Alecto Artemisia Carrow

Daisy’s face contorted into a grimace. Stepping back as the other woman examined her in a way that made her much too uncomfortable. “I like riddles, not guessing games. I don’t know what you’re talking about, miss. But I don’t think I want to have this conversation anymore.” She decided, shaking her head as if to emphasize the point. “I’d politely decline.”

There is was, that step back. That move which would pull her nearer. “Riddles can be fun...” she would say, smile stretching further, “What has two legs, pretty brown hair, blood unfortunate friends?” she would ask, sickly sweetly. Alecto would laugh lightly as Daisy continued, “What if I asked again?”

I wasn’t. When was I ever the strong one? You are. Regulus was. I’m not. 

“You were. Mum. You are,” she told her, tone firm but affectionate. “Always have been, maybe being with Regulus’ different sort of strength has made you loose sight of that...” she would say, trying to mask the disdain she held for the other. He should have worked harder to stay. 

There’s got to be something that isn’t. [ she laughs, taking alecto’s bottle from her hand and taking a sip ] Never said it was. 

She laughed, “Good, I was a little worried there that you had changed entirely.”

Daisy’s eyebrows crinkled tight. She had never heard the phrase uttered in such a malicious way. “I am not e-entirely sure what you mean by that…” she’d often been called different, unique, but by her parents, friends, professors. This – she had no idea what the other woman meant by different this time. The complexes of language failing her in this moment. “Different s-shouldn’t mean staring.” She shook her head, too many red lights going off to continue this conversation. “I w-would rather not”

“Oh really…” she drawled, “Come on, think good and hard for me then,” she would say, dark eyes sweeping over Daisy’s face as she watched the discomfort move over those features. Smiling further at it. “In your case, it does,” she countered, unrelenting. A brightness entered her gaze at Daisy’s refusal, “And if I ask nicely?” her tone turned sickly sweet as she drew nearer. 

It’s complicated. [ she snorts ] Walburga’s face if I said I was pregnant… I think he head would explode. 

“What isn’t?” she chuckled, “And that’s a bad thing...” she drawled with some satisfaction at the thought.

I can’t. I don’t know how. 

“You do. You did before---you---” she sighed, looking at Cassandra, “You’re stronger than this. Always have been. You were the strong one.”

“I don’t – I’m not quite sure what you mean….” she spoke slowly, starting to sense the danger in the other words. She didn’t step back when the other stepped forward but she did squirm a bit under her gaze. “A little, my mother taught me. I’m not very good….though.”

“You’re different,” she stated slowly, those large eyes of hers moving to Daisy’s face, “Difference gets stared at, understand?” she would add, smiling wickedly as her previous question fell between them and the other failed to move back. The brightness in her gaze would grow in strength at the sight of Daisy’s squirming, amusement lingering in those twin orbs, “Give us a tune?”

[ her shoulders shake ] Help me. I-I don’t know what– I don’t know what to do. I don’t know h-how to– how to make this stop. Feeling like this, I-I’m– I can’t do this. 

She sighed, “I---” she bit her lip, “You can do this. Always could,” 

It’s not. [ she shakes her head ] So I just pretend to be pregnant for nine months and then raise fake baby Black right under her nose?

“Why not?” She grinned, “Exactly,” Alecto shrugged then, “Make all those infernal announcements, use some charms, and in nine months you’d be in business.”

[ she falls into alecto’s arms, holding her tightly ] I-I’m… I-I… A-Alecto, h-he’s…

She held her tighter, more securely as she would nod her head, “I know,” she murmured, “I know, the bastard,” she would say again, teasing in those words---a morbid attempt at lightening the mood as she held on. As she hugged---showed care. 

I-I’m not… I-I mean, I can… I can have children… [ she shakes her head ] That’s not… i-it’s not the problem. [ she shakes her head again, but this time with a laugh ] Can you imagine Walburga Black agreeing to let someone not biologically related to her inherit? Yeah, me neither.

“Now that’s more like it,” she would say, smirk lifting the corner of her lips at Cassandra’s shake of her head, feeling that there was some confidence in those words that had been lacking before. A certainty. “Who says she has to know?”