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"Stop thinking you can order me around or boils will be the least of your worries." Dorcas scolded him as she headed into the bathroom as he had instructed her to do. “Why? Have you got the clap?” he muttered under his breath, a small hint of a smirk appearing beneath his aggravated exterior. He turned, annoyed at the entire situation, and looked around the room. What the hell was he supposed to do here if he wasn’t preparing for, in the middle of, or finishing up after having screwed Dorcas’ brains out? His gaze wandering absently, he took in the mess his little princess had made. Aurora had thrashed the bedding in her playfulness, and a few of Dorcas’ dresser drawers had been pulled open. Roddy rummaged lightly through her bra drawer, finding the picture of his dick he’d given her for her last birthday at the far back of the drawer. Merlin help him if Aurora had seen that. Was that the reason she’d locked herself in his room? Did she even know what it was a picture of?

Inside the bathroom, Aurora had hidden herself behind the door so that her daddy couldn’t see her as she whispered against the wood of the door “don’t let daddy in” and then proceeded to unlock the door and turn the knob. The door opened just enough to allow Dorcas into the small loo, then Aurora shut it again and looked up at the older witch with a pitiful look on her face. “I got stuck,” she explained, and she was indeed stuck. Twisted around her polka dot dress was a bright blue bra, one arm hole completely around her waist and the other around her neck like a necklace. The cups hung lopsided and empty over the front of Aurora’s dress.

The quick shift in Dorcas’ temper following Rodolphus’ remarks proved her to be an emotionally volatile witch – as if he didn’t already know that. How easy she thought it to be, to hex him, practically in front of his daughter, and then to go about bantering as if this were just any other day. He quite possibly could have bounced back into a better mood and teased her a bit, verbally and otherwise, but the potion he was applying to his face had not yet taken full affect. Looking like Quasimodo, Rodolphus had no plans of allowing Dorcas to feel better.

Upstairs, the strain of the mattress springs being compressed and released had stopped. Roddy took no notice of the silence as he moved the tea towel to the underside of his jaw and applied the potion to what he prayed was the last spot of boils to erupt. His ear was no a soft pink, the boils there barely more than bumpy blemishes that would be gone altogether in another few minutes. The potion was fast acting but not as fast as the hex that had caused the boils in the first place.

Grinding his teeth as he hear Dorcas shouting up the stairs to his daughter, Rodolphus’ mind began to finally sift through the chaos of thoughts brought on by Dorcas’ surprising presence in her own cottage. What was Aurora going to do now that she’d had two “visits” with Dorcas? How was he ever going to keep the six year old from driving him completely mad now? If only she could find someone else to fixate on. Someone more appropriate. Her auntie Narcissa or future-auntie Lilith, perhaps. Fuck, it didn’t even need to be a proper socialite just as long as it wasn’t the witch Rodolphus was regularly fucking. The witch who had killed Aurora’s mum, right here in this very house. Fuck, this was going to be shit. It could have been quicker shit if Dorcas hadn’t of blasted him in the face like an emotional nutter, but it was shit either way. What a sodding mess this all was. To make matters worse, unbeknownst to Rodolphus still sitting in the kitchen soothing his injury, Aurora had not answered Dorcas’ call.

Gentle rustling from the south caught Rodolphus’ ear and he turned, looking at the graceful young wannabe Death Eater approaching. Tonight Jovi would either prove her worth or take her last breath as a free woman. Rodolphus held high hopes that it would be the former and even if he had to shout orders at her like she was a toddler in order for her to succeed, he was determined to make sure she passed this test. What was family for, if not for corrupting them? “Ready?” His voice was low and muffled only slightly by the mask that covered his face. Rodolphus was no less intimidating without his strong brow and sharp jaw on display. His six foot stature and muscular build more than made up for obscuring his devilishly good looks, and if the sight of him looming closer wasn’t enough to make a man piss himself, then the swiftness of his wand and the fiery green light that often accompanied it would most certainly do the trick.

The honors of actually slaughtering the unwitting Astronomy professor would be Jovian’s, of course, but Rodolphus was expecting to have a bit of fun on his own this evening. As the masked pair emerged from the forest and glided towards the house, Rodolphus drew his wand. Through the windows he could see that Tristan was in the kitchen, a side entrance off the right side of the room would put them at Dearborn’s back when they entered. Rodolphus had no plans of knocking and altering the man to their presence. It simply wasn’t his style.

A loud bang shook the room as splinters from the door burst inward. Rodolphus grinned behind his mask as the door shattered before them, spraying the professor with bits of wood and twisted chunks of metal. He kept his wand raised, readied for the next attack, but allowed Jovi to go on ahead of him. This was her evening, and she deserved the spotlight.

Peering underneath the couch toward the opening that led into the dining room, Aurora checked to make sure someone was coming to search for her. “Dorfus! Come find me!” she hollered, still keeping herself low to the ground where it was nice and cool.

Rodolphus saw the blast coming at him and moved to dodge it, the hex hitting his ear instead of his face and instantly beginning to burn and grow red. “I know you’re fucking good at your job! That’s why I recommended you!” He growled at her, bringing his hand up to his ear that was now swelling with the first of many boils to come. It stung upon contact and Rodolphus snarled. He didn’t want to speak of the Dark Lord now. He wanted to ring her neck, but he’d already done that once before and the terror it caused him was enough to cause him pause now. “I still thought the fucking tosser you’d be chasing would keep you longer! I just – ” He moved away from the lounge entrance and over toward the table, looking for something to press against his ear and dull the stinging as another boil formed on his lobe. “I didn’t know what the fuck to do! She’s been asking after you all fucking week and driving me mad!” Finding nothing of use, Rodolphus pushed past Dorcas and headed in the opposite direction from Aurora and the lounge, toward the kitchen at the other end of the cottage. A terrible bloody set up.

“Hey!” Aurora stood from her place behind the couch as she saw her father’s back disappearing into another room further away from her. “You have to find me!” She stomped her foot and folded her arms over her chest, her expression mimicking the one on her father’s face at that very moment.

Once in the kitchen, Rodolphus opened the cupboard most likely to have a solution to the boils that were slowly spreading down his jawline. He slammed the doors of the cupboard angrily, relieving none of the anger he was feeling in this moment and seriously contemplating pulling his wand on Dorcas. They’d dueled before but never with any true intent to harm one another outside of what would be considered mild foreplay – at least, mild for them. He could hear Aurora’s faint voice shouting from the other end of the cottage and he slammed his fist into the counter.

“Dorfus, come find me!” Aurora’s sing-song voice broke through the kitchen amid the swearing and glares. “Daddy! You can hide with me. I’m right here!” Dark curls fell over her eyes as the little witch squatted close to the ground behind the couch. She laughed and clapped her hands over her mouth so as to not be found out, but whenever she felt it had been too long she would call out a reminder for Dorcas to keep looking for her. The stone floor was cool on her hands and knees, and she pressed her cheek to the floor because it felt nice. “Cooome ooooon.”

Alarms were going off inside Rodolphus’ head. Had he not been with his daughter and mistress, this would have been the point where he just started going berserk on anyone within range of his fists or his wand. Internally, Rodolphus was nothing but chaos, trying to make sense of the shit show he’d walked in on twice in as many weeks but externally he simply looked livid. Aurora was in the next room, giggling and calling her father out for his language but the real issue was the witch stood only a handful of feet from him. “No shit!” he retorted angrily as she reminded him needlessly that she lived here. “You’re supposed to be in Belgium or Germany or some fucking place I didn’t bother listening to!” His lip curled into a snarl as he spoke. This was a disaster. A spur of the moment plan to get his daughter to stop obsessing on the bloody Auror and Dorcas has to go and lie about her work trip, and having Aurora thinking they’re playing a fucking game. What the absolute fuck?! Aurora was still calling after them from the other room.

Stepping into the dining room further, intending to pass by the petite blonde and go hunt down his daughter, which would have been simple enough given Aurora’s atrocious hiding skills, Rodolphus shouted out. “We’re going, Aurora. Come along.” The little witch scowled into the stone floor as her daddy was once again being mean, but she didn’t come out. It was hide and seek, and he would have to find her before she gave up this game with her friend. “Fuck, Meadowes, you really know how to cock shit up,” he said as he approached her, angry with himself as much as he was with her and Aurora.

Rodolphus would have killed, literally, to make this week end. Aurora had been a little terror ever since meeting “Dorfus the Aurora”. Rodolphus had heard nothing but his mistress’ mangled name since the morning after his birthday when Dorcas had run into Aurora in the halls of Lestrange Chateau wearing nothing but one of Rodolphus’ shirts. He had hoped that the little witch would have forgotten about the strange run-in within a day or so, and he had peppered her day full of activities that should have distracted her. Riding lessons. Shopping with her auntie Narcissa. Tea with her uncle Rabastan. Playdates with the Mulciber children. It should have been enough and yet Rodolphus was awoken early this morning by Aurora jumping on his chest, her tiny little fingers curling around his chest hair as she pounded on him like a drum. “Daddy! Wake up! I want to play!”

Rodolphus groaned as his eyes slowly opened, the blurry image of his daughter coming into focus. “Let daddy sleep, princess. You can play with Mopsy until I wake up.”

“But you’re up nooow,” the little girl whined, her fingers pulling at the hair on his chest as she removed her hands and crossed her arms over her chest in an impudent manner. “I don’t want to play with Mopsy. Mopsy is dull! I want Dorfus!”

This had gone too far. Rodolphus had spent more than a week attempting to dissuade the littlest Lestrange from seeking out the Auror. It had been the only time he had ever had to directly tell her no, and he was met, as expected, with Aurora full on chucking a wobbly, wailing about how mean her daddy was. If Rodolphus hadn’t been so aggravated it would have broken his heart to hear her say such a thing, but in his anger, he’d left her flailing on the floor and sent one of the servants in to deal with her. Rodolphus didn’t want another dramatic display, especially so early in the morning, but there was no way in hell he was letting those two paths ever cross again. “Dorcas is abroad, love. She’s working.” That was true, and it was the reason Rodolphus had had to find new playmates to satisfy his needs over the last week.

Grasping her around the middle and pulling her down beside him, Rodolphus pulled Aurora in for a hug and closed his eyes. As if the little princess would ever let him sleep once he’d been woken up. “Catching baddies?” she asked.

“Mhmm. Muggle-loving baddies,” he claimed, and with the senior Avery in charge of the Ministry that very well could have been true, though Rodolphus didn’t know for sure. Aurora pestered him with more questions and thoroughly squashing any plans Rodolphus had had about sleeping in past seven. At breakfast, Rodolphus tried to redirect the conversation to Aurora’s riding lessons, but that was unsuccessful. The topic of quidditch, he’d discovered several days earlier, only brought on more ‘Dorfus’ references. By noon, Rodolphus decided that going out for lunch might be more effective than hanging around the manor. He was wrong.

They’d only just gotten to Whimsic Alley when Aurora spotted a blonde witch and ran up to her crying “Dorfus!” and then pouting severely when the woman turned around and was not Dorcas.

“She’s not here,” Rodolphus said firmly, eliciting a more pronounced pout from the little girl. "Stop this!"

“We should go to her castle!”

“Aurora –”

“Pleeease! Please daddy! I want to play with Dorfus’ toys!”

“She’s not home.”

“You’re being mean!”

People were beginning to turn their heads as the child screamed, giving disappointed and disapproving looks at the single father. “Fine!” His voice was low but full of irritation as he glared at the little girl. “We’ll go to her house and you’ll see she’s not there and then you’ll put this to rest.”

Aurora’s lip instantly returned to its normal, non-pouting size, and she bounced on her feet and hugged her daddy’s leg. “Yeah!” she cheered. Rodolphus gritted his teeth as he picked her up and held her close to his chest as he turned on the spot. The pair disappeared.

They reappeared in front of a little cottage which was nothing like the castle Aurora had been picturing in her mind. “Dorfus has a playhouse!” she squealed excitedly, mistaking the quaint cottage for a playhouse similar to the one Aurora had at her own home. The moment she was free from her father’s grip, Aurora darted to the front door of the cottage and yanked it open, running inside. Rodolphus followed at a more leisurely pace.

“I told you, she’s not home, love. Now come along. It’s time to eat.” He stepped over the threshold into Dorcas’ cottage, not sure which direction Aurora had ran off to.

Still shirtless and wearing his pyjama trousers, Rodolphus used his wand to banish the toy quidditch balls to their trunk, the latches snapping into place on their own. His thoughts were everywhere as he attempted to usher his daughter inside under the care of her house elf and get his mistress out of his home quickly. If Aurora wanted to swim, she could do so. Hades, if she wanted to go to Peru Rodolphus would let her if it meant this sodding morning could be put to rest. Aurora’s plastic pink riding broom tucked under his arm, and his own professional quality broom in hand, Rodolphus gave his wand a swish and levitated the trunk, preparing to head inside.

He chuckled under his breath as he heard Aurora mention Dorcas being poor, and Dorcas confirming as much. His little princess had not yet perfected the art of tact. She said exactly what was on her mind at any given time. She was just like her father at that age, not bothering to care what might offend and being too self-assured to understand how one had to craft a persona to present to the world. She would get there in time, just as Rodolphus had, though without Bellatrix around to model how a proper witch should portray herself, he was somewhat worried that Aurora would develop the vital social skill much more slowly than her peers.

Aurora pouted overtly as Dorcas claimed she had boring adult things to do and had to go home. “Do you want to go swimming tomorrow, then?” she asked, a hopeful look in her eyes, though her plump lips were still forming a spoiled pout. 

“Dorcas is busy tomorrow, princess.” Rodolphus needed to shut this nonsense down and quickly. “And she needs to be getting to work. Say goodbye.”

“What’s your work?” she asked, ignoring her father altogether and carrying on with her conversation. “Can I come? I get to play boss at daddy’s work and everyone has to do what I say.” The pout had vanished, replaced by a look eerily reminiscent of Rodolphus' when ordering waitstaff around in the nude.