Thank you so so so much for all of the reviews, favourites and follows so far. I appreciate every single one of them and will always try and reply and thank you personally where I can. I'm sorry this chapter took a little longer than the rest to upload, I've been super busy and not too well recently so I got a bit behind with this one.
I really hope that you enjoy this latest installment and please read, enjoy and review if you have a moment.
The Purple Black
Nymphadora Tonks had spent the entire day in the library. She had returned from Lestrange Manor the previous day and after spending the night still unable to forget what she had overheard between her Aunt and Uncle she had resigned herself to researching in the library. She had not mentioned what she had seen or heard to her Aunt and she assumed that since her Aunt had not mentioned it to her she had not been seen herself. Nymphadora thought it a wise idea not to mention the incident either. She was not scared of her Aunt, she had no reason to be, she figured that her Aunt must have been a Death Eater for as long as she had known her—unless people were handing out dark marks after The Dark Lord fell. She thought that unlikely.
Though every book she had managed to find on the subject of the wizarding war that had centred around the Dark Lord seemed to make her think she should be terrified of her Aunt. The Dark Lord and his Death Eaters worked to 'purify the wizarding race', to rid the world of all of those they deemed unworthy of magic. She knew this included muggles and even muggle borns, from what she could gather this only vaguely covered her own blood—half-bloods. Dora assumed they were tolerated, dependant on their beliefs or their willingness to 'stand up' to the 'dark cause'. She knew her father was a 'mudblood', and though she knew her Aunt didn't necessarily like this fact about her she had never thought she would harm her due to her own blood.
Dora let out a huff of annoyance as she opened the next book in front of her, she had little hope that this would give her any more of the information that she desired.
"What are you doing, Tonks?"
The girl jumped slightly as the voice came from behind her and she turned to see Thorfinn Rowle. The fourth-year boy raised an eyebrow at her, looking to the books laid on the table in front of her. She narrowed her eyes for a moment before she returned to her books.
"It's called reading," Dora said, pulling her open book closer to herself. "You should try it sometime."
"Ouch." Rowle sniggered, ignoring the look the girl gave him as he pulled up the chair next to her.
"What are you doing?" Dora demanded.
"Well, you said to try it sometime." He shrugged, taking one of the books from the girl's pile.
"I didn't—" Dora shook her head "What do you want?"
"I was just curious." Rowle shrugged, flipping through the pages of the book "Why have you got so many books about the last war out?"
"None of your business." Dora huffed.
"Full of it today, aren't you Tonks?" Thorfinn rolled his eyes before dropping the book he was holding to the table. "You're not going to find anything in here of any great interest or truth."
Dora hesitated for a moment, looking to the books before she looked at the boy curiously. "What do you mean?"
The boy couldn't help but smirk slightly, amused that he had caught the girl's attention finally "Well they all lie." He paused, looking around for a moment to make sure no-one was in earshot before he leant closer to the girl, lowering his voice "All of these books—they go on about how awful The Dark Lord was. How his Death Eaters were ruthless, murdering, dangerous criminals—well, maybe they were a little bit. But they were only working to make the world a better place, to stop muggles running the place and scum stealing our magic." Thorfinn paused for a moment, looking the girl over and shaking his head "You wouldn't understand—you're only a half-blood—hey!" Thorfinn glared at the girl after she sent a small stinging hex at him.
She merely smiled apologetically at the librarian as her she gave a disapproving look of the noise. The moment her back was turned though Nymphadora looked back to the boy, glaring right back at him. "I'm not 'only' a half-blood. I'm smarter than you and you're a year above me."
"No you're—"
"I heard you asked if the Draught of Living Death was how Inferius were made." Tonks said with a sly grin.
"Well, it would make sense—"
"No, it wouldn't. Inferius are made by dark spells, not potions. Everyone knows that." Dora rolled her eyes "Besides, from what I can gather it doesn't matter if you're a half-blood—but it was mostly pure bloods that followed the Dark Lord."
"His Death Eaters." Rowle nodded, apparently eager to forget the subject of Inferius. "He was a powerful, powerful man. He had loads of followers — most of them were Pure Blood but there's so little of us now compared to what we used to be . . . of course he had to let the half-bloods in . . . Think about it though Tonks, if we all started breeding with muggles or mudbloods we're eventually going to die out — if we don't get our magic stolen before that. Imagine a world without magic . . ." the boy shuddered before he shook his head. "He'll be back one day—The Dark Lord. Personally, I hope he does come back. I'd serve him. Imagine going out on missions, doing what you wanted, no sticking to within the law, no restraints . . ." he sighed, standing up from his chair with a shrug "Anyway, he'll be back one day. A man like that doesn't get killed by a baby."
Dora watched the boy leave, laughing to himself as he thought of the absurdity of it all. He was right, how could a baby kill a man that powerful? Was there even proof that he was dead? She was sure her Aunt would rejoice at his return. She bit her lip in thought. Her Aunt had thought she was too young to know that she was a Death Eater and all that that entailed. Though Rodolphus had said that Bellatrix was 'never too young for such information'. Her Aunt was 'determined' in her words, determined to know it all and do what she could when she could. Maybe it was time to prove to her Aunt that she wasn't 'too young'. Perhaps it was time to ask Bellatrix Lestrange about her life before she had been introduced to it.
It was a cold day as Nymphadora stood alone in Hogsmeade village. She pulled her cloak tighter around herself as she looked down at her watch. Her Aunt was late. She was only five minutes late, to be fair to her, but still Nymphadora was anxious enough as it was. She quickly looked up and down the street before leaning back on the wall of the Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop. It was just as she was starting to panic that her Aunt wasn't going to turn up that she jumped in fright.
"Sorry," Bellatrix said in amusement as she took her hand off of the girl's shoulder. "Did I scare you?"
"No." Dora lied instantly, straightening up as she looked to her Aunt "How do you always manage to creep up on me like that?"
"Creep up on you?" Bellatrix repeated with a tone of amusement before she shrugged "It's a talent, I suppose."
"Definitely." Dora murmured, unsure of what else to say.
Bellatrix tilted her head slightly as she looked at the girl, as if considering some important matter before she nodded for the girl to follow her. Nymphadora never fully understood why she was always so willing to follow her Aunt without question, without even a word exchanged sometimes, though she followed her. The girl lost track of how long they had been walking, become more and more aware of how far from the wizarding high street they were as they reached the hills. She had this horrible feeling in her gut that she was being stupid, that there wasn't a snowballs chance in hell that she could ask Bellatrix about being a Death Eater whilst in such a secluded place. She shook her head; her Aunt wouldn't hurt her . . . would she?
"Ompf!" Dora grunted as she tripped on the uneven ground, blushing furiously as her Aunt had managed to turn and catch her just before she managed to dash her head on the floor. "Th—Thanks."
"You're welcome." Bellatrix said.
The woman clearly suspected something was wrong, she wasn't her usual self. So quiet and reserved. Though perhaps it was because Nymphadora had told her in her last letter that she had needed to talk to her about something, maybe she shouldn't have done that. Dora went to walk on though her Aunt shook her head, smirking after a moment and dropping to sit on the floor and motioning for the young girl to do the same.
"It's lovely up here, isn't it?" Bellatrix mused as she looked out at the view in front of them.
"Yeah—Cold though." Dora said, smiling slightly as her Aunt let out a small laugh.
"Here." Bellatrix drew her wand, pressing the tip to her niece's robes as she let out a shudder of delight at the sudden warmth with muttered thanks. She pocketed her wand again, frowning slightly at the young girl and tucking a stray hand of deep purple locks behind her ear. "What's wrong, pet? You seem . . . distracted."
"I—" Dora took a deep breath before she looked into her Aunts dark, questioning eyes. "I need to talk to you about something."
"So you said." Bellatrix said "Is there something the matter? The girls in your dorm room bothering you again?"
"No—I mean, well yeah they are a little bit but I'm planning to—it doesn't matter. That's not what it's about." Dora closed her eyes for a moment, trying to calm her nerves.
"So, what is it? . . . Nymphadora?" Bellatrix reached out, placing a reassuring hand on her niece's arm as she made her look back to her. A questioning, concerned look was upon Bellatrix's face—one that barely a man alive would have been able to tell was hiding the impatient frustration truly running through Bellatrix Lestrange's mind in that moment.
"I—" Nymphadora went to speak again before she decided there was no way to be able to get her words out. Instead she slowly moved her free arm, reaching across her Aunt. The woman turned over her arm without question, allowing the girl to slowly lift her left sleeve with her nervously shaking hand. The moment she saw bare skin on her arm she furrowed her brow in confusion, not daring to look up at her Aunt's face as she tried to think of how it wasn't there. "I saw it—I—Why . . ."
There was a heavy silence in the air, nothing to be heard apart from the winter's wind moving through the trees around them. "You did . . ." Bellatrix breathed eventually. "I knew you had. You do not share my talent for 'creeping up' on people."
Dora looked up to her Aunt, not moving an inch as she was unsure of what would happen next. "Y—You're a . . . You're a Death Eater." It wasn't a question, she knew whether there was a mark there now or not that that fact was certain.
"Does that scare you, Nymphadora?" Bellatrix near enough whispered, watching the girl before her intently for her reaction. "Do I scare you?"
Nymphadora Tonks looked from her Aunts arm back to her Aunt. She had known this woman for so long, she was her flesh and blood . . . If she had wanted to hurt her she would have by now. She shook her head.
"You can be a terrible liar at times, girl." Bellatrix scoffed in amusement "Though I would not hurt a single hair on your head, Dora."
"Is Rodolphus a Death Eater?" Dora asked.
"Yes." Bellatrix said simply.
"You've always been a Death Eater?"
"Since before you were born."
"And you want The Dark Lord back?"
"Of course!" Bellatrix said automatically, wrinkling her nose at the girl as if the mere thought of wanting anything over than that was disgusting to her.
"And—" Dora bit her lip, finally withdrawing her hand from her Aunt as she looked down at her feet as if suddenly fascinated by her boots "And you don't care that I'm—That I'm not a Pure Blood?"
Bellatrix rolled her eyes, taking a deep breath as she wrapped an arm around the girl and pulled her closer to herself. "No." she lied. "If I cared about that would I endure you for all of this time? You're special, Nymphadora. Your blood—as sullied by filth as it may be—is still partly that of a noble and great house. The pure power you show in your mere ability to morph alone proves that your blood is something that can be clearly overlooked."
Nymphadora let herself rest her head on her Aunts shoulder, smiling slightly to herself as she was reassured in her mind of her Aunts love for her. After mere moments of silence, she looked up at her Aunt with a mischievous grin, her Aunt smirking down at her in amusement. "What are you thinking, girl?"
"Tell me everything," Dora said. "I want to hear your stories, what it was like, what you did—how you got away with it."
Bellatrix couldn't help but laugh at the girl. "Now is neither the time nor the place."
"I'm not too young!" Dora insisted, sitting bolt upright as she pulled away from her Aunt. "Rodolphus said you were never too young to hear everything and neither am I. I'm determined to know it all, just like you said you were, I'm not different I swear." Dora paused, sitting up on her heels as she looked to her Aunt now leaning back on the palm of her hands, the woman's eyes trailing over her as if inspecting her for something. "Please."
". . . Okay." Bellatrix said after a few moments, though soon put her finger up to pause the girl before she could babble on again "But not now—soon though."
"When?" Dora asked eagerly, unable to contain her excitement as her hair began to tinge a bright pink in her delight.
The woman took her time to speak again, slowly getting to her feet as she brushed her skirts down with her hands before looking back to the girl. "In the summer."
"You'll come see me?"
"You will come and see me." Bellatrix smirked, "Come and stay with me for a little while again."
"How?" Dora asked "I can't exactly tell Mum and Dad that I'm going back to Hogwarts early or leaving late. They're not that thick."
"Leave that to me." Bellatrix laughed "I've been outsmarting your mother since the day she was born. She needn't know where you really are."
"But—"
"Shh." Bellatrix reached out, pulling the girl to her feet again. She cupped the side of her face in her hand, unable to hide her triumphant smirk any longer. "I will arrange it. You must merely . . . Play along. I will let you know when exactly. Now go, back on down to Hogsmeade. We don't want your classmates to wonder where you've gotten to, do we?"
Dora shook her head, smiling nervously as her Aunt embraced her for a moment. Before she knew it with the distinct sound of apparation echoing along the hill Nymphadora Tonks was alone, thoughts of what would come in the summer racing through her young mind.
I really hope you enjoyed that chapter, please do leave a review with your thoughts if you have a moment as I'd love to hear them.
The Purple Black