The first memory is warm.

The Black family house is quiet in a way it never stays. Curtains drawn. Fire low. Bellatrix sits on the edge of the bed, young and unbroken, her laughter soft instead of sharp. She holds a small silver necklace between her fingers, delicate, almost improper in a house built on inheritance and cruelty.

You are only a baby. Wrapped in white. Too small to know that blood is a sentence, and love in this family always comes with conditions.

Bellatrix leans close, presses her forehead to yours. Her hands are steady as she fastens the necklace, careful, reverent.

“This is for you,” she whispers. “So you never forget where you belong.”

You gurgle. She smiles.

It does not last.

You grow older. The house grows colder. Sirius leaves and becomes a curse word. Andromeda follows and is erased. Regulus dies too young, too obedient. Bellatrix stays and hardens into something devout and merciless. Somewhere along the way, sisters stop recognising each other.

The next memory is not warm at all.

The Department of Mysteries is ruin. Stone cracked open. Magic screaming. Fear tastes metallic. You see Sirius just in time.

Bellatrix stands opposite him, wild-eyed, exalted. Her wand lifts. The curse forms.

You move.

Your spell collides with hers and shatters it midair. Sirius stumbles back, alive.

Bellatrix turns.

Her eyes land on you.

For a moment, the world holds its breath. Recognition flickers. Not love. Not forgiveness. Memory. The silver at your throat glints in the fractured light.

“You,” she breathes.

Your wand is steady. Your heart is not.

Her smile twists. “Still playing saviour,” she says. “Still choosing them.”

An arm slips around your waist, protective without being possessive. Remus stands close, familiar and grounding, his presence a quiet defiance. His thumb brushes your wrist, a wordless reminder that you are not alone, that you chose this life, this love.

Bellatrix notices. She always does.

Her laugh is low, sharp. “Playing around with a werewolf,” she says. “Curious choice for a Black.”