Dora
Rodolphus was not impressed when, two days later, his children met him at Elara's bedroom door and Roo demanded, "Are we going to see Mum now?"
"Roo," laughed another female voice from inside the room, "do you not believe me?"
Rodolphus immediately understood why his children already knew they were going to visit their mother, having had to talk to Bellatrix and Delphi together to get permission. It had not been a fun conversation. "Yes," Rodolphus said to his son. "You're both ready?"
"Yes," the two said together, Delphi appearing behind them in the doorway, then closing the door behind them.
"Have fun," she smirked at all three of them.
The children smiled nervously, and Rodolphus merely nodded, placing his hand on Reuben's shoulder and leading his son and daughter away. He wanted to talk to them before they left, but when he turned to face them, he saw that his son was in no mood for talking, and said, "Well, take my arm."
The two obeyed, and moments later, the two found themselves in the white walls of St Mungo's. Like Teddy, neither of them had been there before, and Roo looked around for a second before moving closer to his father. Rodolphus led the way through the doors to the ward where Dora stayed alone, and said before they entered, "Remember, she's sick."
"And why is that?" said Roo, with a slight challenge in his voice.
"Reuben, I know you miss your mother, but don't sass me," Rodolphus told him warningly. "Let's go." He opened the door and motioned Elara to go first.
Elara entered her mother's hospital room carefully, unsure what she would find, but the moment she saw her mother, Nymphadora looked straight at her and smiled. "Elara! I was hoping they would let you visit." Before Elara could answer, Roo shot straight past her, jumped onto the bed, and threw his arms around his mother.
"Roo!" Dora gasped happily, hugging him tightly. But she soon realised that he was upset, crying softly into the front of her dress. "Oh, Roo," she said gently into his dark hair, "it's okay. I'm okay. I'm coming back home soon."
"You are?" Elara asked, moving closer and looking down at her mother and brother. "It's been weeks—we've all been so worried."
"I'm sorry, Elara," Dora murmured, reaching out and squeezing her daughter's hand. "I didn't mean to scare you all."
"Don't leave us," Roo cried without moving from his place in his mother's arms. "Please!"
"I won't," she murmured, kissing his head. "It's all right, Roo. The Healers helped me, and I'm doing really good."
"You sound better," Elara said, but her voice sounded so doubtful to even herself that she winced at the look her mother gave her. "I mean—oh—" Her ears turned red and she didn't finish her sentence.
Dora frowned thoughtfully. "You won't believe I'm better until you've seen it for a while," she said. "You're afraid that I'll go back to how I was. I understand."
Roo sat up at these words, his face twisted with emotion as he glared across the room at his father. "You can't hurt her anymore," he said forcefully. "You have to leave her alone."
"Roo," Elara breathed, but the boy ignored her.
"If you make our mother sick, then you don't care about us," Reuben told his father. "We need her: leave her alone."
Rodolphus said nothing, and Dora gently stroked her son's hair out of his face. "It's not his fault, Roo."
"Mostly," Roo argued. "If he wasn't mean to you, you wouldn't be here."
"Now isn't the time to talk about this," Dora said gently.
Roo started crying again. "We have to," he cried. "I had a dream last night—I dreamed—I dreamed you killed Dad. And I don't want you to."
Elara's mouth fell open in shock, and Rodolphus raised an eyebrow at Nymphadora, who was trying to comfort her son. "I'm not about to kill anyone, Roo," Dora said softly to him. "I don't like killing, remember? You're probably just upset that I've been gone, and you're worried that you'll lose him too. That's what nightmares are: they tell us our real fears."
"They do," Elara agreed fervently, blushing when her parents looked at her curiously.
"It wasn't just a nightmare," Roo insisted. "It wasn't!"
"Well, if that is the future, it's not happening today," Dora said, receiving an angry glare from Rodolphus.
"But you do want to, don't you?" the child sniffed, looking up at his mother.
"Roo," Elara breathed, scared for her brother to say such things at all, let alone in front of their father.
Again, Reuben ignored her, gazing at his mother. "Well, that's what people do when someone's mean to them," he said. "But if he stops being mean, you won't have to, right?"
The other three members of Roo's family stared at him, each wondering at the circumstances that had brought the nearly seven year old old to this conclusion. "I am not going to take your father away from you," Nymphadora said directly to Roo, looking him straight in the eyes. "No matter what happens."
Roo started to protest, and his mother gently shushed him. "Try not to think about that dream," she said. "I know it's scary, but it's not real. Let's talk about something else, okay?"
Elara took a deep breath and began to talk about the plans for her and Teddy to go get their school things, desperately hoping everything would be okay when they returned home. Her mother definitely acted more sane now, not crying and staring at the wall all the time—and she had even managed to calm and quiet Roo in a dangerous situation without seeming stressed. Elara guessed that Teddy was right: their mother was doing a lot better, but she wasn't about to believe it until her mother was home and she saw constant results.
As soon as they arrived back at the manor later that evening, Rodolphus went to speak and immediately stopped with an annoyed look on his face. "I'll talk to you later," he said to his children, then quickly walked off toward another part of the manor.
Roo took a deep breath and hurried toward his room, Elara hesitating before following him. "I don't want to talk," Roo warned her when he let her into his room.
"I'm so sorry you have these dreams," Elara sighed.
"It's not your fault," Roo muttered, "but I wish they would stop. They're only getting worse."
"You probably shouldn't have told Dad this one," the girl suggested tentatively. "I hope it's okay, but—"
"Teddy told me to tell both of them," Reuben answered firmly, as if that settled the matter. "And he was going to tell Delphi while we were gone."
"What?!" Elara gasped. "Roo!"
Roo frowned at his sister. "Don't yell at me. Go talk to Teddy." And he turned away from her, moving toward the shelves in his room.
Elara took a deep breath. "I'm not trying to be mean, Roo. I want us all to be safe." And she left the room, going to find Teddy in the Prisoners' Wing. To her frustration and concern, he wasn't there, and she guessed that he was still training or talking with Delphi. She didn't need to talk to him badly enough that she would interrupt something like that: she'd learned that lesson nearly seven years ago. She met her brother later that evening when her older brother stepped through the wards.
"Hey," he grinned. "What are you doing here? How did Mum do? Did she try to curse him again?"
"No," Elara said, "come: let's talk."
"Merlin, Elara," Teddy mused, raising an eyebrow, "I know Delphi's started training you too, but you don't have to sound just like her."
"I'm pleased to see you've returned unscathed," Elara mused, considering him for a moment. "I can fix that for you, Teddy Bear."
"I am not your Teddy Bear," Teddy answered with a slight smirk, opening the door to his room. "After you, sister."
Once the door was shut, Elara turned to him and said, "I'm worried about Roo. He said he talked to you about his dream...he told us all when we were at St Mungo's. What all did he tell you?"
Teddy frowned thoughtfully, then said, "He came to me last night because he had awakened with a nightmare, and he insisted that it was one of his special dreams. I tried to tell him it wasn't real, but he specifically said that it was as real as when Mum went after him." He sighed. "I feel sorry for him, always dreaming terrible things, but he said that Mum seemed to know exactly what she was doing and that she screamed certain things at Rodolphus that Roo didn't understand, but that made perfect sense in the dream."
"Did he tell you what?" Elara asked. "Do you know where they were? Do you know when this is supposed to happen?"
"Did Roo refuse to talk to you?" Teddy replied. "Why are you asking me?"
"Dad is probably going to talk to Roo when he comes back from whatever mission he's going on," Elara scowled. "But yes, Roo told me to come to you. Why did you tell him to tell both Mum and Dad that she was going to kill him?"
Teddy heaved a sigh. "Look: I know you don't want him dead," he said. "Roo said the dream was real, and if it is supposed to be the future, and Mum does kill Rodolphus, then she's going to be in serious trouble. That's why I told Delphi since Delphi already knows that Roo has prophetic dreams: they're going to be keeping a close eye on both your parents to make sure everything is all right."
Elara glared at Teddy. "You want her to kill him."
"It would amuse me," Teddy agreed, seeing the roots of his sister's hair turn red with her anger. "But I know that it would cause a lot of problems. Right now, your father has the privilege of babysitting all of us because he has inserted himself into our lives. If he were gone, that would fall to someone else, and I don't think that would be nearly as much fun for any of us."
"So why did you make Roo tell them?" Elara demanded. "You should have known it would make Dad angry!"
"So what's he done? Yelled at Roo? Tried to corner him and cross-examine him?" shrugged Teddy. "Roddy's not doing much of anything tonight—except meeting with the Dark Lord."
"Why?" Elara asked. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," Teddy answered. "Mum's coming home tonight, Elara."
"She is?" Elara asked in surprise. "Really?"
"Roddy's getting a little talking to, and then he and Bellatrix are going to go retrieve Mum from St Mungo's," Teddy replied, a grin breaking across his face. "Apparently, they think he can't handle Mum alone anymore. I guess she 'behaved' when you and Roo saw her, but when I was there, she definitely tried to curse him out of the room, and the guards had to step in to keep them from fighting. Rodolphus actually waited outside the room for us."
Elara was trying to process all of this, and Teddy added, "They've already left. I assume they should be back any time. Look: I know it's not easy for Roo to have these dreams, and especially to be questioned about them, but by warning people that Mum might actually try something, she might not get left alone with Rodolphus so much. They are already aware of Roo's dream, so having to have a second or different escort isn't going to be so strange. Mum's safer too this way."
"I hope you're right," Elara huffed. "You're becoming really mean, Teddy."
"Mean?" Teddy raised an eyebrow, then frowned. "Death Eaters are all about enjoying someone else's pain, Elara. Your father is a prime example of that. Don't act like you're better than everyone when you know full well that being a Death Eater is in both of our futures."
Elara did not answer, but left her brother's room and shut the door rather roughly.
Bellatrix was happy. She hadn't been so happy in years, and she was pretending to be slightly upset, but how could she be unhappy when Roddy's own son had prophesied that Nymphie was going to kill him? No one actually cared if Rodolphus lived or died, and both the Dark Lord and Delphi had expressed to her how useless and pathetic Rodolphus was. Of course, Bella wasn't about to give Nymphadora that information, but if Nymphie's cub was aware of how annoyed everyone was with Rodolphus, it wouldn't be long before the woman decided to test exactly how much her abuser was worth.
It was less than perfect that Bellatrix had to accompany Rodolphus to bring Nymphie back to the manor—she'd much rather have gone by herself. All the same, she did tease Rodolphus about death by Nymphadora on the way to St Mungo's. She wasn't sure what Nymphie would be like, but she had heard the reports that Dora had her fighting spirit back, and that the woman had tried to curse Rodolphus several times.
Rodolphus entered Dora's room first, and Bellatrix was amused to hear Dora ask, "What are you doing here? Don't you know I might kill you?"
"You won't," Rodolphus said coldly.
"Not today, anyway," Bellatrix giggled, walking past the guards and showing herself. "Ready to go, Nymphie?"
"Go where?" Dora asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Back to the manor," said the guard that had been speaking up. "You've only been pacing the floor, demanding to leave and offering to destroy the building."
"Nymphie, what's gotten into you?" Bellatrix grinned. "Have you found that destructive part of you?"
"It's always been there," Dora answered, moving to gather her few items. "I'm ready: let's go."
Rodolphus did not even move to take Dora's arm, but motioned her to follow him. "Bye," said Dora to the guards. "Thanks."
"It's our job," the one told her. "Good luck with him." And he grinned.
Dora grinned too, almost skipping as she walked out of her room beside Bellatrix. "He wants me to fulfill the prophecy," she told her conversationally. "I think most people do."
"Nymphie, you need to behave, or you'll end up back here," Bellatrix warned.
"Not if he's dead," Dora shrugged. "I wish I knew more of Roo's dream, but I'm not going to question him about it."
Bellatrix raised an eyebrow. "It had better not come true."
Dora laughed. "You can't tell me you'd miss him. You'd only miss annoying him. The children are the only ones who would be sad and you know it. He's an embarrassment to everyone: you, me, his children, his Master—"
"If you think you're safe now, you're not," Rodolphus shot at her with a glare.
"I'm afraid you're the one that's not safe," Dora giggled. "Oh, we're going to have fun with this."
Bellatrix really wondered how it was going to be to apparate home with Dora, but she easily took Bella's arm and made no fuss as they returned to the manor. To their surprise, Elara was waiting in the Entrance Hall when they entered. Nymphadora smiled at her daughter and said, "You knew I was coming back tonight? Where are the others?"
Elara sighed. "They're in their rooms. Teddy told me you were coming back tonight...I don't think Roo knows—"
"Mum!" For the second time that day, Dora's youngest child bounded into her arms, the boy not caring about the presence of Bellatrix. "Why didn't you say you were coming back today?"
"I didn't know, Roo," Dora said, hugging the boy. "I'm home to stay."
"Move along," Bellatrix ordered, recalling her orders to see Dora safely into the Prisoners' Wing.
"I'm staying with you tonight," Roo whispered to his mother. "I don't care."
"All right," Dora smiled, taking his hand and walking with him toward the Wing. "Coming, Elara?"
"I…" she hesitated, then agreed, following her mother and brother.
Rodolphus didn't offer to take Nymphadora through the ward, but Bellatrix did so quickly. "Behave now, Nymphie."
Nymphadora smirked at her aunt. "I assure you: I'm very well-behaved."
A door opened, and Teddy appeared down the corridor, followed by his grandmother. "Dora!" Andromeda breathed, and Dora's smile grew wider.
"Mum," she said. "How have you been?"
"Don't worry about me," Andromeda huffed, striding forward to hug her daughter that had been so ill.
"I'm glad you're here, Mum," Teddy said to her. "We need you."
"I'm glad to be back with you," Dora answered, clearly thrilled that so much of her family was around her.
Bellatrix gave Rodolphus a pointed look, and he glared at her before turning and saying, "Come, Reuben, Elara; leave your mother to get settled in."
Roo planted himself firmly between his parents and announced, "I'm staying with Mum."
"No," Rodolphus began, but Roo continued, "You've kept us away from her for a long time, but you're not doing that anymore. I'm staying here."
"Reuben," his father said, unamused by the boy's response in front of everyone in the room, "we've had this discussion."
"Mum's better," Roo answered stubbornly. "She's not going to hurt me."
Elara moved to stand beside her brother. "He's right, Dad," she said. "Mum's been sick for ages, and we want to be with her now that she's home. It'll be fine."
There was a permanent grin on Bellatrix's face now, though the only one who noticed it and almost understood it was Teddy. She was highly amused that Roddy's own children wouldn't listen to him anymore, and that they both wanted their mother way more than they wanted him—in a way, she couldn't blame them for wanting to stay with the 'nice' parent. She was also fully aware that Roddy knew he was not allowed to stay in the Prisoners' Wing that night, and that he had orders to leave when she did. He was fighting a battle that he could not win, and both of them knew it.
"Mum will keep an eye on us," Dora said to Rodolphus. "And Teddy too: you know how good a duelist he is."
"Mum!" Elara said in shock, and Dora merely raised an eyebrow at Elara.
"I expect him to get better, especially since he's training with Delphi," Dora smirked, and winked at her firstborn.
"Yes, perhaps he can keep the prophecy from coming true," Bellatrix suggested with a gleam in her eyes. "Or change the fulfillment—"
"Bellatrix!" Rodolphus snapped at his wife.
"We have orders," Bellatrix said thoughtfully, a slight pout on her lips. "And if you don't follow them, I might have to fulfill the prophecy myself."
Teddy was laughing by this time, thoroughly amused at Bellatrix's words—and also realising that Delphi had nearly the same facial expressions that her mother did. Roo, however, looked very unhappy, and Elara was scowling at Teddy in annoyance. Finally, Rodolphus said, "If anything happens, come and get me."
"Okay," Elara answered, but Roo said nothing, his arms crossed as he looked at his father.
Rodolphus and Bellatrix left the little family alone in the Wing, and Roo immediately turned back to his mother and said, "We have so much to tell you."
"I'm sure," Dora grinned. "Let's go change into some comfortable clothes, all right? Then we get comfortable and chat. Coming, Teddy?"
"I'll come talk, but I'm staying in my room," Teddy answered. "I might have training in the morning."
"Not unless we're training together," Elara replied haughtily. "I'm training in the morning."
"Well, fine," Teddy rolled his eyes at her. "You don't have to be difficult."
"Are you two all right?" Dora asked her oldest two. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," they said together, and though she clearly didn't believe them, she didn't inquire further.
Dora went to her room to find a comfortable nightgown to put on, and stepped into the bathroom for a few minutes to freshen up while her children all went to do the same thing. Teddy waited in the sitting room, as he wasn't interested in wearing pajamas at the moment. When they all gathered in the room, Narcissa included, Teddy asked, "Mum, do you think they'll have you doing missions and things again?"
She looked at her son thoughtfully and said, "I don't know. Have you been going out and doing any yet?"
"Not on purpose," Teddy answered, and Elara snorted. "I'm serious," he said.
"Did something happen?" Dora asked him.
"Well, we got attacked when we were out with Delphi once," Teddy answered with a shrug. "She had to report it to her father, but we never heard anything else about it. It was right after that that she started training Elara."
"And you never told us about it?" Andromeda raised an eyebrow at her grandchildren.
"We didn't want to make you worry," Elara answered. "There was enough going on without telling you that rebels attacked us and Delphi."
Andromeda sighed. "And what if you had been injured?"
Teddy smirked. "I was," he said. "Delphi's actually really good at Healing."
"Really?" Roo said in surprise.
"Yeah," Teddy grinned. "I'd return from training with a lot more injuries if she weren't. Plus, Bellatrix is decent at Healing too."
Roo curled into his mother's side and Dora slipped her arm around him. "But of course," Elara scoffed. "Delphi's not going to hurt her Teddy Bear."
Teddy rolled his eyes. "Come off it, Elara."
Elara's scornful expression did not change, and their mother said, "Well, what else has happened since I've been away?"
"Well, you know Elara's started training," Roo said. "Teddy thinks he's all grown up now—" He ignored his brother's protest and continued, "It's almost time for Teddy and Elara to go back to school. And did you know Draco's working at the Ministry?" He looked up at his mother.
"I think I did," Dora answered. "He's doing well?" She looked at Narcissa questioningly.
"He has only good to say," Narcissa answered simply.
"I'm so glad you're okay," Roo told his mother. "We were all scared—and Dad wasn't very nice."
"Why, what happened?" Dora asked in concern.
"He didn't like that Roo and Elara were sad and wanted you back," Teddy answered. "So he wasn't happy. And he didn't like that I cursed him." He hung his head slightly. "I'm glad you survived."
Dora grinned at him. "Well, I must have known somehow that I had to stay alive to make sure you behave. I really want to talk to each of you separately, but we do need to celebrate that we'll all back together."
"Yeah," said Roo emphatically. "And you're never going away again: I won't let you."
Dora laughed and told her son, "Well, you won't have to stop me from leaving, because I'm not going anywhere." Her family smiled, and Dora knew that they were all still worried about her, but would settle for her being back for the moment.
