if one of them is dead.

chapter twenty.

Lilith.

"Dad?" Lilith asked, coming down the stairs. Severus was sitting in a chair, reading a newspaper. He glanced up at her and raised his brows when she stopped in front of him.

"Why were Narcissa Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange here?" she asked, cracking her knuckles.

He shook his head. "Why do you ask?"

"Because they don't usually come over for late night tea."

Severus sighed. "Why do you ask so many questions?"

Lilith tugged at her hoodie. "Because, Dad, Bellatrix is— Just answer the question, please."

"Why do you think they were here?" he asked, folding the newspaper in half.

"Well, they weren't here for tea. And they certainly weren't here to see me, obviously. To be honest, I thought it was some death eater shit."

He sighed again and set the paper down on his lap. "I can trust you, right?"

"Obviously," she said.

"No, Lilith. You can tell no one, not even Mattheo."

"I don't tell Mattheo a lot of things, Dad."

He paused. "I was talking to them about Draco."

"Go on."

"The Dark Lord has chosen Draco for a mission. Narcissa is a very protective mother, and she wanted to make sure that Draco will be procteted. Bellatrix came to make sure of it all."

Lilith sighed. She knew what was coming, she just didn't want to believe it.

"And what did you do to ensure Draco's protection?"

Severus grabbed the newspaper and started reading it again, pretending it wasn't a big deal.

"I made a vow that if he didn't succeed in his mission, I would go through with it for him."

"Is that all?"

"It was an Unbreakable Vow."

"What?" she asked, taking a step back. "Dad, you didn't." She shook her head when he shrugged. "Dad, you can't be serious."

He shook his head too. "Don't worry. Everything will work out. You don't have to worry, Lily."

She scoffed. "Don't worry? You could die."

"Go get your friends and have fun with them," he said. "But if you show up with a cop on the doorstep, I'm going to have to leave you all in a fucking jail cell for two days."

She shook her head and started towards the door, grabbing a jean jacket. "Two days is so long though. I mean, the longest we were ever in there was a day, and that was horrible," she said sarcastically, grabbing the doorknob. "I love you, Dad."

"I love you too, Lilith."

She opened the door but paused. "We all make promises we can't keep, but you have to keep that one. And promises aren't easy to keep."

And she left without another word.

☯︎︎

"Promise me something," Mattheo said, hooking his arm around Lilith's waist on the top of an old building.

"Anything, my darling," Lilith said semi-sarcastically.

Mattheo leaned in, almost as if he was hugging her. "I'm serious," he whispered, pulling away from her. "I need you to promise me you'll never become a death eater."

She didn't hesitate. "I promise."

"Good girl," he said, smiling as he pulled her in for a kiss.

☯︎︎

"Was Shakespeare really a good writer, or do we all just accept his plays?" Alrik asked, leaning against a brick wall.

"I think I'm slightly offended by that question," Lilith said, taking a sip from her beer, which they definitely did not bribe the bartender to give them.

"No, he has a good point," Aven said, spinning around in a chair at the small circle table. "I can't understand half the shit he writes. I mean what the hell does 'thou' mean?"

"It's a form of 'you', you dumb whores," Lilith said.

"I agree with Lil on this one," Raine said, tapping their nails on the table.

"Thank you!" Lilith said more loudly than they were already talking. The music was loud, and so were the very drunk middle aged people. Luckily, no one had bothered them yet. Though, that might have been the fact that Lilith and Alrik death glared everyone that looked their way.

Darcy spun in her chair, stopping abruptly to hold onto the table. "I should not have done that," she mumbled, putting her forehead down on the table. "I'm going to throw up."

"If you do, Dar, throw up in Lilith's drink," Alrik said, earning a glare from Lilith.

Fynn handed the set of darts to Lilith, gesturing for her to start throwing them at the board. She grabbed them, hopping down from her chair so Fynn could sit down.

She threw one, hitting the board close to the center.

"So," Aven says, "Lil, you still haven't told us much about the boyfriend."

Lilith chuckled and threw another dart. "What do you need to know?"

"Well, you could tell us how you got together," Raine said.

Lilith shook her head. "Why do you guys care about him so much?"

"Because," Alrik said. "He's dating you, which means we—"

"Have to make sure he's good enough for you," Fynn finished for him.

Lilith rolled her eyes and chuckled again, but she stopped. "It's complicated, and weird. Don't worry, he's more protective then the five of you put together."

They all gasped.

"That's impossible," Fynn said dramatically.

"I'll slit his throat," Raine said.

"That's atrocious," Darcy said.

"There's no way in hell," Aven said.

"Punk ass bitch," Alrik muttered.

Lilith laughed and went to the dart board. She stopped and turned to the others. "I think I won, Fynn."

"Fuck you," Fynn muttered, crossing his arms. "I'm going to punch you, bitch."

"Please do, I haven't had a good punch in a while."

"You two are ridiculous," Alrik muttered, shaking his head while trying not to smile.