The Eighth Year Universe
Love Wins
Our Scars Make Us Golden
The chapter title comes from the song:
99 Years by Josh Groban (with Jennifer Nettles).
The song The Best Day by Taylor Swift inspired Sadie's little speech about her mother.
Blacknot Castle
"I'm fine."
"Sadie, you're not fine," Draco said in disbelief.
"Your mother is dead," Hermione agreed.
"And I know parents haven't exactly set high standards for us, but still, you're not fine," Theo added.
Sadie looked up at them; they were hovering while she prepared dinner in the kitchen, "I'm fine, and as this is the first weekend we have without the kids, I would like to enjoy it. You know what it's like at the start of a term, Theo."
"I know, and I like my weekends as much as the next person," Theo agreed, "But your mother died, Sadie."
"My mother was a monster!" Sadie snapped. She dropped the knife onto the chopping board and looked at the other three, "I didn't grow up unhappy, knowing my mother was cruel or cold, not like everyone else we know!"
She shook her head, "I didn't have a cruel or abusive father like you both did," she said to Draco and Theo.
"And I didn't have an alcoholic father and a mother who preferred weekends with men in Paris over her children like Daphne did!" Sadie said irritably.
Theo nodded, "That's right, just get it all out, talk about it."
Sadie swiped his hand away and glared at him, "I had a brother who always looked out for me and a father who was always inventing stupid little things and giving me unique toys."
Tears pooled in her eyes, but Theo was right; she needed to get it all out, "And I had a mother who loved me, who I thought was normal if a little uptight and overly traditional sometimes!"
She turned around and gripped the counter, trying to force down memories she didn't want to remember.
"I remember being five years old, in the dead of winter, and I was so cold. I'd gotten lost out in the back garden at Cauldwell House," Sadie's voice shook, "I heard her laugh, and I turned and ran, I followed it to the back door, and she hugged me so tightly and told me never to wander off without Sorenson again."
Sadie looked down at the half-cut vegetables, "Sorenson got in so much trouble for losing me that day, but I got hot cocoa and a blanket, and that was how it always went. They did treat me like their little princess. Sorenson wasn't wrong when he called me out for never calling them out on that."
Theo stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her, "We all have good memories with a parent who let us down, Sadie."
Sadie swallowed, unable to say anything else.
"My earliest memory is of my mother and father, holding me," Theo admitted, "I must have been one year old, maybe a little older. I remember my Mum singing a lullaby and my father telling her she was singing the lyrics wrong. Then they were both laughing, and it's the only happy memory I really have of him."
"I have a whole childhood full of them," Sadie whispered, "Before I went to Hogwarts and she….lost sight of what I was doing, of who I was becoming. Before then…my life was perfect."
Draco stepped forward, "And I have happy memories with my father too. When I was young, I remember having snowball fights with him, and I remember these little moments where all the bad stopped, and we were a real family. Sometimes he and my mother would look at each other like they really loved each other. Sometimes he would put his hand on my shoulder and say something, and I could see that he was actually proud of me. I hated him in the end, but I don't hate his memory, Sadie, because there was good mixed in with the bad."
Sadie turned to look at them, with tears falling down her cheeks, "I thought I had the perfect life. I grew up in a pretty house, and I had space to run and…I loved my father, I thought he was stronger than anyone I knew, and he crumbled like a coward. I loved my mother, and I thought she was so brave. I didn't think she was scared of anything, but she turned out to be just as cowardly as my father."
Venom was dripping from her voice, then her tone changed, and her voice shook.
"The only thing that was true, the only person who was real, was Sorenson. They might have doted on me and called me their princess, but he was better than me, he was so much better than me," Sadie choked, "And he's gone."
The other three all pulled her into a hug as she broke down, which they were glad of because she had needed to. Ever since Sorenson's death, Sadie hadn't dealt with her grief, and they all knew what happened when a person went down that route for too long.
St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies
Teddy was jogging down the stairs, having gone into the hospital to retrieve Lotus Cauldwell's records so that the Auror office could carry out a proper investigation into her death.
On his way down, he spotted Delphi, and he paused to talk to her, "Hey, Delphi."
She looked over at him and smiled, "Hey, Teddy. How are things?"
"Good," Teddy replied. He nodded and leaned against the wall in the busy corridor, "Nina's still sick as a dog. Pregnancy sucks, apparently."
"So I've heard several people say," Delphi said, shooting him an amused look and brushing her dark curls back, "What brings you to the hospital?"
"Oh, I had to get some files for a case," Teddy said, holding up the non-descript brown file pointedly.
"Hm," Delphi mused, her eyes moving from the file to Teddy's face, "It's about Lotus Cauldwell, I suppose."
Teddy shrugged in the way that meant 'yes', but without saying the words themselves.
"I know what happened, Teddy," Delphi admitted, "She was a patient in my ward. I was there when she gave her confession. Does Almina know?"
Teddy shook his head, "No, honestly, Delphi, there's a lot of things a lot of people in my family don't know right now."
Delphi raised an eyebrow at him, "What happened to Mr 'open and honest' Lupin-Potter?"
Teddy sighed and rested his head against the wall, "Sometimes it's better to keep quiet. When the truth is only going to hurt someone."
"The truth is always worth knowing, Teddy," Delphi said wisely, "Almina can handle anything you throw at her."
"It's not Almina I'm worried about," Teddy admitted, "There's something I'm keeping from Nina, but in her condition…."
Delphi gave Teddy an exasperated look, "She's pregnant, Teddy. It's a low-risk pregnancy too, and she's not a fragile China doll."
Teddy looked at his friend, "Yeah, but Delphi, this will shake her to the core, and Almina too. The grandfather she thought was dead just tried to kill her then actually died. I don't know how much more she can take."
Delphi sighed and glanced around, "Look, Teddy, not long before I went to Hogwarts, Uncle Cygnus told me something that helped me, and I think it might help you now."
Teddy frowned at her, "Okay?"
Delphi looked him in the eye, "When we are young, we are taught the difference between the hero and the villain, good and evil, a saviour and a lost cause, aren't we?"
Teddy nodded.
"But," Delphi said, "What if the only difference is who is telling the story?"
Teddy's frown deepened, and Delphi took a step towards him, "Teddy, all of our families are made up of saviours and villains, but what if nobody is purely good and nobody is solely bad? We all have both parts inside of us, but the part we choose to act on is who we truly are. That's what matters, not the past, not who your ancestors were or what they did."
Teddy smiled and leaned forward to kiss Delphi on the cheek and pull her into a hug, "That makes perfect sense, Delphi. Thank you."
Delphi smiled and grabbed a clipboard from the wall, "I'll charge you by the hour next time!" she joked.
Teddy chuckled and continued his jog downwards with the important file. Delphi was right; the past didn't matter, but the present did.
He would tell the others the truth about everything tonight.
Serenity Falls, Wales
The Montgomery Family Home
Daphne didn't show up uninvited because, as a rule, she made it a habit not to do that in polite society. And with Blanche's wife being who she was (a pureblood from an old family, even if her values were modern), Daphne kept to the letter and owled first.
When she stepped through the fireplace into their family home, tea was already awaiting her on the coffee table. Lux was sitting on the sofa, a cup of tea in her hand and the Daily Prophet hovering in front of her.
On the other hand, Blanche was sitting in an armchair with her feet curled beneath her and a notebook in her hand. She was sketching with charcoal, and from the glance Daphne caught, it seemed like a picture of their twin children.
"How did the sorting go?" Daphne asked conversationally as an elf took her coat.
Lux chuckled and glanced over at Blanche, "Well, Blanche is huffing."
"No Slytherins then?" Daphne asked with an amused smile.
Lux shook her head, "No, Ash is in Ravenclaw, like I expected."
Daphne sat down opposite Lux and nodded, "You have always talked about how sharp he is."
Lux smiled slightly, "The shock was with Wren."
Daphne fought a smile and guessed, "Hufflepuff?"
"No," Blanche scoffed, "I could have lived with Hufflepuff. But no, Gryffindor."
Daphne chuckled as Blanche shook her head and looked up from her drawing, "Another one, I mean, it was bad enough when Hope was sorted into Gryffindor."
Daphne bit her lip in amusement. Blanche had always been like a second mother to Hope; even after things had fizzled out between her and Ginny, Blanche had always been around. Hope had often spent the weekends or the holidays with Blanche and Lux as she got older. This was her escape from her mother when Ginny got too overbearing.
"Of course, Hope was in Gryffindor," Daphne pointed out. She smiled in thanks at Lux as the other woman handed her a cup of tea, "She's Ginny through and through."
Blanche said, "You mean, just as fiery and impulsive as her mother?"
Lux rolled her eyes, "You know that you talk about her like she's your ex-wife?"
Daphne chuckled, "Well, she is for all intents and purposes. You share a child; the ins and outs of that don't matter, do they? Look at the Blacknot's."
Blanche leant forward to grab a cup of tea with dirty coal covered fingers.
Lux scoffed and shook her head, "Honestly," she muttered, in the same way Daphne said it to Harry when he picked up a mug of coffee with mud-covered fingers, having been in the greenhouse with Neville.
"Yeah, speaking of them," Blanche said, "Have they really changed their surnames?"
Daphne nodded, "Sadie is now Professor Blacknot. Theo is technically Headmaster Blacknot, but everyone calls him Theo in that school, and Hermione has changed her name too. The only one who hasn't in their official title is Draco because he didn't want to complicate matters by changing his surname partway through his term in office. But legally, he is Draco Abraxas Blacknot."
Blanche whistled, "I gotta say, I never thought they would do it. Hell of a long way from making out on the Astronomy Tower, isn't it?"
Daphne laughed and held up a finger, "I don't think they ever actually did that. They were both too closeted while we were in school."
"Unlike some people," Blanche said, giving Daphne a pointed look.
Daphne smirked and leaned back in her chair, "I have always been very comfortable in my own skin. That's hardly a sin, is it?"
"No, but in Blanche's eyes, the fact you were the first girl Ginny Weasley kissed is," Lux pointed out; she smirked from behind her teacup.
Blanche rolled her eyes, "Did you come here to discuss Ginny Weasley, Daphne?"
"No, I did not," Daphne admitted, "I came here to give you some closure, I hope."
Blanche frowned and set her teacup down, "About?"
Daphne put her cup down too and looked Blanche in the eye, "Lydia, my sister."
Blanche's eyes widened, "Lydia was your sister?"
"My half-sister," Daphne said with a slight nod, "Cruickshank was an offshoot of the Crouch family. Lydia was the child my mother had with Evan Rosier while they were in their seventh year."
Blanche frowned, "And….you know what happened to her?"
Daphne nodded, "My mother never believed that her death was a suicide."
Blanche looked up sharply, "I didn't either, but nobody would listen to me."
Lux reached over and placed a hand on Blanche's knee, "Harry got the case reopened, Blanche. He spoke to me a few weeks ago, but I didn't want to hurt you by bringing it up until they knew anything concrete."
Blanche swallowed and looked over at Daphne, "And do you?"
Daphne nodded, "My mother had a friend when she was in school, Lotus Lestrange, although she went by Lotus Cauldwell in later life. When a marriage contract was drawn up between my mother and my father, Lotus was furious because the Greengrass family had refused to intermarry with the Lestranges. It was 1978. I'm sure you can understand why."
Blanche nodded, and Daphne continued, "Lotus vowed to ruin my mother's life. She did many awful things, including mind-controlling my father into setting fire to our family home and manipulating my mother into attempting to murder my father."
Lux shook her head in disbelief, "All out of spite?"
Daphne sighed and nodded, her eyes still on Blanche, "But the worst thing she did was what she did to Lydia. I don't know whether it's true, but according to Lotus, the sex between Lydia and Dorian Frost was consensual."
Blanche opened her mouth to argue, and Daphne held a hand up, "But I know that Dorian was a distant cousin of Lotus's, and of course, people like her always defend their family."
"It wasn't consensual," Blanche said quietly, "You can't consent when your blind drunk."
Daphne looked down at the table, "When Lydia threatened to call it rape and get Dorian sentenced, Lotus stepped in to make sure that wouldn't happen. She used Dorian's weakened state of mind and imperiused him into killing Lydia and staging it as a suicide."
Blanche nodded and swallowed, "So…Dominic…he knew? That's why Lydia's older brother killed himself, isn't it?"
Daphne nodded too, "Yes, it is. But there is more to the story than that."
Blanche sighed, "Go on."
"Snape took Lydia's baby to St Mungos where they had some horrific project that rehomed abandoned babies with the closest relative they could find," Daphne explained.
"So Lydia's daughter was given the name 'Nina' and raised by her father and his wife, Stacey, for the first six years of her life. In 2002, Dorian started to feel guilty and was going to hand himself over, but before he could, Lotus killed him and his wife."
Blanche was trying to stay stoic, but Daphne could see her breaking beneath the façade.
"That was when Nina Frost found herself in the care of Lupin House and Howard Abbott," Daphne finished softly, "And now, she's my daughter-in-law."
Blanche nodded and let her head drop into her hands.
Lux moved closer and wrapped her arms around Blanche, who was crying.
When Blanche did look up, she had tears in her eyes, "Thank you."
Daphne grabbed Blanche's hand, "You delivered that baby, Blanche. You deserved to know what happened to her, that she's safe and happy and having a baby of her own soon."
Blanche cleared her throat and wiped her eyes with the cuff of her cardigan, "Does she know the truth?"
"No, not yet," Daphne replied, "Teddy does, but we left it up to him to tell Nina. She's pregnant and emotionally volatile. Those who know her best are the only ones who can choose the right time to tell her something like that. As far as Nina knows, her father was a good man. It's going to bring her whole world crumbling down."
"Poor girl," Blanche murmured.
"I'm sure she'll want to meet you when she finds out the truth," Daphne said gently.
Blanche laughed a little tearfully, "What? No, don't be ridiculous. I was her mother's friend. I'm nothing to her."
Daphne shook her head and let go of Blanche's hand, "You don't have the pleasure of knowing Nina yet, Blanche. She was in Hufflepuff, and she is as humble as she is kind. She's a brilliant Midwifery and Paediatric Healer, and you delivered her into this world. Trust me; she is going to want to meet you."
"And you are one of the only people who can tell her what her mother was like," Lux said softly, "She will love you like we all do."
Blanche smiled over at Daphne, who held up a photograph from the Potter-Wolfe wedding. Nina was grinning out of the frame, and it made Blanche's eyes fill with tears once more.
"She looks so much like Lydia."
Daphne nodded a little tearfully too, then Blanche surprised her by getting up and pulling Daphne into a tight hug.
"Thank you."
Daphne swallowed the lump in her throat and replied, "You're welcome."
Over Blanche's shoulder, Daphne caught Lux's eye. She smiled too and mouthed the words 'thank you' at Daphne, who smiled tightly in response.
Potter-Wolfe Residence
Devon
Nina raised an eyebrow at Teddy, and Almina leaned back in her armchair.
"I haven't heard you say 'we need to talk' that seriously for a while, mate," Nick said, breaking the short silence that had followed the words Teddy had just uttered.
"Hm," Almina nodded, "You better not be having cold feet because we're married now, and there's a baby on the way."
"Somehow, I doubt it's that," Nina said. She cocked her head at Teddy, "Is it?"
"No," Teddy said honestly.
"It's about me, isn't it?" Nina asked perceptively.
Nick frowned from Nina to Teddy, "Is it?"
Teddy sighed and nodded. He looked back at Nina, "How did you….?"
"How did I know?" Nina quipped, "Well, you've been ridiculously quiet around me, and your dad was flat out weird with me at Ada and Dora's birthday party."
Almina frowned at Teddy, "You have been quiet with both of us."
"But not with me," Nick mused, "So what? have the girls done to piss you off?"
"N, nothing like that," Teddy sighed, "It's….well, I know we agreed to be open and honest with each other, but lately, I've been finding that hard, and I think…no, I know, I'm falling into the same trap that my father did."
He leaned against the fireplace and looked out at them, "I'm scared about becoming a father. I'm scared I won't be as good as my dad was, and he didn't even have to be my dad. He chose to be."
Nick smiled and patted Teddy on the shoulder, "I think everyone is scared about becoming a parent, Ted. You're not the only one feeling that."
Almina nodded her agreement but caught Teddy's eye, "There's more to it than that though, isn't there?"
Teddy let out a breath and nodded, "I let my fear cloud my judgement, so I've kept things from you, to protect you, but today, Delphi reminded me that wasn't the way to live, so I need to be honest with you all."
Nick crossed his arms and bowed his head, "Alright then."
Teddy began to pace, exactly like Harry did when he was stressed. He had picked up a bad habit or two from his dad, and he knew it.
"My dad was being weird with you at Ada and Dora's birthday party. Nina," Teddy began, "And you were obviously worried about it and a little hurt, which pissed me off."
Nina smiled slightly, and Teddy continued, "So I confronted him, and he wasn't planning on telling me why he was being weird, but then my mum came over, and they did tell me."
"Okay," Almina said carefully, "So what is it? It can't be something that Nina did. Your dad loves her."
"I know," Teddy said offhandedly, "It was something he had discovered about her, and he felt uncomfortable because he wanted to tell her the truth but didn't think he could, which made him feel guilty when he was around her."
"Hence the weirdness," Nick said with a nod, "What did he discover? This is Nina we're talking about. It's not like she has any secrets."
Nina frowned, "Well…apart from my birth mother."
Teddy's jaw dropped, and Almina and Nick looked at her in shock.
"What?" They echoed.
Nina shrugged and looked down, "When I had my blood tests done at my first appointment, Marcie asked me why my file said half-blood, but my blood was flagged as pureblood."
"What…" Nick frowned, "Why do they even check that?"
"Because when two purebloods have a child, it can lead to certain genetic abnormalities," Almina replied, "If the parents are closely related."
Nina nodded and said, "It triggered an old memory I'd forgotten about. When I was tiny, my mother used to tell me stories, and at the end of one of them, she mentioned that my other mother had loved that story too."
"So you knew you had a biological mother who wasn't the woman who raised you?" Teddy asked.
"And you didn't think that was the sort of thing you should mention to us?" Nick asked sarcastically.
Nina sighed and looked up, "I had no intention of trying to find her, so I didn't see what difference it made. Just please don't tell me that whoever she was is a close relation of yours, Teddy. If this baby is yours, I don't want to think about the complications that could cause."
"No," Teddy said quickly, "No, you don't need to worry about that. We're not related, not biologically anyway."
At this, all of them raised their eyebrows.
Almina sighed and pointed at Teddy, "Explain."
Teddy ran a hand through his hair, "Your mother was called Lydia Cruickshank, Nina. She had you when she was 17, and she was killed a week later. Her parents – your biological grandparents were Evan Rosier and Lareina Crouch."
"Lareina," Nina said slowly, "Like your grandmother?"
Teddy nodded in response.
"Your cousins?" Nick echoed.
"Not biologically," Almina cut in.
Nina held up a hand, "That's not important. Like you said, Teddy, it won't affect the baby. But please, explain what happened to her."
Teddy took a breath then bowed his head, "Well, Lareina fell pregnant with Lydia – your mother – out of wedlock. So Lydia was raised by a squib Uncle of Lareina's, with the surname 'Cruickshank'. She went to Hogwarts, was sorted into Slytherin, and she fell pregnant with you in the summer before her sixth year."
Nina frowned, "And Dorian, he was my real father?"
Teddy nodded, "He was, but….he wasn't the man you thought he was, Nina."
Nina swallowed, "He was cold and jumpy, most of the time. I loved my mother, but my father…she taught me to pick a time to speak to him, so he was in one of his good moods. I'm not under any illusions that he was perfect, Teddy, so just tell me the truth."
Teddy nodded and rested on the edge of her armchair, "If you go by Lydia's best friend's story, your father….took advantage of your mother. He was a lot older than her, and he was a friend of her adopted father."
Nina looked down but nodded, "So he took me in out of guilt?"
"I think so," Teddy admitted.
"Son of a fucking bitch," Nick cursed.
Almina had moved to the other arm of Nina's chair to put her arm around the shorter woman, but Nina seemed to be taking it better than Teddy had.
"The original report into your mother's death ruled that it was a suicide," Teddy told Nina, "One week after you were born then taken away by Snape. He took you to St Mungo's, where they named you 'Nina' and told your father about your birth. Then he and his wife, your adopted mother, Stacey, took you in and raised you."
Nina rubbed her eyes and cleared her throat, "But it wasn't suicide?"
Teddy shook his head, "No. Lotus Cauldwell used the imperius curse on her distant cousin, your father, Dorian, and instructed him to kill your mother, then stage it as a suicide because your mother threatened to go to the Aurors."
Nina's voice shook for the first time then, "And tell them that he raped her?"
"Nina, that's not…." Almina began to say softly.
"That is what he was saying," Nick cut in, "And Nina knows it. There's not any point in trying to lie about that."
He knelt in front of Nina's armchair and spoke softly, "And it's okay to cry about that. It's only us, Nina. There's no need to put up the wall and pretend things are fine when they aren't."
Nina nodded and let her head drop onto Nick's shoulder.
Almina squeezed Nina's shoulder, then looked at Teddy, "Why is my grandmother involved in this?"
"Because your grandmother is involved in all of it," Teddy said tightly.
Nick sighed and looked over at Almina, "Why is it always a Crouch or a Lestrange these days?"
"Fuck knows," Teddy muttered.
"Just be grateful you're a Wolfe," Almina agreed with a glance in Nick's direction.
Teddy dropped his hand into Nina's, and he breathed a little easier when she didn't pull it out of his grasp.
"Put simply, Almina's grandmother had a grudge against my grandmother because she couldn't marry into the Greengrass family," Teddy explained, "So she vowed to ruin my grandmother's life, which was her motive for your mother's death, Nina."
Nina lifted her head and nodded tearfully, "And what does your grandmother think, Teddy?"
Teddy frowned slightly, "She's our grandmother, which is…. I know I'm adopted, but it's messed up."
Almina rolled her eyes, "Teddy, my Mum and my Pops are cousins. It's not that weird, okay? Just calm down."
Teddy took a breath and nodded, "Uh, she wants to meet you, Nina. As far as she knew, you died as a baby, so she was so happy when she found out that she had another grandchild."
Nina took a breath and nodded, "Okay…."
"Okay?" Nick echoed, "You're not freaking out?"
Nina wiped her eyes, "The hardest part is accepting that my father was so awful, but…."
She shrugged, "The first six years of my life shaped me into who I am, but I owe so much of who I am to your dad, Teddy, and to Howard."
Nick smiled and reached up to kiss her lightly, "You never cease to amaze me, you know that?"
Nina's cheeks flushed slightly, "Nick, stop it. I just meant that it doesn't change who I am. It just colours my memory of a man I loved when I was young."
Almina nodded, "You're more humble than me, Nina. It doesn't just colour my opinion of my grandmother. It makes me want to dig her up, bring her back and kill her."
"Don't joke about that," Teddy muttered, "Not after what your grandfather just did."
Nick got to his feet and said, "Right! The truth is all out! Almina's grandfather on the Nott side was a dick, and her grandmother on the Cauldwell side was a pyschobitch from hell. Teddy and Nina are non-biological cousins, and Nina's dad was an asshole."
He held his hands out, "But you know what? We are all alive. After the year from hell, we didn't just make it, we made it. We got married, and we're having a baby, and somehow, even though our ancestors were bastards, we're okay."
Teddy smiled and grabbed Nick's hand, "And that's what matters, you're right."
Almina smiled too. She tightened her grasp on Nina and nodded, "I can't wait for 2021 to be over."
"Merlin," Nina muttered, "You and me both."
Potter Manor
She had managed to hold it together during her visit to Serenity Falls earlier but telling Blanche and Lux the truth had been harder for Daphne than she let on. When she got home that afternoon, it was to a note on the pantry door that Harry was on patrol and that Neville had to stay at the school to deal with a Laurel related greenhouse issue. Daphne translated that into 'she got caught snogging Ada there again'.
Lilly was on the graveyard shift, which meant it was just her for the night. Usually, that didn't bother Daphne, but tonight, she wanted some company, and her first thought wasn't a girlfriend like Susan, Ginny or Lux.
No, there was somebody else who was as fed up with Crouch drama as she was, so she invited him over for a drink, and two hours later, they were sharing their feelings by the bar
"Our family sucks," Theo said as he refilled their whiskey glasses.
Daphne caught hers when he slid it in her direction, "Well, the Crouch's do, yes."
"And the Notts," Theo muttered. He sighed and said, "I nearly suggested that we all just become Blacks, you know?"
Daphne cocked her head at him, "Really?"
Theo nodded, "Just drop the Nott altogether. I hate what it stood for."
"But that's not what it stands for now," Daphne said.
"Yeah," Theo agreed with a sigh, "I spent a long time building the name into something else, which convinced me to keep it in the end."
Daphne nodded and sipped her whiskey.
"You know," Theo mused, "I don't think I could say this to anyone else, but it feels like it was in vain."
Daphne frowned, "What does?"
Theo shrugged, "What my father did. He sacrificed innocent children, experimented on them…people died, and the ministry was destroyed. All of that to bring my mother back, but it didn't work."
Daphne looked down into her glass, "Maybe it wasn't in vain at all. Maybe it was meant to happen, I mean….look at the world we're building now. It's better than what was there before, and that's because your mother didn't come back."
Theo spoke quietly then, "Is it wrong that I sometimes wish she had?"
"No," Daphne replied softly, "Because my father was no saint, but I still miss him all of the time. She was your mother, of course, you wanted her back, but do you think she could have lived with herself if his plan had worked? Knowing all that Alfred had done to get her there, in her name."
Theo sighed and shook his head, "No, probably not."
Daphne looked along the bar at him, "Look, I know for a long time, you held her up as this paragon of virtue, but your mother wasn't perfect, Theo."
Theo laughed bitterly, "Oh, I know. She dosed Lucius Malfoy with a love potion, had a child out of wedlock who turned out to be a psychopath who tried to kill me. Only my half-sister did that on my mother-in-law's orders."
"Your mother-in-law isn't my favourite person right now either," Daphne confessed, "On her death bed, she confessed to killing my half-sister."
Theo frowned, "Astoria's alive, though?"
"My other half-sister," Daphne said pointedly.
"How many half-sisters do you have?" Theo retorted.
Daphne smacked him around the head, "She was called Lydia. My mother had her in her seventh year, with Evan Rosier."
Theo made a face, "That's disgusting."
"Yes, I know, Theodore," Daphne replied dryly, "Anyway, it's a long story, but Lotus had her killed out of jealousy, basically. Lydia had a baby who we recently discovered was Nina, so there's that."
"Nina is your daughter-in-law and your niece?" Theo asked in disbelief.
Daphne shot him an exasperated look, "How long have you been in love with your cousin for, Theodore?"
Theo rolled his eyes, "I mean, it's a fair point, but I'm pretty sure I had a crush on her before I knew she was my cousin, so, you know," he shrugged.
"Of course you did," Daphne remarked, "Everyone had a crush on her in fourth year. Hermione Granger was the flavour of the year after the Yule Ball."
"Hm," Theo mused, "Nah, it was sixth year for me, actually."
Daphne looked over in surprise, "Really?"
Theo nodded and looked down at the scratched bar, "Yeah, well, I saw Ron treating her like shit, and I wondered why she bothered when she could do so much better. I'd never have acted on it, obviously, I knew Draco was mad about her even if he wouldn't admit it."
Daphne smiled slightly, "And it was always you and Sadie."
"Yeah," Theo smiled slightly, "Never thought it would become me, Sadie, Draco and Hermione, though – the Blacknots."
"You kinda like it, though," Daphne teased.
Theo grinned, "I do kinda like it."
Daphne refilled their glasses, and Theo said, "I'm sorry about your sister."
Daphne shrugged and said, "Yeah, well, I hate Lestrange's."
"You and me both," Theo said. He downed the rest of his whiskey and sighed, "Sadie thinks I hate her because what happened to me in 2005 was her mother's fault. I don't know why she doesn't understand that I can't hate her when she saved me from that. Nobody could reach me, not Draco or Hermione, only Sadie."
Daphne nodded.
"And I wouldn't have survived if it wasn't for you," Theo said, nudging Daphne's elbow, "If you hadn't worked out that it was the nightmare curse."
"Yeah, well," Daphne frowned, "I'd been there."
"I know you have," Theo said softly.
They fell silent for a moment while Theo refilled his glass.
"I know my mother's downfall was all her own fault, Daphne, but - "
"She's still your mother," Daphne finished in unison with Theo.
Theo looked up in surprise, and Daphne downed her whiskey, then nodded.
"I get it, okay? Because our mothers were sisters, and you can tell. All they both wanted was to be loved the way that they deserved. The way that your family love you, and my family love me," Daphne said. She set her glass down and looked Theo in the eye.
He cleared his throat and nodded, "Yeah, we're lucky, I know."
"We are lucky," Daphne agreed, "Because our mothers searched for that love in all of the wrong places because they were married to men they didn't even like, let alone love. Maybe your mother grew to love your father, or maybe he was more obsessed with her than she was with him, but my mother never really loved my father, not the way he wanted to be loved."
Daphne shrugged and refilled their whiskey glasses, "So, the real villain in all of this is our grandfather, Hyperion Crouch, end of story."
Theo held up his glass and said, "Cheers to that. Fuck you, Grandpa Hyperion!"
Daphne clinked her glass against his and said, "Amen!"
Neither of them noticed the basement door opening until Lareina asked from the top of the staircase, "What are we cheering to?"
Theo looked up and grimaced, "Uh, our hatred of Grandpa Hyperion. No offence, Aunt Lareina."
Lareina scoffed and descended the stairs, "None taken, Theo."
She grabbed a glass, poured herself a whiskey, then said, "I'll join you in that."
Theo looked sideways at Daphne, who shrugged and said, "I guess every Crouch still alive hates them."
Lareina nodded her agreement and held up her whiskey glass.
"Fuck the Crouch's!"
- TBC -
