August 1999
Draco might just be the most overprotective cousin of wizarding history. And yet, he is sometimes reckless.
He gets her a pet snake one day, just a couple of weeks after her second birthday. A little black snake that he has made sure will not grow bigger than three feet. He figures he can get it past the wards.
Delphini adores it, hisses at it all day long. Then Narcissa finds out, nearly dies twice (at the finding of the snake coiled around Delphini and then again when she learns of how the said creature came into their household), proceeds to calmly, very calmly, get the snake out of the nursery, and then thinks, seriously thinks, about blasting her own son through a wall at the idiocy. That is the day they decide the snake ward around the Manor's grounds is not enough. They put a ward on Delphini herself, just in case, and while they're at it reinforce the one on the grounds.
X
October 2000
He gets a tiny broom out of a closet and teaches her how to fly. She is three. He regrets it terribly every single time her feet leave the ground. He nearly dies the day she pulls her first stunt. He thinks he may be disowned, or cursed, perhaps both, the night she flies indoors after a charmed snitch, destroying some haughty ancestor portrait and a window. She does not bother with the glass in her curls, laughs at the other portraits offended glares and misses a curve altogether, slamming into the wall. Draco's heart misses several beats. He is on the verge of fainting when he reaches her, splayed on the floor next to a broken broom. They both laugh until their lungs hurt while his father contemplates punishment options. For both of them.
Narcissa will later talk him into leaving the bruises and sore limbs to do the punishing, no soothing balms whatsoever. Draco has promised to keep the Quidditch balls safely locked away for now. Delphini has promised to keep flying hours restricted to daylight, good weather and outside. Lucius snorts but complies. Draco laughing again is worth destroying Malfoy Manor. All of it. Twice. But he will never say it. Barely dares thinking it, for his face may show emotion.
X
March 2001
"Why is there such an unhealthy amount of firewhiskey outside?" Lucius sneers at his son. Draco seems elated, sitting next to Astoria Greengrass in the living room. The young witch has been spending half her days at the Manor. And Draco pops by Greengrass House as frequently too these days.
"I got a new pet for Delphini" his son grins back. Lucius shoulders, his Malfoy perfectly upright at any occasion shoulders, drop. He rubs his forehead, just over his pale eyebrows and sighs. So that is why there is fine malt at his door…
"It better not be an Abraxan…"
"Oh Father, she will love it! She was so sad the other day about the Thestrals that I just had-"
"What do you mean Thestrals? She can see them?"
"Yes. And she was very sad that not everyone could and that most people are afraid of them because of how they look." Draco is ranting now, trying desperately to think of a rationale that justifies the presence of a gigantic, flying, ill-tempered palomino horse on the Manor grounds.
"Draco Lucius Malfoy," his father enunciates every syllable in a way that reminisces of Professor Snape, "Delphini is three years old. She can throw tantrums; it is pretty much her expertise these days, but you are twenty years old and it is your job to tell her no. Now get that creature sent back before she sees it. I would like my house standing by the end of the day and I see very little prospect of it should a magical prodigy of three find a gift of a yellow Pegasus and then have it taken back."
Astoria gives Draco her best I-told-you-so look and a little smile. She offers to help him and he asks that she use the Floo to get a hold of a Magical Menagerie employee, while he calms the Abraxan down with a couple of spells that will make it more traveling-friendly. He takes his sweet time, hoping for his Mother and Delphie to come striding down the path from the gates before the Abraxan is taken. They do not.
X
November 2001
"Aunt Cissa!" Delphini's voice echoes through the house, blasting from her rooms. "Uncle Lucius! Dracoooooooo! There is a black bird on my window!" Her voice is shrill and Draco skips two thirds of the steps, managing to pace himself just before he reaches her.
"Do you mean a black owl, Delphie?" Draco takes a peek inside her playroom "Just let it in then, it probably as a letter for us."
"Is that an owl? It doesn't look like one…" She sounds very suspicious of the bird.
"Well, no, no it isn't. That is not an owl. That is a raven and I have no idea about what it is doing on your windowsill."
It's pouring outside, so he takes pity on the bird and lets it inside. Delphini is hiding behind his legs, watching the shiny black bird with the utmost attention. She seems to take a liking to it and it is not long before she is feeding it and proclaiming it her pet. "His name is Darkie!" she says, stomping her right foot in the most unappropriated way "And he is staying! He is mine!" And the entire family just follows suit, thinking of the amount of utterly dangerous creatures she could have chosen as a pet. A raven is not so bad. Delphini particularly likes his ability to eat whatever she dislikes during lunchtime. So Darkie is banned from the house every day at noon, otherwise they will never get Delphini to eat her vegetables.
Darkie likes treats and that makes training him quick work for Delphini. He can soon crow a few words and everyone's name, which makes for a useful messenger to summon her family to her playroom. He is also the cause behind a very painful broom accident when Delphini has to dodge him in the last minute and ends up letting go of her broom completely. He dives to the floor with her and quickly dashes off to find help, earning his forgiveness from Draco that, despite barely being able to breathe, manages to utter a couple of words about stuffing the damned bird.
Author's Notes: I decided I should include some sort of time references, since there will be quite a lot of skipping now.
I'm going out on a limb here. You know how J.K. explained the whole Thestral thing? That you must not only have witnessed death but to truly integrate what it means? I'm assuming Delphini witnessed death during her first months of life, and that she comprehends death because of Bellatrix. Remember all those times Narcissa told her Bella was gone and could not come back? Well… yeah, that's my rationale for this.