Eyes Red and Green 1
She coughed. She coughed hard, feeling the metallic tang of blood touch her lips. A glance to the side revealed a bleeding shoulder, trickling down from a nasty gash courtesy of a stray curse. Harriet wiped her mouth absentmindedly, looking at the two Death Eaters who lay dead at her feet.
Kicking the mask off one of them, she grimaced at the revealed identity, Rookwood. It explained the gash on her shoulder. There was a form of grudging respect, the defected Unspeakable landing a blow despite the many defected Aurors trying the same. After all, being an Unspeakable had been a dream of hers.
Harriet continued down the battered hallways of Hogwarts, frowning in disgust at the dead students scattered about. Whose idea was it to allow them to stay?
A lone figure was kneeling over one of the bodies, waving her wand as she attempted to stem the blood loss. Harriet would recognise that bushy hair from anywhere.
"Hermione," she called out.
The girls whirled around in surprise, eyes widening in shock.
"H-Harriet!? You're alive? We thought you died!"
She gave a tired shrug as her close friend smashed against her body with a tight hug. She allowed Hermione the moment for several seconds before pushing her back.
"Where is he?" Harriet asked.
"You can't," Hermione replied immediately, fear seeping in her voice. "You need to leave, it's too dangerous... We can't lose you again."
"Hermione..." Harriet sighed. "I want an answer."
"He... he's launching another assault. They'd have breached the main hall by now."
Harriet left without another word, swiftly moving along the hallways she knew like the back of her hand. It did not take long for her to reach her destination. As she came nearer the sounds of spell and the din of battle grew louder. She entered just in time to see Professor McGonagall crash onto the floor, thrown back by the force of colliding spells.
Her wand was already moving and she cast her spell. The black lances flying towards her professor were promptly deflected, the change in trajectory sending the curse towards the walls. Her jet-black hair whipped about from the force of the colliding lances but her steps did not falter.
A pregnant pause filled the air as everyone looked to see the caster. Gasps of surprise echoed in the main hall. Harriet ignored them, focused solely on the foe in front of her.
"Voldemort," Harriet said curtly.
His countenance changed from anger to excitement when he realised the identity of his latest challenger. There was an almost fond grin on his face, his red eyes brimming with elation.
"Harriet, how lovely to see you-"
His mouth moved to continue speaking but Harriet gave him no further opportunity, the first spell leaving her wand and cutting off the rest of Voldemort's sentence. Thus began the duel which decided the fate of Wizarding Britain.
"Delphini, dinner is ready."
The holler reached the garden and caught the ear of a girl outside. She looked away from the bed of plants mommy grew, she was just about to put a twig into the mouth of a Chinese Chomping Cabbage but now it was suddenly dinner.
She really wanted to find out what would happen but she had to go. If she did not, mommy would come out and realise she was in that part of the garden she was told not to enter. Also, she did feel hungry.
"Sorry Mr Cabbage, but I got to go," she apologised hastily before running to the house.
It was a small two storey house, painted in light beige. The chimney protruding from the roof was one of the few - the only one she reckoned - in the quiet neighbourhood which still had smoke rising out. She stopped at the doorstep, taking care to brush away the soil on her skirt and knees. The last thing she wanted was for Kreacher to get unhappy.
Pushing the door open, Delphini made her way to the kitchen where the smell of chicken minestrone made her drool in anticipation. Mommy was standing over a pot, ladling the stew into a bowl. Before she could announce her presence, a gravelly noise made her jump.
"Once again, Young Miss entered the house dirty."
Delphini turned around and flushed in embarrassment as the old house elf frowned in disapproval. She muttered an apology before bounding over to mommy. Grabbing the hem of mommy's shirt, she tried in vain to tiptoe up for a better view.
"Minestrone?" Delphini asked.
"Yes dear," mommy replied, setting the bowl aside and kneeling down. "Hmm... Kreacher's right, you're a little worse for wear from your romp in the garden."
A wand appeared in mommy's hand and Delphini felt all the icky feeling on her skin disappear. She stared at mommy's wand with a hint of envy.
"When can I do that?"
"You're only four," mommy ran her hand through Delphini's silver locks. "You've got a long way to go."
Delphini looked at mommy, the woman's green eyes staring at her. She always wondered why she looked so different from mommy. She had smooth silky silver hair while mommy's was a messy shade of black. Her features were more sharp and angular while mommy's was more soft and curved. Not that it was bad, it was a good thing, it made mommy look more… mommy.
The only feature she shared with mommy was the green eyes and even then it was just her right eye, her left eye was a deep shade of red. And even then, the green in mommy's eyes looked so much duller than hers and had dark circles beneath. It was like a wilted flower, but that did not make sense, mommy was younger and stronger than the crabby old ladies in the neighbourhood.
"Kreacher has set the table," the house elf declared, breaking the moment.
"I was going to do that myself," mommy frowned, standing back up and ushering Delphini to the dining room.
"That would be improper," said Kreacher pointedly. "Mistress should leave these matters in Kreacher's hands, and that includes cooking."
"How many times have I said," mommy rolled her eyes. "Leave the garden and cooking to me, I actually enjoy those. You can feel free to do the rest."
Kreacher gave a sniff before disappearing with a crack, likely off to clean some part of the house. Delphini giggled, Kreacher might act like a meanie but Delphini knew the elf was a big softie at heart. When Delphini was younger, she had thought the grumbling Kreacher was a meanie. She had run to mommy crying about it and it was there mommy told her not to judge someone on the outside. Mommy said to look past how someone spoke and acted, instead she should see what someone does and why they did it.
Then, she slowly realised Kreacher was a meanie on the outside but a softie on the inside. The old elf grumbled, but everything he did was to help her because like mommy, the elf loved her. When she told mommy, mommy placed a finger on her lips and told her to keep it a secret from Kreacher. Delphini had giggled and agreed, Kreacher would want to be seen as a meanie and tattling would make Kreacher look bad. As mommy said, just knowing what someone is like on the inside is good enough.
Hopping onto the dining chair, Delphini gushed at the minestrone, mommy decided to cook it with the cute alphabet pasta instead of plain spiral ones. She had been begging mommy to do so when she saw them at the supermarket. She looked at mommy in excitement, wondering what the special occasion was.
However, mommy was already eating, unperturbed by the situation. Mommy finally looked up and saw Delphini, frowning slightly at her wide smile.
"Did you discover something in the garden?"
"No, the minestrone," Delphini exclaimed. "You used the alphabets!"
Mommy looked down at her bowl, as though only discovering the fact.
"Hmm… so I did, glad you like it," said mommy. "I'll try and do it more often."
Just like that, mommy returned to eating her meal. Delphini pouted for a second before giggling once again, mommy looked up and raised an eyebrow.
"Anything, dear?"
"Nope," Delphini grinned, placing a finger on her lips. "It's a secret."
Delphini was sure mommy wanted to be seen as a cold stonie, no point tattling to make mommy look bad. It was fine enough for Delphini to know mommy was a softie inside.
However, it would be nice if mommy was a softie more often.
As a matter of fact, mommy almost never smiled. Mommy liked to frown a lot, but she almost never smiled. Delphini supposed that was why many people thought mommy was a meanie. When she went to the supermarket with mommy earlier today, a crabby old lady tried talking to her and she hid behind mommy, the lady talked with mommy and ended up telling mommy 'don't be too harsh on your daughter'. Delphini could not believe it, the old lady was the real meanie if anything.
She stabbed her crayon a little harder than intended, scrawling various words on a piece of paper as she practiced her letters. Mommy had given her a list of words to practice, saying that she was growing up and that she could move on to the big words. As she finished her last word, she looked at her work in satisfaction. The last word had been her name, Delphini Violet Potter.
"Mommy, I'm all done," Delphini exclaimed, picking up the pieces of paper and launching herself onto mommy's lap.
As usual, mommy tousled her hair and she snuggled against mommy's warmth. Whenever she was in the living room playing or reading, mommy would bring her work to the living room to accompany her. Mommy would sit on the carpet with her and spread her work on the coffee table. Delphini raised up her papers and mommy accepted them, bringing them up to read. While mommy was busy, Delphini sat herself up and stared in wonderment at mommy's work.
Unlike the letters she was practicing, the letters that mommy was writing were so different. She did not know what they meant but they all looked very pretty, intersecting curves and lines with dots and squiggles here and there. It was nicer than her boring 'o's and difficult 'g's, and mommy was allowed to write them into nice shapes like circles and triangles while she had to follow lines. All in all, they looked very cool.
"Mommy, what is this one?" Delphini pointed to one of the pretty alphabets which looked familiar.
"That would be the rune sowilo, which - on its own - would mean Sun," explained mommy.
"It looks like the mark you have on your forehead."
There was a pause as mommy considered her words.
"I suppose it does, very observant of you."
Delphini swelled at the praise, leaning back into mommy in satisfaction.
"What does mommy mean by 'on its own'?"
"Well… like the letter 'i', on its own, it would mean myself. But if you put it with a 'c' and 'e'..."
"It changes to 'ice'!" Delphini chirped. "But letters like 'g' have no meaning on their own."
"Well, these letters do, that's why each of them is given a name, like sowilo."
"Ahhh…" Delphini sounded in understanding. "That's very neat."
"Also, good job on your writing," said mommy, handing back Delphini the pieces of paper. "But the 'p' in your name is written backwards."
"Okay," Delphini nodded as a question leapt into her mind. "What about my name? Where did Delphini come from?"
"Let's see… Delphini comes from the constellation Delphinus, which is a group of stars in the sky that symbolises the dolphin," mommy explained as her hands absentmindedly drew Delphini into a hug. "It is a tradition of the Black family to have stars for names."
"What's a black family?" Delphini asked curiously.
"No dear, the Black family, Black is the name not a description," mommy corrected gently. "It is the family of my godfather, I followed their naming tradition in honour of him."
There had been a lot of big words mommy used that Delphini did not understand but she got the idea.
"Is a godfather like Auntie Hermione but a boy instead of a girl?"
"That's correct."
"Wow… did he bring you sweets like Auntie Hermione does?" Delphini turned to face mommy
"Not all the time," mommy answered. "Most of the time, he sent me letters."
A smile crept up on mommy's face and Delphini's eyes widened in surprise. She could hardly remember the scant times mommy truly smiled and here it was. She did not know what to say, rather, she wanted to say many things but simply did not know the words for it. All she knew was that the green in mommy's eyes were no longer dull but a lively vivid like hers.
Mommy looked so much better like this, why didn't mommy smile more?
"What happened to your godfather?"
It was like her words had broken a spell and the colour left mommy's eyes returning to a duller shade of green. Mommy rested her chin gently on Delphini's head and she suddenly felt very bad.
"He left, to a very far away place."
When she felt the hair grow wet, Delphini felt even worse. She felt like she was the worst. She made mommy cry.
Rain poured down unrelentingly and hardly a ray of sun could seep through the thick clouds. Delphini sat waiting at the doorsteps of the primary school, waiting patiently albeit glumly for mommy to come pick her up. Mommy was usually early, already waiting at the school gates by the time the bell rang. However, mommy said she would be slightly late today as she had something to do with Auntie Hermione.
"Violet, is your mother not here yet?" Ms Taylor, her maths teacher, asked.
Mommy had said that her middle name was for the non-magical world, but it felt unfamiliar. Delphini preferred her first name, especially when there were three other Violets in her class.
"No," Delphini mumbled.
"It's alright, Violet," Ms Taylor patted her head reassuringly. "I'm sure she'll come soon."
Delpini nodded mutely, but Ms Taylor had gotten it wrong. It was not because mommy was late that she was unhappy, it was because of her class earlier. She looked at her reflection in the window and frowned, she really did not look like mommy. It was quite hard to make friends in school, she should have accepted mommy's offer when she first started school to turn her hair black and both her eyes green whenever she had to go to school.
Now, not many people in her class wanted to be friends with her, not with her strange appearance. The teachers were nice enough to scold the student who made fun of her silver hair and mismatched eyes but it still stung. However, the sting reached another level after today's class presentation. They were supposed to talk about their parents and bring along photos to show.
Delphini realised very quickly that she was the odd one out and she realised just as quickly why mommy's frown had been particularly deep when she brought up the presentation during dinner and asked for a photo. Needless to say, when it was her turn, the English teacher had never looked more awkward and the jeers thrown at her had felt like more than just a sting, it felt like a nail against her heart.
"Cheer up, Violet," Ms Taylor pointed. "Your mother's here."
Mommy had an umbrella in her hand as she walked over, no words were spoken as Delphini dashed into her waiting arms.
"Thank goodness you're here Ms Potter," said Ms Taylor. "And… would you need me to call for a cab? The weather is quite unpleasant."
"It's quite alright… Ms Taylor, is that right?" mommy replied. "We'll make do, our place isn't too far off."
The walk back home was silent, Delphini was grateful that the umbrella had been magicked to keep them warm and dry.
"The other students made fun of me today," Delphini sniffed. "It's not fair."
"No, it isn't"
"Then WHY!?" Delphini yelled, tears threatening to leak from the edges of her eyes. "Why am I the only one without a father!?"
"Dear," mommy knelt down to her level, ignoring that her pants were now soaked. "The world doesn't treat everyone equally."
"WHY!?"
"Because that's how the world works," mommy replied calmly, hugging Delphini as she dug her face into mommy's jacket. "Everyone is born differently, in different circumstances, for better or for worse. People are born children of the king and queen and people are also born children of the poor and homeless. We can't choose every fine detail of our life, we simply make do with what we have."
"Mommy makes it sound so easy," Delphini muttered.
"But it's not," said mommy, running her hand down Delphini's silver hair. "When I was your age, I had a similar presentation as you."
"Really?"
"Yes, and did you know what happened?"
"What?"
"I did not have a single picture to bring, not a single thing to say and everyone in the class made fun of me too."
"Then what did you do?" Delphini asked.
"I hate it, every single day, every single one of them. But in the end I found a way, and what did I do? Not a single thing, I learnt not to care about the nasty words the other children threw at me," mommy released Delphini from the hug to look her in the eye. "And do you know why?"
Delphini shook her head and mommy gently tweaked her nose.
"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. You're not just the brightest star in my life but also the toughest flower that stands strong through the winter, got it?"
"Okay," Delphini mumbled, grabbing mommy's hand as they continued along the sidewalk.
Maybe Violet was not so bad as a middle name, she probably deserved it more than the other Violets in her class.
"Mommy."
"Yes dear?"
"Will… will you tell me about father?" Delphini said tentatively.
It was an unspoken rule to never bring up family in conversations with mommy. Father, grandparents and cousins, those were questions mommy would never answer. All that would happen was mommy saying 'I'll explain when you're older' and becoming sad. It was just her and mommy in the family, and maybe Auntie Hermione and Auntie Luna - though Auntie Luna can be too dotty for her sometimes.
Delphini was fine with everything being just her and mommy, but it did not feel fair that everyone else had fathers to brag about.
Mommy stiffened up, the pace in her steps more tense.
"When you're older," mommy replied.
At least mommy never snapped like some teacher when asked with questions they did not like to answer. Mommy was gentle in her tone, sounding very tired instead.
"Why do I have to wait until I'm older?" Delphini asked.
"Why do I insist that you wait until you're older for some of the stories from Beedle the Bard?"
"Because those stories will give me nightmares?"
Mommy nodded.
"Then was father's story a scary one?"
"Yes"
Harriet deflected the incoming curse with a spell of her own, jets of red and blue bouncing off one another. The magical shockwave from the collision of spells threw nearly everyone in the main hall off balance, everyone but her. The battle had almost died down when the duel began, neither side willing to commit any more of their strength until the fate of their respective champions had been decided.
Professor Dumbledore had taught her many lessons before he died, the most important one about duels was that after crossing a certain skill level, duels were not decided by who the stronger wizard or witch were. It was decided by who made a mistake first.
And as she saw Voldemort stumble with the rest, the visceral instincts deep in her heart roared loudly and she pounced at the opening. Her eyes were shining with raw intensity as she slashed her wand upwards, the primal pull of magic from the spell ripping bits of stone from the walls and floor.
It was not just the air that seemed to part ways for her spell but space itself. Voldemort twisted his body in a panicked attempt to avoid her spell but his efforts were for naught. A deafening crack filled the air and Harriet's pupils dilated at the sight of Voldemort's wand arm flying in the air, disconnected from the body with a spray of scarlet.
A swift flick of her wand sent the wand in the severed arm flying towards her, she caught the wand with a deft hand and stalked towards the disarmed dark lord.
"Why?" Voldemort gasped, a hint of desperation in his plea as he looked between his severed arm and his opponent. "Harriet… I loved you."
"Shame," Harriet drawled, leveling her wand and aiming it between Voldemort's eyes. "I didn't."
AN: Currently, this fic is a one-shot until (a) I finish my current WIP fic and decide to come back to this or (b) I need a break from my current WIP fic and another plot bunny enters