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Post by Bellatrix Black on Feb 26, 2007 18:21:40 GMT -5
Bellatrix gentle turned the handle and pushed the door inward slowly, barely opening the door at all. She peered through the tiny gap between the door and the frame, but there was no sign of her father. She quickly checked both ways down the hall to be sure Kreacher was not there to tell on her, and slid into the study, shutting the door softly behind her.
Once inside her gaze searched the room, finally landing on her father's antique desk. She moved towards it, pulling open the drawers and rummaging through their contents. Unsatisfied, she shut the drawer and checked another. She heard the squeal of the doorknob as it turned and she shut the drawer quickly and whirled around.
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Post by Narcissa Black on Feb 26, 2007 18:27:51 GMT -5
Narcissa tried to quietly open the door to her father's study, but the doorknob always had a slight squeak to it. Narcissa slipped through the crack of the door and quietly shut it. After she shut it, she looked up. "What are you doing in here Bella," she asked her sister.
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Post by Bellatrix Black on Feb 26, 2007 18:39:52 GMT -5
"I could ask you the same thing Cissy." She wasn't going to give up any information before her sister did. It was a sort of battle the girls had had since they were younger. Bella clasped her hands behind her back, using her fingers to inconspicuously check that all the drawers were fully closed. They were. Bella relaxed her arms and moved to sit in the dark chocolate colored chair in the corner.
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Post by Narcissa Black on Feb 26, 2007 18:45:31 GMT -5
Narcissa smiled. "Sneeking around in father's office? Eh, well, I can't really say much, I'm doing the same. Have you found anything interesting," she asked. Narcissa ran one of her fingers across her father's desk. "What have you been up to dear sister? We haven't really talked much."
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Post by Bellatrix Black on Feb 26, 2007 18:57:33 GMT -5
"No. Nothing." It was true, she had not found what she had intended to, and was a little sour about it. But she would look for it later when her sister did not interfere. It was nothing that had to be found within a certain time.
"I've not been up to anything as of late. Rather boring around here if you ask me. And what of you? Been running about with that new boy of yours..."
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Post by Narcissa Black on Feb 26, 2007 20:24:53 GMT -5
"Ah yes, Lucius," said Narcissa. "I've been with him, but that's about it. Other than just wondering around school, teasing a few hufflepuffs, gryffindors, and ravenclaws," she said. "Nothing that special, other than Lucius is supposed to be asking father if it's okay if he asks for my hand in marriage."
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Post by Bellatrix Black on Feb 26, 2007 20:39:52 GMT -5
Bella contained her surprise well, only gasping a little. "So it's serious between you two then?" She knew Lucius a little, and thought him the type to go through the traditional hoops before getting engaged. She crossed her right leg over her left and leaned back in her chair, her eyes still glancing around the room for any sign of it. But, of course, it was not just sitting out for any passing creature to take notice of.
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Post by Narcissa Black on Feb 26, 2007 20:46:26 GMT -5
"Yeah, it is," said Narcissa. She noticed her sister looking around. "Bella, what exactly are you looking for? I mean come on, you know I won't tell father, and well, I could help you find it."
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Post by Bellatrix Black on Feb 27, 2007 1:28:28 GMT -5
"No Cissy. It's mine to find. Besides, you are too young to understand." Bella squealed with delight, having insulted her sister. She sometimes liked to pretend that Narcissa was a small, helpless child. Not really for any reason, other than to fuel her own entertainment at seeing her sister pout. In truth, Narcissa often acted more mature than Bella, which was probably why Narcissa was seeing such a stern bot like Lucius.
Bella rose from her seat and strode to the desk once more. She opened the bottom drawer and tossed its contents about, but still found nothing. She slammed the drawer shut. "Dammit, where is it?" She turned on her sister, scowling. "If you've got it, you'd better give it to me. That locket should be mine, I'm older."
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Post by Narcissa Black on Feb 27, 2007 8:00:40 GMT -5
Narcissa scowled. "The locket? I don't have it," she said innocently. "Besides, just because your older doesn't mean anything dear sister," said Narcissa snobbishly.
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Post by Bellatrix Black on Feb 27, 2007 10:51:11 GMT -5
"It means a whole lot more than you lead yourself to believe, little one." She trusted her sister did not have it. But where could it be? She had read about the locket in a book at school last term, and she knew she had seen it --or possibly a replica-- here in the study.
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Post by Narcissa Black on Feb 27, 2007 16:16:14 GMT -5
"You're only a few months older than me, so there's not that much difference," said Narcissa. "I dunno where he would have that locket. I don't even know if he has it. If he did, there's problem some hidden thing somewhere in here. I wouldn't doubt it," she said.
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Post by Bellatrix Black on Feb 27, 2007 20:20:04 GMT -5
Bella's lips curled and she shook her head slightly in the direction of her sister. True, they were not quite a year apart in age, but it was a fair deal longer than a few months. Perhaps Narcissa needed another lesson in where babies came from.
"I don't know. I've been in here before, and couldn't find anything." She listed off the places she'd checked in her head. The wardrobe. The closet. The trunk. Behind the portraits. And now the desk. The only other object in the room was the chair.
Bellatrix walked across the floor, back to chair. She pulled at it, and pushed it. She looked it over and under before sighing and pulling out her wand. Muttering a revealing spell she tapped the arm of the chair. A compartment materialized on the back, a tiny gold handle and two gold hinges sticking out of what used to be a single piece of brown leather. Bella's eyes widened and her heart began to race. "This is it," she whispered to herself. Bellatrix pulled at the tiny handle, opening the newly visible compartment. It was dark inside, the light on the wrong side of the chair to shine into the holding area. She stuck her hand in, felt something smooth and round, but large. Grasping it, she pulled it out. Wine.
In a rage Bella threw the bottle of wine to the floor. The glass shattered and liquid splattered along the floor, walls, chair, and Bella's long white dress. She cursed loudly. Looking at Narcissa, her voice shook as she said, "our dear father has a drinking problem."
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Post by Narcissa Black on Feb 28, 2007 8:07:21 GMT -5
Narcissa sighed. "No wonder he seems out of it sometimes," said Narcissa. She looked around again. "I don't think he's going to have wine to drink anymore, unless he brings back a bottle with him," she noted looking at the broken bottle on the floor. Narcissa cleaned up the mess on the floor.
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Post by Bellatrix Black on Mar 1, 2007 11:19:53 GMT -5
"Don't bother with that, Cissy. You might cut yourself. Let Kreacher get it later." Bellatrix, still agitated about not finding the locket, opened the door to the hallway a crack and peered out. No one was coming that would catch them. She pulled the door open farther and stepped out into the hall. "Kreacher!" In a few moments the house elf appeared. "Clean this up, and if anyone should ask, you broke it and we were never here."
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Post by Narcissa Black on Mar 2, 2007 8:06:48 GMT -5
Narcissa stood up and brushed herself off. She slipped out the door as Bella called for Kreacher. "I don't know if father actually does have the locket or any form of it. But then again, we never know do we? It could be somewhere else. Somewhere obvious, but not so obvious, that is, if he does have it."
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Post by Bellatrix Black on Mar 2, 2007 10:30:40 GMT -5
"I'm not daft Cissy. I wouldn't be searching here if I hadn't seen it here before. I just didn't know it was anything of value at the time." She said this last part to herself mostly. She should have known, it was not like it was some clumsy looking thing, it looked - she hated to say it - too good for even their family. She watched absentmindedly as Kreacher cleaned up the mess and then scurried back down the hall and disappeared.
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Post by Narcissa Black on Mar 2, 2007 15:25:08 GMT -5
Narcissa sighed. "Well, you never know, he may have moved it. You know father's not that dumb," said Narcissa. "It could be anywhere in the house, or maybe it's not even here. Who knows."
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Post by Bellatrix Black on Mar 3, 2007 12:47:45 GMT -5
She knew Narcissa was probably right. He wouldn't have trusted them enough to keep it in any room they were permitted to go, and the study was technically off limits to the girls. She sunk back into the chair, a sullen look upon her face.
"Alright then," she said with a dull tone. "Tell us about your betrothal them." She looked to her sister, awaiting her reaction. If she began to glow, then Bella would know she was truly happy with the proposal. If she looked on edge, Bella would know her sister was not overcome with joy and she would reject the idea of their getting married. She only wanted her sister to be happy.
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Post by Narcissa Black on Mar 3, 2007 17:13:42 GMT -5
Narcissa smiled. "I really like Lucius, and father actually likes him, so you know that's a big thing, because you know how father is chosey about who he likes," Narcissa took a seat across from Bella with the same smile on her face. "He proposed by the lake, and I thought it was really sweet, so of course I said yes, because you know how much I care about him. So, I'm sure father will approve. What about you Bella? Do you approve," asked Narcissa with a little hope in her voice, which was pretty much rare.
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