Introduction and Story Summary

No worries, gentle readers the actual story starts in the next chapter. But I did want to give a through summary of what you will and will not be getting in this story. It will eventually be quite long, given from the list of chapters I have already set forth, with many later chapters not being fully laid out. I prefer to lay it all down on the line before you have read anything, allowing you to make an informed decision about reading it.

Disclaimer: None of the many characters in the many chapters that follow are mine. They are JK Rowlings. I merely enjoy playing with them. This goes for all chapters in the following story.

Summary: This story is a look into the five Black children's lives to see how they developed, what influenced their life choices. It is their journey through life, their opinions, their thoughts, their struggles, hopes and joys. Five vastly different paths from one common gene pool.

Bellatrix becomes the right hand of the Dark Lord.

Andromeda runs off, to marry a muggleborn, renouncing everything her family believes for him.

Narcissa starts to live the life she was raised to live until war tears her family apart.

Sirius leaves his family early on, only to be struck down by his eldest cousin.

Regulus, the baby of the family dies an unknown hero.

Obviously these five needed their own novel. I take their lives very seriously and want to do each character the proper justice. None of them are a stereotype. None of them are merely one sided. By the end you should have felt dislike and admiration for each of them.

WARNING: THIS IS A MATURE STORY.

It is all mature subject matter. I am not prettifying their lives.

While I believe it fits in with 's M rating, it is not for young children. I'm leaving it up to your discretion whether you think you are mature enough to read it. I am not your mother.

Please Note:

The story is Bella-centric because she happens to be my favorite, but you will get a good picture of all five children and the world around them as it comes tumbling down.

This will not be a happy story by any means.

Neither is it 100 chapters of angst.

I consider this piece to fit pretty well with canon, the seven books of canon. I do check things in the Lexicon, although I am not a slave to it.

I don't consider anything that Rowling said in interviews to be canon.

I am not using the birthdates given to us by that Black Family Tree. Don't come whining to me about it.

Here's why: JK Rowling spit that out in five minutes. I have modified it better to fit with the canon information from PoA. Don't like it? Deal. Two years don't make a big difference but it sure as hell makes it fit better with the canonical information from the books. Did I mention Rowling sucks at math? She said it herself.

What you will not be getting out of this story:

Incest.

Femslash.

Crack.

Kind Voldemort.

Voldemort who can feel any sort of love.

Remorse of any sort from Bellatrix.

Arranged Marriages. (It's the 1970's, pureblood scmureblood.)

Unforgivable Curses before the Trace is lifted.

Anyone at Hogwarts being a Death Eater.

Rod and Bella acting in any way that can truthfully be called fluffy.

Rod not having a backbone. (Actually, he's a little scary to be quite honest.)

Bella having any sort of mental disorders.

Cissy being a complete airhead.

Sirius and Andromeda hating their family from day one.

For that matter, Andromeda hating her family at all.

Final Things:

A BIG thank you to all my friends who let me use the names of their original roleplay characters to fill out the four houses of Hogwarts. Forty students a year for at least 8 years…what was I thinking? Why did I even need it? You are love.

Another thank you to the lovely people who have been encouraging this while I review their stories. You're amazing. Hopefully I live up to my own hype.

A note on reviews: I will never ask for a certain number of reviews in order to keep writing. I know for some people, it helps them a great deal, but I am not writing for reviews. I write this because Bella will not get out of my head unless I do and because I love to write. If you choose to review I would appreciate constructive criticism. If you choose not to review, thank you for reading.

And now…ON WITH THE SHOW!

Or should I say…Once upon a time…in JK Rowling's mystical world of wizards and witches…