Chapter Text
You may have heard this story. An orphan left on a doorstep, a family left in upheaval, a magical child ostracised because of their abilities and differences. But I am not talking about Mr and Mrs Dursley of number four privet drive. No, this story is about a different family.
A year before Harry Potter appeared on the doorstep of that house in surrey, a few miles away, just up from a magically hidden path, sat Malfoy manor. A building that had passed down through pureblood generations. The wrought-iron gates providing a magical barrier against those with bad intentions towards the family inside.
Inside the home sat a woman dressed all in black, a handkerchief held to her nose. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her usually slicked back bun sat messy and loose at the nape of her neck. Narcissa Malfoy sat in an armchair beside the fire, mourning the loss of yet another unborn child.
Beside the usually composed lady of the manor crouched her sister Bellatrix, her hand resting on her sister’s lap. “Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be Sissy,” she whispered, her head tilting as her eyes blinked away tears of her own.
Narcissa felt her tears sting once again, causing her to lift the handkerchief from her nose to her eyes. For so long, she had wished for a child that she could hardly remember wanting much of anything else. Despite her husband promising her the entire world, should she have wished it.
Not only did Narcissa feel obligated as a wife to provide her husband with an heir, but as a woman, she felt it to be her duty. Her dream of being a mother shattering with the news of her third miscarriage, her child having simply vanished from inside her. Bella told whoever would listen to her ramblings that she believed the issue to be a curse.
Narcissa’s husband Lucius, determined to ignore the ramblings of his wife’s sister, stood by the fire. His white-blond shoulder length hair for the first time having more colour than the white pallor of his face. On the mantel of the fireplace sat his glass of firewhiskey, untouched, his mind elsewhere. His usually perfectly tied hair ribbon, sitting loosely in his hair.
“What if….” he started, his heart nowhere in the question. “What if we adopt?”
Lucius knew Narcissa’s answer. It was always the same. And said with enough sadness for even him to feel the pain that plagued her. “It isn’t the same,” Narcissa whispered, allowing a tear to fall as her sister stroked her hair.
Lucius’ heart broke as he watched his wife mourn in the arms of her sister. Himself feeling inadequate, despite doing all that he could, even going so far as to ask muggle healers to assist them, but even they could do nothing.
A sharp rap at the door pulled the family from their thoughts. All paused as the sound echoed through the empty and usually quiet manor. Lucius glanced at the clock on the mantel before looking at the darkened sky outside the window.
“Who on earth could this be at this hour?” He moved towards the door before casting a last glance at his wife. “I’ll send them away, my dear.”
Lucius brushed aside the house-elves and approached the front door of the manor with his head held high. His hands making quick work of tightening his hair ribbon and smoothing the wrinkles in his clothes.
As a house elf opened the door, Lucius looked up from his fussing to converse with the stranger. But instead of a solemn glare to warn of his desire to remain undisturbed, Lucius’ brow furrowed at the familiar face in the doorway of his home. “Severus? Now is not a good time.”
“Lucius, please, I require your assistance.” Severus spoke quickly, his breath visible in the chilly September air. “I would never trouble you for a small matter, and you always said if I needed anything to- “
“Yes yes, but we are in the middle of something Severus. Can it wait?” Lucius released a sigh as the dark-haired man before him shook his head. “Well then, what is the issue?”
Severus revealed a tiny bundle from under his cloak, the man holding the bundle carefully. “This.”
Unbeknownst to Lucius, Narcissa had come to the door to investigate the situation, revealing herself to the men with a gasp at the sight before her.
There, in the bundle of blankets, lay a baby. Newly born and wide awake. Narcissa took a step forward, undeterred by the look of the strange babe before her. Lucius extended an arm to hold his wife back from moving nearer to the creature in his friend’s arms, but the woman moved the limb aside effortlessly. Narcissa stared at the creature, as she, in turn, stared back.
The baby’s ears pointed at the tips, and her eyes were the colour of liquid gold as her gaze flitted between the surrounding adults. Her fair hair was almost white on her head, and her button nose resembled that of a normal human baby. But wrapped around her, just peeking out from under the blankets, were a pair of thin, purple, leathery wings. Narcissa watched in wonder as the baby yawned, showing already protruding fangs.
Lucius grimaced in horror and moved once more to hold his wife back. “We cannot have anything to do with THAT Severus. We have a reputation to uphold!” He looked around, fearing for anyone else to have witnessed the child. He lowered his voice to a hiss despite his urge to shout a wide range of profanities. “Take it back to its mother.”
Severus shook his head, his eyes cast down at the child. “I cannot. Emilie gave her final breaths to give her daughter life.” Narcissa stepped nearer to the babe, despite Lucius’ silent protests. The motherless child effortlessly pulling at the broken heart of the childless mother. “My role at Hogwarts is vital for our cause, Lucius, you know that. I can’t risk losing it to care for the child.”
“Well, why us?” Lucius spat.
“You know why, my dear,” Narcissa said softly as she rested her hand gently on his arm, her voice pulling the child’s golden eyes to meet hers once again.
As if sensing she was different to the couple, the baby girl’s features began to soften as Narcissa stepped even closer. Her pointed ears rounded, and her fangs vanished into the safety of her gums, as her eyes faded from glistening gold to a honey toned yellow.
Narcissa held a finger out to the babe with tears in her eyes, smiling as the girl grasped tightly with her little fingers, her claws shrinking to smaller nails. The strength that the baby in front of her showed brought even more tears to the woman’s eyes. “This one will never die.” Narcissa thought to herself, silently begging her husband to reconsider.
“Please,” Severus breathed. “Her name is Elizabeth; I was thinking Lily for short.”
“Lily,” whispered Narcissa as she could no longer contain herself. She reached out and scooped the baby from Severus’ arms and into hers. Severus gulped and watched as the woman naturally moulded into her new role as a mother. “Oh, my dear Lily, come and meet your auntie Bella,” Narcissa cooed as she turned and walked back into the home. She silently ushered the curious house-elves into the kitchens for some appropriate milk, as she made her way back to the drawing room, leaving the men alone in the entryway of the manor home.
Severus moved forward to his friend, the two hesitant to speak more. “Lucius- “
“Don’t thank me,” snapped the man, both his gaze and his tone sharp. “You may visit if that is what you wish. We will raise her with the Malfoy name, but that does not make her one of us. One slip up and I will strip her of the title.” Severus nodded in understanding. “And I suppose you wish for her to go to Hogwarts?” Severus nodded again. “Any chance she could be sent elsewhere?”
The silence between the two was clear. Severus fully intending to keep her close.
Lucius sighed. “Very well. Let us hope she becomes useful enough when the time is right.” Severus nodded once again, turning to leave. “Any chance there is a father she could go to?”
Severus halted; his gaze fixed on the darkness ahead. “No….” he mumbled. “She has no one else.”
Lucius was unsure about Severus’ answer but didn’t press further. He closed the door before turning to return to the drawing room, thinking better of it, when he heard both women and the female elves cooing over the child.
The man instead made his way to his office, preparing a letter to the minister, explaining why he would need some time away from work. Avoiding the part about the new abomination that had stolen his wife’s heart.
As soon as he was out of the mansion’s magical borders, Severus apparated back to his home, where a visitor awaited him. Albus Dumbledore stood patient and silent in Severus’ front room, where only two hours earlier it had been a bustle of activity as Lily had been born. The house-elves rushing around for towels and blankets as Severus caught the winged babe in his hands, lifting her to see her mother.
Emilie could hold her child for only a moment before her life faded, the spell to prolong her life having lasted just long enough. Before she passed, she pressed her forehead to her baby; the woman whispering words Severus didn’t understand. Severus caught the child once again as Emilie took her final breath, her tears leaving a trail down her cheek.
“She is safe?” Dumbledore asked as Severus appeared. A single nod was the reply. “Good, don’t tell me where. It would be for her protection.” Severus nodded as his gaze fell on the lifeless body on his blood-stained sofa. “We will all miss dear Emilie.” Dumbledore pulled a handkerchief from his pocket with which to dab his eyes. “And what of her eldest?”
“I sent word ahead. The grandmother has already claimed the boy. She herself is in hiding, the current king threatening even his own mother.” Severus’ watched as Dumbledore took a seat in a nearby armchair, his wand in hand.
“Dear Emilie. Her own brother, stealing her throne right from under her nose.” The older man tutted. “Let us hope the boy will be strong enough to take the throne back when the time is right. The north dragons were our strongest allies thanks to Emilie.”
“I always thought them to be a matriarchal species.”
“Indeed they are, Severus. But the boy was born into their clan and will be accepted to lead without hesitation. The child born tonight shall never have the throne, despite her mother’s reign and sacrifice."
“Does she still have a title?” Dumbledore nodded slowly as Severus’ gaze and mind drifted back to Emilie’s body. “What shall we do with Emilie’s…..?” Severus gulped, his eyes hovering over the paling tear-stained skin. “She deserves a proper burial.”
“She will decay in only a few moments, her spirit returning from whence it came.” The two paused in silence, waiting patiently. “I suppose you named the child?”
“Yes. Was I wrong to do so?”
“You are her father, Severus, and you always will be. You gave her a chance, her best chance. She is safer now, away from this war, away from the tyranny of the dragon world- “
“Away from her family.”
“She will find out when she is ready, but you must be the one to tell her Severus. She deserves nothing less.” The two watched as the body on the sofa started to glow, sparkles rising into the air. “This is it,” Dumbledore announced solemnly as he rose to stand. He cleared his throat and clasped his hands together as he bowed his head.
Both men kept their eyes open to watch as the body of the woman vanished, leaving nothing but her blood seeping into the fabric of the sofa.
Severus sniffed as Dumbledore silently handed him a clean handkerchief from his robes. “It feels like there should be more,” he admitted. “More people to tell, more to do.”
“Dragons are rare creatures Severus, today you saw one come into this world, and today you saw one leave. Many never even see a dragon at all.”
“I suppose you want me to feel lucky that someone I thought I could have a life with is dead. I suppose you want me to feel lucky that my child is in the hands of- “
“Don’t tell me where.” Dumbledore stopped him with a raised hand and a stern voice. “Time is a precious thing Severus, let’s not waste it.”
With a wave of his wand, Dumbledore removed all traces of the previous hours. The blooded blankets and towels became once more clean and folded in the cupboard. The sofa shaking itself almost new, the blood from that vanishing into nothing.
A small clatter pulled Severus’ attention to a bracelet that Emilie had taken from her wrist mid push. It fell to the ground from the shaking furniture and had almost skidded across the floor to land near Severus’ feet. Severus bent down and collected the item to hold it in his hands for a moment before pocketing it in his robes. Dumbledore watched the man from over the rim of his half-mooned glasses.
“It was a family heirloom, I thought, maybe one day…” Severus trailed off as Dumbledore nodded.
“One day,” said the old man, following it with a sigh.