Progression

22nd August 1964

"When can I see my baby sister?" Narcissa asked her mother for the millionth time. It had been three years since her sister was born and she had not even seen her once. Even for the Black family, which she was admittedly still quite ignorant about, it seemed a little strange. As far as she could remember, which in all honesty was not that far back, she had been with her parents and older sister with no issues.

She did not understand why they treated her enigmatic little sister any differently. Andromeda would be starting her first year at Hogwarts in a few days, and she herself would be having her lessons that every Black child was obligated to complete.

"Narcissa, haven't we told you -" Druella, Narcissa's mother began.

"- What, that her accidental magic could be too dangerous for me to be around?" Narcissa pouted. She really did not like that excuse. It felt like they were treating her sister like some kind of monster instead of the little toddler that she was.

Of course, she had heard the story of how intense her first bout of accidental magic was upon her birth. The healers had mentioned that if the birth was only a few seconds later, their mother would have died from the inside out.

Wasn't that a gruesome thought? It would be quite a thought for any five year old child to stomach, but Narcissa was a Black, and she was slowly coming to realize what that meant. If aunt Wallburga's… demonstrations on her sons were anything to go by.

"Where is Bella anyway? How come she isn't even living in the same manor? It can't be that dangerous can it?" Narcissa persisted with her questions, undaunted by the stern look her mother was giving her.

Druella sighed and put down the morning's edition of the Daily Prophet back on the table.

"A remote Black manor,,, somewhere. Even I was only allowed to visit by portkey once. There are two House Elves looking after her. She isn't living with us because that's what father-in-law - Lord Black - ordered. And yes, Cissy, it really is that dangerous. We think it will take a while before she can even be taught to control her magic. I'll ask Lord Black to visit her and let us know whenever she is ready…" Druella trailed off, staring at the opposite wall lost in thought, and then spoke softly, "I also want to see my daughter…"

Narcissa remained silent. She knew that was the best answer she could get. It all depended on grandpa Lord Black at this point.

—

'Occlumency, the art of controlling and protecting one's own mind and thoughts, is an essential skill for any in the wizarding world. For the secrets the Black Family is known to keep, it is compulsory that every child of the family have proficiency with the skill. It is especially prudent for any member of the Black family to become proficient in the art due to the propensity for its members to tend to madness. For more information on The Black Family madness, see vol. 7. 

Like other branches of magic, the long road to mastery can be divided into The Seven Stages:

Rudimentary

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

Master

Grandmaster

Paragon

Nigellus Black II, Lord Black of 1256 was the only known Paragon Occlumens. It is well documented in the annals of The Family Magic that he preserved his mind even after he died.

The initial stages of Occlumency practice varies between individuals, some organised minds prefer to begin with categorisation and the ordering of memories, while others prefer to begin with the clearing of the mind.

All roads in Occlumency eventually converge, so it is of little consequence where one begins, so long as they maintain discipline.'

 'Magicke Of The Blacks, vol. 23. Mind Arts, Ch.1.'

It had been a year since she started practicing Occlumency. And a year, Bellatrix considered, meant spending a minimum of twelve hours a day refining, organizing, shielding, and ordering her mind. Six hours were spent on reading the odd book, and every day she would ensure to exhaust her magical reserves as she practiced wandlessley, strengthening her magic day by day.

As a child, she had the luxury known as free time. She figured that her efforts in Occlumency over the past year amounted to five or six times as much for the average busy but disciplined witch or wizard, seeing as how much of her time she spent on the art.

And due to her current rigorous practice with magic, she had very little idea how her current power compared to other children, but she surmised that there should be a significant difference.

She had also read some beginner texts in Magical Theory, Arithmancy, and Ancient Runes, simply to get an idea of the mechanisms of magic.

As someone who had completed an online mastery of Mathematics, Arithmancy was particularly interesting, not least because she discovered that Euler and Ramanujan were wizards, but also because the magical principles supplied with an understanding of Abstract Algebra and modern Group Theory advanced her comprehension of the subject many-fold.

With that understanding, she devoured whatever fresh content was supplied on Arithmancy from the Black Library, but she figured that there should be more texts found elsewhere, perhaps when she enrolled at Hogwarts.

In any case, her budding skill in the subject prompted her to construct her Mind Shields in such a way that was Arithmantically sound. She opted for a Tetrahedral construct encircled by Nine Rotating Nonagon Runic Arrays. Each array was designed to emulate a specific feeling or desire which she linked to the corresponding memories protected by the central Tetrahedron.

In this way, any invasion by a Legillimens would reveal whatever desire or feeling she wished while also securely protecting her memories and true thoughts. The Legillimens would then be subtly confounded to be perfectly satisfied with their reading and retreat.

There were other interesting traps and counters if one delved further. Bellatrix was particularly rigorous in constructing the defense of her mind, and the end result was an interdisciplinary construct that somehow blended ritual magic, warding, and Occlumency.

She was still refining her defenses as she learned more on the Mind Arts and the other branches of magic she had preemptively studied. She was currently in the process of implementing a magic-gathering array to enclose the entire construct so it would continually and passively increase the strength of her shields. That would free her time up to begin learning other branches of magic.

Speaking of other branches. After thoroughly reading and studying the tomes of 'Magical Theory' from the Black Library, she started experimenting with basic transfiguration and charms.

Transfiguration… was not as difficult as she expected, and she knew that if it weren't for her new skill in Occlumency, the subject would have been nigh impossible to practice wandlessley.

Occlumency had given her abilities which were being sharpened the further she progressed in the art. Firstly, she had a true photographic memory, so she could simply skim any text once and it would be 'saved' in her memory which she would be able to access at any time. She would still have to read the text in her mind to understand its contents, but she was able to mimic a computer's hard drive with her Occlumency. She needed only to focus whenever she wished to open any file in her mind.

Another benefit to the practice was perhaps even better. She now had more precise control over her magic. She could even siphon precise percentages of her total magical capacity for whatever magic she wanted to practice.

She also adjusted the way she practiced transfiguration when compared to the fundamental guides she had read. For the inanimate to inanimate material transfigurations, she simply visualized a mathematical function which would topologically map points of the input object to points on the output object. In practice, this meant she had such precise control of every one of her transformations. So far, she had attempted the beginner transfigurations with great success, and she was currently focused on even further refining her control and speed with her transfigurations.

Another thing she found out was that her transfigurations somehow lasted longer than they should, according to the texts. In fact she was unsure how long they would last, and there was currently a glass ball on her desk which was transfigured from a piece of parchment in order to figure that out.

Suffice it to say, a Mastery of Mathematics had unexpectedly given Bellatrix an incredible leg up in the practice and precision of her magic. She also could not wait to study more ritual magic and improve on them arithmantically as she knew she could gain many, many benefits from them. It would have to wait before she truly mastered everything she was currently working on. She certainly would not dabble in such dangerous arts until she was completely sure she knew what she was doing. She understood what botched rituals could do when she considered what Tom Riddle eventually became.

—

4th March 1965

Lord Arcturus Black was one of, if not the most politically powerful men in the country. He was currently visiting his pathetic son's manor in Grimmauld Place in order to enquire about their children. He did not trust that sow Wallburga one second with the future heir of Black. If the family were ever to fall, Arcturus thought, it would be because of her incompetence. He had considered simply disposing of her, but there were many considerations that stayed his hand.

He leaned back on the head chair in the dining room after dinner was served and scrutinised his son and his wife with a deep cutting gaze that would make even the hardiest of men in the Wizengamot fidget.

"How are Sirius and Regulus?" He asked after making them sufficiently uncomfortable.

Orion flinched and Arcturus raised his eyebrow.

"Sirius… is being disciplined," Orion stated uncomfortably, in a manner that suggested he wasn't entirely comfortable with the 'discpline' his son was receiving.

'Truly', Arcturus thought as his gaze shifted to the sow, 'what a disappointment of a son'. The man was completely emasculated by his wife. She even had the gall to look at him, Lord Black, imperiously as if she was the owner of the House of Black.

His finger twitched to his wand. It was his right after all.

He took a deep breath. This was not the time. There were other things he was concerned about.

"Sirius will be staying with me for the foreseeable future. I will also be taking Regulus. It is time my grandchildren be educated. Narcissa has already begun, and I will be visiting Bellatrix. It would be best if they all study together," he spoke slowly.

Wallburga began to screech, "No! They are my sons! You cannot -"

"CRUCIO!" His wand was out before anyone could blink, and the curse struck true as the vile woman screamed her throat raw and began twitching on the floor. He held the curse for a long, uncomfortable while before his son gathered his wits.

"Father…" Orion's gaze shifted nervously between his father and wife.

Arcturus looked straight into his son's eyes, sending a small tendril of passive Legillimency towards him as he maintained the Cruciatus curse on his wife.

'Fearing his wife's retaliation towards her own sons, resignation towards her attitude, weakness, frustration…'

Arcturus withdrew from his son's mind and lifted his curse from the miserable woman. He was utterly disappointed. Hopefully his grandchildren would prove they deserved the name 'Black'. If not, the family was doomed.

He left the two of them in that state.

"Kreacher!" He called.

The immaculate House Elf appeared with a reverent bow.

"Yes, Lord Black?"

"Get Sirius and Regulus ready and bring them to me"

"Yes, Lord Black," The loyal elf stated before disappearing with a pop.

Arcturus turned his gaze towards his son who was now lifting his wife to sit back on her chair. He lost himself in thought to his other grandchild.

'Bellatrix…' he thought with a sigh.

His granddaughter was blessed to be born with such strong magic, but that could also be seen as a curse. It all depended on how well she could be taught to control it. She was particularly susceptible to developing an Obscurus if she was not cared for, and that could very well be an unmitigated disaster.

Even worse, if she did not begin learning Occlumency as soon as possible, she would succumb all too soon to the Black Madness. He may not show it, but he was rather concerned about his granddaughter, ever since Druella showed her memory of her outburst of accidental magic.

He knew that leaving Bellatrix under the care of her family would be the wrong move. The less said about his other son Cygnus and how he treated his daughters, the better.

He also would never consider binding her magic as other families might do in order to handle their children's bouts of accidental magic. That would cripple them as they grew up and they may never recover from the deficit even after the bindings were removed. It may even accelerate her descent into insanity.

No, magical children had the right to grow up with magic, no matter what.

It was why he sent her to that remote Black manor. The island was tranquil and he trusted the House Elves to care for her better than any witch or wizard in his family. His wife could have perhaps cared for her, but he did not want to burden her with that responsibility.

Speaking of those house elves…

"Tizzy!" He called.

It took a second before the little creature popped in and bowed towards him, "Yes, Lord Black?"

"How is Bellatrix?" He asked.

He saw a multitude of emotions in the elf's eyes before answering.

'Mischief, Pride, Amazement.'

"Incredibly well, Lord Black," The elf said with a spark in its large eyes.

Arcturus raised an eyebrow, "Interesting," he murmured. At that moment, Kreacher popped in with the two young boys. When the elf saw Tizzy, he murmured softly to himself, narrowing his eyes in suspicion towards her. Tizzy simply looked back at Kreacher and smiled innocently, causing the other elf to mutter even more.

"Crafty elves, don't think Kreacher doesn't know what the naughty elves be doing. But Kreacher thinks it be harmless so Kreacher leaves it be…"

The interaction was not lost on Arcturus, and he found it somewhat amusing. He would ask about it later, but for now, he needed to take his grandsons away and give a granddaughter a visit.