Chapter 4

Disclaimer: JKR owns all.

"I can't believe it. They're really going to make her testify against her own mother?" Pru asked, stunned.

Ben and Pru were having a quiet dinner of sandwiches and soup in the kitchen. Usually, Pru would have produced a full meal and served it in the formal dining room. Given recent events, however, she hadn't felt up to it. While her husband was busy handling Lilith's trial, she had taken on the preparations to sell her mother-in-law's house and nursing the house-elf Tully back to health. Though Tully had not been attacked, she was having a difficult time with the loss of her family. Pru thought the attack and all that followed had been too much for the elf, who had been with the family since Ben was small.

"They are," Ben said grimly. "I don't like it any more than you but I can't prevent them from calling her to court. They believe she knows something about Lilith's experiments."

"She does; that's the problem. She knows everything Lilith did. She can't lie to the Wizengamot."

"Why can't she? From what I've been able to gather most of the Wizengamot are sympathetic toward her and believe Lilith's initial statement that she didn't experiment on Anya. And Anya has stuck to the story that she never knew anything before the arrest. As long as we all stick to the story, she should be fine during the trial."

"You really believe that?" Pru asked skeptically.

"They have enough to put Lilith away without Anya's statement. They're covering themselves and making sure the public knows they conducted a thorough investigation," he said firmly.

"I hope you're right," Pru sighed, still worried about putting Anya through the trial. "I suppose this may be her only opportunity to talk to Lilith for some time."

"What do you mean?" Ben asked absently, tipping his bowl to get the remnants of his soup onto his spoon.

"I don't see either of us taking her to Azkaban for a visit," she scoffed. Her husband could be so oblivious at times. "And I doubt Mr. Potter will either."

"Do you think we need to worry about him taking Anya away?" He didn't look up from his meal, but his wife could hear the worry in his voice.

Pru took a few minutes before giving her answer. She'd doted on Anya as if she were her own daughter since Lilith unexpectedly returned home after He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's downfall. She couldn't imagine Anya not being in their lives; the thought made her sick.

"He has every right," Pru started, her voicing shaking. "She is his child, after all. But I believe he'll keep his word, and let Anya remain with us. She's almost of age, anyway. A custody battle would be a waste of time."

Placated by her answer, Ben visibly relaxed. He wasn't one for public displays of affection or speaking openly about his feelings, but Pru knew he saw Anya as a surrogate daughter. He was as worried about Anya as she was, even if he insisted on acting as if everything would return to normal. It was a bit ridiculous since everything had changed, but Pru understood it was how he was coping. They'd lost so much, so fast. Pru did need him to get past this last bit of denial as continuing in this way would only complicate things going forward.

Despite organizing Lilith's defense, he refused to talk about her actual crime. It was a disturbing topic. Pru hadn't even opened the box of Lilith's journals that had been discreetly moved from Thornridge to her house the day after the attack. They all had suspected Lilith was involved with the Death Eaters, but could never prove anything. Anya had informed them of the extent of that involvement during her first visit home before the funeral. Evidently she had known the truth for almost a year. Pru couldn't imagine what Anya had felt upon learning the truth; not to mention how she was dealing with being one of Lilith's test subjects. It didn't matter, however, if Anya was a demon hybrid or not. Pru would do whatever she could to keep her niece safe.

"Everything will work itself out," Ben said with half-hearted optimism. "Lilith will go to jail, as she deserves, and we will move on. There'll be some minor backlash from the publicity of course, but that will fade. We're still a family."

"Of course, dear." After a minute she asked, "Did they ever figure out who attacked your mother and Lilith?"

"No," he sighed. "Lilith refuses to say anything about it."

"Do you think it was a Death Eater?"

"I don't know. Why would they attack one of their own? Plenty of Death Eaters escaped Azkaban so it couldn't have been for that — and she never betrayed them. It's been fifteen years, why come after her now?"

Pru shrugged, feeling emotionally drained. "You don't think it's something to do with him, do you?"

Ben balked at the suggestion. "Of course not! That's impossible; he's dead!"

"It's the only explanation that makes sense," Pru argued. "Maybe the follower was delusional, but it has to be connected to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named somehow."

Ben shook his head, but was unable to conceive a decent counterpoint. He knew she was right. The aurors he'd spoken to had rejected the thought completely — all but Potter who seemed convinced that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was only in hiding and not truly gone. It didn't make any sense at all to Ben. If He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named were really out there, he would have made himself known before now.

Ben didn't have the answers. He only wanted to keep what was left of his family safe.

The most infuriating part was that Lilith had suspected someone was coming for her. It was why she'd sent him all her research, after all. She'd known and couldn't have been bothered to write a simple note explaining the situation to them. It was just like his sister to keep them in the dark.

"It'll all be fine," he said with forced conviction. His wife gave him a doubtful smile, looking as tired and worried as he felt. They finished their dinner in silence, each worrying about Anya and their uncertain future.

Lilith Thorn sat in her cell, absently picking at the cracks in the floor. She'd lost track of how long she'd been in Azkaban. It could have been a few days, a week, or a month and she would never know. The cells were dark, and the little light that crept through the small windows was always tinted gray. At one point Lilith had thought the windows must have been spelled, but it was more likely the large number of dementors causing the gloom. Worse than the dark, was the screaming. Her fellow prisoners screamed day and night. If the dementors didn't drive her mad, the screaming would.

However, Lilith reckoned the boredom would do her in first. She was held in a low security cell, meaning her exposure to the dementors was kept to a minimum. The Ministry wanted her to be somewhat sane for her trial, and Lilith suspected her brother had paid off a few people, as well. The dementors still affected her despite her low exposure to them. She spent immeasurable periods of time trapped inside her own head, feeling the worst things imaginable and, no doubt, adding her own screams to the unending chorus of the prison.

Her current state of clarity was due to the knowledge that her trial was tomorrow. Or it was soon. She couldn't be sure exactly when the ministry official had given her that piece of news with her lunch. It couldn't have been more than a few days ago, though, if her scratched-in-the-wall tally was correct. The trial wasn't a happy thought, but the chance to get out of her cell and see her family one last time was.

Despite what the world may think of her, Lilith wasn't completely heartless. She wasn't the best mother, but she did love Anya and was worried about what would happen to her. Lilith knew her brother and sister-in-law would do whatever they could to protect her but there was nothing they could do for her condition. She hadn't even been close to figuring out why the suppressant potion no longer worked when she and her mother were attacked.

She never thought any of this would happen.

She joined the Death Eaters when she eighteen. Lonely and lacking the sense of purpose her older siblings were blessed with, they offered her a path: an opportunity to truly test her abilities. Lilith had always had an affinity for experimenting with biology of magical creatures and the Death Eaters were more than willing to encourage her in this aspect. Lilith had impressed her superiors so much she was given the task to create a secret army.

The Dark Lord wanted a group that could infiltrate other governments without being detected, which would make his take over much easier. He believed the demonic ability of suggestion, not to mention their enhanced human traits, would be perfect for this task. The only problem lay in the demon's disloyal and unpredictable nature. So Lilith's goal was to create a controllable wizard-demon hybrid. Her position as a nurse in the birthing ward of St. Mungo's was the perfect place for procuring test subjects.

Lilith did feel guilty for what she'd done to the babies. At the time, she'd rationalized her action in order to assuage her guilt. All of her subjects were abandoned. No one would miss them; they were disposable. But it was always devastating when one of them died. After the third one, Lilith learned to view them only as test subjects so she wouldn't grow attached to them. She couldn't let her guilt or grief deter her; failure was not an option.

Eventually, some of the hospital staff noticed babies were disappearing. They reckoned the mothers had changed their minds, but began keeping closer tabs on the nursery. Lilith had to be even stealthier when choosing a test subject. She'd been unbelievably desperate the day she'd taken Anya thanks to the new restrictions.

In the end, the risk had been worth it. Unlike the others, Anya survived the first round of serums and began displaying an enhanced healing rate. Lilith was relieved. She immediately informed her superiors of the success, earning a reprieve from the constant promises of death if she failed. Lilith even received a few congratulatory notes as Anya continued to survive each stage of the transition process.

Lilith was preparing to present her results when the Dark Lord fell. Fearing Azkaban, she took Anya to her family's home. They hadn't seen her in years and didn't hide their suspicions of what she had been doing in her time away. Ben and his wife, Prudence, were hesitant to welcome her. Death Eaters had killed their older siblings, Cecil and Tom, only a few months earlier. Ben had a particularly difficult time, as he'd been so close to Tom and so against He-Who-Must-Be-Named's values. However, their mother insisted on family unity after the deaths of her two oldest children and, begrudgingly, Ben complied with his mother's wishes.

They all knew Anya was not Lilith daughter. She looked nothing like Lilith or the ex-boyfriend Lilith named as the father — who was dead and unable to confirm or deny the claim — with her black hair and green eyes, but they didn't challenge Lilith's story. If they were going to be a family like Charlotte wanted, they had to let the past be.

With her mother's help, Lilith had raised and cared for Anya for the last fifteen years. She believed they were all safe. Then everything had fallen apart.

Now, Lilith was trapped in a cell and unable to help her daughter. She hoped her brother had destroyed her research. She didn't care about it being used as evidence against her; she just didn't want anyone to be able to replicate her work or find out what she'd done to Anya.

Lilith sighed, knowing there was no way to change her fate or her daughter's. The Death Eaters had already come for her once, and they'd try again. The Dark Lord was coming back, and he wanted all his assets.

"Tomorrow's not going to go well," Cedric commented. Tired and clumsy after their second demon lesson, which hadn't gone well, Anya tripped down the stairs that led to the dungeons and their common rooms.

Righting herself, she shot him a confused look. "What are you talking about? We're not practicing tomorrow."

"The trial, Anya, the trial isn't going to go well. I just think you should prepare yourself for that," he explained, his tone a mixture of frustration and concern. "Your mother will be found guilty and taken to Azkaban."

"I know," she said solemnly, leaning against the corridor wall. It was unexpectedly deserted for a Thursday night, but she was thankful for the seclusion. "If I'm honest, I've been dreading tomorrow since Christmas. I know she deserves to be punished, what she did was horrible. But she's still my mum…. James wrote me. He's arranged for me to talk to her in private after the trail."

"Is that what you want? To talk to her?"

Anya hesitated, and then nodded. "Yes. I probably won't be able to talk to her about everything, but I'll get to say good-bye."

"You won't visit her?" Cedric asked, surprised.

"Not while I live with my uncle. He's furious with James for giving me the opportunity to talk with her. He's never going to take me to Azkaban."

"I'm sorry," he said, looking uncomfortable. Anya knew he didn't know what to say. Honestly, neither did she. At least he let her voice her complicated feelings toward her mother. Most people would have been disgusted if they knew she didn't completely hate her.

Anya sighed. "There's nothing I can do."

"I get it, you know," Cedric said, running his hand through his hair. Anya had noticed him doing that more frequently; he must be stressed. "Hating a parent but still wishing they were around. I know it's not the same situation, but I get how you feel."

"Your mum or your dad?" she asked, curious. Cedric never spoke about his birth parents. She knew his father had vanished long before his mother had given birth to him. Amos swore he didn't have any clue as to who Cedric's birth father was, though Cedric had confided to her he didn't believe it.

Cedric shrugged. "Dad. I hate my dad for what he did, but still wish I could know him if only because he's my only living — and biological — parent. Thing is," Cedric added thoughtfully, "we're probably better off not spending time with these people."

"Maybe," Anya said quietly.

"Will you be ok tomorrow?" Cedric asked, his grey eyes full of concern. A lot of people had asked her that lately, and she'd resolutely stuck to the reply of "I'm fine" but felt safe enough with Cedric to give an honest answer for once.

Anya smiled weakly. "I doubt it, but I'll get through it."

"I'm sure you will you," he said, returning her smile with one of his own. Closing the space between them, he gave her a brief comforting hug and a feather-light kiss on the cheek. He quickly stepped away with only the slightest hint of uncertainty in his expression. "Good luck."

"Thanks. Night," she said awkwardly, turning around toward the Slytherin common room.

Unsurprisingly, Anya didn't sleep that night. She dreaded the trial, even though she knew what the outcome would be, and was a little nervous about seeing her mother again. Anya had no idea what she wanted to say to her mum and this would be her last chance for some time. She kept trying to think of something meaningful to say and wishing for impossible outcomes.

A small part of her thoughts, however, lingered on the strange disappointment she felt when Cedric had stepped back from her in the corridor.

AN: Let me know what you think!