Author's Note: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the Harry Potter characters. I mean no disrespect to J.K. Rowling, I only want to write the backstories of one of my favorite characters, Bellatrix Lestrange. Please R&R!
Darker than Black
Chapter 1: Black Reunions
Bellatrix Black arrived home after dark that night. The Black Mansion was exquisitely decorated for the Christmas Holiday, with icicles hanging from the ceiling of the foyer complete with snowflakes bewitched to lightly fall and disappear before they spoiled the marble floors.
"Oh, this is much prettier than the Great Hall" commented Narcissa. "Don't you agree, Bella?"
Bellatrix wasn't one to notice beauty much, but she quickly agreed. Her younger sister's comment supported her thoroughly unimpressed opinion of Hogwarts in her first 5 years. Although arrogant in her ways, she was delightfully unaware of her dark, gamine beauty from her slender figure to the thick dark curls of black hair that occasionally obscured her face.
Andromeda was a few feet behind, trailing off as always, Bellatrix noted. Andromeda had become distant in her 3rd Year at Hogwarts; although she too was in Slytherin, she began to hang around an awful Hufflepuff boy. How ridiculous, mused Bellatrix.
For all of their differences, Andromeda and Bellatrix looked shockingly similar. Andromeda was younger and therefore slightly shorter than Bellatrix, but upon first glance they could have been twins. The only significant physical difference between them were their eyes; Bellatrix had deep set, heavy lidded, brown eyes while Andromeda's eyes matched Narcissa's in their blue brilliance.
Narcissa significantly stood out in the presence of her two older sisters; not only was she the youngest and the smallest, she had long, stick straight hair that was so blond it was almost white. Her bright blue eyes demonstrated a pure beauty in contrast with Bellatrix's severity.
They had been picked up at King's Cross by Kreacher, one of the black family house elves, and directed to a portkey that transported them right outside the gates of the Black Mansion property. They waited in the foyer for Kreacher to join them with their luggage, which Bellatrix ordered for him to put away in the girls' bedrooms. As he disappeared once more, Druella Black appeared in the doorway that led into the parlour.
"Welcome home my loves!" Druella elegantly hurried over to her three daughters. "How are my lovely daughters?" In appearance, Druella most resembled Andromeda with the sole exception that she shared Bellatrix's heavy eyelids and deep-set eyes. Her dark hair was swept elegantly to the side. "Cygnus, dear, come see who's here."
Mr. Black stepped in from the parlour to greet his daughters. He had dark eyes just like Bellatrix, but shared no real connection with the family as his manner was haughty and removed. "Indeed, my dear." He went over to inspect the three girls. "Bellatrix, straighten up, we mustn't have you slouch. Hold your head up high like a true Black." Bellatrix made the required amends to her posture, glaring at her father. Her father never wrote to any of them all term, caring about them only as extensions of the House of Black. "Andromeda dear, do try not to sulk so. There that's better." Andromeda was disappointed that she would be the only one of her newly found circle of friends at Hogwarts that was not staying for the holidays. "And Narcissa, my sweet, looking beautiful as always" he said, lightly touching her blonde hair while half of his mouth curved into a smile. It was no secret that Narcissa was his favourite. Her exquisitely traditional beauty would make her easy to marry off into the right family. His older two he worried about.
Over dinner the spotlight was on Narcissa again, with Druella exclaiming how proud they were that she was sorted into Slytherin house.
After eating, the girls were sent up to their rooms for bed. Narcissa raced to get ahead of Andromeda and to catch up with Bellatrix. "Bella!" she exclaimed as she reached her.
"What is it then, Cissy? I'm tired and I want to go to bed." Bellatrix yawned pointedly.
"Bella – I'm glad we're back home for our holiday. It's so nice, isn't it?"
"Andromeda doesn't seem to think so," Bellatrix said, shooting a glare over her shoulder. "Whassa matter, ickle 'Dromeda misses her littwe Hufflypuff boyfriend?" Bellatrix mocked in her baby voice.
"He's NOT my boyfriend!" exclaimed Andromeda, all too sharply.
"Is that so?" Bellatrix's face went from being playful from her mocking to severely dark in a moment.
"Yeah," replied Andromeda, in a softer tone. "And another thing – stop bullying me all the time! You're always bullying people. It's not nice."
Bellatrix stepped closer to Andromeda, staring at her in the eyes until she came right up to her face. "If I were you, I'd watch out who I hung around with. Don't want people to get the wrong ideas. You're a Black after all."
"You sound just like father" quipped Andromeda as she marched off to bed, a lot more confidently than she felt inside. There was a quality in her older sister that disquieted her a great deal.
As she got ready for bed, Bellatrix couldn't get Andromeda's last comment out of her head. She wasn't like her father, she hoped. Vain, insensitive, and separated, her father left their mother to raise his daughters, and yet he interjected and set his foot down whenever he felt like it. Bellatrix tripped over one of her books in anger. "Bloody hell" she mumbled. This holiday, they were going to go visit their cousins. But her father didn't want them to be around a bad influence such as Sirius. Bellatrix was particularly disappointed, because she had been looking forward to spend time with her favourite cousin, Regulus. Sirius, that foul git, had ruined everything. What a fool to be sorted into Gryffindor, and running around with his stupid friends. A disgrace to the family! She made a mental note to get him back.
It made her sick to see the way her mother obeyed her father without question. Bellatrix knew she was smarter and better at magic than any boy in her year, and hoped that she would never be expected to grovel for an inferior man like that. She just wouldn't be able to live with herself if she did.