Disclaimer: I do not own the original canon nor am I making any profit from writing this piece. All works are accredited to their original authors, performers, and producers while this piece is mine. No copyright infringement is intended. I acknowledge that all views and opinions expressed herein are merely my interpretations of the characters and situations found within the original canon and may not reflect the views and opinions of the original author(s), producer(s), and/or other people.
Warnings: This story may contain material that is not suitable for all audiences and may offend some readers. Please exercise understanding of personal boundaries before and during reading.
Author's Note (Generic Note for the Houses Competition): All my works should be considered to be Not Epilogue Compliant and I treat everything that is not the HP books and the Hogwarts Library Collection as apocrypha (supplementary to canon but still outside of it) and treat it as such (including ignoring it unless it suits me). I also make a policy of not ignoring abusive and distasteful actions/decisions of characters and not handwaving the effects of trauma experienced by characters. If you feel that a character isn't acting like their "canon self" chances are good that it's because of one of these two things and they are merely displaying a more realistic response than they did in canon.
Author's Note(s): So when I reached the end of this, I sort of realized that the ship meant that the two candidates for Dumbledore's precious prophecy would not be born. Oops.
Challenge/Competition Block:
Stacked with: Houses Competition (Term 03); Lessons Learned; Not Commonwealth; Seriously Important (Not); Sky's the Limit; Terms of Service; By Any Other Name; Fem Power Challenge; Sapphic September
House: Hufflepuff
Year: 6th
Category: Standard (750 – 1500 words)
Theme: Must feature a character from own House (Hufflepuff)
Prompt: Gold (color)
Representation: Hogwarts; Alice Diore; Lesbians (Alice Diore/Lily Evans);
Bonus Challenge(s): Second Verse (Not a Lamp); Second Verse (Clio's Conclusion); Second Verse (Ladylike - Aggressive); Second Verse (Tomorrow's Shade); Second Verse (Unwanted Advice); Second Verse (Unicorn - Bisexuality)
Secondary Bonus Challenge(s): Schooner (Alice/Lily)
Word Count: 968
-= LP =-
Gilded Lily
-= LP =-
He stood there under the willow
And he gave her the yellow bloom
"Girl, my heart you've captured
Oh, I would be your groom"
She said she'd wed him never
Not near, nor far, nor soon
– Erutan, "The Willow Maid"
-= LP =-
The first time Alice Diore saw the girl was during the Sorting Ceremony. She shone like a brand among the sea of darkness around her. In the light of thousands of floating candles, the girl's red hair glittered like golden flames before falling into a shadowed pool like blood. Alice was not surprised when the girl was sorted into Gryffindor shortly after Alice herself was sent to Hufflepuff.
Gryffindors tended to attract the people who burned hard and bright and big before snuffing out early. The world needed those precious flames, true enough, but Alice felt her heart breaking just a little at the realization that the girl—so brilliant and alive—was one of them.
She sat among her chattering housemates and cursed the Sight passed through her family line.
She was eleven, if only for a few more days, and for the first time, Alice understood why her grandmother had called the ability a cruel gift.
It would be wise to stay as far from the girl as possible, to let the natural course of events happen. Hogwarts was set up to make sure the Houses stayed separate for the most part. It would have been easy and no one, save the Mother, would have known the difference.
Except Diores came by their name for a reason: they never could resist the lure of glittering gold.
Like a moth to a flame, Alice simply could not resist the urge to be close to the firebrand witch.
The burn was going to hurt, she knew.
It was going to more precious than all the gold in Gringotts.
Alice accepted the potential of that pain, already loyal to a girl whose name she had not caught.
-= LP =-
Being at Hogwarts was unexpectedly hard. Even with training all her life, there was still time when the dense magic of Hogwarts overwhelmed Alice's senses, especially as the years went by and the academic demands increased. Another factor was how many of her classmates carried various omens of death and destruction in their auras. So many were doomed to either destroy or be destroyed that it was impossible to tell which were which.
It made her heart-sick to see the imprint of war upon even the most innocent of first years.
Like a glowing ember in a brazier, Lily Evans was a warm spot amidst the cold of that darkness. Lily was made of fire, as peaceful and pure as the flower whose name she carried and just as fierce as her family name would suggest. Within the first week of school, the Muggle-born had practically been declared Public Enemy Number One by the various pure-blood factions. As strong and pale as a mighty oak, Lily refused to be cowed by those who would force her to bend to their idea of what she should be.
Alice was not the only one hypnotized by the witch's tendency to charge into battle for those less able or less willing to defend themselves against bullying or harassment. She was fire incarnate, burning with an inner flame of polished gold. She was beautiful beyond belief, the very visage of the Mother Herself.
Who would not be drawn to such brilliance?
Lily had no lack of boys trying to keep her attention on him. Yet more often than not, Alice found the girl hiding behind cloaking wards, and only because Hogwarts itself had arranged it, often with a delicate caress of magic that suggested the ancient building was trying to apologize for being overwhelming. Unlike the vitriol that Lily tended to greet all but the vulgar Slytherin who apparently came from her hometown, Lily would always welcome Alice with a smile. It satisfied something dark inside Alice to know that it was her who the redhead permitted to snuggle close in window seats and library couches despite the wild promises and public declarations of undying affection from the likes of Potter.
Others wanted to claim the firebrand, to tame it to their will.
None of them understood that fire could not be tamed. A banked fire is only resting; it is not controlled just because it is waiting. They were not prepared to be burned.
But Alice was a Diore, and there was never a Diore who could resist the lure of things that glittered.
It was not pain or pride that she felt as Lily allowed her to slide the simple gold band of a betrothal ring onto her finger.
It was joy, as pure and fierce as Lily herself.
Their love blinded Alice with its brilliance.
She did not see dark jealousy festering in the heart of the boy who had believed his only rival was another boy.
Alice forgot that she had once seen death in Lily's fate.
-= LP =-
The flames raged around them. Alice could hear Bellatrix Lestrange's laughter soaring above the crackle of the forest, but it didn't matter, not when Severus Snape was right in front of her. The hatred and rage in his eyes were nothing compared to the agony in her heart. She curled her torso over the body of her fallen love, unwilling to let her killer have the satisfaction of even a glimpse until she could no longer prevent it, loyal despite Lily's death.
Severus raised his wand, the tip already glowing a poisonous green.
Alice didn't fight the fate that was choosing to be kind for once. She dropped her gaze to her firebrand's face, letting her trembling fingers trace the golden skin one last time.
Diores never could resist the glitter of gold.
-= LP =-
The End
-= LP =-