Disclaimer: Nothing here is mine, except for some of the memories, hah.
A/N: My first Bellatrix-centric fic. Hope I've captured her well enough. If not, then I'll learn from my mistakes =)
If This Was A Movie
Bellatrix Lestrange woke up to the sound of screaming. It was a high pitched wail, filled with desperation and despair. Bellatrix often found that the screaming usually came out of her mouth while she was asleep but once she was sure that the screams weren't her own, she sat up. She could hear the sobbing becoming louder and louder and she shuffled over to the bars to get a better look.
"No! I didn't do it! Please!" the voice was screaming. Bellatrix could see Dementors surrounding the guards who were forcefully dragging in a figure. She was a woman, although Bellatrix could not see her face. What she could see was long, brown hair. It looked so familiar…
"Andy?" Bellatrix whispered, her voice hoarse from lack of water. "Andy, is that you?" She gripped the bars frantically, pushing her face as close to them as possible. The shrieking grew nearer. Her vision was blurry from sleep and she rubbed her eyes roughly.
"Please, no! I don't belong here! Please!" the woman kicked and scratched but the men holding her paid no attention.
They were so close to Bellatrix's cell that she thrust out a hand through the bars, hoping to grab onto the sobbing woman. She shivered and goose bumps trailed up her arms and painful memories flooded her thoughts as the Dementors came near her but she did not relent. "Andy, help me!" she pleaded. "I'm right here! And-" she stopped abruptly, confusion passing over her sharp features. The woman's face had come into view and she was most certainly not Andromeda Black. She did not seem to notice Bellatrix's outstretched hand which had begun to fall, but she continued her futile fight against the guards. "Andy…" Bellatrix said softly, withdrawing her hand as they passed her. She watched as they turned a corner and the shrieking faded. Angrily, she let out a loud scream. She screamed until she was sure her throat would tear from the anguish that she felt. And when she was done, she sobbed harshly, ignoring the twinge she was feeling as she took dry, heavy breaths.
Bellatrix was so positive that someone had come to save her, that someone had come to rescue her from this depressing place. It had been six months in Azkaban and no one had come. She had been sentenced for a cause that she believed in, but that did not stop her from the feeling of going mad. She was furious at herself for getting her hopes up, and for expecting Andromeda no less. However, Bellatrix knew why she had imagined Andromeda. Andy was the sister who had always saved Bellatrix, despite being the younger one. Sometimes Bellatrix doubted that she was the eldest, Andromeda had always seemed more mature and motherly. The latter was a quality Bellatrix had come to acknowledge as a weakness and she prided herself on not possessing that particular attribute herself. But there was once a time when she had loved that about her sister.
Bella was 16 and Andy was 15. Bellatrix had gotten less than expected in her OWLs and her mother, Druella Black, had not been pleased. She had scolded her eldest daughter, calling her a 'disgrace to the Black family' and telling her that 'no decent pureblood will want to marry someone so unintelligent', insults that she knew would cut Bellatrix deeply. She hated to fail and to disappoint the family name. She was sent to bed with no dinner and the household was forbidden to speak to her. Bellatrix had kept her emotions intact until midnight when Andy had snuck out of bed and into her room. Wordlessly, she climbed into Bella's bed and gently stroked her cheek. It was a small, simple act that somehow managed to break all the walls Bellatrix had carefully built. Andromeda allowed Bellatrix to cry and held her tightly, occasionally petting her head tenderly. It was one of her most treasured memories with her sister, although she would never admit it. Bellatrix was never one to show weakness, but Andromeda had a gift for comforting people like their own mother never could.
Andromeda displayed a maturity that most others would lack in their entire lifetime and Bellatrix usually found it easy to talk to her. As the older sister, Bellatrix had taken it upon herself to educate Andromeda on the importance of their blood. They did butt heads many times because of their stubbornness and opposing opinions but their fights would soon be forgotten. Bellatrix could not count how many times Andromeda had allowed her into her room to cry and rant about events that had happened and it was Bellatrix who was the most surprised when she discovered that Andromeda was seeing a Muggle-born. She had tried to protect her and hid Andromeda's secret from their parents, making Andromeda promise to end the relationship. To her dismay, Andromeda refused. They both knew what would happen and Bellatrix was overcome with a rage that she could never let go.
"I'm going to marry him, Bella," Andromeda had said calmly.
"You'll be disowned! You'll be a disgrace!" Bellatrix had snapped back. "Do you even realise what you're doing? You're marrying a Mudblood. They are the filthiest creatures on this planet. Does blood purity mean nothing to you?"
"No," Andromeda said firmly. "I love him and that's all that matters to me."
"What about me? You'll leave me. Do I mean nothing to you?" the words had slipped out before she could stop them and Bellatrix hated herself for showing her vulnerability.
There was a long pause where Andromeda regarded her older sister silently. "Bella, we're family. I could never leave you. Nothing has to change between us. You'll always be a part of me, we'll always have that special bond. I just… have to get away from here. I never belonged here anyway. I love Ted and he loves me. Blood doesn't matter."
Bellatrix's beautiful face had scrunched up at Ted's name but she said nothing. Instead, she filled herself up with anger and resentment. "Get out," she spat. "Just go." She turned around and did not see the tear that had fallen from Andromeda's wide eyes that were so much like her own.
From that day, she devoted her final year at Hogwarts to torturing as many Muggle-borns as she could. She especially targeted Ted Tonks and his friends, much to the fury of Andromeda who could no longer make excuses for her sister.
"This is what happens when you fraternise with Mudbloods," Bellatrix had hissed to her when Andromeda had demanded for Bellatrix to stop. "This is how they should be treated. You shouldn't have turned your back on us."
Andromeda did not lose her temper often, but that time she did. "What is wrong with you? What happened to you? He is a person, just like you and me. They all are!"
"Don't you dare compare me to that filth!" Bellatrix had screeched. She suddenly raised her wand and shot a spell at her sister, forcing her to dive to the floor. Bellatrix was breathing heavily, eyes burning with hatred as she glared at Andromeda.
"You're crazy. You all are. I'm glad I'm leaving," Andromeda had cast a final dark look at Bellatrix before she fled the common room, angry tears spilling down her cheeks.
Their relationship had deteriorated from there. They could not look at each other without feeling the need to send a curse or hex across the room. Andromeda did not come back home after her sixth year, instead she stayed with a close friend. Bellatrix and Narcissa did not dare step into Andromeda's old room and they both pretended like she did not exist at all. Their parents had further enforced their pureblood beliefs onto their remaining daughters and Bellatrix hardened her heart. She and Narcissa were determined not to bring shame to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black by marrying respectable pureblood husbands. She joined the Death Eaters as soon as she could and she believed with all of her heart that Mudbloods and blood traitors (for they were just as bad) should be eliminated.
The effect the Dementors had on Bellatrix was not a pleasant one. She found herself waking up in the middle of the night, the echoes of her cries still bouncing off the walls. She remembered her childhood and how she had been belted and cursed after her father caught her reading a Muggle book. She knew Muggles would always get her into trouble and she begun to hate them at a young age. She remembered pushing Narcissa into the lake behind their manor and Andromeda braiding her hair after she had been given a short dose of the Cruciatus Curse as punishment (for her father thought she was old enough to handle it and her mother did not object). The nightmares she suffered from seemed to get worse every night and she woke up with her heart pounding. She once mistakenly thought that her heartbeat was the sound of someone's footsteps outside her cell and she had bolted to the bars, hoping to get a glimpse of blonde hair or a face mirroring own. She had not seen either of her sisters in a very long time, even though she pretended that she only had one sister.
But now, sitting in her quiet cell, Bellatrix wondered how Andy was doing. She wondered when Rodolphus would figure out how to escape and come and get her, or when Narcissa would visit and at least attempt to help Bellatrix break out. The Dark Lord would return, that she did not doubt. It was only a matter of time but she had yet to become familiar with her less than grand situation.
Bellatrix used all the energy she could muster to crawl towards the darkest corner of her cell. She dragged her knees along the jagged prison floor, cutting her knees and scratching the palms of her hands. The blood that dripped from her open wounds trailed behind her, leaving a path of bright red, the only colour that wasn't grey in the small space that she was confined to. The rushing wind and crashing waves were the only sounds of life apart from her grunting from the effort of moving. Hugging her knees to her chest, she curled up into the fetal position. She was alone and no one was coming to save her.
But if this was a movie you'd be here by now.
A/N: I know Bella seems a bit OOC, but I'm thinking that the first few months in Azkaban brought out a depression in her and all these past memories and a bit of a vulnerability. Then she got tougher and madder as time went on. Yeah yeah? Just what I think. Inspired by 'If This Was A Movie' by Taylor Swift without the romantic parts, my relationship with my younger cousin and my mother touching my face, haha. Also, we all know that movies were made by wizards ;) Hehe. Hope you enjoyed it (: