Children of Hecate

The No Snape AU outlined in 'Dreams of Hades.' For those of you who haven't read that:

This AU takes place in a world like Mary Potter, but where Eileen Prince left Tobias Snape and threw herself on the mercy of her family before moving to the continent and taking young Severus with her. Lily, James, and Sirius had a triad relationship for a while, and due to an unfortunate lapse of control on Beltane 1979, Lily ended up pregnant by both of them. Fraternal twins Victoria Anne (Potter-Black) Evans and James Henry (Black-Potter) Evans were born in early February of 1980. The prophecy Dumbledore received from Trelawney was not, in fact, anything to do with a boy born in July, but instead spoke of a 'great hero of wizards' who would be 'forced to yield in order to triumph.' It was not overheard by anyone. Dumbledore fulfilled it himself by appealing to the ICW to resolve the problems in Magical Britain when the Order finally sustained too many losses to keep going in the spring of 1982.

The Peacekeepers descended upon the beleaguered nation with an efficiency which had not been seen on either side since 1978. They captured well over half of the Death Eaters and the Dark Lord himself. The ringleaders were deported to Nurmengard, to live out their lives like muggles. Many of the Second Circle were sent to Azkaban. Narcissa still managed to save her husband and a few of his closest associates with her well-planned Imperius Defense, though not so many as in 'canon' (ie, the background I wrote for Mary Potter).

Also unlike in canon, the Light was not exempt from the ICW War Crimes Tribunals. Dumbledore was ordered to step down from his position in the ICW for the actions he encouraged in the war, but he retained enough power to shield those whom he chose to protect. Lily was one of them. She had committed the most obvious and egregious crimes on the Light side of the battlefield. The others might have used the Killing Curse in the heat of the moment, and several of their healers had turned to ritual when their charms were not sufficient, but Lily had invoked a goddess and raised the dead on the battlefield. There were those who thought her too dangerous to live, with that kind of power to hand, and those who thought her blatant disregard for the Statute deserved punishment regardless of her reasons.

She threw herself on Dumbledore's mercy, much as Severus did in canon, and they negotiated a deal: her loyal service to him, personally, in exchange for his protection. So Dumbledore had stood as guarantor of her actions, and taken her off to Hogwarts. Her children were raised by Potter and Black, while Lily became the general factorum of the Castle in Severus' place. She officially teaches an elective in Healing, though her curriculum overlaps heavily with Potions and Charms, and the second term of every year is devoted to 'Preventative Measures' which is, more or less, Defense (though that position still takes its yearly sacrifice). Over the course of two years, she worked her way into Dumbledore's good graces and convinced him to revive the position of the Disciplinary Agent, which had been vacant since John McKinnon's retirement.

By 1986 she had more or less taken over the leadership of Slytherin House under the pretense of keeping the peace within the school. In 1989, this state of affairs was declared official, as Horace Slughorn finally retired and the replacement Potions professor was a former Hufflepuff. Lily was unanimously elected as the most Slytherin member of the staff, including the newly-hired Aurora Sinistra, who was actually an alumna of that House.

In 1991, Lily's children come to Hogwarts, and shenanigans ensue as they deal with firstie drama, coming to terms with their absentee mother's new presence in their lives, and the fact that there is, for some unspecified reason, an obstacle course in the dungeons which may or may not contain the fabled Philosopher's Stone. (As it turns out, the stone was never meant to be hidden from Voldemort in 'canon,' but from a near-legendary thief called the Shadow, whom Flamel had heard was targeting it.)

Currently written through the Sorting. Five chapters; about 19,500 words.