The Thin Line Between Love and Hate

The Thin Line Between Love and Hate

The child was beautiful. She had thick, dark curls and big, innocent eyes. This child however, was no innocent. Bellatrix Black was only eight years old, but even then she showed signs of great evil. The Muggle children where terrified of her. Her only friend was a small magical boy, by the name of Lucius Malfoy.

Lucius was only five when he met the eight year old Bellatrix. She manipulated and teased him, but he idolised her. As they grew, he began to fall in love with her.

When Bellatrix was sixteen and Lucius thirteen, Cygnus Black and Abraxas Malfoy decided that it was time for Lucius to be betrothed to one of the Black daughters.

"Son, you shall be betrothed to one of Mr. Black's daughters."

"Yes, Father," Lucius mumbled. "It is a great honour," he directed at Cygnus.

Cygnus inclined his head and questioned Lucius: "Do you have a preference?"

"Bellatrix."

The betrothal was set. However, there was a problem.

"But Father! I don't want to marry Lucius!"

Cygnus sighed. "Bella! Either you, or one of your sisters, must marry the Malfoy boy!"

"Well, it won't be me!"

Luckily for Bellatrix, her father had a soft spot for her. He decided to let his favourite daughter choose her own betrothal. But Bellatrix had other ideas.

"I'm not going to marry, Father!"

Cygnus was furious. "You will marry, Bellatrix. You do not have to marry Malfoy, but you will marry. Mark my words, girl!"

Bellatrix stormed off. She ran all the way to Malfoy Manor and strode straight through the front door, uninvited.

"How could you?!" she raged at Lucius.

Lucius flinched as Bellatrix aimed her wand at his throat. She had a manic gleam in her eye that unnerved him. Bellatrix was breathing heavily when Lucius eventually managed to grab her wrist and pull her wand away.

"What have I done now?"

Bellatrix punched a vase.

"Bella? Bella, talk to me!"

"Marriage," said Bellatrix calmly. Lucius watched her warily. "MARRIAGE?!"

She went absolutely crazy. Books were torn apart, windows smashed. All the while, Bellatrix screamed over and over again that she hated him and would never love him.

Two years later and Bellatrix married Rodolphus Lestrange. They were both aged just eighteen. Three years after that, Lucius married a nineteen-year-old Narcissa. Seven years after that, and Draco had been born.

Lucius and Bellatrix barely spoke to each other. They acted like strangers, but he never stopped loving her.

She never stopped hating him. She hated him for loving her. She hated what he had expected of her. But what she hated the most was that she had loved him. She hadn't wanted to be vulnerable with someone though. And he had been so young.

But that was just what they where like. Always toeing the thin line between love and hate. Always too scared to take the leap. They would live to regret it for the remainer of their adult lives.