~Parseltongue~

Spells

Emphasis

'Thoughts'

(Another language)

~Flashback~

The songs for this chapter are:

Kelly Clarkson- People Like Us

Stand By You - Rachel Platten

The Rise of Mercy

October 13,1989

You're A Witch!

Lilith adjusted her headband as Niles—her new driver—pulled up at the school.

Seeing how it was purchased with her money, Lilith had demanded Vernon's second car—after a thorough clean, of course—and hired a chauffeur to drive her around in it. She'd figured it would be cheaper than hiring a Hackney every day.

And it was surprisingly easier than she'd expected. She'd employed the help of goblins who were willing to do almost anything—for a price of course. They'd helped her put an ad out in the magical paper for a discreet chauffeur and even suggested a magically enforced NDA to protect her identity. Now that they knew who she was, of course. They'd handled everything—even showed her the bank vaults her parents had apparently left her.

The goblins had been very useful in issuing her a new key and voiding any old ones as well as freezing all her Potter vaults besides her trust vault. They also advised her to come in on her eleventh birthday for an inheritance test to determine if other bloodlines ran through her veins. It was the youngest age you could take one and Lilith wasn't going to leave anything to chance.

She doubted there were any other bloodlines she could inherit. And even suggested doing it then and there, but they'd been insistent, and she wasn't about to endanger herself on a whim. Apparently the test was classified as blood magic, which was dangerous for anyone with an immature and unstable core. Plus, it wasn't for a few years, so it was a problem for then.

"We've arrived, ma'am," Niles said, and Lilith opened her eyes. She'd been working on her occlumency—something she'd learned about recently—and a quiet car ride was the perfect place to start.

Though having a chatty car companion wasn't the definition of 'quiet'. Hermione hadn't stopped talking since they'd picked her up. She was rambling about something she'd read recently, and Lilith had long since tuned her out as background noise.

Frankly she wasn't sure if the constant chatter was annoying, or soothing. She hadn't decided yet.

On second thought. It was definitely annoying. "Hey, Mione?"

Hermione took a breath and turned to her friend who had just interrupted her description of the confrontation in the book. "Yeah?"

"Shut up."

"Okay."

It was an annoying and ridiculously chirpy reply to Lilith shutting her up so easily. Definitely annoying. Completely.

"Thank you Niles, see you after school." Lilith hopped out of the car, waving and was closely followed by Hermione.

"Bye, Niles!" Hermione called out and Niles nodded back.

Although the man was a muggleborn he preferred to be quiet around muggles. He hadn't often been in the muggle world and had been working in a shop just off of Diagon Alley before he'd taken the job as Lilith's personal driver. Though he'd just about keeled over when he found out it was The Lilith Potter who was employing him. It had taken two weeks, but Lilith was starting to enjoy the respect and hero worship—it was a nice change from what she put up with at Petunia's.

Lilith did lament the fact that her friend was a muggle, though. Things would be so much easier if the girl was a witch. Nicer too. But since she wasn't, Lilith wondered if their 'friendship' could survive the necessary lies that were to come in the next few years. Though she supposed it didn't really matter—it shouldn't matter—because she was not getting attached to a chatty bookworm muggle.

It was just if the girl had been a witch, she would have been a useful lackey. That's all.

"Thanks for giving me rides while my parents get their car fixed," Hermione gushed as they started walking into school.

"No problem, Mione," Lilith said. "How did their car break anyway? I thought your dad bought that Range Rover new?"

Hermione blushed hard, confusing Lilith.

"Oh, well, you see—hey, did you hear about the pop quiz that's supposed to be given in Maths today?" Hermione enthused, changing the subject suddenly.

Lilith narrowed her eyes at the abrupt subject change, looking at her friend suspiciously. It was at times like this that she wished she knew legilimency. It was a mind art she had read about in "Forgotten Arts and Spells". However, the author had recommended that the reader learn Occlumency—the only defence against legilimency—first, which was why she'd been practising on the car ride.

Her progress in that area was steady, and rapidly improving. However her mindscape was incomplete. The book had suggested that your mindscape be unique to yourself, and so Lilith had made her mindscape a copy of an old castle her class had toured the year prior.

She'd made the floorplans into a maze…with various paths leading to different places, and traps set up for the places housing her more precious memories. Currently she was working on the second floor which held her memories of the past four years. The first one was everything she could remember from ages one to five.

Lilith let the silence stretch on for a moment longer before she allowed the topic to change. "Yes I did—you told me yesterday." Lilith gave Hermione another piercing look, letting her know that she was fooling no one before continuing. "I doubt any of the others in our class decided to study, despite the advanced warning the rumour mill has given us."

Hermione rolled her eyes.

Lilith, in the short time they had been friends, had made Hermione realise that policing the rest of their classmates was a waste of her time. Ultimately Lilith only had to point out how much study time she was missing trying to get practically brain-dead idiots to work harder in school.

"Don't remind me. I'm glad the school allowed me to move up a grade with you. How did you get them to waive the observation period anyway?" Hermione asked.

Lilith had gained Nile's help in…convincing the school to agree. It had been quite fun actually. "Oh, I have my ways."

Lilith was bored out of her mind—no pun intended. They had in fact had a pop quiz in Maths. And as expected, she and Hermione were done within the first ten minutes.

The teacher—Mrs. Stewart—adored them and so chose to give them the option of relaxing or reading. Hermione chose to read, obviously, while Lilith asked for permission to quietly meditate, making up some bullshit about how it helped her focus. Now she was within her mindscape tediously organising her library. It contained all of her academic knowledge, with each book containing a different subject and what she knew on it.

Lilith had purposefully made the library large—rivalling that of a national library—to accommodate the knowledge she would gain in the future. But she was beginning to see why the guides had said it would take at least a year to form a solid mindscape, and even longer to have everything set in place.

But Lilith was stubborn and slightly impatient, so she'd begun doing both at the same time a little over six months ago. In total, she planned to have five floors of her mindscape. Each floor was a unique maze with dozens of rooms with each room holding different memories. Once that was completed she was going to work on her security system. She'd actually gotten the idea of moving staircases from 'Hogwarts A History'.

Anyone entering her mindscape would first find themselves in an entrance hall with three doors and several dozen keys hidden about the room. Though only one key actually worked. It unlocked the first door that would lead into the first floor of her mindscape.

The second door couldn't be used except to enter back into the hallway from the rest of the mindspace, and the third door was parseltongue protected. It led to an office that acted as a control room for Lilith's entire mindscape.

From that office Lilith could enter into any room in her mindscape through a door that changed destinations on command. The doors to and from her office would obviously be both hidden and password protected.

Then in each room there were going to be a few doors. One or two of the doors would lead to another hall in the maze, while the third or fourth door would lead to the entrance hall again. With the doors scattered throughout the room, and not always easily accessible even a structured map wouldn't help someone get out.

Lilith's goal was to stall and frustrate any potential invader long enough for her to either break eye contact, or toss out the invading probe. It would take anyone hours to navigate just one floor of her mindscape. Giving her plenty of time to push them out.

As Lilith was alphabetizing her admittedly limited knowledge of potions ingredients she heard the teacher's voice echoing in her mind, informing the class that time was up and it was time to hand in their quizzes.

Lilith huffed quietly and vowed to learn how to automatically store knowledge in their assigned areas. It was supposed to be one of the last things you learned to apply to your mindscape. However Lilith was determined to see if she could learn it earlier. Perhaps Niles knew. She made a mental note to ask him at her earliest opportunity.

Lilith packed up and sighed, glad it was Friday. It was today that she'd decided to introduce Hermione to Hope.

Hope was very excited to meet "Mistress's two-legger"— which she insisted on calling the girl, despite Lilith's attempts to get her to learn Hermione's name. Lilith just hoped Hermione liked Hope as much as she did.

~Scene~

Lilith carefully put her bag down in Hermione's room. Niles had picked up Hope from Privet Drive before he'd picked them up from school. Lilith had put her bag in the front seat so Hope could slither in without Hermione noticing.

Lilith was practically giddy, though she refused to look it. Since she'd met Hermione they had gotten close—or as close as two friends could get in a little over two weeks time. Hope hadn't been receptive to the idea of Hermione initially, but then she'd come to the conclusion that her mistress could use a decent servant. And from there she'd decided she liked the girl—even before meeting her.

After all, anyone privileged enough to serve her mistress must be a decent two-legger, and if they weren't, she'd poison them.

Lilith sat on Hermione's bed excitedly. She didn't wait for her friend to stop unpacking her books before she launched into talking. "Okay, Hermione, you know I have a pet, right? Well I decided it was time for you to meet her. Oh, and don't worry, she only bites on command." Lilith grinned.

Hermione's expression grew wary as Lilith reached into her bag and gently pulled out Hope, who hissed in annoyance at being woken from her nap as she slithered up her mistress's arm.

~Is this your servant mistress?~ Hope gazed at Hermione as if assessing her worthiness as Hermione gaped wide eyed at the snake.

~She will do.~ Hope flickered her tongue at the girl. ~But, why is her hair so full? Did she forget to remove her last five sheds? And why are her front fangs so large? I am the one who will bite your enemy's young mistress—you do not need another. Besides, two-legger fangs are not good for piercing flesh.~

Lilith coughed to disguise her laughter which seemed to shake Hermione out of her stupor. "Lilith… why does your snake have two heads?" Hermione hedged.

Lilith froze and stared at Hermione for a moment, processing what she had just said. "You can see Hope's second head?"

Hermione looked at her friend in confusion, wondering if she was a bit ill. "Well, It's sort of hard to miss, Lilith," she said incredulously.

Hope shifted a bit restlessly. ~Mistress, I thought my cuff was to prevent non-magical two-leggers from seeing my second head?~

Lilith took a deep breath, her mind racing, trying to figure out how to deal with this development. 'First,' Lilith decided. 'I have to make sure Hermione is actually a witch and Hope's cuff didn't just fail for some reason.'

Lilith cleared her throat, sitting straighter. "Hermione, this might be a weird question, but do strange things happen around you when your emotions get the best of you? Objects flying, things breaking or changing colour, possibly even shape? That kind of thing?"

Hermione's eyes widened. "Yes! How did you know?" she whispered breathlessly. "My parents have been worried sick. They think something's wrong with me. They never believed me when I couldn't explain why my clothes change colour randomly. And then they thought they were going crazy when they saw it change before their eyes on our last road trip!" Hermione wrung her hands and her shoulders drooped suddenly.

"They want me to see a doctor. Especially after grandma Enid saw something happen and started ranting about mutations… she hasn't visited since."

Lilith's heart broke at the desperation in Hermione's voice. No magical child should be left to think something is wrong with them. That's why she was determined to change that in the future; no magical child would ever be left with a muggle. She knew that better than most.

Decision made, Lilith looked directly into Hermione's eyes. "Hermione, I can say with absolute certainty that there is nothing wrong with you." Hermione's eyes filled with tears, and Lilith's heart lurched. She hurried to tell her the good news before her friend's inevitable thousand questions erupted. "You're a witch!" Lilith said excitedly.

Hermione blinked at her, confusion and disappointment warring on her face. She didn't believe her. "Lilith, witches aren't—"

Cutting her off, Lilith stuck out her hand. She held it out to Hermione, concentrating hard. She'd started practising this spell on Dudley a few weeks ago, and Hermione was much lighter than him. Barely a second later Hermione rose from her spot across from Lilith. A full foot in the air.

Lilith quickly pulled back her effort to keep from launching her friend through the air. Hermione was definitely lighter than her whale of a 'cousin'.

'I need to restrict Dudley's sweets. He needs to go on that diet Petunia went on last summer. He's too heavy even for magic,' Lilith thought, even as pride rang through her for doing the wandless magic this easily. She'd been concerned when she had an issue lifting her cousin.

She wasn't sure why, but wandless magic seemed to come more easily to her with simple spells than the books suggested. So this was a nice reminder of her abilities.

Hermione squeaked in surprise as her eyes widened like saucers. "L-Lilith!"

"Yes, Hermione?" she grinned, tipping her head back to look up at her friend.

"I'm floating!"

"Yes, that was the point. Believe me now?"

"I will never doubt you again!"

Lilith's grin widened and she lowered Hermione back onto the bed.

"Tell me everything!" Hermione demanded, eyes sparkling.

Hope hissed in amusement thinking Hermione was much like those ghastly loud things with the four legs that always wagged their tails. Puppies, the two-leggers called them. Hope hissed disdainfully, she much preferred those kitten things. They almost looked like the puppies, but they were more controlled, and never tried to bite her tail when she slithered past them.

Lilith's grin widened even more. "I was so hoping you'd say that."

~Scene~

Two hours later Lilith was explaining the basics of the Wizengamot, sometimes quoting the book directly, when Hermione interrupted her. "Lilith, some of this stuff sounds amazing, but a lot of it is awfully backwards. Don't you think, I mean I suppose there's nothing we can do about it now but—"

Here Lilith cut her off. "Let me stop you right there, that way of thinking is for mudbloods—don't give me that look—just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it's backwards." She frowned at Hermione. "To just dismiss something because it doesn't conform to your ideas of what society should be is for idiots. Tell me, would you go to Japan and tell a woman wearing a Kimono to put on jeans and a t-shirt because wearing a kimono is 'backwards'. Would you go to France and demand they stop selling escargot because it's disgusting?" Lilith demanded.

"No…"

"Then why do you think it would be perfectly acceptable to go into a world you've known about for all of two hours and start trying to change it? Changing time-honoured traditions that have lasted centuries, been passed down from parent to child, all because you think it's 'backwards'?"

Hermione lowered her head in embarrassment. "I see your point."

Lilith nodded in satisfaction.

Hope had slithered out of Lilith's grasp an hour and a half ago—not wanting to listen to her mistress educate her servant—and instead raided Hermione's book collection. She criticised the girl for her lack of novels and questioned her sanity for having books with made-up words. Lilith made a note to tell Hope that the words were not in fact, made up, just in a different language—French maybe.

"Good. Now, I've given you a basic rundown of everything I know, but you really should buy your own books. I can take you to Diagon Alley, and you can get something with your allowance if you'd like?" Lilith offered.

Niles was meant to be picking her up in an hour anyway. They could easily convince Hermione's parents to allow a last minute sleepover. And if she had to use that compulsion charm she'd been learning about on them, well it would be good practice.

According to Niles, Lilith could cast up to second year spells, and select advanced spells for some reason. Though he suspected it was because she had an affinity for them, which made certain magics easier to master.

Though what Lilith was truly eager to get into, was potions. Lilith had already subscribed to various potions publications, though so far, her knowledge was purely theoretical. Petunia's kitchen was hardly an adequate brewing environment.

She already knew it was going to be her favourite subject at Hogwarts, though according to Niles, the current professor was horrible, and wasn't fit to teach a dog fetch. This disappointed Lilith greatly, as all her research on the man showed he was a promising Potions Master, with a distinct talent in time sensitive brews.

"Yes! Though will we have time to explain everything to my parents before Niles comes? I mean surely they need more than a 'hey mum and dad, you know all the weird stuff that's been happening around me? Well turns out I'm a witch, mind if I sleep over at Lilith's?" Hermione said sarcastically.

Lilith's face turned carefully neutral, as she thought of a way to break the news to her friend. "Hermione, I'm sorry if I wasn't clear before, but we can't tell your parents. They're muggles; they can't know about magic until a teacher from Hogwarts comes to inform them," Lilith said, trying hard to work a bit of sympathy into her voice.

Hermione looked aghast. "Not tell my parents? But, why? They're my parents! They have a right to know!" Hermione said indignantly.

Lilith thought perhaps now wasn't the time to point out that it sounded an awful lot like Hermione was doubting her, despite how much she wanted to put the girl in her place.

"Because, it's against the law to tell muggles about witches and wizards without prior permission from the Ministry. That's only given to Hogwarts professors, The Board of Governors or wizards who have been in a relationship with a muggle for more than a year and a half."

Hermione scowled. "That isn't right! Wh–"

Lilith's temper snapped and she'd wandlessly silenced Hermione. This made the girl's eyes widen comically. "Enough! Hermione. Can you act mature for five minutes instead of whining every time you think something is unfair without doing a lick of research? Merlin! If I'd known you were going to be a child about it I wouldn't have told you anything at all!"

Hermione's eyes watered as she began babbling silently. Lilith pinched the bridge of her nose. Circe, she was beginning to wonder if Hermione was even worth keeping around. After another minute of Hermione's silent babbling—which Lilith had figured was a constant stream of apologies—Lilith resorted to drastic measures.

WHACK!

Hermione blinked owlishly in confusion for a moment. Her damp eyes went uncomprehendingly from Lilith to the now discarded pillow on the floor.

Lilith, confident Hermione was in control of her facilities again, dropped the silencing charm.

"Did you just hit me with a pillow?" Hermione asked shakily.

"Yes. Now, if you're over your hysterics, we can move on. Though, perhaps it's best if we wait awhile before I bring you to Diagon–"

"No! Please! I'll be good, I swear," Hermione cried, clinging to the taller girl. "I won't ask anymore stupid questions, or get in your way, oh please let me go!"

Lilith sighed. "Fine, but you must follow the rules. Understand?" Lilith said sternly.

Hermione beamed and swiftly agreed. Meanwhile, Hope—who had found the one interesting book in the collection about some idiot two-legger named Huckleberry Finn—hissed in disapproval and grumbled about her mistress being too kind to the insolent servant.

~Scene~

October 14, 1989

Lilith led a wide-eyed Hermione around Diagon Alley by the hand, with Niles following at a discrete distance. For some unfathomable reason, Niles had decided that bodyguard was also in his job description. Not that she minded much. Still, she was sure it was unnecessary with the precautions she had already taken to disguise her identity.

When they had first arrived, Hermione had been gaping like a fish, and Lilith could see she was going to start asking questions a mile a minute again. But Lilith, who had prepared for this, handed Hermione a pencil and a notebook. Telling her to put all her questions in there and that she would answer her if possible.

Hermione had immediately wanted to know why Lilith couldn't just answer all of her questions. Lilith generously attributed the stupid question to being overwhelmed, before reminding Hermione that she was nine, and while she'd read as many introductory books as she could get her hands on, she was far from an expert and there would be many things she had no knowledge of.

Hermione had blushed and apologised for the idiotic question as they walked into the bank. Hermione was dismayed to see her allowance didn't amount to much in wizarding currency. Lilith had suspected this and simply slid her key and Gringotts card—something only the wealthiest of clients were afforded in addition to a key to ensure excellent service—across to the teller and asked for a withdrawal from her trust vault of two hundred Galleons.

The teller took one look at the golden card and hurried to comply.

Armed with an adequate amount of money, Lilith unceremoniously dumped the bag of coins into Hermione's hands and dragged her out of the bank amidst her quiet protests about being trusted to hold so much money.

Lilith then casually mentioned that the money was for her to keep, not to hold. "After all, I can just purchase my items with my Gringotts card, and this way it doesn't look like I'm paying for all your things," she stated.

Hermione had tried to refuse until Lilith coldly pointed out that Hermione was once again questioning her. After that Hermione thanked Lilith for her generosity and followed her around to the different shops, accepting the things Lilith suggested she buy.

Though she originally baulked at buying 'An Idiots Guide To Potions', Lilith said that she herself had bought the book. It was obviously titled like that to separate the serious academically inclined students—who could admit when they didn't know anything—from the idiots who believed the title was insulting and didn't buy it purely on that basis.

Lilith then spotted the shop she was eager to get to, not only because she had to pick up her own order—which she'd made the week prior—but to possibly con Hermione into getting something similar. She practically yanked Hermione into 'Warren's Tremendous Trunks for All Occasions'.

Inside the shop Hermione's eyes grew impossibly wider. The shop—like many others along the Alley—was space expanded on the inside, but this particular expansion was beyond anything Hermione had seen so far. It was two stories high, and looked to be about as large as her entire house. But that wasn't the most amazing thing in Hermione's opinion; there were what seemed like hundreds of trunks lining the walls, with scrolls plastered next to them explaining their features, along with moving pictures of various rooms within the trunks.

Hermione had never seen something like this in all of her life; she felt as though she were walking into a high-end boutique. And she practically fainted when she caught sight of a 1,500G oak trunk on their way to the counter. Though she did have to admit the price was well justified as it seemed to have a whole four room flat—complete with a kitchen and study—inside.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Warren. Is my trunk ready?" Lilith asked.

The older man, who Hermione thought to be in his sixties, smiled. "Yes, Miss Potter, would you like to examine it to ensure it is to your satisfaction?"

Hermione shot Lilith a confused look. Before they'd come to the Alley, Lilith had stressed the importance of her identity being kept a secret. Hermione had agreed, of course, and then laughed when she heard her friend's alias of 'Jem Hologram'.

Lilith, seeing her friend's look, nodded in confirmation before explaining. "The Warrens run a highly respectable establishment which prides itself on maintaining their customers' privacy. People use trunks for any number of things, including secret bunkers. Imagine if someone wanted to know who purchased a specific type of trunk and its wards—armed with that knowledge someone could invade your trunk, or even sabotage it. Buying a trunk here comes with a magically binding guarantee that your privacy will be respected and they will not speak about you or your purchases."

Niles had recommended the place over the 'Trunk Emporium' where so many students got their school trunks. Apparently they were so useless and mass produced that practically any idiot could get into them.

"Miss Potter is, of course, correct," Mr. Warren said, floating a trunk in front of them, onto a pedestal.

Hermione had never seen such a beautiful trunk. It was dark grey with rose gold embellishments on every corner, and a gorgeous clasp made up of two intertwined onyx snakes with ruby red eyes. But as Hermione looked closer, she could see the snakes weren't actually intertwined—it was one snake with two heads.

Hermione immediately realised the clasp was an exact replica of Hope.

Below the clasp was a line of circular crystals, each a different colour, with a different rune below it, and Hermione wondered what the runes meant. Had she looked closer she would have noticed that each rune was, in fact, a runic array of smaller runes to make up the larger one.

On the lid was Lilith's full name spelled out in beautiful silver calligraphy that stood out against the dark grey nicely.

Lilith Looked at the trunk appraisingly before breaking into a wide grin. "It looks perfect, may I see the compartments?"

"Of course," Mr Warren said. "Now, as I explained last week, the compartments are temporarily set to open at the touch of a wand tip; however, you simply need to press a crystal for five seconds and then speak a word or phrase to set the password. Each crystal opens a different compartment."

Mr Warren tapped the first crystal with his wand and the trunk popped open, allowing what looked to be a 6ft tall wardrobe to rise from inside. Hermione's jaw dropped as Mr. Warren opened it, revealing a circular rack not unlike those found in department stores. The wardrobe itself was also space expanded to fit the rack perfectly. The inside of the wardrobe's right door held several tie hooks while the left door held a long silver mirror.

Lilith grinned impossibly wider. "Perfect, next compartment?"

Mr. Warren beamed and tapped the next crystal. The wardrobe closed itself—something that had Hermione's head spinning—before sinking back into the trunk. Not a moment later a bookshelf rose from the trunk.

It was about the size of the wardrobe with four drawers on each side. Mr. Warren then pulled open one of the drawers until it extended three feet out. "The drawers are space expanded to act like a filing cabinet for any papers you might need to organise," he explained.

And on it went.

The third compartment revealed a staircase which led down to a study already furnished with shelves, a desk and three leather chairs spread throughout the room, with one being behind the desk. Between the bookcases to the right of the desk was a door that led to a supply closet of sorts. Lilith was pleased to note there were several bean bags stacked there, per her request.

Returning to the main study, Lilith inquired about the secret room she'd requested. He glanced at Hermione. Lilith, catching his meaning, assured him that her friend was to be trusted.

Mr. Warren nodded and walked over to an abstract painting on the wall. He tapped his wand to one of the shapes and instantly the painting enlarged and formed a door. "To set a password, just tap the red circle twice," he explained before opening the door.

The secret room turned out to be a bedroom with an ensuite. The bedroom had a large queen sized bed covered in silver pillows and a dark turquoise bedding that matched the study walls. The floor was covered in a dark grey carpet and on the left side of the bed was a nightstand, while on the right there was a wardrobe. This wardrobe was much more ornate than the wardrobe compartment.

The ensuite had a large tub built into the ground with multiple faucets, a standing shower, double sink and a large mirror. There was also a rack that held a fluffy robe and slippers. Lilith nodded, satisfied, before they moved on.

The fourth compartment was a cold pantry, with runes along the shelves to prevent food from spoiling. However, what Lilith really appreciated was that the runes were well hidden, either within, or behind a design.

The fifth and final compartment wasn't something Hermione could identify at first. It looked to be something like a portable makeup organiser.

Seeing Hermione's confusion, Lilith explained. "It's an organiser for my school supplies, these slots here are for quills, these are for ink pots. This area here is for parchment rolls. The right side that looks like little cubbies are for potions ingredients, and this wooden section is for rune carving tools. This bag is to hold carving stones. And finally this little drawer is for blocks of wood, also for carving runes, though only for practice."

Mr. Warren nodded along to Lilith's explanation. "Yes indeed. Now, Miss Potter, I trust everything is to your satisfaction?"

"Yes it is."

"Marvellous, now that'll be 2,400G."

Lilith nodded and removed her card, tapping it on the bill Mr. Warren held out. The bill glowed brightly for a second before vanishing.

Hermione was trying not to freak out at how much her friend had just spent on a school trunk. And she began to worry. She only had about fifty Galleons left of the two hundred that Lilith had given her and she doubted it was enough to order a pocket, let alone a full quality trunk. Her shoulders dropped a little; she'd have to wait until her parents found out about magic to order one. Except, her friends' next words floored her.

"I see my driver was right to recommend you, Mr. Warren. I would like to see about purchasing my friend here a trunk as well. The same package if you please," she said casually.

Hermione opened her mouth to refuse, but Lilith silenced her with a look.

Mr. Warren looked thrilled. "Wonderful, Miss Potter. Come with me, young lady. We'll draw up a design for your trunk and any specifications you wish. What is the price range you're looking for?" Mr. Warren asked, and before Hermione could answer, Lilith beat her to it. "Similar to mine. anywhere up to and including 2,000G."

Hermione shot Lilith a furious look, much to the girl's amusement as she was ushered into the back room. Hermione could be as irritated as she liked. Her muggle parents might have been well off, but she was nowhere near as rich as the top echelons of wizarding society. And as a member of that class Lilith refused to have any friend of hers be seen as a pauper.

It was one of the things she was looking forward to when she started Hogwarts in a few years. She was looking forward to getting into the Slytherin house—because she refused to be in any other—and she knew class was practically a requirement in Slytherin. She was looking forward to not having to slum it anymore.

Niles had been a Slytherin in school, and he had stressed the importance of the Slytherin hierarchy. Each year had a 'Prince' and 'Princess' while the rulers of Slytherin were the 'King' and 'Queen'. Each royal pair had a 'Royal Court' consisting of their friends and allies. The Princes and Princess had absolute power over their year, while the King and Queen held power over the entirety of Slytherin house—often having more power than even the head of Slytherin.

According to Niles, the earliest a King or Queen had ever been crowned was in second year fifty years ago. Lilith planned to stage a coup d'etat halfway through her first year. Her parseltongue abilities would guarantee her the spot as their year's princess—Niles had been sure about that—and then she just had to challenge the current Queen for her spot. With a duel naturally.

Her plan was simple; dodge for a while; taunt her opponent and then summon a great ruddy snake to wrap her up. Niles had agreed to start running drills with her; she would begin practising tomorrow. Apparently, summoning poisonous snakes took months of practice to get right.

She wondered if she should include Hermione in her dodging drills.

After half an hour of waiting, Hermione emerged from the back room looking excited. She immediately ran over to Lilith and hugged her tightly. Lilith snorted in amusement and looked at Mr. Warren over Hermione's shoulder.

"Showed her the library options, did you?" Lilith said dryly.

Mr. Warren grinned shamelessly. "Yes, she got the large library in one of the compartments, a study and spare room with an ensuite similar to yours, though in different colours. She opted against the easy access wardrobe, and instead put in a full kit organiser. A miniature gym, and a practical duelling room, fully furnished. Estimate cost about 1,930G."

Lilith nodded and paid half up front now that she knew his work was quality. Mr. Warren shrunk Lilith's trunk for her and the girls left to finish their shopping, stopping only to get ice cream at Florean Fortescue's. Niles continued to follow them at a distance.

"Why did you have Mr. Warren put in all those beanbags?" Hermione asked.

Lilith looked up from her raspberry swirl. "Hmm? Oh, that's so I can gain favour with my housemates. I'm going for Slytherin, of course. Niles was a Slytherin and he's been giving me tips. There's a hierarchy within the house, and I intend to be at the top. Slytherins may be known for their cunning and ambition, but Niles says that almost all of them are academically inclined like we are.

"Those beanbags in my study will help me earn their goodwill. Niles says the Ravenclaws usually carve up the best study spots in the library between them and everyone else has to make do. Most pureblood parents won't splurge on such an expensive trunk until around fifth year—never mind regular parents who can't afford it. So I'll be able to offer my yearmates a nice, quiet place to study on occasion. And in turn, they will be grateful for my help and feel indebted to me."

Hermione bit her lip, two weeks ago this would have meant she was suffering over some moral dilemma, but under Lilith's tutelage, it now meant something different. "I wish I'd thought of that; I would have asked for more chairs and a larger table in my library. I'm sure my housemates—whichever house I go into—would be grateful to have a private library as an option."

Hermione sat back, thinking. "I was reading that book you told me about—Hogwarts: A History—and I like the look of Gryffindor–"

"Don't be ridiculous, Hermione," Lilith cut in. "Gryffindor is for useless idiots who don't know a kneazle from a bull's shit. You'd be far better off in a superior house."

"What about Ravenclaw, then?" Hermione asked worriedly. "Or Slytherin, of course."

"Much better."

"Lilith, why did your trunk cost more than mine? I mean, I think I got a bit more than you did?" she asked after a moment.

Lilith popped another scoop of ice cream into her mouth as she hummed.

"Part of the reason is because I had extra security wards put on my trunk. It's warded to hades and back while you just got the standard warding. It is still vastly superior to the mass produced crap, but just not as intense as mine. Not even a house elf could break into my trunk, and those little buggers can break into almost anything. Wards like that don't come cheap."

"And… the other part?"

Lilith grinned. "Just me showing off, the gold on my trunk is real gold, the wood is stained mahogany, the crystals are enchanted. Basically I have the highest quality of every material, whereas I know for a fact you chose some of the cheaper options, which isn't that big of a deal since Warrens only has the best… but it still makes all the difference in price."

Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment. "I see."

Suddenly, Niles appeared at their side. Lilith tensed, trying to figure out the reason for his obvious unease when she spotted a family of three entering the shop. They were all blonde, and obviously wealthy.

"We'd better hurry back if we want enough time to read over that runes book before dinner," Lilith said casually.

Hermione perked up at the idea, and they went to leave. As they were passing the blonde family Lilith made eye contact with the young boy, who seemed to be around her age. She had forgone the contacts and wig today, instead opting to allow Niles to apply a glamour charm to her scar.

The boy blushed, and Lilith was ready to dismiss them when the older male spoke up. "Niles, is that you?"

Niles's face was a pleasant mask as he turned to the man. "Lucius, always good to see you. Narcissa, beautiful as ever."

Authors' Notes

We wish you all a happy holidays and a fabulous new year! See you in 2023 with the next chapter.

Joy: Unless you're Dumbledore, then we hope you get mouldy socks