So turns out I'm on a writing spree and have managed to write two chapters in the last two days haha So here, have this latest chapter, I'll upload the next one in a week or when I have a few reviews. :)
The Purple Black
"I only know what Draco told me in that letter, which you have read—multiple times I believe." Dora sighed, leaning back on the settee as Bellatrix continued to pace the sitting room still clutching said letter in in her hands.
"He thinks it's to do with the heir of Slytherin?" Bella asked.
"That's what the rumour is." Dora nodded.
"Which he thinks is Potter?" Bella asked.
"No, that's what the other children are saying," Dora said, beginning to feel sick as she watched her Aunt pace back and forth.
"Because Potter-" Bellatrix spat the boy's name, "-spoke parseltongue?"
"Yeah, he talked to a snake he threw at him." Dora rolled her eyes, "I mentioned that spell to him as a joke you know, it's bloody pointless to use in a duel. I think he just wanted to scare him you know, or maybe he was trying to show the boy up for not being able to vanish the thing on his own."
"That's not important!" Bella snapped, stopping herself pacing as she saw the woman flinch at her sudden outburst. She took a calming breath before she faced the witch, trying to calm her racing mind. "The Chamber of Secrets is a myth."
"True." Dora agreed, "Though the idea of random students being petrified is strange . . ."
"They're not random." Bellatrix scoffed.
"What, because they're all mudbloods?" Dora asked, sighing as her Aunt nodded. "Maybe it's a coincidence?"
"Maybe it's also a coincidence that I've never killed a Pureblood." Bellatrix scoffed, "No, Nymphadora."
". . . Do you think it's something to do with the heir of Slytherin?" Dora asked, frowning in her curiosity.
"Anything is possible . . ." Bellatrix breathed.
". . . Don't suppose you know any families that are related to Salazar Slytherin?" Dora half-joked.
"It's an ancient line, anyone could be." Rodolphus mused. Nymphadora had half-forgotten that he was there to be honest, sat in his favourite armchair by the fire as he read the days paper. Rodolphus was clearly too used to his wife's erratic behaviour to become too concerned when she got into 'one of her moods'.
"They think Potter is related to Slytherin because he can speak Parseltongue, right?" Dora ignored the look of disgust at the boy's name, continuing on as a sudden idea came to her mind. "Well . . . Didn't The Dark Lord speak Parseltongue?"
This peaked Rodolphus' interest, finally lowering his paper slightly to look to his wife who was currently frozen to the spot as she came to the same realisation Nymphadora had.
"It's him." Bellatrix barely whispered.
"Bella, don't get carried away," Rodolphus warned, "he can't be the only Parseltongue in existence."
"Really?" Bellatrix snapped, glaring at her husband, "Name one other Parseltongue you know—and I swear to Merlin if you say Harry bloody Potter I will curse you before you even think of reaching for your wand."
"It might not be Slytherin's mythical monster, you know." Dora quickly said before Rodolphus could say something that would cause half of the sitting room to get destroyed. "It all seems a little far-fetched . . . Maybe it's just a random student."
"A random student that can petrify another student without getting caught?" Bellatrix snarled, "Unlikely. That's too complicated for some dim-witted student to pull off."
"I would agree." Rodolphus added, secretly grateful that his wife was no longer focused on him with her murderous glare.
"Look, Uncle Lucius is going up the school tonight, why don't we wait and hear from him?" Dora said.
"Lucius is going up the school tonight?" Bellatrix repeated as Dora nodded, "Why?"
"Well he is the chairman of the board of Governors," Dora shrugged, "I can imagine this sort of thing would cause some concern between that lot—besides Draco reckons he's trying to get Dumbledore thrown out."
"About time." Rodolphus smirked, "Good luck to him."
"I think he's up to something." Dora said.
"He's always up to something." Bella spat.
"This isn't the first time this has happened, you know," Rodolphus said. "My father mentioned something similar happening when he was at school."
"What did he say?" Bellatrix looked to her husband, a sense of urgency about her.
"Just that. That some mudbloods got petrified at school when he was at school." Rodolphus rolled his eyes.
"That can't be all he said." Bellatrix insisted.
"Why don't you go talk to him?" Dora asked enthusiastically, "I'll come if you want."
"Because I doubt I would get any sense out of his headstone." Bellatrix huffed.
"Oh . . . Sorry." Dora mumbled.
"Your father was at school the same time as him—"
"I would rather curse the man senseless than have a conversation with him!"
"Well, that is one way of getting information . . ." Dora muttered, smiling slightly as Bellatrix laughed in delight at the suggestion.
"He wouldn't tell me." Bellatrix said, "That man doesn't have a helpful bone in his body."
"Well then wait until Uncle Lucius has been to the school, didn't Narcissa invite you over for lunch this week anyway?" Dora asked.
Bellatrix thought for a moment, regarding her niece as an idea clearly popped into the woman's mind. She smirked, then without a moments notice she disapparated. Rodolphus sighed in annoyance, going back to his paper as if the whole affair hadn't happened.
"Where did she go?" Dora asked, slightly concerned as she sat up in her seat.
"Well, I would bet you ten galleons that she has not gone to see her father." Rodolphus smirked, "She's gone to find Lucius, obviously."
"Oh . . . Does that seem wise?" Dora bit her lip, "In the mood she's in . . ."
"She'd probably end up cursing him." Rodolphus chuckled, "Perhaps you should catch up with her, make sure she doesn't get into an argument with her sister again over her treatment of her brother-in-law."
". . . Fine." Dora sighed, slightly annoyed that she was the one to make sure her Aunt was okay rather than the woman's own husband. Though she knew just as well as he did that once Bellatrix got an idea into her head there was little to be done. Nymphadora let out a huff of annoyance as she disapparated for Malfoy Manor.
The summer of 1993 was so far an uneventful one, it was true that it had barely started but as Nymphadora woke up early one July morning covered in sweat she started to wish for cooler weather again as she took a long cool shower before deciding to pull on her silk nightgown and go and fetch herself a book from the library to read in bed for a while. Bellatrix and Rodolphus were locked away in their bedroom still, Dora assumed they were still asleep though as it was now gone past 9'o'clock and she knew her Aunt and Uncle to be early risers she didn't want to think about why the room was warded as she made her way downstairs. The woman paused as she passed one of the windows on her way downstairs; Narcissa Malfoy was walking rather quickly up the pathway to the manor. As the young woman managed to snap herself out of her thought she ran down the stairs to meet her second Aunt, swearing as she had to grab onto the bannister to stop herself falling down the stairs in her rush. She quickly shooed away the small elf preparing to let Narcissa into the Malfoy, pausing only to quickly check her appearance in the mirror by the door (Dora did not want to give Narcissa an excuse to ask to do her hair for her again) before she opened the door.
"Nymphadora," Narcissa breathed, forcing a polite smile as she entered the manor, pausing to catch her breath. "Where's Bellatrix?"
"In bed still . . . Is everything okay?" Dora frowned, only now noticing the newspaper folded beneath her Aunt's arm. "Why don't we go sit down and I can get the elf to see if Aunt Bella's awake?"
Narcissa nodded, following Nymphadora into the nearest sitting room. "Has something happened?" Dora couldn't help but ask as her Aunt sat on the nearest sofa, "You look . . . worried."
Narcissa sighed, taking the paper from and passing it to her niece, "Front page."
Nymphadora frowned, taking the paper as she went to sit next to her Aunt, the moment she stopped to look at print however her eyes became transfixed on the picture of the familiar man on the front cover. "Sirius . . ." Dora breathed.
"You know him?" Narcissa asked, "I mean, you recognise the picture."
"I—I met a few times when I was little." Dora breathed, "He used to come over to see Mum from time to time, he'd always bring me sweets or some toy that Mum would disapprove of . . ."
"Well, it hardly surprises me that he and Andromeda were still in contact." Narcissa said, a look of distaste on her features.
"He's escaped?" Dora asked, looking to her Aunt as she nodded. "How?"
"No-one knows." Narcissa said, "Though I'm sure Bellatrix would find one way or another to try and prise her nose in at the ministry to find out more information—which there isn't. I thought I'd save her a trip, between you and I Lucius gets a little uncomfortable when she tries to lurk around the ministry for information. She always uses some excuse for her being there that involves him, says she's meeting him for lunch or some other ludicrous excuse. Can you imagine Bellatrix wanting to spend time with Lucius simply because he's her brother-in-law?"
"No . . ." Dora responded, still entirely distracted in thought as she looked down at the photograph. The man looking back at her was nothing like the Sirius Black that she had once known, there was a crazed look in his eyes, his appearance anything but its usual smart look as he yelled up at her trying to pull from his bonds.
"Dora?" Narcissa frowned. "Are you okay?"
"Sorry." Dora took a breath before forcing a smile at her Aunt, "I'm fine."
"Hmm." Narcissa was not convinced, "You know Bellatrix—and Rodolphus for that matter—do not like Sirius, she won't take this well."
"Why, because he was disowned?" Dora asked with a frown, "But he got arrested for getting in with The Dark Lord."
Narcissa let out a scoff of laughter "That man was no more a Death Eater than Albus Dumbledore himself."
"So he was wrongly imprisoned?" Dora asked.
"Most likely," Narcissa shrugged.
"But what about the muggles that died? And Peter Pettigrew?" Dora asked, she had always shared her mother's opinion that her cousin was wrongly imprisoned, hearing it from Narcissa Malfoy only solidified those views for some reason, though she had to admit there were some loose ends to her theory that she couldn't quite explain.
"Well, I don't know what happened there." Narcissa sighed, "Sirius did undoubtedly inherit the Black temper, but I'm not sure he would be capable of murder. Nymphadora listen to me, I may not know much about Death Eater activity back then—it's best not to know—but for Merlin's sake do not go asking your Aunt Bellatrix about this sort of thing."
"Why?" Dora couldn't help but ask, Bellatrix always told her whatever she asked about Death Eater life and she couldn't quite see how this would be any different.
"Because in her eyes it is her who was The Dark Lord's most faithful, contrary to what the papers may say. I talked to her about it when it first happened and she was perfectly adamant that Sirius was never in cohorts with The Dark Lord." Narcissa sighed, "Now I know The Dark Lord has his secrets, Bella would be the first to admit that, but this she is certain on and she gets rather . . . touchy, about the subject."
"So don't ask unless I'm in the mood for a duel?" Dora couldn't help but smirk.
"Something like that." Narcissa smiled sadly as she took the paper back from the girl, calling for the Lestrange house elf and asking it to go and find its mistress for her.
"Sorry, forgot about that." Dora mumbled.
"It's fine." Narcissa smiled sympathetically, squeezing the girls arm, "Why don't you go and get changed out of your night clothes whilst I talk to my sister, hmm? We can go shopping again later on if you like, it's always best to put on a good face in public when things like this happen, we mustn't hide away."
"Right." Dora agreed, blushing slightly as she realised when she checked her appearance before answering the door she had not even realised she was still in her dressing gown. She passed Bellatrix in the hallway, avoiding her gaze in case she decided to see if she knew why Narcissa was at the manor, if what Narcissa said was true she did not want to be the one to deliver the news.
"I do not want to go, Rodolphus." Bellatrix said for what seemed to be the hundredth time that evening.
Rodolphus had come home that evening with the news that, along with the Malfoys, he had been given tickets to the 422nd Quidditch World Cup. Nymphadora was ecstatic to hear that she was invited, she hadn't been able to morph her hair away from bubblegum pink since she had heard the news. But for some reason Bellatrix was less than enthusiastic.
"We have an invite from the Minister of Magic," Rodolphus asked, "we can't not go."
"We're in the top box." Dora said, "we have to go."
"I'm not saying that you don't have to go, you can go with Rodolphus if you like." Bellatrix rolled her eyes. "I have more important things to be getting on with."
"But this is a once in a lifetime opportunity." Dora said, frowning as her Uncle chuckled.
"Dora, we get these sorts of things fairly often." Rodolphus said.
"Tell them I'm sick." Bellatrix suggested. "There's something going on, Rodolphus. I can feel it. I need to focus—besides you want me to camp, I hate camping."
"Well I hate camping too, the last time I went I got stuck in the sleeping bag." Dora blushed slightly, busying herself with cutting her steak "It wasn't my fault; the tent was so small I rolled into the pole and panicked."
". . . Right." Rodolphus gave the girl a curious look before he shook his head and looked back to his wife. "Bella that tent is the size of our ballroom, the bedroom is nearly the same size as our own and it has a bath."
"You know," Dora looked to her Aunt, finishing her bite of steak, "there's going to be a lot of people at this thing, including a lot of Ministry officials, aren't there Uncle Rod?"
"Well, they are putting a lot of security in place for it, yes." Rodolphus agreed.
"Well then, if there is something going on maybe this is a good place to try and find out." Dora suggested.
Bellatrix considered the girl for a moment of thought, eventually sighing and rolling her eyes. "Fine, I'll go."
Nymphadora couldn't help but grin, more excited than she could remember being in a long time. She decided to ignore Rod's clear look of displeasure, it was true he had wanted Bellatrix to go, though he also had concerns about his wife trying to snoop around Ministry business. Nevertheless, this event was looking to be an interesting affair.
Thanks for reading! Please do leave a review and let me know what you think :D
The Purple Black