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“You’re going to do what?” Druella Black couldn’t help the way her voice rose in shock. She stared, wide-eyed, at her closest friend.
"You heard me. I'm taking Lilyanna to Yewroot for a year as soon as it's safe for me to travel."
“But, Rosalind – I mean, Rosanna – have you any idea how it’s going to look to the world at large, if you take little Lilyanna to Yewroot without Robert? For an entire year?” Druella gasped, forgetting in her horror that Rosalind had been rechristened Rosanna upon her marriage into the Evans family, “Forget talking, people will scream to the rafters that the lack of a male heir has destroyed your marriage irrevocably!”
“What else would you have me do?” Rosanna spread her hands, her eyes sliding sideways to where the new-born Lilyanna Helena Evans lay gurgling in her cradle, “I can’t put her at risk by putting her in the same nursery as Petunia. Not when the sibling jealousy is bound to set Petunia off. She never wanted a sister anyway, and well, you know what happens when she has a tantrum. And I can’t leave Lilyanna to the House Elves. She’s too young. Her magic won’t settle unless she’s around myself or Robert.”
“What? Whatever gives you that idea?”
“You mean you’ve never heard that children under a year old can’t be cared for by anyone but by close family members without putting their magic at risk? Druella, this is well-established medical fact, it has been for years!” It was Rosanna’s turn to look astonished, before worry creased her brow.
“Please don’t tell me you left Bellatrix and Andromeda to the House Elves as babies? Please?”
“Well no. House Elves can’t feed them. They had nurses. But I certainly didn’t feed them and change them. Why would I want to involve myself in something so messy? Particularly with Bellatrix? You know she hardly stopped screaming until she was a year old…Unless she was in Cygnus’s arms,” Druella’s voice was scathing, until she remembered that Rosanna was still technically laying-in, as she hadn’t been churched yet, at which point she softened her tone for the sake of the new mother’s feelings, “I don’t mean to snap at you, Rosanna, it’s just the way all the Black children are raised.”
“That explains a lot about the Black madness,” Rosanna said softly, before shaking her head, “Anyway, that’s beside the point. The point is that I can’t risk Lilyanna, and that ill or not, Petunia’s magic is at least stable enough for her to be cared for by House Elves and a nanny while Robert works and I focus on Lilyanna. So, as soon as I can travel, Lilyanna and I are going to Yewroot.”
Suddenly, Lilyanna’s gurgles turned to whines and Rosanna chuckled, “Speak of the devil. She’s probably hungry.”
Reaching into the cradle, she scooped up the baby and coaxed her into latching on to a newly-bared breast. Druella politely averted her eyes until Rosanna coughed, letting her know that the wrap that protected her modesty was spelled into place.
“To be honest, Druella, I don’t think I’ll breathe properly until I know that Lilyanna and I are safely away from this place. Wards can do a lot, but they can’t always protect from accidental magic, particularly not magic as strong and unpredictable as my older daughter’s. I mean, that’s how we got ourselves into this situation in the first place!”
Rosanna’s voice cracked, and uncharacteristic tears sparkled in her green eyes. Druella reached out and placed a hand on her arm.
“Don’t. Rosanna, don’t. You can’t blame yourself. It was an accident.”
“If I’d kept a better eye on her nurse, if we hadn’t let her get cold…”
“You weren’t to know. Honestly, who could have thought that’s how Petunia’s magic would have reacted to being cold? Most children would have summoned themselves a blanket, not set themselves on fire!”
“But now, now she won’t use her magic and every time she has a tantrum, it just spirals out of her. And the more out of control it gets, the more scared she gets of it… I just wish I could help her!”
There was nothing Druella could say to that. She moved her hand to Rosanna’s shoulder and tightened her grip as the other woman shuddered briefly beneath her. Lilyanna, as though sensing her mother’s distress, bobbed off the breast and wailed.
The sound of the cries recalled Rosanna to herself. She drew herself up, patted Lilyanna’s head and resettled her to feed. Druella watched her in silence.
“You don’t really want to leave Petunia, do you?” she asked at last. Rosanna’s eyes shot up to hers.
“Of course I don’t! What mother would? But I don’t have a choice. Unless the healers can help Petunia, there’s no way she can become the Evans Heiress. Until Robert and I give the girls a brother, Lilyanna is the future of our family. I have to keep her safe, even if that means leaving my husband and older daughter. For the sake of the family, if nothing else!”
There was suddenly a crash on the floor above, followed by a childish scream of ‘WON’T!’, one that was very quickly cut off by a silencing ward. Druella glanced at Rosanna, but though the other woman flinched, she said nothing. Nonetheless, Druella knew she’d outstayed her welcome.
“I’d better go before I tire you too much. Would you like me to send a Patronus to Robert on my way out?”
Relief flashed in Rosanna’s eyes, “Would you, Druella?”
“Bien sur,” the blonde laughed, before squeezing her friend’s shoulder and rising.
She collected her cloak from a House Elf, which was cringing and tugging at its ears, doing more to betray the state of nervousness that permeated the house than Rosanna would ever allow, were she to see it.
Then she raised her wand to send the summons to Robert to come home and help his wife, and turned on her heel. Being Petunia’s godmother made her one of the trusted few who were able to Apparate within the walls of 11 Phoenix Avenue, so she didn’t even have to step outside into the bitter January cold.
Just before she vanished, however, she glanced back up the stairs to Rosanna’s boudoir.
Her hand stole to her belly, where a third child nestled and grew.
“I’ll look after you,” she promised it, silently, “By Merlin and Morgana, I swear I’ll look after you myself.”