Delphini would have died in infancy from lack of touch if she'd been Muggle. No nursemaid rocked her to sleep or held her for longer than it took to complete a feeding, bath, or nappy change. She scared people—not instantly, each new face that peered into her cot smiled at first. The fear crept in like fog. Tendrils of unease gradually thickened until the nursemaids didn't see the baby as a poor abandoned child anymore. The dread that struck them upon entering the nursery showed in stiff posture and trembling hands. Their eyes darted around the room, looking everywhere but at the baby who silently watched them. The few nursemaids who didn't quit once they'd begun to have panic attacks were carted away to St. Mungo's, babbling that Delphini was in their minds and someone had to get her out.
Euphemia Rowle attempted to hire an Occlumens caregiver for the Lestrange spawn, but none were to be found, so she became resigned to the constant bother of interviewing nursemaids. There wasn't enough gold in Gringotts to make her care for the wretch herself. Euphemia's Augurey was the child of her heart. Whenever the bird glimpsed the cursed girl, it would cry out, foretelling the brat's sticky end.
On her ward's fifth birthday, instead of baking a cake or bestowing presents, Euphemia announced that there would be no more nursemaids. Delphini experienced a pang in her chest, but simply nodded. It annoyed her guardian to no end when she didn't seem to care. Euphemia stomped out of the nursery, leaving Delphini on the rug stacking wooden blocks, one for each nursemaid who had cared for her, however briefly.
.
She'd never meant to frighten anyone with her "peeping" as Nanny McNary—her last and favourite nursemaid—called it. The women who tended her just had such open minds, Delphini from birth was able to catch stray memories and thoughts that made her want to see more. When she did, it was almost like she was the one who had been hugged, who had laughed, and who had been kissed on the cheek. The nursemaids taught her about families. They taught her about emotions that didn't hurt, and showed her glimpses of the world outside the dim, musty corridors of Rowle House. As the years passed, she learned through sad experience to peek at thoughts without being detected.
When Delphini turned six, she entered the drawing room that reeked with the ammonia odour of bird droppings to deliver the letter she'd copied out four times to make sure each word was written in her best handwriting.
Euphemia snatched the parchment with her silver-painted talons and crumpled the letter after reading it. "You want to go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?" She drew in a breath that puffed out her flat chest. "As if they'd send you a letter. You don't even have a last name."
"Yes, I do." She didn't know it yet, because she didn't want to look into her guardian's mind, but she would do it one day if she had to.
Euphemia blinked like a startled owl. "You're talking. When did that happen?"
Delphini wasn't about to admit that she regularly spoke to an imaginary friend. "I want the books on the first-years' reading list."
Euphemia gaped at her. "Now you're reading?"
Her guardian hadn't taught her or hired a tutor. Most nursemaids had listened to the Wireless in their adjoining quarters when not tending Delphini. One, however, had carried around paperbacks with wizards and witches embracing on the covers. Delphini hadn't understood why Frau Schmidt stared so intently at tiny black marks until she'd seen the woman's mouth move and realised the marks were words put on paper instead of spoken. She'd learned to sight read from the woman's thoughts, and then Nanny McNary came and brought Reading Tree books. In exchange for not using her Legilimency gifts without permission, Delphini was taught phonics.
"You will buy the books for me," Delphini said.
Euphemia pulled the end of a strand of black pearls away from her throat and twisted it around a bony finger. "How am I supposed to get the list? Go to Diagon Alley and ask someone?"
Several nursemaids had daydreamt of strolling down the street of shops. Delphini could picture the cobblestone walkway and the sign of the bookseller Flourish and Blotts.
"Conceding already? You have a smidgen of common sense, at least." Euphemia relaxed into her wing chair and reached for the glass of sherry on the side table. "Return to the nursery and do whatever it is you do up there. I shall inform Mrs. Peck that you're going to bed early without supper for your cheek." She snorted. "Buy you books."
The Augurey, hunched and sour-looking in its cage, uttered a mocking cry.
.
Delphini went to the library instead of her room. Whenever Euphemia drank too much and worried that robbers would break in and steal her emergency funds out of the safe, she filled drawstring pouches with Galleons and hid them in places she thought clever. The false bottom of the lower desk drawer currently held two pouches. Delphini took the heavier one and crept out of the house.
She'd never forget the day Nanny McNary stood on the kerb and raised her wand arm to summon the Knight Bus. Delphini had wished with all her might that her guardian would sack her too. She lifted her hand. I need to go to Diagon Alley!
A purple triple-decker bus appeared out of nowhere and screeched to a halt. Delphini clambered up the steps the moment the door opened with a whoosh, handing a Galleon to the conductor before he could tell her the fare. "Keep the change, my good man," she said like one of the grand ladies in Frau Schmidt's books.
The driver cackled. "And try not to spend it all in one place!"
All the chairs on the lower deck were taken. Delphini eagerly met the gaze of passengers as she walked by. Most had distracted, need to pick up this or that item while shopping sorts of thoughts. A stern-faced old woman looked at her and was reminded of a favourite granddaughter who had similar long dark hair. What a darling child. So pretty.
Delphini stopped beside the woman's chair.
Stern features softened. "First time on the bus?" Receiving a nod, the old woman smiled. "The best view's at the top."
"Thank you." No one had called her darling or pretty before. Nanny McNary used to say things like, "you look bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning" and "our walk's put roses in those pale cheeks," but Nanny was a lapsed Catholic, whatever that was, who believed that puffing up a child's vanity was not training her in the way she should go. Delphini made her way to the stairs. She didn't need a nanny anymore. She could train herself and go to Diagon Alley on her own.
The top deck had benches that didn't slide like the lower deck chairs. She sat on a bench in the middle and enjoyed the view of the bus careening through Muggle traffic. The only other passenger on that level, a witch with frizzy silvery hair who was sitting at the front, abruptly turned, stared at Delphini, and strolled back to take a seat across the aisle from her. The woman's face was startlingly young. She had light brown eyebrows.
"I usually dye my ends purple to rock the granny hair a bit more," the girl said, "but Great-Aunt Sybill insisted I look professional for my Ministry interview." She made a face as she brushed lint off her black witch's robes.
The mental image of a thin, wrinkled face blinking at the world through thick spectacles and a mane of frizzy white hair was so funny; Delphini clapped a hand over her mouth to keep her amusement from spilling out. Her guardian found the laughter of children offensive, and this girl might not like it either.
"Your eyes are smiling. May as well let your lips in on the fun." The girl grinned and held out her hand. "I'm Cassie. Nice to meet you."
"Delphini." She cautiously reached out a hand.
The instant their fingers touched, Cassie clutched Delphini's hand instead of shaking it. Gaze fixed on a distant point, she said, "Forgiving isn't something you do for someone else. It's something you do for yourself. It's saying, 'You're not important enough to have a stranglehold on me.' It's saying, 'You don't get to trap me in the past. I am worthy of a future'." Her eyes closed and then snapped open. "Jodi Picoult. The Storyteller." She dug into an inner pocket of her robes and brought out a notepad and quill. "My gift is rubbish. I remember the source, not the quote. Tell me what I said while I add another title to my must-read list."
Delphini repeated Cassie's words.
"Thanks. My mum's family has Seer blood, and my dad's from a long line of Bibliomancers, so my insights are quotes from authors I've never heard of until their names and books pop into my head. Jodi Picoult sounds Muggle, don't you think?"
Delphini was too surprised by the way Cassie said "Muggle" as if it was a casual word and not the most horrible insult to answer the question.
Cassie returned the quill and pad to her pocket. "Old-fashioned dress and cloak. Shocked expression. Let me guess. Your pure-blood family uses Muggle as a four letter word." She sighed. "There's nothing wrong with being non-magical, you know. It's just a different way to be human." Her unguarded thoughts conjured images of a laughing young man who juggled balls with his hands instead of using a magic wand.
"Is he a Muggle?" Delphini asked without considering what her question revealed. "Why does he paint his face and wear a fake red nose?"
Cassie's eyes widened. "He's a clown—wait, you saw Jack?" She scratched her head. "I didn't even feel your Legilimency. That's scary good."
"I shouldn't have done it," Delphini said. Two of Nanny McNary's "magic words" came to mind. "I'm sorry." She sighed in relief when Cassie smiled. The girl was friendly and had given the insight, even if Delphini didn't understand what it meant. She wanted her to stay and talk.
"No harm done," Cassie replied. She tilted her head like a curious bird. "Who teaches their kid Legilimency before she goes to Hogwarts? Is your mum or dad an Obliviator or something?"
Delphini nodded so she wouldn't have to tell Cassie that she didn't know who her parents were or if they'd had jobs.
"I understand. You could tell me, but then your folks would have to Obliviate me." Cassie leaned forward. "What am I thinking now?"
Delphini looked and saw a ring with a square emerald that matched the colour of Cassie's eyes. When the girl relaxed her guard a little more, images floated through her mind like dandelion seeds blown by the wind. "You want to wear Jack's ring one day and marry at Chessington World of Adventures and feed giraffes."
Cassie's face lost colour. "You can't have seen all that. I was trying to use Occlumency to keep my mind blank."
"Please." Only once before had she used Nanny McNary's most powerful magic word. It hadn't made Euphemia let Nanny stay, but Cassie was nice. Surely it would work on her. "Please." Don't be afraid of me. Don't run away.
"Why all the fuss?" Cassie asked. "Did I look like I was going to run off screaming? I was startled, not pissing myself." Her colour was healthy once more.
A giggle burst from Delphini before she could clap a hand over her mouth.
"Merlin's knickers, a smile! And your face didn't crack. Fancy that." Cassie winked.
Delphini didn't try to keep her lips from jumping up at the corners. "What is Chessington World of Adventures?"
By the time the Knight Bus stopped outside the Leaky Cauldron, the older girl's enthusiasm for the Muggle theme park had infected Delphini to the point that she could almost see herself on one of the coasters that rolled up metal hills before plunging down, down, down faster than a racing broom. "Good luck with your interview. I hope you get married and feed giraffes one day," she said as she stood to leave the top deck.
"Thanks," Cassie replied. "I hope you grow up to ride rollercoasters."
.
Delphini reluctantly left the bus and followed the other wizards and witches headed into the Leaky Cauldron and the entrance to Diagon Alley. A few of the patrons in the pub glanced her way. Each of them thought she was shopping with the old woman she was walking behind. She permitted herself a tiny smile at her cleverness. Her face didn't crack. "Fancy that," she whispered, enjoying the memory of the joke shared with Cassie the way she relished a hot cup of tea on a winter's morning: it made the world less cold and lonely.
She continued to shadow the old woman until she glimpsed a sign with two feathery quills. Cassie darted past the witch, who had stopped to peer into a shop window, and walked as quickly as she could without running to reach her destination.
Flourish and Blotts was filled, floor to vaulted ceiling, with so many books that Delphini had to bite her lip to keep from crying. Euphemia's library had shelves of decorative fakes to give the impression the Rowle family read more than newspapers and gossip magazines. The nursery had a set of ancient wizard encyclopaedias, a tattered dictionary, and a few picture books she'd mentally rewritten dozens of times.
"First time in the shop?" a bearded man with hair pulled up and twisted into a knot at the back of his head asked with a smile. "Bit overwhelming, isn't it? I've worked as a shop assistant for months, and I'm still in awe."
"I want to live here," Delphini said.
"Future Ravenclaw, huh?" When she didn't reply, he asked, "Is there anything I can help you find?"
"All the books on the first-years' reading list and texts on Legilimency, Occlumency, and Bibliomancy." She stumbled a bit on the last word, almost saying "Bibliomency," but since Cassie's dad was from a line of Bibliomancers, he must have studied Bibliomancy.
"Textbooks? Not the Abraxan Pony Club series?" The shop assistant pointed to a display of toy winged ponies atop a shelf filled with paperbacks with an array of smiling girls and adorable winged ponies on the covers.
Delphini handed over her pouch of Galleons. "Do I have enough for those and the textbooks?"
The shop assistant's eyes widened. "Merlin, this is heavy. Do your parents know you're spending all this gold?"
She nodded and pointed to a green rucksack with the bookshop logo on it. "I'll need that to carry the books." Her gaze was drawn to the Abraxan Pony Club display. "And I want a toy pony."
After the books and a pony she'd named Blackie were miniaturised with temporary Shrinking Charms and put into the rucksack, the shop assistant gave Delphini her change. "You are officially my best customer ever, and you still have enough left for the biggest sundae in Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour before you return home, if you like ice cream," he said, beaming.
Delphini, who had smiled more that day than on all others combined, grinned back at him. "I'm sure I shall once I've tried it." The shop assistant's mouth fell open in a way that snapped her out of her book-buying giddiness. So what if she'd never had ice cream? She'd never eaten a worm, either. There was no difference. She marched out the door clutching her rucksack, ice cream now having the appeal of frozen worms.
She didn't meet the eyes of any shopper who glanced her way on her walk back to the pub. She didn't care what they wanted to buy, or what Diagon Alley shops were their favourites. She didn't care about their families, who they hugged, or kissed or ate ice cream with. The woman tending bar at the Leaky Cauldron called out to her, asking if she was meeting her granny, and would she like a Butterbeer whilst she waited. Delphini shook her head and kept walking until she reached the kerb where she could hail the Knight Bus. All she wanted was to return to Rowle house and hide her precious books.
.
Blackie the Abraxan turned out to be the best mate a girl could have. He became jealous if she sighed over other handsome ponies, but he settled down once she changed the name of the pony in whichever book she was reading to Blackie. Delphini tried to teach him the important dates in magical history by drawing an ink timeline on the longest nursery wall. His ears perked up when she told him about the soap blizzard of 1378, but he tossed his mane when she confessed that she couldn't conjure soap bubbles without a wand. She consulted her text on magical theory.
Fortunately, although European wizards and witches traditionally waited until they were eleven to visit wandmakers like Ollivander to find a wand that suited them, not all magical peoples used wands, and wandless magic had no age requirement. To channel magic through oneself required only power and discipline. Delphini was born with power, and through discipline and learning, she would gain more.
On her seventh birthday, she waved her hand and conjured a stream of golden bubbles for Blackie to chase around the nursery. For herself, she cast a permanent Colour Change Charm to turn her hair silver with blue tips, because red and blue made purple, Cassie's colour, and Blackie wanted red tips on the ends of his dark mane.
The cook and housekeeper, Mrs. Peck, dropped a tray of barley soup and toasted cheese sandwiches on the carpet and ran out of the nursery when she saw the change in hair colour. Delphini only managed to pick up and eat one of the sandwiches before a magically amplified "Come downstairs at once!" reverberated through the house. Delphini hid Blackie under her bed pillow and raced to the drawing room.
Euphemia stared, slack-jawed, at her ward's altered appearance. She pointed an accusing finger. "How?"
"It's my birthday," Delphini said.
"So you stole Galleons from the person who puts food in your mouth and gallivanted off to a hair salon?" When Delphini shook her head, Euphemia relaxed. "Oh." She blew out a breath and gave a shaky, derisive laugh. "Of course you didn't deliberately do that to your hair. It must be Metamorphmagus genes presenting themselves. So vulgar." She touched her spelled-platinum short bob, eyes narrowing. "But it looks like you aren't a bastard after all."
Delphini couldn't help herself. She peered into her guardian's slimy mind and saw a man in wizard robes stride into the drawing room to thrust a baby swaddled in a dark green blanket into her arms.
"What is the meaning of this, Thorfinn?" Euphemia demanded.
"Lestrange has filled our vault with gold in exchange for talking care of this child." Thorfinn sneered. "Now you won't be lonely when I join Rodolphus in Azkaban." He turned and raised his hands in surrender as four wizards with shiny badges pinned to their robes stormed into the room, wands drawn.
Euphemia snapped her fingers in Delphini's face. "Bastard or not, you can stop dreaming of happy families. Your mummy is dead, and your daddy could care less about you."
Delphini hung her head, pretending to believe her guardian's lies. Her daddy had given Euphemia a vault full of gold to care for her! One day he would return, and he would be so angry at the way she'd been treated that he would hex Euphemia and take back all the gold. Delphini pressed her lips tightly together. When she could speak without giggling at the mental image of Euphemia wobbling on jelly legs, clutching empty money bags, she asked, "May I be excused?"
"Yes. I'm tired of looking at you." Once her ward made to leave, she added. "And clean up the mess you caused by startling Mrs. Peck if you want dinner. She's my servant, not yours."
Delphini nodded. She'd scrub by hand if she couldn't cast a wandless Vanishing Charm. Afterward, she'd search her encyclopaedias and history of magic books for information on the Lestrange family.
Her family.
.
The index in the back of A History of Magic had one entry for Lestrange. When she turned to the Lestrange, pure-bloods page, she discovered that her family was one of "the sacred twenty-eight" that could trace their pure-blood lineage back centuries. Delphini stared at the list of families. "That's not a lot of people. We're probably all related," she told Blackie, who snorted and tossed his mane. She patted his flank. "I agree. If they're like Euphemia, I don't want to know them either." She glared at the timeline she'd begun to fill in on the nursery wall. Her textbook was horridly incomplete. It only covered to the end of the 19th century. The encyclopaedias weren't any help. They were published in 1835, the same year as the creation of the Hogwarts Express.
She had to return to Flourish and Blotts.
.
It took months for Euphemia to stop checking all her Galleon hiding spots daily. On a blustery afternoon the week before Christmas, she finally relaxed her vigilance enough to over-imbibe sherry eggnog and pass out in her chair. Delphini took a bag of Galleons from the bottom desk drawer and slipped out of the house just as the sun began to set.
The evergreen garlands and colourful velvet bows on the Knight Bus awed the girl, who had never seen such things. The Christmas tree in the Leaky Cauldron held her rapt gaze for several minutes. Diagon Alley, decorated with wreaths, garlands, festive window displays, and more enchanted candles and fairy lights than she could count, took her breath away. She walked in a daze, wide-eyed, as if it would help her to take everything in.
"Merlin's knickers, it's mini-me!" a laughing voice cried.
Delphini turned and saw a girl with silver hair wearing a purple cloak. "Cassie!"
"Jodi Picoult, The Storyteller!" Cassie grinned. "I love your blue tips, Delphini."
"Thank you," she said, self-conscious about copying the other girl's hairstyle.
Cassie seemed pleased, not angry. "No purple hair for me anymore." She made a funny face. Wry, but good humoured. "I'm a Ministry employee. Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, second assistant. The one who gets to deal with the irate public all day." She gestured to her cloak. "This is how I get my colour fix now."
"There are temporary Colour Change Charms," Delphini said. She peeked into the girl's mind and cast a spell.
"What did you do?" Cassie grabbed a length of her hair and held it out. "Purple and teal streaks, just like the girl's on Pinterest! She rambled excitedly about "Jack's computer" and "social scrapbooking" and how jealous she'd been of strangers with gorgeous hair. She laughed. "I should be jealous of you, a natural Legilimens using wandless magic I never got the hang of. How have you been?"
"Good?" That was the response characters in Abraxan pony club books gave each other.
Cassie shook her head. "That should be a statement, not a question." She glanced around. "Where are your parents?"
My mother is dead and my father is in prison. Delphini shrugged. "I have to go to Flourish and Blotts."
"So they're off Obliviating people, and you're Christmas shopping on your own." Cassie heaved an exasperated sigh before moving closer to link her arm through Delphini's. "Come on, Delphi, let's go buy books." She smiled at the younger girl's startled expression. "I'm Cassie, short for Cassandra, so you're Delphi, short for Delphini." Cassie tugged Delphini forward. "If anyone asks, you're my cousin, because explaining would take too long, and I'm tired of talking."
"Fancy that," Delphini said with a giggle.
Cassie snickered. "Yeah. Fancy that."
.
Christmas shoppers packed Flourish and Blotts. A group of girls chatted next to the Abraxan Pony Club display.
"They have a book club," Cassie said. She tugged off her purple mittens. "I've seen the little gigglers here on Saturdays—first of the month, I think. They sit in the lounge area in the back and discuss a book and how much they liked it. Is that something you'd be interested in?"
Delphini asked, "Do you care if other people like a story?"
"Not really." Cassie bit her lip. "That's not what a book club is about. It's the chatting, and, erm, sharing of, uh, ideas." Her face was turning red.
It was too much temptation to resist. Delphini peeked into Cassie's mind and saw her getting caught sneaking out of her house.
"We're about to start the book club meeting, sweetie. Sure you won't join us? We have tea and biscuits."
"Sorry, Mum, it would take wine, chocolate, and male strippers to make me sit through a discussion of your latest tragedy porn."
"What's tragedy porn?" Delphini asked.
Cassie groaned. "That's what I call romances where one of the lovers dies." She glanced around. "No one heard you, thank Merlin." She pointed a finger at Delphini. "Stay out of my head, all right? Not everything in there is child friendly."
Delphini nodded, although she wanted to argue that she wasn't a child, never felt like one, anyway. She was simply a person.
Delphini Lestrange.
Cassie smiled. "Sorry to go parental on you. What kind of books are you looking for?"
"History."
"For your dad, right? Mine's a history buff too." Cassie took Delphini's hand and pulled her through the crowd to a spiral staircase. "Only popular genres take up ground floor space. History is upstairs in a back corner next to Biographies."
Delphini followed her up the steps, bemused by how strange, yet familiar, it felt to hold someone's hand. Her nursemaids had done it when she was too young to climb up and down stairs by herself. All of them had touched her because it was their duty to ensure her safety. None of them had done it because they felt affection for her.
Cassie paused and gazed down at her. "You're dawdling. Are you afraid of heights?" Concern shone in the girl's eyes.
Cassie likes me. The incredible thought was followed by another. She thinks I'm an amazing girl, and she can't wait to tell Jack and her mum that she ran into me again.
It was too awkward to say, "I like you too." Although it had been accidental, Delphini had definitely peeked into Cassie's thoughts without permission. She said, "I've never seen so many enchanted candles."
"Wait until you see the Great Hall at Hogwarts. It has candles everywhere and a ceiling enchanted to look like the sky."
Delphini had read about Hogwarts, founded 990 AD, and had studied exterior photographs in her encyclopaedia and her History of Magic text, but she'd never seen a picture of the Great Hall. "I want a book with photographs of Hogwarts."
"We're going to the right section." Cassie led her over to a massive bookcase. "Unless you're ace at Summoning Charms, we should find what you want the Muggle way: reading the titles and flipping through pages to check them out." Cassie winked. "It's more fun, and you won't have to dive to the floor when a dozen books zoom off the shelves towards your head."
Delphini tried to smile, but the sheer volume of books was overwhelming. She had no desire to read all the titles or flip random pages. She wanted to find books about Rodolphus Lestrange! A heartbeat later, the bookcase shook, and she noticed that four books were no longer in line with the others. They had slid forward, almost tipping off the shelves. She reached for the nearest one: Harry Potter: Hero or Harebrained? by Rita Skeeter.
"You don't want that one. Aunt Sybill said it's absolute rubbish." Cassie plucked the book out of Delphini's hand and reshelved it. "Are you looking for books about Harry Potter or the Second Wizarding War?"
Delphini shrugged as she rose on tiptoes to grab another book that had slid toward the edge of the shelf. The Rise and Fall of Voldemort. She placed it on the floor and reached up for a book bound in green leather, History of Slytherin House, added it to her growing pile and stretched as high as she could reach for a book that had a title in silver on black binding: Eaters of Death.
"That's some heavy reading," Cassie said.
Delphini reached into her cloak pocket for the rucksack she'd purchased on her first visit to the shop. She unfolded it and placed the books inside. "I can carry them."
"I didn't mean literally heavy, silly knickers." Cassie lifted the book she'd taken off a shelf. "Hogwarts, A History. This one's brilliant for ending insomnia. I've never made it past the first chapter." She took the rucksack from Delphini. "You get this back once a shop assistant casts Shrinking Charms."
They returned to the ground floor. No one was standing in front of the Abraxan Pony Club display, so Delphini scurried over and grabbed the books she hadn't read yet. She stared at the cover of the book whose copies filled the New Arrival shelf.
"Ooh, that's a pretty pony," Cassie said.
The white unicorn Abraxan was too beautiful for words. The pony and its rider flew over a rainbow.
Cassie reached up to pick out a white unicorn pony from the toy display. "This one wants to go home with you."
Delphini shook her head. "I already have a pony."
"You can have more than one friend." Cassie knelt to look Delphini in the eye. "We're mates, right?"
"Yes?"
"Say it like you mean it!" Cassie jerked her head toward the toy in her hand. "I told Cassiopeia the unicorn pony that we're mates. Are you going to make me a liar? Put me at risk for coal in my stocking from Father Christmas?"
Delphini shook her head, giggling.
Cassie heaved an exaggerated sigh of relief. "You had me worried." Her expression turned crafty. "To make up for it, you're going to let me buy Cassiopeia here and send her home with you to become friends with your pony." She lifted the unicorn pony to her ear, nodded, and told Delphini, "She wants purple and teal streaks in her mane, and says you can call her Cass if you like."
The temptation to peek into Cassie's mind was too much to resist. Tears welled in Delphini's eyes. "I don't need a pony to remember you always."
Cassie threw her arms around Delphini and gave her a squeezing hug. "I'd take you home to spend Christmas with my family if I thought your parents wouldn't charge me with kidnapping or Obliviate me." She sniffled and wiped at her eyes before putting on a bright smile. "We'll do the next best thing—go to Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and split a Turkish Delight sundae!"
"What's that?" If Cassie's face glowed at the mention of it, the sundae might be better than frozen worms.
"It's Narnia on a spoon. Vanilla and saffron ice cream. Loads of Turkish delight. Masses of whipped cream and drizzles of rose cordial with rose petals on top!"
The images Delphini saw of Cassie and her mum sharing the sundae, laughing and talking made her want to experience that with Cassie, too, but first, she had to ask, "What's a Narnia?"
.
Delphini left Flourish and Blotts with a unicorn pony with a mane streaked with teal and purple, books to help her learn about her father and a fantasy novel Cassie told her was on the Muggle Studies suggested reading list: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
The ice cream parlour was packed with customers, but Cassie managed to snag a small, round table near the front window and had Delphini hold it for them while she went to buy the sundae. All around, families, couples, and a few solitary men and women were enjoying their treats. Some of them glanced at Delphini, but she didn't try to see their memories. She was too busy making one.
"Behold Narnia, Daughter of Eve!" Cassie declared in a ringing voice that had nearby patrons turning their heads. She placed the dish in the centre of the table and presented Delphini with a long handled spoon. "Since you left the far land of Spare Oom and the bright city of War Drobe to visit Diagon Alley, you get the first bite."
Delphini expected Cassie's words would make more sense once she'd read the Muggle novel, but it wasn't important. She carefully scooped up a bit of everything and, after a moment's hesitation, ate the entire spoonful. The different textures and sweetness combined together was marvellous.
"Better than any old fruitcake at Christmas, isn't it?" Cassie asked after devouring her own huge bite.
"Yes!" Delphini said emphatically. She'd never had fruitcake, but nothing could be better than this.
Cassie said she'd arranged to meet some friends at a pub, or she would've ridden the Knight Bus with Delphini. She walked her to the Leaky Cauldron. "I hope you have a Happy Christmas, Delphi."
"I am," Delphini said, and was engulfed in a fierce hug.
"That's it. I'm officially unofficially adopting you as my cousin and new pen friend. You have to write me and tell me how Cassiopeia and your other pony—"
"Blackie."
"Are getting on. Ta-ta for now." Cassie kissed Delphini's cheek and turned to walk away. She spun back around. "My full name is Cassandra Trelawney-Boot, by the way. What's yours?"
Delphini shook her head. She didn't want Cassie to know her father was in Azkaban.
"Fine. My owl will find you by magic." Cassie wiggled her fingers at her in farewell and strolled away.
.
The warm glow that filled Delphini at having a real friend lasted through the holiday Euphemia considered Muggle and beneath her notice, although she purchased a mink fur lap blanket for herself and a red velvet cage cover for her Augurey. After a dinner of cock-a-leekie soup that had more prunes than chicken meat, Delphini asked to be excused and hurried upstairs. She'd waited until Christmas Day to start reading the books that held information about her family. Blackie and Cassiopeia had been fun to play with, and the books enjoyable to read, although the Narnia one had a tragic ending with kings and queens of a magical land turning back into Muggle children who tumbled out of a wardrobe, but now the wait was over.
She placed all three books that had information about her father on the floor: one to her left, one to her right, and one in front of her. Delphini held out her hands and cried, "Revelio Rodolphus Lestrange!"
All three books flipped open. Delphini leaned forward to read from History of Slytherin House:
Lestrange – Bellatrix and her husband Rodolphus were among Voldemort's most loyal followers. Bellatrix was killed in a duel by Molly Weasley, and Rodolphus was injured during the Battle of Hogwarts.
Her mother's name was Bellatrix Lestrange. She'd been killed in a duel. Euphemia hadn't lied. Delphini picked up the book on her left: Eaters of Death and started reading about her parents. The book was very informative. Her mother was from the Ancient and Noble House of Black, one of the "Sacred Twenty-Eight" pure-blooded families. Bellatrix and Rodolphus were alumni of Slytherin House and loyal followers of Voldemort . . . madman . . . wizard supremacist . . . mass murderer . . . until Harry Potter killed the self-proclaimed "Dark Lord" in a duel. The couple was imprisoned in Azkaban after the first Wizarding War for using Unforgivable curses to torture Aurors into madness.
In 1996, they escaped from prison to go on another murder spree that ended when Bellatrix died and Rodolphus was taken into custody. The photograph of her parents showed a dark-haired couple wearing black wizard robes. Bellatrix, tall and elegant, gazed at the camera haughtily. Rodolphus, stocky and broad-shouldered, stared like his thoughts were somewhere else: with his daughter?
Delphini thrust the book away from her, snatched up The Rise and Fall of Voldemort and threw it across the room. "I hate you!" she shouted. "You stole my parents!" She wasn't referring to Molly Weasley or the Aurors who had sent her father to prison.
She hated Voldemort.
Unable to bear the sight of the books, especially the one with the hateful name on it, Delphini hid them under her bed and then spent the rest of the afternoon curled into a ball, rocking back and forth, until she heard a scratching noise followed by a deep soft hoot.
A Great-Horned owl perched on the outside sill of her nursery window. It stared at her with shining yellow eyes in the darkness before clicking its beak at her: an impatient sound that got her up and running to open the window. The owl extended a leg. Delphini's fingers shook as she removed the cap off the message case and removed a scroll. This was her first owl post. She cast a spell to light the few enchanted candles allotted to her and read:
Happy Christmas! Great-Aunt Sybill told me a silver girl needs me to answer a question, but doesn't have an owl. I immediately thought of you. What's on your mind, Cousin Delphi?
Delphini vowed never to laugh at Cassie's great-aunt ever again. She did have Seer blood!
The dignified owl merely blinked at her and flew away after she replaced the scroll with her reply in the case and apologised to him for not having any treats. A couple of hours later, the owl returned. Along with the scroll, there was a tiny, mouse-shaped owl treat. Delphini set the treat on the windowsill and read the message.
Do bad people love their children is the kind of question that makes me wish I'd risked kidnapping charges to take you home with me. Truthfully, I believe few people are all bad, and "bad" people can choose to do good for others in the same way good people can do bad things. So, yes, bad people can love, and will show their love by their actions.
Promise me that if you're ever abused or don't feel safe, you'll take the Knight Bus to the Ministry of Magic. The conductor will point out the visitor's entrance. It's a red telephone box. You dial 62442 (MAGIC) and the box will descend to the Atrium. Go to the security desk and ask them to contact me without delay. Tell them it's an emergency. I'll come to you at once, doesn't matter what time, day or night.
Your forever friend,
Cassie
P.S. Criswell won't leave until you write down your promise.
Delphini smiled through her tears as she wrote out her promise and watched Criswell fly away. Her parents had done bad things, but that didn't mean they didn't love her, or that they were all bad. Her father could do good things for her. While he was in prison, she would learn spells and practice them every day to make him proud.
.
She forced herself to read the books on Slytherin House, the Death Eaters, and Voldemort. She understood why her parents had followed an evil wizard. Pure-bloods weren't taught that Muggles were another way to be human. In their eyes, wizards were superior beings and Muggles were lesser creatures. Voldemort had used their arrogant ignorance to make them fear that Muggles would find out about wizards and hunt them like the witches in olden days if they weren't conquered first.
By the beginning of March, Delphini had mastered all the spells in the Standard Book of Spells, Grade One. The Fire-Making Spell kept the nursery warm, while the Mending Charm fixed the holes in her socks and she cast the Levitation Charm to play flying ponies with Blackie and Cassiopeia. She used the Unlocking Charm whenever Euphemia locked her in the nursery before leaving the house for a hair or nail appointment.
Cassie, the best pen friend a girl could have, accepted the pouch of Galleons Delphini included with her letter at the end of March and the next day sent Criswell to deliver the comprehensive book of spells she'd requested. Delphini asked her pony friends, "Isn't this beautiful?" as she ran a hand over the dark blue leather cover and gold lettering of The Encyclopaedia of Spells.
She opened the message case and found her pouch of Galleons with a note that read:
I got a pay rise for talking not one, but two wizards into filling out appeals paperwork instead of burning down the office (with yours truly in it!) if they didn't get their misused Muggle artefacts returned. Happy early birthday!
She wrote back: How did you know my birthday was in April?
Cassie replied: When? We have to celebrate at Fortescue's with a birthday cake sundae!
Delphini walked downstairs and knocked on the drawing room door.
"Enter, I s'pose," Euphemia called out. Her voice was just starting to slur; the right time to ask questions. An hour later and she'd be asleep or mean for the enjoyment of it.
Head bent in a pose of humbleness, because unwanted children living on sufferance should project humility in her guardian's opinion, Delphini made her way into the room, taking care not to touch anything. "Madam Rowle," she asked softly, "Do you know my birthdate?"
"Ask your father." Euphemia stroked the lap blanket as if it was a pet instead of sad pelts of dead white minxes. "Oh, wait," she said. "You can't, because he's in Azkaban's maximum security wing. No communication allowed."
Delphini lifted her head to make eye contact and bring to the surface the memory she wanted.
The paediatric Healer who made house calls examined baby Delphi on the nursery room window seat. "Date of birth?" he asked.
Euphemia, who stood with a wide-eyed nursemaid who seemed on the verge of a panic attack, said, "How would I know? She was left on my doorstep like a foundling. You're the Healer. You tell me."
"I can't be exact, but the last week of April, I'd say." He gazed down at baby Delphini. "Monday's child is fair of face."
"Monday, then," Euphemia snapped. "Are we done?"
The memory explained why Mrs. Peck presented her with better fitting versions of her old clothes and shoes on the last Monday in April each year. Delphini nodded and left, head down, suitably dejected enough for Euphemia, who didn't remind her that she hadn't asked to be excused.
She returned to the nursery and scribbled a reply to Cassie before hurrying to return the note to the message case. Criswell hissed at her, "Sorry to make you wait," before gliding off into the night sky. She watched him go and then snuggled in bed with The Encyclopaedia of Spells, which was so absorbing she stayed up reading until she fell asleep with the book in her arms.
.
Delphini awoke in a sunlit room and glanced toward the door, but the handle didn't jiggle. Mrs. Peck wasn't trying to enter her room with a breakfast tray of tea and porridge. The sound that had awakened her came from the window.
A small white-faced owl peered at her.
"Are you from the Owl Post Office?" Delphini asked when she opened the window, but the owl simply dropped a letter onto her outstretched palm and flew away.
The letter was from Cassie. Delphini was written on the envelope in purple ink. Inside was a letter.
Criswell acted extremely tetchy last night, so I decided to stop by the Owl Post Office on the way to work. I hope a Scops delivers this. They're the most adorable owls (Don't tell Criswell I said that).
If the last Monday is your birthday, then that's when we'll celebrate. I'm sick of my job, so I'll take a sickie and meet you at Fortescue's at eleven. They serve tea and sandwiches as well as ice cream and other sugary treats. If you need to change the day or time, you can let me know when you reply to my next letter.
I'm sure you're walking on air without a Levitation Charm over the new book. Spells you'll find particularly interesting are the Disillusionment Charm and the Confundus Charm. Any other witch your age wouldn't be able to do such advanced magic, with or without a wand, but I believe you can, and if you ever feel trapped these will help you escape.
Delphini whispered the word that sent a tingle of excitement through her body. "Escape." She wouldn't have to hope Mrs. Peck or Euphemia didn't catch her trying to sneak out the front door or see her levitating out the nursery window. She pulled her covers over The Encyclopaedia of Spells and rushed downstairs to the kitchen to eat her porridge and keep Mrs. Peck from nosing around her room. After breakfast, she locked herself in the nursery and studied the helpful incantations, swishing and flicking her fingers in place of a wand.
.
The Disillusionment Charm was fun, even when she only got part of her body to blend into her surroundings. She practised in front of the silver-coated glass mirror attached to the back of a wardrobe door, and broke into giggles whenever her face or arm or torso would "disappear" while the rest of her remained visible. It took three weeks of failure before inspiration struck. Instead of trying to twirl a hand around herself like a wand to cast the spell, she twirled in a circle and immediately seemed to blend into the wall behind her. She, Blackie, and Cassiopeia galloped around the nursery popping golden bubbles to celebrate.
She had mixed feelings about the Confundus Charm. The possible uses excited her, yet it seemed very like an Unforgiveable Curse. She didn't understand why it was legal to Confund someone, but anyone who put another witch or wizard under an Imperius Curse was sentenced to life in prison. Delphini asked Cassie, who replied that the spell Imperio made someone a slave who lived to obey commands while Confundo altered what someone believed, causing confusion, but didn't put the Confunded person under the caster's control.
The Confundus Charm was harder to cast than the Disillusionment Charm, because it had to be done silently so Mrs. Peck and Euphemia wouldn't know what she'd tried to do if she failed. Delphini had to concentrate so fiercely, her brows drew down in a scowl, which earned her reprimands and nights without supper for her surliness and disrespect. In addition to having a rumbly tummy, her head would ache from the mental effort. She almost gave up trying to cast the spell. And then she had a thought: why didn't she use Legilimency to slip into a mind instead of fighting her way in? She didn't even have to frown in concentration to delve into someone's thoughts, and once she did, influencing them with a Confundus Charm should be easy.
And it was.
On the last Monday of April, Delphini got dressed, hid all her books and toys and cast Disillusionment Charms on them for extra protection, and then went down to the kitchen. Mrs. Peck gave her an impatient look that transformed into a smile once Delphini used her natural Legilimency skills and cast a nonverbal Confundus Charm.
"Tea with cream and sugar and toast with butter and strawberry jam coming right up," Mrs. Peck said so cheerfully, Delphini couldn't help grinning. This was going to be the best birthday ever!
She followed Mrs. Peck when the housekeeper delivered her mistress's breakfast tray of unbuttered toast and tea with lemon. Euphemia pushed her sleep mask to the top of her head and squawked like her Augurey when Mrs. Peck left the room and she saw Delphini standing at her bedside.
"How dare you barge into—" Euphemia's angry expression switched to pleasantness. "I didn't see you, I'm dreaming of a luxurious day at the spa, and when I wake up, I'm going to send an owl to inform Henri at Toujours Belle that I'll arrive at ten-thirty."
Delphini waited for her guardian to pull her sleep mask down over her eyes and sink back against the pillows before creeping out of the room.
Blackie and Cassiopeia pranced in delight over her cleverness and neighed and tossed their manes in joy when she said she was taking them to Fortescue's. The ponies had each ridden the Knight Bus home from Diagon Alley, but they couldn't wait to ride it both ways, and asked that she get a chair on the lower level because they wanted to slide around. Delphini happily agreed.
She gave the Knight Bus conductor two Galleons.
"Is it your birthday, mate?" the driver asked laughingly.
"No, it's mine," Delphini said. All the chairs were occupied, so she looked at a man in a business suit and Confunded him into offering her his seat. Blackie and Cassiopeia stuck their heads out of her dress pockets and eyed her disapprovingly until the bus shot out into traffic and their chair began to slide. She lifted them up to whisper in their ears, "I promise I won't do it on the way back. I don't want to use magic to bully people, just because I can." That would make her no better than Voldemort and his Death Eaters. The ponies snuggled close to her, and they all enjoyed the ride.
.
At Fortescue's, Cassie was waiting at a table decorated with a colourful tablecloth and balloons that had Happy Birthdayprinted on them. After giving Delphini a hug and greeting the ponies who wanted hugs, too, Cassie said, "And of course you have to wear this." She picked up a sparkly tiara of faux jewels that spelled out Birthday Girl and placed it on Delphini's head. "Happy Birthday!"
"Thank you." Delphini was so overwhelmed, she didn't notice Cassie's hair until they were sitting at the table with a gigantic sundae of birthday cake, ice cream, whipped cream and multi-coloured sprinkles with eight cherries on top placed between them. "You kept the teal and purple streaks!"
Cassie laughed. "I cast a permanent Colour Change Charm when I got home. My boss complains about it every day, but I loved what you did." She pointed to the sundae. "Take the first bite!"
Delphini only managed to eat a few bites before a server delivered tea and sandwiches to the table.
"Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first," Cassie said, scooping up a bite of cake and ice cream.
"Is that an insight?" Delphini asked.
"It's a quote by a Muggle named Ernestine Ulmer, but I'm sure it's someone's insight." Cassie nodded to the sandwiches. "Smoked salmon and cream cheese. Only the best for you, mate."
The server, a motherly-looking woman, said, "Happy Birthday, dearie."
Delphini smiled. "Thank you."
After they'd eaten their fill, Cassie pushed a square box tied with purple and blue ribbons across the table. "Purple for me and blue for you, if you hadn't guessed," she said with a wink. "Open it up. The suspense is killing me."
"But you know what it is," Delphini said, giggling over her friend's silliness. She opened the box and gasped at the sight of a silver bracelet.
"Put it on. You unsnap the bar closure and then snap it back to fasten the bangle on your wrist."
Delphini followed instructions. "It's lovely." But it was too much.
"If you're worrying about me spending all my Galleons, I got that for free," Cassie said. She leaned forward and said in a low voice, "It was half of a set of misused Muggle artefacts a wizard cast illegal Tracking Charms on to trace his wife every minute of the day." She tapped her wrist. "Every time he rubbed a finger across his bracelet's bar closure, it would show her location. The wife was Muggle and had no clue until he showed up at a hen party and accused her of cheating."
A party with chickens sounded odd, but Delphini didn't know much about Muggles.
Cassie said, "Per court order, I used a Vanishing Charm on the stalker's bracelet, but I thought yours could be put to better use. Rub it."
Delphini ran a fingertip across the silver closure bar. A number and Diagon Alley appeared like engraving: the address of Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour.
"I want you to be able to find me wherever I go." Cassie's green eyes were misty. "I've tried, but I'm not cut out for Ministry work. I'm going to hand in my notice. Security won't have direct contact with me once my two weeks are done, but you can always get on the Knight Bus and give the driver my current address."
"Where are you going?"
"Jack and I are running off to join the circus." She gave a short, watery laugh. "That's a Muggle saying. We're joining a travelling funfair. Jack and his mates have put together a comedy and clowning act, and I'm going to be Madam Trelawney." Her eyes gleamed with amusement. "Muggles love my insights. They're going to bill me as a Seer who imparts wisdom through bibliomancy. I'll wear a long purple dress embroidered with moons and stars."
Delphini peeked into Cassie's mind and saw her friend and Jack sitting at a table inside a strange, small house. "What's a touring caravan?"
"That's where we'll live. The caravan hooks up to a Muggle vehicle that Jack will drive as we travel from place to place. His mates pooled their funds to buy their own. We'll be a caravan of caravans." Cassie's voice turned eager. "Did you see the interior? There's a double bed at one end and two fixed berths at the other for guests or a friend who comes to stay. Curtains and Muffliato Charms will give each of us privacy, and there are wizards who can acquire birth certificates and any other documents . . . our friend . . . might need."
Cassie knew there were no children named Delphini listed in the magical registry. She'd looked. Delphini could see it in her eyes, along with dreams of the future.
A Hogwarts acceptance letter addressed to Delphi Trelawney . . . A purple tent with a banner proclaiming The Trelawney Sisters, Seers and Bibliomancers . . . Delphini, Cassie, and Jack eating dinner at the little table in their caravan . . . riding in the Muggle vehicle together . . .Cassie kissing Blackie and Cassiopeia goodnight before tucking them beneath Delphini's covers and leaning down to kiss her cheek . . . a family of three walking across a woodland field carpeted with flowers, Delphini pointing to the majestic birds flying above.
"Red kites," Delphini said.
"Yes, we'll see them when the funfair travels to Yorkshire."
Delphini wanted to go there with Cassie so badly her chest hurt. "I can't," she said. "I have to stay for my father. He's coming home soon."
"Is he in prison?"
The gentle question held no judgment. Cassie had probably stopped thinking Delphini's parents were Obliviators ages ago. "Yes."
"And your mother?"
"Dead."
Cassie reached for Delphini's hand. "If the people caring for you are legal guardians, I can talk to them."
"No!" Delphini pulled away and stood. "I'll see my father tomorrow, I know it." There had to be a spell in the encyclopaedia she could cast to make him come to her. She needed to return to Rowle House and find it. "Thank you for lunch and all my presents."
"You're welcome. Perhaps I could meet your father sometime?"
"Perhaps."
Cassie's smile wobbled. "Happy Birthday, love."
Delphini ran out of the ice cream parlour and continued running until she reached the Leaky Cauldron. She was Delphini Lestrange, not Delphi Trelawney. She had a father, not a sister. All the way home, she repeated those facts to herself. By the time she stepped off the Knight Bus, she'd stopped crying over them.
.
Accio, pronounced AK-key-oh was the charm that summoned objects to fly to the caster over distances. It could not be used to summon living things, although a character in the story The Wizard and the Hopping Pot summoned a villager's lost donkey. Some scholars held that the donkey was moved by summoning his saddle or other object attached to the animal. Other's argued that Anti-Theft Charms would have been cast upon those objects, and the character in the hopping pot story used a variation of Summoning Charm: Offere, I bring, which required the ability to visualise with intense clarity.
Delphini told Mrs. Peck that she wasn't feeling well and didn't want any supper before going to the nursery and searching through her books for pictures and drawings of Azkaban. She found a photograph of a cell with the door opened to show the empty, dank interior. She cut it out and placed it on the floor next to the image of her father before his second imprisonment: shaggy long dark hair, eyes expressionless, broad features half-hidden by a moustache and beard. She stared at them until the sun began to set and then rocked back and forth, eyes closed, visualising her father standing in his Azkaban prison cell. His hair and beard were much longer. His prison robes were grey and tattered. She saw it so clearly, it was like being in two places at once. In the nursery, she was rocking back and forth, while in the prison cell . . . .
Rodolphus caressed the scar on his inner wrist. "It begins," he whispered, "The Master's blood calls to me." He bared his teeth in a savage grin and shouted, "The Prophecy will be fulfilled!"
"Quiet down, Lestrange," a guard's voice called through the cell door.
"Lord Voldemort will return!" Rodolphus laughed maniacally as he stripped out of his prison robes and kicked off his flimsy shoes.
"Put your clothes back on, nutter!" the guard yelled.
Naked, Rodolpus lifted his hands. "Summon me, Dark Lord's vessel! Summon me now!"
"Offere!" Delphini screamed. "Offere Rodolphus Lestrange!"
.
A boom like an explosion shook the house. Waves of magic rattled the walls and windows and sent a light fixture crashing to the floor. Delphini froze. Had the spell worked? Had she summoned her father?
The heart-rending, throbbing cry of an Augurey was followed by a woman's scream that rose in anguish and fury and then stopped. A voice enhanced with a Sonorous Charm projected into the nursery. "I have come for you, daughter of my wife and master! It is time for you to fulfil your destiny!" Heavy footsteps sounded. Rodolphus was coming upstairs!
Delphini forced herself to stand and twirl, casting a Disillusionment Charm. She stood next to the wall by the window, seeming to become part of it. Silent tears coursed down her face. The man she'd summoned wasn't her father.
Daughter of my wife and Master.
She was the child of a Dark witch and the wizard named "the vilest and cruellest that had ever lived." Rodolphus called her the Dark Lord's vessel. He wanted her to fulfil a prophecy and bring Voldemort back to life. Delphini bit her lip to keep from screaming. He didn't love her like a father. He wouldn't do good things for her. He'd hurt Euphemia and would hurt her, too, if she went against his plan.
The door to the nursery crashed open.
"You summoned me, child. One with your power has no need to hide." Rodolphus, wearing ill-fitting clothes that must have belonged to Euphemia's husband, strode into the room. His fevered gaze travelled over the timeline on the wall and rested on the thin mattress on a child's narrow bed. "I killed Euphemia too quickly," he said. "I should have wrung the Augurey's neck and shoved its heart down her throat until she choked on it." He lifted a chestnut wand—Euphemia's wand. "Reveal yourself, Delphini."
Euphemia was dead, but Mrs. Peck might still be alive. Delphini cast a counterspell and stepped away from the wall.
Rodolphus's eyes gleamed. "You can charm with your looks, like your father did when he was young and used such things to advantage, but you've got Bellatrix's stubborn chin." Softness left his tone. "But you're not your mother, girl. You'll do as you're told."
His mind was guarded, but his Occlumency skills were so rusty, it was like pushing open an unlocked gate to slip into his mind. He was thinking Rowle house would suit his purposes once he got rid of Euphemia's body and her ugly bird and gave the housekeeper he'd immobilised with a Full Body-Bind Curse the choice to make an Unbreakable Vow and live as his loyal servant or die. Rodolphus planned to teach Lord Voldemort's child to revere her pure-blood heritage and the Dark Arts.
And once she'd fulfilled the Prophecy, his master would use or dispose of her as he pleased. Delphini should hate them all, her mother, father, and Rodolphus, but she didn't. She pitied them because they were ignorant and cruel, and because she wouldn't be used.
"Accio wand!" she cried. The moment it flew into her hand, she waved it and silently incanted Confundo!
"Are you threatening me?" Rodolphus asked. His tone wasn't angry or incredulous. It matched his expression: confused. He put a hand to his temple. "Why does my head suddenly ache?"
"I'm changing your memories," Delphini said, frowning so hard in concentration that her head ached too. "Your wife never had a child. Euphemia summoned you here. She loved you, and you killed her because you hated her Augurey."
"I did?" Rodolphus swayed on his feet.
Delphini nodded. "And you're very sorry you did it. So sorry, you're going to go to the drawing room and drink Euphemia's sherry and fall asleep until Aurors arrest you."
"Yes," he said, "I need a drink. I should've killed the bird, not Euphemia."
"But you won't kill it. You'll open a window and let it fly away."
"Good riddance." His voice was bitter, yet sorrowful. He peered at her as though she looked familiar. "Who are you?"
"No one. You won't remember me." She snapped the wand in half. "You broke this, and you're sorry for that too." She held out the pieces and Rodolphus took them and walked out of the nursery.
.
Delphini used Shrinking Charms on all her books and stuffed them into her Flourish and Blott's rucksack before creeping downstairs to the library. She silently used a Summoning Charm to retrieve all the hidden pouches of Galleons. She dumped them on top of the books.
The door to the drawing room was closed. She pressed her ear to the door and heard snoring. Delphini continued to the entrance hall and cast a counterspell to release Mrs. Peck from the Body-Bind Curse followed by a Confundus Charm to keep her from screaming and to make her follow Delphini outside. "You're going to walk down the street," she said, pointing to the left "and when you reach the last house, then you can scream." You'll remember a madman attacking your employer, but you won't remember me.
Delphini turned to the right and ran as fast as she could until she reached the next street. She put her wand hand in the air to summon the Knight Bus.
It was all she could do not to burst into tears when it appeared. She boarded the bus and paid the conductor. The lower level was filled with beds, but at the very back there was a single fixed berth. Delphini sat on it and thought of Cassie's dreams and the insight her friend had given her the day they met.
Forgiving isn't something you do for someone else. It's something you do for yourself. It's saying, "You're not important enough to have a stranglehold on me." It's saying, "You don't get to trap me in the past. I am worthy of a future."
"Beg pardon, miss," the conductor said.
She glanced up in a daze. "Yes?"
He smiled at her kindly. "I forgot to ask your destination. Looks like you're going on a trip." He gestured toward her lumpy rucksack.
Delphini rubbed the bar closure of her bracelet and showed him the address. "I'm going home."
.
.
After I wrote Bellatrix's story in The Road to Delphi, I couldn't help wanting to write a one-shot about Delphini Riddle. Not a "canon" story (I consider the play author-approved fan fiction, myself), but a What if? AU tale. I could see Delphini being a Matilda sort of girl, a little genius who teaches herself how to read, comes into her powers, and finds a "honey" of a forever friend.
"Those who fail to learn from history" is a quote from Winston Churchill, and the first "entry" on the Lestranges that Delphini reads is a direct quote from the Pottermore article Who Are the 'Sacred Twenty-Eight'? I adapted the Disillusionment and Confundus Charm information from HP Wiki and the books (especially Harry and Snape's use of it to control others in book 7 and the summoned donkey in the wizard tale). I didn't want Rodolphus to have to take off his clothes to be summoned (although "Put your clothes back on, nutter!" was fun to write), but it wasn't feasible any other way, and hopefully his long beard covered any bits a child shouldn't have to see, even if she is precocious and able to Confund a Death Eater into drinking sherry and sleeping until Aurors arrive.