So, a day late but this is a rather long chapter so forgive me for that.
As always, thanks for all of your reviews, favourites and follows and please do read, enjoy and leave a review if you have a moment.
The Purple Black
Nymphadora took a deep breath, staring at herself in the mirror for a moment before she snapped herself into action. She walked over to her wardrobe and pulled out her pitch-black dress, laying it on her bed. She couldn't help but wonder if it would end up being another perfectly good dress that was destined to become destroyed yet again. She shook the thought from her head as she heard her door creak open, turning and frowning slightly as she saw Barty come into the room.
"What are you doing?" Nymphadora said.
"Nice to see you too," Barty smirked, closing the door behind him, he drew his wand to lock and soundproof the door. With three quick strides he had reached Nymphadora, hooking an arm around her waist and pulling her into himself. He paused for a slight moment, staring into the witches questioning dark brown eyes for a moment before he pressed his lips firmly to her own.
It took her less than a second to respond to his advances, moving her lips against his and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. She let out a throaty giggle as she eventually surfaced for air, "Barty, we haven't got the time."
"We have an hour," Barty gave a slight pout, "that's more than enough time."
"True . . ." Dora mused, "but what would we do with the remaining fifty minutes?"
"Hey!" Barty exclaimed in an exaggerated offence, the witch laughing at him before he moved her to back into the wall, "We will be lucky to only take an hour, but I believe I can make it work."
Barty slid his hands down to her hips, leaning his head down and kissing her neck. He smirked as she let out a small groan of pleasure at the sensation, reaching her hand up to tangle in his hair before without warning he let out a hiss of pain as she grabbed hold of it and sharply pulled his head away. She considered him for a moment, not releasing his hair as she slowly shook her head. "I need to concentrate. I can't go wearing myself out before such an important task, Barty."
"Let me do the work then." Barty said as he went to move his hand to Dora's ass, hissing as she slapped it away, "Hey! Stop hurting me, Nymphie."
"Well then take no for an answer." Nymphadora rolled her eyes (though a small smirk was still apparent) as she slipped out of the man's reach. "I need to stay focused. I can't risk getting hurt again, not tonight of all nights."
"You won't," Barty sighed. He went to sit on the girl's bed, fingering the fabric of the dress she had chosen, "not revealing enough."
"Yes," Nymphadora raised an eyebrow as she spoke sarcastically, "because I want every inch of flesh possible exposed when I'm going on a mission."
"We're up against a child," Barty scoffed, "maybe more than one—but still a child."
"We don't know he won't alert the Order somehow," Dora said, distracting herself as she pulled her boots out ready to put on, "we could be in for a battle. He could get a message to Dumbledore somehow. We could need to battle the whole bloody Order. We—"
"Nymphadora," Barty spoke firmly as he stood to his feet, taking both of the witch's hands in his own as he stopped her from running around her room like a headless chicken in worry, "whatever happens we'll be fine, we'll have fun."
". . . What if—" Nymphadora took a deep breath, swallowing hard before she managed to carry on, "What if we end up getting arrested?"
"Well," Barty considered his words for a moment before he carried on, "then we get arrested. We spend a little while in Azkaban and The Dark Lord breaks us out when he thinks we've learnt our lesson for failing."
"Great," Dora scoffed.
"Hey," Barty sighed, drawing the witch into his arms, "Nymphie, you're fucking brilliant. If you get caught I'll eat my mask."
"Your mask?" Dora laughed.
"Well, I would say hat but I don't believe I own one," Barty shrugged, "mask was the first thing I could think of."
"I see," Dora shook her head in amusement.
Barty ran his hands through her pink hair, watching as the woman closed her eyes and leaned her head into his touch. He couldn't help but smile slightly as he admired her beauty, she opened her eyes after a minute and looked up to him. "Do you want me to leave you to get changed?" he forced himself to say, "Let you focus?"
". . . No," Dora sighed, "you can stay."
"Okay," Barty grinned, "but if you expect me to stay whilst you change I cannot promise that I will be able to control myself."
Nymphadora merely laughed, pushing the man away from herself as she picked up her dress and began to prepare for the task ahead of them.
"Ready?" Bellatrix smirked as she looked at her niece, near enough ignoring the rest of the room in that moment as she pulled her mask in place.
"I was born ready," Nymphadora returned to smirk, placing her own mask in place as her Aunt giggled at her comment.
"Just try not to get hurt this time," Rabastan teased.
"In other words, don't trust you're safe around those two idiots," Bellatrix narrowed her eyes at her brother in law, nodding to both him and Barty.
"I can look after myself," Nymphadora huffed.
"Sure, you can," Rabastan smirked, jumping out of the way just in time as Bellatrix threw a small stinging hex at him.
"Will you children behave?" Lucius narrowed his eyes in the direction of his sister-in-law.
"You realise I'm older than you?" Bellatrix smirked, though Lucius merely rolled his eyes in acknowledgement before going on to address his comrades.
Before Nymphadora knew it they were inside the ministry, months of planning finally unfolding as they arrived in the main atrium. It was almost laughable to Nymphadora, how so many Death Eaters could stroll right into the middle of headquarters to the Ministry of Magic with minimal effort to do so. They walked with confidence towards the lifts, only stopping for a moment as a poorly shaven man in peacock blue robes came out of the only moving lift.
Bellatrix couldn't help but laugh as the man looked like he was about to topple over in fright of the sight before him, his hand shaking furiously as he reached for his wand. "What do we have here?" Bellatrix mused, grinning manically beneath her mask.
"The watch wizard," Nymphadora smirked, crossing her arms as her Aunt drew her wand, the poor man stumbling backwards and falling into the still open lift behind him.
"Well, we don't like being watched, do we?" Bellatrix cooed at the man, pointing her wand directly at his heart.
"For Merlin's sake, stop playing with your food!" Lucius hissed.
Bellatrix pouted slightly before letting out a dramatic sigh, "Fine," she hardened her gaze, gripping tightly onto her wand before she hissed, "Avada Kedavra!"
"You couldn't have found a less obvious way to get rid of him than leaving a trail of bodies behind us?" Rodolphus merely sighed as the man fell to a heap on the floor, "We need him out of the way."
"Allow me," Nymphadora sighed without hesitation, walking past her Aunt to face her victim. She shook her head in pity, drawing her wand and concentrating on transfiguring the body. It was with a grin a second later as she reached down and picked up the golden coin that she had changed the body into, turning to her peers.
"Inspired," Barty scoffed.
"You gave me the idea, I must admit." Nymphadora rolled her eyes, tapping the coin and watching as it zoomed off to drop itself in the Fountain of Magical Brethren. "I thought turning him into a bone may be a little obvious though."
"Enough dilly dally," Lucius snapped, marching forward into the lift and making his way down to the Department of Mysteries with a few others.
"Nice work," Bellatrix giggled, squeezing the girl's shoulder and grabbing the next lift with Dora, Rabastan, Rodolphus and Barty. In the cramped environment, she either did not realise or did not care as Nymphadora ended up squashed particularly close to Barty Crouch (though Nymphadora was certain she did not notice the hand that Barty let graze her ass as she stifled a giggle). Though she decided it was best to focus as they carried on forward, meeting the rest of their comrades outside the Department of Mysteries. Not one person spoke a word after that, even Bellatrix Lestrange apparently portraying the height of concentration and—for lack of a better word—professionalism as their only focus was on the task at hand. They entered the first room with the many doors, Rookwood stepped forward looking at each door individually for a split second before he moved towards one with confidence and led the way. They passed through a room full of a beautiful, dancing, diamond-sparkling light with clocks of every shape and size filling each and every surface. Nymphadora couldn't help but let her gaze linger on a large bell jar, a small egg shaking within as it began to break open. She didn't get a chance to stare for long as she was pushed forward with the rest of her comrades into the next room. They were surrounded by shelves so tall that Nymphadora could not see the top, tiny dusty orbs of light crammed to fill every inch of their surface. Though Lucius stood forward at this point, leading them down the many aisles until they reached row number 97.
"We will need to split up into pairs," Lucius said with confidence and without hesitation, pointing to the various different rows around them, "Rabastan and Barty, you go down that row, Rookwood and Dolohov, that one, Bellatrix and Ro—"
"Nymphadora," Bellatrix narrowed her eyes, grabbing her niece's hand as the woman jumped slightly to realise that her Aunt was so close to her (she would never get over her uncanny ability to sneak up on her in such a way).
"Rodolphus," Lucius narrowed his eyes, "I am in charge here."
"Rodolphus can go with Macnair," Bellatrix hissed, "I will be going with Nymphadora."
"I—" Nymphadora went to speak but was quickly interrupted.
"This way, yes?" Bellatrix asked as she nodded to one of the rows, though she didn't wait before she walked off dragging Nymphadora with her. The younger witch didn't dare say a word as she followed her Aunt, waiting until they were hidden and out of the way before she dared to even look at her. Bellatrix Lestrange's piercing dark eyes were staring down at her, an unrecognisable glint within them as Nymphadora couldn't bring herself to tear her gaze away. "I trust you, you realise," Bellatrix eventually whispered after what felt like hours of silence, "I just don't trust the others. Some of them would be happy to see you fail."
"I won't," Nymphadora said on instinct.
"I know," Bellatrix smirked, "it was I who trained you and I do not train failures. But the men . . ." Bellatrix stared off into the distance for a moment before she shook her head, "you're with me."
"I can look after myself," Nymphadora said firmly, Bellatrix letting out a small huff of laughter, "but . . . I'm glad I'm with you."
"I—" Bellatrix went to speak again but quickly put her hand up and tilted her head in the direction of the voices now entering the room. They were young voices; Potter had arrived.
Nymphadora followed her Aunt dutifully as soon as they heard Lucius Malfoy speaking to the children, unable to help her smirk of excitement at the hidden terror on the children's faces as they realised that they were surrounded.
"Where's Sirius?" Harry Potter said.
Nymphadora could only grin beneath her mask as her Aunt screeched in amusement next to her, taunting the young boy. Her eyes flickered across the room, looking at each individual child as her Aunt carried on with her hauntingly taunting act. She couldn't quite believe that the children had fallen so perfectly for The Dark Lord's planted trap within the Potter boys mind. How foolish to run headfirst into danger without the slightest thought for your own safety nor evidence, Well, that's Gryffindors for you Nymphadora thought with a smirk of amusement. She looked to her Aunt as she tried to stupefy the boy, Lucius ensuring that he deflected the spell as it spun off course and only smashed some worthless prophecies nearby. Her heart was racing with excitement, she gripped tightly onto her wand as she watched each of the children in turn. As she eventually realised the children were trying to convey a message whilst Potter distracted them Nymphadora tried to grasp her Aunt's attention, but it was too late.
"REDUCTO!" A chorus of young voices rung out.
Nymphadora ducked immediately, grabbing her Aunt to drag her down out of the way as hundred of glass spheres shattered above their heads, hundreds of voices reciting long forgotten prophecies in a ghostly fashion. Bellatrix growled as she pulled her grasp away from her niece, running after the Potter boy as Nymphadora quickly tried to catch up beside her. She winced as she watched Jugson get elbowed in the face by the boy, but carried on regardless. She managed to overtake her Aunt, finding herself running beside Nott as they tried to catch up with the children.
She was quicker than him, as the mudblood friend of Potter turned and yelled "Stupefy!" it was he who caught the spell and she quickly jumped over his body. They were aiming for a door in front of them and Nymphadora gritted her teeth in her determination to reach them before they got to their target. She yelled in annoyance however when they quickly slammed the door in front of her, unable to slow her speed in time she crashed into the door just as it was sealed and fell to the floor. She groaned at the pain in her shoulder, but before she had a chance to compose herself Barty was in front of her, pulling her to her feet as she muttered her thanks.
"Leave Nott, leave him, I say—" Lucius roared as he approached them side by side with her Aunt, Jugson abandoning his attempt to help Nott as the rest came up behind him. "his injuries will be nothing to the Dark Lord compared to losing that prophecy. Jugson, come back here, we need to organise! We'll split into pairs and search,"
Nymphadora brushed herself down as Lucius began to shout orders at the lot of them, waiting for him to finish before she went to the left of the door with Bellatrix and Rodolphus.
"Stupid!" Bellatrix screeched, storming ahead of them to find the nearest door "Idiot cannot lead such an important—if it were me—if he had just let me—bloody Nymphadora was the closest to actually doing anything nearly right!"
Nymphadora and Rodolphus exchanged a glance for a brief moment, temporarily ignoring the other woman's outburst of rage as she continued to rant to herself. It may have been for that reason alone that they did not come across any children in the next room, though Bellatrix quickly silenced herself and instead they managed to find their way back to the entrance of the Department of Mysteries again.
"What door?" Nymphadora asked as the room eventually stopped spinning.
"Any door," Rodolphus said, Bellatrix apparently now too furious to speak.
Nymphadora took the lead and threw open the door straight ahead of her and immediately stepped forward. She let out a shriek as she lost her footing, grateful as Rodolphus ran forward and grabbed onto her with one hand the other holding firmly onto the door frame. It was a strange room with suspended planets floating around in what Nymphadora guessed was a perfect replica of the solar system.
"Watch your step," Rodolphus smirked as he went to pull the girl back out of the room, though he froze immediately as the sound of a door opening across the way caught his attention.
"Ah!" a girl's scream sounded, followed by a surprised yelp of another girl. Nymphadora squinted and saw the mudblood and the strange blonde girl, quickly followed by Rabastan and Barty.
Without warning, Bellatrix launched herself from the doorway past her husband and into the room ahead of them. Nymphadora let go of her Uncles hand as he too joined her, leaving the three of them floating aimlessly in mid-air. It was a strange sensation and it took every occupant of the room a while to figure out how to manoeuvre through the curious space. Dora made her way towards Barty who had nearly caught up with the mudblood. She knew the more children they could catch the more leverage they would have over Potter, it was a solid plan. She could see her Aunt and Uncle getting nearer to the blonde girl from the corner of her eye, letting herself take quiet amusement in the fact that it was taking Rabastan far longer than the rest of them to find his feet. She was almost at Barty as he grabbed hold of the girl's foot, it all happened too quickly after that.
"Reducto!" Hermione Granger screamed, shattering a replica of Pluto right in Barty's face.
Both the girl and Barty yelled out in pain, the girl making her escape, though Nymphadora was far more focused on Barty now who was currently clutching his bleeding face.
"Stay still!" Nymphadora yelled at him, pulling his hands away from his face to assess the damage.
"I'm fine," Barty hissed, "get the bloody brat!"
"Yeah, you look fine," Nymphadora said sarcastically, pulling the shattered debris from Barty's face as he continued to hiss in pain. He glared at her despite himself until she finished healing him as best as she could for now. "There," Nymphadora sighed, "it'll do for now, I—Where are Aunt Bella and Uncle Rod?"
"They went after the children," Barty rolled his eyes before grabbing the girls hand, "come on."
"You're welcome," Nymphadora rolled her eyes as he pulled her back through the door, helping her land on her feet back in the main entrance room.
"Thank you," Barty sighed.
"You're welcome," she smirked as the man couldn't help but smile slightly at her.
"Come on," he took hold of her hand, looking around the room for a moment before he decided on one.
They walked into a large room lined with stone benches, each step descending steeply towards a raised stone dais in the centre of the pit of the room. Barty slowly let go of her hand, the pair walking down to the pit together as Nymphadora felt herself drawn to the veil in the middle of the room.
"Do you hear that?" Nymphadora murmured, staring at the curtain curiously. As she got to the archway she couldn't help but reach her hand out, going to touch the curtain, drawn to the strange fabric as she wanted nothing but to touch it. "Hey!" Nymphadora hissed as Barty grabbed her hand and pulled it away from the thing.
"Don't touch," Barty said simply, "I—"
A yell echoed through the room and both Death Eaters turned to face its source. Harry Potter was crashing to the floor, bouncing down on each tier of the steps until with a crash he fell on his back feet from Nymphadora and Barty. Both Death Eaters laughed, the sound soon being echoed as their comrades slowly entered the room. The boy got to his feet, going to back away from the newcomers before he turned and saw Nymphadora and Barty smirking down at him, wands pointed straight at his head. He clutched the still miraculously unbroken prophecy tightly to his chest with one hand as he pointed his wand at them with the other. Though he soon turned as Bellatrix and Lucius led the rest of the Death Eaters further into the room.
"I suggest you just hand it over, Potter," Nymphadora sighed with a faux air of uncaring, "then we'll just leave here—we won't bother hunting down the rest of your little friends."
"No, he's not in a position for favours now, Dora," Bellatrix smirked as she stopped opposite the boy, pouting as she adopted her infamous childlike tone, "baby Potter is all alone."
"He's dot alone!" shouted a voice from above them, "He's still god be!"
Nymphadora laughed, wondering what on earth had happened to the boys bloodied face as he tried and failed to properly pronounce 'Stupefy' in order to curse her comrades away. She had to bite her lip to steady her giggles as Rookwood grabbed the poor boy from behind, pinioning his arms to his sides. The display of the boy struggling and kicking to escape only making everyone laugh harder.
"Longbottom," Barty snarled, "give it a rest, boy! You don't want to die tonight."
"Longbottom?" a truly evil smile lit Bellatrix's features as she turned to face the boy, "Well, I've had the pleasure of meeting your parent's boy. We didn't do much talking though, unfortunately for them. But then, I suppose you don't know the true story of what happened that night . . ." She glanced at Harry for a moment with an evil smirk before she turned back to the Longbottom boy, pointing her wand at him carefully, "Now—if the boy will not simply give us the prophecy—let's see if this boy can hold out as long as his parents did. Bets anyone?"
"DON'D GIB ID DO DEM!" Neville yelled.
"Crucio!" Bellatrix spoke almost casually, though the effect was profound. The boy screamed an unearthly scream, curling in on himself as he lifted himself from the floor for a moment before he was dropped to the floor by his captor. Bellatrix lifted her wand with a smirk and turned her head back to Potter, "That was just a taster. Now, Potter, either give us the prophecy or watch your little friend die the hard way!"
Nymphadora watched as the boy turned to face her without question, holding the prophecy out to her. It was just as she went to snatch it from his grasp that the doors above them burst open yet again. Four members of The Order of the Phoenix had come to the boy's aid. She swore under her breath, trying to grab the prophecy though a stunner was quickly sent right at her and she had to dive out of the way to escape it by less than an inch. The room was soon alive with Death Eaters and Order members duelling as if their lives depended on it (no doubt some of theirs did). Nymphadora scrambled to her feet as a man she vaguely recognised to be Sirius Black came straight at her, his jaw set with fury and his eyes ablaze with determination. She quickly deflected his spells, matching them with her own. She was pushed back as she almost fell on her back off of the dais as she barely reflected one of the man's spells in time and was about to get hit straight in the chest with a second as another curse whizzed past her and threw his first off course.
"Mine!" Bellatrix hissed through gritted teeth.
"Of course," Sirius Black laughed, the two cousins glaring at each other for a split second before an intense duel resumed this time between the pair.
She stared in awe for a few moments, watching as they duelled so quickly their wands became blurs in their hands. She took a breath before she decided to re-join the battle, looking around the room as the Order was clearly outnumbered. Nymphadora was just about to go and join Barty and Rabastan against Mad-Eye Moody when she caught sight of the Potter boy. The boy was feebly pulling his helpless friend as his legs flailed from what appeared to be a jelly-legs jinx, she watched as he stuffed the orb in his pocket as he attempted his task. She was just about to go to the pair when she saw it. It was if the room around her had suddenly entered some mystery of the time room and all was in slow motion. The orb fell from the boys pocket, soaring through the air as it went to crash into a million pieces on the floor.
"ACCIO PROPHECY!" Nymphadora screamed without thinking, her heart stopping as she stole the orb out of the air as it whizzed towards her.
The room fell silent, she knew that she didn't imagine the eyes upon her as she clutched onto the glass ball in disbelief. Her hair turned white at the shock of it all, she couldn't believe that she had the prophecy. She would receive the highest reward for this, she had clearly proven herself to The Dark Lord and would—a strong hand came down on her and pushed her by her shoulder to duck as a red light zoomed past her head.
"GET OUT!" Barty Crouch yelled as he turned the girl towards the exit, Death Eaters and Order members alike were rounding on her. She briefly caught a glimpse of her Aunt trying to curse Sirius as she somehow distracted him back to their deathly duel. Though the rest of her comrades had near enough circled her, furiously duelling the Order to keep them at bay. "Nymphadora!" Barty yelled, forcing the girl to look at him, "Get out and get it to The Dark Lord!"
"Come with me!" Nymphadora grabbed his hand, though he quickly pulled it away.
"No, you go and we will defend you, I'll see you soon—I promise," Barty insisted.
She looked into his eyes for a brief moment longer before with a deep breath she sighed and nodded. She gritted her teeth in determination, one hand firmly on the prophecy and the other now gripping tightly onto her wand. She ran for her life, effortlessly rebounding the feeble disarming spells that the Potter and Longbottom boys tried to fire at her as she bounded past them. She ignored the carnage of the next room, barely paying attention to the children on the floor. She screamed at the entrance room to let her out and slammed open the main door. Her eyes widened in fear as she heard the lift at the end of the corridor beginning to clatter down to her level.
She didn't want to think who it was. She couldn't stop to think. She took the risk and raced in the direction of the lift, knowing that there were stairs to the left if only she could get there before the gates to the lift opened. She couldn't stop to catch a breath of relief as she met the stairway just as the doors opened, hearing the strides of the newcomer aiming straight for the battle she had left behind. She didn't turn to see if anyone was following her, merely prayed that she was alone as a fiery pain of a stitch in her chest appeared from the running. She had to make it back. She would be killed if she got this far and didn't make it back. Her Aunt alone would want to murder her for it and she wasn't sure she would hide her disappointment this time.
Her footsteps echoed throughout the atrium and she could hear the distant cackle of what sounded like her Aunt. She didn't dare turn to check as she failed to stop herself in time to gracefully reach the point she knew she could apparate from, instead crashing into the back of the atrium wall, not even yelling out in pain as her shoulder collided into something solid for the second time that night. She caught a brief glimpse of her Aunt entering the atrium and shared a flicker of a malicious grin of triumph. Harry Potter came skidding up behind Bellatrix, the witch turning to throw a curse at him as Nymphadora Tonks turned on the spot and left for Malfoy Manor.
Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed, please do leave a review if you have a moment.
The Purple Black