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Bella


Once she had dealt with Andromeda Tonks, Bellatrix stormed back to her room in such a rage that she had not experienced in a long time. Though she could not help the pent-up rage inside of her as her magic lashed out on every last thing that she passed. As she passed on an old portrait of a long-bearded wizard it crashed the floor, the frame itself cracking as the terrified occupant ran from the scene, as she passed the windows more than one smashed into smithereens, doors blew open, Death Eaters nearby fled the scene. Nobody wanted to get in the path of Bellatrix Lestrange in this amount of rage. She had begun to trust her sister again, to train her, to help bring her to what she wanted to be. And this was how she repaid her? With a guttural yell of fury, she turned the last corridor into her private quarters.

"Untrustworthy!" Bellatrix yelled to herself "Bitch! Scum of the earth! Filthy stupid mongrel! All of them!"

She yelled out again as she barged through the door to her bedroom, nearly blasting the door off of its hinges before she slammed it shut so harshly that the large wardrobe beside the door shook with the force. Her mind was mad with rage, her thoughts storming through her head like the howling winds of a hurricane as she pulled at her hair. She had almost killed her sister, she was sure she would have accidentally done so if her master had not been there to stop her. How dare Andromeda Tonks make her look so foolish? She found herself facing the floor length mirror in the room, watching as her breasts heaved in her aggressive rage. Without thinking she yelled out again, drawing her wand as she blasted the mirror to a million little pieces, not carrying as some of the shards blew back, one grazing her cheek.

"That's bad luck, Bellatrix." The dulcet tones of Rodolphus Lestrange called out, the man calmly shutting the door behind him before he turned to his wife.

"I have enough of that!" Bellatrix snapped, pausing for a moment before she turned to the man. "Why didn't you tell me the girl had escaped?!"

"Excuse me?" Rodolphus raised an eyebrow "I didn't—"

"You must have known!" Bellatrix shrieked "You told me you were going to that disgusting, putrid, half-blood freak whilst Andromeda was with me!"

"Colourful language." Rodolphus chuckled, he had long learnt that in some instances it was not best to rise to his wife's anger.

"Answer me!" Bellatrix growled, throwing a hex at the man that was dodged just in time to cause a small singe in the door behind him.

"I had not arrived yet." Rodolphus sighed "I was in the kitchens."

"Liar!" Bellatrix said "Why would you be there? You expect me to believe such lies!?"

"Elara—" Rodolphus paused for a moment as his wife hissed at the sound of his daughter's name "—Elara wanted to try some Butterbeer, she hasn't had any yet. I promised her last night that I would bring her a small amount today. I was fetching that."

"You could have asked a House-elf." Bellatrix narrowed her eyes.

"I wanted to give it to her myself."

"You should have noticed!" Bellatrix looked to the man with crazed defiance, adamant that as the only person she could see right now this could somehow be made her husband's fault. Yes, that would work nicely, blame Rodolphus and curse him until he was a snivelling wreck on the floor. That suited her nicely.

"I did notice something was wrong—let me finish!" Rodolphus couldn't help but glare at his wife slightly as he spoke firmly. "When I arrived Nymphadora wasn't quite her usual self, I was just trying to figure out what she was hiding when The Dark Lord summoned me."

Rodolphus watched the fire of rage behind his wife's heavy leaded eyes, watched as her knuckles went white around her wand. He could not remember the last time he had seen her this angry. Her madness had clearly reached a breaking point today as her breathing came in harsh and shallow pants. "Get out of my way." Bellatrix breathed.

"Why?" Rodolphus asked, as calmly as he could, though the thought of how quickly he could draw his wand without his wife cursing him quickly ran across his mind.

"Because—" Bellatrix took a deep breath. "I am going to that prisoner's ward." Her voice had a sudden eery calm as a shit-eating grin lit up her features "I am going to finish off my sister, then I'm going to see that multi-coloured harlot and pull her apart piece by piece until there is nothing left of her—sorry dear, you might be on babysitting duty a bit more often."

"No." Rodolphus said, making sure he was positioned between Bellatrix and the door.

"No!?" Bellatrix laughed "Oh don't worry Roddy, I'll let you have the bitch one last time whilst I deal with my sister—actually both sisters—then I'll kill her."

"I'm not letting you leave this room."

"You're not—" Bellatrix gave the man an incredulous stare "You are not letting me leave this room?" Rodolphus merely shook his head and the woman cackled at the ridiculousness of it all before she yelled at the man as if he had insulted the Dark Lord himself to her "I am in charge here! I am second to the Dark Lord—his most faithful, his right-hand woman— and you dare defy me!?" Rodolphus didn't say a word, his features blank as he stared at his wife, waiting for her next move.

He almost expected what happened next. Bellatrix ran at the man in a fit of rage, entirely forgetting her former plans to curse him into a snivelling wreck on the floor. He grabbed her, wrapping his arms around her as she flailed at him, determined to hit and scratch and even bite any part of him she could reach as her wand clattered forgotten to the floor. "Let me go!" Bellatrix shrieked, the man wincing in pain as she simultaneously shrieked in his ear and pulled at his hair so firmly his eyes watered.

"Calm down," Rodolphus growled, holding her closer still.

"No!" She shrieked as she continued to try to rip him to shreds with nothing but her bare hands.

Rodolphus growled in annoyance, lifting the woman off of the floor to yet more shrieks of indignant outrage as he pulled her over to the bed. It was only as the woman violently kicked out at one of the posters of the bed, splintering it with her force, that he saw her. Delphini Riddle was stood in the doorway, her jaw dropped slightly and her dark eyes wide with shock and fear as she stared at the scene before her.

"Let me go!" Bellatrix yelled at the top of her lungs, stumbling slightly as Rodolphus turned her without a word to face her daughter. She instantly froze in his arms. "Delphi." She breathed.

"W—What's going on?" Delphi asked, her voice cracking.

"Your father asked me to ensure your mother didn't do anything rash," Rodolphus said to the girl, still keeping a firm grip on his wife though she seemed far less likely to run from him now her daughter stood there watching them.

"What do you mean?" Delphi asked, staring straight back at her mother as the woman seemed to be frozen.

"To make sure she doesn't go hurting—or killing people—your father doesn't want her to," Rodolphus stated plainly, slowly releasing his grasp on his wife ever so slightly, though he kept hold of her wrist. "He summoned me to him after she left him and asked me to." He added, more for his wife's benefit.

"But— "

"Rodolphus get out." Bellatrix murmured.

"Bella— "

"Get. Out." Bellatrix growled, though instantly wince at the look of fright on the girl's features.

The man looked at the pair for a moment, as if deciding if it was a wise idea to leave the heir of the Dark Lord alone with the mad woman his wife had become. After a few moments, he gave a small nod, leaving the room and shutting the door behind himself as he went off in pursuit of the prisoner's ward.

"Delphi . . ." Bella breathed, sitting back on the bed as she tried to calm her mind enough to speak.

"W—What happened mum?" the five-year-old asked "A-Are you okay?"

Bellatrix nodded, taking a deep breath before she held her arms out for the girl. Delphini Riddle paused for a moment before she finally met her mother on the bed, instantly curling into her side.

"What happened?" The girl asked, clearly holding back tears as she held onto her mother tightly.

Bellatrix closed her eyes, leaning down and kissing the girls head as she pulled them back onto the bed, laying down with the girl in her arms. "Mummy . . . Mummy got angry. People did things that they shouldn't have done and Mummy and Daddy got very angry at them."

"Why?" Delphi asked, looking up into her mother's eyes identical to her own.

"Because people are stupid sometimes. They believe they can do things to defy us, sometimes they succeed and the consequences are us getting very angry."

"What—?"

"Shh . . ." Bella stroked the girl's hair, pulling her closer to herself "Don't think of it . . . You will understand when you're older . . . Mummy just . . . lost control a little."

Delphi screwed her eyes shut as she buried her face in her mother's side, wrapping her arms tightly around her. This was not the first time she had seen her mother snap in her anger—though perhaps the first to this extent. She knew that 'mother loses control sometimes', this had been explained to her by her father himself. Though she knew her mother could never hurt her and as she laid in her arms letting her shush her and gently stroke her hair she understood even at her young age that she had a strange ability to bring a calm over the woman. She silently vowed that she would always ensure she brought her mother back from these rages, to ensure she stayed as the mother she knew her to be and to destroy all those who made her suffer. No-one would hurt her mother.


"Daddy!" Elara yelled as Rodolphus entered her mother's room, jumping off of the bed and running at his legs.

Rodolphus shot a glare over his daughters head at the mother of his child, who was currently sat on her bed with her son. He watched her quietly tell Teddy to go and find his Aunt as he lifted the girl into his arms. "Hello, beautiful." Rodolphus smiled as he looked down at the girl, all trace of hatred gone from his face as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

The white-haired girl pulled back from her father for a moment, looking up at him with her big (currently brown) eyes "What happened? Why was Nanna hurt? Why'd that lady yell at you? Bad lady." Elara groaned as she rested her head on her father's shoulder.

"Don't worry, beautiful." Rodolphus kissed the girls forehead "There's no need to be scared."

"Not scared." The girl said defiantly as she straightened in her father's arms. She frowned as her white hair fell over her face, thinking for a moment before she screwed up her features and her white hair soon turned pink. "See, happy!" though a look of frustration soon passed her small features as the pink soon began to tinge white again. "Mummy!" Elara whined as she turned slightly to see her mother now stood on the other side of the room, as far away from the bed as she could get whilst keeping a distance between her father. "I want pink hair."

The woman didn't reply for a moment, staring intently at the man holding her daughter. It was only after the girl whined again that she spoke. "You're too young to control your emotions affecting your hair so much, Elara, we've talked about this."

"But—"

"Elara?" Rodolphus spoke softly, smiling again as the girl turned to him though Nymphadora could see still the hidden rage behind that smile "Why don't you go see Narcissa or Draco? Daddy needs to talk to your Mummy for a moment, darling."

"But Daddy." The girl whined, "Wanna play with you."

"Later," Rodolphus said as he kissed her hair one more time before placing her on the ground and opening the door for her. "I'll come to find you when I'm done."

Elara hesitated for a moment as she looked between her parents before with a large huff of annoyance she stomped from the room in search of a different playmate. Rodolphus watched the little girl walk down the corridor until she disappeared into one of the rooms, only then did he close the door behind her. Nymphadora clenched her fists as she felt the man place various wards on the room, though she did not show her fear as the man slowly turned to face her. All emotion was void from his features as if a level of such fury had brought him beyond his usual rage.

"Nymphadora . . ." Rodolphus said slowly. "Nymphadora . . ."

"What?" Dora couldn't help but say in reply, raising an eyebrow at the man.

"Do you know where I have been?" Rodolphus asked, raising his eyebrows at the girl though he did not wait for her reply this time. "I have just been restraining my wife—yes, restraining her—as she tore through the manor and landed in our bedroom in a blind fit of rage . . . Do you know what she said to me, Nymphadora? Before she tried to rip me apart with mere tooth and nail?" Rodolphus looked to the girl as she stood purposely silent, waiting for him to talk as he dragged out his little speech he had prepared on his way to the woman. "Well, before she told me how she was going to come down here and murder nearly every adult in this ward, she accused me of letting that ginger brat escape."

"Well, that's stupid." Nymphadora again spoke without thinking. She had had enough, if he had come here to taunt her or play with her then she was not in the mood.

"Yes." Rodolphus laughed "Yes it is. Because I told her that when I arrived it had already happened, that I believed you were hiding something, that I was planning to extract that information from you no matter how long it took. Though she still deemed it fit to blame me. I had to restrain my own wife from coming and murdering you in front of my daughter. Because of your stupidity."

"I told the Dark Lord, I told Ginny she would be killed if she got caught." Nymphadora said, surprising herself with how calm she sounded "You were barely here for a moment before you left."

"Like you would have told me!" Rodolphus suddenly snapped. "You helped her, I know you did!"

"I didn't, I—"

"You liar!" Rodolphus growled, storming over to the woman and grabbing her forcefully by her hair, slamming her back into the wall and pulling on her black locks to force her to look up to him. Though she continued her defiant gaze, barely flinching as he dug his wand into her gut. "You know more, you caused this."

"I didn't," Nymphadora said though she winced as a curse suddenly surged through her it barely lasted moments before Rodolphus had lifted it again.

"You forget yourself, girl." Rodolphus spat, his face mere inches from her own as she felt his hot breath upon her face, his eyes glaring into her own. "You think you're clever? Getting Bellatrix to lash out at me like that, hmm? Do you think you're funny?"

"Well, actually I—Ah!" Nymphadora couldn't help but yell out as the second curse surged through her, though as the curse lifted she yelled back at him "You do not control me! I am not your stress ball! You are angry at Bellatrix, not me! It's not my fault you twats aren't smart enough to stop a lone woman escaping this Merlin forsaken place!" She hissed as he slammed her head into the wall, white spots blurring her vision.

"Remember your place, Nymphie!" Rodolphus yelled. "Weasel has gotten silly little ideas of defiance into your head again."

"Tonks!" Dora yelled back at him in return, her hair now blazing red "My name is Tonks—or Dora! And it's Weasley, not Weasel!"

Rodolphus let out a yell of fury, taking a firmer grip on the woman's hair before he threw her to the floor and surged a curse through her again. He watched her writhe, gritting her teeth and digging her nails into the worn rug as her hair changed colours in her defiant need to control her pain and anger. He would make her suffer, she would pay for Bellatrix's anger and his own if it was the last thing he did. Tonight was surely going to be a long night.