Oh, how I love the Black sisters.


Bellatrix Black Lestrange

1) Her parents never doted on her. Not just her- any of them. Her mother didn't kiss her goodnight; her father didn't lift them up onto his shoulders and run about. Her parents didn't have children because they wanted to- they had children because they were expected to.

She used to listen to Cissy cry about the lack of affection, believing their parents didn't love her. Bella would always laugh.

She can't seem to remember the time when she did the same.

2) The first time Bellatrix ever does magic is when she was five years old. She had been trying to climb a tree and couldn't reach the branch above her to pull herself up. She had kept on jumping, but she came short every time, and she was getting angry.

Then, suddenly, the branch lowered all on its own, and she didn't even have to stretch to reach it. When she climbed up, the next branch did the same. And the next. Soon, she was sitting at the top of the tree, absolutely ecstatic.

Her mother's reaction was, 'that's nice dear.'

Her father grunted noncommittally.

So she went to Andromeda, who, despite being younger, hugged her excitedly, and together they made ice cream.

Bella can't seem to remember this, either.

3) She had always been different from her sisters, but as she got older she and Andromeda were always butting heads. While Bella and Cissy would play would often play Mudbloods and Muggles, Andromeda would sit off and stare haughtily. Later, she would tell Bella she was a bad influence on Narcissa.

Then, the admonishments stopped coming. Andromeda stayed holed up in her room all day.

And then, she wasn't even there anymore.

Cissy cried. Great heaving sobs.

Bellatrix slapped her hard across the face and then burned anything Andromeda had left behind.

4) She had always liked Sirius Black. He was a good cousin, even if he hung around with Andromeda too much for his own good.

Then he was sorted into Gryffindor. So she cut him out.

It should have been harder, to cut somebody out of her life. Somebody she had previously, sort of, cared for.

But it wasn't.

5) One time, Cissy brought home a stray kitten. She absolutely adored it. She nursed it and cared for it and even made it a little bed beside her own.

Bella snapped its neck.

"Why did you do that?" Cissy had cried, as she held the kittens broken body in her hands.

"You loved it too much," Bella had told her calmly. "Those you love will always let you down."

"So then..." she had cried, stroking the dead kitten. "What do I do?"

"Don't love," Bella had told her. "It'll be easier that way."

Cissy had nodded.

Neither sister kept her word.

6) She married Rolph Lestrange out of convenience. He was her way to get everything she wanted, to be handed everything. She didn't love him. But he was a pureblood. He was a rich. He gave her everything. He had her up on a pedestal and worshiped her, and she used this to her advantage.

She doesn't love him, but it's more than that. She doesn't even respect him. He's nothing to her. Just a pawn.

7) She would have done anything for the Dark Lord. Anything at all. Even suffer in Azkaban.

She could feel the life being sucked out of her, could feel herself losing weight and shrinking in on herself, and all she wanted was to lie down and die. To let them kill her. To let the Dementor's suck so much life out of her that there was none left.

But she thought about the Dark Lord, and how much he would appreciate it, how much she respected him and loved him- no, she couldn't love him, couldn't. But she did. So she laughed. Even when all she wanted to do was lie down and die, she laughed. She conjured her Lord's face in her mind and she laughed. She would make it out of this.

For him.

8) Killing Sirius was fun. It really was. She didn't know where the hell he went, but it didn't matter, because he was dead. And she didn't have any sort of remorse. She wasn't sorry about it. Because he was a blood traitor. He had some of the best blood- he was a Black. But he turned his back on that.

She had already burned his name out of the family tree. Now she was doing the real thing. And she loved that.

Killing Nymphadora Tonks was different, for some reason. Because she looked down at her lifeless face and she knew that this would kill Andromeda.

She didn't feel remorse over it. She wanted to hurt Andromeda.

But that was the first time in her life that she realized that Andromeda had hurt her.

9) She didn't think she could die. Well, she knew she was able to die. But it never occurred to her that she would. Because she was absolutely certain that the Dark Lord would come and save her. So even as she battled against the Weasley scum, she had no worries. Because the Dark Lord would save her. He would protect her.

But then he didn't come, and as Molly Weasley's curse raced at her, she couldn't help but wonder if maybe she was just like her husband.

Just a pawn.

10) For some reason, the last face that flashed through her brain, right before the world went black, was Andromeda's.