Chapter 2
Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the HP universe, all characters and themes belong to JK Rowling. No copyright infringement here and I make no profit.
The wizarding world awoke to an old breaking new; Rodolphus Lestrange escaped Azkaban and is at large once again.
Just as it had during the previous two times, this news caused an uproar of panic and anger at the incompetence of the ministry.
'We are looking for Lestrange with all our force' said the minister for magic, 'Aurors have been working tirelessly since last night and I am certain that Lestrange will be caught soon. He cannot travel anywhere without gold, so he will surely visit his family vault in Gringotts, but by that time, we will be awaiting him' continued the minister.
'I must insist that our citizens must remain vigilant and cautious until the threat is dealt with. Due to Lestrange's history, we will be investigating the families that have been involved with the death eaters during the second wizarding war, those families are of course known and….'
Euphemia Rowle did not continue reading, she didn't have to, her family was to be investigated for sure. They were famously extreme death eaters. Faustian served two years in Azkaban for his involvement and she narrowly escaped it, and if the ministry knew who Delphini was…. She stood up abruptly, the ministry will know for sure! They had tests to determine the girl's true parentage.
She had only one option, it's necessary, it's for the children's safety, for house of Rowle's safety, and so it has to be done. She reasoned with herself.
As if it heard and understood her thoughts, the augury started crying mournfully in its cage by the window, the cry sounded like a song of deep sorrow and despair. She looked at it with furrowed eyebrows weighing her options;
The girl is extremely odd and will surely inherit her parents' madness. She will be very difficult to control once her magic matures thought Euphemia.
She remembered Bellatrix, how mad and unhinged she was! And the dark lord had a different sort of madness the most dangerous type of madness. The child was their product, how could Delphini be sane with such parents?
And if she kept the child, and somehow the ministry didn't figure out who she is, the child will grow up with Euphemia's own children, possibly effecting them, making them mad as well. What will Euphemia say when Delphini starts asking questions about her parents? Oh Delphini is a witch alright, and Euphemia can tell that the girl will be extremely powerful just like her parents.
Too risky, too dangerous and not worth it. The Rowles only took the child for the gold. The child is the soul descendent of one of richest and most powerful wizarding families; the Blacks, and if Delphini knew that she will try to bring the dark lord back. He will know how his daughter was treated and he will surely punish them severely for it
No! Thought Euphemia as she paced her living room, listening to the augury cry, deep in thought. Delphini can never know the true identity of her parents!
It's better this way, safer and even kinder for the child.
The augury stopped crying in the same moment Euphemia reached her decision; Delphini had to go and soon.
The forest went on forever, Rodolphus Lestrange was running as fast as he could with no destination in mind, he was just running, away from Azkaban, away from the dementors. The sun was hidden behind thick grey clouds but it was warmer than Azkaban, this is the first time Rodolphus has seen the sky in five years but it felt like fifty years
He had been running since the moment he escaped in the previous night. He didn't want to stop, he wanted to keep putting as much distance away from Azkaban as possible.
The human body is such a marvelous thing thought Rodolphus, he remembered the dark lord's words; every witch and wizard is capable of the extraordinary, if they were properly motivated.
The best motivation is fear.
The Dark Lord was right of course, Rodolphus only managed the painfully long run because he was fueled by fear of the dementor's kiss.
'Master Lestrange! Master Lestrange!' called a high pitched panicked voice from behind him. Rodolphus nearly forgot about the house elf running behind him, he stopped abruptly at the sound. He was panting heavily, his heart was racing so fast he felt his chest was moments from exploding.
His face felt slimy with sweat grime and seawater.
Rodolphus didn't realize how exhausted he was until he stopped, he turned to face the house elf, still faithfully following her master, and Rodolphus felt a huge wave of gratitude and familiarity at the house elf's ancient worried face, it reminded him of his mother's face.
That was the last thing that went through his mind before giving in to the darkness that came rushing to engulf him.
The first thing he felt was short cool wafts of air on his face, probably the demetors were in the cell inspecting it. He didn't want to open his eyes, I imagined it all! Rodolphus told himself firmly, I imagined that I walked out of the cell, swam to the shore and Gimpy took me far away…. It was a dream, a silly stupid dream! How could a damned house elf rescue me?!
'Master! Master! Please don't leave Gimpy alone, Master! Please open your eyes…' said a sobbing female voice
Rodolphus cracked one eye open, and saw Gimpy who was fanning his face with the filthy rag she was wearing, sobbing her eyes out.
He froze! Can this be? Am I really free?
It took him several minutes to convince himself that what he was seeing from one slightly open eye was real, he opened his eyes, he was lying on a forest ground, he saw above Gimpy's head a cloudy grey sky through thick high tree branches. Gimpy was sobbing uncontrollably and she didn't notice him. Rodolphus watched her cry, and to his immense surprise, the sight didn't upset nor disgust him, instead he felt something he hadn't felt since the day he met Bellatrix Black, gratitude.
The elf was crying because of her dedication to Rodolphus. He had never thought of her as a creature with feelings, and he felt another forgotten emotion, Rodolphus Lestrange felt ashamed of himself and all the times he was cruel to her. But in comparison to his dead brother Rabastan, Rodolphus was kind and considerate.
'Gimpy' he said quietly in a voice he didn't recognize, his voice was hoarse and cracked, the elf froze, she looked wide eyed at him, her rag half way across his face.
'Master!' she said breathlessly, looking petrified and terrified as though she was expecting him to be cruel to her, this caused another jolt of guilt in Rodolphus, but there were more pressing matters.
'Where are we Gimpy?' he asked softly
The elf looked even more terrified, her already widened eyes widened even more, she's scared of me, thought Rodolphus, she thinks I will punish her. Was I really that cruel?
'We are where master ordered Gimpy to take him' she answered in a small voice, just above a whisper.
'I don't recall what happened' he said after a minute of silence, he was exhausted, so exhausted.
'Tell me what happened' he said calmly
'Gimpy was in her cupboard sir, she was sleeping and awaiting Master Rodolphus' return, Gimpy has been very lonely, sir, especially after master Rabastan and mistress Bellatrix's deaths and the imprisonment of master Rodolphus. Gimpy was left alone in the house of Lestrange.' She said in a small voice, Rodolphus kept quiet, feeling guiltier by the word.
'Gimpy was asleep when she heard her master's call, she awoke and went immediately to him, she would not keep her master waiting sir! Gimpy found herself on the island of Azkaban prison, master was drenched in sea water, and master looked ill and tired. Master told Gimpy to take him to furthest forest Gimpy knew, so Gimpy took master to the black forest, sir' She looked uncertainly at him, Rodolphus was listening intensely to every word.
'When we landed in the forest ground, it was very dark, master stood up and started running, master did not tell Gimpy to follow him, but Gimpy wanted to follow the only master she had left.' Gimpy finished with a small sob, but look of terror never left her face. She thought Rodolphus would punish her for following him.
It took him several minutes to comprehend what the elf told him, Rodolphus looked at her, she was ancient, around two hundred years old, but he knew elves lived past five hundred years.
'So we are in Germany?' he asked
'Yes Master, up in the mountains' she replied with a bowed head.
'That was very clever of you, you've done well, thank you Gimpy' he said.
Gimpy looked like she was about to faint, Rodolphus managed a small comforting smile to the ancient elf.
He sat up, examining his surroundings, Gimpy was watching him imploringly. The ground was covered in moss and grass, he looked around, thick trees surrounded them, and the trees went as far as his eyes saw. It was cool and there was a light breeze, Rodolphus breathed in the mountain forest air, it was so fresh and so clean. He stood up, and looked at the cloudy grey sky, birds were singing and trees were rushing. He closed his eyes I am free! I am free! I am free thanks to Gimpy, I owe her my freedom and that's… that's fine, just fine. I'm not Bellatrix! I'm not Rabastan! I am free!
He felt new, this was a second chance, but his plan was to bring back the dark lord. Do I want to bring him back?
And Rodolphus felt another unknown emotion uncertainty.
Rodolphus layed back on the ground, breathing deeply, cherishing every second of his freedom, he was watching the birds flying between the tree branches. Gimpy was watching him intently, and they just stayed there.
A long while later it started raining, Gimpy started fussing about protecting her master from the rain, 'It's alright Gimpy' he told the frightened elf 'I've missed the rain'.
But the rain brought reality back, what will I do? I can't go back to England, but the child is there. Do I really want to bring Him back? Did Azkaban weaken me? There was a time when I wouldn't have even thought about it. He wondered if the child knew about her parents, knowing the Rowles, they probably told her.
Shaking his head, he stood up and lifted his face to the rain, I'll think it through later, the child will be six or seven by now, and I cannot train her now.
'Gimpy, I'd like to ask you to do something, but I need you to be extremely careful' he said looking at her.
The elf's face lit up, 'anything master Rodolphus!'
' I need you to go back to the house and bring supplies, gold, wands, tents and everything we might need to live here for a while, also bring some books and most importantly everything needed for polyjuice potion'
The elf looked puzzled and frightened to speak.
Rodolphus sighed and said 'what is it Gimpy, tell me'
'Master! It's just the aurors are waiting near the house for you to turn up sir, they will notice sir'
Rodolphus sighed again and sat back down, the rain cold and gentle.
'Tell me Gimpy, can you transfigure anything here into a tent?'
'No master, transfiguration needs a wand, sir'
'Can you hunt something in the forest and make us a fire?'
'Yes, master! I can'
Hours later Rodolphus and Gimpy were eating a fox Gimpy had caught. The meat was better than the tasteless gruel he ate every day for the past five year, and for that he felt thankful.
But he had no wand, no gold and no supplies. The cursed aurors were watching the Lestrange and Black households, and he can't just walk into Gringotts and make a withdrawal from his family vault. Gimpy made a magical fire that warmed his soul, but still he cannot live like this.
Perhaps my visit to the Rowles will happen sooner than anticipated.
Author's note: Delphini will make an appearance in the next chapters, but she's just six years old right now, so her emotions aren't really complex or anything. Right now, I'm just trying to establish a background for the story.
Thanks for reading!
