Rodolphus watched her intently, thinking about her words. He raised his eyebrows thoughtfully and leaned back, rubbing the back of his neck. "Maybe. He does love Narcissa and Draco and I think he'd do anything to protect them. He believes in what the Dark Lord says but I think the main reason he became one of his followers was that the Dark Lord has the power to protect him and his family. I'm sure he thinks that as long as he's there, Narcissa and Draco will be safe. I don't think he realises that he could also lose them in a second, if anything goes wrong. If he does something wrong, the Dark Lord won't hesitate and will take them away from him. I don't think he sees that. But right now he is still loyal and it's too dangerous to even consider mentioning my doubts, even if his first priority is his family."
He looked at her with a small, sad smile. It would be nice if he could fully believe that they had a future. They did, if they were lucky. But now that He was back... it didn't look like they were going to be that lucky. Still, a small part of him believed that there was at least a small chance that they might have that life together at one point in the future. And that small hope kept him going.
He laughed out loud when she started calling him an aging fossil again, and it reminded him of their first meetings when things had been less complicated and confusing. He gave her a wide grin, arching an eyebrow. "You do have a point," he agreed. "And... wait, did you just call me a 'rich, perverted uncle that gets drunk all the time'?" He laughed. "That does sound like me, actually. But at least I'm not touching you against your will. And..." He sighed. "Here we go again. I thought we'd agreed that I'm not an aging fossil." He paused. "Excuse me? Oh, you did not just say that." He grinned and started tickling her; he had a feeling that she might be ticklish. "I have the maturity of a man one sixteenth my age, huh? Take that back!" He laughed, then stopped tickling her and tugged her closer, wrapping his arms around her again and settling her comfortably on his lap.
He brushed her hair out of her face and gave her an adoring smile. "I don't want to be anyone's aging fossil, except yours. And no, age doesn't really matter. The only thing that matters is that I'm very obviously completely crazy about you. But I can't help wanting to protect you. Especially now..." He trailed off, not wanting to talk about the war anymore. He just wanted to enjoy his limited time here with her and not talk about anything too serious. He grinned once again when they were once again talking about their first meeting. "It was definitely good for a laugh. I had a fantastic time; for the first time in weeks, I might mention. I was so bored, sitting at home and drinking all the time, and... I'm really grateful for the distraction." He brushed the tip of his finger over her nose and smiled. "And I happen to like your name, Nymphadora." He grinned, getting ready for another outburst from her, then chuckled. "We certainly are a very strange pair. But I wouldn't have it any other way."