Squee!

Um, although the canon!fangirl in me is currently wailing, "But Bellatrix was the oldesssssssst!". I will admit to that. 

You have... piqued my curiosity I will admit. So I want more! MORE!! because I have literally no idea where you're going with this and I love Bellatrix enough not to care that the ages are wrong.

More paragraph breaks might have been nice, though, just for the record. 

Oh yeah, internet cookies!  How many bytes does it take to eat an internet cookie?  Groan. :)

Well, yeah, I have an insanely busy schedule, so that's why chapter one didn't make its appearance.  Here's about half of it.

CHAPTER ONE  At almost ten years old, in the summer of the year 1969, Bellatrix Black still resembled a rather Goth, pale eggplant.  She was tall and slim like nearly twelve year old Narcissa, but there the resemblance ended.  Narcissa had the gorgeous blonde hair of her mother and the pale blue eyes of her father.  She had out grown her pug nose by now but had grown into her obnoxious expression, and looked like a miniature version of Auntie Morganna.On the morning of Druella Black’s funeral, a sleek dark blue limousine pulled up in front of the tall, gray limestone house at 13 Mordard Place.  A chauffeur in an immaculate gray suit jumped out and opened the doors.  A woman’s long pale leg ending in a stiletto heel appeared from inside.Bellatrix and Andromeda, watching from the window in the attic, saw three tall, slim women gracefully step out of the car.  All three had shimmering blonde hair and sleek black robes.  Bellatrix glanced at Andromeda.  Andromeda’s dark eyebrows were bunching together and her mouth was pursed.  She muttered something. “Speak up!” said Bellatrix in annoyance.“I said, it’s Morganna.”  She didn’t say anything else.  The two of them went down the stairs and paused beside their father’s door.  “You go get him, Dromeda,” said Bellatrix in a quiet but commanding voice.“No way, Bella,” she whispered back.  Then she added softly, “He will listen to you.  Go now, go.”Bellatrix gulped, shook her mane of dark hair at her sister and shoved open the door.  The room was small but incredibly clean and neat.  All the magazines sitting on the bedside table, stacked carefully, were free of dust and the occupants of the moving pictures on the walls had their rooms just as painstakingly tidied.  But the man sitting in the chair by the bed was the opposite.  As he raised his head Bella saw his long, dark hair was wildly unkempt and his clothes were wrinkled.  He had deep circles under his pale blue eyes.  Bellatrix felt his gaze on her as she walked slowly toward him. “Father,” she said, “Morganna and the others are here now.”He nodded slowly.  Then he drew his wand from his pocket.  Bella noticed a glass bottle half filled with liquid on the floor.  Her father pointed his wand at it. “Evanesco,” he said hoarsely, and the bottle vanished.  “I’ll be down, Bellatrix.  Find Narcissa and go downstairs.”Bellatrix felt a stab of pain as he said that.  Her father looked past her without seeing her.  He had been in his room for the whole week.  He was always unmoving and unmoved, like a slab of granite.  He rarely talked with his daughters, but he always hovered like a shadow at the edge of their vision.Bellatrix walked out into the hallway.  She used to believe that her father cared about her, looked at her like she was a real person, but now she knew that he was gone.  She used to try to make him care, to make him stop and look at his youngest daughter, but that was over.  Her mother, who loved her, despite being a fragile shell of herself, was gone.  There was no-one left…She almost walked into Andromeda, lurking in the dark hallway.  “He’ll be down,” she said expressionlessly.Dromeda looked anxiously at her through her owlish glasses.  “Alright.  You ok?”Bella ignored her and ran down to the first floor.  She caught a glimpse of three women walking rather delicately on high heels toward the house and dived into the basement.  She avoided going down here whenever possible, because this was where Narcissa lived.  The bedroom door was slightly ajar.  Perfume wafted out of the room in clouds.  Bellatrix held her nose and kicked the door roughly.  “You little idiot, don’t kick my door!” snarled Narcissa.  She was sitting on her canopy bed turning the pages of a magazine with her perfectly manicured hands.  A heavily made up woman waved from the cover of the magazine.  Narcissa put the magazine aside and picked up her wand, sitting on the dresser beside the bed.“You kick that door again, I’ll curse your legs together, little sister,” said Narcissa, turning the wand over in her hands.“Right, Cissy,” said Bella with a smile.“Don’t call me that!” growled Narcissa.  She tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder and stood up.Bellatrix sighed.  “The aunts have arrived, in case you’re interested, Cissy dear.”“Bella darling, you are a little wart,” Narcissa said.“That was lame,” she replied, and walked calmly out of the room.  She’s not up to her standard today, she thought.  Wart.  What was wrong with Narcissa?  Who cares, thought Bellatrix.As she reached the top of the steps the doorbell rang.  Once, twice, three times very insistently.  That was probably Belladonna.  Then there was the sound of people trying to not let their argument be heard.  Bellatrix heard Belladonna’s voice, louder than the others, saying something like, “Toadstools and poison eggs!  What’s wrong with that troll of a house elf?”

I have to say...you've caught my full attention! I agree with TNO about paragraph breaks. But besides that it's wonderful! More, more, more!

Sorry there hasn't been more sooner!  School work has been completely overwhelming me...thanks for your support.  More of Chapter one: warning, unedited material :)

Bellatrix paused at the top of the stairs.  She saw a tiny bent figure clad in a toga totter into the living room.  The house elf wobbled as fast as he could to the door and clicked his fingers.  Immediately the door flew open and slammed him to the ground.  Bellatrix giggled a little but Andromeda came rushing down to rescue him.  “Bella, give me a hand!” she said.  Bellatrix reluctantly helped her sister pick up the dazed house elf and set him on his feet.“Thank you, kind mistresses!” he croaked in his ancient hoarse voice.  His eyes were as large as golf balls and watery purple.  Lucian had been in the family since Cygnus was a boy.  As Mordella, Cygnus’s oldest sister, was often heard to say, when the house elf got too old to carry the tea trays his head would join that of his father in the hallway of the Black family house.  Mordella and Cygnus’s mother Elladora had started that particular tradition.  Possibly her family’s backround as wizarding morticians had something to do with her obsession with preserving the heads of house elves.  Bellatrix had often hung around her aunt, who had the air of exotica and mystery around her, when Bellatrix was younger, but most often the looks she got from Mordella were those of disdain.“Lucian!  Get out of the way!” snapped Bellatrix.  Andromeda gave her a look as Lucian bowed deeply, and hobbled away, not before shooting her a resentful glare. Belladonna swept into the house and immediately clasped Bellatrix and Andromeda in a crushing hug.  She released them and looked down her nose at the girls.  Her nose was long, thin and bony like the rest of her.“Where’s Cygnus, girls?  Sulking around?  We won’t give him much chance for sulking!  Come on, ladies, don’t bother with the bags, Jeeks will get them…” Her sharp, screechy voice jolted them.  “He’ll be down shortly, ma’am,” said Bellatrix rather warily.  The last time she had crossed Belladonna, her mother’s oldest sister, she had come out rather worse for it.  That particularly nasty incident had involved Belladona’s pet project, her precious Dendrobates Azureus, poison dart frogs imported from the Brazilian Conservatory of Dangerous Magical Plants and Reptiles.“Ma’am?  Don’t ma’am me, Bella, Aunty sounds so much nicer, doesn’t it?” She didn’t give Bellatrix a chance to reply.  Instead she plopped her large blue handbag, which was oozing ominously, down on the nearest chair and flung an arm around Andromeda.  “Andromeda dear!  Basilisks, you’re a first year already!  Gotten into any Vicipious Viluous in Herbology lately?  I remember when your poor mother got a bite from a rather vicious specimen, in her third year, I believe…”“Er…” said Andromeda.  Fortunately she was saved from answering by the arrival of two significant others.  First the chauffeur, Jeeks, came in, levitating several enormous pink suitcases in front of him.  Andromeda pointed the way to the guest room and the chauffeur, obscured by the luggage, made his way slowly up the stairs.  Then a pale young woman drifted in.  She looked so frail and wispy that she could have been blown in by the wind.  She had blonde, almost white hair tied up in a delicate bun on top of her head and wore a black summer dress.  Her eyes were dark with thick lids like all of the Rosier family’s eyes.  Even in her heels Lucretia, the baby of the family, was a head shorter than Belladonna. Close behind Lucretia came another woman, only two years younger than Druella had been when she passed away.  Morganna was an adult version of beautiful Narcissa, dressed in a severe tailored suit.  Her piercing eyes could be both charming and cunning.  Her blonde hair trailed down her back as she gracefully balanced on stiletto heels. “Aunt Morganna!  Lucretia!”  Andromeda and Bellatrix dutifully embraced their aunts.  All the aunts were dressed in black, but Belladonna wore a salmon pink sash, and Lucretia had a sash of light blue.“Oh darlings, it’s been so long!” exclaimed Morganna.  “Where is your poor dear father?” There was a faint, almost sluggish pop of displaced air and Cygnus appeared in their midst.  He smiled faintly, madly and turned to Bellatrix.  “What is this?  What’s going on here?” he demanded. “Oh dear Cygnus, we’ve come to stay for…a bit!” said Morganna, turning a teary face on him.  “We’re here to help you through your time of grieving.  Isn’t that what family is for?” “True, very true,” muttered Belladonna. “Oh…” said Cygnus, looking faintly bewildered.  Bellatrix smelled his stale breath as he leaned on her arm.  Suddenly his face grew clearer and he moved away from her.  “Right, right!  Sit down, I must…contact Mordella, if you’ll excuse me for a moment… ”He was out of the room for only a few moments, during which the aunts sat around the living room and murmured amongst themselves.   When Cygnus came back he sat down but seemed at a loss for words.  He kept running his hands through his hair. The doorbell rang, making everyone jump.  Lucian was quicker this time and opened the door.  A tall, stout woman completely encased in black garments strode into the room.  She raised the wrappings around her head and they saw intense blue eyes.  She put a hand on Cygnus’s shoulder. Mordella said quietly to her brother, “The limousine is outside, Cygnus.  It’s time.” Shakily he rose up and followed her outside.  In a silent queue the three aunts, Andromeda and Bellatrix, and Narcissa who had emerged from the basement went after them.  They walked outside where the sunlight glinted off a gleaming silver hearse and a black limousine.  In silence they climbed into the limousine, and in silence only broken by a soft murmur from the aunts, they rode away.

I hope when I said "thanks for your support" it didn't come across as annoyed or sarcastic. I meant it sincerely, because you are supporting this story so much!

*I'm too tired to think*

ARGH...the paragraphs...are lost...*sob sob*

(part of) Chapter Two :) Pretty please with a cherry on top cooperate paragraph breaks :)

CHAPTER TWO  

All eyes followed the black-haired girl as she walked steadily up to the tattered black pointed cap sitting on the stool.  Murmuring broke out all over the Great Hall, especially at the Slytherin table, as she sat down and pulled the hat over her head. Bellatrix was mostly used to the attention from the wizarding world that being a member of the Black family brought her, but it still annoyed her as people stared openly at her.  One little red head at the Slytherin table even stood up on her chair to see better.  Bellatrix glared at the little girl, and she hurriedly sat back down. Narcissa never got so much unwanted attention because she looked so much like the Rosier side of the family.  I almost wish I didn’t look so much like my father, thought Bellatrix.

“What a thought, what a thought, Bellatrix Arsenica Black!” said a scratchy little voice next to her ear.

Bellatrix bit her lip in surprise, and unexpectedly her eyes grew hot and she blinked.  All that Andromeda had told her about Hogwarts had not prepared her for the shock of suddenly being the object of interest for hundreds of pairs of eyes.  She pushed up the brim of the hat for a moment and got a glimpse of Andromeda.  She was sitting at the head of the Ravenclaw table, looking rather smug as the light from the hundreds of airborne candles glinted off her prefect’s badge. 

“Now, now, there is no need for sadness,” said the hat rather kindly.  “This is a pivotal moment in your life, the deciding moment of your education.  Whichever house you are sorted into today will not only help you shape your own future, but open up the gates of learning and understanding for the--“    

The moment of emotional weakness passed, and she had heard enough.  “Shut up and just sort me, will you, you lousy piece of tattered cloth!”

“Oh dear, oh dear me!” said the hat in a rather hurt tone.  “That will not do, Bellatrix.  However it may be at home, at Hogwarts, you will need to learn to treat others with respect and common courtesy.”

This whole exchange had taken place silently, but Bellatrix heard Professor McGonagall clear her throat impatiently, and knew she had to just grit her teeth and bear it.  It was horrifying to her to be subject to the judgment of a hat, particularly this hat, which she wouldn’t have even worn.  She decided that later she could hash out with the headmaster and staff why an inanimate object (or one that should be inanimate) was not suited to having the final word on such an important decision as the sorting.

“Humility is one of the most important virtues,” resumed the Sorting Hat in her ear.  “That is what makes Hufflepuffs so unique.  They understand that kindness and humility will often go farther than brute force and strength.  I fear you would not be suited for Hufflepuff, for learning to respect the guidance and directions of others are something you have yet to learn.” The hat sighed.  “Gryffindor would not quite be an ideal fit, for though you have the inner strength of the most daring of them, teamwork is not yet in your vocabulary.  You feel that you must rise up above everyone else, and at times only seek to serve yourself.  I wish sending you to Gryffindor would remedy that, but it seems that sending a member of the Black family to Gryffindor would aggravate them beyond repair…”

“You’re right about that!” Bellatrix thought angrily.

The Sorting Hat continued, “Your most redeeming attribute so far would be your incredibly keen mind.  Your intelligence is unmatched, though too often applied to the darker side of things.  I see that Ravenclaw has housed your sister for five years.  However, though I try not to heed them, the fates are calling me in another direction.  It is seldom that I listen to foolish predictions of one’s destiny, but when the fates call you so strongly, it is hard to resist.  Therefore, though it goes against my better judgment, you must be a SLYTHERIN!”  The hat yelled the last word for the entire hall to hear.  

In a daze, Bellatrix sat on the stool as a storm of applause broke all around her.  Before she took off the hat, she heard the little voice whisper one more thing in her ear.  “Beware, Bellatrix, oh, beware.  Beware of the dark beacon that is calling your name; beware of the dark snake that crawls toward your heart.  Beware of leaving your life for the faceless fates to deal out your destiny!”

Somehow she got off the stool, took off the hat and sat down at the Slytherin table.  It took her a few seconds to notice that she was sitting next to Narcissa. 

“Bella, congratulations,” said Narcissa quietly.  “I mean it.”

“Oh.  Uh, thanks,” said Bellatrix.  She shook her head a little.  “I wasn’t expecting it.  Being in Slytherin.”

“Oh, I find that we all have something about us that surprises us,” replied her sister, smiling mysteriously.  Bellatrix looked at her.  Well.  This was the last thing she expected, Narcissa being civil to her.  I shouldn’t get used to it, she thought.

When the uproar finally died down, Professor McGonagall cleared her throat.  “Black, Sirius,” she read from her long parchment list. A tall dark-haired boy swaggered up to the front of the line and clapped the Sorting Hat on his head.  Bellatrix watched as her cousin sat there for a moment.  She noticed him tapping his foot impatiently.  Then, “GRYFFINDOR!” shouted the hat. Narcissa and Bellatrix looked at each other, shock in their eyes, as Sirius ran over to the Gryffindor table, grinning happily.

“Oh Merlyn, what in the world is going on?” said Narcissa.

“Ok, he’s a git, but Gryffindor?  Seriously?  The last time a Black was sorted into Gryffindor he lasted a month before he was removed to St. Mungo’s Ward for the Incurably Insane!” cried Bellatrix.  “This is ridiculous!  It’s unthinkable for anyone from our family to be in Gryffindor!”

“He’s not my family, dear.  Not anymore,” said Narcissa grimly.

Bellatrix opened her mouth to reply, thought of what the Sorting Hat had said to her, and shuddered.  “It’s disgraceful…quite disgraceful,” she said.

“Bones, Amelia!” called out McGonagall.  A slightly chubby girl with long light brown plaits waited for almost five minutes until the hat sorted her into Ravenclaw.  Bellatrix was glad she was not the only one who had to sit there wondering if she was going to be sent back home on the train.  As Amelia Bones collapsed on the bench next to Andromeda, Bellatrix saw her sister’s eyes searching for her.  Bellatrix frowned at Andromeda, got an answering warm smile, and sighed.

Her stomach started growling as “Cunningham, Jack,” went to Hufflepuff and a pair of twins, “Madoch, Brianna,” and “Madoch, Ellwyn,” sporting identical pixie cuts and haughty expressions, was sorted into Gryffindor.

Sorry, Amy, it's all one huge block of type with a line space before the last two lines. I'll make some breaks as I review it, but I'm not sure it will match your original.

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