A mother will do whatever is best for her children

Ages seven to eleven

Delphini grew up quite alright, Narcissa conceded, even if she did give her some scares. Most of them, Narcissa conceded again, weren't really the child's fault, but they somehow were, at the same time - like when Rodolphus escaped from Azkaban, when Delphini was seven.

"Mommy?", Delphini asked, newspaper in hand, Rodolphus crazed looks front and center. She scowled, and decided that she'd gently remind Sissi later about keeping the newspapers out of Delphini's reach. "Mommy, is the bad man coming for me?"

Narcissa offered a strained smile. Maybe she shouldn't have started Delphini's history lessons so soon. At least they were just in the beginning, when the bad men and women weren't morally gray and not as cunning and Hogwarts wasn't a thought.

Narcissa had been the one teaching Delphini; Lucius had gotten tutors to Draco instead of listening to her pleas of letting her teach her own child, and look how that had ended. No, Delphini was going to be teached by her hand.

"Come here, child,", Narcissa called, putting her teacup in its plate, chair slightly away from the table. Delphini, with too familiar wild black hair, climbed to her lap. She looked like a miniature Bellatrix, but without the madness. Narcissa touched the girl's face softly. "No bad men will come for you while I live, sweetheart. That I can promise you."

Delphini smiled, and Narcissa waited for whatever plot the girl planned to lay on her. Delphini wasn't very subtle, to Narcissa's unending horror of raising a Hufflepuff.

"Then can you sleep with me until he's caught, mommy? Just to make sure he's not going to bother me?"

Narcissa had to admit it was an interesting plan, if anything; she had been expecting for Delphini to ask for a cat or another sort of pet. She had been nagging Narcissa for one, after all.

Back onto topic - if Rodolphus somehow knew about Delphini, he'd try to track her down. Perhaps to speak about her supposed/probable parentage, to try to make her a Dark Lady in training. It couldn't be a coincidence. If he did track Delphini down, somehow (Narcissa made a mental note to get Delphini checked for trackers), Narcissa would need to be there.

She smiled.

"Of course, sweetheart. Mother will protect you.", even if the ways she did it were more of one of Delphini's feared bad men than a nice witch. Still, it was the best way.

Narcissa's Pepper-Up Potion fueled vigil lasted three nights where Delphini slept soundly, fed some diluted Sleep potion, unbothered by the rain that grew heavier with each passing night.

On the third and last night, when rain was heavy and lightning crackled in the skies, Rodolphus broke an window, wet and crazed looking. Narcissa rose from the chair she took as her own as soon as Delphini fell asleep, and summoned a towel for the man, who looked at her, steps drenching the carpet. She was going to kill him. That carpet was expensive.

Well, not her. Someone else would do the dirty job. As if Narcissa would sully her hands with filth such as Rodolphus.

"I thought she was with Rowle.", he started, drying his hair off with the offered towel. "Kind of surprised she's with you."

"Rowle came to beg more money to me, and I thought that I'd be better at raising my sister's daughter,", Narcissa replied, fingering her wand, stashed in a pocket. "She has been taken care of, obviously."

"Huh. Can I talk with her for five minutes? Just want to tell her about our Lord, maybe let her know about her heritage and destiny, you know.", he eyed the small girl asleep, back turned, and Narcissa thanked Merlin for this fool's trust in her. Rodolphus wasn't particularly smart; maybe that was why he was such a good fit for Bellatrix, who was too smart.