Author's Note: A big thank you to my readers and reviewers! And I think an apology is in order, seeing as how I haven't updated in over a week. But, I can explain! I finally got access to Pottermore! So, naturally, I have been spending every available waking hour exploring the newest addition to the world of Harry Potter. Because Harry Potter = life. :)

And guess what... I got sorted into Slytherin! haha big surprise there. I wonder if writing this story has had any influence on me...

If any of you have a Pottermore account, feel free to PM me your username if you want to be friends. :)

And finally... please review!

Disclaimer: Despite my feelings for him, I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 7: The Bitter Return

The Black sisters whirled to a stop. Their portkey had taken them just outside of King's Cross station for the train ride back to Hogwarts.

Arriving at the divider between platforms 9 and 10, Bellatrix looked around at all the young witches and wizards accompanied by their parents. Druella and Cygnus never accompanied them to the station; they didn't believe in donning filthy Muggle clothing for even that short amount of time. Naturally, they would be quite the spectacle if they were to venture into Muggle London dressed as they do. The sisters were dressed in their travelling robes, but these weren't too conspicuous and, as children, they could pass in the Muggle world fairly unnoticed. Bellatrix couldn't care less about her parents' behaviour anymore, but Narcissa was still upset about her futile attempt this morning to convince them to come. She clung to Bellatrix as Andromeda dragged behind.

She looked around at all the Muggles that passed. None of them seemed to notice the occasional witch or wizard disappear through the barrier to Platform 9¾. They may look like us, she thought, but they really are blind. No wonder they were so inferior if they couldn't notice a simple thing like that!

Bellatrix pushed her way past a large family. They were going to take forever, she thought. She wasn't going to stand around all day.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" one of them yelled.

She shot him a dirty glare. Had she not been in the presence of Muggles she would have cursed him, and hard. Not that they would notice, since they were so oblivious, she thought. She didn't have much respect for the rules in general, but the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy was one law she wasn't going to meddle in just now.

She grabbed her youngest sister's arm as they pushed their carts through the barrier together. They heard a whoosh behind them, telling them that Andromeda had followed.

The platform was crowded with students, pets, and parents. Her eyes skimmed the general hubbub, and they came across the one person in the world she wanted least to see.

Avoiding his eyes, she ducked behind a tall wizard in blue robes. She grabbed Narcissa and called out to Andromeda, making her way to the Hogwarts Express.

"'Dromeda! Hurry up and get on the train!" Bellatrix hissed.

Andromeda ignored her.

Rolling her eyes, Bellatrix roughly grabbed Andromeda by the arm.

"Ow!" she exclaimed. "What's your rush, I'll get on the train in a minute!"

"Mum said I wasn't to take my eyes off of you until you got on the train. After that I'll be glad for you to get lost," Bellatrix pronounced. Seeing that Andromeda didn't move, she added "So hurry up then!"

"Well I guess you'll just have to wait, if you have to wait for me to get on" Andromeda replied.

Bellatrix glared, and grabbed onto her sister's arm, twisting it back. Andromeda yelled out, but no one around them in the hectic environment noticed. Sometimes broad daylight is when people are the most oblivious, Bellatrix thought to herself.

She made her way to the Hogwarts Express, Andromeda in tow and Narcissa following close behind, clutching on to her robes. As soon they got on the train she let go of her sister, but not before she gave her arm a final brutal yank backwards. Andromeda glared at her sister, wincing, but Bellatrix knew she didn't have it in her to fight her older sister. She had nothing to fear in Andromeda.

"Hey 'Dromeda!" A tall, smiling, sandy-haired boy approached the Black sisters. He paused as he met Bellatrix's death glare.

"Ted!" cried out Andromeda in surprise.

Ted's eyes locked with Bellatrix's. She looked so much like Andromeda he found it difficult to dislike her. How could he hate someone who looked so much like the girl who meant everything to him?

As if sensing his sentiment, Bellatrix sneered at his approach. She found the Hufflepuff boy to be revolting. The fact that they allowed Mudbloods to attend Hogwarts was shocking in the first place, let alone the fact that this one fancied her sister.

"Piss off, Tonks. This here is my compartment," Bellatrix said, jerking her head towards the nearest train compartment. "And take my stupid sister with you, if you must, I don't want her around if it means I have to look at you," Bellatrix announced.

"Right" Narcissa said, emphatically nodding at her eldest sister's words.

Andromeda tossed her head, taking Ted's arm as she walked away. Ted looked back at Bellatrix, his eyes hurt and confused. Bellatrix was sure she saw the same emotions reflected in her sister's eyes, behind the ice-cold glower she had thrown at her as she left. Sighing, and giving a half-smile, Bellatrix settled down in her compartment with Narcissa. There were two rows of three seats each, facing each other. Bellatrix sat in one of the middle ones, tucking her legs underneath her and resting her feet on the seat near the door. She gazed out of the window as Narcissa sat opposite her in the seat nearest the window.

"Hey, Black!" Bellatrix looked up as Mulciber and Avery slipped into the compartment. She nodded, welcoming them in. "How was holiday?" asked Mulciber. "Same old dull family stuff you were dreading, yeah?" He sat down next to Narcissa, as Avery sat down between Bellatrix and the window.

Narcissa opened her mouth to answer, but was silenced by a sharp intake of breath from Bellatrix. She had specific instructions from her sister to keep quiet about the engagement. She just didn't want to face everyone about it at school, reliving the whole mess over again.

"Yeah," she replied. Swallowing hard, she added, "lots of family stuff. Yours?"

As Mulciber embarked on a tale involving Cornish pixies and a cursed batch of wizard crackers, Bellatrix let her mind wander. Her bored eyes travelled out the window as the train pulled away from the station, observing the parents and various family members seeing their children off. She simply observed, as she had no one to wave to. Her eyes travelled past Avery's and Narcissa's laughing faces as Mulciber reached the punch line of his story, travelling to the glass door on the other side of the compartment.

Her eyes locked with his.

Rodolphus Lestrange stood on the opposite side of the glass. Whether he had already changed his clothes or had worn them to the station, Bellatrix noted that he wore his Slytherin robes complete with his prefect badge. He was followed by a much younger, shorter boy, but Bellatrix's eyes did not leave his to notice.

"…but I'm not sure how to really make it work. Black? Black!"

Bellatrix snapped out of her reverie and looked over at Mulciber. "What did you say?"

Mulciber sighed. "Didn't you hear anything I said?"

"Clearly, not! So repeat what you said if you want me to hear you, or stop whining about me not listening." Bellatrix retorted.

"Well it's that curse you showed us before holiday. The burning one?" Mulciber started. He ruffled his short dark brown hair as he spoke. Seeing Bellatrix's nod, he continued. "Well I thought I'd give it a go on one of those pixies that popped out of my wizard cracker, you know, just to have some fun, and it completely backfired! I just can't see why it didn't work…"

"You cast it at a pixie? Bloody hell, Mulciber," Bellatrix exclaimed, "It's a curse you cast on objects, not living creatures! It doesn't work half as well." She paused. "Although I would like to find a curse that does…"

Avery smirked. "It would teach that second-year brat from last term a lesson, wouldn't it?"

The compartment door opened, and everyone in the car looked up.

"Oy! There he is now," sneered Avery, looking at the shorter of the two boys.

"And his perfect prefect older brother," mocked Mulciber.

Rodolphus and his younger brother walked in. The younger one immediately took a seat closest to the door by Mulciber, looking excusably frightened. Rodolphus paused, still standing, seemingly ignoring the comments that were made as he walked in. He made eye contact with Bellatrix, and his lips curled upward into a sideways smile.

Bellatrix's eyes darkened as they met his, but she maintained her stare and cool stature. Suddenly, he walked nearer to her and spoke.

"Ms. Black," he addressed her politely, raising an eyebrow. "Might I sit down?"

Bellatrix shrugged nonchalantly. "If you must." She paused, and he was silent. "Well?" she demanded.

His eyes broke from their stare-down and looked at the remaining open seat. Bellatrix's legs were still curled under her, and taking up half of the space of the only remaining seat.

She followed his gaze and looked right back up at him, not moving. "There's room."

Rodolphus, looking rather put out nevertheless sat down, rather uncomfortably, in the space next to Bellatrix. This was followed by an awkward silence.

"This is my brother, Rabastan," Rodolphus said abruptly, gesturing to the younger boy with him. "I think you are acquainted," he caught Avery's eye, "but never introduced."

Rabastan gave a half-smile that looked strikingly like his brother's. His dark hair obscured his brown eyes, but they still contained the fear that he felt when Bellatrix had used him as a guinea pig for her new spell. His face was significantly rounder than Rodolphus', and he looked as if he would rather be anywhere else on earth than in that compartment.

Mulciber and Avery nodded his way, but Bellatrix ignored him. Narcissa gave a small wave.

"H-hi" he stammered.

"Hey, uh, don't take it too hard, what happened before holiday, yeah?" Mulciber said, nudging him in the side with his elbow. "It was just a little fun."

Rabastan gave a nervous laugh.

"Yeah, maybe she can even teach you some of those spells for you to do," Rodolphus said, evidently trying to cheer him up.

Bellatrix stopped her ignoring, bringing down the barrier between her and Rodolphus. "Hey, 'she' is sitting right here. And no, he's too young to be able to do that, anyway."

Rabastan's face fell.

"I know she is," Rodolphus replied, disregarding her comment about his brother. Their eyes locked again.

He's got that look again, like the look he had when we were dancing, Bellatrix thought to herself, annoyed. She felt warmth on her leg, and looking down found his hand resting just below her knee.

"Er– is there something going on here?" began Mulciber, his eyes meeting with Avery's and glancing between her and Rodolphus. "You and the prefect—?"

Bellatrix's jaw tightened as she dug her boot heel into Rodolphus' thigh, and then swung her legs over to sit in her seat normally. His jaw tightened as she kicked him, but his expression didn't change dramatically. "Don't touch me, Lestrange" she ordered. Addressing Mulciber and Avery, she answered, "no" just as a pained "yes" could be heard from Rodolphus.

Avery and Mulciber looked at each other, smirking, then directed their glace at Narcissa. "Ok, Narcissa. Talk." Avery said.

Narcissa opened her mouth to talk, but was interrupted – luckily for her, for Bellatrix's anger could be seen brewing behind her dark eyes.

The train compartment was opened again, this time by a boy with messy black hair and glasses. "Alright, Snivellus, get lost! Here, join your kind" he said, as a second boy gave a skinny, greasy-haired boy a shove into the compartment. The second boy also had messy black hair, but it was longer and, if possible, more dishevelled than his friend's.

Looking in the compartment, his expression changed. "Bella."

She looked up at her cousin, unamused. "Sirius," she replied. "Kindly take your antics to another compartment. As you can see, this one's full" she said, trying to remain composed. She could feel the anger bubbling inside of her.

"I can see that," he started out, seriously, but his face soon broke into a smile. "Come on Snivellus, there's no room for you now that Bella's got herself a boyfriend. Nice party, it was, for you two."

"Watch it, Sirius!" Bellatrix yelled, jumping out of her seat.

Sirius backed up a few steps, but continued talking. "Come off it, Bella. You wouldn't hurt your own cousin would you? Don't tell me you haven't told your friends your little secret—"

"Langlock!" she shouted. She gave out a sudden laugh. "I think he'd said enough, don't you?" she asked, smirking as she looked at James' horrified face.

Sirius couldn't move his tongue as it flew up and stuck to the roof of his mouth. He could only make muffled sounds, glaring at his cousin. She revelled in his expression, all the while knowing that she couldn't do anything drastic to her cousin. So far, anyway, she thought to herself. For now, she was satisfied with jinxing him enough to upset him, but not to acquire the attention of her dreaded Aunt Walburga. Sirius bolted out of the compartment, followed by James.

"What in the world—James!" a girl with ginger hair called out, passing the compartment. Looking in, she called "Severus! What happened to Sirius?"

Snape made to move towards her, but was stopped by Bellatrix. She was glad to have the distraction as a means to let off her anger, but she was beginning to get annoyed at all the commotion. This was her compartment, after all.

"You're that girl that runs around with my cousin's stupid friend, aren't you?" demanded Bellatrix. The first-year backed away from the domineering fifth-year, swallowing hard.

"I-I know James and Sirius, yes," she replied. "And Severus."

Bellatrix was reminded of the question she had for Snape about his blood status. Hanging around Gryffindors, was he? She was never going to get a chance to talk to anyone, not with this hubbub going on around her.

"Well unless you want what I gave Sirius, I suggest you get lost, Mudblood."

Lily's eyes teared up at the term. "Severus—"

"NOW!" roared Bellatrix.

This sent Lily running, and Snape went after her. "Er—seeing as how there's no room for me in here…" he trailed off, walking briskly in the same direction as Lily.

Bellatrix rolled her eyes, sitting back down. In all the ruckus, she hadn't noticed Mulciber and Avery pestering her sister for information, who suddenly shouted out "They're betrothed!"

"Cissy! You can't keep one simple little promise, what's the matter with you—"

"Betrothed? Like engaged? You're going to marry—"

"Bloody hell, to prefect Lestrange? How did this—"

Bellatrix, Mulciber, and Avery were cut off by Rodolphus, who stood up tall.

"We're to be married after we finish at Hogwarts," said Rodolphus proudly, beaming.

The compartment fell silent. The mention of marriage had sobered them up. Had it been anyone else, Mulciber and Avery would have already trilled out several witty and taunting one-liners. Had it not been Bellatrix Black, they would have never let her live this down.

But this was Bellatrix Black. And for a brief moment, they thought they could see a glimpse of something else in her eyes, throughout the anger and sheer loathing that they saw reflected at Rodolphus.

Anguish. Mourning. Regret. Hope. For a split-second, all of these emotions flashed through Bellatrix's heart and were reflected in her eyes.

But that moment ended, and fast. Her murderous glare gave everyone in the compartment shivers, but none so much as Rodolphus Lestrange.