November 1976

On Saturday morning Annabelladonna woke up to the sound of birds chirping outside her window. The sun was shining into her room and  there were very few clouds in the sky. It was almost obnoxious how good the weather was, it's like the world was taunting her. She forced herself out of bed and put on a button up white shirt, a skirt, and her robes. Her dark hair cascaded down her neck and ended at her mid back. Bella quickly brushed her teeth and headed off to the great hall for breakfast. She was walking towards the Hufflepuff table when suddenly she was yanked towards the Gryffindor table.

"Ow Jameson you didn't have to pull so hard." She said while rubbing her arm. The boy just laughed and continued pulling her towards his table.

"Honestly Donnie I thought you'd be used to it by now, didn't Ares drag you around for the entirety of the first summer I stayed with you guys."

"He did but he was much gentler, and most of the time I knew he was gonna grab me. That was a complete surprise attack Jameson."

"Ah yes I forgot how 'gentle' Ares was when he would literally sling you over his shoulder and carry you."

"I'll have you know he had very comfortable shoulders."

"Bloody hell I'm gonna start believing you fancy Ares if you keep defending him like this. I'm so owling Apollo about this, how is he got feel when he finds out his best friend fancies his brother."

"I do not fancy Ares he's like a brother thank you very much, now shut the hell up and sit down you're drawing attention to us." With that Bella sat down at the Gryffindor table next to James across from her sat Sirius, Remus, and Peter who were all watching them bicker with amused smirks on their faces.

"So Anna, who's this Ares kid you fancy?" Sirius said snickering when he saw the frustrated look on her face. Bella just groaned in annoyance.

"I don't fancy Ares, petits merdeux (you little shits)."

"Aww Prongs we made her mad."

"Shut up Sirius, one more word about Ares and I'm leaving. Am I even allowed to sit here?"

"Technically yes, they don't make you sit at your own houses table unless it's dinner."

"That's good enough for me. So tell me boys, what should I expect at this school."

"Most of the classes are boring, the people too. But there are some good parties. You'll quickly come to find that we're the coolest people here." Sirius said, he had a smug smirk on his face that made Bella wanna roll her eyes.

"The classes would be more interesting if you actually payed attention." Remus said, his eyes were gleaming and he looked like he was more than happy to deflate his friends ego.

Suddenly an owl swooped down in front of them and dropped a red envelope in front of Belladonna. She gulped and the boys all visibly tensed. The envelope sprung to life and practically roared at her.

"You got sorted into Hufflepuff???? HOW DARE YOU RUIN THE BLACK NAME LIKE THIS. I SHOULD SHIP YOU BACK OFF TO FRANCE AND LET THAT HALFBREED DEAL WITH YOU. AT LEAST THIS TIME THE MANGY MUTT WOULD FINISH THE JOB. IF I EVER SEE YOUR FACE AGAIN I SWEAR TO MERLIN IT WONT END WELL FOR YOU. Filthy blood traitor."

The great hall turned silent, everyone was looking at Annabelladonna in shock. She could feel the eyes on her but she didn't really care. She calmly stood up and walked out of the room, she knew she couldn't allow herself to cry at Walaburga's harsh words. She was way too used to it. Tears welled up in her eyes but she kept a stiff upper lip and kept walking. She could tell James and the boys were trailing behind her so she quickened her pace. Eventually she gave up on holding her tears back and let them run down her cheeks. She sprinted to the entrance of the Hufflepuff common room, copying the knocking pattern she heard Sirius do last night. When she reached her room she closed the door and started pacing. Her eyes stung and that just made her cry even more. Everything hurt. She knew her parents would react like this. She knew, yet she still chose Hufflepuff. Bella didn't even know why she listened to what Walaburga said. That woman barely meant anything to her, she had never been there for Bella, but Annabelladonna still reacted the way she did. She still cried, she still paced for so long it made her feet ache, because Bella still cared even if her parents didn't.

When Annabelladonna's tears dried and her sadness faded all she felt was anger. Walaburga didn't raise her, she should have no decision on what happened in her life. Bella rested her elbows again the vanity and her face lay in her hands. She swayed back and forth, her eyes shut. She couldn't look herself in the mirror, not when she had such similar features to Walaburga's. Bella looked very similar to her mother from her face shape to her eye color, the only thing that wasn't close to her mothers was her hair. She had soft black locks that were as neat and perfect as her fathers hair but her mom had a jungle of tamed curls that perfectly glided down her neck. Sometimes it was as if Walaburga's curls could float seeing how all they did was hover in place. She opened her eyes, they were the matte greyish blue that she shared but Bella's held more life. They were warm and inviting but her mother's were so cold you'd think you were doused in ice water if you looked into them. She looked into her reflection but she saw her mother staring back at her; taunting her from within; pointing out all her mistakes; telling her she could fix them if she got lost in the mirror and copied her mother. Annabelladonna punched her mirror. She did it without even thinking. She didn't realize her hand hurt until she looked down and saw shards of glass embedded in her fist, blood was flowing from where the mirror cut her. She just looked at it, it was nothing compared to what her "parents" had done to her but it somehow hurt more. There was too much going on in Bella's life. Time seemed like it was rushing by her going a million miles per hour.

Suddenly a small Red-velvet cheesecake showed up along with a mug of hot chocolate. A smile graced the girls lips. She had no idea how the house-elves knew her favorite food but she was definitely going to thank them when she meet them.

The Hufflepuff girl had washed her face off, repaired her mirror, and marched out of her dorm to find the hospital wing. As she wandered throughout the halls she didn't see the two boys walking in her direction. The boys definitely saw her though. Two arms wrapped around her shoulders, she was currently sandwiched between James and Sirius.

"Hey Donnie, how are you doing?"

"I'm good, just trying to find the hospital wing, I tripped and fell on my hand." They all knew it was a lie but decided not to bring it up because they didn't know if she could handle talking about it right now.

"We'll show you, you're currently going in the wrong way though Love." Sirius didn't like the way James called his sister love. In fact, Sirius didn't like the fact that James knew her at all, especially since he knew Bella better than Sirius did.

"Dieu (god) I'm bad at directions."

"You can say that again, didn't you tell me that you still get lost at Beauxbatons? You went there for five and a half bloody years, first years knew their way around more than you."

"In my defense it's a very big school."

"I bet Hogwarts is bigger, you're never gonna survive here if you get lost easily." Sirius chimed in, he had started feeling really left out of the conversation.

"Eh they're about the same size, I'm gonna have to make a bloody map of the school if I wanna survive."

"We could probably help you out with that, couldn't we prongs. We are excellent map makers."

"That'd be very nice of you Sirius."

The trio strolled through the hallway, Bella assumes they were getting closer to the hospital because they'd slightly slowed. Sirius arm had left its place on Annabelladonna's shoulders but James's was still draped around her. Two more pairs of footsteps joined with the trios and there stood Remus Lupin and a redheaded girl who was unfamiliar to Bella. The redhead quickly took notice of James's arm around Bella and she looked a little sad.

"Hey lily flower, wanna go to hogsmeade tomorrow?"

"I'd rather go with the giant squid Potter."

"Is this the Lily you've been telling me about, she's even prettier then you mentioned." Bella stepped towards Lily with a charming smile on her face, shaking off James's arm in the process. "Hi I'm Annabelladonna." She extended her non injured hand out to the girl for a handshake. Even though Lily rolled her eyes her cheeks were almost as red as her hair, probably due to the fact that James and Bella both called her pretty. Lily shook Bella's hand and turned to the boys.

"Hey Remus we should probably continue our rounds now. It was nice meeting you Annabelladonna." With that Lily and Remus walked past them, they looked rather peaceful talking to each other. James and Sirius started leading Bella back in the direction of the hospital wing, her hand was now swollen and the shards dug deeper into her skin.

When they got there Madam Pomfrey immediately started fussing over her hand, saying that she should be more careful. It made Annabelladonna realize how nice it felt to have someone who would fuss over her minor injuries. She had had people fuss over her before Asher, Apollo, Ares, and even Floria, Ares and Apollo's mom. She didn't need Walaburga and Orion. She would be fine surrounded by the people she loved and the new people in her life. Things were gonna be okay for Bella.

1771 words

Leave a comment if you're liking the story or have any advice. I'm a fairly new writer so I'm still working some things out, criticism is welcome as long as it's constructive. Have a nice day!