Beautiful Death

2 | Unexpected News

3 months later (Almost Christmas break)

The term flew by quickly, as boring as ever. Sirius made friends with blood traitor Potter, werewolf Lupin, and stupid Pettigrew. She barely talked to Sirius, and instead watched him from afar, always getting Howlers from Aunt Walburga. He would always run to her crying, saying he just wanted to hang out with friends who actually cared about him and gave him a good influence. Bellatrix would then roll her eyes and ignore him, tell him he was a disgrace, and walk off. Eventually, Sirius stopped trying, instead talking to Andromeda. Romy herself had started to become too soft, and Bellatrix would often catch her hanging out with Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors. She would then have to steer Romy away and tell her off. The only person who was actually acting like a Slytherin was Narcissa, who would often hang out with Bellatrix's friends or Lucius Malfoy, that annoying Slytherin Cissy was heads over heels for.

Bellatrix easily aced all of her classes and never needed to study for a single test. Most of the time she could fall asleep in the class and still be better than everyone else. Even though she got top marks, all of her teachers hated her, because she would often pull pranks with Peeves the Poltergeist. Once, she managed to set Professor McGonagall's robes on fire, which almost got her a suspension. Luckily, Peeves bailed her out because he finally had someone who enjoyed pulling pranks with him.

Bellatrix was part of a gang of Slytherins who wanted to become Death Eaters for the Dark Lord. They included Evan Rosier, Ryan Avery, Mulciber, Wilkes, Rodolphus Lestrange, and surprisingly Snape. She didn't mind them much, thinking they were all just incredibly stupid, but at least most of them were pureblood. However, Bellatrix had a rivalry with Snape. The two often tried to make life difficult for the other. Although Snape wasn't exactly the best, Bellatrix knew he was almost as intelligent as she was. He also knew a lot of hexes, and she suspected he had created most of them. They were all very effective too, as she had seen some painful ones being shot toward the Marauders. That was probably the reason why she hated Snape so much. She would often tease him about the mudblood Lily Evans. Why was he competing with a blood traitor to win the favor of a muggle-born? This simply made no sense to her.

There was one week left until Christmas break, which Bellatrix would be spending on the wealthy Black Manor. Her mother had informed her in a letter that she would be marrying a pureblood as soon as she graduated. Bellatrix was enraged at the news, and for the rest of that day students suffered terrible hexes. Bellatrix Crucioed everything she could get away with that day. But of course, she couldn't do anything about it since she had to set a good example for her sisters and maintain the Black family's reputation. So, the majority of her days Bellatrix would ponder over whom she would marry, and what her life would become after graduation. She doubted she would get a job if she wanted to join the Dark Lord. Her husband might support the Dark Lord, but if not, she would have to hide her alliance with the Dark Lord, which would be a pain. Often when she thought about her future life, Bellatrix would feel a pang of sadness, and would occasionally cry. But as soon as she felt the tears coming, she would quickly wipe them away and focus on other things. She had to be tough for Narcissa, Andromeda, and herself.

Bellatrix had continued meeting the mysterious man named Tom Riddle in the Forbidden Forest. She had grown somewhat of a crush on him, which was unsurprising because he was very handsome. But that wasn't it. There was something about him that made her drawn to him. She could also trust him enough to tell him about her worries, including her thoughts on the marriage. In return, the man told her his own troubles: trying to steal highly valued possessions, distracting the Ministry of Magic, finding information about the Order of the Phoenix (she didn't know what that was, but the name sounded familiar), etc. It was quite obvious this Tom Riddle was some sort of criminal, but Bellatrix didn't mind. She wasn't an angel either.