Dora
The next morning at breakfast, Draco was shocked to walk into the room and find his cousin sitting at the table as if nothing was out of the ordinary. "Nymphadora!" he said in amazement. "You came back last night?"
Nymphadora grinned. "Bellatrix had to escort Roddy to come get me," she replied. "I guess they really don't trust him anymore."
"They don't trust you with him," Teddy laughed. "Good job, Mum."
His mother laughed too and turned back toward her cousin. "How are things at the Ministry? None too pleasant, I assume?"
Draco frowned. "It hasn't been terrible, but of course with anything, there are ups and downs," he answered.
"How much freedom do you have there?" Dora asked, and Narcissa gave her a disapproving look.
"Not much," Draco answered with a hint of amusement. "I'm a Malfoy, in case you've forgotten."
Roo gave his older cousin a sad look, and Draco smiled slightly. "It's all right, Roo," he said. "Let it be a lesson to you not to upset the Dark Lord."
"He won't," Elara spoke up confidently.
"No offense," Teddy said, turning to Elara, "but you don't know that. Even Bellatrix isn't immune to the wrath of the Dark Lord."
"Teddy," Dora began, but Elara was glaring at Teddy, the roots of her hair as red as they had been the day before.
"Just because you still don't want to be a Death Eater," she snapped at him, "just because you think the world could change—"
"I don't want to be a Death Eater," Roo said simply, and everyone turned to him. "They've got others for that. It doesn't look fun, and it makes people look stupid."
"Roo," Andromeda said softly, "you've got to be careful what you say."
"I know," Roo answered, pointing his fork at his grandmother, "but I'm not saying that being one is bad. Even though they do evil things."
"Roo," his mother said, unable to keep the grin off her face, "I'm glad you see that, but please don't say things like that in front of anyone else."
Elara got to her feet. "I've got to be off," she said, flipping her hair over her shoulders and leaving the room without saying goodbye.
Teddy wrinkled his nose at her back, and when Elara had left the ward, Andromeda sighed, "Teddy, don't irritate her."
Teddy gave his grandmother an unamused look, and Roo intervened in the conversation yet again. "She's just mad that Teddy's getting more training than she is," he said. "But he's older."
"I can't believe she's training," Dora sighed. "You either." She eyed Teddy, then smiled as Roo laughed. "But I've seen your training work."
"Mum, it's not funny," Roo said, putting down his fork, no longer wanting to eat. "I know Dad's mean, but he's still our dad."
"I'm sorry, Roo," Dora murmured. "I guess I shouldn't be saying things like that. I forgot."
"I think there are some things we need to discuss soon," Andromeda said to Dora. "I'm concerned that they've taken certain reservations away from you, and I would like to know so I can help."
Dora looked around at the two Malfoys, who she had noticed were trying not to pay attention to the arguments going on between the children and their mother about their father. "Oh," she said. "Okay."
Teddy opened his mouth to speak, then shut it again and got to his feet. "I'm being called to join the training, I assume," he said. "Elara's going to love that." He looked at his mother. "Well, Mum, don't cause too much trouble for Nan and Roo," he said, then ruffled his little brother's hair teasingly and walked out of the Wing as well.
"They're always gone," Roo told his mother as Dora stared after her son blankly. "It's okay, Mum. Elara visits, and Teddy comes back every night, at least."
"I'm not worried," she reassured him. "I just don't remember them going to training like they're off to work. It's weird."
"Speaking of work," said Draco, getting to his feet, "I'll be leaving for the Ministry as soon as I retrieve my cloak. Good to have you back, Dora."
"Thanks, Draco," she smiled at him. She was surprised at how much less stressed the man seemed to be today, but shrugged it off, forcing herself to focus on Roo. "Well, at least we can spend some time together, right?" she said to the boy.
"Yeah!" Roo grinned. "And Nan too?"
"Of course," Dora replied, seeing her mother look at her.
About an hour later, Roo and his mother were in the sitting room alone for a few minutes, and Dora looked at Roo carefully. "May I ask you about your dream?"
"Fine," Roo sighed, having known she would probably ask. "What do you want to know?"
"I'm curious as to what you saw," his mother said simply. "Do you know where we were? Do you have any idea of when it's supposed to happen?"
"I think you were in the main part of the manor," the boy muttered hesitantly, clearly uncomfortable even though he had said it was fine. "There were a lot of people around, but no one was stopping you. I don't know when it happened."
Nymphadora considered her youngest child for a few long minutes in which he refused to look at her. "Roo, I—"
"Don't lie to me, Mother," he said, finally looking straight at her. "I didn't believe you at St Mungo's, and neither did Elara. She wants to believe, but she doesn't. I know you'll—you'll get rid of Dad if you have the chance, so don't lie."
Dora didn't deny it, but whispered, "I love you and your sister, Roo."
Roo swallowed hard and nodded, getting up from the couch. "I'm going to my room," he said, and Dora knew that he meant out in the main part of the manor.
"All right," she murmured. "I'm sorry, Roo."
He simply walked away, and her eyes clouded with tears, so that when her own mother entered the room a couple minutes later, she found Dora wiping away tears. "What's wrong, Dora?" Andromeda asked in concern.
"He's grown up so much," Dora sniffed. "I just...asked him about his dream, and he said he knew I wanted to kill his father and that he didn't want me to lie to him. They're all too old, and they know too much. I don't want to upset them, but...I'm not going to keep living like I have been."
"You don't have to," Andromeda answered. "You're clearly more capable of defending yourself now, and you can even practise dueling with Teddy, if he agrees. I'm sure he'd be happy to help you brush up on that stuff, and you might even be able to compare notes on your dueling styles. I'd hold back on murdering Rodolphus for now."
Dora grinned tearfully. "For now," she compromised. "But I'll destroy him if he tries anything."
Elara was furious. She was heading back to her room from training, and she could hardly manage to keep her hair from turning bright red—the nerve of Teddy Lupin in laughing at her, at telling her how to do spells, embarrassing her in front of Delphi—she wished she could duel Teddy, because she'd like to make him suffer for a few minutes. This thought made her even more angry as she reached the doorway of her room, then stopped, seeing a small figure shuffling toward her down the hall. "Roo?" she called softly, some of her anger lifting as she saw his forlorn expression. "Are you okay?"
He nodded, but Elara frowned at him and opened her mouth to say something before he cut her off. "I don't want to talk to you," he said sharply, and seeing his sister's hair turn red instantly, he darted into his adjacent room and nearly slammed the door in his haste to get away from her.
This upset Elara even more, and she entered her own room, warding it so that no one could enter. She was so angry, and so upset that she didn't even know what to do but throw herself onto her bed and scream into her pillows. This led to her bursting into tears and consequently crying until she was too tired to cry any more. She lay there, hugging one of her pillows and staring at the wall, wondering what to do. She felt like she couldn't talk to anyone, especially her parents, so there was nothing to do but sit in her room until she was able to control her emotions.
"Teddy," Delphi said disapprovingly, shutting the door after Elara had left her room, "why do you antagonise her? That's my place."
"I wasn't," Teddy answered, surprised. "What did I do?"
"I'm training her, not you," the sixteen-year-old girl replied with a quirk of her lips. "She did not appreciate your trying to correct her, and that doesn't help what I'm trying to do here."
"Sorry," he said, "she's just being stupid about everything lately."
"Ah, yes, because one parent threatening to kill the other is perfectly normal." Delphi did not seem amused anymore, narrowing her eyes at the boy. "Everyone knows you don't care. Try not to annoy her. She doesn't pay attention when she's upset."
Teddy scoffed at this. "Don't let her make excuses," he shrugged, and regretted it a second later.
"Excuse me?" Delphi's voice was slightly higher pitched as she grabbed him by the front of his robes and slammed him into the front of her wardrobe. "Not every person can be forced into things, Lupin, and I'll not forget that you and Elara have the same sweet mother and have to be treated gently once in a while. She is not the same person as you, and will not have the same treatment. And don't tell me what to do, Teddy Bear. You seem to want to do that more and more often, and it's got to stop."
As the tip of her wand jabbed into his throat, he blinked. "Of course," he said. "I didn't mean—" but he stopped for a moment to gather his thoughts before he got himself into more trouble. "I only meant to suggest something, not order."
She was just about to speak when the door to her room flew open and Bellatrix rushed in before halting in surprise and glaring at Teddy for some reason. "Mother!" Delphi said in exasperation, unable to hide her annoyance.
"What's he done?" Bellatrix asked, seeming to not have heard Delphi's tone.
Delphi opted to ignore her mother for the moment, and said directly to Teddy's face, "I have been patient with you, but there will be no more warnings." She released him and ordered, "Leave."
Teddy obeyed quickly, and Delphi turned to her mother. "If you keep barging into my room, I will have to ward you out. Please stop."
"What happened with the cub?" Bellatrix asked, still ignoring what she had done.
"Mother!" Delphi drew herself to her full height and faced the woman. "You will respond to my statement! I do not want to have to speak to Father about this!"
"I didn't mean to interrupt," Bellatrix breathed. "Honest. I was just coming to talk to you about going to Diagon Alley."
"Still, you must observe the fact that this is my room," Delphi sighed. "I'm not a little girl anymore; you don't need to check on me all the time."
Bellatrix bit her lip and didn't respond to this, still curious about what was going on with Nymphie's oldest brat. "So how was training today?"
Delphi shook her head. "Mother, you're incorrigible," she said, sitting down on the couch and motioning her mother to sit beside her. "I don't think either of them learned a thing today."
"Really?" Bellatrix mused. "Wasn't he supposed to be doing rather well in his training?"
"Yes, but—ugh." Delphi made a sound of disgust that made her mother raise an eyebrow at her. "He knew what I was teaching, but she wasn't understanding it at first, and so he was trying to give her some pointers to help. She was furious when she left, I know that. You'd think with their mother just arriving home, they'd be happy and get along, but of course not." She spat the last few words and glared at the door.
"Oh," said Bellatrix.
"It's so frustrating!" Delphi huffed, crossing her arms. "I don't think I can train them together until they stop acting like children, and of course it takes more time to train them separately."
"They are children," Bellatrix pointed out carefully. "I doubt either of them are mature enough to let the other teach them something in front of you—and remember, you did tell me when Elara started training that she was embarrassed that Teddy knew so much already."
"To be honest," said Delphi wearily, "I do think Teddy has matured a lot in the last couple of weeks, but Elara is just not to the same point yet. I don't have the patience to deal with them together, and they aren't mature enough to train together."
"I'm not sure what to suggest," Bellatrix said thoughtfully. "You probably are correct in wanting to separate them for now. I'm sure they both have a lot of emotions to work through, what with Nymphie threatening to kill Roddy." And she giggled at the idea.
"Well, I'm sure that doesn't help," Delphi muttered. "Though, did she really threaten, or was it just the dream that she repeated?"
"Does it matter?" Bellatrix shrugged. "She did, though. And sadly, I have to agreed that no one would miss him." She rolled her eyes. "Nymphie's far more outspoken now about how much she dislikes him, and I wonder if she said something in front of Elara that upset her."
"Oh." It was Delphi's turn to consider the words spoken. "That would explain why Teddy seemed slightly amused the whole time and it just annoyed Elara more."
"So you weren't telling him off for annoying her?" Bellatrix teased.
"Mother," Delphi said, unable to keep a small smile off of her face, "no. He has a way of giving suggestions that sound like orders and I told him I wasn't going to tolerate it anymore."
"Ah," said Bellatrix. "Sounds good."
Delphi resisted rolling her eyes. Sometimes her mother was just too much. "So," she said, deciding not to talk about her and Teddy and Elara's business anymore, "tell me your plan for Diagon."
"In a couple days," Bellatrix answered seriously, "on a weekday, we should get your school things. The problem is when to take Elara and Teddy because Rodolphus cannot handle Nymphie—nor Teddy. I hesitate to take Nymphadora with us, or even separately with her children. Perhaps it would be easier if we took the two children with us—except that now seems to be a bad time."
"I'll have to think about it," Delphi said. "Teddy will behave for me, and I'm fairly certain Elara will not act out in public."
"I don't want to be put in a difficult situation," Bellatrix said, frowning. "But I don't have much patience for chasing children around, especially when the rebel attacks are getting more frequent. I cannot be looking after them if something happens."
"Perhaps talk to Rodolphus about taking Elara," Delphi suggested. "We can take Teddy; most people know that he's too powerful for Rodolphus and they will not question us if they are smart."
"That might be asking too much," Bellatrix muttered, and Delphi smirked.
"You will not have to worry about too much," she replied. "It'll be fine, Mum." And she reached over and clasped Bella's hand. "I'm almost done with school; can you believe it?"
"You'll always be my little girl," Bellatrix said, tentatively squeezing her daughter's hand. "I'm sure you'll never be bored after you graduate. You'll have a lot more responsibilities."
Delphi was not thrilled to hear this. "I don't know how anyone can graduate from Hogwarts and go straight into a position at the Ministry or whatever else."
Bellatrix wasn't sure whether to comment, but finally said quietly, "You've been doing some growing up yourself, but you've handled it well so far, Delphi."
"Thanks," Delphi murmured, her eyes on their clasped hands. "Only because I have to, though."
"You can always talk to me, all right?" Bellatrix murmured, slipping her arm around the girl.
"Do all young people feel like they don't want to be who they are?" Delphi asked, and sensed her mother's mood change immediately.
"I don't know many children, but I daresay Elara feels that way," Bellatrix replied. "But you're special, Delphi."
"Special has its own problems," said Delphi, looking away toward the door. "I don't always like being watched by the whole world. I don't think being elite really makes people happy. I don't know what does."
Bellatrix was unsure what to say and opted not to answer, willing to just sit there with her daughter who was also trying to find her way through her teen years. To her own knowledge, such things were never easy.
