Bellatrix had always liked the forbidden forest, it felt safe, perhaps because it was the very definition of solitude. There were no eyes on her here, no wary looks from other students. In the forbidden forest, there were no expectations from anyone, not her parents, not her sisters, no one, it was just her. In the forest she could be herself, imperfect. Broken. Soft. She didn’t have to be the perfect daughter, student and sister here, she was just… Being. In the forest she could put away the thorns that keep her true self hidden away, the cage that is the Black Family fell away into the nothingness.
That feeling of freedom no longer foreign after 4 years, was intoxicating, addicting. That’s why it always hurts to leave because she never could have it for long. She couldn’t leave home, there would be nowhere for her to go and she could never do that to her sisters. If she left it would probably kill her, to take away the opportunity to leave from her sisters was something she vowed herself to never do. In the end, only one of them will be able to leave the family, it was noble and ancient for a reason. It stuck to you like the smell of smoke, never to be lost.