They enter a large room lit by candles alone. There is a long table, at which they are invited to sit by Shacklebolt. Only a small party of Aurors is allowed inside with them.

Narcissa and Lucius sit at the right of Delphini, Draco takes the chair at her left. Hermione and Harry sit on either side. Everyone else is on the other side of the table, right in front of them. Sides have been chosen, Narcissa realizes, and now we fight.

Delphini can feel the distrust in the air. The fear. Not really thinking about it, she reaches for her necklace and holds the bird skull tightly. Narcissa hopes no one else noticed it, but an Auror, the same woman who had made the remark about raising a Dark Lady almost seven years ago, is staring intently at the small hand.

"May we see what's in your hand, Miss Lestrange?"

Her niece takes a second to react. She is not used to people addressing her like that. She clings to the bird skull, pressing her hand into her chest. She angles her head, and just for a moment Narcissa fears that she will attempt Legilimency at an experienced Auror. They talked about it plenty of times these past few days, almost brainwashed the girl on the importance of not trying to glimpse into people's thoughts for as long as they were in the Ministry. Especially around Aurors. Delphini doesn't, she is assessing this woman, and she does not find her worthy of her trust.

Before she can hide the necklace back, Narcissa places her hand on Delphini's. "It will be alright, sweetheart", she isn't really sure of it but Delphini must cooperate, "you can show them." Her eyes shift from hers to Draco's and it's only when he nods that she lets go of the pendant.

Backs straighten at that. Both Harry and Hermione have leaned forward so that they can see it too. Hermione's discomfort is all too visible, and her hands hold tight to the arms of her chair. She looks nauseous but holds her composure. Everyone around that table knows that pendant, and they obviously remember it on someone else's neck.

"Really? You came here to convince us once more that this child is not a problem and you put that on her?" There is disgust in the Auror's voice and a scowl in her face. Now she truly is afraid, for if Delphini feels threatened, there's no way her magic won't spark. This is far too dangerous.

Sensing her unease, Harry Potter comes to her aid.

"It was her Mother's, Myrtle, is it really so wrong to keep a family heirloom? It's all she has. It's sombre, I'll give you that. Do you think the Blacks capable of sweet cuddly gifts? Anyway, we are not here to judge Delphini. This is about safety, not taste." He holds her stare, long enough that the point is made.

Minister Shacklebolt clears his throat. He gestures towards a couple of objects on the table. "Can I call you Delphini?" A shy nod answers him. "I am told you are a Metamorphmagus. Would you mind showing us?"

Wrong move, Narcissa thinks. Not five minutes into this and they already want her niece to be something else. She hopes, with all her being, that they won't rile her up into a certain set of eyes. Delphini is clearly not comfortable, but she shows them. Different eye colours, different hair, darker complexions, freckles. A discussion erupts between the people on the opposing side of the table. Of how this proves they can't trust them, that the girl should be taken. Draco roars at the mention of it.

"We agreed to bring Delphini here and that you would be able to ask her to display her magical ability." He talks through his teeth, seething. "We did not agree to you picking her apart like this. She will show you, and then you will leave this room and discuss someplace else. Is that clear?" When no one answers him, Narcissa watches her son take charge. He tells them of Delphini's skill, and she marvels everyone with her control when moving objects, then with the dandelion she keeps floating over her palms, and so on.

Another Auror interrupts and puts a set of drawings before the little witch, asking her to identify what she sees. Most are perfectly normal objects: a broom, a snitch, a book, a cauldron, a dog, but one is disturbing. The Dark Mark.

"This is the scar Draco has, and Uncle Lucius."

"Do you know what it means?"

She brings her gaze up to meet his. She nods. Then her voice, not her poised voice, her true voice, sounds in the room.

"I know about the war. I know what my parents did. I know it was wrong. My family explained it to me after what that woman wrote. I won't be like that, I promise." She takes her green eyes away from him, looking into her lap, where her hands sit. "I just want to stay with them." She whispers. All her composure seems to leave her small body, she is just a girl right now, sitting in a chair that is too big for her, across strangers, and her frailty is evident.

Silence takes hold of the room again.

"Sometimes, I break things with my magic, but I don't mean to. And sometimes, when I'm upset, my hair and my eyes change a lot, I can't really control it. But I never hurt people! I'm not evil." She has raised her head again. Wabby was a house-elf, not a person, so she is not lying; she is just keeping a secret. Like they told her. Like she knows she must.

Narcissa is observing a plain looking witch. She keeps her chin on her thumbs and her eyes on Delphini. She is not using proper Legilimency, she knows, but she seems to be catching thoughts from the air. Draco, being the best Occlumens of them, has taught Delphie for the past few weeks. He didn't say a thing about hiding her mind from others; he simply told her how to keep the memories of a certain day in that deep, deep corner of her, where she locks her magic when she feels like she is losing control. She hopes that is enough to keep the Ministry's Legilimens at bay.

"What is a wizard whose parents are Muggles called?" The stubborn witch is back at it.

"A Muggleborn."

There you go, happy now? Narcissa is sure that is not the answer they expected.

"Do you know another word for them?"

"It's a bad word! You shouldn't make me say it." Delphini is positively outraged at that.

Touché. For the first time since her son met Astoria, Narcissa is actually glad her daughter-in-law has a different set of beliefs on blood purity.

X

Draco is in an adjoining room with Delphini now. The others are discussing next door, but there are several silencing spells on both rooms, and so they do not hear a thing. He wasn't going to leave Delphie to await her verdict alone, plus they all know where he stands on the matter. Not to mention that by the end of the meeting he felt on the verge of hexing half the people in the room, so he had stayed with her for good measure. Also, if there is any chance of the decision to take his little bird away being made, he can stand between Delphini and the Aurors. And he can fight. And he will fight, dirty and dark, until he is a mess fallen under a Dementor's Kiss or a dead body on the floor.

His little bird interrupts his thinking.

"Why was the lady with the bushy hair so afraid? When I showed them my necklace, she was really upset."

"Well, your Mother was a fearsome warrior and Hermione, the lady with the bushy hair, fought her hard during the war. It just reminded her." Delphini has been put through enough, he decides. He won't tell her the whole truth just now. Not ever, if he can help it.

She hums her reply and retreats to the inside of her mind. After a while, she looks for his lap, and burrows into his embrace.

By the time the others come to tell them of the decision made, she is a giggling mess, with tear tracks down her cheeks, under a vicious tickle attack. The ribbon in her hair is half-way down and she is pleading for a truce quite loudly. The Aurors drop their jaws at the sight. That is not, most definitely, what they were expecting.

She will stay with them, they both know. Narcissa's smile is all they need now. Details later.

It's time to go home.

Together.

X

July 28th, 2005

They have decided to throw Delphini a proper birthday party. Her secret existence is no longer, so there's no reason to keep her birthdays discreet, with only those closest gathering.

What remains of their society as congregated on the gardens at Malfoy Manor. It's not as noticeable as it was that first time after the war, but almost every family bares a scar. A missing father, a mother gone, several grandparents raising the children of war, cousins turned siblings.

And yet, there's happiness. Over two dozen rambunctious children run in and out of the maze, around the bushes, dashing through the lawns. Not mentioning the babies held in their mother's arms, or happily playing in their strollers, all dressed in white to fight the heat.

There's cheerful conversation, too. The whispers and the mourning have given place to a more or less normal life.

There are no Muggleborns, though. Somethings stay the same.

Until someone takes a stand and turns the tables.

"Ah, Potter! There you are. Finally! What took you so long?" Draco walks confidently towards the newcomers. He greets Harry and Ginny, messes with the boys' hairs, as unruly as their Father's, and congratulates them on the pretty ginger baby. Then he moves on to someone behind them.

A ginger wizard, with his left arm around a notoriously pregnant witch and his right arm holding up a little girl of bushy auburn hair.

Lucius and Narcissa have to look twice at that. They both look like they could growl at the arriving guests.

Astoria moves gingerly to their side, holding Scorpius close. She lays a reassuring hand on Narcissa's forearm and quickly explains the need, the most absolute need, for all this. The Ministry decided to keep watch over Delphini and demanded that two Aurors should be report on her a few times a year. Potter and Granger figured they could guarantee that such two Aurors would always be Potter himself and Weasley, so here they are.

"It was Draco's idea to invite the kids. Hermione was coming along anyway, she cares about her too, you know, and she wanted to keep an eye on Ron. Draco figured they could take out the inquisition aspect of this entire thing if he simply invited them, as families."

She takes a breath at the end, as if she needs to catch it, and caresses Scorpius pale hair. He will be two in just over a week, and she can't help but think of the precious creature he is, of how small and fragile he looked when she first saw him. Then she looks to the newcomers and Narcissa recognizes the longing in her daughter-in-law's eyes. The wish for what can never be. The wish for the large family that she cannot give Draco. The wish she used to have for herself and Lucius.

Lucius composes himself. He seems to be assessing the optics of the whole thing. Apparently, he comes to terms with Draco's arrangement, since he walks to greet them himself.

Hermione is quickly by their side, leaving Ron with Harry and Ginny. The Weasleys have decided to keep their distance. The Malfoys don't really blame them.

"I'm sorry, we didn't mean to intrude. It's just that the Aurors have been unbearable, they kept going and going about keeping tabs, and we-"

"It's alright." Narcissa assures her, nodding to Harry in the distance. "You still found out the best way to do it. You're still protecting her, so we thank you." Nothing effusive, but her gratitude is honest. Hermione is responsible for some complicated spell work that keeps Delphini safe, and just used her position in the Ministry for their benefit, which binds the Malfoys to their honour. Smiling truthfully, she asks when she's due.

"Oh, in a month or so, give or take a week." She answers, hands on her round belly. "Late August if we're lucky, so that he or she can go to Hogwarts with Lily, Harry's youngest."

Despite all their efforts, it is all a bit too awkward, so the Potters and the Granger-Weasleys do not stay long. Draco still manages to trace Delphini down to the rose garden, her favourite place outside, and brings her to say goodbye, but they preferred to leave before. Both Hermione and Harry glancing over to their Weasley better-halves and then to each other. Astoria understands that Delphini is not a settled business between neither of the couples, and she explains it to Draco when he shows up, hand in hand with a skipping Delphini.

He is a bit disappointed at it, but can't hide the smile on his mouth later, when they're inside at night and he procures two gifts from the pile, telling Delphini, "Here, from the people who protect you in the Ministry."

Author's Notes: To Guest, who was so kind as to review, thank you so much. Fierce Narcissa is one of my headcanons, her strength is different but it's there.To all of you readers, thank you for reading, reviews are always welcomed.

UPDATE: Oct, 31st Because this is a very meaningful day for us potterheads, I finished a tiny side piece to this "The Guilt of a Mother" that follows this chapter