Narcissa's POV

Bellatrix was back. It didn't make sense.

Narcissa's mind was reeling at the mere thought that she'd missed nearly 20 years of her sister's life. It was true that Bellatrix was evil incarnate, and it was true that Narcissa didn't approve of her dealings with the Dark Lord one bit, but, she was still her sister, and she always held a special place in her heart.

Narcissa was pacing up and down Malfoy Manor. "I can't tell anyone. No one. I can't call up Draco or tell Lucius. I promised Bella. But still! How can I keep something like this to myself?!" She paused. "On the other hand, if I did tell Lucius that Bella was back and that she had intentions to resurrect the Dark Lord, he might jump at the opportunity, putting our family back in the same position we were in all those years ago. Plus Trixy would hate me so no one wins there really. I suppose I keep my mouth shut." Narcissa sighed and slumped back into her velvet couch. Even though she had only left Bellatrix moments ago, she missed her. She missed her for all the years she'd lost. She missed her for the time they could have spent together. But most of all, she missed Bellatrix Black, before the Dark Lord, before Rudolphus, before everything.

"Narcissa?" Lucius came through the front door.

"Yes dear?" Narcissa tried to compose herself, knowing Lucius could always see right through her. He came into the room and his smile fell.

"What's the matter love?" Narcissa's breath caught in her throat. She thought she'd have a bit more time before she had to come up with something.

"What? There's not a thing wrong!" she smiled, but it was strained.

"Don't give me that, you look absolutely torn up!" Lucius walked her to the couch. "Sit down, I'll bring you some tea. Peppermint, your favorite."

Narcissa sighed and put her head in her hands. "Thank you Lucius." As Lucius was walking away he turned back towards Narcissa.

"By the way, have you seen the Prophet? It seems there was a mass murder in a muggle town." He tossed the paper and it landed on Narcissa's lap. Before she even read the article, she knew who was responsible. Narcissa looked up in time to see Lucius disappear through the French doors that lead to their kitchen. Everything about Bellatrix made her blood boil; yet she couldn't get away from her sister's sadistic nature. Whether she liked it or not, they were family.

Bellatrix's POV

"Good morning staff and students of Hogwarts!" a female voice sounded over the intercom. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Class schedules will be handed out at breakfast and you will be expected to attend all classes except in the case of illness. Classes begin promptly at 9am, so don't be tardy!"

Bellatrix woke up bleary eyed and annoyed. She hated children, she hated Hogwarts, and she hated being nice. "All for the Dark Lord" she muttered to herself as she changed out of her nightshirt and into one of her many corsets and skirts. She teased up her hair and painted her lips with ruby red lipstick, and lined her eyes with a thick black line. Bellatrix made her way to the Great Hall and sat through another event-free meal before the crows parted and students went to her classes.

Bellatrix strode into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, bringing with her an air of darkness. "My name." She paused, probably coming off as dramatic, when really she needed to gather her thoughts. "is Professor Black. You may think the Dark Arts are a joke. You may think you're safe at Hogwarts or at home with mummy and daddy. But you're never safe. Anyone skilled enough in the Dark Arts could bring this castle to its knees before you could even blink." Bellatrix paused again waiting for a reaction. Seeing there was none, she continued her speech.

"You may think Dark Magic is something that only exists in your nightmares or fairytales you were told as a child. The reality is people use Dark Magic everyday. They're just waiting for someone powerful enough to lead them to victory do you understand?" She finally caught the attention of the class, staring at her wide-eyed and stunned.

"Others think you may be too young to get a dose of reality, but if we as professors didn't play our part in educating you from now, you may be tempted to go astray and fight with the dark side. I tell you now that's inadvisable as fighting with the dark leaves marks on you that can never go away." Bellatrix's patience was slipping as she felt she was spitting in the Dark Lord's face with her speech. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a young Gryffindor girl raise her hand. Bellatrix prompted the girl to stand up with a wave of her finger.

"Professor Black. What sort of marks are you talking about? I read something once about a… dark mark I believe but I don't really know what it meant." Bellatrix slowly rubbed her thumb against her left forearm before answering.

"It really has nothing to do with your studies, but there's no use in keeping it from you. There was once a powerful dark wizard, who shall not be named. He had a vision of blood purity and ruling the wizarding world, and eventually the muggle world as well." The girl cut off Bellatrix.

"Yes yes we all know about Voldemort." Bellatrix hissed at the girl's total lack of respect. "Albus' father over there defeated him single handedly. But that wasn't my question. What's a dark mark?!" The girl was proving to be an insufferable know-it-all.

Bellatrix angered quickly at the girl undermining the Dark Lord's abilities. "If you would have let me finish my bloody sentence I would have gotten there!" Bellatrix breathed deeply, trying to calm herself. "The dark mark was something used by the Dark Lord to mark his most faithful servants. It was also used to summon those who served him to his location."

The girl raised an eyebrow. "So basically like an owl… but on your skin?"

Bellatrix's eyes filled with anger again and she bit the inside of her lip drawing blood. "This girl is really testing my patience," She thought. "If you want to trivialize it that much I suppose so."

The girl gave a small curtsy and sat down. "Thank you Professor Black."

"Anymore questions?" Bellatrix snapped, feeling her sanity slipping by the second. The silence in the room was deafening, and Bellatrix smiled to herself, thinking she might be able to handle teaching after all. "Good."

She walked across the length of the room and turned back to face the class. "Over the next few classes we're going to be learning the knockback jinx." She stopped, looking at their dazed faces. "Well are you going to write anything down or is your memory so superlative that you have no need?" She raised an eyebrow as a couple gasps were let out and everyone scrambled to get out their quill, ink and parchment.

"The knockback jinx is particularly helpful when defending yourself against imps, pixies and other minor annoyances really. Don't expect to fight of any worthy opponent with this jinx, that will come in time. With enough power, it is possible to throw back someone who isn't expecting you to, but that too will come with time." Bellatrix paused just in time for the bell to ring. "Alright I'll see you tomorrow morning, same time, same place." Bellatrix sat down at her desk feeling drained. Albus walked up to the front of the room, but made a point of not getting too close.

"When are we going to learn real offensive spells Professor Black?"

She glared up over the top of her book. "Why are you so keen to learn offensive spells Mr. Potter?"

Albus tilted his head slightly "To defend ourselves against dark magic."

Bellatrix closed her book and stood up, towering over Albus despite being only 5'3". "There is hardly anything I can teach you in this class that can help you against incredibly power dark wizards. There are spells that are…unforgivable. Get caught using one and that's a one way ticket to Azkaban. Those of course are the most powerful spells, but I shouldn't be telling you this, you'll learn this in 5th year."

"From you?"

"Not if I can help it" she thought to herself. "Perhaps Albus, one never knows." Albus shrugged and bowed his head slightly.

"Thank you professor." And he scurried out of the room.

"That bloody child is going to be the end of me I swear."

Just as Bellatrix was sitting back at her desk she heard a whisper in her ear, but it sounded more like a hiss. "Good Job Bellatrix."

Her head snapped back up. "Hello? My lord?"

Albus poked his head back in the doorway looking confused. "Did you say something?"

Bellatrix, trying to hide her anger snapped. "No, go along now will you, you're going to be late and I'm not excusing you!"

Albus looked surprised, but he walked away.

"This is going to be a long day." She thought to herself as she walked to the Hogwarts Library for her free period.

A/N: As everyone knows, school has started again. I'm going to try to update this story, but since it is my senior year I have to puy my work first. I'll try to update at LEAST once a month, but if you have any ideas as to where you want the story to go, let me know. Idead help me write faster :)