Chapter 4
4th September 1994
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All six of them were almost late to their afternoon lesson, quickly piling into the room of their Slytherin and Gryffindor classmates. They found seats in the back corner and took their books, a copy of The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection, out.
"Thank fuck," Blaise muttered as he slouched back in his chair, "I can't image being late to Moody's lesson. What kind of punishment do you reckon he'd give us?"
Draco frowned, "Some sort of detention which teaches us a lesson. And not in a good way."
"Since when did we ever have detention in a good way?"
"When everyone had to do that stupid assembly about wand safety," Lilith said, "And we got to stay with Dad and do extra potion stuff."
Blaise snapped his fingers, "I was so glad I missed that. Apparently the assembly was so boring, a couple people fell asleep and then got detention for it." He laughed, suddenly stopping as the doors slammed open.
The otherwise low volume classroom went silent, all of them turning to face the newest addition to the Hogwarts staff.
The way he unintentionally announced himself was through his distinctive footsteps, echoing in the halls as he thunked his way to the classroom.
"You can put those away," He said, stamping over to his desk and sitting down. He clasped his hands onto the side of the desk before taking out register. "Those books. You won't need them."
He looked through the list, pinpointing each student to their Magical parents if he knew of them. He called through them quickly.
"Right then," Moody started after the last person had declared themselves present, "I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Seems you've had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling Dark creatures — you've covered Boggarts, Red Caps, Hinkypunks, Grindylows, Kappas, and Werewolves, is that right?"
Everyone murmured with agreement, none of them wanting to fully speak.
Lilith sent a look to her friends, a silent communication of is he being serious? And received a silent snicker or two. They made sure to not talk, already knowing from some of the other years that Moody liked to target students who didn't pay attention.
"But you're behind, very behind on dealing with curses," Moody grumbled. "So I'm here to bring you up to scratch on what wizards can do to each other. I've got one year to teach you how to deal with Dark —"
"What?" Ron Weasley blurted out loudly, "Aren't you staying?"
"You'll be Arthur Weasley's son, eh?" Moody grinned, contorting his scarred face. "Your father got me out of a very tight corner a few days ago. Yeah, I'm staying for just one year. Special favour to Dumbledore… One year, and then back to my quiet retirement."
Theo pressed his fingertips to his lips before smacking a tiny, dramatic sound of thank you to Magic. He really didn't want Moody as a teacher, the whole group knew. They had to try and not laugh.
"So, straight into it!" Moody said, " Curses. They come in many strengths and forms. Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, I'm supposed to teach you countercurses and leave it at that. I'm not supposed to show you what illegal Dark curses look like until you're in the sixth year. You're not supposed to be old enough to deal with it till then. But Professor Dumbledore's got a higher opinion of your nerves, he reckons you can cope, and I say, the sooner you know what you're up against, the better.
"How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you've never seen? A wizard who's about to put an illegal curse on you isn't going to tell you what he's about to do. He's not going to do it nice and polite to your face. You need to be prepared. You need to be alert and watchful. You need to put that away, Miss Brown, when I'm talking!"
Lavender Brown pouted, shoving her horoscope into her bag as Parvati Patil nudged her. Everyone snickered but stopped as soon as Moody raised a deformed eyebrow.
Moody paused. "So…do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?"
Of course, as any prejudiced person would expect of any Slytherin, they already knew that the Unforgivables were a part of the heavily punished Magic. But they were not the Forbidden ones.
Weasley raised a hand, "Er, my dad told me about one. Is it called the Imperius Curse, or something?"
"Ah, yes. Your father would know that one. Gave the Ministry a lot of trouble at one time, the Imperius Curse. Total control," Moody summoned one of the jars that held a spider, using the Curse to control the spider as it balled upon itself. "I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats…"
Lilith almost gagged at the spider. She didn't liked spiders since second year, and didn't even tolerate them before that. They were beady eyed and had too many legs. But somehow she could tolerate centipedes.
"Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse. Some job for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was being forced to act, and who was acting of their own free will. The Imperius Curse can be fought, and I'll be teaching you how, but it takes real strength of character, and not everyone's got it. Better avoid being hit with it if you can. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" He almost smiled again when everyone flinched. "Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?"
None of the Slytherins raised their hands, letting the Gryffindors speak. They already knew that if they said anything about the Unforgivable curses, it would be used as fuel to ridicule them as being Dark Wixen. They were taunted enough as it was.
Neville Longbottom slowly raised a hand, dropping it into his lap as soon as he was picked.
"There's one, the Cruciatus Curse," Neville said in a low voice.
Turning back to the class at large, Moody reached into the jar for the next spider and placed it upon the desktop, where it remained motionless, apparently too scared to move.
Lilith had to brace herself. She already knew what he was going to do to the thing.
"The Cruciatus Curse. Needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea," Moody said, pointing his wand at the spider. "Engorgio!"
The new spider swelled until it was larger than a tarantula.
Moody raised his wand and pointed it at the spider, and hissed, "Crucio!"
The spider twitched in Moody's grip, squirming and trying to escape his hand. It twitched violently, shuddering and making distorted movements.
"Stop it!" Granger said loudly, her voice high-pitched as she looked at Neville.
Lilith's hands were stark white against the arms of her chair, tightly gripping it. Longbottom was worse, gone pale and looking ready to pass out.
"Sir," Blaise stood up, getting Moody's attention, "You need to stop."
He grumbled, before reducing the size of the spider and waving a hand for Blaise to sit.
"Pain," Moody said, "You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse… That one was very popular once too. Right… Anyone know any others?"
Lilith took a breath in deeply before speaking up. "Avada Kedavra. The third of the Unforgivables."
The Gryffindors looked over at her in surprise, some in disgust and others in completely unease.
"What's your name?"
"Lilith Potter-Snape," She made sure her face was unreadable as she sat up in her chair.
"Of course," His Magical eye glanced to her green tie and crest, then to the ring on her hand. "You'd know about this one."
The flash of blinding green light, the hiss of Magic, and the cold scent of death. It was all enough to send Lilith into a panic. Her chest was tight, shuddering with unnatural chills from being forced to remember a night she tried to forget.
Images flashed before her vision, all distorted in the same green flash.
Mum. Dad.
Screams.
Dead.
Corpses.
Anger.
White.
Grey.
Black.
Serpent.
Man.
Darkness.
Death.
Daphne forced her hand into hers, gripping it tightly as she saw how pale Lilith went.
"Not nice," He scraped the spider off his desk. "Not pleasant. And there's no countercurse. There's no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it, and she's sitting in front of me."
Lilith turned to her friends for only a split second, and plainly muttered, "I'm going to be sick."
The group of six stood up simultaneously, their chairs scraping backwards as they herded her out.
"What do you think—" Moody began.
"She's going to panic," Pansy almost snapped at him. "If she panics and you don't let her leave, you're going to have words with Snape."
Moody scowled, waving them out. "You'll be getting detention for leaving."
Lilith took a single glance back, her eyes on one of the jaws. It exploded the moment she left the room, shattering loudly and startling everyone.
)(-)(
Her friends left her in the Chamber, letting her be alone as she let the chaotic Magic wash over her.
Her heart was racing. Her skin hot to the touch with the electricity of Magic running through her.
She had to keep her Magic to herself, keep it inside and not let it out until she was in the safety of the Chamber.
Baron, her Basilisk, wrapped himself around her, curling until she was shielded within his little nest of scales. This was one of very few ways for her to let out her anxious Magic without causing damage. It only happened when she panicked and she didn't panic often, but when she did…
Well, Severus figured out the best methods to keep the damages contained to an area.
All she could do was cry and cuddle Ares.
That was the spell which killed her father.
He refused Voldemort.
It was the spell Lily Potter had taken so her daughter could survive.
The spell that scarred her.
The spell which would forever haunt her.
The images from before repeated each time she blinked. Even if she closed her eyes she could see them.
The red eyes of Voldemort were dead and cold.
Some of the images merged.
Mum and Dad.
Corpses.
Scream of anger.
Greenlight.
Snake man.
Pain.
And then darkness.
Lilith just hugged Ares tighter and the Familiar let her, grumbling a little when she went too tight but otherwise let her do what she wanted. He huffed in her face a couple times to keep her awake.
A single tut from outside the curling nest of basilisk scales made her pause. Baron uncurlled himself from around her, slowly putting her down on the futon as Severus came up to her.
He sighed, bringing up a hand to wipe at her cheek, "How do you feel? Your friends told me what happened."
She pouted, making him wrap his arms around her for some comfort. She nuzzled her face into his chest, hugging him tightly as she smothered her words.
"I'm not panicking anymore," She said. "And all I destroyed was a jar. On purpose."
"I know," He laughed. "You startled Moody."
She scowled, "Good."
"Okay, young lady," He sighed, bringing her out of the hug. "You look like a racoon."
She laughed, rubbing at her eyes, "I guess I forgot the permeance glamour."
"That you did. Fix your makeup, straighten your uniform," He said, waiting for her to do so in front of him. "We'll go down to my lab to help calm you down some more."
Lilith rubbed at her eyes with her thumb, gently pressing over each eyelid until the smidge of eyeliner and mascara she had on were clean, straight lines. The rest of the mess faded away and the redness of her eyes left. She straightened her tie, the rest of her uniform quickly doing it by Magic as it pulled the shirt down until it was smooth and wrinkle free. She wore a robe instead of a blazer, the hems going down to her calves with
"There you go," He said, looking down warmly at her. "Now we can go. We don't need anyone thinking you were crying."
They went through the halls of Hogwarts, easily getting down to his private labs within minutes. There were a vast amount of secret corridors and passages throughout the school, and Lilith had found most of them as a child.
She sat on a stool, laying her head on her arms and curling around a journal. A small caldron to the side simmered away as she was writing away in her journal.
It was a habit of hers, doing making a potion to calm her nerves as that was what Severus had done when she was younger. She was entranced by the swirling colours and sights, easily calming down.
A cup of freshly brewed coffee was placed next to her.
"Drink," Severus frowned. "You're exhausted. This and then a Pepperup Potion, please. We'll go down to dinner in ten minutes. How is the potion coming along?"
She smiled, taking the coffee before sipping it. She pushed the journal, letting a tiny gush of wind take it over to him. "Is this right? I'm doing an alteration in the Hiccuping Potion. I changed the order of the honeycomb and frozen honey, finding that if the frozen honey is cubed so they weigh about fifty grams and put in after the honeycomb, there isn't a need for a hundred grams of it."
He looked at her curvy writing, a little messy as she scrawled it between the lines. He compared it to his old potion book, one he had found again a few years agp. Originally, the potion didn't have honeycomb in it, only two hundred grams of honey. He was able to alter it so it only needed a hundred and now she had found a way to half it again.
"And to counteract the glucose?"
"Lemon shavings," She picked up the half-shaved lemon. "Acidity would bring down the levels but aggravate the throat, making the potion more effective in causing hiccups."
"Good." He nodded only once. "Bottle it and we will go down to the Great Hall."
)(-)(
As they always did, they came into the Great Hall with a flourish of their black robes.
A couple groups of people turned to watch them strut in, but they soon turned back to their dinner as the Snapes parted halfway.
Lilith sat down at her customary chair, nearest the Fifth years and across from Draco.
"I'm fine," She said as soon as she sat down, her plate filling up straight away.
Draco gave her an expectant look, "You sure?"
"Yes."
He dropped that topic, picking up his goblet before leaning in a little, "Right. Rumours have been that the Weasley twins are definitely going to try and get into the tournament."
"Really?" She asked, putting a forkful of food into her mouth and chewed.
"Yeah," Pansy said. "Weasley, our year, was bragging about it during the lesson. He almost got caught by Moody so he's in a bit of a mood again."
Theo rolled his eyes, "When isn't he in a mood?"
"Exactly," Blaise almost snorted. "What do we have tomorrow morning?"
"History with Gryffindor," Daphne said instantly before her voice was dripping with sarcasm, "Highlight of our week."
"Fuck that," Theo groaned. "Gryffindor again? Then what?"
"Herbology with Ravenclaw, and then Potions with Gryffindor again."
Pansy grabbed Theo's plate, letting his forehead hit the table instead of his food before she was tempted to push it into his face. She gently put it back in place.
"Stop banging your head on the table," She said. "Or I'll let you faceplant it next time."
"Ah, you love me truly," He snickered, jumping when she stomped on his foot firmly. "Ouch!"
"Asshole," Pansy said as the rest of them laughed.
)(-)(
5th September 1994
)(-)(
Early Friday morning, Lilith emptied the bag of quills on Minerva's desk.
The older Witch sighed, taking off her reading glasses.
"Again, Lilith?" She asked, looking down at the dozen broken quills. "How can you go through so many quills in a week is unknown. Would you like your pen?"
Lilith grinned, teeth sharp and almost feral as Minerva opened her desk drawer and pulled out a fountain pen.
It was a beauitful navy colour with silver and gold detailing. A gift from Remus and Sirius for when she started Hogwarts even though pens weren't usually allowed in Hogwarts. Lilith had the tendency to break her quills with how fast she would write. It didn't matter that the quills had an unbreaking charm, she would write quick enough to break the tips or the spine.
Minerva knew the rules, and both she and Severus tried to condition Lilith into using quills without breaking them. It never worked but they tried again each term before relenting and letting the young Witch receive her pen allowance again. Pens weren't as breakable as quills and Lilith handled them easier.
"Thank you!" Lilith left with her pen, and the multitude of conjured copies Minerva made sure to have.
)(-)(