Too Burnt Out to Fly

Rising

Delphi

Delphi and Gem began preparations for the bookshop later that day. Delphi walked up to Hogwarts to talk to Scorpius about setting up the shop in the Shrieking Shack while Gem wrote lists of the wizarding books that they could sell – spell books and the like. When Delphi reached the Hogwarts gates, she realised that she had no idea how to let Scorpius know that she was there. She stood, awkwardly, by the gates until a few groups of students walked out the castle, wrapped in thick cloaks, battling the wind.
"Excuse me," Delphi called. The wind stole her words, "Excuse me!" One small group noticed and walked over, confused.
"What are you doing here?" one – Jessa – asked.
"I was wondering if I could speak to Scorp–" Delphi cut herself off, "Professor Malfoy." Jessa's friend snickered.
"He's not a professor," she scoffed, "Librarians aren't professors."
"Well, could I speak to him?" Delphi asked, trying to appear as though her mistake hadn't knocked her confidence.
"I can go and get him," said Jessa, "But, you'd have to wait here."
"Okay," Delphi nodded, "Thank you." Jessa and her friends hurried back up to the castle and, after a few minutes, Scorpius appeared, hurrying down to see her.
"Are you all right?" he asked worriedly as he reached her. Delphi nodded.
"I'm fine," she smiled, "I just wanted to ask you some questions about the Shrieking Shack."
"Oh, all right," Scorpius heaved a sigh of relief, "Do you want to come up to the Library?"
"If that's easier," Delphi said. Scorpius raised his wand and the gates swung open. They walked up towards the castle, the gates closing behind them. Delphi gazed up at the castle. It was huge, larger than she remembered it from when she'd flown over five years ago. When everything had happened. She shook herself – she was moving away from that, moving on, she couldn't keep reminding herself of it. She received stares from students as she passed them, keeping close to Scorpius. The Library was on the first floor and Delphi jumped as the staircase they were climbing jolted into movement. She hung onto the banister as it stopped again, connecting to a different corridor.
"We're closer now," Scorpius smiled. They got to the top of the stairs, much to Delphi's relief, and went into the Library. It was massive, books lining every available wall, stacked to the ceiling. There were alcoves and desks and students sat, studying. Scorpius led Delphi to a small door and, through it, there was a small office. Scorpius gestured for Delphi to sit down as he sat down opposite her, "So," he smiled, "You had questions?"
"I don't know how much money I have in my Gringotts vault," Delphi explained, "And I don't want to rely on it. I was thinking, maybe, I could open a bookshop in the Shrieking Shack. I can pay to rent it, or buy it, if Hogwarts wanted, but it would help me. And I think it would be nice for students to have some fiction to read." Scorpius flicked through a couple of papers on his desk.
"That shouldn't be a problem," he said, "We don't use the Shack anymore. It was originally built for a student with lycanthropy, but we have Wolfsbane Potion now. I'd have to speak to Professor Longbottom, but we could probably arrange for you to buy it quite cheaply."
"Thank you," Delphi smiled. Scorpius rifled through a few more papers and pulled something out of a drawer.
"Here it is," he said, "The Lestrange Vault papers. It's yours now."
"I guess so," Delphi said reluctantly.
"You don't have to be a Lestrange anymore," Scorpius reminded her, "You're you. You're not anything you don't want to be." Delphi nodded, taking the papers.
"Thank you," she said, standing up.
"I'll send you an owl when I have an answer," Scorpius stood up.
"Thanks," Delphi smiled.

The preparations continued. Scorpius' owl arrived two days later, confirming that they could buy the Shrieking Shack for 600 galleons. Delphi had smiled as she opened the letter. She had never actually seen Scorpius' handwriting before. It was slanted, messy and tidy at the same time. Gem had seen her smiling and asked what had happened. Delphi had read the letter out to her, adding at the end that, now that they had the Lestrange Vault, it would be quite easy to start the shop with money to spare. Delphi then volunteered to go and look for some bookshops in the muggle world that would sell the books they were looking for. She apparated to a small town on the banks of a river and walked around, gazing at it all. She found a large bookshop that appeared as if it had been there long before any of the buildings around it. It was packed full of books, some dusty, some leather-bound, some falling apart. But there were lots of books that Delphi could remember like the back of her hand. She didn't actually have any muggle money with her at that moment, so she found somewhere safe to apparate back to Hogsmeade, to her home, and told Gem what she had found. She didn't expect everything to happen after that – she had gone to bed, hopeful, happy, and she had not kept her mind guarded. The nightmares flew in, in their thousands, until Delphi had screamed herself hoarse, until she was slick with sweat.
"Delphi!"
Someone, someone was, someone was there. Delphi tried to tear her gaze from the nightmare, tried to ignore the Augurey on the other side of the Locked Room, but she couldn't. She couldn't leave it again, not like she had last time.
"DELPHI!"
Delphi wrenched her eyes opened. Gem was kneeling beside her – she was on the floor – terrified.
"Gem," Delphi whispered hoarsely, trying to stand up hurriedly, "Gem."
"It was a nightmare," Gem said calmly, "It was a dream." Delphi nodded, pulling herself up and sitting on the bed.
"I thought..." Delphi whispered, "I thought they...they would end..."
"I know," Gem sat beside her, "Do you want a drink?" Delphi shook her head.