So sorry about the long wait for an update on this one! I've just moved from London back to my hometown, started a new job etc and Dora has been on a Road Trip to merlin knows where in America (I cannot remember states that well haha) so as you can imagine things have been a bit hectic! In that hecticness we've obviously forgotten to update! Sorry!
So please do read, enjoy and please do leave us a review if you have a chance!
Bella
Bellatrix Lestrange watched her young daughter playing with her toy wand, happily throwing colourful sparks around the room whilst giggling profusely. Her mother smiled to herself, shuffling down to sit on the edge of her bed as she leant forward and stroked a lock of hair behind the girl's ear.
"Mummy?" Delphini Riddle turned, looking up to see her mother raise an eyebrow in answer to her "Where's Daddy?"
"Well," Bellatrix considered her for a moment as the girl stood and walked over to her, placing her hands on her lap "he is off doing very important things right now."
"Oh," Delphi frowned in her thinking for a moment before she grinned at being lifted onto her mother's lap "Daddy's important."
"Yes, Delphi." Bellatrix smirked, kissing her head. "Very important. He rules the country, my love."
"Yup." Delphi nodded excitedly. "I'm important?"
"Oh very important." Bellatrix kissed her cheek, squeezing her gently. "You'll rule beside him one day, if you listen to what we teach you."
"I can listen!" Delphi pouted before looking to her mother with a look of severe concentration amusing on a nearing two-year-old's features. "Teach me."
"You're a little young, beautiful." Bellatrix laughed, pouting when the girl hit her shoulder. "Don't hit mummy. Hit other people, but not your parents . . . unless your father tells you otherwise." Bella frowned in realisation of her own words, aware that The Dark Lord could instruct Delphini to do such a thing. In fact, she was entirely sure it would happen at one point in her lifetime, she knew the way her master's mind worked. She was only snapped out of her own thoughts as her bedroom door opened. Rodolphus walked into his room to the sight of his wife's bastard daughter rubbing her shoulder, with a shake of his head he walked over to his cabinet, taking a bottle of whiskey out before walking over to lay back on the other side of the bed.
"Where have you been?" Bellatrix demanded of the man.
"Exploring the manor." Rodolphus smirked to himself, knowing full well that there was only one part of the manor he had been exploring—and he most certainly wasn't exploring the manor and more one of its occupants.
"Hey, Rod." Delphi smiled, resting her chin on her mother's shoulder as she looked over to the man.
"Afternoon, Delphini." Rodolphus sighed, taking a swig from the bottle.
"Rod put that down." Bellatrix rolled her eyes, standing up as she gathered Delphi in her arms, frowning slightly at the contented smirk on the man's features. "Why are you so happy?—Never mind, I don't care. I need you to look after Delphi."
"Why?" Rodolphus sighed, sitting up as he placed the bottle on the side.
"Because I haven't seen Nymphadora in a few days, I'm bored." Bellatrix sighed, adjusting Delphi on her hip.
"Wanna come stay with you." Delphi whined, tugging on her mother's robes.
"You're too young." Bella shook her head before looking pointedly at her husband again. "Well?"
"You're not actually saying no to the girl, are you?" Rodolphus chuckled, watching the silver-haired tot wrapping her arms around her mother's neck. "Whatever happened to what Delphi wants, Delphi gets?"
Bellatrix narrowed her eyes, trying to unwrap the girl's small arms from her neck "I can't look after Delphi and deal with Nymphadora at the same time."
Rodolphus shrugged before getting up off the bed placing the lid back on his bottle. "I'll go with you then."
"What?" Bellatrix snapped, perplexed at the offer before her eyes narrowed at the man. "Why? You hate helping me with Nymphadora."
"Well, Delphi wants to come watch and what Delphi wants she gets, right Delphi?"
"Right!" Delphi giggled, letting go of her mother and allowing Rodolphus to take the girl in his arms. "Let's go!"
"I—" Bellatrix stared at the pair for a moment before shaking her head in defeat. "Fine. Though you," Bellatrix poked Delphi's tummy, smirking at the giggle it enticed "need to behave and do as Mummy and Rod tell you, understood?" Delphi nodded furiously, an excited grin on her face as she gripped onto Rodolphus' robes. The woman rolled her eyes, both confused and amused at what on earth had put Rodolphus in such a mood to not only want to endure Nymphadora but also hold her daughter in his arms without complaint. Though she shook away such thoughts as she led the pair to her play room, summoning Nymphadora to join them.
Nymphadora Lupin had barely finished healing the last bruise on her body, having only just pulled a new dress over her head the girl hissed at the sensation in her left arm.
"Not now." Dora sighed, screwing her eyes shut to morph her limp mousey brown hair to a long sleek purple. The woman bit her lip at the sight of her son, still sleeping in his cot. She lifted the silencing wards off of the boy before taking him into her arms, kissing his sleeping locks before walking out into the hallway. She hissed in pain as another sharp jolt went up her arm. "I'm coming!" the girl winced as Teddy stirred in her arms. "I'm sorry, shh, sleep."
"Dora?" Narcissa exited her room, frowning at the girl curiously.
"I—" Dora chewed her lip, looking at the boy and the woman and back again "Can you—?"
Narcissa nodded, coming forward and gently taking the boy from his mother's arms, sighing as he started to stir awake. "Go, before Bella loses her temper."
Dora nodded, mumbling a thanks before she rushed off towards Bellatrix's play room. She walked quickly, fully aware of what Narcissa had said was true; the longer she took, the more irate Bellatrix would become. Though she would quite happily take the long routes through the manor, taking her time in prolonging the inevitable 'training' with her Aunt she knew the quicker she got this over with the better. It was only as she got to the corridor the room lay in that she froze in her step, grabbing on to the wall to stop herself tripping over in her sudden stop. Rodolphus merely smirked, straightening himself from casually leaning against the wall.
"Nymphie." Rodolphus slowly walked towards the woman, holding back a laugh as she tried to stumble back for a moment before realising that she had nowhere to go to escape him.
"What do you want?" Dora breathed, her hand on her wand in its holster in an instant. "Haven't you had your fun for one day?"
"Oh Nymphie," Rodolphus couldn't help the small laugh that escaped him "Bella wants you this time, I simply told her it was best if I meet you out here to warn you."
"W—Warn me?" she winced as Rodolphus stopped mere inches from her face.
"Yes." Rodolphus allowed his eyes to run over her features before he huffed in amusement at her clear discomfort. "Bella has Delphi in there."
"I—You mean V—The Dark Lords child?" Dora asked, her own face contorting in confusion for a moment as her fright and disgust at the man was temporarily forgotten as he nodded. "Why? Is she ins—" she shook her head as Rodolphus raised an eyebrow at her "Okay, but Delphi—she's still only a toddler."
"Delphi wanted to come." Rodolphus shrugged. "What Delphi wants, Delphi gets."
"I thought you hated being around Delphi—I thought you hated Bella making you 'help' with me?" Dora suddenly gasped as the man reached out, stroking her cheek deceivingly gently.
"What can I say, you put me in a good mood earlier." Rodolphus smirked, tugging on a stray strand of the girl's hair. "Get rid of the white and we can go in—and remember, don't talk to Delphi unless she talks to you, understood?" the man rolled his eyes, magic crackling beneath his hand to send a sharp stinging sensation into the girl's cheek. "I said, understood?"
"Yes!" Dora hissed.
"Good." Rodolphus smirked, letting go of his power over the girl. "Now get rid of the white, we don't want Bella to wonder why you're so frightened before she's even got to you, do we?"
"She doesn't frighten me." Dora glared before taking a step back from the man and changing her hair back to purple before she took one glance at the man and walked ahead of him into the room. She ignored his amused teases at her apparent eagerness to escape him as she opened the door, begrudgingly letting him walk in behind her. Delphini Riddle was sat in the corner of the room, resting on her mother's lap on an armchair that had been summoned purely to keep the girl sitting somewhere. The silver haired girl turned in her mother's lap, her dark Black eyes darting straight to the purple haired witch. Dora couldn't help but stare at her, it was just so bizarre in her eyes. Not only had the darkest wizard of her time procreated with her mentally unstable, evil bitch of an Aunt they had created a seemingly innocent looking two year old dressed in a light green frilly dress, not the slightest image of evil one would expect yet the height of all young good and innocence. Though the mere image of her Aunt with such an innocent looking child on her lap made all of Nymphadora's Auror instincts want to kick into place and rescue the girl from the monster, what was more disturbing was the fact that Bellatrix seemed simply a mother with a child placed on her lap, not a hint of all evil she had done and would go on to do on her features.. Dora was only snapped out of her thoughts when her Aunt began to talk, the harsh tone quickly snapping her out of her deluded thoughts of Bella seeming to be so innocent in that moment.
"Do not stare Nymphadora, it's rude." Bellatrix hissed, smirking at the giggling of her child as she stood up with the girl in her arms. "Now Delphi," Bella softened her tone as she looked to the girl, kissing her cheek "remember what Mummy said. You're going to sit here and behave with Rodolphus whilst Mummy and Nymphadora play, yes?"
Delphi frowned, not relenting in her gaze to the purple haired witch. "Why's your hair purple?"
"I—" Dora hesitated for a moment, looking to Bellatrix to see if she was about to hex her for talking before looking back to the little girl, "I made it purple—morphed it."
"What?" Delphi frowned, looking to her mother for an answer "What's mowphed mean?"
"Morphed." Bella corrected. "Nymphadora's a freak, darling. She can change the way she looks on her own. So she changed her hair purple."
"Oh." Delphi frowned for a moment longer before she looked to her mother with a grin. "You gonna dool?"
"Duel." Bella smirked, kissing the girl's head before she nodded for Rod to come over. The girl giggled as Rodolphus took the girl from her mother and went to sit her in the chair, standing beside her after carefully making sure the girl was warded from stray spells. It was only then that Bellatrix turned back to her niece, drawing her wand. It was only then that she noticed the girls gaze had not wavered from the pair in the corner (though she did not notice the cruel knowing smirk from her husband), a growl of annoyance leaving her as she shot a hex at the girl. "Concentrate."
The woman nodded, drawing her wand. She soon parried the first spell her way and hit back with her own, the two witches soon lost in a blur of spells firing back and forth within the room. It was minutes before either of them managed to get a shot in, though to the purple haired witches surprise it was her that managed to get a spell to hit her opponent, causing a slash to open on Bella's left arm. Blood was soon seeping into the dark fabric of the woman's dress though it did not deter her from her target.
"Mummy!" Delphi whined in concern for her mother.
"Mummy is fine, Delphi." Bellatrix growled in renewed determination, her onslaught of curses driving her niece to the corner of the room.
Dora tried to hold her own, successfully so, though it was as she took two steps further back she felt a strong grip take both of her arms and pull her towards him whilst yelling at his wife to stop. She yelled out in fear, struggling profusely as she was pulled out of the way of the last of Bellatrix's spells.
"What are you doing?!" Bellatrix screeched.
"You're too close to Delphini!" Rodolphus barked back in reply, gritting his teeth as he hooked an arm around the struggling witch whilst jabbing his wand in her gut with the other.
"She's fine!" Bellatrix hissed before glaring at her niece. "For merlin's sake Rodolphus, calm the girl down!"
Rodolphus glared at his wife, throwing the girl away from him and on the floor. Nymphadora instantly calmed, trying to calm her breathing as she screwed her eyes shut to hold back the tears stinging her eyes. She couldn't help herself, each of her senses and instincts were at the height of sensitivity when in such an intense duel, feeling those arms on her, that voice yelling in her ear. Each of her instincts told her to run as far as she could as quickly as she could, that if she stayed in that man's grasp any longer than a split second she would end up feeling the demoralising and disgusting pain the man had been putting her through of late. She pressed her forehead to the cool stone floor, forcing herself not to sob as she gripped tightly onto her wand for some sort of sense of protection. She hissed in pain as Bellatrix kicked into her side, forcing her to roll onto her back with her mess of white hair covering her face.
"What on earth has gotten into you, Nymphie?" Bellatrix growled, her face lit with fury as she threw a stinging hex at the girl.
Nymphadora merely yelped at the pain, clutching at her robes as she forced herself to shuffle up to sit. "I'm fine."
"You look it." Bellatrix narrowed her eyes, a small pair of arms wrapping around her legs forcing her to soften her look before she bent down and took her daughter in her arms, wincing as she'd forgot about the cut that Delphi was now prodding.
"Mummy's hurt!" Delphi cried.
"No Delphi, Nymphie is hurt." Bellatrix glared at the woman sat on the floor before walking over to the chair in the corner. She tried to set her girl down to no avail before finally giving up and sitting down with her on her lap. She pointed her wand at the slash, letting Delphini watch as both flesh and material simultaneously healed before syphoning off the blood on the garment. "See, Mummy's fine."
"Good." Delphi nodded, mimicking her mother's glare at Nymphadora in a way the witch would have seen as comedic if it weren't for her still racing heart. "Bad Nymphie!"
"Yes, bad Nymphie." Rodolphus smirked.
"Just get her out of here, Rodolphus." Bellatrix hissed at her husband.
Dora quickly pulled herself to her feet, stepping back as the man walked towards her. "I can see myself back thank you very much!"
"You can do as you're told!" Bellatrix snapped, letting her daughter cuddle into her as Rodolphus grabbed Dora by the arm.
"Behave." Rodolphus growled before dragging the girl from the room.
"Get off of me!" Nymphadora hissed once they were nearing the prisoners wing, emitting an involuntary squeal of discomfort as she was slammed against the wall with Rodolphus barely inches from her face.
"What do you think you're doing, Nymphadora?" Rodolphus growled, his tight grip on the woman's arm making her squirm against him though she was quickly stopped as he pulled her towards him then slammed her back into the wall. "I did nothing to you, Nymphadora! I simply pulled you out of the way of the way of falling back and squashing a child with your clumsiness! That did not warrant such a reaction, Bella will start to suspect. If Bellatrix starts to suspect through your foolishness it will be you who will suffer for it, woman!"
A huff of laughter escaped Dora despite herself, glaring at the man as she hissed. "She'd never believe it! That's what you said! Scared of your lies, Lestrange?"
"Do not try my patience." Rodolphus growled before throwing the girl away from himself, laughing as the girl stumbled before righting herself. "You can find your own way back from here—though I'm sure I'll come check up on you soon, run along."
Nymphadora shot a glare back at the man as he walked away with a cruel laugh. She righted herself, taking a deep breath and trying yet again to calm herself before walking back into the wing. Andromeda soon walked out of Narcissa's room. "Are you okay?" Andromeda asked, searching the girl for any signs of harm.
"Where's Teddy?" Dora asked, "With Narcissa still?"
Andromeda nodded, going to speak again before she frowned at the girl storming ahead of her into Narcissa's room. A half forced grin was soon on Dora's face as the one year old ran up from his position on the floor with Narcissa and hugged his mother's legs tightly. "Mumma!" the boy cried, giggling as the woman lifted him into her arms and kissed his head firmly.
"Have you been good for Cissa, Teddy?" Dora smiled, sitting down on the edge of Narcissa's bed, shuffling up to let Narcissa sit next to her as Andromeda walked into the room.
"Yeah!" Teddy nodded, his hair shooting blonde as he talked about the witch before pointing to a small pile of toys on the floor. "Toys!"
"Where did you get toys?" Andromeda frowned, looking to her sister shuffling awkwardly on the bed.
"Well, Delphi didn't want them anymore." Narcissa shrugged, looking to the small pile. "I think she's grown out of them—but they're fine for Teddy. The girl has so many things you could get rid of half of it and no-one would notice, I haven't seen her play with those in months."
"Thank you." Dora smiled slightly, resting her head against her sons as she closed her eyes.
"Thankoo!" Teddy grinned, hugging his mum.
"Dora, are you okay?" Andromeda repeated her earlier question, stopping herself from going over and searching the woman for traces of dark spells without permission.
"I'm fine." Dora snapped, standing suddenly from the bed with Teddy happily gathered in her arms. "Want to come play with Mummy, Teddy bear?"
"Yeah!" Teddy grinned.
"Thanks, Narcissa." Dora mumbled before walking from the room.
Andromeda sighed in despair, looking after the witch as the door closed behind her. "Something's wrong with her. . ."
Narcissa frowned in consideration for a moment before getting up and picking up the toys, walking over to one of her draws and hiding them beneath some dresses. "Maybe her resolve is finally depleting."
"Don't say that." Andromeda shuddered. "As much as it hurts her to keep fighting it—I like her defiance—I mean, it's good. I'd be more worried if she gave in and turned into another Bellatrix."
"Honestly," Narcissa scoffed, turning to raise an eyebrow at her elder sister "do you honestly think her capable of that?"
"I don't know." She chewed her lip, moving to sit in her daughters previous seat. "Ever since she was a little girl I was terrified of that—that she'd one day see the call of power and run off to join the Death Eaters—realise how powerful she really could be and give in to the dark."
"Andromeda," Narcissa moved to sit next to her sister, hesitating only for a moment before she wrapped an arm around the woman. "Nymphadora is no Bellatrix . . . Yes, they are similar in some ways, you cannot deny that. She certainly has the Black temper, she is clearly skilled in battle, I'm sure she probably enjoys being on the battlefield too."
"She enjoys fighting for what is right and what is good!" Andromeda winced at her raised tone before she shook her head and calmed herself again. "Well, she used to at least . . . I don't know, Cissa. She's been quieter since Remus was killed, kept to herself more. She used to talk to me about everything and now I get the feeling she's hiding something from me and it is not how she feels about losing her husband I know that for sure."
"I do not know what to say to you, Andromeda." Narcissa spoke honestly, considering her niece in her mind for a few moments before she looked back to her sister. "Perhaps she merely does not want you to know the extent of Bella's 'training'? Maybe she's worried it will upset you. We both know how cruel Bellatrix can be and from what I've seen from her since she escaped Azkaban I can honestly tell you she has only gotten worse—and she doesn't just have Bellatrix to contend against, she has Rodolphus, Rabastan—most of the inner circle seem to have been in contact with her at least a couple of times since she's been here. Maybe she's merely ashamed of what she has had to do, what she knows she will still do to keep you and Teddy safe?"
"She doesn't have to do anything to keep me safe." Andromeda winced.
"But she will, because she's got the determination of a Black, the loyalty and kind heart of a Hufflepuff and the sheer amount of sass and willingness to not give in to the status quo that I'm sure you and your husband had a large part in giving her." Narcissa smirked as her sister gave a huff of amusement. "Now come on, don't worry about Dora so much, she can fend for herself—with our help with looking after Teddy and making sure she gets healed from her wounds. Understood?"
Andromeda hesitated for a moment before rolling her eyes at the look her sister gave her and nodding. "Understood." The witch smiled as Narcissa hugged her, letting herself embrace her back. Though as the two witches sat there in a moment of peace in the dark place they found themselves in Andromeda Tonks Nee Black could not help the feeling that there was something seriously wrong with Nymphadora that she was missing.
