Bellatrix Lestrange

Bellatrix Lestrange is a secondary antagonist in the *Slytherin's Legacy* series. She appears in *The House of Black, Very Dark Indeed,* and *Like Flesh in Flame*.

#### Background

Bellatrix Lestrange was born Bellatrix Black, the eldest daughter of Cygnus and Druella Black, in 1951. She has two younger sisters, Andromeda and Narcissa, and married Rudolphus Lestrange. She began attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry circa 1962 and was Sorted into Slytherin House.

After graduating from Hogwarts, Bellatrix became a Death Eater. She was fanatically loyal to Lord Voldemort and was among the most dangerous and sadistic of his followers. In 1979, Bellatrix gave birth to a daughter, Delphini. Though she claimed this daughter was the child of her husband Rudolphus, Delphi's true father is none other than Lord Voldemort himself.

After Voldemort's fall from power, Bellatrix, her husband Rodolphus Lestrange, her brother-in-law Rabastan Lestrange, and Barty Crouch Junior captured and tortured Frank and Alice Longbottom in hopes of extracting information about Voldemort's whereabouts. The attack left Frank and Alice insane, and Bellatrix, Rudolphus, Rabastan, and Barty were all subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban.

#### Family

Bellatrix's parents were Cygnus and Druella Black, and she has two younger sisters, Andromeda and Narcissa. When Andromeda married a muggleborn, Ted Tonks, she was disowned from the Black family; Bellatrix has not seen her since, nor has she met her niece (Andromeda and Ted's daughter), Nymphadora. Bellatrix also has two other brothers-in-law; the first is her sister Narcissa's husband, Lucius Malfoy, and the other is Rudolphus's brother, Rabastan. Other living relatives include Adrasteia Lestrange, her mother-in-law; Delphini Lestrange, her daughter; Draco Malfoy, her nephew; and Sirius Black, her first cousin.

#### Relationship with Lord Voldemort

Bellatrix, her husband, and her husband's brother all became Death Eaters after leaving Hogwarts. At some point during the first war, Voldemort took it upon himself to train Bellatrix in the Dark Arts, and after Voldemort's disappearance in 1981, Bellatrix became the ringleader of a small group of Death Eaters who attempted to find him.

Even after spending years in Azkaban paying for her crimes, Bellatrix remains infatuated with Lord Voldemort despite the fact that her affection for and interest in him is not reciprocated. Bellatrix is fanatically loyal to, submissive to, and afraid of Lord Voldemort, and though he does not return her romantic feelings, Voldemort is more fond of her than of most of his followers, as evidenced by the existence of Delphini Lestrange, who is the biological child of Bellatrix and Voldemort. The exact circumstances of Delphi's creation are unclear, and the mystery behind her creation is the fundamental question at the heart of the *Slytherin's Legacy* series.

#### Appearance

>
> "*A woman with thick, shining dark hair, long eyelashes and heavily hooded eyes [...] was sitting in the chained chair as though it were a throne.*"
> — Bellatrix's appearance as described by Harry Potter in *Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire*
>

Prior to her stint in Azkaban, Bellatrix was a particularly beautiful young woman. Described as being a prime example of the good looks common in the Black family, Bellatrix has a strong resemblance to her cousin, Sirius Black, and looks so similar to her sister Andromeda that the two of them could be mistaken for one another at a glance. She has thick black hair, a strong jaw, and heavy-lidded eyes.

After spending more than a decade as perhaps Azkaban's most high-profile prisoner, Bellatrix became a skeletally thin, gaunt woman. Though much of her youthful beauty faded while incarcerated, she remains a striking woman in her middle age.

There is some degree of resemblance between Bellatrix and her daughter Delphi, though Delphi looks much more like her dad.