Finally finished the next chapter! I got super stuck on this and had to ask for help on parts but I'm happy with how it's turned out in the end and I hope you are too. ^_^
Thank you so much for your reviews so far, if I haven't had a chance to reply to you personally I apologise I've been rather busy lately but take this as your thank you now. I will be better with my replies from now on, promise.
Aaaaanyyywhooo please read, enjoy and please do leave a review if you have a chance. :D
Nymphadora Tonks made sure that she was as well behaved as possible for a week straight before she approached her mother, the older witch supervising the dirty dishes from their breakfast cleaning themselves in the sink whilst she read the mornings paper. It had been her Aunt's idea—to be perfectly good for a week that is—it wasn't a feat that Nymphadora could get away with very easily. There had been many a close call when she had to bite her tongue before she told her mother what she thought about making her tidy her room, a narrow miss or two when she very almost broke yet another vase and a well contained opinion of her parents making her go to bed before she had finished her favourite television show one night. But it would be worth it. Aunt Bella had promised that she would meet Dora today, in a park down the road that Dora sometimes went to play in. She had been writing to her Aunt for over a year now, multiple times a week, Bellatrix Lestrange knew her every little secret, her every little want in life and near enough everything about the young witch. She was desperate to see her again. But in order for her mother to agree to let her go out on her own whilst her father was at work she simply had to ensure that there was no excuse to say no to her request.
"You know you can't morph outside, don't you?" Andromeda raised an eyebrow at the girl above the paper, clearly still in two minds about giving in to her daughter's request. "There's muggle's living around here, Dora. I'm not sure they'd react well to you suddenly changing your appearance . . . it may not be too normal for a ten-year-old to have bright pink hair either . . ."
"Nearly eleven!" soon her bright pink locks turned into a light brown that matched her mothers "Better?" She asked "Please mum, I'll be good."
"Maybe I should go with you . . ." Andromeda mused.
"I can go to the park on my own, it's only down the street—and you said that you wanted to do some gardening today." Dora spoke quickly before giving her mother her expertly practised puppy dog eyes. "Please mum. You'll get bored after ten minutes anyway. I'll be fine on my own."
Andromeda considered her for a few moments before with a sigh she nodded. "Fine. Dora wait!" Dora stopped from her goal of running from the door as she turned to look to her mother. Her mother smiled slightly as she accio'd the girls backpack, placing a bottle of water and an apple in it. "You don't morph in front of muggles."
"I won't!" Dora protested.
"What do you do if you do?" Andromeda raised an eyebrow.
"I come straight back to you so you can fix it." Dora sighed.
Andromeda hesitated for a moment before she handed the girls bag out to her "Stay hydrated."
Dora rolled her eyes but grinned as she took her bag from her mother, reaching up and hugging her tightly to the woman's amused surprise. "Thanks mum!" Dora yelled, squeezing her mum one last time before she ran from the house, narrowly avoiding tripping on the jutted out door frame.
She barely heard her mother yell to be back for lunch, she didn't mind, that was hours away. She happily skipped down the pathway to the front garden, carrying on down the street towards the park. She slowed down as she reached the place, frowning as it looked so empty. Usually it would contain at least one or two other children, the weather was warm enough for February and it hadn't rained for a week. Dora shook the thought from her head as she carried on to the park. It didn't matter if she was the only one in the park—in fact it was better. She had the whole park to herself and her Aunt. She giggled to herself as she got onto the one of the empty swings, kicking her feet off of the ground as she swayed back and forth.
"Good thing I repelled the muggle filth." A voice sounded behind the girl, she quickly turned to see her Aunt smirking at her. The woman looked so impressive to the young girl, with her elegant yet simple black dress, tall leather boots, her wild black curls pulled up into a messy bun that somehow still made her entire demeanour command authority. Yet as Bellatrix Lestrange grinned at the girl Dora couldn't help but grin back at her, running at the woman and hugging her tightly. "Happy to see me?"
"Yeah." Dora laughed, grinning as Bellatrix gave her a quick squeeze, patting her back. It was only as she reluctantly pulled away that she spotted her hair, her eyes widening in fear "Oh no! The muggles." She looked around frantically, only calming slightly as her Aunt put a hand on her arm and motioned for her to morph it.
"I repelled them." Bella said, stroking a stray hair out of the girl's hair before with a sigh she went to sit on one of the benches, taking the girl to sit next to her.
"How?" Dora asked, blushing slightly as Bella raised an amused eyebrow at the girl. "Magic?" Bellatrix nodded. "Okay, duh . . . Why?"
"You don't want muggles near you, Nymphadora." The woman wrinkled her nose, shaking her head before she sighed at the little girl's obvious confusion. "Why do you think your Mummy doesn't want you morphing in front of muggles?"
"Um . . . because they're not used to magic?" Dora offered, frowning at her Aunt's huff.
"No, Dora." Bellatrix sighed, twisting on her seat to face the girl. "Well . . . there is that too I suppose. But they would be jealous of your powers, you are a particularly powerful witch after all," Bella smirked as the little girl blushed, reaching out and placing a hand on the little girl's hand. "they would take you away. They would experiment on you and use you until they could figure out how to take your powers."
Dora's eyes instantly widened "B-But muggle's can't take your magic."
"They can try." Bellatrix shrugged. "They will try and try until . . . well . . . best not to think of that, pet."
"Right . . ." Dora muttered.
"I won't let the muggles get you." Bella looked to the girl sympathetically. "Just steer clear of them and muggle things, you could catch something—it could be affecting your magic."
"O—Okay . . ." Dora nodded, looking down to her feet as she thought to all of the muggle things her father had brought into her home. She enjoyed watching the television for starters but if that was going to affect her magic maybe she should steer clear of it . . .
"Don't worry. You'll be eleven soon, won't you?" Dora smiled and nodded as she looked up to her Aunt. "Then you'll be off to Hogwarts, not a muggle to be seen. Just Mudbloods to put up with."
Dora nodded again slightly, she was used to her Aunt using the 'm word' having seen it in multiple letters she had written to her in the past. She knew it was a word that she wasn't supposed to say, it was seen as a bad word as far as her parents were concerned so it was best if she didn't repeat what her Aunt said. But Dora was determined not to look like an idiot in front of her Aunt, she treated her like an adult unlike everyone else and she wasn't about to start telling her that she was using bad words and make herself seem like a child. Besides, the more she heard it the less she believed it was such a bad word.
"Here." Dora looked up to see her Aunt holding out a small parcel out for her. "I thought it may be easier to give you your present now, rather than trying to sneak it past your parents in a couple of weeks."
"Can I open it now?" Dora grinned, taking it from her Aunt.
"But it's not your birthday yet." Bella teased, laughing as she nudged the girl "Of course you can open it, silly girl."
The paper was ripped before Bella even finished her sentence, throwing the paper away as she turned the book over in her hands. It looked old, well read, there was no title on the cover just strange symbols.
"It was my first Dark Arts book." Bellatrix whispered. "I got it when I was around your age. It's where I first read about some of my favourite spells . . . It was once very special to me. Now I think it's time that I let someone else have it—I know it practically off by heart I read it so many times anyway."
"Wow . . . Thanks." Dora smiled, leaning into her Aunt. She missed her Aunts roll of the eye at the display of affection, only noticing the woman wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
"You're welcome." Bella said, getting up from her seat and holding her hand out for the girl, a mischievous grin on her features "Have you ever apparated before?" Dora bit her lip, shaking her head as she slowly got up, staring at her hand. "It's okay, you trust me don't you?" with a small nod Dora hesitantly took her hand, looking up to the dark witch before her with nothing but innocence in her young eyes. "Good."
Without a moments notice a strange sensation came over her. It was like all of her insides were being squeezed through a small tube, constricting her breathing, her movement, everything, she held on to her Aunt's hand as if her life depended on it. Then it was over. Her eyes were wide and she was sure her hair was white as she frantically looked around the new room she had landed in, instinctively pressing closer to her Aunt in fear of the unknown surroundings. The hexagon shaped room was lined with large glass tanks, an eerie green glow lighting up the space to reveal debris of abandoned rubbish and dirt which Dora hesitantly pushed away with the tip of her trainers.
"It's okay, Nymphadora." Bellatrix purred, squeezing the girls hand for a moment before she detangled the girl's fingers from her own. "There's nothing to fear here."
"W—Where are we?" Dora asked, scrunching her features up to remove the white from her hair.
"A zoo." Bella mused, going up to one of the glass tanks and motioning for the girl to come over. The elder witch pressed her hand to the glass, nodding to the large snake currently curled around a branch. "It's abandoned."
"But why are the snakes still here if it's abandoned?" Dora asked. "Who feeds them? Who looks after them?"
"The retched Muggles abandoned the poor things when they left the place." Bella pouted, peering down at the young girl as she looked intently to the snake with her wide eyes. "They can get out of their small prisons now, the little ones hunt mice whilst the larger ones eat rats or any other small creature stupid enough to get in their way. They're very clever creatures; snakes. They look after themselves, they're ambitious, cunning, resourceful, smart in their ways and damned clever in getting exactly what they want with whatever means necessary."
"Wow . . ." Dora breathed, pressing her own hand up to the glass.
". . . I once knew a man who could speak to snakes." Bellatrix smirked as Nymphadora looked up to her with wide eyed awe.
"Really?" Dora breathed.
"Really." Bellatrix laughed before a sudden passion overtook her tone, her whole demeanour changing "A powerful man—the most powerful wizard I have ever known. He is power, passion, a true leader . . ."
Dora looked to her Aunt for a few more moments, this man sounded amazing. She found herself wishing she could talk to snakes, her Aunt soon huffed in amusement and looked back to the scaled creature seemingly looking up at the its new visitors.
"Was he a Slytherin?" Dora asked. "I mean, Slytherin's mascot is a snake, so I assumed . . ."
"You assumed correctly." Bellatrix nodded "Only the greatest of witches and wizards are from Slytherin house."
"Wow . . ." Dora breathed again, chewing her lip for a moment as she looked to the floor "D—Do you think I could be a Slytherin? I mean, I know Dad was a Hufflepuff but Mum was a Slytherin, so there's that and I'm more like my mum than my dad. Though Dad says—"
"Dora," Bellatrix leant down to reach the girls height, squeezing the girls shoulder gently in reassurance, feigned innocent encouragement on the woman's face "you would make the best Slytherin. You don't want to be a Hufflepuff, you definitely don't want to be a Gryffindor, Ravenclaw isn't as bad as those too—but really, Slytherin is the only house you can be in." The little girl blushed slightly as she looked to her Aunt smiling down at her as she gave her a small wink. "I believe in you Dora, remember that."