The Future Will Be Better Tomorrow

The Future Will Be Better Tomorrow: Chapter Thirteen

Bellatrix never liked beauty. When she was young her parents would always try to force her into frilly frocks and curl her hair. "Girls should always look pretty," her mother would coo while trying to disentangle her hair.

And she would always hold Narcissa as the perfect example, Narcissa who was interested in nothing more than fashion and boys. Narcissa was the eldest, followed by Andromeda. Bellatrix was the youngest.

Narcissa was the one who obeyed, the one who would do as their parents asked. Bellatrix and Andromeda would always be the ones who got into trouble, the ones who were sent to bed early. The difference between them was that Andromeda would still play with dolls and the like.

Bellatrix's parents died very early, and they had gone to live with her uncle and aunt. It also meant living with Sirius and Regulus, who she eventually resented.

Bellatrix hated dolls. Her aunt gave her one for her birthday once, and all she mutilated it, ripping its arms from its body and disfiguring its face. She hated the big blue eyes and golden hair and rose-red lips. When her aunt found out what happened to the doll she blamed it on Regulus, and he got quite a beating.

And she would always try to join in on Sirius and Regulus' games, but they would always try to exclude her. "You're a girl," they would say. "Go play with Andromeda or Narcissa."

And quite a few times Bellatrix would catch them playing with Andromeda, and she would wonder why they didn't like her so much.

And soon they all had to go to school. Narcissa was the first, and she got into Slytherin. Andromeda second, and she got into Hufflepuff, and her aunt was disappointed in her.

This left Bellatrix alone with her cousins, who still would not play with her.

Then the year came where she and Sirius were to go to school. She was sorted into Slytherin, where Narcissa was a seventh-year, and Sirius was sorted into Gryffindor.

And Bellatrix found that Sirius wasn't the only one who tried to avoid her. Narcissa did too, as did all the other people in her year. No one seemed to like being associated with her, and Andromeda was the only one who would even wave to her when they passed each other in hallways.

And she was alone, in school, without any, well, friends. Eventually she got over it by deciding that she was better than them, and she, unlike all the other people out there, didn't need friends to do anything.

But for classes they needed someone to sit next to, and for the earlier part of the year Bellatrix would switch around, until one day she sat next to this boy with greasy longish hair whom no one wanted to sit next to either.

He was Severus Snape, another fellow outcast of Hogwarts. And they formed an odd sort of bond through sitting next to each other for everything. They hardly talked, and they allowed each other enough privacy.

And other people would laugh at them, especially Sirius and his gang. They would laugh at Severus, they would laugh at Bellatrix and they would laugh at both of them together. Usually Bellatrix would stop them with some comeback, to which they will mock even more but leave her alone after that.

And Bellatrix never really knew the other people in her House, her level even. She was only vaguely aware of their faces, and if she ever needed help in her homework Severus would know everything. Not that she asked for help. Severus somehow knew the areas she was weak at and would automatically help her.

And in her fifth year she became a Prefect, for her good behaviour. It wasn't that Bellatrix behaved well, it was that she had nothing to do so she never got into trouble.

And it was in her fifth year Sirius and his gang went too far on a joke they played on Severus. She stood up for Severus, and they laughed at her. Then she challenged them to a Wizard's duel, and they laughed and said, "Sure, if you can find enough people to fight us."

Which was true. They had already arranged the date and time and venue for it, just that on her side, they only had the two of them.

So in the Slytherin common room one day, with the date of the challenge looming near, she decided to see if there was anyone she could approach to join her side. She didn't even know the names of all her people in her year. But she decided to try her luck anyway, and peered over at the parchment of this student and found out that his name was Rodolphus Lestrange.

But she suddenly realised that she was terrified of speaking to other people. She had been so detached from others that she was too scared to ask anyone for anything. Or maybe she was too proud to. She had long convinced herself that she was better than anyone else and didn't ever need the help of others.

Rodolphus looked up and asked her what she wanted.

And Bellatrix wanted to run away. Almost five years in this school and not once did she ever have to ask for help.

Rodolphus gave her a strange look and went back to doing whatever he was doing. The O.W.L.s were over and the duel was tomorrow night. She breathed in a little, and asked if he would like to, uh, participate in a wizards' duel.

Rodolphus immediately looked up. "Really?" He had asked. He said that he had never heard of an upcoming one, but he seemed rather enthusiastic about it, and best of all, he asked if his friend could take part in it too.

And so Evan Rosier, Severus Snape, Bellatrix Black and Rodolphus Lestrange gathered at the table to discuss their overall strategy and practice a few spells. And Evan was delighted. He had heard rumours about an exciting duel coming up and he would have gone to watch it anyway.

On the day of the duel, they let Sirius' side draw lots to choose whom they went up against. For the first duel, it was Evan against Pettigrew. Practically the whole school had turned up to watch the grudge match, and Evan Rosier won easily. Next up was Bellatrix against James Potter, and after a fierce battle Bellatrix won, much to her delight. Sirius appeared to be rather distraught, and there was a lot of pressure on the participants for the next two duels.

Severus went up against Lupin, and Severus would have won the match, if not for James suddenly teasing him and causing him to lose his concentration. Lupin tried to be fair and called for a rematch, but Rodolphus said it was unnecessary. And Bellatrix wanted to kill him for saying that. What if he lost? Did he even know whom he was going up against?

From a very young age Sirius' mother made sure all of them knew proper spells, and that included some minor Dark Arts spells. She would always make them practice, and all the Black children were highly proficient in spells from a young age.

And Bellatrix would not allow for the humiliation she would face if they lost. And with every passing second the match grew fiercer. They were using spells that most people would never have learnt in school, and in the end, Rodolphus did not disappoint, much to Bellatrix's relief.

Sirius gave her a disgusted look, and Bellatrix got the feeling that he would have made some cutting remark, but Rodolphus, out of the blue, challenged Bellatrix to a duel.

And she was caught off-guard. She was not prepared for this. And the rest of the students were actually cheering on Rodolphus. They wanted to see Bellatrix fall, to be unable to cope with something. Bellatrix wondered why the world seemed to dislike her so much, but she accepted the challenge anyway.

Bellatrix was somewhat desperate to win, and she wished she knew how to use the Unforgivables. Rodolphus was annoying her by refusing to lose, and the duel turned ugly. They were using curses not allowed in duels, and at some point of time both of them were bleeding profusely from cuts caused magically.

That was also the point Professor McGonagall stepped in and stopped the duel. Upon seeing the bloodied Rodolphus and Bellatrix she became so horrified, and sent them straight to the hospital wing.

And Sirius' gang got away scot-free, because there was no evidence to prove that they duelled as well.

After that Bellatrix thought that she knew her housemates a little better.

In her sixth year Severus approached her once for advice on women, and she laughed. She knew nothing about people. But she learned that Severus was interested in Cordelia Whitfield, whom she later found out was a girl in her year, in her House and she never knew anything about it. Wilkes was what one might call popular; many of the male students were interested in her.

This new bit of information came as quite a shock to her, because it somehow made Severus seem like a normal person, just like all the other people they studied in school with. But Bellatrix offered whatever help she could, and she fixed Severus and Cordelia on a date at the Three Broomsticks.

Cordelia never seemed to be interested in Severus in the way he was interested in her, which made Bellatrix rather irritable around her.

When they graduated, most of them went on their own ways, until they were reunited under the Dark Lord as Death Eaters. It rather amused her to find all her old school 'friends' present during Death Eater meetings, but it gave an odd sort of familiarity and comfort.

Somewhere along the way she ended up with Rodolphus, as if by default. Somewhere along the way Andromeda and Sirius were kicked out of their house as well, and somewhere along the way Narcissa got married to a Death Eater, Lucius Malfoy. And somewhere along the way Regulus joined and backed out, and she killed him.

Then the Dark Lord fell, then Azkaban, then the Dark Lord rose again, and then there was this.

She was back where she started. Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. In her fit of anger she came here, maybe to be a Black again, and not Lestrange. She felt betrayed, by both the Dark Lord and Rodolphus. It was the whole no-one-likes-me thing again, as it always had been.

And she never understood why this was so. Number Twelve Grimmauld Place was very run-down by now, and she sat on a chair, facing the family tapestry, just thinking. And as always, she was alone, no matter how hard she tried. Not that she tried much; she gave up on it long ago. But when she became a Death Eater, she actually had some sense of belonging.

Her aunt almost kicked her out of the family too, not for being a blood-traitor but by joining the Death Eaters. Because she was a woman, and what she was supposed to do was to marry and give birth and ensure that there will still be pure-blooded families around. She wasn't supposed to go around fighting for the cause; that was the man's job.

And maybe that was how she ended up with Rodolphus, so that she wouldn't be erased from the tapestry. And she suddenly thought of people like Cordelia Whitfield. Bellatrix never liked her too much. She found her irritating. And yet, she had no lack of suitors. Snape, Avery and Rosier all liked her, as far as she could remember.

So here she was, back to square one, alone and uncared for, just like the house. There was the portrait of her aunt on the wall. Bellatrix wondered what she would say when she found out that Bellatrix had no children. And maybe, just for today, Bellatrix couldn't care any less and tried her aunt.

"BELLA! BELLA! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'VE DONE TO THE PLACE! WHAT? YOU DON'T HAVE ANY CHILDREN YET? YOU'RE MORE THAN THIRTY YEARS OLD? WHY DON'T YOU? IS IT BECAUSE OF RODOLPHUS? OR... OR IS IT BECAUSE YOU'RE STILL ONE OF THEM? YOU HAVEN'T QUIT, HAVE YOU? YOU'VE BEEN TO AZKABAN?"

And Bellatrix laughed in her aunt's face. No, she no longer retained her good looks. Her aunt was hopping with anger and Bellatrix felt superior. She was still alive, unlike her aunt.

Not that she enjoyed being alive, but it gave her a feeling of superiority over her aunt. She laughed some more, then in her fit of insanity she took out the tapestry and repaired it in front of her, telling her how good a sister Andromeda had been, and that she had a daughter that was oh-so-pretty. She removed all the burnt marks and the family tree expanded. She told her aunt that Sirius and Regulus were dead. And laughed in her face. She no longer had any offspring to pass on their noble blood. Then she laughed some more and told her that she killed both of them.

It resulted in more ear splitting screaming from her aunt, which Bellatrix easily stopped by closing the curtains. And here she ruled, as the only surviving member of her house and here she was better than anyone else.

Until Rodolphus barged in. And she was reminded once again that she was married, a Lestrange now and if you looked at it, without any wondrous achievement to her name.

Rodolphus stared at her for a while, the wild-haired madwoman. Then he opened his mouth to speak, but Bellatrix laughed and took off, storming through all the rooms, opening all the cupboards and cabinets and drawers and pouring everything out of them.

Rodolphus followed her around, but he didn't dare to speak to her. He just stood around looking apologetic as Bellatrix went on her rampage.

"There's a Boggart in that desk," Rodolphus piped up all of a sudden, but it was too late.

Bellatrix turned around to face her husband, but the Boggart had already transformed, in spite of having two people in the room, which might confuse it.

There was another Bellatrix in the room, and this one laughed and pulled out her wand, ready to attack.

Rodolphus looked at his wife guiltily, who in turn, appeared to be very shocked.

Rodolphus recovered first, and dealt with the Boggart.

And Bellatrix gave him a somewhat murderous look, which made him want to shrink into a corner.

After that Bellatrix grabbed the repaired tapestry and went out of the house. Rodolphus followed, though somewhat subdued, and did not try speaking to her. She went out to the main road, where the house was visible to them, as their names were on the tapestry.

Bellatrix then set the house on fire.

And there they were, standing next to each other, until Bellatrix couldn't stand it any longer and burst into tears.

Rodolphus then pulled her close, and said, "You're the most disgusting, vile, repulsive, obnoxious, loathsome, insufferable and incorrigible creature I ever met."

"You married me," Bellatrix replied, bittersweet smile on her face. The corners of her mouth twitched some more, and she began to laugh.

And Rodolphus began to laugh too, and they laughed until their sides ached and they were leaning on each other for support.

"Are you scared of me?"

"Are you scared of yourself?"

There was a pause, then they both answered yes at the same time.

And they laughed again.

When the laughter eventually subsided they just stood on the street, half-leaning on each other, watching the house burn to the ground.

Then they heard some noise in the distance.

"What-What happened? Someone call Dumbledore! Help!"

And they hurriedly ran to hide behind the house nearby. Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks had jumped off this Hippogriff they were riding and were frantically trying to put out the fire, but by then the house was too far damaged.

"What are they doing here anyway?" Rodolphus asked Bellatrix.

*

Back in the Malfoy Manor, Bellatrix and Rodolphus were eagerly telling Lucius and Rabastan, who had returned, about Lupin and Nymphadora's presence at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.

And then it dawned on them that they might have been using it for their business, which was probably something to do with going against the Death Eaters.

When Narcissa came back they all fought to tell each other about it, and Narcissa almost screamed at Bellatrix.

"You burned the entire building down? You burned the entire building down? How dare you! It was a part of our heritage! How could you?"

But Bellatrix simply answered that there were no Blacks left, but she did salvage the tapestry, at which Narcissa got into a fit again

"You repaired it? You repaired it? How could you?"

But really, there was nothing that could be done about it.

And Bellatrix hung the tapestry up in the Malfoy Manor, for all to see.

*

The Dark Lord called for another meeting.

"It seems that the Order of the Phoenix has their headquarters razed to the ground," he said with a hint of amusement in his voice. "And it was unintentional! Can you believe it?"

None of the Death Eaters knew what the Order of the Phoenix was, nor were they even aware that the headquarters of the Order was located in Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, not even Bellatrix. Until now, that is.

The Dark Lord began to explain the Order of the Phoenix to them, and basically, it was just the people they had always been fighting against, so it didn't matter.

And he explained that through Sirius Black, they used the premises of what used to be the residency of the Blacks as the headquarters for their business.

And that Bellatrix, in her spite, burnt the house down, unintentionally burning down the headquarters of their enemy.

"And really", he concluded. "Things always happen when you least expect it, don't they?"

And he smiled at Bellatrix and said, "I knew you would never disappoint."

Then he paced around for a while, before speaking again.

"However, on a more serious note, the Ministry has arrested Adrian Pucey's father for having links with the Death Eaters."

"One way or the other, we cannot let the Ministry have him."

"And ah, the Arthur Weasley incident went rather well, didn't it?"

The Dark Lord appeared to be very delighted at the recent turn of events, and he dismissed them in an almost cheery manner.

*

For the first time in his life people asked him to join them for dinner. It was a sort of surprise to Adrian, but really, Adrian was an introvert and he wasn't too enthusiastic about it.

Not that Antonin and Rabastan gave him a choice. And it wasn't as if he knew them very well, so it puzzled him why they would ask him to join them for dinner anyway. But then again, it might help induce some cheer into his life, especially that his father was captured by the Ministry.

But really. Large social gatherings weren't really his thing. He momentarily considered not going, but he realised that it was too rude to do so.

And there was his father. Adrian was too worried to even sleep or eat properly, and even if he went for that dinner he would be unable to enjoy it.

And so on the day itself Adrian pretended to 'forget' about the dinner, in hopes that they would forget about him too. But Marcus Flint appeared at the bakery and asked if he was ready.

At least, Adrian could take some comfort in the fact that Marcus, someone familiar, would be there.