Currently on a roadtrip, staying in Missouri at the moment. I'm glad to be at the hotel early enough to have a minute to catch up on some things. Here's to hoping to get my life together again after this trip.
Trixie Black Lestrange
Three year old Arielle Lestrange looked up at her mother with a slight pout. "Please?" she said, reaching out to her mother, her hair morphing the same brown as her oldest sister's.
"Ella," sighed Andromeda, "you can't. Mum has to go by herself. It's dangerous for anyone to go there, so you have to stay with your sisters and Laverne."
"I want to see Dad," Arielle pouted, looking up at her mother. "Please?"
"Arielle," Andromeda said gently, kneeling down to look into the girl's eyes. "One day you will meet your father. But for now, I have to keep you safe. I'll bring you a picture of him, okay?"
"Okay," Arielle said dejectedly as Nymphadora came to her, wrapping her arms around the little girl.
"We'll tell her stories about Dad while you're gone," said the eleven year old. "Be careful, Mum."
"I will," Andromeda promised, hugging and kissing each of her children before she left Lestrange Manor.
She finally, after three years, had permission to visit her incarcerated husband. She would be able to see Rabastan again even after he had been sentenced to life in prison. Andromeda met a couple Aurors at the Ministry, and they took her to the shore of the sea where Azkaban was located.
They didn't say anything to her as they crossed the sea, though she shivered slightly even through the Warming Spell on her cloak. Andromeda followed the two Aurors up the shore and through the prison gates, now full on shivering as she couldn't bear to think of her husband in this place for the rest of his life.
He's so young, she thought to herself, wondering how he was.
"Come on, Mrs. Lestrange," one of them muttered. "He's up in this tower…."
She followed them, hearing their instructions of where Rabastan was, and passed them as she walked to the door of his cell. "Rab?" she said softly, not sure how he would react to her.
One of them glanced through the cell bars at the man inside and shrugged. "I'll let you in to see him," he told her. "You have fifteen minutes."
Andromeda's heart pounded in fright, though she walked through the door willingly, approaching the man lying against the wall, his face covered by his hair. "Rabastan?" she asked nervously, unsure of what he would do when he saw her.
Her heart skipped a beat as he looked up when the cell door clanged shut behind her. He let out a gasp of fright, then stared at her in shock, wordlessly moving his lips.
"Rab, it's me," Andromeda murmured. "It's Andromeda, your wife."
"Go away," he said hoarsely, the first thing she could understand from him.
She opened her mouth to say something else, stepping toward him, and he flinched. "Leave!" he hissed at her. "You were supposed to stay with the children!"
Andromeda bit her lip slightly, whispering, "Rabastan, I am. I wanted to come see you...this is the first time they would let me. I'll go back home in a minute."
"Dora," Rabastan muttered, closing his eyes as he shook his head vehemently. "Athena, Laverne—they need you. I can't—Dromeda…."
She was at his side in seconds, cautiously wrapping her arms around him as he clung to her desperately, like a little boy. "Rabastan," she murmured, her cheek against his forehead. "My husband...shhh, it's okay."
Andromeda was heartbroken to see her husband cry so openly and cradled him in her arms as he wept. "I'm sorry," he breathed, his face buried in her dress. "Dromeda, I never wanted to leave you. You must hate me."
"It isn't easy," Andromeda replied quietly, "but I don't blame you. You fought for what you believed."
"I should have listened," Rabastan shuddered, his grip tightening on his wife. "I should be home with you." Another shudder went through him, and Andromeda hugged him tightly, wishing she could help him somehow.
"Teach the children not to do what I've done," the man breathed. "At least, Laverne and Athena. Dora...she's yours. Save them from this fate, Andromeda."
A sharp pang went through her at the man's words: even severely confused and distraught, Rabastan still would not forget that Nymphadora was not his. "They will know better, Rabastan," she promised him. "Though they will be wiser than to speak against the Dark Lord."
He nodded, cringing against her as his arms finally wrapped around her, the man pulling her onto his lap in spite of the filth that covered his hands and robes. "You were the best thing that's ever been mine," he whispered, pressing his lips to her hair. "Dromeda, your scent, the feel of you...it drives me mad to want just a little taste of you."
She allowed his caresses, his touch in spite of the two Aurors that watched through the cell bars. She allowed him to hold her on his lap in spite of her disgust about the grime everywhere in his cell. He needed her: she would not fail him in this one moment they were allowed.
"Rabastan," she murmured as he frowned, focusing on her locket. He had it open in the next second, looking at the pictures within. There was a picture of the two of them nearly two years after they were married, looking happy and content with each other. The other picture, he supposed, was more up to date, as all three of the children seemed taller, more mature.
"Who is that?" he said, pointing to the little girl Andromeda held on her lap, his eyes narrowing.
"That's Arielle," Andromeda said softly. "She was born soon after you were taken from us."
She was completely unprepared for what happened next. The sudden blow from Rabastan's hand to her face knocked her flat onto her back on the floor. A cry of pain escaped her as she fell, then stared up at her angry husband, the man towering over her as he stood, looking like a shadowy wraith himself.
"You've been unfaithful to me."
"I have not!" Andromeda cried in horror. "Rabastan, no! She's yours, I swear!"
"Get back!" one of the Aurors yelled at Rabastan, both of them preparing to enter the cell.
Rabastan stared down at the woman on his cell floor, utter confusion on his face. "Rod was right," he mumbled. "You can't be trusted." A look of pain crossed Rabastan features, and he turned away from her. "Go away," he choked.
Heartbroken, Andromeda cried, "Rabastan, no! Rabastan, I swear I'm telling the truth—she's your daughter! Please!"
"Go away!" Rabastan yelled in anger, clutching at his hair as he forced himself not to attack his wife with the Aurors watching. "How I could have ever chosen you is beyond me, when I knew exactly how your sister treated my brother. You are no different. You don't mean anything you've ever said to me. Who was he, Andromeda?"
The man's voice became so deadly calm that Andromeda just shook her head in terror as Rabastan turned to look at her. An Auror stepped in front of her, his wand out, and the second Auror unceremoniously dragged her to her feet. "Move," he commanded her, shoving her toward the cell door as he faced Rabastan as well.
"Please," Andromeda said, beginning to weep as she looked at her husband. "I'm telling you the truth, Rabastan. I would never be unfaithful to you. Never." A sob escaped her as she stepped out of the cell, watching him through the bars. A feeling of safety came over her, and she cried with the shame and awfulness of it all.
The Aurors left the cell moments later, leading her away, but not before she had seen the terrible look of hurt and confusion on her husband's face. "Rabastan," she sobbed as she stumbled from the corridor. She could barely see to make her way down the stairs, and her heart nearly stopped as she was halfway down, hearing an almost inhuman cry from above.
"Andromeda!" Rabastan's raw cry rang through the tower. "I love you!"
"Rabastan!" Andromeda called out immediately. "Rabastan, I love you!"
The Auror behind her ordered her to keep moving, and Andromeda cried harder as she reached the ground floor, walking back to the boat in order to leave. She wanted him to come home. She wanted him to know the truth, and she wanted him to meet his newest precious little daughter. "Rabastan," she sobbed softly, burying her face in her hands as the boat pulled away from Azkaban prison.
Andromeda knew the younger Auror was watching her and finally forced herself to dry her tears as they approached the far shore. As he helped her out of the boat, he murmured, "We didn't expect that to happen. No one knows what the prisoners' minds will create for them to believe. I do apologise, Madame Lestrange."
Andromeda did not reply, only nodded once. She strode to the apparition point, not caring if her strides were too long to be proper for a lady. She couldn't care less at the moment as she disapparated.
She walked up the drive to the gates of Malfoy Manor, wondering if Cissa would understand her mixed feelings of sorrow and anger. She really was back to square one: no one understood. Andromeda let her presence be known to the ward, and moments later, Narcissa was at the gate, frowning slightly.
"Andromeda, you look insane," Narcissa scolded her. "I'm entertaining guests, and you're not presentable at all!"
"I can wait for you to be done," Andromeda breathed. "I can't go home yet."
"Fine," the blonde witch sighed, shaking her head. "You know where my dayroom is. Go there and wait for me."
Andromeda nodded and hurried off along the hall, glad to be alone in her sister's private room. She sat down for a few moments, then got to her feet, pacing around the room until she caught sight of herself in the mirror. She was shocked to see her dress stained and dirty from her visit to Azkaban and immediately drew her wand, attempting to fix the damage that had been done.
She was standing silently, staring at the wall, when the door opened and Cissa walked into the room. Andromeda whirled around nervously, her hand reaching for her wand, and Cissa sighed. "Sit down, Dromeda," she said gently. "I didn't realise where you had been...I just remembered. At least you cleaned up a bit."
Andromeda just stared at her, and Narcissa bit her lip. "Please sit down," she murmured. "You're acting like Bellatrix...please calm down."
The brown-haired witch numbly walked over to the couch and sat down, burying her face in her hands. "Cissa...it's going to be just as bad as I thought," she whispered. "He...he didn't take it well."
"What happened?" Narcissa asked in concern, taking her sister's hand in hers after a moment.
"I told him about Arielle," Andromeda whispered, bowing her head in shame. "He accused me of being unfaithful...he struck me across the face."
"Oh, Dromeda," Narcissa said sympathetically, horrified.
"He said everything I've been terrified he would say every single time that I failed him," Andromeda sniffed. "Only because he thinks I have another child that isn't his. We're going to go straight back to the way we were at first." She looked up at her sister in sudden fright. "He's going to be awful to the girls when he returns, isn't he?" she breathed fearfully. "He'll hate Dora—and Arielle, unless I can convince him that she's his. Cissa...what if he treats them like Father—"
"We will not let him," Narcissa said firmly. "And I don't think Rabastan would ever do something like that to a little girl."
Andromeda clutched at her hair. "It's my responsibility to protect them," she whimpered. "I have to—"
Narcissa drew a steadying breath, then summoned an elf and told it to bring Andromeda some chocolate. "Shh," she said to her sister softly. "Shh." She wrapped her arms around her older sister and held her carefully. "Being there has effected you...you need to not think about it right now. You'll be able to think about it clearly in a couple days."
"I am thinking clearly!" Andromeda protested, though she didn't pull away from Narcissa.
"You were pulling your hair and rambling half a minute ago," Narcissa pointed out. "No, you are not thinking clearly. You should have had someone go with you, Dromeda."
"There is no one," Andromeda muttered, turning away, though she jumped in shock as Narcissa' placed a piece of chocolate in her hand.
"No more talking until that's gone," the blonde witch warned her. "I mean it."
Andromeda obeyed, eating the chocolate in silence until she was finished, looking back at her sister. "Cissa," she said in a small voice, "he's already changed. I'm scared."
Narcissa wrapped her arms around her sister once more and held her firmly. "It's going to be okay," she said quietly. "You'll find a way to make him understand. He loves you, remember?"
"He'll forget," Andromeda whispered. "The dementors will twist his mind, and he'll only remember that I wanted a Mudblood, and won't accept that Arielle is his. Rabastan will hate me, Cissa."
"You can always come here to me if you need refuge," Narcissa murmured. "If you need a break from him. I'm sorry, Dromeda."
Andromeda nodded, and the two sisters sat there in silence for some time before Andromeda was able to force herself to get up and return home. The moment she walked in, Arielle came toddling up to her and held out her arms to be taken up. "Did you get a picture?" the three-year-old asked hopefully.
"I...don't have it ready yet," Andromeda murmured against the child's hair as she lifted her into her arms. "I need to make it into a picture before you can see it."
"Fiiine," Arielle pouted, clinging to her mother with a sigh. "If I play with Athena and Dora for a minute, will you get the picture?"
Andromeda held the girl for a few more minutes, then said, "All right, I will. And then we can all look at them together." She walked down the hallway and knocked softly on Dora's door before quietly entering the room with Arielle in her arms.
"Oh, hi, Mum," Dora said, getting to her feet and hurrying to the woman. "Was Dad okay?"
"Well, yes," Andromeda answered, unable to think of a proper way to answer her eldest in front of her youngest. "Now if you two will give me a few moments, I'll prepare that picture of Dad for you."
"Okay," Arielle grinned as Dora wrapped her arms around her little sister.
Andromeda turned and left the room, hurrying to the study and knocking softly before she walked into the room. "Hi," she said quietly.
Her father-in-law looked up at her and nodded. "You wish to speak to me?" he asked.
"I...was hoping to use the Pensieve," Andromeda murmured. "The children want a picture of their father, and I...I need to make sure that it's a good picture."
"Do you want to be alone?" Desmond asked, rising from the desk.
"Please." She looked at him pleadingly. He nodded to her politely and left the room quickly. Taking a deep breath, Andromeda summoned the Pensieve to the desk and began to look at some memories of her husband.
Before long, she was wiping away tears as she recalled some of the beautiful moments she had shared with Rabastan years earlier. The children wouldn't know him: she understood that. Her heart ached as she thought about them not having a father to raise them.
I'm doing my best, she thought as she saw her memory self laughing happily as Rabastan picked her up and swung her around, hugging her to himself before beginning to sway with her in a slow dance. "I love you," she sniffed, taking the picture.
She then forced herself to go back and look at her memory of talking to Rabastan in his prison cell. "Rabastan…." She watched him hit her across the face and tell her she was worthless. She couldn't help but feel hurt all over again, though she lifted her face from the Pensieve with a picture of the two of them cuddling in his cell. "I love you," she whispered to the second picture, then put them in her pocket and went to show her children.
Nymphadora grinned as she held out her arms to the sides to be measured for her new Hogwarts robes. She looked up at her mother happily, and Andromeda gave her a proud smile.
The girl's two sisters and brother looked on, Arielle rather jealously as Laverne and Athena just watched passively. It didn't take too long for Nymphadora to be measured and her robes to be finished, and all three of the younger children looked on jealously as Dora received her very own wand. Arielle tugged on her sister's sleeve, a pleading look on her face. "May I see?" she asked Dora.
The older girl smiled after a moment, carefully showing Arielle, but refusing to let her hold it. "It's special, Arielle," Dora said. "One day, you'll have your own!"
Arielle looked up at her sister again and nodded seriously. Andromeda looked around at her four children and smiled proudly, saying, "Come along, dearies. To the sweet shop, as I promised."
Laverne grinned excitedly, sharing a look with Athena and Dora as they hurried after their mother. Andromeda lifted Arielle into her arms, as she could hardly keep up, and hugged her close as she held the girl on her hip.
They entered the store together, Dora and Laverne receiving permission to go off together and choose some kind of sweets. Athena stayed at her mother's side as they looked around a bit. She told her mother what candy she wanted, and Andromeda nodded, gathering their things and going up front to wait for her other two children.
It wasn't too long before the oldest girl and her brother reappeared, both with bags in their hands. Laughing slightly, Andromeda motioned for them to hurry up. They all stood at the counter happily as Andromeda made the purchase while the children happily discussed trading the different kinds of candy they had each chosen.
She led them from the store when they were finished and gathered them close to disapparate. The moment they appeared, Dora yelled, "All the kids to my room!" Andromeda watched as her children all laughed and hurried after Dora, though Laverne stopped at the doorway and looked back at his mother.
"Mum?" Laverne asked softly.
"Yes, Laverne?" Andromeda answered quietly, walking toward him.
"Come with us," he said, holding out his hand to her.
"It's for you and your sisters to play together," she said, taking his hand and pulling him into a hug. "You're really sweet to invite me, but I'm a grown-up."
He frowned, murmuring, "But I want you to be with us, Mum," he told her. "I mean...you got the candy for us...I'll share with you, and the girls will too."
Andromeda finally smiled, hugging him once more. "All right, if you insist," she said, letting him lead her down the hallway. When she entered her daughter's room, the three girls all looked up eagerly.
"Here, Mum," nine-year-old Athena said, patting the bed beside her. "Come share with us. You did get it for us after all."
"Well, I didn't want to spoil your fun," Andromeda said, glad that Arielle chose to climb up in her lap at that moment, a couple sweets in her hand.
"We have to stick together," Athena told her mother firmly. "Especially with Dora going off to school soon."
Dora looked over at her sister. "I'm not going to disappear," she told her mother, brother, and sisters. "I'll always come back and visit."
"Soon Mum will be left with only Arielle until she grows up too," Laverne said, looking at the little girl on their mother's lap.
"What will you do without us, Mum?" Athena asked in concern.
"Oh, she'll go to parties with Aunt Cissa," Dora grinned in amusement. "She'll have no children to bother her."
"Or maybe Mum will stay home and be a lonely old lady," Andromeda answered with a grin.
Laverne grinned, and Arielle piped up, "You can get a cat!"
Andromeda laughed. "Perhaps," she said, taking a sweet that Athena offered her. "Mum will find something to do, no matter what."
She obviously did not tell her children that she dreaded for them to be gone and for her to be all alone. She put on a smile and continued to tease with her children. We will wait.
