Rip Out The Wings
DaggersBloodPain
Chapter Twenty-Six
Beautiful Lie
Lilah lay on her bed late that night, or early the next morning, she wasn't sure which, but she was awake and drawing invisible pictures on the sheet covered abdomen of her lover. Sleep eluded her, despite Bellatrix's best efforts to tire her out. Her mind was so full of plans and thoughts of the future that the sleep she needed in this moment was nothing more than an annoying background buzz. Rolling so she was close enough to hug Bellatrix to her she held the older woman and breathed in her familiar scent. They would not be able to chance these encounters much during the school year, so every moment was precious and meant to be savored. The minutes ticked by as Lilah's mind swam as she let her senses fill with the presence of her beloved, Movement wasn't happening anymore than sleep was, and it was in this way that then night passed.
Bellatrix left Hogwarts while the sky was still the steel grey of pre-dawn. Sneaking out under the cloak with the aid of the map, avoiding trouble. Lilah knew they were playing a dangerous game with her charade as Leto Rayne, she may be found out at any time. Better for her to be a simple Dark side spy then having the truth about her past known. She had left all obvious traces of Harry Potter, like the cloak and map, in the care of Bellatrix until all this was over. It was Bellatrix herself who came up with the idea of using them to spend time with Lilah during the school year.
Now Lilah was going to have to get through a day of classes without the benefit of sleep, and she had the first year Slytherins and Gryffindors in the first block of the day. They were a rowdy bunch to say the least, and the most excitable about just about everything. Normally they were a lot of fun to teach, but Lilah knew this would be a day where coffee had better replace her pumpkin juice at breakfast if she wanted to get through it.
Breakfast passed quickly, with Lilah already missing Bellatrix, and at least this morning there was no random explosions or fighting at the students table. That put a relatively good spin on what could have been a very unhappy day for Lilah with a missing lover. She headed out of the great hall 15 minutes before the students were supposed to, noting the absence of her dad and wondering if he may have been meeting with her father last night. Lilah knew they had private meetings about once a week now that they were back to school. Dumbledore was aware of half of them, otherwise it would look odd for Severus to turn up missing so often. Lilah was not allowed to attend meetings while playing Leto so she relied on Severus for up to date knowledge of Father's plans.
Finally class began and she started with another lecture.
"Alright class, I have a question for you to begin today's lesson, how many of you have been told what to believe about the other houses by your upper year housemates?" Lilah asked, wondering just how quickly those beliefs were forced on the younger years, she was an odd case with Hagrid and the Weasleys' influence so thought it would be best to ask and address it in class with the lower years.
Half the hands in the room went up shakily, unsure of the line of questioning, while a further quarter of them rose straight away. Just as she had thought, only five out of the twenty person class had not been tainted by the older students, and it was only the first month of school. "Out of those that said yes, how many of you believe what you were told?" Another half of the ones who answered yes.
"Can anyone tell me why you believe them already when we have not been in school long?" Lilah asked in what she hoped was an encouraging tone.
"Well, the ones in the other houses don't treat us very nice, and it makes us believe the bad things older kids say." A daring Slytherin replied, too young to have the typical disdain for Defense teachers she was starting to break down in her upper level classes.
"What if I told you those same students that treat you badly were told the same things you were? If I have noticed one things about this school already is that bad habits are passed own through the houses until no one remembers how they started, and no one has a clue how to stop it. You should be different than the older students, give people a chance to prove themselves one way or another before you judge an entire house on the actions of a few." Lilah lectured, not liking the automatic hatred of these students.
"Well Professor Rayne, that may be true, but how does this connect to Defense?" The same Slytherin from earlier asked with a sneer that didn't look too intimidating on an eleven year old.
"How are you going to defend yourself if prejudice clouds your judgment on who to fight? You may be dueling an opponent that shares your beliefs but has a different color tie, when there is a wand pointed at your back by a member of your own house. You are young, no one will ask you to fight anytime soon, but in seven not too long years you will all be adults in the eyes of the law. There will come a time when you will have to chose who and what to fight for, even if the current war is over by then there will always be conflict happening. I am not only going to teach you how to Defend yourself, I am going to give you the tools you will need to make the right choices about who to fight for." Lilah hoped that wasn't too dramatic for first years, but if they were old enough for prejudice, then they were old enough for the truth in her mind.
Many students nodded their silent agreement to her words, and some looked a bit scare, but there was no terror on their faces and Lilah was reassured that she had chosen the right approach to the subject. "Alright, that is enough lecture for today, now have you all been practicing the wand movements for the shield charm we talked about last class?" That was another thing Lilah was doing, she concentrated on defensive magic with the younger years and offensive with fourth year and up. No one would be asking someone too young to fight if she had her way, because they wouldn't have anything to fight with. She was just giving them a way to protect themselves and those around them.
The day passed with her growing exhaustion, until by the last period of the day, fifth year Hufflepuff and Ravenclaws, she was too tired to demonstrate any spells for them and assigned them group practice on what they had already learned. She was making her rounds throughout the class, seeing how everyone was handling themselves when a badly aimed spell shot her way, she could have dodged it Bellatrix taught her to ignore fatigue when it came to avoiding magic, but if she had than the student behind her would have been hit. She took the spell in her left shoulder and felt it burn through her robe and the first few layers of skin almost instantly, so at least she knew it was a mispronounced stinging hex that hit her.
The pain was intense for the first few seconds and her class was flipping out over injuring the teacher for the moments between the spell connecting and Lilah getting it together enough to take control of the situation. She bound her shoulder tightly with the basic healing magic she had been taught and was able to excuse the class, she didn't take a lot of points away after all it was an accident, but did take enough to encourage more practice in aiming their spells.
When she had finally cleared the students out of the way she headed down to the infirmary where she found Madame Pomfrey smoothing down the sheets on a freshly made cot. "Oh Leto, please come in, what happened?"
"A mispronounced stinging hex, student put too much power into it, it burned deeper than it should have. I think I may need to work on aim with my students a bit more, or at least a few lessons on magic safety." Lilah replied to the medi-witch saying the last but with a pale smile on her face. The pain was manageable but it was still a drain on her and she was already exhausted.
"Please have a seat on one of the beds and I will take a look." Pomfrey ordered as she removed the patch Lilah had cast on herself in the classroom. "Nice work on the bandaging, good thinking for the initial burn." She complimented before her face took on an air of sympathy as she saw the extent of the wound. "Must have been a powerful student did this, even mispronounced this is bad for a stinging hex."
"I thought so myself." Lilah responded weakly, starting to get light headed.
"Just hang on a few more moments and I will get you patched up." Pomfrey comforted the new professor in her pain. She moved quickly sterilizing and healing the wound with a combination of spells and potions. "That should feel better now, are you strong enough to get back to your rooms or do you want to rest here awhile.
Lilah truly wanted to be in her own rooms, but the way her head was swimming she was unsure whether she would make it, and told Pomfrey so. "I can let you use the floo in my office to return to your rooms, but with you dizzy I am not sure it is a good idea for you to be alone."
"I wont leave my bed unless it is an emergency. If I need medical attention I will send an house elf, but I just don't think I can sleep here." Lilah bargained.
Madame Pomfrey made a move of her head silently saying 'I don't know why I bother' before saying out loud, "You are as bad as Severus, but alright, as long as you stay in bed until you stop feeling dizzy and make sure you get the house elves to bring you something to eat. It will do you no good to recover on an empty stomach." She finally sanctioned as she helped Lilah make it to the fireplace in her office and the pot of floo powder on the mantle. Within seconds Lilah was gone was a heartfelt thank you still hanging on the air.