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The Purple Black
Rabastan had decided not to return to Nymphadora, so after he had ensured that Rodolphus was going to tend to her he had returned to his bedroom. It had been hours now and he was yet to hear Barty return to their wing of the manor, though it didn't concern him, he still had the adrenaline high of the night's events coursing through his veins as he laid on his bed staring at the ceiling. He barely looked towards the door of his room as he heard someone entering the wing, returning to his thoughts as he played the night's events over in his mind. It had been exhilarating, cutting down muggles, causing pure havoc in the small village, the duelling, even Nymphadora getting injured. Rabastan rolled his eyes as he heard the knock at his door, annoyed to be disturbed from his reminiscing. Nonetheless, he called out for the intruder of his thoughts to enter.
He sat up as he saw his elder brother enter the room, cocking his head to the side curiously, "Hello,"
"Bellatrix sent me," Rodolphus said, avoiding making eye contact with the younger man as he closed the door behind him "she wants me to reprimand you for—well, you can imagine the insults she threw."
"I can," Rabastan said, sitting up on his bed, "not too pleased with our little outing, was she?"
"You can hardly blame her," Rod's look hardened for a moment, "you could have been hurt, arrested, killed even."
"Just the day to day risks then?" Rabastan said, smirking as he saw the flicker of a reluctant smirk on his face, "She would have found it amusing if Nymphadora didn't go and get herself hurt."
"Perhaps," Rodolphus said, "that doesn't make it better though."
"She cares about the half-blood, doesn't she?" Rabastan asked curiously.
Rodolphus flinched slightly, going over to the chair in the corner of the room and taking a seat before he nodded slightly, "Between you and I? Yes, possibly more than even she realises. I think it might be something to do with the slight part of her that misses Andromeda—besides she's known the girl since she was nine. She didn't intend to care for her to start with, she was just a little project to turn into a useful tool for The Dark Lord's return, but she can't deny that she cares for her now. I've seen the way she looks after her, the way she treats her . . . Though I wouldn't go accusing Bellatrix of such a thing yourself, she'll deny it and you'll probably end up cursed."
Rabastan let out a huff of laughter. Rodolphus looked up at his brother, their matching dark eyes meeting as a shadow of a smile fell onto the older man's features. It didn't last long until Rodolphus looked away again, an awkward silence hanging in the air. It was Rabastan who decided to finally break the silence, moving to sit on the edge of his bed, "Come on, Rod. You didn't come here to talk to me about Nymphadora or 'tell me off' for Bellatrix . . . You've been avoiding talking to me properly since I got back."
"I—" Rodolphus went to deny the fact, though with one knowing look from his brother he knew it was useless. He sighed deeply, staring at his shoes as if they held the answer to all of his worries. It took him a little while to speak again, though Rabastan patiently waited, "I'm sorry . . ."
"What for?" Rabastan raised an eyebrow.
"It's my fault you—"
"Ended up spending fourteen years in the holiday camp otherwise known as Azkaban Prison?" Rabastan raised an eyebrow, rolling his eyes as Rodolphus gave a quick nod, "No, it's not."
"It is." Rodolphus hissed, clenching his fists in his lap, "I took Bellatrix and left you two to fend for yourselves, I should have stayed and protected you."
"Rod," Rabastan laughed, "you did the right thing, if we didn't split up I daresay we all would have been arrested."
"No, I could have tried—"
"No, you couldn't have," Rabastan rolled his eyes, leaning forward to look at his brother more carefully, "you want to know why we got arrested? Hmm?" Rabastan waited for his brother to grunt in acknowledgement of him before he carried on, "I got stupid. I did exactly what you taught me never to do and took my eyes off my opponent for a moment because I thought I could take on another Auror that hadn't even reached us yet. The minute I looked away it turned out the person I was duelling wasn't actually hurt and slammed me to the ground with a spell. I yelled out, Barty got distracted and after that, we were fucked."
"I should have trained you better," Rodolphus shook his head, "made sure that—"
"Will you stop!" Rabastan groaned, "Why are you so insistent on taking the blame for this?"
"Because it's my fault!" Rodolphus yelled, suddenly getting up from his chair, "I told Bellatrix you would be okay, I forced her out of the battle, I left before I knew you were safe! You were our responsibility, Bellatrix and I trained the both of you, were supposed to look out for you—that was his orders. But in that moment I misjudged the whole thing and you and Barty suffered for it!"
"And you want me to be angry at you for that?" Rabastan asked, still surprisingly calm still sat on the edge of his bed. "You want me to get mad? To hate you? To curse you? To blame you for a simple mistake?"
"Yes!" Rodolphus snapped, stopping suddenly as if he had hit a brick wall, his shoulders rapidly rising and falling as he failed to calm his breathing.
"Fine," Rabastan murmured almost lazily. He looked at his brother, taking out his wand and pointing it at him with purpose, "Crucio."
Rodolphus let out a guttural yell, dropping to his knees and falling forward, throwing his hands out just in time to break his fall. The curse lasted a matter of seconds before it was lifted again. The silence hung heavy in the room, the aftershock of the curse still vibrating through his very bones as footsteps sounded beside him. Rabastan sat down on the floor, leaning back against the bed as he cocked his head to the side, a serious expression on his features.
"Better?" Rab asked.
"You enjoyed that . . ." Rodolphus let out a breath of air before letting himself fall to his side and pulling himself to sit up against the bed next to his brother.
"Well, it's hard not to enjoy that curse, ask Bellatrix," Rabastan joked, "Though I didn't enjoy it that much . . . There is one thing that I want to ask you, about the whole 'Azkaban incident'—breaking me out I mean." Rodolphus turned his head to his brother, meeting his eyes as Rab gave him a shadow of a mischievous grin, "What took you so long?"
Rodolphus couldn't help but let out a laugh along with his brother.
Bellatrix was slumped over Nymphadora's bed, a chair pulled right up to its side as she rested her head in her arms, watching the girl intently. But she had begun to grow tired, her eyes threatening to close more and more the longer she looked at her niece's pale face. It was early morning now, the sunlight had already begun to crawl across the floor of the Metamorphmagus' room but Bellatrix couldn't sleep. She couldn't risk drifting off and then Nymphadora waking up needing her. Even after Nymphadora had originally fallen unconscious it had taken a further hour to finish healing her wounds as best as they could and without being able to simply wake the girl up and question her Bellatrix wasn't sure of the true extent of Dora's wounds. She was merely grateful that the girl's hair had settled on a white-streaked mousey brown, two colours had to be better than the multiple it had shot to and stayed as for hours. Bellatrix didn't even flinch as a small knock on the door came, letting out a small hum of acknowledgement before it slowly creaked open. It was only as the man was stood next to her that she realised who had entered the room. She forced herself to sit up, mentally slapping herself awake as she looked to Barty Crouch Jr with mild distaste.
"How is she?" Barty spoke quietly.
Bellatrix stared at the man for a moment before she looked back to her niece, "Rodolphus thinks she was hit with two curses at once. It was probably too quick for you to notice, or it may have been a lingering spell that she was hit with and then that one mixed badly with the one that cut her open, I don't know. But either way, the spell that cut her open shouldn't have done as much damage as it did. The second was probably some sort of freezing curse or something of the likes, it's doubtful an Order member actually attempted to cut her open . . . Whatever it was it didn't agree with her . . ."
"But she'll be okay?" Barty asked, trying to hide the nerves from his voice though from the look Bellatrix gave him he guessed that it wasn't so well hidden.
"She's lucky to be alive," Bellatrix muttered, "if I wasn't so tired and unwilling to disturb her I would curse you where you stand."
Barty merely nodded, watching the witch stand from her seat and attempt to look menacing. He had to admit it would have worked on most people, but he could only roll his eyes as he watched her eyes droop with tiredness. "Go to sleep, Bellatrix."
"I have to stay with her," Bellatrix shook her head, crossing her arms across her chest, "she can't be left alone and I don't trust the stupid elf to come and fetch me if she needs help."
"So, let me stay," Barty shrugged.
"You?" Bellatrix barely laughed.
"Yes, me," Barty rolled his eyes, "I don't see any other volunteers and if you stay here you're only going to fall asleep on her and be no help at all. I'll send for you if she needs help."
Bellatrix considered the man for a moment before she snatched her wand from the bedside table and stuffed it into her pocket, she went to leave the room, stopping at the door to call back at the man, "Barty?" she waited for him to turn to her, giving him a judging, almost threatening look, "Don't think I didn't notice that you knew where her room was . . . behave."
Barty couldn't help but sigh a breath of relief as Bellatrix closed the door behind herself. He stared down at the weak mess of the witch in front of him, now laid on her back with her upper torso wrapped tightly in bandages, her features pale and breaths deep. He noted, as he looked at the pile of ruined bloodstained and tattered clothes in the corner, that she at least looked better than she had done when he first ran her into the manor. He stifled a yawn as he slipped into Bellatrix's recently vacated seat, he hadn't slept himself, though when Bellatrix had originally screamed at him to leave the room he had to admit it was one of the times he had seen her at her most furious. He couldn't keep himself away any longer though, it was his fault for suggesting that they had ventured out that night and if Nymphadora died it would be he who was to blame. Besides, he had grown rather fond of the young witch, he had to admit to himself that he would not have liked her to die.
It was mid-day when Nymphadora let out a small groan, her hand reaching out to grip slightly onto the bedsheets. Her mind was clouded, her body numb (a fact of which she was almost grateful), all she could remember was intense, excruciating pain before she had passed out. Her mouth was dry and her head ached, but as she heard the soft whisper of her name she forced herself to slowly open her eyes. Barty Crouch Jr was sat next to her bed, leaning onto the side as he looked to her face with a searching intensity.
"Hel—" Nymphadora went to speak, but all she could do was cough.
"Here," Barty rushed to reach for the jug of water on her bedside table, pouring her a glass. She tried to sit up but it only caused a jolt of pain to shoot through her, she lifted her head just slightly in the end, letting Barty help her drink for a moment before resting her head back into the pillows. "Don't speak if you can't."
"I'm fine," Dora croaked.
"Yeah, right." Barty scoffed.
"What happened?" Dora said, looking to Barty as he leaned back in his chair, "I bet Rabastan thinks I'm a right idiot."
"Are you not?" Barty cocked an eyebrow as he smirked at the girl.
"You're lucky I don't know where my wand is," Dora mumbled.
"Well, it's right next to you, but I doubt very much you could reach for it right now." Barty shrugged, though for good measure he reached over and pushed the wand out of arms reach of the witch.
"What happened?" Dora asked again.
"You got hit," Barty said, his entire demeanour becoming more serious for a moment, "I had to carry you back here. You were pretty badly hurt—Rod reckons you had another spell mess with the one that cut open your back."
"Cut open my back?" Nymphadora frowned in confusion before she looked down her body as best she could, "Well, that would explain the mess of bandages . . ."
"This is my fault," Barty mumbled.
"How is it your fault?" Nymphadora rolled her eyes, "You didn't do this."
"I suggested we go out," Barty said, "I said you were just as bad as Bellatrix, you're just a kid."
"I am not!" Nymphadora's hair flashed red, though she winced as she went to try and hit the wizard, "I'm a bloody grown woman,"
"You're twenty-two," Barty said.
"Actually, twenty-three last birthday, shows how much you pay attention," Nymphadora huffed, "Besides, I'll have you know I can be just as 'bad' as Aunt Bellatrix when I want to be. I was fine until I got caught off guard—it happens."
"It shouldn't have," Barty sighed.
"I was being a cocky prat, is that what you want to hear?" Dora smirked as Barty let out a huff of laughter, "I'll leave out the part where you suggested we go out when my Aunt asks me what happens, shall I?"
"Didn't she already ask you what happened when you got here?" Barty raised an eyebrow.
"I—Maybe, I can't remember," Dora bit her lip.
"I should get Bella," Barty went to leave the room, stopping as a quiet whisper of 'No.' came from behind him. He turned to look at the girl curiously.
"No . . ." Dora hesitated for a moment before she patted the space next to her on the bed, "Stay here?"
"I don't think you're up for that at the moment, Nymphie," Barty joked weakly.
"Well no shit," Dora laughed, "no, just lay here with me for a bit? Aunt Bella will fuss over me and I just want to rest for a little bit . . . please?"
Barty looked at the girl, her pale complexion, bandaged broken body, the look in her deep dark eyes. He couldn't say no. He sighed dramatically, though smiled all the same, as he kicked his shoes off and got onto the bed beside Nymphadora. He was careful not to jostle her, laying awkwardly beside her until with a breath of amusement Nymphadora adjusted herself slightly to let her head rest on his shoulder. She closed her eyes and smiled as she felt Barty gingerly put his arm around her.
"Your Aunt will murder me if she walks in on us like this," Barty mused.
"Let her try," Dora mumbled, letting herself relax in the comforting arms of Barty Crouch Jr.
Nymphadora bit back a groan of pain as she gingerly made her way down the halls of Lestrange Manor. It had been a few days since she had been injured and she was starting to become more than irate at the bed rest her Aunt had insisted on enforcing on her. She couldn't help but think bed rest was something that she should really be adhering to as it took her all of ten minutes to make her way down the stairs without making a noise.
As she finally reached her destination of the kitchen she couldn't help but mutter "Thank Merlin for that,"
"For what?" a voice replied.
"Shit," Dora jumped slightly, hissing in pain and grabbing her sides as she looked up to see Rabastan staring at her with a raised eyebrow and a mildly amused smirk on his features. "Don't just jump up on people like that," she mumbled as she made her way over to the larder.
"Well, I hardly jumped up on you now, did I?" Rabastan made his way over to the small table and chairs, sliding into a seat and carrying on with his snack as he watched Nymphadora curiously, "Should you be out of bed?"
"I'm fine," Dora hissed, turning to face the man, "I feel—Is that my chocolate?"
"This?" Rabastan looked down to the Honeydukes toffee and honeycomb chocolate bar, casually breaking off a chunk and popping it into his mouth, "Is it?"
"Yes," Dora growled, walking over to the man, she hesitated for a moment before slowly lowering herself into the seat beside him. She went to take the bar away from him, though to her annoyance he quickly held it out of her reach.
"It's rude to snatch," Rabastan mused, "did Andromeda never teach you manners? I suppose she must have slipped a lot since I last saw her."
"Yes, I get it, I'm an idiotic half-blood spawn of a blood traitor and a mudblood and you just can't get over the fact that I can actually be a half-decent Death Eater," Dora hesitated for a moment before she furrowed her brow in annoyance, "despite what our last outing might have shown."
Rabastan considered the girl for a moment, watching her curiously before he eventually sighed and put the chocolate down on the table, sliding it over to her. "Actually," Rabastan said as Nymphadora hesitantly took the chocolate and looked to him, "I didn't think you did that badly."
"Thanks," Dora scoffed, popping a piece of chocolate into her mouth, "because having to be carried back and passing out in agony from my injuries definitely seems like I wasn't that bad."
Rabastan laughed at the girl's sarcasm, "It was hardly your fault . . . we've all been there."
"Really?" Dora scoffed, "You're telling me even your brother has ended up like I did? I find that hard to believe."
"Well," Rabastan smirked, "he does have a fair few scars that he likes to cover up—though those were mainly him getting in the way when Bellatrix was having a bit too much fun. I do seem to recall Bellatrix getting knocked out in her early days though."
"Really?" Dora raised an eyebrow at the man, "Aunt Bella got herself knocked out? What happened?"
"Well, it was before I was a fully-fledged Death Eater, so I wasn't invited to the party." Rabastan said as he got up and started looking for the fire whiskey, "But at least you were conscious when you came back. Rodolphus ended up running into the manor with her one night with her in his arms and I didn't see either of them for a good day or two after that."
"Did you ever find out what happened?" Dora asked, going to sit forward curiously before a wince of pain reminded her to sit straight.
"Well, I think Bellatrix got a little carried away—bit off more than she could chew, then paid the price. That woman is—" Rabastan paused as he turned back to the room, grinning sheepishly as he saw his sister-in-law in the doorway, "Bella, how nice of you to join us."
Bellatrix narrowed her eyes at her brother-in-law, slowly walking over to the table "What am I, Rab?"
"A ray of sunshine," Rabastan smiled sarcastically, "Aha! There it is," he triumphantly pulled out the bottle he had been looking for, "so, I shall be seeing you two lovely ladies. Me and the boys have a little catching up to do I believe."
Rabastan quickly hurried out of the room, shutting the door behind him and scurrying off to find Rodolphus and Barty. Nymphadora sat awkwardly in her chair for a moment, not saying a word for a long time as she could feel her Aunt staring at her. She broke off another piece of chocolate and threw it in her mouth just for something to do to pass the awkward silence.
"I told you to stay in bed," Bellatrix eventually said, walking over to the girl as she turned her head to look at her.
"I was hungry," Dora said, offering her chocolate to her Aunt though she merely shook her head, "More for me . . ." Dora muttered.
"Nymphadora," Bellatrix said, leaning against the table as she looked down at her niece, "I did not tell you to stay in bed to punish you or drive you to tears with boredom. I did it for your own good."
Dora swallowed her chocolate carefully before replying to her Aunt, "I feel tons better, fit as a fiddle, I—Ow!" Dora hissed and swore as her Aunt put her hand on her back, "Well that's not playing fair."
"Well, you should know better than to lie to me," Bellatrix smirked, holding her hand out for her niece. The girl stared at her for a moment before begrudgingly she took the woman's hand and let her help her to her feet, "Come on, Dora. You need to rest, we have an important meeting tomorrow."
"We do?" Dora asked, putting her arm around her Aunt to let her support her back up to her room. She didn't want to admit that it was much easier to get back to her room with someone to help her.
"Yes," Bellatrix's smirk only grew as she spoke, slowing slightly to help Nymphadora up the stairs, "it's nearly time."
"Time?" Dora's eyes glistened with excitement, "The Dark Lord has a plan to get it? Will it work this time?"
"Of course it will," Bellatrix laughed, "we're all going, Nymphadora. Which is why you need to rest, to be prepared, it is very important that we succeed in this task."
"Right," Dora nodded, relieved when they eventually reached her room. She let Bellatrix help her into her bed, let out a sigh of relief as she fell back into the comfort of her bed. "Wait," Nymphadora called as Bellatrix went to leave the room, she turned and looked at her, "stay? I'm dying of boredom in here."
Bellatrix considered the girl for a moment, eventually nodding and walking back to her niece. She climbed onto the bed next to her, letting the girl lean her head on her shoulder. Nymphadora closed her eyes, smiling slightly as Bellatrix placed her hand on her own. "You know . . ." Bellatrix mused, waiting for Nymphadora to look up to her before she carried on though the elder witch simply looked down at the girl's hand, playing with her fingers absentmindedly, "I don't think you did that badly on your little impromptu outing . . . The Dark Lord was pleased."
"How long were you listening at the door?" Nymphadora huffed in amusement, resting her head on her Aunt's shoulder again.
"Long enough," Bellatrix said, "I may have put a charm on your room to know if you left it. I followed you practically from your room."
"And what if I simply went to go to the toilet?" Nymphadora said.
"You have an en-suite," Bellatrix scoffed.
". . . I may prefer the main bathroom," Nymphadora laughed, "you never know."
"Of course," Bellatrix rolled her eyes in amusement, "because why would you use the bathroom a few feet from your bed when you can walk all the way down the hall?"
"Exactly," Nymphadora agreed.
". . . Don't go getting yourself killed, Nymphadora," Bellatrix murmured, "You are a good Death Eater . . ."
"And you'd miss me, right?" Nymphadora smirked. Bellatrix didn't say anything, though she eventually squeezed the girl's hand. Nymphadora learned not to expect many emotions from Bellatrix, though knew that the squeeze of her hand spoke volumes. She sighed, letting herself close her eyes again and rest into her Aunt. They didn't speak much after that, Nymphadora eventually falling asleep in her Aunt's arms.
So I hope you enjoyed, please do leave a review if you have a moment. Like I said, please do go on over to my Tumblr page and check me out there.
The Purple Black