InsaneJournal

OOC

Name: Megan
Age: 19
E-mail: flufflekittens@gmail.com
AIM: theoryofillusion
CDJ: ~missmegan
Timezone: Mountain Standard / Arizona
Experience: Here.
Journal to be used: ~bellsringing

IC

Full Name: Bellatrix Helene Lestrange née Black
Nicknames: "Bella" by close family and friends, "Bells" to Andromeda.
Age and Birthday: 24 / 17th September 1951
Affiliation: She supports the United Wizarding Nations (Grindelwald & Dumbledore's government)-- to a point, anyway. She does think they are too strict in some respects (and not strict enough in others). The Black family & Lestrange family.
Hogwarts House/Years Attended: Slytherin / 1963 - 1970
School Accomplishments: Prefect & Head Girl.
Occupation: Socialite. She also advocates for stronger restrictions on halfbreeds, and for more humane treatment of muggle children. She is also involved with the Muggleborn Rescue Committee.
Blood Purity: Pureblood.
Orientation: Heterosexual.
Marital Status: Married to Rodolphus Lestrange.

Parents:

CYGNUS BLACK; father.
DRUELLA BLACK née ROSIER; mother.

Bellatrix has always been closer with her father than her mother-- not to say that her and her mother didn't get along, but rather Druella tended to focus her efforts more on Andromeda and Narcissa than Bellatrix. After Phineas was born, Bellatrix lost some of her father's attention to him, but understandably so.

Siblings:

ANDROMEDA VIOLETTA SELWYN née BLACK; younger sister. Bellatrix was always closest with Annie-- who was only two years her junior-- than her other siblings. Annie has always been Bells' best friend and confidant.
NARCISSA BLACK; younger sister. While Bellatrix still thinks of Cissa as her "baby sister" more than a "friend", the two are friends. Bells has a tendency to treat Cissa like a child, even though Narcissa is an adult.
PHINEAS POLLUX BLACK; younger brother, rescued muggleborn (not advertised). Given their age-gap, Phineas and Bellatrix were never particularly close-- but they were never distant, either. Bells likes to coddle her baby brother (much as she did/does Cissa).

Other notable relatives:

RODOLPHUS LESTRANGE; husband. Bellatrix cares for her husband dearly-- "love" might be a strong word, but they get along very well.
RABASTAN LESTRANGE; brother-in-law.

PYRRHUS RODOLPHUS CYGNUS LESTRANGE; son, born 1973. Godchild to Rabastan Lestrange.
LAVINIA ANDROMEDA VIOLETTA LESTRANGE; daughter, born 1974. Godchild to Andromeda & Theodore Selwyn.
PERSEUS RABASTAN THEODORE LESTRANGE; son, future born 1978, rescued muggleborn (not advertised). Godchild to Narcissa & Lucius Malfoy.
ADONIS LUCIUS PHINEAS LESTRANGE; son, future born 1979. Godchild to Phineas Black.
HERMIONE DRUELLA NARCISSA LESTRANGE; daughter, future born 1979, rescued muggleborn (not advertised). Godchild to Andromeda & Theodore Selwyn.

THEODORE SELWYN; brother-in-law.
NYMPHADORA BELLATRIX HELENE SELWYN; niece & godchild, born 1973. Bellatrix adores her little niece-- and is already spoiling her rotten.
IPHIGENEIA NARCISSA DRUELLA SELWYN; niece, born 1974.
EPIMETHUS THEODORE PHINEAS SELWYN; nephew & godchild, born 1974.
ALPHARD AGAMEMNON CYGNUS SELWYN; nephew & godchild, born 1975.
TERPSICHORE NIKEPHOROS EUPHROSYNE SELWYN; niece, born 1975.
CASSIOPEIA ANDROMACHE CLYTEMNESTRA SELWYN; niece, future born 1980, rescued muggleborn (not advertised).

ORION BLACK; paternal uncle.
WALBURGA BLACK; paternal aunt.
SIRIUS BLACK; cousin.
REGULUS BLACK; cousin. She gets along well-enough with her cousins, better with Regulus than Sirius.

Bellatrix is related to the majority (if not all) of the wizarding world some how or another.

Appearance: A dark beauty, Bellatrix has near-black eyes and a warm skin-tone. Her hair is a luscious black, usually kept wavy and flows down her shoulders. She's tall for a woman (5'7), and slender yet has some curve to her. She's striking, with deep-set eyes and a strong bone structure-- which she emphasizes with a deeper, darker make-up palette. Without make-up she appears softer, more fragile. She has very specific clothing tastes, more commonly wearing satins and velvets rather than cotton or lace. She always wears stylish dresses-- what else would a young lady wear? Bellatrix likes to keep her wand close at hand, as well, and wears a slim holster on her inner arm to keep it secure, and her holster is charmed to blend with her skin.
PB: Morena Baccarin.
Katie McGrath.

Personality:

It should first be said that Bellatrix is nothing if not a proper pureblood lady. She believes strongly in manners, etiquette, and the rules of society. Wizards are nothing without that which separates them from the animals and muggles. Her mother instilled manners in her from a young age and she has always been a behaved society girl-- now woman. She is disgusted by people who don't know their manners or do not know how to behave properly in public. Of course, Bells is a lady even in private-- well, most of the time, anyway. Ladies don't cuss or trash their peers or shout, but in close confidence Bells has done these things-- never in public though, as that would be purely shameful. As someone who believes so strongly in the importance of manners and propriety, it's unsurprising that Bellatrix has high standards for people, especially those who surround her. While she's tactful enough not to outright tell someone that they're acting like a dirty, disgusting dog her disapproval is hard to miss-- it seeps through her eyes and the pursing of her lips.

She is a very determined, strong-willed woman. Stubborn, even. When she sets her mind to something, she sticks to it. While she hasn't had to face truly "dirty" work in her life so far, she likely wouldn't balk at it if it was in the path to her getting something she wanted done. She's the sort of person who gets things done. And the sort who refuses to listen to nay-sayers-- indeed, any claims that she can't do something will only strengthen her resolve, to prove them wrong. Bellatrix loves the satisfaction of a good job well done, and showing people how strong she truly is.

It can certainly be said that Bellatrix is a proud person. Arrogant might be too strong a word, but she is certainly very confident and likely to highlight her strengths over her weaknesses (which in-of-itself is likely a weakness). She's very aware of what her social standing is. Her pride is hard to wound, mostly because Bells tends to see most people as "beneath" her and therefore their opinion doesn't count as highly as others, but when wounded Bellatrix can be very bitter and very offended. She generally reacts to slights on her pride by going out and showing the person up, whether it be in a game of wits, achieving a difficult goal, or in an outright duel.

As the eldest child, Bellatrix has always felt a strong urge to protect her loved ones. She's a very maternal person, the sort that protects her cubs. She does not take insults to her family well, and Merlin help you if you dare harm any of them-- especially her children. She has been known to ruin people just for a smart remark about her family at a party, or for implying that any of them are less than the epitome of pureblood society. She's a vengeful person, and not to be underestimated. There's a reason most people keep their comments about the Blacks and Lestranges to themselves most of the time. Bellatrix is a temperamental woman, but she has honed her temper to simmer rather than boil over-- to get even rather than angry. There was once a woman who chose to cross Bells by loudly trash-talking the Black family name at a party. That woman is now on the blacklist of most charities, clubs, and other organizations in the pureblood society, almost completely cut off from it, due to a few secrets that Bellatrix made sure got out.

It wasn't her ambition that sorted her into Slytherin-- it was her conniving, cunning nature. Bellatrix is a good analyzer, good at finding ways to get what she wants, good at finding exactly what it is that will ruin a person's life. She's not an idiot by any means, though she's certainly no scholar. She's very clever and quick-witted. No one has ever tried to accuse Bells of being anything less than that, as they know she'd be extremely offended by such claims and immediately outwit them-- just to spite them (because spiting people is just one of her favourite hobbies).

While Bellatrix is a cynical, skeptic woman she is also an optimist. Few people realize that she does, in fact, try to look for the upside to things. She can be surprisingly motivational when called for-- though it rarely is. She doesn't wear rose-tinted glasses or really see anything sunny about the world, but she does appreciate her life and all the luxuries she has. She's never been blind to how others are treated or live, and knows that she is very lucky to be where and who she is. She is not a woman to complain over trivial things, or cry over spilled pumpkin juice. She's very much a glass-half-full person.

Most people see Bellatrix as a hard, harsh young woman, but Bells is a much softer person than people realize. She's just very good at controlling her emotions and believes weakness is impolite. She's much softer and kinder beneath the intimidating glares and snarky remarks. Just because she's so hard on the outside doesn't mean that she doesn't have feelings, or like playing with puppies, or adore children, or other things that are "soft". She's very much a woman with a tough outer shell hiding a gooey center-- not too gooey, of course. She's not about to frolic through the forest singing with birds. She didn't allow herself to become too much a romantic, knowing that she would marry because that was what ladies in society did and not because of some sort of fated love or something. She's certainly more imposing than her sisters, a reputation she likes to keep.

Special Abilities/Traits: Bellatrix is skilled in the Dark Arts, dueling, mothering, and being intimidating.

History:

By the early 1950s, the world had already been conquered by Dumbledore & Grindlewald, and was under the rule of the United Wizarding Nations. Cygnus and Druella Black had hoped for their first child to be a boy, but they were instead graced with a healthy baby girl in January of 1951. The baby was named Bellatrix Helene. While they were disappointed that their eldest was a female, Bellatrix was still treated like royalty. Cygnus was high up in the UWN, and so the Black children were raised in the center of the new world.

She was followed by a sister, Andromeda, in 1953. Bellatrix was not quite two years old and didn't quite understand what this small creature was that her parents were giving more attention to, but she accepted the new baby with little fuss, gifting baby Annie with one of Bellatrix's favourite stuffed toys. The two would later become the best of friends.

A second sister, Narcissa, was born in 1955. By now Bells better understood the concept of baby sisters, and gifted this new sister with one of her toys just as she had Annie. While Bells was always closer with Annie, she was also always protective of baby Cissa-- even when Cissa was no longer really a "baby".

When it was clear to Cygnus and Druella that they would not have a fourth child, there was only one route left to go down to gain a son and heir. As Druella worked with the Muggleborn Rescue Committee, they chose to rescue and adopt a muggleborn boy, Phineas, in 1960. Bellatrix and Andromeda were old enough to be let in on the secret, but were told that under no circumstances were they to ever tell Phineas where he'd come from. They were to treat him as their younger brother, protect him like they would Narcissa. It was hard for Bellatrix to look upon the muggleborn babe and connect him to the word "brother", but she had to keep in mind that this was a good thing, that they were rescuing this poor child from his horrible muggle family that would only mistreat him. So, like she had done with her sisters before him, nine-year-old Bellatrix took one of her old toys and gave it to baby Phineas-- christening him as a Black and as her brother.

Like all of her family before her, Bellatrix went off to Hogwarts at age eleven. She felt uncomfortable about leaving her younger siblings behind (Annie, her closest friend, in particular) but had no choice in the matter. She was sorted into Slytherin, much like all of her family before her. Bells had friends within the house already, pureblood children who she'd known from societal gatherings, but had few close friends in her first years at school. She was an intimidating girl, too tall and harsh for most of the young, frivolous girls in her year to feel comfortable around. She was more than over-joyed when Annie joined her at Hogwarts, when Bellatrix was in her second year.

Through-out school, Bellatrix had a penchant for following the rules-- or at least being very good at not getting caught breaking them. She was one of those kids that "stood-out", not just because of her striking looks but because she had a tendency to just be a presence wherever she went. There were plenty of other students who weren't fond of the eldest Black girl and her dark, disapproving looks and slightly scary adeptness in the Dark Arts.

In her fifth year, she was made Prefect. Bells didn't fret too much over her O.W.L.s as she knew that she would do well on them-- and she did, with nothing under an Acceptable (and that one Acceptable was, of course, in "silly" Herbology). In her seventh year she was Head Girl, something she was modestly excited about-- well, modestly in public, as in private to Annie she squealed with joy (she'd also squealed when she had learned Annie was going to be a Prefect the year before). She was a strict Head Girl, leading by example and making a hobby of catching rule-breakers. She did, however, go easy on the younger years as Bells has always been a bit motherly. She did well on her N.E.W.T.s, within the top five of her class.

After school, the proper thing to do was to marry. She was courted by Rodolphus Lestrange, a man slightly older but still in his prime, for about six months before marriage was proposed. They married in July of 1971, at a lavish if "small" event-- small here meaning only "family", which included the majority of pureblood society-- with Andromeda as Bellatrix's maid of honour. Married life was a bit less exciting than Bellatrix had expected it to be, but her and Rodolphus made a good match for each other.

Bellatrix finally gave birth to a son, Pyrrhus Rodolphus Cygnus Lestrange, in the summer of 1973. The birth was a labourious one and the boy was born two-and-a-half weeks before he was meant to. From the start, Pyrrhus was a sickly baby, always crying and having some sort of problems. A year later, Lavinia Andromeda Violetta Lestrange was born, and in contrast to her older brother was a quiet, happy baby in good health. Pyrrhus hasn't outgrown his sickness at the age of two, and the Healers have no idea what's causing the coughing, crying, and other symptoms. Bellatrix knows that Rodolphus hopes that they'll have another son in the event of the worst case scenario, if Pyrrhus should become sicker. The two children frequently play with their cousins, Annie's five children, while Bells and Annie frequent each others company.

SUMMARY OF FUTURE EVENTS
As Pyrrhus was a sickly boy and they were sure that Bellatrix wouldn't have more children, they rescued a muggleborn boy in 1978-- Perseus Rebastan Theodore Lestrange. Pyrrhus and Lavinia were too young to be told, and the Lestranges acted out the pregnancy to some degree. To their surprise, they did have another son in 1979-- Adonis Lucius Phineas Lestrange. At the same time, they adopted another muggleborn-- Hermione Druella Narcissa Lestrange-- so that Lavinia would not feel alone as the only girl. Hermione's adoption was easier to play off-- the Lestranges simply acted as if Adonis and Hermione were born twins.

Three Random Facts:

1. Bellatrix drinks tea obsessively-- she rarely drinks anything else. She has a rather large collection of tea sets and cups to drink from.
2. While many society ladies appreciate art, Bellatrix has never seen the appeal of a lot more of the abstract and "soulful" works. She prefers practical paintings of flowers, vases painted with vines, etc to fancy paintings of splatters or outlandish sculptures of things that... don't look like things. She also doesn't understand the insistence of inflicting "deep meanings" on works of literature-- she seriously doubts that "the blue curtains wafted" is a metaphor for wizarding oppression. Sometimes blue curtains are just blue curtains.
3. Despite her school house, Bellatrix has never been fond of snakes or the colour green. Well, not live snakes, anyway, as she has quite the collection of snake-related jewellery.

World

Canon/AU? AU
Year Coming from: 1975
If AU, what is the different in their reality? Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindlewald did, indeed, take over the world and muggles are subservient to wizards.
How did this reality affect your character?

The world was already under complete wizarding rule by the time Bellatrix was born. Being not only a pureblood family but one that had supported the new world from the very beginning, with Cygnus working for the United Wizarding Nations and the Black family having lost several relatives to the War, has afforded the Blacks many privileges. Any purist ideologies the family had were not considered "radical", but rather were in practice by the UWN already and therefore acceptable.

Bellatrix grew up fully in the beliefs that muggles were servants/pathetic creatures and that was their place. Muggleborns and halfbloods were marginally better but only just. Muggleborn children rescued by purebloods are much better-- especially since most don't even know they're not pure, such as her younger brother Phineas. She also helps with the rescue of muggleborn children, much like her mother did, and as does her sister Andromeda.

Given that muggleborn Ted Tonks is Theodore Selwyn (as muggleborns are adopted by wizarding families) in this world, Andromeda did not disgrace the family and was thus not disowned. Indeed, the family was ecstatic that Andromeda had married so well. Therefore, Bellatrix still has a good relationship with her sister, who she considers her closest friend. Bellatrix is very fond of young Nymphadora-- who is her godchild as well as her niece-- and despite any qualms they have in the future, Bellatrix would never harm her and certainly didn't kill her-- or Annie's other five children. Or Theodore for that matter. Or her cousin Sirius. Or anyone, actually-- killing people isn't something that Bells is prone to doing.

Whereas in canon Bellatrix and Rodolphus had no children, in this universe they have five-- a son in 1973, and a daughter in 1974 and in the future two rescued muggleborns, Perseus in 1978 and Hermione (yes, that Hermione) in 1979, as well as a third child in 1979 called Adonis. There isn't any "Voldemort" or "first war" (besides whatever first war Grindelwald & Dumbledore began, long before Bells was born) and therefore Bellatrix is not (and will not be) apart of the "Death Eaters", who do not exist. Bellatrix has no need to "purify" the world-- Dumbledore and Grindlewald have already taken care of that. Given that Bellatrix isn't one of those "nasty rebels" (the Order of the Phoenix, in other words) she will never do any time in Azkaban for any crimes, as she does not commit any. (Torturing people into insanity? Really not her style-- she prefers making snarky remarks with her sister, instead.)

Samples

First-Person Journal:

I fear that I do not quite understand. I am rather unsure whether or not this is some sort of fever dream. I don't recall falling ill, but I don't see what else could explain this-- whatever this may be.

I've gathered that these journals are a form of communication, and therefore it would be rude not to introduce myself-- Bellatrix Lestrange. A pleasure, I am quite sure.

[ ANDROMEDA SELWYN ]

Does this privacy ward thing even work? Well, it better. Annie, are you here? This situation is a bit of a [...] mess, I don't know if anyone is here-- I've seen names while flipping through this book but I didn't spot any familiar handwriting.

Have you seen Pyrrhus or Lavinia? I assume they aren't here, but-- well, better safe than sorry.

[ /andromeda ]

Third-Person Thread: Here is a sample page.