"Are you sure you want to come?" Draco asked. "Even though you'll probably have to meet... him?"
Delilah nodded.
"Yes. I can help you look for helpful information in your family's library. It also will help give them the full picture if I help explain the situation. Plus you already told your mother that I was coming," she pointed out for the twentieth time.
And it was her only chance to relax a bit, even if they were planning on doing research about fixing vanishing cabinets.
Draco nodded, looking resigned.
"I suppose it is for the best, but I wish one of us could be working on our project while the other was updating everyone."
She shrugged. They had been discussing their options since Mrs. Malfoy had sent him a letter inviting Delilah to come with him.
"Yeah, but either way once he finds out, he'll want to meet me to make sure I'm trustworthy."
Which means unfortunately he'd poke around in her brain. If only Snape had taught her Legilimency instead of Harry. But maybe it would be a good thing to let him poke around so he knew that she had nothing to hide. Except there was one small problem with that.
She did.
Delilah didn't want him to know how much she freaking missed Harry, even if she had gotten used to his absence over the past six years. It still hurt when they got a little closer in the summer but then ignored each other until it was time to leave Hogwarts again.
It hurt, and she wasn't sure she could keep doing it. But the few fragments of their relationship they had managed to salvage were better than the emptiness that would replace it once Harry found out she had chosen Draco over him again.
But why did he expect her to stay loyal to him when he kept hurting her again and again without even realizing it? She was tired of it. He had broken her trust, and she wasn't sure if he knew it.
"Fair enough, I suppose there really isn't another option. I just don't like the thought of you having to meet him," Draco suddenly said, snapping Delilah from her thoughts.
"Yeah, it'd just delay the inevitable."
He nodded.
"We probably should head to the chimney then. We're taking Snape's, right?"
"Yes, I have a few more things I need to pack." And a snake to find, but Delilah wasn't worried. Midnight always turned up when she needed her.
"Oh, I thought you finished last night."
"I did most of it, but there's just a few things left."
Only a half truth, but not a lie. But again, there were things she wanted to keep to herself.
So she gently kissed his cheek before heading down to her room.
She stared at the wrapped parcel, sighing. She doubted it would work, but it was worth a try.
So, she snuck up to the owlery and sent the parcel, along with the other gifts, knowing she wouldn't get a chance to send them once she reached Malfoy Manor.
As she crept into her room she grabbed her bag and Midnight's cage, where she was resting.
"Come on, let's go," Delilah said to Draco, who was waiting in the Common Room.
He stood, grabbed his trunk from beside him, and they headed out, saying goodbye to the other Slytherins, including Miguel and Nicci, who he seemed to be helping with some last minute homework.
She was glad to see them getting along, even if she hadn't seen much of either of them recently.
They got to Snape's office quickly.
"Come in," Snape drawled when they knocked.
"Hello, Professor," Draco said coldly.
"You were supposed... to be here thirty minutes... ago."
"Sorry, sir." Delilah smiled, though it didn't meet her eyes. "We were a bit behind today."
"Obviously. Get a move on, I haven't got all day."
He motioned to the fireplace, and Draco, upon Delilah's insistence, went first, declaring, "Malfoy Manor!" before disappearing in a whirl of smoke.
Delilah moved to follow suite, but Snape held up a hand.
"A word..."
She stopped, waiting for him to make the first move.
"I'm sure you're aware of Mr. Malfoy's... predicament."
She gave a curt nod. Draco had told her about how Snape really was Voldemort's follower, even if Dumbledore believed otherwise. Personally she wasn't sure which side he truly was on.
He continued.
"Help him realize that I do want to help, but not for glory. I made an unbreak-"
"-able vow, yes, Draco told me. I feel that is something his mother needs to confirm, not me. If you truly want to help, get his mother to tell him. He'll listen to her more than you. I really need to get going, sir. I don't want to keep him waiting."
"You tell that greasy old man," Midnight encouraged.
Delilah smiled and got into the fireplace, ignoring Midnight's comment and firmly said, "Malfoy Manor."
She spun and landed in a sleek, elegant black parlor room.
"Don't get soot on the carpet," a voice said from one of the couches.
Delilah quickly shook the soot off of her before ducking out of the fireplace.
Narcissa Malfoy was sitting on one of the leather couches, reading a book.
She stood awkwardly before Mrs. Malfoy said, without looking up, "Draco is in the third Parlor. It's two floors down, on your left. Make sure not to go into the training room. Bella is in there right now, and we don't want to plan another funeral."
Another? Whose funeral had she planned?
"Thank you."
Delilah slipped out of the room, making sure she wasn't trailing soot anywhere.
The hallways were just as elegant as the room she had come from, if not more. They were made of a beautiful white and black stone that seemed to be one huge block, not multiple stacked on top of each other. To complete the effect, the lights were a pure white, but unlike the Muggle light bulbs, this white didn't make her eyes burn. Instead it seemed to bring everything into focus.
She only had to go a bit further down the hall until she found a staircase. Odd, usually they were harder to find.
Delilah headed down the stairs, which changed from the black-and-white to a gray-and-white stone, then a beautiful light gray that shone in the light.
"She said on the left, correct?"
"Yesss, you'll get jinxed if you go on the right," Midnight confirmed.
Delilah turned to the left and ran straight into someone. She seriously hoped it wasn't Bellatrix.
"There you are Delilah, what happened?"
Thank goodness, it was Draco.
"Snape wanted to talk to me, then I ended up in a fireplace two floors above this."
His eyes widened.
"Really?"
"Yeah, why do you sound so surprised?"
"That's my parent's floor, usually the fireplace is disconnected from the Floo Network. People usually floo into the parlor, like I did, or the lounge, not Mother's sitting room."
"I guess she connected it so we could get back."
Draco shook his head.
"They usually only connect the parlor and lounge, not the sitting room."
Delilah shrugged, she didn't know what else to do.
They stood awkwardly.
"Draco, why don't you show our guest around," Narcissa said from behind them.
Delilah flinched. How had Narcissa found them so quickly, and quietly? Even apparition wasn't that quiet.
"Oh, right. Good idea. Which room is she staying in?"
Delilah thought she saw a bit of mischief in Narcissa's eyes, but everything else about her face seemed neutral.
"The one that conjoins yours."
Draco's eyes widened.
"R-really?" he spluttered, his face turning red.
Now Narcissa definitely looked mischievous. But why was her having a conjoined room with Draco a big deal?
"Yes. Why don't you go show her it?"
Draco nodded, grabbing Delilah's hand and started leading her down the hallway.
"This floor is pretty boring. It just has a bunch of guest rooms, the parlor, and the training room."
He led her to yet another set of stairs and started heading up, back to the floor made of the shiny white and gray stone and down the hallway.
"This is my room," he said, motioning to the door on their left. "Yours is the door right after it. Since the rooms are conjoined, we'll have to share a bathroom, but there is one down the hall if you'd rather use those ones." Again, his face turned red. There definitely was something about the rooms that she didn't know, probably a pureblood tradition. She'd have to ask Daphne.
Delilah nodded.
"Thanks, I'll think about it."
He nodded.
"While we're up here I'm going to unpack. The House Elves have already put our trunks in our rooms."
She frowned, her eyebrows moving closer together.
"I thought Harry freed your House Elf?"
"He did, but we got two more after. Minki and Trini, they're siblings whose parents got freed. They wanted work, so we gave it to them. Don't worry, they're getting treated better than Dobby. Though that's partly just because he wouldn't obey our orders. Minki and Trini work better, so we treat them better."
So that's why Dobby had been so miserable. He had such a free spirit that he didn't always want to follow their orders, leading them to punish him, making him more miserable. A horrible cycle. It was a good thing Harry freed him.
"That makes sense," Delilah agreed.
He nodded and held the door open for her. She thanked him and entered the room.
As she entered, she was astounded to see the room change from the gray-and-white stone to a black to what appeared to be a forest clearing. The ceiling reflected the night sky, and the wall paper had trees with leaves that appeared to be moving in the wind.
The vocal piece, however, was the water.
On the wall on her right, there was a stunning waterfall that glittered in the star light, looking as if it was actually moving. To complete the effect, it led to a lake where she could see little fish swimming around.
In fact, as she looked around she noticed more animals hiding in the decorations. There were birds and squirrels in the trees and a small fox in some bushes.
Across the wall from the waterfall was a beautiful bed. The bed frame looked like it was made of braided tree branches with a leafy green bed cover. A desk and chair with matching wood sat with its back to the door, completing the effect.
Snapping out of her reverie, Delilah grabbed her trunk and quickly put her clothes in the dresser made of the same braided wood.
Just as she was almost done, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in."
To her surprise, the main door didn't open. Instead a door she hadn't noticed on the wall with the waterfall opened.
"Hey, are you unpa- wow." Draco stared at the room, awestruck. "Wow," he repeated.
Delilah nodded.
"I walked in and then—" She gestured to the room — "this happened."
"Yeah, that's what happens when the room's owner walks in," he answered, blushing.
"Wow, that's really impressive magic."
"Yeah, my ancestor put the charm on all the bedrooms. Don't go to Bellatrix's room." He shuddered. "It's down-right creepy."
"I bet. What's your room like?"
Shrugging he said, "If you're done unpacking I can show you."
Delilah quickly put her last shirt into the dresser.
"Where should I put the dirty clothes?"
"There are hampers in the bathroom, I'll show you which ones are yours. Ready?"
"Yep."
He opened the almost invisible door and led the way inside.
The bathroom was plain, but surprisingly modern. Everything in it was made of the same shiny white and gray as the floor. There was a huge shower against the left wall, a small toilet, and to the left a counter with two sinks and a mirror above it.
"The hampers are right there," Draco said, motioning to the hampers between the counter and the wall, two on each side. "Yours are the two by your door."
Delilah nodded. It was pretty obvious, but it was sweet of him to make sure she knew which were hers.
"Can you show me your room?"
Draco blushed, studying the floor.
"Alright."
He held the door across the bathroom open for her to enter.
His room took her breath away. The set up of the furniture was reversed from her room, but that was the only similarity between the rooms. While Delilah's looked like a forest clearing, Draco's was similar to the wall in their Common Room that showed the lake, but it was the whole room.
The walls showed fish moving around, and algae moving with the currents. The floor looked like the bottom of the ocean, with seashells and as she moved, she saw a stingray move underneath her to another spot. She looked up and saw a shark swim past.
All the furniture seemed to reflect the ocean somehow. The desk was made of glass imprinted with seashells. The dresser and bed frame were made of the same glass and the bed cover looked like fish scales. It was beautiful.
"Wow," she finally managed to say.
Draco smiled, his face still pink.
"Yeah, I guess it's pretty cool. You'd never guess that over the school year it looked just like the other bedrooms."
"You mean if you're gone for too long it reverts back to the plain white?"
He shook his head.
"Not necessarily, it's some weird magic, but if the owner wants it to look normal for whatever reason, it can do it. All you need to say is, Redi." As he said it, the room turned to the original white and gray. "Then to get it back you say, Gratuit." The room changed back to the ocean theme.
"That's really cool," Delilah murmured.
Shrugging he said, "Not really. Do you want me to finish showing you around?"
She nodded and they headed down the staircase, the stone changing from white and gray to gray, then stopped at the floor made of white stone with gold flecks.
"This is the ground floor, it has the ballroom, 2 dining halls, a sitting room, and a few other rooms, but those aren't important."
"So all the rooms for parties and things like that?"
Draco nodded.
"Basically. There's also a basement, but that's just storage, the kitchens, and the House Elves rooms."
"Ok, so basically the House Elves' floor?"
He nodded.
"Yep. On a different note, we have some pretty cool grounds."
She perked up.
"Lead the way, kind sir."
He chuckled and offered her his arm, which she accepted.
"As you wish."
The grounds were exquisite. Immediately behind the house was Narcissa's garden, which had types of plants Delilah didn't even know existed. Of course, some probably were poisonous, but they all were beautiful.
The garden was split into three parts, the edible food, the flowers, and the plain greens, which were either poisonous or medical. Maybe even both depending how they were prepared.
Behind the garden was a forest. Like the Hogwarts forest, it had magical creatures, but they were peaceful. There were centaurs, who liked humans much more than the Hogwarts herd. There also were fairies, water sprites, jackalopes, and so many others that Delilah doubted she'd be able to remember all of them.
Draco smiled at her enthusiasm.
"Want me to show you the best spot?"
Delilah nodded, still playing with the baby jackalope, with its mother's permission, she didn't have a death wish.
He waited for another minute while she said goodbye before leading her through the trees.
He stopped suddenly, making Delilah run into him.
"Close your eyes."
She raised her eyebrow.
"Trust me."
She did as he suggested, and let him gently lead her the rest of the way to the spot.
"Ok, you can open them," Draco said after a few more minutes.
Delilah opened her eyes and gasped.
In front of her was a huge cliff with a waterfall, which led to a beautiful lake. There were white lily pads floating on the lake, making the water look even bluer. On the edge there was a white gazebo, with a table and cushioned chairs made from the same white wood.
"It's beautiful," she murmured.
"Not as beautiful as you."
Delilah chuckled. She knew he was wrong, but it was a sweet thought, especially since he seemed to mean it.
They stood in peaceful silence.
"Come on, we should probably go inside."
Reluctantly she followed him, hoping they would be able to come back.
Over the next few days Delilah got into the strange rhythm of life at Malfoy Manor. She would wake up, eat breakfast, search the library for information on Vanishing Cabinets, go to lunch, walk around with Draco, discussing ideas, go to dinner, and then go to Legilimency lessons with Bellatrix. The lessons were interesting, to say the least.
Bellatrix had decided the best way to teach them was to force her way into their memories, which was problematic for Delilah, since she didn't want her to tell the Dark Lord that Delilah still cared for Harry. Yet she managed to find a way to hide what she wanted, even if it divulged some information she'd rather keep to herself.
She had realized after the second meeting that she couldn't hide important memories, like her walk with Harry, so instead she practiced with Narcissa, who seemed to understand her situation better than Bellatrix and wouldn't tell any information to the Dark Lord.
With Narcissa, Delilah had figured out how to amplify certain emotions to hide others, making her walk with Harry seem angry instead of sorrowful. It helped that it wasn't that much of a stretch.
The lessons were strange, but she got used to them after a few days. The only thing she didn't get used to was the visits from Death Eaters and criminals.
While she hadn't met the Dark Lord, she had met some of his Death Eaters, Antonin Dolohov, Alecto and Amycus Carrow, and Fenrir Greyback.
Most of them just nodded to Narcissa, Bellatrix, and Draco, and ignored Delilah. Fenrir, however, eyed her like she was his next dinner. Whenever he visited, Draco made sure he was with her and tried to stay outdoors or in the library, basically anywhere that Fenrir wasn't. It was sweet, but she knew Fenrir was the least of her worries.
Sooner or later Delilah would have to meet Voldemort, and she had yet to perfect Legilimency. According to Narcissa, she had already made great progress, especially since she had started only days ago. Still, she made sure that all her spare time was spent practicing, especially since no one, not even Bellatrix, knew when he would arrive.
And so they waited.