Chapter One

It wasn't even six o'clock yet. The sun wasn't up and neither were her parents. She and the housemaids were the only ones awake, but she had woken up even before them. She just couldn't help it; she couldn't go back to sleep. She was far too excited. Looking in the mirror and pushing her long, thick, black hair out of her eyes, Bellatrix Black realized that this would be the last morning she woke up as a non-Hogwarts student. The thought made her and her reflection smile identical, huge, bright smiles.

Although she had just woken up, her reflection was exceptionally more then pleasing. Even at age eleven her pale skin, dark hair and eyes, and dark red, bee-stung lips drew attention to her beautiful, elegant self. Modest people are beautiful although they do not realize it; such was not the case for Bellatrix. She knew she was sinfully gorgeous, and it did not take her long to realize that she could use her looks to her full advantage. Even before she turned eleven, she had the world wrapped around her long, pure-blood finger. Everyone all but bowed and bended to young Bellatrix Black, everyone but her hard, cold, distant mother.

Bella had woken up at five thirty that morning to the faint sound of a coughing child. Her youngest sister, Narcissa, had a rather nasty bout of the flu. Bella was the eldest of three, and she received all the perks that came along with first-born status. She was spoiled rotten, and because she was the oldest, she was also more respected by adults. But what she hated about being the oldest was that she, of course, had sisters. What irritated her about her sisters was the fact that she would only have two years at school without being tagged along by Andi or Cissy. She didn't deal well with blood-relatives in her entourage.

It wasn't that she didn't like her sisters; she really did love them. Her sisters were her best friends. She especially loved Andromeda. Andi was the yen to her yang, the cheese in her macaroni, the peridot in her birthstone necklace, the birthstone earrings that matched the necklace. Where Bella was strong, bold, and outgoing, Andi was shy, meek, and introvert. Bella lived her life center stage in the spotlight. Andi preferred staying behind the scenes. As different as the two sisters were, they were never parted, not for a moment. But Cissy was just to prim for their taste, too prim, in their opinion, even for her own good. Her ambition, so it seemed, appeared to one day become a porcelain doll, and she was doing quite well for a seven-year-old. Although the older sisters tried again and again to include the small child, Narcissa refused time after time to, "partake in such childish antics." Therefore, rather than play with Narcissa, Andi and Bella played childhood games with their favorite cousin, Sirius. It worked out perfectly, too. Bella was a year older than Sirius who was a year older than Andi… and Cissy, well, Cissy just sat with Mum and Auntie Walburga and daintily sipped on chamomile tea.

Bellatrix sighed. She was bored, so she began to experiment with different hair styles for the train ride. Her mother always told her how important a fantastic first impression is, meaning, obviously, looks. After about five minutes of manually messing with her hair, Bella looked longingly at the wand on her dresser: walnut and dragon heartstring, twelve and three-quarters inches.

She dreamed of one day becoming the most powerful witch in history. People would bow and bend to her, but not like they did now. No, they would bow out of fear, out of respect. They would bow to her power and her to her beauty, not only the later as they did now. Her name would make people shudder. She smiled at these thoughts. She would have power. She would have complete control. But right now, she couldn't even use her wand to fix her hair. The smile vanished. Six more years, six long, tedious years until she could use magic outside of school. That was more than half a decade. That was almost as long as Cissy had been alive! But Bella was getting ahead of herself; she hadn't even begun her magical career yet, so even if she could use magic, she didn't know any spells. Being eleven was frustrating.

After playing with her hair for at least half an hour, Bellatrix decided, as usual, to brush it and let it down. Bella loved her hair like this. She loved to let it tumble in gorgeous waves half way down her back. She thought it made her look mysterious, beautiful, powerful, and strong all at the same time. Her mother greatly disapproved of this, however.

"A young lady's hair should be kept neatly and sophisticatedly out of her face. She should look mature and proper, not like some heathen child or prostitute!"

All this just for wearing her hair down? Bella thought this was a little extreme. Although she hadn't the slightest idea what a prostitute was, she could tell by her mother's tone that it was something bad, something Bella should never be associated with. She merely bit her lip and closed her eyes – her usual response to times when she wanted nothing more than to violently kick her mother.

Bella then put on her Muggle clothes for the train ride, repacked and re-repacked her school trunk, and, finally, around nine thirty, she heard her mother knock on her door.

Inside, Bella was squealing with delight, but quickly calmed herself. Toujours pur means never let your mother see you happy. Well, not really, but it might as well.

She sat on the edge of her bed and called softly, "Come in."

Her mother entered, unsmiling, as always, and Bella stood out of rehearsed respect. "Quite ready?" asked her mother, Druella.

"Yes, Mother, my things are packed, and my –"

"Good," Druella interrupted, "I'll send some house elves to carry your things downstairs."

Bella nodded. Druella left. Suddenly, Andi rushed in and threw herself at her older sister causing them both to fall onto Bella's bed. Andi's face was red and tearstained.

"Do you have to go?" Andi asked.

"Yes."

"Can't I go with you?"

Bella hugged her sister, "You're coming in two years, remember?" That didn't help. "Andi, look on the bright side of things. I'll be home for Christmas, and that's not too far away."

Bella stood up and tightly hugged her little sister. "I'll write you every week."

"Do you promise?" sobbed Andi.

"I promise."

Andi nodded, but continued to cry softly onto Bellatrix's shoulder. There was a knock and a soft cough at the door. Bellatrix released her sister, walked over to her door, and opened it.

"Please pardon Linky, Miss Bellatrix and Miss Andromeda," said one of the Black's many house elves, "but Madame Druella instructed Linky, Reva, and Bobbin to carry Miss Bellatrix's belongings into the main hall."

Bella stood aside and allowed the elves to pass. Bella and Andi had to harden their hearts as well as they could to prevent felling compassionate toward the poor elves. Bella almost felt bad for them at the sight of the three tiny elves sagging under the weight of her immense trunks. But if there was one think her parents had taught her it was to, whenever in doubt, let go of all emotion. "Felling nothing at all is better than feeling too much," her mother often said.

Several minutes later, Linky the house elf came panting back into Bella's room. Bellatrix felt especially bad that there were anti-Apparation charms around and in the Black's enormous mansion. The poor elves had to take the stairs everywhere, even if they carried large baggage.

"Miss Bellatrix," panted Linky, "Madame Druella would like Linky to tell you and Miss Andromeda that it is time to take Miss Bellatrix to the King's Cross Station."

"Thank you, Linky," replied Bellatrix, and the elf hobbled away.

Andi looked sadly up at her older sister. "I guess it's time to go."

"Yeah, I guess it is," Bella answered.

Although not an hour ago she was overjoyed about the concept of leaving home and going to Hogwarts, Bella was not so sure she was ready to leave just yet. Sure her bags were packed and all her supplies and robes had been purchased weeks ago, but she hadn't eaten breakfast, she hadn't seen her father, she hadn't even said "Good morning" to Cissy yet.

Leaving home was far from easy.

Upon arriving at Platform 9 ¾, Bellatrix felt her excitement crash over her like a tidal wave. Of course, some of this could be due to that fact that she had just sprinted through a seemingly solid brick wall and was now surrounded by fellow Hogwarts students. Her mother and father were had just walked over to Mr. and Mrs. Slewin, old friends of theirs, and Cissy's governess, Joanna, was holding Narcissa gently. Cissy was still ill, but she insisted on seeing Bella off. Two of the housemaids had also accompanied the family and were currently placing Bella's belongings on the train.

A large clock above them rang rather loudly. It was ten forty-five; Bella only had a few minutes left with her sisters. She turned to Narcissa whom she had seen least this morning.

"Goodbye, Cissy. I'll miss you, little girl," she said, hugging the ill seven-year-old.

A tear rolled down both of the child's cheeks. "Bye-bye, Bella, you'll write to me won't you?" Her big, blue eyes widened as two more tears fell from her eyes. Even when her sister was about to leave for almost three months, she continued to look like a delicate doll.

"Of course I will."

Narcissa smiled and coughed again. Joanna felt her forehead.

"Oh, dear," she mussed, "she's feeling warm again. I have to take her back home; she needs her medicine." Joanna turned to Bellatrix. "Goodbye, dearie, we'll all miss you. I'm sorry Narcissa couldn't stay to see you leave." And with that she gave Bella a tight, warm, one-armed hug.

"Take good care of little Cissy," called Bella. Joanna smiled, nodded and Apparated. Bellatrix wouldn't see her again until Christmas.

Bellatrix turned to say a final farewell to her sister, but someone caught her eye. She looked at him more closely and soon discovered that this person was also in her year. This person was a boy, a tall, hark haired, dark eyed, pale skinned boy. He seemed to be in the same situation she was. He was excited, nervous, anxious but he did not want to show it. For just a second, their eyes met. Bellatrix gave him a small smile and wave which he did not return. 'Do you know who I am?' she thought almost angrily. She was Bellatrix Black of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, Toujours Pur, ring a bell? She could smile and wave at any one of these bystanders and they would practically faint. She was a Black. She was a Pureblood. She was practically a celebrity. The only people who didn't know who she was were Mudbloods and a few Halfbloods, and she didn't associate with them anyway. Obviously this boy was not worth her time. But all the same, she thought childishly, he's so pretty…

"Bella?" Andi woke Bellatrix from her thoughts. "Bella, are you okay?"

"Yeah. Yes, I'm fine," she said finally looking away from the boy. The clock rang again: five minutes.

"Well," said Andi.

Bellarix nodded. They both had to stop themselves from crying. If they cried in public, their parents would punish them severely. With a final hug and a vague, curt "goodbye" from her parents, Bellatrix boarded the train.

She waved to her sister until she was far from her sight and immediately sought after a compartment. 'Please,' she thought, 'this will take, what, eight seconds?' Bellatrix knew, being herself and all, that very soon someone would eagerly ask her to join their compartment.

And she was right. Quickly, she found a compartment with five other girls already inside; she recognized them from her parents' various dinners and other social gatherings. She was extremely careful with her choosing, however. She knew she had to sit with girls (so she would not be thought of as one of those tramps who go around chasing boys) who were a year or two older than Bella (as to acquaint herself with more powerful people) who were Purebloods (obviously) and who were not quite as pretty as she. She had to look like she was the most beautiful out of a more powerful, same-sex, Pureblood group of people. If they were in Slytheryn, it was even better. Ravenclaws were also acceptable. Griffindors and Hufflepuffs were an absolute "No!" Her mother taught her well.

Bellatrix soon found herself sitting with Violet Parkinson (second-year Slytheryn), Roselle Slewin (third year Slytheryn), Becky Crouch (third-year Ravenclaw), Mabel Rosier (third-year Ravenclaw), and Cynthia Avery (second-year Slytheryn); it was a perfect mix. More Slytheryns than Ravenclaws and more third-years than second-years, and all girls were quite pretty, but they weren't Bellatrix Black pretty. Everything was going just as she had planned… and then they began talking.

During the train ride, Bellatrix hoped beyond hope that she would never grow up to be a typical teenage girl. Well, that is, if these girls were called "typical." All they talked about were boys, make up, boys, love potions, boys, magazines, boys, designer dress robes, and BOYS! Not to mention that there were always loud, high pitched squeals whenever boys were mentioned. Bella felt almost inferior – almost! She didn't want to talk about boys; she wanted to talk about school. She had nothing to add to the make up conversation because she didn't wear any. And she loved designer dress robes as much as the next girl, but as soon as designer names came up there was a loud squeal and then –

"Oh my gosh! Did you see him flirting with Jamie!"

"I know!"

Finally Bella couldn't take it anymore. "Not that this isn't fascinating, but don't you ever talk about something other than guys? I mean really!"

Roselle smiled, "Remember that, girls?" she said to the rest of the group.

"Trust me, Bellatrix," began Cynthia, "before this year is over, your entire view on the subject is going to change."

"That's likely," retorted Bellatrix sarcastically.

"You say that now," sang-sung Becky.

"Yes, I do, because my view is not about to change."

"Oh, little Miss Independent, aren't we?" taunted Mabel.

"Yes, I am. Believe me, I am the last girl on earth who is ever going to let her entire life and being revolve one guy."

Violet high-fived her, "That's what I'm talking about."

Bellatrix sighed, although a saying they were a little boy crazy was quite an understatement, she liked her new friends. Well, maybe she didn't like them, but she thought they made nice footstools, which, she supposed, didn't really make them "friends," either. Of course, she would be polite to them, maybe even nice to them, she would buy them Christmas gifts, invite them to her family's large gatherings, and in return, she would always have the social protection of knowing the "big kids."

Just then, the boy from the train station walked by Bella's compartment. Bella's eyes followed him for a moment, but only a moment. After their last conversation, Bellatrix knew that she could not risk being caught looking at a passing guy. When she looked at him, though, Bella knew she saw him look back. It was hard to look away.

"Oh wow!" exclaimed Violet looking at her watch. "We'll be there in about twenty minutes, we have to get changed."

Bellatrix was waiting for this. She knew she was easily the richest and (soon to be) most influential girl at Hogwarts. Therefore, she had the best robes in school. She pulled them over her head and the girls all awed. 'That's right,' thought Bellatrix, 'be jealous.'

"Where'd you get those?" asked Mabel, her soft voice full of longing.

Bellatrix smirked. "The silver and emerald were custom tailored for me in Milan by the world-famous designer herself, Cinnamon Charpay."

"No WAY!"

"Way," she smirked. "And these, the black, silver and emerald, were also designed for me in Paris by Scarlet Rose."

"You're so lucky?"

"How much were they?"

"But she hasn't done personal designs in over a decade?"

"You went to Milan AND Paris?!"

And as the train station came into view, Bellatrix knew that this year was going to be simply wonderful. Finally, everything was going according to plan.