It's been almost THREE WEEKS since I updated! :O I can't believe it's been so long! It has been because of the story Purest Black that I've been co-writing for the last few months. I'm super thrilled about the future of that story, but I've sworn to myself that I won't write another chapter of it until I updated both Scrapbook and Not Your Father, which will be next. I can't believe I've been so badly distracted.

Anyway, do enjoy the chapter, and I have a good idea of how to end it, though...it's the getting there that's difficult (cwl)

Trixie Black Lestrange

Rodolphus stirred the next morning, finding something touching his neck. As he opened his eyes drowsily, he was shocked to see Andromeda standing over him, her wand in his neck. He was going to speak, but just stared at her for a moment. "You know," he told her thoughtfully, in spite of the danger, "you would look like Bella if your hair were black. I never noticed that before."

"Get away from my daughter, Lestrange!" the witch hissed, her eyes blazing with anger.

"What?" Rodolphus muttered, looking away from Andromeda to his surroundings, immediately remembering that he was at St. Mungo's, and had stayed with Nymphadora during the werewolf cure.

It was with a slight chill that Rodolphus discovered that Nymphadora was asleep in the bed with him—her head resting against the front of his robe, her arm wrapped around him loosely in her slumber. Rodolphus drew a nervous breath at Andromeda's expression, Nymphadora's presence suddenly becoming real, flooding his senses.

"Move, now!" Andromeda demanded, her wand becoming red hot and burning his neck slightly.

"All right!" Rodolphus said sharply, and she removed her wand a little. He mentally kicked himself for not thinking of Andromeda's reaction to finding him and her daughter like she had. He slid his hands further down Nymphadora's back, sitting up slightly before turning and laying her on her side in the bed. "Shh," he murmured softly, disentangling himself from her before climbing off the bed.

He hadn't gone five steps from the bed when a spell struck him in the back and he sank to his knees, forcing himself not to yell out in pain. "What was—that—for?" he breathed, turning to glare at the witch.

Andromeda still had her wand pointing at him, a look of cold determination on her face. "If you value your soul, stay away from Nymphadora," she hissed. "Or I will make you wish you had."

Rodolphus backed away from her, wondering what the witch would do, angry that she didn't understand that he wouldn't hurt her brat. He leaned against the wall as Andromeda turned back to her daughter, reaching out and touching the girl's arm, trying to wake her up. He slid down the wall, sitting in the corner of the room as he heard Nymphadora stir from her sleep.

"Mum," the girl breathed, "I had the strangest dream...it was about Remus…."

"How did it go last night? With the cure?" Andromeda questioned.

"It hurt a lot," Nymphadora sighed. "But I feel better now, though a little sore. I don't feel any ill effects from last night." She paused for a moment, then asked, "Do you know why Rodolphus left in the middle of the cure? He just...left."

Rodolphus froze. He hadn't left: the Healers had told him to stand away from her during the last part. He started slightly when Andromeda said, "Ask him yourself" and motioned to him.

"Mother, what did you do to him?" Dora sighed, and Andromeda glanced at him again. "He looks like Sirius did whenever he had terrible flashbacks."

"Nothing," Andromeda said, then blocked Nymphadora from getting off the bed. "Don't go to him."

"You did do something," Dora said accusingly, then avoided her mother and crossed the room. "Rodolphus?"

"Stay away from me," Rodolphus said hoarsely, refusing to look at her.

She didn't listen, approaching him and resting her hand on his shoulder. "Oh—Mum, you did curse him! Don't move away," she scolded Rodolphus as he began to pull away from her. "I want to help you."

Rodolphus didn't speak, not looking up. He was sure that all he would see was Andromeda's disapproval. "Dora," he murmured, pushing her hand away once she'd lifted her mother's curse. "Go."

"No," said Nymphadora stubbornly. "I'm not letting Mother hurt you. I won't let anyone hurt you since I got you freed."

"Good luck," Rodolphus said, rolling his eyes.

Andromeda sighed. "Dora, are you being released from St. Mungo's today?"

Dora frowned slightly. "I don't know," she shrugged. "Eventually."

"She is," Rodolphus volunteered. "I heard the healers talking about it last night. They have to make sure everything went all right, that all the werewolf was removed from her."

He frowned at the girl, hearing her draw a quick breath, and wondering what was wrong with her. At that moment, however, a Healer entered the room and turned to young witch. "Mrs. Lupin," he said, "the cure seems to have worked completely, and besides the healing of your scratches, you are perfectly fine."

Dora scowled at the man, taking the papers from him and going back to the bed to sit down and fill them out. Andromeda looked from her daughter to Rodolphus for a moment, then said, "When you're finished, I'll have supper waiting at home."

"Thanks, Mum," Dora grinned, catching her by surprise with a half hug.

"Yes, yes, now don't dally," Andromeda told her before giving Rodolphus a threatening look and leaving the room.

Nymphadora looked at the man for a moment, then said, "Don't make an enemy of my mother."

Rodolphus sighed. "I wasn't trying to. And I didn't leave you last night, Nymphadora. The Healers told me I couldn't stay by your side for the last part, so I had to stay away. You just didn't know because you were too panicked from the pain and restraints."

"Oh. I was hoping it wasn't because I made too much noise," she grinned.

"I'm used to that sort of noise," Rodolphus replied, looking toward the door. "And I would never purposely break a promise, Nymphadora. Many things I am, but unfaithful I am not."

Dora nodded, then glanced toward the bed. "You don't mind stepping out while I change into the robe Mum brought?"

Rodolphus left without a word, waiting for her quietly, though when she opened the door, she looked entirely different, her black hair braided sloppily and tossed over one shoulder. The girl's eyes were a mischievous brown, and her mouth was turned up in a grin as she said, "Shall we go?"

"Are we going directly to your house?" Rodolphus asked her.

"Well, no," Dora said, "but Mum shouldn't know that."

"Dora," he said, shaking his head. "She has reason to worry. I'm an evil man."

"Evil, no," Dora replied, walking by his side through the corridors of St. Mungo's. "Wicked, yes. I like wicked. After all, I did marry a werewolf in spite of everything."

Rodolphus smirked at her. "If you liked wicked, you should have joined us."

Nymphadora hushed him, then led him out of the lobby amid stares before holding out her hand to him. He took her hand after a second's hesitation, and she disapparated. When they appeared, Rodolphus jumped back, pulling the witch with him. "There's a cliff, Dora—you could have fallen!"

"I wouldn't," Dora said matter-of-factly. "I wasn't close enough. Anyway, I couldn't join the Death Eaters because I never would have been accepted because of my blood."

"Do you really hate your mother because of what she did?" Rodolphus asked curiously, almost regretting it the instant he asked.

"I...used to. I did when I was younger," Dora explained. "But as I got older, I began to understand why she loved Dad, and why she left her family. Some things I still don't understand, but that's just Mum. She's a puzzle."

"I'd hate her if I were you," Rodolphus said simply. "You could have been one of the pureblood elite if your mother had done her duty to her family."

Nymphadora gave him a strange look, then shuddered. "But Mother was engaged to Marshall Avery," she said, pretending to gag. "I'm so glad she didn't end up with him. I don't need to be a pureblood that badly—and does it really mean that much to you?

Rodolphus stared at the girl. "Does it mean—Nymphadora, it is the continuing of the pureblood houses! With every renegade like your mother, the numbers grow smaller." He looked out over the cliff and muttered, "Yet my own name will die out because Bellatrix refused her pureblood duty as well." Anger surged through him as he thought of it, though he disguised it to look at Nymphadora when she spoke.

"Rabastan won't marry?" she asked thoughtfully, and Rodolphus scowled and shook his head. "Will you ever remarry? Surely you're not too old—"

"Nymphadora, I will not discuss that with you," Rodolphus said sharply, and she blushed, looking away.

"Sorry," she muttered, sighing softly. "I just thought—okay, I'll shut up now." Rodolphus had glared at her, and she looked down, the wind blowing her hair across her face.

He reached out and brushed her hair out of her eyes, electrified as he touched her face. Her breath hitched as she looked up tentatively. He couldn't move for a moment as he looked into her grey eyes, though he finally withdrew his hand as if he'd been stung.

Rodolphus turned away from her. "We should go back to your house," he said nonchalantly. "Your mother will wonder where we've got to."

"And if I want to stay?" the girl challenged him.

"Ha!" Rodolphus said, then stepped forward, grabbing her by the wrist and disapparating.

"Lestrange!" she hissed when they appeared, but her eyes were sparkling with fun.

"I would only stay out if your mother didn't know," Rodolphus said. "We'd never be safe otherwise."

Nymphadora led the way to the house, and he shook his head to try to clear it. He didn't want Andromeda to get the wrong idea, and thought it was best that he wasn't watching Nymphadora too closely as they walked in.

As it was, Andromeda greeted her daughter, then shot him a glare and told him to meet her in the dining room. Rodolphus followed her into the room, refusing to sit as he waited for the woman to speak. He knew what she would say, but was not prepared to hear her say it.

"What are your intentions toward my daughter, Rodolphus?" Andromeda asked him, her dark brown eyes boring into his.

"I have no 'intentions' as you mean them," he answered evenly. "It was an accident that we fell asleep in the same bed; she did not know it was I because her mind was disturbed with the pain of the cure."

"If you are in any way improper in your conduct toward her," Andromeda said coldly, "I will make sure that you regret it very, very much."

"I have no wish to approach her physically," Rodolphus scoffed. "She is nothing compared to what I have had, and could never satisfy me. Also, she is tainted by that filthy Mudblood of a husband that you chose—and by the werewolf she chose. Not to mention, their cub that she must now raise alone."

Andromeda seemed to shut out his words, though she accepted the excuse. "Ah," she said. "If you stray, however, know that I will be watching you, and that I will not tolerate misbehavior, Lestrange."

He merely nodded, unwilling to get into an argument with the witch. "I just want to rebuild and leave," he said.

Andromeda smiled thinly. "Your brother is restless. Perhaps you should have a word with him. I would hate for him to be injured again as he's recovering from last time."

Rodolphus sighed, then left the room, walking up the stairs toward his brother's room. The instant he entered the room, Rabastan looked up at him and grinned. "How did the cure go?"

"She's all right," Rodolphus shrugged. "Andromeda's angry because her daughter decided I made a good pillow."

"Oh, not you," Rabastan chuckled. "But Andromeda...that would be nice."

"What did you do to her?" Rodolphus asked his brother. "She seems to be quite contemplative about cursing you."

"She already did," the younger wizard said, rolling his eyes. "I couldn't help it!"

Rodolphus eyed the man sternly. "What did you do?"

Rabastan grinned slightly. "She leaned over me to check my arm, and I grabbed her, pulled her down to me. She fell right on top of me, then Cursed me something awful. I guess she didn't like it as much as I did."

"Rabastan," Rodolphus sighed. "Do not play around with Andromeda. She is a dangerous witch."

"Well, Andromeda came back from St. Mungo's insisting that you've fallen in love with Nymphadora—"

"I have NOT!" Rodolphus yelled, and his brother jumped, both of them shocked at how loud he had said it. "She assumes too much, and it wasn't like it seemed. I would never desecrate Bella's memory like that."

"Well, she told me some interesting things," Rabastan smirked. "Before she Cursed me and ran off, that is. She wouldn't mind if you and little Nymphie got together, though she's only worried that you'll hurt her daughter.

Rodolphus glared at his brother, furious that he would make up such things. "I would mind!" he snapped. "And I don't want to hear about what she has to say. Andromeda is not to be trusted!"

Rabastan shrugged. "A witch that fine, but yet so rough..." He sighed at the thought, closing his eyes. "Then again, she reminds me of Bellatrix, in all the perfect ways..."

Rodolphus swore at his brother, then stormed out of the room, hoping to find solitude in his room. He just couldn't deal with anymore people at the moment.