Gryffindor Daughter
Harry jumped up at the small voice.
“Hi!” Hermione quickly whispered soothingly to the small child. Delphi clutched a teddy bear and tilted her head slightly like a puppy as she looked up at Hermione.
“Who are you?” Delphi sleepily mumbled.
“My name is Hermione! And you must be Delphi!” Hermione said, watching intently as Delphini’s face lit up as she recognized her own name.
“I want my Mama!” Delphini whispered, her voice shaky. Hermione shot Harry a glance.
“Who is your Mama?” Hermione asked softly, crouching down to the child’s height.
Delphini was annoyed. Who the hell was this girl? And she was leaning practically on top of Harry! Delphi sniffed.
“I- I don’t know! Mama is Mama!” She sobbed. Harry shot Hermione a glare for making her cry as Hermione shrugged apologetically.
“Shh, shh, don’t cry, it's alright, you should like you really love your mother! Your a very good girl Delphi!” Hermione praised quickly. Delphini looked up at her.
“You are very pretty Delphi!” Harry spoke up quickly, staring intently at her familiar yet unfamiliar chocolate curls. Her soft face grinned slightly as she rubbed her sleeve over her face. Hermione smiled at the adorable child before scooping her up.
“Back to bed?” Hermione asked. Delphi shook her head.
“It’s dark and lonely in there! Teddy gets scared!” Delphi spoke with a carefully rehearsed baby tone. Hermione smiled at the child and kissed her head softly.
“You're very brave looking after Teddy! Why don’t you come sleep in the big girl dormitories! Just because Teddy was afraid,” Hermione said, watching as her face nodded excitedly.
Harry watched by himself as Hermione carried Delphini up the stairs. Great. So Hermione is babysitting now, I guess. Harry reasoned as he picked up her books before going to bed himself. Today was a long day, he thought before closing his eyes.
Voldemort was ready. Or should we say, Derril Tom Moldove was ready.
Voldemort still can’t believe that Dumbledore didn’t recognize him. His name was a literal anagram! But, Voldemort is not complaining. It made things easier that Dumbledore didn’t do ANY background checks. He will be changing that once he runs the magical world. He won’t declare himself headmaster, that is a bit too much, Supreme Leader and Minister of Magic should be plenty. But, he will select who teachers here. Maybe his loyal servants, the Carrows will step up. He can picture it now. The school, formal and restored to the place that Salazar Slytherin made. Except the basilisk is dead. Potter just had to ruin it. Voldemort could probably find a new one somewhere though. Offer a bounty. Kill the person who found the basilisk so he won’t have to pay anyone a bounty. Anyway, ‘Derril’ will start teaching soon, so he should probably walk to the great hall. Hopefully run into Potter, talk to him. Lure him into the dark arts and-
“Delphi?” Derril muttered under his breath, staring straight at his daughter who as decked head to toe in Gryffindor colors, being paraded around by Potter.
What. Insanity. Dumbledore was so dumb to just GIVE her to Potter? What’s stopping ‘Derril’ just to walk over and take them both? Save him the trouble of playing teacher. Wait, that was right. He has to earn Potter’s trust. If he took him, no doubt Potter would hate him, as well as Stockholm Syndrome takes a while. Derril scowled as he saw a ginger bloodtraitor touching his daughter. Potter and Delphini, cute. Gryffindor coloours and them two playing around, adorable. But a blood traitor touching HIS daughter? Who is the most precious thing in the world? The daughter of the Future Supreme Leader!
“rril- Derril!” The old coot yelled at him, indicating him to a seat next to his, up at the staff table.
Derril rolled his eyes as he made his way up. He watched as some of the kids noticed him and started whispering. ‘Cursed position’ he heard. That made him internally chuckle. Cursed Position. He cursed that position. It wouldn’t stop HIM from teaching. Voldemort frowned as Severus sneered at him. The nerve. He would be giving Snape a cruico at the next meeting.
Harry was having the time of his life. Hermione was silent reading a book, Ron pigging out on crispy bacon, and Delphi? She was chatting animatedly in Harry’s ear. Delphi giggled loudly as Harry suddenly launched her upwards onto his shoulders. Hermione looked up at them both before rolling her eyes and swatting Harry gently with her book.
“Honestly Harry, not at the dinner table! What if you drop her? Ron!” Hermione grumbled half-heartedly as Ron snorted into his orange juice.
“Oh live a little Hermione!” Ron mumbled as he ate some toast.
Hermione frowned slightly but went back to reading. Harry tickled Delphi before fishing his wand out and whispering a quiet spell. Delphi’s previous plain clothes transformed into an adorable parody of the Hogwarts uniform but a much more comfortable version. Harry laughed as Delphi pointed to her fake tie, smiling widely as she noticed it was red like Harry’s. Harry unraveled the Gryffindor tie from around his neck and snuggly rewrapped it around hers. Hermione smiled softly at the bundled-up toddler before jabbing Harry’s thigh urgently.
“Ouch Hermione!” Harry whined before looking over to Hermione’s slightly suspicious face.
“There!” Hermione whispered, pointing discretely over to a man Harry had never seen before. Clad in obviously fancy and stylish robes, the man confidently struts into the hall. The man’s face looked all over the hall before looking directly at Harry.
Well, who wouldn’t want to look at the boy-who-lived, Harry reasoned silently. The man walks over to the head table and takes a seat in the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor’s seat. Well, he must be here to replace Umbridge. Thank god, Harry thought, the back of his now scarred hand itching slightly.
‘I must not tell lies’ Written in a messy scrawl.
Harry huff’s before directing his attention to Delphini once again.
“Hawwy, we go pway?” She mumbles in the cutest baby accent HArry swears he has ever heard. Nodding quickly, he informs Ron and Hermione that he is going.
He walked out of the hall holding Delphi’s hand, for she was still seated on Harry’s shoulders, swinging her legs lightly against his chest.
Harry mumbled softly under his breath as he walked down a corridor. Until he spotted someone.
“Malfoy?” Harry asked, looking intently at the familiar silhouette of a particularly annoying blonde.
“Potter, babysitting? Guess the old coot has very important jobs for you,” Malfoy grumbled as he spun around gracefully, allowing himself to see Harry and Delphi.
“Oh shut up Malfoy,” Harry snarked as he carried on walking down the hall.
Draco rolled his eyes and walked the other way.
“Potter-” Draco started, but went silent. Harry turned around to look Malfoy in the eyes but was unsurprised to see that he had already started walking off. Rolling his eyes, Harry carried down the hall.
Quickly transfiguring some old books into a beach mat and toys, Harry strolled out of the castle and into the patch of green grass in the shade. Setting Delphi down on top of the mat and handing her some toys, Harry took his shoes off and sat down too.
Watching as Delphi entertained herself with a coloring book, Harry pulled his own book’s out of his bag and quickly scanned through the first few pages.
An introduction to the wonders called the ‘dark arts’
Harry frowned as he read the cover. Dark arts? That’s illegal, immoral, and just wrong. HE of all people should not be reading this. Yet it was getting interesting. Maybe he can just read some…
Harry yawned as he turned the last page of his book. Delphini was still coloring and humming childish nonsense. Harry was having a breakthrough. He had just finished the book on dark arts. He only read it because he needed to know everything he could on how to defeat them. But- they made good points. And it was so interesting. Harry felt the overwhelming need to learn more. But he can’t. He is the Boy-Who-Lived, the savior of the wizarding world! Maybe he should go speak to Dumbledore about this, He would know what to do. Or Hermione. Or someone who specializes in this? Like the new Defense professor! He would know. Harry mumbled quietly as he packed his books away. Smiling at Delphini and explaining they had to go meet someone as Delphi grinned happily.
Harry held her hand carefully as they both walked into the new classroom.