Amanda's Civil War Story }{ Real Title's "Our ...

[otto]

Prologue

The year eighteen hundred and sixty one-
It was the golden years of the cotton plantations, the golden years of the south for those who were privileged enough to own slaves. There was one great, dark cloud on the horizon, however, that of the conflict between the North and South that would determine the whole rest of our history. Though it is now a subject often slept through in today’s classrooms, it is impossible to ignore the fact that without the Civil war, we could still be living with slavery, or even a desert if the plantations had continued their un-cycled ravaging of the Southern earth.

It is to that world we look back on for this tale- a tale told from the perspective of three of the biggest and yet most unknown of the Georgian peaches, the rich and privileged debutantes that were lost in the wake of the likes of Scarlett O’Hara and other cotton princesses. I speak, of course, of Bellatrix, Andromeda and Narcissa Black, the three daughters of the Black Family, of which the bloodlines were eventually erased from history by Sherman’s March to the Sea and the inability for the heirs to carry on into an era without slaves bending to their every whim, and, indeed, providing their income. Their father, Cygnus, has gone off to serve in the army, leaving his loving wife and three girls at home to manage the slaves and manor.

Druella, despite being the perfect hostess and the meekest of meek in the presence of company, is a cunning woman, always thinking and perfectly capable of running the estates while her husband is away fighting for their cause. Her biggest project at the moment is negotiating marriages for her girls, though she has had both good and bad luck on that front.

Bellatrix, the oldest, is a fiery lass, with a thick mass of black hair that is only forced into her braids with an hour’s worth of effort by the black daughter of her mother’s own personal attendant, Desi-Lee. Though she is undoubtedly beautiful, she is intense and often has a tendency to be boisterous and disagreeable. She is far from meek, and if the family were not the richest in the area it would be far more difficult to find a husband who would be willing to try and keep her arrogance in check.

The middle daughter is Andromeda, one of the biggest question marks in the family. Though she is sixteen and comely, there have been no solid offers by a respectable suitor as of yet. The girl is often in a self-decided exile with the slaves, because that is where she feels most comfortable. A word about her past- when she was very young, Bellatrix caught a mild case of malaria and fell gravely ill. The girls’ mother took to tending her dearest Bella instead of her newest daughter, and left the care of the latter to Desi-Lee, who became Andy’s real mother until Bella gained back her health- which wasn’t until she was close to ten. Andromeda spends much of her time in the kitchen of the manor, learning to cook despite her mother’s insistence that it is completely unnecessary.

And then there is dear Cissa, lovely pure, perfect Cissa. She is the embodiment of everything her sisters are not, in her mother’s eyes. She is a willowy fifteen, with soft and delicate blond hair that always shines obediently from it’s intricate braids that she was only allowed to pin up at her coming-out ball this solstice. Already, she has had several offers for betrothal. She is meek, mild and the perfect prospect for a wife, so it was no surprise when the father of one of the most eligible heirs in the entire state of Georgia has come a-calling.

One must know of course, that this is far from a normal family- they own a grand total of over 60 acres of land and three times that in slaves, the majority of which will never be mentioned in anything more then passing. The ones you most need to keep track of are the ones that work in the house itself- Desi-Lee, the Mistress Druella’s personal slave and the one who runs the small army of girls who clean the manor, and is the only one who is paid any sort of wage, though it is not what we would call a wage in our time. There is also Desi-Lee’s husband Marc, who drives the family’s carriage and keeps the house garden flourishing, seeing as that is where the majority of the Manor’s food is taken from. Desi-Lee and Marc have been with Druella since she married Cygnus, actually being part of her dowry. The black couple also have two children, also daughters. The eldest child is Tamra, who is Bellatrix’s personal maid and does up Bella’s ornery hair every morning without fail. Tamra is by far the most patient eighteen year old girl in the South, and is the perfect foil to Bella’s unfortunate personality. The younger of the two is Tyla, and she cares for both Miss Andromeda and Miss Narcissa, though Andromeda rarely uses her services, preferring to braid her hair on her own and pin it in a simple style that she insists she needs no help with.

We all now know what the eventual outcome of the war was, but in this golden year, this sweet year of eighteen hundred and sixty one, nobody in the south saw it coming. It was the age of the southern royalty, and nobody questioned it.

((Lemme know what you think- I'll try and get a chapter up every week. Once i have a bit of a backlog going, it's going to get submitted to FanFiction.net or even Fictionalley if I'm brave =O))

[Edit] Fixed, with Lindsey's advice about the whole not-even-feasible thing Thanks, Dear <33

[Lan Dawkins]

It's good, really good. I like it a lot. I like how Andromeda is very independent and close to Desi-Lee. Very appropriate. I can't wait for the first chapter!

[Ted Tonks]

“Hold still, Cissa!” Bella hissed through her teeth as the laces of her sister’s corset cut into her fingers again due to the younger’s slight shift to relieve some of the pain inflicted by her much stronger older sister. Obediently, the blonde girl sucked in her breath again as Bella put the finishing touches on her corset. “There.” Her voice was smug and satisfied as she surveyed the now tiny waist of her sister. “There is no possible way you could get any thinner.”

In a way, Bella was intensely jealous of her willowy younger sister- the older of the two has a much more Amazonian figure, and no matter how hard Tamra pulled on her stays, her waist never came close to how either of her sisters’ was. Or would be, if Andromeda would ever seriously corset herself. Bella heard the gentle rustle of petticoats as Cissa dressed in the rest of her calling gown, a lovely lavender and yellow cotton that brought out the pale tones of the younger girl’s skin. But yet, as her head emerged from within the gown, her face was wrought with nervousness. “Bella? What if Mister Malfoy finds me to be lacking in some essential way for his son? I mean…”

Bella just shook her head as she turned her sister around and began doing up the innumerable buttons running up the gown’s back. “If that boy finds you lacking in any way, there are at least five others lined up for your hand, Cissa. You are going to be married by your seventeenth year, and you’ll look upon me in my auld spinsterhood and think ‘Goodness, I’m glad Bella was right’”

“Bella, you’ll only be nineteen when I turn seventeen…” Narcissa demurred, brushing a long stand of her silky blond hair out of her face. Bella just smiled a little and said “Mm. Now go off and find Tyla. You and Mama are expected at the Malfoy’s for tea and you don’t even have your hair done up.”

The young blond scurried out of Bella’s room and into the next one, where her and Andromeda’s maid kept quarter during the day. As soon as Narcissa had left, Bella began dressing herself- her corset had been fastened earlier by Tamra, and Bella chose her burgundy day gown- made of a costly linen and not cotton. The color favored her darker coloring, though her skin was still milky pale compared with the daughters of the dirty farm girls- they were dark enough to be slaves, for goodness’ sake! The girl’s dark eyes sparkled maliciously as she surveyed herself in the hand mirror, with her hair tumbling over her shoulders, wild as a wood-nymph’s. With a slight purse of her lips as her image, the girl yelled unceremoniously for her maid to do up her hair in a particularly difficult series of braids.

“What on earth is taking her so long? TAMRA!” Normally the maid was hovering outside the door as soon as she saw Bellatrix was awake. Bella was prepared to leave the room without her hair done up and fetch the blasted girl from the kitchens if need be, as inappropriate as that was. Before that desperation was necessary, though, Bella saw her other younger sister hovering in the doorway with a cloth bag of Tamra’s that carried the excessive amount of hairpins that were needed to do up Bella’s hair each day.

“Andromeda?” Bella’s voice was the picture of confusion and the slightest bit of condescension as she set her graceful, long-fingered hands on her hips. “Where’s Tamra?”

“Mother’s using her right now, since Desi-Lee’s preparing tea for you and I while Cissy has gone out courting.”

“So…you’re here to…”

“Do your hair up, yes.”

Bellatrix’s face was contorted with a look of utter incredulity. She could, in fact, barely get the words out as she spoke slowly. “You know how to do up hair?” As her middle sister nodded, pointing up to her own hair, which was pinned back in a simple mat of braids on the back of her head, the elder of the two late out a cruel laugh, and sat down in the chair that was designated for hairdressing purposes. “If I end up looking like a poor, homeless farm girl as you usually do, Andromeda, mother is never going to hear the end of this.”
Immediately, she felt bad. She did not despise her sister, but if she was going to honest, the young girl did look like a farmer’s wife instead of a daughter of one of the richest landowners in Georgia. Nevertheless, Bella sat still and only jerked a little when Andromeda ran a wet comb through her hair.

“Dromeda?”

“Yes, Bella?”

“How did you know that dampening my hair is the only way to get it into braids that don’t come apart?” The elder girl opened her eyes and looked into the mirror, which reflected her sister’s face, which was swiftly changing into a fond smile as she returned Bella’s gaze.

“Bella, you forget that you and I have the same type of hair, just a different color. I have to wet mine down as well.”
Bella blinked before turning her gaze to Andy’s fingers, nimbly weaving her raven-black hair into two braids. She had forgotten the similarities between her sister and herself- they both had their father’s unfortunately thick hair and his glorious, stately face, though Andromeda’s had a softness to it that had grown out of Bella’s due to the sickness she had gone through all those years ago.

Andromeda’s fingers gently weaved her sister’s hair into a complex and lovely mat of hair that ran all down the back of her head, gently placing the pins that would hold down the unruly mass until she took it out this evening. It took a moment to realize that her sister was, in fact, done, and by the time she turned around to thank the younger girl, the room was empty. Bella put her hand up to the back of her head to feel the intricate twists and turns the braids made, and with an unheard whisper, said,

“Thank you.”

ll-ll-ll

Bella was sitting in the tea room of the house when she heard the knock on the door. Her eyebrows slid down her forehead in suspicion. People only knocked when they were calling on the family- and it was widely known through the higher echelons of society that Missus Black would be out with her youngest daughter at the Malfoy plantation. Nobody should be calling. She gave Andromeda an exasperated glance and hissed to her, “For goodness sake, Andromeda, please go put on another gown. Gingham’s sweet when you’re ten, but you’re a young lady now. Visitors can’t see you in that.” Indeed, the brunette girl was in a simple gown of dark blue gingham, edged with lace. Bella stood up, smoothing down her own gown as she set her china cup on the table.

Her whole demeanor became slightly less callous as she walked down the sweeping stairs to the entrance hall, where Desi-Lee had let in two similar-looking men in handsome riding clothes, indeed, a father and son. The elder of the two men spoke and introduced both him and his son, though they were familiar to the girl. Everyone of a certain fortune knew each other, and this was no exception. This pair was of the Lestrange blood- the son, Rodolphus, was a similar age to Bella, though they had not interacted much.

“Excuse me, Miss Bellatrix. I know this isn’t the best time to call, but my son did insist that he needed to visit. I don’t suppose your sister would be willing to act as chaperone for a little while? I have business with a man in town, you see, and I’ll only be gone for a little while.”

Bella kept her face smooth and demure despite the incontrollable urge to laugh out loud. It was more likely that her sister would act as chaperone for a grand total of fifteen minutes before running off to explore the tame and gentle forest bordering the walking path. It would probably be a huge scandal if anyone found out. Rodolphus was quite handsome, though. She hesitated, then gave a halfhearted demurral.

“I’m not sure it would be entirely proper, but…” The girl’s dark eyes dodged away from the man in front of her coquettishly before she continued. “I suppose it would be fine with Andromeda chaperoning”

As if called, the younger of the two sisters appeared at the top of the stairs, dressed impeccably in a deep blue day gown with red ribbon trimmings and a pair of long kid-skin gloves. Bella turned to her with a proud smile and said,
“Go fetch your parasol and mine, Andromeda dear. And my gloves, please, we’re going on a walk with Young Mister Lestrange.”

Within ten minutes, the trio was walking along the smooth dirt path that meandered around the cotton fields, though separated from a repulsive view of the working slaves by a well-kept stretch of domesticated forest. Bella was walking up next to Rodolphus, and as she opened her parasol, saw Andromeda lagging behind just far enough so she could not overhear the couple’s conversation unless they spoke louder then proper.

Bella could sense the boy’s eyes on her, assessing her and her lovely hourglass form and she smiled ever so slightly. She was aware of how lovely she was, though it was true she had a slightly more dangerous edge to her then her younger siblings- she was sure that was to be attributed to her sickness as a child
Rodolphus held out his arm, and Bella paused only momentarily before taking it. The pair walked for another few minutes in silence, a slight tension in the air that was unmistakable. She found him highly attractive, and he obviously was planning to court her and was in awe of her beauty. Suddenly, she was glad of the coloring of her gown- it was indeed her most flattering color. Bella looked over at the boy whose arm she held, saw him staring at her, and quickly turned away again.

Bella followed his cue, then closed her eyes in slight consternation. It had only been ten minutes, but Andromeda had already dashed off into the trees and deserted her post of chaperone. As she kept her gaze pointedly forward, Rodolphus spoke for the first time since they had greeted each other at the beginning of the walk.

“We are to be married, Bella.” His dark eyes were understandably amused as Bella felt her face contort into a look of surprise and then horror at the words that had just come out of his mouth. She pulled her arm out of his and backed away slightly before pointing her parasol at him accusingly and shouting at him in a most unladylike way.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about. Your father hasn’t even spoken to my mother about a possible courtship!” Bella gasped as Rodolphus had the audacity to chuckle as he looked her up and down in a way that was undoubtedly inappropriate. His eyes seemed to have darkened a shade before he stepped forward and drew her into him almost possessively. Bella stiffened as his hand moved to the small of her back and could not help but shiver a little as he spoke again.

“Your mother has already approved the courtship and arranged the dowry. Nothing will be questioned now.”

Bella’s mouth was hanging open in shock. The things he was implying! Without thinking, Bella lifter her hand and slapped him soundly across the face. As the man backed off in pain, the raven-haired girl gathered her skirts in her hands and took off back towards home at a clipped pace. Let the horrid man find his own way back.

As the girl went around a bend and out of sight, she stopped to catch her breath, a single delicate hand resting on her chest as it rose up and down in the heat of the afternoon. Her heart was beating very quickly, and to be honest, she could never completely say that it was due to her dash away from Rodolphus’ horrid innuendo.

He really was very handsome.

[SORTING HAT]

ooh I like the way the story is going. Funny, I once thought up of a story like this, except it wasn't cannons. <.<

I can't wait for the next chapter Amanda!

[Lan Dawkins]

That was a great chapter! I loved it.

Can't wait for the next one.

[Ted Tonks]

Andromeda walked serenely through the beautifully manicured trees that were nevertheless thick enough to block all sight of the fields where the slaves were working on planting this season’s first crop. The girl held her skirts up above her ankles so they wouldn’t get caught on the various plants and fallen branches that littered the floor- yes, it was a bit shameful for anyone to see this amount of her legs, but there was nobody out and about but the slaves, and they didn’t come in the forest. She, on the other hand, came here quite often because it’s lack of dangerous animal life made it an ideal place to think and be alone. And right now, she needed to think, needed to figure out how she felt about her two sisters’ suitors, how she felt about all of rumors flitting around about a war and secession and Northerners.

The girl looked pointedly at her feet, because despite the fact that the forest was a tame one, it was still possible to step in something that would stain her shoes or make them smell for ages, which would without a doubt get her punished by her mother. Her mind wandered to the path outside the trees just as her feet wandered further and further in. That Rodolphus man just seemed off- no doubt his fortune was big enough by itself to attract her sister- the eldest of the three was proud and had a craving for glory that was most unseemly for a woman, or that’s what their Mother’s sister said when she was visiting over the winter. Andromeda was rather fond of Bella, but over the years the two had grown apart, and it was slightly worrying.
Little Cissa had a suitor as well, though most of the calls were being done at the boy’s plantation, not theirs. From what Andromeda knew, he was a noble-looking blonde who complimented Cissa’s demure nature very well.

Andromeda’s train of though was suddenly broken as, instead of stepping over a fallen branch or through a patch of flowers, she stepped over a pair of boots.
Boots that just so happened to still be attached to a pair of feet.
Gasping and suddenly looking up, her eyes looked into a pair of ice-blue eyes attached to a lanky man in a shirtwaist and trousers. She didn’t notice until later, but his coat was strewn across a low-laying branch nearby. The pair simply stared at each other for a second, both having been frozen in shock- she, with her skirts hitched up past her ankles and past all decorum, he with a hand frozen on his nose where he had been lazily scratching an itch. He was the first to break his stance, sliding his hand down his face and to his leg. Andromeda followed the movement with her eyes before looking back up at the boy in front of her.

Shortly after, she let out a scream, and with her parasol extended towards him like an accusing finger or a sword, she backed away, unable to break the eye contact the two continued to have. That is, until the girl tripped over a hassock in the ground and fell into a small bush that was covered in yellow flowers. She flailed her hands to try and catch her balance, but it was in vain. She fell with a resounding crunch of foliage and a dramatic collapse of skirts. The man would tell her later that he had jumped up as soon as he saw her begin to fall, but hadn’t been in time to catch her.
Within a few seconds, Andromeda’s eyes had opened, and she saw the man hovering above her, his brow wrinkled in distress and amusement. He reached out a hand to help her- and she promptly took a firmer grip oh the bone handle of her parasol and soundly beat him over the head with it. “Oh dear lord! What on Earth are y’all doing here? This is private property!” She rolled unceremoniously to the side and stood, brushing clinging yellow petals off of her whole person.

The man simply looked stunned- which she supposed was reasonable enough, seeing as he had just been beaten over the head with a parasol. And despite her now fading anger, she was also fighting a strange urge to laugh. “Who are you anyways?” She asked shrewdly, her head tilted to the side in a calculating gesture. He couldn’t be much older then her, though he definitely wasn’t from around these parts- Goodness knows that Andromeda knew every potentially marriageable man within a twenty mile radius of the plantation. The boy’s eyes looked a bit relieved as her parasol was lowered from her defensive position and, finally, he got up the courage to speak.

“Ted. Ted Tonks. My father’s in town, going around to all the nearby plantations selling things from Chicago” The girl noted that his accent was undeniably northern, and she rolled her eyes a little. Trust her to trip over a Northerner on her own property- though she didn’t find them as disagreeable as her mother did. Actually, the fact that he could possibly be civil after she had quite possibly dented his head was a definite note in his favor. In fact, now that her embarrassment and anger was fading, she felt rather ashamed of herself for being so silly. He had only been scratching his nose, not brandishing a shotgun at her, nor had he made any indication of even noticing her before she stepped over him.

Andromeda could feel her face flush a bit, and she clasped her hands behind her and looked down a bit before introducing herself as well. “I’m Andromeda Black- one of the daughters on this plantation. You…ah…frightened me.” She looked up into Ted’s eyes and found him smiling a bit, and surprisingly enough, she returned it with her own.

ll-ll-ll

The time flew so quickly- after overcoming the awkwardness of their meeting, Ted and Andromeda had talked for what must be hours- her seated much more decorously upon the turf, thankful for once of her dark garment that showed very few stains as a whole. It was the first time she had smiled so much in a very long time, and as Ted slipped on his jacket just then, the two were joking about how she had quite a bit of power behind her arm for a Southern Belle. The offending parasol was now set to her side, and she picked it up again, playfully poking the blond boy across from her in the ribs- though instead of hitting flesh, she hit his pocket watch.

Ted blinked for a second, and she could see his eyes change from happy amusement to a bit of panic. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the thing, and looked at it. Andromeda frowned as the boy jumped up before holding a hand out for her.
“Dromeda, it’s almost four. I have to meet my father back in town at a quarter past- and no doubt you’ve got dinner waiting for you at home. It was nice meeting you, darling.” The boy’s eyes were sparkling in amusement and she let him help her up. She smiled a bit at his informality, and she called after his running form.
“Will I ever see you again, Ted?”
He turned around, and with a sweeping bow and a fond smile, called back.
“See me in your dreams, Andromeda. I know I’ll see you in mine”

Andromeda also turned towards home, though Ted was long gone by the time she got to the walking path. Looking towards the sun, she hurried as fast as she could towards home- no doubt Bellatrix and her beaux had made it back hours ago.
As the manor came into view, Andromeda belatedly realized that she had set her gloves inside Ted’s coat to keep them from getting stained on the forest floor.
She had never taken them out, and she supposed they were now laying on the ground somewhere in town or on the way.
Oh Well.

ll-ll-ll

“Oh Miss Andromeda, where on eart’ have you been?” Desi-Lee scolded Andromeda as the girl walked in the servants door to avoid her elder sister, who was probably pacing back and forth in the foyer ready to slap her younger sister into her senses. Meanwhile, the motherly slave had started to re-pin Andromeda’s hair- apparently it had come somewhat undone in her fall into the bush and still had a number of yellow flower petals embedded in it. “Desi-Lee, I can do that myself…” Andromeda protested. The woman behind her just chuckled and fended off the protesting hands. After she was satisfied that the brunette waves had been put in some semblance of order, the elder woman stood Andromeda up and brushed off her gown. She spoke, but the girl only vaguely heard it through her own wistful thoughts.

Andromeda felt a bit of a slap to her face as the black woman spoke again. “I said, Miss Andromeda, where be your gloves?” The younger of the two just looked back blankly before wandering off.
“I guess I lost them…”
And with that, the girl walked in a hazy state up to her room, ignoring the yells of her sister that nipped at her heels. She wanted a nap before she ate dinner.

[Alexandria Perret]

awww, that was my favorite chapter so far. It's really good so far!


“Will I ever see you again, Ted?”
He turned around, and with a sweeping bow and a fond smile, called back.
“See me in your dreams, Andromeda. I know I’ll see you in mine”


my favorite part of the chapter! so cute!