Delphi felt like she was squeezing herself through a small hall and was unable to breathe for a moment, and the next moment she took a deep breath as she was standing in the light-up London street. She turned to Harry, hoping to ask for an explanation, which was clear on her dumb-struck face.
"We just apparated." Harry said, causing Delphi to frown, so Harry explained, "It means we jumped through space and time to move from one place to another."
"We can do that." Delphi asked, surprised she had no idea something like this was possible.
"Yeah, but it's only allowed once you are 16; it's a dangerous kind of magic." Harry warned her because he knew a powerful witch like her might try it and can get hurt badly.
"Oh, ok, I will keep that in mind, but I thought we were going to the Ministry of Magic, but it can't be here in plain sight, can it?" Delphi asked, looking around the large buildings and huge advertising screens and sign boards, what a magical building would look like.
"Well, you are a smart one, aren't you? Come this way," Harry remarked, causing Delphi to smile.
They walked through a dark alley, and Delphi felt a little worried because, no matter whether someone was a wizard or not, it is dangerous for a girl to walk alone in a dark alley at this hour of night with a stranger. Just in case she kept herself ready to use magic if anything seemed wrong.
They reached a corner and came to a halt in front of what Delphi supposed was a public telephone. She had never used one; they were too old, and she doubted anyone used them at all nowadays.
"I know this looks weird, but it's the fastest and the least painful way I can get you there; most magical tools are not very pleasant when used for the first time." Harry explained, remembering his own experience with flew powder and appearance. Delphi wasn't keen to apparatus again; it was painful.
Delphi reluctantly got in, and Harry closed the door. He dialled a number,62442 which Delphi realized spelled the word Magic and a voice echoed inside the telephone booth: "Ministry of Magic, please state your name and business here."
"Harry Potter head Auror accompanied by Delphini –"Harry said out loud but stopped remembering he never asked her last name.
"Sorry, what was your last name again?" He asked, looking back at Delphi apologetically.
"Riddle," Delphi answered innocently, not knowing what that name meant to the Wizarding World and especially to Harry, who looked taken aback for a while, then turned toward the speaker and announced.
"Accompanied by Delphini Riddle to report to the Minister of Magic," he finishes, saying it louder than was necessary.
There was a rattling sound, and two badges appeared in the slot, and Harry handed one to Delphi, who wore it proudly.
Soon the floor of the booth started moving downward like an elevator shaft. Delphi held on to Harry's coat. A little scared and excited at the same time. There was something strange now; Harry seemed to be deep in thought about some important matter, and Delphi did want to disturb him, but she felt like Harry was avoiding her eye.
The elevator finally came to a halt, and as it did, Delphi looked at the wide hall under the ground miles beneath the London Subway. The floor was made of dark wood and the walls were black marble tiles. The large hall was empty except for a few people popping up from emerald green fire here and there. Delphi stared at them in awe as they walked towards the other end of the hall. She suddenly noticed that many turned in their direction and nodded to Harry in acknowledgement, who was still lost in thought.
"Mr. Potter, is something wrong?" Delphi asked innocently, wondering if they were in some kind of trouble.
"Oh no, it's nothing. I was just thinking about something." Harry lied, and Delphi could tell but didn't enquire further. It felt like, for some reason, Harry had his guard up in front of Delphi.
"Anyway, how do you like the Ministry quite grand, isn't it?" Harry asked, changing the topic quickly.
"Yeah, it is, but it is kind of quite. I thought there would be more people here." Delphi observed looking at the fountain at the other end that had a statue of a witch, a wizard, a venture, and what appeared to be an elf, but very unlike what you see in movies.
"Oh, that's because it's past midnight and not many people work at this hour. I only came because it was an emergency." Harry informs her, and Delphi wonders why Mastigia's death would be such an emergency.
"I see. So where are we going now? Where will I be staying?" Delphi asked since she realised Harry hadn't told her yet and the Ministry was unlikely to have a guest room for children.
"Well, I need to discuss a few things with my Hermione, and then we will have to decide where to keep you. I hope that is ok until it is time for you to go to Hogwarts." Harry informed her matter of factly. Which she understood at least most of it, so she asked, "Alright, but who is Hermione?"
"Well, you heard me say earlier that we were here to meet the Minister of Magic, right?" Harry asked rhetorically.
"Yeah," Delphi said.
"Well, she is Hermione, and don't worry, she isn't scary; she is very nice." Harry added, as Delphi was a little alarmed at hearing she was about to meet the Minster of Magic herself.
"She must be if you are on first name terms." Delphi blurted out what she was thinking.
"Yeah, well, she is my best friend since I joined at Hogwarts." Harry told her, feeling a scene of nostalgia.
"From that long?" Delphi asked surprised.
"Yes, we have been through a lot together." Harry said, and as he did, all the horrible things and all the deaths he had witnessed flashed before his eyes. He wasn't sure if Delphi was the cursed child, but if she was, he wanted to make sure that history didn't repeat itself.
"I hope I find friends like that someday." Delphi said hopefully out loud, and Harry truly hoped she would because he knew how one can go down a dark path due to the absence of friends.
"I am sure you will." Harry replied with a smile and a gentle pat on her head, hoping against hope this child wasn't who he suspected she was.
They walked up a small hallway and straight towards a beautiful black door with the name plate engraved with golden letters that read "Minister of Magic." Harry knocked on the door, and a voice called, "Come in.".
They went inside to the office, which was a well-made room with walls filled with book shelves and a nice polished oak table that was stacked to the top with rolls of parchment and old files. Behind the stack of files, Delphi could see the bushy brown-haired frowning head of a woman.
Harry moved forward and parted the files with his wand to show a young witch in a grey suite and white blouse; her sleeves were rolled up, and it was obvious that she was sleep deprived and overworked.
"Harry, I am looking at those; don't separate them like that; you will get them mixed." Hemione said sternly that she was busy sorting out old files looking for something important. Delphi noticed that they all were from the same year 1997 and had the words reregistered written on them.
"Hermione I came back from the crime scene," Harry said, addressing her, causing her to look up and say in an annoyed voice.
"I can see that."
"And I would like to introduce you to the reregistered witch." Harry began trying to introduce Delphi, but Hermoine began scolding him hysterically.
"What you brought her here. Don't you know she was raised by muggles? She does know anything about the Wizarding World; it will be hard for a child to understand all of this so soon, plus she is already suspected of the Squibs death. "Befor she could say anything offensive about Delphi. Harry cut her by saying loudly.
"Hermione, she is here." He said, pointing at Delphi, and Hermione looked over her pile of files to see Delphi standing there.
"Delphi meets Hermione Granger, Minster of Magic and my best friend." Harry introduced them politely.
"Good day to you, and I would first like to thank you for being worried about me, but I am happy that Mr. Potter brought me here. Also, I would like to make it clear that I had nothing to do with Madam Mastigia's death, and if possible, I am willing to help in clearing my name and finding the cause of her death." Delphi said all this determinedly and in a polite manner, causing Hermione to feel embarrassed for speaking without noticing her.
"I am sorry, Delphi. I didn't mean it like that. I know you couldn't possibly have anything to do with her death. I was just saying that because it is the legal procedure to suspect anyone with magic being close at the time of the incident." Hermione said trying to fix her mistake clearly embarrassed, which Delphi thought was funny; she hadn't expected someone in such high authority to act like this.
"Why don't you come and sit here? It is really late; I am sure you will be hungry, and we need to ask so many questions." Hermione continued formally regaining her composure.
"Hermione I have already taken her and the orphanage staff's statement and was about to report it to you; the girl has done nothing wrong." Harry reassured her, thinking that it would be unpleasant to make Delphi go through all that again.
"I know Harry, but we have to be cautious. The daily prophet loves putting fuel to rumours, and this kind of news will scare everyone if I don't give a proper explanation." Hermione said worriedly, which confused Delphi: why would something like this be breaking news?
"Calm down. I am only saying that I have checked everything is ok and you can recheck too. Just take a deep breath. There is nothing to worry about." Harry said, explaining himself.
"Okay, good," Hermione said, calming herself.
"Come sit here, Delphi, help yourselves." Harry said, pointing at a chair next to the desk with a wave of his wand. Harry summoned a few sandwiches and a jug of pumpkin juice, which Delphi drank gratefully; she felt like the bread and cheese she had today was aged.
As Delphi ate Harry gave his report, Delphi retold her story. Hermione was quite shocked about how they had treated Delphi and felt sorry for her. She was outraged when she noticed the scars on Delphi's hands. Though there was one thing that Harry felt quite reluctant to explain in front of Delphi. It was the cause of Madam Mastigia's death.
Harry considered sending Delphi out for a while, but then he thought that she deserved to know. It probably had something to do with her mysterious guardian. So he explained, and when he did, even Delphi almost choked on her sandwich.
"She died because of me. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I swear I didn't know anything about the vow; if I had, I wouldn't." She began crying, feeling guilty and scared. She now understood why she felt like it had something to do with her earlier.
"It's ok Delphi, we know it's not your fault Madam Mastigia broke her promise to take care of you, and judging by what I have just heard, she was already misusing her authority; she did this to herself." Hermione said she was coming to Delphi's side and giving her a napkin, which Delphi took to wipe away her tears.
"Hermione is right, and for all we know, she might not even have died because of you; she could have made the vow about anything. She was dabbling with dark artefacts and smugglers who knew what she was up to." Harry said to Delphi to reassure her, but to be honest, he wished that was true himself; he didn't know how to handle the possibility of a younger killer, Voldemort.
"I know, but I didn't want her to die." Delphi said, still crying and devastated by the news; it was too much for her. The last thing she had said to Mastigia really haunted her.
"Delphi It's alright, come here. Look, we can't change what happened, but we can make sure that we don't allow something like this to happen again. Besides, we might be able to keep you safe and find out about your family now; otherwise, we would have never known what she was doing to you. It's alright, Delphi; it's all for the best." Hermione told Delphi wisely, calming her down. Then she continued in an attempt to cheer her up.
"Tell you what I was looking into our old records and I might be able to find out who reregistered you and who reregistered you before that based on that we can find out where were you born and who your parents were, and that is not all we can also find who was sending money to Mastigia by contacting the bank to trace it back to your guardian."
"You can do that?" Delphi asked in disbelief; she had believed Harry earlier, but coming from the Minster of Magic herself, this sealed the deal that they would find her parents.
"Yes, and I will try to find out about your locket. I know a few goblins who create jewellery like that; we might be able to learn about your family background." Harry offered
"You will do that for me. Thank you, thank you so much." Delphi asked him, not believing her ears that someone would put so much effort into her.
"Ok, now can you tell me your last name so we can start looking for your file.?" Hermione said going back to look at the files now that Delphi had calmed down.
"Riddle. My name is Delphini Dahlia Riddle." Delphi told her happily.
Hermione's eyes widened just like Harry's had done. She looked back at Harry, who gave a stern look, which Delphi wasn't able to understand, probably because she was too shocked to learn about the cause of Mastigia's death. There was a moment of complete silence in the room in which Delphi looked from Harry to Hermione, concerned whether she had said something wrong.
Then Hermione broke into a wide grin and said, "Great, that will take some time. It is too late. I am sure you will be tired, Harry. Why don't you send Delphi home and we can discuss the rest later?" Hermione suggested, and Delphi thought she looked happier than was necessary, as if she were faking it. She probably was, she told herself.
"Yeah, that is a brilliant idea. How about it? Delphi wants to be my guest for the end of summer." Harry asked her, which brought her attention back to Harry. She was taken aback; she didn't expect him to be so generous.
"Are you sure I don't want to be a burden?" She asked, feeling ashamed.
"Don't be silly. I am sure my wife will love to have you. She is always complaining that we should have more than one daughter." Harry told her, making her and Hermione giggle.
"Ok. Thank you; it really means the world to me." Delphi said it happily and wholeheartedly.
"Ok, let me send you home." Harry said out loud "Kreacher," he called
There was a large popping sound, and an old elf bulbous, snout-like nose, bloodshot eyes, many folds of skin, and white hair growing out of his bat-like ears, dressed in fine clothes appeared, causing Delphi to jump in surprise and stare at the elf wide-eyed. He was only a few inches shorter than Delphi.
"Master, you called." Kreacher said, and Delphi remembered he looked like the statue she saw earlier.
"Yes Kreacher. Could you take our guest to our house? I will explain everything to Jinny shortly. Until then, keep Delphi in the guest room and take care of her." Harry requested to Kreacher politely.
"As you wish, master." Kreacher said, bowing down his nose, nearly touching the floor.
"Come with me, young miss." He looked at Delphi and held out his arm.
"Ok," Delphi said and hesitated in holding his arm. Harry noticed this and told Delphi, "It's alright, Krecher is my loyal elf. He might seem a little off, but he is very nice."
"Master is always kind." Kreacher said slightly blushing, and Delphi really thought that was cute and was surprised to see the elf act like this.
"Ok, Kreacher, let's go." Delphi said, feeling encouraged and holding his arm, then she turned to Harry and Hermione and said, "Goodnight, Miss Granger. Good night, Mr. Potter." Sweetly waving her hand in goodbye.
"Goodnight Delphi," Harry said, "sleep well. Hermione chimed in, and with a last smile from Delphi and a popping sound, they disapperated from the Ministry.