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Bella
After seeing that Andromeda had gone to talk to Delphini, Nymphadora moved back into her room. She shut the door behind her though was hesitant to turn and face her husband, instead finding sudden intrigue in the pattern of the old dark oak door. She could hear her husband behind her, sat on the bed as he turned his wand over in the palms of his hands, she could feel him staring at her begging to know what her next move would be. Funnily enough even Nymphadora didn't know what she would do next. It was after what felt like minutes but in reality was seconds that Nymphadora turned to face her husband. His gaze immediately snapped away from her, the man instead seeming to find great interest in the decorative engravings of his wand. After she became sure that the man would not speak nor look at her first Nymphadora slowly walked around the bed and to the front of Rabastan Lestrange, the sound of her heeled boots on the wooden floor the only sound in the room.
"Look at me." Dora breathed, wondering if she should also have her own wand in her hands from the way he was so intently observing his own. "Rab." The man didn't move an inch, not relenting in his obsessive inspection of his wand. Dora winced as she held back the need to scream at him, forcing herself to speak calmly. "Rabastan, look at me and say something. Now."
The man stopped turning his wand over in his hands, considering the request for a moment before he slowly let his dark eyes meet his wife's own. "What?"
"What did she do?" Nymphadora asked, struggling to keep her tone calm. "What did a seven-year-old do to deserve a cruciatus curse?"
"She needs to learn to behave, Nymphadora." Rabastan shook his head before he stood, a crazed look in his eyes as his wife took a step back from him.
"She is seven!"
"She is a liability!" Rabastan yelled suddenly. "She is cruel to our son—your child! Do you not care that she upsets Rigel!?"
"Of course I do!" Nymphadora winced as she knew her hair had shot red, she didn't want to get into a screaming match with her husband yet her whole body was full of fury at his stupidity and she couldn't help it as she glared at him. "I care that she teases him, I care that he gets upset—don't you dare insinuate otherwise! Though the way to get her to stop is not to terrify a child by hurting her! How would you feel if Rodolphus decided to use a Crucaitus on Rigel!?"
"He doesn't need it!" Rabastan spat back. "This is how you deal with such unruly children! I Cursed her once, Nymphadora, one time! And if you think back on my dealings with her before I have—we all have—this is the first time I have disciplined her in such a way and she seems to have gotten the message!"
"She is crying!" Nymphadora screeched.
"She is a threat to us, Nymphadora." Rabastan growled, walking towards his wife until she was backed into a wall. "She can survive a little curse. Did Andromeda never discipline you as a child?"
"Her idea of discipline was bed without dinner or being grounded! Not using an unforgivable curse on me!"
"Well I can assure you, she's fine." Rabastan glared. "Myself, Rodolphus, your mother, Andromeda even, we all took a Cruciatus as a child. Delphi can deal with it."
"I don't care if it's what is done or what is normal to you, I will not have my sister under a Cruciatus!" Dora cried. "What would Bellatrix do if she was here?! What would The Dark Lord do?"
"Don't." Rabastan growled.
"You gave the most of your life to your lord! Spent years of your life in Azkaban for him! Yet this is how you treat his child!? You—" Dora gasped as Rabastan grabbed her hair in his hand, slamming her forcefully into the wall as he bent her head back to look at him. She hissed at the pain, gritting her teeth as she stopped herself from kneeing him where it would hurt the most.
"Do not bring him into this!" Rabastan growled.
Nymphadora took a deep breath, fighting through the pain of his grasp. "Rab—"
"She threatens our safety, Nymphadora." Rabastan breathed. "If she doesn't do as she's told with the simplest of things what is to say the older she gets, the more powerful she gets, the more of a risk she poses to our exposure?"
"You're only frightening her; you're making her worse! She'll listen to you if you are just kind to her!" Dora cried, reaching out and placing one hand on the mans shoulder, the other slowly reaching up to the hand he had grasped on her hair. "Rabastan . . ." Dora whispered, her fingers slowly running over his own. "Let go—please." The pair stood in silence, the man taking a few seconds before he suddenly relinquished his grip on the woman. He walked straight over to the window, grasping onto the windowsill as he tried to calm himself.
"I just want you safe." Rabastan breathed. "You, Rigel—Rodolphus—I don't want to lose my family again." The man shuddered as Nymphadora walked over to him, gently placing a hand on his shoulder.
"I know." Dora whispered. "B—But Delphi is my sister, she's my family too. I want to keep her safe just as much as you want to keep Rodolphus safe. She's just a child." Rabastan tensed for a moment before he turned around and looked to his wife, instantly taking her in her arms and embracing her, the woman emitting a gasp of shock at the sudden change. Though she soon closed her eyes, letting herself melt into him as she wrapped her arms around him."
"I don't want to hurt you, Dora." Rabastan murmured as he pressed his lips against her hair. "I try—I just—I was brought up to—It's no excuse—But I—"
"Shh." Dora lifted her head up to face his own, pressing her lips to his until he relented and kissed her back. "I know." Dora murmured.
Rabastan looked down at the woman, taking in each details of her heart shaped face as she looked up at him with her dark imploring eyes. "I—I won't curse her again . . . that's if you can keep her inline yourself, I'm sure Andromeda and Rodolphus will help you."
Dora nodded, kissing the man firmly before hugging him again. "She'll be fine . . . Just—Let's just stay in here for a while, lay down for a bit? I could use the silence for a while before I have to inevitably check on Delphi."
Rabastan nodded, gathering the witch in his arms before walking over to the bed. He laid back, resting the woman on top of him as he gently rubbed her back placing soft kisses on her hair every few seconds. Dora closed her eyes, smiling sadly as she let herself relax into his arms whilst trying to forget of the strained relationship between her husband and sister.
"Shh!" Dora giggled, sneaking in through the back door as the early morning sun began to creep through the windows. Rodolphus propped the door open with his foot as he took in a large box, placing it on the kitchen table.
"Why didn't you just put an undetectable extension charm on a bag and thrown this stuff in there." Rodolphus groaned, looking through the few items in the box.
"Yes well then how would I have kept this beauty and a tank in a bag, hmm?" Dora raised an eyebrow at the man, lifting the small green snake wrapped around her left arm up to the mans eye line. She smirked when he winced at the sight.
"Why did you have to get her a snake?" Rodolphus sighed.
"Well . . . I thought she'd like a friend?" Dora shrugged. "Someone she can talk to."
"She can talk to us, Dora."
"This is different, you know that." Dora sighed.
The man ripped his gaze from the snake currently happily covering Nymphadora's dark mark. "Rabastan isn't going to like this."
"Since when did you do or not do anything depending on what your younger brother thought, hmm?" Dora raised an eyebrow at the man, smirking when he shook his head in defeat. "See. . . It's her birthday, Rod. She'll enjoy this gift . . . I'll give it to her before Rab wakes up."
"Well, we best hurry." Rodolphus took the box in his arms again, his eyes glancing over the few small presents within. "I think it's best to get that snake off of your arm before he becomes too attached to you—why you never left it in the tank I'll never know.."
Dora giggled, walking ahead of the man towards her sister's room. "Aw, he's cute. It's okay if he likes me and I took him out of the tank because he doesn't need a tank. Well at least I don't think he does . . . Nagini never had a tank. Did she?"
"Dora." Rodolphus sighed, shaking his head as Dora looked to him questionably, instead merely reaching down and opening the door for Nymphadora.
"Thank you." Dora chimed, her hair a bright pink as she walked into the room. She smiled at the sight of the now eleven year old girl, sleeping soundly in her double bed as he silver hair was a mess of tangles as she rolled onto her side with a groan.
Rodolphus rolled his eyes at the mischievous glint in the woman's eyes, whispering to her. "Don't jump on her, be nice."
"Well I'm not going to do that with a snake on my arm." Dora smirked, ignoring the mutter of how much like her mother she was as she walked over and sat on the edge of her bed. She reached out with her spare hand, stroking the hair off of Delphi's face as she leant down and kissed her forehead. "She's so peaceful when she's sleeping . . ." Dora whispered, not being able to help but smile at the girl.
"Only peaceful when she's sleeping." Rod laughed. "Like her mother."
"Hmmm . . ." Dora mused for a few moments before she felt the snake move on her arm again, with a sigh she gently shook Delphi's shoulder. "Delphi . . ." Dora called out to the girl. "Delphini . . . Birthday girl . . ."
"Nooo . . ." Delphi mumbled, lifting her arms to cover her face. "Tired."
"Well me and Rod will just take your presents and go then?" Dora smiled, gently taking her arms off of her face.
"No, leave them and let me sleep longer. I'll open them later . . ." Delphi yawned, opening her eyes to look at her sister for a moment before shutting them. "Why is there a snake on your arm, I—"
Delphi suddenly let out a hiss as she sat bolt up right, looking to the snake through her suddenly wide awake eyes. Dora frowned slightly as after Delphini continued to hiss, the snake slowly unravelling from her arm and continuing to snake around her sister's shoulders. The girl smiled happily, conversing with the snake in a language only she and the snake understood. As a strong hand came and grasped onto Dora's shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly as the man looked down to the girl.
"What's its name?" Rod asked.
Delphi looked up the man, hissing at the snake for a moment before looking up to the man again. "He doesn't have a name. He says we can call him what we like."
"Well then you'll have think of a name for him." Dora smiled, winking at the girl as she grinned at her.
The eleven year old thought for a moment, a look of concentration on her face before she looked between the two adults. "What—What was my father's name—not Lord Voldemort, like his real name. I've never been able to find it anywhere."
"I don't think he liked his real name, Delphi." Dora frowned. "I know it but . . . I never dared say it."
"Well what is it?" Delphi demanded.
"It's Tom Marvolo Riddle." Rodolphus murmured.
"Marvolo?" Delphi asked, Rod nodding at the curious look in her eyes before she smiled and looked down at the snake. "I like it . . . Can I call him Marvolo?"
"I—" Dora chewed her lip for a moment before she nodded "Sure—If he's fine with that, I suppose." The adults watched the hissing between the pair with a sense of bewilderment before Delphi turned to them again. "Thank you, Dora. Marvolo says thanks too—he didn't like the woods very much."
"Yo—" Dora gasped as the girl lunged into her arms, hugging her tightly as Marvolo hissed as he slowly slipped down onto the bed. She sighed with a smile, kissing the girls head and stroking her hair as she hugged her back. "You're welcome Delphi."
The two witches sat in each other's embrace or a few moments before Delphi pulled away again, a grin of happiness on the girls face that hadn't been seen in a while. Rodolphus moved to sit on the bed next to Nymphadora, watching the girl as she softly hissed to the pale green snake curling up onto her lap as the silver haired witch stroked its scales. Delphini laughed at something neither of the others could understand before she looked at the adults with a small smirk. "You know he's quite young, he's going to get bigger—much bigger."
"Yep," Dora nodded. "kinda guessed that.
Rodolphus smirked at the girls laughter before he summoned the small box to the bed, lifting out the small pile of presents within. "I'm sure you're too distracted to look at these but—"
"No, never." Delphi giggled, pulling the presents one by one to herself.
"I'm sorry, Delphi." Rodolphus sighed. "We've been going back and forth for a while fetching things for your birthday—and for Rigel's next month. It's not much but we did get a few things. Here—" Rodolphus hesitated for a moment before he looked to one of the parcels, taking it carefully and passing it to the girl. "This is from me, it's not much but it's something."
Delphini nodded, taking the parcel from his hands and pulling it towards herself with a rushed thanks before she ripped the paper off. The grin soon slipped from her face as she looked at the gift in her hands. She fingered the green gems of the silver frame carefully, taking in each aspect of it before she lost her gaze in the frame itself. "Is that—Is it . . ."
"Yes." Rodolphus swallowed. "I took it from a memory . . . You were about a year old—perhaps days before the battle—I went looking for Bella and she was just laid in our room. She'd clearly been trying to get you to sleep for a while because you were both fast asleep by the time I got there . . ."
Dora reached out and squeezed the mans hand, looking over to the frame in the girls hand. Bellatrix Lestrange was laid on her bed, lean back against the pillows as her chest slowly rose and fell with her peaceful breathing, one hand casually laid on her youngest daughters back as the baby had her hand firmly clasped around the chain around her mothers neck despite her slumber. The metamorphmagus blinked back tears, smiling sadly at the image of the seemingly innocent pair.
"Thanks Rod . . ." Delphi murmured, still staring at the picture. No-one said a word for a few moments, the room silent as they all simply sat on the bed. It wasn't until the sound of a door opening further down that Delphini looked up again, a sad smile on her features. "I—I need to get dressed. I'll meet you at breakfast?"
"S—Sure." Dora forced a smile, leaning over and kissing her head. "I'll get Andromeda to cook your favourite. Pancakes, right?"
"And bacon." Delphi nodded, watching the pair get off of her bed and walk towards the door.
"Happy Birthday, Delphi." Dora smiled, Rodolphus repeating her words as he opened the door. The girl replied her thanks before they shut the door on the room.
"Rod?" Dora whispered, taking the mans arm in her own to stop him from walking from her. "I just want to say thank you. I know it can't have been pleasant to delve into your memories about mum like that."
Rodolphus stared at her for a moment before he nodded, gently moving his arm away from the girl. "She needed it . . . Bella would have wanted her to have it, it would have made her happy to know that she had it—just like she was happy when she found out you had that locket." Rodolphus looked to the locket Nymphadora still wore to this day before he looked back to her face with a shrug. "I'll see you at breakfast." Without another word Rodolphus walked away.
Nymphadora had to hand it to the man, for as cold an unfeeling he liked to pretend to be Rodolphus Lestrange really did have a heart of gold deep down inside. Perhaps it was merely his willingness to do absolutely anything for his late wife that seeped into his treatment and attitude towards her youngest daughter, so similar to the woman in so many ways. She couldn't help it as she smiled after the man, cheerily walking off to wake her husband before going to find Andromeda.