InsaneJournal

Who: Delilah Selwyn, Narcissa Malfoy, & Lucius Malfoy
What: After her fight with Hallam, Delilah finally thinks it’s time to spill the beans...
Where: Malfoy Manor
When: July 17th; around 11pm
Rating: Low? Discusses the results of violence, but no violence.
Status: Log. Complete.



Kevin was probably freaking out. No, in fact, she was nearly 100% sure he was freaking out. Delilah hadn’t given him much of an explanation when she suddenly stopped him from healing her and told him she had to ‘go do something.’ And then disappeared out of his bedroom at his parent’s home to apparate to Malfoy Manor. Not that Kevin knew she was at Malfoy Manor. Even Delilah didn’t really know why she was here. But she figured - the Order didn’t seem to be doing a very good job of protecting people from Lady Noir and the Death Eaters, maybe a Death Eater was the way to go.

And Narcissa seemed to care about her.

So it was sort of a last ditch effort to find protection. If she was going to live through this, if she was going to live free of her parent’s grasp, she had to have all the protection she could possibly get. And Delilah knew that, as any good Slytherin and any good purist and Death Eater family like the Malfoys, having damaging information on another family could only help you in the long run. It was a tactical move, and Delilah knew all about those.

She apparated just outside the gates of Malfoy Manor, the closest she could even get to the massive estate, and waited. There had to be some sort of doorbell, right? They’d had a set time for her to show up originally, that’s why she had been let in so easily, but now… It wasn’t until an alarming voice sounded from a face on the gates that she realized there must be multiple systems in place to tell the Malfoys about visitors. The Gate asked her what she wanted, and Delilah replied “I n-need to see Mrs. Malfoy, p-please, it’s urgent.” Not only was she shivering slightly, she was still extraordinarily upset, her voice broke just thinking about it, not to mention the pain she was still in.

But the Gate wasn’t budging. Instead, after a few more long moments, Dobby was at the gates ushering Delilah in, who had tears streaming down her face by the time he got there. She said nothing to the little elf, just followed him with a slight limp as they made their way to the front door, inside, and then into the sitting room where she had met with Mrs. Malfoy before. Narcissa was already standing there when Delilah got inside, and the girl burst into tears.

“I’m in so much trouble, Mrs. Malfoy. He’s going to kill me.”

Narcissa Malfoy was not easy to surprise, but Delilah managed it by limping into her sitting room at a time when Narcissa was usually getting ready for bed and then promptly bursting into tears and saying someone was going to kill her. For a moment, she just blinked, unable to believe the evidence she was seeing in front of her, but then instinct took over and she gently pulled Delilah into her arms, careful to avoid touching the injuries she could see.

"Merlin, Delilah! What happened? Who did this to you?" She guided Delilah to the couch and urged her to sit. If nothing else, Delilah needed to get off that leg.

Once Delilah was settled, Narcissa summoned some house elves, sending Pompy to fetch tea and Dobby to get her journal and tell Lucius that Delilah was here, but that it was probably best that he not come down for the moment. That handled, she returned to Delilah's size and put a careful arm around the girl. "I need you to tell me what happened do I can figure out how to help."

Despite how much it hurt to be touched at all, considering broken ribs hurt no matter what you did, it felt so comforting to be held like that - guided so gently to the couch. When Narcissa asked what happened to her, she could hear the concern in her voice. It was real, it wasn’t the empty, hollow sound she heard from her own mother. It was full of real, honest concern. It broke Delilah a little, hitting her in that place she promised to ignore forever, in the motherly-feels area of her heart that she thought had died a long time ago. This was such a mistake, but she couldn’t take it back now. She was going to either gain an ally in Narcissa or lose her for good, too. She’d just have to tell her everything and see what happened.

Guided to the couch, she sat and said nothing as Narcissa went about having Dobby fetch tea, telling Lucius that Delilah was here and all that, before sitting down and questioning her again. She needed to know exactly what happened, and Delilah was prepared to tell her. For once, Delilah was going to speak up. She was throwing everything she had in and hoping it helped, because she wasn’t sure what to do next if she lost everything.

“My - my dad did this.” She finally said, briefly looking up at Narcissa before turning away again. She couldn’t look at her while she revealed all of this - it was a long web of lies that was going to make Narcissa turn against her too, but maybe, just maybe it wouldn’t. That unlikely maybe, was what drew Delilah here in the first place. “Because he found out I was lying to him. Because he hates - well, me.”

Narcissa's instinctive response was to say that no parent hated their child, but the evidence in front of her was irrefutable. She had suspected something like this the last time Delilah had been here with the way she flinched, but this... this was worse than anything she'd been able to conceive of. Even with all the issues they were having with Draco, even at his absolute worst, she had never had even the slightest desire to do this to him, and she knew Lucius hadn't either.

"Why does he hate you, Delilah?" Narcissa couldn't imagine hating her child either, but again, the evidence was right in front of her. Delilah was badly injured and Hallam had done it, which led Narcissa to wonder about Marcelia and Hallam Jr.. Delilah's mother had never seemed like a battered woman, but if Hallam wasn't beating her, was she complicit? And what about their son? Delilah was at least old enough to defend herself--which didn't make it better, or right--but Hal Jr. didn't even have his own wand yet.

Whatever Delilah's answer, the Malfoys were going to do something about this, but they needed to know how far it went.

“For the same reason you’re going to hate me, too.” She replied, scooting a little away from Narcissa. There would be no clean escape from this place. She wasn’t even sure she could leave without one of the Malfoy’s letting her out. But it was now or never and she had already made the decision to tell. She wasn’t going to go back now. Delilah could only hope that there was something that could be done that didn’t involve her own (and probably inevitable) demise.

“I’m -” Delilah hesitated, still looking straight at the ground, clutching her wand tightly in her hands. “I’m a mudblood, Mrs. Malfoy. A bloody muggleborn. My parents and I have been lying - I’m not theirs. They adopted me when I was six.” And there it was. The truth, just spilled right out of her mouth and there was absolutely no turning back at this point and she could feel the panic rising in her. Her heart was probably capable of being heard from every room in the house.

“Please, you can’t tell anyone and I’m sorry I know I’m - I’m not the type of person you would normally care to help but I don’t know what else to do or where else to go. I actually, I dueled with him, I fought back and he’s… I’ve never seen him so angry.” And so threatening. He was going to kill her, and Kevin, and Kevin’s parents, and it was so overwhelming, Delilah burst into tears again.

Narcissa had never been shocked twice in such a short period of time, and she couldn't completely stop it from showing on her face. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open slightly as she listed to Delilah's story. It was incredible, almost too incredible to believe, but there was no reason Delilah would be sitting here, beaten and bloody and clearly convinced Narcissa was going to duplicate Hallam's performance if the story weren't true.

Her instinct was to kick Delilah out, to tell her to leave and never come back, but that would leave Delilah vulnerable to whatever else Hallam had in store for her, and that was unacceptable. Narcissa was a Malfoy, the daughter of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, and she was better than that. This changed things, yes, but not as much for Delilah as the girl seemed to think. The Malfoys were true Slytherins, after all, and there was a much greater advantage in holding this against Hallam than against Delilah.

So instead of recoiling or kicking Delilah out, Narcissa closed the distance between them and put her arm back around Delilah's shoulders. "Did your parents know you were... Muggleborn when they adopted you?"

She had chanced a look at Narcissa just long enough to see the shock register on her face. Of course Narcissa was shocked. Why wouldn't she be? But it was her response after the initial shock that Delilah was concerned about, and she waited for the outburst - to be kicked out, hexed, something.

Instead, Narcissa out her arms back around Delilah and comforted her. She was so shocked, so alarmed by the whole thing she flinched and got ready to run - but there was no need. She relaxed and looked at the woman next to her with complete disbelief, letting a long silence pass them before she spoke.

"No. They didn't know when they adopted me. It was just before I went to school at Hogwarts that they found out. My father went back and figured it out. It's been... like this ever since." She said, motioning to herself. "I think he would have killed me if my mum had let him. I don't know why she didn't. She should have."

"You were just a child." That was easy to say. Not even Muggle children deserved what Hallam had apparently been doing to Delilah for seven years. That Marcelia had stopped something was a point in her favor, but a small one. It was clear from Delilah's story that she had been at least partially complicit.

That made things complicated. Narcissa genuinely liked both Hallam and Marcelia, but this was beyond the pale and not something Narcissa could countenance. That was easily decided. The question of how to handle it was much more difficult.

“What happened to set Hallam off tonight?” Narcissa had never seen any actual evidence of abuse and neither Draco nor Pansy had ever mentioned suspicions about her, so obviously Hallam had managed to keep his temper at least somewhat under control until tonight.

Of course no one had seen the abuse. While she was safe at Hogwarts there was no reason to hurt her, and only once had he done something to raise suspicion - and Kevin had healed her then, and then Healer Bones had done the rest. It was easy to hide during her times at school, and during the breaks she tried never to stay home. She should have known it would only get worse when she graduated, but things had been so… calm. Peaceful, even. Almost like a good working relationship with them.

“I went on holiday, like I had told them and you. Except I didn’t go alone. I went with Kevin Entwhistle. You must know of him - the muggleborn everyone knew was muggleborn who was sorted into Slytherin. He and I have… become quite close. And my father, of course, disapproves. He went to Kevin’s parent’s house. I thought he had killed them…” Which was, honestly, the only reason she had fought back to begin with. She thought he had harmed Kevin’s family, and it was the one thing she couldn’t stand for.

“He came to punish me for lying to him and associating with the ‘wrong sort.’ My sort.” She was still highly ashamed of it all. Despite how much Kevin had worked with her to get her to stop hating herself, her heritage, it was still difficult. You didn’t spend eleven years hating muggles and muggleborns just to have that switch turned off in a few nice months. “When I heard he’d visited the Entwhistle family I lost it, and I fought back. That’s why I know he’s going to kill me this time, and Kevin’s family, and if anything happens to them…” The distress was obvious on her face, and she paled visibly.

“It would be all my fault. It is all my fault.”

“I see.” Delilah had gone quite far to protect her parents from the shame of their poor decision, even going so far as to hide who she’d gone on her trip with. That was admirable, particularly for someone of her heritage, though it did not seem Hallam and Marcelia deserved it.

Narcissa didn’t miss the unasked question in Delilah’s ramblings, but she wasn’t sure how to answer. Protecting the girl from her father was one thing, particularly since Delilah had come to Narcissa, but to actively intervene on the behalf of Muggles and a Mudblood… Narcissa wasn’t sure she could do that. “Entwhistle is the quidditch player, yes? I believe I’ve heard of him.” Nothing good, of course, but Narcissa could admit the opinions she’d gotten were biased. Correctly, of course, but biased nonetheless.

“I take it Hallam didn’t kill this boy or his parents yet?”

Delilah nodded. “Yes, he played Quidditch with me.” Of course, she was sure Narcissa hadn’t ever heard a good word about Kevin Entwhistle, as none of the other Slytherins had ever said anything even remotely nice about him. Maybe publicly, as Blaise and Pansy both had, but privately none of them had ever been very fond of Kevin. Delilah hadn’t either, until a few months ago.

“No, my father hasn’t killed them yet. I’m sure he will, I’m surprised he hasn’t already. I think its only because I promised I wouldn’t see Kevin and I have been lying to him about it.” Another reason why her father had been so angry with her. It was one of his rules, not lying to them, but the fact that she lied about seeing Kevin was what really pushed him over the edge. Being seen with Kevin would only tarnish their reputation, in his mind.

“But… Kevin has done a lot of good for me. I -” She refused to say she loved him, out loud, to Narcissa. She couldn’t. What if that changed her mind? What if that on top of everything else was what disgusted her and made her forget about helping her at all? “-can’t stand to see his family in danger because of me. More danger than they were already in, anyway.”

Narcissa could see how much this meant to Delilah, but she couldn’t do anything to help the Entwhistles. That would put them in direct confrontation with Hallam, and while she relished the idea of leverage, she was not ready or willing to make it a direct confrontation just yet.

But she couldn’t make herself tell the girl no, either. Not when she was already this upset. Yes, she was a mudblood, but she was also the same girl that Narcissa had known for years. And she would be much better leverage if they were able to help her and the boy.

So she pulled back a little so she could look Delilah in the eyes. “Delilah, I think I need to have Lucius come down. If we’re going to help you, he needs to know too.”

Delilah was not altogether fond of the idea of Lucius joining them. She was fond of Narcissa, close to her even - though she would not dare think that for herself, for fear it would blow up in her face like all her other friendships, but she hardly knew Lucius. He was Draco’s father, that was about as much as she knew about the man outside of his… shared beliefs with her father. But if she was going to get Narcissa’s help, Lucius needed to be on board.

“Alright.” She eventually agreed, though looking rather uncomfortable. Delilah didn’t know how their marriage worked - if it was anything like her own parent’s, she worried what he might do when he found out and what Narcissa would let him do.

Narcissa sent Dobby up to inform Master that his presence had been requested downstairs, then turned to look more closely at Delilah’s injuries. In her shock, Narcissa had pushed them to the back of her mind, but something would have to be done about them soon. They would need to be healed--and it looked like she might need a healer, rather than relying on the minor spells and potions the Malfoys had--but they might need to document them somehow too. She wasn’t sure what route they would take against Halam and Marcelia, but proof of Delilah’s injuries could be valuable if they chose certain routes.

Lucius came down as requested, quite curious by now what had brought Delilah to their door so late in the evening, and even more so that his presence was required. He joined them in the sitting room in a matter of minutes, taking in the scene with a glance, doing a double-take at Delilah’s bruised and tearstained state. He gave Narcissa a questioning look.

Narcissa met Lucius’s gaze and answered his first question with one word. “Hallam.” He would know what she meant, though the rest of it would require a bit more explaining. “Delilah is not actually his and Marcelia’s child. They adopted her when she was six and found out just before she started at Hogwarts that both her birth parents were Muggles. This isn’t the first time he’s hurt her like this.”

His eyebrows went up at the first word, but by the time she was done they were nearly raised to his hairline. It was difficult to even process--not just that Hallam was responsible, but that he had adopted a mudblood--and chosen to keep her--whatever news he had been expecting, this certainly wasn’t it. He stood silent for a moment, trying to work through it all.

What came out on top, at last, was the certainty that something had to be done. It was one thing to remind upstart mudbloods of their place in the world, but another thing entirely to cradle one to your breast for seven years, professing it to be one of your own, while all the time visiting violence upon it for failing to be. That was a piece of nastiness far beyond the calculated cruelties of the Malfoys, and one that lacked any sort of moral high ground even by their skewed standards.

“We should contact the appropriate authorities,” he said to Narcissa, but then reconsidered. That was an area of law Lucius had never had great cause to look closely at--and if there were any chance that would give Hallam another chance at her, it was no good. “Or perhaps--of course it’s not a connection you would normally wish to call on, but maybe if you spoke to Dulcinea? I think in this particular situation, her advice could be valuable.”

She saw the shock on his face, almost an exact mirror of the shock that had registered on Narcissa’s. Delilah was tempted once again to run - she had never shared this information with anyone other than Kevin, who was a muggleborn himself and clearly had a different reaction. Well, shock was still there, but mostly he wasn’t wanting to kill her as most Purebloods would. She was honestly surprised she hadn’t been met with screaming, hexing, and possible throwing out of the home at this point and as such was even more uncomfortable and anxiety ridden then she might have been if she was only discussing the abuse.

When Lucius suggested they tell someone, even Dulci whom she knew of but not well, Delilah stood. “No!” She nearly shouted, but then she had no idea who else was in the house and quickly quieted herself down. “We can’t tell anyone, please, you can’t let anyone know about this!” She begged, shaking like a leaf. “If they find out I told anyone, I - I don’t even know what they’ll do. That’s the number one rule in the house, I can’t - I mean he was going to make me take an Unbreakable Vow not to tell anyone about my… unfortunate breeding.” After the pure panic had subsided, Delilah could feel the toll standing so quickly had taken on her and she sat back down, dizzy with pain.

“I just don’t know what to do. He’ll kill me, I know it. He wanted to before, he would have… She’ll let him now…” Delilah was rambling now, spiraling into her own worst nightmares. Had she made a mistake? There was always a risk in coming here, it had felt like the only thing she could do… but now she wasn’t sure. She had no idea what she had just done, and she was fearing the worst.

It was turning out to be a surreal night. Lucius certainly never expected to find himself offering the protection of Malfoy Manor to a mudblood running in fear of one of his colleagues, but here he was. He pitched his voice low and level, unused to dealing with panicked teenagers. “Miss Sel--Delilah. The wards on this place are impenetrable. I assure you, Hallam cannot come here without being invited.” As for the rest-- “But you can’t stay here forever, which is why we will need to determine how the law can help you. If we contact Dulcinea first--omitting your identity, of course--she can tell us how best to proceed.”

He glanced at Narcissa for assistance--she was really better at this sort of thing--though he did think to add, “This is--unacceptable. It’s beyond the pale. They should have turned you over to the state if they did not intend to raise you as their own.”

“Don’t you get it? They didn’t want anyone to know because there would be too many questions. That’s why they lied - because they didn’t want anyone to know I wasn’t pureblood, I wasn’t their actual daughter. Returning me to the state, killing me off… too many questions.” She replied, only slightly less panicked than before. Her father couldn’t come hurt her tonight, but he could still hurt Kevin’s family. That’s where most of her concern was. Delilah had come to terms with the fact that she would either have to leave the magical world entirely on her own or be taken out of it by her family a long time ago.

“I have to go. I need to disappear. I’ll never be safe here again. I wasn’t safe before, I’m definitely not safe now. Just - I don’t know how to disappear an entire family. Kevin’s family. I don’t know how to protect them.”

“The muggleborn boy who was in Slytherin,” Narcissa told Lucius, as he hadn’t heard this part of the story yet. “Delilah became friends with him, Hallam forbade her from seeing him, and when he found out that she did, he did this. She’s afraid Hallam will go after them since he can’t get her.” It was a genuine concern, if one cared about the family, but Narcissa wasn’t sure what to do. The Malfoys couldn’t just go rescue them. They weren’t prepared to go against Hallam yet, and while offering Delilah the protection of the Manor was one thing, it was unthinkable to offer it to the family she wished to protect.

There was only one thing Narcissa might be able to do to protect the boy and his family, and it was almost as unthinkable as offering them the protection of Malfoy Manor.

“You can’t just leave, Delilah. You’re injured. You need healing and sleep and it’s best that you get them here, where it’s safe.” Narcissa gently put her hand on Delilah’s arm. “I’ll wait until morning to ward Dulcinea. She might get suspicious--of us--if I ward her so late. As for Kevin’s family”--she glanced at Lucius, knowing he wasn’t going to like this either--”there might be someone I can ask to check on them.”

For all they were usually in sync, Lucius didn’t pick up on her meaning immediately. He quirked an eyebrow at her, running through his mental list of the people they knew who might be useful in preventing an attack on a Muggle family--or rather, realizing that he didn’t have much of a list, at least not of people they could speak to without bringing suspicion on themselves. Someone from WICCA, or--

Oh. Oh. He shook his head minutely, giving Narcissa a grim look.

Narcissa’s look was equally grim, but there really was no one else. They needed someone neutral in this whole thing, someone would read Narcissa’s ward immediately, someone who wouldn’t look for a way to use this to take down the Malfoys, or worry too much about whether or not it was a trap. There was only one person Narcissa knew who met all those criteria.

Which meant she was about to ward her sister to save the lives of a Muggle family, at the behest of a Mudblood.

Just the thought was enough to make her feel filthy, but if they wanted to use Delilah against Hallam, it had to be done.

Delilah was feeling just a little bit lost. They were doing a lot of talking that didn’t make any sense to her, only between the two of them. Who were they going to tell to help Kevin? And was it really necessary to involve Dulcinea? If Narcissa hadn’t put her hand on Delilah, she might have gone crazy with anxiety, but the calming nature of the touch immediately pacified her.

“Fine. I won’t leave tonight.” She agreed, though there was the inherent idea that she would be skipping town sometime in the near future. There was no way she or Kevin could stay here anymore - they had to go. Somewhere deep down, she always knew that. She shouldn’t have blown her savings on a stupid trip and let them talk each other into staying in the magical world instead of running away for good, like she had originally planned after graduation.

“Is - is there anyone else here? No one is going to know about this, right?”

Lucius didn’t see a need to dissemble. “We’ve adopted Pansy; she lives here now. It may be unavoidable for her to know the details.” In honesty, even if she didn’t figure things out on her own, they would surely tell her later--after all, knowing the full scope of the pieces in play was part of being a proper Malfoy. “But I assure you, her discretion can be counted on just as much as mine or Narcissa’s.”

Pansy? They adopted Pansy? Just the words alone - Delilah could feel her heart breaking. Why had she even bothered to come here? They already had a daughter to love on. What had Delilah even been hoping for? Honestly, it wasn’t until that moment she realized why she had come here. Sure, there were tactical reasons for coming to the Malfoys, practical ones. She knew she had the best chance of protecting Kevin if she could win them over, but… there had also been that tiny bit of hope lurking around in her brain that maybe the Malfoys could take over, sort of, as her adoptive parents.

But they clearly had already done that for someone else, and anyways, why would they ever want to adopt someone like her when they had a beautiful, pureblood daughter now? All the poise and grace and perfection of her breeding and upbringing. And Delilah was just… filth. “Oh.” She finally replied, staring at the ground. “Alright.”

Narcissa noticed the change in Delilah’s expression and, despite everything, felt bad for her. She slipped an arm around Delilah’s shoulders and hugged her gently. “Come on, let’s go upstairs and get you settled. Do you need us to call a healer?” She wasn’t sure how badly Delilah was injured. If it looked like more than a few potions and small spells would be needed, they would have to do something, but it would be better to keep Delilah here. “You can stay with us until we get this figured out, all right? You’ll be safe, no one will know where you are. And I’ll ward about Kevin and his family too.”

Lucius, less suited to reassurance, summoned Dobby and set him to the task of collecting potions and healing supplies. They would do what they could for her tonight, at least. The situation was far from ideal, but maybe--just maybe--they could turn it to their advantage. Delilah might be a valuable asset if she owed the Malfoys a few favours, and if nothing else, she was leverage over the Selwyns.

“No, I don’t think it’s that serious. Will you just… take a look, when we go upstairs?” She wasn’t very well going to take her shirt off so that they could see all what was damaged in front of Lucius, but she would in front of Narcissa and have her decide if her injuries were in need of a Healer. She was still in ‘fight or flight’ mode, still too anxious to really feel what was happening, how bad it was.

“Thank you both… for everything.” Delilah added quietly, letting her head rest briefly on Narcissa’s shoulder before she pulled away again, sure that neither of the Malfoys really wanted her there. She had basically just sold out her family to get them to help her, and she knew the only reason they really would help her was because of that information. They held that secret now, to do with it what they wished. It didn’t mean they actually cared about her.

But at least her plan had worked.