Chapter Fifteen: Sins of the Father

Fleamont Potter looked how Lily had always imagined a vampire would look: tall, dark-haired, bone-pale and intense.

His son was the spitting image of him, except that James had hazel eyes instead of his father's vivid blue. And though Lily hated to admit it, Fleamont exuded a cloud of malevolence that was ten times worse than James's own menacing air. Every time the man turned his glittering gaze on her, she struggled not to cower.

In contrast, though Pius Thicknesse was a tall and sturdy young man, his eyes glinted palely and he twitched alarmingly regularly. Sirius sniggered every time Thicknesse jumped at the smallest sound. Lily only felt sorry for him.

All eight of them were currently sitting around the dinner table. Lily sat opposite her Uncle Orion, a gaunt man in his late forties whose decades of dissipation were beginning to manifest themselves on his looks, though he was still as handsome as any Black.

Kreacher had set bowls of prawn soup in front of them for the starter. There was no conversation. Out of the corner of her eye, Lily found herself shooting James glances. He was uncharacteristically silent, head bowed. She wondered at it.

Suddenly there was a scraping sound. Fleamont Potter had pushed his bowl away, slowly and deliberately, and fixed his penetratingly blue eyes on Walburga. She visibly squirmed.

"Walburga," he said. "I must thank you for the stunning taste of this soup." His words were slow and measured.

"It was nothing," she said politely.

She had, of course, had no hand in it; the house-elf had done all the work.

"Where are Cygnus and Druella?" he asked. "I would have liked to see them."

"They're still in Berkshire, with Pollux and Irma," she said. "Though had they known you would be arriving, I am positive they would have been here."

Fleamont said nothing in response, and the table relapsed into an uncomfortable silence.

Lily sipped the last of her soup from her spoon. The hairs on the back of her neck seemed to be prickling, as if aware that she was in the presence of someone who posed a real threat to her. That was true enough. All she knew of James's father was that he occupied an influential – perhaps not strictly official – position in the Ministry, and was a highly favoured servant of the Dark Lord. She had never exchanged more than pleasantries with him.

Nobody was more surprised than she was when he addressed her.

"Delilah?"

Her head snapped up. "Yes, sir?"

"Cygnus's youngest daughter," he said.

"Yes, sir," Lily agreed cautiously, though it had not been a question.

"My son has told me about you," Fleamont said. "The only Black in Gryffindor."

She frowned, uncertain how to respond to this. James had spoken about her?

"Of course, since my son is an excellent liar," he continued, "I had to check for myself. Between you and me," he leaned forward with a confiding air, "James is unfortunately much more like his mother than me."

Lily felt a dull anger come over her, and was surprised to realise that it was for James. What kind of father spoke like that about his son? Before she could say something, even if she would have, Sirius beat her to it.

"If you can't appreciate your son," he said, ice in his tone, "you are – and I can scarcely credit this – an even bigger fool than you look."

"Sirius!" Walburga hissed.

James seemed to be biting his tongue; he was staring determinedly into the plate before him.

"So!" said Thicknesse with painfully false cheer. "Are you all looking forward to going back to Hogwarts?"

"It has its positives. For instance, there at least we needn't put up with people like you," Sirius said coolly.

"Sirius!" Walburga shrieked. "You'll have to excuse my son, Mr Thicknesse," she said to him. "He's always had a problem with staying out of trouble."

"So has my son," Fleamont interjected. "I gave him a little job to do a few weeks ago, and he completely messed it up. If it weren't for Rookwood's quick thinking –"

Lily sucked in a breath. Was he talking about the Rookwood killings? She shifted on her chair. Annoyingly, Fleamont appeared to have decided not to finish his sentence, and she felt a desire to strangle him.

"Kreacher, bring the main course," Walburga ordered. The house-elf Vanished the soup bowls with a snap of his fingers and plates of roast chicken appeared. Glasses clinked as they were magically refilled.

Fleamont had apparently decided to try and attempt to converse with Lily again.

"Is it true that the Gryffindor common room is behind a portrait?" he asked with a charming smile. "I've always wondered, you see."

" Yes, sir," she said dutifully.

"I hear you're Head Girl," he said. "James has been chosen as Head Boy as well, though I'm afraid he was second choice." The last two words were pronounced with a delicate sneer.

"He's Quidditch Captain too," Sirius snarled, his voice trembling with rage.

"Sirius Orion Black! Go to your room this instant!" Walburga bellowed.

He stood up, knocking his chair back sullenly and sloping out. Lily twisted the edge of the tablecloth in her hands. She would have done the same for Marlene or Arabella, and yet... couldn't James say a single word for himself instead of relying on Sirius all the time?

"Crucio."

For a moment, the word did not even register with her. She had grown up in the Darkest of families, but to hear an Unforgivable Curse bandied about at the dinner table – it was incredible, unthinkable. She gaped wordlessly for a moment before she gathered her wits enough to jump to her feet and draw her wand.

But the spell had not been directed at her. Instead, she watched in horrified fascination as James's body collapsed in on itself. He twitched and kicked uncontrollably, eyes bulging out of his head, but he made no sound: it seemed he had been Silenced alongside it.

Lily shot her aunt a look. While Walburga looked distinctly discomfited, her face tight with strain, she did nothing. Orion had disappeared into the kitchen – no doubt for a drink of some sort. Thicknesse was eating with grim fixity and deliberately paying attention to nothing outside his plate. They were sitting there as though it was perfectly normal, a man using an Unforgivable Curse on his son during a family meal, and Lily felt hysterical laughter bubble up in her throat.

There was a sudden enraged roar. Sirius burst back into the room, his wand held aloft, face twisted into a mask of rage.

"Stupe –"

"Expelliarmus!"

His wand flew out of his hand and she snatched it from the air. Sirius' mouth dropped open.

"What the fuck did you do that for?"

"Wait," she said with eerie calm. She had stopped breathing. Her mind had seen the perfect opportunity, and she mentally counted the passing seconds.

Fourteen... fifteen...

Sirius launched himself at her. She sidestepped easily. When she hit the twenty-second mark, she aimed her wand.

"Stupefy!"

Fleamont Potter dropped like a stone.

Instantly Sirius rushed to James's side. He was hunched over, moaning and shuddering on his chair, but after a few seconds he raised his head to look at her. A hanging lock of hair obscured one eye, but the other pierced straight through her. They stared at each other, hazel on green, for what felt like an eternity.

Then Sirius broke it.

"What the hell was that, Lily?"

"Twenty seconds," she said. She was answering his question, but her words were directed to James. "I think I was rather merciful. Don't you?"

There was a pause. Then he said roughly, "I know I lasted for a hell of a lot longer than twenty seconds. So I guess you were... merciful. Such as it is. For a Black." The words were tight with strain, but she thought she could sense the faintest trace of amusement.

He was a Slytherin, after all. He would always be plotting and planning and scheming, always ten steps ahead of everyone else in the room, even when he'd just had his brains tortured out.

Lily looked away from his uncomfortably knowing gaze towards her aunt, who appeared to be in shock. Thicknesse meanwhile was still eating.

"Someone should probably do something for him," she said about the Stupefied man on the floor. Nobody stopped her as she walked out of the dining room and took the stairs two at a time. Her mind was frozen; calm, cold and clear. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling.

She had finally had her revenge against James Potter, in a way that appeased her conscience. It wasn't vengeance in kind. How could you pay back in kind a boy who had Imperiused you into – well, into doing what she had? But it was still vengeance, of a sort, and her Black blood thrilled in satisfaction.

She was free again. As free as she had been before the night of the seventh of June, 1976.

And yet... something was niggling at her, and she prodded at it cautiously.

The answer came to her after some contemplation: nobody should have to suffer a father who tortured them for no apparent reason.

Not even him.

AN: Boom! I won't lie, this is one my favourite chapters, and I'd say it's one of the most important chapters. Let me know what you thought in a review! I'm sure some of you will remember it from last time, but I hope I haven't put anyone off... it's fair to say that in the old version of this story, Lily gets progressively darker and James gets lighter. That's still broadly the same, but I reserve the right to do whatever I want to these characters (in a story-believable way, of course) :D

Random question: do you guys think purebloods are religious? I feel like I've seen Harry say 'Christ' or 'Jesus' but I don't think any pureblood has ever referred to any religion, even like casually.

Responses to Guest Reviewers

Ellie, I won't lie Sirius is my favourite character too haha. He's ridiculously fun and surprisingly easy to write. If you (or anyone else) is interested in a fic where I really like the portrayal of Sirius, I recommend the Sirimione 'Sirius Black and the Girl with Terrible Hair' by jellybellys! It's really good. I do an English degree so I have read way too much Shakespeare honestly, but my favourite is Much Ado About Nothing. What's yours? Ooh also are you one of those students who's missed out on sitting A-level exams this year?

Shruthi, I totally agree that the Cursed Child was super disappointing! Honestly it was more like a badly written fanfiction. Something I know quite a bit about... I must admit I didn't spend too much time thinking about the actual intricacies of Christmas. I can't really imagine the Blacks celebrating it. What do you think?