Again, sorry for the long wait for an update. Both of our lives have gotten pretty hectic at the moment but we will try to update more often, promise!
Here you go, please do read, enjoy and drop us a review if you have a minute!
Bella
Nymphadora was lost in her own thoughts again, barely registering the world around her as she lay on the couch. She stared at the portrait of Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Rabastan above the fire place in the sitting room. She had to admit it was one of her favourite portraits and one of the only ones that she had taken from the hidden corners of the manor to be more proudly on display. She loved it even after Rabastan pointed out the fact that the only reason Rodolphus had his hand on Bella's shoulder was because she had just finished yelling at him and he was trying to keep her still with her fake smile plastered on her face. She didn't care, it showed her mother's fiery personality through and through.
"Mummy?" Bella called, getting up from her position playing with her dolls on the floor as she walked over to her.
"Hmm?"
"Mummy," Bella groaned, putting both of her arms down harshly on her mother's stomach making her wince, "you're not paying attention."
"No," Dora sighed, "sorry."
"Why?" Bella furrowed her brows in annoyance.
"Mummy's distracted, sweetheart." Dora moved the girl's arms off of her stomach, making herself sit up as little Bella climbed up onto the couch to join her. "I'm thinking."
"About?" Bella scowled, "I'm more important."
"You are." Dora laughed, pulling the girl onto her lap and kissing her head, "Little mischief." Bella giggled, leaning back into her mother. "Just like your Mummy."
"Good!" Bella grinned.
"Bella . . ." Dora sighed as her gaze flickered back to the portrait, unable to shake her thoughts from her head, "Do you want to go play with Daddy or Andromeda for a bit?"
"I wanna play with you." Bella whined.
"I know," Dora bit her lip, "but Mummy has to go deal with something that's playing on her mind, I'll come find you later I promise."
Bella narrowed her eyes at her mother in a way that was comedic for a three-year-old before she let out a dramatic huff of annoyance. "Fine! I'll go play with Andromeda—Daddy doesn't understand playing dollies."
"Okay, I'm sure she'll be delighted to play dolls with you." Dora smiled as the girl got off of her lap, gathering her dolls before she went off to no doubt attempt to force Andromeda Tonks into yet another tea party. Dora waited until the little girl was entirely out of her sight before with a sigh she left the room. It didn't take long to find the person she was looking for, using her power over the knowledge of the wards of the manor to instantly locate Rodolphus Lestrange in the depths of the grounds. Rodolphus was sat on the edge of the small lake at the bottom of the grounds, barely within the wards as he leant up against a small tree watching the ripples of the water. His eyes only wavered to his sister-in-law for a moment as she slipped down to sit beside him.
"Watching the world go by?" Dora asked, unsurprised when she didn't get a reply from the man, "It is peaceful out here."
"Yes, a good place to be alone." Rodolphus drawled.
"You're always alone." Dora rolled her eyes, "Either alone or off doing Merlin knows what with Delphi."
"I'm training her, you know that." Rodolphus said.
"I know . . ." Dora shrugged.
The pair sat in silence for a few minutes, each staring out at the water. It didn't take long for Rodolphus to let out a sigh of annoyance as the woman absentmindedly pulled grass from the ground. "What do you want?"
"I don't know what you mean." Dora feigned innocence as the man raised an eyebrow at her.
"You're as bad as your mother, do you know that?" Rodolphus asked.
"I believe you may have told me that in the past . . . a few times." Dora smirked as the man rolled his eyes. ". . . I was thinking . . . We spend enough time training the children and making sure they're prepared should there be a fight—or preparing them to take over the world in Delphini's case apparently—but . . . I haven't had a proper duel in years."
"Not since we first tried to show Rigel and Delphini how to duel?" Rodolphus smirked.
"Even that was tame—and you broke my ankle." Dora scoffed.
"Well, I could have made it harder for you, though it was a little hard with little brother watching." Rodolphus shrugged, "He should know just as much as I do that there is no point in holding back in a duel—even if it is for training. Delphi and I never hold back and she's half your age and Bella and I certainly did not hold back." Rod's voice trailed slightly towards the end of his sentence, his gaze become distant again.
". . . I miss her." Dora breathed, cursing herself in her mind immediately as she felt the man tense beside her. She had not come out here to put her grief onto Rodolphus, she had sought the man out because she was worried about him. She closed her eyes, taking in the sunlight on her skin as she tried to think of how to turn this around again. "She wouldn't want us to be sat moping around, you know." Nymphadora said eventually, deciding her subtle approach to broaching the subject with the man was not working and she would clearly need to be more direct and abrupt.
"I'm not moping." Rodolphus rolled his eyes.
"You are." Dora disagreed, opening her eyes to see the man looking to her with mild irritation, "You moped for years. You stopped when you started training Delphini—I'll give you that. But ever since this prophecy it's become more and more apparent to you—to all of us really—that Delphi is going to have to leave the Manor and go on her path to try and put the worlds to rights and she's going to have to do it alone. Now every minute you're not with Delphi you're moping about wondering what you're going to do with yourself. Really—"
"Shut up, Nymphadora." Rodolphus hissed.
"No, you've got no reason to mope and I won't have it—Mum would tell you off for it, you know she would, so I'm doing it on her behalf." Dora huffed. "It won't be that awful when she leaves, Rod."
"That's easy for you to say." The man got to his feet, glaring down at the girl staring up at him quizzically, "You still have your spouse, your children—You even have another mother!"
"Andromeda is not a replacement for Mum!" Dora snapped, getting angry now as she rose to glare at him, "You aren't the only person who lost someone they loved back in Hogwarts, Rodolphus! And you are not alone! You have your brother, me, your niece and your nephew before you even count Delphi or Andromeda for that matter. You're not the only person that gets upset, that gets angry, that wishes they could go back in time as they play over that night in their mind again and again until you start to go insane."
"You don't understand, Nymphadora." Rodolphus glared.
"You're right, I don't." Dora shrugged, "I don't understand how you see yourself as some loner in a manor full of people that actually do give a shit about you whether you want to accept it or not. I didn't come out here to have a stroll, Rodolphus, I came out here to find you to see if you were okay. I'm worried about you."
"Worry about yourself and leave me alone." Rodolphus growled, not giving the girl another chance to speak before he stormed off up to the manor leaving his sister-in-law to stare after him in frustrated concern.
"What's wrong?" Rabastan murmured, pulling his wife closer into his arms as they lay under the duvet, it was gone past midnight and although Rabastan was already drifting off he couldn't help but notice his wife's mind was clearly elsewhere.
"Nothing." Nymphadora mumbled, kissing her husband's cheek gently before she snuggled into his embrace.
"Has anyone ever told you you're a terrible liar?" Rabastan sighed, reaching under his wife's chin to get her to look up towards his own dark eyes.
"Only you." Dora smirked half-heartedly, the man raising an eyebrow at her before she sighed and let Rabastan stroke the stray hairs from her face. "I upset your brother today."
"My brother is constantly upset."
"That's what I told him." Dora rolled her eyes at her husband's look, "Not in those words exactly . . . I told him to stop moping around."
"Why would you do that?" Rabastan frowned, "That really is asking for an argument, Nymphadora, you should know better than that."
"I was trying to help." Dora insisted, "Then he went and accused me of not caring about Mum—said I had another mother."
"She is not your mother." Rabastan said firmly.
"I know." Dora shushed the man, wrapping her arms around him as she buried her head into his chest. "I just don't want Rodolphus to . . . well, I don't want him to suffer when Delphini leaves . . . I dread to think what he'll be like with nothing to distract him."
"He clings to that girl." Rabastan sighed, "He seems to—perhaps subconsciously—see her as one last piece of Bellatrix to hold on to . . . It's rather bizarre considering his first reactions to her as a babe."
"He never hated Delphini," Dora shook her head, "he simply wished she was his. I saw him with her when she was first born, that look when he was alone with her wasn't hatred—it was longing . . . and sadness."
Rabastan watched his wife carefully, frowning as he watched her hair turn a mousey brown. He paused for a moment before he kissed her hair, murmuring against her dull strands, "You still miss her, don't you?"
". . . Every day." Nymphadora barely whispered, shaking slightly in the man's arms in her sorrow.
"I'm sorry . . ." Rabastan spoke softly, bringing his wife closer to himself. "I should have been more supportive when it first happened."
"You were in shock." Nymphadora sniffed, "I did just drag you into a blood traitor's home."
"You were in shock too." Rabastan chuckled slightly despite himself "I have never truly wanted to hurt you . . . I love you."
"I love you too." Dora replied after a moment.
The pair remained in silence after that, wrapped in each other's arms as Rabastan gently rubbed Nymphadora's back, thinking of all the times he had wronged the young witch as he swore to himself to make it up to her.
Rigel Lestrange walked down the wizarding high street with confidence. His hair was morphed to a dull blonde, one of his father's older robes pulled around him to protect him against the cold air. He had wanted to go out on his own ever since his first visit to the outside world, though he knew that it would never be agreed to by his parents. This was why they didn't know. He had approached Rodolphus the previous evening, knowing that his only hope of ever going out alone unnoticed would be if he had an accomplice. It had not been difficult to convince him, out of everyone in his home it seemed that Rodolphus was always the most encouraging when it came to the children of the house 'growing up'. He had left the house with the man as planned, letting him apparate him to the old town of Hogsmeade and the moment they had arrived Rodolphus had gone off to gather the supplies that they needed with the agreement of meeting each other later. It was an amazing feeling, to be so free without the watchful eyes of his family staring down upon him. To the boys joy it also seemed to be one of the weekends that the Hogwarts students were permitted to visit the village. Children of all ages were running up and down the wizarding highstreets, the sweet shop rammed to capacity with the students getting their sugar fix whilst others went about their business in the various shops.
The boy grinned to himself as he decided that he would make his way to the three broomsticks. He slipped through the crowds of students within, rummaging in his pocket to get to the spare galleons that Rodolphus had given him as he walked to the bar. It was as he failed to pay attention to where he was going that Rigel Lestrange's inherited clumsiness came into play, quickly colliding with a girl making her way from the bar.
"Watch it!" The younger girl sighed, shaking her head at the spilt contents of her Butterbeer now dripping down the front of Rigel's robes.
"Sorry." Rigel murmured, keen not to bring too much attention to himself as he quickly passed the girl and went to the bar, pulling himself up on to one of the stalls and smiling as he pulled out the money he had been looking for. It was as he looked up to try and grab the attention of the barmaid that he noticed the girl sat next to him. She must have been around the same age as him, if not slightly younger, with long black hair and full red lips. She shook her head as she smirked at him. ". . . What?" Rigel couldn't help but ask as she seemingly refused to look away from him. "Did I do something amusing?"
"Yes." She said simply with a shrug, taking a sip of her Butterbeer.
"And what would that be?" Rigel asked, raising his eyebrow.
"Well, drenching Ginny was funny for starters." The girl scoffed.
"Ginny?" Rigel asked.
"I know, it's pathetic isn't it." She shook her head, "Naming your kids after Battle of Hogwarts Heroes." The girl made a retching gesture.
"Yeah, I suppose it is." Rigel agreed, he had to admit this was a craze that he wasn't familiar with.
"What's your name?" the girl asked curiously.
"I—" Rigel swallowed hard, not used to talking to people who couldn't know his true identity. He panicked and said the first thing he could think of "Rupert. Rupert Lister."
"Much better than the stupid 'hero names'," the girl smirked, "Though from the look of you I'd say you were probably born before the war?" the girl waited for Rigel to nod before she carried on, "I'm Tessa. I've not seen you before, Rupert."
"No." Rigel said simply, ordering his Butterbeer as he let a younger boy get past him to order a butter beer for him and his friends.
"Want to sit at a table?" Tessa asked curiously.
"Excuse me?" Rigel asked, a little taken back by the forwardness of the girl, "I've only just met you."
"And you intrigue me." Tessa rolled her eyes in amusement, "Come on, my friends have gone off to the shrieking shack and I'm sat here all on my own, keep a girl company?"
Rigel considered the girl for a moment, the voice of his parents practically screaming in his head to stay hidden, discreet and not to talk to people. He nodded. He was breaking every other rule that his parents had put on him already, what would this hurt?
"Good." The girl grinned, jumping down from her seat as she led the boy through the pub. She walked over to a small table in the corner, shooing away some younger looking students with ease.
Rigel awkwardly manoeuvred into the corner seat, placing his Butterbeer down on the table as he sat down opposite the girl. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Rigel asked eventually.
"Like what?" Tessa asked, her curious look soon disappearing from her pale features.
"Like . . . I don't know." Rigel shook his head, taking the chance to take a sip of his drink.
"I haven't seen you before . . . You're not a student, are you?" Tessa asked.
"No." Rigel shook his head, "I've already left school."
"You don't look old enough to have left school." Tessa raised an eyebrow.
"Well, that will come in handy when I'm fifty looking forty-five." Rigel couldn't help but smirk as the girl laughed. "I take it you're still a student."
"Sixth year Slytherin." Tessa nodded. "What house were you in?"
"Slytherin." Rigel replied automatically, he had always dreamed of spending his days walking the halls of Hogwarts, his evenings within the Slytherin dungeons.
"So you left last year?" Tessa asked.
"You ask a lot of questions."
"I'm a curious person." Tessa shrugged.
"You can say that again." Rigel said.
Tessa rolled her eyes, taking a sip of her drink as she considered the young wizard over her glass. "You're curious enough yourself."
"How so?" Rigel raised an eyebrow at the girl.
"Well," Tessa sighed as she sat back in her chair, "strange young man walks into a bar—that in itself sounds like an awful set up for a joke—" Tessa smiled as the boy laughed slightly, "almost runs over a little Gryffindor kid then sits all alone at the bar with not a single friend in sight."
"I'm waiting for my father." Rigel said, "He's off shopping, I'm to meet him here when he's done."
"Ah, didn't fancy being dragged around Hogsmeade?" Tessa asked, the boy shaking his head in reply, "That's fair."
"Very." Rigel said. The pair sat in awkward silence for a few moments, the boy not quite knowing what to say as the girls gaze bore into him. He was starting to wonder if he should make excuses to leave and find Rodolphus elsewhere when the girl spoke again.
"Loosen up, Rupert." Tessa rolled her eyes. "Tell me about yourself."
"I—How about you tell me about yourself?" Rigel suggested, eager to stop himself having to come up with more made up back story.
"Okay." Tessa shrugged, "I'm sixth year Slytherin like I already said, pureblood—not that that matters nowadays I suppose. Dad works at the ministry, Mum doesn't work, no siblings, that's pretty much it. What about you?"
"That can't be it." Rigel said.
"That's hardly it." A girl interrupted the pair, rolling her eyes in amusement as she leant on her friend's chair. "Tessa, what poor soul have you pulled in to entertain you this time?"
"How do you know I pulled him in? I could be the 'poor soul' in this situation." Tessa mocked offence at the girl's remark.
"Oh?" the girl raised an eyebrow, looking at the boy.
"It's true." Rigel shrugged, "I am terrible company, she is a poor soul to want to talk to me."
"You clearly don't know Tessa that well." The girl sighed before pulling up a chair and sitting next to her friend.
The trio stayed in the quiet corner of The Three Broomsticks talking between themselves. Rigel trying his hardest to talk to least in order to keep his limited cover, though he couldn't help but be intrigued by Tessa, finding himself laughing along with her as she made jokes at her friend's expense. The boy had lost track of time when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder, looking up to see the face that Rodolphus Lestrange had transformed into that morning looking less than impressed as he looked down at him.
"Oh, is this your father, Rupert?" Tessa asked, finishing off what was now her second Butterbeer.
Rigel didn't miss the slight raise in his Uncle's eyebrow, smiling awkwardly at him as he tried not to think what was going through the man's mind. "Uh, yes. Yes, it is."
"Sorry Mr Lister, have we kept Rupert from you?" Tessa spoke surprisingly politely, standing up and smiling at the man, "It was entirely my fault."
"That is fine." Rodolphus said eventually, though he did not release his grip from his nephew's shoulder. "Though Rupert and I best be leaving now, his mother worries."
"Of course." Tessa nodded, looking to Rigel as he stood from his chair. "It was nice to meet you, Rupert . . . Perhaps I'll see you on the next Hogsmeade weekend—this time next month."
"Uh—Yeah." Rigel said awkwardly, he had to admit he did like the idea of seeing the girl again.
"We will see." Rodolphus nodded to the girls, "Ladies."
"Bye!" Rigel called, letting his Uncle pull lead him from the pub and back on to the streets of Hogsmeade. They didn't speak a word to each other as they reached their apparation point, Rodolphus gripping tightly onto Rigel's arm as they disapparated.
It was as they were walking to the manor that Rigel finally found his voice again. "Don't tell Mum . . . or Dad . . . Please?"
Rodolphus glanced at the boy for a moment though he did not slow down, reaching the wards of the manor. "You are a young man now, no longer a boy. I expect you to know how to act in public in order to stop yourself being found out for who you truly are. You also know the consequences of what happens if you are found."
Rigel felt like he had been punched in the gut. He didn't think, if he was honest, he had to start with but then . . . he had simply relished in being a young man out talking to a beautiful girl in a pub. Was that so wrong? He sighed, nodding. "I know."
"Good." Rodolphus spoke curtly as they reached the doors to the manor, "I leave you to face your own consequences with such matters . . . But I will not talk to your parents. Rabastan becomes infuriating when he's worried about you children and that's not even mentioning Nymphadora's worrying. You can look after yourself."
"Thanks . . ." Rigel muttered though the man had already sped ahead of him to unload the day's supplies. He sighed, rolling his eyes as he walked up the stairs to his room, morphing himself back to his usual appearance on the way. It was only as he passed Delphini's room that he was snapped out of his thoughts, cursing under his breath as he almost tripped over Marvolo slithering to the girl's room. He frowned as he heard the girl suddenly hissing at the thing. With a roll of his eyes he decided a distraction was in order, he turned and pushed the already open door and let himself in.
"Rigel." Delphi groaned, looking up from the snake in front of her, "What are you doing in here?"
Rigel frowned, looking at the mess of the girl's room. Newspapers were strewn everywhere, along with old books and various pieces of parchment full of streams of writing. "What are you doing?"
"I asked you first." Delphi rolled her eyes, "Don't touch that!"
Rigel ignored the girl, skimming the piece of parchment in his hand "How many times have you written out this prophecy?"
"How many times have you been a nosey git?" Delphi retorted, snatching the paper out of the boy's grasp. She glared at the boy for a moment, the two locking eyes until eventually, she sighed, "I think I have this prophecy cracked, I know what to do and I can't do it here."
"What do you mean?" Rigel asked, frowning.
"I mean, I'm preparing to leave." Delphi said haughtily.
"Now?!" Rigel couldn't help but yell in shock.
". . . Soon." Delphi said. "Very soon. . ."
Rigel didn't know what to say, he knew this day was coming and had been for a long time now. Though as he stood in Delphini Riddle's room, determination and certainty burning in the girl's eyes, he couldn't help but realise that his life as he knew it was potentially about to drastically change.