A/N : Ok. This is my first fic so please review and let me know how I'm doing! There isn't much background information required for this, but I should probably clarify something before people point it out. When I started writing this, I thought the Black sisters went Andromeda, Bella, Cissy in age, so I pretty much based the fic around that angle, meaning it would seriously mess with my plans to change it to Bella, Andy, Cissy, which is, I think, the real order. Sorry if it bothers people, but just try and and think of it as my one little AU-ish indulgence if it helps. Characters are canon, save for extras, who no-one cares about, let's face it. Ages – Bella is sixteen, in her final year at Hogwarts with Lucius. Andromeda is nineteen going on twenty, and married to Ted for about a year and a half now. Narcissa is twelve, and in the same year as Sirius, Snape, and the other Marauders era characters. The pairing isn't actually Bella/Lucius, but there are definitely moments that would mislead you in that direction.
Happy Home
"Bella? Bella!"
Sixteen year old Bellatrix Black groaned and thrust her head under her pillow.
"Bella, it's ten' o 'clock and breakfast is nearly over and Mother says I have to wake you up because you're being lazy......"
Bella sighed. Once Cissy got going there was really no way of stopping her. Well, not without sending her mother into a hissy fit anyway. Now she would have to get up.
"Alright, alright. I'm coming."
Cissy, who had been busy prodding her sister, quickly danced out of reach. "Well hurry up," she sang, disappearing downstairs.
Swinging her legs out of bed, Bella pulled on a dressing gown and slippers, scrubbed her teeth and ran a brush through her hair. She really didn't have time for anything else. After all, breakfast was nearly over. Rolling her eyes, she trudged downstairs.
She needn't have worried, of course. There was still plenty of food on the table - a combination of Cissy's increasingly fastidious eating habits and those dim-witted house-elves, who insisted on making enough food for five over a year after "Miss Andromeda" had walked out on them all.
Scowling, Bella took her place at the table. Her father narrowed his eyes at her, apparently displeased with her attire, and returned his gaze to the morning's Prophet. The hint, nonetheless, had been taken by her mother. Pursing her lips, Druella turned to her least favourite child.
"Bellatrix," she began, "I would like to remind you that we in The Noble House of Black have standards to maintain. I would also like to remind you that breakfast time is family time in this house, and I would expect the whole family to attend, respectfully attired of course."
Bellatrix was gratified to see Cissy's eyes flick briefly over Andromeda's empty chair. Good. She wasn't the only one who could see what a farce this family had become then.
"Yes mother ," she said dully, reaching for a slice of toast.
"Good,"her mother said smugly. "Now tell me, what are your plans for the day?"
Resisting the urge to roll her eyes with difficulty, Bella settled instead for slicing her toast with unwonted venom.
"Well Mother,"she said in a voice so saccharine it was faintly sickening, "After breakfast I'm going to wash and dress, and then I'm going to write a Potions essay for Professor Slughorn, and then I'm going to let you and Cissy drag me to Diagon Alley to find a dress for this ridiculous extrvaganza at the Malfoys' later tonight. Acceptable?"
Druella was wearing a faintly scandalized expression and even Cygnus had looked up from his newspaper. "Druella," he said dangerously, "I'm growing exceedingly tired of your children's impertinence...."
"Of...of course, Cygnus," Druella said at once, clearly flustered. "I'm so sorry."
"Hmm." Cygnus unfurled The Prophet again and turned to the Editor's Comment, apparently losing interest in the conversation.
Your children?! Bella thought furiously. We're your children too!
Scowling again, she got to her feet, her own appetite gone in an instant. Well she was just about done here left the room without another word and began to mount the stairs, grateful, for the hundreth time, that the mid-term break was nearing its end, and that in just two days time she would be back at Hogwarts.
It was a strange state of affairs, she thought ruefully, when her approaching NEWTs became a more appealing prospect than time spent with her own family.
