Characters: Andromeda Black, Bellatrix Lestrange, Regulus Black Date: Friday, January 5th 1979 Setting: The woods near their childhood home Summary: Andy tries to reach out to Bella, and doesn't get the response she was hoping for. Warnings: Animal cruelty Status: Incomplete
Andromeda's owl really was a beautiful creature. Bellatrix should know, she had picked him out especially, and gifted him to Andy for her birthday many years ago. Even the name was fitting, he was as mercurial as his owner.
Sitting on a perch beside Bella's windowsill, Mercury stared across the room at Bellatrix with wide yellow eyes, and Bella stared right back. The letter he had come to deliver was still tied to his leg, and his feathers were fluffed up in annoyance at the delay. When the bird clicked its beak as if to tell her to hurry up, Bella rose to her feet slowly and crossed the room, cooing apologies as she reached out to stroke the soft feathers on the back of his head. In the owl's final moments, animal instinct seemed to kick in, and Mercury realised what danger he was in. But with Bella holding him in place, all he could do was bite, and it wasn't enough. Bella wrung the neck of Andy's beloved pet without mercy, and then watched as the limp body fell to the windowsill with a soft, sad thump.
Bella looked down at the bird, saw how his once bright and intelligent eyes grew dull and clouded over, and barely even registered the pain from the wound on her hand that spilled out bright droplets of crimson blood.
She sent Mercury back to Andromeda without any note but the one Andy had tried to send her. The message was clear enough, the owl was as dead as their relationship.
The killing of an innocent animal didn't seem to help Bella feel better. Her hands were still shaking with the loss-induced rage that had consumed her since Andromeda's disownment, and she left Lestrange Manor then, bound for the woods. Their woods. Or at least they had been, once.
It was a wonder that there were any trees left, given that Andy had gone there so often to vent her explosive temper. Perhaps they were enchanted in some way, because there were plenty of gnarled old trees for Bella to destroy, cursing heavy branches off as if she imagined them to be people she was tearing limb from limb.