A chapter, sort of on time? hehehe I'm trying, y'all.

Trixie Black Lestrange

Athena Lestrange walked down the hall toward the Charms classroom as she tried to understand what had happened with Dora and Draco. Somehow, Dora had caused Draco to fail Quidditch tryouts so badly that he hadn't gotten a place on the team.

First of all, the young Malfoy was only a first year, so he shouldn't have been able to try out at all. Athena was sure that Uncle Lucius had a hand in that. Everyone had expected Draco to make the team, and they were shocked when Draco even had troubles controlling his broom.

Athena opened the door of the classroom and strode to her seat. Her old sister was out of control and it was a very good thing that Dora was in her last year—how Dora managed to find time to play pranks on top of studying for her NEWTs, Athena didn't know.

Hating her cousin was no reason for Dora to embarrass him in front of everyone at the tryouts. No one knew that Nymphadora had done it except Athena, and possibly Laverne. Dora and their brother were the Slytherin Beaters, meaning Dora had had the perfect opportunity to set Draco up for failure.

Athena struggled to concentrate in her class when they were reviewing charms in preparation for their OWLs. It was not easy to do each charm as Flitwick called it out when her mind was taken with concern about her older sister. She needed to speak to Laverne about the situation and see if he would go to Dora with her. Maybe she would listen to their brother.

"Aguamenti," Professor Flitwick called out, and Athena raised her wand.

"Aguamenti," she said firmly. A torrent of high-pressured water flew from the time of her wand, knocking her backward as other students shrieked in surprise. Athena tightened her grip on her wand and stopped the spell, getting to her feet to survey the damage.
"A bit too much power, Ms Lestrange," Flitwick said, and some of the students laughed, others looking annoyed or angry as they dried themselves off.

"Sorry, professor," Athena breathed, seeing how she'd drenched the professor, the classroom, and the students.

Everything was soon dried off, but Athena didn't feel all right until she'd escaped to the Great Hall for supper that night. She sat down alone, as Alvin hadn't made his way into the hall and Athena refused to sit with Dora right now.

Several moments went by until Laverne strode into the hall and walked down the table to take a seat by Athena. "How's it going?" he asked her

She must have given him an awful look, because he said, "Whoa, okay. What's going on?"

Athena quickly placed a Sound Bubble around the two of them. "Don't you know—didn't you see what Dora did?"

Laverne frowned, but nodded. "She's graduating this year and won't be able to do things like that anymore. I mean, Draco will eventually be made the Slytherin seeker—just look at Potter. I'm sure Lucius won't let that go very easily."

"So you've noticed how mean Dora is?" Athena said in despair. "What are we going to do with her, Laverne?"

"Honestly, she's not ours to control," Laverne replied. "It's up to the school, and Mother."

"They'll never know half the things she's done," Athena said worriedly. "No one can stop her, and I'm sure you know Regulus has been teaching her the Dark Arts."

Laverne looked surprised, then admitted that he knew. "She's mentioned it a few times," he said. "She and some of the other older students like to compare spells and things."

Athena bit her lip slightly. "I'm worried about her. What if she becomes like Bellatrix and ends up in Azkaban?"

"She's smart," Laverne said confidently. "Dora is sneaky and can hide a lot of things. She's only been testing her boundaries. She'll be okay."

"How do you know?" Athena demanded. "She just acts so...insane."

"Do you remember her gossiping about Arielle a couple years ago?" Laverne reminded Athena. "Well, Nymphadora acts more like I'd imagine a daughter of Bellatrix to act, not a daughter of our mother."

"Well!" Athena said, scandalised. "That can't be, of course. Dora once threw a fit about her whole parentage thing and Mum did a blood test to prove Dora's hers. And her father's definitely dead."

Laverne chuckled, his sister giving him a reproachful look. "Dora will be fine," he said. "She's smart: you'll see."

Athena huffed at this. "She needs to behave."

"Well, when the Dark Lord returns, as she so likes to talk about," Laverne smirked, "she'll have to. I'm sure she'll join right up and then Dora will have to be that well-behaved pureblood witch Mum's tried to make out of her."

"As well-behaved as Auntie Bella," Athena scoffed.

"Well, you take what you can get," Laverne shrugged. "Look, I've got to eat and run. Theo's asked me to help him with some charm or another. If I have a chance, I'll say something to Dora. We'll be fine."

Athena shook her head but didn't say anything else. She'd have to wait and see what trouble Dora would get into next.

It was with great relief that Athena came to the end of that school year. They were all somewhat disturbed about the things that they'd heard about Harry Potter that year—after all, how could they really know what had happened when the three Gryffindor first years had attempted to protect the Philosopher's Stone?

A great mystery still surrounded the Potter boy, and no one was exactly sure about him quite yet. As far as they could all tell, he was definitely a Light wizard. In spite of everything Draco said about Harry Potter, from what Athena could tell, the Boy-Who-Lived was quiet (mostly), polite, and very well-behaved.

Dora was relieved to be finished with her school days, done with her NEWTs and waiting for their results. She'd already been questioned by her mother and Regulus as to how well she'd thought she'd done, but Dora wasn't completely sure. It was all over anyway and she wouldn't have trouble getting a position at the Ministry with her family influence if worst came to worst.

The day after her tenth birthday, the youngest Lestrange looked across the supper table and said to Nymphadora, "So now that you're done with school, you're going to go off and get married, aren't you?"

"No," Dora laughed at the girl. "I'm going to go work at the Ministry and actually do something productive with my life."

This confused Arielle, who then turned to her mother. "Why does Dora get to do whatever she wants and the rest of us have to follow all these stupid pureblood rules?"

Dora huffed at this. "I don't get to do whatever I want," she said. "Here's the story: I have a different father from the rest of you."

Andromeda's face went blank and the other two children turned to their oldest and youngest sisters as Meira set down her teacup carefully. "My father was a Mudblood," Nymphadora said simply. "Your father killed him and forced Mother to marry him and carry on his family."

"No, no, no," Arielle said, shaking her head. "You've tried to say that before—"

"Arielle." Andromeda spoke quietly, but there was an unusual tone in her voice. "It is true. I was pregnant with Dora when Rabastan killed her father, kidnapped me, and brought me here."

"It was difficult," Meira said, and the rest of the family immediately turned to her. "Your uncle and aunt wanted us to kill Andromeda's child before she was born, but Rabastan spoke for her, and Dora was born a few months later. But the family grew together, and you and Laverne and Athena came along. We had a beautiful dynamic until the Aurors came and took your father, uncle, and aunt away."

"Oh," Arielle said, looking back at Dora. "So you're a halfblood?"

"Yes," Nymphadora said coldly, her hair shooting black. "Do you have a problem with that? I can't change that part of me, you know."

"No," the girl mumbled, looking down at her plate.

"If you're wondering why we haven't got rid of her," Laverne said casually, "she's our sister and part of our family. We're never letting her go."

"Never," Athena agreed firmly. "Even if she drives us insane or embarrasses us with the things she used to do at school."

Nymphadora glanced at Athena, slightly offended, though she didn't mention it. "You didn't find out when the others did, Arielle, because you didn't believe them when they told you. I think you were only five years old or something."

The young girl turned to her mother, a horrified expression on her face. "Wait...you slept with a Mudblood?"

Andromeda looked directly into her youngest child's eyes. "Yes."

"Why?" Ariella questioned, confused. "You were a Black: of course you knew better."

"I hated my father and I wanted to get away from him," Andromeda answered. "I don't think you really remember Cygnus: he died a few months after the children found out about Dora. He abused me when I lived at his house, and when I found a man that loved me, I didn't hesitate. I couldn't bear the life I'd been living up til that time."

Meira looked around at the four young ones. "Your mother has been through a lot," she said to them. "And I only know what's happened since she arrived here at Lestrange Manor."

"Basically," Laverne told the family, "Dora's not going anywhere unless she chooses to do so, and Mother has done her absolute best to make sure that all of us were raised to pureblood standard. I will not be casting doubt on my mother's reputation."

"No," each of the other children said together, and Arielle turned back to Nymphadora. "So...what are you going to be doing at the Ministry?"

"I think I want to be an Obliviator," Dora answered them, "but I want to take a break for a few months first, get used to living with full magic."

"That's a wise choice, I think," Laverne agreed. "Even though we don't do the whole 'no magic out of Hogwarts' thing, it may take some getting used to not to have to be careful about it."

Dora nodded, pushing her plate away and getting to her feet. There was no way she wanted to stay around the house and do nothing for the rest of her life, and she knew without a doubt that her mother was not about to try to marry her off without her consent.

Nymphadora decided that she did not want to begin working at the Ministry until after the first of the year, so she was with her mother and Arielle as they saw the middle two children off to Hogwarts yet again. Dora shook hands with Laverne and told him with a grin, "I'm so glad that I don't have to go back anymore. Make sure the two of you behave."

"I don't know what you mean," Laverne answered with a smirk and turned to say goodbye to his mother before helping Athena with the trunks.

Arielle pouted as she watched the two board the train, but Andromeda slipped her arm around the girl's shoulders. "You'll be going next year, dear," Andromeda said to her softly. "There's a time and place for things."

Dora grinned at the girl. "At least you don't have to go with me," she shrugged. "I'm a terrible influence."

Arielle scoffed at this, though her face brightened as she asked, "Will you work on flying with me and help me with my morphing now?"

"All right," Dora chuckled. "Though you aren't doing badly, you know."

They waved to their family as the train pulled out of the station, and Andromeda disapparated with the two girls. As they walked up toward the gates of their mansion, Dora asked thoughtfully, "You've been married almost twenty years, haven't you, Mum?"

"It was twenty years in June," Andromeda answered simply. "And he's been in prison for eleven of them."

"Poor Mum," Arielle said, wrapping her arms around her mother as they reached the gates.

"It's all right," the witch said with a sigh. "I just wish you all could have had a real father. Desmond was good to all of you, but...it's not the same."

"Well, at least we have each other for a good while," Dora shrugged. "And you won't be by yourself once Arielle goes off to school."

"No," Andromeda smiled. "But I do expect that Athena will be married very soon after she graduates: just don't tell her I said so."

"Miss Andromeda! Miss Andromeda!"

The squeak of her personal servant and loyal house-elf roused her from her sleep, and the witch sat up with a groan. "What? Lacey, what's wrong?"

"Lacey is sorry, Mistress, but something has happened to Mistress's mother!"

Andromeda's heartbeat quickened, and she rolled out of bed, summoning her robe and pulling it on as she hurried from the room. As she approached Meira's room, the elf racing after her, she heard footsteps behind them. Turning, she saw Dora with her robe clutched around her. "Is it Nan?" Dora asked in concern.

"Something's happened," Andromeda said urgently. "Stay out here while—"

"Don't be ridiculous, Mother; you're not going to face this alone," Nymphadora said firmly, joining the older witch at the door. "No one else is here to help you, and I won't let you say no to me."

"I—I—" Andromeda said doubtfully, but Nymphadora reached out and grasped the door handle of the room.

Dora stepped inside, realising that there were no wards on the room anymore, and she took a deep breath when she saw Meira Lestrange lying on the bed, her eyes closed. Andromeda rushed to the woman's side, sparking Dora into hurrying to her mother at once.

"She's...dead," Andromeda whispered, swaying slightly before Dora reached out and steadied her before realising that her mother was in shock. "Meira...Mother…."

"Mum," Dora said firmly, "you need to sit down."

"No, no," Andromeda shook her head, and Nymphadora frowned, never having seen her mother behave that way before.

"Mother, listen to me," Dora said, slipping an arm around the woman. "We need to get things in order for her to be moved, but you're going to fall if you don't sit down. Come here." Dora led her mother to the chair before the mirror and forced her to take a seat. "Stay here," she ordered her mother. "Lacey, you know the order of things, don't you?"

"Yes," the elf answered, her eyes bright with many tears.

"Can you have the two start preparing her while I go write a letter?" Dora asked. "I need to get someone else here to help me with Mum. Arielle's not going to be much help once she finds out what's happening."

Lacey agreed and disapparated to find the two elves that would prepare Meira's body for burial. Dora stayed by her mother's side as she hurriedly scribbled the little note, then sent it off with her wand, not bothering to use an owl. Andromeda was now leaning against the back of the chair as she stared into the fire, unspeaking.

"Mum," Dora began, but did not know what to say to her. "I'm sorry. She was a good woman."

"She was the mother I never had," Andromeda whispered. "You couldn't understand."

"I understand more than you think," Dora answered softly, stroking her mother's hair back from her face. "She helped you stay with the family, and she's helped you raise us. She was the one that talked sense to me when I learned of my real father. She means a lot to all of us."

Andromeda closed her eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, and asked, "Who did you write the note to?"

"Regulus," she answered. "You helped him when his father died, so he should be here for you."

"It doesn't work that way," Andromeda muttered. "He won't be able to come over until the morning, anyway."

"Well, let's go out to the couch," Dora suggested. "We're not needed here; the elves will take care of it all for now."

Andromeda got to her feet, the two leaving the room and passing the children's rooms when a voice said sleepily, "Mum? Dora?"

"Arielle," Andromeda said, looking up at the girl standing in the doorway of her room.

"What's going on?" Arielle asked, looking between her mother and sister.

"Nan died tonight," Nymphadora said quietly, and Arielle stared at them.

"What? No," Arielle said in disbelief, her eyes filling with tears as Andromeda wrapped her arms around her youngest daughter.

"I'm sorry, baby," Andromeda said to the girl, hugging her gently. "It's true."

Arielle clung to her mother in shock, and Andromeda took a deep breath to calm herself. "Why?" whimpered the girl.

"Meira was old, Arielle," her mother murmured. "She was born in 1925, remember."

"Oh, Mum," Arielle sniffed, and Andromeda sighed, feeling better as she comforted her daughter.

"Why don't you come stay with me for the rest of the night?" Andromeda said to the girl. "We've got some planning to do tomorrow. You can stay too, Dora."

Dora shook her head. "I'll be fine. Aria, if Mum seems like she gets too sad, come and get me, okay?"

Arielle looked at her sister questioningly, but walked away with her mother without saying anything, and Dora continued back to her room for the last few hours of the night.