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Chapter 6: Changes

The Blacks disapparated with a loud CRACK, returning to their mansion. Immediately upon arrival, Bellatrix let go of her father's hand to make her way up to her room.

"Bella, my darling, where are you going?" demanded Cygnus.

'My darling?' Since when did was she 'his darling?' "Bed" replied Bellatrix, promptly. Her feet hurt from dancing, and she just wanted to be alone. She had enough of her family tonight to last her a long time.

"Bella. Come back here."

Dragging her feet, she returned to face her parents.

Straightening himself up, her father spoke as if addressing a large room of people — a habit that must have worn off from his speeches at the party, Bellatrix thought. "Let me take this moment to say how pleased I am with you tonight." Coming from him, this was practically an 'I love you,' thought Bellatrix. "You have truly done an honour to your family, and you've made us proud."

He liked her when it was convenient for him, but if she ever went against him he would stop at nothing to get his way. Some father, she thought. There was only conditional love. "Okay," she nodded, turning to climb the stairs.

"Don't rush off so, dear" interjected her Druella.

"I'm tired" whined Andromeda.

"Say good night to your sister, then both of you off to bed" their mother said quickly and in a strained voice, as if she found attending to all three children at once painful.

"Night" muttered Andromeda.

"Good night Bella!" piped Narcissa, smiling.

"Good night, Cissy" she responded. With a sharp look from her mother, she added "'Dromeda."

Narcissa dragged her feet, wanting to hear what her parents had to say, as Andromeda wasted no time leaving their presence.

Druella looked at her eldest daughter. She had to look up to look her in the eyes. "My how you've grown" she remarked.

"Well I'm 15," Bellatrix stated. "All the girls have grown," she said defensively. She was tired of being singled out.

"Precisely…" her father said, "which is why your mother requires time with you."

Bellatrix looked from her father to her mother, expectantly.

"Well," began her mother, "we need to know if you have any… questions. About anything."

"Questions?" asked Bellatrix.

A loud snort from Andromeda could be heard from halfway up the stairs.

"OFF TO BED!" yelled Druella.

"Oh." Bellatrix's cheeks turned pink.

Narcissa's timid voice rang out, imploring Andromeda "Questions about what? Tell meeeee!"

"SILENCE."

"I'll leave you two to discuss then" said her father, leaving the room. "Goodnight Bella."

Bellatrix just watched him leave. She didn't like being alone with her mother, it seemed so unnatural. It's not as if she ever really spent much time with either of her parents alone.

Bellatrix decided to break the awkward silence. "Mother, we don't have to talk right now—"

"No, no, my dear, I'm afraid you don't understand." Druella took a deep breath. "About this time, you will notice that your body will start to… change."

"Oh no. Mother—"

"Let me finish! Certain things will happen, and—"

"MUM!" Bellatrix yelled. "I know what you're talking about. It's ok, you don't have to tell me, I already know."

Her mother spoke quietly and awkwardly, beating around the bush. "You've already started?"

"Yeah. Two years ago." Bellatrix remembered when it first happened. Obviously her mother hadn't had a discussion with her, so she caused quite a fuss. To make a long story short, it resulted in Bellatrix locking herself in the girl's washroom, casting every healing spell that she knew. It wasn't until the Slytherin Head Girl was called that she was told that this was normal, and no, she wasn't dying. All the prefects found out, and since then she hated them with a passion. She blinked, trying to push the memory from her mind. "It's not a problem."

Relieved, but somewhat guilty that her duty had been reprieved, Druella continued timidly. "And… you understand how everything works then?"

"Yeah I think I've got a pretty good idea, Mother. Can we not talk about this anymore?"

"Given the current circumstances– and how your life has changed so much tonight – I just thought—"

"Mother, nothing's changed. I'm just engaged, it's not like it's my wedding night or something," Bellatrix said brusquely. "Can't we just worry about this later?"

Druella nodded slowly, conceding.

"Really." An image of Rodolphus' face bearing his ridiculous smile entered Bellatrix's mind. Arrogant bastard, she thought. "You have nothing to worry about."

Druella held up her head. "Well then, I suppose it's time for you to go to bed." She reached out to pat Bellatrix once on the shoulder, taking Bellatrix by surprise. It was a very strange moment indeed when her mother showed any affection at all. "I'm proud of what you did tonight." With that, Druella left the room. Bellatrix waited until she was gone before she mounted the staircase leading upstairs to her room. Why was everyone acting so bloody strangely? She had become used to the silence between the children and their parents, to the unspoken rules of the house. She walked up slowly so that her sisters wouldn't hear her go by. She didn't want to face them right now. She spent the whole evening putting on a charade to face people, and she didn't want to face anybody else right now.

Bellatrix entered her room. She had left it a disaster; her tantrum before leaving combined with the to-do of her outfit and the mess of getting ready had taken its toll. However, she walked through her door to find her room clean with her bed covers pulled down and a nightgown laid out for her. She took the house-elves' work for granted, and didn't even give it a second thought.

She heard four knocks on her door, recognizing it immediately as Narcissa's knock. Narcissa was the only one in her family that Bellatrix was close to, if it could be said that she was close to anyone at all. It was not often that they talked into the dark hours of the night, but when they did it was almost as if they were normal sisters. Narcissa generally worried herself with trivial concerns, asking for Bellatrix's advice. Bellatrix tolerated her if only to have any contact at all with someone of her blood.

"Not now, Cissy," Bellatrix hissed, not wanting to disturb their parents. "Leave me alone."

"Bella?" Narcissa waited a moment. "Bella? Bella, please."

"Go. Away." Bellatrix growled.

Narcissa's whimper was heard from outside her door. She knew what it meant to get her sister angry, and she wasn't about to pick a fight.

Bellatrix kicked off her shoes and sat down to comb out her hair. The moment she let it out of the bun it poofed out, uncontrolled. She yanked at the tangles for a few minutes, and giving up, went back to her door. She saw Narcissa's small feet under the crack, and opened up the door violently. Surprised to see her sister, Narcissa jumped, letting out a squeak.

Bellatrix shushed her. "You don't want to wake the whole house, do you?" Bellatrix sighed. "Alright, get inside. I need help with my stupid hair, anyway. Bloody mess, it is. "

Delighted, Narcissa scurried inside. Bellatrix sat down at the vanity as Narcissa picked up the hairbrush, skilfully tackling her older sister's tangles. Bellatrix was never one to care much about how she looked, and therefore relied on her, albeit younger, more appearance-conscious sister.

Bellatrix broke the silence. She didn't much like silence between two people, it was too intimate. Talking eased the tension. "What is it you wanted to say, Cissy?"

Narcissa smiled as her eyes glazed over. "Oh Bella! Just how beautiful the party was!" She didn't notice her sister rolling her eyes. "And how beautiful you looked."

"I'm not beautiful Cissy. Everyone knows it's you who's the pretty one, you don't need to gush."

"I mean it!" Narcissa looked hurt to not be taken seriously.

How sensitive she was, thought Bellatrix. Her sister needed to toughen up. She hoped she would never become like that.

"Really." Narcissa emphasized her point. "And you and Rodolphus, you looked so happy!"

At the sound of his name, Bellatrix cringed. "Well good. I did my job right, if I fooled my own sister," Bellatrix spat out.

"Whatever do you mean? I thought you had changed your mind. Aren't you… happy to be engaged?" Reflecting on her question, Narcissa realized that the only times she had seen her sister happy was when she was performing a new spell or showing off her magic. And even then there was a glint of sadness in her eyes. She continued working on her hair, hoping that she could someday understand the way her sister's mind worked.

Bellatrix inhaled rapidly as the brush got stuck, causing Narcissa to accidentally pull her sister's head back with her. "Ow! Watch it!" she ordered. She purposefully avoided her sister's question.

Narcissa cringed at her sister's harsh voice.

Disliking the silence, Bellatrix tried to change the subject.

"We go back to Hogwarts in a week."

Narcissa's face lightened. "Yes, I can't wait, can you?" Her face suddenly fell. "Although, I do suppose I will be seeing less of you now, given the circumstances—"

"To hell with the circumstances!" Bellatrix lost her composure. Narcissa wasn't the only one to notice Bellatrix's very short temper. She always had it, even when she was a child. "Why is everyone talking like that?"

Narcissa started to answer Bellatrix's rhetorical question. "Because, Bella, you've changed! As of tonight, you're—"

"I'm nothing, nothing's different about me at all!" insisted Bellatrix. "I've got my OWLS to worry about this year, if anything people should talk about that!" She took the brush from Narcissa's hand, and regained her composure long enough to dismiss her sister. "That's enough. Good night Cissy."

Narcissa opened her mouth to say something, but thought the better of it and slowly left the room. Bellatrix waved her wand to close the door, remaining at the vanity. Narcissa had worked wonders to detangle her hair, but there was still so much of it with curls going every which way. Would it ever look neat, like her sister's hair? She tried to tame it with the brush, but she just excited her curls more as they became more and more unruly. Giving up, she began to undress, taking off her robes and her dress, leaving them in a heap on the floor. She took off her opal necklace last. If at least one good thing came out of this, she thought, she scored a necklace that was worth a handsome sum of galleons. It would be sure to make the other girls of her year jealous. She laughed suddenly, thinking at how absolutely hung up they got over the silliest things. She looked forward to seeing their longing eyes and pain in knowing that they would never get anything like it themselves.

She looked over at her nightgown, rolling her eyes. She hated nightgowns. It looked liked something one of the old ladies on their family tree at her aunt's house might wear. Or something her Aunt Walpurga might wear herself, at that. Why couldn't she wear pyjamas? "Because it's not ladylike" her mother's voice answered her in her head. She threw the nightgown on the floor in disgust. In a rebellious mood, Bellatrix slipped under her covers clad only in her panties.

She was exhausted, but couldn't get to sleep. Normally when insomnia hit she would stay up late into the night reading or practicing spells. Right now she was working on nonverbal spells, which were perfect to practice at night. But she didn't want to move.

She lay back in her bed, staring at the ceiling. Despite her protests, she wondered how different her life would be now that she was betrothed. She had seen young couples around Hogwarts. She always scoffed at them, glad that she wasn't like them. Sure, she had noticed boys looking at her before, especially this past year. But never would she have considered going out with anyone, she was much too absorbed in learning new spells. She knew that she had a talent, and wasn't about to fritter it away on some stupid boy. A stupid boy, she thought, who didn't even have the guts to ask her out to her face.

Rodolphus went to his parents so that they would arrange a marriage, her marriage, with her parents. Running home to mum and dad, she mocked in her head. She wasn't a romantic person by any means, but even Bellatrix knew that this isn't how it should be done. Anger welled up inside of her.

Would life be any different? No. She decided right then and there that she wouldn't let it be different. She would go about studying, go about with her own circle of friends, and ignore Rodolphus completely. Not everyone at Hogwarts would know about their engagement party, and she would keep it that way. She didn't care how much he would grovel, because she was not about to go spend time with him when she wasn't required too. It's not like he was her boyfriend. He was just her intended.

Her future husband.

Her anger rose to such a level that she caused her drapes to catch fire.

Hastily she grabbed her wand. "Aguamenti," she hissed. Sometimes her anger translated to destructive magic by accident. At least, she thought it was an accident. If Bellatrix had one weakness, it was one of control.

She lied back down, exhaling as her head touched the pillow. Bloody ironic it was, she thought, that the only way to please and get attention from her family was to make herself utterly miserable.