“Expelliarmus!”

Delphi played it safe. made it look liked she tried to block, just a second too slow. As the wand disappeared from her hand, she smiled.

“Now you’re getting it. You’re really good at this.” The truth was, he wasn’t very good. At all. Albus Severus Potter might bear the names of three of the greatest wizards to have ever opposed Voldemort, but he had none of the makings of even a half decent wizard. Knowing better than to let her contempt of the boy’s skills show, though, Delphi smiled convincingly. “You’re a positively disarming young man.”

She had said that in an overly posh voice, as a sort of a joke, and the joke conveyed exactly what she wanted it to convey when she noticed the sheepish smile form on Albus’s face. Rolling her eyes, Delphi wondered how much easier this could get.

She knew what her plan was, and she knew what she had to do to see it through to it’s fruition. She’d been taught long ago how to behave in this new world; couldn’t be too proud, couldn’t go crowing about blood purity. So it was be funny, be happy, and always do what needs to be done, even if you were absolutely disgusted on the inside…

Well, it wasn’t that bad though. At least they were both purebloods. If Albus had been a mudblood, would she be able to do this? The flirting, the friendship, going as far as she needed to go to manipulate him, or them. Both of them really. Scorpius was less important, but she knew that if it eventually came down to it, she needed to be able to what she had to do. Speaking of…

She rolled her shoulder as she picked up her wand from the ground, letting her open necked top roll down off her shoulder. Albus’ eyes were fixed to her bra strap immediately, following it down to her chest. This was almost too easy.

“Good work Albus,” she said, moving toward the young Slytherin, who quickly took his eyes off her as she stepped closer. “It looks like we have a winner.”

Sensing that Albus felt a little awkward about having stared at her inappropriately, even though she had pretended not to notice, Delphi effortlessly played it cool by raising her hand up in a high-five.

“You’re nothing short of a natural, Albus.” She laughed as the boy went for it. “At this rate, you’d certainly be fast on your way to be a better duelist than your father.”

“I don’t know,” Albus shrugged, unsure. “I’m rubbish at spells.”

Delphi was now standing in front of Albus, her face just inches away from his. She was so close in fact that she could see in his crystal blue eyes that he was nervous, nervous about being so close to such a beautiful woman, and nervous about accidentally looking down to her purposely exposed collarbone and bra strap again.

It was cute.

“You know, I was rubbish before too,” she said, pretending to be oblivious to the boy’s unease. “And then something clicked. And it will for you too. I think it’s just completely normal for all confused young wizards like yourself not to fully understand the new powers they’re developing, but I think that you’re doing fine overall, Albus Potter, and are well on your way to becoming quite some wizard.”

“T-Then you should stick around…” He shrugged, swallowing hard. The young boy’s gaze hadn’t faltered from hers yet, though it took quite a visible effort on his part as his feet shuffled nervously. “Maybe you could teach me more…”

Good Merlin, is he trying to flirt with me?

“I could,” Delphi replied without missing a beat, stepping closer to Albus. Whether he knew it or not, this was a game, a game she was all too familiar with playing. And Delphi couldn’t back down, not now. “I could teach you a lot of things. Things I’m certain you’d like…”

There was no space between them anymore. By now Delphi was pressing her body right up against his, smushing her warm ample breasts against his chest. At this proximity, she could actually feel his heart hammering against his chest, but when Albus didn’t pull away, Delphi reached out with her hand to take his.

“Would you like that, Albus?” She placed his hands on her hips suggestively. “For me to teach you?”

Albus’s face had gone nearly completely red by now, even in the darkness of the Forbidden Forest, but he still managed a sheepishly enthusiastic nod.

Unfortunately, before she could go any further, a rustling from behind the pair broke the trance that Delphi held over Albus. Spinning around, the two watched as the golden haired boy stepped out of the trees decisively.

“Teach you what?”

Panic set upon Delphi right away. How much had he heard? How long had he been standing there in those trees, watching? She might have had Albus wrapped tightly around her finger, but Scorpius was smart. He didn’t seem to be affected by her natural charms for some reason, and always maintained a cautious disposition about her.

“Oh, Scorpius! There you are.” Albus said cheerily, as if immediately forgetting about the electric flirtation they shared just moments ago. “We were just talking about her teaching me spells! Delphi is a great teacher, I’ve already cracked that first spell she was teaching me!”

Feigning a wide smile, Delphi remained where she was as Scorpius looked over to her warily for a moment, then back at Albus.

“And I’ve found our way through to the school. Listen, all we have to do…”

Delphi tuned out as the two boys began excitedly chattering. The distrustful way that Scorpius had looked at her was not a good thing. Delphi might have Albus entranced for now, but Scorpius spent far more time with Albus than she ever would, and if Scorpius filled his head with enough doubt, all the work that Delphi had accomplished would be undone. If she wanted to maintain her hold over the boy, Delphi would have to discredit Scorpius, starting from now.

“Okay, two points,” Scorpius said. “First point, we’re certain the dragon won’t kill him?”

“It’s always two points with him, isn’t it?” Delphi teased, and Albus laughed. Good. “Of course it won’t. This is Hogwarts. They won’t let damage happen to any of the champions.”

“Okay, second point,” Scorpius continued, slightly irritated at Delphi. “More significant point, we’re going back without any knowledge of whether we can travel back afterwards. Maybe we should just try going back an hour first, and then…”

“No,” Delphi interrupted. “I’m sorry Scorpius, but we’ve no time to waste.” She looked to Albus for support. “Waiting here this close to school is just too dangerous, I’m sure they’ll already be looking for you by now.”

Looking between his best friend and Delphi, his beautiful new mentor figure, Albus seemed conflicted, but eventually said just what she expected he would say.

“She’s right, Scorpius. We can’t keep holding off on things just because you’re scared.”

Visibly hurt by his words, Scorpius’s mouth dropped open but he remained silent. At that, Delphi smiled to herself. Very good.

“Now, you’re going to need to wear these.”

Delphi pulled out two large paper bags, and the boys pulled out the robes inside them.

“But these are Durmstrang robes.” Albus frowned.

“My uncle’s idea.” She nodded. “If you are in Hogwarts robes, people will expect to know who you are. But there are two other schools competing at the Triwizard Tournament, and if you’re in Durmstrang robes — well, you can fade into the background then, can’t you?”

“Oh.” Albus said, then beamed up to Delphi. “Good thinking! But hang on, where are your robes?”

At that, she chuckled and put a hand on her hip, winking at the boy.

“Albus, I’m flattered, but I don’t think I can pretend to be a student, do you?” She bit her lip enticingly, teasing the two fourth year students. “I’ll just keep in the background and pretend to be a dragon tamer, or something. Oh I’ve always wanted to do that. You’re doing all the spell stuff anyway.”

The cheery way which she said that caused Albus to laugh, but Scorpius remained frowning. Finally, after his best friend’s laughter died down, Scorpius looked toward Albus, then Delphi.

“You shouldn’t come.”

Delphi narrowed her eyes. “What?”

“You were right.” Scorpius said calmly, explaining himself. “We don’t need you for the spells. And if you can’t wear student robes, you’re too big a risk. You could get us caught. Sorry, Delphi, but you shouldn’t, no, you can’t come.”

Stunned by the firmness of the normally compliant and docile Malfoy, Delphi began to get desperate.

“B-But I have to.” She turned to a confused Albus. “Albus? Say something.”

Delphi had looked at the other boy with pleading, pouty eyes, a look that she had so often practiced throughout her years. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough this time.

“I think he’s right. I’m sorry. B-But we won’t mess up, promise.”

“But without me,” Delphi felt a rising anger deep within her. “You won’t be able to work the Time-Turner!”

“You taught us how to use the Time-Turner.” Scorpius countered, watching Delphi carefully. “We’re fine.”

At that moment, Delphi finally realized what was going on. It wasn’t just her and Albus playing the game, Scorpius was playing the game with her too. While Delphi had thought that Scorpius was merely her target’s annoying best friend this entire time, he was actually far smarter than she gave him credit for. He knew that Albus would never listen to him if he told him that he couldn’t trust her, so Scorpius was trying to force her to make a mistake in front of Albus instead, to give him a reason not to trust her.

It was a brilliant strategy, Delphi had to admit, and she knew that she now had to play her cards perfectly right.

“You told your uncle to trust us.” Albus said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Now it’s your turn.”

Looking up at them both, Delphi sighed, took a deep breath, then nodded to herself and smiled.

“Then go. But, just know this… Today you get an opportunity few are given. Today you get to change history — to change time itself. But more than that, today you get the chance to give an old man his son back, and I couldn’t think about a more noble thing for a young boy like you to do.”

Smiling, Delphi took Albus’s face into her hands and kissed him on the forehead gently, almost motherly. Once again, her actions had the intended effect on Albus, as by the time she pulled away, his face had gone red.

“Goodbye, boys, and good luck.”

Stalking away into the night, Delphi huffed angrily as the two boys began to whisper behind her.

“Are you okay Albus? You look a little pale. And red. Pale and red at the same time.”

“Shut up Scorpius, she might still be able to hear us. Let’s just do this.”

That’s right, shut up Scorpius. Delphi thought spitefully to herself.