Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Thanks to erbkaiser, my fellow Magpie, for looking this over for me.
Written for Round 11 of the Quidditch League FanFiction Competition. Go Magpies!
The wind whisked violently through the trees, howling loudly. Dark, menacing clouds hung low in the sky letting go of an occasional lightning strike. A woman stood silently near a window, watching the approaching storm. Her thoughts were full of worry of what looked like it would be a violent storm, and she hoped her babe would not choose tonight to make an appearance. Considering she had been feeling twinges in her back all day, she was not hopeful.
With a great sigh, she turned from the window. As she was making her way to her bedroom for a bit of a lie in, her front door flew open, hitting the wall with a huge bang. Screaming, she turned and whipped out her wand, pointing it towards the door. There was no one there. She couldn't deny that she was nervous as she made her way to shut the door. Sure, it could have been the wind, but there was something strange about this night, this storm. The magic was so thick in the air it was almost as if she would choke on it. It was then that she noticed a shadow in the corner. Once again going for her wand, she trained it on the shadow.
"Reveal yourself!"
"Calm yourself, woman, it's just me."
"Athelard, what are you doing here?"
She drank in the sight of him, her heartbeat quickening slightly as it tended to do in his presence. His gorgeous raven tresses usually flowed down his back, but he had it tied back with a leather thong today. His clear blue eyes were framed by thick dark lashes and they just lit up when he laughed. He was the most striking man she had ever seen and he was all hers. And yet...yet sometimes there was...something. Something she couldn't quite explain about him, but her love for him overrode any reservations she might have.
"Do I need a reason to visit now, my lovely?"
"No, of course not. How did you get in here without me seeing you?"
He gave her a strange look.
"I'm a wizard, Eluiua," he said slowly, as if he thought she was stupid. She looked at him oddly.
"Are you?" she asked softly.
"What was that, my dear?"
"No matter. I'm glad you are here. There's something odd about this night. I can feel the magic everywhere, I'm worried something is going to happen."
No sooner where those words out of her mouth when she felt a wetness between her legs. Her face instantly went pale. It seemed her babe was impatient to be born. As a wave of pain hit her, she somehow knew that she had little time. Her midwife was a muggle and would never make it in time. Her hands flew to her abdomen as yet another wave of pain rippled through her body. She would have fallen if not for a pair of muscular arms catching her and picking her up. Athelard took her straight back to her bedroom and placed her gently on her bed.
Her screams could just about be heard over the wailing of the wind. As her pains came closer and closer together, the wind became more and more aggressive. If one listened very closely, they could almost make out whispers mixing with the wind. Something was coming.
Sometime later, with only Athelard there to help her, she pushed her son into the world. She took a deep breath as she felt her son slip from her body, grateful that her labour was finally over. While Athelard cleaned the babe she used her wand to heal herself, grateful that Hogwarts taught classes on healing to the girls that attended. While she was still tired, she instantly felt a lot better. She smiled as her babe was placed in her arms.
"Do you have any preferences for names, my love?"
The smirk that appeared on his face gave her pause and caused a shiver to travel across her spine.
"I certainly do, my dear. Eligos."
She looked at him, stunned.
"El...Eligos? But that's a name of a demon!"
"Quite right, darling."
"But...why?"
He grinned at her, an evil grin that set her instincts aflame. With a snap of his fingers, a flood of information suddenly entered into her mind. Her mind was instantly flooded with memories, memories that Athelard must have removed from her. She felt violated and disgusted as she recalled the first night he visited. He visited her at night, in her dreams, taking something from her that she never would have given him had she known the truth.
"You can't be a demon; they don't operate this way. Oh god, this has to be a mistake, you're a man!"
"God? Man? My dear, is man merely a mistake of God's? Or God merely a mistake of man? You call for this God, but he's not here. He's your mistake."
She couldn't believe this was happening to her. How could she be so stupid? She was a pure-blood, she should have known. She kept repeating the word 'no' over and over again, tearing falling steadily from her eyes.
"Oh yes, my dear. I must say, I quite enjoyed you. Muggle women can't withstand me for long, but your magic protected you, healing you, so I could keep coming back. After I kill you, I'm going to have to find myself another witch."
Her head snapped up when he so casually mentioned killing her. Cradling her son even closer to her bosom, she flicked her wrist and her wand landed in her waiting hand. If he thought she was just going to stand there and let him kill her without a fight, he was sadly misguided.
"There will be no deaths here tonight, Athelard. Except for maybe yours."
His booming laughter seemed to shake the house.
"That's what I loved about you, your sense of humor. Now, if you hand me my son and step aside, I'll let you live."
"You will leave this house and leave my son," she said as she pointed her wand at him.
"And just what do you think you are going to do with that? I'm a demon, woman. No mere mortal can hurt me."
"Ah, maybe that's true, but you said yourself, I am no mere mortal. Daemon Auferō!"
His face barely had time to show his shock before he was destroyed, gone forever. Eluiua lowered her slightly shaking arm and breathed a sigh of relief. She hugged her son tighter, amazed that he was able to sleep through the whole confrontation. Looking down at him, she already knew he was going to be a force to be reckoned with and could feel the power radiating off him. She just knew that May 7, 1380 was going to be a good day for the Wizarding World. There hadn't been a Cambion born into their world since Merlin. Even though he was just newly born, she knew he was probably the most powerful wizard in the country, maybe even the world. Because if there was one thing Eluiua Slytherin knew well, it was power.
Chaser 1 prompt: Write about a day someone was born.
Team prompt: Year 1380
Other prompts:
(1) flood
(4) "Is man merely a mistake of God's? Or God merely a mistake of man?" – Friedrick Nietzsche
(9) information
AN: Daemon Fictos is Latin for Demon in Disguise. I played a bit loose with the myth of an incubus here, but who is to say it wouldn't work differently with a witch? :) Also, I think it's fitting that one Mr. Tom Riddle has some demon blood...in my world anyway. Hope you enjoyed!
