BLACK, bellatrix morghanna

[kitty]

Nickname:Kat
How You Found Us:Rosie (ie Tanith Malfoy)
Contact Via: AIM: xLadyTavingtonx Yahoo: frauleinricepotato

What can be found in a name:
Bellatrix Morghanna Black
When the day I was born:
08/08/1958
The Angels screamed:
Cygnus Black & Druella Black (nee Rosier)
And Hell shut its doors:
Andromeda Black; 16; Slytherin
Narcissa Black; 15; Slytherin
While creatures retreated:
A Great Horned owl which she has dubbed "Magnus"
To depths unknown:
Pureblood

I hide from them:
.The Slytherin common room
.The attic of her parents' house
.The courtyard at Hogwarts, especially when it's raining

Be who they want to see:
Bellatrix bears strong implications of her belonging to the Black line. She has the typical dark hair, as all had inherited but her sister Narcissa. Her hair is as black as her name, only lightening to a deep shade of chestnut brown on occasional summers. She wears it long and pin straight, it reaching near to the middle of her back. She has straight bangs as well, cut into a perfect line that only adds to the sharpness of her face. Bellatrix's eyes are dark, as most in her family, though not the deep chocolate brown that is generally expected. They are a darker shade of hazel, yet in certain lights can appear almost black. Yet her eyes and hair she does not consider particular striking features, as to her they alone bore witness that she is in fact a part of her family. If anything she believes that her youngest sisters appearance stands out much more than her own, as she bears no usual attributes of a Black.

Her facial structure is sharp and defined, as she has chiseled cheekbones and a very defined jawline. Her face is considerably thin, and the way her dark hair frames her face only makes it appear even thinner. Her face is perhaps her defining feature, as it is not one so easily forgotten. Bellatrix, though retaining the vestiges of great good looks has a certain harshness about her face. At times it seems the femininity of her facial structure is challenged by the severity that unwittingly comes across. Her expression seems one that is set in a constant display of haughtiness and pride that is so typical for her, or else an expression of forbidding, potentially exuding the air that she is a guarded person. The harshness of her face is only accentuated by her skin tone. Whereas the rest of her features are dark, her skin is a milky white, to where some might say she appears ghost like. Bellatrix does not so much mind, as she and her youngest sister share a skin tone. Although in the winter her paleness is more pronounced, and only then does she find herself whishing that she had a bit more color.

Bellatrix is incredibly thin, often giving off the air that she is unhealthy, and when coupled with her considerable height she gives off a lanky appearance that she does not particularly appreciate. Her arms and legs are long and thin, her appendages appearing almost spider like. She has neither an athletic build nor clearly defined muscle tone, though Bellatrix believes a strong physique means very little, unless one plans to duel like muggles. She dresses akin to her breeding, though does not particularly favor the flashiness and opulence of her sister. Instead she prefers simplicity, which always seemed to suit her well, or else she will dress traditionally, and favors the clothes her mother might have worn in her youth, which earns her considerable mocking by those who strive to stay within the trend, and wear only the new and most fashionable clothes. Bellatrix finds the very notion ridiculous, just as a fair number of "fashionable" clothes look ridiculous anyway.
But that leaves no one:

To discover that inside:
Of every aspect of Bellatrix's life, the importance of blood purity stands at the forefront. Raised in a respectable pureblood family, with ideals and morality heavily leaning on pureblood superiority, the idea was ingrained in her from an early age. Bellatrix had in earlier years, tampered with the idea and in a wave of questioning and learning Bellatrix had settled in agreeing with her family and from then on upheld the idea with relentless vigor. Bellatrix believes strongly in the idea of pureblood supremacy, in that purebloods are the only true and deserving possessors of magical knowledge and skill. The muggleborns in turn, she believes, are thieves of that knowledge, a genetic mishap and mutation so severe that they had warped the boundaries between magic and muggle. They are genetic freaks in every sense of the word. The halfbloods, she believes are no better, as they were born of at least one parent who had not remained steadfast and true to their birth rite and forfeited their place as a respectable member of wizarding society, and those born of such a union would surely adopt the ideals that muggles and muggleborns and their own kind were truly worthy of their magical gifts.

Bellatrix believes that it is a measure of honor to uphold pureblood standards and ideals, and that her honor is dependent on how well she maintains the traditions and values set in place by her ancestors. She believes wholeheartedly that she is a woman of honor. And with honor comes morality, and her personal morality has been shaped as well by the pureblood ideal. It is moral to uphold the values of her ancestors, as it is moral to uphold the values of her family. It is moral to associate solely with only those of pureblood who uphold the ideals as only together and united they maintain a pillar of inner strength. It is moral that when faced with those thieves of magic, or else the disillusioned that they be rebuked to the fullest degree. Bellatrix believes that were it possible all muggleborns should be stripped of the magical abilities that they had stolen. Hence with the Dark Lord rising she has become increasingly fond of his methods, as she is beginning to think that perhaps the only means of solving the muggleborn problem is a veritable genocide. She sees the Dark Lord as the champion of the pureblood cause. The more she hears of him, the more her affectionate worship increases. Though she has kept it a dear secret, she hopes that one day he might count her worthy to enter his ranks.

Bellatrix is a proud woman as she sees much in her life that is worth her pride. She takes pride in her name, as the Blacks are one of the oldest pureblood families in Britain. She takes pride in her House, as all of her family but her wayward cousin have been in Slytherin, it feels almost like a second home to her in a sense, and she takes pride in those members of her house that share in her pride of being a pureblood. She takes pride in herself and in her personality and in the inner strength she feels she possesses. Her pride also renders her incapable of admitting defeat. So when in truth she has been bested, defeated, or overzealously challenged, she has a tendency to become wild and is quick to hand out a verbal lashing. At times she becomes vengeful, and only to the degree that she has been angered will she decide upon what methods to exact redress. Most often she does her best to act upon it covertly, though has once or twice given a highly visible display of her displeasure with a given individual, to which she chooses and array of nasty hexes to shoot at the offender in a corridor. Though it earned her a good week of detention, she pushed through it only upon the satisfaction of coming out on top again.

Bellatrix believes strongly in the power of conviction in that she believes anything worth putting your heart into should be backed by a solid grounding in the idea. Her convictions lead her to be very opinionated, and she has a tendency to take up an almost overzealous approach to anything she might have an opinion on. It has on occasion led to heated debates over something as simple as Quidditch to the more sinister of her interests. She holds people who go about their lives and defend their interests halfheartedly in great contempt. Bellatrix lacks the subtlety to be half-hearted, and should any such lifelessness occur within her she is in a state far from her normal self. She also has strong convictions on the matter of loyalty. It is a virtue she upholds dearly. Though initially she might come off as a distrusting person (even as she is quick to judge she still takes the time to feel people out before placing her trust in them) those she finds worth her company are afforded her undying loyalty. If a friend is good to her Bellatrix will in turn offer her best. Though should she be crossed or mistreated it is incredibly difficult for her to bring about forgiveness as she believes a betrayal of loyalty is a betrayal of both honor and morality and those who prove themselves to be lacking in those two virtues are no friends of hers.

Bellatrix is deft in the art of manipulation, as it seems everyone around her practices it to some degree. In such a world of using each other a certain amount of strength, wit, and a talent for blackmail is needed to survive, as those lacking in any of the three are apt to become easy targets, to be used over and over again. Bellatrix is apt to take advantage of just those sort when her intentions are potentially malicious, or else she finds some meager enjoyment in the power exercised over others. Bellatrix too possesses innate leadership qualities, which when coupled with a talent for manipulation make her near invincible in such situations. Bellatrix, with that quality likes to be in charge. She can, to a point, become overbearing and demanding, but those who know her well enough take it in stride. She also finds great conflict with those who operate in similar means, one such being Lucius Malfoy, to which she has found a rival, vying constantly to title themselves conqueror of Slytherin House. So it seems at times she pits her own circle of friends against his, and always they arrive at a stalemate. So she has been considering potentially hexing him so bad that he'll be lying in the hospital wing for months.

Bellatrix, at her weakest moments, is relentlessly idealistic. In those times she loses herself to daydreams about what the world should be. Often she places herself in alignment with the Dark Lord, ruling alongside him, with no trace of mudbloods or all other undesirables. Other times she might lose herself to petty fantasies of finally besting Malfoy, and reigning supreme over the school. Then other times her daydreams take an unpleasant turn into the scope of reality, and she reminds herself of her parents expectations of her, of the prospect of her baby sister being swept away by faceless men, about the prospect that she must one day make a decent pureblood marriage. In truth she would have much preferred to be married to her ideals and hopes only that the man she marries is as adamant about his beliefs as she is. Still she has dated in brief spurts and on a whim to experience what most girls obsess about. She feels those potential suitors out, and judges them by their ideals, morals and honor. Though most often she is presented with idle chatter. She has, on occasion, attempted to ground herself into her age and surroundings, as she finds she is often able to do with friends. Bellatrix walks a thin line between the ins and outs of school society, and the carefree and capricious nature of her age, and the ideals and morals to which she is so wholly devoted to. She is the gray area. She is the transition. She is in constant fluctuation and in that wears two faces, that of a teenage girl and that of a devoted servant to blood purity.

This soulless being:
.The Dark Arts
.The Dark Lord and his aims
.Pureblood pride
.Breaking rules and not getting caught
.Malicious pranks
.Dueling
.Her sisters (especially Cissy)
.Late nights spent in the common room with friends, congratulating each other on being masters of the universe (occasionally over a game of Exploding Snap)
.Walking in the rain
.Defense Against the Dark Arts class (whatever irony she finds in that)
.Daydreaming and idealizing her image of a perfect world

Is just as lost:
.Mudbloods, blood traitors, half breeds and all other undesirables
.Her cousin's band of "Marauder" morons
.Those with false senses of superiority
.Those who lack conviction
.Simpering romantics (especially male perpetrators)
.Chauvinism
.Lucius Malfoy (and all of the idiots that think he's actually worth something)
.Catty girls (or rather those cattier than herself)
.Most men that try and "court" her baby sister
.Double periods of almost any class

As everyone else:
.Manipulation
.Conviction
.Devotion
.Loyalty
.Pride
.Leadership
.Ambition
.Dueling

In a world that knows only hate:
.Bigoted
.Obsessive
.Distrusting
.Arrogant
.Short tempered

And causes pain for the soulless like me:
.She has been long urged and prodded by her parents into working towards a respectable job once she graduates from Hogwarts. She received (or so she remembers) seven O.W.L.s and has been working diligently towards achieving an equally high number of N.E.W.T.s in order to increase her opportunity for quality employment. However, Bellatrix has been slipping in her studies, the more she follows the stories of the Dark Lord. She hopes, and often daydreams about joining the ranks of his Death Eaters, and in truth believes that serving him would suffice for a job. She has kept her dream of being a full time Death Eater silent, especially to her parents, who had hoped to mold her into a respectable Ministry witch.

.She had, on rare and unpleasant occasions, felt a sense of emptiness and loneliness pertaining to her cousin, Sirius. In a very deep sense she feels betrayed by him, especially as he continues to work to distance himself as far from his family as possible. Bellatrix resents Sirius's friends to a great degree, blaming them for Sirius turning on the family. Still in moments of weakness, she hopes that perhaps it might change his mind and rejoin the family again, respecting and upholding pride in his pureblood heritage as he was meant to. On other and most frequent occasions she finds herself able to resent him without doubt. But those times when she has gone so far as to possibly miss him, she holds it as a dear secret, sharing with no one, not even Narcissa, how she has felt.

They left me to die:
Her mother comes from the Rosier line, leaving her with an aunt and uncle, and a cousin, Evan, who is two years her junior at Hogwarts. She does her best to maintain a fairly pleasant relationship with him, seeing as he has his heart and morality in the right place.
On a bed of roses:
An aunt, Walburga, and an uncle, Orion. She has a cousin, Regulus, who is the only one she will acknowledge as family. Her other cousin, Sirius, lost his place in the family once he was removed from the tapestry bearing the ancient lineage of the Black line.
Blood seeping through:
Those who had proven themselves less than fitting of bearing the Black name were the only ones who might have ever been cause of a family secret, and though they have been properly ostracized and disowned, those decent members of the family carry the secret that those undesirables were ever once considered relations.
The satin sheets of fame:
The noble and most ancient House of Black has been incredibly well off for centuries.
What a bitter story of love:
August 8th of 1958 the first child had been born to the next generation of the Black line. The stroke of jealousy that might have risen in Orion Black for his brother and his wife producing the first child was diminished to a great degree. They had born a daughter, and while she had been a celebrated continuation of a noble pureblood line she was still a female. She would, in her time be married off to a respectable pureblood man, and would forfeit her name. It was a male that both brothers desired so ardently, a male to uphold and continue the family name. Her parents had, in the months leading up to her birth, had poured over wizarding genealogy, recalling with a suppressed fear all of the noble family names that had died out, unable to produce naught but females. There had been high expectations for this first child, that Cyngus would best his brother in producing the first male. But still a daughter had come, and she was a strong and healthy baby, and perhaps it was that strength that earned her her name. She was dubbed "Bellatrx" translating to "female warrior," a hopeful foreshadowing to the woman she might become. After the initial disappointment in her gender, it subsided in that there was still time for Cyngus and Druella to produce a male heir. So their hope for Bellatrix was now that she would make a decent marriage, and acquire new and powerful family connections with that marriage.

Of course she knew nothing of her parents' plans for her and was ushered off to a nursery, much too large for her alone, as her parents had been hoping for several children. Bellatrix had no time to find loneliness in her solitude, as a year later another child was born, again a female who they had named Andromeda. Desperation was setting in to her parents, as Orion's wife Walburga had produced the first son of the family, his name, Sirius. Druella had born her third child the year following, another female, Narcissa. By then Bellatrix was afforded another cousin, Regulus. Cygnus was obviously bitter at his brother's good fortune, but fell into despair that his wife was only capable of bearing females. So the pair had decided that they would help their relations in molding the boys, while grooming the girls for their future marriages. It was perhaps that reason why Bellatrix had seen very little of her parents in her younger years, though she had consented to the company of her sisters.

They had played well together, as young girls do, though Bellatrix always found herself in desire to control all of the games, as she was the eldest, and felt a right that she should be in charge. It was during a game that she had exhibited her first signs of magic, while she and Andromeda squabbled over a tea party that Bellatrix had unwittingly toppled the table and the tea set on top of her sister. Her parents were, rather than angry, duly pleased that her magic had appeared so early, much earlier than was expected of most small children. Her sisters in their turn had proved their own magic, Bellatrix on the receiving end of occasionally bursts of magical anger from her sisters. Otherwise the three had maintained a quite close bond. Yet Bellatrix grew quite bored of the nursery as she aged. It was tradition that the children of the Black family not be afforded their own quarters until receiving their Hogwarts letters, so the days leading up to Bellatrix's eleventh birthday were almost unbearable. When an owl arrived bearing the Hogwarts crest she tore it open with almost indecent enthusiasm.

Her parents, proud of her, took her and her sisters to purchase her school supplies, from which had issued many complaints of longing from the other girls. So when the day came that Bellatrix was to board the Hogwarts Express for the first time, she bid her sisters a warm goodbye, begging that they write her often. Once at Hogwarts she joined the queue of first years, anxiously awaiting the Sorting. Bellatrix had been hopeful, if desperate even, that she would end up in Slytherin, as all the Blacks before her had. When it was her turn at the Sorting Hat, it had whispered something about her great ambition, and immense future potential. When the brim of the hat ripped open and called out "Slytherin!" she joined her respectable table, wearing an immensely smug grin. Her first year had gone by incredibly fast, and she had made a fair few friends of her Housemates, yet she to some degree missed her family, and anxiously awaited her sister and her cousin Sirius's arrival the following year.

Andromeda as expected was sorted into Slytherin, but when Sirius had been sorted, he was made a Gryffindor. Something had gone wrong, Bellatrix was sure. Sirius could not have been a Gryffindor, no Black had. Forgetting herself and her manners, Bellatrix stood up and shouted "No, you're wrong!" She received many scandalized stares from those around her, but as she desperately tried to catch Sirius's eye, pleading with him to agree with her, that it must have been some mistake. Sirius, however, seemed unwilling to look at her, and joined his fellow Gryffindors. Bellatrix was both hurt and ashamed, and it was sure from then on that an estrangement from a cousin she once was very fond of was imminent. Her baby sister, Narcissa and her cousin, Regulus came the following year, sorted into Slytherin as was only right. Bellatrix maintained the idea that all of the decent Blacks had been sorted to their rightful place.

As the years past Bellatrix maintained a steady social climb, making friends with the best of the purebloods. Occasionally she would find people in other Houses sympathetic to her views on blood purity, and would befriend them as comrades of a common cause. She had, on occasion ventured to befriend those of de cent heritage that were neutral on views of blood, and found them amiable companions that she hoped she might sway to her ways of thinking. Bellatrix, well liked by her Slytherin classmates was determined that she emerge the veritable head of her House. She was, however, challenged by one boy in her year, a one Lucius Malfoy, who could always be found holding court in the common room. Of course she had known his family, and met him once or twice before Hogwarts, but she had always harbored a certain dislike for him, and upon attending school with him found him as nothing more than an arrogant little berk with an inflated ego and a false sense of superiority. She had, on more than one occasion, attempted to hex him in the halls, and struck up a rivalry with him. She was determined from then on to keep her sisters safe away from his circle of influence, especially Narcissa, who was her special favorite.

Upon reaching fifth year, O.W.L.s were thrust on her, and Bellatrix found herself overwrought with studying. But amidst it all she had found a new and more sinister route of studying. Bellatrix had heard whispers of the Dark Arts, and whispers of a Dark Lord on the rise. She found herself fascinated with the idea, and had delved into curious study. What she found excited her, and once or twice she found herself dreaming that she might use some of these nastier curses on Malfoy. She did not confide in many just what she was studying, as it grew into a slight obsession. With her interest in the Dark Arts came her interest in the Dark Lord, who had been highly publicized. His aims were those all the decent purebloods had spoken of for centuries, such were the views of her family. Bellatrix from then began to romanticize the Dark Lord's ideals, and found herself in her daydreams imaging that she was at the forefront of the movement. She had heard the same idea expressed from others as well, although they kept it in low whispers. While she had achieved a high number of O.W.L.s and was certainly on the way to a promising career, she held tight to the idea of fighting for her cause. In this her N.E.W.T. year, she had been vacillating on the idea of studying at all, often preoccupied with the Dark Lord and the forbidden arts. This is the year she can shape her destiny, the prospect of which that both frightens and excites her.

Bellatrix hurried from the library with almost indecent haste, causing Madam Pince to turn and glare disapprovingly at her retreating back. Turning down the fourth floor corridor, Bellatrix was keen to keep her book from the prying eyes of passersby. She cradled it almost lovingly in her arms, before noticing that the faded golden title on the front cover was showing. Quickly she took the book and hid it behind her robes. No one would see it. No one would know she had it. She was not ready to share it quite yet, it was her personal victory in acquiring it, after all, and she should relish in its glory privately. With each student that passed her, glancing at her in an offhand manner she offered a suppressive sneer. Which afforded her scandalized looks and the turn of head, of which she cared for very little. None of them would pry into her moment, none of them deserved to look at her as though she was doing something wrong, none of them deserved their questions. Yet she stopped to wonder, was she doing something wrong? She vacillated on the idea as she walked, yet ultimately found herself viciously invigorated that she might have very well broken rules legally.

She all but ran down the stone staircase, still careful to keep her book hidden from view. She needed to be alone. Of course the common room would prove a very poor choice indeed, as it was a Saturday and was bound to be filled with usual solicitors. An ugly frown crossed her face as she imagined stepping into the common room, finally able to prize open the worn cover of her book to find Lucius Malfoy holding court with his usual band of sycophants, and his infuriating drawl asking her just what she was doing. She would not give him the satisfaction of having to come up with a decent explanation under pressure. She considered the Great Hall, the courtyard, and even returning to the library as possible options, each one coming up as implausible. There was always people everywhere, even off in the deserted classrooms. Bellatrix had not until now taken into account just how many students Hogwarts held, and wished they would all just disappear, if only for a moment, that she might truly find some time alone.

Bellatrix's feet had carried her to the Entrance Hall, which was, as per usual, buzzing with students. Bellatrix roughly elbowed past a timid looking group of Hufflepuff first years and strolled to and out the door leading to the grounds. It was an unusually cold day with a biting breeze. Bellatrix pulled her cloak tightly around her before stepping out. Even the cold had been unable to chase away the student hangers on, as they strolled aimlessly across the grounds, deep in their own petty conversations. Bellatrix sneered at them as she passed, and peered out into the vast grounds, desperately seeking some measure of solitude. A group of chattering Ravenclaw girls were grouped around the edge of the Black Lake. Bellatrix did not want to risk them catching her. Everywhere she looked she had come across people. She cursed under her breath. The only place it seemed that she would find solitude was in the Forbidden Forest, which had been outlawed to students. Of course the foolhardy and the troublemakers often ventured inside, and Bellatrix only hoped she would not encounter them today, to which they would be on the receiving end of a nasty hex if she did.

Bellatrix strolled with intent to the forest's edge, to where the wind whipped through the treetops. Bellatrix took a precautionary glance over her shoulder before stepping over a large root. She ventured in so far, stepping over brambles and nettles to where she could barely see the searing brightness of the sunlit grounds. She decided then that she was far enough in, and was most unlikely to meet unwelcome visitors. Only then did she curl up beneath a large pine tree. Her hands shook with excitment as she wrested the book from inside her robes and lay it on her lap. It was unbelievably old. The once gilded golden lettering was faded and the black leather bound cover was heavily darned in places. The spine was beginning to tear. Bellatrix read over the title Magick Moste Evile. A wicked grin spread over her face. She had heard several of her fellow Slytherins praising the book, that it was rumored to contain complex and detailed diagrams to perform the Unforgivable curses most effectively. It was said to possess guides to the darkest of magic, as she had heard one seventh year boy whisper to another. Still, for however much legend the book had received, it seemed that none of them had ever laid eyes upon its pages, though one boy had assured her that his father was buying him a copy in Knockturn Alley.

Bellatrix had decided to chance that the book might have been at Hogwarts, as she had visited the Restricted Section of the library only once before, and found innumerable texts of interest. Of course permission to enter the Restricted Section was very rare, so Bellatrix had gone to Professor Slughorn, her Head of House, with a tin of crystallized pineapple and a simpering smile. She had told him simply that she needed to visit the Restricted Section for help with schoolwork "purely academical purposes." He had, with her token of bribery given in rather quickly, and issued her a pass. Bellatrix had then been barely able to conceal her excitement, as she was surely to be the first one to possess the prized book. She would be a step ahead of the others, she was sure, and with any luck, she would be the first to master an Unforgivable curse. Her hands shaking, she prized open the cover (which issued a considerable cloud of dust) and hastily turned the page to scan the index. Within were listed innumerable spells she had not so much as dreamed of, with names that would no doubt produce unpleasant results. She flipped open to a page near the center of the book and read the header "The Cruciatus Curse." Bellatrix bit her bottom lip as she grinned, greedily pouring over the curse's description, headed with the diagram of a man who appeared to be in immense pain. Her eyes wandered down to the diagram of wand movements, as absentmindedly she moved her own hand in correlation. "Pure intent to cause the victim pain is crucial in effectively performing this curse." She read. She imagined Lucius Malfoy, writing on the floor shrieking in pain. "Crucio!"

[peterr]