It takes her three days to work up the nerve to go back. Three whole nights of worrying about what little knowledge she had been able to gather from the books in Malfoy Manor library. There wasn't much, but what was there drove a stake of fear into her. The only mentions of Parseltongue come from texts on Dark Wizards. Dark, powerful people who caused harm to hundreds in their rises and more during their rules.
She is not evil. And yet she feels like there's a path for her to walk, willingly or otherwise. Her own kneazle stays just slightly further away from her than what he used to. She has found herself petting Zebra instead, Scorpius' kneazle, just to quell the need for soft fur under her hands.
She is here tonight, despite all her instincts screaming at her to leave. To forget about being a parselmouth, to forget about the darkness that she likes. She knows that part of her cannot be denied, but maybe, just maybe, she can suppress it. Hide it. If no one knows, no one will think of her as evil from the beginning.
She sits down by the stream. Maybe if she just waits here, the snake will come.
Time goes by, cold sets in, and Delphini decides she will have to call for the snake. She takes a deep breath, swallowing audibly, as a lone tear leaves its track on her right cheek. This is all wrong. She shouldn't be here; she should never speak Parseltongue ever again.
Except she has to. She needs to know. She needs to hear it from the snake. That there is a way out, another path for her. So she opens her mouth and speaks. Another tear comes down as she realizes this is all so natural to her that her mind doesn't even register the hissing unless she forces herself to notice.
"Why are you crying, ssschild?"
She stares squarely into the slits amongst the yellow. And confides her worst fears to a reptile.
The snake does not have a name. Apparently only snakes that have been taken by wizards as familiars have names. It's a human thing, she tells Delphini.
Her fears are not put to rest. Not entirely.
She tells her of great wizards and witches with mighty snakes that reached higher than all other in magical society. She tells her that not that long ago a very powerful wizard who kept an enormous piton lived in the Manor. She has heard the tale of his greatness from other snakes, the story being passed down between them. And the snake's greatness. Of how she was named Nagini, of how she was so dear to her lord, of how they shared one mind.
But there is some hope in the tales of the snake. All she talks about is greatness, not darkness. So maybe, just maybe, she has a chance. She might just be able to escape that path.
X
August 15th, 2009
Everyone in the Manor noticed her change in behaviour during those last days of July. Everyone wondered about what would cause her such distress, about which of the threads of the web she was about to tear.
But nothing happens. Delphini doesn't ask about her Mother or the war. The elves remain unharmed. Quidditch matches with Scorpius and Draco carry on as usual. Her friends write and she writes back. She keeps asking about Gringotts and they keep telling her no. The Aurors have been done with the vault for a week now, but none of the Malfoys is comfortable with the notion of taking her back. She eventually drops the subject and their worry deepens. Every bit a Slytherin, they don't know her motives, no one has a single clue of what is going on, all they do know is that something upsetting drove Delphini to the edge, and that the girl has somehow reined it in. They don't know which half is more troubling.
The four of them are in the sun room. Lucius has his nose in the Prophet, taking peeks from behind it every now and then to look at his wife and his daughter-in-law, talking away the afternoon while caring for plants with tender hands. Draco started off pretending to read a book, but all he does is stare in adoration at the dark-haired witch.
Peace is over and hell unleashed at the voice of Scorpius.
"Come see! Delphini can fly!"
When four sets of eyes simply glaze over to him, absolutely unimpressed, he opens his arms as if it's the most ridiculous reaction. He is clearly impressed.
"Without a broomstick! Come on!"
Four sets of pupils grow very, very wide for about two seconds. The next moment, his Mother is stuck to the floor, her eyes darting about, as if putting pieces together in her mind. His Father and his grandparents did the closest to running out of a room he ever saw a Malfoy do.
"Come on, Mum!"
He has the biggest grin in his face as he drags his Mother by the hand, to a corridor where Delphini happily glides back and forth, levitating a whole foot off the floor.
Delphini has the proudest smile she has ever shown. It dims a little at the sight of three very shocked Malfoys and a bewildered one.
"I've been practising the levitating charm. I figured out how to levitate both my shoes at the same time." She turns in the air, showing her hands together behind her back, one holding the other, her wand steady in the right one, pointed at her shoes. She looks over her shoulder, still smiling. She points her wand slightly forward, and they watch her move away from them.
She glides through the air as she turns again and levitates to her family. Scorpius is pretty much hopping with excitement, but everyone else is still staring at her. She lands just before Lucius, looking up to him with her best I'm-sorry-eyes. The only reaction she gets is blinking.
"Wingardium Leviosa? That's all you used to fly about the house?" Draco takes a long breath out. Then he succumbs to a laughing fit like she has never seen.
Her Uncle looks for support in the closest wall. Steadied by a hand there, he makes her swear to never do it outside the walls of the Manor. Narcissa helps him to the closest seat, looking whiter than fresh snow.
Astoria is the only one capable of congratulating her for her deed. Draco eventually manages to do the same, in between tears of joy.
"You just scared the soul out of us," he says as he wipes tears with the backs of his hands, "but that was amazing!"
He embraces her then, kissing the top of her head. "My precious little bird", she hears him whisper. So she hugs him back, harder than she meant to.
They wouldn't like me if I were evil, would they?
X
King's Cross Station, September 1st, 2009
This year, the entire family is here to see her off. She has already located her friends, and Radagast has assured them that he has secured a compartment for them. Her belongings are being loaded, broom included.
She finds herself absent minded. She notices Scorpius excitement, the stares the Malfoys and herself earn from the crowd, the polite conversations other wizards engage in with her Uncle, the cordial smiles her Aunt trades with other witches, but it all slides off her mind, nothing sticks today. Yes, she is glad she is going back to Hogwarts. She is also impossibly impatient to get into the library there and learn more about Parseltongue and parselmouths.
She hears the conversations around her, even answers every now and then, but she is nowhere near focused. The snake couldn't tell her much more, but she enjoyed talking to her. She had gone back to the stream almost every single night, calling for the snake sometimes, others just standing with her feet in the cold water, both things assuring her that she has a choice. She has also figured that Nagini must have had red slit eyes. Her Aunt talks of how she was raised in that house from the day she was born. She knows Nagini belonged to Lord Voldemort, even if her family won't talk about neither of them. She must have very early memories of her eyes, that's all. The kindness there, however…
A sudden straightness that takes over her Aunt is the thing that finally catches her attention. Narcissa's eyes have stopped blinking and seem unable to move. Delphini turns around, expecting something truly abnormal, but nothing is. Auror Potter is on the platform, about four carriages down from them. She knows his oldest son is still too young to board the train, so she figures the Ministry sent him. There was only one inspection this past summer, on her birthday. Since it sits pretty much in the middle of the summer holidays; checking on her again just before school starts again doesn't seem that strange.
Until she sees a blue-haired boy talking to him. This isn't some excited student asking for a handshake. He does look the right kind of excited to be a first year student. One Harry Potter is clearly very familiar with. It's her turn to be excited by the prospect of a fellow Metamorphmagus attending Hogwarts with her. Even if he complies with silliness in the form of bizarrely coloured hair.
Then her heart skips a couple of beats. A pale woman combs the blue hair, a mellow smile on her lips and a loving gaze on her eyes. A woman that looks like an older version of her Mother, as she knows her from the picture on the bedside table. She realizes this woman is the reason behind Aunt Narcissa's stillness. This woman is the owner of that third engraved silver hairbrush she sees in her Aunt's mind sometimes. Andromeda, it says.
X
Narcissa is well aware her niece is onto her inner turmoil and that the girl has already figured out some measure of it. She hopes the train will leave before she has time to explain.
Their eyes meet and Narcissa has to force every fibre of her body to stay still and not run towards her remaining sister. Andromeda's expression doesn't flinch. Perfect indifference for the seconds she looks at her golden-haired sister. A solemn nod of her head before she looks away. One that Narcissa mimics, while her heart sinks to her feet.
She realizes they never really knew her. Bellatrix was always Bella, even to Him. She has been Cissy all her life, except for her husband, who's been calling her Cissa since fifth year. But Andromeda could be Andy, or Meda, or Dromeda. Ever changing. Ever trying to fit into the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. Until that dreadful night Andromeda decided her surname did not fit her.
Andromeda is a Black, after all. Blacks burn people off a tapestry and never rebuild the bridges they scorch. The tie that connected them was severed forty years ago. They stood proudly on opposing sides for decades, never reaching out. Why would they now?
Her sister never comes to her. She will never take a step towards her. True Blacks to the end.
X
Harry Potter is walking towards her family. She is a few steps away, with Syri, Radagast and Reya, as they have come to call her. Sigmund is about a carriage away, desperately trying to get away from his parents before the never ending and embarrassing hugging and kissing starts. Her curiosity gets the best of her when both Draco and Harry look at her simultaneously. She excuses herself and nearly trots to them, before remembering who she is and where she is.
"Who is that boy?" She doesn't even care about letting Harry realize just how much she wants to know. "Good afternoon, nice to see you here", she adds quickly, her manners kicking in a bit too late. Between the boy and the woman who looks like her Mother, her mind is all over the place.
Draco nods to him, giving him permission to do something, she understands. He takes a couple of steps to where she stands.
"Care to walk a while with me? You won't miss the train."
They walk to the other end of the platform, away from her family, and the woman, and the boy. She hears about the both of them for the first time in her life. By the end, she can't resent her family for never telling her; neither can she resent the woman and the boy, Andromeda and Teddy she knows now. The war. For the first time, she understands just how much of an answer it is.
But she is not her Mother. She is not a Black and neither is him. They are a Lestrange and a Lupin. Things could change.
X
Delphini can barely hide her enthusiasm. She is trying to come up with an excuse to leave the compartment alone and go look for the boy. She could never admit to her friends that she was eager to meet someone like her. Delphini Lestrange is the girl others want to meet, not the other way around.
She never uses her excuse. The blue-haired boy shows up at the entrance of their booth fifteen minutes into the journey. He pushes the sliding door open and smiles at her.
"I've been looking for you! Everyone seems to know who you are. I'm Teddy by the way. Teddy Lupin. We're cousins."
He extends his hand; there is nothing but honesty and friendliness in him. So Delphini extends hers too.
"I know. I'm Delphini. I'm sorry about your parents." Her voice lowers a little at the end. She knows her Mother is to blame for half of it.
"Don't be. It's not like we could have done something. I'm sorry about your parents too." They share a shy smile, oddly similar.
The others don't leave the compartment, it's theirs after all, but they sense that Delphini and Teddy have no intention of including them in the conversation. The four of them scoot closer to door, leaving them alone on the opposing seats, closest to the window. They all snort though, when Teddy exhibits his skill by showcasing a complete series of animal appendages, including a pig snout and dog ears. Delphini shakes her head and rolls her eyes at such display, and proceeds to exhibit her skill by mimicking the features of everyone in the booth plus Harry Potter, for the delight of Teddy.
They remain mostly oblivious to the flabbergasted looks of students walking by. The daughter of Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange, vicious Death Eaters, is making friends with the son of Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin, renowned members of the Order of the Phoenix.
He eventually leaves, to grab a snack and find new people to get to know on the train. Delphini tells him to try and stay put in a place so that he can meet other first year students. No doubt his hair caught the attention of some. They will probably be looking for him.
That leaves her mind free to wonder about the past weeks, and Parseltongue, and what the books in Hogwarts may teach her. She eventually forces herself to engage in conversation and leave the matter behind. There is nothing she can do aboard the Hogwarts' Express.
What they can do is plan ahead. A new year means new chances to create chaos and improve their skill at getting away with it.
X
Hogwarts, September 1st, 2009
Minerva McGonagall can't avoid a small sigh of worry. A boy of blue hair, which she met for the first time in the arms of his godfather, is walking gingerly to the Hufflepuff table in the Great Hall. No concern there. What the rest of the people here have missed completely is the co-conspirator wink he trades with a second year student at Slytherin table.
It looks like the Hogwarts' Express has been at work again. This time, it mended family ties while building a friendship. And Minerva is sure her year will not be any calmer for it. The only thing in her favour is that they will not - thank Merlin - share any classrooms. There are an awful lot of corridors, though.
X
September 6th, 2009
It's in every book she has found so far. Every mention of Parseltongue comes with darkness. Dark Arts. Dark Lords. The families of dark wizards and witches. Her gift is one of fear, she understands. Her gift will not be so. It will be her secret, yet another one. Never celebrated, never acknowledged. As rare as it may be, as reverenced as it was centuries before, when it went hand in hand with power, and riches, and blood purity. It's not truly a gift, it's a curse.
And for the first time in her life, she is not so proud of her Mother. She is not so proud of her valor in battle, for she sees what she truly left behind. This heavy, grey thing that will always follow her, no matter what, no matter where. For the first time in her life, she understands the true meaning of belonging to the House of Black. The purest of the wizarding kind, the darkest of families, giving rise to the darkest of gifts.
And for the first time in her life, she truly spares a thought for her Father. She is not so ashamed of his imprisonment, for she sees the justice in it. It wasn't his failure, it is the price he must pay for what he left behind too. Her Mother payed with life. Her Father still does.
She doesn't know much about him. Her family almost never mentions him. Moreover, she never asks. So she gets up, her books on Parseltongue forgotten, scattered all over the table, and wonders through bookshelves, looking for Azkaban this time.
She learns of the people incarcerated there, of how dark and devious they were. She learns of Dementors and of what they do to the prisoners. Her fear is back. A lot of the people imprisoned were parselmouths. Again, her gift and darkness share common ground and it overwhelms her.
She is utterly unaware of her surroundings when Madam Pince comes for her. She tells her it's time to go to bed, as she gathers the books, eyebrows rising at the titles.
"Dark themes for your age, don't you think?"
Delphini hears a gasp from the witch's lips. She knows her eyes must have turned red for a moment. She needs absolute control of that too. She can feel her magic stirring and she remembers this feeling, this dark thing inside her. She can't let it happen again, never.
She gets up from the table and storms out of the library. Curfew be damned, she needs to keep away from people right now. She wishes she were home, so that she could fly to the stream and let the water calm her down. She considers getting her broom, but realizes she is far too upset to keep her wits about her in the way she needs to if she means to evade Filch and Peeves.
She decides for the Astronomy Tower. She will look for the stars of her name. She will let the cold wind soothe her, maybe let some tears down. When she feels ready, she will go down to the dungeons once more, let a few drops off a vial hidden at the bottom of her trunk onto her pillow and sleep. Deeply and dreamlessly, she hopes.
She takes her wand out of her robes to light her way, and starts walking through the dark.
Author's Notes: Hello again, everyone. Last chapter before Christmas. Depending on my bunnies and on my writing tonight and tomorrow, there may be side-pieces uploaded before the next chapter. As always, extremely grateful for your thoughts.
If you're the guest who reviewed the last chapter, thanks for noticing the little things.
UPDATE: 24/12/2017 There are two more side pieces uploaded. You can now find Bring Me a Dream and In the Name of the Father in my works. Merry Christmas everyone!