Bound

Chapter Thirteen

"It's too long of a story to explain Severus. Now isn't the time for it."
I say, still avoiding his gaze.

"I have a right to know Lilith. Whatever it is, I know it's big if he knows and the fact you're hiding it from me makes me wonder if there's something more."

"I promise to tell you after I check on my father. I don't know why that's so hard for you to understand."
My voice breaks. My eyes sting with tears.

"Tell me now."
He lets go of my hand. It drops to my side.

"No. It's not important right now."
I take a deep breath, turning to face him.

"Fine. Then you'll be going to Pius', alone."
He looks cold. A side I've never seen before.

"What?"
My heart drops. Ever since Severus and I became committed, we've done everything together, when we could of course.

"I'll tell him."
Barty speaks up from the ground.

Severus pushes Barty back down. He now lays in the mud once again.

"This is over. I don't know why I bothered with you."
He turns away from me. The words linger in the air, burning my ears.

"Severus....you have to understand that whatever you need to know I will tell you but my father is in danger. I know what Pius is capable of and so do you."
I try so hard to hide the pain in my voice but I'm doing a real pathetic job at doing so. Barty watches me from the floor, his eyes full of pain for me.

"No. You are lying to me. If you can't see that, you never will."

"Severus, I know there's things you haven't told me and I'm not saying that you're lying to me about it."

"Those are different. There's clearly a past between you two."

"Severus please understand."

"No! This is over Lilith. Goodbye."

I watch as Severus walks back towards the house. I gave up on hiding my pain, tears come flooding out of my eyes, mascara turning my sweater black.

I run. My feet pick up speed as I run away from the house, deeper into the woods. I let out one blood curdling scream. I can hear Barty's footsteps somewhere behind me. I pull my sweater up, using flight to get farther away.

"LILITH!!! WAIT!!"
I can hear Barty call after me. I ignore it, and continue on my way to Pius' Manor.

I cry the entire way. My sweater soaking wet from my tears and it looks as if I fell in the mud from all the mascara and eyeliner stains.

Once I arrive, I kick in the front door, barging in. I see Pius standing next to his bookshelf, holding a cup of gin it looks like.

"Where is he?!"
I snap at him.

"Well hello to you to Ms. Riddle."
Pius says nonchalantly.

"Where. Is. He?!"
I say again, slower this time.

He points a single finger towards the stairs, behind the couch. I walk over, not sure what to expect. I see a corner of a robe poking out from around the side of the couch.

I drop hard onto my knees when I see my fathers body laying limp on the floor. A dagger sticks out from his back. I grab his wrist to check for a pulse, rage takes over when I discover there is none.

I push myself up, and I pull out my wand. I snap a curse in Pius' direction, only for him to block it. I take multiple steps closer and he continues to block my curses.

"HOW COULD YOU?!"
I scream at him.
"HE TRUSTED YOU!"

"Your father was a foolish man!"
He yells at me.

"Don't you dare speak ill about him! He did everything for you. You were nothing when we first found you."

The front door flys open. Barty now stands in the door way.

"I did everyone a favor Lilith. The war can pursue, as it was supposed too. If it weren't for you, it would of been a done deal by now."

"Avada Kedavra!"
I yell. The spell hitting the mirror.

"You dumb child. You can't miss that badly."
He laughs.

What he doesn't know is spells bounce off mirrors just like light does. It bounces off the mirror, hitting Pius in his back. His body falls to the floor with a loud thud. I drop to the floor, and scream. The mirror shatters from the pitch, the pieces falling onto the floor.

"Where is he Lil?"
Asks Barty. He rests his hand on my shoulder. I point towards the couch. Once he lets go I scoot forward, grabbing the sharpest piece of glass I can find, shoving it into the small pocket of my sweater.

I hear groans as Barty picks up my fathers body, swinging him over his shoulder.

"I'm taking the floo network back to your manor Lil. Fly home and get things ready. We'll fix this. I promise you."
Barty grabs a handful of floo powder from the bowl Pius kept near his fire place. Once tucked in the pit, he throws the powder down, and then they're gone.
I pick up Pius' wand, tucking it into the side of my skirt. I run from room to room repeating the same spell.

"Incendio."
Each room goes up in flames. The last room I hit is the living room. I run outside when the smoke begins to become too much. I send one final cast through the front door. I stand about fifteen feet away, watching his home burn. I take one last glance before I begin my trip back home.

My trip finished within ten minutes. I run through the front door of our home. I find Barty and my father in his office. Barty managed to remove the dagger from my fathers back before placing him on his desk, his body lay flat against the wood.

I'm grateful for my fathers thinking. My father and I created the only working spell to bring someone back from the dead without further consequences. We've used this spell on a few occasions, all successful. We created it for times like this.

"Faire revivre."
I say as I hover my wand over his body. I repeat this spell three times.

Barty stands close behind me, his hand on my lower back as he's pulling my hair back out of my face. The blood that seeped from his wound is now slowly returning. After about five minutes, my fathers eyes open, he lets out a single cough.

"Lilith..."
He says, his voice weak

"I'm here father...I'm right here."
I grab hold of his hand. Tears falling.

He pushes himself up, moving slowly since he's weak from the attack. He pulls me close. Our arms wrap around one another and we hold each other in a tight embrace.

Barty and I help get my father to his room. Once he's settled comfortably in bed, I sit down next to Barty on the loveseat my father has in his room. For the next hour, we talk about what happened. My father grateful for Barty.

As the day commences, my father regains all his strength back. Barty helps me cook dinner for all of us. My father reassures me that I can go back to school since he's okay.

"I will visit you tomorrow."
I say as I hug him goodbye.

"Barty. You can stay here for a while."
Says my father. We both trust him with more than our lives and we know he wouldn't let anything happen while I'm gone.

I thank Barty once more before making my way back to Hogwarts.