Daemon yawned into his hand; Savannah was getting some of her teeth in, so she had been extra grumpy lately. She refused to fall asleep the night before, and since Nellie had to study for a History of Magic exam, he had her the whole night. He hated being away from Nellie, but they had to think about their studies and their daughter before they thought about their desire to sleep next to each other. Their daughter. He would always consider Nellie as Savannah’s true mother. Even if he knew it was hard for people like Zorah to understand. Nellie was the one who held Savannah in the middle of the night. She was the one who kissed her scrapes all better and played with her. She fed her, protected her, and washed her. Nellie did everything that a mother would do, and what made Daemon smile even more was that she did all of that before they even started dating. She had just fallen into the role of mother so perfectly, Daemon couldn’t have asked for a better partner in all of this than her. With all of their faults as individuals, they made a perfect team when it came to Savannah. He shook his head a little bit to get the exhaustion out and opened the portrait to the Slytherin common room. Thankfully, Zorah had a free period and was able to keep an eye on the rapidly crawling little girl.

He set his bag down on the floor and smiled at the two of them.
“When she starts walking, I’m going to go grey.” He grinned when his daughter got excited to see him and tried to wobble her way away from Zorah and to his arms, but fell on her behind with a giggle. She clapped her hands and held her arms up for Daemon who happily scooped her up and held her close,
“Was she a bother?” He hated being away from her, and knew that she was a gem of a little girl, but with the teething, she had been more of a diamond in the rough. Daemon scooped her up into his arms and pressed a kiss to the top of her head and gave her a gentle squeeze. Savannah was the most important person in his life, and he would do everything to make sure that she was the happiest little girl alive.

Daemon knew that things would be a lot harder if he didn’t have Zorah to depend on. He loved that Savannah had his aunt in her life to teach her about where she came from. To tell her stories about Katya, to teach her Bulgarian, everything that Daemon wanted for his daughter. He sat down on the couch with Savannah on his lap and grinned at Zorah,
“How was your day, other than Auntie and Niece time?”

Daemon knew that no matter what happened, no matter how many sleepless night he had, it was all worth it when Savannah smiled at him. When she looked up at him with her big blue eyes, he knew that there was nothing better in the world than her happiness. He laughed when Zorah let him know that Savannah was chasing around the cats,
“She probably misses her dogs.” Daemon had spoiled his little family with dogs, Savannah’s own nanny dog was a lazy bulldog named Alice. Alice would sleep at the foot of Savannah’s crib, guarding over her at all times. When she started to learn how to crawl, the dogs would walk carefully next to her all of them making sure that she didn’t crash into anything.
“I can only imagine how bad it’ll be when she starts pulling on their tails.”

He carefully opened her mouth in order to take a look at the budding teeth that were giving his daughter so much agony.
“Those frozen teething rings are a miracle, thank you again for them.” He stocked up on a dozen of them, making sure that they were all available for when she would need something to help with her gums. Daemon was still shocked that she was growing up so quickly. It seemed like just the other day that Katya refused to hold her. That the healers placed Savannah into Daemon’s arms so she would have someone to bond with. He held his screaming daughter, he comforted her, and he did everything that a father should do. Now that she was growing up, he knew that it was only a matter of time before she would be an adult.

“Lesson was fine; Nellie has a group project for Charms, so she won’t be back for a few hours.” Considering Nellie had joined his life as a friend who needed somewhere to live, he never expected her to take on so much with his daughter. She just jumped head first into being a mother for Savannah; he could never thank her enough. They helped each other through everything, they kept each other’s secrets, and they did everything for each other and for Savannah.

“How was your day? Other than chasing this one around.” He knew that Zorah spoke in Bulgarian to Savannah, and he wanted to learn the language so his daughter would have that connection to her birth mother and that side of the family. Out of all of the Krums, it was clear that only Zorah wanted to be in Savannah’s life. Stefan thought that he would be able to take her away from him, which would never happen. Viktor even thanked him for taking Savannah and allowing Katya to have a life. He just couldn’t deal with the Krums outside of Zorah, it was too painful. He needed stability for Savannah and that was him, Nellie and Auntie Zorah.

Daemon’s original plan had been to leave the school and raise his daughter. All his life he had to deal with knowing that his own father preferred the dark arts to him and his sister, he never wanted his daughter to feel the same way. It was Isabella who finally smacked some sense into him, reminding him that to be a better father for her, he had to show her that anything was possible. Even being a single parent, finishing his education and giving her everything she could ever need. He had thought of getting that small place in Hogsmeade to raise Savannah in, but when he thought about all of the walking back and forth, having her out in the snow too often, and the potential for accidents between the two points, he figured that there was supposed to be no safer place than Hogwarts. Daemon had plenty of friends who were all willing to help with the little girl, even the Headmaster’s wife would come and check up on him to answer any questions that he had about his baby girl.

He sat down with his daughter, smiling at how she seemed to understand that her auntie Zorah was calling her a princess. For a while in his time at Hogwarts, Daemon was ruling the whole school, doing what he wanted, doing who he wanted, there was a running joke that he and his friends were the kings of Slytherin. It seemed appropriate that his daughter was the princess.
“She’s a princess and she knows it.” He laughing, kissing the top of her black hair with all of the love that a father could feel for his daughter. She made his days better, she gave him reason to try harder every day. Without her, he was sure that he would be on a drunken sex binge right now.

Daemon laughed and rubbed his hand over the scruff on his face,
“Yeah I know.” He yawned a little bit and laughed when Savannah started to rub the slight beard on his face. Instantly, seeing the smile on her face he felt renewed. Like he could take on the whole world and never need a wink of sleep to do it. Daemon smiled at his daughter and then looked at Zorah,
“Would you want to go grab some lunch in the great hall with us and then we can all go down to the lake or something?” He loved spending time with Zorah, because she reminded him of all of the best parts of Katya. He wanted that positive influence around his daughter while she was growing up. She had Nellie, who was her mother in everything but blood, but it meant something to be able to have their daughter know her aunt. To tell her stories of Katya that Daemon didn’t know. If it ever became a problem for Zorah, reliving so much about her late sister, Daemon would attempt to respect it.
“How does that sound, Savannah?”

Daemon smiled down at his daughter, every day that he held her he couldn't believe that one drunken night led to something as perfect as her. That his life could have made such a dramatic turn, but for the absolute best. He held Savannah in one arm, wrapped his other around Nellie and watched them both sleep and knew that there was no one alive as fortunate or as blessed as he was. All of the mistakes in his life, all of the broken hearts from women, or broke jaws from fights just didn't seem to matter anymore. His girlfriend was getting healthy and over her addictions, his daughter was growing more every day with a beautiful smile on her face.

He looked at Savannah when Zorah went off to get his surprise,
"What did you and Aunt Zorah make for me?" He refused to speak to her in the baby voice, finding that it usually gave him a headache and he knew that Savannah could understand all that he was saying.

When Zorah came out with the collage, he swore that he felt his heart skip around. It was so beautiful. All of the pictures of his daughter, his lover and their family together. Two of the most dysfunctional people at Hogwarts who managed to come together for more than just a night. They were able to become parents for a beautiful little girl and all of those moments were captured in photographs. When Daemon kissed Nellie under the mistletoe, when Nellie and Savannah fell asleep together on the couch, when Daemon kissed Savannah's scraped knee all better, they were all pinned to a board. All of the proof that he was always going to be there for his family laid out in proof.

Zorah mentioned something about Savannah tossing glitter on some kid's cat but he was too transfixed on the pictures. When Nellie accidentally over dosed, the hospital questioned what kind of an environment Savannah was being raised in. They asked him if he was sure that Nellie was the best person to be her step mother and that they might have to investigate if Daemon was providing a stable home for her. Luckily enough, Isabella showed up and took his attention away from the bitch Ministry Member.

"Zorah, this is beautiful. Thank you." He set it aside and placed Savannah carefully on the couch so she was nestled in the corner, safe from any rolling for the moment. He stood up carefully and hugged Zorah tightly for the gift,
"This means so much to me, I love it."