Hi!

Here we go with chapter two, following a tentative monthly schedule. I also edited the abysmal formatting in chap 1, now it's way more legible (apologies, I'm not really used to ).

Enjoy!

CHAPTER 2

We were born in a cage

Kingsley Shacklebolt wasn't amused, no sir, he wasn't amused at all. Everything had been going on quite well until Harry James bloody Potter had called him. And now here he was, in the umpteenth gross basement of his life, with three of his best young Aurors upset and shaking and the evidence of yet another Voldemort's monstrosity in his hands.

Forced alteration of someone's magic, for Merlin's sake. Sometimes I regret we burned the bastard, there's no grave to spat on.

"All right" he said. Now it was time to act as a leader and reassure his men, to fully fall back in his Chief's shoes. He raised his voice and turned to face his team "Everyone..."

A couple of quiet light blue spheres of light appeared in the middle of the room. As they moved near him and Harry, they turned into otters: Hermione's Patroni, most likely. They rose in front of them and, as he'd predicted, her voice came out.

"Granger, heading to the groove, I've found a child. Send others".

What. Did. She. Just. Said.

When the meaning of the message took roots in his brain, Kingsley found himself extremely tempted to walk right to the Rowle siblings and repeatedly kick their asses. But he was the Minister, and he couldn't.

"Everyone, get your extensive trunks and start pack every single thing in this basement. I want everything, and I repeat, everything, classified and safely packed to be moved back to the HQ. Don't touch or read anything, we'll have time for that when we'll be back and safe. Be extremely careful when you move something, and don't forget..."

"Scanning and protective spells, yes chie... Minister. Yes, sir".

He nodded, his face emotionless.

"Exactly. You three" he added gesturing at the trio "with me, now".

He made sure they were following him and marched out. He was fuming.

They remained silent till they made the first story, which was in a disastrous state. The mansion has been raided and there wasn't a single piece of furniture in place. In a corner, the guys of the Creatures Dep were talking to the mansion's elves and Adrisi run to them as soon as she spotted their group.

"Minister! I'm sorry sir, I'm sorry, I couldn't stop her..."

"She sent a Patronus, we're informed. And we're going to help her at once, you can join. The five of us will do".

She looked taken aback and so did everyone else present. Duncan shot him a murderous look in the likes of "don't you bloody dare" and Kingsley braced himself: he would've had to fight.

Delphi had calmed down in the last minutes and now was curling quietly in Hermione's arms. She waited a little more and then petted her head to get her attention.

"We should join my colleagues now, Delphi. We could get your things and show the elves you're safe before leaving, how does it sound?"

"Won't I be recognized? I'd rather avoid it"

"Not even Harry could guess who you are, dear, and I'm not going to tell him. Everyone will expect you to be scared and wary of us, so even if you'll look uncomfortable no one will suspect a thing".

Fortunately, she doesn't quite look like Bellatrix from what I remember: all the better.

"'kay. Can we get my pets too?".

Hermione sighed inwardly "Of course. Call them and tell them to get into my trunk, I'll have it ready". When Delphi jumped out of her arms, took a few steps in the clearing and started hissing, Hermione raised to her feet. With a flick of her wand she summoned the trunk from her bag and restored it to its original size; a second flick, a non verbal Alohomora and the trunk opened, ready to accommodate the animals.

She gave it a quick check in and turned to Delphi, smiling shyly, surrounded by one, two...

"Ten? This is all?"

Both child and snakes nodded.

Oh, Merlin.

She suppressed an awkward smile and gestured at the trunk. A short hiss, and the animals quickly crawled in the container. Just one of them, the one that had previously been on the child's shoulders, stopped before entering and took a second to stare at her, hissing menacingly. Maybe she couldn't understand Parseltongue, but the meaning of that stare was universal: "You hurt her, you gotta deal with me later".

"Let me guess, Delphi" she said "Is this little one particularly affectionate?"

"He's been staying with me since I can remember" The child moved closer and petted its head for a while before urging it inwardly. She closed the trunk herself and stood in front of it for few minutes, her hands fisted and her shoulders slightly trembling. Hermione didn't pushed and it didn't take long until Delphi turned to her, distressed but determined.

"Shall we go, then?"

"We..." the noise of a broken branch, on their left, cut her off "wait".

She jumped in front of the child, wand drawn and ready for her fastest curse. She was rehearsing her spells when a familiar face stepped into the clearing, his wand nowhere to be seen, her friends behind him looking at her with relief and exasperation.

"Hermione Granger, you reckless witch. And I thought Duncan had made himself clear".

She lowered her wand and managed to put on a little apologetic smile instead of the wide one she was tempted to do.

"Kingsley. Great to see you received my message. As you can see" and she moved slightly to her left, allowing Delphi to be noticed "it was worth it".

His eyes widened and Syda swore so loudly against the Rowle Hermione was surprised she didn't scared half the grove's birds. She and the child were surrounded within seconds, but luckily the others kept a bit of distance so Delphi didn't feel threatened when Terry and Syda knelt down and tried talking to her. She was busy trying to casually shield her from Harry's sight so she didn't payed much attention to them and immediately tried to engage her friend to distract him. Then, she noticed. Even if her body was hiding Delphi quite well and the girl was giving him only her back, Harry was staring at what little of her he could see with a horrified expression.

He can't have recognized her.

"Harry?" she tried.

"Her arms". His voice was rough as on the verge of... rage? Why? Also, what about Delphi's arms, they were quite alright.

She shot a look at Kingsley for an explanation but was met by a similar expression, so she turned, puzzled, and froze as much as them. Delphi was stretching her arms forwards in front of Syda and Terry, the sleeves turned up to the elbows: her forearms were completely covered by bandages, with bloodstains here and there.

"Delphi, what... what is this? Why didn't you told me you were injured?"

The girl turned to her "It's alright, I need this. Looks bad but it helps me"

Hermione tried to argue but a hand on her shoulder stopped her. When she looked up, Kingsley was shaking his head and pointing a spot quite removed from them. She took the hint, dropped the conversation with a smile and followed him.

When they were at safe distance from overhearing, Kingsley started talking. Forbidden books and texts. Experiments. Manipulations. Surgeries. Potions into open wounds. Ongoing process.

Hermione felt sick and had to lean on the closest tree, to hold on it. Horror aside, this complicated everything on a practical level. Medical check-in were in order after such revelation, which meant more people knowing about Delphi and making close contact with her. She had promised she wouldn't have told Harry and she wasn't going to, but this was bigger than the both of them and not a secret she could keep for herself. If she wanted to protect the girl and keep a resurgence of Death Eaters at bay, she was going to need help.

"I need to tell you something too, and you won't like it"

"Her parents were killed and she was kidnapped, and now she have nowhere to go, I guess" offered Kingsley with a sad smile "It's horrible and rest assured, I'll throw the Rowles in jail for years for this, but at least, as difficult as it will be for the child, I'm sure we will find plenty of families happy to take her in. Hell, aren't Adrisi and her wife looking for adoption?"

Oh poor Kingsley.

"She's got nowhere to, her parents are dead and you'll throw the Rowles in jail: true. But no casual family will take her and we need to handle this in the most cautious way ever or it will explode in our faces, and badly" Hermione left her resting spot on the tree and looked right in his eyes "Her parents left her with Euphemia, before the Battle".

Here, she halted. Telling another person was going to make it more real, a concept she would've have dismissed as a "badly drunken Rita theory" not even four hours before.

"She's Bellatrix's child. Voldemort's child".

Unsurprisingly, he didn't took it well.

"Like hell she is. Come on, Hermione, there's a time for jokes and it's not this"

"She's been named after a star like a Black, and she's a Parselmouth. And I've got ten snakes, her pets, in my trunk, if you want to check it out later".

And in case Andromeda will ever be willing to undergo the DNA test I have no doubt about the outcome.

Kingsley put a hand over his face and stood there, speechless. Sadly, Hermione didn't have much to offer to comfort him.

"Zero chances there was a british parselmouth who wasn't Voldemort, uh?"

"Who had a daughter in 1998, left his child with Death Eaters, was close to Voldemort enough that he studied how to increase a child's -not his own- magical outcome and disappeared right when Voldemort did?" she tried not to sound too sarcastic, as she could understand his need for denial.

"Yeah, that's even more ridiculous" Still shocked, Kingsley removed his hand and shacked his head. When he looked up again, though, his most determined expression was back in charge "Alright. First things first: let's finish this raid and then we'll take care of the child"

Delphi was wondering if she was really awake or still sleeping. Or, as Euphemia used to say, her mind had finally snapped and she had been hallucinating for the last hour.

Her worst nightmare had come, the Ministry in her only safe place, Potter and The Mudblood -miss Granger! she screamed at her inner self- had been in front of her... and she was still alive, nor has she been thrown to the Dementors. Yet. There were Aurors everywhere in the house and no one had thrown a single curse her way. No one knew of Father, sure; but it was mind blowing all the same. Potter's best friend had offered to take her away. Her. Away! And she'd saved her pets. Said she would've seen to Effie and the others getting homes with good masters. She had just taken Delphi to the library where they'd retrieved all her favorite books, blankets and stuff and now was accompanying her, this very moment, to her room, to get the rest of her belongings.

I don't want to wake up.

With miss Granger behind her, Delphi climbed the last steps of the staircase and darted into her room, its messy state familiar and comforting. Having to leave it would be her only regret: she'd been safe here.

Get yourself together! she reminded herself. Without wasting another minute, she pat the owl's head two times and reduced its size enough to stuff it in her pocket: she was going to need her hands free.

"Clever trick, that one" commented Granger. She had moved at her side and had her trunk on the floor, open and waiting. She was still smiling, and Delphi couldn't help but lower her eyes before murmuring "Father's present" and rushing to collect her things.

But Granger reached her again. And put a hand on her head, and said "Don't apologize child", and offered to help her pack with magic. Delphi was so astonished that her mouth gave instruction, her hands pointed where they needed to, but her mind wasn't there.

I don't want to wake up. Please, please, don't wake me up.

She shook her head and joined Granger. The witch was emptying her wardrobe and the books were already in the trunk, so she went after the toys. That had to be said about Damocles and Euphemia, or Mother's husband, if he had a say in her life: they gave her everything she asked regarding toys or books. She had a stuffed version of almost every magical creature from Scamander's Fantastic Beasts volume, and even some from his other books about american and african creatures. She was quite proud of her Nundu, even if it was bigger than her, and the Thunderbird was simply stunning. Take the plush, shove it into the trunk. Plush, trunk; plush, trunk, many times. The more she removed from the room, the more the idea she was going to leave the manor for good sounded real.

"Delphi, I need to leave for a moment, wait for me, alright?"

"Sure"

She didn't even turn. I wonder why she keeps asking me permission. Maybe it's a muggle thing? She shrugged and went on moving her things in the trunk, and smiled to herself when she heard footsteps coming in. When they halted, though, she stiffened instinctively.

"Oops. Sorry kid, have you seen Hermione?"

Ah, never mind, just one of miss Granger coworkers. A friend, probably, since they were on a first name base. It was exciting, having new people to talk with. She wanted to do well and make a good impression, so she put her best smile on and turned to the wizard. And then she froze in terror.

No.

No.

Go away.

The one waiting on the threshold wasn't just "one" of Granger's friend, it was Potter. She recognized him on the spot: his features had had been ingrained in her mind for years. She had already met him at the grove, true, but they'd been apart all the time so, back then, thanks to that and Granger and the other presences, she had been able to control her reactions. But now they were alone and his wand was drawn.

He knows. He knows. He knows.

He's gonna kill me.

Help.

Her breath became erratic, her legs feeble; she took a step back, and another, and another, till her back rested against the wall. She had nowhere to go. Her whole body was shaking now, her breath so bad she started ventilating. Delphi closed her eyes to calm down, but it was a poor choice. Now she was so focused on herself that all she could feel was her heartbeat gone mad, the ragged breath, the shaking, the nails cutting into the palms.

"No, no, no, child, please, calm down. Breathe. I'm not here to hurt you. I'll never."

Something in that wording sounded so awfully familiar that it broke through her panic for a moment. It was one of her two first memories.

"Calm down, child. We'll soon be back"

Liar

Her kneels hit something hard - the floor? Had she collapsed?- but the twinge of pain seemed so distant she barely acknowledged it and immediately curled up on herself, hands on her head.

"Oh Merlin, what have I done? Child, please. Please, don't be afraid".

She heard his footsteps approaching and curled up even more tightly than before.

"No. No, no, nonono. Don't kill me, don't kill me, dontkillme" the words weren't even getting out clearly. Tears of fear and self-rage were flowing down her cheeks. Her parents would've been so disappointed in her.

"DELPHI! Harry, get out!"

"Herm, I swear, I didn't..."

"I know, I know, just get out, now!"

Someone else rushed into the room and after few seconds Delphi was being held and hugged. It was miss Granger again. After a brief firm hug, her hold became softer, more cuddling. She was also tapping on Delphi's head with her fingers. Funny, but unexpectedly soothing: she could feel her body relaxing, the terror fading away as the tapping (and hugging) went on. Hermione was murmuring lots of "shh" and "it's alright, he's gone, he didn't knew". And doing a lot of cuddling, on top of the "tapping Delphi's head" thing. Slowly, Delphi uncurled herself and hugged the woman, the tears still flowing being now ones of gratitude.

After enjoying a little more cuddling she distanced herself a little, wiped off the remaining tears and looked up at miss Granger: she owned her an explanation.

"He was alone, his wand was drawn, I thought he knew, I thought he wanted..." so much for trying to put herself together "I lost control and I shouldn't have: my apologies".

In fact, it was embarrassing how much she had. She had even forgot to use her owl when he would've easily protected her. Forget Father, even Euphemia would've been disappointed. Now that she wasn't perceiving danger anymore and was able to think, the terror she'd felt looked more and more as a flaw and an inappropriate behavior. She had freaked out less in the grove and, worst of all, if Potter didn't knew before now he was bound to have some questions.

"Delphi, look at me". Miss Granger had a strange voice, very firm. Puzzled, she did as told. The witch expression was as firm as her voice and reminded her of that moment in the grove.

"Never think of yourself that way again. You are eight. A child. Being scared of someone you think could hurt you is not a weakness. It is not so for an adult, imagine someone as young as you, and I bet they've been using him as a boogie man for years. Hell, being scared in general is not a weakness. It's not something you should feel ashamed of, at all".

Now, this just didn't made any sense. "Fear is not a weakness", go figure.

"But... I didn't even reacted: I just crumbled where I was. I was useless. I was weak".

"That could be a reasonable self criticism... for a trained adult. You're not even ten" her voice lowered here, her look softened "The adults in your life should be the ones protecting and comforting you at this age, not teaching you "i must be strong because no one else will came"".

Oh.

"That said, at this moment I'm probably just confusing you. What if we discuss about this later?"

And back again at asking for her permission or opinions. How did it worked, she was eight so allowed to be weak... and at the same time, she was eight and adults asked for her opinion on important matters? Miss Granger was right, it was extremely confusing and Delphi was happy to nod and drop the subject for the time being.

To better hide her embarrassment, she made one last check tour around the room. The wardrobe and the bathroom were empty, she couldn't even find a lone sock. It was the same for her library (she double checked just in case) and the old desk, drawers included. She also checked under the bed, where she used to keep some spared food for Effie, Sif and the others, for those moments when Euphemia came to forbid them their meals. Elves couldn't defy the direct order "do not eat your lunch", "no meals" or even "no food from the kitchen for days", but Delphi could outflank them and had in fact done so a lot of times. She told as much to miss Granger when the woman questioned her crawling under the bed and resurfacing with a bunch of sweets and half eaten sandwiches and didn't missed how satisfied she looked.

Good. It probably means they'll be in good hands with her.

Anyway, now she was completely sure the room had been cleaned. Now. She just had to leave, right? Just step out of the threshold and bye-bye. Miss Granger was already at the door, smiling and holding out her hand.

"I'm coming" she murmured.

She halted and looked back, just one last time. Karna's concealed nest near her bed, her drawings on the walls (she usually tried not to look at 3 to 5 old self's sketches, but today she could afford it), the shape and colors of the furnitures, with their scratches and paint stains, her beloved tiny library, now empty; the enchanted old sandbag abandoned in the corner near the bathroom's door. She took a long, deep breath and finally turned, running to miss Granger and taking her hand. The witch smiled and they headed together for the stairs.

It looked like the raid was going on smoothly.

Hermione was standing out of the manor's threshold, a bit on the left, with the child; so she had a good view on what was happening. Syda and one of the newest recruits were talking with the group of elves, while the rest of their colleagues supervised the surroundings and the grove with their wands drawn and ready.

Even the Aurors were split, with four veterans guarding the prisoners (who, after a initial display of shock upon seeing Delphi at her side were now acting like neither of them existed), Kingsley, Head Duncan and Neville talking to each other and writing down something on a parchment and, bar a couple or two assisting her colleagues on the guarding duty, generally busy amassing the seized items out of the cellar. Someone had blasted a hole in one of the room walls, out of spite, most likely, and she could see Harry, Terry and the others putting everything in a previously set up protected area. One made for inanimate objects only, she noticed. Funny. A safe apparition spot would've been better; quicker and safer for both the personal and the items. From a chat she'd casually overheard, though, there were some odd anti human countermeasures in place and the only team left waiting outside was still figuring out a way to outflank them.

Hermione wanted to join Syda, to do more, to have the elves meet Delphi and being reassured of her well being, but Kingsley had been irremovable: "Keep yourself and the child out of trouble", he'd ordered.

So here they were: just sitting, watching and, in Hermione's case, sometimes waving her hand in a greeting and exchanging looks or shrugging her shoulders when someone happened to stop by and shoot a curious look at Delphi (both she and Kingsley had already done their best to spread the "probably muggleborn and kidnapped, no previous memories" version, but, well, people were curious).

"Potter! Boot! To me at once!" yelled Duncan.

Grateful for the distraction she followed her friends running from the cellar to him and–

And her vision went white, her eyes hurting as she'd looked right in the sun. Hermione left out a scream and covered her face with her hands. What happened?

She was completely blinded. All she could sense were moans of pain all around her and Delphi's little body curled up against hers. Hermione covered both her eyes with one hand and grabbed the child with the other to reassure her and was barely starting to think about a course of action when a horrible scream of pain and a feral roar froze her mind.

The blinding light went away and she blinked through the tears to get a hold of her surroundings, all while different screams joined the first and yells, calls and spell incantations started piling on each other.

She perceived a black veil falling on her sight, protecting her eyes while providing a safer way to look outside and finally Hermione was able to reopen her eyes and look.

The veil was a protective bubble coming from Delphi's stuffed owl. She was shaking and trembling on her feet but nonetheless standing in front of the older witch. One glance at the situation was enough for Hermione to put her hands on the child's shoulders and push her behind her back in a second.

An adult, full-fledged chimaera was standing in the clearing, a human arm in its jaws, the rest of the body at its feet. The beast's paws were soaking in a pool of blood.

The chimaera was bigger than it should've been, more about the size of a horse than a lion. Irregular, glowing red lines crossed its whole body from the black mane to the snake tail, making the creature look even more terrifying. Its lion half was covered in white scars in a way that reminded Hermione of the Gringott's dragon long ago.

All around it, Aurors and Creat Dep officers alike were in disarray. Scattered, their circles broken, some were holding their wounded limbs or their colleagues and most of them were on their knees or getting up with difficulty on that very moment. The creature roared again, the red lines suddenly blazing as alive, and jumped against a shielded colleague, a veteran. Hermione waited for the beast to be repelled, but the shield crushed and the chimaera mauled the wizard. A spell that Hermione recognized as specifically anti chimaera hit the creature. It should've stunned it at least for a moment or make it retreat, but it was completely shrugged off. She crossed Syda's gaze by chance and saw her own incredulous horror.

Hermione snapped out of her panic when the creature jumped back to the first victim, sank its jaws deeper in the arm and chopped it and the only noise higher than the auror's agonizing scream was the chimaera's roar.

She drew her wand and added a double, moving protection around them, grabbed Delphi and started retreating towards the mansion's open door. Spells and curses and yells and orders began piling again, the only clear ones those coming from Kingsley and Head Duncan, organizing their forces.

Other shields, way stronger than Protego, rose from the wands of the not wounded. All her colleagues stood ahead while the Aurors were tasked first aid and protection. She saw Syda, the horror replaced by rage and decision, emerging from Harry's shield and cast an anti giant curse, being the first to inflict damage to the creature and making it retreat from the auror's body, promptly summoned to safety by someone else.

A whole set of similar curses managed to finally wound one of the chimaera's feet and the creature, caught during a jump, curled up and then fell sprawled against a protection, finally unable to destroy it.

Meanwhile Hermione and Delphi had made it to the door and as soon as they were safely in the building she headed for the stairs to the first floor, the child trotting behind her, her little hand shaking in Hermione's. There was something the two of them could do to help, but they had to get completely out of sight before attempt.

"Delphi, do you know a room with a good view on the clearing? Better, one where we can see but not been easily spotted by others?"

"S– sure" she ran ahead, dragging Hermione with her into a little, abandoned study. They ran to the single window and glanced down at the clearing. Things weren't going well. Hermione saw three other bodies, bleeding and abandoned, and the chimaera jumping from one spot to another, restless, making itself almost impossible to capture or immobilize.

"Delphi" she said, her eyes scanning the beast "are you absolutely sure no one will see?".

"One hundred percent, miss. The window is charmed, we could open it and from the outside it will still look like a wall".

Perfect.

She knelt down and looked in the girl's eyes "We need to distract the animal long enough for my friends to stop it for good. I've got a plan but I need your help to make it work". Delphi nodded and Hermione went on "I need you to talk to it. It doesn't matter what you say, just keep it talking and distracted so the others can bring it down".

"How… oh. Right, the tail. But will it hear me from here? Aren't we too far away?"

Hermione smiled "I'll enchant both your voice and the tail's with a Sonorus, it will hear you loud and clear. And while you'll speak from here, I'll be in the next room throwing very flashy spells at it and making a lot of noises. It will look like I'm the one distracting the beast, and no one will be able to understand there are two sources of hiss. Also, Harry can't speak it any longer, he's a non issue" she added.

Delphi remained silent for few moments, hugging her plush, her hands nervously scratching the bandages. One, two long ragged breaths and she nodded, first to herself and then to Hermione.

"I can do it. I want to help".

"Good girl" she praised, running a hand on her hair. Hermione really hoped Lestrange and Voldemort were looking, from whatever circle of Hell they were. Serves you right.

She rose from the floor, opened the window with a quick flick and gazed down. The chimaera was currently under multiple attacks and confined into a corner of magic made walls. They wouldn't have lasted for long, but it was enough for Hermione to target the tail and hit it perfectly with a non verbal Sonorus. She repeated the spell on the child and instructed her to wait for a signal to start talking: Hermione's first flash spell would've done nicely.

A mutual nod, and the witch ran to the other room and it's window, smashing it open. The chimaera's hissing were already audible. Exactly what she wanted.

Her first spell was a combination of light and sound, right in the creature's face. The tail turned in her direction not even a second after, hissing and shaking the snake's head and looking generally distressed, and she knew Delphi had began. She smiled. Enjoy, Bellatrix.

From that moment on, Hermione's mood improved by every minute.

Her spells were doing their job nicely, in keeping the lion's head distracted and being a cover, and soon the tail's distress spread to the whole body, which started missing the targets, slowing down and staying in a single spot for more time. The wizards attacks became more precise and the curses stronger, now that the danger of hitting a comrade had decreased. Multiple wounds appeared on the creature's body, focused on its legs and paws.

The red lines on the chimaera began blazing like never before, and the animal reared up while trying to bite itself, screaming as in pain. It tried another attack, and another, but it was repelled. The lines then began fuming and this time the chimaera used its paws to repeatedly scratch them, the wizards forgotten. It didn't accomplish much, except adding more bleeding wounds and falling to the ground, moaning and writhing in pain. The tail turned once more to the mansion, reaching and almost… imploring.

For the first time, Hermione felt bad for the creature. It looked in agony, and it wasn't the wizards doing. They had taken the opportunity when the beast had fell for the first time and built a cage around it and were now improving it, adding levels and levels of additional spells to make it last, but they weren't hitting the beast any longer.

"Miss Granger!"

Delphi had ran into her room, panting, and looked extremely distressed "Tell them to stun her!" a breath "The lines are carved orders to not to stop until every enemy is dead and now are killing her because she's failing the task!".

"But…" began Hermione, and she was about to say "it's safer if it die", when the child approached her, a unreadable look in her eyes.

"Please" she plead "she's just one of Father's experiments. Damocles kept it chained and starving since I was brought here" Oh, for... "She said she was created to keep me here and safe, it's my fault if she's suffering".

Which is to say, they're more alike than she know.

Hermione pointed the wand at herself, cast her third Sonorus of the evening and lean out of the window, shouting an edited version of Delphi's message. The Aurors didn't look convinced, but many of her colleagues had worked with or even only met mister Scamander. Bring down a human-eating creature was always a possibility on their job, but he'd shaped many of them into being open to different choices.

A dozen improved Stunners hit the creature all at once; one, two, three times. The chimaera collapsed under the sixth wave, the lines not twisting its body anymore, the wounds beginning their natural healing process.

Her friends and colleagues cheering, Harry shouting something in the likes of "Hermione Granger you damned genius get back here, I wanna hug you to death" and a smiling Delphi were enough for Hermione's bottled up stress to disappear at once, leaving her feeble on her legs but bubbling with happiness. And just a sane bit of spiteful satisfaction at certain absents's sake.

They were counting the casualties, down in the clearing. Two dead and thirteen injured, some in critical condition, Gwyn from Harry's team among them. Richard and his men had abandoned their position out of the mansion's barrier and were now helping, them, the two groups of healers they'd summoned from St. Mungo and a fresh group from the Creat Dep tasked to guard the chimaera.

Hermione had checked in with Kingsley, then left Delphi with the elves and a bruised Syda (the child had been quite vocal about not wanting to part with her and only a "familiar" face had convinced her to let go of Hermione's gear) and she'd joined Terry and a little group of Aurors in a search for the prisoners. The Rowle siblings had taken advantage of the situation as soon as they'd been able too, as expected, found a way to freed themselves (the Aurors guarding them had been among the first attacked by the chimaera, not by chance, she suspected), and had fled the mansion. But one of them had been wounded, their blood now glowing under Terry's revealing spell.

Hermione ran ahead while following the traces, distancing her colleagues. Soon, she found herself staring at Euphemia Rowle's lying body, wounded as a sectumsempra or a similar curse had hit her. The woman had already lost a lot of blood but was still breathing, her lips moving. Hermione shouted to her friend to bring healers and knelt down to her side, frantically scanning her memories for a first aid spell able to stop such damage. The woman didn't seem to notice her; she was crying, and imploring.

"Rodolphus I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" a cough "Brother, don't— I know" another "—should've hide her better, forgive me…"

"Healers, hurry!"

Rowle went on for a little while yet, always apologizing to both the Lestrange. On how she'd become bitter, resenting them, but had never wanted "them" to find their child.

Oh, man, she didn't know.

"Miss Granger, out of the way"

The healers had finally catch up with her and shove her aside, surrounding the woman and starting their treatments. She let them be, but murmured a silencing spell on the woman. She couldn't risk to expose the child, even if only as Bellatrix's.

Ten, or maybe fifteen minutes after the healers took a step back from the now much better looking but still unconscious woman, all looking exhausted but satisfied.

"Well, we did it. Let's hope she pass the night".

"Excuse me" she asked "what…"

"We managed to keep her alive, miss Granger, but she went into a coma. Once hospitalized, we'll be able to do much better".

Syda's worried voice coming from behind them and a younger, angry one distracted her from the healer's following words.

"Lemme go, let - me - go!"

Hermione turned and saw Delphi coming in their direction too late to stop her: in the time it took her to get up the girl had already arrived and knelt beside Euphemia's body. She was blinking repeatedly, though Hermione couldn't say if it was because the shock or an attempt to pull back tears. She silently pleaded to the healers to leave them some privacy for few moments and they were kind enough to indulge her.

"I didn't liked her too much, you know." she said "she had made clear she was keeping me in for Rodolphus's gold and Damocles's threats years ago and I stopped trying to win her affection".

Much to Hermione's horror, the child put her hands on the woman's blood soaked robe and patted it.

"No, don't touch..."

"It's alright" she interrupted "Not the first time I see so much blood"

What.

"Damocles was kinder, usually. But I never..." she paused, tears now silently streaming down "I never wanted this. Sometimes he got mad during the lessons and the rituals were so painful... Euphemia used to tend my arms after the worst ones. Sometimes she even stayed with me while I cried. 't was her who gave me my blankets. I never wanted her to die".

She was openly sobbing now, and Hermione was smart enough to hug and held her before she could get to hug Rowle. This child had had already too many traumas to add "cover yourself in your guardian's blood" to the list. Now that she had her in her arms, Hermione took her chance and moved both of them out of the healers way, grateful for their patience.

Could she explain "coma" to the girl? Most likely, given the right wording; but she wasn't sure adding another painful knowledge would've been of help in this moment. And for all she knew, Rowle's survival wasn't assured.

Hermione spotted a quiet corner to sat and settled down, Delphi now a little more quiet. Her friends came for a word or a pat on the shoulder, but they mostly left them in peace.

In the meantime, the witch's eyes were firmly on Rowle's body, her mind trying to find some sense in the older woman's behavior. Hermione had heard Harry's tales of the Dursley's brutality, of course, and the work for the elves rights had exposed her to many types of mistreat and abuse. This mixture of neglect and begrudged attempts at caring was something she hadn't yet encountered. Because of her young age, no doubt: she was sadly sure there were countless of such cases in the world, but this one had been her first personal experience... and it had been horrible. She suddenly turned her gaze away from the woman and pointed it at the stars. Much better.

Hermione loathed Euphemia Rowle, make no mistake. But now she could't help but wonder if she hadn't been damaged herself. First a victim of her family, then taking her pain and hatred on a innocent child, and yet, somehow, still able to gather some kindness.

Oh, how she wanted to have Damocles in custody right now...

"Herm...?" Syda's voice interrupted her thoughts and brought her back in the here and now.

"...Yes?"

"First aid is done, packing's done; we're leaving for London" she pointed at the teams gathered in the park; the stacks of seized items and the beast'a cage, ready to be moved; Euphemia in a levitating stretcher. Hell, even Rowle's pet Augurey was there, ready to leave.

"The Minister told me the girl have to be seen by healers... and you could really use a strong relaxing potion. Would you like me to see you both to Mungo's?"

Hermione let a sigh of relief escape her. Yes, yes she wanted to go somewhere safe, to get Delphi her first help and to lie down. To call Ron right away and have him tell her he and Rose were safe at their home. It didn't made much sense, she knew it, but being angry, scared and so, so tired had never been a good moment for her to be rational.

Syda had to help her stood, for her legs had fall asleep and Delphi was way heavier than she was used to lift. She had fell asleep as well, poor creature, curled up in Hermione's arms like a porcupine (she did it frequently, Hermione noticed), her eyes red and puffy. Once firmly on her legs again, Hermione smiled grateful at her friend.

"I'd love it, please come with me" she said.

After a quick hand-wave at Kingsley to notify him, the two women rotated on their spot and disapparated.