Chapter 1

Delilah stumbled through the ruins towards the front of the hall. Dolohov lay dead behind her, and she strode forward, desperate to find Harry, who, last she saw, had been dueling Voldemort. By the time she reached the courtyard, however, the fighting had stilled. Voldemort was fading away and there her cousin stood, bleeding and bruised, but triumphant over him.

And just like that, his remaining forces fled. The acramantulas returned to the forest, the death eaters disapperated, and dementors vanished in droves. She ran through the wreckage towards Harry and threw her arms around him.

"I thought you were dead. How could – how could-" She calmed herself with shaky breaths before stepping back from him. She sent him a cold glare.

"I had to Del. It was the only way." He said gently, and she clenched her jaw before glancing down.

"Is that…?" She drew off, not really needing an answer as she stared at the elder wand in his hand. Harry nodded anyway.

"Have you seen Ron or Hermione?" He asked, anxiety playing out on his face.

"Last I saw, Hermione and Ginny were dueling Bellatrix." He paled at that and moved to enter the castle before Ron and Hermione exited hand in hand. She quirked an eyebrow at them, trying to find humor amid the smoke, ruins, and corpses. Hermione's cheeks heated slightly upon Delilah's inspection.

"Bellatrix?" Harry asked quietly.

"Dead. Her own curse rebounded as she was dueling Mrs. Weasley." Hermione told them. Harry nodded.

"Come on, I gotta do something." Harry said and the three others followed him to the last standing bridge to Hogwarts. It was cracked in places, but still stable. As Delilah and the others watched, Harry snapped the elder wand in half. Ron gasped.

"Blimey, why would you-?" And before he could finish, Harry dropped the pieces over the bridge.

"It's too powerful and has too much of a dark history." Harry said with a shrug before turning back to us.

"I lost the resurrection stone in the woods, so we're back where we started."

"So that's it then," Hermione said, "it's over." The relief in her voice was almost tangible. But I shook my head.

"No, not yet," I said as I turned around to face the castle. There was a gaping hole on what looked to be the fourth floor, one of the bridges had been blown by Seamus Finnigan earlier in the night, the castle walls were missing huge chunks of stone and brick, and structural supports had given way here or there. One could only imagine the damage inside, although their forces had withstood well.

"There will have to be rebuilding here, treating the injured, burying the dead. All of the ministry will be in chaos for the next several months." Delilah pointed out, and Ron shook his head.

"Ever the ray of sunshine," He chastised sarcastically, and she flashed him a feral grin.

"Well, if there's that much to do, we better get to work!" Harry joked, heading back towards the castle. And they followed, but as they were reaching the entryway doors, (healers, teachers, and students all moving in and out, trying to gather the wounded and clear some of the wreckage) Ginny came running out towards them.

"Have you seen Fred?" She asked, directing her question first at Delilah and then to the others. Her face was pale, either with leftover adrenaline from the battle or anxiety, and a pit settled again in Delilah's stomach.

"No, not since earlier, what's the matter?" She asked, fighting to control her features.

"He was fighting with Percy on the fourth floor earlier when there was a blast and Perce lost sight of him. Now no one can seem to locate him." Ginny said, her voice tinged with worry as she turned around and plunged back into the building. Delilah hurried after her, the others on her heels. As she approached the great hall, George came rushing down one of the staircases.

"Delilah have you-?" But the girl shook her head, and he cursed.

"Where could he be?" George said before taking off in another direction of the castle. Delilah followed Ginny into the great hall, where dozens of people, both dead and injured, were laid out on cots. Her heart twinged as her eye got Remus and Tonks, neither of whom seemed to possess the light of the living.

She turned her gaze however and strode towards the matronly figure of Mrs. Weasley at the far end of the hall, beside a bed that held Percy Weasley.

"Delilah hasn't seen him, and he isn't in the courtyard. George's gone down to the dungeons, and dad's not back from the sixth floor." Ginny reported to her mother.

"Walk me through what happened," Delilah ordered Percy, who sported a bandage along his head.

"We were fighting two death eaters on the fourth floor when all the sudden some type of curse I didn't recognize was cast. It blasted a piece of the upper wall and some of it hit me. When I came to, Fred wasn't there." Percy paused, clenching the linen of the cot he was lying upon. "I should be searching for him," He made the motion to rise, but Mrs. Weasley laid her hand on him and forbade it.

"It's alright, he can't have gone far, we'll find him." She soothed her son.

Only they didn't find him. Not that day, not the next, and not in the weeks that followed. Search parties were formed, both for him and other missing individuals from the past months of Voldemort's reign. Many of them were found or returned on their own, but still Fred didn't turn up. They even found his wand in the wreckage of Hogwarts, but not him.

Delilah searched the forbidden forest, every death eater lair, the ministry, the countryside, London, and about every place you could think of for her lover, but it was as if he had vanished into thin air.

Six weeks passed, and many began to lose hope. Almost everyone besides she and George, who continued to search and conduct tracking spells. As she settled back into Grimmauld place after a long stint on the road she offered every day she could to track him down, barely surviving herself. That is, until something came along that forced her to think about another person's wellbeing.

Delilah slid to the floor, her knees giving out in shock and partial despair. She thought she was just tired and stressed from the war, being on the run, and Fred's disappearance, and that's why she hadn't menstruated in so long. But when she started having bouts of nausea last week, she had a sinking feeling. After throwing up that morning she had finally given in and performed a pregnancy test spell on herself. It was positive.

How could this- how can I- the night the day before the final battle was the first time she had seen Fred in months. They knew they could be walking into their deaths the next day, so they had snuck away for just a little while. But I swore we cast the contraceptive spell, she thought to herself before bitterly admitting that they obviously had not.

So, what am I to do? I'm pregnant and Fred is missing. As far as she was concerned, getting rid of it wasn't an option. The child was her responsibility now, and really, had been for almost two months. Never mind that abortion was a muggle practice.

No, she would have to make a plan. Have to take better care of herself; she hadn't been eating much, and that would have to change. Sirius had been bringing his trysts home to the manner, and Harry and Ginny had often been here when she got home after the day, plus it was getting a hassle to take care of everything here. Of course she had Kreacher, but he was older, and a smaller space would serve them both better. Perhaps a small villa in the country. With a floo channel of course. It was probably dangerous to apparate when you were pregnant.

Her thoughts flew as she planned. This was perhaps the first time in her life something totally and utterly unprepared for had happened. But she was a survivor. She would be fine. She got up off the floor, dusted her backside, summoned a piece of parchment, and started a list.

Two weeks later, Grimmauld Place Parlor

"Merlin, you would not believe the lines at the floos in Diagon Alley," Hermione said as she brushed herself off from the fireplace.

"You mean the people didn't stop and stare at you with awe like last time?" Delilah joked and her friend rolled her eyes.

"Everyone is much too busy for that these days. Diagon is really perking up. Have you been lately?" She asked as she sat down beside Delilah.

"I did go to Gringotts last week. I noticed several more shops moving back in. I'm glad people are getting back to normal." Delilah said lightly. Hermione's eyes were sad as she gazed at her friend, knowing that, while the rest of the wizarding world was "getting back to normal" Delilah was not. Though, Hermione was relieved to see that she had put on some weight in the last two weeks and didn't look as close to breaking as before.

Hermione took a sip of her tea in the companiable silence.

"Harry told me that you're looking to get your own place. It's rather sudden, isn't it?" She asked carefully. Delilah gave a little laugh.

"I suppose. Truth is, I keep stumbling over Sirius and Harry while picking up after them. You know how they are. And I guess I just don't have it in me to keep getting groceries, cooking meals, cleaning, and doing laundry for this big manor." She explained and Hermione frowned sharply.

They know how much Delilah is going through and yet they don't do anything? Hermione wondered in disapproval. Truthfully though, it was hard to step up and care for Delilah because she was so used to pulling the weight of others and never admitted weaknesses. That's why it shocked Hermione to hear her say that she wanted to leave because she couldn't handle preserving the manor. After all, she had kept things running there many summers before this, and while they were on the run, miles away. It wasn't something she couldn't manage. And if she truly wanted to simply be alone that worried Hermione even more.

"Sirius and Harry don't assist at all?" Hermione inquired, not sharing her worries with her friend.

"Oh, they do sometimes. I just need some more space. It's time to get on with my research. Decide what I want to do with the rest of my life." She lazily ran a hand through the air.

"Ron did mention that Harry told him that you've stopped looking as frequently. Do you want to talk about it?" Hermione murmured gently, laying a hand on her friend's. Delilah exhaled heavily.

"I'm pregnant." She confided blandly, and Hermione leaned back, blinking rapidly.

"I found out two weeks ago. The night before the Battle of Hogwarts, Fred and I… well, that's when it happened."

"I see," Hermione said slowly, taking this news well, by all accounts. "What are you going to do?"

"I've bought a nice villa near the sea. I just applied for it to be connected to the floo channel. I have enough money from the room of requirement to be comfortable for a long time. I'm going to take Kreacher with me and set up space there. I'm going to continue my potions research, maybe write a first draft with all of mine and Snape's edits… When the baby comes, I'm going to take care of it." She said, calmly sipping her tea. But Hermione noticed the tightness in her shoulders.

Delilah wasn't a very emotionally expressive person. She had a few people she loved fiercely and would protect with her dying breath, but that's about how far her emotions extended. She'd never been around children, much less thought of having one herself. The idea that she had made a colossal mistake and would now have to live with it grated her because she simply didn't make mistakes. Everything was calculated and carefully planned. But somehow, somewhere she'd been thrown out of balance.

But aside from that, she had been taking care of herself and Harry for so long, how much work could a miniature human be?

The only part that crushed her was Fred's absence. He was gone. For however long, she didn't know. He could be dead. Several thought him so. And she had to come to terms with that possibility for his child's sake, if for no one else's.

Hermione's words broke her out of these moody thoughts.

"Have you told anyone else?" Hermione asked, and Delilah shook her head. Hermione sent her a questioning look, and she rolled her eyes.

"I'll tell everyone eventually. Once I figure out how." She promised, and Hermione reached over to take her hand.

"Hey. I'm just worried about all of this. Are you sure you're ok?" She asked quietly.

"I'll be fine. We survived war, how hard could parenting be?"

Two weeks later

"I promise, once everything is settled, you can come over and see how great it is." Delilah told Harry as he hugged her goodbye.

"I just wish you didn't have to go. There's so much room here." He reasoned, still trying to get her to change her mind.

"Hmmm sorry but the "room" here isn't quite the same as it will be in my own home. Which you can come visit me at. Any time." She joked before backing away from him and looking to Kreacher.

"Have you taken everything already?" She asked the little house elf.

"Yes mistress, everything's ready." The little elf nodded. She had won his trust years prior and flatly told Sirius that she was taking him to live with her.

"Great, I'll meet you there." She told him before giving Harry one last hug and Sirius a firm handshake. Then she tossed some floo powder and confidently announced-

"Ashford House." In a flash she was transported through space out into her lovely new villa. It was much less of a fixer upper than Grimmauld Place had been when she arrived there. Everything was clean and what little renovations were needed had been completed in the weeks prior. She had adjusted much of the furniture last week, leaving only her clothes and kitchen to be set up today. With Kreacher to assist her, she began to do just that.

It was quiet, except for the lapping of the waves on the coast about a mile away when she finally sat down to a small supper with the house elf. The sun was already sinking, although it was staying up later and later with the coming spring. Her baby was set to be an August one, or maybe late July. Perhaps because it filled her mind so much those days, or it was simply a woman's instinct, but her hand lowered to grip her stomach at that moment.

She had been taking tonics to ease the morning sickness. She'd be three months soon, and after that, she'd start to show. She needed to tell the Weasley's. They would welcome the child with open arms, of course. They had already considered her family before this, and since Fred... Still, the magnitude of it all held her back. As if admitting it to more people without him there…

"When's the child coming?" Kreacher asked gruffly, startling Delilah out of her thoughts. She glanced at the little elf, knowing full well not to be surprised by his deductive powers.

"July or August." She responded matter-of-factly.

"I knew that Weasley boy was trouble." He grumbled, stabbing his fork into his meat. "Filthy beast… make my mistress so disheartened..." He grumbled the last phrase, and she smiled at him, used to his abrasive speech, but seeing the concern that lay underneath.

"We will take care of the baby. It's family now." She said to him, and he raised his gaze to look her in the eye.

"Of course, Mistress, I will protect it." He assured her, no guile, and absolute seriousness in his eyes. Though he did look surprised at her having the motivation to say such a thing.

Nevertheless, the night soon passed, and the manor became bathed in sunlight from the next dawn. Two weeks later, Delilah began planting a potion garden, and some days found her operating tracking spells, while others she spent researching lycanthropy and wolfsbane, as well as experimenting with moonstone and tweaking other potions she was intent on improving.

Finally, after dodging several invitations to the Weasley's for dinner, she agreed it was time to face the music. Fred had been missing three months. There wasn't much more time to hide the truth. So, she agreed to go the following Friday night.