So . . . consider this my apology for taking so long to update before? haha I've already written the next chapter so can guarantee that will be updated by the end of the week (I may have written it all and decided it was far too long for one chapter and it needed to be split). Anywho . . .
Please read, enjoy and please do leave a review if you have a moment! You have no idea how much I love hearing your thoughts (a friend asked me how the writing was going the other day and I showed her a review with a grin like "Look! They think my nonsense is entertaining!" haha) So thanks for all of your reviews, follows and favourites so far and to those of you that have reached out to me on Tumblr too!
The Purple Black
Barty walked over to his sleeping daughter "Silver hair today, hmm?" he murmured.
Nymphadora watched the man in silence, leaning against the door as she watched him stroke the little girl's cheek. She didn't say a word, watching him in silence before he went to pick the girl up. "Leave her," Dora said, "let her sleep as long as she will."
"You said she needed a bath," Barty said, turning around to face the woman.
"You don't wake a baby when they're sleeping, Barty," Dora rolled her eyes, hesitating for a moment before she went to sit on her bed.
Barty watched her for a few moments, eventually letting out a small sigh and sitting next to the woman. She looked void of emotion, staring at her reflection in the dressing table mirror on the opposite side of the room. He waited a little while, sitting without saying a word until he slowly reached over to take her hand in her own. She snatched it away, causing the man to frown slightly at the woman's reaction.
"Why did you have to argue with Bellatrix like that?" Dora breathed, closing her eyes as she let out a deep breath.
"I was only defending you—"
"You weren't," Dora said firmly, looking to the man, "you were defending yourself and using our relationship as cannon fodder to piss her off. Did you think I'd come find you cursed and feel sorry for you? Or did you think I'd thank you for saying such things to her?"
"Dora I—" Barty sighed, standing up again and looking down at the witch in confusion, "she's been using you your entire life, Dora. I'm sorry you had to find out this way but—"
"I didn't 'find out' that way," Dora scoffed, raising an eyebrow as the man looked at her in his confusion, "Do you think I'm a fool?"
"You knew?" Barty frowned, "How did you find out?"
"Do you think I'm an idiot?" Dora shook her head, "I've known for a long time. I didn't need to be told—unlike you apparently."
"You figured it out on your own?" Barty asked, "Then why—Why are you still here?"
Dora couldn't help but let out a small laugh, "I figured it out when I was younger—much younger. I had my suspicions for a long time, ever since I started Hogwarts and we would still meet in secret despite my parents being nowhere near Hogsmeade. I didn't think I was 'good enough' for her as a girl. When I found out she was a Death Eater my suspicions grew and then when I left my childhood home to live with her, I heard her talking to my mother when she thought I'd gone up to my room. I knew she was revelling in the fact she'd taken me from her just as Mum had taken herself away from her when they were young. The older I got the more I came to understand and accept the fact that you're right; she probably wouldn't have gone anywhere near me if it wasn't for my abilities."
"Yet you still let her use you," Barty seemed more confused than he had before now, watching the witch stand and walk over to their daughter who seemed to be beginning to stir from her sleep, "why?"
Dora shook her head, turning to face the man, "Do you think that if I didn't want this life I wouldn't have been able to get myself out of it? Regardless of my Aunt's intentions or how she got me to join The Dark Lord . . . I enjoy this life. I love the thrill of a battle, all the magic—dark or otherwise—that she has taught me, I love being in the middle of it all. So what if Aunt Bella thought she could use me like a little puppet when I was a child? For all intensive purposes, I suppose she did. But if it got to that point where I decided I didn't want to join The Dark Lord, if I thought I didn't like this life before I took the mark I knew deep down that I could have run back to my parents and they would have taken me back regardless. But I didn't. Besides it did me no good to make her aware that I knew what she was up to, why would I start that conversation? 'Hi, Aunt Bella, I know manipulated me as a child and didn't actually give a shit about me when I was a kid!'" Dora rolled her eyes and shook her head, "Why start that mess for no reason?"
"But she doesn't care, does that not hurt you?" Barty asked.
"She does care," Dora rolled her eyes, "she may not have when I was a child—and maybe you're right and it only started when I was a teenager—but so what? She was there when I almost got expelled from school, she was there when I practically begged her to come 'rescue me' from my childhood home, she was there when I wasn't treated fairly by my classmates, she was there when I found out I was pregnant and she was there when I gave birth. Which I believe is more than you can say you were."
"I was out, Dora," Barty protested, "If I had known—"
"Yes, that's why Uncle Rod had to practically throw you into the room," Dora said sarcastically, "you seemed more than willing to be there for me."
". . . I was scared," Barty muttered.
"You didn't want to be a father," Dora shook her head, "I can't say I wanted to be a mother at this stage in my life either. But I love Cassiopeia, with all of my heart and I'll be there for her no matter what."
"I—" Barty shook his head, "She's my daughter."
"I know," Dora sighed, reaching to pick the now whimpering child out of her cot and holding her to her chest as she kissed her head and rubbed her back, "but I think people think I'm more naïve or dumber than I actually am. I notice things, Barty. Either you're here for her one hundred percent or you can walk away right now and be done with it. I'll even tell Aunt Bella and Uncle Rod not to come hurt you for it—because the pair of them do care for me and they would be likely to hurt you if they thought you'd hurt me."
Barty stared at the young woman and his child, not noticing from the calm and collected look on the woman's face that she was holding her breath, not daring to think about what was going to happen next. After what seemed like hours but was, in fact, mere seconds Barty Crouch Jr moved his feet. Nymphadora felt relief rush over her as he walked up to her and gently took the child from her arms.
"You said she needed a bath?" Barty asked, cradling his daughter to his chest.
"Yes," Dora nodded, swatting away a single tear as the man was distracted by the baby, "I'll help you and then you can keep an eye on her whilst I go see Aunt Bella."
"Is that wise?" Barty raised an eyebrow, "Do you not think she'll be a bit . . . well, she's not going to be in the best of moods if she thinks you've only just figured this out."
"You underestimate women," Dora shook her head, "I think she knew I knew, this just . . . confirms it all."
"So you don't think she'll be . . ."
"It might have been different if I was still a child," Dora rolled her eyes, "but I'm not. Though she probably thinks I hate her now."
"But you don't . . ."
"No," Dora scoffed, "I could never. Regardless of her intentions, I believe it's still worked out for the best. Merlin knows what sort of person I would have turned out to be if she hadn't had found me as a child. Probably some poor Ministry lacky."
"Or maybe you'd have ended up on the other side," Barty smirked, "running around with the Order's lot."
"Failing miserably, getting killed off every other day and forced into hiding," Dora laughed, "Please, I would not join Dumbledore and his band of fools. Now come on, let's get her washed."
Barty nodded, laughing to himself at the thought of Nymphadora being on the other side, he couldn't imagine her any other way than the way she was now. He followed the mother of his child, carefully cradling his daughter as they left the room.
Nymphadora left Barty and Cassie nearly an hour later, having made sure their child was bathed and fed she decided he was more than capable of looking after the little girl on his own as she went to try and rectify whatever mood her Aunt had been put in after her little run in with Barty. She took a deep breath before she knocked gently on the door to her Aunts room.
"Who is it?" Bellatrix replied after a few moments.
"Just me," Dora said, "Dora."
There was another pause. Nymphadora was beginning to think that her Aunt wasn't going to let her into her room, she was almost ready to knock or call out again when the door swung open. Bellatrix was stood on the opposite side of the room, resting against her bedside table as she looked at the woman in silence. Nymphadora stepped within the room, closing the door behind her she hesitated for a moment before she looked back to her Aunt, unsure of what to say or do now that she was face to face with the woman again. Her gaze flickered to the little girl playing with her building blocks on her mother's bed.
"Where's Cassie?" Bellatrix was the one to break the silence.
"With her father," Dora said.
Bellatrix nodded, looking at her daughter as she folded her arms, "How much . . . How much did you hear?"
"All of it," Dora shrugged, "well I assume it was all of it. I was sleeping, woke up around about when you were yelling at Barty for not seeing Cassie enough."
"If you're here for a fight I ask that you refrain from yelling," Bellatrix said casually as she moved to sit next to her daughter on the bed, stroking the girl's silver locks out of her face, "or at least let me put Delphi in the nursery first."
"I'm not here to shout at you," Dora rolled her eyes.
"Oh?" Bellatrix raised an eyebrow, "Not taking Barty's word that I'm an uncaring monster of a woman?"
"I thought you thrived on people thinking you're a monster?" Nymphadora couldn't help but let out a small huff of laughter, "No, I don't believe that you're totally uncaring . . . but I know Barty said the truth of things."
Neither woman spoke for a moment, Bellatrix watching the witch carefully as she walked over to sit on the end of the bed, watching Delphini play. ". . . Because you already believed you knew the truth of it?"
"Believed?" Dora raised an eyebrow, "I know the real reason you befriended me as a child, I may not have when I was younger but I have known for some time. And yes, maybe you would have killed me there and then if you didn't see an advantage for yourself and The Dark Lord in my powers."
Bellatrix stared at the young witch, considering her for a moment before she let herself shrug slightly, "Perhaps . . . But Barty did get something wrong."
"Oh?" Dora raised an eyebrow.
"I—" Bellatrix shook her head, concentrating on her daughter as she summoned one of the blocks she had thrown across the room and handed it back to her, "I've always cared for you a little. Maybe not when I first saw you, maybe not until you'd reached Hogwarts and maybe not that much until . . . perhaps when you were a teenager. But I do care for you now. I would care if someone hurt you, I would care if you left . . ."
"You'd have to kill me if I left," Dora scoffed.
"I would be told to . . ." Bellatrix said, "but you wouldn't do that."
"No," Dora took a deep breath, "I don't want to . . . I could have left at any point before I was marked—and I'd pretty much figured it out before then, I just didn't want to admit it to myself, I suppose . . ."
"Do you hate me?" Bellatrix raised an eyebrow.
"No," Dora said, smirking slightly, "I know you care about me, merlin you'll barely admit that you love Uncle Rod so if you admit that you care for me than you must care for me a great deal."
Bellatrix matched the girl's smirk, "You remind me of your mother sometimes."
Nymphadora raised both of her eyebrows, tilting her head slightly as she looked at the older witch, "Here I am trying to be nice and you sit there insulting me."
"It's not an insult," Bellatrix shook her head, "just this once. She . . . had a way of reading people rather well. You do that too."
"So long as that's our only similarity," Dora rolled her eyes.
Bellatrix smirked again, "No, you're more like me than your mother in most other ways."
"I—"
Both women froze on the spot, feeling the knock of the wards echoing throughout the manor. Bellatrix stood straight to her feet, picking up her daughter and kissing her head before she laid her down on her pillows. She drew her wand and quickly cast a sleeping charm on her. Dora bit her lip, wondering if she should go back to her daughter and Barty (the man would probably not think to put a sleeping charm on her or else he would most likely stay with her rather than show his face near Bellatrix so soon), but Bellatrix grabbed her hand and pulled her to the door with her. The two witches didn't speak a word as they made their way to the front of the manor.
"I'll get it," Narcissa called as she walked up behind the pair just as they reached the front doors to the manor, "this is still my home you know."
"And if you're certain it's merely a house guest calling for tea you are more than welcome to answer it," Bellatrix mocked her sister as she hesitated, "Come with us if you like, sister."
Nymphadora followed her Aunt through the door, peering down to the main gates at the end of the long driveway she could see a group of figures behind the barriers. She didn't question Bellatrix, catching sight of Narcissa's red face as the pair of them decided to follow her to the end of the drive. But Narcissa took hold of her arm as they were around ten feet from the gate, causing her to stop to let Bellatrix go ahead of her. She frowned in confusion, looking to Narcissa, though the older witch had gone paler than usual, her eyes slightly wider. It was only as Bellatrix let out a cackle of delight that she realised what had happened. They had prisoners.
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The Purple Black