And here, ladies and gentlemen, is where the story begins proper. I figure that the best way to preface this is to explain the rules and format of the story.

Rule 1. No Time Turners. They were indeed all destroyed, nobody has a smuggled one.

Rule 2. Delphini is still the villain of the story, but she is not the daughter of Voldemort

Rule 3. Voldemort will not be revived. Dead is dead.

Rule 4. Finally, this story has 2 perspectives (not counting this first chapter as I wanted it to set Delphi up as a villain): Albus and Harry. Albus will be taking up the even number chapters and Harry will be taking the odd number chapters. This is primarily so we can see what the characters we are familiar with are up to while also giving Albus the spotlight

As always, I am not affiliated with JK Rowling, and this is a work of fiction. I do not, nor will I ever make any money off of this story.

All was not well.

Nine months before the school year was set to begin at Hogwarts, Delphini Lestrange was visiting her father in Azkaban. A sort of last mercy to the dying old man, in the eyes of the warden. Despite the extra security (Azkaban now had guards patrolling the prison 24/7 to make up for the loss of the dementors), Delphi was allowed 15 minutes of privacy. After all, why would she break out a man who is already dying?

"Delphini, you must promise me. This is my last wish. The Dark Lord may be gone, but you are not. You must begin anew." He rasped, putting his hand in hers. "You know what must be done."

"Yes, Papa." Delphini murmured, tears in her eyes as she raised her wand and softly murmured a spell, enveloping her father's cell in green light.

By the time the guards made it to Rodolphus Lestrange's cell, he had been killed by his only daughter, leaving behind only a single black feather.

In that time, Delphi had been busy, crossing off as she could, killing Theodore Nott, The Carrows, Dolohov and Yaxley. Next on her list?

A blood traitor of the highest order: Lucius Malfoy. What irony that he would die tonight, the night his only grandchild would be sorted into the school that he so readily fled.

It had not been easy, punching a hole into the defenses of Malfoy Manor. The Malfoys had gotten paranoid. Doubly so since Delphi's exploits, but that wasn't going to stop her. Nothing could. She was her mother's daughter, after all. She snuck her way into the manor, wand drawn as she approached the senior Malfoy, who had been sitting outside, feeding his peacocks.

"So it's come to this." He said, not bothering to look at the woman.

"I suppose it has." She murmured.

"Well, better me then your aunt, isn't that right... Delphi?"

Her breath hitched in her throat. She thought that this would be easy, that she could catch him unaware like she did the others, and be in and out. No need for the family drama.

"Tell me something, my niece." Lucius said, never looking at her. "How do you think this will end, truly?"

When she said nothing, Lucius continued.

"Nobody will follow you. The Death Eaters were thoroughly humiliated at the Battle of Hogwarts. The ones you haven't killed have either fled or have been imprisoned."

"Or turned traitor." Delphi spat.

"Traitor to Voldemort, yes." Lucius murmured. "To my family, never. If I must die so that my son and grandchild live, then so be it. I will happy to call this penance for my crimes."

"'Penance'" Delphi scoffed, the word bitter on her tongue. "What has happened to you, Uncle? What happened to the man who would sooner die than let a Mudblood be Minister? What happened to the man who could bribe the Ministry into doing whatever the hell he wanted?"

Lucius Malfoy sighed, turning to face Delphi, his once long blonde hair now a dull white, his face wrinkled and warn. "He became old, my dear Delphi. He became old and saw what this course of action had done to him and his family. My son was branded and forced into a conspiracy to kill Dumbledore because of what I had done. He didn't deserve that. He didn't deserve to be fearful of his life in his own home. He's the lucky one. He has allowed himself to heal, and given me the brightest, kindest grandson that I have ever seen. If that boy is to be the next generation of the Malfoy name, then our future is bright indeed. So do what you must. You will never find them, I swear that on my magic. You will never harm them."

Delphi sighed, turning away from the old man. "You know..." She murmured. "As far as last words go, those weren't bad."

There was a flash of green light, and Lucius Malfoy fell to the ground, dead.

Once again, by the time anyone found his body, the only evidence of the identity of his murderer was a single black feather.

By the time Delphi had gotten to the long run down Lestrange Manor, the sun was already beginning to paint the sky in its golden hour or sunrise. The first phase of her plan had been completed: Purge the old guard. With the exception of the remaining Malfoys, there was now no surviving Death Eaters. Now, Delphi would need a symbol of her own. Not a snake, certainly. She couldn't lay claim to the Slytherin that the Dark Lord could have, certainly not. As she looked at her sole companion, her Augury, she pondered this question.

Reaching out to pet the bird, it flew away, most likely to hunt. It left behind another black feather. Damn thing was beginning to molt, most likely about to die and be reborn again. The realization gave Delphi a jolt of inspiration as she remembered what the bird stood for. Or at least, what it used to stand for.

Death.

She let out a cackle. it really was all too perfect: What better peversion than the antithesis to everything Dumbledore, and by extension the great Harry Potter stood for than to use such a bird for herself? The opposite of the Phoenix, the antithesis to a symbol life itself. She would be the symbol of death, she would be the Dark Lords Second Coming.

She would be The Augury.

Well then, quite the way to set up our villain. I hope that killing off Lucius immediately won't be super controversial (along with the other surviving Death Eaters), but I wanted a way to set up Delphi as a competent villain ruthless in her own right, and in my eyes, what better way than to have her kill off a character we all know and... well maybe not love but tolerate?

Now, some house keeping. First of all, I'm sorry this first chapter took so long to upload. I'm currently in the process of job hunting and that's why this chapter not only took longer, but is also shorter than I would've liked. Second, PLEASE correct me if I am incorrect with the ACTUAL canon. I'm only human and I've only read the 7 books, not any of the extended canon on anything like Pottermore/Wizarding World. Finally, if you have any questions for me, put them in the reviews. I will answer all that I can while not providing spoilers, and if I am asked a question that COULD spoil things, I will not, of course, lie. I will just tell you to keep reading.

All that being said, thank you for reading thus far. I will try to stick to a chapter a month, but if I don't manage that, I do apologize.