To Hurt and To Heal

Wasted Sorrow

After yet another hot and sleepless night, Delhi spent the following day with Rodolphus, pacing through the corridors and the walls of her home. Back and forth, she walked, pausing at the slightest notion of footsteps and shuttering her breath, but all the while she tried to concoct a plan, she failed miserably. But the point in her life, which she was at, was far too perfect to fix itself.

From the key hitting her locked door, she learned to hide. It was one of her favourite games when she was little, she memorised every detail and wall of the home. But still to Delphi, it acted as a prison.

From whispering to the augurey downstairs to the unfamiliar scent of firewhiskey under her capteres breath, it was undeniably her fortress of solitude. Delphi learned that she had to act fast if she was in fact going to hatch a plan- a way to escape. Delphi had hacked out a hole in the floorboards when she was younger, hiding a switchblade and of course her wand inside. It was for protection, she told herself, if it ever did come to that. But she hoped within her heart, it would not.

And the drunken Rodolphus waltzed into her room, Delphi recognised the state of his mind. Torn clothes. Strong scent. Blood. She also learned that no matter how many times he arrived back at the manor, stumbling and broken, he would be the same person to her. Whether he was weak or strong. Drunk or sober. To Delphi, he was the enemy, just another pawn in her story. And she would see it fit to checkmate.

When four o'clock rolled around, Delphi was sitting in the dining room, her back sat far in the seat, directly in front of Rodolphus. She had promised that she'd be there on time, after all she had decided to not let Padfoot intervene. Even if he wanted to help her, she knew deep down that he never could.

"Do they meet your refined taste?" Rodolphus asked.

Delphi was silent.

She secretly bit back the anger that flared.

"How many times do you expect us to have the same conversation?"

His face was relatively neutral, though his brown eyes flashed with annoyance.

Fine- he was a good liar.

As good as she was, maybe.

He ran a hand through his jet black hair, "It always starts the same- don't you ever stop questioning? There's no way of predicting how many times you're going to...start."

A low growl slipped through her teeth, but Rodolphus was already walking away to Euphemia. Clearly, he didn't have time for nonsense, at least not when he's half drunk.

Delphi followed him, slipping past the Death Eaters that stood mid centre of the room, staring back at her as she followed.

"You're as drunk as a pirate at the bay," Euphemia states.

Rodolphus waved a hand. "Most of them are when you're at a bar."

"Plus I'm not a pirate and I'm not at the bay."

"Besides the point, Rodolphus. It's inexcusable, we have a meeting today-"

"We have a meeting everyday, what's certainly special about this one?"

"We're..." Euphemia begins to say, but then changes her voice to more of a whisper.

"The plans are today, we're going to put the second army into motion, isn't that great. Rodolphus!" She jumps up and down with excitement.

Delphi waited until they moved back to the dining room to follow them any further. A few members of her father's cult began to look at where she had gone.

"Now," Euphemia said to Rodophus, "you're going to sit in for this meeting whether you've had too many ciders or not."

Rodophus sighed loudly and nodded. "You know the watchtower, the one across the bay," she pressed. "I assume that's where they're hiding him."

"Hiding who?" Rodolphus asked.

"The girl's father."
He looked dumbfounded so she changed her wording. "The dark lord of course."

"Yes," he snapped back. Delphi opened her mouth, but didn't want her presence to be revealed.

"And before you say anything, I want to keep this between us- Delphini will not know. I know what she will do, she will go to that friend of hers and babble that mouth of hers and Harry Potter is the last thing we want on our mind."

Rodophus raised a brow. "Why?"

She could feel Euphemia tense in front of her, then shrugged.

"That's what got in our way last time and this time is much different."

Rodolphus studied her a bit too closely, then whirled to face the surrounding members, particularly a woman nearby. "Do you speak Parseltongue?"

She looked this way and that, clutching her black coat of fur and wool that undoubtedly kept her warm during the winter.

"Do you understand what I'm saying?" Rodolphus demanded. The woman lifted her hands, but suddenly dropped them beside her.

"I think the answer is no," Rodolphus offered.

"Can any of you speak Parseltongue?" He repeated himself, and was about to turn back, maybe to catch Delphi lurking where she shouldn't have been, maybe they would lock her up once they found out she can speak Parseltongue too. An older man suddenly came forward, who was covered with scars above his eyes.

"I can," he said.

"That's it?" Rodolphus barked at the second army. "No one else?" He scoffed, and approached the man who recoiled as he swooshed his black cloak.

"Well at least they can fight," Euphemia protested.

"Fight? Anyone can fight, they do have wands, you know."

"What's your name?" Euphemia asked the soldier.

"Aldwyn." The man said, shaking from his toes to his fingertips.
"You're fluent?"

He nodded. "My- my mother learned it when she was young and taught it to me so I grew up with both languages."

He'd probably never killed someone before. How had he been caught up in this mess? The other soldiers looked much less frightened, more hopeful if anything. You could tell by the bruises and cuts that marked them as fighters, prisoners, and the new soldiers.

"Good," she said, walking away.

*

Much, much later into the night, Delphi slipped out of her window, jumping onto the tree and climbing down. No one seemed to notice or if they did, they certainly didn't care. The moon was too bright for her eyes to look past, but not bright enough to be seen.

As a snap from a branch awoke her senses, she jumped to her right, ready for the fight but quickly was disappointed. It was Padfoot.

They didn't say anything, either. Silence was her only hope. He helped her escape silently, hiding out at his second home, the lake house from his childhood. He understood the assignment even though no words were spoken, he understood what it meant. Delphi had gotten her answer, she had finally figured out who she was. And it wasn't a good thing, it was dangerous, far too dangerous for Padfoot's mind to comprehend. But he knew what he had to do.

So late at night, they stood at the docks, rowing out to his hidden home, Delphi's tears hidden far underneath her cloak.

It wasn't the fear she was worried about. It was not knowing what is to come. The solitude she lived in was far too overwhelming for anyone let alone the dark lord's daughter. A fire burned far into the distance, but she didn't wipe her tears this time.

This time it was time to burn.