A/N: 30-07-2018

Hello!

So, this story was first posted way back in 2016. It wasn't the best of stories and after getting to chapter 21 I basically forgot to update it for over a year. Looking back on the story there is a fair few things wrong with it, a fair few things I wanted to add/change and just improve it in general. I originally thought I would just update all of the chapters at once when I had managed to edit them all but that doesn't seem to work.

At the moment I have up to chapter 23 written, I will edit and upload each chapter again separately and there may be at least a few days between some of the chapters getting uploaded but I hope the result of this is a much better story and not one that makes me cringe a bit when I read some of the older chapters. I won't be changing the main gist of the story, if you've already read this story previously the main events will stay relatively the same. I am simply editing, adding and hopefully improving the story as I go.

So, enjoy this first rewrite chapter. Please do leave a review if you have a moment as I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks!

The Purple Black

Bellatrix Black was the perfect two-year-old. Well, that was her opinion anyway, not many other people were likely to agree but in her young mind, she didn't care, she was too young to understand that she was not exactly the perfect daughter her parents had hoped she would be. She was in one sense everything she needed to be to her family; a Pureblood. From birth she was told she was special, purely because of the pure blood that ran through her veins. Though as she grew older, when her personality began to show as she could run, play and grasp the concept of speech, her parents quickly realised she was not the perfect obedient child they had hoped she would be. The mere fact she was not a male heir to carry on the name of the House of Black was not the only disappointment she had given them. She was already a handful, hard to discipline, stubborn in her own right and a perfect example of 'the terrible twos'. It was something that her parents had little patience for.

The small raven-haired child sat in the nursery on her own, a china doll replica of herself staring up at her dark eyes as she twisted the thing's hair around her small fingers. But the doll didn't move, it didn't do anything but stare up at her with its glassy stare. Bellatrix craved attention, something her plaything was not giving her. Her mother had told her to stay in the nursery, to play quietly and leave the adults to their tea, but that was boring. She let out a small huff, pulling herself to her feet and hitting down the ruffled skirt of her frilly green dress she turned to stare at the door. She slowly walked over to the door knob, letting out another huff as she frowned at the unusually high door knob as at a mere two and a half foot tall she could barely reach the thing (which was probably her parent's intentions). She jumped a few times, trying to reach the thing despite the hopelessness of the task before she finally let out a frustrated yell of annoyance.

Bellatrix jumped back in shock as the door swung open violently, ready to see her parents coming to tell her off for trying to disobey their orders. But as she shook her head ready to yell that she wasn't going anywhere she realised that there was no-one there. She frowned for a moment, cautiously sticking her head out of the door before a large grin broke out on her face and she jumped out of the nursery, not once thinking that it had been her that had opened the door.

She stopped, looking both ways down the corridor as she tried to decide which direction to go in. It was at that moment in time that she heard the dulcet tones of her father carrying down the long corridor from the main sitting room. Yes, it would probably be wise to stay away from the adults when she was supposed to be hidden in her nursery, to find attention elsewhere (perhaps she could pester the house elf) but Bella was a rebellious child even at such a young age and her curiosity was peaked.

Bella looked down to her dolly, putting her finger on the china dolls lips and making a shushing shape with her mouth before she tip-toed off towards the sound of her parents. Stopping outside the door of the room she now knew the adults to be hiding in.

"You're due soon, aren't you Druella?" the older woman's voice carried out of the room.

Bellatrix wrinkled her nose, it was her Aunt Walburga. Of all of the relatives the young girl had met she had already decided she didn't like her, though Bellatrix didn't like most people very much. But after an incident where Aunt Walburga had pointed out her 'lack of proper posture' to her mother, pushing her shoulder and watching the girl fall over as if proving her point, she had held a particular disdain for her. Her mother had not exactly been happy with her when she had left Grimmauld place that day, unconcerned by the cries of her child as she hit the floor with a thud and more concerned with the fact that she had tried to push the woman straight back.

"Yes, actually I will be 40 weeks next week."

Bellatrix leant against the wall, sliding down to sit with her back against the panelled oak as she sat her doll in her lap. Her mother had been mentioning weeks for a little while now, each week declaring another week as if it was some big deal. She had tried to join in, proudly declaring a number of weeks when her mother had done, though the woman merely rolled her eyes and told her she was wrong.

"Yes, well a Black comes when they want to come." Orion laughed.

"That they will, that they will." Cygnus Black said, a small hint of amusement in his voice.

Bellatrix stood up at the sound of her Uncle's voice, curious to see who else was in there she walked over to the door and peered through the key hole. She could just about see her parents with their backs towards her, her Aunt Walburga, Uncle Orion and the feet of a fifth adult sat on the armchair.

"What names have you thought of?" Aunt Walburga asked.

"Well," Druella took a deep breath as she spoke, "we're decided on Phineas for a boy."

"Naming from the family tree, of course." Orion nodded.

"Yes, but what if you have another girl, brother?" Alphard Black spoke, a hint of smugness in his voice.

"Andromeda," Cygnus said matter of factly. "Don't you look so smug, Alphard. You're yet to even find a wife."

Alphard laughed slightly "I'm happy to live my life with no strings attached at the moment, let you four carry on the Black name for now."

"It's your duty as a Pureblood-" Orion was cut short, he already seemed annoyed.

"Yes yes, I know, to carry on the bloodline." Alphard seemed bored "I'll get around to it one day . . . maybe."

Bella had decided Uncle Alphard was different, not like the rest of the adults. He was one of the few Blacks that had something called a 'job' he worked at the Ministry, something to do with talking to Centaurs (Bellatrix could only remember he did something related to Centaurs as he had recently given her an enchanted toy Centaur for Christmas, which was much to her parents' displeasure as the figurine proceeded to run around the room and shoot arrows into a tapestry. Bellatrix found it hilarious, running after it with joyous glee, until her father decided it was not suited and confiscated the toy).

As the adults droned on about what she decided was boring and uninteresting matters Bella decided she had had enough. She stepped away from the key hole and looked down to her doll, pondering where to go next. It was at that exact moment that the house elf appeared behind her, causing her to fall flat on her bum with a yelp of surprise.

"Stupid elf!" Bellatrix screeched from the floor, it was something she had heard her mother yell many times and was now an instinct for her. She didn't even think about the fact that her cover was now blown.

"Dingle is sorry; Dingle did not mean to frighten Mistress Bellatrix." The small elf whimpered, averting his gaze as the door Bellatrix had previously been leaning on opened.

"Bellatrix!" Cygnus Black snapped at the girl "What are you doing? How did you get out of the Nursery?"

"The door . . ." The answer seemed painfully obvious to the small child, though from the scowl on her fathers face she realised it wasn't the right answer.

"Don't be insolent, how did you open that door? It was locked and you can't reach the handle." Cygnus Black was not amused.

"Oh don't be so harsh on the girl, Cygnus." Alphard sighed.

"Magic?" Bellatrix grinned, it seemed to be answer enough for most of the things she asked her parents so was an automatic response for her.

Cygnus Black stared at the young girl for a few moments before he turned to his family with a smug grin on his face, coming to the conclusion that this was the only logical explanation "Ha! Two years old and already doing magic."

Bellatrix walked over to her mother, the large woman currently smirking where she sat. Bella didn't really understand what was going on with her mother recently. She was usually really skinny and always on her feet doing something or another but now she was really really fat and always sitting down.

"Well done, Bellatrix." Alphard smiled at the girl.

Bellatrix stared at the man for a few moments before a quick nudge of her mothers' foot in her back reminded her of her manners "Thank you . . ."

As the small girl sat up on the seat next to her mother she soon regretted her decision to sneak out of the nursery, it was far more boring sitting in and listening to the adults talk and though she considered getting up for a moment her mothers hand was soon on her knee. She was sure she'd been sat between her mother and father for hours if not days when she was finally carried to her bed and put to sleep.

It was hours later she was awoken in the middle of the night to the sound of an almighty scream.

Her eyes snapped open as she quickly pulled the covers over her head. Was it a banshee? She was sure it was a banshee, her Uncle had only told her about them recently in an old story book. You died if you heard a banshee, didn't you? Bellatrix didn't want to die . . . but she was Bellatrix Black. She wasn't scared of anything.

"Go away! I'm trying to sleep!" the child yelled at the banshee she could not see.

After a few more moments of silence, there was another scream . . . Maybe it was okay to be a tiny bit scared . . . Maybe . . .

Bellatrix Black didn't sleep much at all that night. When she did finally drift off to sleep it felt like no time at all had passed when the wretched house elf was stood over her bed, waking her.

"Mistress, Mistress you need to wake up. Your mother and father have requested you." Dingle squeaked.

With a groan Bellatrix threw the duvet off of her, sliding out of her bed. She rubbed her eyes as she walked over to her door letting out one mighty yawn.

"'Kay." Bellatrix mumbled before she stumbled down the hallway under the elf's guidance, the journey to her parents' bedroom seemed to take forever as she wished she could crawl back into her bed.

She stopped outside her parents' door, ready to push it open before she heard an unfamiliar sound, she couldn't understand what is was but it was quickly stopped by the sound of her mother shushing. With a frown she pushed on the door, huffing and trying again when it would not budge.

"Bellatrix . . ." Cygnus shook his head as the girl fell flat on her face as he opened the door with ease before he picked her up into his arms, walking over to her mother "Meet Andromeda."

Bellatrix frowned with confusion as she was set down on the bed "What's that?"

"That is your little sister, Bellatrix." Druella looked to her first born daughter.

"Oh . . . don't want a sister." Bellatrix said matter-of-factly "Take her back."

"No." Druella did not look amused "She is your younger sister, Bellatrix. She's here to stay. Forever."

Bellatrix frowned as she looked down at the bundle of blankets, she reached out as under her mothers' watchful eye she pulled the blanket away slightly to see the small baby looking up at her. She'd heard of babies before . . . seen one or two . . . they were loud and messy and didn't do much. Andromeda looked nice enough though, she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as the baby girl grabbed her fingers. She pulled them away after a few moments.

"No. My fingers." Bella frowned.

Andromeda Black whimpered as she looked at her sister, her lower lip wobbled for a few moments before she was all out screaming. Bellatrix covered her ears for a few moments before she decided enough was enough and she placed her hand on the child's' mouth. The screaming was muffled for a split second before Druella pushed Bellatrix right off the bed.

"Bellatrix, no!" Druella snarled at the girl as she began shushing the child again.

She received a swift smack around her head as Cygnus glared down at her "Go to your room and stay there."

Bellatrix Black stormed out of the room and ran back to her bed, crying in her pain as tears fell down her cheeks. Bellatrix wasn't sure she liked the new addition to the Black family.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it, please do leave a review if you have a moment or if you have any questions/want to learn more, head on other to my Tumblr (same user as here)

The Purple Black