Prologue, Part 2

October 31st, One Year Later

Charis awoke with a start. The pendant she was wearing had just alerted her that Lily and James where dead.

"GUARDS!" the Naga yelled as she shot off of the cushions she called a bed. She promptly changed into her human form and broke into her clothing stores.

To say the two guard where surprised to see their Naga in her human form, let alone putting on clothes, was an understatement, but the two armored lamia quickly hid their shock.

"Fetch Oliza and Irene!" Charis ordered. "Tell them we're going to England, and get us transportation an hour ago!"

The two guard knew their Naga did not yell unless the situation was urgent. Without replying, they rushed to their assigned task.

Charis eyes fell on a picture of Adelina, playing with a black dog, that had been sent to her by Lily. The little girls black hair possessing two dark pink stripes along the top of her head. The Naga closed her eyes and whispered a prayer, "Goddesses, please, protect my baby."

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Five women appeared in an alleyway in Godrics Hollow. All were lamia in their human forms, and clothed. Charis, Oliza, and Irene had been accompanied by two royal guards, one of which pocketed a steel chain. As soon as their feet touched ground, the women where off running. They arrived in time to see a large man fly off on a motorbike, and a black dog disappear around the corner.

Charis growled, her hair turning, briefly, into a multitude of white snakes before she calmed down and her hair returned to normal. "The charm cooled," she said, in reference to her necklace. "She's not here anymore. She walked in several directions for a moment before saying, I think that large man took her, the charm indicates that she's in the direction he left. Oliza, see what you can salvage from the house. Irene, Miral, and Diana will accompany me to find Adelina."

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By the time Charis and the others found Adelina, it was the next night and Oliza had re-joined them.

All five lamia had snakes for hair when they found her.

The young girl had been left on a doorstep, in the middle of a November night, where she could easily walk off, someone else could take her, or a dog or other animal could attack her.

Charis only calmed when she picked the sleeping girl up. She smiled at her daughter. "Charis closed her eyes as she breathed a sigh of relief. She never noticed the letter that had fallen from the blanket.

But Irene did.

"Naga," the woman gestured towards the ground where the letter had fallen. "It may tell us who left here."

Charis narrowed her eyes at the offending paper. "Bring it with us," she said, and Stheno's battle master picked up the letter and put it into the bag Oliza had taken from Godric's Hollow.

"Lets go home," Charis said as she held Adelina closer to her. "We can sort everything else out in the morning."

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Adelina lay, in her natural form and naked as was custom amongst lamia, curled up in a nearby crib (the Naga was reluctant to let her child out of her sight after the previous days events) as Charis, her secretary, and her battle master conferred about the events that had occupied them last night and the day before.

"It turns out that the house Adelina was left at is the home of Lily's sister," Oliza informed the Naga. She handed over the letter they had taken with them. "Albus Dumbledore left her there."

Charis frowned at that bit of information. Albus Dumbledore was head of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the school she had promised Lily she would send Adelina to once she was old enough. That her daughter's future headmaster was willing to leave her on a doorstep troubled the Naga.

The lamia Naga opened the letter and began to read.

Charis snorted as she finished the letter. "A long winded explanation about how Lily died, Adelina's defeat of Voldemort, and protection. Utter nonsense. The fool even mentions blood wards." She threw the letter away in disgust. "I remember Lily telling me about her sister. I believe her exact word were 'a spiteful, jealous shrew.' That Dumbledore would leave Adelina with that woman..." The Naga shook her head.

She looked over at her sleeping daughter, the pink of her tail had darkened since her birth. Charis frowned as she saw the still fresh cut upon Adelina's brow. It had been examined by Mariana, the royal physician, upon arrival to the island. Mariana had explained that the wound was a horcrux. Later tonight, Adelina would undergo a ritual to remove and destroy the bit of soul that wasn't her own. Then, hopefully, the injury could be healed.

She slithered over to her daughter and gently ran her fingers through the sleeping girls hair as she thought. She turned back to her two most trusted advisers. "Voldemort is still out there," she said softly, so as not to wake her daughter. "He was going to use Adelina's death to make a horcrux, and we know that as the years went on, his appearance became more inhuman. One of the few ways to do that..."

"Is to make several horcrux's," Oliza finished for her.

"Goddesses! Who in their right mind would perverse their very soul so much?" Irene asked rhetorically.

Charis looked back down at her daughter. "When he regains a body, he'll come after her. She's a sign of his defeat, and the one he believes is the only one capable of killing him."

"He will never lay a hand on our princess!" Irene declared boldly.

Oliza smiled at her her mate before speaking. "Every lamia in the world would descend on him and his followers, even if he did," she pointed out.

"Just so, send out the following proclamation. I want every lamia alive to know that from this day forward Voldemort, and any who follow him, are enemies of the lamia nation. No one outside of our own are to know, lest officials in other governments are aiding them. ANY lamia found to be aiding Voldemort will be guilty of treason against our people."

"It will be done at once your highness," Oliza said.

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Back in England

Danica frowned as she read the letter from her Stheno.

One of the few lamia to fall in love with a man, Danica had left Stheno to join her human husband in England. It was one of the secrets she kept from her husband, he didn't know what she was...what their daughter was. It wasn't that she wanted to keep her nature as a lamia secret, but she feared what would happen if her husband found. She feared he would leave her, and their daughter, if he were to find out what they were.

So Danica had placed one of the necklaces made to keep a lamia child in human form around her daughters neck, moments after her birth.

But the knowledge that Voldemort was now an enemy of Stheno relieved her somewhat. Living in England during his reign troubled her, and the knowledge that Steno would fight him and his followers allowed her to breath a little easier for the first time in years.

Now she only had to figure out how to break her secret to her husband, and a great many burdens would be lifted from her.

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A/N- First I'd like to explain why PINK, I like the colors Pink and Black, not Pink alone or Pink and white, it's to bright then. Anyway, Adelina has two mothers, Lily and Charis, their traits blended together, red and white to make pink. I thought about purple, but I like Pink more. And her hair is the reverse of her body. Where the serpent part of her is pink, with black stripes, her hair is black with pink stripes.

Also, Danica's daughter will be a part of this story. Let's see if anyone can figure out who Danica's daughter is. I will drop occasional clues until it's revealed.

As for the name Adelina, I like the name. And I took it, and a lot of names, from Amelia Atwater-Rhodes novels The Kiesha'ra. I also took the title of Naga from her.

Next chapter, we jump into the future to the summer before Adelina attends Hogwarts.