Thank you so much for all of your support, reviews, follows and favourites so far! I'm so glad people are enjoying this story just as much as I'm enjoying writing it. I literally cannot wait to write future chapters for this at the moment and am enjoying it all so much.

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Nymphadora laid back on her cotton sheets back at the Tonks household. She had to admit, ever since she had been at Lestrange manor, her room just didn't have the great appeal to her that it had once had. Yes, it was her room, personalised to her tastes with her old battered furniture that she had dutifully scribbled on at various points in her life or damaged in some other accidental way, her bright pink curtains, her big fluffy rug, posters of various bands plastering the walls covering her the old wallpaper. The wallpaper was that of muggle cartoon characters, though she wouldn't admit it to her mother now she had mainly demanded such purely because she was annoyed with her mother at the time and knew she disapproved of such things. Dora couldn't help but mentally kick herself now though, scorning her younger self as she considered if she had another poster to cover the last remaining block of cartoon horses. No, this room was definitely not up to scratch since her stay with her Aunt. For Merlin's sake, she was sure she couldn't even fit one of her Aunts smaller bathrooms in this room.

The fourteen-year-old couldn't help but let out a small groan as she heard a knock on her door. She turned to the clock on her bedside table; quarter to nine was far too early to be disturbed in the summer holidays. She quickly turned to the wall, wrapping her duvet up closely up around her as she heard the door creak open.

"Dora?" Andromeda's voice called out.

The girl feigned sleep. This was an old trick, perhaps her mother would take pity on her still sleeping teenage daughter and leave her be, this trick rarely worked. She listened to her mother walking across her room, screwing her eyes shut as she heard the curtains being pulled open.

"Come on, Nymphadora. Time to get up." Andromeda Tonks chimed.

"Don't call me Nymphadora." Dora grumbled.

"Ah, so you are awake?" Andromeda laughed.

"No," Dora snapped ". . . that is a dirty trick. You know I don't like that name."

"Well, unfortunately, you are stuck with it." Andromeda said as she sat on the edge of her daughter's bed "Now don't make me vanish the duvet again."

Dora turned on her back, peeking her eyes above the duvet to glare at her mother. "I could be naked under here."

"Well, seeing as your pyjama draw is open with a trail of clothes strewn from it yet again, I would take a guess that you're not." Andromeda shrugged. "Besides, I've seen it all before."

"When I was a baby!" Dora protested.

"More recently than that, I have a very vivid memory of you running to your room naked at the age of . . . six, maybe seven?" Andromeda mused.

"I couldn't help that!" Dora cried in her indignation "It was accidental magic, I really hated that pink frilly monstrosity you put me in. How was I to know if I hated it enough the thing would bloody disappear? Besides, I would thank you to not bring that up again."

"It's a mother's duty to remember every last embarrassing moment of their child's life." Andromeda couldn't help but smirk, it was small gestures like these that truly made Nymphadora realise how much her mother looked like her older sister. "But I'll be sure not to bring it up in front of your friend."

"Well, I should hope not." Dora nodded before she frowned slightly. "What friend?"

"Your friend." Andromeda rolled her eyes in amusement as her daughter sat up in her bed. "See I knew you were wearing pyjamas. Though I do question why you wear that ratty old t-shirt when I brought you some perfectly good nightdresses, not the other day. Did you even put them away?" Andromeda sighed as she spotted the bag stuffed by the side of her daughter's dresser, drawing her wand and making the clothes neatly fold themselves away. "I don't know why I bother to ask you to tidy."

"I like this shirt and I was going to put it away today—What friend?" Dora asked again, pushing the duvet off of herself as she watched her mother get up and begin to tidy her room with magic.

"Patricia. Patricia Weatherby?" Andromeda said, not seeing the confusion on her daughters face as she tutted at the evidence of midnight snacks being snuck into the room. "Her mother wrote to me, seems like a lovely woman. She said that her daughter had asked if you could stay over at her home for the rest of the holidays."

Dora watched her mother as she magically folded the clothes in her draw for her, her mind racing. This had to be Aunt Bellatrix, she was quite sure she'd never heard of a Patricia Weatherby and was certain she had no friend called Patricia. Her Aunt did warn her she had a plan to get her back to Lestrange manor, though she had hounded her about it at least once a week she was sure it was going to be an impossible feat as September 1st drew ever nearer. Dora jumped out of bed, her hair a bright pink as she grinned at her mother.

"So when am I going? It's already Friday and the last full week of the holidays is next week." Dora asked, not put off as her mother turned to frown at her.

"Do you not want to stay here?" Andromeda said "I know you want to spend time with your friend but you're supposed to be going over to your grandparents for tea next week—and Mrs Weatherby did say they were muggles. I know they'll be used to magic but you shouldn't be morphing around muggles."

"I won't, I swear." Dora said, unable to hide her excitement despite her confusion as to why her Aunt would say she had a Mudblood friend so willingly. "I never morph around Nan and Grandad Tonks and besides I saw them last weekend, they won't mind."

"Dora—"

"Please?" Dora whined, "I promise I'll be extra good and I'll spend as much time as you want with you until then and I'll tidy keep my room tidy and—"

"Dora, breathe." Andromeda couldn't help but laugh slightly as her daughter bit her lip to stop herself talking.

"Please?" She asked again, giving her mother her most innocent pout.

"I talked to your father before he went to work. We'll have to go to Diagon Alley today to get your things as she wants to pick you up on Sunday. I've already sent the owl back telling her it's okay—Oompf!" Andromeda jumped in shock as her daughter ran at her and hugged her, relaxing after a moment as she hugged her back and kissed her head in amusement.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Dora yelled.

"Alright, alright." Andromeda laughed. "It's lovely to see you're so happy to leave your parents. Now come on, get dressed so we can go shopping. I don't want to hear you complaining whilst I buy you clothes either."

"I won't." Dora grinned, taking a step back from her mother before she thought for a moment "Can I have some corset dresses? Please?"

"I—Dora you've never worn a corset a day in your life, why do you suddenly want one?" Andromeda raised an eyebrow at the girl.

"Well . . . The rest of the Slytherin girls at school seem to own them . . . they look pretty?" Dora shrugged, hoping her excuse was enough.

"Oh . . ." Andromeda considered the girl thoughtfully for a moment. Her prior amusement at her daughter's antics was all but gone as she nodded slightly "Okay . . . But you know, you don't have to act like those other girls."

"Mum, I'm fine." Dora sighed. "I just want a nice dress."

"Okay." Andromeda said, unconvinced "Go get some clothes on then and we'll go."

"Mum!" Dora yelled, bounding down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Dora, I told you to stop running in the house." Andromeda sighed, turning from the pile of dishes she was magically putting away.

"But it's urgent." The girl complained, "She's going to be here soon and I can't find my lucky socks."

"Lucky socks?" Andromeda frowned in confusion before she shook her head "What on earth—"

"They're bright green and the left one has a hole on the heel."

"I did fix some socks for you—"

"Mum!" Dora gasped "You did not sew up my sock!"

"If it was broken I fixed it." Andromeda rolled her eyes, shutting the kitchen cupboards.

"Lefty was not broken." Dora huffed.

"Really Dora," Andromeda couldn't help but laugh slightly as the tips of her daughter's hair turned red. "I'm sure it will be just as 'lucky' now your heel is not sticking out of it anymore."

"Mum." Dora groaned. "Where is it?"

"In your case, neatly folded away." Andromeda said, "Did you even look?"

"Yes."

"So I suspect your things are no longer 'neatly folded' are they?" Andromeda raised an eyebrow at the girl.

"They're all inside the trunk." Dora shrugged. "That's all that matters. But there are no lucky socks in there—even if they have been mutilated by you."

"Mutilated? Really?" Andromeda sighed. "I'll go find your merlin forsaken 'lucky socks'."

Dora rolled her eyes as her mother left the room to go and find her socks for her, waiting until she heard her heading up the stairs before with a mischievous grin she went over to what her father believed to be his 'secret' hiding spot for his muggle sweets. She had half a mars bar stuffed in her mouth when she heard the knock on the door.

"She's here!" Dora yelled as she swallowed the chocolate, stuffing the rest of the bar in her pocket as she ran to the front door.

"Dora, running." Andromeda called from upstairs.

"Sorry!" Dora yelled back, stopping just short of hitting the door. She drew herself up right and took a deep breath as she opened the door. The woman in front of her looked nothing like her Aunt. She was at least a few dress sizes larger than Bellatrix, bright blonde hair, green and her clothes were something the teenager was sure Bellatrix Lestrange wouldn't be caught dead in. She was wearing jeans for starters and a cardigan that looked like something her muggle grandmother had knit.

"Well, you must be Nymphadora." Bellatrix smirked, it was undeniably her smirk, though the moment she saw Andromeda Tonks at the top of the staircase the smirk was instantly replaced by a seemingly charming smile that was certainly not a look Bellatrix usually gave.

"I take it you are Patricia's mother?" Andromeda asked as she reached the pair.

"And you must be Nymphadora's mother?" Dora stood back from the woman, watching her Aunt intently, terrified she was going to do something to give her away.

"Andromeda." She smiled politely, her eyes flickering to the woman's outstretched hand for a few moments before she quickly shook it. Dora couldn't help but be amused at the situation, even through her underlying crippling fear that her mother would see right through the woman's disguise, as Andromeda stepped back and wrapped an arm around her daughter. "Where is Patricia? I expected her to be with you."

"Oh, no." Bellatrix said, "She's had to go out with her father at the last minute so I offered to pick up Nymphadora." She gave a warm smile to her sister. "Where is Nymphadora's father?"

"Oh, he's at work."

"That's . . . nice. Patricia tells me Dora's father is a—Oh what's the word? . . . Muggle?" she said, seemingly making polite conversation though Nymphadora had to bite her lip to stop herself from saying something. Bellatrix knew her dad wasn't a muggle.

"No, he is not." Andromeda said curtly, her polite smile now seeming slightly forced on her features. "He's muggle-born."

"Oh?" Bellatrix feigned confusion "There's a difference?"

"Yes—A significant one." Andromeda said.

"Oh? How?" Bellatrix feigned confusion. Dora was sure she was getting some amusement from this whole situation. "Muggle, muggle-born, seems quite similar to me. Sorry, I don't understand all of these terms."

"I—" Andromeda couldn't help but frown as she had to explain herself, clearly being made uncomfortable from the situation. "He has muggle parents, but he's a wizard. Like your girl is a witch with muggle parents."

"Oh yes, I suppose that would make sense." Bellatrix laughed slightly "It all gets highly confusing, personally I still don't see the difference—though as I said, I suppose us muggles simply can't grasp the concept of all your magical terms."

"I shouldn't." Andromeda said hurriedly before looking to her daughter behind her, the girl quickly hiding her confusion. "Dora why don't you go and get your things. I've already put a weightlessness charm on it for you."

"Okay." Dora nodded quickly before looking to her disguised Aunt. "Perhaps you could help me? It won't weigh anything but it's still big and I'm clumsy."

"Dora, you can—"

"It's quite alright." Bellatrix nodded, letting Dora go ahead of her up the stairs "We wouldn't want her to swing the thing and chip your . . . lovely paintwork here, would we?"

Andromeda opened and closed her mouth as if she was unsure if she was about to say something to the woman before she nodded "Thank you." She didn't seem thankful, it was probably the most strained thank you Andromeda Tonks had given in her recent years.

"My pleasure." Bellatrix held back a smirk as she went after Dora, spotting her outside her bedroom and following her beckoning as she made sure to loudly whisper "So your father isn't a muggle?" Dora didn't have to see her mother to be able to tell she would not have liked to hear that.

Dora instantly closed the door behind them both, the girl going to say something to her Aunt before she saw the finger she put over her lips barely concealing her huge grin of amusement. Dora couldn't help but shake her head, giggling slightly. "Later." Bella whispered.

"Right." Dora nodded, walking over to the trunk at the end of her bed.

"Interesting room you have . . ." Bellatrix mused, her eyes lingering on the one spot of exposed cartoon wallpaper.

"Uh." Dora laughed nervously "Dad put that up—when I was little—a long time ago."

"Right." Bellatrix smirked, turning to the girl and picking up her trunk for her.

"Au—"

"Shh, girl!" Bellatrix hissed, motioning towards the door.

Dora blushed "Right . . . Can we go now?"

"I don't know . . . maybe your mother will invite me for tea?" Bellatrix joked.

"Unlikely. She clearly doesn't like 'Mrs Weatherby'."

"Shame." Bellatrix pouted for a moment before motioning towards the door.

Andromeda was waiting at the bottom of the stairs for them, holding out Dora's jacket for her. "Put this on, you'll catch a chill."

"Mum, it's summer." Dora groaned, though took her jacket all the same.

"Yes well this is England, it being summer doesn't really mean much does it." Andromeda sighed, pulling the girl close to her and kissing her head "Have a lovely time darling, I'll miss you."

"Mum." Dora whined, screwing up her face before wincing as her mother gave her a warning look. She knew what she was trying to say, not to morph in front of the 'muggle', if only she knew. Dora let out a huff of annoyance before she hugged her mother back "Miss you too mum, I'll write—but not until I get back to Hogwarts. Owls confuse Muggles, right Mrs Weatherby?"

"Hmm?" Bella sighed as she looked to the pair before she seemingly remembered something "Oh, yes—very confusing. Owls . . . Ready?"

"How will you be getting to your home?" Andromeda asked.

"Oh, we'll be taking a walk to the train station." Bellatrix gave a sickly sweet smile to Andromeda.

"Right . . ." Andromeda sighed. "Be good Dora, I love you."

"Love you too." Dora smiled, reaching up and planting a quick kiss on her mother's cheek before she bounded ahead out the front door.

"Goodbye." Bellatrix said, her eyes lingering on the rigid smile of her once sister for a moment as the woman replied her goodbyes before going to catch up with her niece.

"So, how are we really getting back?" Dora asked as they reached the corner of the road. "I know you're not getting on a train, way too many muggles for you to handle."

"Your mother doesn't like muggles, does she?" Bellatrix asked as they walked in the direction of the old park they used to meet at, seemingly ignoring her niece's question.

"Um, no." Dora couldn't help but laugh slightly. "She says she doesn't mind them, but I've never seen her go to Gran and Grandad Tonks' unless she absolutely has to. She says it's because all the muggle stuff confuses her but she puts up with Dad's muggle junk enough for that not to really matter if you ask me."

"Interesting. Seems old Andy hasn't entirely forgotten her upbringing." Bellatrix mused as she entered the woods behind the park.

"I suppose." Dora shrugged "You used Polyjuice potion I take it? Where did you—?"

"So many questions, Dora." Bellatrix smirked "Always inquisitive. I tried to convince Rodolphus to come, be this 'Patricia' child, he didn't like the idea. It will wear off in a minute."

"I couldn't imagine him acting like a child." Dora laughed.

"You'd be surprised, he can be very . . . convincing in his deceptions when he needs to be."

"Like when you were—"

"Shh." Bellatrix snapped, stopping abruptly and taking the girls arm. Nymphadora hated it when Bellatrix disapparated them without warning, the sensation was sickening enough with time to prepare for it.

"You look . . . disgusting." The cool voice of Rodolphus Lestrange sounded, Nymphadora snapping her eyes open again to find herself stood in the entrance hall of Lestrange Manor. Her Uncle didn't look anywhere near as amused as her Aunt was as she laughed at the man.

"Really? Don't you like this look, husband?" Bellatrix teased. She went to say something more before her hair began to darken, her eyes returning to her usual heavy lidded dark pair, shrinking in waist size as she grew slightly taller. "How about now?"

"You need to change." Rodolphus grunted before he stood up from his position perched against the wall, his eyes lingering on Nymphadora for a moment before he went off in the direction of his study.

"Not going to help me?" Bellatrix called out before she turned to her niece. "Ergh." She shuddered as she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror behind her "How can anyone wear clothes like this?"

"You know, some people are used to it." Dora couldn't help but laugh at the look of disgust on her Aunts face "It's comfier than corsets—though I have to admit you look better in one of your dresses."

"Hmph." Bellatrix snapped her fingers, instructing the elf that appeared to take the trunk up to her niece's room. "I do need to change. I'll meet you in the drawing room in half an hour."

"Okay." Dora grinned, her hair tinging pink "Can I get changed too?"

"I'll meet you in your room then, no doubt you'll still need help with your corset."

"Nope." Dora grinned. "Mum taught me how to do them."

"Really?" Bellatrix raised an eyebrow as the girl nodded. "Interesting . . . go on then. Drawing room in half an hour."

"Right!" Dora grinned as she ran off towards her room.

Dora had changed remarkably quickly for her standards. She had thrown off her highly muggle clothes her Dad had picked for her that morning, soon morphed her hair into a long, sleek black before putting it up in a more sophisticated style and unearthed one of her new corseted dresses her mother had gotten her in Diagon Alley, finishing her outfit with a pair of small heels her Aunt had brought her previously. It clearly wasn't as expensive as any that Bellatrix had brought her in the past, though she wanted to prove to her Aunt that she had gone out and got clothes that she knew she would approve of more. It never occurred to her really at the time how much she had done all of these things to please her Aunt; in her mind she was happy with what she was wearing, what was going on around her and that was all that mattered. She was so eager to get back to her Aunt that she found herself staring at the small clock in her room until she finally decided it was okay to go down to the drawing room ahead of her Aunt. She was surprised when she saw the woman in there already, now dressed in one of her usual black corset dresses with her make up far darker than it had been previously as she turned to smirk at the young girl.

"Eager, aren't we?" Bellatrix chimed as she took a sip from her wine glass before sitting on one of the plush arm chairs in the room.

"Well, I missed you, I suppose?" Dora grinned before she went to sit in the chair beside her Aunt.

Bellatrix hummed in agreement, up and down at her niece's appearance. "New dress?"

"Mum brought me it." Dora nodded, adjusting her subconsciously adjusting one of the shoulder straps. "It's alright, not quite as nice as the ones you got me but she got all weird when I asked her for a dress that was the same style as most of them."

"Weird?" Bellatrix asked "How so? Too expensive for her?"

Dora shrugged "Sort of, Dad doesn't earn bad money but she kept on pushing me away from the more . . . 'proper' ones. Said I didn't need to wear things like that."

"'Proper' ones? Was that what she called them?" Bellatrix couldn't help but laugh. Perhaps Andromeda was starting to worry her daughter would end up aspiring to be more like she herself was as a child. If only she knew, Bellatrix thought as she reached out and put her glass down on the table between herself and the girl. It was then that she couldn't help but smirk. She had purposely put on a dress with lace arms, not having performed the charm on her dark mark when it was due the previous night it was clearly noticeable through the fabric. She watched her niece intently as she let her arm linger. The girls eyes had grown wider, fixed upon the skull and snake with a sense of amazement tinged with the slight sense of undeniable fear. "Pretty, isn't it?" Bellatrix cooed, reaching out with her right hand to slowly lift the fabric off of her arm to let the tattoo stand unobstructed on her arm.

"Yeah . . ." Dora breathed, clearly unsure of what else to say until she frowned slightly "Why isn't it hidden?"

Bella couldn't help but let out a huff of amusement. "Because the charm I put on it to cover it doesn't last for very long, I was meant to put it on last night but it slipped my mind in the excitement of you coming." Bellatrix lied, Rodolphus had gone to put it on her last night. She had distracted him from his task in a way only his wife could, the poor man so exhausted he had forgotten until this morning when Bellatrix was already about to gulp down her polyjuice potion anyway. She wanted Dora to see it, she wanted to see her reaction.

"W—Will you tell me now?" Dora swallowed hard as she forced her gaze away from her Aunts arm, looking to the woman. "We're in private now . . . the only person around is Rodolphus and he knows . . . Does he know I know?"

"Yes." Bellatrix sighed dramatically, leaning back in her seat "He's worried."

"Worried?" Dora asked in confusion before suddenly becoming very defensive "I won't tell anyone—I haven't. What you tell me stays between you and me. You can trust me. Besides, do you really think I'd be idiot enough to go around screaming to the world my Aunt and Uncle were Death Eaters?"

"Are." Bellatrix corrected "You never stop, not for one moment."

"But you-know-who—"

"The Dark Lord is not gone." Bellatrix hissed, "He will return."

"S-Sorry." Dora stuttered as her Aunt took a deep breath to calm herself.

"It's fine . . . You're young . . . Naive to his ways . . ." Bellatrix breathed.

"So tell me about him . . . Teach me." Dora near enough whispered.

"Teach you?" Bellatrix said, looking to the girl as she hid her excitement at the girl's words with a curious look plastered on her features. "Teach you what . . . exactly?"

"Teach me about him . . . Teach me 'his ways' . . . Death Eater ways . . ." Dora spoke quietly, as if nervous her Aunt would call her a stupid child and dismiss her at any moment. She had thought about it long and hard, she loved and admired her Aunt. When she was alone, ignored by her fellow school mates or worse Bellatrix had always been there for her. She was always writing to her to keep her company, or more recently talking to her in their two way mirrors. She had researched all she could about Death Eaters, though nothing compared to learning about them from an actual Death Eater. Besides, her Aunt was perhaps her closest friend and she not only wanted to learn anything she could from her witch she had to admit she did look up to her in some ways.

Bellatrix let out a huff of amusement despite herself "You couldn't handle it, Nymphadora."

"I could!" Dora cried "I'm not weak or stupid or anything like that, I'm powerful and smart and capable of anything I put my mind to—you told me that."

"So I did . . ." Bellatrix said as the girl stared definitely back at her. "Being a Death Eater—learning our ways—isn't easy, Dora. You must be disciplined, unafraid of pain, imprisonment or worse, willing to do anything to reach your goal and serve The Dark Lord. A warrior. Capable of winning the hardest of duels and going on the most secret of missions, killing or torturing those that you must to reach your goal without flinching, all with your very life on the line every moment of every day. Though the reward, the power, the freedom is like nothing you have ever experienced in your life before." Bellatrix couldn't help but let a small smirk pass her lips at the look of awe on her nieces features. "Personally, I'm not sure you've got what it takes—I mean you are smart and powerful but this . . . I'm not sure you could handle the sort of discipline and training that it involves, Dora. But it's okay, I don't think any less of you, it takes a special kind of witch to serve The Dark Lord."

Bellatrix watched the girl from the corner of her eye as she picked up her wine glass, the look on her face was almost laughable; it was as if the poor child was fighting some internal battle inside of her mind. "I could do it . . ." the teenager's voice was barely above a whisper before with a renewed look of determination she looked her Aunt straight in the eyes. "Try me."

The Death Eater paused, pretending to consider the girl for a moment "I wouldn't want to hurt you."

"You wouldn't."

"I would." Bellatrix said, shaking her head "You don't learn all there is to know without getting hurt. You're a child, you couldn't handle it."

"I could!" Dora snapped, to Bellatrix's surprise the tips of her hair were tinging red "I'm not some little girl, I can handle it."

"Calm." Bellatrix said warningly, waiting for the girl to stop and take a deep breath before she nodded ". . . Fine . . . I'll start tomorrow."

"Really?" Dora grinned, her red tips instantly changing to pink.

"Don't make me regret it." Bellatrix sighed.

"I won't!" Dora cried, getting up out of her seat and jumping at her Aunt to hug her firmly. "I won't let you down, Aunt Bella."

Bellatrix winced as the girl hugged her, usually disliking such intimate gestures from the child. Though as the realisation of all that she had achieved with the girl, would go on to achieve, she couldn't help the broad smirk on her features as she allowed herself to embrace the girl in return. Her plan was slowly coming together.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it, please do leave a review if you have a moment as I love hearing your thoughts.

The Purple Black