She skipped towards the burning inferno that had once been a sweet little wooden hut. Cackling madly, she waved her wand above her head, giggling like a child playing some sort of mad game.

The fire grew and grew. The flames leapt out of control, and she was only making it grow bigger.

This is the story of Bellatrix Black.

"But Mummy! I don't want to wear that dress! It's ugly and I hate the stupid frills!"

"Bellatrix Druella Black! You are the eldest and you are a bad example to your sisters! You will wear this dress!"

"I don't WANT to!" She shrieked. The dress, out of nowhere, caught fire.

"That's it! You will not be permitted out of your bedroom for the remainder of the evening!"

Bellatrix was shocked. "But it's Sirius's birthday! I-I need to give him his present!" She spluttered angrily, gesturing to the carefully wrapped present.

Druella smirked. "Well, you should've though of that before you yelled at me and set this dress on fire, then, shouldn't you?"

"Please, Mummy! I want to see Sirius and Regulus!"

Druella sighed. She waved her wand at the dress and it was instantly repaired.

"Then put on the dress." She said.

Bellatrix huffed and stepped into the frilly pink garment, pulling a face.

"Don't you pull faces at me!" Druella warned.

"I'm not." Bellatrix whined.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Sirius guffawed at the sight of Bella's ridiculous dress. She glared at him.

"Shut up!"

"Oh Bella, you look absolutely ridiculous." He laughed. "You look just like… well, I'm not sure exactly what you look like. Just very silly."

Bellatrix scowled.

"I think she looks lovely." Andromeda hugged her older sister from behind.

Bellatrix stuck her tongue out at Sirius. "Just wait, Sirius. When we get to Hogwarts I'll hex you!"

"Dromeda-get off!" Bellatrix shrugged her ten year old sister off.

Andromeda giggled and ran off to rescue Narcissa, who was getting her cheeks pinched by Aunt Walburga.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"I can't believe that you two are going to start school next week!" Walburga exclaimed.

Bella and Sirius glanced at each other happily. They were very close as they had grown up together. In fact, they were only born two months apart.

Bellatrix took her role as the older cousin and sister very seriously. Even though her parents often told her that she was a poor role model as the eldest child, her sisters and cousins looked up to her.

"I can't wait to go to Hogwarts as well!" Narcissa said enviously. She and Regulus were nine, and had to wait another two years until they could attend.

"Your meals is being ready now, Master." Pinky, one of the house-elves, appeared holding a large tray. Two more elves appeared, also holding trays laden with food.

They quickly placed the food on the table, and left the room to start making dessert.

"So, Walburga, I hear that Nott's daughter was married?" Druella, always one for the gossip, brought up.

"Yes, they threw quite a large ceremony that was perfectly ridiculous, if you ask me." Said Walburga.

"You know, we were never invited to the celebration." Said Druella.

Sirius looked sideways at Bella and crossed his eyes, poking his tongue out. She let out a tiny snort of laughter, which, unfortunately, was detected by her father.

He looked sharply at her. "Bellatrix Black. Sit up straight, you are a lady."

All attention went to Bella, who went quite red. "Yes Father." She mumbled. She adjusted her posture until her spine was poker-straight, shoulders even, head up. Incredibly uncomfortable, and still what her father deems 'acceptable' posture.

"And don't mumble!" He snapped.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

After dinner, the adults allowed the kids to go to the playroom.

The playroom was a large, airy room at the top of the manor, painted a shocking shade of pink that all three sisters secretly hated. There was a large bookshelf, the books neatly put away, and a big purple toy-box that was full of dolls and stuffed animals.

A dress-up box was in the corner that none of them ever played with. In fact, only Narcissa ever played with any of the toys and she did very rarely.

"What a disgusting colour!" Sirius exclaimed, looking around the room.

"Sirius, must you say that every time we visit here?" Regulus asked.

Narcissa giggled. "We all actually hate the colour pink but Mummy doesn't care."

"Yes, according to our parents 'pink is a colour for ladies' which is complete dung if you ask me." Bellatrix rolled her eyes.

Andromeda swatted her sister's arm. "Language, Bella!"

Sirius let out a bark of laughter. "Honestly, Dromeda, I'd thought that you'd have heard far worse with Bella as your sister."

The kids erupted into laughter.

"So, what do you want to do?" Narcissa asked after their laughter had died down. She looked around the room, frowning. "There's not much to do, I'm afraid."

"We could play wizard chess." Regulus suggested.

"No, remember what happened last time? We had our set taken away after we decided to make the pieces into a tower." Andromeda replied.

"Looking back, perhaps placing the tower right outside the parlour door maybe wasn't the best idea going around." Regulus said.

Sirius groaned. "I'd much rather be playing Quidditch or something."

Bellatrix jumped up. "I've got an idea!" She ran from the room, an excited look on her face.

"What's she up to this time?" Andromeda sighed. They all shrugged.

"Honestly, who knows." Narcissa said.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Bellatrix dug around in her bedside-table drawer, looking for something her uncle had given her for Christmas.

When she found it, she let out a triumphant squeal, and rushed back to the room, clutching the box to her chest.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"What've you got, Bella?" Narcissa asked. Regulus looked at the plain box curiously.

"Uncle Alphard gave it to me last Christmas! He told me to hide it somewhere so that our parents won't find it. I haven't opened it yet, but knowing Uncle Alphard it'll be something fun."

She set the box down carefully in the middle of their little group. She peeled the brown paper off of it to reveal bright neon colours that flashed every second.

All the

~Zonko's~ the label read.

Sirius opened the lid. A big puff of blue smoke went into his face and he coughed.

"Yuck."

Narcissa looked into the box, and her face lit up. "It's games!"

It was much bigger on the inside than the outside, probably charmed by their Uncle so it would be easier to hide.

Inside there was all kinds of wizarding games, pranks and sweets.

Andromeda cheered. "Now we won't be BORED!" She yelled happily.

"Dromeda! Shush!" Bellatrix told her. "If Mummy and Daddy find it, it'll be taken away!"

"Sorry, Bella."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"I'll go check on the children." Druella said, setting down her mug of tea and standing up. "They're being far too quiet for my liking."

She left the room and started to climb the many stairs to the top storey of the house.

She paused, hearing giggling. That was never a good sign when Sirius and Bellatrix were involved. She sighed.

"Children? What are you doing?" She called up the stairs.

Her footsteps creaked as she walked down the hallway, the old house protesting.

Instantly the giggling stopped. She heard several unintelligible whispers and then silence.

She walked down the hall until she came to the playroom door.

She opened it. "What are you doing?" She said.

"Nothing Mummy!" Narcissa hastily said. "We're just-ah-talking…"

"Really? I find that quite hard to believe." Druella raised her eyebrows, a stern expression on her face.

"Honest, Aunt Druella, we were catching up seeing as we haven't seen each other since Andromeda's birthday the other month." Regulus said smoothly.

Sirius caught on. "Indeed, we were telling them an amusing tale about the last time Uncle Alphard visited."

"And what tale would this be?" Druella asked.

"Oh, he was drunk. You know what he's like when he gets drunk." Sirius said.

Andromeda giggled. "And they were trying to act out facial expressions and it was rather hilarious!"

Bellatrix grinned. "That gives me an idea. Mummy, are we allowed to play charades with those cards Cissy got for Christmas?"

"I don't see why not. Just don't be too noisy and it's bedtime in an hour."

"Okay, Mummy!" Narcissa chirped.

Druella smiled at them and left the room, leaving the door open so she could hear any mischief.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"Good! She's gone!" Andromeda whispered quietly. "We should still whisper though, our mother has very good hearing."

"Okay." Regulus whispered back. He and Sirius grinned at each other.

Sirius retrieved it from under the cushion they had stuffed it under, Regulus then sitting on the cushion.

"Is it squashed?" Narcissa asked worriedly.

"No, it's okay, Uncle Alphard must've put some sort of charm on it." Sirius said reassuringly to the youngest of the cousins.

Bella nodded. "Yup, dropped a heavy book on it when he first gave it to me. Not a scratch."

"I can't wait to go to Hogwarts." Andromeda said, eyes shining.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"Bella, we'll miss you so much!" Bella's sisters pulled her into a bone-crushing hug.

"Oof! Get off, sillies!" The three sisters smiled at each other.

"Promise you'll write to us?" Narcissa asked.

"Hmmm… I will."

"Every day?"

"Ha! Not a chance. Bye, love you!" She pulled them in for another hug.

Her mother hugged her warmly. "You be good, okay Bella?"

Bella was surprised for a second, because she and her mother didn't really hug, and because her mother never called her Bella.

"Yes, Mummy."

"Don't get up to too much mischief with Sirius, alright?"

"Okay. Bye!"

Bellatrix and her mother let go of each other, and Bella turned towards her father.

"Goodbye Father." She said.

"Goodbye, Bellatrix. I expect you will do our family proud."

"Yes, Father."

"BELLA! COME ON!" Sirius yelled.

"Bye, love you!" She yelled one last time and hopped onto the train with her cousin.

Yeah, another story. Another flippin' story. I have too many stories, most of which haven't been updated for like six months.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed! If you did, review! If you didn't, go away!

Alright, I'll stop rambling before I embarrass myself further.

Farewell!