Substitiution
She was destined for me from our childhood, and we both knew it. Our parents planned our match in our childhood. As scions of two noble Pureblood families, families moreover with the same end in view, our match seemed almost inevitable.
But Bellatrix did not see it that way. She preferred my brother – taller, cleverer, better looking than I, my inferior in age only. She got her way of course; Bellatrix usually does. I was best man at their wedding, a smile on my face and the ring securely in my charge. I knew my duty, and once my father and hers had agreed to the substitution it was my duty.
I still loved her. How could I help it? I believe there was some thought of offering me Andromeda as a kind of consolation prize, but I would not have considered it even if she had remained faithful. She would be a poor substitute for her sister.
I took a kind of comfort in knowing that, although she preferred my brother to me, Bellatrix did not love him. Her love was reserved for one only, and my brother knew it as well as I. Perhaps I came out best from the business after all.