It wasn't until Christmas Eve night that Voldemort came without warning.
"Draco! Delilah!" Narcissa's sharp voice carried through the house. "Come to the parlor immediately."
Draco and Delilah glanced at each other and hurried down as fast as they could while still appearing presentable.
She grabbed his arm when they reached the corner before the parlor.
"Wait a second."
She flattened his hair and straightened his collar.
"Mother told you to make sure I look presentable, didn't she?"
Delilah shrugged innocently.
"She might have mentioned it. Now come on, we don't want to keep the Dark Lord waiting."
He nodded and they turned the last corner.
And there he was, the Dark Lord himself. Delilah resisted the urge to shudder. He was intimidating, with cold red eyes and... no nose. That slightly ruined the effect, but at the same time added to it. Odd.
As soon as the Dark Lord saw them he turned and entered the parlor, his dark cloak billowing batlike behind him. So that's who Snape learned that skill from.
"Draco, come inside with me. Delilah, wait here. Draco or I'll come fetch you when it's time, I'm sure he'll want to talk to you."
Delilah nodded curtly as he followed Narcissa into the room.
While she waited, she went over her memories, content that Voldemort wouldn't find anything that would get her killed or obliviated.
It seemed to take forever, even though it only was a few minutes. She would have been tempted to listen at the door, but the Imperturbable Charm had been placed on all the doors in the Manor so trying to eavesdrop was useless.
Finally Narcissa came out and motioned for Delilah to enter.
Normally she would have studied the room, it was one of the many she hadn't been in, but instead she sat down beside Draco, who looked even paler than normal.
"So you are Delilah," Voldemort murmured, studying her.
She nodded, feeling him pushing his presence into her head. Instead of fighting, like most people would have, she didn't resist. There was nothing she needed to hide from him.
So Delilah kept her mind blank, letting him poke around, until he asked one simple question.
"Why are you helping us?"
"I care for Draco and hate Dumbledore," she said simply.
She felt him prod a little more in her head, but he seemed content with her answer as she felt his presence leave.
"Leave us," Voldemort said, looking at Narcissa and Draco.
They hesitated, but did as he said.
Then he just stared at her. It was slightly unnerving, his red eyes boring into her green.
She felt his mind enter hers again.
"Why would you really do this? You must know that Harry will never trust you again."
Delilah felt that all-too familiar pang at Harry's name, before remembering all the things he had done to her.
Leaving her alone at Christmas, talking to her only during the summer, pretending to not care that she was a Slytherin while hating every other Slytherin, and she suspected that he only had been talking to her recently to find out about Draco or because Hermione or Dumbledore told him to. The list went on and on.
Even though she hadn't responded, Voldemort nodded, the motion barely perceptible. Still, she probably should answer.
"I gave Harry multiple chances, and he failed all of them. Whenever I give Draco a chance, he passes. The choice is obvious."
Voldemort studied her for a moment longer, before motioning to the door. Delilah felt his presence leave her mind yet again.
"Get Narcissa. I need to talk to her privately."
Draco was leaning against the wall, his hands pressed in his pockets as he studied the door. When she opened the door, he straightened, his eyebrows creased as if he was asking if she was ok.
"You're turn," she whispered to Narcissa.
Without a word she entered the room, closing the door behind her.
"You alright?" Draco asked.
Delilah shivered, finally letting her emotions show.
"Yeah."
He didn't look convinced, but didn't push. She was grateful. She didn't know how to put her emotions in words yet. In fact, she wasn't sure she'd ever be able to.
The Dark Lord was intimidating, and Delilah now understood why all his followers were scared of him, power-hungry, or insane.
"Want to go to the waterfall? We don't even have to bring any of the books."
"Yeah, but we should go to the library. That way Narcissa can find us if needed."
Draco's face fell, but he nodded.
"Alright."
After a few hours of trying, and failing, to find books about Vanishing Cabinets.
All of them only said what they were, but there was no information about fixing them. It was obnoxious. Still, maybe at the end it would give a clue.
She was just getting into the book, when she heard a chair scrape. She looked up, but nothing was different. She went back to the book, and there the sound was again. This time she noticed a difference, Draco was slightly closer. She rolled her eyes, resisting a smile.
"Yes?"
He frowned, trying to look confused, but the mischief in his eyes made it clear he knew what he was doing.
"What?"
"Do you need something?"
"No, why do you ask?"
Delilah rolled her eyes.
"You've been moving your chair closer to me."
Instead of being abashed or even admitting it, he grinned and scooted even closer before leaning his head on her shoulder.
Again she rolled her eyes. Between Draco and Harry they probably were her strongest muscles.
She turned back to her book and had just found where she had stopped when Draco started playing with her hair.
Delilah felt her face start heating up and turned to him, giving him a quizzical look.
"Yes?" she repeated.
"What?"
"Do you need something?"
"No, why do you ask?"
Delilah sighed. She felt like they had had this conversation before. Oh wait, they had.
"You're playing with my hair."
He shrugged.
"And?"
She rolled her eyes.
"And is there something you want?"
"No."
She sighed and tried to focus on the book, but his hand kept accidentally brushing her neck, sending tingles down her spine and making her face heat just a little bit.
After a few minutes of failure, Delilah admitted defeat and put the bookmark in the book as she closed it. She wouldn't be able to focus like this.
"Let's take a break."
Draco's face lit up and he said, "Great idea."
Honestly sometimes he was exactly like a puppy.
"Where do you want to go?"
"Let's go to the waterfall."
Delilah perked up. So far they hadn't been able to go back, at least not for extended periods of time. Then she slouched. They probably shouldn't leave the house quite yet. She doubted Voldemort would need them, but just in case she didn't want Narcissa to have to go on a scavenger hunt to find them.
"We probably shouldn't, just in case they need us."
"I doubt they will," Draco pointed out.
"Still, I'd rather not have your mother have to go on a scavenger hunt to find us."
"Fair point. I'd rather live to see the morning. What about the Observatory?"
"Like the Astronomy tower?"
"Yep, except better."
Delilah raised an eyebrow as she followed him out of the library.
"It's a bit out of the way," Draco admitted. "But she'll be able to find us if we're needed."
Delilah nodded. It probably wasn't the best idea, but now she was curious. The Malfoy's seemed to take normal rooms and make them extraordinary. It would be interesting to see what they did with the Observatory.
Sure enough after the trek to the fancy attic Draco opened the door and yet again Delilah gasped.
The ceiling of the dark circular room looked like glass, except it was enchanted to mirror the night sky. It probably was removable so the sky could be viewed better with the telescope across the room that looked like the one at Hogwarts.
She took a step into the room and was surprised to feel the ground squish under her. Glancing down she saw that it was cushioned. She looked across the room and saw that there was a huge stack of folded blankets. There also was a very comfortable looking couch pushed against the wall. It didn't look like it had been used very much.
"Wow, this is amazing."
He smiled.
"I'm glad you like it. It's one of my favorite places to hide during parties."
"It's very calming. Can the ceiling be removed?"
Draco stared, confused.
"No? How would we do that? No. You just need to say, Ostende." As he said it, the ceiling turned clear, showing the cloudy dark sky. Continuing he added, "Usually if it's cloudy like tonight we keep it as the reflection since it blocks out clouds."
"Wow, that's cool, how do you get it back to the reflected version?"
"Celare."
The clouds disappeared and the stars' light magnified, but other than that there was no difference.
Delilah nodded. It really was cool.
Draco grabbed a green blanket then moved to the center of the room and laid down, staring at the stars. Delilah followed suit, laying down beside him.
"You see that constellation? That's Leo, it's supposed to be a lion," he said, pointing up. "Dilata Leo."
The ceiling zoomed into a constellation. In all honesty the constellation didn't look like a lion, but she could kinda see how ancient Greek thought it was one.
Draco continued, "My mother's cousin, Regulus, was named after its brightest star. He died ages ago, so I never met him. He's Sirius Black's brother."
"Oh, so your mother is a Black?" It would explain so much. She would never admit it to Draco, but his father didn't always think things through. The attack on the Ministry last year proved that. The Blacks on the other hand were great at whatever they put their minds at.
For example, Sirius became an animagus and helped create the Marauder's Map, both at a young age. Bellatrix, she loved murder and torture and while it was creepy, she was great at it. Then Andromeda, from what she had heard from the Order, broke thousands of years of tradition and cut ties with her crazy family so she could love who she loved.
Draco nodded, confirming her suspicions.
"Yep, I think that's where I get my brilliance," he joked. Obviously he had thought about it too.
Delilah decided to change the topic.
"So is everyone in your family named after stars?"
He shook his head.
"Only most. My mother is named after a flower. I don't know why."
"So which one are you named after?"
"You really did fall asleep during astronomy, didn't you?" he asked.
She grinned.
"Yep, I honestly have no clue how I passed that class."
He smiled.
"To answer your question, it's the Draco constellation."
"Fancy, you have your own constellation, not just a star like other people."
Chuckling he said, "Yeah. Retro." It zoomed out, showing the full night sky. "Dilata Draco." It zoomed in again, this time to a different constellation.
"Doesn't Draco mean dragon in latin?"
"Yeah."
Just like the Leo constellation, Draco's didn't look like a dragon. Instead it looked like a small kite with a really long, wavy string. Maybe it was supposed to be a Chinese dragon. That would make sense.
Draco spent the rest of the night talking about the different constellations and what their stories were. Most of them were pretty similar to the Greek stories, but with slight differences.
It appeared Voldemort didn't need them, since after a few minutes Minki, one of the Malfoy elves, came with some hot chocolate and informed them that the Dark Lord had left and Narcissa was retiring for the night.
They decided to stay up a little longer. However, just like with Astronomy class, Delilah soon felt her eyes closing. She tried to stay awake, but it had been a long day. Slowly she fell asleep.
Delilah groaned, borrowing closer to the warmth beside her. She started closing her eyes before stopping, wide eyed. She wasn't in her room.
She glanced around. Right, she was in the Observatory with Draco. Last night they had accidentally fallen asleep. She turned, looking at Draco. He was really cute. His hair was messy and for once he looked peaceful. It was a nice change.
Delilah smiled and gently pulled away from him as she sat up.
Quietly she tiptoed to the entrance. She was about to open the door when Draco yawned, sitting up.
"Whattimeisit?"
"I don't know, I was about to go to my room and get ready for the day. I think it's around 6, but I don't know."
Draco groaned and wrapped the blankets closer around him.
"That's too early."
"So you want to stay up here? You don't want to open presents?"
He sat up, grinning.
"Wait, it's already Christmas?"
She smiled. His enthusiasm was adorable.
"Yep, so you want to go get ready for the day then head downstairs?"
Draco nodded.
"Yeah, Minky and Trini should have breakfast made by now."
They quickly headed to their individual rooms, got ready, then headed down to the dining hall, where breakfast was already waiting. Delilah could see the heat waves emanating from it. Trini really was great at that kind of elf-magic.
Narcissa was already sitting at the head of the table, carefully eating some fried eggs with tomatoes, mushrooms, and a little bit of sausage.
Draco sat on her left with Delilah beside him.
"Where's Bellatrix?" Draco asked.
"She's on an assignment."
He nodded, and started piling bacon, eggs, sausages, and everything in reach except for the white pudding.
Delilah put bacon, sausage, eggs, tomatoes, and fried bread on her plate before politely starting to eat, finally grateful the Dursleys expected her to have good manners. It was the only useful thing Aunt Petunia had taught her since magic could do the cooking and cleaning.
Per usual the food was delicious. Minki and Trini really knew how to cook.
As soon as they both finished, Draco turned to his mother, his eyes asking for permission to go open his presents.
Narcissa gave a small smile, and nodded.
Draco stood up and hurried all the way upstairs to the floor with their rooms. He went through the hallway and opened the door to his parlor.
It was simple, with the matching white and gray stone walls, floor, and fireplace. The two couches were light gray, with a white-wood table between them.
The only color in the room came from the flames in the fireplace, the presents, and the Christmas tree in the corner with silver, gold, and colorful crystal ornaments.
Draco sat down beside the tree and started separating the presents, putting Delilah's in front of her.
When he was done they started opening them. Delilah got a fancy mirror from Daphne that probably had some magical properties, and Lyra gave treats for Midnight and a few pairs of socks that always stayed warm and dry. She sighed, not really surprised that Harry hadn't gotten her anything, even if it was for the best. Maybe she wouldn't send him
"Your present is in my room," Delilah told Draco after noticing that he had also finished his stack.
"Same. Well, yours is in my room, not yours... obviously." His face turned a light pink. "You know what I mean."
She smiled. He really was adorable.
"Want to go grab the last two gifts then?"
He nodded. They put the other presents back to their rooms, grabbed the final presents, and met back in the quaint parlor.
"You first," Delilah said, handing him her gift.
He hesitated.
"No, you should go first." He offered her the present.
Neither moved, both staring the other down.
"Ok, let's do Paper Scissors Stone, then the winner picks who opens their gift first."
"Paper, stone, and what?"
Delilah winced. Sometimes she forgot how much Purebloods didn't know about the Muggle world.
She quickly explained the rules, which thankfully were simple so it didn't take long.
"So what are scissors?"
"Basically two knives strapped together so they cut certain things more efficiently. Are you ready?"
He nodded.
It took four attempts for them to get the rhythm down, and after three more of doing the same one, Draco won.
"Hah! You open yours first."
Delilah smiled and took the gift he offered. She carefully unwrapped the silky wrapping paper. When she saw what was inside, she couldn't resist grinning. She pulled Draco into a hug.
"It's perfect," she said, still laughing.
He had gotten her a plushie of her animagus form. The details were exact, from the wavy red fur to the green eyes.
"Ok, your turn."
She handed him the present, watching as he opened it, his eyes lighting up as he saw the contents. Delilah had gotten him a blanket that was enchanted to cool and heat to the person's perfect temperature. It also happened to have the Draco constellation on it, though she did know how to enchant it to show other constellations.
"It's amazing." He pulled the blanket around him and gasped as it changed temperature. "It changes temperature too? That's a complicated charm."
How was he so adorable.
"I didn't do that one, it came with it."
He hugged her before kissing her. Even though Delilah was surprised, she responded in kind.
After a moment they broke apart.
"We should probably go, I'm sure you have Christmas traditions."
He shrugged.
"Usually there's a Christmas ball and other similar events throughout the day, but this year with the Dark Lord's return everyone decided it's best not to."
"So there aren't any plans?"
"I don't know, we'll have to ask Mother."
Surprisingly Narcissa did have a few events planned. For most of the day they read a book about Santa Clause, a medieval wizard who decided people needed something to celebrate during the dark ages, so he apparated around the world, giving children and anyone in need presents.
He'd ask what they needed then, with the help of his wife's house elves (her family was very wealthy), made tables, toys, or whatever they needed. When the demand grew too high, his kids helped him make a huge list of the different families' needs, and then help deliver the products.
It was a surprisingly sweet story, until the end where he and his whole family were burned at the stake for being witches and wizards. Of course, it didn't kill them, but they had to stop delivering the gifts. Despite this, the legend grew to what it was today.
Afterwards they had hot cocoa and played wizarding games. Delilah lost completely at wizarding chess, as usual.
Overall it was a great day. At the end of it, Delilah couldn't help but smile. For the first time in a while she finally had a happy Christmas and was able to forget about the cabinet, but that wouldn't last long.