Author's Note: I can't believe it's been so long since I updated! My last update happened before I had major life stuff going on in July, then I was too distracted to update. I wrote most of this chapter in May and then promptly got writer's block when I went to continue it much later, in late July/early August. This chapter kept staring at me while I was updating Child of Spring so much and now that I have some stressful things going on and I wanted to do something fluffy, this chapter kept poking at me until I made the necessary edits to continue on with it. This chapter has some cute things going on as well as some Peeves. I admit the poltergeist is what kept me in writer's block. I wound up saving the parts of the chapter I cut and pasted parts of it back in.
Reviews:
csquared101: You'll have to see for yourself if Lillian ever gets her memory back. :) I'm not sure about Snape being her mentor, but I can see several cute interactions in the future involving potions. I imagine it will be several months before they realize that she's not growing, perhaps even longer if plot distracts them. We'll see!
Fenghuang0296: I'll definitely have to do that!
Crossover Junkie: The beginning of this chapter addresses this somewhat, as we get to see what Lockhart's beliefs on that are. But I'm sure it won't be too long before a certain potions professor takes notice.
KijoKuroi: Psst, her name is Lillian, not Lillith. As for Dumbledore, it'll be interesting to see if he knows anything (I know if he does, but we haven't gotten that far into the story yet) about the Child of Spring or not. As for the basilisk, that is an interesting question! We already know that ordinary magical spells and potions do work on Lillian. However, the basilisk kills whoever looks it straight in the eyes. We know that Lillian has already died and is only moving around thanks to the Man in the Moon. She is alive as a Spirit, so it would be interesting to find out what would happen. Would Lillian simply be forced to fade as her spirit self died? Or would something else entirely happen? Hm! I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
SimpleWriter44: This brings up an interesting question: Would the Spring Spirit be able to influence or affect magical plants? Yes, you are talking about the right book. Mandrakes do show up this year. I'm not sure about how to get her in Harry's class since mandrakes do sound a little dangerous for a six-year-old, but we'll see. Seeing her playing with the Whomping Willow would be hilarious since I could see her playing harmlessly with it while everyone else has a heart attack when they spot her.
("Blimey, how come it's not trying to pound her into the ground?!" Ron exclaimed as he gaped at the sight of Lillian sitting in one of the lower branches, while it gently swayed with her on it.)
Silversun XD: You guilted me into writing more for this chapter at the time you posted this review, but then I hit my writer's block. I'm happy to say that it's over with for now. :)
Now, on with the chapter!
Chapter Six: Settling In Part Two
Lockhart had no sooner reached his room when he realized he forgot all about the salve on Lillian's head. He took the jar he had stashed away in his pocket back out and saw it was labeled as burn salve.
With a sigh, he set the salve somewhere where Lillian wouldn't be able to reach and cast a tempus, to see that already five minutes had passed. He decided to busy himself around his quarters for the next five minutes and soon had fetched Lillian to carefully wash it out.
Lillian had complained the entire time that her head still hurt and she didn't like the water hitting it. She had also complained that she was in the middle of a really interesting story and didn't want to wash her hair again anyway.
Lockhart smiled indulgently at that since he knew Lillian was probably looking at the pictures instead. She had him read her a story every night before bed and surely if she was able to read them herself, she would do so. It was also cute how she thought she could use her toy potions kit to make potions out of it. He was just lucky that she could read a little and guess her way through the rest.
He didn't suspect for a minute that Lillian treasured their reading time because she treasured the family experience. She could remember hardly anything and therefore had no recollection of anyone reading her to sleep every night. It was partly the reason she was so happy to spend as much time as possible with Gilderoy. She couldn't remember having any parental figure, and his parenting while a little inexperienced, seemed comforting to her.
She supposed it was because she was a child and wanted to be parented and loved, but she couldn't help the niggling feeling she got whenever she thought that. If she was only a child, then why did big words pop into her head sometimes? She knew she could read exceptionally well, and she knew from the scolding both she and Gilderoy got from Professor Snape about her toy potions kit, that it was not normal for her to be able to read the instructions and brew the potions it contained.
It was made for someone much older than her. Those thoughts made her head hurt though, so she ignored them after her head had been all healed by the salve (they had to do a second dose for twenty minutes that she wasn't particularly happy about, since the salve smelled kind of funny), and read from one of her books quietly until it was time for dinner.
Lillian had stared all around her as Lockhart carried her down to the Great Hall, claiming that was quite a lot of stairs for someone whose legs were so short. Lillian had been a little offended at first, but now didn't mind at all, as she could keep staring at all the moving portraits and suits of armor without worrying about where she was going.
Some of the portraits on the wall waved at her, and Lillian shyly waved back at them. She could see many of them flit into their neighbors' portrait to whisper in their ear, as they stared curiously at her and Lockhart.
Lockhart wasn't paying any attention to them and so didn't comment on it. Soon they had made their way down to the entrance hall.
"Now, I want you to smile and give a good first impression," Lockhart coached as he set her gently down on her feet and helped her straighten her dress out. Lillian had convinced Lockhart to change into his pink robes, so she could wear her favorite pink dress. She wasn't entirely sure why this particular one was her favorite, but she knew deep down that it was. Lockhart had decided that he should change as well, since he'd been doing all sorts of things in the robes he had been wearing, and it might be nice to change into something fresh for dinner.
Lillian flashed him a rather nervous grin and Lockhart shook his head good-naturedly at it.
"Now, no need to be so worried! There are only a few teachers here, and it will be a good time for us to ask Professor Snape for help with your memories, hm?"
Before Lillian could reply, however, Lockhart finished straightening her dress and had grabbed her hand and walked through the doorway to the Great Hall.
Lillian felt like her eyes were going to fall out of her head as she stared around at all the hundreds of floating candles that lit up the hall. She was particularly entranced by the ceiling that was enchanted to look like the sky.
She found herself staring particularly at the moon, which shone brightly down on all of them. She wasn't sure why the moon held such appeal to her, but she thought she could see it glow a little more brightly as she and Lockhart walked towards the high table where the teachers and Professor Dumbledore all sat.
Lockhart could already see Dumbledore was seated with McGonagall as they approached the table, but was disappointed to see that Professor Snape was nowhere to be seen. He could see Flitwick was already there along with Hagrid.
Hagrid gave a merry wave at them, accidentally causing McGonagall to duck out of harm's way while Flitwick chuckled quietly at the sight.
Lillian stared up at all the adults and found her feet dragging as she fell a little behind. By the time they made it up to the table, Lillian was completely hidden behind Lockhart who had only noticed since his hand that she was holding was now behind his back.
Lockhart flashed them an amused grin.
"Well, I would introduce you all to my charge, but she seems to be hiding at the moment. It's good to see you all again. My, how time does fly! It seems like only yesterday I was a student here," he went on.
McGonagall straightened herself in her chair with a glance at Hagrid, who seemed completely oblivious to almost knocking her out.
She might have exchanged a look with Severus at this point, but as he wasn't here she had to content herself with looking down at Lockhart over the rim of her spectacles. She did indeed remember young Lockhart but found him rather.. lacking. Yes, he had been sorted into Ravenclaw, and while he certainly seemed particularly studious, he seemed to be lacking in the practical application of what he learned.
Transfiguration seemed to be particularly difficult for him, while he excelled at Charms and was mediocre in Defense Against the Dark Arts. He did alright in Herbology, but it was clear that it held little interest to him, as the plants often caught him by surprise. She remembered Slughorn had complimented Lockhart on his potions saying that he was particularly good at answering the questions, but had difficulty getting the timing down. Since Lockhart didn't have any good connections in his family, he hadn't been invited to join the Slug Club, something that McGonagall knew that Slughorn was probably regretting, since Lockhart turned out to be so famous and do so many interesting things.
She often wondered how someone who was merely average or a little below average in Defense Against the Dark Arts could do so many amazing things, but she had shrugged and assumed he had been studying after he got out of school. She had to hand it to him since most kids weren't too interested in learning anything after they graduated unless it applied to the job they were hoping to get.
Apparently, Lockhart still had quite a bit of the Ravenclaw left in him, if he was so keen on studying more. While she was giving Lockhart her analytical look, she couldn't help but notice the small scrap of pink she could see poking out from behind Lockhart's back.
Her stern look melted a little as she smiled at that. How Lockhart wound up in charge of such an adorable child, she would never know.
Dumbledore was similarly analyzing Lockhart as he smiled jovially down at him and Lillian. He couldn't help but wonder if he could get Lockhart to give some sort of display, that might hint at some of the powerful magic that was used earlier. But if it was Lockhart, why was he using it? What was he up to?
He had already asked several of the portraits around the castle to keep a close eye on Lockhart for him and had even asked Severus as well. He hoped at some point this little mystery could be solved since he didn't want such power to be displayed around the other students at the school. He would hope that Lockhart would have more tact than that, but Dumbledore could clearly see that Lockhart liked to show off, and had little doubt that if Lockhart had such power at his disposal, that he wouldn't hesitate to show it off to his classes.
Dumbledore forced his thoughts away from angry letters from parents as he offered the two of them a seat, gesturing to a couple that was at the end of the left side of the table. One was a regular chair, while the other was.. very odd.
It wasn't actually a chair, at least not in the normal sense. It had a seat and a small back, but instead of having legs that went to the ground, it was actually attached to the table.
Lockhart gave it an amused look as he finally got Lillian to come out of hiding.
"What's all this then?" he asked as he gestured at it.
Dumbledore happily explained that he had seen it advertised for a store in a muggle newspaper he had gotten and thought that little Lillian might enjoy using that rather than having to sit on something to boost her up to table height. It was actually made for infants, rather than six-year-olds, but Dumbledore had easily transfigured it to be big enough for Lillian and magic kept it in place so it wouldn't fall from the table.
Lockhart still looked amused and before Lillian could even think about complaining, he had picked her up and set her down in it.
Lillian looked surprised to be trapped in a chair and looked all around at the table. It was unusual for her to be at table height since she was so short. She wasn't sure she liked being stuck in her seat though since the arms that attached to the table effectively prevented her from climbing down from the chair. Lillian kicked her feet a little, disconcerted that she couldn't even feel the floor underneath her feet.
Before anything else could be said, however, dinner appeared in the middle of the table and soon Lillian's plate was filled by Lockhart with lots of delicious things to eat as well as plenty of vegetables, much to her disgust.
One part of Lillian was tempted to whine about it, while another was completely amazed at food that appeared out of thin air. Yet another part told her that she was far too old to whine about such things and she told that part to shut up, she'd act any way she wanted to! Besides, she was still a child and children did those sorts of things, right?
Much to her embarrassment, Lockhart had reached over and cut her chicken up into child-sized pieces. She also looked at her silverware to see that she had been given a plastic.. something. She held it up in confusion but realized that would be the reason that Lockhart had cut her food up for her since she was incapable of doing much of anything with that.. whatever she had been given.
Dumbledore chuckled when he noticed her examining the silverware she had been given. He was highly amused when he first saw one and thought it would be appropriate for a small child to use. No sense having her hurting herself at the dinner table after all!
"That my dear child, is what is known as a spork," Dumbledore said with his eyes twinkling merrily. "It is a muggle item that is made out of plastic and is a combination of a spoon and a fork. I myself find it quite interesting," he finished not seeming to notice that everyone was staring at him with incredulous looks.
Lillian looked at the spork rather doubtfully and used it to clumsily spear a piece of chicken. She blushed when the chicken fell off before it reached her mouth and she discovered she had to use a bit of force to keep her food on the small pointed end. Since it was more dull than an actual fork and plastic instead of metal, and the prongs were so short she had a harder time spearing food on it. She gave Lockhart a pouty look at this, since she had been using normal forks just fine, thank you very much! But Lockhart was busy talking to Professor Dumbledore.
With a huffy sigh, Lillian continued to eat in silence and wondered if she would have to eat all her meals in the Great Hall with this.. this.. spork. She frowned at the offending plastic utensil and wondered what was so great about magic if it couldn't even be used to charm a normal fork so a kid couldn't hurt themselves with it. What did they think she was going to do anyway? Poke her eye out?
Lillian glanced up from her inward grumbles at the first rumble of thunder. She flinched badly, thinking she had somehow caused another storm.
Lockhart was clearly thinking along the same lines as he shot Lillian a worried glance but smoothly covered it up with a chuckle.
"Nothing to worry about, my dear!" he said in a tone of false cheer. "It's just a storm brewing. Looks like it'll be a doozy."
He glanced up at the enchanted ceiling as he said this, and noticed that dark, gloomy storm clouds had gathered while he was chatting away. Lightning flashed brightly across the ceiling followed by a loud boom of thunder.
Dumbledore was surprised when the wards went off, informing him of powerful magic being used. He glanced in surprise at Lockhart, but the man had clearly not done anything that he could see. A frown flickered across his face for an instant, before he quickly hid it away. If only Severus was here, so he could have an extra set of eyes on Lockhart. He knew he could always ask Minerva, but Severus was a master at this sort of thing.
When another loud boom sounded, there was a clatter as Lillian dropped her spork. Her bracelet had started glowing earlier as her mood turned darker, but she hadn't noticed and now she was too preoccupied with the growing storm to see it. As she was sitting the farthest away from everyone, no one had apparently noticed this anomaly either.
Lockhart gave her a reassuring smile but glanced at the ceiling with somewhat worried eyes all the same. Had Lillian done this in a fit of accidental magic? He had never seen her accidentally create an actual storm outside though.
Deciding discretion was the better part of making a good first impression, he gave everyone his best toothy smile, the one that had won him Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile award. While it was a nice looking smile, it was also very fake but one he liked to pull out when he didn't want anyone to see what he was truly feeling at the time. Right now he was more worried than anything, but he didn't want to make a fuss in front of the other professors or Dumbledore.
"I think little Lillian here is getting quite nervous from the storm, so I think it would be best if we finished our meal back at our quarters. You all understand, I'm sure," he said as he gestured at the ceiling.
Lillian was now ignoring her meal and staring up at the ceiling with wide eyes, wondering if she did that. Why could she create storms like that? It was more than a little unnerving, and so far from what she had seen, no one had answers. Stephen Jorkins had told her that she had a very powerful form of accidental magic, but as far as she could tell, it was one more thing that made her unusual.
Before she could wonder about the storm any longer, she soon felt arms lifting her out of her chair and she was rushed by Lockhart right out of the Great Hall. As she peeked over Lockhart's shoulder at the staff table, she could see Professor Dumbledore watching them over his half-moon spectacles with a contemplative look on his face.
She quickly hid her face in Lockhart's shoulder, as she didn't like that look at all.
The next few days seemed to pass by rather quickly, although without all the drama of Lillian dumping a potion over her head. Much to her chagrin, Professor Lockhart was too busy to help her with her toy potions kit. She was allowed the instruction manual, which had been dried off and repaired by Gilderoy, but she was absolutely not allowed to mess with the kit on her own.
With Lockhart so busy, Lillian felt a little lonely, since she was often left to her own devices in her room. Despite his very best efforts, Lockhart still hadn't managed to ask Professor Snape about restoring Lillian's memories, and he was beginning to suspect the man was purposefully avoiding him. If this kept up, he might need more drastic measures.
It was the day before Gilderoy's book signing that Lillian had had enough of being a good girl and sitting in her room with quiet activities. She knew that Lockhart had an important job to do and he still had a lot of preparation, but Lillian didn't like being all by herself. Not to mention the fact that it was boring. So it was one day that Lockhart was surrounded by books and papers in the sitting room that Lillian snuck out of their quarters. She had decided that she wanted to see some of the castle herself, but mostly she was sneaking out to go find Professor Snape. She figured if she put on her cutest act, there was no way he could say no to helping her get her memories back.
She glanced at Lockhart as she tip-toed out the front door, but he was too busy to notice her escaping. She put a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle.
It worked!
From there she walked through Lockhart's office and then the classroom and finally made it out into the hall. She looked around, wondering where to go. She thought back over the last few days and remembered that someone had said that Professor Snape lived in the dungeons. So she wandered off down the hall in search of some stairs. She glanced at some of the portraits as she walked and noticed more than a few of the occupants were gazing down at her in disapproval. She gave a small eep and broke into a run.
It didn't take her very long to find the stairs, and soon she was making her way down them. She thought she was doing pretty well until she reached a landing and the staircase decided it wanted to be somewhere else.
Lillian cried out as the staircase moved all on its own and she stared with wide eyes as she was now at a completely different landing than before. She glanced up at the new unfamiliar stairs at the top and then looked back down.
Well.. dungeons were always down, right?
With a new feeling of trepidation, she carefully climbed down the staircase. As she was walking, she heard a strange sound. It sounded a little like the air being let out of a balloon. As she reached the bottom of the staircase, she saw yet another set of stairs and sighed.
Before she could continue though, a man appeared in midair above her.
Lillian's eyes widened and she shrieked at the sudden appearance, while the man grinned in appreciation. Oh, how he loved scaring the wee little kiddies! And this one was even smaller than the others! What fun!
"Wh.. what a-are you?" Lillian asked in a trembling voice.
In all the commotion of getting ready for the coming school year, Lockhart, as well as the rest of the teachers and even Professor Dumbledore, had forgotten to warn Lillian about the school ghosts, and even the poltergeist, Peeves. The other ghosts all had their own ghostly things to do, and so didn't bother much with the rest of the inhabitants, with there being so few around in the summertime.
Peeves grinned a little malevolently at the little girl.
"Why, I am Peeves wee one! Peeves the poltergeist!"
Lillian tilted her head at that. She knew she had heard that word somewhere before, but for the life of her, she just couldn't remember where. Maybe she had read it in a book? But as she looked at Peeves, her eyes lit up. This was just the person who could help her!
"Mr. Peeves?" she asked hesitantly. "I'm a little lost. I was walking downstairs and the staircase moved around on me and now I don't know where I am. I wanna find the dungeons so I can talk to Professor Snape. Can you help me find them?"
If it had been any other ghost in the castle, they might have gladly helped Lillian find her way. Or even better, taken her to one of the teachers or back to Gilderoy. Since this was Peeves, however, he thought of what fun he could do with this.
There were lots of unused areas of the castle. Perhaps he could lead her there? Oh, if only he had some water balloons! Those were the best. Yes, indeed.
"Ohh, I know just where to go!" Peeves cackled in delight as he zoomed down the staircase.
"W-wait!" Lillian cried out as she hurried after him. "Slow down!"
Lillian was completely out of breath by the time they reached the dungeons (Peeves had taken the long way, carefully avoiding anyone), as Peeves was zooming the entire way and Lillian had to run to keep up with him.
Even then he didn't stop zooming. He led her straight past Severus' quarters and was going to keep going when the cold, drawling voice stopped them both in their tracks.
"And where do you think you're going?" Professor Snape's sneering voice stopped them and they both turned around in surprise.
Recovering quickly, Peeves cackled and bounced around with an air of maliciousness.
"Nothing, Professor Slimy Snape!" Peeves said as he turned himself upside down.
Lillian's eyes widened at the insult and stared at Snape with a deer-in-the-headlights look.
"I see," Professor Snape said coldly, his dark eyes unreadable. "Then you won't mind leaving if you are in fact not doing anything."
Peeves cackled again and with an audible pop, he vanished as he turned invisible. Normally he wouldn't have been so eager to comply, but he recalled that he was in fact in the Bloody Baron's territory, and even Peeves didn't want to cross the Bloody Baron.
"Hey!" Lillian cried out indignantly at being left behind, and her lips formed into a pout that vanished almost as soon as Professor Snape's cold gaze turned on her. She gulped as Professor Snape's hand flashed out and grabbed a hold of her.
"Foolish child," he growled at her. "Following Peeves. No doubt he'd have led you to disaster or else abandoned you deep in the dungeons."
Lillian winced at the thought, wondering what she'd do if she had gotten lost. It never occurred to her that Peeves wouldn't lead her to Professor Snape.
"I.. I wanted to see you," she said hesitantly to Professor Snape, as he dragged her inside his quarters.
He let go of her hand as soon as they were inside and the door was closed. He had led her through his office, which had a door that led them straight into his quarters. Lillian saw the familiar fireplace and winced at the thought of traveling by fire back to Gilderoy. She hoped that wasn't how they were going back, but the thought of walking all the way back to Gilderoy's quarters was already making her feet hurt.
Snape lead her to a couch and looked down at her imperiously.
"Sit," he commanded and Lillian instantly climbed up onto the couch and sat with her hands in her lap, her feet dangling off the edge as she looked up at Professor Snape with wide eyes.
He sat in an armchair and studied her silently for a moment with a scowl, wondering what the little brat could possibly want with him.
"Well?" he demanded as the silence stretched on.
Lillian jumped a little at the loud sound and took a shaky breath. Trying to keep her words from tumbling over each other in her haste, she began to explain about her memory loss.
It was a few hours before Gilderoy noticed Lillian wasn't cooped up in her room looking at the pictures in her books. His only thought was that children certainly had a knack for causing as much trouble as possible.
After completely searching their quarters, he then searched his office and classroom to no avail. He frowned as he realized just how big Hogwarts was and how very small Lillian was. Several parts of the castle weren't even used anymore and it was very possible Lillian could have stumbled upon something dangerous.
With a sigh, he left the classroom and began to search in earnest. An hour later, he was completely frazzled and speaking frantically to Minerva and Flitwick.
"And I can't find her anywhere!" he said dramatically, flinging an arm out to indicate he had looked everywhere, and couldn't find her.
"That is distressing!" Flitwick exclaimed. "She's such a young girl too!"
"Could you help me find her?" Lockhart asked breathlessly, looking from one teacher to the other.
McGonagall raised an eyebrow at this.
Lockhart usually seemed very calm and collected and tried to seem very knowledgeable about everything. This Lockhart was frantic and instead of insisting he could handle everything himself, he was asking for assistance.
This Lockhart seemed.. human.
"Please, I.. I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to her," Lockhart continued, his voice breaking a little at the end.
McGonagall's expression immediately softened.
"Of course we'll help," she said softly to him.
And so the three of them had organized a little search party. It had been Minerva's idea to alert the portraits, and several of them had told her about the small child that had been seen running after Peeves the poltergeist. Minerva had groaned at that, especially when she had heard that they had gone in the direction of the dungeons.
Professor Snape sat looking at Lillian contemplatively when she had finished her rather short tale. It was highly unusual for so many memories to vanish with a simple memory charm, and Snape had to hide a smirk when Lillian had declared that she had been told that only an accomplished "Legillians" could help her.
"I might be able to help you," Professor Snape finally admitted, his harsh voice unusually soft. "But I wouldn't be able to restore everything at once. I would have to unlock your memories through several sessions throughout the year."
A huge grin spread across Lillian's face as she bounced in her seat excitedly.
"Can we start now?!"
Professor Snape was about to respond but sighed when he heard the screech of an owl coming from his potions lab at the same time that his fireplace flared green with a floo call.
What now?!
Author's Note: I admit it, I'm getting really conflicted about Lillian's guardianship. When I first started this fic, I stuck Lillian with Lockhart for the fun of it and now I'm getting kind of attached. It'll be interesting to see who eventually winds up with custody of her or if Snape will ever open his mail. I can see an increasingly frustrated Stephen Jorkins sitting in his office writing angry letter after angry letter. For those of you wondering about the Guardians or Jack, they will make an appearance, but it won't be until much later in the fic.
For those of you wondering about the weird child table seat thingy, I actually do remember seeing these at some point in my childhood. It was used at a restaurant in place of a highchair for a toddler. I just thought it would be cute/funny to use one for Lillian. I hope I'm also not the only one that's amused by Dumbledore's use of a spork.
Also, on Gilderoy's school career: I made it up. What I found out when I looked up anything about him months ago was that pretty much the only spell he ever mastered was the memory charm. He only ever applied himself to learning anything that was interesting to him and never tried anything unless he was sure he could do it well. I considerd this to be particularly pathetic, so I'm improvising a little. He is, after all, a fully trained wizard. He should be able to do more than that! I'm trying to keep him in character without having him be too annoying. His classes should be a little better than they are in the books.
The next chapter will feature Gilderoy being away for his book signing (I won't force you to watch it again, but we might peek in on it a little) and some more of Lillian interacting with Snape. Peeves will definitely be popping up more in the fic and there will be some Weasley twin action in there somewhere, but not until later on in the fic. The plan is to have the rest of the break in the next chapter and then hopefully at least the Welcoming Feast. We'll see!
As always, any feedbck/suggestions/whatever is appreciated! Much thanks to the follows/faves as you inspire me to continue on writing, along with my reviewers!