«You have another guest, little one,» a soft voice hissed from the door, interrupting Mimi's sulking. It was impossible to sulk while curious, and the only people who ever visited her — "Albus" and Uncle James — had already been here today. Well, yesterday, maybe. It was sort of late, now. Some of the elves had stopped to say happy birthday too, and most of the ghosts who were still...keeping up (some of them, like Professor Binns, lost track of things too much, she didn't expect them to visit on special occasions, because they probably didn't even know what year it was, much less the date), but they weren't guests.

Katie, Kore, and Annie had been here for a while too, paying her attention and making her feel special and wanted — not for her birthday, just because they knew how much she hated Uncle James's visits, and Annie's outlandish suggestions of things to do to hurt him always made her laugh — but she'd asked them to leave her alone so she could cry herself to sleep (which hadn't even worked — the more she wanted a day to be over, the harder it was to fall asleep, even when she was tired and headachy from crying), and the ghosts obviously wouldn't need to announce a god, anyway. Mimi would know before they did if any of them were focused on her.

«Who is it, wise one?»

Helena floated the rest of the way through the door to come "sit" beside her on her bed. She was the oldest ghost in the Castle. Everyone else — the students and teachers, that was, people who didn't matter, out in the school part of the Castle — called her the Grey Lady, and she was so old no one could understand her in English or Welsh and too few people spoke Latin anymore, according to pretty much all of the ghosts. Mimi was learning, but they still mostly spoke in Parseltongue, which was a weird magical snake language she'd never actually learned, and just sort of knew. Snakes didn't use names, though, so Mimi was always "little one", and she always called Helena "wise one", like an elder sage.

«The last Speaker who lived here calls her Viper. The Old Goat—» "Albus", the Headmaster — that was what the younger ghosts said his enemies called him, and he definitely wasn't Mimi's friend. «—doesn't trust her and would never let her visit in person, so she's done a Sending. Will you speak with her?»

Mimi, curious, nodded. «I should probably clean up first, though...» She could feel the salt on her cheeks from where she'd been crying, and she had a nasty suspicion there was snot on her face, too. And she was still wearing the dress the elves made her to dress up for "Albus" and Uncle James. She was sure they meant well, that they thought she'd want to look pretty on her birthday for herself as well as because she'd known she'd have company, but she sort of hated the idea of dressing up for them. She just hadn't had the heart to tell Ros and Neri and Laif that she didn't want to wear the fancy thing and put up her hair all nice and pretty. They'd all been much more excited about Mimi turning seven than she had. It was a very pretty dress, blue and silver, with long, dagged sleeves, and shimmery like spider-silk always was — she looked like a young noblewoman from one of the really old paintings — but she'd gotten it all crumpled throwing herself on the bed to cry when "Albus" and Uncle James finally left. She really should change.

That was okay, though. She knew she was good at looking pretty (she was a pretty little doll as long as she didn't talk, according to Sir Alan who was an unchivalrous lout), but she didn't like wearing things she had to be careful of, and dressing nice for visitors was like admitting she cared what they thought of her. There was, however, a difference between not dressing up and embarrassing Helena and Ros by being horribly unkempt before visitors. (She might even embarrass herself, meeting someone she'd never met before all tear-stained and snotty.)

She washed her face in the basin and ran her fingers through her hair, working out the last of the elaborate plaits the elves had put in for earlier. Her hair didn't like being neatly put up, it had mostly already escaped, but it looked fine down, or at least Mimi thought so. It was long enough now the wild curls were sort of stretched out into waves (like a young noblewoman in one of the old paintings), and it never got tangled or anything. Sometimes she tucked it up in a snood if she was going exploring and didn't want it to catch dust and spiderwebs, but she usually didn't do anything with it.

She also didn't usually wear dresses, or robes, even. She'd convinced Laif to make her trousers and blouses like the Ladies Riding Over Moors, with over-skirts that were split and short enough in the front they didn't get in the way if she wanted to run. Her favourite was blue and grey and black, the skirt a sort of plaid, though she didn't think it was actually any particular House's colours. That was fine enough to meet an unexpected guest, she thought.

The woman in the corridor outside Mimi's bedroom was sort of short for a grown-up. Young and pretty, her face was more heart-shaped than Mimi's and her eyes were different, dark and sparkly, but their colouring was the same, and their hair. Except the lady had cut hers off short, so it was a curly, messy halo, instead of long waves. They looked enough alike, she would have known they were related even if she didn't still have Druella's memories of Bellatrix to compare. (She was sure that was who this was, even if she didn't seem old enough to be a Dark Lady. Druella hadn't seemed old enough to be a Dark Lady's mother, so.)

She was leaning against the wall opposite the door when Mimi opened it, cool as you please in casual duelling robes, like "Albus" didn't want her dead, or else like she wasn't standing in his school. She smirked. "Mira Calytrix, I presume. Happy birthday."

"It's Mimi, but thank you. Lady Blackheart, I presume. I like your hair."

The Dark Lady rolled her eyes. "It's just Bella to you. And I do, too. It's usually longer, but it was burned off in a raid, you know how these things go, and hair-growth potions are disgusting, so."

Mimi in fact had no idea how such things went. She tried to reach out and see if she could pick up anything about it from the edges of her mind (she was getting pretty good at doing that to "Albus" without him noticing), but... "Oh, right! Helena said you're a sending."

She smirked again. "I guess you're still too little to feel out the whole corridor at once, eh? I'm possessing the crow." She tipped her head toward a bird Mimi hadn't noticed sitting on a bust of one of the Kings Henry, watching them attentively. It quorked. "Nemain, she's my familiar. This," she gestured at herself, "is an illusion I'm casting through Nemain. Can't do much more than talk and look pretty, unfortunately — crows can't channel enough magic to cast anything much bigger through her — but that's enough to come say 'hi', at least. Going to invite me in?"

"No? I mean, that's just my bedroom, there's no chairs or anything. The sitting room is over here." She led the "sending" a couple of rooms down, the crow silently gliding through the doorway behind them to perch on the back of an armchair by the fire. She reached out as it passed her, catching an impression of a mind much larger and more complex than any animal could possibly have, but stopped when the Dark Lady intercepted her mind, turning her mind-fingers away and wrapping them back around her own mind like giving herself a hug, darkness, tingling and cold (like Annie, sort of, but more alive-feeling) pressing in on her from all directions. It wasn't scary, exactly, she didn't think Bella was going to hurt her, it just made Mimi feel very small.

You don't want to get lost in my mind, Mimi, she whispered into the space between them, her 'voice' holding laughter and a feeling like something sharp trailing down the back of her neck, scary and thrilling all at once. You're too innocent to live through the kind of pain and suffering I've seen without letting it change you.

Like Kore says I shouldn't get too close to Annie?

Exactly like that.

Well, okay, then.

The elves had already sent up tea and leftover cake from earlier, which was nice of them, but Mimi thought it might be rude to eat in front of someone who couldn't because she was an illusion at the moment. This was, surprisingly, not something covered in Lady Gwendolyn's etiquette lessons. (Lady Gwendolyn's etiquette lessons were very thorough.)

"So, how do you like it here?" the illusion asked, sprawling across the chair her bird had claimed, with her feet kicked up over one arm, and one elbow braced on the other.

That was...sort of a hard question. Today she didn't like it much at all. When she'd first come here, she'd been sort of okay with it. Hogwarts was big and loud, and "Albus" was wary of her, and she didn't like having anyone as scary as him maybe being sort of afraid of her, because what if he decided he needed to do something about her being sort of (not really) scary or dangerous to him, or whatever he thought (she didn't know, she hadn't dared poke around even the edges of his mind back then), because he could squish her like a little bug if he wanted to, and Uncle James wouldn't care, he liked "Albus" a lot more than he liked Mimi. But Hogwarts was also very pretty (its wards were so complex and shifting, she could just sit and watch them for hours), and more magical than Uncle James's house — she could practically taste the magic on the air, here — and she'd been so angry at Uncle James for just– just deciding that she was dangerous to Harry and Betty and Charlie, for no reason at all, and that he was just going to leave her with this perfect stranger to teach her that she should be afraid of herself too, and not try to get better or "develop your talents" (Katie's words), she'd almost rather have stayed with "Albus". At least she knew not to trust him. (Telling her to call him Albus did not make them friends.)

But then he'd started actually trying to convince her that she needed to try to be good (which she already knew) and keep herself pulled in and never, ever touch anyone else's minds (which she hated, and it wasn't even like there were any other humans here, anyway — the elves were too different to understand their thoughts, even if she could pick up their feelings pretty clearly, and ghosts weren't really real like living people), and she'd eventually realised that he wasn't actually dangerous, no matter how scary he might be, because he was scared of himself (like he and Uncle James wanted Mimi to be) and so wouldn't do anything that might hurt anyone, ever, even bad people like Mimi. Not directly, at least. He might keep her locked up so she couldn't learn how to really use legilimency (or any other magic he thought was dangerous, which Katie said was most magics), but he wouldn't actually curse her, so he wasn't as scary anymore.

She wasn't going to let him get to her, convince her to believe it was wrong to just be herself, but she could sit there and smile and nod while he spouted nonsense, or ask questions that made him doubt if he was really as right as he thought about how people started out good, or even what good and bad actually meant (her latest strategy to distract him and frustrate him until he left her alone again) or even just why? and, but you don't... Again and again until he gave up trying to explain why she should theoretically care about if it was right or wrong to use magic to make people feel different things, or whatever. (Maybe he didn't actually use magic to try to make her feel whatever, but he did try to make her feel guilty or ashamed or scared of herself with words and dumb arguments, which wasn't all that different as far as she was concerned.)

And then she'd started meeting the elves and making friends with the ghosts and the portraits, and exploring more of the Castle — "Albus" had done something to the wards so she couldn't go in the parts where the students lived and had lessons, but Helena taught her how to talk the Castle into letting her go to all the other places students weren't supposed to go, not just the corridor where her bedroom and sitting room and bath were located — and they started teaching her all sorts of neat history and natural sciences, and she found the Room of Lost Things, which might have almost as many books as the Library, and the elves and the ghosts might say she should go to bed whenever or remind her to eat lunch, but they couldn't make her do anything, so when "Albus" wasn't around, it was pretty much like not having any adults at all. And he wasn't very often, he was busy out of the Castle a lot, and even when he was here, he wasn't here in Mimi's part of the Castle very often, just an hour or so once or twice a week. Whenever Uncle James came to visit, maybe once a month, he always came too, but they didn't talk about philosophy. They didn't talk about anything, because Mimi didn't talk when Uncle James was there.

She might have to sit in the same room as him, but they couldn't make her talk to him or even look at him. She was never going to forgive him for believing she would hurt Harry and the littles and acting like she was crazy because Katie and Annie and Kore talked to her. Mostly Katie and Annie anymore, but Kore had never really been as talkative as they were. She felt more like a grown-up, looking out to make sure Mimi didn't accidentally smother Charlie or whatever. (Really, Uncle James should be happy Kore was looking out for them when Mimi was little, because no one plans on having an accident, but it's a lot easier to not have an accident when someone who can see the future warns you you're about to do something stupid.) And she still wasn't sold on his whole, don't you want to grow up to be a good person thing. If "Albus" was an example of a good person, being a good person seemed really hard and boring and lonely, and no, she didn't want to be like him when she grew up, thanks.

Today had been particularly bad, Uncle James wasn't even trying anymore to hide how much it hurt him that she wouldn't speak to him, and she was positive he was doing it on purpose, because it hurt her to feel him hurting, and if she would just talk to him, or even give any sign she heard him when he talked, he'd feel better, and then she'd feel better, but she wouldn't do it, because that would hurt less, but she'd hate herself for caving to his stupid pretending-I'm-not-torturing-you torture, and then she'd be hurting more than him, and that wasn't fair.

It also wasn't fair to make her pretend to like someone just because it hurt their feelings that she didn't when it was his fault she didn't, and it was his fault he kept coming to see her and cutting that hurt deeper every time, so she'd spent the whole afternoon pretending she didn't feel like getting stabbed in the heart and she didn't know she could make it stop if she'd just admit that she didn't hate him (even though she did, more every time he came and did this, rubbing his misery and the ruin of their relationship in her face) and pretending to enjoy her cake and the fact that she was all dressed up and pretty, making small talk with "Albus" and ignoring Uncle James's existence. (And it was even worse than usual because it was her birthday, and it was supposed to be a good day!)

But most of the time she liked it here.

Apparently she took too long considering it, because Bella laughed. "Alright, easier question, do you want to stay here?"

"Um. What are my other options?"

The Dark Lady grinned. "I'll come over and bring you back to New Avalon, and teach you all the things you need to know about being Lady Black. You do know you're the next Lady Black, right?"

Yes, that had come up. The House of Black was pretty much just Mimi and Bellatrix left, and Sirius, but he was in Azkaban, and no one ever escaped from there, and even if he did, he'd be on the run as a wanted criminal, so couldn't really be Lord Black, like Bellatrix couldn't really be Lady Black (in Britain, with the Wizengamot, and all) because she was sort of the Queen of New Avalon. She nodded.

"Also magic, and how to defend yourself and take care of yourself, and all the practical shite I'm sure Dumbles hasn't bothered teaching you, because he thinks he's a philosopher these days and the ghosts can't because they're ghosts. And Thom can teach you mind magic. It'll be fun. And then when your mum finally gets her arse back here, she can join us too, because she really never should have been with the Light in the first place, and after I've got both of you on-side, I figure Sirius will remove the stick from his arse and agree to leave the Rock — he doesn't want anything to do with Thom and me, which is kind of a long story, but at this point it's sort of like you sitting here and refusing to talk to little Jamie. Sort of childish, you know? Which is fine for you, if you don't want to talk to Jamie, don't, he's an arse, and you're seven, you're allowed to be childish. But Siri's a bloody adult, and he could stand to act like it. Especially when the alternative is sitting around being boring with the bloody dementors.

"But I know you have friends here — Angie thinks you'd prefer to stay here for a few more years at least — and since I figured out how to do this whole possessed-familiar, illusion-projecting, being-in-two-places-at-once thing, there's no reason I can't just leave Nemain with you and teach you things through her. You'll miss out on lessons with Thom, unless he wants to try possessing me to possess Nemain to teach you...which he actually might, but probably not as often as if you were here. And it might be a bit trickier to demonstrate spells, I guess. But to be honest, all other factors aside, if I were you and had the option of running around all the abandoned parts of Hogwarts for a few years learning magic on the sly and driving Dumbledore mad just by existing, or coming here and having to deal with all the political shite that goes along with being the Heir to the House Black, especially given the complication of the Head of the House also being the primary governor of an independent state, I'd probably choose to stay at Hogwarts. So, thoughts?"

Huh? Thoughts? She hadn't gotten past... "...What do you mean, when my mum finally gets back here? Your mum told me she's dead."

Bellatrix laughed. "Are you sure Dru didn't just tell you that the Wizengamot forced Lily to walk through the Veil? Because she hates lying, and she should know better than to assume that means Lily's dead. In fact, I distinctly recall hearing that she promised to come back for Sirius, so. She'll be back."

Well...maybe. Mimi had been little when Magistra Dru gave her those memories about her family and what happened to them, she hadn't understood everything about all of them, "But it's the Veil of Death, if you walk through it, you're dead!"

She did at least remember that much, a couple of memories about what that thing was they'd made her walk into, that it was in the Department of Mysteries and it lead to Death and a really weird memory Katie said was what it felt like being outside the universe, as a spirit on the other side of the Veil. Being a spirit walker, Katie said, was sort of like being a mind mage, but instead of wandering into other people's minds, Magistra Dru's mind just wandered out of the universe sometimes. But people didn't have bodies on the other side of the Veil, and if their bodies weren't here for them to come back to like the Magistra, then they couldn't come back and they were dead. That seemed pretty obvious.

"Well, it's definitely a portal to the Outside, but I'm sort of surprised anyone thinks they could actually kill a necromancer by throwing her into the Void. And she wasn't even one of those desperate hacks, sacrificing their lives an inch at a time, begging for Death's attention, Death likes her. So it seems a bit like trying to drown a siren to me, or killing a veela by pushing them off a flying carpet. Ask Kore if you don't believe me, but I'm pretty sure she'll be back. She's probably just a little turned around. Time and space don't really mean anything outside, and there are infinite universes and timelines out there. Theoretically she could come back right after she left, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if she takes the first entrypoint back to this plane that she finds after she makes her way back to the right timeline, even if it's a few years off and on the other side of the world, just to make sure she doesn't spend a subjective eternity trying to find a better one."

KORE!

Yes, Mimi? the goddess said, her attention returning with an almost startled shock of cold magic. Oh, Bellatrix? What has she done now?

She just told me my mum's not actually dead!

Well, she's not. She's also not actually alive at the moment. Not in this universe, anyway.

Why not?! If she's just...somewhere else, and lost, why can't you just bring her back here?!

Kore sighed. Because, darling, I know it cannot possibly seem so from your perspective, but Lily was and is very young and, well...a bit reckless and impulsive. She doesn't think through the potential consequences of her actions, and so often makes situations worse for herself and her friends by doing what seems right in the moment, without considering anything beyond the most immediate problem as she perceives it. Allowing her to return immediately after getting herself executed would hardly encourage her to act with more subtlety and care, or with greater wisdom and foresight.

Wisdom and foresight?! Mimi repeated, not amused.

Yes. I love your mother dearly, but she desperately needed some time and space to grow up — to discover who she really is, when she's not playing a part for whoever happens to be watching, and learn to think about the potential long-term effects of her actions on the world around herself before she acts.

So– So you're just going to leave her floating around outside of everything until enough time passes, and— Kore cut her off, which was probably a good thing, because Mimi was getting seriously upset, thinking about the idea of floating around, trapped in nothingness for years.

Mimi. Sweetling. Don't cry for Lily. Fate rarely has the opportunity to send a chaotic element with a physical body of its own to intervene in other worlds which could use a bit of shaking up and floating in the Void would hardly afford her the experiences necessary to develop her character. She's not lost Outside, she's making herself useful in other universes until she's ready to come home. And we have no intention of sending her on one mission after the next until she finds her way back here on her own. She will spend the same subjective span of time growing into herself as you experience here, and when it's time, we'll bring her back to you.

But... But doesn't she miss me?

Of course she does. She's rather put out with me herself for making her miss your childhood, but there are consequences for every choice, Mimi, and Lily needs to learn that. This is the way it has to be. It's not up for debate.

But...

There was no response to her un-"spoken" question of why it couldn't be up for debate.

Kore?

The goddess continued to ignore her, her attention fading from Mimi's awareness.

KORE!

Nothing. Damn it!

I hate you! she shouted into the silence at the back of her mind, even though she didn't, really.

When she opened her eyes, Bellatrix's illusion was laughing at her. "What is that look? Did Persephone tell you she's not dead, but she can't come back yet?"

"Yes," Mimi pouted, glaring at her knees. "She said because consequences, and Lily needs to grow up."

"Mmm, not surprised. Evans had a hell of a lot of potential, even when we first met, but very little perspective. Certainly not enough to truly understand that potential and decide how best to use it without messing things up for everyone. But you're pouting because...? I mean, you'll get to meet her eventually, and in the meanwhile, however long that is, nothing's really changed. You already thought she was dead."

"I guess..."

"So, cheer up, Starflower. Getting all mopey every time you find a galleon because you're disappointed it's not two is a shite way to live. This is still objectively good news, even if it could've been better."

"I guess," Mimi repeated, trying to sound a little less sad, because she wasn't wrong, it was good to know she'd get to meet her mother eventually (it just hurt knowing it wouldn't be any time soon).

"So, do you want to stay here, or do you want to come to New Avalon?"

"Um..." Mimi hesitated, trying to focus. "Can I change my mind later?"

"Well, if you say you want to stay here, then decide you want to come home, yes. If you come with me and then decide you miss the Castle, it might be sort of hard to bring you back. Or, well, I could bring you back, but you probably wouldn't be as welcome. Or, I don't know, maybe you would be? I guess the Old Goat might read it as you rejecting the Dark and everything we stand for instead of you missing the freedom to run around playing hide and seek with ghosts at three in the morning. Just as a for instance," she added with a smirk, apparently reading it on her face that Mimi had never played hide and seek with the ghosts (she had played find-the-portrait, wandering through the galleries looking for painted faces out of context, but she never got to hide when they were playing that), but she was definitely going to now.

"I...think I'll stay here for now, then." She'd think about it, maybe sleep on it a few days, or just leave the next time "Albus" really annoyed her, or if she decided she couldn't stand being in the same room as Uncle James ever again before he gave up and just stopped visiting.

"Okay, that's fine. Let's go!"

"Wait, what? I said I want to stay."

"Yes, I know, I heard you. Nemain heard you. Whatever, same difference. So I'll bring you back. But it's your seventh birthday. And unless I'm very much mistaken, you don't have a wand, yet."

"We're— What? You're going to get me a WAND?!" she shrieked, bouncing to her feet. Okay, forget Uncle James and Kore not letting Lily come home, this was officially the Best Day EVER. Bellatrix laughed. "How?!"

"The Family keeps a collection of Heirloom Wands in our vault at Gringotts. Wands that belonged to family members who died, or that were outgrown, or that we captured in battle. I'm sure we'll find one there that works for you. It won't be perfect, but it's good to learn how to do the basics without the advantages of a perfectly-tuned focus. Makes your casting much sharper once you do get a wand made for yourself."

Mimi didn't care if it wasn't perfect, she couldn't wait to try all the spells in the books she'd collected from the Room of Lost Things, and everything the ghosts had told her about— She'd been asking "Albus" for almost two years now if she could have a wand and at least start learning little charms, like cleaning her teeth and putting her hair up with magic and checking the time, but he always said no, blah blah, magical development, blah blah, don't push yourself, blah. But she was positive she'd been ready to learn magic — real magic, not just wishing for things to happen, and Katie doing them for her if she was paying attention — for even longer than that. (It had taken some time for her to work up the courage to ask him about a wand the first time.)

She could already channel enough to do really basic charms — light and motion — without a wand at all, and Helena had taught her how to scry last winter. They'd had to talk the Castle into growing a little tower outside the anti-scrying wards so they could actually see out, but Ros agreed it didn't seem like it would hurt anyone, so it hadn't been that hard. And Mister Montmorency had been telling her all about runes and enchanting, she'd practised painting them, and even carved a few little wooden practice blocks out of a broken chair-leg, but Helena told him not to teach her how to empower them with blood magic, she had to wait until she got a wand (because it was easy for someone as young as her to accidentally pour too much of themselves into blood magic and die), so the last few months they'd just been examining the wards of the Castle, but now she'd actually be able to practice making things!

"Okay, how do we get there?" she asked, her voice coming out funny because she couldn't stop grinning long enough to talk.