Lilith

Marlene McKinnon loved Transfiguration. She also loved sex. So, when her father came to her with news that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named himself was targeting their family, it made perfect sense for her to go into hiding as a prostitute specializing in looking like someone else. No one would ever need to know her real identity if she didn't want to reveal it.

She'd quickly learned that she also loved secrets, and no matter how uncomfortable an encounter was, she could easily overcome that by reminding herself of the secrets she learned through it. Dumbledore, for instance, had paid the exorbitant fee for her to switch genders (because creating a functional cock was far harder than her usual changes) and requested that she look like a younger Gellert Grindelwald. The romantic dinner, passionate sex, and long night cuddling after suggested that this had been either a real relationship or at least a real infatuation rather than some sort of revenge fantasy. Marlene wondered if perhaps that was part of why it took Dumbledore so long to finally go to the Continent and defeat his era's Dark Lord.

But she said nothing about it to anyone.

She learned that Rabastan and Rudolphus LeStrange were intimately acquainted, because it left Bellatrix LeStrange to find her own enjoyment with Marlene disguised as first Narcissa Malfoy, then Sirius Black, and finally Andromeda Tonks. The former Gryffindor honestly wasn't sure whether Bellatrix was aware that most people looked outside their own family tree for their sexual liaisons.

Then again, Narcissa requested that Marlene become Bellatrix, so at least the feeling was reciprocated, she supposed. (Sirius, on the other hand, preferred James Potter and, occasionally, Remus Lupin, while she'd never even met Andromeda Tonks.)

Bellatrix did, also, often request the form of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Marlene was deeply uncomfortable with these sessions, partly because Bellatrix liked to suffer a fair bit of torture along with the sex, but mostly because it seemed incredibly stupid to take on the current Dark Lord's form without his permission. (Honestly, Bellatrix wasn't the only customer who wanted Marlene to cast the Cruciatus, so that hardly phased her anymore.) Still, money was money, and secrets were secrets.

From a younger Dumbledore to Celestina Warbeck to members of the Hollyhead Harpies to children to cripples to goblins to house elves… Marlene discovered that there was no limit to mankind's sexual fantasies, and she liked to think that she was perhaps helping out the world, just a bit. Because while some of her customers were deeply ashamed of their interests and would likely never have done anything illegal or even simply immoral without her, others freely admitted that they'd come to her only because it was easier (and sometimes even cheaper) than hiding the evidence of the criminal act their actual fantasy would count as.

Everything was protected by secrecy contracts, so she inevitably learned dark and awful things that she'd never speak of, but money was money, secrets were secrets, and she really did love what she did.

Still, she occasionally came up against something that made even her jaded mind uncomfortable, and this was one of those occasions. She'd just spent the past hour listening to Severus Snape reveal a prophecy he'd told the Dark Lord that would quite likely lead to her former roommate's death. She was, in fact, currently in that former roommate's form, because Severus enjoyed fucking Lily Evans after his duties as a Death Eater were finished.

Apparently, Severus had, upon realizing that the girl he was infatuated with was now in danger because of him, first begged the Dark Lord to spare her and then, because he wasn't a complete idiot, gone to Dumbledore and begged him to save Lily. Whether Dumbledore was willing or even capable of doing so was another story.

Lily had been more than her roommate. She'd been Marlene's friend. One of Marlene's best friends, in fact.

She stroked Severus's black hair soothingly and thought about what he'd told her. Was there anything she could do?

So the next day, she sent an owl to Lily, asking the woman to come to her apartment above the establishment she made so much money working for. To her relief, Lily did come, though the look she gave Marlene (in her own form for the first time in over a year) was deeply critical. "I thought you were dead," Lily said.

Marlene smiled wryly. "I go by Lilith now," she said.

Lily, who knew something of Marlene's interests from sharing a dorm for the better half of a decade, sighed and moved on. "Why did you ask me here?"

Marlene explained that, though she could neither confirm nor deny anything about how the information came to her, it was entirely possible that someone who may or may not be named may or may not come and may or may not try to kill Lily's child. "This person, if they do come to kill Harry, may or may not attempt to spare your life," she finished.

"I do believe the phrase 'may or may not' has long since lost any meaning," Lily noted.

"It's the best I can manage," Marlene said with a shrug. And quite frankly, even this was stretching things. Severus's magic binding her to secrecy skated along every word, prickling through her brain as she spoke. She was already developing the most blinding headache. She suspected this venture wouldn't have worked at all if Severus's magic didn't recognize that her actions fell in line with his own desires.

"Well, thank you, I suppose," Lily said at last. The woman sighed. "I hate this bloody war."

"Mm," Marlene agreed.

"How much would it be for a session?" Lily asked suddenly.

"Depends who you want me to look like," Marlene said immediately.

"Marlene." Lily smiled impishly. "She's this brilliantly Slytherin Gryffindor I knew back at Hogwarts."

Marlene hummed, a smile at the edges of her lips. "I suppose I could give you one session free of charge."

Later, November the first, when Marlene learned that You-Know-Who, James, and Lily were dead and Harry Potter had lived, her heart broke just a little, but she also threw some Floo powder into her fireplace and called for Severus. When he didn't answer, she remade herself into Lily… but not quite. Though Lily was one of the few people Marlene could perfectly replicate, she doubted Severus would appreciate a visit from a dead woman, so she adjusted her appearance until it was merely a strong resemblance. Then she Apparated to Hogwarts and made her way to his rooms. Though she'd never made a personal visit to him, she knew where the Head of Slytherin's quarters were, and she had no trouble finding her way there and knocking at the door.

He answered, looking ghastly. At the sight of her though, he paused for only a moment before croaking, "Lilith?" At least his brain was still working.

"Just so," Marlene said and entered without waiting for his permission and despite his protests.

On the counter, as though left there absently as he hurried to answer the door, sat a bubbling vial of something she very much doubted was water. She glanced from it, to him, and noted his utterly empty gaze. She'd watched customers die before, and sometimes she'd even cried over them, but this was the first time the idea had ever made her angry. "Evanesco," she snarled and Vanished the vial with a vicious swipe of her wand. "Lily knew He would attempt to spare her, and she decided to use that information to design a ritual that would protect her son." She wasn't sure if he knew or even cared that his actions had given Lily the opportunity to save the person she loved most.

Severus stared at her.

Marlene waited a moment longer, but when he seemed disinclined to stop looking more corpse than human, she set down her bag, stripped, and Vanished his clothes. "Come," she ordered. "You're going to take a long hot bath with me, and then you're going to spend the rest of the day fucking me, even if you have to drown yourself in aphrodisiacs to do it, and then tomorrow you're going to get on with your life. If you ever even think of killing yourself again, you will instead call me, and I will do everything in my power to fuck such stupid impulses out of you."

It was, she reflected later while letting him take out his self-loathing on her body, not the most romantic means of inviting a long-term relationship, but then neither was she the most romantic person.