"WHAT?" screeched the enraged Lady Potter, backing a cowering Salazar Slytherin into a corner? "You dared instruct my son, my Hades to make Amortentia? Are you out of your mind?"
"What is the problem, my dear?" asked Merlin, as he came upon the scene. "Why do you have my apprentice at wand-point?"
Lilly whirled on her old mentor, and growled "Because, my dear mentor, your bloody apprentice thought it might be fun to make my son brew Amortentia."
Merlin frowned, and motioned for his apprentice to leave. "Lilly, Amortentia is not illegal, it has per…"
"Perfectly good uses, my ass." Lilly spit out. "Perhaps. But too many people misuse it – and my Hades has seen it misused once too many times."
"Then why did he not object to making it?" asked Merlin, in what he thought was a calming voice.
"Hah!" Lilly laughed bitterly. "Hades, object to learning, to showing off what he knows? And I don't doubt that your Salazar practically dared him to make it."
Merlin sighed, and rubbed his temples wearily. Lilly was even more of a spitfire now, her temper being honed into a weapon in her time on the streets. "Will you come and have tea with me, tell me how Hadrian has seen it used?"
Salazar slammed the door of the potions lab shut, fumbling for the lock. He whirled around at the laugh peeling out behind him.
/What has you looking like a bat out of hell is chasing you?"/ Hadrian asked, when he could speak.
Sal grumbled incoherently for a bit, but then spoke up, in parseltounge again. /Your mother, Hades. She is one scary witch./
/What did you do, Sal?/
/She found out about the Amortentia./ Sal replied, before flopping down on the couch next to Hades. /Why was she so upset? It is a simple potion, and not even illegal./
Hades sighed. Started to speak, but bit his tongue. /I… It is her story to tell, not mine. I shall only say that I've seen it being used once, and that once was enough./ he shook his head. "Anyways." He continued, in English. "What shall we do next?"
Salazar thought hard for a moment, but only a moment. "You still need a wand, do you not?"
Hades nodded. "Yes. I've been using mothers', but it doesn't like me very well."
"Like you….?" Salazar gaped, before regaining his composure. "Hades, you surprise me with every word out of your mouth."
Hades blinked. "What do you mean?"
He brushed it off, with a simple – or simple to him – explanation. "I was merely surprised that you can feel your wand so clearly. Most can only tell that the wand doesn't work very well. Not that a wand doesn't like them." He shook his head. "Never mind. Shall we go find you a wand?"
Lilly held Rosa on her lap, ignoring the squirming of the little girl trying to get away, and absentmindedly offered her a cookie. Biting her lip, she looked up at Merlin. "It begins almost four years ago. You… Ypu know what I was reduced too?"
Merlin looked worried, but nodded. "Yes, I have gathered. I wish you would have come to me, my dear. Can you continue?"
She took a sip of tea, keeping one hand on Rosa. "We've been over this, old man." Then, as she sat her tea cup down, she sighed. "As I was saying, it was four years ago. I… met this man. He seemed kind, and gentle, but… Hades never liked him. I was foolish, and ignored my own son. I let this man get close to me. I let him take care of us" She looked up at Merlin, "I trusted him. And I was a silly fool. Needless to say, I became enamored with him. I didn't notice anything wrong – until my Hades started showing up with bruises. Even then, I believed the man when he told me they were merely caused by Hades getting into fights."
She laughed bitterly. "And, Emrys? I scolded my son, punshised him, when he tried to tell me I wasn't myself, when he fought that man."
Merlin sighed, and went to sit beside the pair on the chaise. Putting his arms around them, he petted Lillys' hair like she was a child. "Oh, my dear. It wasn't your fault. You did your best. Hadrian doesn't blame you."
"But I blame myself." Lily relaxed – slightly- into Merlins' arms. "You trained me well. I should have…"
He cut her off. "No, Lilly. Amortentia is tasteless, and you know that." Smoothing Lillys' hair down, he handed Rosa another cookie. "Now, my dear. You broke free of it, somehow. Tell me how?"
Lilly sighed, but smiled down at her daughter. "It was this little one here, in the end. I knew the symptoms of pregnancy, and knew I needed an actual healer. As you know from my pregnancy with Hadrian, they wreak havoc on my body. So, I tracked down the Potters' personal healer, Poppy Pompfrey, and swore her to secrecy. When she ran a scan on my body, she found traces of Amortentia."
"And the man? What happened to him?" asked Merlin, his face turning rather… savage.
Lilly smirked at him, "No need to worry. That bastard is dead. Once again, you trained me well."
Merlin nodded, and rested his chin on her head. "Yes, yes I did. After all, you are the daughter I never had."
"I thought you said we were going to find me a wand!" said Hadrian, rather belligerently. "Not have me make my own wand."
Sal smirked. "But you are the one who has an oddly strong connection to wands. Therefore, we shall address yet another part of your education at the same time."
"But I won't ever need to make a wand again, so why should I learn?"
Salazar blinked at him. "Who says that you'll never need to make a wand in the future? What if your wand breaks, and you are nowhere near a wizarding village? What if you outgrow this wand?
Hadrian sighed. "As you say."