Ronan Rodolphus Lestrange was his father's pride and joy, and anyone that had met Rodolphus himself in the last three years knew it very well. He always talked about how proud he was of his son and how early the boy had done magic, and how Ronan was sure to grow up to be a powerful wizard.
This particular evening, Rodolphus was trying to teach his young son to feel the difference of magic in puzzle pieces that were scattered on the floor of their room. Ronan wanted no part in this, however, and grinned in amusement as he simply picked up the pieces and threw them across the room, watching as they zig-zagged through the air.
Rodolphus had to admit that he was also amused at this, but it was not exactly what he had wanted. He attempted to distract the toddler a couple times, then gave up, joining the child in sending puzzle pieces zooming around the room, much to Ronan's excitement.
They were interrupted when the door opened and Bellatrix looked in, yelping slightly as she ducked one of the airborne pieces. "What was that for?" she demanded of her husband.
"We made them fly," Ronan grinned as Rodolphus let the rest of the pieces fall with an identical grin.
Bellatrix gave her husband a scathing look. "Narcissa and Lucius will be arriving soon," she reminded him. "Forgot, Roddy?" Rodolphus swore, jumping to his feet, and Bellatrix smirked. "In front of your own son?" she said, but he ignored her.
"Ronan and I will be right down," Rodolphus said, moving to the child's wardrobe to select a proper outfit for his son to wear to dinner.
"Cissa?" Ronan said with a noise a lot like a groan. "No!"
"Now, Ronan," Rodolphus told the child, returning to his side as Bellatrix continued to smirk from the doorway, "you like Aunt Cissa."
"Nooo," Ronan protested. "Dad, I don't want Cissa here."
Bellatrix frowned and said sternly, "Narcissa is my sister, and your aunt, Ronan, and you will behave at dinner tonight, do you understand?"
"Yes, Mum," Ronan said with a pout not unlike his mother's. He threw one of his toys at the wall as soon as she left the room.
"Ronan," Rodolphus said with a sigh, "don't throw things. It's okay to not like certain people, but Narcissa's your mother's sister, and we've got to be nice to her and Lucius, okay?"
"Yes, Dad," Ronan sighed, his face brightening almost at once. "Dad, Mum said—"
Rodolphus stopped his son from talking, telling him that they had to get ready for dinner and that they would talk later. Ten minutes later, Rodolphus walked down the stairs and into the Entrance Hall with Ronan at his side, the little boy looking very proper in his formal attire.
The chimes rang almost as soon as they reached Bellatrix, and together, they moved forward and opened the gates. Ronan murmured his greetings when his aunt and uncle spoke to him, but remained silent at his father's side, simply listening to the drone of the adults. He'd never like Lucius Malfoy's voice, and his Aunt Cissa was much too fussy for his liking.
Ronan was glad to sit down at the dinner table, eating quietly and watching his mother and Aunt Cissa talk. He liked to watch his mother talk, as he knew that she scared other people—and enjoyed it. But Bellatrix and Narcissa seemed to be getting along very well today, and Lucius and Rodolphus only spoke up a few times.
One of these moments was when Rodolphus made some kind of comment about Lucius and Narcissa starting their own family, and Ronan frowned at these words, not quite understanding what his father was talking about.
"There's no need to rush," Lucius said calmly. "We are young...and Narcissa is willing when the time is right."
Narcissa blushed, but Ronan noticed that this irritated his mother. He wanted to say something to her, but his father saw him open his mouth and gave him a warning look. Ronan stayed quiet for a few moments, but when Lucius said something about, "Your sister" to Bellatrix, the little boy looked over at his father again.
"Dad," he said, "Mum asked me if I wanted a sister…."
The room went dead silent, and Bellatrix's face seemed to harden slightly. Rodolphus frowned at these words, glancing at Bella and hardly daring to hope that the suggestion was possible.
"I merely wondered what he thought about a brother or sister," Bellatrix shrugged, the previous expression gone from her features.
Rodolphus was still frowning, and as Lucius smirked and went to say something, Narcissa skillfully changed the subject. The three year old was a little confused at what his words had caused, and stayed quiet for the rest of the meal.
Bellatrix burst through the doors of her and her husband's room, her husband right behind her as they had just come from saying goodnight to their son. She did not speak to him as she strode to the dresser, beginning to get ready for bed.
Too soon, she felt his arms slip around her and didn't resist, though she continued standing in front of her mirror, watching his face carefully. Rodolphus seemed to be having a slight struggle coming up with the right words to say, and finally, he murmured, "Bella...did you really ask Ronan about having a sister?"
"Yes," Bellatrix answered resignedly, lowering her hands from taking down her hair.
"You—you're not…?"
"Pregnant?" Bellatrix said, raising an eyebrow. "I should think not. You have your heir, don't you?"
"Then why would you ask," Rodolphus began, but she interrupted.
"I was curious as to what he would think," Bella huffed impatiently. "He didn't seem to like the idea, and pointed out that I don't like my sisters." Bellatrix scowled darkly. "Sister."
Rodolphus frowned at his wife in the mirror. "Why would you suggest it if it weren't in your plans?" he asked, his arms pulling her closer to him. "Were you going to surprise me?"
Bellatrix gritted her teeth. "I told you before Ronan was born that I would never give you another child," she hissed. "You ought to be happy with him!"
"I want to know why," he insisted, ignoring her angry expression.
"I told you why," she snapped. "You enchanted me to do your bidding for over a week, and forced me to conceive that child—"
"You're saying you don't love our son?" Rodolphus demanded, and she laughed, wrenching out of his grasp.
"Don't be stupid," she told him. "Though I've seen that's difficult for you."
Rodolphus growled in anger, and Bellatrix smirked, pacing away from him as she began to change into a nightgown. Her husband pounced on her before she could get her head through the neck of the dress, and she gasped as he shoved her up against the wall, tugging her nightgown into place.
"I don't think I've ever been dressed in anger," she mused, a small sound escaping her as he slapped her across the face.
"You refused your duty for years," he snarled in her face, grabbing her by the wrists and pinning her against the wall. "I had to do something!"
"We've been over this," she spat at him.
"You're up to something," he growled. "What are you planning?"
"Well, I'm not about to pop out another brat," she scoffed, "but there are other ways—"
"I'm not about to go out and find another woman—"
"Nor would I approve if you did," Bellatrix said darkly.
Rodolphus looked at her in bewilderment. "Then what do you mean?" he asked. "I'm not adopting someone else's brat."
Bellatrix shrugged. "Well, forget it."
He stared at her. "Bella, what child have you seen that you think I'll be content to raise as my own?" he questioned in trepidation.
She looked at him for a moment. "It was a stupid idea," she muttered finally. "Never mind."
"Who was it?" he asked, refusing to release her as he was intrigued by her secret.
She glared at him. "You wouldn't like anyone else's brat," she said, and he chuckled softly, agreeing. "Nymphadora."
"Who?" said Rodolphus, confused.
"Nymphadora," Bellatrix repeated. "She's a fairly powerful little girl—I've heard she does a lot of accidental magic. Narcissa mentioned it to me a couple weeks ago."
Rodolphus still didn't seem to know who she was talking about, and Bellatrix huffed in annoyance. "She's a full-powered Metamorphagus—"
The pieces clicked. "Andromeda's daughter?" he said incredulously. "A Weasley—Bellatrix, are you insane?!"
"I told you you wouldn't like it," Bella huffed. "Let go of me, Rodolphus."
She broke away from him, and he turned to stare at her incredulously. "Your sister's daughter? Andromeda would never—"
"No, of course she wouldn't," Bellatrix snapped. "I wouldn't ask."
"Ohhhh," said Rodolphus in dawning amazement. "You plan on kidnapping a Weasley and getting away with it! You know, Bella, if you took one of the boys they might not even notice."
"Nymphadora is the powerful one," Bellatrix glared at her husband. "The others aren't worth it."
"Have you been talking to them?" Rodolphus questioned.
Bellatrix glowered at him. "I've been watching," she said. "I know Andromeda is a partial Metamorphagus—"
"She is?"
"Yes," Bellatrix said sharply.
"But how do you know about Dora?" Rodolphus asked.
"I...saw Nymphadora as a baby," Bellatrix nearly whispered. "Andromeda and Narcissa have two-way mirrors. When Cissa asked me to join her in revealing her engagement to Lucius, I told Andromeda about Ronan, as I was very pregnant then. Dora and her twin were only a day old."
"You talked to her?" Rodolphus gasped. "You—to her!"
"She's not a bloodtraitor!" Bellatrix shouted.
Rodolphus stood still for a few minutes, then said, "Do you need a Healer, Bellatrix? You're not making any sense."
Bellatrix sank down on the bed. "Cissa told me that Andromeda claims to have made a mistake with that Mudblood," she breathed. "And that she hasn't changed her mind about pureblood ideals. Not that I really believe it," she added hurriedly.
"But she's fit right in!" Rodolphus protested. "She's given him how many children already!"
"Four," Bellatrix said in annoyance. "She'd make the best of any situation. You don't know her. She didn't mean to have her first son, but...well, I guess there's no excuse for the other three brats…."
Bellatrix lay back on her bed as Rodolphus lay down beside her. "Bella, you can't—what if the Dark Lord—?"
"The Dark Lord knows," Bellatrix breathed. "I told him about Nymphadora, and I'm supposed to be keeping an eye on her."
"Oh." Rodolphus took her hand carefully. "He wants the girl for his service?"
"Yes," Bellatrix said heavily. "I thought it might be easier to have her here."
"We can't raise a Weasley with our son," Rodolphus said in horror. "Bellatrix!"
Bellatrix stiffened. "Well, we wouldn't raise her as a Weasley, would we?"
The three older Weasley children chased each other around the orchard, giggling and yelling at each other as they played a rather unusual version of Tag and Hide & Seek mixed together. The oldest, it seemed, was the fastest child, but the twins were better at hiding.
"Your turn!" giggled the girl to her oldest brother. "Go away and we'll hide."
The young woman who stood mere yards away from the edge of the trees, continued to watch as the child obeyed his sister, the girl taking her twin's hand and pulling him toward some trees on the other side of the orchard.
"No," said the younger boy. "The shed, Dora."
"No," the girl groaned. "He'll see us. Come on!"
"Where are you going?" the boy protested, hurrying after her.
Dora looked around quickly, looking between the trees and some bushes that were nearby. "Hurry up!" she said, and dashed into the bushes, ignoring the twigs scratching her skin and tearing her robes.
"Your hair!" the boy hissed to her as he climbed into the bushes after her. "He'll see you!"
This was true, for Dora's hair was a bright, happy pink. "Oh," she said, and, screwing her eyes shut, she willed herself to blend in with the bush. "You too," she added, reaching toward her twin.
"No!" Charlie said, edging out of her reach. "Mum said you're not allowed to morph other people!"
"She won't know," Dora huffed. "I'll put you back—"
But at that moment, Will rejoined them, and Dora fell silent, watching. It wasn't long before Will shouted, "Charlie!" and the boy burst out of the bush, running away toward the house, and Dora remained concealed in her hiding place, smirking at her success.
The dark-haired witch that had been watching the children moved closer, and in an instant, had taken out her wand and pointed it at the girl, performing a non-verbal sleeping spell. Dora's eyes closed, the child toppling out of the shrubbery and onto the ground, her morph falling away. The nearly four-year-old girl had a sprinkling of dark freckles across her nose and cheeks in her natural form, and her dark brown hair betrayed a tint of ginger.
Bellatrix was about to move out into the open when she heard a door open and looked toward the house. With a sudden jolt, she realised that the girl's mother was hurrying across the yard, her wand in her hand, looking concerned and—to Bella's confusion—slightly amused. She stepped back, moving into the cover of the trees.
"Oh, Dora," Andromeda sighed, leaning over the girl and checking to make sure that she was unhurt. "I warned you that morphing too much would put you to sleep."
The dark-haired woman stared at her sister leaning over the small child: Andromeda was clearly pregnant again. If she had to hazard a guess, she would have thought Andromeda was around twenty weeks, but Bellatrix was no expert on pregnancy. Thoughts of ridicule, outrage, and amusement chased around Bellatrix's mind as she continued to watch her sister and niece.
"Well, you can just sleep then," Andromeda said, straightening up with a small groan and rubbing her back awkwardly. She seemed to be debating how to get the child into the house and finally settled on levitating Dora back toward the Burrow's back door.
Rodolphus Lestrange fell out of the Pensieve and back into his study, stumbling backward into his desk chair. His wife smirked at him from her perch on his desk, her arms crossed. "You see?" she demanded. "You see?"
"Andy's pregnant again," he mused.
"Rodolphus Lestrange!" Bellatrix yelled. "You know what I'm talking about!"
Rodolphus looked up at the dark-haired witch as she got to her feet and moved to take her seat on his lap. "I have never," he said after a moment, "seen a green-haired or a green skinned child. At least not on purpose. Rabastan doesn't count."
"And she offered to morph her twin!" Bellatrix said, grabbing her husband by the shoulders, and almost shaking him in her excitement. "He said that she's not allowed—Dora's morphed other people already! Surely you see why she's got to be removed from the Weasley hovel?"
Rodolphus didn't reply immediately, still thinking back to seeing the little girl's satisfied smirk when her twin had been discovered, but she hadn't. "She's got a mean streak," he said quietly. "Did you see that?"
"Of course I did!" Bellatrix huffed. "Rodolphus, don't you see? We've got to go get her! She'll be a great asset to the Dark Lord—"
"So you've told him about this?" Rodolphus frowned.
"Of course I have!" Bellatrix snapped, jumping to her feet and beginning to pace the room excitedly. "Rodolphus, the Dark Lord believes Dora would be happiest with us—well, that she'd cooperate best with us. We'd have to let her call us aunt and uncle—"
Rodolphus made a sound of outrage. "You want Dora to live here like family?!" he yelped. "She's—"
Bellatrix rounded on him with such a look of fury that he shut up. "I know what they all are," she hissed. "I know you're worried about your precious heir, Roddy—Andromeda knew you'd be, years ago when I threatened to take Dora in the first place. But they'll be raised for the same purpose. Dora's a pureblood, a half Black—it's not as bad as you think. She's young enough that she won't remember anything about the Weasleys, about their bloodtraitor ways. We can ensure she's on the right side!"
The man got to his feet, taking his wife by her entreating arms. "And if we don't take her, what will happen?" he asked.
"I'd imagine you'd be ordered to take her," Bellatrix answered with a scoff of laughter. "You wouldn't argue with that, would you, Roddy?"
"I—I don't like it," Rodolphus scowled.
"I know," Bella pouted, wrapping her arms around him as he pulled her closer. "But it'll be worth it, Rodolphus; you'll see. The Dark Lord makes all sacrifices worth it."
Rodolphus didn't speak for several moments, then finally gave a tiny nod. "I trust you'll plan it?" he inquired, and she giggled her agreement, kissing him fiercely.