~ With Me, Into The Dark ~
Alastor is patrolling in Hogsmeade when he witnesses a group of suspected Death Eaters stumbling drunkenly into the street after having apparently been thrown out of the Hog's Head.
The single female in the group appears to be the most inebriated by far. She stumbles twice before they are even five steps away from the bar. After the second time, she kicks off her shoes in frustration. The high heels were not the problem, though, as is proven by her continued lack of coordination upon attempting to walk further.
"Why can't we just Apparate?" Vance Crabbe whines.
"In this condition? You'd puke your guts out, splinch yourself, end up somewhere unintended, or all three," Griswold Yaxley replies.
Lucius Malfoy watches with barely concealed disgust as Yaxley and Rabastan Lestrange each place a hand gingerly on one of Lilith's elbows, bracing the highly intoxicated witch between them.
"One of you-" Malfoy starts to say, but is interrupted by the bar's door banging open.
Severus Snape stands in the doorway, with a bundle of black cloth in one hand.
"You forgot your cloak, Lethe," Snape says.
"Don't call me that," Lilith snaps. "If you want to use a nickname, you can call me Lili like everyone else does."
"But Lethe suits you so well," her interlocutor replies with a smirk. He gives the cloak a shake, as if its very existence illustrates his point.
When the halfblood makes no move to actually transfer the lost item into its owner's possession, Crabbe stomps over to retrieve it. He then passes the cloak over to Lestrange, who shakes out the thick velvet and drapes it over Lilith's shoulders, using a Tying Charm to secure the laces.
"If I'm Lethe, then you're Cocytus!" Lilith shouts at Snape's departing back as he retreats into the Hog's Head.
"Stop," Lestrange reprimands quietly. Lilith turns to him, looking as though she is about to shout at him as well, but he continues in the same calm tone, "Is this how a lady behaves?"
Lilith's anger immediately deflates and she replies sullenly, "No."
"That's good," he praises, as if speaking to a child. "Now, shall we head home?"
He offers her his arm. Lilith accepts, linking elbows with him and gripping his forearm with both of her hands. She leans rather more heavily against his side than would be considered socially acceptable... at least, in a situation where her ability to remain standing did not depend on his support. None of their drinking companions are going to complain, although her brother would most likely not stand for such a thing if he were here.
The group once more begins to make their way home. Under Lestrange's tender care, Lilith manages to remain upright and moderately ambulatory.
"One of you, get her shoes," Malfoy commands.
Looking as though he'd dearly love to tell Malfoy to shut his face hole and do it his own damn self, Crabbe nevertheless bends down and scoops up Lilith's high heels.
"If Lilith is Lethe and Snape is Cocytus... who's Styx, then?" Yaxley murmurs to Malfoy as they pass the alley in which Moody is hiding.
"Bellatrix, of course," Malfoy answers.
~end of scene~
A/N: If you're thinking you've seen this before, you probably read it in "Hearts of Clouded Crystal" which has been taken down. This was the only chapter of HoCC that was more consistent with this version of Lilith than with the "Temperance" version of Lilith (which is what HoCC was based on).
"Lili" is pronounced with stress on the second syllable rather than the first (basically "Lilith" with the "th" sound dropped), so it doesn't sound quite the same as "Lily"... but you can see why Snape would be reluctant to call her that.