Prophesied

Chapter 18

Lamia

My daughter was born just after midnight. June 19th, 1997.... Wow, so much changes in so little time. She's beautiful. She's got the blackest hair I've seen in a long time--almost the same shade as my father's. And her eyes...her eyes are...indescribable. They seemed to have mixed the color of our eyes and came out with this...aquamarine color. It was just...they had the depth of Harry's eyes and the mystery Jeff has found in mine. I just...I can't believe it.

Harry arrived, just in time and still in his tux. Draco was with him, which was a good sign. He was in awe when he saw her. Jeff may be her dad, but Harry was her father. She had his blood running through her veins, and he knew it, even more so know that he could hold her, touch her, see her...kiss her. Love at first sight....

It was hard, him being there like this. I was almost jealous of my own daughter for the reaction she brought about in him. Even Draco held her, something I never thought I'd see. That child was a bitter reminder to him of the betrayal of Harry's heart. The same was true for Jeff, though he had less trouble with it, after all, he had my soul, and my heart--well, most of it.

***

I held my daughter for the first time the night she was born. Lita handed her to me first; Jeff hadn't even held her yet. I couldn't help the awe and the...shock I felt at seeing her. Here she was, in the flesh, the child I had chosen to ignore the entire time she was inside of her mother. The child I had denied was mine, even after I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt was.

I handed her back after a while of staring in shock. Lita held her again for a few before passing her onto her dad, Jeff Barnett. The girl would carry his name, just as Lita now did. Lita Barnett. And to think, if things had worked out...she could be a Potter right now, and Jeff could be back in America.

Such bitter thoughts...I sound like a Slytherin. A certain blonde Slytherin to be exact.

When I held her next, Draco hovered over my shoulder like a child trying to see the new baby brother or sister. I smiled when I offered her to him, and I smiled even more when he took her and smiled down at her.

His attitude had changed dramatically when Ginny came bursting in. he went from that homicidal rage to shock and near despair. Now was the moment of truth--would he be tossed aside like some rag doll, or would I keep him around long enough to marry him? I wasn't sure if I had been wrong exactly, doing what I did, even if I hurt him again. Something I had promised never to do again....

I wanted to apologize to him again...and let him know that it was Lita who'd sent me back into the manor, back to him. This girl had the greatest mother anyone could ask for. And she had three fathers. How amusing.

When I asked Lita about her name, she informed me that in the elvish tradition, the mother picked the name of the first child, the father choose the second, and they agreed on any and all afterward. When I asked her again, she simply replied: Lamia.

Draco's brow furrowed at the name. "You want to name her after a vampire?" he asked.

"The vampire in question was stunning, right?" she asked.

Draco nodded slowly. "According to the stories, yes."

"With a mother like this, why doesn't the name fit?" Jeff asked. Lita smiled slightly and blushed. He was right, she was stunning, even if she was slightly paler than normal and her hair was a bit damp. Hell the woman just gave birth, she was gorgeous!

"The girl devoured men and children," Draco continued, still confused at the name choice. "And yet here this one is, a child surrounded by men."

"And one legend says she was a queen whose children were slaughtered by the goddess Hera. Doesn't my daughter deserve the name of a queen?" she asked in a way that told all of us that if we dared argue, she'd be the one ordering the beheading.

"Lamia," I said softly, looking at my daughter in wonder yet again. "I like it."

My daughter then opened up her eyes and I saw their color and was yet again amazed at how someone or something could combine the colors of our eyes and turn it into something equally dazzling as Lita's.

***

(This section is from Jeff's POV)

She handed her to him first, to Harry, to the man who caused this wonderful thing to be born... the man who took my place in Lita's heart for so long. When I did finally get to hold my daughter, she looked up at me with eyes I had hoped would match that mysterious shade of blue that her mother had, but no.

He had tainted them with his color.

Her eyes embodied both of them. All of her did. Every bit of this wonderful child was Harry and Lita. Every single cell, ever fiber of her being, every thing that made her physical. But would her mind, her heart...her soul...would that include me? Would I be a part of my daughter's heart and soul?

He held her so often and for so long, I wondered if he would change his mind and want to be her dad, not just her father. He wouldn't do that to me, would he? What if Lita and I, for some reason...what if we never had a child together? Would Harry take what could possibly be my only chance at a child away from me after this?

And what did Draco think about it all?

Somehow, though I don't understand it, I could feel what he was feeling. I could feel the anger, the desperation, the sadness, and the near...hatred for Lita because she had stolen Harry's heart for a time. And somewhere, beneath it all I felt something I could only describe as need.

Need for the acceptance a child who did not know him could give him. I felt the need for Harry's love, and for this girl's love. The need for...I don't really know, there was just so much of it.

***

(This part is Draco's POV)

I couldn't look at them, any of them, at first. Not Lita, who still half sat, half lay in the bed. Not the child, who was being passed between them. Not Harry. Not Harry who found something in that child that I knew he thought was worth keeping around. Not Harry who was constantly staring in awe at that little girl. Not Harry who held the truth of the betrayal in his arms.

I wanted to hate the three of them. I wanted to cry from the pain that kid brought to me. I was furious with Lita for allowing Harry to do what he did, and I was furious with Harry for all of the things he did to me. I was desperate for them to notice and reassure me that I would not be tossed aside like some stupid doll that had fallen victim to a child's boredom, and yet...I knew I would die if they found out.

I held that child too, after a long time of trying to convince myself that I was hallucinating. That the wedding that had shattered me had not yet taken place and that I would be waking from this nightmare very soon.

But when I held her...suddenly...everything was okay again. The past didn't hurt to think about, the world wasn't against me, and Harry's betrayal didn't hurt anymore. There was something akin to an ache in my heart, but there was no definable pain. I almost felt...whole again, after so long of being shattered.

Even the demon left behind after the Killing Curse had left me.

I was free.

And then that name! Lamia. How could Lita choose such a thing to name a child as pure as this? How could a mother name her child after the very thing that proposed the most opposition? Lamia the legend was a killer, a bloodsucking female who sought after men and children. Lamia the child was pure, new to the world, new to life, having yet to even be taught the cruel tortures life would promise to bring her.

Lamia the child was my savior. More so than Lita had been. After all, Lita had saved me physically, but this child, this baby had saved my soul.

***

I felt something change in Draco the moment my daughter entered his arms. I had been doubtful that he would ever hold her, but he did, and it made me smile some. Harry had handed her to him, he held her for only a little while, looking at her with awe and wonder, before he handed her to me.

There was something different about his emotions. Where there had always been an underlying pain with him, it seemed...absent. It was as if his wounds were heal--

"I can't do anything more that heal the emotional wounds of another! Something any fucking baby can do!"

My words came back to haunt me. I had just seen the proof that miracles were possible. I had just been privy to the proof that babies truly were powerful creatures. I knew children could heal the hearts of others, but I had no idea a newly born infant could do so after being in the world only hours.

It made me wonder as to why she had chosen Draco, of all people, to heal as her first. The first person I had healed had been my mother after my brother's death, my father having refused to do so saying that some pain just needed to be felt. Maybe Draco had felt enough pain in his life and it was time to feel the joy. Maybe it was because he deserved it after so long of feeling rejected, abused, betrayed, and, most of all, dead.