A New Direction for a Dark Witch.

1 Sept 1962

Hogwarts Great Hall

The Sorting

"Black, Bellatrix" said Professor McGonagall.

Bella made her way toward the stool, her mind whirling at the strange parting comment her strange new friend had made as they exited the train compartment for their boat trip too the sorting feast. She hadn't even known her before getting on the train. She had been quite lost as the people she was supposed to ride with already had a full compartment; even her betrothed Rodolphus had ignored her attempts to squeeze into the compartment too feel up that third year floozy, Alectro Carrow as she sat across his lap. Incised she had found an empty compartment and was soon joined by another blond haired first year. A strange girl with a taste for divination who even with her babbling and talk of tarot and tea leaves made her feel warm inside. Not long out of London they had been jostled together when Bellatrix had stood use the restroom and the passing fifth year accepted pushed her back into the compartment, Sybil had caught her before she could hit the floor and they had touched hands, the pulse of magic between them had nocked both of them out and they had and only woken up a few minutes before they arrived in Hogsmeade. As they where about to leave their compartment two other strange things had happened.

"THE ELDER SISTERS MUST TURN FROM DARKNESS OR BE BOUND BY BLOOD AND VENOM OF SNAKES AND BE UNABLE TO HELP THEIR OTHER SISTER AND THE HOUSE LION IN THERE HOUR OF NEED. IF THEY CANNOT SAVE THEM THEIR HOUSE SHALL FALL INTO DARKNESS FOREVER... THE ELDER SISTERS MUST TURN FROM DARKNESS OR BE BOUND BY BLOOD AND VENOM OF SNAKES…" her new friend Sybill had said that in a strange voice and then picking up their conversation a minute later like nothing had happened. Bella hadn't known what to make of the prophecy and that's all it could be. She had just been even more confused by Sybil's peck on her lips as they left the compartment and the soft voiced "I will follow you anywhere... even into the dark my love..."

But now she realized her life turned on what would happen in the next few short minutes and if Sybil was to be believed... that of her whole house. With crystal clarity she saw Rodolphus Lestranges half hidden leer as he met her eyes and patted the empty seat next to him. If her mothers ramblings where correct he was merely trying to look out for her but the memories she now had told her the look on the face of the man who would be her betrothed reminded her of her fathers and his friends faces as they had lead so many imperioused muggle women down into the basement... and she shuddered with revulsion at the memories of what she had witnessed there from the observation gallery. She knew how she would be treated there by the sixth year boy... a thing to play with and beget heirs off of, and the contract in rituals he would make her perform. She decided then and there that she, Bellatrix Eldora Black was nobody's toy! She also thought of her mothers constant harping about the noble house of Slytherin... what was expected of her as a daughter of the house of Black... then she thought of the prophecy and then of her sisters and her cousins to follow her as she took her seat on the stool.

~I am a smart and powerful witch who would earn the respect due me and will not dance too anyone's plans but my own! I will see all of my house live and prosper and take the place in society they are due.~

And then her vision was cut off by the Sorting hat being set over her head...

~Well what's this? A Black? And with such a powerful mind in such turmoil. Oh! OHH! A prophecy! Thank you for the warning... reading a prophetess can be very hard. Quick to read the signs and see the paths I see you are. Ambitious for yourself and your House too... but at a crossroads you are, unsure of the reasons and means to your goals... so where to put you?~

In an instant her mind was set and her will fixed. 'Not Slytherin or Gryffindor! Put me in Ravenclaw where I can work best to protect my house but not be in the line of fire for the snakes and lions. And don't you harm Sybil or separate us. If you do I will shred you, incinerate your scraps then scatter your ashes to the wind!'

~Such a wonderful threat! I haven't had one as good as in several years! But unlike many in the past this one was for the right reasons... I shall remember to be extra careful with your other half...well then better send that mind of yours too... RAVENCLAW!

The shocked great hall was silent as Bella silently stood up with her face in a polite smile to all as she sat the hat down and made her way to the Ravenclaw table...the first Black by birth not in Slytherin in nearly two hundred years. Half way there the Dumbledore ordered McGonagall to continue the sorting. Selecting her seat at the foot of the table carefully she nodded a fixed moue of disappointment, that did not reach the laughter in her eyes, at the shocked face of Rodolphus as she sat down facing him, watching the confusion and rage build on his face.

Through the sorting she waited with tense expectation and baited breath until a certain blond took her seat on the stool, her world tensed as she held her breathe. After a moment with the shout of RAVENCLAW! Sybil jumped off the stool and ran over to sit plastered up against her.

A great weight lifted from her chest... as the golden haired girl sat by her and they grasped hands under the table. Belle felt...whole and the future felt… brighter.

At the head table an older man frowned as something didn't go according to his plan.