July 15th, 2003

Delphini put up quite the struggle that morning. Actually, she made a real fuss about wearing the pearl white dress. It was uncharacteristic of her; she always liked to dress up. She likes to feel the room's gaze on her, on her perfect gestures, on the bounce of her silky, yet unruly, ink black curls.

The real problem came when Narcissa tried to pull her hair into a French braid. The four year old decided she was having none of it and created quite the commotion. Her magic had sparkled off her skin while she demanded her curls be let loose; her eyes going a dangerously familiar shade of red. Narcissa had scolded her about losing control of her magic, since she could tell it was an intimidation attempt, and managed to talk her niece into wearing a silk ribbon over her head, just to keep her curls off her face.

She is now finishing a perfect bow on the left side of Delphini's head, just above her ear, where a little emerald shines, a perfect twin on the other side, complementing her eye colour. She draws her wand and puts several charms and spells on the attire. She stops only when she is quite sure that Delphie could go fight a dragon and come back looking immaculate. She will soon be behaving like a little tornado outside, chasing other children; she can't help but behave normally every now and then. And the peacocks… the children will be on them all day. Lucius is not going to like that, not a bit.

She moves through the corridors, thinking back to the fact that Delphini managed to get her way on the end. Always does. She can see her from the window, hopping about in the rose garden. She likes the smell of roses, and Narcissa makes sure to drop a bit of perfume on her pillow cases, her heart hurting at the memories. Delphini was too young to know, but her body remembers the smell of her Mother. She likes the smell of smoke too, Bella loved it, but Bella never approached her without washing the battle from her skin. She could not bear the thought of besmirching her Master's child with the filth from His enemies.

Narcissa takes off her dressing robe and the light chemise under it, putting on a long sleeved, flowing dress. She will not wear white today. The dress is deep blue, like the high sea under the sunlight, lending its shade to her grey eyes. She wears diamonds on her ears and round her neck. She pulls her pale blond hair up. After checking the mirror carefully, she determines she is just the right amount of perfect not to outshine the bride. Her eyes find her husband's reflection in the mirror. His eyes tell her she is magnificent.

"I will head downstairs and make sure everything is ready."

"Everything is perfect, Narcissa. You never do anything short of perfect."

She roams the many rooms then, making absolute sure the path to the garden is without a fault. The summer glory of the gardens seeps inside. Lucius went for their son, a nervous mess for several days now, so excited about this that not even Delphini could get his attention for longer than a couple of minutes.

Astoria fits right in with them. Draco has told his mother about the way she calms him down. The way she worried about him in his sixth year at Hogwarts, how he confided in her, sitting in the Common Room in the late hours of the night. She helped him find the right books about repairing magical gateways, without asking questions. She made sure he didn't skip too many meals and she would gladly hold him so that he could sleep at night. She was the shield keeping madness at bay.

X

She finds Astoria Greengrass, soon to be Malfoy, looking out a window, alone, her mind far away. She gasps quietly upon noticing her presence in the room.

"Mrs. Malfoy… I'm sorry; I was lost in my thoughts just now. Do you need something from me?"

She is a vision in white. The dress runs off her thin shape like a river overflowing, spreading in a blissful puddle against the dark wood of the floor. Her dark brown hair cascading down her back, pulled from her chiselled face. She is not like her older sister, Daphne, although they do resemble each other. There is a frailty to Astoria, a dark softness. Narcissa knows the young witch doesn't uphold the pure-blood ideals fully, she has a more tolerant view of Muggles, but she was brought up in the same old world as herself and her son, so she trusts the values imbedded in her future daughter-in-law from birth.

"I wanted to be certain everything was right and ready. Where are the others?" Narcissa had led quite a crowd of witches inside earlier. Astoria's mother and Daphne, yes, but also friends of the bride, giddy with excitement.

"I needed a minute. I asked them to leave. They must be just outside that door." She nods her head towards the other door, across from the one Narcissa entered. "They have been fussing about me all morning. I told them to go get ready and seized the opportunity to hear myself think." She chuckles. Her soft brown eyes drift away again; her fingers playing with the engagement ring Draco presented her with last Christmas. Then her eyes light up and her face becomes radiant when she smiles, her eyes locked past Narcissa.

Delphini is looking at her from behind the doorframe. Her small pale hands holding on to it. There is doubt in her eyes, and she looks away, letting her heavy lids and long eyelashes hide her feelings.

"Come inside if you wish, Delphini." Narcissa notices how Astoria won't use her nickname just now, while acknowledging the child status in the house. Delphini is slowly being won over and takes a couple of steps inside. "You look beautiful. You will be the most gorgeous girl out there, will you not?" The honest smile never leaves Astoria as she talks. Delphini straightens up at the compliment, but immediately lowers her head as trouble crosses her eyes again.

"But you will be the prettiest lady…" she whispers. All the commotion about getting dressed suddenly makes sense for Narcissa. Delphini is afraid, for the first time in her life probably. And she makes herself difficult to handle when she is unsure. Just like Bellatrix used to, she thinks; her heart wincing a bit from the unexpected pain.

Astoria approaches Delphini at that, lowering herself to stand about as tall as the child. She raises her chin and wipes a tiny translucent tear about to drop from the girl's sad eyes. "He doesn't like me better, you know? He likes me differently, but he loves you so very, very much Delphini. He lights up when he talks of you. You make him laugh and no one else can do that. I like you very much too, I love you already, and I will never take your place in his heart. His heart is very big, there is plenty of room for you, and I'll just have a little nook. Is that alright?"

And just like that, Narcissa is absolutely sure Astoria belongs with them. With Draco. She is the true balm to his wounds. Delphini smiles back, her eyes going steel-grey for a second and then shining green like the garden outside.

X

Draco is quite sure his heart is about to burst from pure joy. Delphini walks down the aisle, dropping soft colourful petals on her path, from a little basket that holds the wedding rings in a pillow at the bottom. A few steps behind comes Astoria, on her Father's arm, clad in white, a sight of perfection. He smiles at both of them in turn, and caresses Delphini's curls when she passes him. His world is finally back on its axis. Everything is right. He can love now. He can care.