CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
Ay... 'twas my word.
-Hamlet, William Shakespeare
Narcissa returned to Malfoy Manor as planned, but was careful to interact with her soon-to-be-ex husband as little as possible. Draco helped to provide a buffer between them on those rare occasions that they did find themselves in the same room at the same time, and Lucius, to everyone's surprise, respected his wife's wishes by not coming up to the third floor of his own Manor, while requesting only that Narcissa not have men stay the night.
She agreed to his provision.
Her new girlfriend didn't seem to mind.
-0-0-0-
Severus hovered around Delphini for the entire first week she was home, insisting upon doing as much for her as possible, including fetching things for her, reading aloud to her from her textbooks, and practically trying to spoon-feed her.
Just as this behavior from Draco had done to her aunt Narcissa, it drove the girl batty.
"I'm not a baby, Dad!" she said one night when he insisted she should let him carry her upstairs after dinner. "I'm not too weak to walk!"
"Healer Devi says you need to be careful not to engage in overly strenuous activity until you're ready..."
"I don't think walking is overly strenuous!"
His eyes narrowed. "Yesterday you told me you couldn't wash your hair because showering is overly strenuous."
Delphini's cheeks went pink. Her fingers immediately went to the rat's next around her head, but she couldn't use them to comb through the tangled locks.
"That's different," she mumbled, trying to avoid his stern stare.
"I'll go upstairs with you," offered Hermione, holding out the girl's cane. It was the one Severus had used for so long, but transfigured to be perfectly sized for an eleven-year-old. "Before bed tonight, how about you take a bubble bath and I'll handle your hair?"
Delphini did not like the idea of her hair being 'handled,' but the thought of a bubble bath intrigued her. Would she be bathing inside a bubble or would there be bubbles around her? Would she use a Bubble-head charm? Would bathing in bubbles similar to 'bathing' in sunlight?
"Fine," she reluctantly agreed, using her cane to help her stand. "Let's see what this bubble bath is all about."
-0-0-0-
Now that Delphini was home, Helena started to relax. And after a couple of days, she was finally ready to talk to her mother and Severus about what happened.
She tried to understand, but it was all still so confusing. Her father had only pretended to be dead, her mother had hurt him even though she didn't believe in hurting people, and Professor Snape had seemed downright scary when he got angry. Plus her father had hurt Delphini, which made the least sense of all.
But she wanted to be a good girl, an agreeable girl, so she accepted their explanations and their apologies... even though it didn't make much sense to her at all.
And she wasn't certain she could ever fully trust anyone - not even her mummy - ever again.
-0-0-0-
Meanwhile, Hermione was running out of days to decide whether she would take the job.
Harry wanted her to take the job.
The Minister wanted her to take the job.
Hermione wanted to take the job.
Severus did not want her to take the job.
But because he knew she wanted it, Severus encouraged her to take the job.
So Hermione took the job.
She was set to begin once Padma Patil vacated the position, but since that Monday was also the set date for Reginald's trial, she would be starting on Wednesday instead.
She couldn't wait.
She was ready.
And yet...
She wasn't.
-0-0-0-
Henry was excused from testifying on account of his young age, but Helena, at almost six, was expected to be questioned, though Harry promised Hermione they would make it as comfortable and non-intimidating for the child as possible, by giving her a chair and letting her hold her doll.
Delphini was set to speak too. Harry had come over to the house on Spinner's End twice to work with her on her testimony.
"Telling the truth is the most important thing you can do, of course," he advised. "Try to keep your answers clear and concise – that means basic – without adding your opinions. If you're asked how many times he used the Cruciatus Curse, for example, you tell them how many times exactly and that's all. Don't say something like, 'It felt like a hundred.' We want the Wizengamot to have all of the necessary information but nothing superfluous."
-0-0-0-
On the 15th of December, as originally scheduled, Reginald Park's Wizengamot trial was held.
Reporters were barred from entering. But that didn't stop them from milling about outside the courtroom, hoping to get an interesting comment or a good picture, even after Severus told them to bugger off and threatened to break one of their cameras if they photographed the children.
Adult viewers were permitted in the courtroom, but children were not, thus Hermione and Severus sent the four of them to the new childcare center on Arthur Weasley's floor.
"We'll take good care of them!" Penelope Clearwater-Corner promised pleasantly. She was in charge of the place. "We have a gated area for babies, a number of board games for the little guy, a great puzzle station for this one, and I see your eldest brought a book. They'll be fine. Don't worry!"
Hermione and Severus thanked her, promised the older girls they'd be back to get them soon, handed over Hero's diaper bag, and reminded Henry in no uncertain terms that he was to behave himself at all times.
They were mere steps down the hall when they heard him yell, "Fuck Snakes and Ladders!" followed by Helena scolding, "Henry John Granger, you pick that up right now!"
"Should we go back and check on them?" asked Hermione.
Severus linked his arm with hers and shook his head.
"No. Just walk faster."
-0-0-0-
Hermione had to wait in the hall until Severus' testimony was complete.
Next, she took the stand.
She talked a little about the dissolution of her second marriage, explaining that she'd filed for divorce because Reginald had been lying to her about money and she was no longer able to forgive him after she discovered he'd bet so much after promising to stop that they were set to lose absolutely everything. She admitted she worried about being implicated if it was determined he'd been putting money on fixed Quidditch matches, even though she had nothing to do with it.
She explained that she was pregnant, but didn't know it yet, when she packed up their children and left him. She did not mention what had happened with Lucius.
She shared that she'd found the circumstances of his death suspicious, but she'd assumed he'd been murdered by an unknown assailant, like Amelia Bones and Emmeline Vance. She swore she never suspected that he'd faked his death, like Barty Crouch Jr. and Peter Pettigrew.
"Perhaps I was simply so relieved that he was gone, I was unable to consider he might not be," she admitted tearfully. "Even when Helena thought she had seen him, I told her she was wrong. I thought she was seeing what she wanted to see, but it turns out I was the one forcing myself to believe what wasn't true."
She spoke in great detail about what happened the night of the fireworks, including confessing to having hit him with a Stinging Hex after he'd called her a whore in front of the children.
"Why, of all insults, would he have called you that?" asked one of the Chief Warlocks, a gaunt man with a long beard.
"Because of my relationship with Professor Snape," she answered quickly, having prepared for such a question. "It's no secret that I started working for him at the start of the summer, assisting in his private potions lab and helping with domestic chores around the house. We quickly became friends, and after awhile we began seeing each other socially, but he continued to pay me for the work I was doing until recently. Reginald was not the first man to insinuate there was something inappropriate in our relationship, but the truth is, I did legitimate work for Professor Snape – I'm still brewing with him, actually, though I start a new job with the Ministry this week – and our developing relationship in no way negates that. Severus values and respects me as no other man ever has, we have so much in common, I love him, and no matter what anyone says - least of all, my ex-husband - I am not now, nor have I ever been, a prostitute."
The witches and wizards on the Wizengamot nodded and muttered amongst themselves. It seems they'd accepted her answer without question, and a couple of witches even sent smiles in Severus' direction, clearly finding her love declaration quite touching. Reginald, on the other hand, was glaring daggers at her.
Hermione joined Severus in the viewing area as Narcissa testified next. She went into detail about the notes she'd received, which, thankfully, she'd saved, along with the broken pieces of her husband's wand and the snake's head of his walking stick. She also described the attack on her during which he'd used her sister's old knife.
"I have no idea where he got it from. I hadn't seen it since... since the war." Her eyes darted anxiously at Hermione, sitting in the front row. "It's been missing since my sister used it on Ms. Granger in 1998. It wasn't on Bellatrix when she died, of that I am absolutely certain."
She closed her eyes when she had to share what Lucius had done. Even without the benefit of Legilimency, Hermione could sense the abject humiliation radiating from the older witch at having to relive this for an audience. It made her want to rise from her chair and hug Narcissa, to comfort or even protect her...
A bizarre notion, considering the years she'd spent viscerally hating the Malfoy matriarch.
Severus took her hand, sensing her discomfort. His thumb rubbed slow circles on the space between her thumb and forefinger.
Hermione couldn't deny that she felt hatred toward her no longer. What was more, what she did feel could almost be akin to friendship. Narcissa had come to dinner a number of times after Delphini's release from St. Mungo's, and though Hermione wasn't sure quite what to make of her at times, she found her fascinating.
Lucius' testimony was anti-climatic.
Thanks to the number of Obliviation charms he'd been subjected to, he was unable to answer most of the Wizengamot's questions. He had no idea from whence he'd gotten the knife, he had no idea when the Imperius Curse had been placed on him, he had no idea where he'd been held while imprisoned, and he had no idea who had attacked him months ago while down on Knockturn Alley, before he turned up at St. Mungo's with no wand and a head wound, though he suspected it was Park.
Though he did not lie on the witness stand, he did manage to avoid mentioning his own betting habits, Hero's paternity, and the numerous times he'd injured his wife while not under the Imperius Curse. He made it sound as if he had absolutely no idea why Reginald Park would have targeted him or his wife.
This is how he'd made it through two wars, after all. Fessing up only to what was absolutely proven, faking remorse for what he could not deny, expressing his regret at ever having been pulled into such a situation (as if he had no choice) and playing dumb about everything else.
It worked. Once his testimony was complete, he was free to go.
-0-0-0-
Though the trial seemed to be going well, Hermione felt more and more anxious as the day went on.
"When Reginald testifies, what if he tells everything?" she whispered to Severus. "What if he tells everyone about what I did with Malfoy, and about that ad I almost placed in the Prophet, and about...?"
"Let him talk," murmured Severus. "You have nothing to be ashamed of."
"I slept with a man to relieve a debt!"
"You were coerced into it, threatened with losing your children based on a lie. As for your advertisement, aside from Park, only you and I know it existed, so as long as neither of us verifies it..."
"What about the editor and counter clerk at the Prophet?"
Severus smirked. "Didn't I tell you? I paid them a visit months ago. A little memory charm and..." He waved a hand dismissively. "They don't remember a thing."
Hermione placed her hand on his knee and squeezed. "I'm glad it was you who answered my ad, Severus."
"Hm?" He cocked an eyebrow, turning to her as if confused. "What ad? I recall no ad."
Despite the gravity of their situation, and the fact that the children were set to testify next, Hermione couldn't hide a smile.
-0-0-0-
Helena, despite having practiced as much as Delphini had, was terrified on the witness stand.
"I saw him... behind the tree... and one time at... at Hogsmeade... and then... at the... at the funfair... and..." Every couple of words she glanced anxiously at her mother, who was dying inside because she wasn't permitted to go to her. Helena clutched her doll as if for dear life. "And I saw him take Henry. And I saw Delphini grab him. And I saw them disappear..."
They questioned her about what happened in the tunneled room under the old theatre.
"Mummy... was mad. And Professor Snape... was mad too. And Daddy... Daddy was mad three. Daddy hurt Delphini."
"Did you see him hurt Delphini?" asked a witch on the Wizengamot. Helena shook her head.
"No, but he said he did. He said she... he said she deserved it... I don't really know what that means, but Mummy... it made Mummy and Professor angry... They hurted him... Even... even though Mummy says... Mummy says we use our words, not our hands... and using a wand is like using your hands... And then Delphini didn't wake up... and I... and I got scared..." Helena started to cry. Hermione, unable to stand it any longer, rushed down the stone steps to the center dais where the girl sat. She lifted her and hugged her tightly.
"Do you have any further questions, or have you heard enough?" she asked. "She's just a little girl!"
Reginald had the good sense to hang his head at this, feeling genuine remorse for having traumatized his beloved Hellybean.
Delphini took the stand last, the final witness before Park would be expected to get up and defend himself.
They started by asking her to identify her parents.
"My mother's name was Bellatrix Black Lestrange," said Delphini, haughtily tossing her hair just as her mother once had. "She was the Dark Lord's most loyal and faithful and capable and valuable follower, the only one he ever cared about it..." She caught Severus' eye and ducked her head as if chastised. "But she was wrong to follow him. He kidnapped her when she was still a kid, which is why she'd have done anything for him. She didn't know better." Delphini fiddled with her hands, wondering how her mother had felt on a dais just like this, surrounded by wizened witches and wizards, during her trial. She cleared her throat before continuing. "And my father is Severus Snape. He used to be the Headmaster at Hogwarts, before that he was the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and the potions master, and he's also a war hero. Even Harry Potter says so. My parents did not love each other but they both love me."
"Thank you," said one of the witches, the one taking notes. "That was... thorough."
Delphini nodded, not understanding that the witch meant she hadn't needed to give more than their names.
Now, the questioning began.
Delphini did her best to answer everything as clearly and concisely as Harry Potter had advised. She talked about the note she'd found under the rock, the man Helena pointed out in the Guy Fawkes mask, and was able to give specific and complete detail about everything that transpired once Park apparated away with Henry and she'd grabbed on.
They thanked her for her testimony and asked if she had anything to add.
"Only one thing... since I have to tell the truth..." She glanced at Narcissa, who'd opted to remain present for each testimony after her own, as Severus and Hermione had (Lucius chose to leave). "I'm sorry about the knife, Auntie."
"What about the knife?" asked Narcissa. A member of the Wizengamot shushed her.
"Two years ago, that man came to Malfoy Manor." She pointed at Reginald. "I didn't recognize him 'till later, but I know it was him who came. You all went into the study, remember? I wanted us to go out to dinner and I was mad I had to wait, since I was already dressed up... I was sitting in the alcove above the hall, waiting for you, when I saw him come out. He started to walk like he was going to the door, but then he stopped and went down to the cellar instead. You know nobody's allowed down there since I was a baby."
(The Dark Lord had kept, tortured, and even killed several prisoners in the cellar dungeon, thus once the war ended, the door was locked and everyone, including the house-elves, were given strict orders to stay out.)
"He went into the cell... there's a space down there with bars and no windows... and he sat on the floor, and he cried. I was hiding so he didn't see me. I... don't be angry, Auntie..."
"I won't be angry," Narcissa said woodenly, but it was clear she was already angry.
"I've been down there before. I've been down there lots of times. I opened it with Alohomora. And I... I had hidden some things down there... things I knew you wouldn't want me to have."
"Like what?" asked Narcissa. The Wizengamot witch shushed her again.
"I found some things... of my mother's... that you didn't give me. One was the knife."
"But where did you find it?" asked Hermione. Now the witch was shushing her.
"I... I might have... kind of... accidentally... stolen... it." Delphini gazed anxiously around at the members of the Wizengamot, afraid they were going to arrest her for this admission, but unable to stop herself from coming clean. "It was at Borgin and Burkes. I recognized it as hers from a picture you gave me of her and me when I was a baby. It was in a little pouch on her hip, so I couldn't see the blade, but... but the handle was there. I'd know that handle anywhere. And her initials were carved in tiny fancy letters on the edge of the blade: BDBL. They were selling it in the store. I was in there with you one day, when you were selling... other stuff. You know, the stuff you sold that I wasn't supposed to tell Uncle Lucius about?"
Narcissa's face went as burgundy as her favorite wine. She hadn't intended for anyone to ever know she'd been squirreling away money for years, with the hopes that she'd someday be able to leave her husband, and she'd done so by selling old dark artifacts and heirlooms she'd hoped he wouldn't notice were missing.
"When you were talking to Mr. Borgin, I took the knife. I had to have it but I knew you'd never buy it for me. I'm sorry! I didn't mean to be bad! I just... wanted it. On account of how it was hers. And I rather felt like it was not stealing, since he shouldn't have been selling what wasn't his to begin with! But I hid it in the cellar dungeon so you wouldn't know, and then..." She glared at Reginald Park. "He was down there, kneeling on the floor, crying, and then he must've seen it, because he climbed under the cot and took it, and then he left Malfoy Manor and I couldn't tell you because then I would have to tell you that I stole it and I knew I'd be in big trouble! I'm sorry, Auntie. I'm sorry. If I didn't steal it and hide it there, he never would've found it and you would never have got your throat cut and almost died and it's all my fault!" She was fighting back tears. "I'm so sorry!"
"Oh, Delphini!" Just as Hermione had with Helena, Narcissa ignored the rules and rushed to her niece, taking her in her arms. "I'm not angry. No, that's not true. I am a bit angry. You should not have stolen it and you were not permitted in the cellar. But what happened afterward is not your fault!"
"I guess we're all blaming ourselves for something, eh?" Severus asked Hermione. She nodded, but she was preoccupied. That explained how Reginald had gotten hold of the knife, and obviously he had given it to Lucius... but how had it ended up at Borgin and Burkes?
-0-0-0-
There was a one hour break for lunch before Reginald took the stand. Hermione, Severus, and Narcissa ate with the children, then left them again at the childcare center.
"Delphini's hair looks darling in those braids," Narcissa said as she and Hermione sat in the viewing area with Severus between them. "That must be your doing?"
"I'm trying to teach her to manage it on her own."
"I was never able to."
"Shh," said Severus. "It's starting."
"Don't shush me," Hermione and Narcissa responded in unison. He rolled his eyes.
"Reginald Park." The Wizengamot witch who'd done most of the questioning stood, facing him. He was standing on the center dais, leaning on the rail of the structure around him. "You are accused of..."
"I know what I'm accused of," he cut her off. "And I'm guilty. Of all of it. But let me tell you why..."
-0-0-0-
They went out to dinner that night: Severus, Hermione, Delphini, Helena, Henry, Hero, Narcissa, Siobhan, Draco, Astoria, Scorpius, and Harry.
"I invited Ginny," Harry informed Hermione as they settled themselves around the long table in the small back room of Morgana's. "She wanted to stay home with the children."
"Good," said Hermione. Harry looked surprised. "Nothing against her. But if she'd come we'd be thirteen. When thirteen sit down to dine..."
Harry finished the thought for her. "The first to rise is the first to die!" He laughed. "I thought you didn't put much stock in the crazy things Sybill Trelawney says."
"I don't." Hermione put Hero in a highchair across from Scorpius so they could make faces at each other. "But that seems nicer than saying I'm glad she's not here for other reasons."
"She's coming around," he insisted. Hermione scoffed.
"She's been 'coming around' for years, Harry. She's never going to come around. It's alright, though, really. I don't mind. I have my health, my children, my... boyfriend." She smiled at Severus, who was fussing needlessly over Delphini. He returned the smile. "My friends. My freedom. I can't express to you how relieved I feel right now. I start my new job in two days, I'm in love like never before, and I feel like I'm finally getting my life back."
Severus pulled out her chair and sat beside her. Harry settled on the other side of Hero's high chair, with Helena to his right, across from Delphini, and Henry plopped down on the opposite end beside Severus. The four Malfoys and Siobhan sat on the other side of the table, facing the Granger-Snape family and Harry. They shared a pleasant meal, during which they only touched upon the trial enough to fill in those who hadn't been there without giving too much information to the children, and parted ways after dessert.
-0-0-0-
Hours later, in bed, Hermione slipped her arm around Severus' waist and rested her head on his bare chest. They'd just finished making love and were still basking in the mutual afterglow. He held her close, inhaling the intoxicating scent of her bushy brown hair, never wanting to let her go. Six months ago he couldn't have imagined a life like this, working as a potions master again, on comfortable speaking terms with Narcissa, doing his proper job as a father, and in bed with a brilliant, beautiful woman he loved, while the four children they seemed content to raise together were asleep in their bedrooms down the hall. He wasn't even in any pain, though it had been hours since his last dose of Dragon's Nightshade pain potion.
"I wonder why Reginald didn't tell the Wizengamot about me and Malfoy. I fully expected him to. He seemed as though he was about to, when he said only Henry and Helena were his. But then to have simply said he blamed their family both for the death of his wife and for our divorce on account of the gambling... I think they suspected there was more to the story, but they didn't press it. Why, do you figure?"
"When a man is as guilty as he is, what good can come from offering further information? As for the Wizengamot, it wasn't necessary to know more in order to convict him."
Hermione didn't buy this. "You hit him with something, didn't you?"
"A Confundus Charm," he confessed. "I'm glad no one else seemed to notice."
"As I am." She snuggled closer and smiled when he tightened his hold around her.
"I still have a number of questions, though."
"Like about the knife?" She pushed herself up, staring down at him in the darkness. "Yes! Me too."
"Not about the knife, actually." He coaxed her back down, longing to again feel her bare skin against his. Once she was settled, he began running his hand lightly up and down her back. She threw her leg over his, enjoying this cuddling. They hadn't done enough of it lately, between Delphini's recovery and the stress of the looming trial. "I'm curious about Lucius. When we were in the theatre, Reginald said Lucius paid him to marry you and that he asked you out on a bet. He didn't mention any of that during his trial, and not because I charmed him not to."
"Maybe he was lying in the theatre?"
"No." Severus' brow furrowed. "No, I don't think he was. I don't think Lucius was as innocent in this as he acted. I believe he was under the Imperius Curse and I believe he'd been Obliviated multiple times, but there's more... Why did he want Reginald to date you in the first place? To marry you? Why did he really buy off Reginald's debt? Why did he pretend Narcissa suggested you fuck him to avoid prison? I wish I could have questioned him."
"You could," said Hermione, though in truth she just wanted to put the whole thing behind her and move on. She was too emotionally exhausted to be curious about this. "He's right at Malfoy Manor. You could confront him. But what purpose would it serve? We can't press charges against him for anything without telling the world where Hero came from. So we might as well let it go."
"I suppose," agreed Severus.
But he remained awake, lost in thought, long after his lover drifted off to sleep in his arms.
-0-0-0-
The following day, Hermione's last free day before returning to work at the Ministry, she left Severus and the three youngest children at home, explaining she had an errand to run with Delphini alone.
Before they departed, Hermione again plaited Delphini's hair in two long French braids and helped her choose an outfit – one that was nice, but not too nice.
"I look like I'm five." Delphini scowled at her reflection in the full-length mirror. "Where did you get this corduroy frock? And why does my blouse have a rounded collar? And why these itchy tights?" She lowered her voice, afraid to be overheard. "I look like Helena."
"I know," Hermione whispered back. "That's the idea. We're going to make damn sure you don't get expelled from school."
"By making me look like a little kid?""
"That's part of it, yes." She took the mascara out of Delphini's hand. "No makeup."
Delphini let out an exaggerated sigh. "Are we going to see Professor McGonagall?"
"Nope." Hermione grinned. "I have a different formidable witch in mind."
-0-0-0-
Severus and Helena stared at each other. Henry and Hero were down for their nap, Delphini and Hermione were out on their secret mission, and it suddenly occurred to Severus he'd never actually been left alone with the almost-six-year-old before.
"So..." he said. "You like books?"
"Books? Yes, I like books. Books are great." Helena glanced around the bookshelf-lined walls of the sitting room. "You like books?"
"Yes, quite."
"That's nice."
"Yes, quite nice."
"Very, very nice."
"Yes." He cleared his throat. "Uh, very."
She blinked up at him, looking like a little Hermione. "Mm-hmm."
They stared at each other some more.
Severus was just starting to think it was going to be a looonng afternoon when he had an idea.
"Your mother brought over the telly and VCR." (She'd been bringing over more and more of her possessions lately.) "What do you say we try to hook it up and put in a movie?"
Helena smiled as if relieved. "Yes, please! Do you have any outlets? I know where all the little colored plugs go!"
Fifteen minutes later, they were seated on the couch, a plate of homemade biscuits between them, fully immersed in yet another animated classic: The Sword in the Stone.
-0-0-0-
"Merlin's beard!" exclaimed Delphini, staring up at the oddly assembled home in front of them. They headed up the dirt path toward the door. "Who lives here?"
"This is called the Burrow. My former in-laws live here."
Delphini stopped walking. "Those awful Weasleys? I can't go in there!"
"Mr. and Mrs. Weasley are very nice," said Hermione. She took the girl by the hand, urging her forward. "And yes, you can."
-0-0-0-
Henry didn't sleep long. He slid down the stairs on his bum and scolded "Pofessah" and his sister for starting a movie without him, but when Severus offered him a biscuit and a place on the couch rather than sending him back to bed, all was forgiven.
"This a good movie," said Henry, his mouth full of chocolate cookie. "I seen it alweady. That boy gets a sord out a stone!"
"Henry!" Helena cried in a scolding tone. "Now you've ruined the ending for Professor Snape!"
"Oh." Henry's face fell. "Sowwy!"
Severus chuckled, assured him he didn't mind, and turned their attention back to the screen.
He could only imagine what his mother, Eileen Prince Snape, would've thought to see him this way, playing the roles of loving husband and caring father.
Would she be proud of him? He'd broken the cycle of domestic abuse. That had to count for something, right?
And he had a good job, and he'd kept the home up well, and he was an accomplished wizard.
He glanced at the bookshelf where a photograph of his mother as a young woman was once on display. Perhaps he should put it back up?
For the first time in a long time, he missed her.
-0-0-0-
Arthur Weasley was at work, as usual, but Molly had started the kettle for tea and set out scones with jam and clotted cream, looking forward to catching up with her former daughter-in-law, whom she missed greatly. Molly expected things to perhaps be a bit awkward between them, as she knew she and Ron had a couple of recent awkward encounters.
What she hadn't expected was for Hermione to bring Delphini.
"Oh! Hello!" Molly stood in the doorway looking surprised and conflicted. The girl was small and rather cute, despite her resemblance to Bellatrix, and she was leaning on a cane, a reminder of the recent torture she'd endured (naturally, news about the trial had been in the paper that morning) which made Molly want to embrace and coddle her. But on the other hand, this was the girl who had so coldly attacked her eldest granddaughter, sending an Unforgivable at her back. Thus, Molly hesitated.
"Could we come in?" asked Hermione, hoping this hadn't been a mistake.
"Yes, yes of course!" said Molly, stepping aside, letting her need to be nurture win out over her desire to defend her granddaughter, at least for the moment.
"Molly Weasley, this is Delphini Black, Severus' daughter. You know, of course, that I've been seeing Severus for the last six months or so?"
"I... yes. Yes, I'd heard... something to that effect. Come in, come in. The kitchen is this way, dear." She led Delphini carefully to her favorite room of the house.
"Nice to meet you, ma'am," Delphini said quietly. She sat at the table when prompted to do so, crossing her ankles and folding her hands delicately as she'd been taught, though her posture wasn't as straight as it had once been, thanks to her weeks of being mostly bedridden.
Once tea had been served, Molly sat across from them, curiosity and concern evident across her plump face.
"Hermione, what is it you wanted to talk about?"
"In two weeks, the Hogwarts Board of Governors will be meeting with staff to determine whether Delphini can return in school in January. Bill is heading up the movement on behalf of those who think she should be expelled. I want you to change his mind."
"Hermione, dear, I'm sure she's a lovely girl, but..."
"You killed my mother," Delphini said quietly, as this reality hit her quite suddenly. "The day I cursed Victoire, her and her friends were teasing me. They were teasing me about how you killed my mother. We were in the Great Hall, where it happened, and they were all laughing and calling me Delphini You-Know-Who, because they thought the Dark Lord was my father. I said they were lucky my mother wasn't there to hear them teasing me. Victoire said it wasn't luck she wasn't there, it was because of ability, because you were a better witch than she was, and so you dueled her and she lost. She called my mum a murderous monster and said she should've been kissed by a Dementor and sent to rot in Azkaban." Delphini wiped an escaped tear away with her sleeve. "She said before you did it, my mum tried to kill your Ginny, so you stepped in and said, 'Not my daughter, you bitch,' and then you... you just... you just killed her. My mother. You just killed her. Victoire said..." More tears were making their way down her cheeks now. She brushed them again with her fingertips. "She said you loved your daughter enough to kill for her, but mine didn't even love me enough not to leave me home alone while she went to fight. Victoire said my mum didn't care about leaving me to be an... an orphan. And I was hurt because I thought she was right."
Hermione felt awful. This was not at all how she's anticipated this going. She silently chided herself for having been stupid enough to think introducing the girl to Mrs. Weasley would do any good.
"I didn't know," said Molly, softening, even though she would absolutely have done it again in the same situation. "During the Final Battle, I didn't know Bellatrix had a baby. I didn't know about you."
Delphini sniffled, swallowing back her tears. Hermione reached out and took her hand.
"Then Victoire's friends read in my letter... they read that Professor Snape is my father, not the Dark Lord... and they laughed about that too. They said my mother must have paid him to be with her, because she was... because she was so... so ugly..." Her voice broke on that last word. "Victoire called her skinny and dirty and mad. Matilda Wood called her a slag. Everyone was listening. Everyone! They were all around us in a circle and they were laughing... they were all laughing... and all I could think was that it wasn't fair. They all have their mothers. They all grew up knowing their fathers. None of them had to get raised by their auntie and uncle. None of them had an auntie in the hospital because their uncle tried to kill her. None of them have to eat lunch in... in... in the room where their mummy was murdered!"
Delphini could no longer hold off her sobs. Messy, ugly, semi-hysterical tears streamed freely down her pale face. She cried so hard she hiccupped, gasped, and coughed.
"I'm so sorry, Molly," said Hermione. "This isn't why I brought her here! I wanted to talk about..."
Molly shook her head at Hermione, moved to sit beside Delphini and, to Hermione's surprise, pulled the girl into a tight hug. A motherly hug. She shushed the girl soothingly, cradling her to her bosom, and rocked slightly back and forth, stroking the girl's braided hair, and she let her cry.
"I think, perhaps, Victoire needs a reminder about how privileged she'd been," said Molly quietly over Delphini's head to Hermione. "When she wrote Arthur and me about what happened, she failed to mention any of this."
Hermione nodded trying not to smile. That seemed like a good first step!
Once Delphini had sufficiently calmed, Molly offered her a handkerchief to wipe her face and topped off her tea.
"I know it doesn't justify having used an Unforgivable Curse," said Hermione, reaching for the jam. "But I wanted you to meet Delphini, to see that she's not... she's not... She's a good girl who made a mistake. And she's learned from it. It won't happen again. Especially now that she knows how it feels to be cursed like that. Three times. By a grown wizard."
"I want to go back to school," said Delphini. She lifted her mug but did not drink from it. "My father has been tutoring me. He says I'm smart."
"She is smart!" said Hermione. "All of her professors say her grades were excellent, she can already do some wandless magic, and she was able to produce Fiendfyre without speaking the incantation, which she learned because she saw her mother doing it when she was barely a year old! I don't know if you're aware, but Bellatrix was abducted from school at fourteen to serve Lord Voldemort. He taught her everything from that age on."
Molly flinched upon hearing his name.
"We don't want Delphini to have to leave school early too. We'll do anything to keep her from getting expelled. I've tried to talk to Bill. Severus and Minerva have tried to talk to Bill. Even Harry tried to talk to Bill. But he won't listen. And I understand why, Molly, I truly do. You know as well as I what parents will go through to defend their children, to protect them. But do you really feel that for this one mistake, Delphini deserves to lose out on her entire magical education, effectively ruining her life? She was being bullied and she reacted badly, but...
"But who wouldn't react badly to being teased about a loved one's death?" asked Molly sympathetically. Her own face was damp with tears, too. "I didn't only kill Bellatrix Lestrange to protect Ginny. I did it because she was... she was talking about Fred. I couldn't stand her talking about Fred. Laughing about his death. Taunting me over the possibility of losing another child. I thought, if I didn't stop her, I would lose Ginny just as I'd just lost Fred, and..." Molly took Delphini's face gently in her hands. They made eye contact for a long moment before she spoke again. "Your mother was confident to the point of arrogance. I'm certain she never would've left you if she'd even considered the possibility she wouldn't be coming back. I'm not sorry to have saved my daughter... but I am sorry to have taken from you your mother."
"If you hadn't, she would've gone back to Azkaban, like Victoire said." Delphini wiped her runny nose on her sleeve. Hermione prompted her to use the handkerchief instead. "I talked about it with my aunt when I was in the hospital. Auntie Cissy says my mother is probably better off, being dead, even though it makes us sad. What do you think? I told Auntie, I can't imagine my mother would've wanted to rot in prison."
"No," said Molly sympathetically. She kissed Delphini on the forehead, same as she'd done her own children and grandchildren countless times. "No, dear. I can't imagine anyone would."
"So you'll talk to Bill, then?" asked Hermione. "Please?"
Molly nodded slowly, glancing from Hermione to Delphini and back again. "Yes. Yes, this Sunday, when he comes for dinner, I'll talk to him. Now..." Molly straightened up, wiped away her tears, and reached for the plate of scones. "I made plenty of these, so don't be shy!"
-0-0-0-
After the children were asleep that night, Hermione laid out her outfit for her first day of work, readied Hero's diaper bag, as she'd be bringing the baby to the childcare center, and wrote a list of reminders for Severus regarding Henry and Helena, who both wanted to stay home with him and Delphini.
("I hate Snakes and Ladders!" Henry had said when asked if he wanted to return to the Ministry. "I want my Pofessah!")
"Delphini will return to her academic schedule tomorrow. She's missed so much and I want her to catch up before January... assuming Molly gets through to Bill. During one of her free periods I'm going to pay her to watch the children so I can continue brewing that potion the Ministry requested and get started on the one commissioned by St. Mungo's, which I can probably do during Henry's nap. I'm going to start the younger two on some sort of academic plan too, as they're also falling behind. As for your list, I see you put a limit on television time and a 'no sweet or snacks save for fruit' on there and I can tell you right now, I'm not going to adhere to either of those things."
Hermione crawled onto the bed, facing Severus, who was sitting up with his back against the headboard.
"You are ruining my children, Severus Snape."
"Not all of them," he argued. "One will be at the Ministry, with you. I'm only planning to ruin the other two. Know what? Forget academics. I've changed my mind. I'm going to let all of them rot their brains with television and rot their teeth with candy and there's nothing you can do about it because you'll be at work." He shot her a devilish, self-appreciating grin.
She settled in his lap and took his hands, placing them on her hips, and shook her head. "Severus Tobias Snape... Why do I tolerate you?"
"According to Bellatrix's diary, I'm reasonably well-endowed," he answered without missing a beat. "Perhaps that's why."
"Or perhaps she'd simply been in prison so long she couldn't remember what well-endowed looked like. I mean, prior to Azkaban her primary lover had been You-Know-Who, right? If we are to assume that the size of a man's nose corresponds to the size of his..." She thrust once against him. "We can also thereby assume she hadn't had much to compare you to, the poor witch."
"If the size of a man's nose corresponds to the size of his..." His hands still on her hips, he jerked her body in a second thrusting motion. "I think we can agree I'm boasting more than my fair share." His hands made their way from her hips to the front of her blouse; his fingers moved quickly, unbuttoning each button. "Don't you agree?"
Hermione giggled, leaned forward, and whispered, "I love you, my big-nosed bat."
He removed her shirt and tossed it to the floor, then drew his hands up to do the same with her bra.
"I love you too, my insufferable know-it-all."
A/N:
I tried to wait until Wednesday to put this out there but I have the patience of an overtired toddler. Basically I've thrown out my whole posting schedule.
Anyway, after this there's one more chapter (Christmas), then the epilogue, and finally, a little 'tag'! (And review responses.)
For anyone wondering, the tag is like that last quick scene in a tv show, where the characters come back for one final joke or poignant moment.
In this case, the 'tag' is actually the epilogue I wrote originally, before I wrote Chapter 2 (I like to figure out the ending right after the beginning) but later I came up with an epilogue I liked better, so this is my way of sharing both.
Thanks again for reading and reviewing, following and adding to faves!
Much love!
-AL
