So this chapter took a pinch longer than I would have hoped, but it's here!
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The Purple Black
Nymphadora paced the small room at the three broomsticks. She had been tasked by The Dark Lord to be the main point of contact between himself and Barty Crouch Jr, ensuring that he knew of all of the goings-on at the school. The following day would be Halloween, which held great importance this particular year as it also happened to be the day that the house champions were to be chosen for the Triwizard Cup. Nymphadora had been particularly nervous about their first meeting, her Aunt had quizzed her to no end and ensured that she wouldn't be recognised getting to the pub. Personally, Nymphadora didn't see the point in such nonsense. She was only a child when The Dark Lord was last in power, there was no way she could be connected to carrying out tasks for the man—and more importantly, the stupid Ministry had no idea that he was still alive. Though still The Dark Lord had asked her to morph into a different person each time she went to meet Barty, Bellatrix had said it was so that people wouldn't get suspicious that the supposed ex-Auror was meeting the niece of Bellatrix Lestrange (though they had managed to escape Azkaban it was clear that people, such as Dumbledore, still had their suspicions of the Lestrange couple—most likely for their connection to Rabastan). So Nymphadora had woken up early that morning, spent her time morphing her features to an unrecognisable state and made her way to Hogsmeade where she had already booked a room for one night under a false name. She couldn't help but giggle to herself at the absurdity of it.
"Something funny?" the voice of Mad-Eye Moody grumbled as he walked into the room, closing the door behind himself and placing several wards to ensure they would not be disturbed.
"Nothing at all, Mad-Eye." Nymphadora smirked as she turned and sat on the edge of the bed, "You look awful."
"Really?" Barty asked, smirking as he took his magical eye out and threw down his walking stick leaving it to clatter onto the floor, "I thought this was a rather attractive look for me."
"Think again." Nymphadora rolled her eyes as he pulled up a chair to the small dressing table, looking to the closed curtains for a moment before he took off his fake leg. "Though perhaps it is an improvement."
"Well, you don't look too great yourself." Barty shrugged, leaning back in his chair.
Nymphadora sighed, screwing up her features and concentrating until she looked back up through her own dark eyes with her natural features back in place, "How's that?"
"It's a slight improvement," Barty smirked, wincing as the polyjuice potion began to wear off.
"Slight improvement? I morphed into a woman three times my size with a bloody wart on her nose!" Nymphadora shook her head, "You're infuriating."
"And now your clothes are three sizes too big." Barty grinned, now looking very much himself again as he laughed at Nymphadora pulling her robes tighter around herself.
"We're not here to comment on my appearance." Nymphadora mumbled.
"Shame, I have a few comments." Barty licked his lips, making the girl cringe before he laughed again, "Take a joke, Nymphie."
"My name is not Nymphie." Dora narrowed her eyes.
"Nymphadora," Barty rolled his eyes, "I believe we are here for a reason?"
"Yes." Nymphadora drew herself to sit up straighter, trying to look seriously at the Death Eater. ". . . Is it done?"
"Yes."
"So Potter's name will be pulled from the goblet?" Dora raised an eyebrow.
"Yes."
". . . How did you do it?" Nymphadora asked.
"He didn't tell you?" Barty grinned mischievously as Dora shook her head, "Well if he didn't tell you what makes you think I will? Maybe you can't be trusted yet."
"I can be trusted." Nymphadora said firmly, the tips of her hair tinging red.
"Bella hasn't taught you how to keep your emotions under control, has she?" Barty laughed, the mere sound infuriating Nymphadora as the man simply shrugged, "Though saying that most Black's can't keep their emotions under control on a good day—I suppose they can hide it if they want to though."
". . . Why do you live to annoy me?" Nymphadora asked, only half serious.
"Aww, Nymphadora." Barty pouted, clearly the man was having too much fun being able to be his true self rather than a moody, paranoid old man for a change, "I'm offended." Nymphadora rolled her eyes, trying desperately to contain her annoyance. After a moment or two had passed Barty Crouch Jr got up from his seat, taking two large strides to the girl and practically jumping down to sit on the bed next to her. The young witch shuffled away slightly as the man brought up his legs to sit cross-legged on the bed. Suddenly the man's look darkened, giving her a sinister smirk as he lowered his voice, "I tricked the Goblet of Fire. It picks one champion per a house you see—there's no way to change that—and each of the contestants has to be over the age of 17 to participate. The age wasn't much of an issue, putting the name in myself I was old enough to put it in and with a spell or two, the goblet didn't question it. But before that, I had to get over the one champion per house rule. That was a tricky little spell . . . I confused the cup into thinking there were four schools."
"Oh." Nymphadora mentally kicked herself as Barty snickered, wishing that she had come up with something more profound to say in answer to the wizard's explanation than 'Oh'. "So that will work?" she said quickly.
"Yes, it will work." Barty nodded. "The thing didn't exactly spit his name out and there were no consequences—there have been idiots in the Hospital wing all week with fake beards and the likes because they tried to trick the cup."
"And no-one suspects a thing?" Dora asked.
"No." Barty smirked.
"Good . . ."
"Good." Barty winked at the girl as he got up, pulling out his flask of polyjuice potion. "Go on, girl, run back to The Dark Lord and report."
"I don't have to go back until tonight."
"Aw, wanting to spend more time with me?" Barty teased.
"Definitely not." Dora said defensively, getting to her feet and going over to the mirror ready to morph her features, she paused as Barty drew his wand pointing it to the bedsheets and pillows as they rose high into the air only to fall back down again in a mussed heap. "What are you doing?"
"Well, I take it you're not staying here tonight?" Barty raised an eyebrow at the girl, downing his potion and making a face at the taste. "Don't morph back. Just disaparate and old Rosmerta will think you slept here and apparated off in the morning."
"Right . . ." Dora nodded.
"You'll get the hang of all this secret, dangerous, tricking people business Nymphie." Barty laughed as his appearance changed back to that of Mad-Eye Moody, barely giving the girl a chance to retaliate to the name as he quickly placed back his eye and wooden leg and left with his walking stick.
Nymphadora shook her head, taking the wards of the room down and disapparating back to Lestrange Manor. She quickly changed back into clothes her own size when she arrived in her bedroom, surprised that her Aunt had not found her already when she left her room. She found her Aunt herself instead, the woman sat in the library going over a book on Dragons. "What are you reading?" Nymphadora asked, sitting in the seat beside her and looking at her Aunt curiously.
"Potter is going to die far before we can get to him if he is left to his own devices in this tournament." Bellatrix mumbled, finishing the paragraph she was reading then earmarking it so that she could look to her niece with a smirk, "I mean it would be a tragedy, but very useless for us. Rodolphus discovered through an old friend at the Ministry that the first task involves stealing an object from a dragon."
"Oh." Dora frowned, looking at the book.
". . . What's wrong with you?" Bellatrix frowned for a moment before she suddenly looked serious. "Has something gone wrong? Is Potter not going to be chosen?"
"No, no, nothing like that." Dora shook her head, leaning back into the plush armchair as she forced a slight smile at her Aunt, "Barty has everything under control."
"Oh, good." Bellatrix nodded, going to pick up her book again before she forced herself not to sigh in annoyance, there was clearly something wrong with the witch, "What's the matter then?"
Dora bit her lip, playing with the fabric of her skirts, she didn't want to talk to her Aunt about what she was thinking. She dreaded to think what she would say. It was only as Bellatrix reached her hand out and took the girls own from her skirts that she took a deep breath and began to speak. "I failed the first task The Dark Lord gave me."
"You didn't fail it." Bellatrix rolled her eyes, glad that the girl wasn't looking at her.
"I got knocked out." Dora huffed, "If it was me alone I would have been carted off to Azkaban."
"But you weren't alone." Bellatrix said firmly, "That is the precise reason that you did not go alone. Just don't do it again."
"And what if I do?" Nymphadora looked to the older witch, trying to disguise her clear fear of failure from her voice and features. "What if I fuck up the next thing I'm told to do? What if I get caught? Barty said I'll 'Get the hang of it'—I was going to leave the sheets looking untouched then Rosmerta would have known I didn't sleep there."
"That's hardly the end of the world." Bellatrix laughed, "Though perhaps something you should have thought of."
Nymphadora sighed deeply, looking back to her lap as she furrowed her brows, "I'm never going to be a proper Death Eater—I'll mess it up and get myself killed or imprisoned."
"Do not say that." Bellatrix snapped, getting to her feet as her niece looked up at her in slight shock at her sudden movement. "I did not spend years moulding you, training you, putting every spare inch of my efforts into you for you to give up!"
"I'm not giving up!" Dora protested.
"You just you said that you're never going to be a 'proper Death Eater'," Bellatrix sneered, "Firstly, you sound pathetic. Secondly, I have every faith that you will be not only a Death Eater but one of the best The Dark Lord has in his service. Do you understand me? . . . I said, do you understand me?"
Nymphadora nodded obediently, slightly taken back as her Aunt smiled sweetly with not a trace of the anger she had displayed nanoseconds previously.
"Good." Bellatrix said, looking the girl up and down for a moment before she let out a breath of annoyance, "You learn on the job . . . I wasn't always the best when I first started."
"That's hard to believe." Dora couldn't help but smile as Bellatrix smirked.
"I almost got arrested on my first task."
"How?" Dora asked, suddenly intrigued.
"There may have been an incident where I got slightly carried away somewhere that I shouldn't have been." Bellatrix sighed reminiscently, "It ended up with Rodolphus apparating me away to the Dark Lord still covered in blood." She grinned at the girl as she returned the gesture, nodding for her to follow her out of the room, "Come on."
"Where are we going?" Dora asked though she stood up regardless.
"To teach you a bit of stealth." Bellatrix mused, "Let's try and sneak past Rodolphus, I mean you'll probably fail but I wouldn't expect you to get past him unnoticed."
"So why are we trying if I'm going to fail?" Dora asked.
"Because it's amusing . . . We'll head over to Malfoy Manor to play with Cissa after."
Dora couldn't help but laugh, following her Aunt to find Rodolphus.
Both the Hogsmeade and the school were alive with the excitement and anticipation of the first task of the Triwizard Tournament and it was becoming rather hard to contain her excitement as she walked up towards the arena. She hurried to keep up with the long strides of Rodolphus Lestrange as they passed ahead through the crowds. It had not been hard for Rodolphus to procure tickets, with one carefully placed conversation with the Minister and a mention of looking to make donations it had been far too easy to get an invitation. They sat near the judge's table, Rodolphus making a small nod to Barty Crouch Senior as his gaze paused on him briefly.
Nymphadora bit back a smirk at the situation, 'Mad-Eye' aka Barty Crouch Junior was stood staring at his father with his non-magical eye. It was ridiculous, he had no idea that his Azkaban escapee son was stood such a short distance from him ready to help implement the return of the man his father had tried so long to help thwart. She was just about to make a comment to her Uncle when Barty's magical eye landed on her, the good eye soon following. Dora looked away, though found her Uncle to be staring straight back at him. She shuffled in her seat for a moment uncomfortably, her eyes darting between the pair before with a flicker of a smirk that was no doubt Barty's own the younger wizard looked away.
"Should you be staring at him?" Dora muttered under her breath.
"I can stare at him if I so wish." Rodolphus sighed in apparent boredom, though looked away from the man nonetheless. "Moody was instrumental in the incarceration of my brother."
"Right . . ." Dora breathed, it wasn't often that she heard Rodolphus mention Rabastan Lestrange. Though despite the fact that they both knew that Mad-Eye Moody was in fact locked in a trunk in his office, there was no hiding the glare at his doppelgänger as Rodolphus spat his name.
Nymphadora hesitated for a moment before she reached her hand out to her Uncle's clenched fist, ignoring the mans furrowed eyebrows in confusion of the gesture. She dropped her voice to well below a whisper as she ensured that they could not be overheard. "He won't be in Azkaban much longer."
Rodolphus hesitated for a moment, staring straight into her compassionate eyes before with a small grunt of acknowledgement and a nod he pulled his hand away and returned his gaze to the arena where a silver blue beast of a dragon was now protecting a cluster of eggs. The whole event was riveting to watch. First, a Hufflepuff boy named Cedric Diggory came onto the arena, a boyish nervous grin on his features as he prepared to face the dragon. Dora had to stop herself laughing as the boy transfigured a rock into a dog, watching the dragon take the bate momentarily before turning back and burning the poor boys face.
"Idiot." Dora snickered, her Uncle smirking as he nudged her gently "What?" Dora asked, smirking in return.
"Show some compassion." Nymphadora was sure she had never heard her Uncle sound so perfectly sarcastic in her entire life.
"Look to the Slytherins'," Dora nodded to where her cousin sat with the rest of his house, the boy was hardly attempting to contain his laughter though he cheered as the boy retrieved his golden egg.
"You're not an idiotic, fourteen-year-old Malfoy."
"That's a tad harsh."
"But true." Rodolphus smirked.
An attractive looking Beauxbatons girl was not quite as successful as the first contestant as she managed to get her skirts set on fire by a sleeping dragon. It was as Nymphadora was holding back another snicker that she looked at the judge's table. She had thought she was imagining things at first, though the more she looked the more she realised that the tall thin man dressed in sleek silver furs kept on looking towards them.
"Uncle Rodolphus?" The girl waiting for her Uncle to hum in acknowledgement before she carried on. "Who is that man and why does he keep looking at us?"
Rodolphus barely gave the man a moments notice before his upper lip gave a small twinge of distaste. "Durmstrang headmaster. Igor Karkaroff."
"So, what's his problem?" Dora asked.
"Later." Rodolphus said firmly, leaving the girl to know better than to question him again.
In Nymphadora's opinion, the Durmstrang champion was hardly better than the rest of the other champions, though she knew him to be Viktor Krum renowned Bulgarian Seeker. The serious looking boy barely seemed to care as his scarlet, smooth-scaled Chinese Fireball dragon decided to smash some of its real eggs to smithereens in its panicked state of its new weeping eyes. It was as the arena was cleared and the final, most intimidating looking dragon was brought on in its place, that the pair couldn't hide their slight smirks as they both knew who was intended for this particular beast.
As the canon rung out throughout the grounds of the ancient castle young Harry Potter walked to meet his fate. He looked just as his most recent photograph in the Daily Prophet had pictured him to be, with unkempt black hair covering his famous scar from this distance and his rounded spectacles Harry James Potter looked nothing more than a small boy in comparison to the large monster before him. Nymphadora was practically on the edge of her seat as she watched the boy attempt to carry out his task, ignoring the commentary booming through the air as she focused purely on the scrawny young lad. She had to admit, though she had questioned the move when he had first yelled the spell out, that summoning his broomstick did seem to be a wise idea. The boy could fly well enough to rival some professional players that she had seen, though she couldn't help but question if the boy was insane to think he could outfly a dragon. Nevertheless, he seemed to be performing perhaps the best of the four champions. Dora winced as the boy had his shoulder slashed open, noticing her Uncle sit forward next to her at the move. Yes, it would have been rather amusing to watch The Boy Who Lived die at the talons of a wild beast, but that was not the plan.
The crowd cheered for the young boy as he simply looked relieved to have survived such a task as he clutched onto his golden egg and the whole affair was over just as soon as it had started. Rodolphus didn't move from his seat immediately, now staring at Igor Karkaroff as he began to move from his seat. Nymphadora couldn't help but grin as she saw her younger cousin approach her, his two usual sidekicks in tow along with a pug-faced young girl.
"Nymphadora, Uncle Rodolphus." Draco greeted them, Rodolphus barely nodding in acknowledgement.
"Hello, Draco." Dora smiled, "Enjoy the entertainment?"
"I suppose, shame Potter didn't get ripped to shreds by that beast though." Draco spat, "Father is convinced he won't live through this."
"Watch your words, Draco." Dora smirked, "You never know who is listening in."
"Is it true you can morph?" Gregory Goyle said dumbly, causing the woman to roll her eyes.
"Of course it is you idiot." Draco snapped. "I told you."
Dora couldn't help but laugh slightly, letting some pink tinge the ends of her hair as she watched the children's reaction, from awe to the wide-eyed jealous gaze of the girl with the trio of boys.
"Malfoy." The familiar grunt of 'Mad-Eye' sounded as the boy looked up with a flicker of what looked like fear. "Take your gang of friends away and stop bothering the grown-ups."
Draco muttered under his breath, saying his goodbyes to his cousin before he went off back to the castle with his friends.
"Lestrange." Mad-Eye muttered, "Tonks."
Dora couldn't help but glare at the man at the way he pronounced her surname, she would make sure to reprimand him for it the moment they were alone at their next meeting.
"Moody." Rodolphus said, his whole demeanour changing as he stood tall to address the older looking man, looking down his nose at him in a way purebloods were oh so perfect at doing. "I heard you turned my nephew into a ferret."
The two men glanced at Nymphadora as she choked in her struggle to hold down her sudden laughter at that comment, she had definitely not heard of this happening before today.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Lestrange." Mad-Eye grunted, leaving Dora to marvel at how well the two played their parts.
"Mark my words, Mad-Eye," Rodolphus snarled, "I will have this looked into."
"Feel free." Moody narrowed his eyes at the man, "I'm sure there's a lot of things we can have looked into . . . Visited your brother recently?"
Rodolphus glared furiously at the man and Nymphadora had a distinct feeling that this time the anger was not a show. "Come, Nymphadora. Your Aunt will be waiting."
Nymphadora sighed as she watched the man walk off, "I'm sure I'll be seeing you soon, girl." Mad-Eye grumbled, turning to hobble off on his wooden leg.
When Nymphadora arrived back at the manor she had lost track of Rodolphus, therefore she was surprised as her Aunt came straight to her at the sound of her apparating into the manor.
"Well, how was it? Is Potter still alive?" Bellatrix asked.
"It went as well as you could expect, Potter almost got slashed by a dragon but apart from that he's fine." Nymphadora shrugged before she frowned, "Is Uncle Rod not here?"
"No." Bellatrix shook her head, frowning as the girl let out a deep sigh. "What?" a note of panic slipped into her voice, "What happened? Is there something wrong?"
"No." Nymphadora shook her head, though she was reminded that she knew better than to give such a short answer as her Aunt gave her an expectant look. "I think 'Mad-Eye' might have touched a nerve."
"What did he do this time?" Bellatrix couldn't help but smirk slightly, "Call him names?"
"No . . ." Dora bit her lip, "He mentioned Rabastan."
The smirk faltered from Bellatrix's lips, considering the girl for a moment before she sighed and without a moment's notice, she was gone.
"Nuts." Dora shook her head, making her way to her bedroom, "This whole family is nuts."
Rodolphus Lestrange was sat on a small bench, overlooking the sea in one of the Lestrange estates. He listened to the waves slowly reaching the shore, closing his eyes and he took in the salty sea air as he envisioned his younger self sat with his brother on this very bench. They had spent hours sat here talking about the future. He had advised his brother when he was worried about his upcoming Hogwarts years, talked about Bellatrix when he was due to marry the young and beautiful witch, spent countless times discussing their own families and future. They had been convinced in their naïve youth that they were going to take over the world, they would bring all of wizarding kind to their knees as they served their master and raised their own families into their own perfect world. The whole concept was pitiful now. They had not counted on the tragic events of the Dark Lords fall, nor of Rabastan's seemingly endless servitude not to their lord but to the prison he was now trapped within. As the man took a deep breath to calm his emotions he felt the familiar gentle grasp of a hand on his shoulder.
"How did you know I would be here?" He barely whispered as his wife slipped into the space beside him.
"Nymphadora told me that Barty touched on a sore subject." Bellatrix mused, leaning into her husband as she stared out at the calming waves.
"What? Draco's turn as a ferret?" Rodolphus scoffed.
"No," Bellatrix couldn't help but giggle, resting her head on her husband's shoulder as he moved his arm to rest on her shoulders. "About Rab." Bellatrix looked up at her husband through her heavy-lidded eyes as he stiffened, now glaring out at the view. "He should know better . . ."
"He should." Rodolphus said through gritted teeth, though eventually, his look softened, growing distant as he became almost lost in thought, "I failed him, I left him to rot."
"You couldn't help him." Bellatrix shook her head, "But we can. Very soon, he'll be running free with the rest of the currently incarcerated faithful servants of our Master and the world shall be ours yet again."
"The world was never ours . . ." Rodolphus winced as his wife suddenly sat up, forcing him to look at her as her serious gaze bore down on him.
"We will release him, we will serve our Lord and we will rule this pathetic country—this pathetic world—and make them pay for the wrongs they have done us." Bellatrix snarled, her voice full of passion.
Rodolphus considered the woman for a few moments, Merlin he could not help but love her when she became like this. He gave a slight nod, letting himself return the small smirk she was giving him as he briefly yet passionately pressed his lips to hers, "Soon."
"Soon." Bellatrix agreed.
The couple stayed on the small bench, ignoring the cold breeze as they melted into each other's arms, watching the sun set down upon them. Though as Bellatrix fantasized purely about the day their master would rule the world, Rodolphus Lestrange could not help but think of his lost young brother alongside such dreams.
So I hope you enjoyed that chapter! Things are about to start to get a little crazy with this story right now and I cannot wait! Please do leave a review if you have a moment as I'd love to hear your comments on the story so far!
The Purple Black