TITLE: Masks and Secrets

GENRE: General (because I don't know)

RATING: T

SUMMARY: Bellatrix has always worn a mask.

AU (Alternate Universe): (Kind Of) Good!Bellatrix

WARNING: dark-ish, mental mask, secrets

Masks and Secrets

By RowenaHermioneRavenclaw

Secrets are precious.

Precious, but dangerous.

A secret one thought to be trivial, of no matter, may change the world.

Bellatrix Druella Lestrange, formerly Black, knows this.

She has many secrets.

Some are boring, everyday little secrets. Like the fact that it was actually Bellatrix who spiked her father's morning coffee with a Laughing Potion.

Those were easier, more carefree times.

But she also has some ginormous, possibly world-shattering secrets.

Like the fact that she's wearing a mask.

Not literally, mind you. One of those cheap Muggle Superman masks is not plastered across Bellatrix's face.

But she's still wearing a mask.

When did she begin to wear it?

She doesn't remember. It's been so long. Before Hogwarts.

It's been so long that it feels like Bellatrix's mask has taken a life of its own.

Sometimes, she's tempted to rip it off, to get rid of all these secrets that she's been living with since forever.

But then she glances at the black and green snake writhing its way up her arm, and she's reminded of what will happen to her family if she actually does that.

Secrets.

They've been part of her life for so long.

She's hidden them so well, worn her mask so perfectly, that even her beloved sisters - Narcissa and Andromeda - think that the mask is real, and that Bellatrix's secrest are nonexistent.

It hurts.

It hurts far more than any of the Dark Lord's curses can.

But she has to keep her secrets hidden, because Bellatrix values family, and what will happen to her family if she does what she's thinking of?

The happy, carefree times of her childhood are over. She has to face the world, the horrible, terrible world.

I'm sorry…

She knows that just repeating those words, without anyone to hear them, is useless. But she can't help it.

Secrets have ruined her life, but they're keeping her family safe.

[Hogwarts] Assignment 12: Ancient Runes Task #4 - Perthro (ᛈ): Use one of the following themes in your story: Fate, Mystery, Secrets, Chance.

WC: 318