Belphegor LeStrange was back at Hogwarts for her last year and she couldn't be happier about it. Only one year left until she was done with Dumbledore and McGonagall and the whole lot of the professors and the snot-nosed, bratty children. Only one more year until she could graduate and become a Death Eater just like her mother and father before her.

But the journey of a thousand miles begins with a first step.

And Bel's first step was waking up September 2nd for breakfast.

She groaned angrily. Mornings always made her mad. So did nighttime. So did afternoons. Really, everything made her mad.

Except for her mother's friend, Fenrir Greyback, whom she had had a crush on for years. And, of course, the Dark Lord.

Bel met up with her two good friends, Marcus Flint and Hayden Salvin, in the common room and they made their way up to breakfast together. Once in the Great Hall, they kicked some First Years out of their seats and filled their plates with food. Within minutes of sitting down, the owls came in, dropping their mail on the table.

"Oh look! Mother sent me a letter!" Bel said, ripping open the letter from her mother. She hadn't heard from her since the beginning of the summer, and she had missed her dearly.

Dearest Belphegor, it began. Her mother never used Bel's nickname, as it made her "seem too common."

I am proud of you. I hope your final year in Hogwarts will prove as prosperous as mine was. Make good friends and get good grades. Remember that you have our family name to uphold. I do not wish to hear that you have gotten into any trouble this year.

Send Professor Snape my regards.

-Your Mother

Bel rolled her eyes. It was the same thing every time. Her mother had never once told her daughter that she loved her. Only 'I'm proud of you. Now don't do anything to upset that.' It was frustrating.

"Did you get anything?" Bel asked her friends.

Hayden was digging through a care package that he had received and Marcus was reading a letter from his parents.

"There are only five Cauldron Cakes in here! I asked for ten!" Hayden exclaimed. "They might as well have sent none at all!"

Bel rolled her eyes. Her two best friends had two parents that cared about them and gave them whatever they wanted. They both had two parents who weren't in Azkaban most of their child's life.

Unfortunately, she did. And there was no use complaining about it. She just had to live with seeing her parents twice a year and getting about four letters a year from them.

"Hey! He's got a Howler!" Bel heard someone from the Gryffindor table say. She scanned the table, looking for the unlucky kid with the Howler and her eyes locked onto Potter's ginger friend, Weasley. He was a deep scarlet - the same shade as the letter he held in his hands.

"Oh, this is delicious!" Bel said, slapping Hayden and Marcus's arms to make them look at the boy. "He's got a Howler!"

"He's opening it!" Marcus said. "I hope it's bad."

"-STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T BE SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE-"

Bel, Hayden and Marcus could barely breathe. He was the one who drove the car to Hogwarts and into the Whomping Willow. They could no longer see him, he had sunk so low in his seat.

"-LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND HARRY COULD BOTH HAVE DIED-"

"This is priceless!" Hayden said through his laughter. They were all doubled over, as was most of the Hogwarts student population.

"-ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED - YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRIAGHT BACK HOME."

The letter burst into flames and the Great Hall turned silent, save for a few students who were still laughing. Moments later, though, things went back to normal. Bel had finished her breakfast, so she gathered her schedule from Professor Snape and headed off to her first class, Defense Against the Dark Arts.

She dragged Hayden and Marcus to the classroom, where they were exceptionally late (Bel made it her duty to always be late to class).

"Ahh, I gather that you are Miss. LeStrange, Mr. Flint and Mr. Salvin?" a blonde Professor said from the front of the classroom. Bel recognized him from some books she had seen in Flourish and Blotts, and thought he was good-looking, but in person, his smile was forced, his golden hair was over-gelled and he wore ridiculous robes.

"Who are you?" Bel asked, taking her normal seat in the back of the class and putting her feet up on the desk. The Professor's mouth twitched.

"Why I am Professor Gilderoy Lockhart, my dear," he said, as though it was common knowledge. "I'm sure you have heard of my great achievements-"

"Like what?" Marcus cut him off.

Lockhart looked taken aback. "Did you not do your summer reading?" he asked.

More than half the class scoffed (one of Slytherin's favorite pastimes) and Lockhart's fake smile faltered for a moment.

And then it was back, brighter than ever. "Well I'm sure you've heard of my Witch Weekly's award for the most charming smile," he said.

"Um, no," Bel said.

"Well I'm sure all of your mothers have," he said. "I'm very popular with the witches."

Bel laughed maniacally, just like her mother and smiled her mother's famous chilling child-like smile. "My mother?" she asked. "Bellatrix LeStrange? Reading Witch Weekly?" She laughed even harder.

"Oh," Lockhart said, his smile completely gone. "Your mother is Bellatrix LeStrange?"

Bel rolled her eyes. "But don't worry," she said in a fake, child-like voice. "I'm not as bad as her." She put on another smile. "I'm worse."

"Well, I think we learned enough for today. Why don't you all read a chapter from Voyages with Vampires for homework tonight and I'll see you again-" But he never got to finish, because all the Slytherins had already left the room.

Hayden and Bel high-fived. "Did you see how scared he was?!" Hayden said, completely hysterical. "His face was priceless!"

"I know! If all the teachers were that easy, I would have graduated by now!" Bel said. Her friends laughed.

The trio hung about in the common room, gossiping about what the Gryffindors did over the summer and who broke up with who and who got back together with who, until lunch time, when they headed down to the Great Hall.

Sometimes Bel wished Hogwarts wasn't so predictable. Once one had been there for seven long years, like her, it seemed like one could map out exactly what could happen what would happen to them for the rest of the week.

She knew, before she even got into the Great Hall, that there would be First Years in their seats. She knew that, even though it was horribly overcast, everyone would hang out outside after lunch just because it was something to do.

That's why she relished in the funny little moments of Hogwarts life. Like that morning's Howler. Or the rumor that Harry Potter was handing out signed photos.

She couldn't wait to get out of Hogwarts.

And there is Miss. Belphegor LeStrange. I hope you enjoy reading about her as much as I enjoyed writing about her!

The part in bold is what I took directly from the book.

Review please