The character of Bellatrix LeStrange (I like it better with a capital s..) fascinates me, as does the older generation of Harry Potter, before James and Lily's time, really baack in the day.

We know so much about all the other generations, so not really knowing much about anyone before the 50's, apart from Voldemort and Dumbledore, makes me all the more interested. I've tried to create the characters Of Cygnus and Druella Black, and take a look into their household (dismal stuff!) and I think i'm quite happy with the result.

This is intended to be a two-parter, possibly three depending on how much I draw it out.

I do not own Harry Potter, obviously.

On a side note, I used to be called Fire of Serenity, so those stories are now under this new name.

It is a cold night, rain coming down in sheets. A dark haired girl, barely out of childhood clutches a small bag, standing at the end of a street. She is wearing Muggle clothes, smuggled to her in school, and a boy's jumper. She scrunches the end of one sleeve in her hand. The jumper smells of him.

The plan had been so simple to execute. Not waiting until she was alone in the house, but until there were as many other people there as the old manor could hold. She would never have thought of that, but then she would never have realised that her parents cast so many protective spells, keeping danger out, and keeping their daughters in.

Bellatrix Black lay back on her bed, her dark eyes tracing the familiar cracks along the ceiling. she gave the impression of being casual, collected, but inside she was shaking. Tonight was the night. She would never sleep in this bed again. Her mother was in the kitchens, discussing the nights menu with the head cook, Lady of the Manor through and through. Her father was in his study, finishing off the day's business. Her sisters... they would be discussing Narcissa's future husband, the Malfoy's son. To Bellatrix's relief, their parents had decided that Narcissa, despite being four years younger than Bellatrix, and the youngest child, would be the most suitable candidate for marriage. She was perfect, tall and slender, with her mother's shimmering blonde hair and their father's intense black eyes, the only feature she shared with her sisters. Narcissa was genuinely interested in the running of a house, in new dresses and in Lucius Malfoy. She would make an outstanding wife.

Andromeda on the other hand, did not have the breathtaking looks, but was gifted with soft brown curls and a gentler version of those black eyes. She was not as docile and obedient as Narcissa, but had an inner calmness that Bellatrix could not help but admire. The Black's could not have wished for two more marriageable daughters.

And then there was Bellatrix. Wilful and outspoken, the eldest child was a disappointment, not just because she had been born a girl instead of the desired male heir, but because her hair was wild, her skin was pale and she refused to obey her parents.

And so Bellatrix had come to her desicion. She would escape, run away, and never have to put up with her mother's despairing eyes as her eldest daughter showed her up in front of yet another suitor, never face her father's wrath when she spoke back to him and embarrased him in front of important people, or when she simply did not do as he said.

It was easier than she expected to indentify the protective charms cast around Black Manor, but even with her prodigous talent for magic, Bellatrix was still unable to fully brek them. Her spells would be noticed, and she could not put it past her father to get the whole of the Ministry, even a couple of Auror's, bought in to find her. With magic Bellatrix did not stand a chance. However, this did not put the girl off. She was well versed in stealth, cunning and little Muggle tricks such as lock-picking, something most people tended to overlook.

The girl looks back at the house she grew up in. A whole life was planned out for her back there, from who she would marry, to were she would live, right down to the funeral shroud that had been a birth gift from her father's mother. Another one of the morbid Black family traditions that she was leaving behind. If she had had any doubts, they were gone now. The thought of that shroud, thin and grey, with the Black family crest embroidered on it terrified her beyond reason. The idea that she could end her days wrapped up in that acursed thing was what sent her onwards.

Bellatrix, ever resourceful, had chosen to wait until the house was full of guests before making her move. She had Muggle clothes stashed at the back of her wardrobe and now laid them out under her bed-covers, before adding a few final items to her suitcase which she then hid under her bed. Then, turning to her dressing table, she slipped back into the persona of the Black daughter she wore on the rare occasions she chose not to anger her family. It was a good job she did, because Andromeda chose that moment to knock on the door. Bellatrix grabbed at her powder, and attempted to bring some unlikely colour into her cheeks as her younger sister entered.

'Bella, can I borrow some perfume, I've run out.' was Andromeda's opening line. Bellatrix complied, and the two girls continued beautifying themselves in the mirror. Something stirred in Bellatrix, somewhere in the reigon of her middle, and she took this as a sign. She had not been intending to tell Narcissa, but she and Andromeda did share the occasional sisterly moment, and it would be unfair of her not to know. To give even the smallest clue would set Bellatrix's mind at rest.

'Looking forward to the dance?' she began, innocently enough. Andromeda gave her a curious look, it was rare for Bellatrix to be so calm.

'Yes...' she replied cautiously, not wanting to break this moment.

'Good.'

There was another pause, then the older girl said;

'I might not be staying long.' To which Andromeda, abandoning all attempts to keep the peace burst out;

'Bella, you have to, you can't leave again! Or are you intending to go sneaking off with some entirely inapropriate boy, again?' Bellatrix turned to her sister, a moment of clarity taking over her mind.

'I didn't mean the dance, Addy, I meant here, this place. I intend to leave this house tonight.'

There was a pause, as the two girls stared at each other. Andromeda, her perfect eyes wide with disbelief and Bellatrix as fierce and defiant as ever.

'You... how?' Breathed Andromeda.

'The charms,' began Bellatrix, before being interupted.

'Charms?'

'Yes, the protective charms that mother and father have surrounded us with, oh don't look like that,' she added, for Andromeda's features had formed into a mask of shock at the news that she was being kept in magically, 'the charms are impossible to break. I originally intended to leave when I was alone, or at least when everyone else was preoccupied, but father would notice if I tried to leave under the spells, and I can only make a gap in the fabric of the charm, not entirely break it, meaning that someone would notice.' She stopped for breath, relief at finally being able to share her wonderful plan with someone blinding her the fact that Andromeda was sitting looking off to the side, her eyes narrowed with concentration, and her hands gripping the perfume bottle she had come to borrow uncommonly tight.

Bellatrix continued: 'The charms have to be removed for guests coming over though, otherwise we would appear to be rude. I find it quite fitting that their obsession with 'keeping up appearences', the whole reason they keep us here, will be my escape route. They have to weaken their defenses for decencies sake, and then I can make my entirely indecent escape! Isn't it delicious?'

Bellatrix sat back, catching her breath again. This was the happiest she had ever been in her life, the happiest, in fact, she was ever going to be. She looked at Andromeda for a response, but at that moment, their mother, Druella Black strode into the room.

'Andromeda, to your own room. Go and finish getting ready, now.' Said the grand-looking woman. Bellatrix, terrified that her mother had overheard her plan, didn't dare to look in Andromeda's direction.

'Bellatrix,' said Druella, 'I have come to ask a favour of you. I know you find it difficult, seeing your youngest sister engaged before you, this shows in the way you constantly misbehave. You are not a woman given to marriage, I can see that, even if your father cannot.' There was a moment of silence, and Bellatrix realised she was supposed to fill it.

'Oh, I... I suppose I am not...' She replied hesitantly.

'Indeed. That is why I must ask you to not behave as befits a young woman of the House of Black this night. Your father has taken it upon himself to offer you up to Rudolphus LeStrange as a wife. But I will not see my eldest daughter disgraced by a marriage below her status. I therefore ask you to misbehave, to shock and to horrify, just for this one night.'

All Bellatrix could do was gape.

'Yes... yes mother, of course!' She gasped. Druella responded with a rare smile. She reached over and touched her daughters shoulder. Bellatrix sat up straight, trying not to move. She didn't want to shatter this unexpected moment of maternal affection from her mother, who had only ever shown vauge disapointment to her. Druella sighed. she wanted to say something, to tell Bellatrix that she... loved her perhaps, as only a mother could. Instead, all she could muster was;

'You are a good girl, Bella.'

There was another moment of silence, then she left, looking behind her as she did, and meeting her daughter's eyes for the first time as an equal. Bellatix was stunned, all thoughts of running away temporarily blown from her mind. How unfair it was that the only time her mother showed her any kind of respect and affection, she intended to leave. However, a life-time without that affection had made Bellatrix tough, so she forced herself up and away from the dressing table, and went through her plan again. By the time the guests were beginning to arrive she had stowed the feelings aroused by her mother's visit at the back of her mind, in the place she kept the best and worst moments of her life and had prepared herself immaculately for the evening.