Happy Thanksgiving! hehehe

Anyway, we're back. :) Enjoy the brewing storm: board up the windows.

Dora


Delphini Riddle stumbled out of the Floo Network in her room at Malfoy Manor, immediately moving to the door. She could imagine only one person to have a calming effect on Elara at the moment, and that would be her mother, Nymphadora. She hurried down the hall, not wanting to be stopped by anyone and hoping her own parents would not immediately sense her presence in the manor.

The moment she entered the Prisoners' Ward, she heard Rodolphus' voice and frowned at the thought of what pain the man's actions had caused his daughter. She walked down to the sitting room, and both her mother's sisters looked up at her, raising an eyebrow at her in the same manner. "Nymphadora?" she asked, looking between them without introduction.

"She's—" Narcissa began.

"Why aren't you at school?" Andromeda interrupted, getting a severe look from Narcissa and Delphini.

"Elara needs her mother," Delphi said, narrowing her eyes at her friend's grandmother. "Where is Nymphadora?"

"Bella's got her." Rodolphus stood behind Delphini in the doorway, regarding her with a curious expression. "What's wrong with Elara?"

Delphi regarded him for a moment, then said, "She's having a crisis. Nothing to worry about. I'll just be going to retrieve Nymphie, then."

Rodolphus frowned. "Elara is my daughter, and as I'm available at the moment, I can go to her."

"You are the last thing she needs," Delphi muttered to herself in Parseltongue. As she turned to leave the Prisoners' Ward, Narcissa suddenly gasped and looked at Andromeda in great concern. This in turn made Andromeda's eyes widen, and she got to her feet, going to the doorway of the room. "Delphi," she called after the girl, "I mean, we all want Nymphadora to escape Bellatrix as soon as possible, but perhaps Elara seeing her father would provide some...enlightenment to the girl's situation."

Delphi glanced back to see Andromeda's smirk of amusement, then continued walking. "Come along, Rodolphus. She's very upset; you see...she knows."

Rodolphus frowned. "Knows what?"

"You'll see," Delphi smirked, quickening her pace so that they arrived at her room very quickly. She offered him some Floo Powder, then said, "Go. I have to speak the words because my Floo operates by Parseltongue. Throw the powder down when you're ready, and do not touch anything when you arrive. I'll be right after you."

He did not argue, following her exact orders, still wondering what was wrong with his perfect daughter. The green flames had barely died down from sending Rodolphus off when Delphi stepped into the grate and hissed the words that sent her straight back to Hogwarts. Cleaning her robes immediately, she walked to the door. "You will stay with me until I tell you to go. Elara is in her room, and you will talk to her there."

Rodolphus didn't say anything, more and more concerned that someone had told his daughter something they shouldn't have. He was not nearly ready when Delphini Riddle indicated the dormitory Elara was barricaded into, two girls angrily talking outside the door. The moment the two girls saw Delphi and Rodolphus, they shot them terrified looks and disappeared down the hall into the bathroom.

Rodolphus reached out to open the door, and Delphi said, "Don't." She walked forward and crumbled the ward. "Be my guest," she smirked evilly.


Elara had felt the wards change and sat up, grabbing her wand even though she knew only Delphi could break the ward she had created. She could not speak when she lay eyes on her visitor, dumbfounded that he had the audacity to visit her here, now—when she had just learned what he had done to her mother. He deserved to suffer.

Jumping to her feet, she yelled, "Crucio!"

Elara Lestrange dearly hoped that everyone in the Slytherin dormitories could hear her father's yell of shock and some pain when the Curse hit him, though he immediately reached for his own wand.

"Elara, stop," he commanded her, gritting his teeth as he raised his wand.

She glared at him, seeing she'd brought him to his knees. Elara cast another Curse and he barely shielded it before adding a Silencing Ward just in time. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" Elara shrieked, her hair already bright red. "YOU ARE A WICKED, VILE MAN AND I WOULDN'T HAVE BLAMED MUM IF SHE'D GOTTEN RID OF ME!"

He looked absolutely shocked at her outburst, but lifted a hand placatingly as he got to his feet. "Elara, it's not what you think—"

"Is what not what I think?" Elara scoffed at him, refusing lower her wand as she glared at the man. "You hurt my mother! You've lied to me all my life—to Roo, too."

"Don't call him Roo," Rodolphus said.

"I'LL SAY WHAT I LIKE!" she screamed at him, her magic crackling dangerously. "How dare you abuse Mum like that? I should have known all along—she's never wanted me to be close to you. She's tried to protect me, everyone has."

"I would never hurt you," Rodolphus protested, very concerned about his daughter's state of hysteria. "Elara—"

"GET OUT!" she screamed, tears streaming down her face. "I don't ever want to talk to you again! Don't come back—I'll make sure you don't."

Rodolphus knew exactly what she meant by this, though he tried one last time. "Elara, please let me explain things to you."

Her body was trembling with anger and sorrow, her magic crackling with barely controlled power that begged to Curse him again. "There is nothing to excuse what you've done, Rodolphus."

His mouth opened slightly, but he could tell by the trembling certainty in her voice that there was no changing her mind at this moment. "It's not as bad as you think," he said quietly, stepping back toward the door. "I'll see you when you're at home."

He made his way down the hall amid stares from girls who wanted to know what was going on. However, when he snapped at them in annoyance, more girls looked out of the rooms at him, and he continued toward the stairs, hearing their excited chattering behind him.

The moment he walked past Delphi's room, she opened the door and casually glanced toward Elara's room. "Gone well?" she asked brightly, turning to Rodolphus. "Does her Curse really hurt that much?"

There were a few laughs from the students in the hall, though Rodolphus glared at them in annoyance. "Come," Delphi said to him, and once he was in her room, she motioned him to the fireplace. "You will go to Mum's training room and bring Nymphadora to me in my room at the manor. Be quick about it."

She sent him off quickly, and by the time she'd arrived in her own room at what had once been Malfoy Manor, he had already gone.


Rodolphus did not know what he was going to say to his wife when he interrupted her torture session with Nymphie. But he had to do it if he ever wanted Elara to speak to him again. He was very aware that Delphini had known perfectly well that Elara did not want to see him, and that she'd probably try to Curse him too. The little brat was far too much like her mother.

Speaking of Delphi's mother, Rodolphus could hear Bellatrix's laughter from two corridors away. He wondered what she'd done to poor Nymphie this time, as of course the two hadn't had very many sessions recently and Bellatrix had had far too much time to think of new awful things to try. He could hear Dora's yells of pain and sighed to think of interrupting what was surely heavenly bliss to Bellatrix.

He placed his hand flat on the door to Bellatrix's training room to test the ward, then opened the door without warning and stepped into the room, closing the door immediately. Bellatrix had Nymphie pinned to the floor, the younger's witch's face streaked with blood and tears, her dress shredded and torn from her struggles. "What are you doing?" he asked Bellatrix in amusement.

He dodged her spell as she looked up to see who had disturbed her and her niece. "Roddy," she practically purred, "I'm taking back my toy."

"I doubt that," Rodolphus muttered, not daring to wonder about the bruises on Dora's body. "Delphi is in her room and has requested Dora's presence."

Bellatrix gave him the most childish expression. "No!"

"Delphi...isn't she supposed to be at school?" Dora croaked.

"Hush, toy," Bellatrix commanded, her hand colliding with Dora's face. Dora said nothing, turning her face to the side as another tear escaped her eyes.

"Bellatrix..." Rodolphus sighed, "Dora's got to go."

"Why?" Bellatrix pouted. "It's not as if she has a better use for her...have you been Cursed?" Bellatrix's eyes sparkled with glee. "Did Delphi torture you? What have you done? Why did she send you?"

Dora's head turned toward Rodolphus. "It's Elara, isn't it?"

Bellatrix glanced down at her, pinching her shoulder where there were some sizable bruises. Dora cringed beneath her torturer, groaning as she writhed beneath the madwoman.

"Bellatrix!" Rodolphus snapped, annoyed at his wife. "Let her go!"

"She is mine!" Bellatrix yelled, a crazed look on her face as her hands slipped around Dora's throat. "Mine!"

"She belongs to the Dark Lord," Rodolphus said strongly. "And his daughter wants to see her now. You dare not withhold this request from her."

Bellatrix seemed to be considering whether it would be worth it to continue playing with Nymphie until she rolled off of the girl and repaired the girl's dress. "Nymphie can't keep her skirts on for anything," she mocked the girl as Rodolphus rushed to her side. "So what's wrong with baby Elara?"

Rodolphus didn't answer, trying his best to heal Dora quickly as he was sure Elara would be horrified to see her injuries—she'd probably blame him too, given the appearance of them. Bellatrix was soon at his elbow, watching him and giggling at Dora's pain as he had to heal a couple of broken fingers. "What the hell were you doing to her?" he asked Bellatrix. "She doesn't seem to have internal injuries at all."

The witch merely smirked and stroked Dora's white hair out of her face. "Better morph away that white hair, love."

Nymphadora cringed away from her, and Bellatrix's hand gripped her hair firmly. "Don't be afraid," she crooned. "Delphi's whisking you away for a few moments, but I'll have you back, okay?"

"Bella," Rodolphus said in exasperation, "the sooner she leaves, the sooner she'll return. Let go of her: you're making things difficult."

"Doesn't she always," Dora panted in pain, yelling out as Bellatrix surged a Curse through her.

"Both of you stop it!" Rodolphus snapped at them. "Honestly, you both act like children."

"You would know," Bellatrix giggled, leaning back on her hands and watching him continue to painstakingly heal Dora's bruises. "You see, Roddy...you have to take off her clothes to heal all her bruises. I made a map for you."

Nymphadora turned to look at her aunt, but instead of yelling at the witch, she said, "It isn't Delphi's magic: it's Elara's."

Bellatrix frowned for a moment, then turned to Rodolphus. "What did you do?"

"She knows, doesn't she?" Dora asked in immediate panic as she realised the one thing that could have made her daughter so angry at the man. "I've got to get to her—"

"You're going nowhere until you're healed," growled Rodolphus, anger in his voice.

"Well, it isn't as if you could just blame it on Bellatrix this time, is it?" she demanded of him, her eyes alive with malice. "She won't believe you."

"You two are so much alike," Rodolphus said, glaring into her eyes. "But this isn't over, not between any of us."

He dragged her to her feet, and though she wasn't without some aches and pains, she found that she could function fairly well. "Where are we going?" Dora gasped, trying to disentangle herself from him.

"Delphi's room," he said. "Stop fighting me. I have orders to take you there."

"Where's Elara?" Dora breathed, hurrying along with him.

"At school," he hissed. "We're taking the Floo. Now hush."

Nymphadora was very quiet as they reached the door, Rodolphus knocking on it a bit more timidly than usual. The door swung open, and Dora walked in, Rodolphus right behind her.

Delphi was standing near the open Floo, holding the jar of powder, and said, "Quickly now, Dora. Take some powder, throw it down, and I'll say the words since my Floo operates only with Parseltongue."

The brown-haired witch walked forward and did so, quickly whooshed away through the green flames. Rodolphus stepped forward, and Delphini faced him squarely. "As you do not help the situation, you will remain here. You are dismissed."

Rodolphus stared at her in shock for a moment, wanting to protest, though when the door opened at her raised hand, he turned and left her in the room. Delphi laughed to herself for a moment, then followed Nymphadora through the Floo.


Nymphadora was standing in the middle of the room, waiting for her arrival when she walked out of the fireplace, and Delphi said, "Any questions before you go to Elara?"

"I—how—no," Dora said finally. "Just point me to her, please."

"We're in the Slytherin girls' dormitory," Delphi told Dora, "so there are probably other girls in the hall. Ignore them. Elara's room is close by, and no one else should be in there. You will return to my room and let me know when you are finished. Follow me."

The two left Delphi's suite and walked down the hall to Elara's door. "It's my ward," Delphi murmured to Dora. "But I'm going to ward it so that Elara can break the ward when she's ready. Be careful."

Dora nodded, waited for Delphi to alter the ward again, then took a deep breath. It was time to have a heart to heart discussion with her only daughter.