CHAPTER: Unchained
Granger and Lovegood had been released from the hospital earlier in the week after a long stay. Delphi heard about it from Narcissa, who was updated by Draco and Pansy. The Dark Lord's daughter believed it was time to settle things with Albus Dumbledore and the ministry Six, plus Parkinson and young Malfoy. She sent the headmaster a letter indicating such and leaving another matter open for discussion if he was interested.
Since Delphi had purchased the land to the apartment complex as well as the building itself (using the Lestrange Vault), she made money renting most of the flats out to tenants. But she also commissioned some Gringotts's finest goblin curse breakers to have the top floor warded for the purpose of maintaining magical expansion via the permanent undetectable expansion runes. It was basically a similar though more powerful version of the runes Delphi had all over her clothes to allow for her hilariously 'infinite' pockets. To put it simply as one of Zelda's new favorite television shows would: each top floor flat was bigger on the inside.
Delphi filled a bowl from the large pot of chicken soup with egg noodles she and Narcissa had prepared. Bullying the former Malfoy Matriarch into kitchen labour was one of the highlights of Delphi's week. Levitating the two bowls of soup and a generous plate of toasted baguette, finished by two empty cups; Delphi made her way out of her personal flat and into the one across the hallway. The door opened for her automatically and she glided across the threshold into a flat no less luxurious than the one she and her daughter slept in. "Are you awake?" Delphi called out once the door closed and locked itself behind her. She walked over to the dining table and set down the food she had brought.
There was a strange sound as something large dragged itself along the fine carpet before a hissing response had Delphi rolling her eyes. "Look, I brought us food to share. I even added the extra chicken into this one as you requested, and I brought us baguette instead of the healthier wheat and multigrain stuff you hate this time. See? I can learn. Now come on out!" Delphi's tone did that thing where even when sounding imperious, it carried undertones of kindness. She wanted to talk. There was another sharper hiss before Delphi spluttered, "Are you still not over this? Look you, how was I supposed to know you didn't want to eat human corpses anymore? I got it fresh just for you too," she muttered as the dragging along the carpet got louder.
The dragging got louder as a great reticulated python pushing six metres slithered around the corner. She had grown dramatically since being severed from the Dark Lord's servitude. The python looked up at the witch, coiling beneath herself so as to rise to Delphi's eye-height not unlike a cobra. The python then rose slightly higher than Delphi's height, which Delphi identified as simple pettiness for her earlier jab about eating corpses. "Okay. I won't bring you anymore people to eat whole, happy?" Delphi asked with a grin.
She reached up slightly and stroked the snake gently above its eyes. Its body suddenly shifted; darkness bloomed from her scales like ink spilling over her body and seemed to encapsulate the whole of the reticulated python's body until she looked like a three-dimensional silhouette. And then the silhouette rapidly shrank and changed form to that of a tall woman. The new woman stood at an inch or so short of six foot even. The shadowy silhouette appearance sunk into the woman's skin to reveal a very pretty Asian woman in her early thirties or late twenties.
"Nagini, how are you feeling today?" Delphi asked as Nagini drew in a deep breath, adjusting to the difference in form.
Nagini made to respond in English but her voice was raspy and unused. She resorted to snake-speak, which was still raspy, but easier on her vocal cords since hissing was mostly just controlling the air passing her lips. "I dreamt his memories last night again. Are you sure you purged his essence from me? Sundered his soul fragment from my own whole one?" The deep sapphire dress and cloak she wore fluttered about her on a nonexistent breeze.
Delphi nodded and gently patted the Maledictus' cheek. "I am sure. I'm only sorry I couldn't save you from Voldemort before he…" Delphi trailed off darkly.
"Tainted me. Violated my body and soul in ways that would make even you balk. Corrupted my will so far that I became a cannibal? Is that what you were alluding to, dark child?" Nagini finished for the much younger woman in front of her. There was a hint of smirk Nagini at her former Master's daughter's obviously uncomfortable demeanour.
Delphi swallowed before replying quietly and fiercely, "Yes. That. I'm sorry for not arriving earlier on this timeline to save you, and even when I had learned of your plight, that my father's legendary servant was actually a sapient woman and not just a clever soul anchor, I waited still until I knew father would leave you unattended so I could perform the blood sacrifices to free you; soul and body," Delphi said with an almost uncharacteristic somberness.
Delphini's mind wandered to the horrors she committed to fuel the blood magic that first separated the Horcrux from its living host, Nagini, and transferred it into a briefly liberated muggle mass shooter Delphi could incinerate without a care. Twelve other men's lifeforce was required for that one. Delphi had fun making her selections from several different muggle maximum-security prisons. Finding the ritual that could move a soul from one being to another required delving into some deeply disturbing texts that Delphi was sure her father would have had a much more enjoyable time researching than she did.
The second ritual was one that ended up requiring a permanent and deeply personal tether between Nagini and Delphi. It wasn't a blood adoption, or marriage vow, but it tied Nagini to Delphini intimately. It was necessary to break the Maledictus curse that trapped the woman in her snake form.
Before meeting Nagini, Delphi initially decided not to go ahead with the ritual. But thanks to the art of Legillimancy and a moment of curiosity, she delved into Nagini's unprotected mind once the Horcrux was gone, a few days before the ministry battle.
Nagini's mindscape took the form of Nurmengard Prison. Once Delphini was through searching for the Nagini's consciousness she found there was in fact a woman, a human woman, trapped in the darkest corner of her own mind, hiding from the soul fragment Voldemort forced into her. The look in her eyes when she saw Delphi there in her mindscape, showing her beyond any shadow of doubt that Nagini's true self was unsullied by Voldemort… Delphini knew that saving Nagini from her hereditary curse was something she had to do. Nagini reminded her too much of herself when she was young and helpless. If for no other reason than to aid one of her father's most brutalized victims, she needed to help this woman.
Nagini tentatively reached up a hand from the table to clasp Delphi's and responded, "You didn't know about my true nature until the end of your tutelage with that abomination of a wizard. Grindelwald may have been a powerful teacher, but the idea of you spending so long in his presence makes me uneasy on your behalf."
"I'm touched, but even had he tried anything…untoward with me, I'm strong enough to obliterate him," Delphi said with a confident smirk. "It was the first thing I made sure he knew about me. And other than his knowledge, there was nothing that wretch of a wizard had that enticed me," Nagini gave a small smile back. Delphi was elated at the slight though noticeable change to Nagini's usual stoic expression.
"Is transforming back and forth still ah, painful? I know it's a different sort of magic you used to call on decades ago in order to shift between forms. Our bond has made me even stronger than I was before and changed some of my affinities. I was wondering if you were already experiencing the benefits of the ritual?"
Nagini nodded as she gingerly sat down. "It hurts, but not nearly as much as the first few times."
Delphi nodded, "I wasn't expecting much better. I suppose our bond isn't as deep a wellspring for you just yet. That will improve soon enough. You'll be able to cast spells even without a wand in time, at least I hope you will." As if to demonstrate, she waved her hand and her spoon levitated and began feeding her from her bowl independent of any hands.
Chuckling, Nagini looked skeptical about that but she didn't contradict Delphini. Delphi wondered about something and decided to bring it up as Nagini had a unique insight she couldn't easily discount. "I'm going to meet Albus Dumbledore tonight," Nagini's eyebrows flew up at that. She literally dropped her spoon in shock, thankfully it was empty at that moment.
"Dumbledore? My L–Voldemort has mentioned the man grew a beard, a long one. The Dumbledore I knew would've slapped his elder self if that is true." Delphi frowned slightly at the nauseated expression that flitted across Nagini's face as 'My Lord' nearly passed her lips. But she couldn't deny she thought the idea of young Dumbledore abhorring a long beard fiercely hilarious. And it was even funnier that something so innocuous was the first thing Nagini thought of when the powerful wizard was mentioned.
Nothing was said for a couple minutes while they both just ate, and Nagini thought back to the close-trimmed beard she remembered on Professor Dumbledore as Grindelwald's War was starting.
"It reaches his navel. It's an inspiration to old wizards everywhere." Delphini said with a grin. "I need to give him an explanation for some things if I don't want him as an enemy. While I could kill him if it indeed came to violence, it would be tedious. I killed Lord Voldemort. I did it right before his eyes, and I don't want him prying into my business. Besides," Delphi paused to take a bite of toast and wash it down with the rest of her soup. "There is something further I want, and only Dumbledore can give it to me. Also, there's the matter of fulfilling my oath to Grindelwald."
Nagini looked up sharply, "What?" she hissed.
Delphi sighed. "He said he wanted to see his old lover, Dumbledore, one final time. And I was to make that meeting happen." Delphi dipped one of the toasts into her soup then ate it after coiling a long noodle on top of it like an avant-garde open-faced sandwich. "Grindelwald is mortally ill. He'll be dead in a year, maybe two if he's very lucky. Prison was not kind to him, though I think it could have been a bit crueler for the part he played in WWII." Delphi muttered as she remembered doing the research into the man's connection to the Third Reich. Grindelwald wasn't as involved with the Nazi Regime as she initially believed, but it was enough that it made the man irredeemable in Delphini's eyes. She truly did just use him for his knowledge and combat tactics he could teach her.
"Does Dumbledore possess the Elder wand?" Nagini asked. Delphi raised her eye at that. "It was common knowledge that Grindelwald had it. If Dumbledore truly defeated him, it would belong to him now, no? Perhaps the old prisoner wants to nick it off Dumbledore during his visit?"
Delphini shrugged. "Grindelwald's intentions won't matter. Dumbledore's not that much of a fool as to bring such a weapon within spitting distance of his ex-boyfriend like that. So, do you want to join me? I confess I'd like it if you were there," Delphi smiled at her breakfast companion. Nagini looked a little confused, but Delphi didn't clarify her feelings further.
"You'll protect me?" Nagini asked carefully.
"With my life," Delphini responded without hesitation.
"Alright then," Nagini pushed the empty bowl in front of her towards Delphi and got up slowly from her chair. "I'm going to take a nap, wake me when you want to leave,"
"One thing, did you want a wand before we go to Hogwarts?" Delphi asked.
"I've never been able to cast magic before, Underbeing, remember?" Nagini said with a sneer. Her malice was directed at Delphi, but society in general.
Delphi rose from her chair and stepped over to the shorter woman. "Things are different now, for starters, I'm a half-blood, and I'm the most powerful person in the world in terms of martial strength. You are now tied to me, and me to you. If you'd allow it, I'd very much like to gift you a wand. There's no pressure to try it, but I never want you to have to rely on me when you're out and about." Delphi said as she gently cupped Nagini's chin, making the Maledictus look up to meet Delphi's eyes. They stayed like that for perhaps longer than either were entirely comfortable, though neither made a move to stray from the other's touch.
"You can carry a knife or something too if you want," Delphi finally smirked. Nagini chuckled and the tension of the moment was gone.
"Very well, Delphini, I'll indulge your curiosity. We'll go to Garrick's first." Nagini breathed out.
"I keep forgetting you know all these people from before my dad was born. I wonder if anybody's called Ollivander 'Garrick' other than his family in all that time?" Delphi grinned at Nagini's slight grimace. "I'm not calling you old, you're still well fit. But it's always peculiar to be reminded of it every once in a while." Nagini rolled her eyes.
"I'm going to take a nap for real now. Wake me when you want to depart. Maybe we can stop by after the meeting for some supper? Or will you be dining with your Aunt and Daughter tonight?" Nagini asked. She noticed Delphi's slight bloom of freckles all turn an unnatural pink, courtesy of her metamorphagus traits. But before Nagini could comment on that, Delphi rallied.
"That sounds lovely. I'll put Zelda down to bed before we leave, or rope Auntie Narcissa into doing it. She's grown rather fond of the little hellion," Delphi said affectionately as she thought of the mischief her daughter had been causing for Narcissa over the last couple months.
Nagini smiled, and then without a further word, walked back to her room, where Delphi could hear as well as feel the woman shift back into her python form to sleep in. Nagini was still more used to being a snake than a human, and Delphini didn't begrudge her that comfort at all.
All in all, things had settled pretty quickly in Delphi's household in the short months after the Ministry Battle. Without access to Malfoy Manor, other than the personal items (and wardrobe) Kreacher was able to recover, Narcissa was now living with Delphi and Zelda. Delphi had brought her into the fold, told her about Zelda's previous identity of Bellatrix. Even though Delphi believed Narcissa genuinely wouldn't divulge the secret, an Unbreakable Vow was made to ensure her silence all the same. Similar oaths were extracted from the Tonks family. Though only Narcissa was the only other adult who knew about Nagini's residence with them.
Andromeda was surprisingly emotional at the opportunity to get to know the small girl her big sister could have been had she grown up without evil parents who sold her to the highest bidder when she was a teenager. Andromeda couldn't help but be glad that this time around, Bellatrix/Zelda wasn't saddled with looking after two unruly sisters to boot. Delphi remembered one of her earlier conversations with Narcissa with a chuckle to herself.
"What do you mean, mind-healer?" Narcissa had asked one morning in late July.
"I've been going to a few sessions with one. I don't understand the fuss," Delphi replied with a raised eyebrow as she typed away on her laptop. It took Narcissa weeks to accept the various muggle devices Delphi had integrated into her life as a witch and a mother. She drew the line at giving Zelda a tablet though. The kid could learn to read a book instead.
"It's not dignified," Narcissa almost whispered as if discussing the topic whatsoever was taboo.
Delphi considered her auntie for a moment before saying, "I didn't realise that there really are generational differences. In my time, mental health is a part of the social discourse and not some dirty secret whispered about at awkward family gatherings." Delphi narrowed her eyes before amending, "Well that sort of shit happens too I suppose, but acceptance of such things has come a long way in a relatively short amount of time."
Narcissa huffed and returned her attention to her edition of the Daily Prophet. She knew she couldn't win arguments when Delphi cheated and brought up time travel. For all she knew, Delphi could be lying to her face, but without any way to prove it, she'd have to take her niece's word for it.
"I think I'm going to switch my therapist though," Delphi mused.
"Oh? Is Miss Delacour not up to snuff?" Narcissa drawled.
Delphi shot her an annoyed glance before saying, "I think it's bad form to know what your therapist is like in bed. Or, at least it's one of those unwritten rules of social propriety or some shite. She's divine in bed by the way." Delphi grinned in a manner that could only be described as lecherous.
Narcissa almost spilled her coffee down her front. "What?"
"Oh, yeah. Fleur helped me make a little headway into identifying my anger triggers. I've got a multitude of other problems, some of which I'm loath to discuss at all, but I wouldn't risk tainting her career by sleeping with the girl while she's my mind-healer. I'm not necessarily looking for a relationship with the girl, but in the meantime, I'm quite content to spend as much time between her legs as I can. I do take some things into consideration. Her career is worth more than life-changing orgasms." Despite Delphi's explanation, Narcissa still wore the same scandalized expression. "Oh, it's the girl thing. You're upset I'm seeing another woman. Or are you scandalized because it's casual and not courting?" Delphi emphasized 'courting' to rub in Narcissa's face the dissonance of such an aristocratic expression describing a same-sex relationship.
"I…well, yes. You're head of our House. Some rules of propriety bloody well should be followed," Narcissa replied.
"Like?" Delphi asked with a smirk.
Narcissa glared at her niece. "You know exactly what I mean. Stepping out with a woman, for starters."
Delphi just looked at her aunt with a pitying gaze. "I take it you've never dabbled with the fairer sex?"
"No! What do you take me fore?" Narcissa somehow managed to look even more scandalized as evidenced by her flaming cheeks.
"Perhaps you should. Your relationship with Lucius was obviously loveless. You haven't complained once about the dissolution of your marriage to him," Delphi pointed out. "Maybe you're just repressing what you really need? Explore a little! What have you got to lose at this point? I'm sure a word to Fleur and she'd be willing to ah, show you the ropes so to speak. And despite being my aunt, I will admit you are an objectively attractive woman, for any age. Seriously, when I'm in my late thirties, I want to still look twenty-five too."
"My dignity," Narcissa huffed haughtily, completely ignoring all of Delphi's praise.
"Well, if you're worried about me making heirs or whatever, I already have one in Zelda, so that issue's been nipped in the bud. Besides, I'm a metamorphagus, which leads to extra possibilities if you understand what I mean," Delphi smirked at how progressing uncomfortable her aunt was getting with this conversation. Narcissa managed to look even more horrified at Delphi's innuendo. Delphi rolled her eyes.
Delphi's wards pinged. "I'll stop torturing you now Auntie. There' s an owl for me. I'm going to step out for a bit. Zelda! We're going out again!"
Delphi felt her isolated P.O. box (by wizard standards) fill with mail, which pinged her wards in her flat to let her know. The toddler came sprinting out of her room with Kreacher on her tail. "Young Miss! You can't be out and about with your hair in that state!"
Zelda's hair was indeed a mess. Delphi chuckled as the girl made a beeline to her and hid behind her legs from the house-elf. Narcissa looked down at the toddler who used to be her eldest sister and still wasn't exactly sure what to feel. On one hand, there was a part of her that hated Delphi for essentially destroying all that Bellatrix ever was. The bad with the good, purged alike. Zelda would never remember the early Christmases with Andy and Cissi or teaching Narcissa how to fly a broom. Andromeda explaining to an exasperated Bellatrix how to play Wizard's Chess. All of that was gone. But so was the near decade and a half hell that was Azkaban prison. So was her horrific marriage contract, sold like a slave to the Lestrange Family when she was a teenager. While Bella had somehow made that shitshow of a situation work for a time, it just led her into a dark path she never strayed from.
Narcissa wasn't a saint by any means. There were graves full as evidence of her intervention in the Ministry's 'politics', but she never enjoyed it; even if her victims deserved to suffocate at the dinner table in front of their children and spouses.
But the giggling little girl in front of Narcissa as pure in a way that she knew her sister never had been allowed to be. Bellatrix may have hid her bruises well, but Narcissa remembered as a child when Bella would limp back into their room in the night from 'I was just…getting midnight snack and I tripped on the stairs, go back to sleep Cissi!'. Bellatrix always was careful about hiding the evidence of their father's belt, or mother's switch when she got 'uppity'.
Narcissa shuddered as Zelda lost the chase with Kreacher. The elf snapped his fingers, arranging the young girl's red-streaked ravenette hair in an off-center yet elegant ponytail.
"Come now Zelda, you look adorable like that, why did you give Kreacher such trouble?" Delphi asked with a grin, so she knew Zelda wasn't really being chastised.
"I wanna to do it myself," Zelda muttered stubbornly. Narcissa couldn't help but mirror her niece's amused smile at the girl's cute response.
"Do you know how?" Narcissa asked with a raised eyebrow.
"…no?" Zelda muttered back.
"I'll teach you later, little one." The endearment made Zelda's head tilt up in confusion.
"Little one? I'm not little!" Zelda pouted. It just made Narcissa chuckle and Delphi laughed before sweeping her new daughter off her feet.
"Until I can't pick you up like this anymore, you're the little one, got it?" Delphi teased before kissing Zelda's forehead.
The toddler giggled at the kiss and burrowed her head into Delphi's collarbone. "Okay. How do you feel about going out today? I need to talk to an old man and a bunch of teenagers. Do you want to stay here and have supper with Auntie Cissi and Kreacher or come along to a boring hours long conversation among adults?" Delphi wasn't exactly subtle with what she wanted her daughter to choose. But she wasn't unwilling to bring Zelda along.
Zelda made a show of thinking about it real hard. "Auntie Cissi," she decided.
Delphi planted a kiss on her daughter's forehead, which Zelda tried and failed to squirm away from, and plopped her back on the ground. "Well, that's fine. I've left some extra soup in the refrigerator, so you can just have auntie heat it up," Narcissa pointedly looked at Kreacher who nodded reassuringly. He wasn't going to let his mistresses cook if he could help it.
"I'm going to go now, I'll probably be back after you're asleep," Delphi explained to her daughter, who nodded.
"Can we watch movie?" Zelda asked shyly.
"Of course. Just don't stay up too late, Belle, alright?" Delphi replied with a grin. Her daughter nodded.
Delphi looked over Zelda's head at Narcissa pointedly. Her aunt nodded reassuringly; they'd be fine without her for the evening. "Alright, I'm off," Delphi said as she marched out the door dramatically. Zelda giggled, and Delphi internally congratulated herself before shutting the door and priming the wards.
It had been a solid ten hours or so since she'd had breakfast with Nagini. And when she entered Nagini's flat, the woman was actually awake on her own and sipping tea while reading The Lord of the Rings. "I'm not interrupting am I?" Delphi said gently as she knocked on the already open door. Nagini already had her long evening dress that fluttered about her ankles. Though under that she wore dark slacks rather than stockings. She wasn't too keen on her legs feeling uncovered, even while wearing a dress, and she wasn't too fond of the frailty of stockings. It was a little gothic for Delphi's taste, but it had blue accents that she could certainly appreciate.
Nagini grinned and shook her head. She placed her makeshift bookmark, a scrap of newspaper, and shut the book. She downed the rest of her tea and put the cup next to the sink. "You know I can just wash that for you right?" Delphi ventured as she saw Nagini produce the dish soap and begin to wash out her cup manually.
"When you go decades without being able to use your hands, it's something you can't really get enough of. Even if the task is mundane as this." Nagini said as she finished the cup and laid it in the dish drainer. "I'm ready." She ignored the smirk that Delphi was giving her until Delphi decided Nagini wouldn't admit to having accidentally insinuating something saucy there.
"Let's go!" Delphi smiled as she threw on the coat she'd been carrying under her arm. It wasn't the same one she wore at the ministry. It was bluer, to match Nagini's dress. Delphini held out her arm in an almost exaggerated gentlemanly fashion, which got Nagini to grin a little. She took Delphi's arm firmly to her side as they disparate in a blur.