Disclaimer: I own nothing :P
A/N: this one was actually really difficult for me to come up with, and I was user a time crunch. But I think I got it, in the end. I'd love to know your thoughts :) Written for (skip):
hp chps comp: noble and most ancient house of black: write about a Black; family fic competition: Druella and Bellatrix;
A Daughter
When she was five, Druella Rosier went to her mother and told her she was going to have true love one day.
Evangeline Rosier looked down at her young child and laughed. "I'm sure you will, darling."
But when she was fourteen there was a ring on her finger, and she wasn't truly in love with the husband-to-be.
When she was five, Bellatrix Black asked her mother when she had fallen in love with her father.
"Well, Mummy?"
Druella looked down at her young daughter, innocent and bride eyed and waiting for an epic tale of how her Mum, beautiful and clever, had been whisked away by her Dad, dashing and smart and lovely. But Druella never fell in love with Cygnus, a dear childhood friend. She fell in love with her daughters, and the family that they created.
She didn't want her daughters to have that, traditional family values or not.
"I fell in love with Daddy when I had you, Bella," she told her daughter softly. "He's such a wonderful father to you girls. And I love all three of you," a trace of a smile crossed her lips as she laid a hand on her heavily pregnant belly, "with all my heart."
The little girl scrunched up her nose in thought. "But Daddy said you knew him when you were as little as I was."
Druella sighed. "That's true. Your father was my best friend when I was as young as you." For a moment, she thought she should tell the whole story. But that's not what little girls want to hear.
"I never thought I would love your father. But I do now."
Bellatrix would know when she was older.
When she was eleven, Bellatrix wrote home to her mother.
Mum,
I think you and Father would be happy to know that I've been sorted into Slytherin.
Why were there so many expectations?
I've made lots of friends here. Hogwarts is so exciting. You always told me it would be, but I didn't quite believe you until now. I feel like I can do anything here.
Druella thought she could, too.
Potions is my favorite subject. Professor Slughorn is excellent - I'm learning so much. Professor Dumbledore is everything Father said he'd be. He favors the Mudbloods and Gryffindors, and caught me for a jeer already. I'm going to be much more careful from now on; this is important. I'm just having a little fun.
Her mother knew that's when the trouble would probably start.
Love you both. I'll write again soon.
Bella
"Bellatrix, we need to talk. Now." The fourteen year old turned her head as her mother entered the room. She rolled her eyes.
"Yes, Mum?"
"What's this I hear about you getting in trouble at school? You and the Malfoy boy - an ambush on four first years? Gryffindor and Hufflepuff Muggleborns. You hurt people Bella. That is unacceptable."
"They weren't important," was the nonchalant reply.
"Perhaps in the Noble and Most Ancient House, that's true; and maybe in mine, as well. But as a young girl, I saw my father and mother due unspeakable things. They controlled me to an unreasonable end, and I did not want that for you children. I may not have power over Cygnus, or this family that owns me now, but I have power over you, and I wanted you girls to grow up without those expectations. I do not like Mudbloods, and I don't like that old bat Dumbledore, of course I don't. But I also do not like being abused as a child, being told who I have to marry at thirteen, being expected to raise children who will follow in that exact path. I was fighting as hard as I could to give you girls freedom with our pureblood principles, and you have done this.
"Education, above all else, is what is important. And you are willing to throw yours away."
Bellatrix was silent for a long time. Then she began, "Mum—"
"If I hear of this again, you will not return to Hogwarts." And then she was gone.
Bellatrix felt a wetness on her cheeks that she didn't know was there.
The day after Andromeda left her forever — with love in her heart, true, but Druella would not tolerate it for a Mudblood — Bellatrix came to her mother.
The girl was mature now - she thought - and betrothed now - so she thought she knew what love was - and decided she could make her own decisions - nevermind that Druella had given that right and she had squandered it.
"This," her daughter said, "this is why I ambushed those children. To rid of us tragedies like this. Look what that filth has done to our family. Andy isn't coming back, Mum. Not now, not ever."
The next time she saw her daughter, it was on the front page of the Prophet. Sentenced, to life in Azkaban.
Andromeda left the family.
Narcissa followed in its footsteps.
And Bellatrix never came back. Not then, not ever.
That's when Druella realized that whatever the generation before her believed, and whatever she believed, and whatever her daughters believed — it was wrong all along.