Summary: The only things they have in common are their surname and Hogwarts house. They look different, they act differently, and they view the theory of blood superiority and Voldemort's ideals differently. And now, the Black sisters are here, to tell you their stories.
SPOILER WARNING: DEATHLY HALLOWS
A/N: Dolohov is the only Death Eater who, in canon, assists in the deaths of the Prewett brothers. I went out on a whim with that one. Also, it's not canon that Bellatrix killed Marlene McKinnon, Edgar Bones or Ted Tonks - though it is canon that she killed Tonks - but instead, that is my twist on the story.
Black: Bellatrix's Story
How?
That's all I can think.
How did she do it?
How did that blood traitor wench, Molly Prewett Weasley, manage to defeat me, Bellatrix Black Lestrange, the Dark Lord's best lieutenant?
It must have been a fluke. There is no chance on this earth that I could possibly have been defeated by a Prewett.
Then again, her brothers did put up a good fight, all those years ago.
Gideon and Fabian, the redhead twins. It was shortly after they left Hogwarts that I succeeded in killing them - admittedly, Rodolphus, Rabastan, Antonin Dolohov and Augustus Rookwood were there too, but I did most of the work, taking them both down at the same time. The Dark Lord had rewarded me well when he learned of what I had done…
I had certainly never expected Prewett to be able to hold her own in a duel against me. Then again, it was obviously a fluke that she was able to kill me - she caught me off my guard, after all … I'd been easy on her, taking pity. I knew she didn't have a chance … she just got in a good shot, caught me at a weak angle, that was all…
But I suppose she is proof that one should never come between a mother and her children.
All my life, I have housed the beliefs that Muggles and Mudbloods are scum. Why shouldn't I? It's perfectly true, and everyone knows it. They view us as freaks, they hunt us down, tie us to stakes and burn us … they should be kneeling at our feet, worshipping us. We are the superior race. They are inferior, and do not deserve to feel otherwise. Mudbloods do not deserve to have the powers that we purebloods have … they have stolen their magic from worthy people, who do deserve the wonders of magic, and the power to use it in the correct ways.
Of course, you come across families that believe otherwise … the Potters, Longbottoms, Weasleys, McKinnons, Boneses and Prewetts are six examples of this. They are just pathetic excuses for wizards and witches, as bad as Muggles and Mudbloods themselves. They cavort with Mudbloods and Muggles on a daily basis … take Arthur Weasley as an example. He used to work in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office. Puhlease. Those good-for-nothing filthy worthless wastes of space deserve all that's coming to them, and nothing less.
But the Black family, the mighty Black family, is one of the most honoured and noted families of the century, and quite rightly so. Our family houses many magnificent people, who have done wonders for the Dark Lord's cause, and before him, Grindelwald's cause.
Like all families, however, ours has seen a few outcasts, though they have always been dealt with quickly. Take my sister, Andromeda. She married a filthy Mudblood, Ted Tonks, and even went on to have a child with him! She was disowned, of course. Honestly, how she could even think him worthy of her attention, let alone of being her husband, and as for giving birth to his spawn (who, incidentally, was sorted into Hufflepuff, of all houses) … it makes me shiver even to think of it.
Then we have my ever so wonderful cousin, Sirius. Wonderful? Ha! Everything but. He always did befriend Muggles, the idiotic blood traitor. And then, off he goes to Hogwarts, and gets sorted into Gryffindor. The house of blood traitors and Muggle lovers. And, sure enough, who does he befriend, but James Potter and Remus Lupin! James Potter, son of the biggest Muggle-loving couple I have ever come across, and who married a mudblood? Remus Lupin, the half-blooded, half-breed werewolf? It doesn't even bear thinking about. At least he had the sense to befriend Peter Pettigrew, who became a Death Eater himself … but that gormless idiot didn't manage to influence Sirius one bit.
It soon became obvious that Sirius was a lost cause. He was blasted off the family tree by Aunt Walburga the moment he ran off to the Potters'. And I had the honour of finishing him off. One of my greatest triumphs, if I do say so myself…
I've always been taught that Muggles and Mudbloods are scum. I can't remember a single day that Father didn't hammer it into my head that they were inferior to us. I fully agreed with him. He also taught me that I would marry once I'd left Hogwarts, and they would choose my husband. I was to have children with him, and this would keep the pureblood line going.
I didn't really get on with Narcissa. She always was the hopeless, quiet, romantic type. She tended to follow the lead of others, never standing up for herself and what she believed in. She believed that people married for love, and that children were proof of this love. That was a belief that originated from those soppy romance novels she read.
Andromeda, on the other hand, was my best friend in childhood. The two of us were so alike … both bold, born leaders, not afraid to stand up for what we believed in. Yet where I was reckless, she was rational, and because of that, the two of us just fitted together, like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Wherever one of us was, the other would be found not far off. It was always us two: Bella and Dromeda. Dromeda and Bella. Many people believe that Death Eaters cannot love, but I have loved in my life. I loved my sister Andromeda more than anyone else in the world. She was my rock, my companion, and I was never without her.
Of course, when I was eleven, I had to leave for Hogwarts. I was excited; obviously I was - finally, a chance to perform magic openly, to be able to show off about what I already knew, to have people fall at my feet because I was a Black … of course they would. Who wouldn't? Everyone worshipped the Black family. We were - and still are - a mightily superior family.
But the one thing I wasn't looking forward to, the one thing I dreaded, was leaving Dromeda behind. We had never been apart before, and I was worried that she would find it hard without me at home. She would only have Narcissa as company, and the two were like chalk and cheese…
But off I went, confident that I'd make … not friends, but acquaintances … with other Slytherins. For of course I'd be a Slytherin. There was no question about it … I was, and always will be, a Slytherin through and through.
I met many worthy people during my first few years at Hogwarts; people who became my fellow Death Eaters once we left school. These included my future husband, Rodolphus Lestrange, Lucius, the Carrows, Yaxley, Dolohov, Rookwood … people worthy of knowing.
Andromeda started her First Year at Hogwarts as I started my Third. I was really looking forward to introducing her to the others in Slytherin, and vice versa … I was very proud to have a younger sister who looked up to me. She, of course, was in Slytherin too, and soon became impressed with the name I had made for myself at Hogwarts.
At first, she behaved very well, making friends with all the right people, becoming one of Sluggy's favourites … but soon, she began overstepping the line. By my Fifth Year, she was talking with Gryffindors. The Ravenclaws, I could handle - some of them were honourable purebloods themselves - but Gryffindors?
Unfortunately, it was a while before I could talk to Dromeda - Narcissa had started Hogwarts, and Mother wanted me to look after her. But my chance soon came … I will never forget that day … the day when my relationship with Dromeda changed forever…
"What are you doing, consorting with such blood traitor filth?"
"Don't call them that! They're nice people, Bella!"
"Nice? Nice? They're disgusting, unworthy, filthy blood traitors and Mudbloods! The Black family never consorts with people like them! They're not even worthy of our glare upon them, let alone your friendship! Ditch them now, Dromeda. They're not good for you-"
"Oh, stop talking about things you don't know about, Bellatrix. There's no difference between them and me. Just keep out of my business."
With that she stormed away. It was the first time Dromeda had ever called me Bellatrix. That killed me inside, because I knew I was losing her.
So I did the first thing that came to my mind.
I went up to Dromeda's boyfriend, that filthy Mudblood Ted Tonks, and told her that I'd been sent to tell him he was dumped. He looked crushed, the pathetic fool … he was never worthy to even ask her out. It served him right.
But Dromeda wasn't happy. She wasn't happy at all.
"I HATE YOU, BELLATRIX BLACK!"
Those words have haunted me ever since.
She hated me. My sister, my best friend, hated me. And all I had been doing was looking out for her. I had her best interests at heart, even if she didn't…
I made a vow then to never love anyone, whether it was friendly love, sisterly love or true love. All love did was hurt people; what was the point? Love made people weak anyway. It had taken me a week to get over Andromeda's words. And falling in love with Lucius had made Narcissa a hopeless wreck… it just wasn't worth it.
After my argument with Andromeda, I was even more determined to hurt the blood traitors and Mudbloods that had torn my sister away from me. I threw myself into my Dark Arts studies, and became determined to join the Dark Lord.
I also turned my concentration to Narcissa, making sure that she would not turn out the same way as Andromeda did. And sure enough, she made me proud of her, by befriending other respectable people. Admittedly, her obsession for Lucius irked me somewhat, but I could not help that - and at least he was a pureblood, not Mudblood filth like that Tonks guy who had his hands all over my other sister - for he had taken Andromeda back.
Finally, the day I returned home after my Sixth Year, my dream came true. The Dark Lord burned his mark upon my left forearm. It hurt rather a bit, but I never once cringed. I like pain. And such a beautiful mark it was … and final proof of my devotion to the Dark Lord and his cause.
A small part of me hoped that Andromeda would be proud of me, for what I had done, but when she found out, her words were less than pleasing…
"You've really disappointed me, Bellatrix. I never thought you'd sink so low."
Merlin, had she changed. A few years before, she'd have been proud of me … I felt so angry with both myself and her when she told me what she thought. I'd rather she'd yelled at me, instead of tell me in that cold, quiet voice of hers how disappointed she was. It was a complete blow, and at that point, all hope I had that Andromeda would come back to the right side dissipated.
Of course, Mother and Father were disgusted with her for her actions, and shunned her all summer. But she wasn't disowned … that was to come later.
The Dark Lord began tutoring me privately in Dark magic that summer. It was an amazing experience … every lesson, we would hunt down a Muggle, and I would perform Dark spells on it. The Cruciatus curse always was my favourite … watching someone writhe on the floor in pain … screaming for mercy … knowing that I had the power to cause someone this pain …
The Imperius curse was another of my favoured curses. It was always amusing, watching Muggles jumping off cliffs, drowning themselves, hanging themselves … I once ordered a Muggle to cut itself open. It was pure entertainment, to say the least.
I never really liked the Killing curse. Oh, don't get me wrong, killing people gave me such a rush of adrenaline … and a sense of power … I loved it, but there was no pain involved. I wanted to inflict pain upon my victims, and the Killing curse just never did the job for me. So I stuck to my Cruciatus, and tortured my victims before killing them.
I will always remember the last time I saw Andromeda. It was my last day at Hogwarts. She came up to me, with that good-for-nothing boyfriend of hers, and told me, in an icy voice, that she hoped I was happy with myself, because she certainly wasn't.
By that point, though, nothing she said to me could hurt me. I didn't give a damn about Andromeda any more. She was no longer my sister.
My parents betrothed me to Rodolphus shortly after we left Hogwarts. It was always the fashion to marry into other pureblood families, to earn more respect. I never loved Rodolphus … goodness, I couldn't stand the man. I put my foot down firmly when it came to children … I didn't care if Rodolphus wanted an heir. I was not going to allow myself to be hampered by a bratty, screaming child.
Having left Hogwarts, I was able to do more for the Dark Lord's cause, and therefore began to earn his trust and respect. I was free, free from the chains that bound me to the castle, free from the watchful eyes of the teachers, free to do as I pleased, free to follow my Lord, a proud follower. The missions he gave me became gradually more important and he rewarded me well, when I succeeded.
One of my greatest achievements was bringing down the McKinnon family. The Marlene bitch was a fair dueller, and determined to stand up for what i she /i believed … utter filth, all of it … but, of course, with my skill and expertise, I was able to bring her down.
I was also proud of my success in killing Edgar Bones and his family. He, too, was a very determined dueller, but I managed to defeat him. The Order of the Phoenix arrived too early, in that raid … we were almost flattened ourselves, thanks to Lucius's foolish rash acts, but I got us all out of that scrape.
But I am most proud of defeating the Prewett twins. Gideon and Fabian had been hampering our missions for a long time, and the Dark Lord was more proud of me than words can express when he heard of the good news. That night, I was rewarded beyond my wildest dreams…
It seemed unreal, what was happening. The Dark Lord was steadily gaining power, the Ministry of Magic and the Order of the Phoenix hopelessly attempting, yet failing, to defeat us. My name became known worldwide, spoken of with terror, fright, fear … it truly was wonderful. I was finally receiving the respect I, as a member of the House of Black, truly deserved.
It was, however, turning into a completely different story for my sister Narcissa. She had reached the point whereby she was trapped, ensnared in Lucius's home, with nowhere to turn, nowhere to run to, nothing to do but nurse Lucius's heir.
It was falling in love with Lucius that did it. Love? Ha! Pathetic. Narcissa always was the dreamy type, though. She was betrothed to Lucius, for the same reasons that I was to Rodolphus, but she kidded herself into believing they were marrying for love, the fool. She was never branded; never became a proper Death Eater. Instead, she was left to become a housewife, with nothing to do but nurse Lucius's heir and act his slave, deprived of the thrills of being a proper Death Eater. How could anyone enjoy that kind of life?
I often told her where she had gone wrong in life, that she should not be so meek, she should stand up to Lucius and fulfil her own dreams, become a Death Eater, fight like I did. She refused, declaring that she was fulfilling her dreams. She was married to the man of her dreams, was very much in love and had a beautiful son with him. There was nothing more that she desired in life; she was perfectly content with staying at home.
What a load of Gryffindor tosh.
From what I'd heard, Andromeda had, by this time, married that Tonks fool, despite her betrothment to Antonin Dolohov. She had even had a daughter with the Mudblood … well, that was her name off the family tree. She never joined the Order of the Phoenix, though, which surprised me … I had expected that she would.
But despite all I'd been through in my life, nothing could have prepared me for that Halloween. The thirty-first of October, 1981.
I received word of the Dark Lord's defeat by a mere child from Lucius. I refused to believe it at first, but it soon became clear that it was the truth.
Death Eaters were being arrested, left, right and centre. Dolohov, Travers and Rookwood were three of them. I was one of the few Death Eaters who successfully evaded capture and imprisonment in the immediate aftermath of the Dark Lord's fall.
Many more of the Dark Lord's supporters fled, or claimed that they had never supported him. Lucius was one of them. Pathetic, back-stabbing wimps. I was dying to hunt them down and torture them for betraying the Dark Lord.
But I had other business to see to.
Rodolphus and I knew that the Dark Lord had been hunting down the Longbottoms at the same time as the Potters. He had obviously viewed the two families as threats, and wanted to kill them before they ruined him - perfectly understandable; the Potters and Longbottoms both were always wimpy mudblood lovers - the Evans wench was a Mudblood herself.
To put it bluntly, it was obvious that the Longbottoms knew what had happened to the Dark Lord, where he was now, and how to bring him back. He was not dead, he was not gone forever, it was impossible. The Dark Lord was invincible; he could not have been killed by a mere half-blood!
Rabastan and Barty Crouch joined Rodolphus and me in hunting down Frank and Alice Longbottom. We were the only ones willing to actually do something to aid the Dark Lord.
We never intended to torture the Longbottoms into insanity … not that it was much of a tragedy that we did. We had only meant to torture them until they gave us some worthy information. Of course, the idiots refused to say anything, so we continued … and we drove them too far. Well, they were useless after that; they weren't going to be able to tell us anything. So we figured we'd just leave them and go.
And then, horror of horrors … the Aurors arrested us.
I was not afraid of being charged and sent to Azkaban. I was not a traitor. I was proud to admit to have been a devoted supporter of the Dark Lord's, and more than willing to go to Azkaban; it merely proved how important and devoted a supporter I had been. I stated this in my trial. No, I was ashamed of myself, for allowing myself to have been arrested in the first place. I was Bellatrix Black, the Dark Lord's most important follower. I was invincible, untouchable, undefeatable … yet they had caught me. I was only ashamed of my lack of security, which had led me straight into the Aurors' arms.
Azkaban was infamous. We had all heard dreadful stories about it - about the cold, miserable atmosphere that the Dementors caused, about the misery, and the people that were driven mad in there.
I was haunted in Azkaban. Haunted by Andromeda's words.
"I HATE YOU, BELLATRIX BLACK!"
"You've really disappointed me, Bellatrix. I never thought you'd sink so low."
"I hope you're bloody happy with yourself, Bellatrix, because I most definitely am not."
I don't remember much of my years in Azkaban. All I remembered were the last three things Andromeda said to me, repeated over and over again.
There wasn't really that much to do in Azkaban, believe it or not … sitting on the cell floor, counting the number of days I'd been in there using the tally I'd marked on my wall was my favourite pastime.
5206 days, I was in that prison for. Fourteen years and three months. I never once lost faith in the Dark Lord. I knew that one day he would come and rescue me…
That day was one of the happiest of my life. Being able to feel the wind and rain on my face … to smell the grass and trees … to forget Andromeda's words forever…
Now, I was free again, to serve the Dark Lord as he rose to power once more.
My first task was to await Potter's presence at the Department of Mysteries in June that year, along with eleven other Death Eaters. Lucius was, for some reason unknown to me, appointed as leader. I often wondered why I wasn't awarded with this position. I would have done a much better job than Lucius, who completely bungled things up. By the end of the night, Rodolphus, Rabastan, Dolohov, Rookwood, Mulciber and Jugson found themselves back in Azkaban, with Lucius, Nott, Crabbe, Macnair and Avery, all unable to worm their way out of this, joining them. I was the only Death Eater skilled enough to evade capture. I even succeeded in killing my good-for-nothing cousin along the way, to my delight. Potter's reaction was more than worth it … watching him attempt to cast the Cruciatus curse was especially amusing.
The Dark Lord then assigned young Draco to kill that old fool, Dumbledore. Needless to say, I was rather shocked at first, until it became apparent that it was merely to punish Lucius for his complete failure. Narcissa, however, did not take this mission at all well, and, to my fury, sought out Severus Snape's advice and comfort. Snape? I ask you … why not ask me to do something about it? The Dark Lord would have heard me out, I was, especially after the Battle at the Department of Mysteries, his most loyal and devoted supporter! But no, Cissy went crawling off to Snape, the last person I would have trusted with anything. Where was the proof that he was ever loyal to the Dark Lord? And then, fool of all fools, to top it all off, Narcissa forced Snape to make an Unbreakable Vow. Well, I guess his willingness was proof that he might not have been quite the double-crosser I had thought him to be, but that was still not proof enough.
For the rest of that year and the first half of the next, the Dark Lord was remarkably quiet. Now his return had been publicly acknowledged and most of his Death Eaters were in Azkaban, all he had left to do was sit and wait for Draco (or Snape, as it turned out) to kill Dumbledore. Until then, he could do nothing else.
Finally, in June of that year, Snape succeeded in doing what Draco had been unable to, and the Dark Lord was able to make his move. With the Dementors on his side, we broke the rest of the Death Eaters - all those imprisoned the year before, along with those that hadn't been broken out when I had, such as Travers - from Azkaban, attempted to hijack Potter on his way to a safe-house - as a result of that, Alastor Moody was killed - and took over the Ministry, taking down Scrimgeour on the way.
For the next few months, I was kept busy. One of my proudest moments was the murder of Ted Tonks, that filthy mudblood who had tainted our family tree.
There was, however, a split second where Andromeda's face appeared in my head … and yet again, I remembered her words … she looked and sounded so disappointed … and it hit me, what I had done … I had killed the man my sister loved…
But then, that moment was gone. I didn't care about Andromeda any more, why should her reaction to her husband's death bother me?
And then came that day … the day when the Dark Lord called all the Death Eaters to Hogwarts. We were to fight to kill. And Merlin, did I step up to that challenge.
It was brilliant. Not long into the battle, I murdered my darling niece, Nymphadora, as she was crying over the body of her dearly beloved dead husband, that good-for-nothing werewolf Lupin, who finally got what he deserved for tainting my cousin's mind.
Just as I was getting into the swing of things, the Dark Lord called us all back. We were to go into the forest, he said, and await the appearance of Potter. He would appear, he said … Potter's weakness always was love … he never did like people dying for him…
Sure enough, he arrived. And the Dark Lord killed him. For the boy nicknamed the 'Chosen One', he didn't exactly fight for his life…
We confronted the survivors left at Hogwarts. They should have bowed down to us, the filthy blood traitors … but they didn't. So, as a punishment, we carried on fighting, the Dark Lord joining us … he was enraged at the death of his snake, Nagini … that Longbottom idiot beheaded the creature. The Dark Lord always was fond of her…
I was soon duelling the mudblood Granger and the blood traitors Lovegood and the Weasley girl - all three at once, of course. They were nothing compared to me and my skill…
But then, my Killing curse narrowly avoided the Weasley girl, and Merlin, did that enrage Prewett. The death of her darling Freddie was obviously still sore … and before I knew, her curse had struck me.
I do not regret being killed. For I know that I have died for the Greater Good … fighting beside my Lord, for what is right…
I wonder if Andromeda cares about my death.
She probably doesn't. I killed her worthless husband and daughter, after all…
Why do I even care?
After all, I have nothing to worry about now. For I know, deep in my heart, that I will be rewarded by the Dark Lord beyond anything I have ever imagined in my wildest dreams … and I shall be by his side forevermore. For, when I received the Dark Mark, I pledged my allegiance to the Dark Lord forever, and even in death, my support for the Dark Lord shall not waver. I shall remain by his side forever, and I shall always be remembered, as the Dark Lord's most loyal, trusted and beloved supporter, Bellatrix Black Lestrange.