Thank you guys for all the great reviews, follows and favourites so far (and sorry I've been a bit crap replying to you all like I usually do but I'm gonna work on that). Anyway, please read, enjoy and review if you have a moment!
The Purple Black
The day of Harry Potter's trial at the Ministry of Magic was not a pleasant one for Nymphadora Tonks. She was sat in the library, going over an old dark arts book. Barty had suggested it to her and she had had to pick up from the darkest corner of Knockturn Alley, so she was rather excited to read it. Though, it took her nearly half an hour to realise that she had been going over the same page again and again without focusing until she finally put the thing to rest on the side, rubbing her eyes as she let out a sigh of anguish.
Barty peered up from the corner, frowning slightly before he put down his own book and went over to rest on the arm of her chair.
"Bit too deep for you, Nymphie?" he asked.
"No," Nymphadora said firmly "I'm just . . . distracted."
"Thinking about the Potter boy?" Barty tilted his head and rested his arm on the back of her chair "You know, it doesn't matter either way if he goes to Hogwarts or not. If he goes, we have people to keep an eye on him so we know what he's doing. If he doesn't go we have to run around like idiots trying to get to him when he'll probably be hidden by old Dumbledore and beyond our reach."
"True . . ." Nymphadora bit her lip in thought for a moment, "But The Dark Lord didn't seem happy."
Barty nodded slightly, it was true and he couldn't deny that. The Dark Lord had arranged to meet with Lucius at Lestrange Manor a few hours ago and they had heard the yells, seen Lucius leave the manor without talking to anybody pale as a sheet. "Sometimes The Dark Lord isn't happy, but we didn't do anything to cause this—you yourself have been at the Ministry trying to help. So, don't dwell on this, we will soon please The Dark Lord again."
Dora sighed, leaning back in her chair as she closed her eyes. She had indeed been at the ministry trying to help. She had gotten a small part time job within the Department of Magical Education. It was only a small desk job, though what with Potter being at the school and Death Eaters already posted in the more obvious departments it made sense to her to do so (that and the fact that she did not think it wise to station herself within Magical Law when she could not get over the irony of that matter). Besides, what with the new appointment of the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor and the Ministry's increased involvement within the school, she was sure that she may be able to help in some way whilst being stationed within the Ministry. Nymphadora smiled slightly as she felt Barty play with her hair, picking at the arm of the chair as they sat in silence.
"What are you two doing?" Nymphadora snapped open her eyes and sat forward at the voice of Bellatrix Lestrange, the woman was stood in the doorway with her arms folded looking expectantly at the pair.
"Reading," Barty chirped, "That's what you do in a library, Bella."
"I got a new book," Dora said, standing up and holding the book out to her Aunt who hesitantly took the thing to look over it with an air of disinterest "Barty suggested it to me, so he was just showing me his favourite bits."
"Dora was worrying about Potter getting away at the hearing today," Barty said simply, hissing as Dora punched him in the arm "What? She can tell you're lying! You're pretty terrible at it in fact."
"She's not a terrible liar," Bellatrix said, smirking as she handed the book back to her red-faced niece "she just can't lie to me."
"Fine," Dora huffed, "So what if I was worrying? I'm fine now."
"Good," Bellatrix said "now come on, Narcissa invited us over for dinner tonight."
"Do I have to change?" Nymphadora groaned.
"No," Bellatrix shook her head, "it's only them. Now come."
Bellatrix watched the girl leave the room, telling her to meet her Uncle in the entrance hall. She waited until her niece was out of view and out of earshot before she looked to Barty Crouch Jr, the man having now slipped into the vacant chair and was leafing through Nymphadora's book.
He frowned after a moment, looking up to see the witch staring at him "What?" he asked almost defensively.
"You stay away from Nymphadora," Bellatrix spoke in a warning tone.
"Now, how is that possible?" Barty asked, straightening up in his seat "There's hardly a plethora of people to talk to in this Manor and that's forgetting the fact that we are both—"
"You know what I mean," Bellatrix hissed.
"Is there some hidden meaning?" Barty raised an eyebrow at the witch "Staying away from someone is pretty self-explanatory and something that I've already explained the difficulty of doing."
"Don't play dumb," Bellatrix narrowed her eyes at the man "I've seen the way you look at her."
"Really?" Barty grinned, "Have you seen the way she looks at me?"
"She is young and naïve to men like you," Bellatrix said, "she doesn't know any better."
"Men like me?" Barty gave a tone of mock offence, though after the woman's glare did not waver he let out a sigh a gained a more serious tone "I thought you didn't care about her?" he lowered his voice "I thought she was just your little pawn for The Dark Lord? Or are you trying to tell me that the great, stone-hearted Bellatrix Lestrange cares for her half-blood niece?"
". . . Don't test my patience," Bellatrix eventually hissed, turning and walking from the room and leaving the man to his own devices.
"He tried it!" Nymphadora exclaimed over her breakfast, causing her Uncle to knock over the orange juice that he was reaching for as the girl's sudden outburst startled him.
"What?" Bellatrix asked, looking to her niece who was now avidly reading The Daily Prophet, suppressing a smirk as her husband muttered under his breath as he drew his wand and cleaned up the mess he had created.
"Podmore," Dora muttered, though the initial surprise and excitement she had was now fading to be traded for a look of disappointment and almost fear. "Shit," She hissed, throwing the paper down on the table and resting her head in her hands as her Uncle picked it up and shook it out to read.
"Well," Bellatrix asked, "what does it say?"
"Sturgis Podmore, 38, of number two, Laburnum Gardens, Clapham has appeared in front of the Wizengamot charged with trespass and attempted robbery at the Ministry of Magic on 31st August . . ." Rodolphus couldn't help but smirk as he skimmed the rest of the article before handing it to his wife.
Bellatrix let out a cackle of laughter once she had read the article herself, "refused to speak in his own defence . . . convicted on both charges and sentenced to six months in Azkaban. Oh dear."
"Well that is amusing," Rodolphus mused.
"Amusing?" Nymphadora looked at her uncle in shock "Amusing?"
"Yes," Bellatrix agreed as she controlled her laughter, now skimming through the rest of the paper.
"But I failed!" Dora cried "He wasn't supposed to get arrested, he was supposed to go in and get the thing for us! I completely and utterly failed."
"No, you did not," Rodolphus said, his wife smirking at her niece in amusement as he couldn't help but do the same "Nymphadora, you just got a member of The Order of the Phoenix arrested and out of action for six months."
"And for whatever time it takes to recover from that hell hole," Bellatrix quipped, though Rodolphus seemed to ignore this comment.
"But—" Dora bit her lip, though she appeared slightly less distressed at the news than she initially had "he didn't do what I wanted though."
"Which is nothing to criticise your ability," Rodolphus shrugged "it is merely to say he was stupid enough to get caught."
"Won't The Dark Lord be displeased with me?" Dora asked hesitantly.
"No," Bellatrix scoffed, "you didn't expect Sturgis Podmore to succeed, did you?"
"Well . . ." Dora bit her lip, blushing slightly as she looked down at her toast.
"You didn't fail at all, Nymphadora," Rodolphus said "it would have been a miracle if Podmore succeeded, you've done nothing wrong. In fact, I believe The Dark Lord would be pleased purely at the thought of Dumbledore being without one of his sheep for so long."
"So . . ." Dora couldn't help but smile slightly "So I did well?"
"You did well," Bellatrix smirked. "Now finish up your breakfast and leave for work."
"Yes Ma'am," Dora said with a mock salute, now in a much better mood as she put the remainder of her toast in her mouth and going to give her Aunt a one-armed hug before she left the room.
It was nearing midnight and Nymphadora Tonks was currently drenched and freezing cold, she was now near enough frozen to the seat of her broom in the cold unforgiving winds of the North Sea. Her Death Eater robes offered little warmth, though she was almost grateful for her mask as it protected her face at least minimally from the rain. She looked at her sorroundings, barely able to see her comrades hovering in the distance. It was as a cackle of pure maniacal glee that let the witch know where her Aunt was, she watched her spell shoot towards the old stone building and braced herself the brick exploded and crashed into the depths below. Apparently, that was the signal they were going with tonight. She leant forward on her broom and zoomed right towards the explosion, skidding to a halt as she hit the floor. There were no Dementors to be seen, though the mad yells and cries for freedom of those within echoed the walls hauntingly.
She didn't wait for the others, hearing more explosions in the distance she knew that they would be entering the prison through various different points. As she pushed aside the broken metal bars of the empty cell they had torn to pieces, she took in her surroundings. She was north of the high-security wing, knowing that was where she would need to search she slid around the corner and pounded down the long hallway. She opened her bag as she ran, sliding her broom into its magically enhanced depths and cursing herself as she crashed her arm into the sharp corner of the wall. She was the first to reach the wing, the bars still fastened shut. Various yells came from within the dark depths, cries for freedom, cries of warning or perhaps fear of Dementors. She couldn't help but smirk; the Dementors were long gone. With a quickly fired curse, she blasted the doors to the wing off of its hinges.
"Lumos," Nymphadora whispered, raising her wand high and carefully proceeding down the hallway.
"Be quick about it!" Macnair hissed as he ran into the wing behind her, beginning to unlock the first of the cells they knew their captured comrades to be in.
She couldn't help but stare as she stepped back from the man. He dived into the cell, the sound of clattering chains indicating that he had ensured the full freedom of the prisoner within. A few more masked Death Eaters entered the room, but none that Dora recognised to be her Aunt and Uncle just yet, though she continued to stare as Macnair emerged. An almost skeletal looking man, with scraggly hair, a beard that was in dire need of a trim and tattered robes near to disintegration was clinging to him. She couldn't help but return the shadow of a smirk she noticed on the prisoner's face.
"Bella?" Nymphadora turned to the direction of the voice. After a moment's hesitation, she stepped forward to the cell, though she could not see within through the dark and the mess. She reached out her spare hand, quickly unlocking the door with her wand and then pushing it open. She could understand why a female Death Eater, masked with curled dark purple hair that must have seemed black in the light, would be mistaken for Bellatrix. She stepped further into the cell. What seemed to be a pile of ragged robes laid curled in the corner, the stench coming off of it was offensive though the voice called again. "Bella?"
"No," Dora whispered, ". . . but a friend."
She was answered by a violent cough and she quickly went over to the voice, directing her wand light before she finally recognised the man curled up in a heap in front her. Though he was, like the other man, almost skeletal in appearance now, covered in filth and clearly extremely weak, there was no mistaking the face now gazing up at her as that of Rabastan Lestrange.
"Let's get you out of here," Nymphadora murmured.
She quickly released him from his chains, throwing the rusting manacles to the side and untangling him before she went to lift him. She ignored the offensive smell, reaching out to the man and grabbing onto his dirt-caked hands to try and help him to his feet. It was no use though, he was so weak he yelled out at the strain of it all and collapsed straight to the ground again.
"Shit!" Nymphadora hissed as she grabbed his arm just in time to stop his head colliding with the wall behind him.
"Rab?" Bellatrix's voice whispered behind Nymphadora, making her jump slightly as she did not realise her sneaking up behind her. She looked up to her Aunt, there was a strange look in her eyes, one Nymphadora would have sworn was of hurt, remorse, shock even. Though as quickly as it had appeared it had passed and the elder witch became determined again, rushing forward to the other side of her brother-in-law. "Help me," Bellatrix instructed Dora, managing to get the man off of the floor with both of their help.
The man groaned weakly as the two witches pulled him out of his cell, the rest of the wing was nearly empty now as they watched one of their comrades leave. They walked carefully though quickly, as they knew—even without Dementors to guard the prison—it would not be long until the Ministry caught wind of what had happened here tonight. It was potentially the slowest ten minutes of Nymphadora's life before they managed to get to the boat ready to take the escaped prisoners to shore. Rodolphus Lestrange was seeing the second to last boat away, Dora watching as Barty went off into the distance with the rest before Rodolphus finally turned to see them.
He froze. Staring at the two witches, his young brother once so full of life now crumpled between them barely alive. Nymphadora's knees started to buckle under the weight of the man after they had stood stationary for too long.
"Come on," Bellatrix said firmly, motioning for Nymphadora to help her forward with Rabastan.
To Nymphadora's surprise Rodolphus did not move forward to help them, still stood motionless on the spot as she clambered into the boat and pulled Rabastan in behind her. She couldn't get him to sit up at first, eventually sighing as she had to squeeze into the space beside him and pull him up to rest into her side. He coughed violently as she looked up at her Aunt and Uncle. Bellatrix walked over to her husband, gently taking his hand and leaning into him though he never took his eyes off of his brother. Nymphadora couldn't hear what Bellatrix was saying as she spoke into his ear. He nodded slightly before pulling his eyes away from the pair and turning to get into the boat. Bellatrix quickly turned back to the prisoner, unable to help the laugh of delight as she drew her wand and pointed it skyward.
"Morsmordre!" She screeched, jumping in delight as the dark mark filled the sky above them before she skipped into the boat and with a quick spell they went skimming along the water on their way to the shore.
Nymphadora became very aware of her Uncle's stares, the man's dark eyes trained on his brother intensely. It was rather disconcerting given his current masked appearance, eventually, she had to look away. Her Aunt was fine, gripping onto the boat with one hand as she kept the other on her husband's knee, her triumphant smirk visible underneath her mask. She tried not to pay too much attention to the man currently shivering and leaning into her shoulder, instead focusing on the quick escape they knew they had to make once they reached shore. To her surprise the moment the boat thumped into solid ground Rodolphus was the first to get up, striding the two steps over to his niece without a word and lifting the man from her with ease. He lifted him off of his feet, stepping out of the boat and onto solid ground and without so much as a glance to the two witches to determine if they were okay, he disapparated.
"Is he okay?" Nymphadora asked as she followed her Aunt out of the boat, turning back towards the distant silhouette of Azkaban for a moment to glance at the mark still shining brightly in the sky.
"He'll be fine," Bellatrix said simply, she too glanced back to the mark before turning back to her niece "Race you home!"
"I—" Nymphadora rolled her eyes, though she couldn't help but smirk, as her Aunt disapparated without warning. "Typical," she muttered turning on the spot and following her back to Lestrange Manor.
So, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, please do leave a review if you have a moment as I love to hear your thoughts and they really spur me on :)
The Purple Black