Note-I know one reviewer got whiny about how quickly Lilly adapted to her change of sex, that's part of the joke, Harry was so use to the magical world screwing him over he didn't even blink. Enjoy the humor or piss off, at this point I really don't care which route you chose.
Lillith stared down at Vernon's prone form observing the fat mans corpse bleeding out from the dozen or so ruptures in his head, oddly enough none of the books said anything about this being a cruciatus side-effect, had to look into that later. She'd been standing there for nearly a half hour watching the filthy dirt floor absorb her uncles blood while trying to come to terms with the emotions running through her head, and continuously coming up with a blank on exactly how she felt about all this.
The vengeance had felt hollow, almost pointless, and in the end she supposed it had been, Vernon's death didn't bring back Harry's innocence all it had really signified was one last thread connecting herself to her old life being severed. Maybe that was what she could take from this? Closure that this particular skeleton in the closest was well and truly gone?
"Nothings that simple..." she mused, glancing down at the gaudy ring in her hand she tossed it up in the air a few times and made her way out of the shack wishing she could talk to someone about this. That's when she had the wits nearly scared out of her when Susan Death appeared before her, "Sweet merciful Morgana what the hell?!" Her death broke down into laughter seeing her wards reaction,
"You do recall me suggesting you go after that horcrux first, what you've recovered is the Resurrection Stone, it allows you to talk to the dead or in my case the deads social worker," glancing over Lilly's shoulder she observed the dead body behind her tsking a bit. "I warned you about those dark impulses dear, although considering where that foul man ended up this won't go against your ledger, so you have questions?"
Lilly was a very intelligent witch, quite mature for her age due to a hard childhood and the knowledge she'd absorbed but even she was only human, letting go of every mask she kept in place 24/7 the elegant noblewoman, the arrogant heiress, the brutal War-Witch, and the deadpan snarker fell away leaving a terrified teenage girl sobbing leaning against the door frame. Holding herself she finally let the tears of the past few months go, Death doesn't judge you on your emotions, just your actions, a distinction she was glad for at the moment.
"I HAVE NO BLOODY IDEA WHAT I'M DOING, WHY I'M DOING IT OR WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME!" She screamed, she kept her face down so she missed the sympathetic look passing across her Death's face as she began shaking. "I've been killing or ordering others to kill on my behalf like its nothing! I don't care about the lives I'm destroying as long as my goals are accomplished, I feel like Dumbledore just stringing my allies and friends along to wipe out my enemies for some obscure greater good! I'm sane enough to realize that this isn't normal but..." She trailed off as Susan's incorporeal hand rested on her shoulder,
"But on that note you still don't care, and you know you should, Lilly, Harry, and even the bit of Tom you have in you, you're a special case, a chimera of different powers and personalities that have been fighting for months to reach an equilibrium. This isn't being helped at all by the fact that you're dealing with being the heiress of the house of Black and the Lady of Houses Slytherin and Potter, you're literally getting three separate ancient bloodlines input on how to be a High Lady at once coupled with the fact that your personality is kind of on the higher end of Alpha."
Wiping the tears from her eyes Lilly cocked her head to the side, "What do you mean by that?" Susan sighed a bit and began pacing,
"Look...traditionally House Potter and Black are quite Patriarchal, women are little more then political pawns, there are exceptions of course, most women of both houses were trained from birth to defend themselves and their virtue. Andromeda, Narcissa, and Bellatrix are all clear examples of this, even your grandmother Dorea Potter nee Black was known to leave a knife mark or two on would be suitors that didn't take 'no' for an answer. That being said, they were still beholden to their Lord."
Sighing Susan tried to figure out the best way to put this but it confused even her to an extent, sighing yet again she pushed on, "Slytherin was different, you're more aware then anyone that Salazar was not a blood supremacist nor a sexist, neither he nor Godric were, actually they saw both Helga and Rowena as equals. So when it comes to succession male and female meant nothing in so long as you're a blood relation and you've proven to be a better leader, and before you ask your connection to the Slytherin line was your mother, close your mouth dear we have more to discuss and the night grows late."
Lilly's brief foray into losing her control over her emotions was temporarily put aside as she listened in rapt attention, "So anyway what's happening to you is you're a dominant political and combat force in the eyes of Slytherin, but you're a Lady of Potter and Black who needs to be led on by your Patriarch, or so the rings keep telling you. So not only are you dealing with acclimating to having two male personalities becoming a singular female one you have one bloodline telling you to crush the world under your heel while looking fantastic and two others telling you to be a submissive princess and hunt down a man so you can start popping out heirs."
Lilly looked horrified, "No no no no, I'm as strait as the shoelaces in my Chuck Taylor's, I am not going to let some ruddy piece of jewelry tell me to go start shagging blokes!" Susan shrugged a bit at that,
"I know, and the magics in the rings are starting to get that as well, like I said love you're erm...well you're an Alpha Bitch, and you surround yourself with people who operate on the same wavelength, and since your Black ring is connected to your dads it knows fully well that he won't be forcing any of the old blood magiks on you like poor Bellatrix suffered under. So long short, I think the half dozen ancient magiks working against each other will probably just balance themselves out and you'll end up bi-sexual shadow ruler at worst." Lilly conjured a chair and fell into it rubbing her eyes,
"God. Damn. Wizards. Why can nothing be simple?" Susan broke out laughing at that nodding before Lilly continued, "So..so these urges to conquer the magical world while playing puppet master, slaughter my enemies, and fuck as much as possible are all just some sort of crazy magic overlap?" Susan shook her head,
"No dear its like all these traits were thrown into a blender, mixed up tossed into the oven and then you came out as the end result, it just so happens you're also a hormonal teenager whose adult role models have either failed her or are less mature then she is, luckily you fell for the only woman who could probably balance that out. The idea of you without a Hermione control system is just...terrifying..." Lilly sat there sulking a moment before Susan let out an exasperated sigh, "Come on Lils would you prefer the alternative, which is you know, being dead?" Lilly glanced up and let out a humorless snort,
"Touche...well I have answers at least, I...I guess I'll just keep going full steam ahead and see were my machinations lead me...anything else this rock of death does?" Deciding to not correct the pouting witch she nodded,
"Yes, Granddad made the Stone of Resurrection, the Elder wand, and the Cloak of Invisibility to pay off a bet he made with the Peverell brothers, your ancestors actually, long short Granddad doesn't really get people despite how much he's tried so aside from the cloak (which had been his to begin with) the hollows all have a design flaw. The Elder wands too powerful, so people kill each other for it all the time, not worth the effort really, and the Stone of Resurrection can call souls from the grave but it tends to hurt them a bit driving the user to despair, I've tweaked it to so if you want to make some long distance calls you're good." Falling back on her trademark ability to quickly process and file away bizarre information in seconds Lilly pushed everything she'd just heard to the back of her mind unrelated to the stone,
"So I can talk to my parents?" She asked in a quiet voice, Susan looked at her and wished she could lie to the young woman, the pain of being confronted with dead loved ones who couldn't be part of your life had driven more then a fair few mad over the millennium. Realizing there was nothing for it the Reaper simply nodded to her ward as she looked down at the ring in reverence, Susan's protective nature over the young witch kicked in before anything else could be said,
"Remember love...they care about you but they're gone. You're getting something most don't, closure, do what you have to do but don't dwell...you remember what Dumbledore told you about the Mirror of Erised...same principle, just roll or toss the stone three times and say who you want to talk to, I'll be over here if you need me." Nodding Lilly took a deep breath and rolled the ring across her palm three times,
"Lily Selena Potter nee Evans, and James Charlus Potter," nothing happened at first but after a few short moments two figures walked forward as if they were stepping out from around a corner, the man looked so much like Harry had before the accident that it was a bit unsettling. The woman shared many of Lilly's new aspects but it was clear outside of the green eyes most of her feminine features had been inherited from her Black lineage, the couple looked a bit nervous but both smiled sadly.
"Hello honey, its...its good to finally see you in person," James said, sounding a bit awkward, Lily took his hand and nodded,
"We've tried keeping an eye on you and well, I can't say we approve of all your actions but we're proud of what you're trying to accomplish," Lillith smiled a bit at this but felt it falter as James frowned and stepped forward.
"I have something to say though, I'm incredibly disappointed in you Lillith, to think my own flesh and blood would commit an act of betrayal on the level you have is just...inconceivable." An annoyed scowl passed across Lily's face but her daughter looked like she was on the verge of tears as James continued, "How could you just up and quit the quiditch team like that!? You were the star seeker, the youngest in a hundred years! How could you walk away from that!?" Her mom groaned as Lillith broke out into a watery laugh,
"Goddess don't scare me like that dad...and I quit because I had more important things to focus on," James stared at her with an incredulous look across his face,
"But...it's Quiditch!" Both Potter women rolled their eyes at that,
"Dad I played Quiditch because I love flying, the game was fun and all but I'm trying to take over the magical world at the moment and school sports kind of lack a priority in that." James' began rubbing the bridge of his nose lifting his glasses in the process while letting out an annoyed growl, Lillith couldn't help but smirk at the familiar gesture 'least I know where I got that tick from,' after a few seconds of this he replied,
"That's another thing, why would you want to take over? I did everything in my power to avoid dealing with politics short of disinheriting myself, what could have possibly compelled you to take the road you've chosen?" Lillith paused to mull over the most concise way to express her ideals before shrugging,
"The system is broken, no one is willing to stand up for what is right because they're either complacent or scared, so I've taken it upon myself to cut the cancer out of the healthy tissue. I'm not saying my way is the best way, but I will freely admit that I'm the only one doing anything to prepare our world for the future, and it's not like I want to install myself as Empress or anything like that." The unspoken 'Yet' was noticed but not commented on by her mother's shade as she gave her husband a superior smirk,
"Told you dear, philanthropic Slytherin at heart, if we were corporeal you'd owe me five galleons," James for his part muttered something unintelligible as Lily gestured for her daughter to sit on the ground with her, "So as it stands we know next to nothing about each other honey, so lets have ourselves a bit of a meet and greet shall we?" The next two hours contained what amounted to the most brilliant, informative, fulfilling and at times embarrassing conversations Lillith had experienced in her life, James was like a more wily Sirius (which was terrifying) and Lily was just...amazing.
Her mother was the embodiment of social grace, keen intelligence, and cutting wit, Lillith would reflect later on the fact that her father most certainly scored out of his league, but as with all good things their time was reaching an end and eventually she had to give her farewells.
"Mum, Dad, I...can I see you two again soon?" Her parents exchanged sad looks before they simultaneously shook their heads in the negative, James reached out then paused with a contrite look as he realized he was unable to embrace his daughter,
"Lillith...focusing on those dead and gone is a sure way to let the living world pass you by, your Death gave you the right of it, this was closure that you dearly needed, if you call us again I'm afraid we can't be there...I..." he sighed once again rubbing his nose, "This is the hardest thing I've ever had to do, not counting the night we died. I don't want to leave you but for your mental health we have to," the tears were freely flowing down Lillith's face now but she nodded slowly in understanding, Lily moved up next to James and gave her one finale sad smile.
"We'll always be watching out for you dear child and we'll see you again in many many years so have no fear there, remember trust in your friends, keep your new dad and uncle out of trouble, and acknowledge that at the end of the day you alone may forge your destiny, we love you Lillith, always." With that the shades of Lily and James Potter faded away, after a pregnant pause Lillith fell to her knees and began sobbing. Susan walked up beside her and placed a hand on her shuddering shoulders wishing she could do more, after a time the young woman stood and brushed off the dirt and grim from her armor. Taking in a shuddering breath she whispered,
"I love you too..." Picking up the discarded ring Lilly jammed it into one of her belt pouches and spun to face the shack containing her uncles corpse, funny her parents hadn't even brought that cold blooded murder up...raising her wand she snarled out, "Fiendfyre." As the demonic flames began consuming the area Lillith apparated back to the Potter estate's outer gardens, oddly enough Susan Death was still with her, glancing to the contemplative Reaper she whispered, "Thanks..." Susan gave her a wan smile at that,
"You're welcome love, and for what it's worth you handled that far better then I thought you would, you used up quite a bit of the mojo in that trinket so I can't stick around much longer but I have two pieces of information to give you. First, Tom's...complete again, I'm not sure exactly what ritual he performed to rebuild his soul but rebuilt it is, and you releasing the Horcrux on the ring has sent that soul shard back to its master. I...be careful dear, you're no longer facing the psychopath Lord Voldemort, you're enemy is now the young, handsome, and charismatic Tom Riddle and he's taken a keen interest in you, be wary." Lilly groaned at this bit of news but just nodded, she'd have Hermione and Sirius help her figure it out later,
"And the second bit?" Susan gave her a mischievous smirk before expounding,
"The Hollow serves no purpose to you now, but it can win you an ally, take it to Professor Dumbledore at the Hogs Head inn, he's sharing a drink with his brother Aberforth, they both blame the Headmaster for something that happened in their past and Christmas is the only time the younger brother will speak to the elder. Activate the ring and summon Ariana Dumbledore, hand the ring to Albus and leave, the conversation is none of your business but I'm positive that it will earn you the respect you need from the old man," curious but not overly so Lilly nodded as Susan waved goodbye and vanished as the Potter's had. Sighing Lilly shook her head wearily and leaned up against an ice crusted tree, after a time the silence was broken by her humorless giggling,
"My freaking life..."