Notes: OOC. I don't expect people to like this. After six straight hours of studying calculus -sorry, THE calculus- my brain suddenly popped out a fanfic just to stay sane. This fic is ,therefore, a brainchild of math. How awful.

Disclaimer: None of it belongs to me. Abso-bloody-lutely none.

The Black Parade

"Because, one day, I'll leave you, a phantom in the summer..." - Welcome to the Black Parade, My Chemical Romance

Every year since they could remember, on the night of the Summer Solstice, their parents would go out, clad in party dress and wearing expressions of cold indifference. And they would not return until the evening after.

They would be left at 12 Grimauld Place, expected to sit still and behave, with fiercely-loyal house elves to keep watch.

But perhaps elf-eyes weren't sharp enough. Or maybe because the children were Black and, therefore, uncontrollable.

Every year, they would celebrate what came to be known as the Black Parade, the most secret and celebrated event of the year.

Once Father and Mother leaves, they would spread out in the gargantuan house, hiding in the little nooks and crevices and not making a sound. Bellatrix would always go to the kitchen, followed by a much younger Sirius, and go rummaging for a couple of bottles of firewhiskey. She'd hand one to her cousin, to make him feel like someone important. He'd promptly break the bottle though, and Bellatrix would laugh.

Ever the charming one, and seemingly the elves' favorite, Bellatrix would somehow entice them to drink the flame-colored drink. The elves would always get sick afterward, and sometimes they die, but the death is always the result 'the creature's own stupidity'.

Sirius would tell the others that the coast was clear, and they would come out. They would laugh at the fallen elves.

There was a room, in the deepest and darkest part of the house, where all muggle things were kept, far from prying eyes. The children would go there, unashamed, and go through trunks of dusty muggle clothing, fashion of many centuries.

Sirius, quite arrogant for a seven year old, would always take the many-sizes-too-big King's robes from the medieval era. Then he would take a sword from the nearby suit of armor and attack Regulus.

"Avast there, yon rogue! Dost thou darest fight King Sirius, ruler of Blacks and wizards!"

He would stand there, all regal and dignified, and Andromeda would always swat him.

Regulus, the youngest at five years, would be at the mercy of Narcissa, who would dress him up as though he were a doll. She'd never got over the fact that her little cousin was growing up after all.

Regulus would scowl whenever the costume looked to baby-ish or too girly, and Sirius would say how cute he looked. In the end though, he would finally agree to wearing the ruffly-breezy costume of the Victorian times, despite the fact that it itched all over.

Narcissa herself would dress the way her mother does, with long dress-robes and heels and rouge all over her face. She would preen and smile as she looked in the old, broken mirror across the room. She would ask her older sisters if she walked 'like a proper lady would'. Andromeda would say 'yes' as Bellatrix says 'no'. Then the three of them would giggle.

Andromeda and Bellatrix would dress up as circus favorites, having been to the circus once, during an escapade to muggle London. They probably loved it, but would never admit so.

Andromeda would be one of the clowns, the white powder on her face would be as thick as Narcissa's make-up. She'd get some ancestor's fake-hair wig and paint a big red smile on her face, because their real faces was not made for smiling.

Bellatrix would be a gypsy, and she'd get the cursed crystal ball her Father had given to complete the look. He long black hair would be wrapped up in a starry bandana and she'd be colorful for once.

Then they would go outside.

They would saunter through the dark streets, Bellatrix leading and Sirius carrying the fairy-lights, like misguided Halloweeners. They would laugh loudly, as though trying to expel it all before it became part of their personalities. They would shout all the things they normally weren't allowed to whisper. Sirius would bellow how he was 'god of all men' and Narcissa would shout 'Malfoys are doofs! Blacks are the best!' and Andromeda would follow with a loud 'Blacks are forever!'. They would pretend to be things they could never be, because this was one night where rules didn't matter.

They were so young... and free... and reckless...

They were five of the them, dark children in fancy clothes coming out of the shadows. They paraded through the streets, having the time of their life, knowing they were safe because they were all there. One Black was enough to terrify, Five Blacks would send anyone running. So they thought.

They would go back to the house hours later, dirty and cold but unstoppable. They would ransack the kitchens again, as well as the potions room and the library. They would go looking for old wands and try to do magic.

Magic that wasn't kid's magic. The magic they wanted was the power to affect, like to prank...or hurt.

They would sneak the goodies up to Sirius' room, together with cauldrons and spell books and an unconscious house-elf to experiment on. Bellatrix would pretend to read words from old Latin spellbooks and tell this to dump this-and-that into the cauldron.

If it doesn't explode, it's good to go.

But their concoctions never worked the way it was supposed to and the wands wouldn't follow instructions. Finally they would give up on doing magic.

They would change into sleepy-clothes and go to Regulus' room, because by now Sirius room would be stinking of the the cauldron remains.

Bellatrix would get her bag and pull out the crystal ball. She was the worst fortune-teller. Not only was she totally blind and mundane, she also took great delight in making up the 'worsest futures', in Narcissa's words.

Take now for instance.

Andromeda was sitting directly across her. Bellatrix smirked evilly and peered in the cloudy haze. Her eyes widened in fake surprise.

"Ohhhh...look at that! I see you Andie...but you're alone...you'll be an exile, Andy!"

Andromeda was so used to her big sister's false predictions by now. She giggled. "Really?!"

"Yes! You will be blasted off the tapestry as...as...the others were!"

"No!" Andromeda gashed in mock horror.

"Yes! You'll be living in the muggle world! You'll be a muggle! You'll be so wretched and lonely with me and Cissa that you'll go crazy...and marry a muggle!"

"No! Say it isn't so! That's the most awful, Bella!" She giggled again.

"Yes! You'll be one of them and we'll never talk to you again!"

"That's terrible..." Andromeda whispered. "I don't ever want to be away from my sisters. I'll never be a muggle!"

Narcissa sided up to her, smiling knowingly. "You won't be, Andie. That's 'cause you know what's important. Nothing's ever gonna come between us Blacks."

"Is that so?" Bellatrix cackled. "Let's see about you, Cissa."

"Because you're so pretty with your gold hair...you'll attract all the boys! So many boys! But the one you'll marry, the best of them...he'll be a demon! Cissa, you'll marry a demon!"

"No, Bella!" Narcissa laughed. "No!"

"Yes! He'll treat you something awful! You'll live in the pits of hells and you'll be all burned and shriveled whenever you visit!"

Narcissa touched her face as though assuring herself, then smirked. "What else?"

"He'll kill and and drink blood, Cissa! He'll eat your children..."

"Stop it, Bella." Narcissa said above Sirius' hooting. "That was too dramatic."

Bellatrix scowled and spied Regulus. She smiled as he gulped. Bellatrix was on a roll.

"Oh...You may be the youngest, Regulus...but you'll die first!"

Regulus, picking up that all Bellatrix was untrue, also played along. "Why?!"

"I don't know," Bellatrix said sharply. "But you'll die in a bad way, maybe you'll be murdered. Don't worry, I'll avenge you." She added as an afterthought.

"Gee, thanks."

"You'll have no friends when you die, so your body will just be thrown away. That's 'cause you betrayed them all... Sirius, I think, will be your worst enemy."

"Impossible!" It was Sirius who spoke up this time, looking a bit angry.

Bellatrix shrugged like it wasn't her fault the future is what it is. She looked at the crystal again.

"Our futures are linked, Sirius. I guess we'll be the only ones who won't be separated, that's okay. I love you best." She smirked at the others. "We're going to rule the world, Sirius. You and me."

Sirius smirked superiorly, mirroring Bellatrix' own.

"You know why?" She paused for effect. "Because we're the best of the best."

"We'll be powerful!" Sirius made up his own prediction.

"We'll be famous!"

"We'll - wait a minute, the world can't have two rulers..."

"Then one of us will have to kill the other." Bellatrix frowned, then smiled again that evil smile. "Bet I get you first.

Sirius smirked, eyes narrowed. "You wish."

The female Blacks would be in France the next summer, going back only when Bellatrix started Hogwarts. The Bella who came home from school wasn't the same Bella the had: the house-elf terror, the gross miscalculator of prophecies, the girl who knew how to make even cold Narcissa and stiff Regulus laugh.

It was the turning point.

They forgot the prophecies and the craziness and the laughter.

What turned out to be the last generation of Blacks drifted apart. Cold reality seeped in. Reality that decreed that they had to choose differently, that cousins to be enemies and that loved ones be murderers.

And so the Blacks paraded through life as sensationally as they paraded in the Black Parade. But alone. No costume. No laughter. No longer as safe.

All of them beautiful, All of them doomed.

End.