Waiting for his dad to come back, Albus found himself with time to spare, and soon, despite resisting, he found his mind automatically drifting back to what had possibly started it all...

Albus stifled a scream. Azkaban may have been removed of its infamous dementors, but it was still creepy as all hell. He sighed, took a deep breath, and then continued trudging on.

It had been a few weeks since Delphi had been captured and defeated. Albus had expected that, now that she had been sent to Azkaban, probably to stay there for life, that he would feel better now, safer or triumphant or something...but he didn't. It had been weeks, and Albus still found himself randomly panicking or something, or thinking about how close they had all been to being gone or horribly treated forever, and anyways, he didn't know, he was looking for a resolution, or answers, or something. Closure, maybe.

And so, he found himself doing the only thing he could think of doing, and took a boat to Azkaban. And now he was here.

"It's okay," he told himself. "It'll be different this time. Y-you know who she is, this time - so she can't trick you this time. It'll be fine. You'll see," he said, trying to convince himself, despite starting to regret the decision to come here already. "It's now or never," he thought to himself. "You can do this." Albus took a deep breath. He took a step forward, and went down, down, down, to Delphi's cell.

...When he got there, Albus wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but somehow he could see that this, was not it.

The cell was small, dark, damp, and..smelled of gloom. Albus knew that that last part didn't make any sense, but he could swear it really was true. In it, Delphi paced seethingly. Her hair was trimmed short and neat - prison haircut, Albus supposed. And yet, somehow she was looking far more unhinged than the last time he had seen her. And it wasn't as though she had been the pinnacle of stability then, either.

"Who's there?!" she called out, wildly. She looked disturbed. Then she caught sight of Albus, and her alarmed expression morphed into one more of disgust. "Oh. It's just you. What are you doing here? Come to gloat, perhaps? To rub your victory in?" Yep, it was definitely disgust.

"No," said Albus, trying not to take the bait. "I came here for answers."

For a second Delphi looked taken aback, and then she suddenly laughed. And it wasn't a nice laugh, either. "Oh-oh, you came for answers? Oh, that's TOO good. Imagine, you, of all people, want answers. Now that's just too funny!" She laughed again, and smiled twistedly. It did not flatter her.

Albus gritted his teeth. He wasn't going to let her mind games get to her. "Don't look so happy, Delphi, remember? We won, and you lost."

Delphi smiled wider. "Oh, but I haven't lost, not really, not as long as you're here. Honestly, it's no wonder that Harry prefers James and Lily over you."

Albus was furious now. "That's NOT true! Dad even said I'm a lot like him!"

Delphi laughed hysterically. "You- like him? Are you joking? I'm a bloody horcrux, and you know what? You're still far Darker than I could ever hope to be, actually." Mockingly, she added, "How do you like that reminder, Albus Severus Potter?"

Albus didn't know a horcrux was- wait, had she just called him Dark? That. Was. Too much! Albus leapt forward, grabbing the cell bars, and angrily screamed, "I am NOT Dark! And certainly not Darker than you! You don't know what the bloody hell you're talking about! What are you even saying?!"

Delphi looked up. "You-you really don't know at all, do you?" Delphi laughed again, but this time without any humor. "I supposed I should have expected as such, of course Perfect Harry Potter couldn't have possibly let anyone, even his own.."son"...know about the Great Big ~Bad~ Dark thing that's he done..." she chuckled quietly. "Ohhh, now that I think it, it definitely doesn't surprise me at all..."

Albus was furious, but also slightly scared. Dad was hiding something? Something bad? What was it?! "I said, WHAT are you even saying?!" Albus screamed. "Answer the bloody question, damnit!" Dimly, Albus realized that he had lost control, but he didn't even care. Whatever it was, he had to find out.

Delphi looked up, eyes glittering in malicious joy. "If you want to know so badly, why don't you ask your beloved 'father'? Oh, wait - you're probably scared of what he's going to say. Or - better yet - you're scared that he's not going to say anything at all!" She looked delighted, as though this was the best thing in the world.

"I am NOT scared of what he's going to say! And-and he'll answer, I'm sure of it! I-I'll make sure that he answers! You'll see!" Albus shouted, trying to tune out the ugly thoughts in his head. She was wrong, wrong, she always lied anyway, he shouldn't listen to anything that she says!

"Think what you want..." Delphi said, smiling far too comfortably for Albus's taste. "But, if I had any money right now, I'd bet that if you do, you'll learn just how true the phrase 'ignorance is bliss' really is. Oh well, live and learn..." She was looking positively smug now.

"You're wrong! And I'll show you! I'll show you! I'll MAKE him answer, and I won't regret it!" Delphi laughed, again. (Why couldn't she stop that horrible laughing?!) "You hear me? I SAID I won't. Regret it!" But Delphi did not appear to be listening to him any longer. Her laughter had dissolved into full-out maniacal cackling.

Disgusted, Albus shook his head, and angrily stalked out, seething intensely. She WAS wrong. And he WOULD prove it. And then everything would be fine...right?

...Albus blinked, and found himself back to reality. Looking back, he was beginning to regret this whole sorry business already, and Dad hadn't even come out yet. Was this what Delphi had wanted all along? Suddenly, Albus couldn't help fearing that the one who was really trapped in a prison of his own doing, was him.

Well, it was too late now. Dad would be coming out any minute now. At least Albus said to himself, trying to console himself, if he learnt the truth now, then this would all be over. And he would never make the mistake of visiting Delphi ever, ever again. Albus decided to make a note to himself about that later. (Never, ever visit Delphi again. Ever.)

The door clicked, and Albus jumped. Harry was back, and somehow looking even more terrifying than earlier. "Your mother and I talked. She's not happy about this either, but she will be coming along in a moment. We're not talking until then." Albus's dad then began to polish his lenses.

"Oh. Alright then..." Albus felt sick. Even though his dad had mentioned it before, he hadn't thought about Mum. But it would make sense that she would be involved in all- this - too. Even though part of him had wished that he never brought it up to begin with, now he also desperately wanted - needed - to know. The suspense alone was going to kill him.

Finally the door clicked again. Albus's mum came in, looking both quite concerned, and very serious. Then she spoke. "Albus," she began, "I never wanted this day to come, but it appears that we need to have a talk..."

...Yeah, so apparently Delphi is a horcrux! Hey, I warned you that I see Cursed Child as Alternate Canon Continuation!

But really, though, this makes way more sense than the "official" explanation. I don't know about you, but I just can't buy Voldemort as the type to have a child. I mean, he views love as a weakness, so he wouldn't have a child out of sentiment, and he wanted to be immortal, so he has no need for a heir, either - in fact, considering that he murdered his own father, he'd likely see a heir as just a potential threat!

Voldemort making another horcrux though... well, considering that Voldemort had never intended to make Harry one of his horcruxes, and in fact may have never realized the full meaning of his mental link with Harry at all, it seems at least plausible that he would want to make another. More plausible than having a daughter, at least.

So, yeah, that's how I see it: Bellatrix had a child, likely with Rodolphus, and then voluntarily gave the child up for Voldemort to use for his own purposes. If that seems harsh, even for Bellatrix, remember that Bellatrix responded to Narcissa's grief over Draco's situation by saying that she would gladly give up her sons, if she had any, for Voldemort's service. So then, I guess here she did that with her daughter... And, consequently, Delphi grew to see Voldemort as a father figure. Is it weird that part of me feels sorry for Delphi?

I mean, she's still evil, and her backstory is no excuse, but part of me feels a little bit of sympathy for the little girl that she once was, forced to live with someone who was her blood relative but wanted very little to do with her, separate from everyone and friendless, living a cursed life that for years she wasn't even aware of... oh well.

She made her choices. She could have chosen to separate from her past, to live her own life, but instead she voluntarily chose to try to bring back Voldemort, manipulate and hurt children, and worse. Yes, she had a difficult childhood, but so did many others. We all have choices, and she chose wrong. And that's that.

Warning: though this chapter came out fairly soon, the next one may take weeks. Sorry in advance.