Bellatrix Black. Seventeen. Just out of Hogwarts.
She had returned from her final year of school recently, but already the thoughts were brewing in her mind of what she was going to do next. With school, Hogwarts, friends, her sisters, out of her way… Bella was free to do as she pleased.
Of course, her mother did want her to learn more about the Dark Arts, and marry a certain Rodolphus Lestrange, but Bellatrix's plans did not include any of these trivial things. She felt like she'd already mastered plenty enough of the Dark Arts over her years of sneaking out to the library to read on the ancient spells of dark wizards of the past and present, over her private education with a selected group of friends. As for Rodolphus… She didn't love the man, but if her mother arranged the marriage, Bellatrix would agree to go through with it. After all, it was expected of her to marry him, and he loved her.
Now, at home once more, Bella was alone in her room.
The room was rather small, compared to the others in the large, Black mansion, it could even be considered one of the servants' quarters, but Bella liked it. She didn't feel comfortable in large rooms; there was room for people to hide in them, room for them to escape her gaze if she was looking for them. The walls were painted a crude shade of black, and plastered with images of dark witches and wizards through the ages. Wanted posters, pictures clipped from books, articles from the Daily Prophet; everything Bella could possibly find on the subject was there.
On the west side of the room was a large window, heavily draped with heavy, black curtains to keep out the sun as much as possible. Still, the dreaded light managed to peak through the heavy drapes at the very top, a small crack of light across the ceiling.
Directly below the window stood a large bed, decorated with emerald green bed sheets, the only color, besides the various shades of black and grey, in the room. On top of the bed lay an Ancient Runes textbook, still opened and marked up in Bella's handwriting. Next to that lay another book, bound in hard leather without any title on the cover. The book was one of Bella's own, probably something about dark wizards.
It was an obsession of hers, dark wizards through the ages. As a young girl, she didn't dream of castles, of knights in shining armor, of valentines or chocolates, or sweet kisses under flowering trees. The young Bellatrix's mind was preoccupied with darkness. She dreamt of something others would consider nightmares. She dreamt of growing up and marrying a man who was not afraid to kill. She dreamt of her knight in shining armor being a man who needed no armor to protect himself, just the killing curse. Her mother knew of these daydreams, and merely encouraged them. Her sisters knew nothing.
Her sisters… they were a big part of her childhood.
Andromeda was born first, but never took to Bella too much, and Bellatrix hated the girl right back. The two were as different as fire and ice. Where Andromeda caught butterflies, loved the sunrise and painted flowers; Bellatrix played with spiders in the darkness of the attic, she wasn't an artistic person. Then, came Narcissa. The youngest of the three sisters followed Bellatrix around, treated her very much like the queen she wanted to be treated as, but played with Andromeda as well. Bellatrix tried to discourage their association, but Narcissa was always a tie between the two polar opposites.
Now, standing in her room, the memories of her childhood swept over Bellatrix, a small smile rested on her lips. She would be leaving this home soon for her dreams. She would be leaving soon to join the Dark Lord.
The Dark Lord.
He had not been in power for long, only recently were there reports of muggle murders, and mudbloods getting killed, but he was in power at last. Bellatrix followed the stories with the intent of a good hound-dog following a scent of a fox. She relished the pain that the families of the wizards and muggles felt at the death of their loved ones; she wished she were the one causing that pain.
Bella had always been a bit of a sadist in her work. It all began with playing with the family cat at a young age… She'd pull its tail, attempt to hex it with her wand, bother it in every way possible. Eventually, at the age of twelve, Bellatrix cornered the poor cat one day when her sisters were not home, and killed the poor thing. Her sisters found her in the corner of the attic, poking at the cat's showing insides.
Her mother continued to encourage Bella, building her powers in the Dark Arts along with passing down her own hate for those of not pure blood to her eldest daughter. Mother and daughter soon grew to share opinions on the not pure blooded wizards, soon grew to hate them. They were not a couple that many wanted to meet in the dark crevices of Knockturn Alley.
Bellatrix flopped over unto her bed, looking up at the ceiling for one, last time. It was almost time to leave. Soon she'd be saying goodbye to her parents and sisters, soon she'd be on her way to her destiny.
She had no idea what to expect from the Dark Lord, besides what she'd heard from Rodolphus and the rest of his friends. Rodolphus had been a year older than Bella, and told her there was some sort of initiation to go through before the Dark Lord would accept her into his ranks. He'd shown her the dark mark on his arm, and she allowed herself to trace her finger around it on his arm then. That was the closest the two had ever gotten to have a relationship, but it meant nothing. To Bellatrix, it was merely getting closer to her beloved Dark Lord, nothing more than that.
It was nearly time to leave now, but Bellatrix had not yet packed. If she were to be accepted into the Dark Lord's ranks, she would be moving into the Malfoy Manor to be closer to him. She resented the fact that she would soon be forced to move into that Manor with Lucius Malfoy, the love obsession of her sister's for quite a few years now, but she wanted to live closer to her beloved, and if it meant living in the same house as Lucius Malfoy, she'd deal with it.
The man was tolerable, after all. He was a pureblood, and clearly his family was loyal enough to the Dark Lord to allow him to use their Manor as a sort of headquarters and recruiting agency. It was almost time to leave now.
With a small flick of a wand, Bellatrix's closet's door flew open, revealing a large wardrobe of boots, and dresses of many sizes, shapes and colors. Now, she levitated a few of the emerald, black and silver ones out of there, into the suitcase that rested at her feet. With another flick of her wand, her books shot from their case and followed the clothes. She didn't expect to have much time to read once she was fully at the Dark Lord's service… but who knew. She might need to look something up, or she might have some free time before she was allowed to serve him. Overall, Bella was all too eager to hurt, all too eager to try out a spell she'd been longing to use ever since she'd heard of it at the age of five. The Cruciatus Curse.
That would be the first thing she would use on anyone who dared to stand in her way, that would be what she aimed to become famous for someday. That was her dream.
One more flick of her wand, and her trunk snapped shut at her feet. It was time to go.
"Mother. I'm leaving now…" Her voice called through the house from the doorway, sending a Narcissa Black leaping down the stairs to catch her sister in a hug before the older girl had a chance to leave.
"Bella! Take me with you… Please. Please! I want to visit Lucius. He said I could." The younger girl pleaded, her arms still clasped around Bellatrix, her head pulled away from her sister so she could look into her eyes.
"Narcissa… You're much too young to be out there. Go back to school, and learn. Perhaps then the Dark Lord would accept you into his ranks."
Without waiting for her mother's reply, or her other sister's comments on her departure, Bellatrix wriggled out of Narcissa's grasp and strolled out the door, her large trunk floating behind her with ease. Narcissa stood in the doorway, waving a hand sadly at her sister's departure, wishing she could join her on her way to the Malfoy Manor.
Without as much as a glance backwards, Bellatrix grasped the handle of her trunk with her hand, then closed her dark eyes. She brought what her apparation teacher had taught her to the front of her mind, focusing on the front door of Malfoy Manor where she'd been only once before. She needed to get this right. A loud pop rang through the air, as if a car had backfired somewhere on the muggle streets, and Bellatrix was gone.