Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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The sirens' disdain for Voldemort echoed throughout the ocean.
As Lily sat beside her watery sisters on one of the shore's many craggy rocks one evening, she frowned as she listened to their angry hisses while they discussed their recent introduction to the Dark Lord.
"-Isn't it a good thing?" Lily asked once she gathered her courage.
Circe, Ligeia, and Raidne glanced over with their eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"...That my mate and I have promised our first child to the man previously known as Tom Riddle?" Lily blinked, "He wants to destroy land dwellers. That's what you three are all about, isn't it?"
"Foolish girl!" Ligeia spat.
Raidne growled, but Circe questioned, "And what then, if he succeeds? Do you think Tom Riddle has asked for your child, little one, so he may have company in the lonely hours?"
Lily blinked.
Ligeia and Raidne made wailing noises of rapt frustration but Circe held onto her patience as she continued, "Once a man's blood mingles with a siren's, the creatures of the sea can no longer touch him…..Make no mistake in your judgement, Tom Riddle waits for the day when he can use your child to gain victory over the ocean and all creatures who dwell within it."
"But that's ridiculous!" Lily laughed, "He doesn't care about the sea, he's-"
"-Every man cares about the sea!" Ligeia interrupted.
"Where do you think life itself comes from?!" Raidne snapped.
Circe nodded as she calmly confirmed their statements, "The ocean offers minerals, resources, food, travel, medicines…..a vast array of usefulness any land dweller can exploit if they manage. What sort of man would not wish to control the sea? Does avarice not define their nature?"
"But….." Lily began with a frown.
"Look at it this way, little one…." Circe sighed as she plucked a decaying shell from the underside of the rock which served as her seat.
Lily blinked as she watched the siren break the shell into five pieces and lay each one on the rock's smooth surface.
"Imagine the world segmented into five parts." Circe instructed as she looked down at the broken bits of shell. Lily watched as she picked up one of those five pieces, held it up, and nodded, "This is the land that covers the earth."
Lily blinked before Circe gestured to the remaining four pieces of shell as she grinned, "And these……are the ocean in its endless majesty."
Lily's emerald eyes widened as she contemplated the revelation Circe had demonstrated.
"The sea is power." Ligeia summarized as she crossed her arms.
"...And wise men know that." Circe nodded. Her grin vanished as she gazed at Lily and frowned, "Daughter of Lucienda, the man once called Tom Riddle did not strike me as a fool."
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While Lily dealt with fuming sirens, Severus found himself in the company of a very disgruntled Dark Lord.
"How dare those vile beasts stare into my eyes……into the eyes of the greatest wizard who has ever lived……and dismiss my request!" Voldemort spat while Severus stood a short distance away.
The burning embers in the fireplace crackled while Voldemort stared angrily into the dancing flames.
"They do not understand your power, my lord." Severus nodded in agreement, but Voldemort had more to say.
"A siege, Severus!" He hissed as he turned his sinister, serpentine eyes onto his humble servant.
"I...I beg your pardon, my lord?" Severus blinked.
"I will not be disrespected!" Voldemort spat. In one swift motion, he glided over to glare down at Severus and growl, "I will go to the seaside myself and take the entire ocean by force! My power is far too great to be mocked by the whores of its depths!"
Although panic exploded in Severus's heart, he skillfully maintained his usual, unreadable expression as he frowned at his dark master and asked, "Why waste the time, my lord? Aren't muggleborns and the Ministry our primary objectives?"
Severus tried his best to slyly draw the Dark Lord's focus away from potentially harming his precious flower.
"Waste the time, Severus?! Ha!" Voldemort laughed, "I do not expect one as young as you to understand. You are quite wise for your age, but still a boy…..Yes, still a boy and nothing more……..No matter, you must only comprehend this….."
Severus frowned as Voldemort leaned down close to his face, scanned over him with his cold eyes and hissed, "The sea….is power. Do you know how best to acquire power, Severus?"
"...Might?" Severus asked without hardly moving his mouth.
"Excellent!" Voldemort cackled as he straightened himself, "It takes might to overtake something and I, Slytherin's heir, am mightier than the sea! With the ocean at my command, just think of the possibilities!"
He paced across the room before he glanced over his shoulder to grin at Severus, who regarded him with a thoughtful frown.
"I could cut off the water supply!" Voldemort chortled, "Create food shortages, withhold supplies!...Stop the manufacturing of vital medicines!...Seizing the Ministry, wiping out muggles and muggleborns, it will all be painfully simple once the world understands it depends on me for its survival!"
"Of course, my lord." Severus nodded, "A brilliant plan, indeed."
"Don't look so disheartened with yourself, Severus!" Voldemort laughed dryly in amusement at the morose expression on Severus's face, "I do not expect a boy your age to know the inner workings of my brilliant mind! It may take many decades for you to harness the intellectual prowess needed to merely ponder my greatness!"
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Lily dreaded what she had to do.
In the week following her news from the midwife, while Severus tried to appease the Dark Lord, she decided not to tell her mate about her condition right away.
It was her worst fear that Severus may learn of the child they had conceived before her tragic death.
Despite the fact she faced her own imminent demise from the ocean's anger, Lily was staunchly determined the product of her love for Severus would not be handed over to the Dark Lord as bait.
No one had confirmed the gender of her baby yet, but her heart whispered that she carried a daughter.
Lily needed Voldemort to die…….quickly.
She urged Circe, Raidne, and Ligeia to arrange another meeting with him so they may discuss the matter of her future child once again.
At first Lily encountered a bit of resistance, but Circe eventually agreed, hopefully the sirens would be able to attack the Dark Lord directly.
Voldemort shared similar dreams as he contented himself with fantasizes of torturing the ones who dared defy him.
The next meeting had been scheduled to take place in the same grotto as their previous exchange.
Lily purposely arrived early that evening, long before the other sirens.
Voldemort apparated onto the nearby spot of sandy shore before he cracked an evil smile and called out to her, "Ah, Severus's mate! Will the others be here soon?"
"I believe so, my lord." Lily called in her sing-song voice as she turned to face Voldemort with her green eyes glowing.
He kept his wicked smile as she rose from her perch on an eroded rock and walked towards him.
Voldemort held Lily in his condescending gaze as he stared down into her eyes and laughed, "I can hardly wait to control the seas. I thank you, dear girl, for presenting me with such a wondrous opportunity."
"It is I who should thank you, my lord…….." Lily frowned as she blinked up at Voldemort, "Without your generous sacrifice, I would surely die."
Voldemort's grin faded as a tense second passed between them.
That instant of hesitation cost him everything.
Before he could react, Lily dove forward and crunched her sharp, white teeth into the grey flesh of his throat.
It sickened her to hear Voldemort's cry and feel his warm blood splatter against her face, even though her chosen victim was the living incarnation of evil.
Once she raised her hands and pierced his chest with the razor-like talons that extended from her fingertips, the overwhelming blood loss sent Voldemort collapsing to the grotto's sandy floor.
Lily discovered she truly hated everything about killing.
She hated the mess, she hated her victim's cries, she hated the motions it took for her to twist and bite her way through Voldemort's skin.
After several horrible minutes of unskillful attacking and violent suffering, her grim task had been completed.
She stood and gasped for breath while she looked down into Voldemort's shocked, lifeless face.
"Oh my……."
"...Is it true?!"
Lily turned her head to see the expressions of pleased surprise Circe, Raidne, and Ligeia wore as they all bobbed in the grotto's shallow waters to gaze at her in disbelief.
"Daughter of Lucienda, how very proud of you we are!" Circe cried with a mirthful laugh as she opened her arms, "At last, you have claimed your first victim! Finally, you have become one of us!"
Lily closed her eyes and tried not to vomit at the vile, metallic smell that lingered in the air.
As she took a deep breath and blinked away tears of remorseful guilt, she laid a bloodied hand over her lower abdomen.
Lily hadn't slain the Dark Lord for her own survival.
She hadn't even done it for Severus, or for the good of the world…….she had selfishly killed Voldemort for her baby.
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The sirens made sure to drag the Dark Lord's body to a place where wizarding Britain's media would soon discover it.
The next morning, news of the Dark Lord's mysterious defeat spread quickly.
Most of the Death Eaters mourned the end of the leader they had worshipped, but Severus rejoiced, along with many others, Lucius Malfoy included.
Despite his happiness to be rid of the Dark Lord, Severus had a good idea about who could have completed Voldemort's austere assassination.
That afternoon, after classes concluded for the day, he walked hand in hand with his beloved while they passed the hour before dinner.
"...Lily?" He asked after several moments of silence.
"Yes, Sev?" She replied with a soft smile.
"Did the sirens kill Voldemort? The ancients, the ones who took your eyes and tongue?" He frowned.
"No." Lily said with a sly grin. She glanced over at Severus as they stopped in front of an arched window and answered honestly, "...I did."
Severus's eyes nearly bulged out of his head.
"I thought it was wise." Lily shrugged, "Taking a life was harder than I thought, but you were right, Sev….he was pure evil. I'm certain all those he murdered would have cheered me on if they could have seen. Besides, we have…..um, we have more pressing priorities. This solved two problems, the sirens are off my back and Voldemort is off of yours now."
"Will you marry me?" Severus blurted out.
Normally one to sit and ponder matters for weeks on end, with the reality of graduation on the horizon and the knowledge Voldemort's reign of terror had ended, Severus saw a future with Lily attainably within his grasp.
Lily sucked in a breath as her green eyes widened.
"M-Marry you?" She swallowed.
"Am I not your mate?" Severus asked as he knelt in front of her and took her hand, "I have no ring, yet….But Lily, I promise I'll buy you the best I can afford! We can have a house and a garden….If I have to work seven jobs, I'll do anything to keep you happy! Please…….won't you be my wife?"
"Severus, I'm with child!" Lily confessed in a shuddering gasp.
It was Severus's turn to widen his eyes then.
"W-What…….?" He asked as he swallowed thickly, "Y-You're-?"
"-With child." Lily nodded as she squeezed his hand, "I found out a week ago."
For some inexplicable reason, tears welled in her green eyes.
She raised her other hand to wipe at her face before she sniffed and laughed, "Why do you think I've done all this?! I want to live, I want us….I want our baby…..to be safe….I….I want us to have a family, I……."
While she continued to sniffle, Severus leaned forward, held her waist gently, and pressed a loving kiss to her flat belly.
Lily sighed as she gently combed her fingers through his raven-black hair and whispered, "Of course I'll marry you, Sev! I love you with all my heart."
Severus gently tightened his grip on Lily's sides as he gave her abdomen another sweet kiss.
As he envisioned their future, fear and doubt no longer plagued his heart.
Instead, for once, Severus anticipated only joy and light as he mused over the years ahead.