Chapter Ten

A/N: Thank you to IndigoDragonRider for reviewing!

After three days of training, Bellatrix was truly prepared for her presentation to the Gamemakers, a group of people employed by the Ministry to talent spot the strongest contenders for the Games ahead, and the young woman, true to form, was determined that it would be her that would attain the highest training score, thus giving her the strongest head start on the other Tributes, something that may work well to her advantage in the times ahead.

Over the past couple of days, the Black sister had been training much harder than the others had been, determined to get a score of twelve, something that had only been achieved thrice in the history of the Games, and each time by a member of the Career Districts. The Gryffindors.

In an attempt to keep her secrets to herself, Bellatrix had also refused to train alongside Rodolphus, fearful that he would observe and take her training strategies for himself to use, and that they would be more effective for him, making him a stronger contender in the fight to come. She could not allow that to happen. After all, there could not be two Victors, only one, and she would not allow the other member of her District to throw her over and seize the crown for himself. She was not as weak as the others.

When the lines of the twenty four Tributes were assembled, the young woman found herself stood at the very back, Rodolphus quite a few places ahead of her. She did not think it quite fair that boys should have prevalence in the lines, as the males from the Districts all competed, and then the female from District One would follow the male of District Twelve, Lestrange in this case, to be followed by a scrawny dark haired child, who looked as if she had not done a day's training in her lifetime, despite being from the most prominent Career District in the Ministry.

One by one, she saw the Tributes enter into that mystery of a room, and did not see them come out again. Presumably, they had exited through another door, to make it impossible for them to inform their District partners of what lay ahead in the presentation, though in Bellatrix's opinion, it would be utterly foolish to share any secrets that would give an advantage with one of the twenty three others they were battling against, regardless of whether or not they had come from District One, District Twelve or anywhere in between, as it would discount that advantage, and make it worthless to acquire, to give another the opportunity to achieve a higher training score, and therefore better odds in the Arena.

At last, a couple of minutes after the girl from District Eleven, who was the tallest woman the girl from the furthest District had ever seen and who was rumoured to be only fourteen years old to boot, a caller came to summon the brunette into the room that all twenty three of her opponents had already been privy to. It took only a second for her to respond, far less time than it had taken the others, as she felt more than prepared for the task ahead of her.

The room was a lot darker than she would have expected, not filled with natural light, but only with fluorescent ones, giving a bright sense of light emerging through the pitch black that covered the areas not below the spots of illumination. A few metres above the ground, a large booth was suspended against the wall, presumably by magical means. Within the rectangle, a dozen men sat, joking around, eating and drinking, not paying any attention at all to the young woman who they were meant to be scoring, a fact that she found extremely aggravating.

"Bellatrix Black, District Twelve." she announced, willing her voice to be loud, though it was still not quite loud enough to make an impact for the group of men, who still did not seem to notice her, despite her efforts. Once again, she tried, clearing her throat very loudly and pointedly. "Excuse me!"

However, it was still ineffective, as the men remained oblivious to her efforts. At a loss of what else to do so, the young woman let out a cry of annoyance. But the effects of that had not been what she had expected at all, as the mirrors that lined the walls where both doors were placed exploded with a loud crack, the broken glass catching the light as it flew across the room, heading straight for the men, who had stopped laughing and ducked down, to avoid being impaled on the shards, as the wall had been, along with the majority of the foodstuffs on the mahogany table.

As soon as they were certain that the brunette's magical anger had been spent, the leader of the group of Gamemakers stood, carefully brushing the dust from his robes as he glared down at her, his fellow men flanking him in their efforts to stare down the fiery Black sister, who seemed to have just as much of a glint of flames in her eyes as they did.

"Thank you for your time." Bellatrix stated, her bitter tone dripping with sarcasm, as her face expressed the same just as clearly. She did not wait for a response from the group, as she doubted it would be a positive one, and decided instead to walk in the direction of the door, grasping the handle and storming out of it before she could change her mind.

She immediately returned to her apartments on the penthouse floor, as she had been escorted by a guard to the place, due to her actions during the presentation being seen not only as a threat to the Gamemakers, but as a threat to the other Tributes, the Games and even the Atrium itself, something which the young woman felt was ridiculous, as it had been an accidental attack, though she could not voice this fact, for fear that she would make things worse for herself in the Arena. One thought crossed her mind as she considered this, however.

'I am entered in a fight to the death, in which only one out of twenty four of us will survive. How could this possibly be any worse?'

A/N: So, threatening Bellatrix has appeared. Please review!