Sunlight crept around the curtains of the Slytherin dorms on Saturday morning. Bella rubbed her eyes and stared around. Everyone was still sleeping. Lucy was hugging her sheets close to her and smiling in her sleep, clearly not having nightmares about her brother dropping out of school. Abby was in the bed next to her, her head buried in her pillow, her blonde hair splaying out around her like spikes. The two other girls in her dorm, Izzie and Kathryn, we both asleep at the other end of the room. Bella got up and dressed quickly, still none of the dorm stirring. Bella had changed into her Quidditch kit; skinny jeans (though they weren't allowed), her tight long-sleeved black top, and the green Slytherin t-shirt that went on top. She draped her Quidditch cloak over her arm and left the room, picking up her boots as she left.

As she made her way out of the dungeon, she considered the outcomes of what was coming. They were announcing the Quidditch Captains today. It was tradition to announce it first in the headmaster's office, after a week had passed of the first term. Then it would be announced in a ceremony that night to the whole school. Bella exhaled as she tried to put aside how much she wanted this. It had been her dream ever since she started. She wasn't bothered about being a Prefect, or Head Girl. She knew she'd never get them because she was too forthright with her views, and too willing to do what she wanted, rather than what the school wanted. But Quidditch Captain? She could do that. She was a leader. Naturally.

Alex Higgs was waiting for her outside the golden phoenix stairway that welcomed them into what was now Professor Dumbledore's office. He grinned at her, his dark hair a mess around his eyes.

'Alright, Bella?'

She nodded, suddenly unable to speak from nerves. She tried to block them out. Alex smirked, somewhat happy that his competition was nervous, no matter how much of a friend she was.

'Where's Jamie?' Bella asked him, realising the absence of the only other candidate for Captaincy.

Alex shrugged. 'Hopefully he got cold feet.'

'Play nice.' Bella smirked at him. Alex and Jamie weren't enemies, as such, they just didn't particularly get on. They never had.

Bella gave one final glance around the corridor, before she stepped onto the phoenix stairs, Alex at her heels.

'Password?' The voice issued from nowhere – a voice Bella was only to familiar with. She'd been in the headmaster's office more times than she'd care to mention.

'Quidditch.' And the stairs started moving. The password was deliberately changed for that morning, to Quidditch, so that all the potential Captains could get in. They had time slots, per house, so that they wouldn't be alerted to the other Captains from other houses.

Professor Dumbledore sat in his newly acquired chair, looking more than comfortable. Bella scowled at him. It took a second to remember that this man was in charge of her fate in the Quidditch team, and put on a perfectly convincing pleasant smile. There were three chairs set out at the desk facing Dumbledore. Clearly Jamie wasn't here yet.

'Good morning,' Dumbledore addressed them almost professionally. 'please, sit down.'

Alex and Bella did as they were told, and sat down. Bella gave an almost sympathetic look to the empty chair where Jamie should have been. He would have thought he could get away with another five minutes in bed.

'I see we are one short.' Dumbledore observed aloud. Bella simply nodded. 'Should we start without him?'

'Take it he hasn't got it then?' Bella let her sugar-coated guard slip for a moment.

'Have I been so obvious?' Dumbledore smiled at her, but there was nothing behind it but distaste. Bella shrugged.

'Well,' He continued. 'I see it only fit that we carry on.' He smiled at the pair in front of him, and seeing that neither of them smiled back, he continued. 'I have been told you have both worked hard since you started the team… in your third year, was it?' They both remained silent, and Dumbledore assumed he'd got it right.

Before he could continue, the door squeaked open and Jamie poked his head around the door. His hair was all over the place, and his clothes looked like they'd been thrown on in a hurry.

'Sorry,' He muttered, as he took the only remaining seat in front of their headmaster.

'Not a problem,' Dumbledore tried his smile again on Jamie, who followed the example set by the others.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. 'As I was saying. You've all worked extremely hard, and I know how much you want this. But when I decided on the Captains of other teams – you will need someone who can lead without hesitation. Someone who will not falter under pressure. And most of all, someone who can ultimately, bring a team who have not won the Quidditch Cup for four years, into a solid victory.' He paused as his eyes met Bella's, a dark twinkle issuing from behind his glasses. 'A tall order.'

Bella couldn't help but glare at him. Tall order? Not a chance. They hadn't won for four years, yes, that was true. However, they had come second every time. And Bella knew second place didn't get you anywhere, but it did help you climb the ladder. And it didn't help matters that their previous Captain was one of the most insufferable, pretentious people Bella had ever met. Half the team had hated her, and it shouldn't have surprised her that no one listened her. But, Jen melted under the scrutiny, and it showed in the team's performance. Bella would not let that happen. Jen had gone on to have no job offers, and simply faded into obscurity. Bella would never do that. She wouldn't allow it.

'And so,' Dumbledore reached into a drawer in his desk and removed a small golden badge. 'Bellatrix, do your team proud.'

Bella grinned, she couldn't help it. She stared at the badge as her name began to etch itself onto it, underneath the words reading 'Captain'.

'Well done,' Jamie told her, greeting her gaze with a warm smile. Alex on the other side simply nodded at her.

'Your robes, please.' Dumbledore reminded her. Bella took her Quidditch robes off the side of the chair and handed them to the headmaster. When she next saw them, they would have 'Captain' embroidered on the back. She was still smiling.

Dumbledore passed his attention back to the boys.

'Don't feel disheartened,' Dumbledore told them. Alex snorted. 'you are in very capable hands. And I know that as a team, you are inescapably strong. I know you will continue,' He took one last look at them all. He locked eye contact with Bella, making a silent mental note to keep a close eye on her. 'you are dismissed.'

Bella stopped herself skipping out of the office with happiness. She knew it wasn't fair to the lads, so she didn't express her glee… Even though part of her was saying it wasn't her problem that they'd not got it. Jamie clasped her on the back when they got back onto the corridor.

'You deserve it.' He told her, looking her in the eyes, letting her know that he was perfectly sincere about it.

'Thanks,' Bella smiled back. 'although you could easily have got it.'

Jamie shrugged. 'You'll do it better. I applied just in case. You'd make a better Captain than me, any day.'

'Really, thank you, Jamie.' Bella said again. He smiled and gave her a mock salute.

'Captain.' He smiled. 'I'll see you later, Bells.'

She returned the goodbye. When she turned back around, Alex had gone completely, without even a second glance. Bella sighed. He'd come around. He was short-tempered, and he'd have cooled off in about half an hour, anyway. Bella walked back to the common room happily, unable to wait to tell her friends the good news.

At dinner that night the whole school was seated as they waited for the news of their Quidditch Captains. Strictly speaking, they weren't supposed to tell anyone who'd got the position, but everyone always told their friends. The four heads of houses were standing at the front of the hall, each in front of their respective houses. Professor Slughorn was holding the Captain's badge, and Bella's emerald Quidditch robes, now with 'Captain' in bold black lettering on the back. Of course, only a few knew that they were Bella's robes.

Professor Dumbledore had begun with a small introductory speech, and Bella had tried to tune out to it, as she still didn't like him, even though he'd been the one to give her the Captaincy position.

'You're Captains,' Dumbledore continued, as Bella realised it was impossible to tune out when the only sound she could hear was his voice. The rest of the school were in a suspense induced silence. 'are the ones responsible for bringing your team to victory this year, and indeed, until they leave the school. They choose who represents your house Quidditch team, and they lead practices. A lot of responsibility rests on their shoulders, and they should know the challenges they face are theirs alone.' His glittering blue eyes surveyed the room, gradually meeting the gaze of each of the Captains where they sat – though none of them noticed who the others were.

'You play Quidditch as a team, but you captain a team alone.' He paused to allow each of the new Captains to stew on this for a moment. Bella glared. She knew this, and it didn't bother her in the slightest. She knew she could lead her team into victory – she would lead them to victory, she was sure of it.

'And without further ado, I will announced the Quidditch Captains,' He unrolled a small scroll of parchment. She saw Professor Slughorn give her a quick smile, and she returned it. He was evidently proud of her.

'For Hufflepuff… Timothy Macmillan.'

There was a loud applause from the Hufflepuff table, although it was hard for Bella to hear the full blast of it, as they were at the opposite end of the room. Timothy had played on the team for three years, and as far as Bella was concerned, he didn't deserve the position. He barely played the sport, let alone possessed the ability to run the team!

'For Ravenclaw… Chelsea Collier.'

Chelsea was a good player. Bella could only agree with that decision. Chelsea was a friend of Bella's, in some respects, she'd say a quick hello in corridors, and maybe a 'how are you?' now and then. It was that kind of friendship. Chelsea looked as though she was at home in the spotlight as she strode up to collect her robes and Captain badge.

'For Slytherin… Bellatrix Black.'

Bella grinned. She got up and made her way to Professor Slughorn, the shocking noise from the Slytherin table following behind her. She could still hear Lucy and Abby screaming as she got to the front. Slughorn shook her hand, and handed her the robes and badge.

'Well done, Bellatrix,' He told her. 'we'll have to take another photo for the wall!' He beamed at her. Bella nodded and smiled at him. She turned back to face her table before walking back to her seat. The feeling she got then would have been enough to make her smile every day for the rest of her life. Seeing everyone watching her, everyone smiling and cheering… and it was all for her. She loved that feeling. She sat back down on the bench, as Lucy pulled her into a hug, even though she already knew before now.

She almost missed Professor Dumbledore beginning to announce the last house. Bella had almost forgotten.

'And last, but not least. For Gryffindor… James Potter.'

Bella stopped smiling. James? She bit her lip. Now this would make things difficult. She knew that any relationships you had stayed off the pitch, but something like this? Someone that when you saw them off pitch, you were kissing them… how do you put that aside? How do you leave something like that off the pitch?

James seemed to be enjoying himself though, almost dancing back to his seat, brandishing the Captain's badge into Sirius' face for a laugh.

Bella tried to put the smile back onto her face before someone noticed something was wrong. She heard Jamie down the table muttering something about James to one of his friends. Narcissa caught Bella's eye, conveying instant sympathy to her sister. She knew that Bella and James had previously had something going, and this would hurt even if they hadn't seen each other since.

As everyone left the Great Hall, Andromeda caught up with Bella, who greeted her with nothing but a cold stare.

'Congratulations.' Annie told her stiffly.

'Thank you.' Bella said in the same tone. Annie inhaled awkwardly. 'Anything else?' Bella asked her in a bored expression.

'Nope,' Annie replied quickly. 'I saw how you reacted to James getting Gryffindor Captain, though.' She smirked at Bella.

Bella glared at her. 'Yeah. It'll be tough competition. I was hoping for someone more… weak.'

'You mean someone other than James?'

'No.' Bella told her sternly.

The girls were so deep in their own emotions that they didn't notice someone else slide onto the scene with them.

'Did I hear my name, there?' James Potter was grinning from ear to ear.

Annie smirked.

'We were talking about you, not to you.' Bella told him, trying not to smile.

James nodded, still grinning. 'A word, Black?' He purposely used her surname so Annie wouldn't suspect anything. Bella nodded, trying not to look pleased to be asked, then followed James along a quiet corridor. He held open the door to an empty classroom, then walked inside after Bella, shutting the door behind him.

As soon as that door was shut, his hands were all over her. Bella smiled. It felt like home when she was in his arms. She almost melted into his chest.

'I believe congratulations are in order,' James breathed, then kissed her neck passionately.

'Same to you,' Bella smiled, then twisted in his arms to face him. James draped his scarlet Quidditch robes around her, then held her at arm's length to survey his work.

'Red still looks wrong on you,' He smirked. Bella held onto his robes and pulled them tighter around her.

'Sure?' She looked down at herself. 'What if I was wearing just the robes?'

James' eyes almost literally lit up. 'That might change things.'

Bella slipped her tie loose and took it off, dropping it on the floor. James could only watch her. She proceeded to undo the top three buttons of her shirt, so the top of her bra was just about showing. James gaped at her. Bella stopped there and laughed.

'Oh, James. I could keep you in my palm, I really could.'

James looked a little embarrassed, but quickly overcame it. 'I'd rather you kept me in your underwear to be honest…'

Bella gave him a look. 'That's not going to be happening.'

'We did spend the night together at your place that time…' James gave her a cheeky smile.

'But we didn't actually do anything.'

James shrugged. 'Should have.'

Bella shook her head. 'I don't do that, James.'

'What d'you mean? You don't do sex? I don't understand…'

'Sex before marriage,' Bella told him. 'I don't expect you to understand. With my background; if you don't get married to someone you finished school in a relationship with, or your parents disagree, then your parents choose someone for you. That's just how it goes. You have to keep the pureblood line, and so, you marry young and to a pureblood.' Bella shrugged. 'Call it traditional, if you like.'

'I call it crazy.' James laughed. 'That's ridiculous! Why can't you just marry who you want, and have some fun at school?'

'Because that's not how it works!'

'Well,' James sat himself down on a desk, and Bella took the opposite one. He held hold of her hands. 'say, for example, you were going to get married to someone – a pureblood, after you finished school. Someone you'd chosen, and you'd both agreed and everything… could you sleep with him then? Because you knew you would get married?'

Bella stared at him. 'I guess…' She shrugged. 'What are you getting at, James?'

'Say that person you met at school, and arranged to get married to…' He looked up and met her gaze. 'was me.'