Black coffee, with sugar

Chapter 28

Christmas party was weird, if any word could describe it properly. Daphne sat in her usual chair, as every year, flanked on one side by Blaise and on another by Astoria, sipping her champagne as she distractedly kept an eye on the children (this year, as the last one, forbidden from listening to the conversation). What made it weird was one of Harry's children in the middle of the children, playing Gobstones and winning against Nicholas as Lilian and Scorpius egged him on.

Daphne couldn't help but wonder what Lilian felt like, side by side with her brother and her cousin, and only one was publicly related to her. No, scratch that - how was she able to be side by side with Albus these two years, and not speak anything about the subject? How had the boy not noticed that they looked alike? How had Scorpius not noticed? Well, considering Albus' presence at the party, maybe he had, but decided to not say anything about it. It was an option.

It had all started when Scorpius had asked Astoria and Draco if Albus could come to the party - the two had hit off really well, perhaps too well, but who was Daphne to say anything about childhood friendships? -, and Astoria had relayed the message to Daphne, telling her to prepare herself because Astoria was allowing it.

"So, you're telling me that she knows?", Pansy asked, and Daphne wasn't even surprised Pansy was the first to react. It was always like that.

"Yes, I think I made that pretty clear last year.", Daphne sipped her champagne, and wondered if she could skip this entire conversation at once. Pansy looked at her, flabbergasted, and hissed at Draco when he let a chuckle out.

"And you're not afraid that the boy will have feelings for Lilian?", Pansy asked, as Scorpius threw himself over Albus, the two boys grinning at each other like nothing else in the world mattered but that moment. "I mean, they seem close, even Nerine - Nerine, Daphne - said as much!"

Daphne sipped her champagne, looking back to Pansy, and Draco offered another barely hidden chuckle. At least he seemed to not care, which... Was none of her business, really. Adoption did exist... Daphne shook her head minimally, clearing her thoughts.

"I'm not worried. Besides, Lilian knows how to handle her problems.", Daphne looked at the children again, and it seemed almost like they were holding hands. "And if you ask me about their closeness, I suppose it's because Scorpius is close to Lilian, and Albus stuck with it. Besides, Pansy, I don't think you should worry your pretty head about this."

"Pansy has a point, Daphne,", Blaise started, and she looked at him. What was he going on about now? "I mean, you can be sure that Lilian can deal with it on her own, but that's because she knows the truth. The boy doesn't, does he?"

As far as Daphne knew, no, but considering her child had kept it a secret from Daphne for a year, who knew? She looked at the children, but they didn't seem interested in anything else but their game.

She'd have to guess a tentative yes. There was no way the boy - a Slytherin, for Merlin's sake! - didn't notice anything. Lilian had said he was clever; and if her own daughter had somewhat guessed it, what stopped Albus from doing the same?

However, if he wasn't going to come out to Daphne and say that he knew, she wasn't going to press it. Let him play the game, if he was doing that. And if he wasn't, well - Daphne wasn't going to reveal.

"They look so alike, I'd be surprised if the boy didn't notice it,", said Draco, looking into the children's group direction. Lilian seemed to take on Albus' spot, going against Mattie, grinning like this was the most important thing in the world. In a way, it was - they had no war to worry about, after all.

During the parties Draco's father used to give, all the adults did was talk to themselves about whatever movement the Dark Lord was pushing. The children, as such, had no time to play and be children, like theirs had, also gossiping and scheming about what their parents were speaking about.

"He is Harry Potter's son, though, and Harry wasn't exactly known to be particularly bright,", pointed out Tracey, shrugging. "I mean, do you guys remember when he was stalking Draco? He wasn't particularly subtle about it. We knew, Draco knew, even Dumbledore knew, and he wasn't even inside the school most of the year!"

Daphne remembered, but vaguely - during their school years, Draco had been almost all the time raving about Harry, so she had tuned most of it out. It hadn't mattered, after the first few "Potter is doing something, I'm telling my father about this", that had nothing coming out of it. Now that she remembered, she had even mocked him about the subject.

"So you're saying that, even though he and Lilian look like twins separated by a few years, the boy won't notice?", Draco interjected, and Tracey shrugged once more, resting against her chair, her case rested.

"Yes, that is what Tracey is saying.", Daphne waved him off, and Draco raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh, come on, Draco. Lilian didn't notice that Harry and she looked alike, and I have mirrors in my house."

"So what you're trying to say, Daphne, is that being as perceptive as a brick comes from his side of the family?", Astoria interjected, bright and cheery as usual. Daphne glared at her, and Astoria simply smiled. "Not that I'm complaining, Lilian could be someone else's daughter. Blaise's. Can you imagine Blaise's kid?"

"I take offense, Astoria.", Blaise said, but his smile didn't say anything of that. "Besides, who knows? I might have a kid already."

"Merlin save us, then.", Alright, that was going too far. Daphne sighed, passing a hand through her hair.

"But then she wouldn't be Lilian, she'd be someone else entirely.", Daphne interjected, and noticed the children looking in their direction. She frowned, and wondered if maybe Pansy and Theo hadn't taken the Extendable Ear from Nicholas and Nerine, after all.

She wasn't the only one to notice - Pansy's tense smile was an indication of it, after all -, and Theo, noticing his wife's smile, waved to the children. Scorpius was the first to approach, Albus following him, and Lilian simply smiled, as if a protective older sister.

In a way, Daphne mused, she was, wasn't she? Daphne sipped her champagne, listening to Scorpius - who used to be such a shy child, hiding behind the skirts of his mother or whatever other adult figures he happened to be with - ask, excitedly, if he could show Albus the family library. Draco seemed amused, and let the two boys go, running towards the oaken door that separated the ballroom they were in from the rest of the house.

"Wait a moment, you two!", called Nicholas, leaving the gobstones haphazardly thrown behind as he went after Albus and Scorpius, Nerine and Mattie following him. Lilian, grinning like a child she wasn't anymore, waved her wand, a spell leaving her lips so that the stones would organize themselves before she ran off. Daphne relaxed in her seat, a sigh leaving her lips. It was almost like she had siblings. Merlin, Daphne wished she could have given her some, but...

"They grow so fast,", she said, trying to forget her train of thought, and let the soft murmurs of agreement between her peers wash over her. Soon enough, Lilian would be graduating - it was just two years of schooling she had left, now -, and that meant that, soon enough, she and Harry would...

Daphne washed away the thought with what was left of champagne in her flute. It was better to leave some things unsaid, unthought. And even then, it was still a measly if. She shouldn't get her hopes up, not yet, at least.