Disclaimer: Don't own a thing.
In my mind Bella was born Jan 58, Andy Aug 58, Siri Sept 59, Reggie Feb 61, Cissa May 61, and Nymphadora Aug 73. (It fits the details in the story)
Mad. Crazy. Insane. Pureblood Fanatic. These were just a few of the things that people thought of when they thought of her. But no one really knew who she was, no one at all.
January 1958
Cygnus Black was relaxing in his magnificent leather chair sipping firewhiskey in euphoria. His wife was bearing his firstborn this very moment, his son, the first of his generation to carry on the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black.
"My Lord, the baby is come," it was one of the midwives.
"Bring him to me." Cygnus was obviously pleased, but that soon changed.
"Sir?" The voice was almost quivering.
"Yes, what is it?"
"It's just that the baby, well, it's that the baby isn't a – isn't a him, the baby is a girl." After she stopped speaking she left the room quickly and quietly.
"A girl, a girl, A GIRL, how did that happen, my firstborn is supposed to be male!" Cygnus was livid to say the least. His wife must have done something for he could not have fathered a female when he was in need of a son. With every passing second he was losing his control and suddenly the curtains burst into flame and the room began to shake with his growing rage.
When Andy and Cissa were born he didn't react with such hostility, but then again they weren't supposed to be sons.
August 1969
"You'd better live up to your name. If you sully it you will be the undoing of one of the most respected wizarding families. I hope you can deal with the pressure that comes with being a Black, if you even suspect that you cannot, let me know of your failure now." Cygnus was talking to his eldest daughter in her room just a week before she would be going to Hogwarts for the first time. He wouldn't let her be weak.
"No, father, I am not a failure, I will excel and try to make you proud." Bella always tried but somehow never was good enough, even at eleven she knew that fact well, it had been ingrained in her since she could remember.
"Trying means nothing to me, you either will or won't. Keep an eye on your sister, too. She is your responsibility and if anything happens to her it will be on your head, understand?" Bella nodded her head. "Good, now go with your mother and Andromeda to Diagon Alley and get your school supplies, you only have one more week before you leave, make sure everything is taken care of." And with that Cygnus turned and left, without ever speaking a kind word.
In all her life her father would smile and laugh with Andy and dote on Cissa while frowning with continuous disappointment on the one who looked like him the most.
July 1970
Andy was practicing potions, she really liked making things that could help, she usually made healing draughts to give to her sister after their father had too much firewhiskey and too spent too much time with his brother-in-law and nephews. This morning she was making a new batch, the night before, her father came home in a drunken stupor and Andy heard Bella's screams until just a few hours ago. Bella just laid there on the bed without saying a word or shedding a tear.
As was the custom, Bella was betrothed the Christmas before her 13th birthday, a 6th year Slytherin named Rodolphus Lestrange. With the ceremony she was bound to him in every way possible, she was his, to do with as he pleased.
February 1971
"Bella, come to my room tonight." Rodolphus whispered to her as he whizzed past on his way to the Quidditch pitch. She was sitting with a few girls from her divination class and was taken aback; it was the first time since the betrothal that he had spoken to her. She was nervous and spent the rest of the day in room, electing not to go to class or to dinner.
At 10pm she climbed the stairs to his room and saw not only her betrothed but also a 16-yr-old Lucius Malfoy, a member of one of the only families that could ever hope to rival her own. As soon as she saw him she tried to leave but the door was jammed shut.
"Why do you want to leave, Bella? This should be a happy occasion; your betrothed has summoned you to consummate the engagement." Lucius' voice was as icy as it ever had been.
"He is my betrothed, not you, I don't want you here, leave!" Bella tried to use her most intimidating voice but it came out little more than a whimper. In her mind she was no longer at Hogwarts but back at the Black Manor being 'punished' by her father, and she faired no better that night in the hands of Lestrange and Malfoy.
Later that year Andy was betrothed to Lucius but that did not stop him from sharing Bella with Rodolphus, in fact he let Rodolphus share Andy.
Christmas 1971
"Bella, I love your parents' party, but don't you want to do something – I don't know – fun?" Lucius was pressed up against Bella underneath the large stone staircase where no one could see them, although it would not have made any difference if they could. "I know, why don't we go to your room," and with that he half led, half carried the unyielding eldest Black child to her torment which had become a nightly ritual for the past year.
When they got to the room Andy was tied to the satin clad four-poster bed, she was sobbing and Bella could see all that Lucius was planning for the night.
"You see her lying there, she's wailing before I even touch her, although I think it would be appropriate to let your betrothed have his Christmas gift now." He hit Andy with a crucio and her screams suddenly filled the room. "That's exactly what I like to hear; you had to know that this would happen eventually." Bella was kicking and fighting Lucius, she would not sit back and let him torture her little sister.
But she could do nothing, Lucius magically bound her still and he and Rodolphus went about torturing Andy until late the next evening. Eventually she stopped crying and made sounds lower than that of a dying cat, they had broken her and Bella could do nothing to stop them, a feeling she could never shake the rest of her life.
Ever since that night Andy had changed dramatically. She no longer enjoyed the things that once lit her up and withdrew further and further away from her family, to the point where she even stopped speaking to everyone, even Bella.
1 Week Before Christmas 1973
Bella got back to her room late that night. She dropped the gold bracelet, her portkey, and saw Andy staring out the window. Bella immediately knew that something was very wrong, even for their fucked up lives. "Andy, what's wrong?"
Andy instantly tensed and waves of emotional pain crashed upon her face. "I'm pregnant, Bella, I'm pregnant and I don't know what to do, I'm not even 15, I'm a goddamn fourth year, I can't believe this is happening to me. I hate my life, I hate mum, dad, Rodolphus, Lucius, I hate this whole fucking universe. I don't know how you can stand it Bella, dad treats you like shit but you are still stronger than me, I can't have this baby, I can't." She was growing hysterical and almost woke the three other girls in the dorm.
"Andy, calm down." Bella quickly assumed the role of big sister and protector, "you will be fine but you can't get rid of the baby, it will kill you, remember Lucius put a spell on you protecting his seed from all threats, an abortion won't work."
"I'll go to a muggle clinic, they'll do it sans magic, it'll be…"
"…a failure, it won't work and you know it. But I know how you can protect the child and yourself. Find a seventh year and sleep with him, that way he'll think you're having his kid and will marry you after graduation. I'll fight off Lucius, tell him that I undid the spell he put on you. That is the only way, Andy, if you want to leave him you have to do as I say." Andy looked shocked, her sister was here telling her to become a whore, to deceive an innocent wizard just to save herself and the child of her tormentor.
"I can't do it, who would even choose to marry me; they'd just give in to Malfoy."
"Let me think, there are some pureblood Ravenclaws and Gryffindors, hell even some that have graduated that would take care of you and that wouldn't flinch at the bastard. There's Gideon or Fabian Prewett, they'd be perfect. I'll arrange for us to meet them and make the necessary potions to get the desired results." And with that Bella hurried off to make the date, something she was sure she would be able to do.
Christmas Day
"Where the hell were you last night, we waited for you for hours. Fabian went home alone when he was supposed to be with you, now you'll be stuck with Lucius." Bella was extremely agitated and nervous about what would happen
"No I won't be stuck with him. I am going to marry someone else before he even knows that I'm pregnant." Andy was surprising calm given her situation.
"What, who then?"
"He's a 7th Year Gryffindor by the name of Ted Tonks."
"Tonks?!? That's a muggle name, you slept with a mudblood and now you're going to marry him. You must be out of your mind, they'll disown you, and Lucius will kill him, there's no point in doing that." Bella couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"Lucius won't kill him, he can defend himself. He's really nice and I can trust him, he'll be a good husband."
"That doesn't matter, you will have nothing if you marry him, nothing, do you understand that?" Bella was almost hysterical.
"I know good and well that I will be disowned but the alternative is a lifetime of virtual slavery, I can't stand that."
"Then you'll cease being a Black, you'll be blasted off the family tree and no one will ever speak to you again." She was trying to get her sister to come around, Fabian would be a good husband and the Prewetts were a long established wizarding family.
"Then I guess you include yourself in that as well, I'll never see you again either. I'm not as strong as you Bella. I can't take all that you can take, I would die and I have more than just myself to think of now, it's my child's life that I need to consider, if that includes losing you too then so be it." She was crying, she didn't want to lose her family but she had no other choice.
"Andy, you know what you are doing then, I won't shun you but mum and dad will and the rest of Slytherin, you might want to switch houses." Bella was speaking the truth. "When are you going to tell mum and dad?"
"I'll tell Ted that I'm pregnant next month and we'll get married. When that happens, I will owl mum and dad and as you said 'cease being a Black.' That should be by March or April." Andy had no intention of ever telling anyone the truth, not Ted, not Lucius, not even the child itself. "You have to promise me that you won't ever say a word of what's happened to anyone."
"I know, Andy, I know." Bella conceded defeat, she didn't want to lose a sister so she would help in any way that she could.
When Andy told her parents what happened, her mother Walburga wept as if she had died and Cygnus forced Bella to blast her name off the family tree. Lucius Malfoy was furious and demanded Cissa as a replacement, something that they readily agreed upon to keep the ordeal quiet. Lucius, however, took his rage out on Bella and kept a close watch on Cissa.