An Unusual Circumstance Ⅳ

The living room is filled with a heavy silence with the ticking of the clock as the only source of the sound. "Rodolphus," Andromeda quietly said breaking the silence, "why have you come to request such a thing from me? I know who it is that you follow, and I will not be siding with your Dark Lord." She paused as her gray eyes coldly assessing him. "And yet, you are sincere in your request. So, I must ask is a war on the horizon?"

"War comes," Rodolphus matter-of-factly answered.

Andromeda slowly nods her head in understanding. "Then we will be on opposite sides of the war," she plainly stated. "Yet despite knowing this, you have still come to humbly make such a request of me?"

"Yes," Rodolphus replied as his icy dark eyes shone with blunt honesty. "The Dark Lord has requested that I take a wife from those that follow him or sire a child with one of them. I have no intentions to do so."

Rodolphus paused knowing full well that he had already ensured his own sterility. No child would ever be born from any forced union. Never. And if it did, well, that child was certainly not his. He'd rather be a cuckold and have it known than bear the gossip or the responsibility for a spawn that had not been sired by him.

"I must be seen as obeying," Rodolphus finally admitted to the amazement of Andromeda and the suspicion of Ted.

Andromeda narrows her gray eyes at her brother-in-law for a long time, before sitting back in her seat. "Presuming, I accept, Rodolphus what are the terms?"

Ted gasps and moves to speak, but Andromeda holds up her hand shushing her husband. She stares at him with grave gray eyes that cause Ted to unwillingly sit still for the time being. He would obey and hear out his so-called brother-in-law's words.

The faintest tinge of relief can be seen in the depths of Rodolophus Lestrange's eyes that evaporate instantly like water underneath the hot sun. "Male or female, the child will be named, Delphini Lestrange," he quietly declared.

"Delphini?" Andromeda said out loud in surprise before her eyes soften with nostalgia and a hint of sadness. "Bellatrix always was fond of that name since we were mere girls. She wanted to name her daughter or son after the oracle of Delphi. The old Greek tales were always her favorite childhood tales."

Andromeda falls silent with a pained expression. For all the differences that she and Bellatrix shared between them, Andromeda had cared for her older sister. Before the topic of blood purity became the source of a divide between the two of them. For in their childhood, they always took such pride in their pureblood lineage. Of the great witches and wizards, who were the Black and Rosier Ancestors. It seemed so long ago, but Bellatrix and she had once been as close as two peas in a pod with Narcissa often being left out since she was the youngest of the three sisters. Bellatrix's loss still stung even now, but there was no turning time back. Bellatrix was gone.

Seated at her side, Ted looks at his wife's sad expression and reaches over to gently squeeze her hand. He did not know why his Dromeda was even considering the offer, but he understood a little after his wife's last statement. It was a way to preserve the little of Bellatrix's memory left even if it was through Bellatrix's husband.

"Well, answer my wife's question, brother-in-law," Ted loudly said with a bit of a defiant tone of voice.

Rodolphus's expression does not change at the barbered jab. "The entirety of the Lestrange vaults and properties will be handed over upon the child coming of age," he explained. "Gringotts will ensure the funds and properties are properly administrated until that time. In addition, separate vaults have been set up to cover schooling and the cost of raising the child itself. A monthly stipend will be sent which will be reassessed each year to cover the necessities of the growing child."

Andromeda nods her head in understanding, before quietly asking, "Will you have any contact with the child, Rodolphus?"

"No," Rodolphus gruffly answered. "The Dark Lord must never know of the child's existence nor for the knowledge of the child to be ripped from my mind."

"Then-," Andromeda's voice faltered in surprise.

"Regardless of whether the request is refused or not, I will oblivate tonight's events from my memory," Rodolphus flatly answered with a stern expression. "I will be aware that memories are missing based on prior plans and thereby will not seek out the missing memoires out."

"I see," Andromeda murmured in understanding, before turning towards her husband. "Ted, I would like to do this in memory of my sister, please," she had a pleading expression on her face.

Ted's face contorts with mixed feelings. He had never liked his wife's family at the start, but they were not as bad as he previously thought after getting to know them, and admittedly not got along rather well with them. Personally, he would never change his mind about Bellatrix, but he knew that his Dromeda still missed Bellatrix.

However, the child would be raised as their own, and his little Dora had been clamoring on about for a sibling. Still, his pride as a man and as a husband stung a bit painfully. And he had never been able to say no to Dromeda especially when she stared at him with those pleading gray eyes. He really was a whooped dog….

Ted lets out a troubled sigh and rubs his face with one hand, before finally relenting, "Alright, but I don't want HIM involved in the upbringing of OUR child," he gestured rudely at Rodolpohus Lestrange.

Andromeda's face lights up beautifully and squeezes her husband's hand, before her face becomes solemn. "Do you agree to my husband's request, Rodolphus?"

"The child will be the heir to the Lestrange lineage," Rodolphus coolly replied, "I expect for the child to be properly taught in our ways. As long as that requirement is meant, regardless, of what the future may bring I shall not intervene."

Rodolphus hesitates for a mere second, before saying, "Should we live at the end of it all, I would ask that I be permitted to visit with the child upon occasion."

Andromeda turns to gaze at Ted, who purses his lips pensively. "I don't mind three visits per month not excluding the holidays," he drily muttered, "and perchance once the child is older maybe for even part of the summer holidays."

Ted hesitated before his gaze becomes steadfast and determined. "I don't like you, Rodolphus Lestrange nor can I believe your audacity to ask such a thing from us." He let out a loud breath. "But that being said, I can understand your convoluted logic no matter how unbelievable it may sound. Should we be alive at the end of this all as you say, you are still part of our family, and I would like for Dorea to get to know her uncle someday."

Rodolphus is unable to hide his astonishment and for a moment his emotions are transparent. For just a moment, Rodolphus looks like the young man that Andromeda remembered. A young wizard, who was cool and confident, but who would always stare at her older sister, Bellatrix with a burning affectionate gaze. Even if, Bellatrix had never returned Rodolphus's feelings, he had never cared. It had been enough for him to simply to have her at his side.

Andromeda had heard Ted once say that a muggle poet said, "Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." Yet Andromeda could not help but wonder if that kind of one-sided love had truly been worth it in the end. The love that burns so fiercely setting the forest ablaze, what is left in its passing wake, but a mouthful of ashes?