Disclaimer: Don't own chars you might actually recognize from the books. The plot is mine, if that's what you'd like to call it.
Rating: Up'd it to R because of harsh language.
A/N: Does anybody know Lilly's maiden name? I started to write a 'Miss -' part...but I didn't know her maiden name! Any idea? thanks
Chapter 2
A Beater of all Sorts
Now I remember!" Exclaimed James. He received quite a few startled stares as the group walked down the hall to lunch. Lilly glanced worriedly at him and Remus raised an eyebrow.
"What are you talking about?" inquired Remus. "Remember what?"
"Well, you know we just had our first Quidditch practice, right?" Heads nodded and James continued, "At our first meeting, two of our players didn't show up. One was our old Beater from the past several years. I think he graduated though. Anyhow, do you remember Eve from last year?"
"That stuck up snob?" Lilly narrowed her eyes. "What was her problem? Not enough fan boys crowded around to watch her practice?"
James shook his head and Remus frowned, "She's in our year, but I haven't seen her at all this school year?"
With another shake of his head, James continued, "But you have! Even I didn't realize it until a few moments ago, obviously. You'll never believe this but Av-"
Lucious nearly ran them all over, running out of one of the classrooms. Behind him, a voice that could strike fear into the heart of dragon, shouted curses at him.
"Damn it Malfoy! Give me my fucking wand back!" Lucious stopped in mid stride and turned back towards the classroom. He suddenly seemed very sure of himself, most likely because his two henchmen had appeared out of the crowds.
He sneered and shouted back, "I don't have your stupid wand, Eve!"
Charging out of the classroom came a very pissed off Avalon. Lucious had called her Eve though. And then Remus compared Avalon to what he remembered Eve looking like and realized that they were the same person. He was unlikely to get a chance to comment on it, though at the moment. A fight seemed inevitable.
Avalon sent a fiery glare at Lucious, "Cut the crap, Malfoy, I saw you take it with my own two eyes. So give it back now or I'll-"
"Or you'll what? You wouldn't dare touch me, even if you could." He narrowed his eyes and grinned evilly, "Pity you had to go running off in the woods and get all scarred up."
A rather large crowd was forming in the hallway. Lupin briefly wondered why a teacher hadn't shown up yet. His focus remained on Avalon and Lucious though. Perhaps he should help her, but something held him back. A feeling...something...that insisted that she could take care of herself. And with the full moon being that night, he wasn't feeling particularly strong.
Lucious continued, "Most would consider it an honor to marry into the Malfoy lineage. Plus, you would have been a rather entertaining spirit to break."
Remus felt his inside tighten and his blood go cold. Marry? Into the Malfoy family? What was going on? Avalon seemed to actually be baring her teeth now. Lucious still had that evil sneer plastered on his face. Bastard. Lupin couldn't help but curse at the slicked-back hair boy.
"My spirit cannot be broken. Now if you please," she forced out the word between gritted teeth, "give me my wand back."
Lucious pulled a wand from his satchel and waved it in the air a bit, "You mean this wand? Hadn't realized I had it..." He glanced over at her, "How badly do you want it?"
"Bad enough that I'll crush your face in to get it," threatened Avalon, who was now, to Remus' horror, acting more wolf-like then human. She was slightly crouched down, baring her teeth, and seemed to be growling.
Lucious started to laugh. He didn't get much out past the first few chuckles though. She moved quicker then anyone could follow. But the distinct sound of a fist hitting flesh and bone cracking was unmistakable. Remus blinked and Malfoy was sprawled about seven feet from where he had been standing. Blood poured down his face, but he was still breathing. Pity.
Avalon stood over him, glaring down as his pathetic figure, her wand grasped tightly in her fist. For a moment, the werewolf feared she might actually curse him. But then her composure completely changed. She was no longer the pissed off wolf-girl, ready to beat the hell out of everyone. Instead, a very scared and very shaken girl took her place.
Horror dawned on her face and Avalon backed away slowly. "What have I done?" She barely whispered it out.
Lupin wanted nothing more but to go and hold her and comfort her right there, but before he made then two steps, she was shoving through the crowd and running down the hallway, sobbing. He went to follow her, but a hand pulled on his arm. It was Lilly.
"I'll go talk to her." She gave his arm a reassuring squeeze and followed the traumatized girl down the hallway.
**********************
Avalon rushed down the hallway and into the main hall. She glanced around nervously and then darted out the front doors and into the open air. Just behind her, Lilly stopped at the doors and watched the other girl slow to a stop outside while she caught her breath. Avalon took in a deep breath and then found a comfortable spot to sit next an old oak tree. Lilly gave her a few more moments of silence before making her way over to the tree and sitting down next to her.
For a moment, there was an awkward silence and then Avalon looked at Lilly. It was then Lilly realized what Remus had meant by the girl's eyes being so intense. Golden eyes searing through her soul and making her feel like just a simple infant. Behind those eyes was a soul older then the world itself. She could feel herself falling away from reality, back into a world that she had left eons ago.
Avalon looked away, glancing out across the lake and to Hogsmeade. When she finally looked back, the intensity seemed to be gone. The confusion was probably very clear on Lilly's face, as Avalon was now just staring at the dirt in front of her.
"What am I?" Avalon's voice startled Lilly out of her confusion. She didn't speak though; the question seemed to be only the beginning to whatever Avalon wanted to get out.
"I don't seem to know what or even who I am anymore. Back there in the hall...that wasn't me. Not that I haven't wanted to beat the snot out of Lucious, but I would never have done something like that." The girl frowned and traced nonsense paths into the dirt.
Lilly was trying to figure that out as well. The boys had informed her, after her late arrival to Hogwarts due to her parents waking up late (eyes roll at the memory), that Remus was sure he had bitten Avalon. But was this a reaction of the full moon that coming night? Remus usually became weak and sick-like. But the girl next to her seemed completely the opposite. Violent and strong. That just didn't seem to add up.
"Does he think he bit me?" Lilly looked at Avalon, wide-eyed. She couldn't read minds too, could she? The gold-eyes girl chuckled harshly. "By the expression on your face, you're thoughts were traveling the same path as mine. Remus panics too easily. He has let the world shape him into a hopeless soul who thinks he will never truly live."
"How...how did you know it was him?" Lilly spoke up for the first time.
"I recognized his smell," perplexed eyes watched her. "It sounds weird, I know. Let me assure you right now, though, he never bit me." She reached up and touched her face. "Just scarred me up pretty bad. Which I am actually extremely grateful for."
Lilly didn't know where to start. She simply stated, "I have so many questions."
"You're not the only one, but please, start wherever you'd like. Who knows, maybe if I tell you what I know, you will be able to figure some of it out. Or see something that I hadn't noticed before. But I suppose I should tell you the whole story and then we can go from there." Avalon let out another sour laugh; "I wonder why I'm even entrusting this story to you. I barely know you." She paused, "You smell right, I s'pose."
Shrugging, Avalon began her story. "Nothing too important happened before this past summer, so I'll just start with the summer. My family owns a rather nice mansion back in some mountains. Not much there but lots and lots of forest. For the most part, I like spending my summers there. Most of the time I go off into the woods for hours, the entire day sometimes. Neither father nor mother approved but, and lets face it, I was spoiled rotten. At that point, I was still known as Eve"
"My family is a lot like the Malfoy family. Not that bad I mean, but they have the same ideas like wizarding families not marrying any muggle born witch or wizard. The wanted to keep our bloodline 'pure'. So I shouldn't have been surprised when I discovered myself betrothed to Lucious. Yet I was. Boy was I furious. I've never liked Lucious, and my parents have never liked the Malfoy family. But if I was married into any other family, I might as well be marrying a cousin."
Avalon sighed, "That's how Remus came to find me crying by a small pond. Now that I think about it, perhaps the only reason the wolf attacked me was because it was doing what nature had taught it to do, when hunting that is. Always go for the young, old, and the...dying. Lilly, I died that night. No. Eve died that night. Avalon was awakened and came into existence." Avalon went silent for a moment, and frowned. "Now that I think about it, though, that wasn't when these mood swings started. In fact...when was the first attack by that group of dark wizards? It was this past summer, wasn't it?"
Lilly simply nodded, trying to follow the thought process here. What would those attacks have to do with anything? "Right after that first attack...I felt something change within me. I didn't really think about it until now. Honestly, though, I have no idea what started it. By attacking me, Remus must have fully awakened whatever was happening to me. After that attack, everyone tried whatever he or she could to rid me of these scars, but I didn't let them. I mean, I suddenly realized that this would be my way out of that marriage. I'm not quite sure how I stopped then; I just told my body that it was a good thing. After seeing my condition, the Malfoys blew off the entire plan and never spoke to my family again."
"During that time between the attack and going back to school, I looked back and realized that girl who died that night was a horrible a person. I never wanted to have anything to do with her or her life again. I no longer wanted to be popular or beautiful. I just wanted to be me. I no longer cared what people thought of me, their opinions didn't matter. And yet..."
"Not everything about Eve died?" suggested Lilly. She could see that quite clearly. After the fight and after the confrontation before supper, parts of Eve still dwelled in Avalon's soul.
Avalon nodded, "That life is certainly gone. But I still have moments where I find myself being that proper little girl who never got in trouble but always had her way."
"What about Quidditch?" inquired the Gryffindor.
"Quidditch? What does that have to do with anything?" She quirked an eyebrow.
"You were so good at it. Even now as I think about it, that seemed like the one thing you did for yourself just for the fun of it. Though I'm sure on the side you used it to your advantage in the popularity contest."
Avalon was quiet for a moment and then answered quietly. "I loved Quidditch. I still do, in fact. But I feel it has too much to do with my old life to go back to. I have to admit though, I hated being the Seeker. That was definitely a part of Eve. If I ever actually go back to it, I'd rather be a Beater. Now that would be fun."
Lilly grinned, "Then go and be a beater. James was just telling us that, aside from you, they had also lost a Beater this year. Coleman, I believe his last name was..."
"Tat. That's what we called him. His real name was some odd French name his mother gave him." Avalon nodded, "He graduated last year. But that doesn't matter. As much as I would like to keep playing the game, I don't know if I can let myself."
"Why not? You'd be in a different position plus, you would be playing purely for the fun of it. Not because you want people to see you or even for our house, but just to play."
The girl was obviously beginning to feel better just talking about Quidditch. Avalon remembered the past years, playing the beloved game. The wind in her face and the fast pace action of catching the snitch while avoiding bludgers. The adrenaline pumping through her system. She then realized that she may not survive the year without that freedom to fall back too.
"Tell James they'll have to find another Seeker," Avalon started. Lilly, thinking Avalon still wasn't going to play started to speak. The other girl grinned at her, "And let him know, also, that they won't need to worry about filling that Beater position."
Lilly grinned, "Why don't you tell him yourself?"
Avalon suddenly laughed and nodded towards the castle, "Because Professor Fillensnight is on his way over to pick me up for a long lecture, I'm sure."
The Gryffindor girls looked at Hogwarts and watched Professor Fillensnight coming towards them. Avalon narrowed her eyes. "I don't like him."
"Why?" asked Lilly, as she started to stand.
"He doesn't smell right."
They didn't say anything else as he drew near to them.
"Miss McKay, please come with me. I'm sure you know what this has to deal with." Fillensnight looked at Lilly, "As for you, I suggest you return to your common room."
The group made their way back towards the entrance and into the main hall. Before they parted ways though, Lilly grinned a reassuring smile and spoke, "If you happen to get bored during the lecture, just think about how sore Lucious is going to be for the next week."
"That's a good idea. And if Remus just happens to see any other wolves about tonight, don't you worry about it. I like the wolf." Before Fillensnight could take any points from Lilly, she had run up the stairs and out of view, laughing the whole way.
He sighed heavily and looked back Avalon, "Let's go then. All of us teachers are waiting to hear what you have to say of your actions today."
Avalon nodded and then grinned broadly when he had turned his back. Just imagining Lucious in pain from her fist brightened her day drastically. Unless he had gotten a potion soon after the hit, he would have a bruise covering at least half his face. She would have to get a picture of that.
Rating: Up'd it to R because of harsh language.
A/N: Does anybody know Lilly's maiden name? I started to write a 'Miss -' part...but I didn't know her maiden name! Any idea? thanks
Chapter 2
A Beater of all Sorts
Now I remember!" Exclaimed James. He received quite a few startled stares as the group walked down the hall to lunch. Lilly glanced worriedly at him and Remus raised an eyebrow.
"What are you talking about?" inquired Remus. "Remember what?"
"Well, you know we just had our first Quidditch practice, right?" Heads nodded and James continued, "At our first meeting, two of our players didn't show up. One was our old Beater from the past several years. I think he graduated though. Anyhow, do you remember Eve from last year?"
"That stuck up snob?" Lilly narrowed her eyes. "What was her problem? Not enough fan boys crowded around to watch her practice?"
James shook his head and Remus frowned, "She's in our year, but I haven't seen her at all this school year?"
With another shake of his head, James continued, "But you have! Even I didn't realize it until a few moments ago, obviously. You'll never believe this but Av-"
Lucious nearly ran them all over, running out of one of the classrooms. Behind him, a voice that could strike fear into the heart of dragon, shouted curses at him.
"Damn it Malfoy! Give me my fucking wand back!" Lucious stopped in mid stride and turned back towards the classroom. He suddenly seemed very sure of himself, most likely because his two henchmen had appeared out of the crowds.
He sneered and shouted back, "I don't have your stupid wand, Eve!"
Charging out of the classroom came a very pissed off Avalon. Lucious had called her Eve though. And then Remus compared Avalon to what he remembered Eve looking like and realized that they were the same person. He was unlikely to get a chance to comment on it, though at the moment. A fight seemed inevitable.
Avalon sent a fiery glare at Lucious, "Cut the crap, Malfoy, I saw you take it with my own two eyes. So give it back now or I'll-"
"Or you'll what? You wouldn't dare touch me, even if you could." He narrowed his eyes and grinned evilly, "Pity you had to go running off in the woods and get all scarred up."
A rather large crowd was forming in the hallway. Lupin briefly wondered why a teacher hadn't shown up yet. His focus remained on Avalon and Lucious though. Perhaps he should help her, but something held him back. A feeling...something...that insisted that she could take care of herself. And with the full moon being that night, he wasn't feeling particularly strong.
Lucious continued, "Most would consider it an honor to marry into the Malfoy lineage. Plus, you would have been a rather entertaining spirit to break."
Remus felt his inside tighten and his blood go cold. Marry? Into the Malfoy family? What was going on? Avalon seemed to actually be baring her teeth now. Lucious still had that evil sneer plastered on his face. Bastard. Lupin couldn't help but curse at the slicked-back hair boy.
"My spirit cannot be broken. Now if you please," she forced out the word between gritted teeth, "give me my wand back."
Lucious pulled a wand from his satchel and waved it in the air a bit, "You mean this wand? Hadn't realized I had it..." He glanced over at her, "How badly do you want it?"
"Bad enough that I'll crush your face in to get it," threatened Avalon, who was now, to Remus' horror, acting more wolf-like then human. She was slightly crouched down, baring her teeth, and seemed to be growling.
Lucious started to laugh. He didn't get much out past the first few chuckles though. She moved quicker then anyone could follow. But the distinct sound of a fist hitting flesh and bone cracking was unmistakable. Remus blinked and Malfoy was sprawled about seven feet from where he had been standing. Blood poured down his face, but he was still breathing. Pity.
Avalon stood over him, glaring down as his pathetic figure, her wand grasped tightly in her fist. For a moment, the werewolf feared she might actually curse him. But then her composure completely changed. She was no longer the pissed off wolf-girl, ready to beat the hell out of everyone. Instead, a very scared and very shaken girl took her place.
Horror dawned on her face and Avalon backed away slowly. "What have I done?" She barely whispered it out.
Lupin wanted nothing more but to go and hold her and comfort her right there, but before he made then two steps, she was shoving through the crowd and running down the hallway, sobbing. He went to follow her, but a hand pulled on his arm. It was Lilly.
"I'll go talk to her." She gave his arm a reassuring squeeze and followed the traumatized girl down the hallway.
**********************
Avalon rushed down the hallway and into the main hall. She glanced around nervously and then darted out the front doors and into the open air. Just behind her, Lilly stopped at the doors and watched the other girl slow to a stop outside while she caught her breath. Avalon took in a deep breath and then found a comfortable spot to sit next an old oak tree. Lilly gave her a few more moments of silence before making her way over to the tree and sitting down next to her.
For a moment, there was an awkward silence and then Avalon looked at Lilly. It was then Lilly realized what Remus had meant by the girl's eyes being so intense. Golden eyes searing through her soul and making her feel like just a simple infant. Behind those eyes was a soul older then the world itself. She could feel herself falling away from reality, back into a world that she had left eons ago.
Avalon looked away, glancing out across the lake and to Hogsmeade. When she finally looked back, the intensity seemed to be gone. The confusion was probably very clear on Lilly's face, as Avalon was now just staring at the dirt in front of her.
"What am I?" Avalon's voice startled Lilly out of her confusion. She didn't speak though; the question seemed to be only the beginning to whatever Avalon wanted to get out.
"I don't seem to know what or even who I am anymore. Back there in the hall...that wasn't me. Not that I haven't wanted to beat the snot out of Lucious, but I would never have done something like that." The girl frowned and traced nonsense paths into the dirt.
Lilly was trying to figure that out as well. The boys had informed her, after her late arrival to Hogwarts due to her parents waking up late (eyes roll at the memory), that Remus was sure he had bitten Avalon. But was this a reaction of the full moon that coming night? Remus usually became weak and sick-like. But the girl next to her seemed completely the opposite. Violent and strong. That just didn't seem to add up.
"Does he think he bit me?" Lilly looked at Avalon, wide-eyed. She couldn't read minds too, could she? The gold-eyes girl chuckled harshly. "By the expression on your face, you're thoughts were traveling the same path as mine. Remus panics too easily. He has let the world shape him into a hopeless soul who thinks he will never truly live."
"How...how did you know it was him?" Lilly spoke up for the first time.
"I recognized his smell," perplexed eyes watched her. "It sounds weird, I know. Let me assure you right now, though, he never bit me." She reached up and touched her face. "Just scarred me up pretty bad. Which I am actually extremely grateful for."
Lilly didn't know where to start. She simply stated, "I have so many questions."
"You're not the only one, but please, start wherever you'd like. Who knows, maybe if I tell you what I know, you will be able to figure some of it out. Or see something that I hadn't noticed before. But I suppose I should tell you the whole story and then we can go from there." Avalon let out another sour laugh; "I wonder why I'm even entrusting this story to you. I barely know you." She paused, "You smell right, I s'pose."
Shrugging, Avalon began her story. "Nothing too important happened before this past summer, so I'll just start with the summer. My family owns a rather nice mansion back in some mountains. Not much there but lots and lots of forest. For the most part, I like spending my summers there. Most of the time I go off into the woods for hours, the entire day sometimes. Neither father nor mother approved but, and lets face it, I was spoiled rotten. At that point, I was still known as Eve"
"My family is a lot like the Malfoy family. Not that bad I mean, but they have the same ideas like wizarding families not marrying any muggle born witch or wizard. The wanted to keep our bloodline 'pure'. So I shouldn't have been surprised when I discovered myself betrothed to Lucious. Yet I was. Boy was I furious. I've never liked Lucious, and my parents have never liked the Malfoy family. But if I was married into any other family, I might as well be marrying a cousin."
Avalon sighed, "That's how Remus came to find me crying by a small pond. Now that I think about it, perhaps the only reason the wolf attacked me was because it was doing what nature had taught it to do, when hunting that is. Always go for the young, old, and the...dying. Lilly, I died that night. No. Eve died that night. Avalon was awakened and came into existence." Avalon went silent for a moment, and frowned. "Now that I think about it, though, that wasn't when these mood swings started. In fact...when was the first attack by that group of dark wizards? It was this past summer, wasn't it?"
Lilly simply nodded, trying to follow the thought process here. What would those attacks have to do with anything? "Right after that first attack...I felt something change within me. I didn't really think about it until now. Honestly, though, I have no idea what started it. By attacking me, Remus must have fully awakened whatever was happening to me. After that attack, everyone tried whatever he or she could to rid me of these scars, but I didn't let them. I mean, I suddenly realized that this would be my way out of that marriage. I'm not quite sure how I stopped then; I just told my body that it was a good thing. After seeing my condition, the Malfoys blew off the entire plan and never spoke to my family again."
"During that time between the attack and going back to school, I looked back and realized that girl who died that night was a horrible a person. I never wanted to have anything to do with her or her life again. I no longer wanted to be popular or beautiful. I just wanted to be me. I no longer cared what people thought of me, their opinions didn't matter. And yet..."
"Not everything about Eve died?" suggested Lilly. She could see that quite clearly. After the fight and after the confrontation before supper, parts of Eve still dwelled in Avalon's soul.
Avalon nodded, "That life is certainly gone. But I still have moments where I find myself being that proper little girl who never got in trouble but always had her way."
"What about Quidditch?" inquired the Gryffindor.
"Quidditch? What does that have to do with anything?" She quirked an eyebrow.
"You were so good at it. Even now as I think about it, that seemed like the one thing you did for yourself just for the fun of it. Though I'm sure on the side you used it to your advantage in the popularity contest."
Avalon was quiet for a moment and then answered quietly. "I loved Quidditch. I still do, in fact. But I feel it has too much to do with my old life to go back to. I have to admit though, I hated being the Seeker. That was definitely a part of Eve. If I ever actually go back to it, I'd rather be a Beater. Now that would be fun."
Lilly grinned, "Then go and be a beater. James was just telling us that, aside from you, they had also lost a Beater this year. Coleman, I believe his last name was..."
"Tat. That's what we called him. His real name was some odd French name his mother gave him." Avalon nodded, "He graduated last year. But that doesn't matter. As much as I would like to keep playing the game, I don't know if I can let myself."
"Why not? You'd be in a different position plus, you would be playing purely for the fun of it. Not because you want people to see you or even for our house, but just to play."
The girl was obviously beginning to feel better just talking about Quidditch. Avalon remembered the past years, playing the beloved game. The wind in her face and the fast pace action of catching the snitch while avoiding bludgers. The adrenaline pumping through her system. She then realized that she may not survive the year without that freedom to fall back too.
"Tell James they'll have to find another Seeker," Avalon started. Lilly, thinking Avalon still wasn't going to play started to speak. The other girl grinned at her, "And let him know, also, that they won't need to worry about filling that Beater position."
Lilly grinned, "Why don't you tell him yourself?"
Avalon suddenly laughed and nodded towards the castle, "Because Professor Fillensnight is on his way over to pick me up for a long lecture, I'm sure."
The Gryffindor girls looked at Hogwarts and watched Professor Fillensnight coming towards them. Avalon narrowed her eyes. "I don't like him."
"Why?" asked Lilly, as she started to stand.
"He doesn't smell right."
They didn't say anything else as he drew near to them.
"Miss McKay, please come with me. I'm sure you know what this has to deal with." Fillensnight looked at Lilly, "As for you, I suggest you return to your common room."
The group made their way back towards the entrance and into the main hall. Before they parted ways though, Lilly grinned a reassuring smile and spoke, "If you happen to get bored during the lecture, just think about how sore Lucious is going to be for the next week."
"That's a good idea. And if Remus just happens to see any other wolves about tonight, don't you worry about it. I like the wolf." Before Fillensnight could take any points from Lilly, she had run up the stairs and out of view, laughing the whole way.
He sighed heavily and looked back Avalon, "Let's go then. All of us teachers are waiting to hear what you have to say of your actions today."
Avalon nodded and then grinned broadly when he had turned his back. Just imagining Lucious in pain from her fist brightened her day drastically. Unless he had gotten a potion soon after the hit, he would have a bruise covering at least half his face. She would have to get a picture of that.