Charlotte led her through into the sitting room where Madame LaRue was waiting. This time, she was seated on the couch, clearly so that Davina could sit beside her with Hope.
The old lady's eyes lit up with a kind of joy that instantly reassured Davina that she had made the right choice in talking Klaus and Caroline into this.
"May I present Hope Rebekah Elizabeth Mikaelson," she said, taking the offered seat. "Hope, this is Madame LaRue."
Hope gazed at the old lady with wide eyes, then suddenly smiled, releasing Davina's shirt with one tiny hand to reach out.
Madame LaRue touched her hand gently. "Hello, little one. Are they happy about this or just accepting it?"
Davina smiled. "A little bit of both I think. Caroline seems to have come down from her initial reaction to a state of 'okay, this is happening, we can't hide her away forever'. And Klaus … I'm not completely sure he's on board, but he does trust me to keep her safe and trusts me when I said there was no danger inside this house."
"That takes some doing," Madame LaRue murmured. "I understand he doesn't trust easily."
"That is an understatement," Davina said. "I think the only person he trusts completely is Elijah, and he thinks he's plotting against him half the time." She thought for a second. "Actually, Caroline might be in that group now."
"Good," Madame LaRue said, still smiling at Hope, who was studying her like she was some kind of rare bird.
Apparently, whatever Hope saw, it must have been good, because she let go with her other hand to reach out.
Davina was so surprised, she handed the child over, almost without a thought. While Hope was generally quite happy to be passed from pillar to post, as she got older, she was getting a bit pickier about who held her.
Taking the child into her arms, Madame LaRue tucked her into the crook of her arm, conjuring the same coloured lights that Davina used.
"You've won her over now," Davina said. "She loves those."
"She's very alert," Madame LaRue said. "She's going to be a smart one."
"Maybe a bit too smart if she's anything like her father," Davina said. "Caroline's going to have her hands full."
"You're not going to help her?" Madame LaRue asked, a hint of teasing in her tone.
Davina grinned. "I can't say no to her any more than the others can. Anyway, that's the best part about being an aunt, isn't it?"
Madame LaRue laughed, something that instantly made her look ten years younger.
That wasn't the only thing doing that though, Davina realised, glancing down at the finger Hope's hand was clutched around. "Um, Madame …"
The regent had noticed as well. Gently prising her finger free, she lifted her hand to the light, flexing suddenly arthritis-free fingers.
"I suppose," Madame LaRue said calmly, "that it wasn't you that did that."
"I don't think I would even know how to do that," Davina said in a hushed voice.
Madame LaRue lifted Hope to check her other hand. That, too, was no longer warped and gnarled, but had all the freedom that had been taken from the woman a long time ago.
"Has she done this before?" She asked, still sounding as though Hope had done nothing more unusual than a particularly loud burp.
"No," Davina said, a little shakily. "When she was born, there was a pretty big surge of magic - I used it to break through Esther's spell to get through to the ancestors, and it healed two people at the same time, so we knew she would be a witch, but I don't think she's … done anything since then."
"She'll need tutoring earlier than usual," Madame LaRue said. "I assume you and Sophie will take care of that?"
"That was the plan," Davina answered. "I'm sure Kol will put his two cents in as well."
Madame LaRue wrinkled her nose, but didn't comment on that. "Make sure you start as soon as she is old enough to participate. It wouldn't hurt for you to perform magic in her presence as well so she's aware of it - more than just the lights."
Davina nodded. "I'll talk to Sophie and Caroline. Are … Are you okay?"
The old lady nodded, a little bright-eyed. "I had lost hope a long time ago that I would ever be able to play again." She paused, smiling down at the baby in her arms. "You really are perfectly named, aren't you?"
By the time Davina got home, bodyguards in tow, Hope was fast asleep.
Caroline and Klaus were both waiting just inside when they got home, and the relief they both exuded was palpable.
"How did it go?" Caroline asked in a hushed voice.
"Everything went fine," Davina said. "Just to let you know, Hope did magic."
"What did she do?" Klaus asked.
"She healed Madame LaRue's arthritis," Davina answered.
Sophie, who was just about to walk out the door to go to work, froze in place. "She did what?"
Caroline looked from one witch to the other. "Am I missing something?"
"Madame LaRue has had arthritic hands since she was about twenty," Sophie answered, still staring at Davina. "Coven legend says it was a curse, and you'd better believe she has tried absolutely everything to fix it."
"And Hope did it?" Caroline asked.
Davina shrugged. "Didn't even flinch or anything."
"Could Madame LaRue have used Hope's magic the same way you did?" Klaus asked.
"No," Sophie answered before Davina could. "First of all, Hope would have flinched in that case. Second of all, the only reason Davina could do that when Hope was born was because her magic was flooding out of her. Witches can't just … use each other's magic. Unless they're siphoners, but that's another matter entirely; they're exceptionally rare."
"Basically it had to be Hope," Davina said. "Madame LaRue advised us to start tutoring her as soon as possible."
Sophie nodded. "Good idea. I'll let you explain the dangers; I'm going to be late." She darted out the door, leaving Davina to reassure Klaus and Caroline.
"Dangers?" Klaus repeated.
"Not of teaching her," Davina said hastily. "Of not teaching her. All young witches exposed to magic have something called 'wish magic', but it's mostly restricted by the fact that babies and small children don't have a lot of power. Because we don't know how powerful Hope is, so we won't know what her limits are."
"And is that dangerous for Hope?" Klaus asked.
Davina thought for a second. "Not for Hope, I don't think. Wish magic is unintentional. It's kind of like … 'Mommy took that toy away and I want it back', so it flies back to her. Normally that's where it stops. But little kids come up with some interesting things. "I wish the sky was pink." "I wish I had a unicorn." "Someone just told me off and I wish they'd disappear.""
"Yes, that wouldn't be idea," Klaus said.
"There's an understatement," Caroline muttered, looking worried.
"That's the worse case scenario," Davina said. "I think between us we can probably make sure that doesn't happen. Sophie and I just need to start teaching her earlier than we thought, that's all."
"In that case," Caroline said, "I'm parking that for now, because I have a party to plan."
To no one's surprise, the closer the christening party got, the more on edge Klaus became.
Madame LaRue had graciously declined the invitation when Davina extended it, but gave Hope a traditional witch's blessing.
The rest of the invitees, however, were more than happy to attend.
The Mystic Falls gang once again arrived en masse, which led Caroline to decide that she was going to start inviting people over more often so she could deal with them one at a time (because she loved them all, but dear God they were exhausting).
On the evening of February 5th, Caroline checked her make-up one last time and made her way into the nursery where Klaus was leaning on the crib, watching Hope sleep peacefully. He glanced up when she entered.
"What do you think?" Caroline asked, giving a little twirl.
"Beautiful as always, love," Klaus said, taking her extended hand and dropping a kiss on her knuckles. "Do you not get tired of hearing that?"
"No," Caroline answered honestly. "I had terribly low self-esteem when I was a teenager."
A small noise from the crib made them both look down to see that Hope had woken. Her lower lip was beginning to wobble a little, and Caroline hastily scooped her up. "Hi baby girl! Are you ready to meet everyone?"
Hope sniffled, but settled down in her mother's arms.
"I'm still worried," Klaus said.
"I know," Caroline said, smoothing down Hope's dress. "We have a very decent number of vampires acting as security and Hope's not leaving my sight."
"I'd rather she didn't leave your arms either," Klaus said.
Caroline didn't roll her eyes, but it was a close think. "Nik, it's a christening. People are going to want to hold her. I'm not going to hand her over to everyone, but if she wants to go, she wants to go."
"I know," Klaus sighed. "She's far too sociable for her own good."
Caroline giggled. "Anyway, the guys on the door have the guest list; they won't let anyone in without an invitation. The only blind spot we have is the witches, and Madeleine won't bring anyone that's going to cause trouble."
"In theory," Klaus said. "In practice, she can't turn down requests until the contingent spaces have been filled, and that's five unknowns."
"She can turn them down if she has a good reason," Caroline pointed out. "Agreeing with Esther is a good reason." She checked the clock. "We'd better get downstairs. We're already late to our own party."
Sure enough, when they got to the courtyard, there were already guests milling about. Since a compelled band lacked somewhat in performance skills, Josh had set up a DJ booth instead, something that apparently caused Elijah great pains.
Kol and Rebekah, of course, had been teasing him all day about 'getting with the times'.
Caroline was fine with it, although she did elicit a promise from Josh to try and keep the music somewhat highbrow.
By the sounds of it, he had interpreted that to mean an eclectic mix of classical pieces and nineties pop music, but at least it wasn't Josh's usual music (which tended to give even Caroline a headache, even though she was sure she had liked that kind of music once).
They were met at the bottom of the stairs by Camille, who had seen pictures of Hope thanks to Sophie, but had yet to actually meet her.
Caroline greeted her with a smile and a hug. "Cami, I'm so sorry we've been MIA for the last few months."
"Oh, don't be silly!" Cami said with a laugh. "You've got a new baby - it's understandable you've wanted some time at home."
It was so far from the truth that Caroline almost laughed, but if that was what people wanted to go with, that was absolutely okay with her.
"Well, you're here now," Caroline said.
Now fully awake, Hope gurgled and reached her arms out to Cami.
"Her Highness has spoken," Caroline joked. "Would you like a cuddle?"
"Ask a silly question," Camille said, taking Hope into her arms. "Hi sweetheart!"
Her uncle, Father O'Connell, smiled at Hope over her shoulder. "She is a beautiful baby, Caroline."
Caroline smiled. "Thank you, Father."
"I know you're not having an actual christening," Father O'Connell said, "but would it be alright if I gave her a blessing anyway?"
"Of course," Caroline said. "Thank you so much."
As the priest marked a cross on Hope's forehead with his thumb, Caroline caught sight of Davina out of the corner of her eye, the colour draining from her face.
Caroline followed her gaze to the front door, where Madeleine had just entered. She had with her five other members of the coven - the expected contingent that both Madeleine and Sophie had warned them of.
Davina's tension seemed to be due to the fourth woman in the line, whose gaze was fixed on Davina.
Caroline had a sinking feeling she knew who that was.
Apparently picking some of this up, Hope began fussing and reaching for her mother again.
"Is everything okay?" Cami asked, handing her back.
"I think so," Caroline said, bouncing Hope in her arms a little to soothe her. "Sorry, I have to go and play hostess."
Madeleine was whispering furiously to the woman in question, but broke off and smiled when Caroline approached. "Caroline, thank you for the invitation."
"Thank you for coming," Caroline answered. "Joanna Claire, I presume?"
"Davina told you?" Ms Claire asked, a little sharply.
"No, she looks like she's going to be sick," Caroline answered mildly. "It's probably how I looked when I met my father again after he tried to kill me."
Madeleine stepped in, quickly introducing Caroline to the other four witches, one of whom transpired to be the mother of one off the other Harvest girls, Cassie.
When Caroline heard that, she automatically reached a hand out. "I am so sorry, Mrs Westwood. I was out of line just then."
"Not at all," Mrs Westwood said, accepting her handshake. "You were absolutely correct. We were tricked into doing something awful, and all we can do now is try to make up for it. Some people are having trouble with that."
Joanna swelled up with indignation, but Madeleine gave her a quelling look. "Joanna, you are here because I had no choice but to accept your request. Caroline, if you have any concerns, even if it's about Davina's well-being, we will not take offence if she is asked to leave."
Ms Claire sniffed, fiddling with her purse. "May I step into the powder room?"
Caroline stepped to one side. "Through that door there, first on the left."
"Seriously," Madeleine said, once Joanna was out of earshot, "if someone else had got there first, I would have been much happier. But Joanna is not any kind of threat to you or Hope, so I didn't have a reason to say no. Not one the coven would have accepted anyway."
"Just be glad I got in there before Agnes did," Mrs Westwood said.
Caroline tried to hide her grimace, but failed. "Well, thank you for that at least. Let me introduce you to my friend Bonnie; I think you'll like her."
Thankfully, Joanna Claire did not make a scene, mainly because Davina didn't give her any kind of a chance to.
Kol, of course, was more than happy to help her in her efforts, keeping her twirling around the dance-floor, shrouded by a veil of partygoers.
But Davina was not a thousand-year-old vampire and simply could not just keep dancing all evening.
As they took a break, she caught sight of her mother making her way through the crowd towards her.
Kol stiffened at her side, and she grabbed his hand. "Let me deal with it," she murmured, trusting him to hear her over the music. "Let's not make this worse than it has to be."
The sound of Hope beginning to cry temporarily distracted them, Davina searching the crowd until she found Caroline standing with her daughter near the bottom of the stairs, talking to Katherine.
Or Elena.
Davina was fairly sure it was Katherine - she seemed to recall Kol saying something about it being the hair - but she certainly wasn't going to use a name until she'd had it confirmed.
Either way, it looked as though Caroline was about to take Hope upstairs.
Releasing Kol's hand again, Davina ducked into the crowd, hurrying over to Caroline. "Is she okay?"
"She's fine," Caroline answered. "Someone needs a diaper change."
Davina held out her arms. "I'll take her."
Caroline frowned. "Are you sure? It already smells like a bad one."
"Seriously, Caroline, I can take her," Davina said. "You have a party to host. Besides, I need a break and I'm running out of excuses to avoid my mother."
"Alright, if you're sure," Caroline said, handing Hope over. "Thanks; I owe you one."
"No, you don't," Davina said, already on her way up the stairs. Even though she was still in full view of her mother, there was something very reassuring about the way the security at the bottom of the stairs closed ranks again behind her.
By the time she reached the nursery, however, Davina was starting to rethink things. "Okay, Hope, I lied," she said, laying the girl down on the changing mat. "Mommy totally owes me for this one."
As Hope got cleaned up, she stopped crying and began to babble again, probably helped by the fact that Davina never stopped chatting to her.
"Honestly, how can someone this cute create something so disgusting," she asked, finally picking her up again.
Hope giggled in response.
"Oh, that's funny, is it?" Davina asked, gently tickling her. "You think it's funny when Auntie Davina has to deal with that much poop?"
Hope's giggles were joined by a chuckle, and Davina glanced towards the door. "Well, I expect you to find it funny."
"I'm curious," Klaus said, leaning against the doorframe. "Why on earth would you volunteer to change a dirty diaper over speaking to your mother?"
Davina gave him a dry look. "Wouldn't you?"
Klaus thought for a second. "Yes, actually. But your mother, to my knowledge, is not a soulless psychopath."
"She's not far off," Davina muttered. "She still thinks she has nothing to apologise for, and that I should stop being so ridiculous and come home, because being upset that she offered me up as a ritualistic sacrifice and stood by and watched is apparently a really childish thing to do."
Hope fisted a tiny hand in Davina's dress and dragged it into her mouth.
"Thank you, sweetheart, but that's not going to help matters," Davina said, gently disentangling herself.
Hope gave her a big toothless smile and she couldn't help smiling back, pressing a kiss to the little girl's forehead.
"Can I give you some advice, Davina?" Klaus asked.
Davina shrugged. "If you like."
"Don't let her drag you down to her level," Klaus said. "If she is that set in her ways, you aren't going to change her mind. If she tries to speak to you, keep it as impersonal as possible. Yes, she'll try and drag you down to an emotional fallout. Don't let her and walk away. That way, you come across as the bigger person."
Davina nodded. "I'll try."
"And if all else fails," Klaus said, "just tell her that you are a Mikaelson, whether she likes it or not."