Spinning

by 8BonnieBlack8

We all know who the Black sisters became but who were they in the beginning? What battles did they face to become the women we know? A story centred around Bellatrix Black, mostly, but also includes her sisters and some other characters.

1. Chapter 1

Spinning

A/N: this is just a little prologue, the rest of the chapters will be longer. Now, I just want to say ahead of time that the ages of the characters in this story are seriously AU and not correct, which I had to do in order to make it all work so I hope it doesn't bother anyone too much.

Also the quote in this story, the one supposedly written by Ophelia Black, is actually based on a quote by Elbert Hubbard. In short, I read his quote wrong and thought it went like this and it really didn't. But I like it this way for the story so I'm not going to change it.

Disclaimer: the characters do not in any way belong to me and are in fact the property of J.K. Rowling.

"As long as the world is turning and spinning, we're gonna be dizzy and we're gonna make mistakes."

Mel Brooks

There's an old autograph book lying in the toy box back at home, I'd stuffed it down there one evening, burried beneath cloths and blankets and toys so that Walburga would never get her greedy hands on it (it was a family heirloom and she'd wanted it from day one).

At the back of the book, in tiny scrawling handwriting that was almost impossible to read was a quote written by one of my ancestors, Ophelia Black. The first thing that drew me to this page was the connection – Ophelia was my middle name – but the second was the utter fascination of the quote above.

Die, v: To stop spinning suddenly.

When I was younger I used to test this theory out, twirling and twirling around in miniscule circles that gradually grew larger and larger. I'd spin and spin to the point where I almost couldn't feel the ground beneath me, to the point where I thought I was flying.

And then, suddenly, I would stop. I'd have a split second of recognition before I would tumble, falling back until I hit the ground. Dazed I'd stare up at the sky, my vision a blue of colours and lights. By then everything had stopped, my feet, the ground, the wind but in my head I was still spinning.

Dizzyingly, a thought would echo in my head – 'So, this is what it feels like to die'.

It wasn't so bad.