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Bella

"Would you please stop that, Rodolphus." Greer snapped, glaring at the Death Eater as he stopped his pacing. "I can't concentrate."

Nymphadora flinched as the healer put his cold hands back to her stomach, closing her eyes as she tried to ignore the men despite her position. "You've been sat there in silence for all of five minutes." Rodolphus snapped, "How is my son? The last time you came here you said he was strong, though Nymphadora was weak. She's eating properly—I've seen to it myself. So how is my son?"

Greer let out a sigh, straightening up from the woman he searched in his bag for his potions. "Nymphadora is fine . . . The child seems fine."

"Seems fine?" It was Nymphadora that spoke this time, her eyes snapping open in fear as every last thought of what Rodolphus would do should his unborn son come to harm went racing through his head.

"You still have a couple of months to go," Greer said dismissively, handing the witch a small bottle, "take a drop of this every day." He looked to Rodolphus more seriously, arranging his things ready to leave. "She should not be going out on missions should she be able to help it."

"What is wrong with my son, Greer?" Rodolphus growled.

"He seems fine." Greer narrowed his eyes at the wizard, "Not quite as strong as the last time I came, but fine. I can come back in a week, keep her out of trouble in the meantime?"

Rodolphus hesitated a moment before he nodded, allowing the man to leave the room.

"Rod . . ." Dora murmured after a long silence, snapping the man out of his silent gaze after the healer.

"What?" Rodolphus said, "Is something wrong?"

"No . . ." Dora shook her head, her voice small, "I just . . . You've been staring at the door for nearly a minute."

"Yes . . . You feel fine?" Rodolphus asked.

"Tired." Dora shrugged slightly.

"Then stay in bed," Rodolphus said, drawing his wand.

"What are you doing?" Dora shuffled up the bed slightly, staring at his wand as she grabbed hold of her own.

"Don't be stupid, Nymphadora." Rodolphus hissed, "I'm hardly going to curse you right now. I'm merely putting up a ward to keep certain people out."

"Keep who out?" Dora asked, sitting up right now as she glared at the man, "You can't keep everyone out of my room, what if Teddy wants me?"

"Well, unless Teddy suddenly decides to take after his father and wants to come to rip your throat open in the middle of the night on a full moon he will be able to get in just fine."

"How dare you!" Dora hissed, her hair now raging a bright red "My son is not a werewolf!"

"I have no concern of what your son is or isn't right now, my only concern is my son," Rodolphus spoke matter-of-factly as he set about his work.

"I hate you." Dora glared, though she leant back on her pillows again, her exhaustion getting the better of her.

"Really?" Rodolphus asked sarcastically, "Here I thought you loved me." The man snickered to himself as he completed the wards on the room, stopping and looking back at the girl on the behind before with a sigh he took off his shoes and climbed into the bed beside her despite her cringe. He pulled her close to him, resting his head on her own as he stroked her stomach. "Go to sleep, Nymphie. Get some rest."

Delphi sighed forlornly, falling back onto Elara's bed with a thud as she stared at the ceiling. "I'm bored," the nine-year-old declared.

"You've only been here a minute," Elara rolled her eyes, looking remarkably like her father before she grinned and jumped onto the bed. "We could play a game."

"I'm listening . . ." Delphi rolled her head to the side, looking to the six-year-old.

"Good . . ." Elara bit her lip, thinking for a moment before she grinned again, "Hide and seek?"

"The last time we played that you ended up getting yourself locked in the dungeon," Delphi said.

"Well this time I won't," Elara said, "I don't think Dad would appreciate getting me out of there again anyway."

"It was funny watching his face when he found you there though," Delphi giggled.

"You could have got me out and stopped that," Elara pouted.

"Yes . . ." Delphi mused, "but Roddy got there first."

"Fine," Elara crossed her legs, thinking again, "dolls?"

"No," Delphi groaned.

"Chase?"

"With your clumsiness?" Delphi raised an eyebrow.

Elara scowled, a comic appearance on the pink haired child, "We can go flying?"

"Again, clumsiness."

"I'm a good flyer!" Elara crossed her arms, "Mum says it's the same with her you know, she may be clumsy but when it comes to flying she's really good. Said she was in her House Quidditch team in school and everything. If she needs to focus she's alright, works with flying, when she used to carry me or Teddy, when she's dueling—mostly—What?" Elara frowned as a mischievous smirk appeared on the older girls features, "I don't like that look on you. The last time you had that look we ended up getting in trouble. What are you thinking? Tell me."

Delphi giggled, sitting up to face the girl, "Seeing as you asked so nicely," she said sarcastically, "Elara? Have you ever used a wand?"

"Dad let me hold his once—well, I kind of took it when he wasn't looking and then stopped himself from just snatching it back." Elara mused, "He wasn't too happy that I got hold of it but he finds it hard to say no to me . . . Why?" Elara's face suddenly became more serious, "Have you?"

"All the time," Delphi said, getting to her feet and walking over to the mirror as she pushed her silver hair behind her ears, "Mum and Father let me use theirs when they're teaching me. I know a fair few spells, I think I could win a duel you know. But Mum's far too overprotective to let me try with her and Father says I'm not ready yet and to have patience." The girl laughed as she mocked her father's tone before she looked back at Elara, "But you should get a chance to use a wand—I'd already used one at your age."

"Dad won't let me," Elara mumbled, "which Mum knows so she won't let me because what Dad says goes."

"Well, that's hardly fair. Come on," Delphi walked forward to the girl and grabbed her hand.

"W-What?" Elara stuttered, letting Delphi take her hand and pull her off of the bed.

"Let's go let you use a wand," Delphi said simply.

"I—I can't." Elara shook her head, "It's dangerous, plus I don't know how!"

"I'll teach you," Delphi stated matter-of-factly, she sighed after she saw the trepidation on her friend's pale face, softening her tone before she carried on, "Elara, would I ever let you get hurt? No. You can trust me."

"I know . . ." Elara said.

"Come on, Elara," Delphi tugged on her friend's hand, "You are not some scared little girl, I bet your parents never did as they were told when they were your age—well, maybe Rodolphus but he's a special case. But your Mum definitely didn't, from what I've heard. Take a risk, break the rules, have fun." Delphi pleaded.

"I—" Elara bit her lip in thought for a moment, looking at her friends mock begging face before she couldn't help but grin slightly, "So where do we get a wand?"

"Yes, Elara!" Delphi cackled, sounding frighteningly like her own mother, before without warning she ran from the room pulling Elara in tow.

Elara let the girl drag her out of her room, barely managing to pull the door shut behind them as she went to leave their part of the manor. Delphi quickly pulled her in the opposite direction, taking her further down the wing. It was only when they passed Delphi's room that Elara began to worry, though she didn't say anything until she stopped outside the room her Father and Bellatrix shared.

"What are we doing here?" Elara whispered.

"Oh, it's fine," Delphi rolled her eyes, "There's an Inner Circle meeting so Mum and Rod are going to be there for ages."

"It's probably locked," Elara said.

"Not to me it isn't," Delphi smirked as she opened the door with ease, "Mum wouldn't lock me out of her room, I end up waiting for her in there sometimes when I can't find her." She pulled her friend into the room, quickly shutting the door behind her, "I mean, she locks it at night sometimes but if I knock the door she'll let me in after a minute. She only ever does it when she's in there with Rod—they're probably just arguing knowing them, she doesn't like getting angry in front of me unless she's dealing with someone."

"Oh," Elara looked around the room, waiting still near the door to the room as she watched Delphini.

The silver-haired girl seemed to consider the room for a moment, muttering to herself "Now where did she keep them?" she hummed, looking around for a moment before she exclaimed and ran to her mother's bedside table. She opened the drawer, pulling an intricate looking dagger out of its depths before with a grin she went over to Bella's dressing table and pulled out a wooden chest from underneath. Elara watched on wide-eyed as Delphi pressed the dagger to the tip of her finger.

"What are you doing?!" Elara gasped, running over to the girl despite her nerves though Delphi only giggled, "You're mad."

"Thanks," Delphi hummed, squeezing her finger to draw more blood from the small pinprick cut and then pressing it to the lock of the chest. It sprung open at her touch, "It's a blood ward. Mum gets a little bit funny about people touching her things, so she puts wards on them so only her blood—or people with really close blood to hers—opens it. I don't think she realises that I know I can open things." Delphi opened the chest, revealing a small assortment of wands within, "Mum showed me these once, she keeps wands from people she kills sometimes—or people who she thinks it's 'amusing' to have the wand of."

Delphi couldn't help but smirk as Elara dropped to her knees next to her, reaching out and running her fingers over the assortment of wands "So we can use one of these?" Elara asked, Delphi nodding in response, "Whose wand do we use?"

"Well I can't remember whose is whose," Delphi rolls her eyes, "I mean I can some of them. See, that's some Weasley woman's—apparently she tried to kill Mum in the Battle of the Hogwarts, which she finds funny for some reason. This is . . . Shackle . . . Shackle something. Oh!" Delphi pulled one wand from the chest, turning it over in her hands, "This is Lupin's wand."

"Lupin?" Elara frowned, taking the wand from the girl. It was slightly shorter than her mother's own, dark wood with a rounded top and swirled carvings following down to the tip. "That's Mum's last name . . ."

"Well duh," Delphi sighed, "it's her husband's wand."

"Teddy's Dad?" Elara frowned, looking at it curiously.

"Yes," Delphi nodded, "Mum didn't kill him but she said it's one of those that are 'nice to have'." She watched the girl for a minute before she grinned, closing the chest and pushing it back to place before running over to put the dagger back as she found it, "Come on, we can use that one."

"Okay," Elara grinned, "where are we going?"

"My room, come on." Delphi near enough ran from the room, the younger girl close behind her this time as they both ran in a fit of giggles down to her room.

"Now what?" Elara asked as she watched Delphi close the door behind them, putting her hand out to the door and hissing in Parseltongue as Elara knew her own wards were added to the room.

"Well, from the looks of it, I need to teach you how to hold that thing." Delphi laughed, watching Elara blush as she adjusting her grip on the wand in her hand. "Come here, silly." Walked over to her draws, rummaging around before she pulled a few items of bric-a-brac from the draw and layed them on the floor. Elara watched the girl curiously until she walked up to her, taking her hand and adjusting her grip on the wand for her, "It's more like this . . . You have to keep a firm grip on it—but not too firm. You don't want to break it."

"What if I break it?" Elara worried, looking to the girl as her pink hair gained streaks of white, "Your Mum will kill me."

"No, she won't," Delphi rolled her eyes, "I'll tell her I did it."

"But then she'll be mad at you," Elara said.

"That's funny," Delphi scoffed, shaking her head, "look, just concentrate."

"Right," Elara nodded, focusing her attention on the wand as she made sure to grip it as Delphi had shown her.

"Just, focus on one of those trinkets, jab the wand at it very precisely—you want to intend for it to sort of explode—but a small explosion, look." Delphi took the wand, demonstrating with ease as she showed the girl how she made each of the items explode before her. She giggled when she was done explaining herself, going to get more items and laying them on the floor, "These will be a bit easier because they're bigger, try it."

Elara took a deep breath as she concentrated for a moment before jabbing at the first item, it merely wobbled for a few moments, Elara could hear Delphi giggling behind her as she missed her aim and singed the carpet. She growled in annoyance, concentrating again as after a few more attempts she watched the item explode into a thousand pieces.

"There you go!" Delphi laughed, moving to sit on her bed to the side of the items as she gestured for Elara to try again.

It took fewer attempts to get the second item to explode. Her hair was bright pink, delighted as she moved onto the third item with both of the girls giggling in amusement. It was as she was attempting the third and final item under Delphini's encouragement that it all went wrong. A door slamming in the distance startled the girl as she went to cast the spell again, causing her to jump as her spell went badly off aim. In the next instance, a scream filled the air. Delphini was hunched forward on her bed, grabbing desperately at her leg as tears began to roll down her cheeks.

"Delphi!" Elara yelled, running over to her "I'm sorry, I—Oh Merlin!"

Delphi had pulled her skirts to the side to reveal where the spell had hit her. Her right leg was bent at an unnatural angle, a dent visible in her skin from the mere impact of the spell.

"I—I—" Delphi hissed in pain, "G—Get your mum."

"M-My Mum?" Elara shook her head, "She'll find out what we were doing! She'll kill me!"

"Well, I can't get my parents!" Delphi cried, containing her sobs at the pain.

"Can't you fix it?" Elara looked horrified, barely able to look at her friend's injury as she took her arm instead, "Y-You can use a wand, fix it!"

"I-I can't!" Delphi cried, Elara had never seen her friend look so vulnerable before and it terrified her, "Elara, get your mum, she can fix bones! I've seen her do it w-when Mum's h-hurt her." She looked to Elara, "Elara my parents c-can't f-find out. If they find me like this . . . Please, it hurts."

"I—" Elara took a deep breath before she nodded, "Wait here!" she only realised the idiocy of her statement as she had wrenched the door open, running down the corridors as fast as she could, determined to get to the Prisoner's Wing as quickly as her little legs could carry her, determined not to be stopped. She nearly fell over multiple times, but she steadied herself on her way as she skidded through the wards of the wing to find her mother.

Nymphadora was half asleep on her bed, curled on her side as she stroked the bump of her unborn child, silently cursing it for making it nearly impossible to get a comfortable sleep anymore. She didn't even move when she heard the main door to the ward slam open, if Rodolphus was in a foul mood he couldn't hurt her—and if he had successfully placed the wards on the room as he said he had no-one else who wanted to hurt her could get in either. It was only as she heard her own door slam open that she even opened her eyes.

"Mum!" Elara screamed, rushing over to the bed and grabbing her hand, "Come with me!"

"Elara," Dora frowned, slowly sitting up though she didn't let her daughter pull her off the bed, "what's wrong?

"I don't have time to explain!" Elara yelled, "Just come on!"

"I—" Dora shook her head, pulling her hand away and rubbing the sleep from her eyes before she took in her daughter's appearance. The girl's hair was pure white, a look of sheer panic on her face. She reached out and took hold of the girl's arms, trying to give her the most reassuring look she could muster through her confusion and drowsiness, "You need to tell me what's wrong, then I'll help you, I promise. I—" it was at that moment, as Nymphadora went to take her daughter's hands, that she froze. There, in her small hands, was a wand that she had not seen in many years. She knew she had probably gone ten shades paler as Elara went to hide the wand behind her back, but Nymphadora was quicker than her child and grabbed her wrist before she could hide it. "Where did you get this?"

"I-I don't know," Elara said immediately, looking away from her mother's piercing stare.

"Don't lie," Nymphadora winced as she tried with all of her might not to shout at the girl, "Where did you get it? Do you know whose wand that is?"

"I-" Elara went to speak, though Nymphadora took the wand from her hands, letting go of her daughter as she stared at the familiar wood, "Mum, I can explain." Nymphadora looked up to her daughter, trying to hold back the tears in her eyes, "but we need to go, now. Then I'll explain, I promise."

"No," Dora shook her head, "Elara you need to tell me where this came from."

"No!" Elara shook her head, grabbing her mother's wrist, "This is more important! Mum come on!"

"Elara!" Nymphadora exclaimed as she was pulled to her feet, though she quickly pulled herself away, pulling her daughter off of her when she tried to push her out of the open door, "Be careful!"

"No! You don't understand! We have to go now! If Nanny told you to move you would so move!" Elara stomped her feet, yelling in frustration.

"She is an adult and my mother," Nymphadora said, "just as I am your mother Elara Lestrange and I suggest you speak to me nicely."

"This is important!" Elara screeched, "Come on!" She went running at her mother again, but Nymphadora quickly drew her wand and put a gentle barrier between herself and the girl to stop her running straight into her stomach. This only made Elara angry, the Black anger rising deep from within her as she couldn't understand why her mother wouldn't just do as she was told. She let out an almighty scream of annoyance, going to push against the barrier with her hands outstretched ready to push her mother straight through the door, uncaring as to if she got hurt (and half hoping that she would be just to teach her a lesson). It was at that point that it all went wrong. A burst of magic shot from Elara's hands, Nymphadora's eyes widening in horror as it went rushing straight through her minor barrier and hit her square in the chest. She went flying off of her feet, though instead of flying through the door she stopped at the doorway. She yelled out in pain as she somehow collided with the barrier that Rodolphus placed, the intent of the girls magic clearly lingering too strongly on her, she fell to the floor in a heap.

". . . Mum?" Elara spoke meekly, but her mother didn't reply. She merely stirred on the floor for a moment, clutching her stomach as she screwed up her features in pain, her hair now a white to match her own. "Mum!" Elara ran over to her Mum, dropping to the floor beside her and grabbing hold of her arm, "Mum I'm sorry!"

"I—" Dora tried to speak, though all that came out was a mumbled garble of pain.

"Mum?" Elara cried, swatting away the tears now running down her face, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."

"I-It's okay," Dora spoke through gritted teeth, forcing herself to look up to Elara and attempt to hide her pain, "I-I need help, Elara."

"So does Delphi!" Elara cried, "I've hurt Delphi and now I've hurt you and—Mum, have you wet yourself?"

"I—" Dora's eyes widened in fear, reaching down to feel the dampness on her skirts.

"What's going on?" Andromeda had arrived at the open doorway, seeing Nymphadora and falling to her knees to try to help her, "We need Rodolphus, I'll get him—"

"No!" Dora cried, ignoring her mother's protests as she reached out to Elara, brushing her hair out of her face as reassuringly as she could muster whilst trying to hide her pain, "Where's Delphi?"

"I-In her room," Elara sniffed, trying and failing to stop her tears, "I-I was using that wand a-and s-she was t-teaching me—she said it was okay! B-But I jumped and I hit her!"

"It's okay," Dora breathed through her pain.

"Nymphadora," Andromeda drew her wand, trying to assess her daughter, freezing as she noticed the wetness of her skirts, "Nymphadora you need Rodolphus now."

Nymphadora nodded, taking a deep breath and squeezing her daughter's hand, "Elara, go and get your father, bring him here. Nanny will go help Delphi, okay?"

"B-But Mum—" Elara cried, "I'm sorry! This is my fault, I didn't mean to hurt you! I didn't mean to do magic!"

"Elara it's okay," Dora went to speak again but was soon cut off by another moan of pain as she clutched her stomach.

"Elara," Andromeda spoke firmly, getting to her feet and pulling her granddaughter to her feet and around Nymphadora, "do as your mother says, go now. Tell Rodolphus that the baby is coming."

"The baby's coming?" Elara asked in wide-eyed shock.

"Yes, now go!" Andromeda pushed the girl towards the exit of the wing, "Don't tell him what happened! Just get him here now!"

Elara stared at her grandmother in shock for a moment, until a yell of pain from her mother caused her to jump and run from the ward as quickly as she could. Andromeda leant back down to her daughter, going to try and help her again.

"Go to Delphi!" Dora yelled, "I'll be fine, he'll help me, b-but if Elara r-really has hurt Delphi—The Dark Lord's daughter . . ."

Andromeda hesitated for a moment before with a sigh she nodded, though she did not run from the ward immediately as Elara had, instead she ran to her sister's room. She ignored her grandson, now stood confused at his doorway as he tried to ask what had happened. "Narcissa!" Andromeda yelled, opening the door and not caring as Narcissa tried to ask her what was wrong, "Go to Nymphadora, she's been hurt."

"How—?"

"Just do it!" Andromeda snapped, waiting for her sister to purse her lips then nod as she went to leave the room. It was only then that she ran from the ward, not even able to worry about what had happened to Delphi for her to need her to run to her aid. Instead, all she could think about was what would happen to Nymphadora if she lost the baby, or what would happen to Elara if what she said was true; if it was her fault how would Rodolphus react? Andromeda Tonks took a deep breath as she walked confidently through the manor, drawing as little attention to herself as she could as she approached the room of Delphini Riddle.