Character: Bellatrix Black Lestrange
Challenge: Snakes and Ladders Challenge
Prompt: N/A
Era: Marauder
Summary: Bellatrix Lestrange is mad, and she likes it that way.
Madness
"Madness in great ones must not unwatched go."
-William Shakespeare, Hamlet
She is mad.
Mad, mad, mad.
"Bella, you can't go outside now!"
"Come on, Cissy, don't be such a killjoy. It's just a little rain."
"She's right, Cissy, you're being a sissy," Andromeda agrees, and laughs at her pun.
And so the three sisters link arms and step into the downpour, dancing and singing like they never will again, like the sky is falling in those little droplets of water. She feels so alive, the rain is tingling on her skin and is sweet in her mouth, and nothing, nothing could ever be better than this moment.
She is mad.
Mad, mad, mad.
"Bella…I'm not marrying Rabstaban."
She feels fury at that, burning, crackling on her skin as her magic sweeps around her, but nothing could have prepared her for the sentence to come.
"I'm marrying Ted Tonks."
And so she draws her wand and lunges for her sister's throat, striking like a viper, wanting to cause as much pain as possible. The Black family has not remained pure for this long to be sullied by a silly little girl! She feels so furious, the rage is all-consuming and all powerful. Her spells are stronger than ever, and nothing, nothing could ever make her angrier than this moment.
She is mad.
Mad, mad, mad.
"Bella, it's too dangerous."
Cissy's voice is worried, she doesn't want her to get hurt, but Bellatrix knows this is the fight where she will prove herself.
"I have to, Cissy."
And so she turns on her heel and vanishes into the night, where she joins her husband for the battle of a lifetime. She is radiant, glowing with the pleasure of it, with the sheer liquid grace of her movements. She feels so powerful, her magic dances across their skin and makes them scream with pain, beg for mercy. Nothing, nothing could ever make her happier than this moment.
She is mad.
Mad, mad, mad.
"Bella, if you go into battle now, you'll lose the baby."
She knows this, but if she backs out now, the Dark Lord would think her a coward, and she'd never be Marked, never be accepted as one of them. She wants nothing more than to join their ranks, for people to cringe at the sound of her name. The sound of raw power. This is more important than any child.
And so she goes, despite her sister's warnings and she fights like never before. They congratulate her. She is Marked, and hours later she stares at the lovely black pattern decorating her pale skin. She feels so triumphant, because she's reached for the position no woman had dared reach before. Nothing, nothing could ever make her prouder than this moment.
She is mad.
Mad, mad, mad.
"Bella, you've lost her."
Her sister's voice is soft, gentle, and Bellatrix hangs her head. She has failed her duty to continue the Black line, but there is another feeling underneath the surface of her heart. Still, she keeps her chin up, and thanks her sister for the diagnostic.
And so she retreats to one of the many bathrooms of the Manor and slumps to the ground. Tears make their way down her face, though she hadn't cried since she was a child. Sobs wrack her body and she can't think about tomorrow or the day after next because surely the world is ending, surely it can't go on without her daughter, the baby never born. She feels regret, because she'd been too foolish to heed her sister's warning, because something had been more important than her child. Nothing, nothing could ever cause her more pain than this moment.
She is mad.
Mad, mad, mad
"Bellatrix, there's a prophecy, about a boy born at the end of July that can defeat the Dark Lord."
There are whispers throughout the inner circles of the Death Eaters, but still the Dark Lord does nothing. When she hears, there is ice in Bellatrix's veins, not only because her daughter should have been born in July, but because if the Dark Lord falls, she will have nothing.
And so she goes about her daily life and doesn't ask questions. The Dark Lord vanishes that Halloween night and when she hears the news she rages. She tosses things across the room and nearly kills her husband with a jinx gone awry. She feels empty inside, unable to accept it. Nothing, nothing could make her more lost than this moment.
She is mad.
Mad, mad, mad.
"Bellatrix, the Longbottoms know something."
It is a fool's errand, but she isn't thinking straight. All she knows is the loss tearing a hole in her heart from the daughter that never was and the leader that reigned then fell.
And so she leads Rolphodus and Rabstaban and Barty to the Longbottom house where they torture Alice and Frank, both in her year in school and she laughs, the madness swallowing her. She feels crazy, and she likes the feeling of just letting herself go and not caring what happens. Nothing, nothing could ever make her more deranged than this moment.
She spends her years with the memories chasing themselves around her head in circles until they're so disjointed they aren't memories at all an she can't remember her own name and she thinks she'll die from it all and it's taking her over until…
Clarity.
She is free.
She laughs.
Oh yes, she is mad indeed.