Chapter Twenty-One: Farewell to Old Friends and His Return.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material written by J. K. Rowling or her publishing company.
Hibiscus was unsure what to say as she exited the headmaster's office with her mother. Perhaps she could start off with a brisk, 'Haven't seen you in a while…' Or maybe she could say, 'Nice to meet you, my name is Hibiscus.' Apparently she didn't have to say anything. Lily Potter turned around and looked down at Hibiscus. More tears were in her eyes and the sun shone through a window illuminating her mother unnaturally.
She shook her head and recognized just why the beauty was so unnatural, her mother had long completed the process of Fulfillment. Hibiscus had only begun it to survive Tom Riddle yet it had changed her in many ways, physically and mentally. "Honey," her mother cried, "You are so beautiful and brave. Severus did not do you justice." Hibiscus did a double take and stared at her mother. "YOU know SNAPE."
Lily smiled sheepishly and looked down, her scarlet locks swishing around her head. "We should talk about some things." Reaching out she gently guided Hibiscus to sit on a stone bench on the side of the hallway with her. "Where to begin, where to begin?" Lily muttered, tucking some of her hair over her shoulder. "The beginning," suggested Hibiscus.
Her mother giggled sadly, "You have your father's sense of humor." Propping her elbow on the window sill and turning so she could watch the students exit breakfast she began her story. "I remember when I was little I could do things no one else could." Her eyes became cloudy with distant memory.
"Before Hogwarts, before everything, I was just a little girl who didn't understand herself." Lily reached out and held Hibiscus's hand. "When I went to Hogwarts I discovered things I could do that no one else could. Severus Snape and I were best friends, the best of friends. In him I confided the darkest things I was learning about myself."
"Telekinesis, Compulsion, every thing a succubae could hope to learn I faced my first and second years." Lily sighed. "Then third year I discovered what I was, the memory clear as though it was yesterday." She gripped Hibiscus's hand tighter and said, "I was on the beach of the Black Lake, reading a book from the restricted section on dark beings and beasts."
"The book detailed the succubus and Lilith. I told Severus instantly and we researched the deity thoroughly." Her eyes closed and she shuddered. "Samhain was around the corner and I wanted to do a ritual. Severus advised against it, telling me how tricky and deadly the deities could be." Hibiscus watched her intently.
"I didn't listen to him."
"Lilith seemed so beautiful and eager to answer my questions at first. Then she became dark, telling me things I didn't want to hear. When I began the banishment ritual she broke through my wards and claimed I was her daughter." Lily was still shaking. "I managed to finish the incantation and remove her prescence, but she didn't like that."
"When I returned home over the summer, I immediately questioned my father. He told me everything." Hibiscus felt anticipation building in her stomach. "After Petunia was born he went on a foreign business trip and met an enticing woman in a bar, her name was… Lilith." Lily was obviously pained to repeat this. "After he had…Been with her he realized something was wrong when she called him flesh of Merlin."
Hibiscus did not know what to say, but her mother seemed to. "I told my mother right away. I was disgusted with my father for falling for Lilith's ploy," a fly buzzed around her head and Lily slapped at it. "Their marriage was already strained and my mother did not move back into the house for a month. Petunia blamed me of course and our sisterhood was never the same again."
"Of course I was able to connect almost all of the dots to Lilith's plan with the research I had done." She finally opened her eyes and Hibiscus watched her intently. "Merlin banished her to the otherworld and placed spells on the species to prevent them from invading Britain. Even though the succubus pushed him away from their homeland by corrupting Morgana Lefay they were weakened considerably." She paused for a deep breath.
"My father must have been descended from a squib directly born from Merlin's line. By projecting herself to this world through the use of a ritual, she slept with him, knowing fully well that I would be free of Merlin's magic and I could begin a new line of British succubae. When a succubus mates with a man she places the egg into him and he then sends it into another woman who then conceives the child which meant I would easily pass as an Evans." The green eyes were filled with a fury that Hibiscus could not comprehend.
"What she must not have planned on was that I would manage to fight her influence so easily. In her rage she sent her husband Beelzebub to… Destroy me." Hibiscus listened with rapt attention. "I managed to subdue him though and like Merlin did to Lilith before me I fully banished his essence to the other world."
"During this time Voldemort was on the rise. Your father and I fought him to the best of our ability, until he came for you twelve years ago." She was now to the part that had led to the twelve years of no contact with her child. "My powers had grown considerably and Voldemort had not faced a foe like me before. He managed to subdue me however, but before he could," she gasped deeply, "Kill you, something like accidental magic seeped from my soul and saved you."
"I knew what the ministry would do if they discovered how dark I was so I fled. I was also aware that Voldemort was still out there and then my hunt began. I discovered that Voldemort had spies in the school this year so I had the only person I could trust look after you, Snape." Hibiscus was so overwhelmed, her mother hadn't abandoned her. Lily Potter had been protecting her for the passed decade. Throwing her arms around her mother she started crying. "I don't want to hear anymore, I love you mum." They embraced until Lily announced that she had to leave and sort out affairs with the ministry and Gringott's.
Hibiscus stood in Hogsmeade with her trunk. The Board of Governors had shown up randomly and demanded she leave the premise. The eleven year old girl had tried to say goodbye to Hermione but the witch refused to speak with her when Hibiscus tried to avoid telling the truth again. Cedric, who had been sitting in the hospital wing with her two friends also refused to speak to her.
In the end Luna had been the only one to promise to write her. Hibiscus sighed and tossed back her golden hair, staring at her reflection in a puddle. Memories rose unbidden from winter break.
The waves crashed against the rock outside as Tom forced the awful liquid down her throat. "Please," she begged, "Please Tom. No more." Tom laughed darkly and stroked her face and laughed mirthfully. Another spoonful of the light green liquid was shoved down her throat, then he stopped and she fell back into her nightmares of the Dursleys.
She heard a clink of a chain as he removed whatever was in that crystal basin. The potion must be wearing off, she thought just as she was pushed back into another bout of terrors. She was sitting in a chair reading a book. Lilith came from the wall and cackled, "You called for me child." Hibiscus was desperate, she wanted out of this false world of evil. "Help. Help me please."
The beautiful woman tossed back her head of beautiful hair and smiled wickedly. "All you need is here." Hibiscus looked down at the book, trying to read what she could before the Dursleys came for her again.
"The succubae talent of Fulfillment is a coming of age for all succubae. This is when a young woman opens her connection to Lilith in order to gain her full power." Hibiscus felt the book fall from her hands and she found herself looking into a cracked mirror. "Do you accept me," her reflection demanded, "Will you pay the price to me for my help?" The Dursleys flashed in her vision again and Hibiscus decided that she needed all of the help she could get to stop Tom Riddle."
She nodded and the reflection changed. Her hair lost it's red and became pure gold, her features sharpened and she grew taller. Her eyes became even greener than before as she began to resemble something terrifying, a young Lilith. Hibiscus screamed and sat up drenched in sweat. Tom Riddle clutched a locket and his eyes flickered to her just as she tackled him.
The locket was ripped from his palm and into her hand as she grabbed her wand from his pocket. He screamed for help and animated corpses shot from the water. She threw flame at them and jumped in the boat. Her magic felt stronger than ever. She reached land and ran to the gap in the wall. The stone slowly slid inwards and she saw Tom Riddle. His corporeal flesh stood out in the darkness. "Do you pay the price?" The voice echoed and she nodded. The stone sealed as Tom Riddle was banished from her life.
Slowly she stumbled out of the cave and saw light breaking through the dark sky. How she envied that there could be such light hidden behind the darkest of clouds.
Hibiscus stared at the reflection in the murky puddle and screamed when she saw Tom Riddle grinning at her. People looked at her like she was a lunatic which she probably was. Lilith had sworn that Tom Riddle would not bother her again if Hibiscus began her process of Fulfillment. Looking back at it she saw there was no one in the puddle and took a deep breath, telling herself that Tom Riddle was gone.
But a part of her knew that Tom Riddle was back and it had gotten the message. He was here and intended to stay.
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