The sun peered through the small window of Nymphadora Lupin's room, the woman winced as the light hit her eyes, the golden glow burning through her eyelids. With a small sigh of annoyance, Dora turned to the other side, though her heart soon skipped a beat and her body went rigid as she felt someone lying beside her. Please no, please no, please no . . . the woman thought the same two words repeatedly until finally with one sudden forced bout of determination she opened her eyes. A deep breath left her lips in the relief of seeing her sleeping mother beside her, unknowingly letting a single tear slip. She vaguely remembered her coming into her room at one point the previous evening, though she was unsure when she had and upon reflection, she genuinely could not remember the woman getting into bed beside her. The Metamorphmagus watched her mother for a few moments, her back turned to her as her light soft brown curls fell over her face.
Her mother had been trying all that she could to help her, not that Nymphadora believed that she was within the realms of being able to be helped anymore. Though the disowned Black had certainly tried (along with her once sister occasionally trying to help now that Nymphadora came to think of it), from dealing with Nymphadora's hysterical pregnancy hormones to healing her wounds from her previous training . . . Dora shuddered at the thought of training. That would most certainly pick up again soon, yet another thing to make her miserable. Why couldn't she be happy again? Any small slither of happiness in this Merlin forsaken place so that she could clasp onto the straws of her apparently depleting sanity. She was being destroyed and she knew it.
"No." Dora whispered to herself, shaking her head. She wouldn't let it take her, she would end up some broken miserable wreck. She was Nymphadora Lupin Nee Tonks and Merlin damn it she would survive.
She closed her eyes, thinking of any happiness she could recall, anything to give her a moment's escape. Remus would have been able to help her, she was sure of it. Remus. With a sad smile, she reached out onto her night stand, feeling for her wand. She gripped the solid wood, holding it out in front of her as with her eyes still shut tightly shut she summoned her happiest memory. She thought of the first time she set her eyes upon Teddy Lupin, Remus close beside her as they both had tears of joy in their eyes. "Expecto Patronum."
Dora took a deep breath before she opened her eyes, instantly giving a genuine smile for the first time she could remember as the Patronus Werewolf stood before her. It craned its neck, sniffing the air before it tilted its head to its caster, perhaps waiting for a message to send as she had so frequently done in the past.
"What are you doing?"
Nymphadora nearly jumped out of her skin, swatting away tears she hadn't realised she had shed as the beautiful wolf before her evaporated into thin air. "I . . ." Dora shook her head as she turned to her mother, a look of slight concern on her features as she pulled her eyes away from where her daughters patronus had stood to look at the girl. "I just . . ." Dora sighed. "I don't know."
Andromeda thought for a few moments before she sat up, her hand casually slipping to rest on Dora's knee. "You used to send messages to the Order with your Patronus . . . Have you considered . . .?"
Dora shook her head, looking down to the wand still in her hands "No. Who would I try to contact now? Besides," Dora sighed "they have so many wards up around this place, Bellatrix once told me there was no use trying to contact anyone outside."
"I thought the Death Eaters didn't know about your—communication methods?" Andromeda frowned.
"Well they don't, as far as I know. But Snape might have told them before he died—they could have something in the wards that stops a Patronus going through—even if I did think of someone to try and contact who's to say they wouldn't be able to follow the Patronus somehow? That would put them at risk. How would anyone help us anyway? We can't get out, they can't get in. Even if we did get out we'd have a hard time staying hidden—I doubt Rodolphus would be too happy if his precious daughter went missing." Dora shook her head as she looked back to her mother again before looking to the empty cot in the corner of her room. "It's something I've thought of before—Remus and I discussed it before . . . Where is Elara anyway?" Dora's eyes widened slightly as her hair began to tinge white "Rodolphus—He— "
"He sent her to me." Andromeda sighed, squeezing the girls leg in some small attempt of comfort. "I went to bring her back to you when he left but . . . Narcissa has her for now."
"Oh . . . Good—I suppose . . . And Teddy?"
"Him too."
"Poor Narcissa." Dora bit her lip, though the white faded from her hair and returned to what was currently becoming her most used hair colour—mousey brown. "She must hate me."
"Whatever for?" Andromeda rolled her eyes. "Personally I think she enjoys the distraction—though perhaps a nearing three-year-old and a newborn may be a bit of a tall order. Shall we go relieve her of her duty?"
Nymphadora hesitated for a moment before she nodded "Yes . . . just let me get changed first . . . I'll get a bath later."
Andromeda smiled sadly as she leant over to her daughter, wrapping an arm around her as she hugged her close and kissed her head. "I'll go help her." She spoke softly in the girl's ear, not missing the fact that Dora did not hug her back "You take as long as you need, okay?" she pulled back to look to her daughter, only fully pulling away from her as she gave a curt nod in reply. She forced a smile for the young witch, climbing off of the bed and walking towards the door. She took one last look at the girl on the bed before she left the room. Her poor daughter looked like a frightened child, sat on the bed as she stared at her wand in her hand as if unsure as to what to do with the piece of wood, she couldn't bare to see her in such a state. Andromeda closed the door behind her as she tried not to simply focus on checking on her grandchildren. For now.
Nymphadora left the prisoner ward for the first time since her journey down to the kitchens before she gave birth to Elara, this time knowing that she would be coming face to face with her deranged Aunt. She would almost definitely end up on the receiving end of a curse or two again, that she could be certain of. She no longer had a child growing inside of her to ensure her protection—not that it had helped much before, though she knew she would have no-one willing to interrupt Bellatrix and stop the pain. Not that she wanted Rodolphus to help her. Not ever. Dora hissed at the pain in her mark as she approached the last corridor towards Bellatrix Lestrange's 'Play Room'. Alright, I'm coming you impatient bitch Dora thought to herself as she clasped onto her left wrist to stop herself from rubbing the blasted thing (she was hesitant to ever touch the mark, though she had learned that it was only by pressing the mark with intent that would summon The Dark Lord). She couldn't help it if she was half way through bathing Elara when Bella called for her, what with Teddy climbing on her to watch and refusing to leave his mother to get his grandmother it wasn't exactly easy to get away.
As she reached the door it took more courage than Dora would have admitted to open the door. She'd just pushed a small human out of her body, surely she could cope with any pain that Bellatrix decided to put her through? As she watched her Aunt turn to face her from the other side of the room she was seriously starting to consider what would be worse, childbirth or her Aunt.
"Nymphie." Bella tilted her head as she looked down her nose at the girl, licking her lips as if a juicy meal had just been presented to her. "Why did you take so long?" Bellatrix pouted "I've been waiting."
Because I've been looking after your husband's bastard child, idiot Dora thought to herself before she forced herself to look her Aunt in the eye, mumbling "Sorry."
Bellatrix let out a bark of laughter, twirling her waiting wand through her fingers "Oh Nymphadora, you do amuse me." Bella giggled "I daresay I've missed our time together." The woman slowly walked towards her niece, her eyes running up and down her as she took in her appearance "Have you missed me?"
"No." Dora spat, wincing as she spoke before she stopped herself. Though Bellatrix merely laughed, stopping twirling her wand between her fingers as she tightened her grip on the thing.
"Been enjoying your time with my husband, hmm?" Bellatrix said, the grin on her face slowly fading into a look of all seriousness. "Well?"
"I think you know the answer to that, Bellatrix." Dora said, putting her hand on her own wand.
"Hmpf." Bellatrix's eyes flicked to the girl's wand for a moment before she glared back at her "Well he has been far too chipper of late for my liking. It's . . . disturbing."
"Well, I wish I could help you with that one."
"Ha!" Bellatrix tilted her head at the girl before she raised her wand "Yes, I've definitely missed this. Everte Statum!"
"Protego!" Dora yelled back just in the nick of time, the spell rebounding off of her shield. Determination came over her, fighting the witch as if she was fighting for her life. Though with given birth mere days previously she had still not recovered from the exhaustion of childbirth, forgetting the fact she was barely sleeping with a newborn baby to care for nor the fact the last weeks of her pregnancy hadn't exactly been relaxing. She was sleep deprived. Therefore, it was hardly a surprise when she couldn't quite jump out of the way of a spell barely a minute into the duel. She screamed in pain as her ankle snapped, causing her to fall back to the floor.
"Oh Nymphie," Bella pouted through her giggles, Nymphadora had not missed that babyish tone "you need to perfect your dance technique again. You were never quite this pathetic."
Dora turned her head away from the witch as she heard her Aunt walking towards her, willing the tears in her eyes not to spill as she tried to breathe through the pain. She wondered if she could morph the break away, it wouldn't be the first time she had done it but it had been a while. Though perhaps it was best to stay still until Bellatrix decided to make things worse for her. Soon she was staring at the witch's boots, though she refused to look up into her face even as she crouched down onto the floor beside her.
"Oh dear." Bellatrix sighed, pushing her wand under the girls face to force her to look up at her before she scoffed "Are those tears, Nymphadora? Dear Merlin, you are pathetic. You're never usually so awful. What is wrong with you, hmm?" Bellatrix asked, sending a small curse through the girl momentarily as she did not respond. She smirked as the girl cried out again, rolling onto her back. "Answer me."
"I . . ." Dora swallowed hard "I'm tired."
". . . . How often have you seen Rodolphus the last few days?" Bella asked, her voice void of emotion.
The metamorphmagus winced at the thought as she looked to her Aunt, trying her hardest to match the emotionless mask the woman had seemingly perfected. "Every day . . . Most of the day . . . H—He stayed one night . . ."
Bellatrix rolled her eyes as she moved herself to rest on her knees, looking to the girl's appearance before meeting her eyes again "Has he . . .?"
Dora instantly cringed, looking away from the woman as she felt the familiar feeling of shame and embarrassment overtake her again, wanting nothing more than to curl into a ball and disappear. She barely noticed as Bellatrix carefully pointed her wand at her chest, though as the sudden intense burning sensation came over her it was hard to miss. Dora's eyes bulged wide as her breath caught in her throat, this wasn't the Cruciatus Curse—she vaguely heard the incantation but neither heard it properly nor recognised the sensation. It felt as though fire was coursing through her veins, though from the glimpse the girl got of Bellatrix the usual sadistic glee that overtook her when hurting her niece was replaced with a severe concentration. Both witches gasped as the spell was released, Bellatrix sitting back in apparent exhaustion of the power of the spell as Nymphadora panted for breath, tears now streaming down her cheeks.
Dora slowly unclenched her fists, though the burning sensation was gone her entire body felt like it was dipped in a hot bath—a feeling that was surprisingly almost pleasant if it weren't for the ache of her bones. "W—What— "
"Shut up." Bellatrix snapped. "Accio." A small bag that had gone previously unnoticed came zooming into her spare hand, though just as quickly as she had caught it the witch threw it onto the other woman's chest.
Dora grunted as the heavy bag hit her, grabbing onto it with both hands. She slowly pulled herself into a sitting position, looking to the bag curiously. It felt as if there were a collection of small vials in there. What was Bellatrix thinking? Was she trying to convince her to poison herself?
"Take one a day." Bellatrix spoke casually as she stood to her feet, almost as if she were discussing the weather "When I summon you I expect you to bring me the empty vials as proof you've taken them, then I will get them replenished. Understood?"
"What—?"
"I do not want my toy out of bounds for 9 months again." Bellatrix narrowed her eyes at the girl, crossing her arms in her annoyance of having to explain herself.
Dora looked up to the woman, confusion mixed with slight relief in her eyes. Did Bellatrix actually care what happened to her? As soon as the thought crossed her mind the woman was upon her, pinning her back to the ground as her wand jabbed into her throat.
"Do not think I care about your pathetic life, Nymphadora Lupin!" Bellatrix snarled, her face lit with fury "I simply do not want the embarrassment of being told I technically have a step child again!" the woman spat in the girls face, disgusted to her core. "And for the record, just because you are tired you do not have the excuse to forget to use Occlumency! I do not want your thoughts yelling out at me. It's pathetic!"
"Do you not even care a single ounce!?" Nymphadora screamed in the woman's face, her hair flashing to a bright red as she was too angry to process the embarrassment of knowing her every thought in that room today had been heard by the witch "Do you not even care that your husband is going to another woman!? To a half-blood!?"
To Nymphadora's surprise, Bellatrix shook her head, a slight smirk making an appearance on her cold lips as she deceivingly gently stroked the stray hair from her niece's face. "You suffered, didn't you? You seem near enough broken. My only regret is that he managed to do that to your mind before I could—oh and of course that disgusting piece of filth my husband now calls a daughter." Bellatrix made a face before she got off the girl, shrugging as her usual cold smirk returned to her lips "Maybe I should pay her a visit soon. Elara, isn't it?"
Dora clenched her fists and gritted her teeth, determined not to rise to the bait of Bellatrix's taunts. The elder witch laughed at her victim, still weak on the floor as with a tut of feigned sympathy and shake of her head she left the room, calling out with a laugh behind her "Tell Roddy I say hello!"
It took a few moments for Nymphadora to dare to stand again, it was a slow process that involved more than a few hisses of pain as her body ached from the unknown curse. She knew that Rodolphus would most likely already be with Elara, he had been coming to see her every day and if he had caught wind of Bellatrix taking her away from Elara for any length of time she was sure that Rodolphus would have jumped at the chance to have her on his own. A shudder went through her spine as she reached the prisoner's wing, the girl pausing to build up her strength to be able to face Rodolphus.
When she walked into her room she was unsurprised to see Rodolphus leaning over her daughter's crib, his hand gently stroking Elara's currently bright pink locks. He barely looked to her before returning his gaze to the child, Dora walking over to her bed whilst his back was turned and quickly hiding the potion bag under her bed. She wasn't sure if Rodolphus knew of Bellatrix's intention to give the potions to her, nor what he would do if he found out. Personally, she didn't want to know what his thoughts on her taking the things would be.
"D—Did you feed her?" Dora asked.
"No," Rodolphus rolled his eyes, sarcasm dripping in his every syllable "I simply thought that I would allow my newborn daughter to scream and scream until you returned to feed her. Of course I fed her, you idiotic woman."
Dora bit her tongue, trying her hardest not to snap back at the man as she sat down on her bed, watching the man and her daughter from afar. "How long have you been here?"
Rodolphus shrugged, straightening up and turning to face the girl "I came in when you left, I took Elara off of Andromeda and brought her in here to feed her—she seemed sleepy after that."
"Babies do that." Dora said, "Did you wind her?"
"Yes."
"Check her nappy?"
"Nymphadora," Rodolphus narrowed his eyes at the girl, annoyance flickering in his features "do not talk to me like I am an idiot."
"Well," Dora shrugged "Elara is your first child—she's not mine, you've never been alone with her before . . . if I had my way you'd never be alone with her." She muttered the last part under her breath, though from the glare she received from the man it was clearly heard.
"You cannot dictate if I can be alone with my daughter. In fact," Rodolphus smirked as he crossed his arms "I could take her right now and never bring her back to you if I so wished."
"Y—You wouldn't." Dora looked away from the man, staring intently at the small child wriggling in her sleep in the crib "She needs her mother—you couldn't wake with her every few hours, change her every hour or so when she spits up on herself, change her dirty nappies, you couldn't. Besides, Bellatrix would hate that."
"More the reason to do it if it annoys Bellatrix." Rodolphus scoffed before smirking at the girl currently trying to hide the fear from her face as she forced herself to look up at him. "Oh come now Nymphie, you look tense. Why don't you lay down?"
"I'm fine." Dora said. In truth she was exhausted, but there was no way in hell she would willingly lay down with Rodolphus in the room.
"Liar." Rodolphus shook his head as he walked over to her "Maybe I can help you relax."
"Stay away from me." Dora forced herself not to yell, conscious of her daughter fast asleep as she scurried on the bed to try and get away from him. Though he still reached out for her, kneeling onto the bed as he went to grabbed onto the fabric of her dress. It was as Rodolphus missed her dress and grabbed straight onto her arm that her eyes widened in shock. Rodolphus instantly let go of her, screaming in agony as he fell to the floor grasping onto his hand as it turned bright red as if it had been held into the flames of a fire. Her hair shot white as she didn't know what to do, what had she done? She hadn't tried to do anything? She was going to pay for this. It was only as Elara awoke at the sound of her father screaming that Nymphadora snapped back to reality. She leapt from her bed, jumping over the man panting in his pain on the floor as she ran to her daughter. She scooped the crying girl into her arms and held her close, kissing her red and white locks as she tried to shush her.
"What did you do!?" Rodolphus roared, grasping his hand close to him as he pulled himself to his feet, his face brow wet with perspiration.
"Nothing!" Dora cried, wincing at the sound of Elara's cries.
"Give her to me." Rodolphus spoke through gritted teeth, walking towards the girl.
"No." Dora shook her head, bringing the girl as close as she could without harming her. "You're scaring her!"
"I am not." Rodolphus glared though he still winced from the residual pain in his hand even though the colour had returned to near enough normal again. He reached out to try and take the girl, Nymphadora instantly grabbing his arm to try and push him away when it happened again. He yelled in pain, this time stumbling back into the wall as he pursed his lips tightly to muffle the sound of his yell of pain.
"Get out." Dora struggled to sound firm as her voice trembled, confused and scared as she continued to rock the crying baby in her arms. "Just leave."
Rodolphus had never given the girl a glare with quite so much fury behind it before, not since she had tried to kill the baby in her arms when she was still a mere foetus in her womb. He looked from the woman to the crying girl in her arms before he let out a restrained yell of annoyance. "I'll be back!" and with that, he stormed from the room.
Dora stared at the still open doorway, in shock of what had just happened. How had she done that? That was all she could think as she began to pace the room with the crying babe. "Shhh . . . Elara it's okay, he's gone now. Please calm down . . ."
"Dora?" Andromeda walked into the room, looking around in a slight panic at the commotion "Why did Rodolphus storm out? Is Elara okay? He didn't—"
"No." Dora instantly shook her head, tears beginning to build in her eyes again as she kissed her child's head. She was grateful as the girl slowly began to quieten again, walking to sit back onto the bed.
"What happened?" Andromeda asked, ensuring the door was closed behind her.
"I—I don't know." Dora sniffed "He was trying to—He tried t-to grab me. Then he just yelled out and fell to the floor. I didn't do anything, I swear." Dora squeezed her eyes shut, kissing her child's hair again as she clasped onto her mother's hair with her tiny hands.
"It's okay, calm down." Andromeda sighed as she walked over to her daughter. She sat carefully on the bed next to her before wrapping her arm around the girl and kissing her head. "You reek of Bella's magic." Andromeda murmured. "What did she do?"
"I—I don't know." Dora shrugged, staring intently at her daughter's sleepy face "It hurt."
"May I?" Andromeda waited for the girl to nod before placing a hand on the small of her daughters back. After nearly a minute of silence Andromeda winced, pulling her hand away. "You didn't hurt Rodolphus. Bellatrix did."
"W—What?" Nymphadora looked to her mother, confusion in all of her features.
"There's a spell . . ." Andromeda tilted her head thoughtfully as she spoke, a notion that worried her daughter even more "In the simplest of terms it repels a person of the casters choosing—not for long, a few hours, maybe more if the caster is particularly skilled. If the person being repelled touches the person that the spell has been cast on then—well I don't need to tell you what happened."
". . . Why am I only hearing of this spell now?" Dora asked.
"Because you couldn't possibly hope to use it." Andromeda spoke matter-of-factly. "It's an extremely difficult spell. First of all, you must know the magic of the person whom you wish to reject intensely, intimately. Then you must have an extreme desire to cause the . . . repelling effect. I do not know his magic intimately to be able to repel him, it's an extremely painful spell to have performed on you in the first place to be able to expel such pain onto the intended, it is also not a spell that I could even attempt without my own wand—besides it would only make matters worse for you if one of us performed such a spell, it's not exactly a permanent solution. Bellatrix must be truly infuriated by Rodolphus at the moment to want him to come to harm more than you—even if it is only for a moment."
Nymphadora sighed deeply, the unknown spell Bellatrix had placed on her earlier suddenly making sense. She let out a huff of laughter despite herself. "Well, Bellatrix did say to say hello to Rodolphus for her."
"I think he got the message." Andromeda smirked slightly. "I'm sure she's probably waiting in her room ready to laugh at him—or curse him further. Those two do have a . . . unique relationship."
"So I've seen." Dora rolled her eyes, smiling slightly as she looked down to see her daughter had fallen back to sleep. "She's such a good baby . . ."
"You're lucky. You never slept so easily." Andromeda sighed, standing up and holding her arms out for her granddaughter "Come, let me put her in her cot whilst you take a nap. I'll sit in here for a little while if you like."
Dora nodded, muttering her thanks as she handed her daughter over. It felt like a weight was lifted from her shoulders as she laid back onto the pillows, knowing that she was guaranteed even a small undisturbed sleep without the worry that Rodolphus could come in any minute. She was sure the poor man was off licking his wounds—or more likely in a hopefully painful argument with Bellatrix. Nymphadora couldn't help but smirk at the thought of Rodolphus in pain again as she slowly drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
