Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. It's all Rowling's, Thorne's and Tiffany's.

Author note: I wrote this story trying to understand how the revelations from Cursed Child fit in with the series. It's basically my head canon. Each chapter is from a different character's POV and their thoughts are in italics. Yes, I am shamelessly copying Game of Thrones. :P

The idea that Aurors have replaced Dementors as Azkaban guards comes from Pottermore.

The descriptions of the characters are based partly on the books and partly on my mental image of them. They will therefore not look like the actors portraying them, hopefully this isn't too jarring. Sorry, I'm a book purist.

Her cell was cold and damp. Even during the day there was barely any light, the cell had just a tiny window more like a crack in the wall high enough so the prisoners couldn't reach it. It gave her no view outside but let in the chilly air. She sat on the floor with her legs drawn up to her chest and her arms around them. It felt like giving herself a hug. Who else will hug me? And somewhat protected her from the cold.

She had only been locked up a week yet already she could feel Azkaban getting to her. She kept thinking that Bellatrix Lestrange had spent 14 years in Azkaban so surely her daughter would not be weaker. Especially since there were no longer Dementors at Azkaban. But her mother had been waiting for her father to come and release her so she had that hope to live on. Who would come for Delphi? Euphemia Rowle? She laughed to herself. The old hag is probably thrilled that her silly "prophecy" came true regarding my fate. Her trial was in a few days, yet she was sure that as long as Minister Granger had something to say about it (and she surely did) there was no chance for her to spend less than a lifetime in Azkaban. She had seen the woman's angry face looking down at her, threatening her with the same fate her mother had while she was begging to be killed or have her memory erased, a type of death in itself. Yet my mother escaped...

Granger, Weasley, Potter. They had ruined her family a long time ago and now also her chance of ever getting back what she'd lost. She needed someone to speak in her favor at the trial and to plead for a reduced sentence for her. But who? She had no friends, merely some casual acquaintaces. It was not like she could be honest with anyone regarding who she really was. Her father had never needed nor wanted friends. The Malfoy man who was actually her cousin had treated her with nothing but disdain and anger. That might have something to do with me trying to kill his son... He would certainly not speak in her favor.

Would Rodolphus Lestrange speak up for her? The man had been friendly enough when she tracked him down and asked him some questions only to confirm what she already suspected. But Delphi realized hat he would be in no rush to save his wife's illegitimate daughter and doubted that he even knew what had happened to her. He seemed anxious to get as far away from England as possible. It was hardly likely that he would show up at the Ministry and risk his own barely gotten freedom to defend her, the product of his wife's infidelity. She felt a bit sorry for him. Her mother had never given him any heirs yet she did so for her master. Her father, the Dark Lord. She had been so close to meeting him yet was denied the encounter. Worse still, she had been fooled into revealing herself to Potter and his friends. The only comfort was what that boy Scorpius had told her about the Augurey. Her father was using her symbol, he would have welcomed her by his side if he'd lived. A bittersweet thought now as her loss felt even greater. I shall die in here...

Her thoughts were interrupted by her cell door opening. Surely it was too late for supper as she was quite sure even without a watch that it was the middle of the night. A bald, plump man stepped in wearing what appeared to be Auror robes. Now what?

"Girl, come here, quickly!" he commanded gesturing with his hand. He was looking around and behind him all the time seemingly worried about something. He didn't want to come inside. She looked at him but said nothing and made no move towards him.

"Come now, silly girl, I don't have all night," he said angrily. What was this now? By the way he was acting, he certainly didn't seem to have any authority to be in her cell or call her to him. She got up and backed away until her back touched the cold wall. This doesn't seem right. She felt her pulse quickening as she guessed what he wanted. It wasn't unheard of for Azkaban guards to take freedoms with female prisoners. One of the downsides of replacing Dementors with humans. She knew she was among the pretty ones. That little Potter boy had been drooling all over her and there had been more like him even in her short lifetime.

The man lost his patience. He walked quickly to her and grabbed her before she could react.

"Calm down or I will Stun you I swear", he hissed. "We need to go now or both our heads will roll." Was he here to get her out? She wasn't entirely convinced but she let him lead her out of the cell and then quickly outside the prison walls. She saw no other Aurors anywhere, the man must have gotten rid of them somehow. She could hear the waves clashing and feel the chilly night air on her skin. She shivered wearing only a thin Azkaban robe, designed for indoor use only of course.

The man reached for something in his robes. He took out a small object which looked like a potion bottle and forced her hand into his and on the tiny bottle. What followed was perceived by her as only a whirl as the Portkey took them far away.

They appeared in front of a small dilapidated house. It looked odd and uninhabited. Delphi had remembered reading about it, the Shrieking Shack it was called. She knew her father had used it as a hiding place during the Battle of Hogwarts. Her heart raced. Maybe she was going to be met here by a friend, one of her father's followers... Or maybe I'm going to get murdered in there. Fear got the best of her. Before the man got to his feet, she kicked him hard and made a run for it. She didn't get too far when his spell made her trip and fall and pinned her to the ground. He pulled her roughly to her feet and slapped her.

"Silly girl! If I don't deliver you to her she'll kill my whole family so you'd better cooperate because there's nowhere to run where I wouldn't find you." He started dragging her towards the Shack.

"Who's she? What are you talking about?", Delphi asked still struggling in his grasp. "I'm not going back to that bitch Euphemia." Yet she would go anywhere he wanted to take her, she knew it. Wandless, there wasn't much she could do. If I had my wand you would be in pieces right now.

The man didn't answer her queries but waved his wand and the wooden door, which had been sealed shut a few seconds ago, opened up and let them in. The house looked abandoned except for a faint light in one of the back rooms. The few pieces of furniture inside looked like someone had smashed them and had thick layers of dust on them. Delphi wrinkled her nose; there was also an unpleasant smell. The man sat her down on a ragged armchair, waved his wand and a thin chain snapped shut around her foot binding her to the floor. She pulled at it stupidly as the man walked into the adjoining room. Delphi could hear him talking to someone:

"She's here now, Madam, in the other room. Promise me nothing bad will happen to my family," he said, his voice sounding desperate now.

"You have my word," said a woman's voice which Delphi didn't recognize. "What would I want with your family? Avada Kedavra." Delphi heard a thud and knew the man had fallen to the ground dead. She started tugging at her chain rather desperately now. Whoever this woman was, her intentions were not good. She must be one of those people who had lost family members to her father's cause and now wanted revenge. As grateful as Delphi was that the woman had broken her out of Azkaban, she needed to be on her merry way or risk being at the mercy of an even more dangerous foe than prison or Aurors. She would make the chain break and run as fast as she could. She knew some wandless magic and muttered a series of incantations without any use. She heard high heels coming towards her on the wooden floors and the door to her room creaking open. Suddenly the chain broke and vanished but not because of Delphi's efforts. The woman had unbound her.

"Delphini!" The woman was looking at her up and down. "I like what you've done to your hair but we're going to have to find you better clothes," she said smiling.

Delphi wanted to run but her legs wouldn't move. Her knees had gone weak so she felt herself unwillingly sitting back down in the mouldy armchair, her face looking up at the woman in shock.

There was no mistaking that face. Her black hair was a bit shorter now, barely reaching her breasts and her blue eyes were sparkling beneath bangs. Otherwise she was as tall and thin as in the pictures Delphi had seen of her. But how could this be?

"Stay away from me!", Delphi shrieked. "I don't know who you are or what you are but you shouldn't come near me."

"I think you know who I am," the woman said, the same amused smile upon her face.

"I know you're impersonating a dead woman," Delphi spat. "What sick ruse is this?" Delphi was unsure exactly how Polyjuicing oneself into a dead person worked. If the Polyjuice always made the impersonator taking it look like the person they were impersonating looked at the moment then Delphi would have been talking to a live skeleton right now instead of the beautiful and alive looking woman in front of her. After twenty years, there wouldn't be much left of her mother. Or my father. The thought of his corpse decaying made her sad but she immediately snapped back to reality.

The woman backed away from her a few steps. "I know everything must be very shocking right now but if you'll come with me I will explain everything to you. Just not here, it's not safe."

"You're mad if you think I'm going anywhere with you", said Delphi even angrier. "Either you start expaining or — " she couldn't do much without a wand, she remembered suddenly — "or stay away from me!" she finished stupidly.

The woman looked at her with seriousness in her eyes no longer smiling now. "I know you thought I was dead," she said, "because of this". She undid a couple of buttons on her dress and pulled the fabric aside to reveal an ugly scar right above her heart.

Delphi was taken aback for a bit but then burst into an hysterical laughter. "Like that proves anything", she said. "Even if my mother had survived the curse that killed her she would be in her sixties by now. You don't even look fifty to me, Mum," she mocked. Just because I like what you're selling, lady, doesn't mean I'll buy it.

"That's true of course. Do you really think an impostor would be as foolish as to not know this?" Bellatrix asked her calmly.

"Then please explain this miraculous survival of yours which has apparently also rendered you incapable of aging," said Delphi sarcastically. She no longer wanted to run away, though. Her curiosity had got the best of her and there was nothing to run to anyway.

"I will," said Bellatrix. "But not here. You'll have to come with me, we can't stay here for long lest someone might show up. That guard I killed, someone will soon notice his absence. He Stunned his colleagues but it won't last long. We need to move to a safer location." She stepped towards Delphi. Delphi recoiled from her outstretched hand. "Take my hand and let's Disapparate", she said.

Delphi didn't move unsure of what she should do. She could just push the woman or hit her and run but she probably wouldn't come far. If the stupid guard was able to stop her then certainly Bellatrix Lestrange was too. Nonsense, this isn't my mother!

Bellatrix wasn't a patient woman. "Now Delphini! Let's go!" she shrieked seeing the girl's hesitation. Delphi grabbed her hand and soon the Shack was dissolving in front of her eyes.

They Apparated inside what looked like a living room. Bellatrix waved her wand and turned on the light and the fire place. Delphi was grateful as she had been friezing all this time yet temporarily forgot about it during the night's strange revelations. She was still wearing her Azkaban robes and had no shoes on. Her feet were now standing on a dark wooden floor which looked very clean and warm. The room had some modest furniture and a dark shade of crimson on the walls. The sofa looked inviting so she went and sat down with her cold feet under her. This room could use some brighter colors. Maybe I could... no, stop it! I'm not considering moving in with this crazy impostor, she berated herself.

Bellatrix's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Maybe you'd like something warm to drink. Oh, and some food of course". She waved her wand and a pot of tea and some sandwiches appeared on the table in front of Delphi. Tempting as it was to feel the warm liquid down her throat and get some food in her belly she couldn't trust this woman enough to eat or drink anything she offered.

Bellatrix seemed to have read her thoughts. "You think I would posion you? Very well." She went ahead and poured herself some tea and drank from it. "I prefer more violent ways of killing people", she said and smiled wickedly.

"Is that supposed to amuse me? Start talking please!" Delphi commanded. "I look forward to hearing your convoluted tale and lies."

Bellatrix laughed softly, her teeth like small white diamonds. She's beautiful... But she's not real!

"I suppose you already know about the final battle so there's no point in my telling you about that," Bellatrix said, her fingers drumming softly against the mug in her hand. "I would rather not relive that terrible day myself either, "she said looking down with a sad expression on her face. She began pacing the room.

"Needless to say I survived the battle. What you see today before you is the real me... although perhaps I am a bit more than I was."

"A bit more?" Delphi frowned.

"The curse which hit me should have killed me," Bellatrix said a bit louder than her previous calm tone. "Yet I survived. It was all thanks to your father actually."

How could my father had saved her life if he died only moments after her?

"I'm sure you've read everything that's been written about your father. All the history books."

Delphi nodded. How could she have not? Her fascination with her father could never be sated no matter how much information about him she received.

"Then I'm sure you know what he did to ensure his immortality," Bellatrix said. "It would have worked had Potter and Dumbledore not found out his secrets. The Dark Lord was a very clever man and the most powerful wizard in the world. He would not share his secrets with anyone yet there were hints as to what he'd done. When he was vanquished the first time, me and some of his other faithful followers knew he would come back. I risked everything for it," she said proudly.

Your freedom, thought Delphi.

"The Dark Lord's intention was that when he won the war, some of his most powerful and loyal Death Eaters will be rewarded. Not only would the secret of his immortality be shared with them but they would also be allowed to apply those measures to themselves should they wish it."

Delphi's eyes widened. She understood now.

"So you... so... you made a Horcrux?" she asked baffled.

Bellatrix sighed. "Not exactly... I was afraid. The Dark Lord shared his secret with me a while after he found out I was pregnant with you. I wasn't currently in his favor but bearing his child gave me some advantages over his other Death Eaters whom he planned on keeping in the dark a while longer. He suggested Horcruxes to me quite early on, before my belly even began to show. He assured me that you wouldn't be affected in any way and also assured me that I would not feel different at all. The soul was an unnecessary part of the body if left alone, he said. But use it wisely and it would turn into a weapon. The thought scared me. It felt... unnatural." Bellatrix swallowed some tea and looked at the fireplace, into the flames. She seemed ashamed.

"I knew he was granting me a great honor yet here I was foolish enough to not accept it. My fear stopped me and for the first time in my life I could not concur it. He became very angry with me for my refusal. None of his arguments could persuade me. Even when he ordered me to do it I begged to be left alone. Then he... well he was more powerful than me of course let's leave it at that." Bellatrix put her cup on the table. She wouldn't return Delphi's stare.

"So he forced you?" Delphi asked.

Bellatrix nodded. "When I woke up it was all over and he was right. I didn't feel different at all. You seemed to be alright as well. He gave me this necklace." She reached into her dress's cleavage and pulled out a simple crystal pendant. Delphi leaned it and looked at it closely. She couldn't shake the feeling of how alive it seemed.

Bellatrix tucked it back in. "I owe him my life. When I came to after being hit by the curse I was in terrible pain, my chest burning. All around me were dead Death Eaters, they had put as all in one room. Not my master though. I couldn't find his body yet I knew he was gone. I escaped and walked for days until I reached a foreign healing center. They knew nothing about our war or about who I was. They treated me, I was safe. But I was unconscious for a whole year. When I woke up, my first thought was of you but you were long gone. I searched and searched yet they had taken you away and hid you. I found out my sister had given you to the Rowles. I tried to track them down but they were scared and moved often trying to escape incarceration."

Delphi felt anger suddenly rising inside her. "I don't believe you couldn't find me. You were alive yet you left me with that awful woman. She hated me!"

"I had no choice. The Rowles made a deal with the Ministry a few years after the battle and they were allowed their freedom. Leaving you with them would have given you a chance at a normal life. I could never return to our world. Everyone presumed me dead. At the first sign that this wasn't true, a horde of Aurors would have come looking for me." Bellatrix seemed upset and regretful yet Delphi did not believe her.

"Oh okay. Now I get it, you wanted to keep yourself safe and a child would have only slowed you down," said Delphi sarcastically.

Bellatrix became angry. "They would have hunted us both. Have you not understood me?" she shrieked. "You could have never had a normal life with me. You couldn't have gone to Hogwarts— "

"Well guess what! I didn't have a normal life without you either! Hogwarts, ha!" Delphi yelled, her anger matching her mother's. She got to her feet unsure on what she was planning to do. "I didn't go to Hogwarts anyway, dear mother! My only family were people I bloody Imperioed into accepting me." Her chest was heaving. She went towards the window and looked out.

Bellatrix made no move to stop her. "I know all this", she said calmly. "But everything can be better from now on. You're a fugitive too now so it doesn't matter anymore. And you've proven that you don't need Hogwarts to do impressive magic."

Appealing to my vanity. It was working. Delphi turned around to face her. An idea came to her.

"You need to help me finish my mission", she told Bellatrix eagerly. "We both want father back I know it. We need to find the Time Turner and — "

"No, Delphini," Bellatrix interrupted shaking her head.

Delphi crossed her arms and frowned. "Well why not? You say you're my mother, my mother would want my father back."

"Of course I want your father back!" Bellatrix snapped. "But interfering with time is a very dangerous business, Delphini. Has it not occured to you during your playing around with those boys that you might have erased your own existence?"

Delphi looked at the ceiling, blankly. It had not occured to her, that was true. Bellatrix didn't press the point. "Your father is gone, as much as it pains me to admit it. His plan failed."

"Alright", said Delphi. "Then let's do something else. Let's go to Potter's house this very night and avenge my father. Let's kill his little brats in front of him, save his wife for last and then him. I'll let you kill the wife since trying to kill her was what got you killed last time." Bellatrix said nothing.

"Come on! It won't be hard for the two of us to overpower them. Potter is an average wizard at best. Or better yet"— Delphi's eyes were sparkling now — "let's go to the Weasleys. Let's pay a visit to the woman who made me grow up without a mother." Bellatrix shook her head.

This was enough to set Delphi off again. "You are such a coward! You're so afraid you'll lose your freedom and immortality that you won't even do this for father's sake. And yet you claim you loved him."

Bellatrix's anger was so intense that her tea cup exploded, tea running down on the floor. She took a few steps towards Delphi who backed away in fear.

"Don't you dare say I didn't love your father!" Her anger was making her hardly coherent and she grabbed Delphi by the shoulders and shook her. "No one ever loved him like I did, get that into your thick skull! But if you think I'm going to blow my cover and have the Aurors on both of our tails because of some silly revenge scheme which will accomplish nothing then you certainly haven't inherited your father's brilliant mind."

Bellatrix let go and stood there looking at Delphi as though waiting for her next move. Delphi realized she had held her breath during her mother's outburst. She exhaled and looked down at her feet. "So... do you really think my magic is impressive?" she asked timidly.

Bellatrix smiled, her face looking kind again. "Oh yes, certainly. I know all about your deeds and misdeeds. You really are your father's daughter. Although I must say that neither I nor your father ever wrote our plans on the walls of our rooms," Bellatrix mocked.

Delphi flushed. She had gotten a bit overenthusiastic at that point. Silly of her, she knew better.

"You seem to know how to charm people just like your father," Bellatrix continued while waving her wand to make the spilled tea disappear. "I could only inspire fear and respect, never love. Especially not in people I disliked. Hiding my true feelings has always been hard for me. But you... you made the young Potter boy love you."

Delphi laughed. "Oh yeah. That little fool." Mother and daughter laughed together. Delphi was warming up to her quicker than she thought. Who am I kidding anyway? I have nothing to lose. She no longer believed Bellatrix to be an impostor but even if it turned out that she had told Delphi only lies, it was not as if the girl had anyone to run to. And if Bellatrix could answer all of her questions about her father... Delphi suddenly felt guilty. All this time she had been so consumed with thoughts of her father that she hardly wondered anything about her mother. She had thought her mother was merely a servant which awoke Voldemort's lust. She knew that Bellatrix was infamous in her own right yet Delphi did not bother reading much about her. Yet now her mother was here offering her freedom. And perhaps the world.

"Come now," Bellatrix said. "It's been a long day. I'll show you to the bedroom I have prepared for you. You'll be safe here. I have your wand right here." She took it out from one of her inner pockets and gave it to Delphi. She trusts me now.

"Where are we?" Delphi asked as her fingers brushed her wand. Her look out the window hadn't given her any useful clues as to the house's location.

"Away from England and our enemies," answered Bellatrix. "We can talk more in the morning. We'll need to plan our next move. Saddly we cannot stay in one place for too long."

Delphi looked down. Bellatrix's plans seemed to include her yet she still wasn't sure about this woman.

"Of course if you do not wish to follow me you can do whatever you like. I only wanted to get you out of that terrible place," said Bellatrix softly. "You talked about revenge. Well my best revenge against Potter and his friends is to keep you safe and happy. That would not please them for sure. You don't have to actually come for them, my love, they just have to wonder whether you might do so one day. You will inhabit their nightmares whenever they close their eyes, whenever their children don't reply to their owls in time. They'll wonder if you've finally struck your blow against them. One of my biggest sorrows when I was in hiding was that the Weasley woman needed to think I was dead. That I couldn't reveal myself to her and haunt her nightmares. That if she ever heard the floor creaking during the night she would not think it's me. It pained me that she believed herself to be victorious," said Bellatrix wringing her hands, "yet it was necessary."

Delphi knew she was right. Word of her escape might have already reached Potter and that awful Granger woman. But they would never find her. She had made her decision. "I want to come with you wherever you go", she told Bellatrix.

Bellatrix smiled. "Very well. Let's get you cleaned up and snuggled up in bed for now and we'll talk more in the morning." She turned around and headed for the door.

"Wait," said Delphi. "I want to sleep wherever you sleep. I mean I... don't want to be alone... if that's alright." Will she think me weak now?

Bellatrix nodded. "My bed is big enough for us both so that should be fine." She opened the door and headed out into the hallway, indicating Delphi to follow. Delphi rushed after her.