Hogwarts, February 20th, 2010
The Slytherin team flies around the pitch three times, making their housemates cheer louder as they pass them by, and even louder as they pass the Ravenclaw students on the other side. There's a chant about clawless eagles, but Delphini can't make out the words amongst the crowd's yelling. The entirety of Gryffindor House is for Ravenclaw and so are most Hufflepuffs, although there's a green haired boy in a yellow and black scarf bragging about his cousin being the smallest and yet most effective Beater of all times to a bunch of his friends and anyone who will listen.
Delphini waves Teddy goodbye on her last lap, following the rest of the team to the centre, were they land defiantly right in front of the Ravenclaw team. Professor Hooch is stern in her warning.
"No foul play, I mean it. Keep it clean. I'm talking to you Miss Lestrange. Mr Rothley, the Quaffle is supposed to go through the hoops, the Chaser is not supposed to try and cross the Keeper, am I understood?"
Delphini and Radagast share a devious look between them, while the Captains shake hands, and the teams eye each other suspiciously. Everyone mounts their brooms and is off as soon as Professor Hooch blows the whistle.
Up high, Dorothea, the Captain, approaches them.
"Rothley, you heard Hooch. Play it clean. Delphini, get their players out, just not in the hospital wing. Make sure none of ours end up there too." She is gone with a wink, catching the Quaffle mid-air and bolting for the hoops.
"AND THAT'S THE FIRST GOAL OF THE MATCH. TEN POINTS FOR SLYTHERIN!" Delphini hears the booming voice of the Hufflepuff commentator, soon drowned by both the celebration and the booing. "RAVENCLAW BETTER UP ITS GAME OR THIS WILL BE THE SECOND DEFEAT THIS YEAR."
Minutes become hours, as the Seekers chase each other and lose the Snitch time and time again, the game becoming less chivalrous with every missed opportunity. Delphini dodges one Bludger has she strikes the other as hard as she can, aiming a vicious blow to the head of a Chaser in blue and bronze, knocking him off the broom. He is still on his way down as she sends the other Bludger soaring for their Keeper. She then lunges forward, straight into the Seeker, leaving her team's Seeker free to chase the Snitch alone. She hears the whistle and knows that ten points are conceded to the Ravenclaws as penalty, but the damage is done. The Slytherin Seeker is a green smudge getting ever higher, hopelessly followed by blue. She can tell that the Snitch is theirs now, but decides to make sure. She flies across the pitch, pushing a Ravenclaw Beater out of her way and sending the Bludger up. She misses her target, but manages to hit the tail of the broom and smiles at the sight of the Ravenclaw Seeker hanging from his broomstick, kicking his feet in the air in an attempt to climb back up.
The chant about eagles without claws is louder now and she can tell there's a line about birds falling off hoops. She giggles as she protects Dorothea, carrying the Quaffle into the enemy's side, and diverts the iron ball to an adversary.
"SOMEONE STOP LESTRANGE, THAT GIRL IS GOING TO KILL SOMEONE!" The commentator is losing his wits. "THAT'S ANOTHER TEN POINTS TO SLYTHERIN…" The dismay is almost palpable now. "OH, SHUT UP SNAKES!" The frustration is clear and the Slytherins sing even louder. "TEN POINTS MORE, THIS TIME BY ROTHLEY, WHO IS STILL ATTEMPTING TO MURDER KEEPER LONGSHANKS. GET THE QUAFFLE TO THE OTHER SIDE, FOR MERLIN'S SAKE!" There's laughter from the stands in green and silver at that, immediately followed by more singing.
"AND SLYTHERIN WINS THE MATCH…" The commentator announces with an unbelieving yelp of despair, as the Slytherin Seeker comes down from the skies and goes around the pitch exhibiting the small golden sphere trapped in his right hand, and the whistle sounds for one last time. The Ravenclaws retreat quickly, helping the fallen Chaser, rubbing sore spots all over their bodies.
Teddy comes running through a wall of green, beating them all to Delphini. He is impossibly excited, his hair going green and blue and pink, yelling that they must get together in the summer to play with the rest of his family. Delphini doesn't listen to anything else after that. She can see Teddy's lips moving but she does not register a single sound.
The rest of his family. Because she is part of it too. He is inviting her over, despite his Grandmother not being happy about their closeness.
She is dragged away by the crowd that carries the team on shoulders out of the pitch and into the castle. Slytherin has won two matches in a row and the glee is evident. They'll celebrate all day, be very loud about the victory during dinner, and then celebrate some more in the dungeons. The creatures in the lake will keep far from the windows tonight, the noise ongoing until Professor Slughorn manages to order them all to their beds, where they won't sleep much before the sun is out again.
She has breakfast with Teddy on Sunday. Mixing about on weekends has become the norm in the years since the war, and no one minds but the ghosts, who make sure to act insulted at the sight of students from other houses at their tables. Near-Headless Nick challenges the Bloody Baron for a duel every now and then, but the shackled figure simply looks in disdain to him and any trespassers at the table of Slytherin. He will sometimes glare at the students in such a way that they move back to their tables, only to be followed by a few Slytherins. He never drives Teddy away from the table though.
Teddy talks and talks, sometimes mimicking the players as he narrates the game. Delphini laughs whole-heartedly at his impression of the commentator's voice and loses it completely when Sigmund chokes on pumpkin juice, spilling it all over and driving Radagast to tears at the sight of Freya and Syrianna covered in it.
They are never this mirthful when it's just the five of them. It's Teddy. Teddy, who has a way of raising her spirits from the darkest places. Teddy, who has a knack for finding her when she seeks solitude in empty rooms and abandoned corridors. Teddy, who conspires with her over chocolate frogs and pumpkin juice by the kitchens, building on ideas of impersonating other students, coming up with plans to impersonate teachers someday, practising their morphing skills. Teddy, who shares her way of smiling. Teddy, with whom she traded small gifts for Christmas, despite their families.
Teddy, who is her family away from home.
X
March 13th, 2010
Her gaze travels to the Quidditch stadium, where she was some hours ago, cheering for her cousin's House in a match against Gryffindor, which means the entirety of Slytherin was for the yellow and black players. The Hufflepuff Seeker caught the Snitch, but they still lost for a ten point's difference, on the account of a timely last goal.
She is up in the Astronomy Tower again. She has decided to embrace Parseltongue and the shackled ghost is the only one she can talk to. It sets her apart after all, it's the reason for her preferential treatment by the Baron, the reason she's allowed to be here at this hour.
Her readings on Parseltongue have been diverging into the lives and deeds of those who spoke it. She has been keenly interested on the life of Salazar Slytherin and on the Chamber of Secrets. It was said to be a myth for centuries, as well as the creature that lived in there. Until it was opened during Auror Potter's time at Hogwarts, and both his wife as that of Auror Weasley were in danger because of the creature. She knows such place exists, even if the beast has long been dead, but has not a clue of its entrance.
That is the real reason she is here tonight. She hopes she can learn it from the Baron. She would have a place of her own here, a place to be away from everyone while securely hidden. Free to practice her magic. Free to be a parselmouth and keep a snake as her familiar there. She has been working on a scheme to get a snake into Hogwarts for some time now. One from the forest may not do, for she needs it to obey her from the very first day, so she will have to bring it from the outside, probably after the summer. But she needs to be able to get into the Chamber before that step.
She touches on the subject, hopefully charmingly enough that she will get a straight answer. The Baron chuckles, rattling his chains. He tells her that she must prove herself worthy of admission by finding it on her own, that he has no doubt her ambition will guide her to it. He also tells her that a ghost child may be of help to her.
A child ghost? The Baron must mean the boy who misses his camera. Colin something…
She frowns, lowering her eyes to the cold stone floor, already lost in her thoughts. She is almost certain that Colin was a Gryffindor who died in the Battle of Hogwarts, and doesn't see how he'll have any useful information.
She realizes then that she has lost track of her conversation with the Baron, and has no idea how long the silence has been. She looks back to him again, expecting to be scolded by her lack of manners, but finds the ghost studying her, his hands behind his back, that look in his eyes again, as if he were noticing similarities between her and someone else.
"Do I remind you of someone, my lord?" Delphini's eyes are curious.
The Bloody Baron hints a smile, or the closest thing he is capable of.
"Oh yes, Miss Black, you do. You look a lot like your Mother."
Black, never Lestrange. Just like the Hat did.
She leaves such thoughts fall away from her mind, for she senses unspoken words from the Baron. She tilts her head and looks at him through her eyelashes, beckoning, silently pleading for the rest.
"But you have your Father's eyes." He turns and floats away at that. "Goodnight, Miss Black. Try and make it to the dungeons without being noticed, your stunt in Transfiguration costed our House enough points for today."
"Goodnight, my lord. I will." She gathers her hands behind her back and starts walking away in the other direction, thinking of the way she made the Gryffindor girls' maggots turn not into butterflies but huge gangly spiders. And of the veritable screams of horror in the room.
She falls asleep easily after these conversations. The wind, the cold and the hissing make for an unusual but soothing lullaby. She curls up to her rose-smelling pillow and lets herself drift into dreaming of serpents and red eyes, shadows and dark places.
X
King's Cross Station, June 30th, 2010
The Malfoys look on as Delphini descends from the train, followed by the usual group.
They stop and stand closely together for a few minutes, before going separate ways to their families. She is very much like her Father. Cultivating a carefully selected group of friends, except she actually knows the meaning, and the feeling, of the word. They were not chosen for their family, or for their means. They were chosen out of trust, Draco knows. He holds Scorpius shoulders, smiling to him when he looks to his father asking to be let go of.
"Let your cousin say her goodbyes. You'll have her for the next two months."
She is talking to her friends by the train, interrupted by several housemates. She is very much like her Mother. Keeping unwished company at distance with a simple glare, while driving the eyes of the entire platform to her like moths to a flame. They say their goodbyes, promising to write and visit. They all walk away to retrieve their belongings and find their families. But Delphini takes a couple of steps away from the train and stands still again, folding her hands at the front of her grey brocade dress. It's luxurious and distinct, but sober, like everything she has.
Astoria holds Scorpius back once more when he takes off from under Draco's hands. She knows Delphini is waiting for someone. One more friend to say goodbye to. It is clear in her letters home. She looks around, chin up, evaluating her surroundings. She is very much like Lucius in that. The disdain and the suspicion of strangers are a bit too evident in her features. She doesn't believe in blood superiority, but she prefers people who keep their composure to a bunch of excited students running about, jumping back on the train because they forgot something and then dashing back to parents and siblings. She may forget her poise every now and then, but only when she is with those closest to her.
Teddy approaches her. He extends his hand at the end of the conversation, and she takes it. Lucius squeezes his cane for a moment at that, because it still looks foreign to him, despite the subtle insinuation of the handshake into wizarding society. But he recognizes the intention behind his niece's gesture. She is like Narcissa in this, so very affectionate but never forgetting her manners and the haughtiness that comes naturally. Hugs are private gestures meant for those closest and it wouldn't do for the cousins to hug each other here.
Narcissa is proud of the way they raised this witch of theirs. Proud of whom Delphini is growing to be. She is a lot like Draco she thinks, in the way she cares for others. Her inner circle is very strict, but once you're in, you're in. She will fight anyone and anything to defend her circle. She loves her family, deeply, and that handshake is a sign to others. Teddy is part of her family too. The entire platform saw it. The two sides of the war, the two remaining children of the blood of Black, who should despise each other on the account of their troubled family, are shaking hands, of all greetings.
She finally moves towards them, and Astoria lets go of Scorpius. Delphini tilts her head with a smirk at the running, but messes her cousin's hair the second he is by her side, hugging her waist, making all sorts of questions about Hogwarts and Quidditch and the Cup that Slytherin won. She stops for a second, raising her loving eyes to her family, clearly wondering about something. They all worry at the spark there. She gives them that wondrous but extremely rare smile that could win over the world, takes Scorpius hand in hers and turns them around.
She goes back a few steps, calling out for Teddy. She introduces them and both boys seem immediately at ease, talking for a while. Then Teddy gives something to Scorpius and Delphini brings him back by the hand, while Teddy walks to where his grandmother and godfather await.
"Look, Mum, Teddy gave me this!"
Scorpius extends his gift to the family. Delphini notices how Uncle Lucius' eyebrows go up, utterly unimpressed, and how the others look to her waiting for an explanation.
"It's chocolate. It means he likes you."
She is also very different from them. Very much herself and like nothing else.
Author's Notes: I'm so happy to have you people reading this. Your feedback on my last chapter was amazing, thank you all so so much. Just keep it coming, it keeps me writing.
As promised, this chapter was ready so I decided to upload it ahead of schedule. Enjoy
UPDATE 22/01/2018 Another side piece is up. It's called Of the Curse of Ties and follows this chapter right off the end