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The Purple Black
"I can't see why I can't go with you," Bellatrix left out a huff of annoyance.
Nymphadora smirked as she adjusting the corset on her black dress, turning around and looking at her Aunt. The woman sat perched on the end of the young woman's bed, rubbing the back of her baby girl. The two-month-old merely made a small gurgling noise as she reached up and grasped at her mother's hair as if to make a point.
"Delphi," Dora rolled her eyes in amusement, walking over and stroking the small girl's small tuft of silver hair, "she needs you at home."
"I am perfectly capable of going out and doing my duty, thank you very much," Bellatrix murmured, though she leant down and kissed her child's head just the same.
"I'm sure you are," Dora said, "I have no doubt in you and I am sure The Dark Lord feels the same. But there is no sense in sending so many of us out on such a task . . . If something goes wrong this time you can't be at risk of getting arrested with the rest of us. Plus if Delphi starts screaming her lungs out for food when you're not here—"
"Yes, yes, I get your point," Bellatrix rolled her eyes, standing to her feet, "You'll be perfectly fine without me,"
"Oh come on, Aunt Bella," Dora sighed, taking a moment to morph her hair a dark purple as Bellatrix adjusted Delphi in her arms before giving her an almost pleading look, "Rab and Barty aren't going,"
"Because it looks suspicious if I am the only one staying here, because Rodolphus needs to blow off some steam and because you did very well on your mission at the Ministry," Bellatrix said plainly, "I could go on with more reasons,"
"No need," Dora joked, walking over to her Aunt, "How about when I get back we could have a little duel of our own? A bit of training?"
"If you don't come back in need of a healer," Bellatrix mused.
"Your faith in me is oh so assuring," Nymphadora laughed.
"Oh," Bella pouted, "take a joke." She adjusted her grip on Delphi, freeing a hand to swat her niece on the arm. "Now go, before you're late and you'll need a healer for a whole different reason."
"Right," Dora said, "you best get out too then," she walked over to her bedroom door, opening it and walking out only to let out an "Oomph," as she walked straight into her Uncle.
"Time to go," Rodolphus murmured, seemingly unperturbed by his niece as she quickly righted herself.
"Right," Dora nodded, "off we go then."
"Quite . . ." Rodolphus took one look at his wife, their gaze locking for a few moments "I'll see you when I'm back."
"Make sure you come back," Bellatrix warned, letting herself give the man a slight smirk before she walked out of the room and back to her own.
Rodolphus and Nymphadora made their way from the wing, neither saying a word until Nymphadora coughed at the lungful of ash she received on the other end of the fireplace of Borgin and Burkes.
"Watch your step Nymphie," a familiar voice chuckled.
Dora narrowed her eyes in jest at the man, a small smirk playing on her lips as she beat the soot from her dress, "Mind yourself, Gibbon,"
"What you going to do, take me down some abandoned hallway and send a Cruciatus my way?" he chuckled.
"I don't need some secluded hallway to teach you a lesson, Gibbon," Dora teased.
"Sounds untoward," Amycus scoffed.
"No," Alecto said, "she's shacking up with Barty."
Nymphadora didn't move her eyes from Gibbon, pointing her wand at Alecto without a seconds hesitation and hissing a quick Crucio under her breath. The two old school companions merely bit back a laugh at the sight, Dora releasing her curse and pocketing her wand at the sound of Amycus's yells of anger. Dora bit her lip, as she could see her Uncle stand in front of the woman to stop her going over and cursing her back.
"She cursed me!" Alecto yelled in anger.
"Did you see anything, Gibbon?" Dora asked, a look of feigned innocence plastered on her features.
"No," Gibbon returned the expression with a shrug.
"Will you lot behave yourselves," Yaxley demanded, walking over to the vanishing cabinet and pressing his ear to it as if listening for something.
"You tell her that," Alecto hissed, though soon there was no more time for arguments.
Yaxley opened the door to the cabinet, the room silencing as he nodded and gestured for someone to be the first to enter. The air was suddenly thick with anticipation, the group no longer quibbling and all teasing looks wiped from faces to be replaced with ones of determination and focus. Dora was the first to get in, her Uncle slipping in beside her as they went in pairs. She knew who she would meet on the other end and as the strange sensation took over her to let her know that they had been transported she wasted no time in opening the doors at the other end and rushing out to see her cousin. Draco Malfoy looked unusually pale, it was almost as if he was ill.
Nymphadora gave the boy a reassuring smile as her Uncle closed the doors behind them ready for the next lot to arrive, "Well done, Draco,"
Draco merely nodded, a small and stiff movement that only lead Nymphadora to feel slightly sorry for the boy. She couldn't imagine the experience of letting a group of Death Eaters into the castle that your friends and peers slept in, purely for the purpose of distraction and support so you could kill your headmaster, was altogether a pleasant experience.
"What have you got there?" Nymphadora asked as the others began to arrive, nodding to the shrivelled-up hand he held in one hand, the other holding a small bag of something.
"There are people outside the room," Draco said, his voice sounding impressively calm despite his appearance as he looked down to the items, "we need to pass them undetected. I'll throw some Peruvian Darkness Powder into the corridor, I can still see the way if I'm holding the Hand of Glory. So we'll have to stick extremely close to sneak by them and remain as silent as possible."
"I don't think so," Greyback sniggered, a look of pure delight on his features as he licked his lips, "we should just tear them down and be on our way. What are they? Kiddies?"
"Sounds like a plan," Rowle agreed.
"Sounds like a stupid plan," Nymphadora hissed, "Draco has it right. We don't want to cause a commotion before we get to the task at hand. We pass them without fuss and make our way to the Astronomy Tower to set off the mark to lure back Dumbledore—that was the plan, wasn't it Draco?"
"Yes," Draco said.
"Well then," Rodolphus said, "off we go then."
Draco didn't hesitate, going towards the exit of the room. Nymphadora momentarily considered cursing Alecto again as she could hear her mumbles of 'being ordered around by a child'. Though she soon felt her Uncle's hand on her shoulder and focused on the task at hand, gripping onto the back of Draco's robes as he opened the door and quickly threw out a handful of Peruvian darkness powder. There was no time to lose. They succeeded in passing whoever lay in wait in the corridor, the confused yells of children heard in the darkness as they tried to ensure they were okay and attempted to figure out what was going on.
When they could see again Nymphadora grinned at her cousin, who looked relieved that their task had worked so far. Within no time they were up at the Astronomy tower.
"I believe it's your turn to raise the mark, boy," Rodolphus said, casting a warning look at Rowle who had gone to raise the mark himself.
"Right," Draco said, stuffing the Hand of Glory and powder back within his robes and drawing his wand. He took a deep breath as he walked to the large open window, closing his eyes for a moment before he yelled with determination; "Morsmordre!"
"Good," Nymphadora said.
"We need to spread out a bit," Draco said as he turned back to the group, "ready for Dumbledore coming back and a quick escape right out the front gates. I'll wait at the bottom of the stairs, the corridor will be abandoned this time of night and it's less suspicious should someone come walking up here wanting to know what's going on."
The group nodded, waiting for the boy to turn and lead the way before they descended from the tower back down to the seventh floor corridor ready to make their way down. The minute they reached the bottom of the stairs to the tower though Nymphadora acted quickly, yanking on her cousin's robes she pulled him back up towards her as the light of a stunning spell exploded in the wall behind them.
"Looks like we have company," Selwyn grunted under his breath.
"State the obvious," Nymphadora hissed.
"Well, we better greet them," Rodolphus smirked, looking to his comrades behind Nymphadora and gesturing for them to follow him. He gave his nephew a quick glance before looking to his niece, he didn't need to speak for her to know that they were thinking the same thing. They both gave a quick nod. "Come on!" Rodolphus yelled to the rest, running out of the protection of the stairway.
Dora quickly grabbed Draco by the shoulders, turning him to face her, "You're going to get back up the tower and wait at the top of the stairs, I'll help out down here for a bit then if Dumbledore comes this way I'll run straight back up to warn you."
"W-What if they get up here?" Draco asked, a clear look of fright now etched upon his features.
"We'll cover you," Dora said, having to raise her voice slightly as the sounds of battle began to echo off of the old stone walls, "if something does go wrong and they get up there—if we end up defeated—pretend you were Imperiused into setting off the curse or something..."
"I—"
"You are a child, Draco!" Dora gripped onto his shoulders more firmly, staring straight into his eyes now, "They won't hurt you . . . Besides, I think your mother might kill me if I get back home without you. So why don't you get a move on because I'm sure Aunt Cissa could be just as frightening as Aunt Bella should she want to be."
"If I pretend that I didn't want to do as I was told he will hurt my mother—both of my parents," Draco hissed.
"You'd be a fool to tell the truth," Nymphadora hissed, "I will take responsibility for it should it come to that. Don't argue—" she raised her voice again as he looked as if he was about to protest, "Go!"
She let go of the boy, giving him a gentle push back up the stairs. She waited for him to run up before she quickly jumped out and into the waiting battle. She did not expect to see the sight before her. Though they had brought around nine to the fight themselves (not including Draco nor the supposed ally they had in Severus Snape who appeared to be elsewhere at present), there were a fair amount of people fighting against them. Dora was just beginning to wonder to herself why on earth there were a large handful of children trying to fight against them when a spell whizzed past her ear and the instinct to fight took over her.
She narrowly dodged another curse as it went winging by her, growling in annoyance and going straight for the now familiar face of Remus Lupin. She parried his spells with ease, though each time she tried to get an upper hand on the older man she seemed pushed back. She could see her comrades fighting around her, Greyback flying at a young red-haired man, Rowle laughing as he sent a curse behind the werewolf at the Order member. Rodolphus stood further off, a couple of students trying and failing to get the upper hand with him. She knew Rodolphus too well, he wouldn't kill the children if he could help it but merely play with them to their exhaustion. It soon seemed as if they had been battling for far too long, a momentary lapse in concentration on her battle diverting to her cousin upstairs causing her opponent to manage a hit on her shoulder. She hissed in pain, ignoring the snicker of Rowle who had now become without an opponent as he began to walk over to her battle. She growled in frustration, focusing all of her energy into her fight as she yelled at the top of her lungs "Everte Statum!"
She watched Remus Lupin fly viciously, far away from her, though as an all too familiar green light flashed across her eye line she momentarily wondered if she had said the right spell. Her eyes widened as Rowle froze in front of her, staring to the right of where Lupin had stood.
"What did you do!?" Rowle yelled.
"I—" Dora looked to the right. There, on a crumpled heap of the floor, was Gibbon. There was no denying what had happened there. "You idiot!" Nymphadora yelled.
"You pushed him out of the way!" Rowle protested.
"I pushed him away from me!" Dora screeched, "You killed Gibbon! I could—"
"Nymphadora!" Rodolphus yelled, the pair turning to the man just in time to see him gesture towards the pair now speeding from the staircase to the Astronomy tower.
Nymphadora had no idea as to when Severus Snape had joined the battle, nor did she know how half of their party that was now rushing behind them had managed to follow him up to the Astronomy Tower, but now was not a time for questions.
"It is done!" Severus yelled, her pale-faced cousin quickly walking behind him.
She didn't have time to question it, she merely took one look at her old fallen schoolmate come comrade and with a sigh sped off to follow the rest of her group. It wasn't too hard to leave the rest of their opponents behind them, most were either injured or distracted by trying to use their retreat as an opportunity to treat their injured. They were soon out into the grounds of Hogwarts, Snape leading the group whilst rushing Draco beside him, it wasn't until a sudden yell of the man's name distracted the lot. Potter was running behind them, his wand drawn as he went straight for Snape who seemed temporarily distracted by the affair.
"Draco!" Nymphadora hissed, ignoring the look from her Uncle as she grabbed her cousin by the arm, ignoring Snape as she quickly carried on in their march towards the gates, "Come on."
"B-But Snape—" Draco stuttered, his face paler now than it had been before though he put one foot in front of the other and let his older niece half drag him from the scene.
"He can deal with himself," Dora muttered, "we need to get out of here."
Draco stared back at the pair, wincing as he saw Snape disarm the boy, hearing their yells in the distance now. He nodded. Soon they were outside the gates, Rodolphus having gone ahead and near enough blasting the old metal things off of their hinges. Dora didn't question it, she merely concentrated on getting beyond the barriers of the school and gripping onto her cousin as tightly as she could as she disapparated back to Malfoy Manor. They arrived at the main entrance, Dora immediately released her cousin, looking to her Uncle as he appeared next to her. They didn't speak, merely waited for the rest to appear.
"Did you do it?" Fenrir asked, a smirk on his face as he wiped the blood from his features.
Draco didn't look at him, clearly unsettled by the man's appearance, "I—"
"We report to The Dark Lord, Fenrir," Snape drawled as he appeared beside them, rolling his eyes as he caught sight of Bellatrix speeding towards them.
"Well?" Bellatrix hissed, looking from Snape to Draco and back again, "Is it done?"
Snape merely let out a small huff, passing the woman on his way to the main hall of the manor. The rest followed as Bellatrix glared furiously at him, though Dora sighed as Bellatrix grabbed her arm as she went to follow.
"I don't know," Dora said, trying to give her Aunt a sympathetic look as she freed her arm so she could follow her group, "I promise I'll tell you everything when I get out, but for now I have to go."
Bellatrix silently scrutinised the woman for a moment before with a slight nod she followed the rest towards their master.
Nymphadora was surprised to see that her Aunt was not pacing outside their meeting, she had almost expected her to pounce upon them as soon as they exited, though this was not the case. She entered their wing with Rodolphus, again surprised not to see her Aunt waiting to pounce on her. Rodolphus went straight to his room, pausing momentarily as he opened the door and heard the cries of Delphini Riddle, though after a breath he entered and closed the door behind him. Almost instantly another room opened, that of Rabastan Lestrange, though it was Barty that came out. The man grinned as he saw the woman before him containing her smirk, walking over and immediately wrapping his arms around her he pulled her close and planted a kiss firmly on her lips.
Dora giggled, returning the kiss for a moment before she pulled back ever so slightly, "Is Aunt Bella in with Delphi?
"Nice to see you too," Barty scoffed.
"Sorry," Dora laughed, kissing him again for a brief moment before she pulled away with a wicked grin.
"Tease," he murmured, sneaking his hands down the woman's body to rest on her behind.
Dora rolled her eyes, though she smirked slightly as she rested into the man, "I asked where Aunt Bella was."
Barty sighed, resting his head against the woman's own, "Delphi was crying when she got back from trying to see what you lot had gotten up to, Rab made her put a silencing ward on the room when the girl wouldn't shut up—Bellatrix wasn't too happy with him. Best to stay away."
"Maybe I should—"
"No, Rodolphus will tell her all about tonight." Barty interrupted, lifting the girl into his arms laughing at her squeal of shock, "You have had a very eventful evening, you deserve to rest."
"Rest?" Dora laughed as Barty carried her to her room.
Barty said nothing, though the smirk on his features said enough, as he closed the door behind the pair.