Ultimate Aphrodisiac

Chapter Three

Trixie

"Mixt with obdurate pride and steadfast hate." - John Milton, Paradise Lost, Bk 1

For all that the Blacks spent a great deal of time with each other, they did not often see many other children. They went to no primary school, instead tutored in their own homes. Ebony Manor, between the years 1964 and 1970, went through a rather remarkable eighteen governesses. The longest, a formidable woman from a once-wealthy family that had fallen on hard times, managed to hold out for fourteen months; the shortest lasted two and a half hours. For companions, the children had primarily each other, with occasional visits from other cousins from their mothers' families. The Warrington girls, Elaine's nieces, were just of an age to be friends to Bellatrix and Narcissa. Aidan Greengrass had been a good playmate when they were younger, but went to school several years ahead of Bellatrix and ceased to be much fun. And so the four younger of the Black brood kept mostly to themselves, blissful in the childish innocence that only they would shape each others' lives.

This changed in the spring of 1969. On 24 March, Andromeda turned seventeen, and during the spring holidays that followed soon thereafter, a great festivity was held in her honour. Though the ball at night was only for those who were of proper age to attend, debutantes and bachelors, during the afternoon full families were invited, and so the Black children met, for the first time in many cases, those they would grow up with.

Introductions were made as all the families arrived, but the children promptly forgot the names, to refer to each other as "Red Dress" or "Blondie" or "Chubby" until proper names could be committed to memory. The children split into groups, largely by age, with the older students congregating with their groups of friends. Many of the rising first- and second-years, however, stayed with their younger siblings or cousins in a large and somewhat awkward group. The children were nervously quiet at first, standing about the garden in small groups, eyeing each other with a mix of suspicion and embarrassment. Behind them came the noises of the older children and adults mingling, sipping their charm-cooled drinks, gossiping about their relations, laughing over recounted tales.

Bellatrix quickly became irritated with this state of events, and stamped her foot. The spring air was fresh and inviting, and the nearby shade of the groves and gardens beckoned to her. Any other day, she and Sirius would have long since abandoned the grounds so near to the house in favour of exploration and adventure; a day with such bright sunlight, such a warm push to the breeze, and such dazzling possibilities should not have been wasted on forgotten introductions and idle conversation. "This is boring," Bella fiercely declared, with a little stamp of her foot, her sharp eyes darting between her new playmates. "We can't just stand here staring at each other all day. Who wants to play a game of Standard Capture?"

"That's a boy's game," said a redheaded girl disdainfully.

Bellatrix narrowed her dark eyes at the chit, matching the bright hair and rosy, rounded cheeks to the name Betsy Crabbe, eleven years old and set to begin school that fall. "If you're so delicate, you don't have to play. You can go on standing here being bored. But I want to play." Bellatrix looked about, immediately sensing that the boys would likely be her allies in this, and she was not at all surprised when Sirius jumped at this opportunity.

"Good idea, Bella," he said, grinning. "We'll be captains."

"And why should you be?" A dark-haired boy whose name Bellatrix had not caught.

"Because it was my idea, that's why," Bellatrix snapped. "If I hadn't had it, we'd be standing stiff as statues all afternoon. Since I was clever enough to free us of that, I get to be captain."

"Why him, then?" There was a belligerence in the boy's expression that Bellatrix did not care for in the least. He had a squarish jaw and a pale complexion, and his eyes, a deep brown, were narrowed in discontent in Bellatrix's direction.

"Because he's my cousin, and I said so. You want to fight him for the honour of it, go right ahead." Something between the confidence in Bellatrix's voice and the wicked, almost hopeful gleam in Sirius's eyes affected the other boy, and he stood down. "All right, then. Odds and evens for who picks first. I'm evens."

"One."

"Two."

"Three!"

Bella threw one, and Sirius threw three. Bellatrix laughed. "Hard luck, Sirius. But you always throw three, so it's your own fault. You there," she said, pointing at a stocky boy her own age. "You're on my team."

As teams were chosen, several of the girls wandered away to sit in a circle, after running to their mothers, governesses, or nannies for books or dolls. Narcissa tugged at her sister's sleeve for permission to join them, and Bellatrix waved her off in annoyance. In a show of loyalty and friendship, Bellatrix selected her cousin Magdalena quickly, and consented to take Regulus when Sirius snubbed him. When the teams were more or less evenly matched, Sirius looked at Bellatrix and said, "Now we need Standards."

After a second's contemplation, Bellatrix jerked her pale green ribbon from her hair. "There's mine."

Sirius narrowed his eyes. "Awfully small, isn't it?"

Bellatrix's lips turned up in a sweet smile. "Worried you won't be able to find it?"

In response, Sirius's mouth set in a hard line. He cast his eyes about to the females on his team, and selected out a girl with bright blue ribbons tied on the ends of her pigtails. "You there. Give me one of your ribbons." The girl looked wary for a moment, until poked in the stomach by her older brother, then delicately untied the bow and handed the strip of silk over to Sirius.

"Right, then," he said, pocketing the ribbon. "Boundaries."

"You've got from the lake to the centre of the courtyard. I'm courtyard to the orchards."

"Hedge maze is no man's land."

"Agreed."

"What about magic?" asked one of the older boys in the group, one of those who had turned eleven and already had his wand.

"Spontaneous only," Bellatrix said.

"Otherwise it's not fair to the little ones," Sirius added. Neither he nor Bellatrix were concerned for themselves, as both had enough natural arrogance not to consider a barely trained child only a year or two older than themselves much of a threat. A five year old, however, wouldn't fare so well against them. The spontaneous-magic-only mandate was not made out of any sense of compassion for these younger children; rather, if one was taken out of play by a spell, that was one less fighter for his side. Pragmatism, not pity, moved the Black cousins' hearts, and the fire in their eyes dared any of the older children to challenge them. None did.

There was some murmuring of assent, and from this, Bellatrix and Sirius learned something that would serve them extremely well later in life: that most people were perfectly content to follow someone else, so long as a leader was making decisions for them.

The quiet awkwardness soon dissipated, replaced by war whoops, shouted taunts and jeers, whistles and imitated bird calls serving as signals, and occasional raucous laughter. Some of the children were good-natured about the mock war, but their captains were in deadly earnest. Bellatrix ruthlessly ordered her team about, assigning some to ascertain the location of Blue Team's base, others to protect their own Standard, and some to distract Sirius's comrades. On the other side of the lawn, Sirius was executing the same maneuvers. Bellatrix and Sirius knew each other well, and each anticipated certain moves and strategies the other would make. It made for great fun in the eyes of their teams, to have commanders so efficient, so capable.

Bellatrix was not only a leader, but fought as well, and proved the most daring of any on either team. Recklessly, she would dart across the boundary just to cause trouble, daring the other team to chase her, and then race back to her own territory. A more hazardous, but ultimately more rewarding trick involved Bellatrix leading a few of the Blue Team members into the no man's land of the hedge maze. The layout tended to change every few months or so, but fortunately it hadn't altered since the last time Bellatrix had memorised it, and so she was easily able to get her pursuers lost within its winding paths, while she darted out easily. This put Sirius's team down by four players for the better part of half an hour, and Bellatrix considered her effort well worth it.

A continual source of amusement was the never-ending cycle of taking prisoners, defending against breakouts, having team members be taken prisoner, and breaking them out. Neither Bellatrix nor Sirius were fool enough to station their prison within sight of their Standard, and neither wasted the opportunity of having prisoners. Bellatrix set Maximilian Avery and a brown-haired boy she didn't know to the task of ruthlessly tormenting their captives for information regarding the location of Sirius's Standard. Their tactics included tickling of feet, poking with a stick, and eating sweetcakes and candies in front of their victims. Eventually six-year-old Alvin Edgecombe cracked, and a few moments later, the brown-haired guard went running after Bellatrix, who had just executed a successful rescue mission, in which she'd saved her cousin Magdalena Warrington from Hercules Mulciber's clutches.

"Miss Black, Miss Black," the boy, who Bellatrix guessed to be her sister's age, called out. "We just found out where their Standard is!"

Bellatrix blinked once. "Let's go, then." Her sense of pride would not allow anyone else to go after the Standard, even if it meant her team risking losing their captain. That thought did not much trouble Bellatrix's confident mind, however, certain as she was of her own success.

Under the boy's direction, the three proceeded deep into Blue territory. Bellatrix organised a series of distractions to draw Sirius's teammates away from their intended path, and so they made their way near to the lake without much trouble, where Bellatrix, flanked by Magdalena and the brown-haired boy, crept into view of the Blue Base. It took a moment, but Bellatrix's sharp eyes found the hair ribbons several metres away, snared in the middle of a thorny thicket. Pacing in front of it was the broad-shouldered, black-haired youth who had challenged Bellatrix earlier.

"That's my brother," the boy whispered to Bellatrix.

"Who are you, again?" Magdalena asked.

"Rabastan Lestrange. That's my big brother Rodolphus. He's a first-year. He can be awfully mean," Rabastan added as an afterthought.

Bellatrix's eyes glittered. That information only increased her desire to put the boy in his place. "You'll have to go after the ribbon, Rabastan."

"Me?!" The younger boy looked absolutely horrified at the prospect.

"Yes. Sirius was clever today." Bellatrix grinned, both impressed and annoyed. "He knew I'd want to come after it myself, so he put it in the thicket. If I go in there, my hair will get tangled in the thorns and he'll have me neatly caught. But you," she looked intently at Rodolphus, "can get in and out without getting ensnared."

Mouth agape and brown eyes wide, Rabastan shook his head, terrified. "Rodolphus will pound me!"

Bellatrix sighed. "If I take care of your brother, d'you think you can get the ribbon and run back to our territory?" Rabastan froze for a moment, then looked at Bellatrix's imperious expression, and nodded, deciding the probability of getting thrashed by his older brother later was better than the near-certainty of getting thrashed by a girl at that very moment. "All right. Magda, you wander farther out and attract his attention. Rabastan can slip in and get the ribbon; if there's any trouble, I can get your brother from behind. When you've got the ribbon, run. Magda, you follow him and help him stay away from anyone else. Whistle for Bulstrode and Eldridge and... that red-headed girl, whatever her name was, once you're near the aviary, and they'll provide cover for you. Understand?" Rabastan and Magda nodded. "All right. Magda, go."

Magdalena bolted off for the far side of the grove. Once she was far enough away, she took care to make enough noise to get Rodolphus's attention. A cautious guard, he did not immediately run to the source of the noise. He walked slowly and purposefully, and Bellatrix held her hand up to keep Rabastan from rushing out too soon.

Magdalena was doing a good job of causing a distraction, doubling back on herself, and gradually drawing Rodolphus away. Soon he was out of sight, his footsteps barely audible. The boy was moving like a fox seeking out prey, completely unaware of the rival predators slipping into the den. "All right, go," Bellatrix whispered. "Slow and quiet." She watched as Rabastan crept out from the hiding place and stealthily made his way over to the thicket where Bellatrix's ribbon was caught. Bellatrix was glad to see she'd made the right decision, as even wiry Rabastan, smaller than she, had a little trouble picking his way through the thorns. Had she gone in, she'd have been scratched to no end - but that wouldn't have bothered her. What would have was that her raven curls would have snagged hopelessly, pinioning her to the bush and facilitating her capture.

Rabastan snatched the ribbon and began to crawl back out. Suddenly, a whistle cut the air - Magdalena, and Bellatrix recognised it for the warning it was. "Run!" she yelled at Rabastan. The boy took off, but it was nearly too late. Rodolphus reappeared from the shrubs, in hot pursuit. He might have captured his brother, but Bellatrix launched herself from the sheltering bushes and threw herself at Rodolphus. He hadn't been expecting an attack from that direction, lost his footing, and was knocked to the ground. Bellatrix struggled to pin him, shrieking, "Run, Rabastan! Magda, cover him!" Rodolphus was flailing wildly, trying to free himself, but the children were of the age where girls were beginning to grow taller but boys were not, and so Bellatrix was able to hold him.

"Get off of me! Are you bloody mad?" he yelled, as Bellatrix bent over him, pinioning his wrists to the ground.

Bellatrix laughed. "No! I'm just winning!" She glanced over her shoulder at Rabastan's retreating form, and grinned to see that he had nearly disappeared from sight already.

"Not if I can help it!" Rodolphus braced against the ground and put all his weight into flipping Bellatrix over. She shrieked indignantly and knocked him hard. In an outburst of rage, she spontaneously produced a stinging hex that shocked the boy. Rodolphus yelped in pain, but started to get up, hoping to catch up with Rabastan or at least about the rest of his team to the danger. But Bellatrix's swift fingers tangled in his hair, and kept him from moving. Rodolphus grabbed her wrist and squeezed hard, trying to get her to let go. Had she been a boy, Rodolphus would have just hit her, or perhaps pulled his wand and cursed her, but he flinched at the thought of striking out at a girl. Even if she was an aggressive hellion, it was just not something one did.

Bellatrix rolled him again, and the two children tumbled over each other a few times before Bellatrix heard Raphael Eldridge shout, "We've won! He made it back!" With a victorious whoop and a shrieking peal of laughter, Bellatrix leapt off of Rodolphus and bolted for her own territory.

Both teams met in the courtyard where they had begun. Bellatrix's comrades were joyous, celebrating. Sirius's team was sulking and arguing. Bellatrix raced in and gave Sirius an extremely superior smirk. "You didn't really think you were going to beat me, did you, Siri?" she taunted. Rabastan bounded up to her, triumphantly brandishing the hair ribbon. She patted him on the head, then gestured for him to return the now-slightly-ragged strip of fabric to its owner.

Sirius only glared at his cousin, and then turned to Rodolphus Lestrange. "What happened?" he demanded. "You couldn't handle a couple of girls and your little brother?"

Venom shone in Rodolphus's eyes. "That is not a girl," he insisted. "That is a demon."

Tossing her hair, Bellatrix laughed delightedly. "I do believe I'll take that as a compliment."

Sirius snickered. "I suspected you might." His tone turned hard again as he looked back at Rodolphus. "But really, Lestrange, what did Bellatrix do? Kick you in the shins?"

Rodolphus gritted his teeth, his pride wounded at having to admit before everyone else that the girl had bested him. "She tackled me," he muttered. Bellatrix let out a wild ripple of laughter, and Rodolphus's cheeks reddened in anger. With a wicked grin, Sirius leaned over to the boy, whispered something in his ear, and then stepped away. Rodolphus gave him a questioning look, but, when answered with a nod, turned his poisonous glare back at Bellatrix. "I suppose congratulations are in order for you then... Trixie."

Bellatrix's mirth fell from her immediately, and her black eyes took on a dangerous shine. "What did you call me?"

Rodolphus grinned. "Trixie. What a darling nickname, for such a gentle and passive girl."

Bellatrix's hands clenched into fists. "Gentle and passive, I'll show you gentle and passive!" She launched herself at him, and though Rodolphus quickly moved to defend himself, Bellatrix was taller and faster, and wrestled him to the ground. "Calling me that awful name, of all the nerve, don't even know me, you vile little wretch!"

The children quickly gathered in a circle around the two fighters. Whereas their earlier struggle had primarily been focused on restraint, and abandoned as soon as its necessity had passed, this was more violent. Rodolphus, to his credit, tried not to go on the offensive at first, but with the dark-haired girl attacking him with a combination of fist, knees, and fingernails, and sparking with furious spontaneous magic, he felt his eventual retaliation justified. Every once in a while, Rodolphus would manage to flip Bellatrix, but she would always roll him back over, pinning him to the ground again.

It didn't take long for the commotion to attract the attention of the adults, particularly not with the other children shouting and cheering on their preferred champions. "What on earth?" Clytemnestra's high-pitched voice was the first to pierce the din, and did not have much of an effect, either to stop the fight or disperse the supportive throng. In the end, it was Robur Lestrange, patriarch of the family, who pushed his way through to Rodolphus, who had just managed to flip Bellatrix again. He grabbed his son by the ear, putting an effective and immediate end to the quarrel. Orion Black was only a few steps behind, looking not quite as angry but just as imposing. Faced with the two powerful men, the other children quickly went silent and moved aside. Rodolphus, wincing but not crying out, allowed himself to be led away. Bellatrix haughtily drew herself up, brushed off her clothing, and folded her arms over her chest, looking for all the world like miniature warrior-queen in pigtails and petticoats.

"Explain yourself," Robur Lestrange ground out, and released his son's ear.

Rodolphus quaked slightly. "I... she..." He straightened his shoulders, seizing upon the easiest available explanation. "I was only defending myself, honest. She started it, she attacked me, and this wasn't the first time, either. Earlier I just let her, but this time I had to fight back, and... and..." He grasped for a lie that might excuse his behaviour. "And she called me the m-word, Father. I had to defend our family's honour."

Bellatrix shrieked indignantly, and would have started after him again, presence of parents or no, had Magdalena not caught her wrist. "I did not, I most certainly did not! He started it! He called me Trixie!" she shrilled.

"I never!" Rodolphus retorted. He cast his eyes about for an ally, and settled on his cousin Maximilian. "Ask Max, he'll back me up!" Max nodded furiously, and Rodolphus smiled gratefully at him.

Bellatrix yelled in rage again. "He's lying!" she declared, stamping her foot. "Ask Sirius or Magda, they both saw it!"

"Father, I swear, I'm telling the truth, I--"

"Enough," Robur said, in a steely tone that brooked no argument. "Regardless of anything Miss Black may or may not have done, there is no excuse for your behaviour. None whatsoever, Rodolphus, do you hear me? She is still a lady, and it is neither honourable nor acceptable to attack her. I had expected better of you." Robur took Rodolphus by the arm and looked over at Orion. "If you would excuse me for a moment. I have to deal with my son."

As the Lestrange patriarch marched his son off, Orion turned his gaze down on his daughter. He snapped his fingers once, then gestured towards the house. "Clean yourself up," he ordered. For Orion towards Bellatrix, this was a harsh command, and she scurried to do as he told, with an expression on her face that might, on someone else, have passed for chagrin. Narcissa, who had observed all from a distance, loyally abandoned her playmates and followed Bellatrix. Sirius, as soon as the adults had left the children again, collapsed into laughter, thinking that it had turned out much better than he had hoped.

Bellatrix eventually returned to the party in a clean dress and with brushed hair, and Rodolphus returned looking sour and thoroughly scolded. Their respective friends managed to keep them apart for the rest of the afternoon, thus preventing another altercation. Each steamed and seethed, though, vowing revenge for the next time, as soon as they were out from under watchful eyes.