InsaneJournal

Name: Bellatrix Celaeno Lestrange née Black
Birthday: 4 April, 1950
House: Slytherin
Year: Alumna (left school in 1970)
Kind of blood: Toujours pur
Pet: A black Kneazle with green eyes, named Will-o'-the-Wisp, but called Willow for short
Wand: 9 inches, willow and dragon heartstring

Physical Appearance: Bella is tall and trim, with long black hair, heavy lidded eyes, and a strong jaw. She carries herself with the air of a queen and dresses elegantly at all times. Though she has an exceptionally nice figure, any man who gives her a second glance is taking his life into his own hands. Her hair has a natural curl, which annoys her, so she keeps it straight with Sleekeasy's Hair Potion.

Biography: The eldest daughter of Cygnus Black and Druella Black née Rosier was born in London on 4th April, 1950. Bellatrix had virtually no problems, and showed nothing but a deceptively pleasant personality, up until she was nearly four -- when her younger sister Andromeda was born. She could not easily adjust to no longer being an only child and was fiercely jealous of the attention her parents paid the baby. Bella displayed a cruel streak early on, pinching, poking, slapping and biting her little sister on a regular basis, and even once dumping Andromeda out of her cradle, and leaving her facedown on the floor, screaming into the carpet, so that her baby doll could have the cradle. Her parents punished her severely for this, taking away both her toy wand and her model Quidditch set and sending her to her room without any supper. Instead of discouraging Bellatrix from hurting her sister, however, the punishment only encouraged her to find more inventive ways to torture Andromeda. Five years later, when her youngest sister was born, Bellatrix doted on Narcissa from the start, if only because she would steal attention from Andromeda. Soon enough she became fond of Narcissa in her own right, and she was forever offering to help her mother mind the baby and change the baby and sit with the baby, considering Narcissa something of a living doll.

The summer before she was to start at Hogwarts, something happened to change Bella's life forever. Whilst walking home from visiting her Aunt Walburga, she was attacked by a gang of teenaged Muggle boys. They took her to an abandoned warehouse in an industrial slum of London and kept her there for hours, raping her repeatedly. She only managed to escape by performing wandless magic and turning them all into foxes. Bella doesn't know -- or care -- if the spell ever wore off, and to this day, she kills any fox she sees, just in case it didn't. Though she managed to stop the bleeding with potions stolen from her mother's emergency stores, she received no other medical attention, and the caustic brews scarred her uterus, making it impossible for her to bear children (although she doesn't know that). Doubly shamed by not only being violated, but also by Muggles, Bellatrix never told anyone about the attack. She also began to study Occlumency so that no one could read the mortifying event in her thoughts. Knowing full well how her parents felt about Muggles, Bella imagined they might have her killed, rather than deal with the dishonour of having a daughter sullied by Muggles.

Following the attack, Bella became even more cruel to Andromeda, but not even torturing her sister could satisfy her any longer. She began to torture animals, trying out various curses she'd read about on them, as well as any Muggle children who wandered too close to the Blacks' back garden. By the time she left for Hogwarts, she had honed and refined her skills for torture to the point that she soon had a reputation of being a force to be reckoned with. The first boy in her year who tried to pull her hair was blasted across the Great Hall and into the High Table before he knew what hit him, and that would not be the last time. Any boy who even worked up the nerve to look at her, much less ask her out, would find himself being taunted and bullied (usually purebloods) and even cursed (half-bloods and Muggle-borns), if he did so too often. The message Bella was sending by this was perfectly clear: she was entirely off limits to any and all boys, regardless of blood status, and anyone stupid enough to get fresh with her would be very sorry indeed. Most other girls at school Bellatrix considered beneath her notice, except for Andromeda, whom she continued to torture, even at Hogwarts, though somehow she always managed to do so when the teachers weren't watching.

While at Hogwarts, Bella was named a prefect in her fifth year and excelled in the Duelling Club. She also studied the Dark Arts obsessively, though she found the materials in the school library somewhat limited in scope. Therefore she supplemented her education in the family library during school holidays. When Bella was twenty-six, she became officially engaged to Rodolphus Lestrange, mostly because -- knowing her reputation -- no other man would have her. Despite the fact that her husband-to-be was four years her junior, Bella agreed to the match to please the Dark Lord, who wished her to produce a pureblooded heir. Her extreme distaste of all sexual matters has bled over into her other relationships, as well. She frequently gives her youngest sister warped "advice" on relations between men and women, once even going so far as to tell Narcissa that Lucius' penis would sprout sharp prongs on their wedding night. Whether Narcissa actually believed the tale was immaterial. Bella felt that the moral of the story was the same: men would cause you a great deal of pain, if you were stupid enough to let them.

Though she learned some Dark Arts from her family and in secret at Hogwarts, Bella considers that her real education began when she met the Dark Lord. She was introduced through her husband's uncle, who was friends with the Dark Lord when they were in school. Lord Voldemort has taught her above and beyond the normal definition of the Dark Arts, and from very early on, Bellatrix found herself hanging on his every word. She is bursting at the seams to help the Dark Lord in any way she can, so that he may rebuild the wizarding world in his own image.

Likes: Lord Voldemort (though "like" is an understatement; her feelings border on obsession), curses, the Cruciatus Curse, causing pain, blood purity, feeling superior, and her Kneazle

Disikes: Muggles, Mudbloods, half-bloods, blood traitors, house-elves, anyone who looks at her funny, Andromeda, and Sirius

Extracurricular Activities: Er ... being a Death Eater?

Romantic History: Bellatrix has had nothing resembling a romantic history -- by choice. Her marriage to Rodolphus Lestrange is little more than in name only. For the sake of an heir, she submits to his sexual attentions, even if it disgusts and terrifies her, though she would never admit it. Bella extracts her revenge in other small ways, however, berating her husband on a regular basis and belittling his sexual "prowess" after every encounter, in addition to threatening to sleep with his brother Rabastan, saying he might actually know how to treat a lady. Naturally, Rodolphus has gradually lost interest, and their sexual encounters are becoming more and more infrequent.

The only other man in Bella's life is the Dark Lord. Voldemort's interest in her is anything but sexual, and for that reason, Bella has latched onto him as not only her leader, but her ideal man. She would never profess to be in love with him, as she eschews any such weak emotion. She is, however, very much in love with the Dark Lord in reality, and her attachment borders more on an obsession. The Dark Lord is an unavailable, "safe" man on whom she can lavish her devotion and affection, without ever having to delve into something as abhorrent to her as sex. For this reason, she is as devoted to the Dark Lord as any wife would be to her husband, if not more so, and would follow him to the ends of the Earth.

Goals: Bella wants to do anything and everything she can to become the Dark Lord's favourite follower.

Astrology: THE RIGHTEOUS DAREDEVIL (Aries/Tiger) -- The Tiger's taste for risk couples nicely here with the Aries' boyish courage. An Aries/Tiger is always someone nice to know, fun to be with and easy to like. Aries/Tigers are brimming with schemes and ideas. When they apply their multiple talents and energies, Aries/Tigers are unbeatably effective -- especially in intimate situations...

Status before Dumbledore's Spell: A year after Lord Voldemort fell, desperate to find news of her fallen master, Bellatrix hatched a scheme to capture and torture Aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom. She involved her husband Rodolphus (or bullied him into it, more like), her brother-in-law Rabastan, and Barty Crouch, Jr. -- a Death Eater whose loyalty to the Dark Lord rivalled even her own. Unfortunately, the plan did not work: the prolonged and repeated use of the Cruciatus Curse on the couple only rendered them senseless and got Bella no closer to her goal of finding Lord Voldemort. She and her fellow torturers were soon captured and sentenced to life terms in Azkaban, though she escaped along with several other Death Eaters in a mass breakout in January of 1996, once the dementors had abandoned the fortress. The following summer, she joined Lucius Malfoy and a number of other Death Eaters in an attempt to steal the prophecy involving Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter from the Department of Mysteries. Again, the plot was unsuccessful, and Bella was the only Death Eater who escaped capture, when she left with Lord Voldemort, via side-along Disapparation. When the War at Hogwarts started, she fought alongside the other Death Eaters to kill as many Order members as possible, and her cackling shrieks echoed throughout the grounds when Dumbledore fell.

DISCLAIMER: This journal is for role-play purposes only. I am not Bebe Neuwirth, nor do I own Bellatrix Lestrange -- more's the pity. If I did, I'd be rich, and I'd be writing about her for real, instead of merely playing her.