Blood hummed through her veins as she stood on the outcropping of rock overlooking Hogwarts. Between her spot on the rocks and the castle, the Black Lake stretched; its glassy surface reflected the expanse of stars in the sky. The waxing moon hung low in the sky behind the castle, barely more than a haze on the horizon.

This was it. The final stand. For them all.

An alert had sounded through Hogsmeade. Potter was here. Where Potter went, so did the Dark Lord. And where the Dark Lord went, so did she.

The truth was, Bellatrix Lestrange would give anything to be anywhere but here.

The order came whispered from between his lips, an order that she could not disobey.

"Begin."

"What about Evan Rosier?"

"He's my first cousin," she snapped. Her patience was growing thin. Bellatrix thought she'd made it clear that he was dismissed once they were finished. Instead, he lingered.

He always lingered.

Laying on her naked stomach, Bella's eyes flitted across the parchment in her hands. The Pureblood Directory, a comprehensive list of the pure blood families in the wizarding world. Her eyes scanned the family names, finding each one familiar. Some said the pureblood families had been inbred, just to keep lines pure. She didn't find that to be true. The very thought of it—marrying someone like Evan or Sirius or Regulus—made her ill.

"I could kill him, you know." He leaned over, taking advantage of her prone position to press a kiss to her bare left shoulder blade. "Then you could marry me."

Bella flipped over quickly, allowing a dark laugh to escape from between her lips. "Corban Yaxley and Bellatrix Black?" She shook her head, then turned back to the directory. "You do realize if you kill him, they'll probably pass me off to his brother, Rabastan."

It wasn't the first time that he'd alluded to wanting to marry her. The truth was that she would be too much for Yaxley. He wouldn't be able to handle her. And he had no position in life, nothing to offer her. Even if she wanted to, her father would never agree to the match. She needed someone to match her in fervor, someone who held a position with the Dark Lord.

Because everything came back to the Dark Lord.

She'd admired him from afar for a long time. From the time she was a child, she knew he was special. Her father, Cygnus Black, often held parties, and the Dark Lord himself made a point of attending. The same went for the Lestranges. They had a rapport with him. Rodolphus's parents had gone to Hogwarts with him.

And while his servants were primarily men, Bellatrix had ambitions of her own. She wanted to prove that women could do just as much, if not more, than men.

"What of Malfoy?"

Bella was growing annoyed with him. "What of him?"

"He seems to be of a well standing family and not nearly as bad as the Lestranges."

Indeed. Lucius was a talented wizard, one with promise and status within pureblood circles. "He's been promised."

"Like that matters if you set your sights on him—"

"He's promised to my younger sister," she said, sharply. "I'll hear no more of it." She was beyond annoyed with him. She was angry that he thought he could give his opinion to her so freely. She'd been too lenient with him. "Leave."

Shock crossed his features. "But—"

"Out. Now." Her nostrils flared. This was the problem with letting people close. They thought they had some right to your life. They got attached when they shouldn't. When he didn't move, she grabbed her wand.

Knowing that he could very well lose his most precious parts, Yaxley darted toward his clothes. He dressed quickly, before exiting the Room of Requirement. When the door shut, Bella grabbed a pillow and pressed it to her face. She let out a shrill scream into the pillow, before throwing it violently at the doorway he'd just disappeared through.

Tomorrow, Bellatrix would be taking the Hogwarts Express back to London for the summer, her final before finishing school. At the end of it, when she turned seventeen, her father was hosting a party for her induction into pure blood society. It would be the night her engagement to one Rodolphus Lestrange would be announced. She had two and a half months before then. Two and a half months in which to convince her father that she didn't need to be married; didn't want to be married.

Two and a half months to end the engagement before it began.

Challenge accepted.

The hallways were deserted and dark by the time Bellatrix slipped into the Slytherin common room and followed the corridor that led to her dormitory. Yaxley had mentioned on more than one occasion that he didn't understand why they met in the Room of Requirement. It was almost cute, the innocence he claimed. The truth was that Bella didn't want her two younger sisters to know about her extracurricular activities. It was none of their business to begin with, but she also wanted to make sure they knew that she was doing her best for them. The last thing she wanted was for them to think she was getting distracted by a boy.

There was a lump in her bed already. She bit back the smile threatening at the corner of her lips. "Dromeda," she whispered, shaking her younger sister's shoulder. Andromeda didn't budge. Water lapped loudly against the window nearest her bed. She peered toward the glass, finding the moonlight casting hauntingly beautiful images of the bottom of the Black Lake.

What a strange feeling, Bella thought as she walked around the four-poster bed and toward the window. Thick bushes swayed beneath the water of the lake, suspended like dolls on strings. She watched them float back and forth, back and forth, dancing with the current under the water. Suddenly, the outline of a face formed in the ray of moonlight. She didn't recognize the person—for the features were so undefined she could not tell if it was a woman or man.

Bellatrix—

Its mouth wasn't moving. She scanned the dormitory for anyone that might be speaking. All of the girls were sound asleep.

Bellatrix—

Her head snapped back to the window.

You will be his greatest ally. You will sell your soul for him. But he will love you, better than any other.

"Who?" She whispered, pressing her palm against the cold glass. "The Dark Lord?"

Take heed, Bellatrix, for your love of him has the power to destroy all else.

"What? Who?!" Her hushed voice was louder than she expected. The face stared at her.

"Bells?"

Her head snapped to look at her sister, who was blinking awake. She turned back to the window, but the face was gone. The room fell silent. Instead, she turned her attention to the person in her bed.

"Shh, go back to sleep," Bella said, brushing Dromeda's long, black hair from her face. The resemblance between them was uncanny. Whereas Narcissa inherited their mother's fair features—light eyes and light hair, Bellatrix and Andromeda were on the darker side. Each had long, dark hair, with skin kissed skin. At least, Dromeda's skin was sun-kissed. She spent far more time in the sun than her older sister. They had the same nose and chin. The only difference was their eyes. Dromeda's were blue, like Cissy's. But Bella's were unique. They were a rich, golden color. Sometimes they looked like melted caramel, other times they glittered like jewels. So far, she had yet to meet anyone with eyes like hers.

"Are you just getting in?" Andromeda questioned, sleep making her tongue heavy.

Bella didn't respond. Instead, she stripped out of her clothes and slipped on a nightgown.

"What's that?" Her younger sister reached across to the night stand, where Bella had placed the Pureblood Directory. She slid her thin fingers down the long list of families, blinking further into alertness. "Rodolphus Lestrange." The eldest Black daughter reached for Dromeda, intent on grabbing the parchment from her hand, but her sister was much quicker. "Why is his name scratched out so viciously?"

"Is it?" Bella feigned ignorance.

"This is about your engagement." Dromeda sat up, that inquisitive look in her eyes. "He can't be that bad."

Bella considered her sister's words. How could she explain her distaste for the man she was meant to marry? She thought over their interactions, however few they were. Growing up, they were forced into the same circles. Forced to interact. And at Hogwarts, he'd been a sixth year when she was a first. Hardly appropriate to even attempt to get to know him. He was arrogant and boorish. "He's the worst," she blurted. "He's just like Father." She would be signed off like a brood mare to this man. Five years older, with a reputation of women thousands of pages long. He was the worst sort of pureblood.

"Pop out a son or two and then he'll never touch you again." Dromeda set the papers aside. "Besides, you still have a while."

"Scoot over," Bella replied.

"You could convince Daddy to throw a party for all of the young purebloods. Sleep with the one you like, let him get you pregnant, and then bam, Rodolphus won't want you."

Bellatrix scowled at her younger sister as she climbed into the bed beside her. If only. She wished she had the time and energy to have fun in her last months of freedom. The truth was, there was far too much to do. She had to remain on the path. She would have to work to get in favor with the Dark Lord. She fully intended on receiving her dark mark the moment she finished school. How could she do that if she were expected to be a proper pureblood wife?

Her feather mattress sunk a few inches as Andromeda curled up beside her, as they'd done since they were small children. The two girls tucked close together. Bella allowed her eyelids to close, trying to force the tension in her shoulders to go away.

When she thought that her sister had long been asleep, she heard Andromeda whisper, "We could run away, you know." Bella's eyes snapped open. "The two of us. Never worry about Father or Mother or this pureblood madness ever again."

Andromeda yawned, then rolled over, her back to Bella. In moments, her breathing evened and she was out cold.

If only you could outrun your destiny.