Author's Note: Sorry that this took a little longer to get out than I originally thought. I had a small writer's block when all of Hogwarts lay open to Lillian and I had to decide what sort of mischief she should get into. For those of you who have me on author alert, you'll notice that my muse totally wandered off in a different direction. Whoops? Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Reviews:

Fenghuang0296: Thanks! :)

Crossover Junkie: That's precisely why I had Lillian so drawn to go outside. I figured Seasonals don't like being cooped up a lot and to go from being outside all the time to essentially being locked up in a castle 24/7 would be very stifling for her. That is an interesting thought about boggarts. I have read fanfniction before where the boggarts are actually creations of Pitch's, but I don't think that will be the case here. I'm thinking they'll be magical creatures that happen to work in Pitch's favor in terms of fear. I can imagine Pitch would be especially affected by them, but being used to working with fear so much would also enable him to better counteract them. Hm! I'll have to think more about that.

M.v.j.M.: If by "soon" you meant 11 days later, then yes! Soon!

KijoKuroi: Thanks. :) I thought later on that Snape's actions were a bit OOC, but oh well. It's hard to keep him in character.

SimpleWritter44: Lol! I'm glad that this was the one bright spot in the horror that is your finals, but I hope it didn't distract you too much.

Now on with the story!

Chapter Eleven: The Whomping Willow

Lillian didn't have much time to contemplate going outside before Gilderoy was calling out to her that his next class was going to be starting soon. She sighed as she gave the outside one last wistful look and turned to leave her room and their quarters, to head back into Gilderoy's classroom.

To Lillian's complete and utter boredom, Gilderoy gave all his classes a quiz and spent the whole class time going over them as he subtly pointed out helpful things in his books that pertained to the test. After that, he gave the class a reading assignment and sent them on their way. Lillian had at first been interested in the classes, but after mostly hearing the same things over and over, she started tuning out Professor Lockhart and read her own books. By the time the last class of the day had rolled around, she was doodling on a piece of parchment with a quill looking as if she could fall asleep from boredom.

And so the next few days persisted in much the same way, and much to her disgust, Lillian hadn't yet had an opportunity to sneak outside. In fact, she didn't have any chance whatsoever until that Saturday when Professor Lockhart took the opportunity to sleep in for a change. Lillian, who was always an early riser, had woken up when the sky was just turning pink.

She grinned to herself at her amazing plan. She could sneak outside, play around for a few hours and then be back in their quarters before Gilderoy would even wake up. It was perfect.

And because she was not going to the dungeons, there was absolutely no chance that she would get lost. She hastily got dressed in her favorite pink dress and put on a black cloak (to be stealthy, although Gilderoy would be appalled that she was pairing a pastel pink dress with such a dark color) as she knew the morning air would be chilly. She completed her outfit by brushing her curls and tying them back with a matching pink ribbon.

She very quietly tiptoed out from her room after putting her shoes on and was happy when she heard faint snores coming from Gilderoy's room. She had to cover her mouth to stop a giggle, he would have no idea!

Her plan was going perfectly until she reached the Entrance Hall.

"What are you doing here?" an amused voice asked her.

Lillian whirled around to see none other than Harry Potter looking at her with his broomstick slung over a shoulder. He was wearing robes that were different from his school ones, she noticed.

"Ah.." Lillian said as she fidgeted guiltily. "I was going outside."

"By yourself?" Harry asked as he adjusted his glasses. He had a feeling that Professor Lockhart wouldn't be happy about that.

"Ohh, you can come sit with me!" Colin piped up happily. He had been standing next to Harry as Harry spoke to Lillian. "I was going to watch Harry practice Quidditch!"

"What's that?" Lillian asked. She thought Gilderoy might have mentioned it once, but she couldn't remember.

"It's amazing!" Colin said breathlessly. "It's a game played in the air on broomsticks!"

"Wow!" Lillian said as her eyes went wide with excitement.

"C'mon!" Colin said as he grabbed her hand and dragged her outside.

Harry shook his head at the pair, but he had to get to the locker rooms. Wood would be wondering what kept him.

A few minutes later, Colin was seated with Lillian in the stands at a perfect place to get pictures from.

"I haven't gotten any pictures of Harry yet, but I just know if I manage to get a good one that he'll sign it for me," Colin confided in Lillian.

Lillian nodded absently as she looked around. Where was everyone? As she looked down at the field below, she could clearly see a line of spring flowers that went in the direction of the stands.

Whoops.

She waited patiently (or impatiently) for Harry and his team to make their grand entrance, but now ten minutes had gone by and still no one was coming out. Colin wasn't helping matters either as he prattled on and on and on..

Lillian glanced at him. She had at first been participating in the conversation, but as she grew more restless had stopped saying anything at all and he still kept prattling on forever and showed no signs of stopping.

Wizards! Lillian thought irritably to herself and then paused. Wasn't she a wizard too? Er.. a witch?

She frowned to herself and then shrugged. She could curse wizards if she wanted to. A lot of them seemed pretty silly to her anyway.

Another glance at Colin told her he probably wouldn't mind if she wandered away. Besides, she really didn't want to waste all her outdoor time waiting for Harry. She noticed that the sky was growing ever brighter and that she should probably be inside not long after it had fully risen or else she would get caught by either Gilderoy or someone else.

She crawled unnoticed into the row behind Colin and stealthily snuck away and down the stairs as she left the Gryffindor side of the stands. She looked at her flowers in dismay and concentrated hard on them. She thought very, very hard about them going away, but they didn't do anything at all. With a sigh, Lillian walked carefully around the edge of the pitch. Hopefully, no one would notice her flowers then.

She looked around once she had cleared the pitch to see where she wanted to go. She soon spotted the greenhouses and started to head in that direction, but something waving in the distance caught her attention instead. She realized that it was a rather large tree, but some of its branches looked like they had bandages on it.

A small part of her wanted to laugh at the absurdness of this, but the rest of her was more concerned about the tree. What had hurt it so badly? Would it be alright? Letting her concern overtake her better judgment, she hurried off to the tree, a trail of spring flowers sprouting up from the ground in her wake.

As she approached the tree, it started to wave the branches that weren't bandaged around in agitation, but she just frowned at it and placed her hands on her hips, not noticing as she did so that her bracelet glowed a little.

"Shame on you!" she scolded the tree. "You should be a nice tree and not attack kids!"

The tree, of course, couldn't speak but it could recognize the spring magic pouring off of little Lillian. If trees could be surprised, this one certainly would be. Wasn't it Autumn?

The tree wouldn't dare to hurt a Seasonal, however, and settled down at once as it stopped trying to flail its branches at Lillian.

As Lillian calmed down, her bracelet stopped glowing. Now that the tree had settled down she was much happier. She smiled at it and eagerly ran up to it.

"You're such a good tree!" she cooed at it. "Yes, you are!"

As she spoke she gently patted the trunk. She blinked suddenly and jerked her hand away from the trunk. She stared down at her hand, which almost looked.. red.

Why was it red?

Frowning a little, she placed her palm back on the trunk. She whimpered a little as she felt something awful. When she pulled her hand away again, she noticed her hand was redder than before and she stared wide-eyed at it.

She looked from her palm back to the tree and then back to her palm.

Could she feel its pain?[1]

Her face fell as she looked distraught. The tree must hurt so much because her hand was certainly hurting her when she touched the tree. With a sniffle, she looked back at the tree. Tears filled her eyes and she flung her arms out suddenly at the tree as she wrapped it as best she could in a hug.

The tree froze for a moment, perhaps at the shock of actually being hugged by a human, but then it gently lowered its nearest branches to Lillian and gently wrapped them around her, touched by her concern.

As Lillian cried for the poor tree, her bracelet unconsciously began to glow again and the Whomping Willow could feel the Seasonal magic pouring out of Lillian and into itself.

Lillian hiccuped and stopped crying when she looked down and suddenly noticed a bunch of spring flowers blooming down at the base of the tree. She looked confused, but then a bright glow caught her eye and she looked over to notice that her bracelet was glowing.

Lillian gave a huge gasp of surprise, but almost as soon as she noticed it, it stopped glowing. Lillian stared in shock at her bracelet, which now glittered innocently in the sunlight as it looked as ordinary as ever. She looked at her bracelet and then back to the tree, who gently pat her on the back with a branch as it released her from its embrace.

When she pulled away from the tree this time, Lillian noticed that the pain seemed to be much less than it was before. Had she used her magic to help the tree? She looked back up at the tree again, as its branches swayed innocently and she smiled.

"I'm glad you're better, Mr. Tree," she said softly to it.

Lillian let out a surprised shriek followed by a giggle when one of its branches swooped down under her and lifted her into the air. Her legs were straddling it and she laughed as it began to swing back and forth with her along for the ride.

While Lillian was playing with the Whomping Willow, she never noticed how much lighter the sky was getting or how the sun had risen. While Harry was finally getting outside to start his practice, Gilderoy Lockhart was frantic.

He had woken yet again to see that little Lillian was gone. This was so not good. What sort of guardian lost their child twice?

Trying to save his reputation by not sounding the alarm at once, he decided to check down at the Great Hall to see if Lillian went to grab some breakfast for herself. He didn't really think so, but desperation made him decide that it was a possibility, so he hastily got dressed and put only a dollop of hair potion in his hair, instead of the usual two, since he was in such a rush.

He dashed down the stairs and was nearly at the entrance to the Great Hall when he ran headlong into someone.

"Do watch where you're going," Professor Snape snapped irritably at Lockhart.

Lockhart gulped and gave a nervous smile to Professor Snape, the absolute last person he wanted to see when he had lost little Lillian again.

"Sorry, Severus," Lockhart said nervously as he straightened his own robes.

Professor Snape took in Lockhart's nervous state and then arched an eyebrow at him.

"Where, exactly, is your charge?" he asked with a sneer.

"Ah," Lockhart said as he flashed another nervous smile at Professor Snape. "I believe.. She's.. ah.."

Professor Snape narrowed his eyes in suspicion at Lockhart.

"Don't tell me you've managed to lose her again," he said in a dangerous tone.

"Y-you see," Lockhart stammered, "the thing is.. is.."

Before Professor Snape could go on a tirade on how imbecilic he was for losing a small child twice, the large front doors of the castle burst open as an older Gryffindor student rushed inside.

"PROFESSOR!" he cried out as he rushed up to both Snape and Lockhart. "You have to help her!"

Instead of yelling at Lockhart, Professor Snape directed his sneer at the rash Gryffindor.

"What are you yelling about?" he sneered, giving the Gryffindor one of his more frightening glares.

The Gryffindor, which turned out to be Lee Jordan, pointed at Lockhart frantically.

"His kid's getting attacked by the Whomping Willow!"

Oliver Wood had been outraged when their practice had been cut short by the Slytherin Quidditch team storming the field.

"I booked the field!" he raged at the Slytherin Quidditch Captain, Marcus Flint, as he landed with the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. "I booked it!"

"Ah," Flint said with a smirk, as he produced a note from his robe pocket. "But I have a note specially signed from Professor Snape."

As Flint read the note out loud, the rest of the Slytherin team parted to reveal none other than Draco Malfoy, who had a huge smirk on his face.

Harry glared angrily at them as Ron, Hermione, and Colin stormed up to join them.

"Oh, look," Flint drawled, "A field invasion."

"What's he doing here?" Ron asked in disgust as he spotted Malfoy.

It was shortly after Malfoy nearly got cursed by Ron that they all heard a shrill shriek. All the students stared at one another frantically (yes, even the Slytherins) except for Ron, who began to vomit slugs everywhere.

Luckily they had Hermione there to take charge, as in this situation she was able to keep her head. She turned to Oliver Wood as she avoided the slugs pouring out of Ron.

"You go see what that was and we'll take care of Ron," she said to the older Gryffindor.

Oliver nodded and looked relieved that he wouldn't have to have anything to do with the whole vomiting slugs situation.

"Ohh, hold him still Harry!" Colin eagerly said as he began to click away with his camera.

"We don't want a picture, Colin!" Harry said angrily as he bravely grabbed a hold of Ron and began to help him towards Hagrid's hut. "C'mon, Hagrid's is closest."

Colin's face fell at that but perked up when he saw that Oliver Wood and the rest of the team were hurrying toward where they had heard the shriek coming from. He patted his trusty camera and hurried after them, leaving the Slytherins to themselves.

Flint glanced at the Gryffindors rushing off to face who-knew-what and scoffed.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" he said gruffly to his team.

Draco glanced at the retreating backs of the Gryffindor team but dutifully mounted his broom as he began to get ready for practice.

Oliver put on a spurt of speed as he rushed to the sound and realized that they were headed right for the Whomping Willow.

"Lee!" Oliver cried out, calling to Lee Jordan who had joined the spectators during practice and had been waiting for the twins to be done. "Go get someone! That was Lockhart's kid we heard and we're heading right for the Whomping Willow!"

Lee Jordan nodded as he stopped in his tracks and reversed back to the castle.

"Right!" he called as he ran as fast as he could.

By the time he returned with Professors Snape and Lockhart, the whole Gryffindor Quidditch team was standing near the Whomping Willow with their jaws dropped, staring in surprise at what they saw.

Both Snape and Lockhart had their wands drawn, but what good they would do against a tree, they didn't know.

"What is going on?!" Professor Snape demanded as he stared at the spectacle that was Lillian.

She was perched on a branch and was giggling uncontrollably as the branch gently swung her back and forth.

"Higher!" she called out to the Whomping Willow, who obliged by swinging its branch a little more forcefully, swinging little Lillian higher in the air.

"L-Lillian!" Lockhart gasped out with wide eyes.

As soon as she heard Lockhart, both Lillian and the Whomping Willow froze as Lillian turned to stare at their audience guiltily.

Lillian paled when she saw both Gilderoy and Professor Snape were there.

"What are you doing?!" Lockhart cried, worry etched into every syllable. "Get down from there!"

Lillian flinched at his tone and the Whomping Willow started to pull Lillian away from the perceived threat, but she patted its branch.

"It's ok," she told it softly.

The branch paused, as if uncertain, but as Lillian continued to pat it soothingly it slowly lowered Lillian to the ground.

Once she was close enough to the ground, she easily slipped off and landed on her feet. She very reluctantly shuffled her way over to Professors Lockhart and Snape and as soon as she was out of harm's way, she was snatched up in a pair of arms.

"Idiot girl!" Snape snarled at her as he began to check her over for any injury. "What a foolish thing to do! Do you realize what that tree could have done to you?!"

The Whomping Willow, having heard this, began to wave its branches around in agitation at the implication that it would dare to harm a Seasonal. Unfortunately, as most people didn't realize that magical plants had feelings, all they saw was how dangerous it was and hastened to move away from it.

"Severus, as Lillian is still my charge - " Lockhart began hesitantly, but Snape had had enough.

He glared angrily at Lockhart.

"If you think for one moment that I'm about to let someone as feeble-minded as you look after my cousin, then you have another thing coming!" Snape declared with a dramatic swish of his cloak as he turned and began to storm off to the castle with Lillian in his arms.

Lillian looked up at Professor Snape in distress to Professor Lockhart, who had started after them.

"W-Wait!" Lockhart cried out. "Severus!"

As the Gryffindor Quidditch team all watched this with wide eyes, two of its members spoke up.

"Professor Snape - "

" - has a cousin?" the Weasley twins asked faintly.

Lunch that day was particularly interesting, as Harry, Ron, and Hermione entered the Great Hall. As Harry's gaze swept up automatically to the staff table, he noticed instantly little Lillian was seated next to Professor Snape, who was glaring ominously down the table to Lockhart, who was looking particularly depressed. Lillian herself had tears silently slipping down her cheeks as she sat on an enormous pillow which had been transfigured for her from a sympathetic McGonagall, as she had entered before the trio after giving Harry and Ron the details of their detention.

Lillian looked down at her lap as her lunch, which consisted of a thick ham and cheese sandwich and soup, sat untouched.

A small sob drew Professor Snape's gaze away from Lockhart and he looked down at little Lillian, who looked very upset. He sighed softly as he thought about what he should do. Obviously, the child cared deeply for the idiot, but she could not be allowed to remain in his care, not when he had lost her twice already.

She could have died for Merlin's sake!

Mind resolute, Professor Snape picked Lillian up into his arms as soon as lunch was finished and stalked past Lockhart.

"A word," he said tersely to the Professor.

Lockhart looked up a little hopefully as he followed after Professor Snape out of the Great Hall and down to the dungeons.

Harry exchanged a look with Ron and Hermione.

"What was all that about?" he asked, but as he did so Fred and George came over, each twin budging Ron and Hermione over so that they could sit on either side of Harry.

"You missed - " Fred began,

" - everything!" George finished.

"Professor Snape swooped in - " Fred continued,

" - like an overgrown bat, mind you, " George finished for his twin with a grin,

" - and snatched up Lillian - "

" - after yelling at Lockhart - "

" - saying that an idiot like him -"

" - couldn't watch his cousin - "

"Wait!" Harry interrupted, getting slightly dizzy from the tennis match that was watching the twins speak from either side of him. "She's Professor Snape's cousin?"

Down in the dungeons, Lillian was placed on the couch and soon she, Lockhart, and Professor Snape all had a steaming cup of tea on a saucer.

Lillian looked down at her cup and felt her heart clench as she remembered sitting at a strange table with another dark-haired man, drinking tea in much happier circumstances. Never had she ever felt so lost, and so homesick before.

She went to take a sip of tea, but her hands were trembling too much, so she gingerly set the cup back down on its saucer, which was sitting on a low coffee table in front of the couch.

Before Professor Snape could even open his mouth to begin speaking, Lillian had burst into tears again.

"It's all my fault!" she sobbed. "I knew I shouldn't have snuck out, but I just wanted to go outside! I'm so sorry! I won't ever do it again! Please let me stay with Gilderoy!"

"Lillian," Gilderoy said, his voice breaking. He never knew that she cared so much for him, and now he was just realizing how very empty his life would be without her.

Professor Snape looked down at his little cousin and felt perhaps, the tiniest bit of guilt. He probably should have found a better way to bring this situation about, but it was overdue. He was, after all, the child's true guardian while Lockhart was merely a substitute. That's why he was a temporary guardian. It was never set in stone that she would be with the fool forever.

As Lillian continued to sob, her bracelet began to glow yet again and all of them jumped at the loud crack of thunder.

"Not again!" Lockhart said as he put his head in his hands.

"What do you mean?" Professor Snape asked as he noticed the glowing bracelet out of the corner of his eye. Apparently, Lockhart and the child were too distraught to notice.

"It's her accidental magic," Lockhart said miserably. "Whenever she gets upset, it acts up and keeps causing it to rain."

Professor Snape's sharp gaze went from Lockhart to Lillian.

The Seasonals are about.

Could this mean..?

His revelation was cut short, however, when Lillian's cries took on a more hysterical pitch. He swiftly stood and disappeared into his potions lab for a moment and returned with a vial of calming draught. He put a healthy dose into her tea and pushed the cup into her hands.

"Drink," he said softly to her. "It'll help."

Sniffling as she did so, Lillian took a small sip of tea and instantly felt calmer.

Noting with a roll of his eyes that Lockhart was fairing no better (although his eyes were dry), Professor Snape put a dollop of calming draught into Lockhart's tea and shoved the cup into his hands.

Murmuring his thanks, Lockhart took a shaky sip of tea.

"Now," Professor Snape said as he took a deep breath and took a calming sip of his own tea. "You know, Lockhart, that I am Lillian's rightful guardian."

Lockhart shot Professor Snape an irritable glance over the rim of his teacup, despite the calming draught.

"You only know that because of the howler," he muttered. "You couldn't even open your mail."

Professor Snape valiantly ignored the jibe.

"I think that in light of this latest.. incident.. that it would be prudent of me to take custody of Lillian at once."

"No!" Lillian cried out as she almost dropped her teacup.

"Whether or not you would wish it were otherwise," Professor Snape said to Lillian with an unreadable expression, "I am your only living relative. Therefore, your guardianship would naturally fall to me."

Lillian opened her mouth to further protest, but Professor Snape interrupted.

"However," he said testily as he cut her off, "I see no reason to cut you off entirely from Lockhart. Seeing as I need to add an extra room to my quarters for you, you can remain with him for the time being. But at the first sign of any trouble or doubt to your well-being, I will make certain that you never see him again. Is that clear?"

Both Lillian and Professor Lockhart nodded their heads at this and Professor Snape snorted as he took another sip of tea.

Dinner was a much quieter affair with Lillian sitting back in the accursed seat attached to the table by Gilderoy, but she was much too happy to be back with him to care about it too much. She noticed Harry kept looking over at her so she smiled at him happily and waved.

Harry was relieved to see that Lillian was looking much happier and gave her a small wave back. All too soon dinner was over and it wasn't long before Harry found himself dragging his feet to Professor Lockhart's office.

Lillian, however, found herself back in the dungeons. She thought Professor Snape didn't have enough time to get a room ready for her. She thought she'd be spending a few days with Professor Lockhart at least.

She looked over at Professor Snape curiously from her spot on the couch.

"How come I'm down here?" she asked him.

"Professor Lockhart had to oversee a detention, and I seem to recall an inquisitive child like you can't be left alone for even five minutes."

Lillian blushed at the accusing tone of Professor Snape's voice.

"I can too!" she said, but even to her, it sounded feeble.

Professor Snape shook his head and before Lillian knew it, her dress had been transfigured into another emerald green nightgown. She blinked as she looked down at it and therefore missed Professor Snape fetching her the green and silver blanket from the couch.

"I'm afraid that you'll have to spend the night out here, seeing as I still lack adequate supplies for you," Professor Snape said as Lillian's eyes wandered over to the hallway that housed the other doors of Professor Snape's quarters.

She thought she could see an extra door there, but realized that Professor Snape probably didn't have a bed or anything else for her. She tilted her head curiously at it before turning to look at Professor Snape as she wrapped herself up in the warm and fuzzy blanket.

"Why don't you borrow Gilderoy's stuff?" she asked.

Professor Snape started to scoff, but Lillian cut him off.

"What else is he going to do with it?" she asked him logically.

Professor Snape knew this was true, but he wasn't about to ask that moron for anything, or admit that he lacked anything in terms of Lillian's care.

"We'll see," he replied as Lillian huffed at his response.

She remembered hearing this quite a few times and wondered if all adults had to say this.

They probably have it in a handbook, she grouched as she went to get more comfortable.

Edit: I forget everything! I swear!

[1] This was borrowed from Ferngully: The Last Rainforest where Crysta is able to touch a tree and feel its pain. This is also where Lillian gets her ability to have spring flowers magically sprout up behind her when she walks.

Author's Note: I swear, my only thought was "Lillian should go see the Whomping Willow, it would be so cute!" It's not my fault that everyone freaked out and got the wrong idea from it. Really. When I was writing the scene I didn't predict that it would cause so much drama. Or that Professor Snape would be so fiercely protective of his last living relative. (So far as he knows.) I was peeking at the book in terms of where the plot heads and I think it pretty much just skips right up until October/Halloween so the next few chapters will probably be leading up to that. We'll see how Lillian gets settled in with Professor Snape and how Professor Snape deals with Lockhart still in the picture. Honestly, the thought of them both having a sort of an unwilling shared custody with Lillian is really adorable.

For those of you who are disappointed that the Harry Potter parts are pretty much going along the same as cannon at this point, don't worry. I'll change things up. And for those of you who are appalled at me skipping such an important scene in the book (Harry's detention), we'll see that in the beginning of the next chapter. I also glossed over the fight with Malfoy because we all know what's said and the less lines I have from the book in this, the better! Also, on the Slytherins: I figured they would be worried about Lillian in the sense that they don't want a child to get hurt, but Flint wouldn't be worried enough to actually do anything, thus his forcing his team to continue on with practice.

As always, if you guys have any suggestions/comments please feel free to let me know! I also want to give a special shoutout to all the follows/favs!

Edit: Fixed a huge plothole. Whoops!