Story Title: Becoming Insane
School: Durmstrang
Theme: look at how wizards and witches use plants as weapons and cures.
Main Prompt: [Emotion] Fear
Year: 3
Word Count: 1377
Bellatrix sat in her room, looking out of the window. Tomorrow she would be getting married and she was nervous. Bellatrix hated the fact that she was nervous, and she blamed her sister. If only Andromeda hadn't run off after finishing her last year at Hogwarts, she wouldn't be this nervous. She had known all her life that she would be marrying for tradition and not for love, she would be making her family proud. And now just days before her wedding, andromeda had to run off, adding the pressure for her wedding to go perfect.
A knocking sound on her door brought Bellatrix out of her thoughts. She didn't have to wait long to see who was at her door, as her mother didn't wait for a reply and entered.
"Are you ready for tomorrow?" Druella asked.
Bellatrix nodded as her mum hung her dress on the door of her wardrobe and made to leave.
"Mother?" Bellatrix' voice softly sounded as her mum was about to leave.
"Yes?"
"What if something goes wrong tomorrow?" Bellatrix asked, her voice sounding surprisingly unsure and unlike herself. She sounded so unlike herself that Druella re-entered the room and closed the door.
"Nothing will go wrong. First thing in the morning you'll have a long bath, after which you'll be helped with getting ready as people start arriving in the garden for the wedding. When everyone is here, the wedding will start."
"What if something messes it up, what if someone comments on-" Bellatrix couldn't finish her sentence, she wouldn't speak of her sister anymore. As far as the blacks were concerned, Andromeda had died.
Druella got up with a stern face, "Don't worry about it, everything will be fine. Now put her out of your mind, she will not be ruining tomorrow."
*hphphp*
Druella walked dawn towards the dungeons and headed to the potions lab. Not a lot of people knew this, but Druella was an accomplished potion mistress. Before marrying Cygnus, she had focused on herbology and potions as those could be used easier, without being caught. As she entered her lab, she started to think about the different ingredients she could use for her daughter, there was no way that Druella would let her traitorous daughter ruin things for them. Bellatrix had to have her wedding the next day and she would be doing it with the confidence of a pureblood witch.
Grabbing a cauldron, Druella filled it with water and placed it on a low heat, before she went off the gather ingredients. As she looked in the cupboard, her eyes roaming her ingredients, she wondered which ones would work. She needed something that would give confidence and calm her down but would not interfere with the magic of the wedding ceremony. Looking on the shelves she found the perfect ingredients and taking them off the shelf, she walked back to her station.
As soon as Druella finished adding her selected ingredients she gave the potion a few more anti-clockwise and a few clockwise stirs, before letting the potion cool down. One dose of this potion in the morning and Bellatrix would have no problems tomorrow. Leaving the potion, Druella made her way upstairs, where she climbed into her bed.
*hphphp*
"Bellatrix."
Bellatrix looked up at the sound of her name and seeing her mum she got up. "Yes, mother?"
Making her way over to Bellatrix, Druella put a small box on the bed and grabbed a small glass vial out of it. "Drink this, it will help you today. I'll leave the rest in case you are in need in the future."
Without a second thought, Bellatrix grabbed the vial and downed it in one go. Within seconds, Bellatrix felt her nerves and worries leave, and her confidence come back. She was Bellatrix Black and the Black family wouldn't be crossed. She stood up straight, ready to be the perfect pureblood bride.
"Is everything ready for the wedding to start?" She asked her mother and after receiving a nod, she made her way down the stairs. Bellatrix joined her father at the bottom of the stairs and waited for everyone else to leave the house and join the guests in the garden. (insert name) looked Bellatrix up and down before nodding in approval, "You look perfect," he said before taking her arm and leading her towards the gardens. As they walked towards the guests, Bellatrix made sure to stand up straight and show she was a pureblood, so that when she walked down the aisle not long after, she looked like the perfect bride.
*hphphp*
At first, Bellatrix had been hesitant to take the small box with her on her honeymoon, but at the last minute she added it. She was grateful for it when she felt her confidence leave her that night and without a second thought, she grabbed a vial.
*hphphp*
Bellatrix stood in front of her mirror, getting ready to go to the party. Just as she was about to leave her room, her husband entered.
"Are you ready to go? The dark lord doesn't appreciate tardiness."
Bellatrix, who was just about to reply that she was fine, stopped. "The dark lord?"
Her husband nodded, "he's hosting this summer ball for all his death eaters. Are you ready?"
"I will be ready in a few minutes." Bellatrix replied as Rodolphus left the room. Bellatrix had forgotten that the dark lord was the one hosting the ball and now, just minutes before they had to leave, her nerves started to kick in again.
It wasn't until Bellatrix stood in front of her closet and noticed the small box her mum had given her that she remembered the potions. Should she take one? It would calm her nerves and give her confidence. And that is what her husband needed from her.
*hphphp*
"Bella, we'll be having lunch at my parents' house tonight," Rodolphus told his wife of two weeks. "They will be having a special guest, so make sure you're dressed appropriately."
Bellatrix nodded before leaving the sitting room to go and get ready. As she walked towards her room, she wondered who the special guest could be. It was only after she had reached her rooms and settled down in her bath that she realised that the only reason Rodolphus would be so vague, was if it was the dark lord. Almost immediately Bellatrix started to worry. A meal with the dark lord? She wasn't sure she could do that. The summer ball had been nerve-racking enough, and then she had to only politely say hello. Now she would have to sit through a full meal and converse with him. What if he asked about Andromeda? Or worse if he blamed Bellatrix for her sister becoming a blood traitor, she was the eldest, after all, she was supposed to look after her sister, keep her in line. The longer Bellatrix thought about it, the more she started to worry.
Bellatrix opened the box in the bottom of her cupboard to take out a vial, only to realise that it was her last one. She'd have to either get more from her mother the next day or use her husband's potions lab to make some herself. Deciding that the empty box would be a problem for the next day, Bellatrix downed the potion and on feeling the effect of the potion she made her way downstairs.
*hphphp*
The next day Bellatrix managed to make her way down to the potion's lab, where she managed to grab the ingredients for the potions. What Bellatrix didn't realise that instead of the powdered lionfish spine, which balanced out the more addictive ingredients, she grabbed the powdered dragon claw. As a result, Bellatrix had a potion that appeared to be the same but was more addicting and gave the drinker more confidence than the original potion had done.
*hphphp*
Bellatrix stood in front of the dark lord. She felt confident and happy. Her potions had been working and at first, she only took them if she was meeting the dark lord, but as those days grew closer and closer together, Bellatrix found herself taking the potion most days. Not soon after, she found herself taking it every day.