bar, and that wasn’t an environment that he was a huge fan of. Still though, he had work to do, and while he was actually having a moment of clarity he wasn’t going to leave. He ordered a drink more for show than anything - regulars knew him by this point, and would likely know that he had no intention of actually imbibing it. 

Exams were quickly approaching, and he needed at least some of his focus to be on them, working tirelessly at his star charts, perfecting them before submission. Of course, now that Aurora was engaged to Uncle Walden, he might have held some sway with her… But then remembered their conversation at the end of his sixth year, when her position with him had been made clear. He wouldn’t want to pass on familial merit anyways. He knew that he was the best of his year, and he would never use that relationship as an excuse to slack off, even if his time might have been better spent on other things. 

Alecto’s voice had pulled him away from his studying though, as she was clearly speaking to him, and there was no denying that what she said was true. The eternity of their name rested on him and he was well aware of it. He was the pride of their house, and wouldn’t make it much longer without having to accept the responsibility that came with such a burden. “I’m just as disappointed by that fact as you are. This has been the longest year of my entire life.” He’d opened his mouth to say something when she’d started closing his textbooks - without marking his place in them - but merely closed it again. He had to disagree with what she said, but given everything that had happened over the last few years between his family and hers, he let her win this one. He didn’t particularly want to drink, but the fact of the matter was - she had approached him, and as far as he knew right now, had no hidden agenda. It was almost nice to think that she’d picked him out of the crowd because she wanted to rather than that she needed to. So he did pick up his glass, though he half feared the burn of the whiskey it held. “What should we drink to?”

A sigh escaped Alecto’s mouth as she rolled her eyes slightly. “Believe me, not only yours, however I hope you’re not wasting your youth entirely on studying.” Looking at him with a sligh grin on his face she enjoyed the look of disapproval as she just closed his books but she couldn’t care less. This was even for his own good and Alecto rarely ever did anything for somebody but herself. “The thing is, Regulus Black, we live in times where you could just as well be fucking dead tomorrow and nobody will care then whether you studied your ass off. Live like it.” It was the truth, life had never before been this dangerous and while she herself had lived her life this way for the longest time she still couldn’t understand people who kept working, kept acting as if things were just the same.

She watched him finally pick up his glass with an approving smirk on her face, after all she hadn’t really expected him to actually drink with her. Out of all people in the Black family he was probably the only one she’d voluntarily spend time with. Regulus had never been to blame for his brothers decision and while he couldn’t be more different than Alecto they also never had problems. “Let’s drink to living tonight, you can go back to being one of the walking dead tomorrow.” She said, clinking her glass against his before taking a long sip and leaning back against her chair once more.

Walburga was looking forward to the engagement party for Walden and Aurora. She was still uncertain about Aurora, but Walden had been smiling more than she had seen in the past half decade, so she was willing to go along with it for now.

With every major even however a dress must be chosen and Walburga had always enjoyed buying new dresses and getting to see Orion’s jaw drop when he saw her in them. That is when he didn’t come with her. Whenever they had time Orion would come to the store with her choosing dresses for her to try and complimenting each one she came out in, but he had his own things to attend to today so Walburga needed to ensure that he couldn’t look at anything else once he saw her in whatever dress she chose.

She walked into her favorite store and began looking over the racks in her size. She had been thinking something black or maybe red but she was still just starting to look. It was then she saw a familiar form across the store. “Alecto, dear.” She called walking over to the young girl and wrapping her in a familiar embrace. “How have you been, honey?”

Dress shopping was a tidious but truly neccessary evil in Alecto Carrow’s life, after all this was how the world she lived in worked. While she however found some fun in deciding on dresses that would be seen as rather extraordinary or even scandalous, she still hadn’t dropped it entirely. Though maybe showing up in casual clothes to this certain party would be fun. At least Walden’s expression might be and bothering him had become quite a hobby of hers after all. Narcissa would probably kill her though.

Going through the dresses she barely payed attention to them, distracted by some of the other costumers. This was one of those boutiques you could truly meet the high society, so obviously Alecto knew the couple making a scene only a couple of steps away from her and she couldn’t surpress a grin. It was truly much more entertaining than her original plans had been, unless until the wife stormed off, followed by her completely enranged husband, tragically taking their drama elsewhere.

Narcissa came into the world already as a sister. Blood had given her two sisters. Time and life took one away from her, but it had also given her another one. Balance, Narcissa supposed, an attempt to make amends for the pain she was going to feel when eventually Andromeda left. Narcissa had not seen that at first, she had been too young the first time she felt like Aly was a sister to her, in that moment she had not cared about anything else except finally having the chance of being the big sister. She was used to being the one that everyone tried to protect, and having Alecto by her side truly felt like having a little sister. 

It had taken some time for Narcissa to adjust to the unique personality of Alecto. As someone who was used to getting her way, Narcissa did not take kindly when Aly refused to wear a pretty dress for the tea party, or when she called tea parties lame and flipped the table. She was after all supposed to be everything Narcissa had always wanted. With time Narcissa learned that despite having been raised under the same values, learned the same lessons, instilled the same traditions they were as different as the sun and the moon. But perhaps the most valuable lesson she had learn was that despite their differences, Narcissa loved Alecto as if she was her own blood. Narcissa learned to appreciate the strength in their differences. 

No matter how similar their upbringings had been, it had shaped them in different ways, the paths they had taken could not have been more different. In a world like theirs they had to have each other’s backs. Narcissa made it her mission to make sure that Alecto was free to follow the path that would make her happy. That was after all what a big sister had to do, always look out for the younger sister, protect her, no matter the odds, the means to the end.

But now, now she got confirmation of what she had been feeling for months, maybe even years. Like so many of Narcissa’s relationships (she could not pinpoint the moment when the roles had reversed) everything had suddenly changed. As the impressive force that was Alecto Carrow -wild, untamed, deathly- stood in the middle of the street looking ready to kill, it became clear. Alecto was now the one looking out for her, the one protecting her, and she felt like the luckiest person in the world. To love and be loved, there was truly no greater feeling. If Narcissa had not been trained since childhood to keep her emotions at bay, she might had wept when Alecto made sure she was safe standing behind her. 

Narcissa watched Alecto, she was proud of how skilled the younger girl was. A smiled crossed her face as she watched her punish those that had tried to ambush her, they deserved what was coming for them. But Narcissa was part of the inner circle for a reason, and her instincts kicked in, they were still in public, the last thing they needed was to cause a commotion. The fear and desperation she had been feeling were gone, a part of her that was usually tucked away, sleeping, locked behind layers and layers of tradition, had suddenly awaked. With a quick flourish of her wand Narcissa made thick ropes appear, bounding the bodies of the two would be heroes. She took the end and handed it to Alecto, then Narcissa placed her hand on Aly’s shoulder, apparating them to one of the Death Eaters safe houses. 

❝Remember when we were younger and I loved giving you gifts❞ Narcissa said with smile, fond of the memories, ❝you little face was adorable❞ she teased, ❝well it’s been a while since I had such a detail with you, we better fix that, don’t you think?❞ she asked looking from Alecto to the two men trashing around the floor trying to freed themselves from the ropes. ❝Getting information would be useful❞ Narcissa said before fully turning to Alecto with a serious tone, ❝but that promise I made you all those years ago still holds… I just want you to be happy… have fun❞ little sister, that she left unsaid.  

For the longest time Alecto had despised everything her parents wanted her to be, a young, proper and beautiful lady. She looked at her mother who was the exact picture of all that and had not a shard of backbone, not a trace of resistance against her father’s violent outburst while taking it all out on Aly once her father was done with her. She knew she would never be like that, it was the single most pathetic thing she had ever seen and while her mother always claimed that Narcissa was exactly that, exactly the same, the young girl knew she couldn’t be more wrong.

Sure Narcissa was in every sense of the word proper and elegant but she was also the one person Aly knew most deserving of being loved, maybe because of her incredible ability to give love. As a kid Alecto had deemed herself unloveable, after all if not even your mother loved you who could? She had always thought that probably for the rest of her life the only one who would ever feel that way about her would be Amy. However Cissa had proven her wrong, even after Aly had been rolling around in the dirt with the princess dresses Cissy tried to get her to wear, the older girl had only shown her an exhausted smile and an annoyed eye-roll only to show up two days later again. There had been nothing she could have done to drive away Narcissa and soon enough she was so very grateful for that.

The fact that now somebody tried to forcefully take her from Aly therefore was the worst crime imaginable for the young Death Eater. Even though she had always considered honor in war something ridiculous she understood now, there was nothing honorable in going after Narcissa Malfoy. While it was known she was high ranking among the hugh society she had never done anyything particularly cruel like so many others, she hadn’t hurt them like so many others. Now however Alecto intended to hurt them, hurt them so bad that nobody would ever again even glance at her best friend. Before she could get to the scenario already playing out in her head though her friend tied her attackers up and apparated all of them away.

“I know and after a while you even started picking gifts I liked.” She replied with a grin and nodded at the blonde’s next words. It was so Narcissa of her to think about making Aly happy during this moment, wanting her to have fun. With a glance at the two guys in front of her she nodded. “Trust me, I will.” Raising  her wand, the word crucio already starting to form on her lips her gaze fell back on Narcissa and she abruptly stopped. Doing this in front of her after there wasn’t any accute danger anymore felt wrong somehow. She knew there was no enjoyment for Cissa in violence and honestly lately there hadn’t been much enjoyment in it for her anymore either. It was just something she did, mostly out of habit, maybe in order to try and feel something. “I mean… we could also just turn them in and do something else? The others will probably take care of  them.” She asked, looking at Cissa with a careful gaze.

“Unless you want me to finish these losers off right now, because I would definitely do that. Look at them, they’re not even worth the air they’re breathing.” And that wasn’t because of their probably filthy blood but rather because of their own choice of actions. “One way or another, they clearly wont be hurting you anymore.” And that was truly what Alecto wanted, she wanted to know her friend safe.

For normal people eating cereal at 3 o’clock in the morning was not a regular occurrence. Edgar Bones was decidedly not at all normal. Sleep had been evading him lately, at least when the sun set and the moon was bright in the sky, almost calling to him. The taste of nicotine hung heavy in his mouth, completely unmarred by the milk and cornflakes. His landlord was not an advocate for smoking in the flat, but still Edgar often sat by the window, blowing the smoke and ash into the night sky outside. It wasn’t a habit he particularly cared to break considering he doubted that he’d live long enough to endure any of the side-effects. Edgar took no prisoners and so he expected the same from everyone else. 

He hadn’t thought about it that much, killing another person, not in comparison to how much he thought about some things. Edgar’s mind ran around and around in circles and sometimes even he couldn’t catch up to his own incessant train of thought. When he did think about the murder, the soft whisper of the killing curse, the blinding green light and the loud thud that followed, he mostly wondered why it affected him so little. Why when he stayed up late and forgot to eat real food it wasn’t because of guilt slowly gnawing at him, eating him from the inside. Apathy had become Edgar’s true enemy in this war. 

The knock on his door didn’t startle Edgar as much as it confused him. He did not get many visitors in general and even less outside of daylight hours. Still, he rose to answer it, taking the bowl of cereal with him. The sight of Alecto Carrow leaning against his door frame certainly was a surprise, but Edgar was far too sleep-deprived for a proper reaction. His eyebrow quirked in interest while the rest of his face remained expressionless. At Hogwarts, Edgar had never spoken to the witch, yet her reputation definitely proceeded her. “Sorry, I don’t know what exactly you were expecting, but I’m about as far from interesting as you get.” He explained, still deadpan, waving her into his flat, despite the potential danger. “If you’re planning on killing me at least let me finish my cereal. Whiskey’s in the cupboard under the sink.” 

Alecto thought of herself as somebody who was rather good at figuring people out, their motives, their desires but most importantly whether they were at all interesting or not. In Hogwarts Edgar Bones had clearly fallen into the boring category, he had never seemed really different to Aly. Very little people did and they mostly achieved that by being at the same parties as she was. However now she was wonderin how she had never given him a second look, especially considering how unimpressed he reacted to her rather unusual visit in the middle of the night. 

“Let me let you in on a little secret Bones.” She replied, with a grin on her lips as she took a look around. “People who actually consider themselves to be interesting rarely ever fucking are. Trust me, I’ve met more than enough of that kind.” Truly, the Sacred 28 were filled up with the best examples for her theory and she had probably wasted hours of her life acting as if she was listening to a word they were saying. “Meanwhile, the other way around, when somebody says they’re not interesting in the slightest they often times turn out to be rather fascinating.” 

That being said she followed his directions in order to retrieve the whiskey. Taking a glass for herself and one for Edgar - she was feeling unusually helpful today, she sat down across from his cereal bowl. “So cereal after dark, huh?” She enquired with a slight grin on her lips as she poured herself a drink. “You’re of course more than welcome to finish that bowl, it doesn’t get better by letting it just stand there after all.” Leaning back and taking a sip from the Whiskey she nodded appreciatively. “So, you’re in the murder business now, huh? What was it like?” When she looked around again she sighed a little. “Also you should definitely up your bloody security. Murders have a much higher risk of biting the dusk prematurely themselves.”