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In this essay, I'll be reviewing all canon information about Bellatrix Black Lestrange and analyzing it for characterization details. I'll finish it with a summary of important information about her characterization, physical appearance and skills, and relationships with other characters.

I'm using information exclusively from the books for a few reasons.

The movies follow the general plot outline of the series while rearranging characterization and worldbuilding details for reasons like timing, pacing, perceived audience appeal and the directors' choices. In general I don't consider them the same "world" as the books because of all of these differences. When it comes to Bellatrix in particular, the movies portray a very different character, and trying to integrate both versions together is only going to muddy the waters.

As for extracanonical information like JKR's interviews, twitter, Pottermore, etc, details tend to change over time as JKR creates additional works and changes her opinions. Staying in compliance with extracanon is therefore a moving target requiring combing through vast quantities of information, some of which is hard to access. I don't think it's realistic to try to stay in compliance with extracanon, and I don't want to spend a lot of time trying.

Finally, I'm not subjecting CC to the same level of analysis because it was written for the stage and appears to make use of different conventions of realism* and visual effects, and many of the scenes appear in alternate universes with an unclear relationship with canon. I will occasionally reference how the basic premise affects interpretation of events of the series if accepted.

Bellatrix appears on the latter four Harry Potter novels, all for brief snippets of time. I will be going through her appearances in the order they come in the books. Generally an essay like this wouldn't quote or summarize huge chunks of text, but I'm doing it here anyway because I find it's common that memories of canon warp to accommodate or more closely reflect fanon over time. When quoting text, I indicate gaps with ellipses. In some cases I have removed superfluous dialogue tags without them. Sometimes I indicate which character is speaking in brackets.

I will also refer to her by her first name only, as there are three Death Eater Lestrange characters, while one of the characters who describes her most frequently is her cousin Sirius Black; either surname would be confusing, but there are no other Bellatrixes in canon to confuse her with. Other characters are mostly referred to in the terms Harry uses in the narrative voice, eg. Sirius, Snape, Wormtail, Tonks, except to disambiguate when necessary, eg. between Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange.

I refer to the books primarily by abbreviations of use in fandom, eg. OotP, GoF. Page numbers may vary between editions.

*ie. if I have to accept that the Hogwarts Express snack trolley has been run for more than a hundred years by a woman whose identity has been subsumed by the train to the point she no longer remembers her own name in order to take CC as strict canon, I am not going to do that.

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Chapter 27: Padfoot Returns

Bellatrix's first appearances in the series are two oblique descriptions of her by Sirius, who avoids referring to her by name. The descriptions are short enough to be quoted in their entirety:

"But then something rather unfortunate happened... Crouch's own son was caught with a group of Death Eater who'd managed to talk their way out of Azkaban. Apparently they were trying to find Voldemort and return him to power." [Sirius]

...

"Was his son a Death Eater?" [Harry]

"No idea. I was in Azkaban myself when he was brought in. This is mostly stuff I've found out since I got out. The boy was definitely caught in the company of people I'd bet my life were Death Eaters - but he might have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, just like the house elf." [Sirius] (GoF 527-528.)

and

"Snape knew more curses when he arrived at school than half the kids in seventh year, and he was part of a gang of Slytherins who nearly all turned out to be Death Eaters."

Sirius held up his fingers and began ticking off names.

"Rosier and Wilkes - they were both killed by Aurors the year before Voldemort fell. The Lestranges - they're a married couple - they're in Azkaban..." [Sirius] (GoF, 531)

Even at the time of publication, when Bellatrix wasn't yet known to be Sirius's first cousin, this is an evasive description which omits the arrest of Rabastan Lestrange and avoids mentioning that the Lestranges were the ones arrested with Crouch. In light of later continuity it's clear that Sirius is avoiding discussing his family connection to Bellatrix, and this is probably why he doesn't tell Harry that the Lestranges were the ones with Crouch and potentially invite more questions about them.

The main thing that tells us about Bellatrix is that Sirius finds her a painful subject - not surprising, and open to any number of general interpretations. It's also important because it suggests there may be other omissions or misdirection in Sirius's information from this scene.

The points of interest here are several: according to Sirius, Bellatrix and the Lestrange brothers talked themselves out of Azkaban after Voldemort's fall, rather than fleeing the country or going into hiding. They were arrested and tried after Sirius was already in Azkaban. Sirius was extremely certain that the group Crouch was caught with were Death Eaters. Finally, according to him, at least Bellatrix and Rodolphus were part of a gang of Slytherins in school who became Death Eaters.

This last point bears interest because it suggests that Bellatrix and Rodolphus may have been at school at the same time as Snape. I don't think this is a necessary interpretation, however, as Sirius implies an ongoing group of Death Eater-associated Slytherins, and Dumbledore later states in HBP that Tom Riddle's own circle of associates at school transitioned into the Death Eaters. They may only have participated at different times in this group. Sirius would have reason to know about his cousin's social circle even at times he didn't attend Hogwarts, and might not have wanted to admit to this extra knowledge.

I discuss the birth date timing issue later when I cover the family tree tapestry in OotP.

Chapter 30: The Pensieve

In chapter 30, Harry enters the Pensieve in Dumbledore's office and witnesses several trials. The first thing I want to draw attention to is that Igor Karkaroff did not name the Lestranges at the time of his deal with Crouch (GoF 589-590), although since it's not clear at what point in the timeline this scene occurred, it's hard to say what that means. If this is before their arrest, as suggested by Crouch appearing more gray in the Lestranges' trial memory than before, Karkaroff might not have known that the Lestranges were Death Eaters, might be afraid of retaliation if he names them, or might not think it would be believed if they were already acquitted.

The next important scene is Dumbledore's memory of the trial of the Lestranges and Crouch Jr. This is the longest scene with Bellatrix in GoF and her first appearance in person, although she is not named, and would have formed most readers' initial impressions of her. I'm not going to quote the whole thing, but I will summarize and quote chunks.

Dementors escort the prisoners into the court; the three men are described in various states of distress, while Bellatrix is described as "a woman with thick, shining dark hair and heavily hooded eyes, who was sitting in the chained chair as though it were a throne." Crouch describes their crime as "so heinous that we have rarely heard the like of it within this court," suggesting to me that the particular effects of the Cruciatus on the Longbottoms were not a typical or well-known result. He states that they have already heard the evidence against the defendants.

Crouch summarizes: they are accused of capturing the Auror Frank Longbottom, subjecting him to the Cruciatus curse believing he knew where Voldemort was, and then using the Cruciatus on Frank's wife when he wouldn't help; he states that they planned to restore Voldemort and "resume the lives of violence you presumably led while he was strong."

At this time the jury votes to convict. The dementors immediately return to escort the prisoners out. The Lestranges rise quietly while Crouch goes into hysterics, and Bellatrix gives her infamous monologue:

"The Dark Lord will rise again, Crouch! Throw us into Azkaban; we will wait! He will rise again and will come for us, he will reward us beyond any of his other supporters! We alone were faithful! We alone tried to find him!"

She is then described as sweeping out of the dungeon alongside the dementors. (GoF 594-596)

A few pages later, Dumbledore explains the scene to Harry. After describing the effects of the torture on the Longbottoms, he says,

"The Longbottoms were very popular. The attacks on them came after Voldemort's fall from power, just when everyone thought they were safe. Those attacks caused a wave of fury such as I have never known. The Ministry was under great pressure to catch those who had done it. Unfortunately, the Longbottoms' evidence was - given their condition - none too reliable." (GoF 602-603)

So, what do we learn specifically about Bellatrix? She is first physically described here, having thick dark hair and hooded eyes. The timeline of her arrest well after Voldemort's fall is reinforced: it has been long enough for a sense of security to be recovered after the war.

This supports the notion that Bellatrix and the Lestranges tried to stay out of prison. Crouch says that they "presumably" led lives of violence, rather than offering other evidence or accusing them of other crimes, suggesting that none was available. Bellatrix's monologue declaiming loyalty to Voldemort is given only once they have been sentenced to life in Azkaban and are being escorted back out of the chamber, and in fact she confesses to very little: "We alone tried to find him!" and "We alone were faithful!" are general statements of loyalty. She does not acknowledge responsibility for the crimes she has just been convicted of, let alone anything else.

This probably also can't be taken seriously as a straightforward expression of her feelings without corroboration. In the scene she's talking to Crouch, threatening him with dire consequences when Voldemort returns, as of being convicted without an opportunity to argue in her own defense or, apparently, hear the evidence against her. It's likely that she made this show of defiance only then because she realized there was nothing she could do to prevent being sent to Azkaban and didn't want to let Crouch win. I'll cover her emotional state during the trial further in a bit.

As for the attack itself, the notion that Bellatrix was loyal enough to want to seek out Voldemort some time after his fall, once it was clear he could not return alone, is probably her most basic beat of characterization and is confirmed here. She is capable of and effective at casting the Cruciatus Curse, which is stated later by her to require enjoying causing pain.

She was willing to torture Frank Longbottom's wife, who is not described as an Auror in this scene by Crouch, although Augusta Longbottom later describes her son and his wife as "Aurors," Bellatrix herself says Neville was the son of "Aurors," and both were Order members. It's possible that Alice Longbottom left her job or was on maternity leave at the time of her death; her status as a combatant is somewhat ambiguous because of the contradiction, but she probably was one.

Going into details that can be extrapolated, I would argue the use of Cruciatus in obtaining information suggests at least one of the party was a competent Legilimens, which is corroborated by Snape's suggestion that Bellatrix taught Draco Occlumency in HBP. Harry Potter as a series doesn't generally adhere to the fantasy logic where torture obtains accurate information, but Occlumency requires concentration to maintain, so it's possible that torture is a usual method of breaking through Occlumency shields or determining that none are in use. Of course, Bellatrix later fails to discern whether Hermione is lying in DH; more on this subject later.

The suggestion that the Lestranges believed the Longbottoms knew where Voldemort was is on the face of it fairly bizarre, particularly as this was a targeted attack that broke a sense of security, rather than part of an extended search. Assuming that Crouch is correct about the motive, the most obvious reason is that Neville was the other possible candidate to fulfill the prophecy, and any protections used by the Potters might have been shared with the Longbottoms. This would suggest that Bellatrix knew about the prophecy and the possible candidates before Voldemort's fall.

I submit that this suggests a high level of trust between Bellatrix and Voldemort, a high level of command for Bellatrix, or both; Voldemort clearly regards the prophecy as a major threat and is unlikely to share information about his weaknesses unnecessarily, and only a single Death Eater, Snape, was involved in collecting this information. (It's also logically possible that one of the Lestrange brothers or Crouch knew about the prophecy and Bellatrix didn't, but her later relationship with Voldemort makes it most likely it was her.)

We know that both the Longbottoms and their infant son if present survived the attack. There are various explanations possible for this. I often see the assumption that they were caught red handed, but I don't think this is logically possible given Dumbledore's suggestion that the Longbottoms' evidence was unreliable. Dumbledore would have seen the evidence presented and would know if they had been arrested in the process of torturing the Longbottoms.

(This also indicates that the Longbottoms at the time of the trial were capable of giving evidence in some way and apparently more responsive than they were later, although the nature of Dumbledore's comment gives room for a variety of possibilities: actual disjointed speech, writing, pointing at pictures, attempts at Legilimancy, etc.)

It hardly seems likely that the Lestranges would balk at murdering two victims who had not given up information, either for ethical reasons or fear of the consequences; as we see, the fact that the Longbottoms were left alive got them sent to prison. A couple of possibilities occur to me. One is that the Longbottoms got an alarm out, or someone came onto the property, and the Lestranges fled before being caught red handed. It's also possible that they were wary of setting off similar protections to those that destroyed Voldemort if lethal force was used. If the latter is the case, the Longbottoms' state may not be an incidental side effect of the torture but a deliberate (and perhaps separate?) action.

If Neville was in the house at the time, fear of setting off additional protections might readily explain his survival. It's also possible that one or more of the party balked at attacking or killing an infant and swayed the others, as unlikely as it may seem. We don't actually see Bellatrix or the Lestrange brothers attack anyone who hasn't worked against Voldemort on screen, and they probably wouldn't have wanted to delay to argue at the scene of the crime. Neville also may have been watched by someone other than his parents at the time of the attack, and not present at all.

Reaching Bellatrix's emotional state at the trial, we see it only from the outside, from the perspective of an audience of her enemies. She behaves unusually for the context: she is at trial for crimes worthy of a life sentence and surrounded by dementors, but appears calm and confident early on, then defiant and eloquent, before walking commandingly out of the chamber. Meanwhile one of the Lestrange brothers is blank and numb, one is jittery, and Crouch Jr. is hysterical.

One point that I think is often overlooked is that everything she does in this scene, she does while surrounded by dementors. The standard method of magically resisting dementors is the Patronus, and we see no indication in the series that other means like Occlumency are able to deter their effects. It's possible that Bellatrix is capable of other, more discreet magical means of resisting dementors, or is somehow resistant to their effects via personality. She appears to show a normal emotional range including distress, panic and fear in other scenes, and is affected by Azkaban, so I don't think the last is likely.

The other possible interpretation is that the face she shows the court is a combination of masking and genuine misery, which is to say that Bellatrix usually handles despair by taking command of a situation, and at her trial she forced herself to appear calm in order to antagonize Crouch, or to guide and reassure the others arrested with her. This would match her actions in DH when she fears retribution from Voldemort, where she immediately takes command of the household.

If so, her devotion to Voldemort is an unhappy and Dementor-compatible thought, akin to Sirius's knowledge of his own innocence.

Chapter 33: The Death Eaters

Voldemort briefly references the Lestranges in the graveyard:

Voldemort moved on, and stopped, staring at the space - large enough for two people - that separated Malfoy and the next man.

"The Lestranges should stand here. But they are entombed in Azkaban. They were faithful. They went to Azkaban rather than renounce me... When Azkaban is broken open, the Lestranges will be honored beyond their dreams..."

I don't think this is Bellatrix's space in the circle. There are only two empty spaces next to Lucius in comparison to Bellatrix and the two Lestrange brothers, and Wormtail is on his other side, so Narcissa must not be standing with her husband, either. My guess would be that either family members in general aren't together and the Lestrange brothers are a coincidence, or that women typically stand with their natal families and the Black sisters would usually be together somewhere else. Of course, Narcissa being marked is a point of ambiguity in the series; but in any case there isn't enough room for three people according to Harry.

That said, Voldemort's comments apply to Bellatrix as well, and would be understood as such by the Death Eaters. His comment that the Lestranges went to Azkaban rather than renounce him is likely the source of the assumption that the Lestranges pled guilty or went into hiding until their arrest, but given the earlier evidence I would assume Voldemort is comparing their temporary cover story to the Death Eaters who abandoned him.

I wouldn't necessarily take his comments about reward seriously. His main purpose in this scene is securing the loyalty of the Death Eaters who abandon him, and he is most likely raising up the Lestranges as a combination guilt trip and carrot: see how you abandoned me, see how my most loyal followers have suffered while you helped yourselves, see how good things would be if you were truly loyal. We don't see evidence of the Lestranges being rewarded or honored later on.

What may be significant is that Voldemort and Bellatrix use similar phrase structure in their descriptions between this scene and her trial monologue. This might suggest that they spoke often enough to pick up phrases from each other.

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Chapter 6: The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black

Sirius and Bellatrix's relationship is revealed early in OotP, when Harry and Sirius examine the Black family tree tapestry together:

He pointed to another small burn between two names, Bellatrix and Narcissa.

"Andromeda's sisters are still here because they made lovely, respectable pure-blood marriages, but Andromeda married a Muggleborn, Ted Tonks, so--"

...

But Harry was now looking at the name to the left of Andromeda's burn: Bellatrix Black, which was connected by a double line to Rodolphus Lestrange.

"Lestrange..." Harry said aloud. Then name had stirred something in his memory...

"They're in Azkaban," Sirius said curtly.

Harry looked at him curiously.

"Bellatrix and her husband Rodolphus came in with Barty Crouch, Junior," said Sirius in the same brusque tone. "Rodolphus's brother, Rabastan, was with them too."

And Harry remembered: He had seen Bellatrix Lestrange inside Dumbledore's Pensieve, the strange device in which thoughts and memories could be stored:a tall dark woman with heavy-lidded eyes, who had stood at her trial and proclaimed her continuing allegiance to Lord Voldemort, her pride that she had tried to find him after his downfall and her conviction that she would one day be rewarded for her loyalty.

"You never said she was your--"

"Does it matter if she's my cousin?" snapped Sirius. "As far as I'm concerned, they're not my family. She's certainly not my family. I haven't seen her since I was your age, unless you count a glimpse of her coming in to Azkaban. D'you think I'm proud of having relatives like her?" (OotP, 113-114)

Most of this is a reprisal of the trial memory above, with a couple of details added: we now know of Bellatrix's first and maiden names, the names of her husband and brother-in-law, her sisters, and her relationship to Sirius.

The placement of the sisters' names implies that Bellatrix is eldest and Narcissa youngest. As Andromeda is old enough to have an adult child who is a qualified Auror a year or so before OotP begins, and Narcissa has a child in Harry's year, this implies that Bellatrix is significantly older than Snape, and is probably why many fans assume Bellatrix and Snape were not actually in school together.

EDIT: A previous version of this essay speculated on Tonks's birth and graduate date under the assumption that Auror training's length was unknown. Apollo pointed out in the comments that McGonagall gives Auror training's length at three years in OotP chapter 29. So, for Tonks to have qualified a year before OotP begins in summer 1994, she must have begun Auror training summer 1991, before Philosopher's Stone, and taken her N.E.W.T.s no later than that. If she entered Hogwarts at the usual age and took her N.E.W.T.s at the end of seventh year, the youngest Tonks could be in summer of 1991 is recently eighteen, in which case she would have been born in the summer of 1973. If she entered Auror training immediately after her seventh year at Hogwarts she might have been born anywhere between September 1972-August 1973. She could also be older if she took time between school and Auror training, or possibly younger if she took her N.E.W.T.s early or finished Auror training exceptionally quickly. It's not clear in canon that either of those is possible.

This has implications for Andromeda's birth year, and because she's the middle sister, Bellatrix's. We don't know how old Andromeda was when Tonks was born or how far apart Bellatrix and Andromeda are in age, but we do know that Andromeda was disowned for getting involved with Ted Tonks but married him anyway, so I assume she wasn't underage when the pregnancy became obvious. If Andromeda was pregnant during her last year of Hogwarts, and therefore seventeen in September of 1972, she might have been born as late as 1955, and Bellatrix could theoretically be her older twin sister and in the same class. However, this leaves us with Andromeda pregnant at school in the same dorm and most of the same classes as Bellatrix, and they would still be in their sixth year during Snape's first, which in my opinion is just as much of a stretch of Sirius's original statement about them being in the same gang of Slytherins as Bellatrix and Snape entering the same Slytherin gang without being in school together. It's more likely that Andromeda was out of school by the time she was pregnant with Tonks, in which case she could be born no later than 1954, and Bellatrix must be at least as old. If we assume Bellatrix and Snape were not of an age to socialize together in school, Bellatrix and Andromeda could be much older.

This is more evidence that Sirius is deliberately distorting his information about the Lestrange in GoF - possibly because presenting them as part of the Death Eater gang at Hogwarts gives Harry reason to believe that Barty Crouch Jr. was caught with Death Eaters, while avoiding any suggestion Sirius knew Bellatrix outside of school.

Aside from the dating issue, we know that the Black family was invested in their daughters' marriages. Sirius frames Narcissa and Bellatrix's marriages as the single most important act of their lives and the reason they are still on the family tree, contra Andromeda.

Sirius also states that he last saw Bellatrix when he was around Harry's age. He states elsewhere that he ran away at that age, so the main implication we get is actually that he did see Bellatrix fairly frequently when living at home. His manner and statements also reinforce that Bellatrix is a painful subject for him; given his earlier attempts to minimize their family connection, his statements continue to be potentially unreliable.

Chapter 22: Christmas on the Closed Ward

In the course of delivering Christmas presents, we briefly catch a glimpse into Kreacher's den:

...he had also managed to retrieve the silver-framed family photographs that Sirius had thrown away over the summer. Their glass might be shattered, but still the little black-and-white people inside them peered haughtily up at him, including - he felt a little jolt in his stomach - the dark, heavy-lidded woman whose trial he had witnessed in Dumbledore's Pensieve: Bellatrix Lestrange. By the looks of it, hers was Kreacher's favorite photograph; he had placed it to the fore of all the others and had mended the glass clumsily with Spellotape. (OotP 504)

This tells us there was at least one photograph of Bellatrix, apparently alone, in Grimmauld Place. It also tells us that Kreacher remembers her fondly, apparently as much or more so than Regulus and Sirius's mother at this time (though he may also consider Sirius's mother's portrait adequate remembrance for her).

Judging by his later description of his loyalty to Regulus and changed relationship with Harry in DH, Kreacher prefers people who regard him with some amount of kindness and consideration, and judging by Dobby and Winky house elves in general are capable of distinguishing between good and bad treatment regardless of their reactions to enslavement.

Therefore, Kreacher's preference for Bellatrix in OotP suggests she interacted with him similarly to the other people we know he liked in particular. Writing Bellatrix as unusually abusive to house elves is reading against canon, and it's most likely that she's unusually considerate to them within the context of pureblood culture. (I'll talk more about this later.)

Later in this chapter Harry, Ron and Hermione run across Augusta Longbottom and Neville visiting Neville's parents. I'm not going to quote that exchange because it doesn't add any new information; Augusta reiterates the Lestranges' crimes against Frank and Alice Longbottom, and Hermione, in horror, connects this to the woman Kreacher has a photo of.

Chapter 25: The Beetle at Bay

That January, Voldemort breaks ten Death Eaters out of Azkaban, and Bellatrix is described again:

...ten black-and-white photographs that filled the whole of the front page, nine showing wizards' faces and the tenth, a witch's... Each photograph was captioned with a name and the crime for which the person had been sent to Azkaban...

But Harry's eyes were drawn to the picture of the witch. Her face had leapt out at him the moment he had seen the page. She had long, dark hair that looked unkempt and straggly in the picture, though he had seen it sleek, thick and shining. She glared up at him through heavy lidded eyes, an arrogant, disdainful smile playing around her thin mouth. Like Sirius, she retained vestiges of great good looks, but something - perhaps Azkaban - had taken most of her beauty.

Bellatrix Lestrange, convicted of the torture and permanent incapacitation of Frank and Alice Longbottom... (OotP 543-544)

The Daily Prophet proceeds to draw attention to Sirius and Bellatrix's relationship:

"We think it likely that these individuals, who include Black's cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, have rallied around Black as their leader." [Fudge, quoted] (OotP 545)

The article also states that they were ten high-security prisoners, although it isn't clear whether this distinction applies to Death Eaters in general, some dangerous subgroup of Death Eaters, or perhaps everyone actually in Azkaban at all.

This mostly isn't new information, although it is the first time that Bellatrix is generally described as beautiful and not just her hair. Her description also echoes Sirius's, suggesting that Harry thinks they look alike now that he's seen Bellatrix affected by Azkaban. Her mug shot, apparently taken some time after Azkaban began to affect her to the extent that she isn't caring for her hair and probably isn't eating enough, also portrays her as arrogant. This reinforces the notion that her behavior during her trial is how she looks when unhappy, or trying to hide unhappiness, and not a reflection of unusual immunity to dementors.

Sirius and Bellatrix's relationship as cousins is apparently viewed as important and publicly notable in the magical world, something that either might turn to for support in the normal course of events, although it's possible Fudge is playing up a minor relationship only to sell the angle that Sirius is responsible for the breakout.

This is also the only direct gender ratio we get concerning Death Eaters. We know that Bellatrix isn't the only female Death Eater. Alecto Carrow also appears in HBP and DH, and Narcissa is on the battlefield in DH in addition to scenes that take place in her house, so whether either of them are marked they are combatants working for Voldemort. Her status as the only one of the high security prisoners broken out may suggest that female Death Eaters make up a tiny minority; that they're lower status and less likely to be broken out; that women are less likely to survive Azkaban in general; or that female Death Eaters were disproportionately less likely to be arrested at all.

There isn't a clear basis to distinguish between these options, although I think the status option is less likely, since all three examples we know of appear to be highly ranked and when male Death Eaters attack Bellatrix's status her gender is never brought up. Because most battle scenes are in Harry's point of view and most Death Eaters are cloaked heavily and masked throughout, it's easily possible that there are many more female Death Eaters who aren't known to us. Given that Death Eaters who unmask are often ones who are already fugitives or who know the audience will recognizes their voices, this may even be evidence for the last option.

Chapter 35: Beyond the Veil

Finally we come to the end battle in OotP and the scene that made Bellatrix one of the most loathed villains in the series. Again, this is a long scene and I'm not going to quote most of it.

Harry takes the prophecy and Lucius Malfoy reveals the Death Eaters, demanding he hand it over. Harry asks where Sirius is, the Death Eaters laugh, and Bellatrix's voice is described: "A harsh female voice from the midst of the shadowy figures to Harry's left said triumphantly, "The Dark Lord always knows!" Lucius concurs. Harry demands Sirius's location again, and Bellatrix mocks him, mimicking his words. Bellatrix mocks Harry in baby talk as the scene continues:

"The little baby woke up fwightened and fort what it dweamed was twoo," said the woman in a horrible, mock-baby voice. Harry felt Ron stir beside him.

"Don't do anything," he muttered. "Not yet--"

The woman who had mimicked him let out a raucous scream of laughter.

"You hear him? You hear him? Giving instructions to the other children as though he thinks of fighting us!"

"Oh, you don't know Potter as I do, Bellatrix," said Malfoy softly."He has a great weakness for heroics..." (OotP 782)

Lucius makes further demands for the prophecy, Harry argues, and Bellatrix goes to summon it from his hands. Harry casts Protego and still has to cling to it. Her clothing is described about here: "...her mad eyes staring through the slits in her hood," indicating that she's still got her face covered at this point and is dressed like the other Death Eaters. Bellatrix prepares to escalate ("Oh, he knows how to play, little bitty baby Potter. Very well, then--") and Lucius shouts at her, referring to dire consequences "If you smash it."

Bellatrix pulls off her hood then: "Azkaban had hollowed Bellatrix Lestrange's face,making it gaunt and skull-like, but it was alive with a feverish, fanatical glow." While it's unclear that starvation in Azkaban is entirely the result of dementors versus inadequate food, this suggests again that she's affected by them. She threatens Ginny: "Very well - take the smallest one. Let him watch while we torture the little girl. I'll do it."

Harry uses the prophecy as a shield and stalls for time, asking what the prophecy is; Bellatrix is incredulous that he doesn't know. ("What kind of prophecy? You jest, Harry Potter.")

The Death Eaters, including Bellatrix, are infuriated by him using Voldemort's name, and Bellatrix shouts at him: "Shut your mouth! You dare speak his name with your unworthy lips, you dare besmirch it with your half-blood's tongue, you dare!" indicating if nothing else that she learned to swear from the same culture as Sirius's mother.

Harry taunts her with Voldemort's real heritage. She attempts to Stun him, Malfoy deflects it, and their combined spells shatter the first prophecies and give Harry his idea. Lucius and Bellatrix scream at each other; then Harry goes on stalling by asking about the prophecy.

Lucius answers his questions disdainfully, then Bellatrix: "Get it himself?" shrieked Bellatrix on a cackle of mad laughter. "The Dark Lord, walk into the Ministry of Magic, when they are so sweetly ignoring his return? The Dark Lord, reveal himself to the Aurors, when at the moment they are wasting their time on my dear cousin?" This is the first but by no means the last time she refers to Sirius as "my dear cousin."

Harry gives the signal after another exchange with Lucius, they smash the prophecies and run, and the chase portion of the scene begins. This scene is chaotic and somewhat repetitive, so I'll only include details relevant to Bellatrix.

Lucius gives orders, pairing Bellatrix and Rodolphus together, which may or may not indicate they usually work together. Several pages later, three Death Eaters run into the room, led by Bellatrix, who shouts "There they are!" and then Stunners fly. They get through another door, slam it, and Harry locks it as they crash into it; then a man shouts their location to the other Death Eaters. The next couple of references only have her running/sprinting after Harry.

Harry falls down the stairs into the veil room, and Neville follows. Harry tries to bargain to get them to let the others go when he realizes Neville is there. Lucius taunts Neville, saying that his grandmother is used to losing family members and his death won't be a shock, and Bellatrix follows:

"Longbottom?" repeated Bellatrix, and a truly evil smile lit her gaunt face. "Why, I have had the pleasure of meeting your parents, boy..." and in response to Neville's defiance, "No, no, no," said Bellatrix. She looked transported, alive with excitement as she glanced at Harry, then back at Neville. "No, let's see how long Longbottom lasts before he cracks like his parents... Unless Potter wants to give us the prophecy."

Bellatrix uses the Cruciatus Curse on Neville once, then reiterates her threat to Harry, reminding him of the prophecy. Harry is about to give it up when the Order bursts into the veil room and combat resumes.

Harry sees Tonks and Bellatrix dueling on the steps during this scene. A page later Tonks falls from the steps and Bellatrix runs back towards the battle. Sirius tells Harry to get out of there with the prophecy and Neville, then runs to meet her; he seeks out Bellatrix, not the other way around. Harry sees Sirius and Bellatrix dueling on the dais a little later; the prophecy smashes, and Dumbledore arrives. His spell rounds up most of the Death Eaters, apparently effortlessly, except for Bellatrix.

Sirius and Bellatrix are the only two left dueling. Sirius ducks a jet of red light (presumably a Stunner?) from Bellatrix, laughs, and says "Come on, you can do better than that!" The second "jet of light," no color specified, hits him in the chest, his eyes widen and he falls through the veil. Bellatrix screams (Harry describes it as triumphant, but I'm not sure this is correct in the context). Harry screams and fights Lupin restraining him, and the chapter ends. (OotP 781-806)

Brief pause for analysis. Most obviously, Bellatrix continues to display dissonant emotional responses: she appears to enjoy herself through much of the battle scene and broadcasts pleasure at the idea of hurting people, laughs wildly, etc. Sirius is also described as laughing in apparent pleasure during his duel with Bellatrix, so this may be behavior they both learned to imitate in duels from the same sources, or reflect having been taught dueling as a pleasurable hobby in childhood, or only a shared familial personality type.

Through this chapter and the next, Harry also alternates between screaming vitriol and threats, taunts, and laughing wildly to unnerve Bellatrix, so any conclusions drawn about Bellatrix's sanity on this basis must apply to him. In my opinion, none are necessary; some people act like this when they're adrenaline high, and some cultures encourage it as a means of intimidation in battle.

Bellatrix is most enraged by insults to Voldemort, but she still only attempts to Stun Harry in response to them, and as this is the spell they use most often in the following chase scene it probably is what they were meant to do. She and Lucius spend a lot of time in conflict relative to their total interactions, but she largely follows his orders. (Apparently she doesn't like her brother-in-law, doesn't like people being given authority over her, or both.)

When she threatens to torture Ginny and does torture Neville, she clearly connects it to forcing Harry to hand over the prophecy; she doesn't get lost in it or try to draw it out, but makes a threat, checks if Harry will comply, curses Neville once, checks again. So, despite her dissonant emotions, she's in control of herself and acting with goals in mind throughout the scene.

She is not confirmed to use (intentionally) lethal force at any point in this scene so far; she uses Stunners most of the time, Cruciatus on Neville once, and curses Tonks with something fairly nasty judging by her hospital stay but nonlethal. It's not clear whether she knew who Tonks was during this fight, since she's been in Azkaban since Tonks was a small child and Tonks's appearance constantly changes. If she did know, then she dueled and defeated her halfblood niece at least once and declined to use lethal force.

The spell she hit Sirius with to knock him through the veil is not specified, but we know the spell she cast immediately before it was red and probably a Stunner, which may suggest that the next one was, too. I would say that her screaming after Sirius falls through the veil is in line with interpreting Sirius's death as quasi-accidental, for all Harry states it's triumphant, since it's not something she does elsewhere when winning.

She initially dismisses Harry as a threat, treating his attempt to command as ludicrous, but takes his refusals seriously enough to escalate to trying to knock him out, and zeroes in on first Ginny, then Neville as the weak points of an ad hoc commander who's trying to get his friends out alive. This strategy is nearly successful: Harry is about to hand over the prophecy when the Order arrives.

We also have her reaction to Harry describing Voldemort as a halfblood. The most basic reading is that Bellatrix believes Harry is lying and is therefore unaware of Voldemort's true parentage, and is a more fanatical blood purist than most Death Eaters, in line with other evidence about the Blacks.

That said, I don't think it's logically possibly that Bellatrix is unaware that Voldemort is a halfblood in 1995. He admits as much, discussing his muggle father, in his monologues at the end of GoF, in front of Wormtail, which makes me believe it has to be general knowledge among the Death Eaters. Wormtail is not a trustworthy secret keeper, to say the least, and Bellatrix has had months to find out about his gossip.

If so, this suggests that she's comfortable with open hypocrisy. She was raised with the intense form of blood purism of the Blacks and hasn't so much changed it out for the Death Eater-style blood purism that ascribes halfbloods equal value to purebloods as discarded it in favor of fervent personal loyalty. She believes what Voldemort wants her to believe and is apathetic to the ideology herself.

Finally, while Dumbledore is able to contain all the other Death Eaters fighting at the battle, Bellatrix alone is able to deflect or resist his containment spell. She continues her fight, kills Sirius, and in the next chapter duels Kingsley before escaping. This is the first evidence we have of Bellatrix possessing unusual magical ability.

Chapter 36: The Only One He Ever Feared

Kingsley takes over Sirius's duel with Bellatrix; a minute or two later he screams and falls and Bellatrix flees. Harry chases her. She throws the tank of brains at him and Harry uses Wingardium Leviosa to remove it and keeps following. They run past the injured students, and eventually reach the Atrium, where Bellatrix stops to duel Harry (probably because she can't summon the lift and leave before he catches up.) She taunts him again:

"Come out, come out, little Harry!" she called in her mock-baby voice, which echoed off the polished wooden floors. "What did you come after me for, then? I thought you were here to avenge my dear cousin!"

"I am!" shouted Harry...

"Aaaaah... did you love him, little baby Potter?"

Harry attempts to cast the Cruciatus Curse and hits her; Bellatrix screams and falls, then regains her feet, no longer laughing. Harry dodges her next spell, which blows the head off the fountain's wizard. This is where Bellatrix gives Harry her advice:

"Never used an Unforgivable Curse before, have you, boy?" she yelled. She had abandoned her baby voice now. "You need to mean them, Potter! You need to really want to cause pain - to enjoy it - righteous anger won't hurt me for long - I'll show you how it's done, shall I? I'll give you a lesson--"

Bellatrix tries to use it on Harry, who dodges. This curse takes off the centaur's arm, so it may have been what she used before, versus a different, lethal or explosive spell. She then tells him, "I was and am the Dark Lord's most loyal servant, I learned the Dark Arts from him, and I know spells of such power that you, pathetic little boy, can never hope to compare--" Harry tries to Stun her and she deflects his spell, but stops talking.

Bellatrix gives Harry another chance to give her the prophecy in return for her sparing his life. Harry screams back that she'll have to kill him because it's gone, feels Voldemort's response through their connection, and tells her that Voldemort knows.

At this point Bellatrix's emotions change drastically:

"What? What do you mean?" she cried, and for the first time there was fear in her voice.

"The prophecy smashed when I was trying to get Neville up the steps! What do you think Voldemort'll say about that, then?"

...

"LIAR!" she shrieked, but he could hear the terror behind the anger now. "YOU'VE GOT IT, POTTER, AND YOU WILL GIVE IT TO ME - Accio Prophecy! ACCIO PROPHECY!"

Harry laughed again, because he knew it would incense her...

"No!" she screamed. "It isn't true, you're lying - MASTER, I TRIED, I TRIED - DO NOT PUNISH ME-"

Harry tells Bellatrix that Voldemort can't hear her, and Voldemort reveals himself in the Ministry.

"So you smashed my Prophecy? No, Bella, he is not lying... I see the truth looking at me from within his worthless mind... Months of preparation, months of effort... and my Death Eaters have let Harry Potter thwart me again..."

"Master, I am sorry, I knew not, I was fighting the Animagus Black!" sobbed Bellatrix, flinging herself down at Voldemort's feet as he paced slowly nearer. "Master, you should know--"

"Be quiet, Bella," said Voldemort dangerously,"I shall deal with you in a moment. Do you think I have entered the Ministry of Magic to hear your sniveling apologies?"

"But Master - he is here - he is below-"

Voldemort turns his attention to Harry and casts the Killing Curse just as Dumbledore arrives and animates the statue, shielding him. Voldemort and Dumbledore duel; meanwhile Dumbledore sends another statue to contain Bellatrix, whose spells have no effect on it as it pins her to the floor. Bellatrix screams for Voldemort again when he appears to vanish, in fact possessing Harry, and she is stated to be sobbing not much time later.

Finally, Harry misses the moment when they vanish in his pain from the possession, and we are filled in by an Auror: "I saw him, Mr. Fudge, I swear, it was You-Know-Who, he grabbed a woman and Disapparated!" (OotP 807-817)

Bellatrix's use of taunts in combat and the Cruciatus are echoed in this chapter, as is her continued focus on goals: she stops to duel Harry only when waiting for the lift, she threatens him with her personal lessons from Voldemort before trying again to get him to give up the prophecy.

In light of this, her telling him how to perform the Cruciatus Curse better seems slightly odd. She may only mean it as another insult. You can also read this as self-destructive; she lectures Harry for not avenging Sirius properly (against her), and then tells him how to better cast a torture curse he just tried to use, against her, so it may be related to her emotionally absorbing Sirius's death. This might fit with her emphasizing her relationship to Sirius, referring to him as her "dear cousin" several times to Harry; she taunts Harry with the implication that she has the real connection to Sirius, as his family. If Sirius says that Bellatrix certainly isn't family to him, Bellatrix disagrees.

This makes her sudden switch when speaking to Voldemort interesting. Sirius goes from "my dear cousin" to "the Animagus Black," an epithet so ridiculous it must be intentional distancing, like Sirius refusing to refer to her by name in GoF. This probably means she's afraid of Voldemort believing she had any personal attachment to Sirius, whether she does or not. That would play well with Voldemort humiliating her with Tonks's survival and ordering her to kill her niece in DH. It's also hypothetically possible Bellatrix is trying to emphasize her contributions by killing an Animagus as an excuse for missing the prophecy's destruction.

Most of the new information here concerns her and Voldemort. This is the first claim we have to an individually special relationship between Bellatrix and Voldemort; in GoF she only tells the court she'll be rewarded for her continued loyalty along with her family and Crouch Jr, but here she tells Harry that she alone was and is his most loyal servant. Obviously in light of CC it is easy to interpret this as a euphemism for a sexual relationship. She seems to mean that whatever her special status is, she held it in the previous war as well as this one, but this isn't completely clear.

She also states that she learned the Dark Arts from Voldemort himself. This may be evidence for Bellatrix having additional scholarly expertise or skills that don't focus solely on dueling, although it isn't proof of it. It also isn't clear how common personal instruction from Voldemort is among Death Eaters. The sense that this is special is reinforced by her ability to resist Dumbledore's initial effort at containing the Death Eaters, although it can be interpreted in a variety of ways, ranging from an ongoing master/student relationship to occasionally being rewarded with information.

Supporting a special relationship, we have Bellatrix's statement that Voldemort taught her personally, Voldemort's use of her affectionate nickname to address her (later used by Narcissa as well), her screaming for him when he appears to vanish under Dumbledore's spell, and Voldemort's choice to rescue her alone when he flees. Their emotional connection is at least somewhat two way; Voldemort doesn't use pet names with any other Death Eater, and while it can be argued he only rescued her because she was the only Death Eater in a convenient location, he did at least do so.

On the other hand, we also have Bellatrix's immediate fear at the idea of having failed to retrieve the prophecy. She sounds terrified to Harry, and when Voldemort arrives she pleads, throws herself at his feet and sobs intermittently through the rest of the scene, disregarding the threat of capture in favor of the threat of Voldemort, except for her attempt to warn Voldemort of Dumbledore's presence below. Voldemort likewise threatens her; there is no particular sign of her having been rewarded for her loyalty or honored, at least not in any way that would insulate her against punishment.

These two strands, intimacy and fear, don't contradict each other. Voldemort tells us periodically that, contrary to Dumbledore's descriptions of him as lacking a desire for human connection, he wants intimacy and craves familial ties, and sees his followers as a replacement for his inadequate blood family. He also is violent, capricious, selfish, domineering and sadistic. It's no surprise that his closest on screen relationship also careens between intimacy and violence.

Chapter 37: The Lost Prophecy

Finally, we have Dumbledore's account of Kreacher's actions. It's fairly lengthy and doesn't contain any helpful individual quotes, so I'm going to summarize. Dumbledore states that Kreacher took advantage of Sirius's order before Christmas to get out to leave the house and go to Narcissa, the only Black family member left he respected, and that he spent months passing information not bound by the Fidelius. He followed this by injuring Buckbeak to keep Sirius from answering the Floo when Harry checked if he was there, so that Kreacher could lie to Harry. He told Dumbledore this, laughing, when he arrived at Grimmauld Place the previous night. (OotP 830-832.)

Dumbledore refers only to Narcissa, presumably as Narcissa would have been the only Black available in December before the Azkaban escape. However, in DH Kreacher refers to Miss Cissy and Miss Bella more or less in the same breath, and Bellatrix would soon have joined her sister in Malfoy Manor judging by DH. We can probably assume that Kreacher spoke to and worked for both sisters. Again, Kreacher makes Bellatrix's status as one of his preferred humans clear, particularly in combination with the photograph placement described earlier.

Chapter Text

So far we see Bellatrix primarily as Voldemort's most loyal servant; the one who kept struggling to find him after he could offer her no benefit, and the one who he took the trouble to rescue after the disastrous battle in the Ministry. She is afraid of him and adjusts her words in his presence, but this isn't really exceptional given what we know about his treatment of his servants. We can extrapolate some information about Bellatrix based off of familial relationships and the way characters like Sirius and Kreacher discuss her in her absence, but we see very little direct interaction with other people.

In Half-Blood Prince, while Bellatrix has little direct plot relevance, some nuance is added.

Chapter 2: Spinner's End

Bellatrix is present for the entirety of chapter two, so I will again summarize and quote chunks as relevant. The chapter begins with Narcissa Apparating to Cokeworth, near Snape's house on Spinner's End. Bellatrix Apparates shortly afterward, shouts "Wait!" after Narcissa. She then is startled by a fox, which she reflexively uses the Killing Curse on, explaining to Narcissa that she thought it might have been an Auror after. Narcissa pauses to look after her but doesn't speak, and Bellatrix shouts at her to wait again as she begins to move away.

Bellatrix calls Narcissa "Cissy!" first and most often, occasionally switching to "Narcissa," apparently for emphasis. ("Cissy - Narcissa - listen to me--")

Bellatrix catches up to Narcissa and grabs her arm; Narcissa wrenches it away and says, "Go back, Bella!" Bella pleads with her to listen to her, and Narcissa tells her she's listened already and she's made her decision. At this point they reach the top of the riverbank and look at the muggle neighborhood. Bellatrix gives her assessment: "He lives here? Here? In this Muggle dunghill? We must be the first of our kind ever to set foot--"

Then she realizes Narcissa is leaving and the low speed chase resumes. When she catches up with her sister this time an interesting exchange occurs:

"Cissy, you must not do this, you can't trust him--"

"The Dark Lord trusts him, doesn't he?"

"The Dark Lord is... I believe... mistaken," Bella panted... as she looked around to check they were indeed alone. "In any case, we were told not to speak of the plan to anyone. This is a betrayal of the Dark Lord's--"

"Let go, Bella!" snarled Narcissa, and she drew a wand from beneath her cloak, holding it threateningly in the other's face. Bella merely laughed.

"Cissy, your own sister? You wouldn't--"

"There is nothing I wouldn't do anymore!" Narcissa breathed... and as she brought down the wand like a knife, there was another flash of light. Bella let go of her sister's arm as though burned.

"Narcissa!"

They reach Snape's home. Bella is stated to be cursing under her breath when she catches up with Narcissa. Snape answers the door and greets Narcissa warmly, who responds with his first name and an urgent request to speak; Snape allows them inside.

Bellatrix greets him only as "Snape," curtly; Snape uses her given name in reply, and smiles in a "slightly mocking" manner. Narcissa sits on the sofa, shaking. Bellatrix does not sit, but stands behind her sister, eyes locked on Snape. We get a slightly more detailed description of her here: "Dark as her sister was fair, with heavily lidded eyes and a strong jaw."

Snape and Narcissa talk; when Narcissa asks if they're alone, Snape points out Wormtail's presence. Wormtail also greets both sisters by their first names. There is some byplay between Snape and Wormtail, and then Wormtail is sent to get drinks. Snape pours three glasses of wine, Narcissa thanks him, and Bellatrix glares. Snape toasts "The Dark Lord," drains his glass, and both sisters do the same.

Narcissa continues to drink and goes on to say that Snape is the only one who can help her, that she shouldn't be here and she was told to say nothing to anyone, at which Bellatrix interjects:

"Then you ought to hold your tongue! Particularly in present company!"

"Present company? And what am I to understand by that, Bellatrix?"

"That I don't trust you, Snape, as you very well know!"

...

"Narcissa, I think we ought to hear what Bellatrix is bursting to say; it will save tedious interruptions. Well, continue, Bellatrix. Why is it that you do not trust me?"

"A hundred reasons!" she said loudly, striding out from behind the sofa to slam her glass upon the table. "Where to start! Where were you when the Dark Lord fell? Why did you never make any attempt to find him when he vanished? What have you been doing all these years that you've lived in Dumbledore's pocket? Why did you stop the Dark Lord procuring the Philosopher's Stone? Why did you not return at once when the Dark Lord was reborn? Where were you a few weeks ago when we battled to retrieve the prophecy for the Dark Lord? And why, Snape, is Harry Potter still alive, when you have had him at your mercy for five years?"

She panted, her chest rising and falling rapidly, the color high in her cheeks...

I'll go over the following conversation, but since my primary concern is Bellatrix I'm focusing on her replies. Snape declares that he'll answer, tells her to carry his words back to others who whisper behind his back and tell tales to Voldemort, and asks if she really thinks that Voldemort hasn't asked all of these questions.

Bellatrix hesitates and says, "I know he believes you, but..." Snape asks if she thinks Voldemort is mistaken and praises him as a Legilimens and skilled wizard. Bellatrix says nothing to this but looks "for the first time, a little discomfited."

Snape begins to give justifications; he says that he was at Hogwarts as ordered when Voldemort fell and states that he presumes she knows he took it up on Voldemort's orders. Bellatrix nods "almost imperceptibly" and opens her mouth, but Snape interrupts her, saying that when he vanished he did not attempt to find him because he thought Voldemort was dead, like many others, acknowledging Narcissa as he does and listing other followers, and says that if Voldemort had not forgiven them he would have few left.

Bellatrix says, "He'd have me! I, who spent many years in Azkaban for him!" passionately. Snape essentially dismisses this as useless and calls it a fine gesture, to which Bellatrix responds: "Gesture!" she shrieked; in her fury she looked slightly mad. "While I endured the dementors, you remained at Hogwarts, comfortably playing Dumbledore's pet!"

Snape brings up the Defense job he wasn't allowed to take, which Bellatrix reasonably dismisses as ridiculous: "This was your sacrifice to the Dark Lord, not to teach your favorite subject? Why did you stay there all that time, Snape? Still spying on Dumbledore, for a master you believed dead?"

Snape points out that Voldemort is glad to have sixteen years of information, and Bellatrix reiterates that he stayed without a reason to spy. Snape acknowledges that he had a comfortable job and appreciated Dumbledore's protection from Azkaban. He says that Voldemort doesn't mind him having stayed and he doesn't see why Bellatrix should, and Bellatrix again "showed every sign of interrupting," but Snape keeps talking, bringing up the matter of the Philosopher's Stone and admitting that Voldemort did not trust him, that Snape tried to foil Quirrell not knowing that he was serving Voldemort.

"Bellatrix's mouth twisted as though she had taken an unpleasant dose of medicine.

"But you didn't return when he came back, you didn't fly back to him at once when you felt the Dark Mark burn--"

"Correct. I returned two hours later. I returned on Dumbledore's orders."

"On Dumbledore's--" she began, in tones of outrage.

"Think! Think! By waiting... I ensured that I could remain at Hogwarts as a spy!"

Snape waxes eloquence about how he tricked Dumbledore into believing him faithful. Bellatrix asks what useful information they've had from Snape, and Snape says that his information is given directly to Voldemort and suggests Voldemort isn't sharing it with her.

"He shares everything with me!" said Bellatrix, firing up at once. "He calls me his most loyal, his most faithful!"

"Does he? Does he still, after the fiasco at the Ministry?"

"That was not my fault!" said Bellatrix, flushing. "The Dark Lord has, in the past, entrusted me with his most precious - if Lucius hadn't--"

"Don't you dare - don't you dare blame my husband!" said Narcissa...

"There is no point apportioning blame," said Snape... "What is done, is done."

"But not by you!" said Bellatrix furiously. "No, you were once again absent while the rest of us ran dangers, were you not, Snape?"

Snape reiterates that his orders were to stay behind and is dismissive about the "six teenagers" they faced.

"They were joined, as you very well know, by half of the Order before long! And, while we are on the subject of the Order, you still claim you cannot reveal the whereabouts of their headquarters, don't you?"

"I am not the Secret Keeper... You understand how the enchantment works, I think?"

Snape says that his information led to the capture of Vance, and it helped dispose of Sirius, gives Bellatrix credit for finishing Sirius off, and toasts her. Bellatrix doesn't soften her face and apparently doesn't drink. She accuses him of avoiding her last question, reiterates that he could have killed Harry at any point in the last five years, and asks him why he hasn't.

Snape asks if she's discussed this with Voldemort. Bellatrix prevaricates: "He... lately, we... I am asking you, Snape!" Snape points out if he had, Voldemort couldn't have used Harry's blood in the resurrection. Bellatrix mocks him for claiming to foresee this use, and Snape replies that he didn't, but Voldemort preferred it anyway. Bellatrix asks again why he keeps Harry Potter alive, and Snape reiterates that it was only Dumbledore keeping him out of Azkaban, then derails into insulting Harry. Bellatrix responds:

"And through all this we are supposed to believe Dumbledore has never suspected you? He has no idea of your true allegiance, he trusts you implicitly still?"

Snape reiterates Dumbledore's trust; Bellatrix looks "unhappy," but goes quiet. Snape and Narcissa talk; Narcissa admits Voldemort told her not to discuss it, and Snape says much the same thing Bellatrix did earlier, that she shouldn't, then. Narcissa gasps; Bellatrix looks satisfied:

"There!" she said triumphantly to her sister. "Even Snape says so! You were told not to talk, so hold your silence!"

Snape admits he already knows about the plan, and states that if he hadn't, Narcissa "would have been guilty of great treachery." Bellatrix is outraged: "You know about the plan? You know?" Snape says he can't persuade Voldemort to change his mind. Narcissa begins to cry for Draco, and Bellatrix responds callously:

"Draco should be proud," said Bellatrix indifferently. "The Dark Lord is granting him a great honor. And I will say this for Draco: He isn't shrinking away from his duty, he seems glad of a chance to prove himself, excited at the prospect--"

Narcissa points out Draco is sixteen and doesn't know what he's doing, then, sobbing, half asks, half declares that this is punishment for her husband's failure. Narcissa says that Draco won't succeed, and begins to ask how he can if the Dark Lord can't; Bellatrix gasps and Narcissa cuts off. There's about a page worth of Narcissa's hysterics directed at Snape here, as she asks him to complete Draco's task - killing Dumbledore, as we find out later - for him. The next exchange involving Bella is:

"My only son... my only son..." [Narcissa]

"You should be proud!" said Bellatrix ruthlessly. "If I had sons, I would be glad to give them up to the service of the Dark Lord!"

Snape calms Narcissa down and says he can help Draco; Narcissa goes to her knees, kissing Snape's hand, and asks him to take the Unbreakable Vow. Snape goes very blank, and Bellatrix "let out a cackle of triumphant laughter," saying, "Aren't you listening, Narcissa? Oh, he'll try, I'm sure... The usual empty words, the usual slithering out of action... oh, on the Dark Lord's orders, of course!"

This prompts Snape to agree. He asks Bellatrix to bind them; her mouth falls open, and then she stares as Snape and Narcissa get into position until Snape reminds her she needs her wand. The Vow is completed here, while Bellatrix presses her wand to their hands in role as binder and stares, "her eyes wide," with an "astounded face," until the chapter ends. (HBP 19-37)

The most obvious possible takeaway from this conversation is that Bellatrix really doesn't trust Snape. Regarding their byplay, Snape is calm, collected and confident, while Bellatrix screams and snarls sometimes, dropping back into sarcasm occasionally. For this reason it's easy for her to come off as crazy, although the intensity of her emotions should probably be interpreted with reference to Narcissa's equally intense hysterics. They likely both learned to carry on dramatically when they want things in childhood (and Sirius's mother's portrait suggests one example of where).

More importantly, Bellatrix is right: Snape isn't on their side, he's been acting on Dumbledore's orders, and Voldemort trusting him contributes significantly to his defeat. When she doubts Snape's stories, suggesting that they're snake oil, or pointing out that he never seems to actually contribute anything, that he constantly weasels out of orders under the pretense of maintaining his cover, she's completely correct. Snape is playing an angle throughout this conversation, trying to stop her from asking too much, trying to prevent her from persuading Narcissa to listen to her, largely successfully; but Bellatrix clearly knows he's doing it. Bellatrix repeatedly asks him for evidence of his loyalty as he tries various tactics to avoid giving it; she is capable of skeptical, perceptive analysis.

With this in mind, there are a couple of points in the conversation where Snape brings up things meant to upset her to distract her: he dismisses her stay in Azkaban, he questions whether Voldemort still shares information with her, and he reminds her that she killed Sirius. All three redirect her from the specific question, the first and third long enough for the subject to be changed, and the second only briefly.

She is visibly upset by Snape dismissing more than a decade of torture as a gesture, and it's hard to imagine who wouldn't be.

Likewise, Snape questioning her relationship with Voldemort is likely a typical status move, one we hear echoed with Snape and Lucius from Draco later in this book, and see in Bellatrix and Lucius jockeying for position in OotP, then the two of them and Fenrir Greyback in DH. We see from her reaction that this is a real insecurity for her: whether or not Snape is correct, she is anxious that he is, and it's important to her that other Death Eaters perceive her as Voldemort's closest companion. If there is real information Snape is giving Voldemort that isn't being shared with her, then admitting it will only damage her status, so she desists.

Given the game Snape is playing, it's entirely possible that there isn't any information Bellatrix hasn't received; the only thing we know for sure Bellatrix didn't know was that Snape knew about the plan. She doesn't seem surprised or interested in Emmeline Vance's murder, so Snape's contribution doesn't appear to be news to her. Based on this conversation, we can't tell whether or not Voldemort is still confiding intelligence in Bellatrix.

The third thing Snape brings up to distract Bellatrix is her killing Sirius. It may appear to be a stretch to categorize this with the other two, as Bellatrix is calm in response, and it's possible that she doesn't care. That said, she neither accepts the praise, nor presses Snape further on his contributions, changing the subject herself this time instead of letting Snape do so, which suggests that she doesn't want to think or talk about it.

Periodically throughout the scene, Snape insults her and denigrates her actions. She responds by insulting him in return, but doesn't offer or threaten violence. This may only be because Snape has Voldemort's favor or because she's worried about Narcissa's reaction, but she's certainly capable of controlling herself, and this suggests that there isn't a high level of violence between Death Eaters on a daily basis. Voldemort may reserve the right to curse his underlings arbitrarily.

In the course of her conflict with Snape, she goes so far as to question Voldemort's judgment. When she's speaking to Narcissa, she outright says that he's "mistaken," looking around for witnesses. Later on, she acknowledges that Voldemort trusts him and begins to go on anyway with a "but," Snape asks if she's questioning Voldemort. Bellatrix doesn't dare say so but her face seems to indicate the answer is yes.

This is, I believe, the only time in the series when a loyal Death Eater questions Voldemort's judgment; they may beg and scheme to avoid punishment, but even Narcissa in this scene suggests that Voldemort is achieving exactly what he means to by setting Draco an impossible task. Bellatrix is apparently the single known Death Eater who definitely does not view Voldemort as infallible once he is known to have escaped death.

The other new dynamic in this chapter is Bellatrix's relationship with Narcissa. Voldemort has ordered Draco to kill Dumbledore, something he could not do himself, at some point before this chapter. Narcissa believes Draco will fail disastrously and that this is Voldemort's intention, and has come to beg Snape to persuade Voldemort otherwise or perform the task in Draco's stead if this is impossible.

Bellatrix's aim in the scene is to persuade Narcissa not to trust Snape with details of the plan, who she correctly believes is a traitor. Everything she does is directed towards that purpose: she begs Narcissa to wait, grabs her arm to try to hold her while she talks, follows her into the house, throws insults at Snape and denigrates his history of lackluster service while attempting to persuade Narcissa as the audience that he can't answer her questions, tells Narcissa that she should be proud of Draco, expresses confidence that Draco can complete the task, tells Narcissa that giving up her son is an honor to her that Bellatrix would have been grateful for, goads Snape by calling his promises untrustworthy, and finally consents to bind the Vow that will force Snape to fill them.

In the course of these actions, she speaks callously, telling Narcissa that she should willingly give up her son to possible death, telling Narcissa that she was told to keep her silence triumphantly.

At the same time, she is clearly restraining herself quite a bit. The most physical force Bellatrix uses at any time in this scene is to grab Narcissa's arm. Other than that, she only chases her and pleads with her to wait, and listen, and attempts to persuade her to stop. Even when Narcissa draws on her, then actually attacks her with magic, Bellatrix only scolds her with her full name and keeps following at a greater distance.

It's unlikely that this is because she can't fight her sister; while we don't see Bellatrix and Narcissa fight directly, Bellatrix is portrayed as one of the most powerful in combat of all the Death Eaters, evading Dumbledore in OotP, subduing multiple opponents in DH at Malfoy Manor and fighting three alongside Voldemort later in DH. Theoretically Bellatrix could have cursed her earlier but be reluctant to resort to it in public. Her lack of concern over using the Killing Curse also makes this seem unlikely. Bellatrix is apparently unwilling to either escalate to physical force against her little sister or to return it once Narcissa already has. Narcissa also views cursing or hexing her sister as a safe strategy, one that's likely to get her way and not to get her hurt, so this is probably a typical pattern.

Why is Bellatrix so panicked? There are probably two related reasons. She initially believes Snape is a traitor and that he does not know of the plan, in which case Narcissa telling him would tip off Dumbledore, prevent Draco from successfully carrying out his task and likely get him arrested or killed, and result in Voldemort's plans being foiled. Once she finds out that Snape already knows, however, she doesn't desist, still emphasizing that Narcissa was told not to tell. Why? It's not as if Narcissa discussing a plan Snape already knows about can make him more of a security risk.

The reason is given when Snape tells Narcissa that she would have been guilty of serious treason if he hadn't known. Whether Snape is loyal or not, he may well tell Voldemort about Narcissa disobeying his order not to discuss the plan - and Voldemort is likely to punish Narcissa if he does. We know that Bellatrix is terrified both of being personally punished and of her family being punished, per OotP and DH.

To repeat, we have a canon answer as to what Bellatrix will do if she believes a family member is about to commit treason against Voldemort: try to talk them out of it, follow them when they actually leave to do it, and plead with them to wait and let her keep trying to talk them out of it, running through any argument she can come up with in the process. Even schoolyard or restraining hexes are apparently off the table, although grabbing their arm to try to make them listen isn't.

We also receive some smaller pieces of information here. Bellatrix has a significant startle reflex at least when she's already keyed up, and she's able to use the Killing Curse casually, a spell we don't see her use in OotP. (This also emphasizes that she chose not to use it when dueling Tonks and, judging by the spells we receive identifying information about, Sirius.) She flushes when embarrassed and breathes heavily either when emotional or strained, although this may also be deconditioning or damage from Azkaban. She tends to confront conflict with family members or subordinates head on rather than going around them. Her nickname "Bella" is used by Narcissa as well as Voldemort, and she usually calls her little sister "Cissy."

She's described as having a strong jaw, in addition to the repetition of the dark hair/hooded eyes description. In this scene she's described as "dark" generally instead of just her hair, contrasting with Narcissa. I've seen one or two interpretations that gave her dark skin. This is possible, but would likely require her to have a different mother from her younger sister(s) given Narcissa's extreme paleness and her paternal cousins' fair skin; it most likely just refers to hair color, and possibly eye color, as this is never specified.

It isn't clear how recovered Bellatrix is from prison at this point, although she's no longer described as gaunt or skull-like as she was in OotP, in a scene that took place somewhere ranging from a few weeks to a month earlier. This may be because we see this scene through the camera eye narrator, rather than Harry's point of view. It's also possible that her recovery has been sped up by some process; some possibilities are a deliberate ritual or other magic, a change in her mental outlook or mood that allowed a recovery akin to the unnaturally fast regrowth of hair we see periodically, or that she's actively less stressed out or eating more over the past few weeks.

The last option seems unlikely after the failure in the Department of Mysteries on the surface, but it could relate to some other factor like Lucius Malfoy's absence from her sister's house, or having more to do or her rank back as Voldemort's operations pick up rapidly and Lucius is left in prison. Sirius's transition from his state at the end of Prisoner of Azkaban to cleaned up and healthy looking in the Floo early in GoF doesn't take that much longer, and is implied to relate to his mental state, judging by his return to his former deteriorated condition later.

Chapter 3: Will and Won't

I'm choosing to leave out Harry's ruminations on Bellatrix killing Sirius and his desire for vengeance because they tell us about Harry, but nothing new about Bellatrix. In chapter three, he discusses the Black inheritance laws with Dumbledore, which have some relevance:

"But first of all I must tell you that Sirius's will was discovered a week ago and that he left you everything he owned... Black family tradition decreed that the house was handed down the direct line, to the next male with the name of 'Black.' Sirius was the very last of the line as his younger brother, Regulus, predeceased him and both were childless. While his will makes it perfectly plain that he wants you to have the house, it is nevertheless possible that some spell or enchantment has been set upon the place to ensure that it cannot be owned by anyone other than a pureblood."

"I bet there has."

"Quite. And if such an enchantment exists, then the ownership of the house is most likely to pass to the eldest of Sirius's living relatives, which would mean his cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange." (HBP, 48-50)

There are three main pieces of information that are relevant here: the form of inheritance, the preference for males, and the fact that Bellatrix would still be eligible as an heir in the absence of males.

Dumbledore contradicts himself slightly regarding the form; he first states that the house is passed down the direct line, and then that it would go to the next male with the name of Black, which implies inheritance for all branches with the name. He may only be phrasing things clumsily when he refers to the name of Black, thinking of the situation at hand; he also may not fully understand Black inheritance law or inheritance law in general. The latter possibility is reinforced by the situation, in which he isn't sure if Sirius can leave the house to a halfblood outside the family.

Regardless of whether Bellatrix would have had equal inheritance rights outside the direct line as a boy, according to Dumbledore the Blacks prefer to pass the house and any associated enchantments (eg. Kreacher's ownership) to male heirs; but in the absence of male heirs women can inherit, including after marrying outside the family. It's possible to argue that Dumbledore is mistaken regarding any or all of these points.

The house, of course, passes to Harry along with Kreacher in canon.

Chapter 15: The Unbreakable Vow

The last new information in HBP is when Harry eavesdrops on Draco and Snape:

There was a pause and then Snape said quietly, "Ah... Aunt Bellatrix has been teaching you Occlumency, I see. What thoughts are you trying to conceal from your master, Draco?"

"I'm not trying to conceal anything from him, I just don't want you butting in!" (HBP 322)

In this scene Snape notes that Draco has become capable of shutting him out with Occlumency, and assumes Bellatrix is responsible for teaching him. Draco neither confirms nor denies this. At the very least we know that Snape believes Bellatrix is a Legilimens and Occlumens capable of teaching Draco well enough to shut him out over a very short period of time.

Snape states that Draco has been avoiding him all term, so this is probably the first time he's had a chance to check. However, Draco hasn't been home since the summer at this point, and it's unlikely that he had a chance to communicate with Bellatrix over the one aborted Hogsmeade visit. Judging by Snape's surprise, Draco probably wasn't capable of keeping him out at the end of term. Therefore the lessons would have had to take place over a fairly short period of time, the two months or so of summer break, during which Bellatrix likely had numerous other responsibilities relating to Voldemort stepping up his plans.

What do we know about teaching Occlumency? Assuming that Snape's procedure with Harry was at least roughly correct, it requires the teacher to be able to test shields with Legilimancy as well as explaining Occlumency, and it requires the teacher to enter the student's mind repeatedly over the course of training. Occlumency also apparently requires emotional control; Snape attempts to teach Harry to shut out feelings, and Harry at last succeeds while numb with grief over Dobby.

Extrapolating from Harry's failures, difficulty practicing and arguments with Snape, it may be particularly difficult to learn Occlumency from a teacher you do not trust or are afraid of, or a teacher who antagonizes you with the thoughts they perceive during lessons.

Therefore, at the very least Bellatrix must be capable of Occlumency, and correspondingly emotional control, as Snape is a Legilimens who would know. Minimally Snape must believe that she is capable of Legilimancy, that she would have the time and interest to teach her sixteen year old nephew, and that she would be capable of doing so effectively in a short period of time. If Snape is correct that Bellatrix taught Draco, then in addition to her definitely being a Legilimens, we also know that she committed time and effort to doing so over the summer, and it's likely that she and Draco got on well enough that they were able to avoid the problems between Harry and Snape.

Another interesting piece is Snape's insinuation that Draco learned Occlumency from Bellatrix in order to hide things from Voldemort.

Snape is fishing for information to interfere with Draco's plans, and doesn't necessarily believe that Bellatrix is working with Draco against Voldemort. However, he must believe this is something Draco would believe he believed, and not a ludicrous accusation; he wants Draco to talk to him to disprove it. Bellatrix must behave in ways that allow other Death Eaters to think her conspiring against Voldemort with her family is a plausible lie. This is consistent with the way Bellatrix minimizes her relationship with Sirius when speaking to Voldemort, and Voldemort's humiliation of her in DH.

Chapter Text

Chapter 1: The Dark Lord Ascending

The first chapter of Deathly Hallows is the council scene in which Voldemort conveys orders and receives reports on matters involving the upcoming coup and Harry Potter. Bellatrix is present from the scene from when the camera follows Snape and Yaxley into the room at Malfoy Manor.

For most of the scene she is not mentioned, although she may be included in several universal or group reactions, eg. when every Death Eater present is shocked by Voldemort's request to borrow a wand. It's also possible that Voldemort is including her in his statement that Lucius and his family seem unhappy as of late, which would be consistent with Bellatrix's reference to "our family's house" and might explain his transfer from humiliating Lucius to Bellatrix, but this can't be confirmed. If so, Bellatrix's standard of loyalty is apparently slipping.

There's some byplay between Voldemort and Lucius over Lucius's reluctance to hand over his wand and his movement implying he expects to trade wands with Voldemort. Voldemort questions whether Lucius's family is pleased to have him and calls Nagini, who climbs his chair. Lucius affirms that he and his family do desire Voldemort's return to power, and Narcissa and Draco stare fixedly away from Voldemort and Nagini on either side of Lucius.

At this point Bellatrix voluntarily draws Voldemort's attention: "My Lord," said a dark woman halfway down the table, her voice constricted with emotion, "It is an honor to have you here, in our family's house. There can be no higher pleasure." Bellatrix sits beside Narcissa, on the opposite side from Lucius. She is described as unlike Narcissa in both looks, with the dark hair/heavily lidded eyes description repeated again, and bearing: "...where Narcissa sat rigid and impassive, Bellatrix leaned towards Voldemort, for mere words could not demonstrate her longing for closeness."

Voldemort indulges her at first:

"No higher pleasure," repeated Voldemort, his head tilted a little to one side as he considered Bellatrix. "That means a great deal, Bellatrix, from you."

Her face flooded with color; her eyes welled with tears of delight.

"My Lord knows I speak nothing but the truth!"

Then he turns to mocking her and by extension the Malfoys about Tonks's wedding:

"No higher pleasure... even compared with the happy event that, I hear, has taken place in your family this week?"

She stared at him, her lips parted, evidently confused.

"I don't know what you mean, my Lord."

"I'm talking about your niece, Bellatrix. And yours, Lucius and Narcissa. She has just married the werewolf, Remus Lupin. You must be so proud."

The Death Eaters jeer, exchange "gleeful looks" and pound the table; they are "jubilant... at Bellatrix and the Malfoys' humiliation." Bellatrix's face goes blotchily red, and she cries, "She is no niece of ours, my Lord! We - Narcissa and I - have never set eyes on our sister since she married the Mudblood. This brat has nothing to do with either of us, nor any beast she marries."

Voldemort redirects to mock Draco briefly, then quiets the Death Eaters and goes on, "Many of our older family trees become a little diseased over time," as Bellatrix "gazed at him, breathless and imploring. "You must prune yours, must you not, to keep it healthy? Cut away those parts that threaten the health of the rest?"

"Yes, my Lord," whispered Bellatrix, and her eyes swam with tears of gratitude again. "At the first chance!"

"You shall have it. And in your family, so in the world... we shall cut away the canker that infects us until only those of the true blood remain..."

At this point the scene redirects away from Bellatrix again; Voldemort identifies the captive suspended over the table as the Muggle Studies professor Charity Burbage, mocking Snape over recognizing her, and then feeds her to Nagini. (DH 2-12).

Again, Bellatrix's emotional reactions are distractingly strange: in a scene in which Voldemort's monstrous appearance is played up and he is actively climbed by his man-eating snake, and many other Death Eaters are uncomfortable, she leans towards Voldemort, displaying a longing to be closer. She expresses pleasure at his presence in the same residence as her, and eagerness to murder her niece. I think we can take these as at the very least emotions she typically displays around Voldemort and other Death Eaters.

That said, there is a glaring problem with interpreting her responses straightforwardly. Tonks doesn't die until she takes part in the very final battle of the book.

We can infer that she was almost certainly not in hiding. It's later stated that Death Eaters used the Cruciatus on the Tonkses after the Ministry fell and released them, so they must have known the location of the house at that point. A short time later, Remus says that Tonks is staying with her mother while pregnant when he speaks to Harry and refers to her experiencing stigma and prejudice for marrying him, by which time Voldemort openly rules the Ministry. He also rejoins Tonks after this conversation, so a reprieve resulting from Remus leaving her temporarily can only explain a very short period.

Finally, Ted Tonks does go into hiding, being Muggleborn; Tonks is not with him and he does not refer to his daughter also hiding or having problems when he discusses his family's situation months later. He does say that he "heard Death Eaters were in the area last week and decided I'd better run for it," (DH 295) having refused to register, which suggests that Tonks was not in hiding in the Tonkses' home, as Ted believed it was still accessible to Death Eaters at this point.

There are a few options here: Bellatrix may have been told by Voldemort to delay killing her niece off screen; she may have ignored the command, whether openly or by misinforming Voldemort about her intentions or attempts to fulfill the command; or she may have been obstructed from killing Tonks by some other factor. If CC is accepted as canon it's possible that Bellatrix was heavily pregnant for much of the year, but she was still capable of combat as of the battle in Malfoy Manor, and participated in the first battle in the book, so this can't account for the whole year.

So we must either accept that Voldemort rescinded this command for some reason off screen, presumably after the July battle where Bellatrix fought Tonks; that Tonks went into hiding later and this was never mentioned by Remus or Ted for some reason; or that Bellatrix was actively trying to avoid obeying the order to kill her niece. The last option is the most consistent with canon.

If we accept that Bellatrix was actively circumventing the order, this tells us to be wary of interpreting her emotional reactions straightforwardly in any scene involving Voldemort. The narrator describes her as tearfully grateful to be given the order to kill Tonks, and she thanks Voldemort for it, but she evidently either has no intention of following the command or changes her mind later. Her statement that she and her sister care nothing for Andromeda, haven't seen her since she married, and her daughter is nothing to them is called in question; if the last clause is a lie the first two may be as well.

Assuming Bellatrix has some emotional attachment to Andromeda or Tonks, her motivations for lying are clear: Voldemort is humiliating her with the connection in front of other Death Eaters, having accused her family of disloyalty a few lines before. She has no good option besides minimizing the connection, and she can't refuse an order without punishment. This is consistent with the change in the way she refers to Sirius when Voldemort arrives in OotP.

Having called the genuineness of Bellatrix's displayed emotions into question here, what is going on before the conversation moves to Tonks? Bellatrix's declaration of passion for Voldemort in the middle of a meeting is not spontaneous, as it may be recalled out of context. Voldemort, having singled Lucius out to give up his wand, moves on to questioning the entire family's loyalty and calling Nagini to him, who we know consumes humans and who Voldemort has threatened to feed Death Eaters to on screen before (eg. Wormtail in GoF.) Lucius declares his loyalty but his demeanor is unconvincing and Voldemort does not seem dissuaded.

At this point Bellatrix, who Voldemort in general treats more affectionately than any other person, interrupts his threats to declare her own passion for him. She then draws attention to her connection to the terrified Malfoys by calling Malfoy Manor "our family's house." If interpreted as a ploy to distract Voldemort, this tactic is successful; Voldemort turns his attention primarily to Bellatrix, returning only briefly to Draco and Narcissa, and leaves Lucius alone for the rest of the meeting. The only person fed to Nagini is Charity Burbage. This tactical use of emotional displays she must be aware other people find off putting or unusual is consistent with her behavior in OotP as described above, and reinforces that she probably has better control of her emotions than she seems to.

We also receive a few other pieces of information.

Bellatrix presumably is living in Malfoy Manor at this time, judging by her reference to "our family's house." It's possible that something happened to the Lestrange family residence and the entire family is staying with the Malfoys; that Voldemort ordered or requested she stay with him when he chose to stay with the Malfoys; or that something happened to her marriage that resulted in her moving to stay with her sister.

An earlier draft of this essay suggested that Rodolphus could have been killed or Kissed at the end of OotP if CC is disregarded; I initially missed a line which includes his presence at the July battle in DH. Given Rodolphus is alive, Bellatrix might be experiencing marital problems, or she and Rodolphus may have separated. If so it might be a result of Voldemort either taking her as a lover for the first time, doing so more openly, or requesting she bear his children per CC. Any hypothesized marital separation either must be temporary, or must not have been severe enough for Bellatrix to stop using the Lestrange vault.

We also see that Bellatrix flushes in both embarrassment and pleasure, and cries easily whether involuntarily or on cue. (Given the above speculation on her emotions, it's a little ambiguous whether she's crying in pleasure or some other emotion like embarrassment or fear.)

Chapter 5: Fallen Warrior

Tonks encounters Bellatrix briefly during the first battle in the book:

"Bellatrix," said Tonks. "She wants me quite as much as she wants Harry, Remus, she tried very hard to kill me. I just wish I'd got her. I owe Bellatrix. But we definitely injured Rodolphus... Then we got to Ron's Auntie Muriel's...

Despite Tonks's conclusions, if anything this supports the idea that Bellatrix was deliberately subverting Voldemort's order to kill her. As noted above, the Death Eaters did not kill or apparently detain Tonks when they used the Cruciatus on the family after the Ministry coup, and Tonks was able to live with her mother in a house they were aware of for some fairly lengthy period of time under Voldemort's rule - even after Bellatrix sought her out to duel in a battle.

Given that, Bellatrix's attack on Tonks was probably meant to give the appearance of obedience without the actual fact of it, especially as we know she won her previous duel with Tonks quickly and decisively. She may also have been dissuading other Death Eaters from fighting and perhaps killing her niece, especially after Voldemort expressed a desire for her death in a meeting.

In addition to this, we know that Bellatrix is capable of dueling in flight, and that regardless of the state of her marriage, she and her husband are still working together in combat as of early DH. Rodolphus may have been injured or killed in this scene, given that the battle took place high in the air and many injured fell to their deaths.

Chapter 10: Kreacher's Tale

Kreacher briefly refers to Bellatrix similarly to Narcissa here:

"Mundungus Fletcher stole it all: Miss Bella's and Miss Cissy's pictures, my Mistress's gloves, the Order of Merlin, First Class, the goblets with the family crest, and -- and--" (DH 191-192)

This mostly confirms Bellatrix's status as one of Kreacher's favorite people; he uses the same affectionate nickname to refer to her that her sister and Voldemort do, and she's the very first person he mentions as wronged by Mundungus's thefts. This reinforces the notion that she was involved in convincing him to betray Sirius and that she probably treats him courteously within the limits of wizarding treatment of house elves.

It also suggests she gave him permission or explicitly ordered him to use her nickname, which might suggest Bellatrix generally prefers to be addressed as Bella.

It's possibly worth noting that Harry understood Kreacher's affection for Bellatrix as indicating Bellatrix was involved in persuading him to persuade Sirius, as he states that "You were happy to go to Narcissa and Bellatrix..." although Harry doesn't really have an independent source for this information. Hermione likewise comments, "I'm sure 'Miss Cissy' and 'Miss Bella' were perfectly lovely to Kreacher when he turned up, so he did them a favor and told them everything they wanted to know." (DH 198.)

Chapter 23: Malfoy Manor

We next encounter Bellatrix directly when Harry, Ron and Hermione are captured by Snatchers and brought to Voldemort at Malfoy Manor. Hermione is the only one with an undamaged face. Draco is asked to identify them and refuses to give any definite response; Narcissa tells Lucius they have to be completely certain before summoning Voldemort, referencing a punishment to Dolohov and Rowle for being incorrect. Greyback asks about Hermione, and Narcissa then recognizes her from the encounter in Madam Malkin's in HBP, identifying Ron and then Harry by association.

At this point the drawing room door is opened and Bellatrix comes in: "What is this? What's happened, Cissy?" Bellatrix walks in, slowly circles them, and stops, staring at Hermione. She says quietly, "But surely this is the Mudblood girl? This is Granger?"

Lucius excitedly repeats the identification, and that of Harry, crying that they are caught at last.

"Potter!" shrieked Bellatrix, and she backed away, the better to take in Harry. "Are you sure? Well then, the Dark Lord must be informed at once!" Bellatrix pulls her sleeve up to summon Voldemort.

Lucius says that he was about to call Voldemort, and then physically restrains Bellatrix:

"...and his hand actually closed on Bellatrix's wrist, preventing her from touching the Mark. "I shall summon him, Bella, Potter has been brought to my house, and it is therefore upon my authority--"

"Your authority!" she sneered, attempting to wrench her hand from his grasp. "You lost your authority when you lost your wand, Lucius! How dare you! Take your hand off me!"

"This is nothing to do with you, you did not capture the boy--"

"Begging your pardon, Mr. Malfoy," interjected Greyback, "but it's us that caught Potter, and it's us that'll be claiming the gold--"

"Gold!" laughed Bellatrix, still attempting to throw off her brother-in-law, her free hand groping in her pocket for her wand. "Take your gold, filthy scavenger, what do I want with gold? I seek only the honor of his - of--"

She stopped struggling, her dark eyes fixed upon something Harry could not see. Jubilant at her capitulation, Lucius threw her hand from him and ripped up his own sleeve--

"STOP!" shrieked Bellatrix. "Do not touch it, we shall all perish if the Dark Lord comes now!"

Lucius froze... Bellatrix strode out of Harry's limited line of vision.

"What is that?" he heard her say.

"Sword." [Snatcher]

"Give it to me."

"It's not yours, missus, it's mine, I reckon I found it."

There was a bang and a flash of red light: Harry knew that the Snatcher had been Stunned....

The Snatchers pick a fight four-to-one; Bellatrix overcomes them all. The only specific spell she is confirmed to use is Stupefy, which she casts at least two more times verbally. Greyback is forced into a kneeling position, but is able to talk, presumably under some kind of body bind or freezing spell. Bellatrix takes the sword of Gryffindor in her hand, "her face waxen," and asks Greyback where he got it; he demands she release him.

Bellatrix repeats her question, brandishes the sword in his face and finally explains, "Snape sent it to my vault in Gringotts!" Greyback finally tells her they found the sword in the trio's tent.

At this Bellatrix releases Greyback immediately, and he paces away from her.

"Draco, move this scum outside," said Bellatrix, indicating the unconscious men. "If you haven't got the guts to finish them, then leave them in the courtyard for me."

"Don't you dare speak to Draco like--" said Narcissa furiously, but Bellatrix screamed,

"Be quiet! The situation is graver than you can possibly imagine, Cissy! We have a very serious problem!"

She stood, panting slightly, looking down at the sword, examining its hilt. Then she turned to look at the silent prisoners.

"If it is indeed Potter, he must not be harmed," she muttered, more to herself than to the others. "The Dark Lord wishes to dispose of Potter himself... But if he finds out... I must... I must know..."

She turned back to her sister again.

"The prisoners must be placed in the cellar, while I think what to do!"

"This is my house, Bella, you don't give orders in my--"

"Do it! You have no idea of the danger we are in!" shrieked Bellatrix. She looked frightening, mad; a thin stream of fire issued from her wand and burned a hole in the carpet.

Narcissa hesitated for a moment, then addressed the werewolf:

"Take these prisoners down to the cellar, Greyback."

"Wait," said Bellatrix sharply. "All except... except for the Mudblood."

Ron attempts to offer himself in Hermione's place; Bellatrix hit him across the face; the blow echoed around the room.

"If she dies under questioning, I'll take you next," she said. "Blood traitor is next to Mudblood in my book. Take them downstairs, Greyback, and make sure they are secure, but do nothing more to them - yet." She gives Greyback's wand back and draws a "short, silver knife from under her robes." She uses the knife to cut Hermione loose and drags her by her hair away while Greyback obeys, taking Ron and Harry into the cellar.

Shortly after they hear Hermione scream once, drawn out; Ron screams for her while Harry tells him to shut up while they work out a plan. Luna gets Harry and Ron's attention and tells them about a nail they use to break things, so a few minutes pass before Hermione screams again. Harry hears Bellatrix scream too and can't make out her words.

There's another break of a few moments while Luna talks to Ollivander about finding the nail beside the water jug before they hear Bellatrix talking:"I'm going to ask you again! Where did you get this sword? Where?" Hermione repeats that they found it twice, and pleads. Then Luna says she can't see; Ron tells her about the Deluminator and they light the cell up. Luna begins cutting the ropes before they hear Bellatrix again:

"You are lying, filthy Mudblood, and I know it! You have been inside my vault at Gringotts! Tell the truth, tell the truth!" [Hermione screams again]

"What else did you take? What else have you got? Tell me the truth or, I swear, I shall run you through with this knife!"

Harry is freed from his bonds. Ron tries and fails to Disapparate and Luna tells him it's useless, the cellar is escape proof. Hermione screams again and Bellatrix repeats her question about what else they took, demands an answer, and is heard casting the Cruciatus Curse. Hermione's screams are plural and apparently louder, echoing off the walls.

At this point Harry goes through his moleskin pouch, sees a blue eye in his magic mirror and asks for help; the eye disappears. Hermione is screaming worse than ever, and it's not clear whether she stopped this time. Bellatrix asks again how they got into her vault and asks if the "dirty little goblin" helped.

"We only met him tonight! We've never been inside your vault... It isn't the real sword! It's a copy, just a copy!"

"A copy?" screeched Bellatrix. "Oh, a likely story!"

Lucius suggests they ask Griphook and tells Draco to fetch him. Draco comes down to get him and shortly thereafter Dobby arrives. There's another pause where Hermione must have gone quiet for a few moments before she screams again. Dobby takes Luna, Dean and Mr. Ollivander to Shell Cottage, then returns to help Harry and Ron rescue Hermione. Harry has a vision of Voldemort which is interrupted by Hermione screaming again.

Dobby's Disapparation is heard by the people upstairs; Lucius asks what it was. An unidentified person who might have been Narcissa or Bellatrix says "Draco - no, call Wormtail! Make him go and check!" There's a brief fight and argument between Harry, Ron and Wormtail, then Wormtail's hand strangles him for betraying Voldemort and they take his wand.

Hermione screams again; Harry and Ron go up the stairs. They see:

...Bellatrix looking down at Griphook, who was holding Gryffindor's sword in his long-fingered hands. Hermione was lying at Bellatrix's feet. She was barely stirring.

"Well?" Bellatrix said to Griphook. "Is it the true sword?"

...

"No. It is a fake."

"Are you sure?" panted Bellatrix. "Quite sure?"

"Yes," said the goblin.

Relief broke across her face, all tension drained from it.

"Good," she said, and with a casual flick of her wand she slashed another deep cut into the goblin's face, and he dropped with a yell at her feet. She kicked him aside. "And now," she said in a voice that burst with triumph, "we call the Dark Lord!"

And she pushed back her sleeve and touched her forefinger to the Dark Mark.

Harry has a vision of Voldemort, interrupted by Bellatrix: "And I think we can dispose of the Mudblood. Greyback, take her if you want her."

Ron screams and bursts into the room. Bellatrix turns, "shocked," and points her wand at Ron. Either Harry or Ron (Ron was last holding Wormtail's wand in the cellar, but it's not completely clear in text) disarms Bellatrix, and the wand flies in the air and is caught by Harry. There's a brief clash of spells, which Bellatrix interrupts by grabbing Hermione, putting her knife to her throat and saying "STOP OR SHE DIES!" and later, "Drop your wands," she whispered. "Drop them, or we'll see exactly how filthy her blood is!"

Harry and Ron pause; Bellatrix repeats her demand and presses the knife in enough to draw beads of blood. Harry and Ron drop their wands and raise their hands.

"Good!" she leered. "Draco, pick them up! The Dark Lord is coming, Harry Potter! Your death approaches!" She adds, softly, "Cissy, I think we ought to tie these little heroes up again, while Greyback takes care of Miss Mudblood. I am sure the Dark Lord will not begrudge you the girl, Greyback, after what you have done tonight."

The chandelier grinds, then falls on Bellatrix, who drops Hermione to dodge "with a scream." Harry grabs the wands from Draco and Stuns Greyback; Narcissa drags Draco out of the way and "...Bellatrix sprang to her feet, her hair flying as she brandished the silver knife; but Narcissa had directed her wand at the doorway.

"Dobby!" she screamed, and even Bellatrix froze. "You! You dropped the chandelier--?"

Dobby tells her that she can't hurt Harry.

"Kill him, Cissy!" shrieked Bellatrix, but there was another loud crack, and Narcissa's wand too flew into the air and landed on the other side of the room.

"You dirty little monkey!" bawled Bellatrix. "How dare you take a witch's wand, how dare you defy your masters?"

Dobby tells her that he's a free elf and came to rescue Harry; Harry throws a wand to Ron, tells him to go with Hermione, grabs Griphook from the chandelier and grabs Dobby's hand to Disapparate. Bellatrix throws the knife at them, and it lands in Dobby's chest and kills him as they go. (DH 459-475)

This is another long passage, and Bellatrix dominates the action here more than in any other scene. Here she tortures Hermione and briefly Griphook, then kills Dobby; she also clashes with her family and with Greyback.

Particularly notable - in part because it's new information - is her level of distrust of Voldemort here. She goes in an instant from proudly aiming to summon him to halting and telling her family that "we shall all perish" if he comes when she sees the sword. As Harry later deduces, this is because there's something considerably more precious than the sword of Gryffindor in her vault: a horcrux of Voldemort's.

While Bellatrix is probably concerned for Voldemort's own sake as well if she knows what the cup in her vault is, her first action is not aimed towards recovering it but towards making sure Voldemort does not find out that she might be responsible for its theft. In fact, she frames the problem in terms of the possibility of him killing her entire family if it has been stolen. This is a step further than her previous fear of punishment, although it's consistent with it. It suggests both that Bellatrix sincerely believes Voldemort might kill her for someone else's actions, and that he trusted her with some idea of how important the horcrux is, although it's possible she doesn't know exactly what it is from this text.

However, her fear of Voldemort is no kind of turning point: the instant she believes that the vault hasn't been compromised she is delighted to summon him again. She also claims the right to speak for Voldemort in this scene, telling Greyback she's sure he won't mind Greyback taking Hermione if he wants her.

We receive information about her relationship with her family as well as with Voldemort here. She and Cissy clash over her giving orders and speaking deprecatingly to Draco, although Cissy ultimately bows to her command. Bellatrix burns a hole in the carpet in order to achieve this; it's not clear whether this is fully intentional or not, although given her previous displays of emotion for tactical purposes it would be consistent if it was. They continue to refer to each other by affectionate nicknames as they fight, and Narcissa is just as willing to bellow orders at Bella and scold her for her actions as Bellatrix is her.

Her opinion of Draco is clearly lowered. At the same time, she is not violent towards him. Interestingly her order to take the unconscious Snatchers out and "If you haven't got the guts to finish them, leave them for me" has parallels with Sirius's attack on Harry for not wanting to visit him in Hogsmeade in OotP; both reprimands are phrased in terms of insults to the recipient's courage, by comparing them unfavorably with an admired adult (James in Harry's case, Bellatrix herself in Draco's.) This may be suggestive as to how the previous generation of Black adults scolded their children.

Her interactions with Lucius are in my opinion the most interesting. Bellatrix goes to summon Voldemort because he needs to be informed, and Lucius actually physically attacks her, grabbing her wrist and trying to stop her so that he can summon Voldemort himself. Bellatrix struggles, but her first reaction is to scold Lucius verbally, demanding he release her; only once this has no effect does Harry notice her groping for her wand. She doesn't seem to be very insistent about it, not reaching it before she notices the sword.

Nor does she offer physical violence when she can't easily reach her wand, although she demonstrates her comfort and competence with it later in the scene. Bellatrix is evidently willing to be manhandled by her brother-in-law, who she appears to dislike intensely, rather than hurt him seriously; moreover Lucius considers trying to physically restrain Bellatrix safe enough to attempt. It's also interesting that he doesn't perceive Bellatrix's sudden panic as another trick, despite their mutual enmity. He also refers to her as Bella while arguing.

In addition to this struggle, Lucius attempts to claim authority over the household in their argument, and Bellatrix tells him that he lost it when he lost his wand, statements that may be suggestive about the Malfoys' usual household dynamic. Narcissa later refers to it as her house, a statement Bellatrix doesn't directly argue with, instead telling Cissy how serious the situation is again.

Of course, we also see Bellatrix interacting with prisoners and with an enemy combatant house elf in this scene. She and Narcissa both recognize Hermione's undamaged face, Narcissa from Madam Malkin's a year and a half ago and Bellatrix presumably either from photographs or the battle in OotP, which seems consistent with their actions with Kreacher; both sisters pay attention to the individuality of those they consider beneath themselves, at least enough for practical purposes.

Bellatrix singles out Hermione for torture after she notices the sword. This may or may not really be about blood status, since she only mentions it after Ron offers himself in her stead (and even then she suggests a pureblood traitor is just as or nearly as bad). In the previous scene where she had multiple options, including Hermione, she singled out Ginny first, who is pureblood, and she might or might not have known Harry's friends' identities at that point in canon.

The fact that both times it was possible she selected a female enemy to torture might indicate something about her preferences, sadistic or sexual. It might also be regarded as more appropriate for some other reason, or be a function of her tendency to use torturing one person against others, under the assumption that men will be more upset by a woman being hurt. In any case she freely insults Hermione with her blood status, particularly to aggravate Ron. She also insults the Snatchers as "scavengers," uses goblin as an insult in and of itself, and calls Dobby a monkey, in addition to repeating "dirty" and "dirty little" as descriptors, apparently favorite insults (and ones JKR could use in a children's series).

The torture in the book is periodic, with Bellatrix alternating questions with pain and periods of time between Hermione's screams. Since most of it occurs off screen it's not easy to say what she's doing. The escalation of Hermione's screams after we hear the Cruciatus incantation, and her previous threat to run her through, may suggest Bellatrix was torturing her with her knife for most of the scene. However, no blood is mentioned except for her threat to slit Hermione's throat in the aftermath, so if so Bellatrix was probably healing each injury as it was inflicted.

Bellatrix's aim here is to find out where the sword came from. Hermione ultimately convinces Bellatrix of a lie, consistent with the real world fact that torture is not good at obtaining correct information. Bellatrix is apparently a competent Legilimens (discussed earlier), but is nevertheless convinced of Hermione's false story. This may suggest that Hermione studied Occlumency at some point unmentioned by Harry, perhaps by herself. Alternatively Bellatrix may not believe the story she sees in Hermione's head, and may think it's a false trail laid with Occlumency, given that Harry finding the sword in the forest is hard to explain when Bellatrix knows it is in her vault. In either case, the torture was probably meant to disrupt Hermione's focus on any Occlumency shields.

Obviously, she ultimately comes to the wrong conclusion, and the entire episode gives Harry the information to deduce he needs to break into her Gringotts vault. At the same time her recognition of the sword in a glance while distracted and immediate calculation of what else that might imply and the potential consequences happens very quickly and speaks to intelligence.

The main exception to her focus is when she casually slashes Griphook's face open after he confirms the sword is a fake. This is the only time in the series so far that Bellatrix has actually hurt anyone without a purpose in mind, and it seems a little strange to attack him after he's complied with her instructions. However, she may not believe him, and it's possible that she is similarly watching for a flicker in Griphook's mind. It also may be that she regards nonhumans in general or goblins in particular as more fun or appropriate targets, or that her continued torment of Griphook is meant for some other purpose related to him being a prisoner there, like intimidating the others or preventing him from feeling secure in the belief he's useful to his captors. Finally, since Griphook crumples to the ground, this may have been an incapacitating curse, not solely a torture one.

She also, infamously, kills Dobby in this scene with a thrown knife, as well as screaming at him for daring to defy "his masters" and take Narcissa's wand. This is in no way irreconciliable with Kreacher's fondness for her; it suggests that just as she is violently cruel to her enemies but restrained with her family, Bellatrix's treatment of those she considers inferior depends on their relationship with her and behavior. Obedient slaves are to be treated courteously; disobedient slaves are to be killed. Likewise she clearly views Greyback as inferior, insulting him and hexing him for not answering her questions, but she hands over Hermione to him as a reward after he cooperates.

We receive some other information in this scene about Bellatrix's fighting abilities; she takes down four Snatches herself apparently almost immediately, and she is capable of fighting with a knife and makes an extremely unlikely fatal throw. I would guess that her knife is probably not even balanced for throwing, as throwing knives aren't well shaped for running through people. (Given this she might be using wandless magic.) However, Ron (or Harry?) is able to disarm her when she's surprised, and she doesn't use any flashier wandless powers while she is disarmed, instead taking Hermione hostage.

She apparently has a fairly extensive right to execute people on her own word as well; she tells Draco that either he can kill the Snatchers who attacked her or she will, and she hands Hermione over to Greyback for unspecified treatment.

She seems to have a habit of talking to herself when working out problems, at least when stressed. (She also curses under her breath in HBP, consistent with this.) We also know that she carries a concealed knife under her robes, and that her hair is loose in this scene.

Chapter 24: The Wandmaker

Harry and Griphook discuss Bellatrix's vault here; Griphook refers to it as "The Lastranges' vault," and unlike Harry has reason to know about its ownership. Harry also reiterates that Bellatrix was terrified based on the previous scene, and states his opinion that Voldemort wouldn't have told Bellatrix it was a horcrux by comparison to Lucius Malfoy. (DH 489-491)

The main information we get here is that Bellatrix's Gringotts vault, which she refers to only as "my vault" in the previous scene, is in fact the Lestranges' vault and shared at least with her husband. The way she refers to it implies to me that she doesn't have her own. Given her general personality and autonomy, and the fact that her vault contains an object of immense personal importance to Voldemort, I am inclined to believe that if she doesn't have her own vault she can't; some social more, law or policy of Gringotts prevents her either as a married woman (consistent with the history of English marital law) or a high status pureblood one. (It's also possible that this is evidence that Rodolphus died in July, and it is now only her vault.)

Harry may or may not be correct about Bellatrix's knowledge of the horcrux, which he states is an assumption based on Lucius Malfoy not knowing. If you accept CC and that Bellatrix was the mother of Voldemort's child, there may be reason to believe she would be told more; certainly he is more affectionate to her than to Lucius, but none of this proves he would trust her with that sort of information.

A few pages later Ollivander identifies and describes Bellatrix's wand: "Walnut and dragon heartstring. Twelve-and-three-quarter inches. Unyielding. This wand belonged to Bellatrix Lestrange." (DH 495.) We don't know whether this is the same wand she used prior to her arrest, or a new one, although the fact that Ollivander can identify it as hers may imply the former. If so, Azkaban detainees' wands are not snapped even when they're sentenced to life.

Chapter 26: Gringotts

We learn on page 520 that Bellatrix's wand doesn't work well for Hermione, but this probably says nothing about Bellatrix in particular; Harry presents it as a general fact of wandlore that wands don't work as well if they aren't claimed by victory, and this is reaffirmed elsewhere with other wands.

In this chapter Hermione is disguised as Bellatrix via Polyjuice. Since she isn't really Bellatrix, I'm not going to go into a ton of detail, but her physical description and the reaction of people who either believe she's Bellatrix or suspect an imposter but don't know for sure may tell us some things.

Hermione is dressed, first, in robes from Grimmauld Place; as they fit her, this may suggest that Bellatrix left clothing in the house, or only that she fits readily in Sirius's mother's or another Black woman's clothing. If they are actually hers, left in the house from years in the past, it might suggest that Grimmauld Place was the house where both sets of Black cousins grew up.

Polyjuiced Hermione is taller than Harry, who is stated to be level with Narcissa's height in HBP, so Bellatrix must be taller than Narcissa, too. Her hair is confirmed to be black instead of only dark for the first time here, and "ripples" down her back, which implies waves or curls. Harry also describes her hair as "long," an adjective he applies to women's hair only occasionally, which may mean it's unusually long compared to what he's used to seeing.

In the Leaky Cauldron, Tom calls Polyjuiced Hermione "Madam Lestrange," and looks surprised when she says "Good morning" in response. Most of the beggars flee while one accosts her, asking what happened to his children. Travers greets her, also calling her Madam Lestrange, in a friendly matter, and is affronted when Hermione is rude to him: "I merely sought to greet you, but if my presence is not welcome..."

Travers is suspicious: he says he's surprised to see her out, calling her Bellatrix then, and comments that he heard the inhabitants of Malfoy Manor were confined to the house after the escape. Hermione imitates Bellatrix more successfully, appealing to Bellatrix's special history of service, and Travers at least looks less suspicious. They discuss the wandless beggar who was Stunned, and Travers also asks about whose wand she's using. He asks about the disguised Ron and Bellatrix's purpose, and indicates he also needs to go to Gringotts, accompanying her. His manner is generally friendly to her and contemptuous of others - the beggars, the goblins, etc.

I would guess that at this point Travers is almost certain that he's dealing with an imposter, particularly when Harry Confunds the guards and Hermione uses it to suggest they already used the Probity Probes on her, so the value of what Travers does at this point and onward for Bellatrix characterization is a little questionable.

When Hermione steps up to the counter, the goblin addresses her again as Madam Lestrange and is startled. ("Dear me!") They ask for identification, and Griphook confirms to Harry they have been warned there might be an imposter, which suggests Travers was probably aware of the possibility from the beginning. After this Harry puts the witnesses under the Imperius Curse, so there's no more new information about Bellatrix. (DH 520-533)

Aside from the new physical details, we see that Bellatrix at least recently is not generally polite to Tom or doesn't normally acknowledge him, and that either her actions or her reputation frightens off most of the wandless beggars (either is easily possible, given her status as a convict). She appears to be friendly with Travers.

She is addressed as Madam Lestrange by most people in the scene, and Travers begins that way. It's possible his later use of her first name is meant as a test, like his question about her wand and house arrest, and Hermione failed to catch it. Women's address in the series varies quite a bit; I believe most other women addressed as Madam rather than Mrs., Professor or with a first name are not known to be married, and are employed. (Eg. Amelia Bones, Madam Rosmerta, Madam Malkin.) If this is a rule in the wizarding world, this may suggest that Bellatrix's marriage is widely perceived as a paper or fake marriage, or that she is recently widowed. However, madam has a number of real world meanings which may be applicable here.

Additionally, if Travers is correct Bellatrix was confined to Malfoy Manor for some time after the escape, having slipped in favor fairly severely.

The Lestrange vault itself contains a variety of riches including gold coins, suits of armor, hunting trophies from strange animals, jewels, jeweled goblets and potions flask, and a skull wearing a crown. (DH 536-537.) We have no particular way of knowing whether this property was brought to the marriage by Rodolphus or Bellatrix. Suffice it to say that at least as of their marriage the Lestranges are extremely wealthy and possess some interesting heirlooms.

Chapter 27: The Final Hiding Place

In the next chapter Harry has a brief vision of Voldemort's reaction to discovering the theft of the cup. Voldemort loses his temper and kills the goblin who informs him; Bellatrix and Lucius are both noted as throwing others behind him as they race for the door, alongside other scattering wizards. Voldemort kills everyone who doesn't flee. (DH 549)

This really doesn't give a lot of information about Bellatrix, except that she was correct in her previous estimation of how dangerous Voldemort learning of a horcrux theft would be and that once Voldemort is in a killing everyone around him mood she's willing to flee for the door as far as possible.

A few pages later Voldemort thinks, "...it had been a grave mistake to trust Bellatrix and Malfoy: Didn't their stupidity and carelessness prove how unwise it was ever to trust?" (DH 553) Mostly notable for the fact that Voldemort uses Bellatrix's first name and Lucius's last in his thoughts, and that he does indicate he trusted Bellatrix in the past.

Chapter 32: The Elder Wand

Aberforth states here that Remus was dueling Dolohov, and Tonks rushes off to help him. (DH 626.) We don't know exactly when they died, but if Dolohov killed them, this would suggest that Bellatrix never obeyed Voldemort's order to kill them. At no point is Bellatrix seen fighting her niece or her niece's husband during the final battle.

Chapter 33: The Prince's Tale

In Snape's memory of discussing Dumbledore's death, Dumbledore states, "...I should prefer a quick, painless exit to the protracted and messy affair it will be if, for instance, Greyback is involved - I hear Voldemort has recruited him? Or dear Bellatrix, who likes to play with her food before she eats it?" (DH 683) Given the main crime ever pinned specifically on Bellatrix was the Longbottoms, this mostly confirms she was known for torture.

Chapter 34: The Forest Again

Harry enters the clearing where Voldemort waits to give himself up. We have a couple of descriptions of Bellatrix here:

Dolohov and Yaxley rejoin the circle and confirm no sign of Harry; Voldemort draws his wand through his fingers.

"My Lord--"

Bellatrix had spoken. She sat closest to Voldemort, disheveled, her face a little bloody but otherwise unharmed.

Voldemort raised his hand to silence her, and she did not speak another word, but eyed him in worshipful fascination. (DH 702-703)

Harry reveals himself and the Death Eaters react.

Bellatrix, who had leapt to her feet, was looking eagerly from Voldemort to Harry, her breast heaving. (DH 704)

I'll discuss this sequence shortly.

Chapter 36: The Flaw in the Plan

Harry and Voldemort both wake, Voldemort having fallen to the ground with him:

"My Lord... my Lord..."

It was Bellatrix's voice, and she spoke as if to a lover...

"My Lord..."

"That will do," said Voldemort's voice...

Hary opened his eyes by a millimeter.

Voldemort seemed to be getting to his feet. Various Death Eaters were hurrying away from him, returning to the crowd lining the clearing. Bellatrix alone remained behind, kneeling beside Voldemort...

"My Lord, let me--"

"I do not require assistance," said Voldemort coldly, and thought he could not see it, he pictured Bellatrix withdrawing a helpful hand. (DH 724-725)

These descriptions all echo each other: Bellatrix is physically closest to Voldemort in battle, relatively uninjured and eager to assist him in whatever occurs. Harry describes her voice as like a lover's when she speaks to him in concern, and she attempts to physically help him up. He rebuffs her politely at first and then coldly, but isn't violent. This suggests that she is generally allowed to touch him given his usual responses to perceived slights. This is the closest the books come to confirming the sexual relationship that CC establishes.

She also is mostly uninjured except for a bloodied face after the battle. The description of her as panting is repeated, and in a scene where she's apparently sedentary, which extracanonically is probably meant to be passionate emotion, but can also be read as continued deconditioning or lung problems related to Azkaban.

Bellatrix would be present for the rest of the scene in which Narcissa lies about Harry's survival and Voldemort displays him and demands surrender but she isn't specifically described again until Neville attacks:

Bellatrix gave a delighted laugh.

"It is Neville Longbottom, my Lord! The boy who has been giving the Carrows so much trouble! The son of the Aurors, remember?" (DH 731)

Bellatrix identifies Neville primarily as the ringleader of the students causing problems for the Carrows, and secondarily as the son of the Longbottoms here. She refers to both his parents as Aurors, suggesting she understood Alice Longbottom as a combatant.

A few pages later Bellatrix duels three at once parallel to Voldemort. Harry sees her fighting Hermione, Ginny and Luna and says she's equal to them. As he watches, a Killing Curse nearly hits Ginny. Molly interrupts; Bellatrix spins and laughs. She smiles, then snarls as Molly and Bellatrix duel. Bellatrix later taunts Molly: "What will happen to your children when I've killed you? When Mummy's gone the same way as Freddie?"

Molly snarls back. Bellatrix laughs "the same exhilarated laugh her cousin Sirius had given as he toppled backward through the veil," and Molly kills her. (DH 735-736) Again, Bellatrix attempts to use her opponents' care for each other against them in a fight. Her laughter is directly compared to Sirius by Harry this time, confirming that the two of them behave like each other in combat.

Chapter Text

So what can we say about Bellatrix in canon?

She has long, wavy or curly black hair, hooded eyes and a strong jaw. She's taller than Harry and Narcissa and has skin light enough to show color. She breathes heavily in nearly every scene she appears in, which as written is probably trying to indicate passion but could also suggest lung damage (possibly from illness in Azkaban). She's a skilled duellist.

She is brutally violent in combat and willing and competent at using torture to get compliance. She tends to use her enemies' attachments to each other against them in particular, threatening one to get compliance from others. She was taught magic by Voldemort and is very capable in comparison to other Death Eaters and opponents in general.

She forms genuine attachments to people. She is devoted to Voldemort, but also - and possibly more so - her family. She works to protect Narcissa, Draco and Lucius to the extent of redirecting Voldemort's attention to herself or lying to him at times, and is unwilling to turn in Narcissa for prospective treason. She is willing to accept being manhandled or cursed by family members without retaliating in kind. She extends this protection to Lucius despite appearing to dislike him intensely.

She loves Voldemort and is terrified of him. She sincerely believes he might kill her and her entire family if she fails to prevent the wrong thing. She believes he will punish her seriously for mistakes and is afraid of it. Their canon relationship is one of unrelenting domination. Bellatrix does not compete with him for control of their relationship, only sometimes tries to mitigate his. She also believes he is unreliable at least on some subjects by HBP.

She is remembered fondly by one house elf while killing another with outrage over him overstepping his place. In general she likely subscribes to a view of society as consisting of a hierarchy of relationships; she has the right to punish house elves for disobedience as Voldemort has the right to punish her, and she does not fail in her affection for him despite it. Responsibilities go both up and down, but nevertheless one party is always dominant.

She is emotionally expressive with both affection and anger, bloodlust and terror. She cries, laughs, screams, snarls, gestures expansively, throws herself to the floor and touches people readily. Her choices of words are often dramatic. At the same time many of these displays seem to be tactical in nature, as calculated as Narcissa's hysterics in HBP, timed carefully. She has enough control over her emotions to master Occlumency and she gives at least a few displays that are probably blatantly false. She also talks to herself to problem solve and curses often, both to herself and at others.

She doesn't merely fight, she also thinks: she knows when Snape is playing games with the truth, she immediately understands the implications of the sword of Gryffindor's presence, she notices how Harry interacts with fellow students and understands rapidly how to use it. She knows which offenses will infuriate Voldemort dangerously.

Sanity is a slippery concept that often means nothing more than normal behavior, and it's not an easy thing to declare even a real person "sane" or "insane" without reference to a specific condition. I have political reasons for disliking it as an evaluation tool as well.

Bellatrix is described as seeming mad often, but in the end she is more aware of reality than many on her side of the war: she knows when Voldemort's judgment is slipping and when he endangers his own followers, and she chooses to follow him anyway. In other words it's not her perceptions that are off, it's her priorities.

Why does it matter?

I wrote this essay in part because I was tired of seeing the same mostly-fanon characterization of Bellatrix, but also because I think the ways in which she's usually flattened speak to misunderstandings about evil and abuse that many people hold. It is not necessary for someone to be crazy to be a bigot; bigotry is often rooted in cold self interest. Bellatrix in canon, affectionate to her family and courteous to Kreacher, while murderous to Dobby and sadistic to her enemies, is more disturbing and more true to reality than many of those portrayals.

It also isn't necessary for her to be much like Voldemort to love him, and she can be simultaneously his victim and accomplice. Victim and perpetrator are not mutually exclusive categories. Her romantic love need not be some kind of unreciprocated obsession either, because Voldemort does not need to be inhuman in order to be a mass murderer. Humans can accomplish that ourselves; we do all the time.