DISCLAIMER: I own nothing except the Original Characters that come along in later chapters.

SUMMARY: This is the story of three sisters who loved and needed each other more than words could ever say say. This is the saga of a young girl who was betrayed by someone she trusted, of a young woman who turned to the Dark to escape her pain. This is the history of the woman who became the Dark Lord’s most trusted lieutenant.  This is the story of Bellatrix Black, the girl who wasn’t always evil.

“Bella? Bella, it’s time to wake up!”

The combination of an excited, high-pitched voice and someone jumping up and down on her bed proved sufficient to rouse Bellatrix Black from her slumber. She pulled her covers over her head, trying desperately to block out the sunlight streaming through her eyelids.

“Ugh! What do you want? What time is it?” A groggy voice moaned from under the coverlet.

“Come on, Bella! You have to get ready. We’re going to Kings Cross soon. Don’t you remember? Today’s your first day of school!” Narcissa, Bellatrix’s younger sister, pleaded with her from the world outside the darkness created by the covers pulled tightly over head. That got Bella awake! How could she have forgotten? Today was September 1, the day she went to Hogwarts for the first time. She abruptly threw back the sheets around her, eliciting a startled squeak from the tiny blonde girl seated on her bed.

“Good morning, Cissy,” she replied, an impish smile upon her face as she picked her sister up and swung her gently around before putting her back on the bed. The littler girl looked delighted.

“It’s really cold out here,” Bella murmured to herself as her bare feet made contact with the cold stone floor. Her nightgown, though made of expensive silk, wasn’t particularly practical or warm, and she pulled it more tightly around her, as she stooped and pulled a pair of woolen slippers out from under her bed.

Smiling slightly at the sight of her overly excited sibling bouncing around the room like some strange sort of wind up toy, she grabbed her sister’s arm, halting her progress.

“Hey, Miss Energy, why don’t you go wake up Andy?” she whispered conspiratorially, gesturing toward the smaller room off of their own. “She needs to get ready too”

Narcissa nodded fervently before sprinting off to the room Bella had indicated. Bella couldn’t help but laugh; her older sister was less of a morning person than she was.

“1…2…3….” Bella thought to herself. “Any second now.”

Right on cue, a yelp sounded from her older sister’s room. “Cissy! What in Merlin’s beard are you doing?”

A pause.

“Did Bella put you up to this?” Andy asked, in a more amused tone.

A satisfied smirk crept over Bella’s face ‘Alright, I’ve had my fun, now I really do need to get ready now”

She had her trunk mostly packed, having done so the night before, but she still checked it over, ensuring that nothing had been overlooked. All her books were there; her parents had taken her and Andy to Diagon Alley a few weeks previously to purchase them.

‘Where is my wand? I know it’s here somewhere.” She wondered. Her eyes squinted as she looked around the room. Finally, her eyes landed on her wand, oak eleven and a half inches, lying on the counter of the bathroom connected to her and Cissy’s bedroom.

‘How in Merlin’s name did it get over there? She wondered as she ambled over to the bathroom, still slightly groggy. Snatching her wand from the mahogany countertop, she chanced a look in the mirror that hung above it. A small groan escaped her lips. Her thick, black hair was curling wildly in every direction; it seemed to have a life of its own. She tried to force a brush through its tangled depths, but to no avail. The knots and tangles simply refused to be tamed. Accepting defeat, Bella tied her hair back as best she could with a small leather tie, and splashed her face with water from the sink.

“That’s about as good as it’s going to get” the mirror added unhelpfully as Bella dried her face with a soft towel. Giving the mirror an annoyed look, she pulled a clean shirt, skirt and robes, black of course, from a wardrobe and quickly pulled them on, knowing the door was shut and she was alone in the room.

Closing her trunk, Bella grabbed the cage of Libra, her grey spotted owl, and attached it to the top of her trunk, making it easier to carry both simultaneously. She was about to make her way out the door when she remembered something. She quickly ran back to her nightstand, pried open a small drawer hidden in the back of it, and pulled out a small red rose pendant on a delicate silver chain.

It had been a present from Andy a few months earlier when Bella had turned eleven. After the stuffy celebrations and formalities of her birthday were finished, and Bella was lying in bed, Andy had crept over and sat down next to her.

********************

“Psst! Are you still awake?” Andy asked, whispering so she didn’t wake their younger sister.

“Yeah” Bella said, turning over to look at her sister. She hadn’t been asleep at all, or even tired for that matter.

“Alright then” Andy continued, still in hushed tones, “this is for you, for a birthday gift”.

She pulled from behind her back a small box coated in red velvet and handed it to Bella.

Now Bella was excited. She gently took the box and opened the lid. Inside was the most beautiful necklace she had ever seen, a tiny, lifelike rose colored in shades of deepest red. There was also a note, written in a neat tidy hand she recognized as Andy’s. It read “To beautiful Bella, for luck, with love, from your sister Andy”.

“Th-Thank you” Bella stuttered, astounded by the beauty of the necklace.

“You’re welcome. ’Bella’ means beautiful in Latin; did you know that?” Andy said absentmindedly, running her fingers affectionately through the black tangles of Bella’s hair. “Whenever you wear it, I want you to think of me, alright?”

Bella nodded “I will. And thank you again”

“You’re welcome again, and good night” Andy said with a small smile before she slipped off Bella’s bed and padded softly to her own, her bare feet making next to no noise on the smooth stone floor

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Bella gently undid the clasp and pulled the necklace around her neck before fastening the chain once more. She slipped it under her robes, where it could remain unseen, grabbed her trunk, and pulled it out of her room and into the hallway overlooking a grand set of stairs.

A soft crash and a muttered curse made Bella turn around, only to see Andy trying to pull her own trunk out of her room. She looked a bit comical, her face red and contorted into a scowl, her eyes still fighting away the last remnants of sleep.

“Think you could give me a hand here?” She said, with a touch of annoyance,

Giving a very long, dramatic, and fake sigh, Bella set her own trunk and owl down gently and trotted over to help her sister with the huge trunk she was attempting to squeeze through the doorway. Bella grabbed one end, Andy the other, and between the two of them they were able to haul the gargantuan thing out of the door, and set it upright on its wheels. Bella was quite small for her age, but she was quite strong as well.

“What do you have in there? Rocks?” Bella questioned incredulously, staring at the trunk in question.

“Of course not”, Andy retorted, blushing slightly “Don’t be silly! I’m just taking a few more classes than usual this year, so I have a few more books, that’s all”

“A few?” Bella muttered, trying not to laugh, “Try an entire library”

Bella dodged the balled up sock that Andy sent flying at her, as she tried and failed to keep a straight face herself.

“Oh, put a sock in it, would you!”

This was too much for Bella, who burst into a fit of maniacal giggles. “We...better…get…Cissy” Bella got out between bursts of laughter.

“Right.” Andy said, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down and keep from laughing. She then called “Cissy! Come on, we’re leaving for Kings Cross.”

Their little sister appeared in front of them so quickly, that if they didn’t know better, they might have thought she had apparated. Her white blond hair looked slightly windswept, but she looked positively delighted.

Both of her sisters could understand her excitement about going to Kings Cross, even though she herself was not attending Hogwarts this year. Although their family was wealthy, they rarely left the house, were taught by a private tutor, and didn’t often get to see or interact with other children.

She hid it well, but Bella herself was excited at the prospect of meeting new people at Hogwarts. Her sisters were her closest friends, and always would be, but it certainly couldn’t hurt to meet people nearer to her own age.

“Andromeda! Bellatrix! Narcissa! Get down here this instant!” Their mother’s voice pierced their light mood.

Smiles suddenly disappeared from the three faces as the two eldest struggled to pull their trunks down the huge staircase as fast as possible and not trip over themselves, or Cissy in the process. A few moments later, they stood uncomfortably in the foyer, trunks, cages, and all.

Mrs. Black eyed the three disapprovingly. “Andromeda! Do you not have the sense to find something to wear that isn’t covered in wrinkles? You’re going to Hogwarts, not some child’s play park, and I don’t want people to think we’re some kind of vagabonds!”

Andy’s face turned red, and her eyes narrowed slightly, but she managed to keep her mouth shut, although it seemed to Bella that she was having a great deal of difficulty doing so.

Knowing what was coming next, Bella tried to keep her eyes anywhere but on her mother’s face, her eyes flitting to the many elaborate paintings, which adorned the walls.

“Bellatrix!” her mother’s scathing voice snapped, pulling Bella’s eyes sharply back to her own cold, grey ones. “Are you incapable of doing anything about that mess you call hair? It looks like something had made a nest in there!’

“I’m sorry, mother” Bella replied obediently. She had learned long ago that it was unwise to show any sign of how much her mother’s sharp words stung. If people knew that you cared, it made it easier for them to hurt you.

“Well, there isn’t any time for you to remedy the situation, is there? She scathed. “I suppose you’ll have to go as you are, humiliating as that will be. You’re father is busy with Ministry business, so I am taking you to the platform myself”

Without so much as a glance at her youngest daughter, Mrs. Black turned sharply and gave a motion for the three girls to follow her.

Although their mother rarely rebuked Narcissa as she did Bella and Andy, she decided instead to ignore her almost completely. Bella wasn’t sure what she thought was worse, the scathing comments or nothing at all. All she knew for certain was that Andy had always been more of a mother to Narcissa and herself than Drusella Black had ever been.

Dragging their trunks behind them, Andy and Bella trudged down the hallway, trying to keep up with their mother’s brisk, clipped pace. As she walked, Bella noticed that Cissy’s lower lip was quivering slightly, and her eyes were glistening. Bella sighed, but stopped nonetheless and pulled her sister into a tight one-armed embrace.

“Don’t worry,” she whispered, pulling Narcissa gently along with her. “It won’t be so bad. You’ll have Tiffy and Ms. Alty here for company, and you’ll see us at Christmas, that’s not so long.” Tiffy was their house elf and Ms. Alty had been their tutor for as long as Bella could remember, and both had always been kind to the three sisters.

Cissy smiled weakly at her. “Thanks,” she murmured softly.

“Come on,” Bella whispered gently, “We have to catch up”

The two ran to catch up with their mother and Andy, reaching them just in time to watch their backs go up in flames as Bella and Narcissa snatched handfuls of powder from a silver bowl on the mantelpiece and threw it into the fire, which turned a bright, emerald green.

“King Cross!” the two voices shouted in unison.