I've had some reviews asking why Selina wouldn't just escape. You'll find out in this chapter. Memories are in italics.
The Cat.
Memories.
" How is my child?"
Lily pushed away from him, knowing it was a bad idea but far from caring. She still kept her back to him, she had no real desire to look at him, and if she was killed in a temper tantrum then so much the better. " I don't even know if I'm pregnant at the moment."
The sneer in Voldemort's voice cut through her excuse. " After all the times I put you in your place?"
Lily swung round, her infamous temper getting the better of her. " You mean all the times you raped me, don't you?"
Voldemort smirked, enjoying her fury. " Why yes."
" How do your followers feel about you, an almighty pureblood lord raping an innocent girl and ripping her life away? Oh, wait, I forgot," Lily sneered at him. " You're not a pureblood, and you're nothing but a jumped up nobody."
Voldemort's enjoyment faded. " Silence."
But Lily wouldn't stop. " No, I won't stop. Your a nothing, just some jumped little half blood. You an inch above me in that regard, aren't you? How are you better than me? I hope your mother's watching you with disgust on her face, 'cause if I meet her I'll bloody murder her for even getting that muggle to knock her up." She looked him up and down, knowing he was getting angrier with every syllable that came from her mouth, but she couldn't care. " What a wonderful thing for a pureblood to boast about, oh sorry, I mean halfblood. To be sired by a muggle. A worthless muggle."
That childish comment was enough to break through Voldemort's control. With a frightening roar of rage, the Dark Lord whipped out his wand, and pointed it at the frightened Lily. Then the idea came back into her mind...
Uncaring he may be killing his heir, he was simply too angry to care about the possible consequences, Voldemort aimed his wand at her. As he incanted the killing curse, Lily shot towards him, and before the stunned Dark lord could react, but it was too late.
" Avada Kedavra!" The killing curse, incanted by Lord Voldemort himself, aimed at Lily Evans who he'd raped repeatedly for the last 48 hours, and was now almost certainly pregnant, but was now jammed against his chest at point blank range when Lily had rushed him.
The killing curse impacted on the stunned Dark Lord, who had barely had a chance to stop his own death, but the effect was something Lily had hoped for and anticipated. If anyone else had tried to kill him, the horcruxes would bring him back safely, but if he himself tried to kill himself then the magic of the horcruxes would be broken.
Before the crying Lily Evan's eyes, Lord Voldemort collapsed and died...
The Potters and Dumbledore had watched the memories given to them by the girl, Lily's daughter. James had watched transfixed and horrified, petrified with hatred as Voldemort had raped Lily, his Lily, filling her with his seed, her screams echoing inside her ears as he'd fought his wife's arms around him to try and help her, forgetting it was a memory, that Lily, the real Lily Evans, was dead. Again and again, the bastard had ripped Lily's innocence away from her.
Amelia also had tears in her eyes as she watched someone she'd had an acquaintance with being raped, and she couldn't help but wonder what she herself would've done under those conditions. Her admiration for Lily's bravery in the face of death...it humbled her.
" That bastard...he's that girl's father," James whispered. All this time he'd had Lord Voldemort's daughter in his family home.
Dumbledore rubbed his eyes tiredly. " Indeed it looks that way, James. But take it from me, that girl is nothing like her father. Don't forget, she's Lily's daughter."
" That doesn't mean she's a wonderful person." Amelia ground out, rubbing her husbands arms. Now that she'd witnessed some of the memories and the puzzle, it made sense. Death eaters had raped muggle born students they'd kidnapped, but they'd never realised their leader had done the same. He'd hated muggleborns, this new information about him being a half blood made Amelia see things differently. He'd been pretending to be a pureblood.
It was this little tidbit of information that made Dumbledore uncomfortable. He'd known Lord Voldemort's true identity for many years, and he'd always tried to prevent anyone else from knowing it. Now, after seeing these memories, how Lily had been kidnapped and brutally raped, he could see with his own eyes how his choices always led to people getting hurt.
" Maybe not," Dumbledore admitted to Amelia's statement. " I did see into her mind."
" That's against the law Albus, and you know it!"
Dumbledore was unrepentent. " How else would you determine if someone was a threat or not? I'd always wondered if there was more to Lily Evan's disappearance or not, but I'd hoped..." He trailed off wearily, hoping his audience wouldn't see he'd suspected her true fate, or part of it. Seeing as neither Potter was going to answer his question, he carried on. " Her mind is highly focused for someone so young, making it very hard to be probed. She is highly intelligent, cynical and dangerous. Not in the way you think. She's a meta witch."
James frowned. " What does that mean?" Amelia also looked confused.
" Everyone in the world is unique," Dumbledore began, " some are artists, poets, sculptors. Some children are born with the ability to speak languages. Here, in the magical world, everyone aside from a few, are born with magic, but even then the magic doesn't define them. You yourself James, you were born with an ability with transfiguration. Neville Longbottom, one of my students at the moment, is a Herbology genius, Miss Hermione Granger, a muggle born, is similar to Lily in her mental ability to memorise magical spells and incantations. Miss Daphne Greengrass is a talented potions student, and charms and rune expert. In the case of Lily's daughter, she doesn't have the ability to use magic the way we do. She cannot use a wand, or a staff. Her magical focus is purely mental.
" Metahumans are people born in both worlds who can either create fire from their breaths, leap tall buildings in a single bound, able to move through solid matter. To us wizards, we can duplicate those powers with a wave of our wands. The girl we have as a guest, yes James, she's a guest, is a metawitch. "
" You still haven't explained what the power she has is." Amelia snapped.
Dumbledore nodded, his eyes showing his hurt. " You and the girl would probably get along famously, Amelia. You are both so cynical." He had to move along quickly because the Head of the DMLE was fingering her wand. " The girl cannot use a wand, or any kind of magical focus, like I've already said. She's powerful, yes, but she uses her powers mentally. She can use wandless magic to create spectacular feats of magic. All she needs to do is think of what she wants. It remains to be seen if Lily actually taught her anything about magic. Its another question to ask. I felt her meta powers from the moment I saw her. She's the third meta I've met in my lifetime. The first one went to Hogwarts before he had to leave because he couldn't do the work."
" Is that why you warded her door?"
" Yes, James," Dumbledore admitted. " Whether or not the ward will be strong enough to keep her there until we question her is another matter, but I think she doesn't want to leave. She didn't give us these memories just for her to decide to leave. With her powers, I don't think we would be having this conversation. She wanted to be met so she could show these memories."
Amelia studied the old wizard. He seemed like he'd aged rapidly in the last half hour. Maybe seeing those memories had shown him the hubris of his philosophy. Like James, Amelia hadn't believed you could rehabilitate a Death eater. Seeing Severus Snape, a nasty piece of work from her time at Hogwarts, watch Lily being raped and not do anything when he had the opportunity was proof of that.
Dumbledore seemed to know what he was talking about.
" Why can't she use a wand?" Amelia asked.
Dumbledore sighed wearily. " Her magic is too powerful, the wand core would burn out. Then there are the meta powers. She has an aura that I see everytime I see Minerva's animagus form, only much more complex."
James, being an animagus himself and a transfiguration student, knew what Dumbledore was talking about to a degree. " A cat? That girl has the aura of a cat?"
Dumbledore nodded. " Yes. Only more complex. As you know James, when an animagus changes form, their aura changes to accomodate the new form. When meta witches and wizards are born, they absorb whatever their parents touch or are in close contact with within an hour before birth, now those things can be water, mist, muggle electricity, a book even, or an animal. I think Lily either touched a cat, or was close to one before she gave birth to her daughter."
" Why would Lily give birth to a meta witch in the first place?" Amelia asked.
Dumbledore closed his eyes, letting go of a deep sigh. " Hogwarts keeps track of those with powerful bloodlines, especially those of the founders. Lord Voldemort comes from the Slytherin line, and Lily from the Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, and Ravenclaw lines, plus she has the blood of Morgana LeFay. With such powerful bloodlines merging, the baby's magic was powerful, but it is unstable. It wouldn't necessarily become the sort of potential for a meta witch, but Lily wouldn't know of the potential mixing for a meta witch unless she came into contact with a cat. Let us see the next memory. I want to see what happened next."
James eyed him, wondering if he was keeping any more secrets. He saw no reason to argue however, and carried on showing the memories.
Lily's breath shuddered, tears partially blocking her vision as she bent down next to Voldemort's prone body. On one level of her mind, the small child in Lily wanted to run away in case the monster woke up. In her rational mind, Lily knew Voldemort was truly dead. Lily's hands shook as she searched for her wand in Voldemort's robes. She shuddered when her hands or fingers brushed against the ice cold skin of the Dark Lord.
When she couldn't find her wand, she sat back in frustration. She left his wand alone, he might have cursed it or something.
" Fuck!" She swore angrily. " Where the hell did you put my wand?"
Natually from the corpse there was no reply.
Lily looked around the room for inspiration. She'd already searched this room when Voldemort hadn't been around to try and find it, but she wasn't the smartest witch of her time for nothing. Voldemort wasn't an amateur. He'd known she would try to escape, she didn't want to use his wand. He might have done something to it, and she didn't want to search for days in Malfoy Manor for a wand that probably didn't exist anymore.
Lily stood up slowly, hand brushing involuntarily against her still flat belly. She closed her eyes, fresh tears pouring down her cheeks. She had to be strong for her new child, unwanted as it was, but she wasn't going to become one of those single mothers who resented her children for spoiling her life, though she had every right in this case.
Lily walked over to the wardrobe, and leafed through the contents. Eventually she picked out a travelling cloak and a simple set of robes. They weren't her Hogwarts robes, but they would do for now.
As she put them on after another lengthy shower to wash off the dead Dark Lord's remaining taint off her body, she thought about her plans. The manor had all she needed in terms of food and water, but what she really wanted was her freedom back. Lily knew she couldn't go back to Hogwarts, she was sure she would become a pariah because she was almost certainly carrying Voldemort's child. Her relationship with James had died before it even came about properly, with the sharing of their bodies and souls.
" Damn you, Snape. You just couldn't let go of the past. Because of you and that monster you served, my chances with James are gone," she whispered, crying.
James stopped the memories, horrified. So this was why Lily had left, because she was frightened about what had happened to her. Amelia bit her lip, tears silently rolling down her own cheeks as she watched her husband break down. Deep inside, Amelia had always known she was second best to Lily, she only hoped seeing this didn't send James over the edge.
The corridors were dark, the shadows made Lily shiver with fear, expecting a Death eater to jump out of nowhere. Gone from a confident seventh year Hogwarts student, to a raped and frightened 17 year old girl, Lily hugged herself as she crept through the manor. The silence in her ears was oppressive, a silence she could hear except for her gasps of breathing. Where were the Death eaters? Why couldn't she hear any of them, surely they weren't keeping silent because of their master.
She still couldn't believe what she'd done; goaded that fuck job into killing himself, but that didn't take away the fact he'd raped her, ripping away her life, her family...her boyfriend. Lily willed herself not to cry, crying wasn't going to help her.
She turned a corner...and screamed, jumping back in fright.
A Death eater was blocking her way, but he or she was lying on the ground, breathing hoarsely, like he'd been tortured for days and dehydrated. Lily kept still, watching the fallen wizard with concern. He hadn't moved, and her scream had been loud enough to wake the dead. Why hadn't the man reacted?
Lily walked forward cautiously, she may not have a wand, but she wasn't going to let that stop her. She bent down and gently took off the mask and hood, and found herself looking into the dead face of Lucius Malfoy. Lily eyed him speculatively for a moment, then she put her ear close to his chest. No heartbeat. The death eater was well and truly dead, but Lily wasn't going to waste tears over this waste of flesh. If she was right then the disease of the Death eaters was finally gone. Her eyes flickered over to the wand that'd clattered on the polished wooden floor, on the expensive rug. She reached over and grasped the wand. Lily held it up, hating its unfamiliarity compared to her own wand.
" Accio Lily Evan's wand!" She shouted holding out her hand to receive the wand eagerly, forgetting momentarily the threat of the Death eaters before remembering Malfoy's state. A wand suddenly appeared in her hand. Lily smiled down at it gratefully, delighted Voldemort hadn't destroyed it. She casually threw Malfoy's wand away, and picked herself up. Now she had her wand back again, a wand whose capabilities she was more than aware of, she felt confident about herself once more.
Pleased at the success of her earlier experiment to find one of her possessions, Lily raised her wand again. " Accio Lily Evans' possessions!" She said quietly, walking through the manor away from Malfoy's corpse. She stopped for a moment when her necklace appeared, and Lily caught it by reflex. She sighed. Why, of all her things, did this have to be the one that arrived first? A set of Hogwarts robes, a skirt, a shirt, a red-gold tie, and a wristwatch slamming into her face made her remember to keep careful about her spell casting.
A few minutes later, and dressed once more in her robes, robes she was certainly more comfortable in than the clothes in a wardrobe in Malfoy Manor. Lily felt her heart go cold each time as she found Death eaters, some of them dead, but many of them were on the point of death. Each time she examined them, the healer in training had checked them over with magical scans.
Their magic was practically gone.
How was that possible? Then Lily had remembered, the dark mark tattoo branded on their forearms by Lord Voldemort. What if it was more than a symbol? What if the marks were similar in some way to a horcrux? What if Voldemort had branded them to siphon their magic off them to keep his strong without them knowing it?
It made sense.
Lily counted thirty death eaters, 10 of them were dead, and 5 were close to it, and 5 were comatose but still alive, but barely.
Severus Snape was one of the 5 close to death, she was glad and annoyed to note. Glad because she can vent her spleen on the greasy bastard for taking her friendship, and ripping it up in front of her, before becoming a filthy death eater who deserved to die for his crimes, before allowing his bastard master to rape her and do nothing.
Annoyed because the scum wasn't dead.
Lily had been walking through the corridors, hoping to find a way to the kitchens for some decent food and water, checking the Death eater identities as she went. She hadn't been surprised to confirm some of them. They'd been at Hogwarts for years; besides Malfoy, there was Mulciber, Rosier, Wilkes, and the Lestrange brothers, she wasn't going to waste tears for them. Lily was just taking off the mask of the latest Death eater when he spoke hoarsely, making Lily jump backwards in surprise at the voice. " Lily...," he said desperately.
Lily froze. " Severus?" She murmured.
The mask nodded. Lily's heart hardened as she removed the mask, reminding herself her former friend had chosen this life. When she finally saw his face, Lily had to fight back the urge to pity him. Severus's already palid complextion was beyond unhealthy. His eyes were sunken pits, and he was sweating profusely.
" Lily," he repeated desperately. " What...what happened to ...the Dark-"
" To Voldemort?" Lily asked coldly, a malicious smile hiding the pain she was feeling. " He's dead. He tried to kill me, but that wouldn't matter to you, would it, ' Sev ?'" She spat his nickname out like a curse.
Snape breathed in painfully. " Lily, please..."
" Please," that one word broke through the barriers of Lily's control. " After you and your 'friends' murder my family, destroy my life, you have the nerve to ask me for help?" The disbelief warred with Lily's rage, and Severus could see his last hopes fading. " He raped me, Severus. Right in front of you, but you sat there, a sneer on your fucking face. What makes you think I care what happens to you?" She didn't give him the chance to give out excuses the night after their Defence OWL. Instead she rolled up his sleeve, and picking up his weak and unresisting arm. She showed him the Dark Mark.
" It's an energy siphon, similar to Voldemort's now destroyed horcruxes. He was using the power of his followers, you included you fool, to keep him powerful, Ironic, since he was torturing you with his power, all that time he was nothing more than a leech."
Severus tried again, desperately. " Lily, I can help you..."
" Help me what?" Lily asked cutting through to the point, hatred shining in her eyes. " When you opened my eyes to the wonder of the magical world, getting raped wasn't what I'd had in mind for my future. Was that what you planned, watching a girl who you'd 'befriended' getting raped by a psychotic monster? Thanks to your inability to let go of the past and move on with your life, I'm probably carrying that bastard's spawn. What a wonderful future, especially since on top of that I have to leave the magical world to prevent anyone from coming after me. You think any country on Earth would want the child of Lord Voldemort alive, do you? If you do, please tell me."
Snape's next suggestion dug him an even bigger hole. " You...could...always...have an...an abor...abortion." He stammered through the pain of losing so much of his magic.
Lily smacked him around the face. " Bastard!" She snapped. " This child is the last member of my family, my only flesh in blood. You think honestly I would kill a baby, you truly know nothing about me, do you?"
Disgusted with the now dying Death eater, and not able to look at him anymore, Lily got up, dusted herself off and walked away from him, ignoring Severus's dying cries.
" So that's why Lily kept the girl," James whispered, stunned by her goodness, " the girl was the only thing she had left."
Dumbledore nodded grimly. " Yes, after losing her parents and sister, that child was all Lily had of her blood. That it was also Voldemort's child was no problem. A lesser person would've had an abortion, the fact is Lily didn't. She showed how courageous she was."
Amelia wasn't as forgiving. " Maybe if she'd returned we could've helped her."
James shook his head. " No." He looked down at his feet. " Not when she mentioned that point about countries accepting her, and Voldemort's child. How many people would accept her and the child?" When he received no answer, he carried on. " Lets face it, the magical world isn't the most understanding of communities. A person is smart, but the Ministry is full of dumb mindless fools, and you know it."
Dumbledore nodded gravely.
The next memory was of Lily going into Gringotts, her robe hood pulled over her head as she flooed away from Malfoy manor. She walked to a free Goblin, handed over her key, and she removed all her money, and transferred it into muggle money. James knew the Potters had helped her liquidate most of her family assets, it made logical sense to conclude she would take it all with her.
Lily went all the way to America, and they watched her give birth. James felt as though he was dying when he laid eyes on the happy Lily giving birth to the girl. Her eyes, whilst sad, were happy at giving birth to such a healthy, beautiful baby girl.
When asked what the girl's name was going to be by one of the nurses, and James realised none of them, except probably Dumbledore knew what the girl's name was, although he actually looked surprised when Lily smiled. " Selina. Selina Petunia Marie Evans."
The next memory showed something that made Dumbledore more convinced Selina was a good person...
It was the end of Selina's first day of nursery school, and she was chattering her mothers ear off as she ate her dinner. She giggled as she showed her splotchy painting.
" Look at it, mama," Selina smiled proudly.
Lily took the painting. It was a cluster of blobs, and Lily smiled at her little girl.
" Lovely Angel, but what is it?"
Little Selina took the question in her stride. " That's you, mummy, that's me." Lily smiled, but then it vanished completely when Selina added obliviously, " I wanted to do Daddy, but I didn't know what he looked like." Selina smiled innocently at her mother. The smile faded when she saw Lily's eyes as she cried. Selina hopped out of her chair, and hesitantly hugged Lily, who accepted the hug.
The last memory showed Selina and Lily walking down a street, Lily with her hair in a bun, and Selina's in a plait trailing down her shoulder. Lily was laughing at a joke her daughter was telling her.
Lily's arm was through Selina's. The two girl's smiles faded when a man in a heavy black coat appeared. Without stopping, he pulled out something shiny. Without pausing, he plunged the knife into Lily's chest. Lily's eyes bulged, as she coughed. Selina burst into action, one arm grabbing her mother, the other swinging and catching the crook in the face. The force of the punch was enough to shatter bone, but Lily's gasp brought Selina's attention to her.
Lily lay in Selina's arms. " Mum, stay with me. Please!" Tears trickled down Selina's cheeks as her mother started to die. " I'm calling for an ambulance-" She said, fumbling through her pockets, finally grasping her mobile phone. She started to dial the number for the emergency services, but her fingers were shaking. Finally she got through to them, and she looked down at her mother. This time she was doing it properly. Lily was dying, and she'd lost a lot of herself already.
Lily shook her head weakly as her dimmed eyes took in her daughters actions, even as no one witnessed what'd happened. " Its too late, sweetheart." She gasped, clutching her wound. Selina bit her lip, then she placed her hand on the entry point. She concentrated on her magic to keep Lily alive. Lily saw what her daughter was doing, but she couldn't help but feel it was too late.
" Selina," she whispered. " Selina!" She repeated more forcefully when her daughter didn't seem to hear her.
" I'm here...mummy!" At the last word Selina broke down sobbing. Lily smiled as she weakly pushed her daughters plait out of her face. Selina cried harder at the motion.
" You were...the brightest spot in my life, all these years." Lily coughed. Selina hugged her closer. Where was that fucking ambulance? Her magic was practically all that was keeping Lily alive.
Lily knew it. " Stop...," she gasped. " Stop trying to keep me alive Sel, its my time."
" No, its not!"
Lily smiled as she produced her trump card. " My life...I thought was over when your father raped me, darling. But you," her hand weakly brushed her daughter's identical soft skin, " you were the best thing."
Selina shook her head in denial, trying to force more of her magic into healing her mother. " I won't let you die. I'm the reason you're in this damn city in the first place!" Selina's self loathing came to the surface, and Lily opened her eyes, levelling them into a stare at her daughter. " I was resentful at first, Selina, but you aren't the reason we're here in San Francisco. I am. I ran away. There's a box in my room. It contains memories. Help me with this one."
Selina frowned. " What do you mean?"
Lily shifted. " Help me find my wand. I'll gather the memory."
Selina helped her, and soon Lily had extracted the memory.
Selina sat in the hospital. A police officer had just questioned her, and she'd willingly given a description of the bastard who'd attacked her mother. Knowing that if they caught him he would tell the cops she'd punched him, she saved him the trouble, only she told him she'd tried to defend her mother, only it was too late.
A doctor approached her, and Selina stood up at once. " How is she?" She asked at once without preamble.
The doctor looked down. " There's nothing we can do. The knife went through into her lung, and we can't repair the injury. She wants to see you before she dies."
Selina cried the hardest as she followed the doctor into Lily's room. Lily was sitting propped up in her bed, her eyes were lowered, and she looked weak. The doctor left, and Selina cast a privacy ward.
" Mother." She whispered.
Lily smiled. " I'm here, darling."
" I wish I could've helped you." Selina began, but Lily interrupted her. " You did, you have. All these years. As I carried you after my rape, I wondered if I could ever love you. When I came closer to giving birth to you, I felt like a real mother waiting to welcome her child into the world. You were so beautiful," Lily cried before gasping in pain. Selina held her down firmly but gently. " Steady."
" My little girl, my little thief."
Selina gasped. Lily chuckled. " Did you really think I didn't know what you were doing? I knew you were practicing magic, not to kill, but to steal. I've known about your penchant for crime for a long while now Selina."
Selina's eyes were wide. She sounded like a lost child. " You knew, but you said nothing."
Lily nodded. " You are not like Lord Voldemort. Stealing from people isn't the same as murder, unless you kill someone in order to steal, and I know you better than that. Sometimes I even followed you." A look like admiration appeared on Lily's face. " I've never seen anyone steal something and make it look effortless. But I saw you as you handed some of your gains to a child in the streets. That's the sign of a good person, and you are." Lily smiled weakly as she used all her strength to pull her daughter closer. " I love you, my darling daughter." With that, Lily's arms went limp, and she fell dead.
Selina clutched her, cancelling the ward. " Mum! Mum! Wake up! Please, don't die mum. No!" She screamed, tears of rage and pain falling down her cheeks as the doctors came rushing in.
Selina left the room, walking out tears falling down her cheeks as her magic strained against her control. Walking down an alleyway, Selina used her metapowers to leap to the top. From there, she teleported to a favourite spot.
Standing ontop of one of the arches of the Golden Gate bridge, Selina closed her eyes, memories of her mother filling her mind.
The good and bad. Finally the memory flashed to Lily's attack, the man that stabbed her, Selina punching him...all leading to Lily dying in a hospital bed.
That one memory was enough to make Selina lose her control. Flinging her arms out, Selina screamed. Her magic and her emotions, always a deadly mix, became a truly vicious combination, and all over the city electric lights and televisions exploded, and glass from thousands of homes and tower blocks, and down below on the bridge itself shattered as Selina's rage carried itself through.
Authors note.
I took bits out from the Birds of Prey TV series for the murder of Selina Kyle. Please leave good feedback.