Bellatrix Lestrange

Bellatrix Lestrange (née Black)

Age: Unknown, but probably mid-forties.

House: Slytherin.

Distinguishing Characteristics: Bellatrix was once a handsome woman with thick, shining, dark hair and heavily-lidded eyes. Azkaban has left her gaunt with a skull-like face and a slightly insane fanatical gleam in her eyes.

Heritage: Pureblood.

Family: A loyal member of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. She is married to Rodolphus Lestrange, and has sisters Andromeda Tonks and Narcissa Malfoy. Her cousins were Sirius and Regulus Black (both deceased).

First Mention: Chapter 30 of Goblet of Fire.

General: Bellatrix was born, probably between 1950 and 1955, into the proudly pureblooded Black family, and like her cousin Sirius was quickly immersed in the standard trappings of wizarding bigotry. Unlike Sirius, however, she remained true to the cause. When she went to Hogwarts she was sorted into Slytherin--vital for any genuine pureblood fanatic--and retained her prejudices throughout her school life.

After leaving school, she married Rodolphus Lestrange, also the product of Slytherin and a fiercely pureblooded family, and together they began to take an interest in the work of Lord Voldemort when he made his first rise to power. Sufficiently impressed, they joined his ranks of the Death Eaters, along with Rodolphus' brother Rabastan. Throughout the 1970s, they worked for the Dark Lord, carrying out any number of illegal and ruthless activities for him.

Bellatrix fostered a dark sadistic nature; she was drawn to the Unforgivable Curses, particularly to the torture of others using the Cruciatus Curse. Following the fall of the Dark Lord at the hands of Harry Potter in 1981, she and her husband remained loyal and attempted to learn what had happened to him. To this end they, together with Rabastan and the young Bartemius Crouch, Jr., captured the Aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom and tortured them using Bellatrix's favorite--the Cruciatus Curse. The Death Eaters believed their master to have been captured rather than vanquished and were attempting to obtain information on his whereabouts. The Longbottoms could provide them with no such information of course, and Bellatrix and her colleagues tortured them into insanity.

They were quickly tracked down and apprehended by Aurors, and brought for trial before the Magical Council of Law, headed by none other than Crouch's father, Bartemius Crouch, Sr. They were sentenced to life in Azkaban, and while Crouch Jr. cried and protested his innocence and Rodolphus and Rabastan remained silent, Bellatrix took quite a different approach: as their sentence was passed, she refused to denounce her master and made an impassioned speech predicting his return. As callous and sadistic as she is, Bellatrix is nothing if not devoted. In that single moment she made herself a favorite of the Dark Lord and his most genuinely loyal follower, despite his incomprehensible description of the quaking Crouch as his "most faithful servant."

Bellatrix remained in Azkaban for nearly fifteen years, finally escaping in the mass breakout of January 1996. Her time on the inside not only robbed her of her beauty, but also seems to have sent her somewhat insane, and a mad obsessive glint appears almost permanently behind her eyes these days. She is prone to bouts of shrieking, cackling and incoherent shouting, and had to be physically restrained by Lucius Malfoy at the Department of Mysteries when her mania led her to be more interested in hurting Harry than gaining the prophecy.

Having regained her cool she had a busier time in the subsequent battle than most, managing to kill Sirius, to injure Tonks, to cast the Cruciatus Curse on Neville and to go head-to-head with Harry (during which time Harry himself cast a rather ineffective Cruciatus Curse on her). Vitally, however, she did lose the prophecy and Voldemort was none too pleased. She made a groveling apology to no avail; her master simply retorted "I shall deal with you in a moment."

He was still sufficiently fond of her to rescue her before Disapparating, however, when it became clear that he could not defeat Dumbledore. Bellatrix is therefore one of only three Death Eaters who are still at large (the others being Peter Pettigrew and Goyle, who did not attend the fight), although with the dementors still being set against the Ministry of Magic, it is unlikely that the others will stay inside Azkaban for long.

Despite the demise of Sirius Black's immediate family, Bellatrix is still remembered fondly by Kreacher--the one faithful pureblood enthusiast left in Grimmauld Place. He keeps a photograph of her by his bed under the kitchen boiler, and while Bellatrix now has very few friends who are not in Azkaban, she will always be able to rely on Kreacher at least to help her out, which may not bode well for the series. Harry has officially inherited Grimmauld Place (as dictated by Sirius' will), and thus he has inherited the mentally unbalanced Kreacher as well.

Presently, Bellatrix is still at large; she even manages to help her sister Narcissa get Severus Snape's help with a family dilemma, against her own better judgment. Lord Voldemort, angry at Lucius for blundering the plan to attain the prophecy in the DoM, has tapped Draco for a mission--to kill Albus Dumbledore. Narcissa rightly assumes that this is more of a punishment for Lucius rather than an assignment for Draco. All involved believe Draco will most likely die before he succeeds in such a bold endeavor. To assure Draco's safety, Narcissa begs Snape for help, and convinces him to make the Unbreakable Vow. Bellatrix, despite her misgivings at both trusting Severus Snape and going behind Voldemort's back to protect Draco, actually performs the Vow for them, locking them into an agreement that if broken will cause the death of Severus Snape and if it succeeds will surely be the death of Albus Dumbledore. Snape promises to not only protect Draco, but to carry out the mission if he cannot. In one fell swoop, Snape seems to assuage Bellatrix's mistrust of him, as she performs the binding vow. It is interesting to note as well that Snape seems to know more of what is going on in the dark ranks--he seems to be the chief counsel of the Dark Lord. Bellatrix seems to be suffering Voldemort's mild displeasure (for her follies in the DoM fiasco) considering the fact that he is not giving her nearly as much information about his plans as he is giving to Snape. It is also interesting to mention that the conversation between Bellatrix, Snape and Narcissa, and the ensuing Vow, are not sanctioned by Voldemort himself; it was done behind his back. What this will bode for Bellatrix is not certain--but she is recklessly risking the Dark Lord's displeasure once again. While it is glaringly apparent that Bellatrix remains blindly devoted to Voldemort, there seems to be dissension among the ranks as a whole.

Bellatrix remains a loathsome villain to the core, having helped ensure the death of Albus Dumbledore; what remains to be seen is if Voldemort will overlook her covert actions in helping her sister because of this. Is her role in Dumbledore's death enough to ensure her place as the Dark Lord favorite still? Or will she suffer his displeasure again?

Her current whereabouts are as unknown as the next line of action she will take. It is clearer than ever that despite a soft spot for her sister Narcissa, Bellatrix Lestrange is a shrewd and evil force to be reckoned with.