THC: Round 6

House: Ravenclaw

Class subject: Herbology

Story Category: standard

Prompt(s): [object] water lilies

Word count: 1106

Notes: Sybill's husband is never given a first name, only a last name so I just chose Alan. Also, Purple water lilies mean power (or at least that's what google told me) but in general water lilies mean rebirth.

The Withering of Petals

Water lilies had always been fascinating to Sybill. Growing up, her house had a beautiful pond in the backyard that her father spent years cultivating. She'd observe the water lilies, watching as they bloomed and eventually died a few days later. Their beauty was short-lived but that didn't diminish their worth.

She loved how they bloomed in several colors from vibrant pinks to calm purples. It always made the pond look like a portal to a different world, one that wasn't so drab and boring as the one she had been stuck in. The pond had always been her escape, and maybe that was why she had been drawn to the lake at Hogwarts.

It lacked the beauty of her water lilies, but she found solace there despite that. No one ventured out to a certain part of the lake. She would hide by some trees and dream about being anywhere but there, in the school where she was treated like a pariah. The voices in her head, and her reaction to them, made her unlikeable but Sybill couldn't help that.

She admired her grandmother and the fact that she had been a seer but some days Sybill wished she could disappear like the water lilies. Her mother told her that the flowers represented rebirth and Sybill wondered if in her next life—if she had one— it would be as lonely as in this one.

At her wedding, she made sure there were water lilies in her bouquet. Her marriage represented a new start for her, and she wanted the flowers that she loved to be in her hands when she said, "I do". She didn't care about a color scheme, choosing to have as many colors as she could get. It fit with the spring weather that graced her wedding. They got married by her beloved pond. Her father had placed extra water lilies around the water to make it vibrant. There were some other flowers scattered about but Sybil only noted the water lilies. She wasn't sure what some of the others were called. Her parents had always been more into plants than she had been.

Alan smiled at her like she was the only person on earth that mattered and Sybill knew she had made the right choice. He had a dark purple water lily attached to his suit. She didn't know the individual meanings for each color, but it suited him well.

They spent the rest of the night dancing and being in love. It was one of the happiest moments of Sybill's life. She finally found someone who understood her. A chance at a second life away from all the whisperings and flashes of the future.

Just like the withering of a water lily, all good things reached an end. Sybill thought she'd have a chance at happiness for a little longer than what she got. Alan had decided that she was his property. That he had power over all of her choices.

"What do you mean you won't take my last name?" he demanded one day. The sun was high and scorching, making their small apartment overbearing. She could see sweat seeping through his shirt.

"I don't see why I have to," Sybill replied. She loved him, truly she did but there was no way she'd take the last name Higglebottom.

"Our children will have it, so you must as well." He paced around their bedroom and waved his arms at her.

"I think it's far too early to think about children." They had only just got married a few months ago. "We don't have any space right now. Besides who says they can't have my last name?"

"I say that!" He froze in his spot and glared at her. "Why should they have your last name?"

"Probably because they'll be coming out of me and not you," Sybill really did not get that aspect of marriage and family. If her body was putting in all the work why did her husband get all the credit?

Alan didn't reply, he just huffed and started packing. Sybill watched with wide eyes as her husband gathered his things and... left.

She signed the divorce papers the next day, but she didn't mourn over it for any longer than that. Maybe Alan didn't understand her the way she had thought.

Her life as a professor at Hogwarts wasn't what she had imagined for herself. She hadn't expected to ever give a real prophecy and she didn't know what had overcome her during her interview. One minute she had been shutting out the whispers like normal and the next they tumbled out of her mouth. It had been a lot safer for her to ignore the whispers as she grew up, and to keep them inside her head but for once they helped her.

Now she had a nice place to sleep, and she always had food to eat. She didn't have to worry about a dumb husband who wanted to dictate every moment of her life. She did miss her pond, however, and she spent days in her first year teaching combing through the Forbidden Forest, trying to see all that it had to offer. As a professor, she knew where she was allowed to go and where she couldn't. The centaurs were nice to talk to when they deemed her worthy to have a conversation with.

But she never came across a pond despite all her adventuring. Since water lilies died so easily, she didn't bother with buying any to keep around her living quarters. She had some from her wedding bouquet that she pressed into books, but they just made her sad. She wanted to see the vibrant flowers that once gave her happiness, not be reminded of Alan.

Sybill ventured through Hogsmead whenever she got bored during the school breaks. She found a pond—if it could even be called that—in a wooded area but there was nothing in it. The wildlife had most likely deemed it unlivable. She purchased water lily seeds in an attempt to grow them in the pond, but they never sprouted.

After many failed attempts to create water lilies in the course of her life, Sybill took it as a sign from the universe to give up. Maybe they had been ruined for her ever since her marriage failed but she still liked them. She made efforts to visit her parents when she could, but they soon grew too old to upkeep the pond.

Even without the flowers, she had found a new life to live and hopefully this time it wouldn't wither away.