Three Hallows, Two Weasleys and One Broken Girl

Chapter 55: Mort

I am so sorry this took me so long. I have good excuses, but I'll spare you. After this there's one more chapter and an epilogue! You'll get both before Halloween. On my honour as a gentlewoman.

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Death's house isn't cold, or warm. It doesn't feel like anything particularly, aside from the faint tingle at the base of her spine telling her she shouldn't be there. Delphi could do without it really, it had been months, and could well be more before she left, through the back door or the front. Either way, she knew she didn't belong, and didn't need the tension in her shoulders to remind her.
She knew she didn't belong, because Death's house was a monochromatic, minimalist nightmare, there weren't any plants or pictures of stupid redheads, and she didn't belong because death's house wasn't situated over a joke shop. It wasn't filled with laughter and potion fumes, it didn't have a warren of small rooms and mismatched second hand furniture that stank vaguely of cats. She didn't belong here, because Death's house didn't have Fred in it, it didn't have George in it, and she could never belong where her twins were not.

While she waited for them to find the last hallow, she'd been reading the many biographies on offer. It was the Irish in her that made her so nosy about other people's lives she was sure, and let her bury the concerns about privacy in arguments that she'd never meet the people and most were very long dead.
She learned the truth of Shakespeare, the identity of Jack the Ripper, the motivations of Morgana, what happened to the Mary-Celeste, and the full story of Tom Riddle. And having eventually figured out that the books were sorted by magic and by connection to the Gods, she found Fate's section and cried bitter tears for the prophesiers that came before her and their tortured lives.
Foreknowledge truly was a curse it seemed, the kind that rotted you from within and drove you mad with your own helplessness.

She was forcing herself to read through the life of Cassandra, eyes already misted with empathy, when a hand gently squeezed her shoulder.
"Now, now, little star, no tears from you."
She almost startled out of her chair at the familiar voice and spun to find her mother stood beside her. Pandora Lovegood looked just as beautiful, just as wild as she had in life, with her thick brown curls, and strong nose. She'd been so happy her girls had taken after the Lovegood side instead of the Lestrange side, but Delphi had privately wished she took more from her mother. Her father had hoarded and hidden everything that could remind him of his wife after her death, and she couldn't help but feel seeing something of Pandora when she looked in the mirror, might have comforted her younger self.

"How are you here?" She managed, drinking in all she could of her mother's beaming smile.
"He let me in," Pandora said, "you're leaving soon my dear, and apparently you were a good house guest."
"Good enough to get a reward?" Her voice was wobbly.
"Yes." Pandora reached out as Delphi had been scared to, and when her hand cupped Delphi's cheek, it was warm.
That was all the confirmation she needed and Delphi lunged forward, her mother catching her easily and squeezing tight.
"Oh, my little star, you've been through so much haven't you?"
Her vision was blurred from tears. "Yeah.."
"But you've been so brave." Pandora says, rubbing her back slowly. "So clever and loyal, and cunning too. You've made Hogwarts proud, you've made me so very proud."
"I'm so sorry..."
"You have nothing to be sorry for, Delphi. Fate didn't give you instructions did they? A mistake founded on ignorance is no mistake on your part, you did so well." Delphi turned her face into her mother's scarf, drinking in the scent that only barely clung to forgotten corners of the house. "Xenophilius is a kind man, but he is a weak one. I'm so sorry my little star, that he did not have the strength to overcome his grief, and forced you to grow beyond your years."
"Luna needed me."
"She did, she still does." Delphi could hear her mother's smile. "She's fallen for that Longbottom boy, you know."
"They've moved past the lingering looks stage?"
"They have."
"Have my boys given him they shovel talk?"
"They're saving the pleasure for you, Delphi."
Delphi swallowed. "I miss them."

Pandora was quiet for a moment, and they let the admittance hang in the air between them.
"They're like their uncles, good men." Her voice was sad, and it reminded Delphi of something.
"Why did you separate from Gideon and Fabian, ma?"
Pandora brushed a hand through her hair. "It's...I liked them, but I...well, unlike you, when it counted I couldn't tell them apart. I couldn't see past the characters to the men beneath. I fell short and...though they didn't seem to mind, they deserved someone who could." She paused, "and I deserved someone who wouldn't prank me near to death."
Delphi laughed and finally pulled back to catch Pandora's grin. "Twins are an acquired taste."
"They're your taste."
"They are."

Delphi's mind started moving again, and just as in life, Pandora had an uncanny way of following her thoughts.
"Cedric Diggory is here," She stated, "he is happy, and he doesn't blame you."
"I can't hear that for myself can I?"
Her mother shook her head. "I'm the only exception Death allowed, once the stone is returned to him, the veil will truly become one way, and you shall be the last to cross it back into the land of the living."
Delphi understood that was probably a very good thing, but she still sighed. "I'm glad he's at peace."
"He never had a second to suffer," Pandora told her gently, "and neither did I."
"Did I get away with saving Dobby?" She whispered the question in spite of herself.
Pandora grinned mischievously. "Elves are under the purview of different gods. It's like committing a crime in a country which has no extradition treaties with your own. No one's happy about it, but yes, you got away with it'."
They shared a relieved laugh and Delphi collapsed back into her chair. She had been certain that choice would have bitten her in the arse. That, even if everything else came together, Fate would turn around and snatch Fred away in recompense. After everything they'd been through, Delphi was certain that would kill her...if she wasn't already dead.

Her mother joined her at the table, and they both looked at Delphi's discarded book.
"You've a problem on your mind."
"I do," Delphi grimaced, "But it sounds like I don't have enough time to solve it."
"Perhaps," Pandora grinned, "that is exactly what needs solving."
"Ma?"
"This thing, all things devours." She stood abruptly, and it was only then Delphi felt the chill. "I must leave you now. My star, use your hours wisely, there's a section here yet worth visiting."
Delphi wasn't any more prepared for this sudden parting than the last. But even so, she managed to say what she hadn't had the chance to before.
"Ma, I love you."
Pandora Lovegood beamed at her eldest daughter, "Oh Delphi, I love you too, and do tell Luna that herbologists are the very best kind of men. May it be a very, very long time until I see either of you here again."
She faded as she walked away, and Delphi turned her focus to the riddle so as not to linger on the parting. Pandora Lovegood adored word puzzles, but in a situation so important she'd been kind enough to offer her daughter one easily answered.