I was excited to write this chapter, and I DEFINITELY can't wait for the next one. :D
Trixie Black Lestrange
The three were greeted by a shriek of shock, and Rodolphus jumped in front of Bellatrix, his wand raised. "You won't hurt her," he growled at the brown-haired witch.
The younger witch put her hand on Rodolphus' arm and said, "It's just me, Mum. It's okay. Rabastan's been injured by one of the Death Eater trolls."
The younger man looked up at them from the floor where he'd collapsed, still clutching his badly bleeding arm. The witch looked down at him and frowned, reaching forward her wand. "I'll have to take care of him upstairs," she said, levitating the injured man from the room.
Nymphadora hurried after her mother and Rodolphus glared after her, annoyed that the witch wouldn't return to her own form and still looked like Bellatrix. He reluctantly followed, supposing he had to make sure they didn't harm his brother.
They lay Rabastan on a bed upstairs and Andromeda went straight to working on his arm, sending Nymphadora after some sort of healing plant. After some minutes, the young woman was back, handing the plant to her mother and watching earnestly.
Frowning, Rodolphus backed out of the room silently, slipping down the hall and looking around for a way out of the house. They would not hurt Rabastan, but Rodolphus could not stay: the two witches made him angry and he could not risk striking out at them. He had to make sure he didn't send himself back to Azkaban.
He had just seen the stairs when he sensed something, another presence in the house, and turned toward the door he'd just passed. He found the door easy to open and looked inside, starting in shock as he saw the body that Nymphadora had been crying over at the battle. Rodolphus immediately knew that the girl was fatally unaware of what she had in her home, and wondered if he should warn her. After all, it was Rabastan's fault that the girl had got the idea in the first place.
Just on time, Rodolphus heard the girl walking down the hallway and drew his wand, waiting for her. As she walked by the door, he stepped out behind her and wrapped his arm around her, pressing his wand into her neck. "Come with me and make no noise," he said coldly.
The young witch went rigid, struggling against him, but he forced her back into the room, and her eyes widened in fear as she realised where she was. She stumbled slightly, trying to escape him, but he grabbed her and held her firmly by the arms. "You didn't burn the body," he breathed in her ear, his arm warm around her back. "What are you planning to do with it? Kill the werewolf when it comes around? Do you know, you can get quite a bit of money in Knockturn with a werewolf pelt."
"No!" Nymphadora yelled, fighting him as tears sprang to her eyes. "I would never do that to him! Never!"
He shook her as if he would make her understand what she was doing. "Don't you dare cry, Nymphadora! What are you planning?" he glared at her. "I knew Rabastan shouldn't have told you, but he wasn't thinking properly at the time."
"I—I just wanted to see him living again," she faltered, looking down. "I—I still need him."
"Having a living werewolf in your home will not heal your loss!" Rodolphus said in exasperation. He would never do such a thing, not even in his mad grief over Bellatrix.
"Why do you care?" she demanded. "Just leave me alone. It's my life."
"You gave me and my brother a chance to live again," Rodolphus hissed. "To move on. And Merlin knows, you should too. The werewolf is holding you back! Just let him go!"
The young witch sniffed a little, not wanting to speak. "What if he bites you?" he asked her, so softly that she could barely hear him. "Nymphadora Tonks, the Auror-werewolf Metamorphagus! Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing to read in the Daily Prophet!"
"He wouldn't hurt me!" Nymphadora cried, and Rodolphus laughed at her, seeing tears finally begin to trickle down her face.
"The wolf would," Rodolphus said coldly. "There is no way it wouldn't, especially transforming the final time. That's always the worst transformation, especially since there's no way to tame the beast. He will rip your tender body apart, and leave your brat an orphan."
"Shut up!" she screamed in horror, fighting against him, and he knew that he'd made his point.
"You would make him suffer," Rodolphus said softly, allowing the trembling witch to pull away from him. "Are you really so different from the one you resemble at the moment?"
She stared at him in disbelief, a small gasp escaping her. He turned and walked toward the door of the room. "I'll be in the sitting room," he called over his shoulder as he walked away down the hall.
Rodolphus wondered if she would do what was necessary to protect herself and her family from the creature she'd married, or if he would need to go destroy it later. He frowned to himself, thinking that she would probably strengthen the wards on the room so that he couldn't enter.
A few moments later, Nymphadora and her mother came down the stairs together, the younger witch leaving once again to return to the Ministry. "You're going to get sacked for skiving off your Death Eater catching," Rodolphus smirked at her.
"I'm going to get thrown in Azkaban for turning into Aunt Bellatrix and protecting you," she snapped. "Especially because there were three witnesses!" She ran out and slammed the door, making the windows rattle.
"Rodolphus," the witch standing at the foot of the stairs sighed. "I forgot how difficult you can be."
"Andromeda," Rodolphus said simply. "Still as charming as ever."
The blood-traitor Black glared at him, and he grinned innocently. "You are welcome to rest if you wish," she said. "The room across from your brother's is prepared for you. If you get hungry, we'll be having dinner when Nymphadora returns from work. And don't antagonize her, Lestrange."
Rodolphus smirked, glancing down at his wand in his hand. "She's like Bella. Surely you see that in her, Andromeda."
The witch hissed angrily. "Do not encourage her down the paths Bellatrix chose," she snapped at him. "She has always been one step away from going Dark, but her father and I have managed to keep her from it."
"Ah, yes, the Mudblood," Rodolphus mused, seeing anger in the witch's eyes. He loved playing with them like this. "Tell me, Andromeda, was Nymphadora a love child, or an accident?"
"I hate you," Andromeda breathed in fury, then turned and left him alone in the sitting room.
"Well, sometimes I wonder," Rodolphus smirked to himself, before leaning back against the couch. He held his wand in his hand as he relaxed, finding himself to be sleepy. He sighed, closing his eyes as he allowed himself to drift off into a light sleep, ready to wake and run at any moment.
It seemed only a few moments later that he heard someone enter the house and allowed his eyes to open slightly. Nymphadora walked into the room, stopped, then approached him cautiously. He continued to pretend to sleep, wondering what she was going to do.
He nearly yelled in shock when something touched his forehead, realising that she was tickling him with a feather. He forced his magic to remain still, his face at ease as if he were sleeping. Rodolphus was nearly at the end of his patience when he heard someone else enter the room.
"Nymphadora, what are you doing?!" hissed Andromeda. "Don't do that! What if he hurt you?"
"For tickling him?" Dora scoffed, and Andromeda suddenly summoned the feather quill.
"For disturbing his rest and annoying him in general," Andromeda sighed. "Come with me. Now."
"Didn't you tell him to sleep in one of the guest rooms?" the younger witch asked, and Andromeda said no. "Fine, then I will. I'll be right there, Mum."
Footsteps left the room, and the black-haired witch cautiously approached the sleeping man. He felt her standing before him, could smell her soft scent as she leaned over him. As she touched him shoulder and softly called his name, he opened his eyes and immediately jabbed his wand into her neck.
Her eyes widened, and he murmured, "Don't you know it's one of the rudest things you can do to wake a sleeping individual, Bella?"
"I'm not Bella," said the witch, frowning, and Rodolphus settled back on the couch, his dark eyes staring into hers.
"You look like her," he said firmly.
"Don't!" she hissed, her face flushing as he reached out and touched her face gently. "I am not her!"
Rodolphus stared straight into her eyes, then allowed himself to look over her body. "Perhaps you should say what you want to say and go talk to your mother, little Nymphie."
Nymphadora bristled with anger, and she spat, "I only wanted to tell you that you could rest in one of the guest rooms instead of on the couch if you wished." She practically ran from the room without waiting for a reply.
Rodolphus watched her go, almost feeling remorseful for upsetting her, though he delighted far too much in seeing her eyes flash with anger. She was so much like Bella...Rodolphus took a deep breath, forcing himself to focus on staying calm. He would not be persuaded to settle for filth. He would not.
Rodolphus moved to lie down on the couch, still clutching his wand. He could not sleep, however, and moments later, he heard Nymphadora walk softly back into the room. He let a few seconds pass, then opened his eyes and focused on her. "I'm not asleep, you know. For shame, Nymphadora. Didn't your mother ever teach you that it's improper to watch a man sleep?"
"You're not asleep," she snapped at him, her face and ears turning red. "You just said so." She turned her back on him and walked out of the room.
Rodolphus watched her leave, smirking, then relaxed back into the couch once again. He was asleep before Andromeda came back through the sitting room.
Early the next morning, Rodolphus went to check on his injured brother, silently entering the room and finding his brother half awake, sitting up in the bed. "Rabastan," Rodolphus sighed thankfully. "You're better?"
"Better," Rabastan nodded sleepily. "Andromeda woke me up, coming to check on me this morning. Merlin knows how early she was up this morning."
"I don't care about her," Rodolphus said shortly. "I want to know if you're well enough to leave this place."
Rabastan looked shocked and disappointed. "Why?" he complained. "They're not terrible, in spite of their blood and history."
Rodolphus glanced toward the door, then murmured, "Nymphadora's dead werewolf husband is here. I found the body in one of the rooms."
The younger Lestrange choked, staring at his brother. "She'll get herself killed," he said in shock. "Is she mad?"
"Well, it's your fault," Rodolphus told him, and Rabastan gave a crazed laugh.
"If she's stupid enough to try it, then she deserves to die," Rabastan shrugged. "Though why she wants to keep a werewolf around the house—or that she ever wanted him—is beyond me."
"We've got to get out of here," Rodolphus said sharply.
Rabastan frowned. "I can't leave yet: my arm isn't healed all the way, and Andromeda says—"
Rodolphus glared at his brother. "Since when did you obey the voice of a woman?"
"Since she warded my room against my escape!" Rabastan complained. "It isn't my fault—well, it kind of is. I told her half jokingly that I was going to leave in the middle of the night and take Dora with me, and she warded my room before knocking me out."
"Don't mess with Andromeda," Rodolphus told his brother. "She's...dangerous. I just know there's something in her ready to snap and curse us all. I can feel it when she looks at us. I don't know what it is…."
"Reason two why you want to leave?" Rabastan smirked. "Personally, I think Andromeda could be fun."
Rodolphus snorted in derision. "Try it, I dare you," he said. "She will hurt you."
Rabastan shrugged. "Never seemed to bother you."
The older man stared at his brother in surprise, then glared at him. "Well, suffer then, if you so choose." He turned and left the room, thoroughly annoyed at the stupidity of his brother and equally at the stupidity of Nymphadora.
He made his way down the stairs, only to hear the girl talking to herself. "He's practically saying that I cracked during war!" she growled angrily. "And now I'm gonna go around torturing and killing people! Oh, wouldn't that be fun! I could have started with Reanne yesterday!" There was a small pause, and then she added, "Oh, you're finally awake, aren't you, love?"
"You talking to me?" Rodolphus said incredulously. "Prophet might be right about you."
The witch threw the newspaper at him. "Quit poking your nose in my business at all the wrong times!" she spat at him, and he realised that she was holding a child in her arms. "Go away. I definitely was not referring to you!"
He chuckled knowingly and stepped closer to her. The young woman scooted further back in her chair and clutched her baby to her breast, reaching for her wand. "You know," he said softly as he slowly walked toward her, "doing that only makes me want to see how afraid of me I can make you. After all, how afraid can little Nymphie be of her love."
"You shut up!" she cried in horror as the child she was holding cried out and reached up to her.
Rodolphus looked to the child, distracted, and said thoughtfully, "You should teach him not to cry for what he wants, Nymphadora."
Nymphadora glared at him in disbelief. "When you have children," she snarled, "you can raise them the way you please. Let me raise my child my way."
Pain crossed the man's face, and the witch looked at him in confusion, her hand still on her wand. Rodolphus didn't know why, but sighed and looked directly into her eyes. "Do you want to know something, Nymphadora?" he asked tiredly. "I was supposed to have children. But they died—miscarriage—in Azkaban. I wanted a family; we were so close, but it never worked out." He looked away from her, his eyes flashing in fury, but dull with sorrow. "I didn't even know until thirteen years after they died," he added bitterly. "Bellatrix told me that it was a small price to pay for serving the Dark Lord."
Rodolphus shook his head to clear the feelings of anger and sorrow from his mind. "I'd hurt her before, but never like I did then. I made her scream—I made her beg. I made her promise that, if she was ever with child again, she'd do whatever she could to bring the child to life. It never happened."
Nymphadora was quiet for far too long, but Rodolphus could sense her shock and her sympathy, which he was sure he didn't want. He couldn't look at her, though, staring at a picture on the mantle. The baby made a soft cry, and Nymphadora shifted, getting to her feet and walking toward Rodolphus, who was unsettled that he'd let the witch see into his hurt and pain.
"Would—would you like to hold him?" she asked softly, and he looked to see her indicating her small brown-haired child. "He wants you to hold him."
"I couldn't," Rodolphus began, but saw the child reaching toward him and held out his hands to the child warily. Nymphadora gently laid her child in his arms and Rodolphus felt suddenly alarmed to be holding so small a human.
He stared down into the child's face, the little boy cooing softly, and Rodolphus almost dropped the child in shock when the boy's hair morphed black, his eyes darkening as well. Rodolphus held the child closer, pain coursing through him because he knew there was no chance of him ever having such a beautiful, perfect child.
He barely registered whispering an ancient spell of blessing over the child as he struggled not to show emotion in front of the baby's mother. Finally, he kissed the child's hand, then held him out to his mother. "Here," he said quietly. "Thank you."
The witch took the child from him, her hair morphing pink, though Rodolphus was sure that she wasn't aware of it. She was beautiful, he thought, with her eyes innocent but compassionate, and he forced himself to turn away.
Teddy let out another cry, and his mother giggled. "He's hungry," she said as he was walking away. "I'm going to prepare a bottle for him...do you want to come with me? I might need you to hold him for me."
Rodolphus turned back and followed her, though he wondered if he should just leave her alone. "I really didn't come down here to rant," he said after she had given him the child again. "I came to ask you if you were intent on making your late husband a werewolf permanently."
Nymphadora dropped the ceramic container she was holding and whirled to face Rodolphus. He merely looked down at Teddy, and Nymphadora drew her wand, repairing the jar she'd smashed before picking it up and turning her back to him. "Why must you insist on prying into things that are none of your business, Rodolphus?" she asked coldly.
"None of my business?" he repeated. "You saved me, Nymphadora. And you saved my brother. I don't want you to throw your life away. I told you before: Lupin didn't embrace his werewolf form, and you would force it on him eternally. You're also planning to stay with him when he transforms tomorrow night—yes, I know about this," he said sharply as he raised his head to look at her. "You'll possibly get mauled to death, or bitten and become a werewolf yourself, or—you can't do this, Nymphadora. What about the child? Are you just going to walk away and leave your son? 'A small price to pay for being with Lupin forever,' huh?"
"Stop," choked the witch. "Please, Rodolphus."
"What do I have to say?" he asked pleadingly. "What do I have to do to get you to change your mind?"
She whirled to face him squarely. "There is nothing you can do or say," she said, her face pale. "Are you going to feed Teddy, or shall I?"
Nymphadora took the child from him, and he watched her and Teddy, dreading the very near future. "So I just have to wait and see if you survive? I hope I won't have to explain your gruesome death to your mother, Nymphadora."
Her body jerked, and she looked up at him, biting her lip to keep back her tears. "Rodolphus," she whispered, and he felt strangely guilty hearing her almost cry his name. "Sometimes there are just things that we have to do, and this is one of those times. I'm sorry."
"Fine," he said coldly, glancing at the child in her arms once more. "Good luck." He turned and walked deliberately out of the room. Rodolphus was surprised to find himself trembling slightly, and quickly went to his brother's room to keep him company since Rabastan couldn't leave the room.
The next evening, as Nymphadora said goodbye to her mother and Teddy, Rodolphus was listening from the upper hallway. As soon as Andromeda left, Nymphadora hurried for the stairs, and Rodolphus quickly ducked back into the doorway of his room. She was moving down the hall toward the room where her dead husband lay.
Rodolphus hurried after her, but she jumped in shock as he called, "Nymphadora, don't do it!"
She fled from him, yelling, "Leave me alone, Rodolphus! And don't call me Nymphadora!"
"Please!" he called to her earnestly. "Dora, you're so young! You have a long life ahead of you. Please don't throw it away like this."
She did not turn or reply, and he drew his wand, knowing he must stop her. Imperio. Stay where you are. She stopped, and he walked toward her cautiously, hoping that he could grab her and hold her when he took the spell off. "It's all right, Dora," he said softly, wanting to reassure her. "You'll be fine. Just let me help you.
A cry escaped her as she broke through the hold his Imperius had on her, and the witch ran away from him down the hall, crying out as he cursed in his anger and ran after her. She darted through the door and slammed it behind her, his hand missing her by a foot. He roared in anger as he felt her magic crackle, a ward going up over the room. "Dora," he called through the door, both hands against the wood. "Remember what I told you in front of Rabastan last night. Imperio will work on the werewolf if you need it."
There was no answer, and Rodolphus leaned his head against the door for a moment. If she died, he had failed in everything. Andromeda would throw them out, might even kill them. "Dora," he groaned softly, then dragged himself away from the room, knowing there was nothing more he could do.