A/N: First and foremost, THANK YOU EMILY for all your beta work on this. Your long hours, full availability, random chats to work out plot, and willingness to go along with some of my weirder ideas has been everything for me. The Slytherin Heart would not exist without you. Secondly, thank you to all my wonderful readers for reading my work. Your encouragement, reviews, patience, and excitement has meant so much to me for the last 13 months! And now, we have come to the close. The final piece of this story... Enjoy!

Epilogue Part II: Gellert Grindelwald

1850-1862

Orla brought a revival to the entire estate. Braxton had moved in permanently during the pregnancy, but they joined their bedrooms with an inside door so they could be together in secret as Eros and his newlywed wife, Marcy, moved into Malfoy Manor under guise of helping. A second master suite was established in the west wing, while Willa and Braxton lived in the east. Marcy soon was pregnant with the next Malfoy in line.

Septimus and Willa's joint will stipulated inheritance for all his children, known and unknown at the time of writing, as well as the division of his estates. Since Orla was a girl, Quintus' male lineage remained intact, and Eros would inherit most of the property, unless Willa chose otherwise. Given the caveat that Willa could divide the estates as she pleased, Octavia and Rigel visited frequently with their children and grandchildren. Every Black doted on Orla, making remarks about such a grand inheritance she would receive being both a Malfoy and Gamp. Magenta and her son Cygnus were notably the worst about this, parading his daughter, Elladora, who had been born in June, around as Orla's favorite great-grand-niece.

Braxton began to call them the pariahs behind their closed bedroom doors and Willa could not help but agree. Every day felt like a battle to maintain control over the vast Malfoy-Gamp wealth and Braxton was not well suited for playing by Malfoy Rules. Willa, however, was well-versed.

The embroilment came to an abrupt halt in the summer of 1853 when Cygnus and Sirius both died in a tragic accident with a Kelpie during their annual father-son trip. Ella Black went into a darkness she never recovered from, and Magenta took over caring for Phineas, Elladora, and the eight-month-old Iola, moving them all from Grimmauld Place to Black Manor. Elnath and Rigel finally reconciled their differences in his grief.

Willa felt compelled to issue sufficient inheritance to Octavia to cover the loss of income Cygnus' family now faced. A couple years later, when the grief had calmed enough, Willa learned this had been a mistake, as the Black family started in on her again for more money. Only now, they called it her kind and understanding assistance.

On the other side of the family tree, Eros and Marcy Malfoy—who both had no desire to work and two children to care for, Marcus and Violet—demanded Malfoy Manor as their own. Willa was left in losing position without any aid from Vincent or Catherine, who supported Eros in the matter. She negotiated that she, Braxton and Orla would stay on at the manor, and then ceded the property ownership. Needless to say, the Blacks were unhappy about this, feeling the estate was far more valuable than the sums she had given them to date.

Orla, who at five was already showing quite a bit of magic, soaked everything in. While the families were all outwardly nice to her, she would remark to Willa and Braxton about how Elladora was sad she did not get a new dress this season or how Marcus wanted a baby dragon but his father could not afford it. They reassured her at the time Elladora had plenty of dresses already and that it was illegal to own a dragon, but it became a source of contention between her and Braxton. Under their bedroom's privacy protections and dampening charms, they quarreled often about what was best for Orla.

"We should just move the three of us to Godric's Hollow and forget these toxic people even exist!" Braxton said as he changed into night clothes during one of these fights.

"These people are still Orla's family. Besides, I want her to grow up here, in Malfoy Manor. It is what she deserves. It is where she belongs. After all, she is a Malfoy." Willa said as she unpinned her hair.

"Is she?" Braxton hissed.

Willa glared at him.

"All I know is if she continues to grow up around these… people, she will end up just like them. If that is what a Malfoy is, then yes, she certainly will be one." Braxton said.

"What does that even mean? I am a Malfoy, and need I remind you, technically so are you. Not that you had any trouble remembering that when you lived rent-free in the hôtel particuleur for decades." Willa said harshly.

"Are you not tired of fighting them all the time? Are you not just tired?" he asked.

"Of course I am tired! But I did not expect to have a daughter at seventy-five. Forgive me for wanting to fight for her even though I am old." Willa huffed.

"You think I do not want what is best for her?!" Braxton cried.

"You seem to only want what is best for you, which apparently is to not have to deal with the annoyances of my family even if it means leaving your daughter!" Willa said, pulling down the covers to get into their bed.

"Don't you dare use Orla against me like that! As if I would ever abandon her!" Braxton screamed from his side of the bed. "Besides, I am your family, Willa! Why do you always choose Septimus' family over me? You always have!"

Willa froze beside the unmade bed staring at him in shock.

"Excuse me?" she began. "You left! You went to France for forty years, Braxton! You made that choice, not me! Unless you meant that I chose to let my mother marry your father so she could be happy instead of marrying you? Is that still what this is about?"

"They could have been happy without getting married! They could have lived with us, together in secret, and we would not have minded one bit. It would be no different to what you and I are doing now! Only there would be no Magenta Black breathing down our necks. No Eros Malfoy too lazy to get a real job. None of these horrible leeches I have always hated."

"You always hated Rigel Black?" Willa quipped.

"He is hardly recognizable now, a repeat stamp of Castor Black. That is what you called him. Do not redirect this conversation as if you even disagree with me." Braxton said in a calmer voice.

"I do not agree with you that we should leave Malfoy Manor. I am not giving up." Willa said, finally climbing into the bed.

"What if we moved to another Malfoy estate, away from Eros at least?" Braxton suggested, getting in beside her.

"I am not entirely opposed to that. But Catherine will know we are together if we move into the London townhome with her. That is too risky." Willa said. "And I am not leaving England."

"You think Catherine does not already know?" Braxton said doubtfully.

"I think that it is easier for her to turn a blind eye if she does not have to live with us." Willa sighed.

"So, Grosvenor Square is out. What does that leave then?" Braxton asked.

"We would have to buy something." Willa reasoned.

They were quiet, thinking of the options and the luxuriously domestic idea of buying a home together.

"What would people say?" Willa wondered aloud.

"About what?"

"About us living together in a place we bought together? About Orla?"

There was no need for Braxton to respond. They both knew what people would say, and the idea was snuffed out as quickly as it had surfaced.

In time, they decided to stay on at Malfoy Manor until Orla went to school. Then they could more reasonably move, and it would less disruptive for Orla. During the next five years, Bathilda began to visit more often though, at both Willa's and Braxton's behest, as part of their attempt to maintain sanity.

It was during tea in the gardens during June of 1861, a week after Elladora turned eleven and got her Hogwarts letter, when Willa ran her and Braxton's most recent idea by Bathilda.

"Braxton and I were discussing…" Willa threw a dark look at the manor. "Well, Orla turns eleven this year. Before she receives her Hogwarts letter, we wondered if it might be easier for her to attend Durmstrang. Braxton maintains the pertinent connections through the Brandts and Grindelwalds, he does not foresee any issue with her admission. Especially given she is a Malfoy and a Gamp."

"Well, what do you want? She will be much farther away there." Bathilda pointed out.

"I want her to be happy." Willa said and sipped her tea.

"Is my niece unhappy?" Bathilda frowned.

"No… but I worry about the Malfoy and Black children." Willa sighed. "I think they will be pressured to gang up on her when there is not parental supervision. Marcus and Elladora are particularly nasty and both will be in attendance when she starts. Violet will start the year after her and she is not any better than her brother."

"A trait they get from their parents to be sure." Bathilda laughed. "Why do you think I have wanted to avoid the manor so much? I only brave it for you, dear sister."

"Oh, it is not because of Eros' peacocks?" Willa laughed as one of the peahens passed by them in the garden.

"What are these all about anyway?" Bathilda giggled and sipped some tea.

"Status, I guess. Eros assures me that all the important people have them these days. How that child came out of sweet, quiet Vincent, I will never know."

Bathilda nodded grimly in agreement.

"Whatever you choose for her will be fine, I am certain. Has she expressed interest in Hogwarts either way?" Bathilda asked.

"Well, of course she is excited by it, what with everyone's stories and Elladora just receiving her letter for the fall. Though Brax and I started dropping the concept of other wizarding schools a couple years ago. Both of us attended more than Hogwarts, after all. I barely matriculated there, really!"

"It sounds like you have already made your decision." Bathilda pointed out.

Willa realized they had.

"On the topic of Hogwarts, I started a new manuscript on the school's history. I thought you and our brother might have some tales for my research?" Bathilda asked in a tone that suggested she knew it would likely be a closed topic. The two of them never spoke of their Hogwarts' days.

"No promises, but you can ask me anything." Willa said. "I love that you are finally putting your journals into published works."

"If anyone will publish me!"

"Oh please, between my connections at the Ministry and Braxton's newspaper contacts, you know we will make that happen." Willa smiled.

Orla took the news well when her letter came from the Durmstrang Institute instead of Hogwarts. The pariahs were flabbergasted, and Braxton and Willa shared a triumphant laugh over it in their bedroom that night.

September 1862 arrived faster than either imagined possible, and the house elves loaded the carriage with Orla's things and overnight trunks for Willa and Braxton. The remnants of the Malfoy End of Summer Ball lingered in the form of misplaced furniture and a layer of debris the house elves had not yet had time to remove.

The other Malfoys took the Floo to London to get to Platform 9¾ for Marcus' first year. The Hogwarts Express had been an idea of Grogan's mentee, Ottaline Gamboline, that Willa and Septimus were happy to fund back in 1827 as it solved the nuisance of traveling by portkey. Travel to and from Hogwarts by portkey became a Ministry-issued regulation during Grogan's time as Minister in order to make it fairer to students who could not afford carriages. Nothing about portkey travel was pleasant and the locomotive was a fine alternative.

"Write to me, Marcus!" Orla called after her great-nephew as he entered the fireplace's green flames.

"Come, Orla. We must leave now if we are to arrive on time." Braxton called.

"Yes, uncle!" she said with a grin and hurried ahead of him out the door to the carriage house.

They arrived to Norway in the early evening, Orla chattering away about which classes she was most looking forward to—"Divination and the Dark Arts of course! Phineas was so jealous I get to study it. Did you know they do not offer that at Hogwarts?"

"Yes, we did know, dear." Willa smiled.

"Do you think they will have a welcome feast like Hogwarts?" Orla asked, her bright blue eyes wide.

"They did the year I attended, and my friend Mr. Grindelwald always spoke of it, so I am certain they will." Braxton assured her.

"Mr. Ákos Grindelwald the Hungarian Minister for Magic?" Orla gasped.

"No, his father, your mother and mine's longtime friend, Mr. Bertok Grindelwald." Braxton laughed. "He is meeting us, and I bet the Hungarian Minister will be there as well. He has a son your age who will be starting Durmstrang this year as well." Braxton explained then looked at Willa. "What was his name again?"

"Zolten," Willa supplied.

"Zolten? What an intriguing name." Orla bubbled.

"You had better get changed into your school robes, darling. I expect we will arrive soon." Willa said, glancing out the carriage window at the pristine Lyngen Alps below.

Braxton leaned over her to see out and gave a noise of awe, "I forgot how beautiful it is up here."

"Let me see!" Orla cried, balancing herself on Braxton's and Willa's knees to get high enough to see out. Once she could, she exclaimed, "There is snow!"

"Yes, that is why your uniform includes a fur-lined robe." Braxton said.

"In September, there is already snow!" Orla cried.

"The castle is very warm. I promise." Braxton assured her. "Besides, the snow is only the mountain peaks, not in the valleys."

Their abraxans began to descend and Willa hurried Orla along to change into her robes. The crimson color made her blonde curls pop and her blue eyes deeper, like sapphires.

"You look very smart in your robes." Willa smiled at her daughter, cupping her cheek tenderly.

Orla beamed, swelling with pride.

"You have your wand on you and not packed away, right?" Willa asked.

"Yes, just here." Orla pulled out the snakewood wand Willa gave her that week. It had woken immediately for her after decades without use.

Their carriage landed and came to stop soon after. Their house elf, Lospey, opened the carriage door for them. Hobney was far too old to make such a trip, despite his protests to the contrary. Braxton exited first, turning to help Willa and then Orla down.

"Wow!" was Orla's immediate reaction, her eyes big and bright, staring upwards at the Durmstrang castle gates.

They were a solid wooden arc, reinforced with iron. Two stone columns, each topped with a double-headed eagle, supported the gate doors. The fence beside it was more foreboding than Hogwarts' outer walls, which Willa found especially reassuring given how easy it had been for them to sneak out of Hogwarts.

"Gamp and Bagshot?" a familiar voice called from behind them.

Willa and Braxton spun around, "Bertok!"

The three embraced and exchanged pleasantries.

Bertok looked the same age, if not younger, as he had at Septimus' funeral over a decade ago. All that seemed to have changed was his hair, which was now white instead of silver. He had an eleven-year-old boy with him in school robes, whose blond hair and ocean blue eyes were a spitting image of the Bertok they remembered from school.

"You must be Miss Orla Malfoy?" Bertok said.

"Yes, sir, pleased to make your acquaintance." Orla gave a brief curtsy then chirped, "Is the minister here?"

Bertok laughed, "Just like your mother, I see. Right for the politicians."

"Bertok!" Willa exclaimed as Braxton laughed heartily.

"No, my father was too busy to come." The boy standing beside Bertok said. He extended his hand to Orla, "I am Zolten by the way. Mr. Zolten Grindelwald."

Orla shook his hand, "Miss Orla Malfoy."

"Could your parents not come either?" he asked.

"Oh, no they are here. Well, my father is dead, but this is my mother and my uncle who basically raised me anyway." She rambled off.

Zolten frowned and asked, "How is that even possible she is your mother?"

"Magic." Orla said succinctly.

The three adults exchanged a look and stifled their laughs.

"The carriages are arriving. We should say our goodbyes." Bertok said, looking through the gates at the reindeer-drawn carriages coming down the driveway.

Orla turned to Willa and Braxton, who took turns leaning down to hug and kiss her goodbye.

"Now promise you will write." Willa said sternly.

"I promise, mother." Orla smiled.

"And do not get into too much trouble." Braxton added with a grin.

"I shall try not to, uncle." she smirked.

Bertok bid Zolten farewell, and the two eleven-year-olds made their way to a carriage. Their trunks already had been apparated into the castle.

"I already miss her. How is that even possible?" Willa said.

"I do, too." Braxton assured her, putting his arm around her shoulders as they watched the carriage roll away, up the rocky hill to the castle.

"You both need a drink." Bertok said, clapping them on the back. "Come on, let's get to the inn and check in for the evening."

He rode with them to Eventyr, the nearby wizarding village, explaining he and Zolten had taken a portkey there.

"School will be good for him. He is so angry at his father right now for spending so much time at work. He needs something of his own to care about." Bertok explained. "After his father apologized that he could not drop him off, Zolten requested we take a portkey as Ákos never would lower himself to that. My son is a bit demanding, but he makes one hell of a Minister."

"Yes, we have only heard good things about his administration." Braxton said.

"Even Willa's kid likes him, it seems." Bertok joked.

"Who knows how she even learned about him! She must have been reading up on current world leaders or something." Willa laughed.

"She is smart. And very curious." Braxton said.

"She will do well at Durmstrang then." Bertok concluded.

"She is very excited to study the Dark Arts." Willa rolled her eyes.

"Do not underestimate the value of the Dark Arts." Bertok said. "How do you think I still look twenty years younger than you two?"

"I was going to ask about that." Braxton laughed.

"Drinks first. There are several portkeys tomorrow, so I can have a lie-in if need be." Bertok grinned.

"Is Hildegard well? I thought she would come too." Willa asked.

"Oh, she hates traveling by portkey. She stayed in Nurmengard." he shrugged.

They arrived at the inn a few minutes later and checked into their rooms before meeting in the tavern below. Bertok ordered them three glasses of akvavit and a plate of smoked salmon to start, and Braxton let out a happy noise after his first sip.

"I forgot how amazing these are." He sighed contently.

Willa gave hers a tentative sip. At eighty-six years old, her taste for alcohol had dropped significantly, but the akvavit was excellent. The evening soon turned into night, food and drink continuing to arrive at their table as the conversation and laughter flowed.

"You two should come back to Nurmengard with me. Hildegard can perform the dark magic on you to slow your aging process." Bertok said. He looked at Willa, "You will need the energy with that daughter of yours. What a firecracker she is!"

"We have only brought overnight trunks, plus we have our house elf." Willa remarked.

"We should go. Who cares about clothing? We can replicate it, or does that violate one of your laws?" Braxton teased.

Willa rolled her eyes. Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration had been invented by one of The Other Gamps as Braxton well knew. She had reached out to them after coming into her full inheritance in 1793, redistributing quite a sum of her father's secret vault's money and estates to the long-ignored family members.

"Do you remember when we were bone scrying at Hogwarts and mine said our futures were linked?" Bertok suddenly asked with a laugh.

Willa and Braxton stiffened.

"What?" Bertok asked, leaning close to them.

"We do not talk about that time in our lives." Willa said succinctly.

"The possession." Bertok nodded, his thoughts distant. "Do you think it is Orla?"

"What?" Braxton frowned.

"In the reading." Bertok clarified.

"I think it was all hogwash." Willa said severely.

"Well, I do not." Bertok said, his eyes narrowing. "We are more sophisticated in Divination techniques here at Durmstrang. More attuned to the sight. "

"You are saying that my daughter will have a future of darkness and the world at her feet." Willa said coldly.

"Not your daughter alone obviously. Unless you are lying about who her father is and it is actually my son." Bertok laughed, adding, "Come to think of it, he did come to Septimus' funeral with me... You got pregnant right after that, did you not?"

Willa and Braxton shifted uncomfortably.

"Ah, so she is yours after all. Uncle, my ass." Bertok laughed, shaking his head and drinking some of the mjød he had moved onto.

"Orla is my niece." Braxton replied simply.

"Right, because the wealthiest person in Britain only rents one room in Eventyr when she could easily rent two." Bertok rolled his eyes. "I do not care, by the way. I knew it was inevitable after seeing you together that first day at Beauxbatons."

"Let's throw the bones again." Willa said challengingly. "Tonight."

"Right here on the table?" Bertok asked.

"Why not? Only you and I will be able to read them anyway. It is your set after all." Willa said. "Unless the reading was always about Lila anyway, and never me. Then you had better watch out for Elladora Black and Violet Malfoy."

She sipped more akvavit and Bertok let out an amused laugh as he dug into his robes for a black, cloth bag. They moved aside their crumb-laden plates and Braxton cast, "Scourgify" on the table surface. Bertok closed his eyes, clasping his pieces between his hands and whispering to them in Hungarian to wake them.

"Tell me Willa's future." he said, opening his eyes to throw them on the table.

Braxton could not see anything beyond the various articles that made up the scrying set's pieces, but there was no need for him to be able to read the bones. Willa and Bertok's immediate loss of color indicated clearly the reading about their shared descendant either remained the same or was even more foreboding than before.

1862-1875

Life immediately became easier for Willa and Braxton after they decided to let Hildegard perform the dark magic to slow their aging. Braxton lamented not doing it sooner, as their energy seemed to triple. Among other things, it required far less external aid to be intimate with each other, and it also gave them more clarity on the entire Malfoy vs. Black inheritance situation.

The spring of 1863, Willa purchased a seaside estate near Dawlish with the Gamp fortune and moved in by herself, bringing along Lospey to help her and Hobney to protect him from the increasing mistreatment of the house elves from Eros' and his family. Braxton moved back into Godric's Hollow with Bathilda. That Christmas break, when the Bagshots came to stay with Willa and Orla, Braxton simply never left. By then no one thought anything of him living with another one of his sisters, especially the one with the nicer house.

Durmstrang helped as well, quickly maturing Orla by providing her with structure and discipline that had been difficult to provide in a household run by Eros and Marcy Malfoy. By the time Orla finished her schooling in 1869, she had not formed an attachment with anyone, let alone Zolten, and she went on to attend the Egyptian Centre of Alchemical Studies for three years. In 1871, Licorus Black died and Magenta became unstoppable in her quest for Orla's trust, still claiming it as rightfully her family's through Octavia. Luckily that same year Orla turned twenty-one and could inherit her trust, promptly acquiring her own vault and moving it there the moment Gringotts opened that September day.

In 1874 when Eros began to display symptoms of the same blood maledictus that had killed Quintus, the fangs and claws all came out, and Willa took Orla, Braxton, Bathilda, Elnath and Grogan on an extended European family tour. Before setting off for Greece, she conveniently relocated the remainder of Orla's Malfoy inheritance into the Gamp vault, to which there was only one key. It hung safely around her neck, hidden from view, as they traveled the continent, landing at Nurmengard in the autumn.

Bertok and Hildegard still had not changed much since they had last seen them, and Ákos and his wife too looked no more than fifty, despite being in their late sixties. Everyone remarked on Bathilda's youthful appearance and asked what magic she used.

"The same thing that brought me back to life." Elnath, who did not at all look her age of ninety-eight, said with a laugh at dinner their first night there.

"Elnath, stop." Willa cut in.

"Why? You and Braxton are clearly using dark magic just as we are, and they all are. How can we all learn and grow if we hide away our knowledge?" Elnath asked.

"Well, now you have to tell us." Orla said.

Her fascination with her Elnath's extreme knowledge of alchemy, potioneering and the related dark arts had grown steadily on their trip as the two exchanged the latest techniques out of the Centre of Alchemical Studies and what Elnath heard whispered in the black markets.

"It is the Elixir of Life." Bathilda said with a shrug. "My brother gave me it as an infant. As a consequence, after reaching full maturity in my twenties, I now age very slowly. I turned eighty-two this year."

The Grindelwalds gasped as Bathilda looked just over forty.

"I would love a sample of your blood to study, if you do not mind." Hildegard said with excitement.

Bathilda shrugged, unsure how to answer such a request.

"So, you did steal it?" Bertok murmured to Braxton, shaking his head as Braxton flared red.

"And you died?" Orla asked Elnath.

"Yes, how did that work? I thought only the Inferi could be brought back to life? Did you use the Resurrection Stone as well?" Zolten chimed in.

Elnath touched her finger that had once held the ring with the stone. She had passed it onto Corvinus' son eighty years ago, seen him through Hogwarts, and stopped contact with Rebecca Gaunt and the boy promptly thereafter. Her and Grogan's careers and reputations were too important to jeopardize with such associations.

"Enough." Grogan said. "I refuse to ever discuss the Resurrection Stone again. As for the Inferi, you should have no need for their services, young man."

"What are the Inferi?" Orla asked.

"Mr. Stump said enough." Ákos said with a loud finality.

Everyone fell silent until Ákos' wife launched into questions about their trip so far, and Zolten and Orla could be seen exchanging a silent communication that quite clearly consisted of him promising to tell her about the Inferi.

Over the next two weeks at Nurmengard, the connection Willa and Bertok thought they had escaped at Durmstrang finally formed in a whirlwind that none of them would have been able to stop. When they left, the owls became constant, finding Orla throughout Europe and then back home, until she announced months later that she and Zolten were engaged.

When they wed, Willa gave Orla the emerald ring from Septimus as a gift and reminded her that dark magic always leaves traces. She was certain her advice went unheard, despite Braxton's assurances to the opposite. Somewhere along the way, her daughter had been seduced into the darkness, the way she had always feared about herself.

1883

Braxton arrived to Nurmengard mid-morning April 21, 1883 after receiving Zolten's owl the night before explaining that Orla had begun labor pains.

"Where is mama?" Orla asked, sitting more upright in bed as her house elf showed Braxton into the bedroom.

The fire roared and Braxton quickly removed his coat, top hat, and gloves, handing them to the house elf to hang up while he hurried to Orla's side. She looked exhausted and less pregnant than he expected.

"Your mother is contagious with dragon pox right now. She could not risk spreading it to you and the baby." He explained softly, taking her hands.

"You should be with her." Orla frowned.

"That is what I told her." Braxton smiled and kissed Orla's forehead. "But she insisted one of us be here to meet the baby."

Orla smiled as well, "Yes, that sounds like mother."

"Besides, your mother's cousin Elnath has developed a cure now that her husband has dragon pox, so your mother is already taking that. She should fully recover and be able to visit you soon." he smiled reassuringly.

"Yes, she told me in her most recent letter. It is very good news." Orla nodded.

"Where is Zolten?" Braxton frowned, finally looking around the room. He noticed the bassinet nearby the other side of the bed.

"Zu is sleeping. They only just woke me when you arrived. We had the baby last night, father." she said gently.

"What?" Braxton's heart skipped a beat at her final word.

"He did not want to wait any longer to enter the world." she chuckled.

"No, what did you just call me?" Braxton asked.

Orla peered at him with her wide blue eyes that matched his mother's in color. She pushed into his mind before he could use occlumency.

"I already know you and mother are together, but I have to know if you are my father." She said. "Mother is too powerful for me to read."

"Tell me about it." Braxton grumbled. He pulled his fingers gently through Orla's hair, letting her stay in his mind. "Listen, there is not much to find on the matter. I have always considered you my daughter, but there is simply no way to know for sure. And we decided—"

"That being a Malfoy was a better future for me." Orla said, reading it plainly in his mind. "But you disagreed over time… and no, oh, no I do not need to see that."

She pulled her mind abruptly from his.

"Well that was more effective than occlumency." he laughed. "But it was more than just the Malfoy name and its opportunity. We could not subject you to the ridicule that would come with me claiming parentage. You would be tainted forever." He said.

"The world is bigger than England, papa. Not everyone feels so negatively about such things." Orla said, kissing his palm that rested on her cheek.

"I know, but it is not that big." Braxton sighed.

"The Grindelwalds, for example, do not care." She said pointedly and sat up all the way. "Help me up. I want to introduce you to your grandson."

"No, stay there. I can get him." Braxton guided her back to the headrest.

He walked around the bed to the bassinet, peering inside. A tiny bundle of white cloth lay there, wrapped up so only his little bald, pink head emerged. His lips were open as he breathed peacefully.

"He is sound asleep." Braxton whispered.

"It is all right." She said, reaching out her arms.

Braxton lifted the newborn gently from the crib and cradled him securely as he walked back to the bed and placed him in Orla's arms.

"May I present Mr. Gellert Byron Grindelwald." She said.

"Byron?"

"Yes, after your father."

"I do not know what to say." Braxton said, blinking back tears.

"The thing is, I wanted to know if you are my father for a reason." Orla started, swallowing hard before she continued in a serious tone. "There is a cure now for the blood maledictus Eros has. The one that Quintus and his grandmother died from. If Septimus is my father, then I am a carrier, even if it never develops like in Octavia. My son would be, too, and it might develop in him as it seems to skip generations. I could inoculate him tomorrow, if I knew."

"I wish I had answer for you." Braxton said softly.

"There is a way to test paternity now." Orla said. "If you are willing. This will not change anything for me. You will always be my father."

Braxton wiped a stray tear from his cheek, "Of course I will help, darling. It will not change anything for me either."

"Thank you." Orla said as she began to cry.

Braxton embraced her, Gellert between them, and wondered how he got so lucky.

A fortnight later Braxton received an owl from Willa that confirmed she was home from St. Mungo's and her contagiousness no longer airborne. She remained too weak to travel, so he returned home from Schloss Nurmengard to be with her.

"Hello, darling." Braxton said entering their bedroom. "How are you feeling?"

"Better than before." Willa managed through coughs. "How is she?"

"She is well. Her son is well. They named him Gellert Byron Grindelwald." Braxton said, sitting on the bed.

"That is a nice name." Willa smiled weakly.

"Yes, I thought so too." Braxton said, brushing back her hair. "There is more news."

"What?"

"There is a cure for the blood maledictus Eros has. Orla told me about it."

"Wouldn't Vincent know about that? He became a healer because Quintus died from it." Willa frowned.

"Perhaps it is not legal in England yet?" Braxton said.

"Perhaps… that is good news though. Why would she tell you that so specifically and not write to Eros instead?" Willa wondered.

"She may have written him. I did not ask. She told me because they were worried Gellert might have it since Septimus clearly was a carrier." Braxton explained.

"Do you think he does? Does she?" Willa exclaimed with wide eyes as she gripped Braxton's forearm.

"There is a test. We did it while I was there." Braxton started. He smiled warmly at Willa and said, "Gellert and Orla are both perfectly fine."

"Oh, what a relief!" Willa said, relaxing back into the mattress.

"Yes, I was relieved with the test results as well." Braxton said.

"You seem different. Happier." Willa mused.

"Our grandson is pretty special." Braxton whispered, leaning close to Willa as he spoke. "I love you so much."

"I love you, too." Willa smiled.

"Can I kiss you?" he asked.

"I am unsure. The healers did not specify. But you can hold me." she said.

Braxton pulled off his boots and slid beside her, pulling her body close to his own. Willa closed her eyes, relaxing into his touch as she wondered how to tell him that Elnath's cure for dragon pox was not working.

"You got enough blood from your uncle?" Zolten asked Orla, peering into the bassinet at his son who had started to wail.

"Of course," Orla said lazily as her husband lifted Gellert into his arms.

"What did you tell him to give you it?" he asked, turning to look at Orla.

"Exactly what he wanted to hear." she shrugged and exposed one of her breasts as she reached out for their child.

"About the cure for the blood maledictus?" Zolten pressed placing Gellert in her waiting arms.

"Something like that." she said, forcing the baby's screaming mouth to her bosom. He made contact soon after and the room became tranquil.

"They will figure out there is no cure soon enough. Especially your mother." Zolten reasoned. "What will you tell Marcy when she asks for it for Eros?"

"That I was mistaken. And who cares if Eros Malfoy dies? That is merely one less problem for me." she said without much emotion. "Now that we have Braxton's and Bathilda's blood we can perform the ritual for Gellert. That is all that matters."

Gellert pulled away from her looking up at them as Zolten sat beside her.

"You are going to be the most powerful wizard in the world." She said to her child sweetly, running a finger over his tummy and eliciting a contented sigh from him.

Zolten cradled his head and said with a soft confidence, "One day, son, I imagine the entire world will know the name Gellert Grindelwald."

Orla met Zolten's eyes and they shared an intimate and triumphant smile until she leaned forward to meet his lips with her own.