Chapter Fifty-Two
The night we brought her home was one I will remember forever. It had taken almost a day to arrange for her to come to us. Firstly an owl back to the relatives via Minerva, and then arrangements for a portkey just outside the gates of Hogwarts, and a second hurried owl to Kreacher, giving him next to no warning to try to prepare a nursery, or at least something temporary for Delphinia to sleep in.
Draco and I spent the night in the guest room, there really was very little point in trying to keep up the pretense that Draco and I weren't really a couple. It wasn't as if I grabbed his hands and kissed him in front of everyone or anything, but I wasn't going to pretend to be sleeping in two separate beds just to satisfy anyone's sensibilities. Besides, we needed to talk about what we were going to do in raising that little girl.
Not surprisingly we didn't sleep very much. Draco was anxious and nervous, and fidgety, though never once did he express any regret over his decision, and I didn't ask him those questions either. We did talk about how things were going to go with me though; because I still wanted to finish school and go on to work at the Ministry, and Draco was quite insistent that I do that. But I didn't want to just leave him alone to raise the baby for the first six months of her time with us. The compromise we came up with involved some lobbying on our part by Daniel and Aurora, who both suggested to Minerva that I could attend the school during the day, but return home after classes were done, effectively moving out of the dorms for good. I knew I'd be able to still get my assignments done at home, and what I couldn't do there, I'd stay late at the school and do as was required. In the hours between breakfast and the arrival of the party from Romania I packed up my trunk for good, as did Draco and I took the time to write a note to Ron and Hermione, and one to Molly. They were hard letters to write, because it meant finally admitting that I'd been keeping something from them for months; well I know I'd already told Hermione the truth of my relationship with Draco, but Ron hadn't heard it from me, and while I didn't think he'd hate me, I knew he'd be out of sorts for awhile about it all.
I went up to the Owlery to post them using the school owls, and after they'd left on their journeys I stayed up there to watch over the battlements and take in the view of the castle grounds where I'd spent the last seven or so years of my life. I began to feel like Draco must have been feeling the evening before; like I was closing a chapter of my life, a chapter that had been my whole life up to then.
"Never do anything half assed eh Potter?" I said to no one in particular. The remaining owls hooted at me, likely wondering exactly what that command was supposed to mean.
"The boy who lived. Doomed from the very start to fight the Dark Lord to the death. Cursed as a horcrux, an orphan, abused as a child, never knowing the truth till some scary looking half giant showed up to take me away to Hogwarts." I paused, looking up at the grey sky. "Guess I'm not so different than Voldemort was in some was eh?"
"You are very different than him Harry." I hadn't realized Draco had followed me.
"A lot of orphans around eh aren't there Draco? You, me, Delphinia, Tom, you'd think it was some quite of magical pre-requisite wouldn't you?"
"There's one thing that makes all of us different than Tom though. Our lives have all been touched with love. Your parents, you and I, and everything we'll give to Delphinia. It's the one thing that has kept, and will keep us all from turning to the allure of dark magics."
"Are you going to miss Hogwarts Draco?"
"No, I don't honestly think that I will. With the exception of you over these last four months, I don't have any good memories of this place." He came over to stand beside me, and slipped his arm around my waist. "You'll miss it though, won't you?"
"I know I'm not even gone yet, I've still got months of school to go. But it just doesn't feel like it'll be the same." I turned to him. "I want to be with you, and the baby, don't question that. It just feels like I'm going to be leaving something really important behind myself."
"I understand Harry. It's a big change for you." He paused, "Hogwarts has been a safety net, hasn't it?"
"Yeah, I guess it has. Since that first year here it's been the light at the end of the tunnel, my real life, to get me through the time with the Dursleys, the time on the run, the times in hiding. I've always believed that Hogwarts would be there, intact, at the end of every battle, to come home too." Speaking of being philosophical, I thought to myself. "But that isn't really what this place is, is it?"
"Nope." Draco shook his head with a little grin. "It's a waypoint on the journey."
"It's time to make our own home now. Make our own family. Make a real life." I felt his grip around me tighten. I leaned over, meaning to kiss his cheek, but met his lips instead as he turned his face to mine.
"You're not done with Hogwarts yet Harry. So don't grieve."
"I know. It just feels like something big and new is about to happen."
"Because it is. We're going to be parents lover." He began to laugh. "Sleepless nights, diapers, baby toys all over the floors. It's an adventure like you've never had before."
"We are quite insane aren't we Draco."
"Yes, but in a good way. Come on, everyone is due in a few minutes, lets get down to the gates and meet our daughter."
They had her wrapped in a grey blanket, which seemed appropriate because everything about those people was grey. Not to be cruel, because I am sure that looking after a baby at their age had robbed them of a great deal of sleep, and the whole situation, a great deal of their peace of mind; but Narcissa's family looked almost ghoulish. We were all polite, but they didn't seem interested in hanging around long enough for us to change our minds, and they hadn't even bothered to bring a bag of things for Delphinia with them, so we made our visit short.
The eldest wizard handed over the bundle to Draco, with a curt nod, and not even so much as a thank you; though I suppose he didn't care one way or the other about what happened to the child, as long as someone was caring for her. I didn't want to blame him for his sentiments, but I did, so I stayed quiet.
Minerva received the most sincere greeting, and thanks for her role in sorting out 'the whole unfortunate situation'. I'd stopped paying attention to them by then and was watching Draco, who had peeled back the blanket a little bit to look into the baby's face. Her eyes were closed, with long lashes draped over them and her little mouth really did look like a little pink bow; lips pursed together trembling only slightly against the cool breeze.
"Perhaps we should go Draco?" I said to him softly. Being beyond the gates of Hogwarts we could disapparate easily back to 12G. He nodded his head, and then looked back up at the three assembled professors.
"Good Luck to you Mr. Malfoy." Minerva said, in her efficient but sincere tone.
Aurora Sinistra took a step forward to look down at Delphinia, and then smiled and offered Draco a gentle embrace around his shoulders.
"You are doing a wonderful thing here Draco." She whispered to him, not so quietly that I could not hear. "And I will see you both again soon." She stepped back to allow Daniel to come over.
"If you two need anything you have only to ask. And I'll see you back in class on Tuesday then Harry." He bent down and kissed Delphinia's little forehead. "And I will see you in class in a few years. I imagine you'll have all the talents of your fathers by then."
Our things having gone on ahead, it was just the three of us, and holding onto Draco's shoulders I took us all back home.
I shouldn't have been surprised at what we found when we got there; I mean Kreacher's talents have always amazed me, and they did again on that day. He met us at the garden door, and we walked into a warm house, coffee brewing on the stove and a bottle of formula warming beside it. The grin on his face as held his arms out for the bundle Draco was still carrying was so tender and sweet that it hardly seemed congruous on a house elf's face. I don't mean that in a bad way either.
Draco passed her over very carefully and shrugged out of his traveling cloak. I hung both of ours up and followed him, Kreacher and Delphinia into the sitting room where Kreacher had laid her down in a white basket now appeared on the floor. He unwrapped her, sniffed at the grey blanket and tossed it into a corner. I never saw it again. Instead he drew a clean white quilt over her little body, and handed her back to Draco as she began to wake and squirm, running then to fetch the tray with her bottle and our coffees perched upon it.
"Baby Phinny will be hungry master Draco. This will make her happy."
Draco offered her the bottle, and without even opening her eyes her little mouth latched onto it and a quiet sucking sound began as the squirming ceased.
"See, baby Phinny is happy, now master Harry will come and see the nursery Kreacher has made."
In less than a day Kreacher had managed to repaint the room where Molly and Arthur had stayed a light shade of pink and green, and the furniture was rearranged to open up space to hold a beautiful crib with a sparkling mobile, a change table and a rocking chair.
"Where?" I began to ask.
"The attic, many things for babies stored away up there. Kreacher has cleaned everything, and made it new, and now ready for baby Phinny."
"Draco is going to love it."
"Miss Molly has also sent bundles of clothing for the little one and special formula and baby things. All is put away in the dressers and closets."
I was nearly ready to cry, and I did when Draco came up the stairs holding the baby, bottle still firmly held in her little mouth. His own features began to tremble when he took in everything, and I had to help guide him to the rocking chair where he sat to finish feeding our daughter. He kept shaking his head in disbelief.
Delphinia made a happy little gurgle sound, and pushed the now empty bottle out of her mouth. Then she opened her eyes and looked right at Draco, cooing all the while.
"Baby is happy here, Kreacher knows, Kreacher tended to many babies here. Has lots of experience. Let Kreacher take her now, and dress her in nicer clothes and clean her up." Draco handed her back and Kreacher set to work; his love for her was as obvious as Draco's and I felt a little better about having to leave them both each day for classes as I watched them.
"Baby Phinny will grow up to be happy little miss here, Kreacher will see to that." He muttered to her as he tucked her feet into little booties. "Now Kreacher will show you all around your new house." And off they went.
I looked at Draco, and he looked back at me and I invited him into my arms where I held him for a very long time as he cried, well, as we cried together.