Another short chapter, sorry. I'm just setting the stage with these first couple chapters, and then hopefully you can expect them to get longer. Also, these last couple of chapters have been very dialogue-centric, but they won't always be. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the chapter! Review! Pretty please? Oh! And thank you for all of the support on the last chapter! It means the world to me.

As she pulled the door shut behind her, she had to convince herself that her rapidly beating heart wasn't going to burst inside of her chest. As she collapsed to a sitting position on the steps of 12 Grimmauld Place, the gears in her head were turning as she thought about the ordeal that she barely escaped from.

'Redemption though is always something to be found. Save us, Bellatrix Black.'

Phineas' words kept replaying in her head. The way in which he said it was haunting, almost desperate like there was no real choice. The Dark Lord, or her family. But nobody left the Dark Lord, and especially nobody who wanted to live. Bellatrix wanted to live, but a voice in the back of her head was telling her that she wasn't living under HIS reign. It really wasn't living, it was surviving.

Could she make her escape? Could she do as her ancestor had mandated? Her foot tapped incessantly on the ground as she forced herself to think about such things. There was a sharp intake of breath as she came to a realization; even thinking such things would cause her much pain. If she returned with such doubt in her mind then her Lord would know. He would no doubt punish her for her traitorous thoughts.

What were her choices though? Where could she go if she renounced her ways? She would find no Asylum with Dumbledore, as Snape had. It would be folly to even bring attention to herself by contacting him. She couldn't stay here, in her ancestral home. She was sure she saw her dear cousin Sirius snooping around the day before.

'Filthy blood traitor!' No, that wasn't right. She was the blood traitor while Sirius was the true Black. She could feel pain welling up in her heart. The things she had done for her family, to make them proud. She had turned her heart Black for them, and she was wrong. She was assaulted by many things that she hadn't felt for years; things that she hadn't allowed herself to feel. The anger that she felt was familiar, for she was always angry but now it was redirected. 'The Dark Lord did this; he has taken my family from me!' A tear slid down her cheek as she allowed herself to feel the sadness and the grief.

'Pop.'

Bellatrix's head shot up and her hand went to her robes to draw her wand as she heard the familiar sound of apparition. She jumped to her feet and let her eyes scan the road in front of her. She gripped her walnut wand hard enough to turn her knuckles white as she panicked from the lack of anything. She expected to see somebody, for spells to fly as the street turned into a war zone, but nothing happened.

"Hello, cousin." The cruciatus was on her lips as the long-haired and well-groomed head of her cousin, Sirius Black, appeared next to her from under what must have been an invisibility cloak. He looked completely untroubled as he threw the cloak over his shoulder and tucked his hands into his pockets. "You can put the wand down, Bella. I'm not here to fight you. Though you look like you've seen a ghost."

"Then why are you here?" Bellatrix asked venomously, though complying and slowly pocketing her wand against her better judgment.

" How about we go inside and talk?" Sirius asked carefully, with a grim look on his face. Even this long after his incarceration, the effects of Azkaban could be seen in his deadened eyes and hollowed cheeks. She would know that look anywhere, for every time that she passed a mirror she could see it in herself.

"No! We can't go in there!" Bellatrix countered. She fixed her cousin with the most serious look she could muster, which would have sent anybody else cowering. "There's something in there."

Sirius spun on his heel and stepped up the door. He put his hand on the doorknob and squeezed his eyes shut. Whatever he was doing was obviously strenuous. After a moment, his breath hitched and he stepped back.

"It's safe to go in now as long as you let me lead," Sirius said quietly.

With a fearful look at Sirius, she gave a sharp nod and followed him over the threshold with her wand out. She had no idea what Sirius did, and she wasn't about to trust him with her life after what she had experienced just moments ago.

With a flick of his own wand, the candles and lights throughout the house flickered to life and illuminated the dark and dusty building. After the pitch black of the London night, even the soft light inside had her squinting her heavily lidded eyes. She was sure she saw a large rat scurry across the hall in front of them as she followed her cousin into the kitchen. With a wave of his wand, he banished the dust on the heavy oaken table and chairs and motioned for her to take a seat, which she did.

Sirius eyed her from his spot directly across the table without saying anything and Bellatrix wilted under his studious gaze. It was like he was looking inside of her, rather than at her. "You've changed, Bella."

"What do you mean 'I've changed?'" she snapped with a glare.

"Maybe you haven't changed enough to announce a reformation to the world," he began, placing his elbows on the table and leaning towards Bellatrix. "But you have begun to. You have doubts now, that weren't there before. Doubts about Voldemort, doubts about our family, and doubts about yourself."

And she cracked, just like that. She couldn't look him in the eyes, couldn't make herself look at the triumph that was bo doubt plastered on his features. She could feel a single tear roll down her cheek as she looked down at her black heeled boots.

She felt a hand on hers and slapped it away on instinct. She would have to scrub her sullied skin raw to cleanse the blood traitor's filth from it. No, I'M the blood traitor, she had to remind herself. The hand returned and this time she consciously fought the urge to withdraw it.

"Bella, look at me; I know," Sirius said, quietly. He continued on to comfort her. "I don't blame you, and I certainly know Andi doesn't. He daughter isn't your biggest fan, but she really not my biggest fan either. It's the name. When you meet her, just call her Tonks; much safer that way."

Bellatrix couldn't fight the slight upward curve of her lips. Sirius had always been able to make her smile, without really even trying. It was one of the reasons she had grown to hate him over the years. Despite was Walburga and Orion had put him though, he was always happy-go-lucky and in her selfishness, she had hated him for it. He made it seem so easy, even as he was hurting. Now though, she was tired of hating him.

"It's a good look on you, Bella. Smiling, I mean. You should do it more often."

"I have nothing to smile about anymore, cousin." She fixed Sirius with a searching look. "You didn't come here to cheer me up. What is it?"

Sirius took a deep breath and sat straight up, as was bred into him years ago as proper pureblood etiquette. "You found it." He said, simply.

"It?"

"The Black Portrait. You found it. Which means you've met Elladora." There was an edge to his voice as he said this, a severeness. It was no question, and there was no room to interpret it as such. He knew, without a doubt.

"How?" She asked, knowing she didn't need to elaborate.

"That room," he began as he stood and paced in silence for a few seconds, "that room is tied to the head of the family. The second that you entered there, I could feel it. Is it still Phineas?"

"Yes, it's Phineas. He said that you found him once, too."

"Sometimes I wish that I hadn't. My curiosity cost Andi and Uncle Alphard their family. Though I don't think either really cared too much. Orion cared though. He tried to arrange my disappearance before I made a run for it."

"But why? I don't understand what's so special about that damn portrait!" Bellatrix nearly shouted as she stood and toppled the heavy wooden chair she had been sitting on.

"The Black Portrait houses the likeness of the last true Black, Bella. The head of the Black family always knows the truth, and since Elladora's time, they've been working against our own nature. If somebody were to enter that room, the head would be alerted and they'd take steps to cover the truth." Sirius was clearly getting agitated by the conversation, but he continued through it.

"Everybody who has ever found that portrait has been blasted off the family tree, for bogus reasons," Sirius continued. "Andi was removed for marrying that muggle, right? You should have known better. She didn't marry Ted until after she was kicked out. It's the same thing, all the way back to Elladora's sister, Isla."

"So what, you're here to do your duty?"

"Yes. I am." He answered, with a calm coolness.

Bella hung her head. It's what she deserved, regardless. She had technically betrayed the family, even if she didn't know it at the time. She watched, unmoving as Sirius walked around the large table and leveled his wand at her heart. She closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable.

"I, Sirius Orion Black, head of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, do pardon Bellatrix Lestrange, formerly Bellatrix Black, of all crimes against her house. I charge her to serve her family once again, and right her wrongs against it. I charge you to find your redemption." The pressure against her breast from Sirius' wand was relieved and she heard him step back. "Toujours Pur, dear cousin."

Bellatrix felt the damn break and tears rolled freely down her cheeks as she slowly opened her eyes and looked at her cousin with wonder. He had formally forgiven her under the power of the head of house, just like that. It meant nothing magically, it wasn't a legal or magical power, but for the Blacks, it was a chance at a new life in the family. It was a magic all on its own.

She couldn't help herself as she flew into his arms and wrapped him in a bone-crushing hug that belied her frailness from the wizard prison. "I'm so sorry, Sirius. I'm sorry for everything. I can't though. I don't deserve redemption and I don't even know how to go about it. I can't even help myself right now."

She felt her cousin's hands on her shoulders and she looked up to meet his eyes. "Everybody deserves redemption, and if you truly look for it, and truly want it, then I can point you in the right direction."

Bellatrix held his gaze and steeled herself. "What would you have me do?"

"You're one of the best fighters I've ever seen, Bella; not to mention as intelligent as they come." He tipped his head at her. "That being said, what I want you to do is going to test your will and your resolve to change. I want you to help him."

"Him?" She was certain she knew who he was talking about, but she had to ask.

"Harry. He needs all the help he can get, and he's not getting any that he needs," he said, seriously. He set his shoulders and continued. "You won't be helping a child cousin. He's young, but he's capable. He'll never be truly ready for what he has in his future but he can be as ready as we can make him."

"He'll hate me!" She said quickly with evident panic.

"I'd be surprised if he even knew who you were," Sirius said, throwing himself back into his chair and putting his hands behind his head. "Even if he does, Harry has a gift. He forgives. Almost too easily."

"How am I supposed to help the boy? I don't even know where to find him!"

"I'll speak to Dumbledore on your behalf, tonight. He'll come up with something. We planned on bringing Harry here sometime this summer, anyways."

Bellatrix's eyes went wide at the mention of telling Dumbledore about her. Dumbledore would never let her go free, and he would never trust her, and she voiced her concerns to Sirius as she frantically paced around the kitchen.

"If he wants to use this place as his headquarters, then he doesn't have a choice." He said it like that settled everything.

"And if he decides that he does have a choice?"

"Then I'll bring Harry here anyways, Albus be damned. He's my godson, not his."

She could feel her resistance breaking. She nodded. "Very well. Where do we begin?"

"Go up to your old room, lock the door, and stay there until I come to get you," Sirius ordered her as he stood. "I'm going to go to Hogwarts and sort things out with Albus. I'll be back shortly."