Aunt Walburga
A.N : - This is the chapter two. I hope you like this.
Disclaimer: - These characters are not mine.
Bellatrix looked out of the window. It had been raining incessantly since last two days. She was bored out of her mind. Usually, her sisters and she were inseparable but the gloomy weather had taken a toll on them and had left all of them moody and irritated. Andromeda had gone to her own room to read another book (she never ran short of them), whereas Narcissa had taken to dressing up her dolls. Bellatrix had nothing to do.
She stood up reluctantly from the chair she had been sitting on and began practicing the "Black Walk". Although she had perfected the behavior and mannerism of 'The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black', long time ago yet a bit more practice won't hurt anyone. Moreover, today was the first time that she would be going to the Diagon Alley (Bellatrix had floo-called her aunt earlier and she had agreed to take Bellatrix with her), so this was going to be her first venture into the real world. She then stood in front of her mirror and practiced the famous Black glare, her aunt had told her that it would be needed.
Suddenly she heard a loud crack outside the door and then feeble knocking, followed by a squeaky voice saying, "Miss Bella is wanted in the living room by Miss Walburga, she is requested to be there as soon as possible." Bellatrix smiled to herself and told the house-elf that she would be there soon.
Bellatrix checked her final appearance in the mirror and then left the room.
She reached the living room to find her aunt having a conversation with her Father. She wished both of them a good afternoon and stood near the couch. She, being a Black, knew that she should not sit down without being asked to sit even if this was her own home. Aunt Walburga was looking at her with wide eyes, "Bellatrix, What are you thinking? You want to go to Diagon Alley in half-sleeve dress and that too without gloves. You will be catching the mudblood germs!"
Bellatrix was confused, she had heard and studied about many animals that transmitted germs but did not remember studying anything about mudbloods. The sensible course of action, of course, would have been to come back from Diagon Alley and then ask Andromeda about them, but Bellatrix hated not knowing something.
She turned to her father and asked, "Father what are Mudbloods?"
As soon as the words left her mouth she heard a highly audible gasp.
"What are Mudbloods?"She heard her aunt scream, "So Bellatrix you mean to tell me that my dear brother has failed to tell you about Mudbloods. You surprise me Cygnus. A daughter of Black not knowing what mudbloods are! Next, she will be telling me she doesn't know anything about filthy muggles."
"Oh no Aunt Walburga, I know what muggles are."
"Wow, so do you expect me to congratulate dear?"
Bellatrix was scared. Her aunt had never talked to her like this. She was glaring at Bellatrix and Cygnus as if they had committed some horrendous crime.
Bellatrix heard her aunt ordering her out of the room. She followed the order without reluctance, she was well aware of the infamous Black temper that her aunt had soon as she left, she heard the door shut with a loud bang. But the door was not thick enough to block her aunt's voice. Bellatrix stood outside the door hearing everything that was being said.
Her aunt was saying, "What are you playing at Cygnus?"
Her father replied, "What do you mean by that Walburga? She is too young to understand the politics of the purebloods and therefore I did not tell her about mudbloods. Let her enjoy her childhood. She has more than enough years after she starts going to Hogwarts to know about unwanted filths in the world."
"So you mean to say that you are not going to tell her or any other of your daughters about mudbloods until they start going to Hogwarts. You are worse than Alphard. You do realize that if they are not aware of the nuisances these mudbloods are they might fall in the wrong company at Hogwarts, and who knows I might have to blast them off my tapestry for being friends with the wrong kind." Bellatrix could hear the sneer in her aunt's voice.
"Fine, do whatever you want to do. Tell her about mudbloods and filths. I just wanted my daughters to enjoy their childhood and learn to love their family but if that means she has to risk being blasted off then I would rather prefer her knowing." Cygnus said with a tone of defeat in his voice.
"You are a fool Cygnus. We are Blacks. For us love for the family means nothing. For us, our family is our pride; the purest magical blood running through our veins is our inheritance. Don't you learn from our ancestors? Prune the branches that are not worth being part of the tree. Our family has the responsibility of rescuing the world from filths, and for your daughters to be acceptable as true Blacks, they have to be devoted to the cause. I am taking your eldest with me to the Grimmauld Place. I will tell her everything without sugar coating them. And if you think that any of your daughters are too fragile to hear about those, then trust me they will not last long on the tapestry. So make sure the rest of them are not ignorant as your eldest. She will be going to Hogwarts in three years, and since you have failed so spectacularly as a pureblood father, I take the responsibility of providing her with the education she should have received by now. Take care of rest of your daughters." She finished with a warning in her tone.
Three years Later
(Ages:- Bellatrix-11 yrs, Andromeda-9, Narcissa-8, Sirius-4, Regulus-1 and a half-year-old)
"Girls, come down and greet your aunt and uncle," Druella Black's smooth voice carried throughout the manor.
Andromeda shut the book ("Sacred Twenty-Eight and Their Family Trees") she had been reading and checked her appearance in the mirror. She was the least favorite niece of her aunt and it would not be good for her ear drums if Walburga Black managed to find a fault in her appearance. After ensuring that she looked like a daughter of 'The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black', she stepped out of her room and walked to the parlor. She greeted all the members of her family with a smile, although a smile was not enough for Sirius who insisted on getting a hug from his favorite cousin. Andromeda obliged and grinned fondly at him. She then proceeded to the couch where Regulus was playing with his toy broomstick and placed a small kiss on his forehead and then waited for the permission to settle down beside him.
Soon Narcissa and Bellatrix joined them. After the greetings were over, and the girls were all settled down, Cygnus Black called everyone's attention to him. In a loud, clear and aristocratic voice which Andromeda had come to relate to her father, he began, "Today while going through my mail, I found this letter addressed to Bellatrix Black. It is her Hogwarts letter. Since she is the first Black of her generation to go to Hogwarts, I thought the arrival of her letter calls for a get-together for the whole family."Cygnus finished the announcement with a proud look.
Everyone turned their attention to Bellatrix who pulled herself to her full height and said, "Dear Father, I am very proud of my family and will do my best to make generations of Black proud." Their aunt, Walburga, who looked quite pleased by the announcement addressed Bellatrix , "Very good Bellatrix, I have no doubt that you will prove yourself worthy of the name Black, but before you go to Hogwarts you should be aware that the mudblood lover that you have got as your headmaster is a fool, he tries to make purebloods get along with mudbloods. But remember, you are Black with generations of magic running in your veins, which means you have loads more magic compared to those worthless magic thieves, make sure you make your authority known to them," she ended with a stern glance towards Bellatrix.
Regulus, who by now was bored of the broomstick he had been playing with, asked his mother, "Mother, what are mudbloods?"
"Don't you know Reg? How many times have we told you? Sometimes you are so stupid. They are thieves. They steal magic from people like us," answered Sirius with a pitying glance towards Regulus who had scooted nearer to Andromeda, afraid that someone might steal his magic. Sensing this Andromeda said in a comforting voice, "Don't worry Reg, you will be able to recognize them from far and will be able to run away into safety before they get a chance to steal your magic."
"But, how will I recognize them?" He directed this question to Bellatrix.
As soon as Sirius had declared Andromeda to be his favorite cousin, Regulus had declared Bellatrix to be his, and since then he had always looked up to Bellatrix.
"Oh! You will know that, once you see them. They are quite hideous to look at", Bellatrix replied with disgust in her voice.
"They stink a lot too and are very dirty and are dressed in rags", added Narcissa.
All the younger Blacks scrunched their nose disgusted.
No one noticed Walburga leaning towards Cygnus and whispering "it's nice to know that you paid heed to my warning. Your other two daughters have turned up quite fine."
A.N:- I know many of you will have varied opinion on this, but I felt that Bellatrix and Walburga were too similar and realised that since Walburga did not have her own children while Bellatrix was growing up, she might have played a huge role in bringing her up and imposing her own prejudiced views on her. And as to Cygnus's protective stance about his family, I thought about how Narcissa valued her family over everything else and thought that she might have learnt it from her parents.
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